Romans 1:14-16 "Gospel Stewardship" - 1/19/2017

alright guys we got a killer study today it's going to be tremendous so it's a great Thursday morning to be here let's begin the word of Prayer father in heaven thank you for this opportunity to come together to look into your word and I pray that we can minister to one another most of all we pray that your word would address us challenge us encourage us further equip us to what you've called us to do so I pray that your Holy Spirit would be the primary teacher here today and that you would work through me give me the words and the insight that I can rightly handle your word so father we pray this in Christ's name Amen all right Romans 1 my Bible is just now automatically flopping open to Romans 1 so we've talked about that we're in the opening prologue which is the first 17 verses of Romans and it's all about what the entire book is about which is the gospel the gospel is the good news of salvation and that is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ and so especially in the first seven verses we've been hammering out just all of the specifics of the gospel and last time in verses 8 through 13 we looked at the servant of the gospel so this morning we want to look at verses 14 through 17 and the thrust of these verses is very simply this it's not enough just simply to know the gospel it's not enough just to have it in your head it's not enough to be able to answer the questions you've got to do something with the gospel and there is a sacred stewardship that has been entrusted to each and every one of us in the gospel and we must invest it we cannot bury it in the ground it's like money that's been given to us we've got to invest it we can't just hide it in a in a jar and bury it in the ground for no-one to to see it we've got to put it out in the marketplace we've got to get it out there and invest it we can't be a hoarder of the gospel well we have to be an investor of the gospel and on the last day when we stand before the Lord this is gonna be a part of our accountability what did you do with the gospel not just simply what did your preacher or your pastor do with the gospel or what did your elders do with the gospel but each of us individually on the last day will give an account to the Lord one on one on did we invest or did we hoard the gospel of Jesus Christ it's not enough just to come to a Bible study it's not enough just to take notes it's not enough to be able to articulate what it is it has to be invested it has to be put out there in the world for people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ so as we look at these verses these verses are known as Paul's three great I am and you'll note it very quickly in verse 14 I am verse 15 I am verse 16 I am boom boom boom and it's all related to Paul's sense of obligation with the gospel his eagerness with the gospel and his excitement for the gospel so let me just begin by reading these verses and and these are very personal for each each one of us Paul writes verse 14 I am under obligation bethe to Greeks and to barbarians both to the wise and to the foolish so then for my part I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in it referring to the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith it's as if we've lifted up the hood and looked down into the engine of the Apostle Paul but what what is driving him this pertains not to the outward facade but but what is his heartbeat what is his passion what is motivating him what's driving him and what's driving him has got to be driving me and it's got to be driving you as well so I want us to look now at these at these three great on Iams so he begins in verse fourteen I am under obligation there are a lot of Christians today who would just say this hey we're all under grace there's no such thing as duty there's no such thing as obligation there's nothing laid on me you're a legalist yeah you're just all about law I'm free I can just do what I want to do and that's fool's talk because we are under obligation we are under the under obligation to God and to Christ and to others and Paul makes that abundantly clear in fact that it could not be any more crystal clear a blind man could see this in the Bible I am under obligation and what is true of Paul is true for every one of us in this room that Paul's not overhearing a special line and all the rest us or another line and Paul hope you do well being under obligation no he is speaking for every believer so notice certain things he says I'm under obligation notice how this began I am NOT I will be not I once was every moment of every day it's a present tense verb I am no matter when Paul would say this I'm under obligation whether he had just become a believer on the Damascus Road whether he's in a prison cell in Rome about to have his head severed whether he is on his first second or third missionary journey whether he is in his first Roman imprisonment no matter where Paul is whether he's in the Arabian desert he is always under obligation it is a constant state of obligation and it's not just hey I'm under obligation on Sunday morning it's not just I'm under obligation when I'm teaching Sunday school it's not just that hey I'm under obligation on Tuesdays like life is a multiple choice and we get to pick and choose