Rich Wilkerson, Jr. — The Book of Romans: Confidence From Clarity

well today we are diving into God's Word and I'm looking forward to all that he is going to speak to so I want you to open your Bible to Romans chapter 1 that's what we're gonna land at we're gonna get to that in a moment but I want to talk to you today if I can from the subject of confidence from clarity confidence from clarity I don't know if there's anybody out there but how many of you you love the Bible come on anybody love the Bible out there the Bible is such a peculiar book and it's important that we note that it's peculiar I mean there's some wild things about I mean it's bizarre it's old it's radical I mean in fact it's really old like it honestly it's it's surprising if we're using logic that people actually read the Bible some parts the Bible are over 5,000 years old how is it still relevant why does it matter your life it is bizarre anyone out there bold enough to agree like you read some stuff okay that's weird it's a bizarre book fires floods earthquakes phenomenons supernatural activity it's a radical book if you haven't noticed yet Jesus will say stuff like yo you want to follow me you have to die keep Majan start in friendships that way hi my name's Richie wonder my friend gonna die like whoa bro like it's not the best way to start something that's what Jesus does it's a radical book if you go through the history of the Bible I mean people have burned the Bible people have tried to banned the Bible people have mocked the Bible scoffed the Bible Kings have tried to brand it as illegal scholars have have mocked it and said that it's it's irrelevant and it's not a it's not a piece of literature that's worth reading they've tried to bury the Bible for thousands of years they've tried to put it under the ground and with the grave stone saying it's over for the Bible yet how many of you know today that no matter what they've tried to do to the Bible the Bible hasn't just survived oh come on baby the Bible has thrived did you know that the Bible is the greatest selling book of all time sorry Harry Potter it's been a best-seller since the day it came out and when you think about the Bible there's really no good earthly explanation the only way you can describe the Bible is that it's super natural this is God's book and this is God's voice and when you start to realize all that it's gone through to stand the test of time it starts to make me think maybe there's something more to the Bible maybe the Bible really is a lie maybe the Bible is active maybe the Bible is still needed is there anybody in the house today who believes in God's Word go ahead right now if it won't take 10 seconds right now thank God yeah when it comes to the Bible whenever we start to do a book study and we start to really kind of try to dig in I think there's two important questions that you ask yourself number one it's really important as we kind of dive into the next eight weeks is what is the purpose of the Bible you ever wonder what was the purpose that's about why do we have the Bible what's the point of the Bible is it just principles is it just lessons is it just teaching is it just history well I think in order to to find out the purpose you should you should use the Bible to define them Paul writes to his young apprentice 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 I love the scripture from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus so the purpose of the Bible is to bring wisdom to your life in discovering your salvation through Christ Jesus a simple way to paraphrase this is the whole Bible is about Jesus from Genesis to Revelation all the stories all the scripture all the lessons they all point back to God's Redemption plan that Jesus Christ came on a rescue mission to save us and redeem us and when you read the Bible you don't look for a principle you look to discover the person and his name is Jesus Christ he's the author Perfector and the finisher of your faith come on somebody give Jesus a round of applause that's why we read it to grow in him but it's not just what's the purpose of all it's also how do I study the Bible whenever you come around God's Word got to ask yourself these two questions what's the purpose the Bible and then how do I study the Bible now there's so many different techniques and different tools but I think is important that I kind of give you a broad idea you know every week at our church people take a step of faith and they say I want to follow Jesus and whenever someone decides to follow Jesus at vous Church we give them a Bible in most weeks if I'm being honest with you it's anywhere from 60 to 80 some Bibles that are given out every Sunday at food church come on let's go ahead and give God praise it's pretty cool some churches will go a whole year without seeing that many people cross the line of faith I'm grateful to be a part of a community we're seeing people get saved week in and week out yet many times I know when we give the Bible I know if you're being honest sometimes we get the by was like where do I begin how do I start what is this stuff I don't understand this I don't understand that and there's lots of techniques and tools that would benefit you when you study your Bible but I want to give you some a broad idea it was Jesus who said ask and you shall receive seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you what if when you read the Bible you took