Embracing the Call: Are You Ready to Proclaim the Gospel?

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

We're going to go ahead and get started this morning.

If you're here today with us for the first time, we just started a new series called Theology Matters, and we're going to be breaking down the book of Romans, and we are in chapter one.

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn there here today, chapter one.

And we're going to start in verse number eight, chapter one, verse eight.

And on the back of your bulletins this morning, there is an outline and you can follow along with that outline.

Hopefully that helps you track what we're talking about here this morning.

Last week, we looked at just the idea of the importance of theology.

Why does it matter what we believe?

Because what we believe impacts what we do.

And what we do matters for eternity.

Now, we trust in the Lord in faith, and it's not of works of righteousness that we are saved, but the Bible says that after we are saved, we are called to serve.

After we are saved, we are called to honor him and obey Him.

And so it's so important to understand what we believe and why we believe.

What we believe today is Children's Sunday and Family Sunday.

And we've got our.

Our young people in our church here today.

And the reason why we do that is because we don't want to separate our children away from what we're teaching within the church.

Now they get their children's church, and that's wonderful.

And they get taught by some wonderful teachers there.

And but we do believe that it's important for the young people to see adults worshiping the Lord.

And, and so we as believers need to know the why behind what we are doing.

We need to know the why behind what we believe.

You know, I've got my children and one of their favorite questions that they ask, why?

Right, guys, you can't do that.

Why we're not going here.

Why you can't have ice cream.

Why.

Right.

Why is an important question.

And sometimes we push those questions away.

But sometimes it's important for us to explain to our young people why we are doing what we are doing.

The same goes for the church.

Why do we believe what we believe?

Why do we do what we do within the church.

And that's what we're going to be talking about in this series.

Why do we believe what we believe?

Well, it's because the Bible tells us what to believe.

We can't get our beliefs outside of Scripture, specifically about the things of God, because we are all, as the Bible says, believers.

All of us are theologians.

What we believe about God matters.

And so some of us might be theologians in the wrong way.

We might have the wrong belief system because we are getting our ideas outside of the Bible and maybe pop culture or maybe someone else in our life.

They're giving us information that we are actually taking as the truth of God.

But the Bible very clearly says that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

And so what we're going to do is we're going to walk through the book of Romans and we're going to talk about why theology matters.

And the title of the sermon this morning is are you ready?

It's a question, Are you ready now?

We're going to see what that means here in a few moments.

But the truth is, is that God is calling us for a specific work in this world today.

He is calling us for the work of the gospel.

And the question that I would pose to you this morning is this.

Are you ready for that ministry?

Are you ready to proclaim the word?

Are you ready to live the gospel out to those around you?

And so Paul's going to answer that question here.

He's going to say in chapter one, I am ready.

And I hope that all of us this morning, as we go out today, we can answer that same question with, yes, I am ready.

And so in this passage, Paul speaks of his desire to share the truth of God with the Romans.

This is still Paul's introduction here, starting in verse eight.

And Paul is explaining to the Roman church why he's writing them this letter.

And he says, I want to share the truth of God with you.

I.

I want to share the gospel with you.

I want to minister to you.

And he demonstrates the compassion and urgency that all believers should have in sharing the gospel and serving others.

All of us are called to have compassion for the lost.

All of us are called to have compassion for other Christians.

All of us are called to have urgency in our service to him.

And so Paul is demonstrating here the type of compassion that we all should have in ministering the gospel to people around us.

Paul is demonstrating for us the urgency that we are supposed to have.

The Bible says that we should be redeeming the time because the days are evil.

The Bible says that we should be fervent in the Spirit, serving the Lord.

That means this.

We need to be busy about the work of God.

So easy to get ourselves in a place of apathy in our life, in.

In a place of distraction in our life that we don't do the things that we need to do.

And, and most likely when we're not doing the things that we need to do, we're doing the things that we don't need to do.

Right?

Our we, our whole mindset shifts away from what should be our priorities as Christians and goes to other priorities that really mean nothing in the grand scheme of eternity.

And, and so Paul says, hey, this is the type of compassion I have in bringing the gospel to you.

This is the type of urgency that I have in bringing the gospel to you.

And so we see here that he is ready to travel to a place of opposition.

Rome is the capital of the world at this point in time, 2,000 years ago.