when we want to step in with the Lord it's 24/7 right now you and I are under obligation yeah when he says under obligation the old King James and new King James says I'm a debtor and that's very much the idea though obligation works as well it's hard to go from one language to it to another language but it speaks of the word and it's its background speaks of a financial obligation like you're in debt to someone and you have an obligation to pay off the debt now this should strike us as surprising initially that Paul would say I'm under obligation for two reasons number one salvation of the free gift I mean how can you be a debtor if you receive something as a free gift and later in chapter 3 and verse 25 he will talk about salvation is a gift and you know that and of course in Ephesians 2 in verse 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith verse 24 Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift of His grace features 2:8 for by grace you have been saved through faith so how in the world did we end up in debt after we've received a free gift and we hadn't paid anything so that's a question that we need to think about how in the world could Paul say he has gone into debt for a free gift how did that work I mean that sounds like a New York real estate you know it's certainly not a Dallas real estate deal how'd that work gotta read the fine print second reason this is rather surprising if you think about it Paul's never even been to Rome he's never bought anything in room he's never met these people I mean they're no credit cards back then so he is now in debt for a free gift with people he's never even met nor it nor been there well this you can be in debt two ways and I want you to think about this one way to be in debt let's use me as example the bill fus was to give me a hundred dollars just ponder that bill c-loc meditate then I'm in debt if he's lent me $100 as long as that hundred dollars in my pocket I'm a debtor to bill I need to give it back to him at some point that's one way the other way would be if bill Foose gave me a hundred-dollar bill and he said when you see Kent's ting back give him the hundred dollar bill now I have a two-way debt I'm actually an obligation to Bill who gave me the hundred dollars so as long as this hundred dollars in my pocket I'm in debt still in debt to Bill but also I'm in debt to Kent because I'm supposed to give it to Kent that's the way the second way that this works the riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ when you become a believer have been deposited into your account and you are now the recipient of the free gift of salvation but we are charged to give it to others to share the gospel with others to actually talk to people about Christ and as long as I withhold talking about Christ to someone else whether it's in my office and my family someone I went to school with some when I sit next to on an airplane I'm in debt to them because God has given me the gospel to give to them but also in a more primary way I'm in debt to God not to pay for this but in a sense of accountability and responsibility and on the last day I'm gonna have to stand before him and the and he's going to go through my my portfolio and did I invest this or did I just hoard it and just keep it to myself and and just kind of do a group hug with myself with the gospel so Paul is saying hey I'm sitting on ready to come to Rome because I've got a big debt to pay off there's there's been something put into my pocket into my heart that I've got to pass on to others so the same is true with you and the same is true with me so wherever the Lord sends you today you're under obligation to speak to people about the Lord as God opens those doors and opportunities and I'm not talking about just being a wild-eyed fanatic and standing on a street corner and and and just intimidating people and running roughshod over people I'm talking about building bridges towards people and befriending them and getting to know them and as God gives the opportunity to talk to them but we've been building bridges for years you know at some point we've got to carry the gospel across that bridge to others and actually man-to-man mano a mano or son to mother or whatever talk to them about Jesus Christ in order to discharge our responsibilities in the Old Testament the imagery was slightly different with Ezekiel but Paul picks up on it in the book of Acts that Ezekiel said he's like a watchman on the wall and there are the people behind the wall and if the watchman sees the enemy coming he must blow the trumpet and if the people do not respond and the enemy come and destroy them then their blood is on their own hands that was their fault you believe the trumpet they chose to sleep in turn a deaf ear to the warning and to the message that's on them you did your part you warned them on the other hand as Eagle says if I see the enemy coming and I choose not to blow the trumpet and the people are destroyed their blood is on my hands and will give an account for that on the last day in Acts chapter 20 when Paul meets with the elders at Ephesus after he'd been with them for three years and he's about to have his farewell and they're going to hang on his neck and with tears you know say goodbye to him Paul will say my hands are free from