that to heart and I think the first thing is what if you you ask the Scriptures questions it's really really vital that when you read the Bible that you ask questions don't be okay with just passing over stuff that you don't understand the way you learn is with struggling with the scriptures but you don't just ask the Bible questions number two I think that you need to seek that you need to dig in to what God is saying discover the truths that he has for yourself see the Bible is unlike any other book because the Bible is alive and active so when you read the Bible the Bible also reads you ever notice that you shirt me like oh my goodness the Bible knows a lot about me it will offend you it will coach you it will disciple you it will deliver you it will heal you it's alive it's active it's a tool from God to do surgery on the inside of your life come on somebody give him praise in this place but I don't just ask I don't just seek I also knock the illustration that we see in the scriptures about knocking is knocking comes down to persistence and I want to challenge our church this summer me included that we would be persistent with God's Word sometimes you come to God's Word and it's like he just starts speaking to and it's like whoa it just starts hitting your life left and right if there's other times you'll get to new I go and I'm not feeling nothing I'm not sensing anything you read through the Book of Psalms and you know that David is a man after God's own heart but David at times goes on a rollercoaster ride following God sometimes he's on the mountaintop other times he's in the valley what's the point the point is whether you're on the mountaintop or the valley continue to knock and as you knock and as you persist trust that God is going to unlock some doors in your life this summer we have designed a tool for you and it's really really simple you got it when you walked in in fact if you got your journal go ahead just wave your journal up in the air wave it like you just do care okay look at that let the church say Amen okay this is a journal I think it's I think it's pretty cool y'all like it that's a photo of me right there by the way but we have designed these Roman journals we're give them out free of charge if you're watching online today you can download one at vu Church calm and you can do the journey with us but these journals have given us one technique one tool and the tool that we're going to be using in the Romans journal is that we're going to be going through a method called soap soap is simply an acronym S stands for Scripture so every day you're going to open up your journal starting tomorrow and we're going to begin to dive into the book of Romans Romans has 16 chapters and every day we have selected a portion of Scripture from Romans for you to read as you read that Scripture what I want you to do is I want you to write down one scripture that speaks to you just write the scripture down it's something beautiful about writing God's Word it's like as you start to write it it starts to get written on your heart but then secondly you're not just gonna put the scripture down you're gonna also observe it that's the Oh in soap state the facts of what you see in the scripture this doesn't have to be super deep you don't have to like wrack your brain what is the scripture saying what do you see about the scripture but then thirdly here's here's a really important one is the a in soap stands for apply I want you to bend to write down how can you apply this scripture to your life see it's not information that will change you it's information plus application which will equal transformation you can have a drawer at your house full of sunblock but baby if you don't put that sunblock on you getting burned that's how scripture is it can be in a drawer at your house if you don't apply it you're gonna get burned then lastly and here's the one I think is really important is the pee and soap which is prayer I want you to write your prayer down every single day it doesn't have to be super long but I want you to write your prayer what I have learned on my journey of soaping is I can go back two years in three years and I can look back at some of my prayers you know it's so cool to see what's cool to see is that God has been faithful and the Providence of God and the provision of God prayers that I was praying two years ago come on how many know he's a God who answers our prayers yet if you don't take time to celebrate and praise and give thanks to God for the blessings in your life you will mismanage the blessings in your life it's important that we take record of all that God has done some of the things that you were worried about yesterday guess what they're not your worries today because God was faithful God came through and he's a God who turns the impossible into the possible so it's just a tool it's just a technique the next eight weeks we're gonna study the book of Romans now Romans is 16 chapters and really this book is written by a guy by the name of Paul how many of you love the Apostle Paul just some background on Paul if you're new to church Paul had a former name his name was Saul and when he was Saul he was a bad guy like he wasn't a good Christian in fact he was really bad he was a Christian killer gives me hope I don't know what you've done but you haven't killed Christians guess what you're still a candidate to be used by God Paul has a radical encounter with Jesus