And Rome was a place at this point in time that was in opposition to the gospel.

There was persecution of Christians there.

There was a lot of pagan rituals that were going on in Rome at that point, a lot of false gods that were being lifted up.

And so for Paul to say that I want to go to Rome to preach the gospel would mean this.

He was wanting to go into the belly of the beast to preach the message of the gospel.

He wasn't just going to a place that was going to be easy for him.

He wasn't going to a resort and saying, you know what?

I'm going to sit on the beach and enjoy myself, and then maybe if I have time, give the gospel.

No, he says, I'm willing to go in the place of opposition.

I'm ready to go to the capital of evil to preach the gospel.

And so he was ready to travel to a place of opposition and difficulty for the Lord.

And so when we look at it in context to our call in our lives, the Bible very clearly tells us that we are all called to proclaim the gospel to everyone around us.

That's what's called the Great Commission in Matthew, chapter 28.

It tells us to make disciples, go, teach, preach, proclaim the gospel message.

But a lot of times we're willing to do that if it's comfortable for us, if it's.

If it's feasible for us, if it makes sense for us.

But the Bible says very clearly that we are to be like Paul, be ready to go into a difficult place.

And so we're going to talk about that all here this morning as we look at Romans chapter one, starting verse eight, we're going to go down to verse number 15.

Let's go ahead and pray and then we'll jump right into our main text here this morning.

Lord, I thank you for this time that you've given us.

I thank you for the opportunity to come here today to learn about you through your word.

Lord, I pray that we can grow in our in our understanding of you, that we can grow in our love for you, that we can grow in our passion for serving you and to serve others.

Lord, I pray that we can understand your story, your message, your gospel, so that we can go and proclaim that to those around us.

Lord, if we haven't today, if there's someone here today that hasn't trusted in the Gospel, that hasn't understood what it means to know you and to love you and to experience your forgiveness, Lord, may today be the day of salvation.

May today be the day of everlasting life where I pray that you remove any distractions from our minds and from our hearts.

Lord, allow us to see you clearly here this morning.

In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

I want you to see point number one here, the testimony of the church there in Rome.

As Paul is writing this letter to the church there in Rome, they already had a testimony.

They're already an established church.

In verse 8 he says this.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

So they have a testimony.

The Roman Church has a testimony that Paul is aware of and that we see here, the whole world is aware of.

I want you to see after this that the source of their testimony is not their good works, it's not their good standing with Paul.

It says there very clearly that the reason why they had this testimony is their faith in Jesus Christ.

The source of their testimony is their faith in Jesus Christ.

And so if we want to be a testimony to the world around us, if we want to impact our society for Christ, if we want people to come to Christ in our community, in our world, we need to base everything that we do in our faith in Jesus Christ, not ourselves.

The Bible very clearly says the reason why they were able to have this testimony, the reason why they were able to have this impact, the reason why Paul knew about what they were doing for the Gospel was because of their faith in Jesus.

Jesus Christ.

Verse 8 says it was their faith that was spoken of throughout the whole world.

If we want people in Middletown to be talking about our church.

What do we want them to be talking about?

Well, that's the church that's against all of those things.

No, we don't want people to know us for what we're against as much as what we are for.

We are for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We want people in the community to know our faith.

Not.

Not so much that, hey, that's the church over there that has this property, or that's the church over there that does this ministry.

We want people to know us by our profession of Jesus Christ.

We want people to see Jesus.

The Bible says, be salt and light in the world.

Let your light so shine before men.

Matthew, chapter 5, verse 16.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.

The Bible says that we are to live publicly for Christ so that people can see what we are doing and then see Christ.

It's not about seeing us, it's about seeing him.

So the source of their testimony is their faith in Jesus Christ.

The source of our testimony should be our faith in Jesus Christ.

But we also see the scope of their testimony.

What distance was that testimony traveling?

Well, it says in verse eight that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world, the whole known world.

The scope of their testimony was widespread.

It wasn't limited to just a few people around them that saw what they were doing.

No, the message of the gospel was spreading.

They were publicly declaring in a difficult place the message of Jesus Christ.

Do we want our testimony to be localized here in the Middletown community?

Well, yes, but we also know that the Bible says part of the great commission is going into all the world.