the blood of all men I've spoken up publicly I've spoken up house to house I've been in big groups small groups I've been in one-on-one and I have not failed to blow the trumpet my hands are free from the blood of all men and if any just turn a deaf ear that's on them so that that's where we begin in verse 14 here this recognition that we Paul was under obligation you're under obligation I'm under obligation to do something with this so I want you to think about you're going to be running into today and you've got to have this precept that is God gives me the opportunity to testify for the Lord I'm gonna jump right into that I'm gonna talk to them I'm not gonna have to pray about it I've already prayed about it I'm looking for the opportunity now notice in verse 14 to whom he is under obligation verse 14 he says both to Greeks and to barbarians both to the wise and to the foolish that's what we call parallelism there's an a line at a beeline it's this it's the way to say the same thing but with different words and so when he says to Greeks that refers to those who are the up and out those who are at the top of society's rung those are the cultured those are the educated the Greeks were the refined the polished the Greeks were those who loved the Arts the Greeks were those who had social graces and social skills the Greeks were those who had arisen to the top of the ladder and we're at the top of the social and cultural scene the Greeks had read the Philosopher's out of Athens the Greeks were very conversant with people as though they had a liberal arts education but that's who the Greeks aren't Paul says I'm under obligation to people who have who have ascended to the highest levels of society but then he also says Paul doesn't just target one zip code Paul then also says to barbarians that's the tough open synthesis if the Greeks are at the the top of the ladder the bottom the barbarians are in the basement I mean the barbarians you couldn't be any lower than the barbarians and I mean the barbarians were crude they were rude they had no social graces they had no polish they had no learning they probably couldn't in fact they could not even read and the word barbarian was a derisively looking down because when the barbarians talk their accent and their pronunciation is so crude they just abuse the language that we can't even understand what you're saying and so when they talk it sounds like this bar bar bar bar bar bar bar bar bar and that's where the word barbarian comes from it's not even a word it's it's just a mocking of people who have never even been taught how to read and write and speak to others now this is a figure of speech known as inclusio where you address the two extremes and what is to be implied is and everyone else in between it would be like saying this from the east coast to the west coast America is going to be great again that implies not just New York and California already that explicitly says New York and California but it is implied and every flyover state in between Kansas and Oklahoma and Texas and everything else so when he says I'm under obligation to Greeks and barbarians he means not only the top rung and the bottom rung but every rung on the ladder in other words everyone if you're breathing I'm under obligation to you before God and to God to talk to you about Jesus Christ as God gives me the opportunity now he backs up and runs at it again at the end of verse 14 he says both to the wise and to the foolish that's this that's the another way of saying the same thing the wives refers not to wise and the things of the Lord this is wise like Paul uses it in first Corinthians one wise and the things of this world those who are wise in their own eyes those who have all the degrees after their name those at the highest level of school like Paul who sat at the feet of Gamaliel and wise in the philosophies of this world and the ideologies of this world and multilingual and unable to be conversant on on all different range of subject that's the wise wise in their own eyes the fact is they don't know that they don't know they're not wise in the things of God but they're wise in the things of this world which is bankruptcy and then and the wise match up with the Greeks now the foolish at the universe 14 matches up with the barbarians there they know they're foolish they say they know they've never been to school that they know they grew up on the wrong side of town I mean that they know they haven't had the advantages and the privileges that have been afforded to the wise I mean that they know that and they are just foolish but they are they're not just foolish in the things of the Lord they're even finishing the things of the world I mean it's a double hit Paul says I'm under obligation even to the foolish as well as to the wise and everything in between so I want to say it again Paul cannot say you know my ministry is to upper-class white businessmen whatever whatever but I don't I'm if I'm sitting next to someone else over here I get a pass on that because that's just not my mission field Paul goes wrong whoever God providentially brings across your path whether they're up and out down and out as you are traveling the road of life then you're under obligation to talk to them now by and large we're going to we're going to bloom