in Acts chapter 9 where he's actually on the road to Damascus and he's headed to kill more Christians where Jesus appears to him in a bright light and says Saul Saul why do you persecute me and it was the beginning of Saul's conversion that he became Paul and Paul ultimately became the greatest apostle that we ever had he wrote most of the New Testament just the author alone gives us hope this book was written in 57 AD so about fifty seven years after Jesus was born some thirty years after Jesus had resurrected this book started to be formulated and starting to be written what's a little interesting just fact about the book of Romans is that Paul himself didn't actually write it but rather he used a composer or a scribe his name was tear at us and Paul would have dictated this book and spoke it to this scribe who then wrote the words down one of my favorite little facts about the book of Romans I don't know this will encourage you but but it encourages me is there's this woman named named Phoebe and not not from friends but from the Bible and Phoebe's kind of an important character because as Paul finished writing this book from the city of Corinth he wanted to send a letter to Rome now Rome was like a superpower at the time and it was the epicenter for a lot of culture that was taking place and we know that the church that he's writing to the Christians there in Rome this was not a church that he founded but rather this was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles and ultimately this church had a good report because people were talking about this church and Paul even writes in Romans chapter 1 you'll read it this week he's like y'all I've been hearing about your faith I've always thought that'd be cool that people around this city around the state around this nation wouldn't be cool people heard about the faith of vous Church that isn't that's cool it seems like I would hear about your faith but Paul ultimately he wants to write them a letter because been teaching now for quite some time and he wants to go to Rome and he wants to turn Rome into the headquarters if you will of the church at large and he wants to make sure that with what's being taught there in Rome is clearly the same doctrine that he is sharing all across the different provinces although he wants to get this letter in their hands he is unable himself to go and take the letter so guess what he does he asks Phoebe a woman to carry the letter to Rome this is what he says you'll read it as we get towards the end of the book of Romans he says I'm sending Phoebe a deacon that's important because this is the only time I think we see in the New Testament that a woman is called a deacon a deacon is someone whose ordained as a minister of God's Word why is it important it's important because there's a lot of conversation a lot of debate at times even confusion around women's roles in the church I think this moment right here in Scripture makes it pretty clear that Paul could have selected anybody but he selected Phoebe a woman to be a deliverer of the message of God come on is there any strong women in the house that you know he's calling you to be a deliverer of the message I didn't love that who should I select who should have Phoebe that's who's gonna take this important document to Rome Paul's journey through the book of Romans is ultimately he's going to take you a bit on a path and he's gonna begin to show you all of the wrong ways in life I think most of us can agree on the wrong ways but he'll lay them out very clearly specifically the wrong ways our pride and pleasure and he's trying to lead you to the right way which is Christ Jesus I guess the big theme of Paul's letter is that he's writing to the church to remind all of us that we are saved by grace that's the unmerited favor of God through faith that's trusting not working but trusting in Jesus Christ meaning our salvation was given to us as a gift from God and the only way we can get it is not achievement but rather in receiving the finished work of Jesus the book of Romans is really good news for all of us who will admit that we're all on the wrong plane and the book of Romans becomes the right itinerary of how to get home so I want us to look today at one little scripture might be and I'm kind of going on a limb because I say it a lot I know I do but I just love the Bible but this might be maybe at least my favorite scripture in the book of Romans is that fair to say I think that's fair to say Romans chapter 1 verse 16 I want you to see this you probably know this if you've been to church but this is this is cool Romans chapter 1 verse 16 Paul writes fry and not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes everyone say everyone who has good first to the Jew then to the Gentile for in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed this word righteous it's gonna be a key word that you'll see in our study a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written the righteous will live by faith faith in righteousness righteousness in faith you're gonna see it over and over and over again I suppose what I love about Romans chapter 1 is I think I love the confidence of Paul like I don't know just as a Christian kid growing up I used to sing you know I'm in the Lord's army and I used to sing father Abraham and Romans chapter 1 verse 16 for a Christian kid growing up in Sunday school is like Christian trash-talk what's that