And so we see in Acts, chapter one, verse eight that we are to go to our Jerusalem, our local area, but then we're to go to Judea.

That's a.

That's the wider spread community around us.

And then to Samaria, more difficult places, and ultimately to the uttermost part of the earth.

The Bible says that we should spread the gospel as far as we possibly can.

The way that we do that is through having the source of our testimony in Jesus Christ.

We preach Jesus, we preach his word.

We don't preach a system, we don't preach a product.

We're not selling a product, folks.

We're proclaiming Jesus Christ.

We're proclaiming transformation and salvation.

And so we as Christians should be like this church there in Rome.

Their.

Their testimony was for Jesus Christ and it was spreading across the whole world.

And so we see their testimony here.

And I hope that we as Christians can have that same testimony.

All of us have a testimony to some degree.

All of us have a testimony.

We could call it our reputation.

If someone mentions our name, what do people think about?

Well, they think about maybe our hobby, or they think about our job, or they think about maybe an attribute about us.

Hey, we should all strive as believers to have a testimony or a reputation of Jesus Christ that people can see Jesus in us.

I'm going to tell you that for some of us, there are going to be individuals that we come across in our life that the only Jesus that they will see is our testimony of him if they know that we are believers.

And first and foremost, they need to know that we're believers.

But secondly, if they know that we're believers, how are we demonstrating the love of Christ to them?

How are we demonstrating the forgiveness of Christ to them?

How are we demonstrating the truth of Christ to them?

And so that's a thought that we have here in this passage of Scripture.

So the theology of Christ matters.

What we believe about Jesus matters.

What we believe about His Word matters.

And if we believe that the Bible is the word of God, if we believe that this is the truth, then we will proclaim this in the way that we serve.

We will proclaim this in the way that we live.

And so our testimony will be based in God through His Word, publicly displaying all of these attributes that God has called us to have.

But you can't have a testimony without a relationship with Him.

You can't proclaim Jesus Christ unless you know Jesus Christ.

I, I've used this analogy before.

If I got up here today and I said, okay, look, let's, let's go into a alternate universe where none of you have ever had chocolate, okay?

And I get up here and I'm trying to explain to you what chocolate's like.

Some of you might say, well, I, I know what something that sweet tastes like.

I know what something like this might be like, but I can't experience it for myself.

I cannot talk about Jesus properly unless I know him in a personal way, unless I have trusted in him as my personal savior.

I, I, I can play the part, right?

We can get an actor up here and an actor can come and read lines.

But the truth of the matter is, is that does not change the heart.

What changes the heart is faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.

And so we have the testimony here.

But then I want you to see number two, Paul's thankfulness, verse eight.

He says, first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all.

Paul is thankful to hear about their testimony for the Lord.

We should be thankful to hear about the testimony of the Lord being proclaimed.

It shouldn't be like this.

Well, I can't believe that that church over there is proclaiming Jesus Christ and they're having growth.

You know what that should be for us?

That's a selfish, prideful way to think.

We should think about it this way.

If that person is proclaiming Jesus and people are coming to Christ, that is fantastic.

They are partners in ministry.

I'm going to tell you here.

Yesterday we had a church come in, a like minded, Bible believing church.

And they came in and did baptisms because they, they didn't have a place to do baptisms.

They said, hey, can we come in and do some baptisms?

I said, fantastic, let's do that.

Why?

Because we are partners in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We want to promote that.

Because if we say that, hey, the only gospel message that can be preached is Middletown Baptist.

Our way, our style.

There's a big danger in that.

Now I'm not promoting false teachers.

I'm not promoting us to link in together with people that are not preaching the Bible, not preaching Jesus Christ.

But what we need to understand like Paul was he was thankful to hear that their testimony for the Lord was being proclaimed across all of the world.

It shouldn't be a competition, it should be this.

That we as believers are doing everything that we possibly can to proclaim the gospel, but also pray for others who are proclaiming the gospel in other places.

And so his thankfulness led to something.

Let's see it here.

Verse number nine.

He says, for God is my witness.

He says, I'm so thankful that God is working in you all.

I'm so thankful that you have faith in Jesus Christ.

I'm so, so thankful that other people are hearing about you.

Verse 9.

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my Spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.

And so Paul's thankfulness for the church at Rome led him to do something.

