Sermon Notes 5-1-2016

The Road to Romans 2016!

We Give because God gave first!

So today we will be in

Romans 15:22–33 (NLT)

²²In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places.

²³But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.

²⁴I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.

²⁵But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there.

²⁶For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem.

²⁷They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially.

²⁸As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain.

²⁹And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.

³⁰Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit.

³¹Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation I am taking to Jerusalem.

³²Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.

³³And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen.

Paul circles back around!

²²In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places.

²³But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.

·      Paul comes back around

·      To the start of his letter

Romans 1:10 (NLT)

¹⁰One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you.

·      Paul wanted to visit the saints in Rome

·      He longed to spend time with them

·      But his mission came first

·      Reaching the lost was his sole priority

Two simple verse pack a lot of power if we just look close!

·      He was delayed for years, because his mission for Jesus came first

·      We learn its not about our wants, our needs, our comfort

·      Its about Jesus’s call on our life

What about you?

·      Where are you inconvenienced for Jesus?

·      Where are you serving?

·      What part of your life are you giving up to, to live for the one that died for you?

·      If we were all serving, we would not have gaps or needs for people in this church

·      If you stop looking for what’s just right for you, and serve

·      Stop waiting for someone to approach you and dive in

·      Jesus has a plan for us all to serve with the gifts he has given us, are you?

Paul had wants, but he put them all on hold for Jesus!

·      He had friends

·      He had family

·      He had needs

·      He had desires

·      But he put them all on hold for Jesus

·      What about you?

Grab your wallets!

²⁴I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.

Your Pastor

·      It is all our responsibilities to support those in ministry

·      It is threaded through out the bible, we are to give to those who serve in preaching and teaching roles

1 Timothy 5:17–18 (NLT)

¹⁷Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.

¹⁸For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!”

·      We as a church (me included) should support the work of those in service

·      Its biblical

·      We are trending as a body to Bi-vocational pastors

·      This is a slippery slope

·      True pastoring is a demanding Job

·      And there should be some one tending to the flock 24/7

The church ministry

·      Everything we do is funded by the church

·      Arena

·      Kids

·      Youth

·      Outreach

·      The lights

·      The heat

·      The coffee

·      Everything is funded by the body

·      And we should as followers support it

(if your new here, I’m not talking to you. But if you call this church home, member or not, you should help support it)

please don’t tell me you can’t afford it!

·      We are all, like Paul, supposed to sacrifice for the Glory of Christ

·      We are all supposed to share the load

·      If you can’t support this ministry because you don’t feel it deserving then find one you do

·      But don’t make the rest carry you!

The old testament required all Jews to tithe upwards of 26%, the new testament says 3 things

·      Regularly

·      Joyfully

·      Sacrificially

Better get a better grip!

²⁵But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there.

²⁶For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem.

·      We should also help those in the mission field

·      Those who have helped us along the way

·      As a church we should give to other ministries in need

·      We should do this

o   Locally

o   Nationally

o   Globally

·      We give to the

o   AFCC

o   Local associations

o   And are looking to give to needs in South America

·      But we as a church have to give beyond or basic needs

I know this sounds like I’m harping on money

·      I think you need to hear something’s that are hard to talk about

·      And money is a soar spot for most of us

·      We never have enough

·      We always want more

And if we just understood what the bible tells us about debt and money management we wouldn’t have the issues we do

·      We should never borrow beyond our means

·      We should always pay our debt back

·      We should never count on tomorrow

·      We should always be in a position to do Gods will

The 80/10/10 rule

·      80%

o   should cove all your living expenses

o   normal bills

o   vacations

o   savings

o   401K

o   all of our daily needs and saving for the future come from 80% of our income

·      10%

o   goes to the church

o   every time we get paid, the first check goes to the church

o   local ministry

o   where we call home

·      10%

o   for emergencies

o   people in need

o   blessing others

o   bailing the kids out

if we could all learn to live like this, think about this, it would take the stress of money out of our life

·      it takes work

·      it takes sacrifice

·      it takes commitment

·      but trust me it is worth it!

we do this all because of the blessings God gave us first!

²⁷They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially.

·      We don’t do it out of obligation

·      We do it because we were blessed first!

·      We give to bless others

·      We give to reach the lost with he good news

·      Someone kept the lights on so you could walk in

·      And now you saved, a saint, a child of the most high God!

·      So we give to reach others and to provide for those who are working to reach them

And we give so that we can help other brothers and sister less fortunate than us!

·      We also give to help those who walk with us in need

·      Who are down on there luck

·      Who need a leg up

And the most important thing we can do is pray for one another!

²⁸As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain.

²⁹And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.

³⁰Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit.