I'm not ashamed the Gospel bro like it's like it's ready to throw down and I think if I had one prayer as we begin this eight week journey here's my here's my prayer for our church for this growing church my prayer over the next eight weeks is that God would begin to produce a confidence in us that although we live in a city that's not known for the gospel although we live in a city that at times is known for its darkness and depravity my prayer for the church is that we would finish this collection of talks and we like Paul would declare boldly I am not ashamed of the gospel come on is there anybody out there who wants to make that your prayer like I just I read about Paul like everywhere I read it's like he's always bold he's always confident it's like is this guy ever afraid like Paul is a good case study because he had lots of adversity he had lots of challenges he had lots of people out to get him he'd just have so-called haters he had real enemies like people who wanted to kill him well watch this this is this is second Corinthians chapter 11 you don't have to you know to read this you don't open your Bible to this but write this down this is this is a funny scripture in my opinion is what Paul Paul's like I am more he's trash-talking I have worked much harder been in prison more frequently anyone been in prison don't read rayon it's okay um I've been flogged more severely and I've been exposed to death again and again five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one three times I was beaten with rods once I was pelted with stones three times I was shipwrecked I spent a night and a day in the open sea I have been constantly on the move I have been in danger from rivers in danger from bandits in danger for my fellow Jews in danger from Gentiles in danger in the city in danger in the country in danger at sea and in danger from false believers I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep I have known hunger and thirst and often gone without food I have been cold and naked yo besides everything else I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches so how's your week going this dude just gave a rap sheet of a lifetime of trouble like how do you go through multiple shipwrecks that's some bad luck bro after two I'm not getting on a boat ever again this man's been beaten this man's taken lashes he's been in prison you see all the places he said he was in danger in danger the city in danger the country in 80 with Jews an agent with gentle he's just going through everything I mean but in all of it he's still bold he's still confident there's this one time there's a store in the Bible where it says that they stoned Paul Paul got stoned not that kind of stoning but you know I'm talking about with just tell me like yeah me too rich that not that kind all right they took rocks and they threw them at Paul two different times he was stoned on one occasion when they stoned him like this dude the scripture says they thought he was dead Paul got up and started preaching again like I don't know but like doesn't that qualify for I think our work is finished at least today this dudes like wiping off blood yo I'm not ashamed of the gospel where did he get this type of confidence because if I'm being honest like I want this kind of confidence but if I'm being honest I'm not this confident in fact lots of times I lack confidence I don't make you raise your hand but maybe just inwardly like you ever lacked confidence like I want to be bold and I want to be a man of God like this but so often I know what the right thing is to do but I just I'm afraid or I walk in fear or shame I'm timid he ever had a moment we were you lacked confidence I was thinking this week when I first met Don Cherie we started dating at 17 years of age but really when we first met I just I just met her and I started calling her she lived in Louisiana and I lived in Miami and it was kind of challenging for me because for the first month and a half Don Cherie did not call me one time she had a rule that she would not call a guy unless that guy was her boyfriend but like she was like legal stick with this rule she wouldn't even call me back if I left her a message and stuff like a month and a half I'm like I don't know if this is going good you know sounds like one day I was like hey so like you don't ever call me and she's like yeah I don't call guys are not my boyfriend I was like okay that's smart so I knew like right I knew that I had to like you know make her my girlfriend but I was so like afraid like I don't know I just I didn't know how to get the words together and I'm here I was like this is it I'm gonna do this today this is it and so like I could call her on the phone and anyone like me that like when you when you're nervous about something on the phone you have to pace and talk you know so I was walking my parents neighborhood and like other hey listen I got to tell you something really important she's I can't tell me like you're not ready so I just just tell us it's not ready how so we just kept talking and finally about like this is true as two hours into our conversation like hey so like so like suppose suppose suppose like you hypothetically speaking suppose like you like let's say like you lived in Miami because you know I'd be like living in Miami and you already do that okay so suppose suppose you're here I don't know if you're living but like you're here like you're in the same