It led him to something called supplication or prayer.

He prayed for the saints.

Folks, if you are thankful for someone within your life, pray for them.

That's what Paul says here.

He says to do it in a way that is totally selfless.

A lot of times our prayers are selfish and sometimes there's a time and a place for selfish prayers.

There's a time and a place to ask God to help us in specific areas.

But also the Bible says that if we are thankful for other people in the truth of Jesus Christ, that we should pray for other saints, that we should pray for other believers around us.

And that's what Paul is doing here.

Verse nine, he says, for God is my witness.

He's.

He's putting himself into a place of accountability.

Why?

Because sometimes we say we pray for people and we don't.

And he says, God is watching me here, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers.

And so Paul is so thankful for what God is doing in the life of the Roman Church that he is praying for them.

And I encourage you to think about that in your life.

How many of you are willing to pray for other people within the church, not just when they're going through a sickness, not just when they're going through a hard time, but pray for them on a regular basis.

What does it say there in verse nine?

Without ceasing, folks, if we're going to pray for anyone, we should be praying for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, specifically those that we come across on a weekly basis.

Hopefully more than a weekly basis.

You know what?

How do you pray for someone specifically?

It's very technical.

You ask them, how can I pray for you now?

They have to be honest and sharing what's on their heart.

But folks, I would encourage you to ask people.

Ask how you can pray for people and then follow up with that.

Pray with them.

Go ask them questions about that prayer request.

And then when those prayer requests are answered, hey, rejoice in that moment.

Pray for folks, you know what the reality is, is that all of us here are struggling with things.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are struggling with things on our hearts.

We're struggling in things in our personal lives, we're struggling with things in our professional lives, we're struggling with things in our physical lives.

And so what happens is, is that a lot of times we think that we're alone in this.

But Paul says, here is this, you're not alone church at Rome.

I am praying for you without ceasing.

And the Bible says that we should be lifting up our requests to the Lord in all, in all times, in all ways for the saints around us.

And so his thankfulness led him to prayer, and his thankfulness led him to serve his Savior.

You see that there in, in verse number nine, he says, for God is my witness, whom I serve with My Spirit in the gospel of his Son.

Paul is so thankful for what God is doing there in Rome.

Paul is so thankful for what God is doing all over the world that he's willing to serve his Savior in every way.

And he says, the way that I want to serve the Savior is by coming and visiting you.

I.

I want to visit you.

And, and so we see that his thankfulness led him to desire to sojourn with them.

He wanted to visit them, he wanted to stay with them, he wanted to fellowship with them, he wanted to commune with them.

And folks, that's really what we see here in verses 9, 10, 11 and 12 is Paul's heart, his desire to go be with them.

Folks, we should desire to be with other believers.

There's this new concept in this world today, and maybe it's been around for a long time, but it's, it's coming more and more.

Popular is that we can be Christians on our own, we can be lone wolves, we can be out on our own and worship God in a vacuum on an island.

The Bible very clearly teaches the complete opposite of that.

Christian fellowship is vital for the individual.

Christian fellowship is important.

Why?

Because God has ordained it and designed it for us to be together so that we can be strengthened, so that we can be encouraged, so that the power of God, the love of God, the forgiveness of God can be seen in our midst.

And so, folks, I encourage you to put a premium on fellowship.

You can see that there in Hebrews chapter, Hebrews chapter 10.

I want you to see this cross reference here.

This, this passage of scripture frequently gets talked about when it comes to the idea of church attendance.

Be a church.

And I like that.

I like that.

Be a church.

Okay, church attendance is good, but church attendance alone does not equate Christian fellowship.

How many of you don't raise your hand?

Okay, we got some of the kids in the building today.

They might raise their hand.

That's okay.

But how many of you that have been here at church have come in and walked out, maybe smiled at a person?

Now we force you to shake hands.

Okay?

And some of you like, I don't shake hands.

I give an Air High 5 or a fist bump, that's okay.

And so we try to force things to happen.

But how many of you have come in and said, you know what?

I really, even though I was there with a lot of other people, I still feel lonely, I still feel disconnected.

The truth is, is that there is an opportunity for us to be so isolated in our lives that we miss out on Christian fellowship, even when we are attending church.

And so Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 says this, and let us consider one another.