where we're planted and that's God's sovereign providence and we're going to talk to the people who are closest around us and that's generally going to be people who are like us but you know those are the hardest people to reach the easiest thing to do is get on a plane come go with me to Africa or Russia I don't even know these people are I'm never gonna see them again I mean I can I can be as bold with them I mean who cares short term missions is easy you won't know what's hard is to be a witness for Christ in your family that's that's tough because I'm gonna see you next Christmas and the following Christmas and the next Thanksgiving and I'm the one who said you know whatever whatever to you or the person you work with that's a whole lot harder because I'm gonna have to see you and talk to you on an ongoing basis trust me the easiest thing is to get on a plane go someplace for a week and and just pass out pamphlets and talk to people and get on playing come back and who knows what the fallout was from that the toughest thing is right where we are so I'm under obligation now verse 15 this is good we need verse 15 okay I need it you need it repeat that with me all right so for my part and it's really important use this for my part in other words if everybody does this or if nobody does this for my part if everybody's in on this or nobody's in on this for my part okay I mean it's like the coach talking to the kickoff team listen I'm not gonna wait for Fred to make the tackle I'm not gonna wait for Kent to get off the bench you know whatever I'm gonna make the tackle for my part and so Paul is owning up to his obligation so for my part and that's every one of us need to be able to say this for my part I am eager now it's one thing to have an obligation it's something else to be eager to pay it off it's one thing to be under obligation and just drag your feet to discharge the duty and just well let's just get this over with it's something else to be spring-loaded and I'm sitting on ready and I am eager and I want to go do this this is a privilege this is a joy this is why I am breathing on planet Earth so he says I am eager now please note to preach the gospel not just live it and that's very important that we live it in front of people but we can live the gospel in front of people and they just go to hell thinking we're a good old boy you know I mean so what did that get us you know in fact that was rather self-serving and to some extent that now you were just a good person in front of them nobody is going to heaven because they think you're a good person we have to preach the gospel to them and that's what Paul says in verse 15 I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are also in Rome and to preach the gospel and the Greek is one word and we get the word evangelism from it it's just one word in the Greek comes up three or four words in English to preach the gospel you uncle Enzo you can almost hear evangelism and you on the lids oh now this word eager we just need to pause for a moment eager it's a compound word and it's worth bringing to your attention the idea is the forward lean of a runner we nice play football you could tell who wanted to go up the middle and he didn't want to go up the middle I mean there was always like him practice some wannabe third string guy would put him in it running back and he's having to go and guess the first string defense and this is just gonna be child abuse I mean this is gonna be bad I mean he's just gonna be destroyed so you know he's right he's on the scout team and running the plays that will be the team will be playing against this week and so it's his time to go off tackle right well everybody on the first string defense knows it's off tackle this little Kabini you know hit gets the ball and everyone knows he's getting the ball because he's shaken in the huddle his eyes are like saucers ship oh and he's got cottonmouth and and and the hypno whole thing and so you give him the ball and he's heading to off tackle right well I mean he's like a glacier you know I mean it's like he'll get there at leap year you know and he is not hitting the hole I guarantee you there's no forwardly but he's leaning backwards already he's going into it backwards like he's doing the limbo under uh under a rod it's the very antithesis of this word eager it's the idea of the forward lean man I'm pressing for this and the main root word is the word for passion and and literally heavy breathing like almost like a bull heavy breathing ready to charge and the word passion here even a heavy breathing of a husband-wife relationship I mean there is an excitement of a passion to to press on but that's the word here for eager with a prefix in front of it to intensify the word so so Paul didn't have the emergency brake on here I mean Paul is in fifth gear and he's got his pedal to the metal and I am eager to preach the gospel to you know also who are in Rome now that word also every word in the Bible has importance the word also clearly implies he's been preaching at other places I want to preach it to you also who are in Rome that means if I'm in Corinth if I'm in Ephesus if I'm in wherever I'm eager to preach the gospel no matter where I am now in Rome that this is amazing if there was one tough place on planet Earth to preach the