vicinity and suppose like I was like hey like you want to go like you want to go to the movies together like like do you think you would say yes but I don't want your brothers to come with it's just I just you and me just you with me but this is how I finally confess to her that I that I liked her it was this awkward conversation where I was stumbling over my words you said rich why did you lack confidence well I think it's because of this I think a lack of confidence is often derived from a lack of clarity because I was not clear of whether or not she reciprocal would reciprocate my feelings I lacked confidence I wanted to tell her how I felt but I just wasn't sure what she was gonna say that she never called me before I don't know how we're doing and so because I lacked clarity I lacked confidence I mean stick with the metaphor for a moment you ever been like driving here in Miami and you get caught in one of these like flash-flood like n Times type rainstorms all you have to do is live in Miami D like yep I think the end of the world is gonna happen someday cuz you could be driving some of this rain I don't care how fast your wipers are there is there's not a speed fast enough tell the devil no not today it doesn't work it's it's it rains coming down so R what do you have to do you have to slow your car down why it's because you lack clarity of the road in front of you and because you lack clarity you lack confidence and although the car can go faster and although you know the roads that you've been on before because you can't see what's next you have to slow down because you lack confidence see what's wild about Paul is Paul is gonna say some of the boldest most confident statements all throughout the Scriptures some of you don't even know but some of your favorite bible verses are right here found in the book of Romans he'll say things like I am more than a conquerer that's just dope dude I am an overcomer how many how many overcomers we got in the house come on somebody give God a shout a prick you're an overcomer he'll say things like this I am convinced that neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God what a bold confession what a big Proclamation he'll say piercing statements like in Romans chapter 6 4 he says for the wages of sin is death oh but here comes the good news but the gift of God is eternal life he'll tell us in Romans chapter 8 here's another big bald one that you know and we know that in all things it will work together for the good of those that love God I really believe this is a simple teaching today I really believe that Paul's confidence came from his clarity I really think the only way that he's able to say statements like this I am not ashamed of the gospel which sounds bold and which sounds so confident is simply because as you go back to Paul's life you'll discover that Paul was quite clear in fact one of the purposes of the book of Romans is to bring clarity to our theology it's to bring clarity to the things that we believe why because the clearer we are about Jesus and the clearer we are about our document and our faith all its gonna do is produce confidence and faith for the future come on does anybody want to get clear today go ahead and give God come on give them out five seconds come on just shift the atmosphere in this place Paul will say Romans 1:16 for I'm not ashamed of the gospel yet before we can move forward you got to go backwards I want to bring you to the very first verse in the book of Romans this verse you're gonna read it tomorrow and if you're not careful you'll just pass it right by not thinking that there's any purpose in it Romans chapter 1 verse 1 I want you to see the clarity of Paul before he says I'm not ashamed of the gospel what does he say before that Romans chapter 1 verse 1 Paul a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God just in his open of his letter he's showing us the extreme clarity that he has about his life listen to me today on the faith journey there's going to be moments and there's going to be times that you are in that car with rain coming and the wipers moving and you can't see the scripture will tell us that we don't walk by sight we walk by faith no doubt about it yet if you ever want to have confidence there's three things that I know that you have to be clear about I want to ask you three questions today from Romans 1 verse 1 and I want you to write these questions down some of them you can answer today others of you you might have to go alright I'm gonna take this into the week and I'm gonna I'm gonna begin to ask myself these questions Romans 1 verse 1 let's go first hear this that Paul says Paul a servant of Christ Jesus this is now clearer as Paul I am Paul and I am a servant of Christ Jesus the first question I want to ask you today is who do you serve who do you serve you've heard me say it before and I'll say it a lot more we're all serving someone or something where does your attention go where does your focus go where does your money go where does your time go who do you serve if we live in a world today that people serve this world they serve their money they serve their job they they serve power they serve influence from the beginning of time people on the journey of life have gotten confused about who they serve Paul is going to take time even in Romans chapter 1 to give this huge debacle look at what he says Romans chapter 1 verse 21 this is just Bible study for