This would be the idea of stirring one another up to provoke unto love and to good works.

So we are called as Christians to stir each other up, not in a bad way for sin, but to stir each other up for what does it say?

Their love and good works.

We are to challenge each other in that.

How do we do that?

Not forsaking verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting or, or encouraging, challenging one another.

And so much the more, as you see the day approaching.

And so we see that there is an impact in fellowship.

We see that there's an impact in spending time together and encouraging one another.

And, and what Paul says here is this.

He says, look, I am so thankful for you that I want to be with you.

When's the last time you said this?

Okay, real, real talk this morning.

When's the last time you said, I'm so thankful for what God is doing in other people's lives that I want to spend some more time with these Christians?

Some, Some people say the opposite, right?

Some people say the opposite.

Some people say, I like God, I love God, I love church.

But I.

I don't know about those other Christians that are there.

Let's go back to theology.

Okay?

Theology of the church.

What does the Bible say the church is?

The church is not the building.

The church is not the hour, hour and a half, depending on how long the preacher preaches, how, how.

That is not the church.

The church is the body, the people.

And so therefore, if I love God and God loves the church, and God wants us to love the same things that he loves, we are to love the church.

Loving the church doesn't mean I really love this building.

I.

I really love the grounds.

I really love the programs.

I really love the name no Loving.

The church is loving the people that are here with us in the body.

That's what it's all about.

So Paul says, I'm so thankful for them.

Verse 10.

Making requests.

If by any means, now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

He says, I love you so much.

I'm so thankful for you.

I'm so thankful to the Lord that I want to do everything that I possibly can to have a prosperous journey by God's will.

He says, lord willing.

You ever heard someone say, hey, I'll be there, Lord, Willing.

That's what Paul says.

I want to come to be with you.

Lord willing.

Lord willing.

Verse 11.

For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift.

To the end ye may be established, that is that I may be comforted together with you by.

By the mutual faith, both you and me.

What's he talking about here?

Well, point number three, togetherness.

I had to keep the.

Had to keep the alliteration going with the tease.

But you.

You know what togetherness means?

It means unity.

It means Fellowship.

Verse 11 and 12 specifically speak about Christian fellowship and what it should look like.

He says in verse 10, I want to be with you.

If God wills it, I want to be with you.

And this is what I want to have happen.

So it's fellowship with a purpose.

Fellowship with a purpose.

What's the purpose?

For I long to see you that I might impart.

That I may impart unto you some spiritual gift.

He says, I want to serve you.

I want to bless you with what God has blessed me with.

That's why God gives us spiritual gifts.

God gives us spiritual gifts not for us to keep for ourselves and to have other people look at us.

God doesn't give us talent so that we can have people praise us.

God gives us spiritual gifts.

God gives us natural talent so that we can point people to Christ and serve them and bless them and allow ourselves to encourage them in the Spirit.

So Paul says, I want to come to you and bless you.

I want to come to you and serve you.

That's what it means to have Christian fellowship with a purpose.

I'm not coming to see what I can get, but I'm coming to see how I can impart love and grace to others around me.

And so we see in verse number 11, he says, I want to impart unto you some spiritual gift.

Why so.

So that they can be, you know.

Think he's a great guy?

No.

It says, to the end ye may be established.

That word established essentially just means strengthened.

He says, I want to come and serve you so that you can be strengthened in the Lord.

Another way that we can say that is is edify.

Edify is a.

A word that we use in the Bible that essentially means building up, strengthening.

Everything that we should do within Christian fellowship, everything that we should do within the church should be focused on edifying other believers, never tearing them down.

Right.

Sometimes what we see within churches is that it becomes political or it becomes agenda driven.

And therefore, if I'm not being lifted up, I tear other people down.

So, so edifying is the opposite of tearing people down.

Edifying is building people up.

How do we build people up?

The Bible says that we can build people up by what we say to them, by what we do for them, what we do to them, how, how we sacrifice for them, how we take time to give them the things that they need if we have them.

The Bible says very clearly that we should look for opportunities to edify the saints for the work of the ministry.

And so he says, I want to come to impart a spiritual gift to you, to strengthen you in the Lord, to edify you, to build you up.

One of the goals of Christian fellowship within the church should be edification, strengthening, building people up in the truth of the word and in the way that we live our lives.