gospel it would have to be wrong I mean Rome is the the hub the capital of the Roman Empire there's more there's more just sheer depravity in Rome it's a cesspool of iniquity it's not the buckle of the Bible Belt okay it's the the filthiest dirtiest most idolatrous most immoral incestuous place on planet earth I mean it's it's whatever is foul on the earth is growing healthy in Rome and so Paul says man I am eager to go to Rome I am eager to go to those toughest places to put the gospel up is the old saying the bigger they are the harder they fall when the light shines into the darkness the darkness cannot expel the light but the light will always expel the darkness and Paul is ready to go to Rome now this begs this question so what is your room what is your hardest place to witness to go inner circle relationships people you work with family members his where is your room who are those people that you've almost written off and be the hardest people to reach with a gospel in fact I didn't talk with them to them in years Paul is challenging us we've got to be ready but we've got to be eager to reach those who are the furthest away from the Lord and Paul is example a of this no one was further away from Christ than then Saul of Tarsus and so Paul understands listen if I can be brought to Christ anybody can be brought to Christ if the Lord can capture me the Lord can capture anyone because I'm the chief of sinners so Paul is eager to go to Rome I mean I mean he's like Caleb going into the Promised Land give me the biggest mountain with the biggest Giants on it that's who I want don't give me the nursery to be in charge of give me the toughest yards to gain I want the ball in my hand for this now there's one more verse 16 yeah what time you got there Ken oh we're doing tremendous did I wake you okay very good all right there's one more I'm I hope I hope these are sinking in I'm under obligation I am eager I'm not ashamed now please note again the impact of I am NOT I will be not I'm hoping to achieve to not one day I'll arrive well I you know I just got here I'm not there yet no I am this that this is where I am Who I am this is my constant state this is my habitual lifestyle I am not ashamed now this too is a figure of speech and it is a figure it's a very somewhat of a rare figures before we use it it's a double negative in which you say something in the negative unashamed you put not in front of it and it means the total opposite of unashamed I mean for example I I could ask can't so I had you play golf today well it wasn't bad that means it was good if you say well it wasn't bad it's like isaiah 55:11 God's Word will not return to Him void let me tittle it will return to him and perform the fullness of what God has intended it's a figure of speech that's intended to be memorable that lodges into her mind Paul could have said hey I'm I'm fired up I'm excited I'm eager but this has more of an impact to put it in a double negative I am not ashamed now can you imagine if if for just got married to Jesse and if I if I I would say to forward in front of all you guys so tell me about Jessie and if or it goes I just want you to know I'm not ashamed of her oh wow you need some serious marriage okay usually don't say that del 30 years in so but it's a powerful form of communication that Paul is using here I'm not ashamed that's even stronger than saying I'm I'm excited and I'm enthusiastic I'm not ashamed of the gospel the gospel is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it and the it refers to the gospel it is the power of God this is why Paul is so eager in verse 15 this is why Paul is so not ashamed in verse 16 because the gospel has the power to blow any life out of the water it doesn't matter where a person is it doesn't matter what the past is it doesn't matter what the sin has been doesn't matter what the hang-up is it doesn't matter what the upbringing is it doesn't matter if you're a Greek you're a barbarian if you're wise in your own eyes if you're foolish in your own eyes it doesn't matter who you are where you are what you are the gospel is far more powerful than your sin the gospel is far more powerful than your resistance the gospel is far more powerful than whatever lifestyle you've been caught up in the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and as a lot of you know around this table this word power comes from a greek word that comes into the english language as dynamite it's the dynamite of God there is no more powerful message in the entire world than the gospel of Jesus Christ it no message as a greater impact than the gospel no message has a more lasting effect upon a person's life to change them from the inside out than the gospel every other message just is is is behavior modification it's just an outward touching up of a person's life it is the gospel that works from the inside out and revolutionizes a person's life such that they're not even the same anymore they're not even the same person they're a new creature in Christ Jesus it's not just warmed over left warmed over leftovers the old things are passed away behold new things have come and if this hasn't happened in your life you have never received the gospel you cannot receive the gospel and it not blow you out of the water and it not so dramatically impact