although they knew God so it's not about knowing God for although they knew God they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened although they claimed to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a like mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another watch this they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and what's the word worship and what's the word and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised amen so what was Paul saying Paul saying that humanity they take their eyes off the Creator and they put their eyes onto the created things there's lots of things in this world that are not inherently bad in fact there's lots of things in this world that are good they're just not God and it's really scary we would try to make good things into our God because there's only one God and you have to understand that he will not compete with any of your small gods so what is it that you're serving today as you study the life of Jesus time and time again when he goes to places John chapter 1 you'll see this happen people will start to follow him people cook them and Jesus will ask a question he will say what do you doesn't say what do you know doesn't even say what do you believe no he asked a more precise question that actually digs into the soul of mankind he says what do you want because he understands that ultimately what you want is who you are this is why Paul says he gave them over to their desires telling you and I that one of the worst things that can happen to us is for us to get what we want that's why the Bible says guard your heart for it's the wellspring of life that's why we come to church that's why we get around people of faith because we're realigning what we want and who we serve discipleship is about curating and changing and letting work happen on the inside that I reassess what it is that I want I want Jesus that's who I want and if I want that that I will be a follower of him but I'll never be a follower unless I know that I'm serving him there's no competition with God like you don't even by competition right the other day I was playing basketball with some of the guys from our church and yeah little competition and it was funny there's this kid out on the court and he was he was just on the pick of court and so he end up getting on my team 16 years of age name's Chris and this kid was good man just smashing all these grown-ups and I was like bro you're going to church tomorrow you know he's like yeah if you're under the age of 18 by the way and I meet you you don't get an option I was like yeah we'll pick you up and let's go you know and so I'm talking a bit more I go hey where do you where do you go to school at he goes um I go to I tech house like well bro guess what it sounds like you're going to school again on Sunday I'm that cool house we just get out there God starts a line and stuff but we were out there competing you know anything about competing right there's effort skill matched up with other skill and people fighting and trying to win listen that works here on earth but you've got to understand that your God is not up to competing with any of your counterfeits what's a counterfeit anything that you try to make your God instead of the one true God your God will not compete with counterfeits he is all God all by himself and he cannot just be a part of your life he has to be your entire life who do you serve pyon Paul I am a servant of Christ Jesus you see he got clear about who he was serving other translations Paul will say this he will say I am a slave of Christ Jesus slave doesn't say I'm an employee doesn't say I'm a volunteer I'm a slave of Jesus Christ slave yeah Jesus bought us at a price jesus paid the ransom for our sins that's what the cross was we are not our own who do you serve because you will never be confident in your faith until you're clear about who it is that you're serving Paul continues and he says in Romans chapter 1 he says this he said I'm not just a servant of Christ Jesus I'm called to be an apostle question number two that's absolutely vital is what are you called to do I want to help our church get clear about this I don't know who you are I don't know how you walked into this room today but please listen to me loud and clear every one of us in this room whether this is your first time to a faith gathering like this or you've been coming your whole life every one of us have a calling from God you were born on purpose for a purpose you're not an accident you're not a mistake you are not a waste God has a plan for your life God has a purpose for your life he's designed your steps I think this word calling gets so confusing to people we misinterpret it we get all out there and become so deep and we get so lost and here's what I mean by calling calling is simply this it's when you get a deep revelation that you understand that you are here put on this earth for a mission that God wants to use you in a specific and precise way this is really what the growth tract is all about at vu Church this is why I push it so hard every week because my prayer is that everybody would go through it and give it an opportunity because ultimately the growth tract wants you to discover what your purpose is for God that you might be used for God you see that's just the truth right there occupation and vocation that's the thing that you do and that will change most likely throughout the years but