³¹Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation I am taking to Jerusalem.

³²Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.

³³And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen.

Everyday we should be in prayer for one another

·      We should pray for our Pastor and his family

·      We should pray for our leaders and their family

·      We should pray for our church family

·      We should pray for the lost in our lives

Prayer works!

·      There is nothing more comforting than to know someone is praying for you

·      I have seen marriages transformed

·      Churches revived

·      Families healed

·      Illness cured

·      All through prayer and Gods intervention on behalf of his people!

Sermon Notes 4-24-2016

The Road to Romans 2016!

Never get discouraged!

So today we will be in

Romans 15:14–22 (NIV)

¹⁴I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

¹⁵Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.

¹⁸I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—

¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

²⁰It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

²¹Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

²²This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

Do you feel discouraged???

Paul just laid a lot of knowledge on the church in Rome!

·      Over 9000 words

·      25 different Major themes

·      that’s a lot to take in

·      and he tied all the old testament back to the gospel

·      showing how Gods plan never changed

He has tied the gospel to:

·      Abraham

·      David

·      He showed how the remnant would be left to carry on Gods plan to the Gentiles

·      How God would restore all his creation through Jesus

·      He showed the entire Old Testament was about the birth, life ands death of our last King Jesus!

We started this Journey September 13, 2014, It has taken us over 60 hours, 44 sermons, to try and unpack everything that Paul wrote, and I have to tell you through most of it, I found a lot of cracks in my knowledge and perceptions of Gods word.

·      It has challenged me

·      It has frustrated me

·      It has made me look harder in the mirror that I ever have

·      And frankly I have been discouraged at times

·      And Paul realized so would his readers!

¹⁴I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

·      Paul is saying this

o   There may have been gaps in our knowledge

o   We may have got some of it wrong

o   But he is convinced, and I am too

o   That we are filled with Goodness

o   Filled with knowledge

o   And we are competent to instruct one another

·      He is saying

o   Don’t doubt that we are children of God

o   Don’t doubt that we can carry Jesus mission forward

o   Don’t doubt that God has us right where He wants us

o   That we are to continue the work God has us on

o   That we are to continue loving one another

o   And continue to walk together as Gods children

Paul is an example for us all!

¹⁵Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me

·      I have written to you boldly

·      To remind you of them again

o   We should all be bold, holding each other accountable

o   We should care enough, love enough to keep each other straight

·      And Paul sets a great example of that

o   He rebukes us

o   Shoots straight from the hip

o   Never holding back

o   He encourages us

o   He tells us to

Romans 12:15 (NIV)

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

·      To walk together

·      In every season

·      I see more people stray because they don’t walk with anyone

·      They don’t have that “Hey Stupid” Friend

But he doesn’t do it with pride or arrogance!

·      “Because of the Grace God gave me!”

o   There is no malice

o   There is no contempt

o   There is no pride

·      We are to show the same grace God shows us

o   We are to be humble

o   Always showing grace

o   Prayfully approaching every situation

o   And walking together always

§  Never in front

§  Never behind

§  Always side by side!

Not just Justified but, sanctified

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

·      Our job as followers, as image bearers, as ambassadors of the one true King

·      Is not just to “save” folks

·      As ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

o   We are to help folks change

o   To show people the way to being transformed

·      Our Job is to be the light

·      To lead by example

·      To love unconditionally

·      To be hope when there is no hope

·      To show grace when its not deserved

·      To be humble in our approach

·      To the best of our ability, be the image of the Living God “Jesus”!

And we give credit where credit is due!

¹⁷Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.

·      You want to stay humble in your service to God

·      Give credit where its due

·      We are to give Jesus the Glory

·      Give Jesus the praise

·      And we will always walk in humility

o   When we walk in his light

Our story, its our gospel!

¹⁸I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—

·      Paul uses his story

·      What God ahs done with him

·      And through him

·      Your story is you Gospel

o   Don’t be ashamed of your past

o   Don’t be afraid to tell people what God brought you out of

o   And what God is doing in your life today!

Where God puts you is where he wants you to tell that story

¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

·      Tell people about all that God has done for you

o   The good, the bad and the ugly

·      And just like Paul, where ever God has you

o   Tell your story

o   There is someone that is just waiting for someone to be real, and genuine in the gospel

·      You don’t have to quote chapter and verse,

o   just let what God has done in your life speak to his grace

o   His mercy, His love!

Don’t waste your time

²⁰It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

²¹Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

·      We are to preach, our Gospel to lost folks

o   Not believers

·      Don’t waste your time trying to change people on secondary issues

·      Our focus, our energy should always be reaching the lost

·      Christians spend to much time trying convince other “denomination” on issues that don’t matter

·      So concentrate on the lost!