your life but that you are radically changed and transformed at the deepest level of your being that this isn't just painting the outside of your life this is a total reconstruction process the old things have been torn down new things have been put in place and you are totally rewired you are totally restructured you have a new mind you have a new heart you have a new will you have a new disposition you have a new standing before God you have a new priority you have a new pursuit you have a new life direction you have a new destiny I mean that there couldn't be a more dramatic makeover of your life then what happens when you receive the gospel of Jesus Christ this is not just a box you check that this is this is the total radical transformation of your life from the inside out and you will never be the same again that's the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and I want to say this again emphatically if this hasn't happened then you've never received the gospel it doesn't come in like small little firecracker allotments a little snap gun pop that just goes off in your life it's all or nothing the gospel doesn't come in segments the gospel comes in a in a holistic comprehensive package of truth that when it is received it it explodes in a person's life and the one who wrote this verse stands as as Exhibit A as the prototype for every one of our conversions I mean Paul could not have been any more hell-bent on going to apprehend the Christians and drag them back to Jerusalem and have them put to death just like Stephen had been put to death for blasphemy against God for saying that Jesus Christ is the son of God and in one moment he's taken down in one moment he's knocked off his high horse and his entire life is rerouted to the point that when they take him to the Bible study in the prayer group in Damascus he has to have someone walk in with him and say this isn't a trick and this isn't a Trojan horse come into the Bible study here he really did get saved he's one of us now it was that dramatic from A to Z so I'm not ashamed of the gospel no wonder he was so eager it's the power of God unto salvation the word salvation let's just talk about this for one second I mean that's a word that's used a lot especially in the south and I wonder if we actually really grasp the significance of what this word means it means deliverance to be delivered from great danger it means to be rescued and we say okay so what was the danger verse 18 tells us the danger and it's a big-time danger he says for the wrath of God is revealed present tense verb right now not will be in hell one day is right now the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men the steaming-hot vengeance and fury and hatred of sin of God is right now bearing down upon every unbeliever there's a whole lot more to the story than smile God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life it is sinners in the hands of an angry god Edwards got it right out of the Bible and to be saved means to be rescued not from loneliness not from a bad job not from personal insecurity it means to be saved from God and there's only one who can save from God and that is God himself and only God can rescue you from himself and if God does not rescue you God will damn you and you will suffer the torment and the affliction of those in eternal hell and hell cannot be hot enough for the person who was outside of Christ who have risen up and rebelled against the holy God of heaven and earth every one of us in this room desperately needs to be rescued from imminent danger of the wrath of God the fury and the vengeance it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the Living God and there's only one way to be saved and that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ so that's another reason why Paul is amped up he is eager to go to Rome because there are people who are under the wrath of God who need to be delivered and rescued and there is only one way and that is through the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone I meant Greek barbarian wise foolish and he will now break this out religiously in in in verse 14 he broke it out culturally from Greek to barbarian from wise to finish those are cultural distinctions now in verse 16 he breaks it out religious distinctions to the Jew first and also to the Greek now that's a very important statement there's only one way for someone to be saved whether you're a Jew or whether you're a Greek and that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ but there's not another way for a Jew to be saved that's different from a Gentile there's only one narrow gate that leads into the kingdom of God and that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ when he says the Jew first it's almost like a ripple effect tossing a pebble into a pond and the ripple effect that moves out to the Jew first because the gospel came to the Jews and they were to take it to the world and they were to take it to the Gentiles and they just totally bombed on their mission and they just hoarded it to themselves and they just sunk down into a spiral down into a into a black hole and never took it to the to the world in fact even when Jonah was commissioned to go to Nineveh he ran in the opposite direction he didn't want them to be saved