calling is not what you do calling is who you are you know my dad he's he's a wild man if you've ever met my dad when he was raising us there's four boys I have an older brother and two younger brothers and used to say to us boys I don't know what you're gonna do to make money I don't know what you're gonna do for a job but all four of you are called to preach the gospel I don't care if you're a lawyer rich I don't care if you're an athlete jump fold I don't care if you're a doctor tailor I don't care if you're a firefighter Graham I don't know what the thing is you're gonna do on this earth but I know that whatever you do it's just a setup for you to preach the gospel don't be we're gonna be dr. preacher lawyer preacher firefighter preacher that's what you're going to do I think the word preaching is like this word that a lot it was like a now rich I don't know if I might call Dupree you know what preaching means preaching simply means to proclaim like a lot of times we reduced preaching out of like oh this guy up here no no and you we're all called to preach we're all called to proclaim what does that mean to share to speak up about what God has done in our life so I don't know what your specific calling is and I don't know what the specific mission is that God has for you but hear me loud and clear my prayer is that you would get some clarity this summer that regardless of what your title is on this earth you might be a CEO but guess what God promoted you to CEO that you might preach the good news wherever you go you might be a lawyer but God's called you to preach as a lawyer wherever you're at today he's called you to it it's good when you understand that he called you to it because the fact that he called you to it means the pressures on God not on you all your role is is to discover what that thing is he's called you do it and then obey it and if he's called you to it His grace will get you through it what God starts he always finishes so let the pressure come off your shoulders today stand up strong and let confidence begin to rise up in your life I got some confidence because I'm clearly called by God come on somebody get my shout of praise I just sense it today I just send some people you're gonna start discovering your calling and calling will always place value on your life once you know that you're called and once you discover that you are valuable you'll stop letting people make discounts on your life you just gotta know you're called to something so the faith journey it can be rain falling and I can't get the wipers going quick enough but I'm telling you what I know who I serve and I know what I'm called to do and out of this clarity confidence is rising watch Paul this is just simple Bible study teaching this summer here we go chapter 1 here's his last little part this is how he opens his letter he says I Paul a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle pasal set apart for the gospel of God set apart for the gospel God here's my third and final question I want us to catch it this is important for me leading this church why are you set apart why are you set apart the word set apart is really speaking of holiness when we hear that words when I was in church we're called to be holy you're called to be holy holiness just to break it down just means that you're set apart that you've been called out of the world I'm in the world but I'm not of the well I've been called out of that thing this is what happens to the believed that we meet and encounter Jesus and we now take on a new identity as a Christ follower the old me dies and now Jesus begins to take residence in my life and as I start to follow Jesus and I'm empowered by the spirit as we will discover in Romans chapter 8 how many of you know I start to walk a little bit different that's hurt to talk a little bit differently I start to behave differently the Apostle Paul he writes it so beautifully romans chapter 12 verse 1 we will talk about it this summer he says therefore I urge you dear brothers and sisters in view of God's loving mercy to offer your bodies as spiritual acts as offering bodies as living sacrifices as a spiritual act of worship and he says in verse 2 do not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind I think many times the church simply says like hey don't conform the patterns of this world and when they say that a lot times what they mean is like don't dress like the world don't get tattoos like the world god forbid you eat the food of this world - listen to the music of this world in fact hate all the art of this world don't get me wrong on the journey there's some things that are just absolutely evil and wrong but I think many times we have we've gone too soft on that passage of Scripture and we've kept it on the surface when Paul was absolutely going so much deeper he's saying don't conform to the patterns of this world you know how you do that by renovating your mind meaning the way that I transform myself in the way that I look different from the world is simply by me thinking differently from this world I don't think like this world I don't act like this world I don't function like this world it's the paradox of the gospel right the world says rich get rich but Jesus says no die to yourself the world says be a leader but but Jesus is like no no no no like surf rolls I get get catches like give give cue well it's like get glory make it all about you but I got a different thought process I think differently no I'm gonna be willing to suffer I'll be willing to go lower this is called a transformed mine a renewing of the mind I don't conform to the patterns of the world I've been set apart I once was in darkness but now I'm in the light I think differently we're not enemies I love you I was just cursing you no no I love you could curse my name all you want I'm just will forgive you I want to kill you you could crucify me like Jesus I'm still gonna say I love you this is counterculture this is transformation this is what our cities need you really think that simply Jesus came so that you wouldn't dress like those that are on television I know some of us we need to clean up to what we're dressing bums and that's not the the depth of it the depth of things that we would think our whole operating system would be different yet we have to go down to the point why does God want you to be set apart why do you walk different why do you talk different why do you think different is so we can sit here at the 12:15 service and say wow it's because we're morally more strong than those out there all those people from my job they're at brunch in the beach right now not me I study the Bible is that really what was that why we've said do you think he set us apart so that we could judge the world do you think that you've received grace so that you can condemn those that don't know what you know do you think we gather on Sunday so we can look at each other go wow we're doing pretty good look at us filling rooms all across this city who know time now man we're doing a grip that's not that's not why we're set apart there's one reason in particular why you've been set apart you've been set apart so that God can use you so I want us to catch this summer the reason why the Holy Spirit's gonna speak to you this year this summer and tell you to let go of some things to get rid of some stuff it's not because he's trying to limit your life it's because he wants to use you in a more effective and powerful way the reason why some of you have to get out that relationship oh it's not because he doesn't want you to have a great a good relationship it's because he wants you to have a great relationship and that relationship is never gonna get you into the future and you'll never be used to the effectiveness that he has for you so he's gonna say guess what I'm calling you out I'm gonna set you apart you can't go there anymore you can't say it like that anymore you don't think that way you don't talk that way you don't behave that way not because you're better than them but because I want to use you for them I want to use you for them I love it Pastor Jentezen Franklin one of my heroes he preached many years ago and on the subject of holiness and it just changed me forever he used this beautiful analogy that I think will speak to you today said the reality of it is is that we as believers or nothing more than a box you're a box I'm a box that's just the truth you've ever ordered a pizza before and you get the pizza to your house no one ever eats the pizza and goes wow look at that box that's one incredible box we got to save that box let's put that box in the shelf that's a gorgeous box no no the box is kind of cheaply made the box gets thrown away gets discarded the box has one function which is to carry the contents of that which somebody has ordered [Music] there's not much to it really I don't want to underestimate the box can you imagine order to pizza and you open up the door and the delivery man's holding the pizza in his hand there you go it's your pizza you're like oh God now you know no the box carries the contents but you don't order a pizza for the box you order a pizza for the pizza the only thing that really matters about that box is that that box is clean and that that box is empty all I need out of that box is for that box should be clean and empty so the contents can go on the inside I need to be clean because that which I'm going to consume that which I'm going to receive I don't want to eat off a dirty plate I want it to be a clean container [Applause] I'm telling you today the only thing that God needs out of who church is that we would be a church that says God here we are once again clean us up Lord set us apart God make us a holy people God help us not Lord to conform to the patterns of this world but God Here I am I'm pouring myself out again Lord I'm not filled up with pride and I filled up my pleasures I've emptied myself of my desires God I'm clean and empty Lord that people might consume of you that's all we are we're a box built-in design to carry the good news of who Jesus is why are you set apart you've set apart cuz God wants to use you like never before my prayer over the next eight weeks is that as a church we would boldly and confidently proclaim I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes yeah I don't think we're ever gonna make that confident statement until we first get clear about who we serve what we're called to do and while we're set apart it's called confidence from clarity do you believe that today come on foo church go ahead and give cheese as a big round of applause you

Channel: VOUS Church

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Keywords: rich wilkerson jr, vous, church, miami, romans, confidence, clarity

Id: Q-6PWBt9p2k

Length: 49min 51sec (2991 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 25 2018