he just wanted it to he wanted it to stay the way it's always been he didn't want others in on this he wanted to hide this in his back closet and and so he gets on a ship and hence of Tarsus which is basically Spain and he's supposed to go to Nineveh which is in the opposite direction that's like being in Dallas God calls you to go to New York you get on plane to go to Los Angeles I'm trying to get as far away from what God wants me to do is I constantly because I don't want anyone else in on this great deal that we've got going on what what a miserable mindset what a selfish self-absorbed self-consumed way to live on planet Earth but it's not just Israel it can be also the Church it can also be us that we just want to keep it to ourselves and we don't want anything to change and we don't want anyone else in on this good deal that we've got going on in fact it's a great club I don't know that we want anyone else in the club so Paul says to the Jew we're going to take the gospel to them and then we're going to spring-load and and then we're going to take it to the Gentile to the Greeks where we're going to go to everyone with this gospel so I think what I should do is stop right here and we're going to talk about this and then we'll pick it up with verse 17 because verse 17 is so important it's the theme of the entire book so I don't want to have to go through the you know the drive-thru window on verse 17 we're going inside get I want a table head don't know service yet we want to talk a while we want to burn we want to savor verse 17 okay there's so much going on in verse 17 it's just fabulous if you're not here next week for verse 17 you're not safe okay so I just really want you to go to heaven so you got to come here I got to go here come here first from here you go to heaven okay so let's just talk about 4 14 15 16 be at least three three great Iams let me just open it up and tell me how do you think this affects your life everyone's staring with their shoes right now don't make me call on you Matt all right big time so what so what's the what's the impact of this for for Matt all right someone else yeah it just is yeah and especially when that rejection is so kind of personal like I know you I don't know someone in Kazakhstan in fact I can you pronounce your name but I know you and we have to go to a committee meeting every week together and staff meeting every you know the whole thing cedar inconsistencies and they expect you to be different which you should be but you're not perfect that's why you have a savior yeah so how do we overcome this man giving the gospel given the power of the gospel that were under construction we've been totally transformed but we're in process we've been justified but we're being sanctified sure so we've been made perfect but we're being made perfect sure listen there's not a man in this room who does not struggle with this there's not a man in this room who can say you know okay I've already maxed out on this what else have you got for me all right I'm there I need a challenge okay now every one of us because the more spiritual the activity the more difficult it is and it'd be so much easier just to take you know bring doughnuts to the office and be the class hero than it is to serve the gospel well I think one way we overcome it is is what Paul says in verse 16 I mean his realization of what the gospel can do in a person's life how much power I think we forget how much power we almost think the power has to be in our presentation has to be a power presentation has to be a Power Lunch it has to be power something related to us nothing can be further from the case God works through weak people to take a powerful message the power is in the gospel I mean we tweet we pull the pin and get out of the way you know it's a hand grenade all ready to go off in someone's life we don't and we don't have to make it powerful it is powerful all we have to do is present it as God gives us opportunities teach it in a class share it with our children and and pray for God to work it into their their soul yeah yeah the gospel being supernatural it is a supernatural message with supernatural power it's it's out of the box it is so far outside of this world it's come down from another world it's come from God that's what he said at the end of verse one it's the gospel of God this is this is God's gospel it has the power that God possesses yeah someone else well I think that the problem sometimes this remains with you no faith because everybody says outwardly yeah like no huh I have faith but I've heard this illustration about you know the goddess crosses on a cable you know this precipice and everybody's cheering for him and then he's the hero and do you think they can do with you well why don't you climb on my back and I take you yeah the rope over Niagara Falls yeah yeah I'm happy for you to do it exactly this is the problem when it is our time to say I'm not ashamed I'm hunter and I'm going he's like wait a minute yeah and then there's when we realize that you know our faith is not as strong as it should be whether you are into the minister at large dam for you know like the guy in charge of the nurseries that doesn't matter it is like you know it's a matter of our faith mm-hm it is a struggle because we're not in the world as we must and even when we are is difficult to believe it and if we believe that like Bouldin will be eager yeah so that's the issue that's the reality at least it's know sometimes for for me I still struggle with that mm-hmm ya know it's well put Alan absolutely someone else bill I'm gonna make first ring hey God loves to take the third string and stick it in the end zone because he gets all the glory yeah God loves to take nobody's like us and do extraordinary things through us and we were all laughing at the guy to the third-string running back and it is kind of a funny picture but that's us but that's everyone of us and we're tripping over our words and we're stumble into the line of scrimmage but God works through us because the power is not in us the power is in the message not in the messenger it's a weak messenger but a strong message yeah what time you got Kent eight o'clock anyone got one last bit of wisdom to put on us me myself and I I love myself but am I willing to love others yeah because that's what you have to do to present the gospel and God loved me when I was in I think that considering what God has done for us is so key always remembering that he loved me when I was unlovable yeah he loved me and so often we're so afraid because we want to love ourselves and we don't want to be reviled we don't want to extend our hand and get bitten mm-hmm and Afghan recalled depending and you look back at your life in your ashamed of how selfish you are yeah yeah so that's what's so convicting about this yeah because this is not me so often yeah don't I think I think too that we we don't want to offend anybody the reality is the greatest love that we could have is tell somebody the the eternal truth within it and accept Christ faith alone and they don't go to hell yeah so though that's really not loving someone if we don't want to give only OspA is it yeah is the greatest thing what you do in loving someone is to give on the gospel and be in heaven with them yeah absolutely thousand years from now but we my mind thinks no I don't want you to be upset with me when we go to lunch yeah like you got the cure for cancer but I just want to hurt your feelings yeah I'll close with this last Saturday I'm eating I'm in Los Angeles and I'm this past Saturday and I'm eating lunch at a restaurant with four other Christians I've got an 89 year old woman who wants me to eat with her three grandkids okay so I can't I can't say no to this 8900 lady who's a wonderful lady and her three grandkids are triplets and go to the Christian school out there so we're at this round table like this eating breakfast waitress comes up and it's kind of like you know here's five of those Christians I mean do we talk to her do we not talk to her about the Lord you know so I'm kind of sputtering you know like I don't want to you know mess up a nice lunch I don't want to embarrass this girl whatever whatever lo Mahal is the 89 year old grandmother has got the the faith to say so what's your name and she goes well my name is Sarah I know that's getting ready to come 89 year old grandmother go Sarah that's a wonderful name you know Sarah's in the oh good and boom in like five seconds has made this transition well within two more seconds this 89 year-old grandmother goes so are you a Christian well I'm kind of almost like sliding up sliding under the table a little bit like oh I feel so embarrassed for you to be asked this is we're all smiling at you and she goes oh yes she says I'm a Christian and I my mother named me for Sarah in the Bible but I mean that that should challenges me I mean I can't let some 89 year old grandmother lap the field you know and just use me to mop up the feet okay I I mean I need to be leading the parade you know but we all need to be stepping out in faith to see how can we talk to people about the Lord Jesus Christ so all of us here as I close this I need to be able to say that you need to be able to say I'm under obligation that's just a fact I am eager that needs to be in place and I'm not ashamed so God do that in my life today let me close the word of Prayer father thank you for this Bible study we need what Paul has said to be in our lives we need to be more in our lives so bring us up to speed with where we need to be give us give us a greater passion for the gospel it was a greater passion for people and help us strengthen us enable us empower us to be what you've called us to be we can't do this to ourselves we humble ourselves and yield to you in Christ's name Amen amen all right give me the kickoff team on the 50-yard line I'm with helmet on chin straps buttoned I want to see 11 head gears on that runner yeah yeah yeah we're next Thursday for those of you watching and love to see you again so join in with us we're going to be on the theme verse for the entire book of Romans Romans 1 verse 17 if you check in on any verse it's a week from today which would be January 26

Channel: OnePassionMinistries

Views: 5,469

Rating: 4.967742 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Study, Men's, Men, Word, Scripture, Verses, Romans, Teach, Preach, Steve Lawson, Steven J Lawson, One Passion, One Passion Ministries, Christ, Jesus, Church, God, Believers

Id: wpg4mnRQKPk

Length: 63min 46sec (3826 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 07 2017