So where does that happen?

Well, really bad place for edification to happen within the believers is like, during the preaching time.

Okay, now you would say, why is that?

Well, because if all of you got up right now and try to edify each other and have a conversation, it would be kind of distracting.

Okay.

And.

And God is a God of order.

He's not a God of confusion.

So, so what does that mean?

That means that this is just one opportunity for me as the pastor to preach to you the word of God.

But true, authentic Christian fellowship does not happen just on Sunday morning during the worship service.

What are we doing during the worship service?

It's really difficult to think about worship, right?

We are worshiping together.

So.

So the worship service is the culmination of the whole week.

The Christian fellowship happens outside of really, truly the worship service.

Now we have fellowship times because we want to try to foster that environment.

But what that really means is that the fellowship happens in other areas in our homes.

Acts, chapter 2, verse 42 says that one of the core elements of the early church was fellowship.

It was also the apostles doctrine, the teaching.

It was also prayer.

We've already talked about that.

And it was some breaking of bread, but fellowship's right there, listed as one of the core elements of the church.

But the Acts church was not just meeting in a building once a week.

The Acts church, it says, was meeting day to day in the homes.

Now some of you are like, hey, no one in this church can come over to my house, okay?

That's off limits.

Okay?

The truth is, is that in our culture today, we have other opportunities for people to get together, right?

So practical things, okay?

So let's remove ourselves from the theoretical and let's put ourselves into a practical thing.

We can have Edification.

We can have fellowship, we can have encouragement in Dunkin Donuts, in the coffee house.

We can, we can have encouragement on the ball field, we can have encouragement in our homes, we can have encouragement anywhere, right?

Because the fellowship should be real.

Okay, let me, let me say it this way and this is a way that I've heard it said before.

We as a church are doing life together.

We're doing life together, we're going through trials together.

And so what Paul says here is, I want to come to establish the truth of Jesus Christ.

I want you to be strengthened in that then verse 12, because it's a two way street, okay?

He says, I want to come and strengthen you in the Lord by what God has blessed me with.

But then look at verse number 12.

He wanted to be encouraged by them in the unity of faith.

So verse 12 he says, that is that I may be comforted.

So he says, just as much as I want to serve you and minister to you so that you can understand the strength of God, I want to be encouraged by you.

Now how can he be encouraged by them?

He says it right there.

He says, by the mutual faith, both of you and me.

So how is he going to be encouraged by them?

By understanding that they believe in the same things, that they have the same purpose, that they have the same Lord, they have the same focus.

And so what he says here is, he says, I'm going to be encouraged by you to see you walking in faith.

And so we see that there is edification and then there's something called exhortation.

Exhortation is encouragement.

Exhortation is, hey, I, I want to encourage someone else by living together in faith with them, having a common purpose, having a common goal, folks.

It speaks of Christian unity.

Paul says, I'm going to be comforted by being like minded with you.

We have like minded hearts and like minded focus when it comes to what we want to believe and what we want to do.

And so what I would say is this, I would encourage you at some point.

We don't have time to go there, but read Jesus's prayer in John chapter 17.

Some people call it Jesus's high priestly prayer.

One of the things that Jesus prays about in his high priestly prayer to the Father about the believers is this, that they would be unified, that they would be together, that they would be like minded, that they would be united in their hearts, united in a purpose.

And so what we would see here this morning is this Christian fellowship really has a couple of different focuses.

Number One, it's there to encourage others, but it's there also to have unity and be encouraged ourselves.

And so it's give and take.

And so what we see here is that Paul's desire is to be together with them, to love them, to serve them, but he also wants to be encouraged by them.

You know what, I can tell you very, very humbly and almost in a sense of being embarrassed that I have gone to people's houses and I've gone to hospital rooms thinking that, hey, you know what, I'm the pastor, I'm going to come in and try to encourage their heart today.

You know, I'm planning out the Bible verses that I'm going to say and do.

And when I get there, I'm trying to impart some care to them.

And then they turn around and say some wonderful biblical truths and preach to me.

And I feel like I'm more encouraged than I encourage them.

And the truth is that sometimes we think about it all being about us, but the truth is that when we go to encourage somebody else, sometimes God blesses us with that encouragement right back.

I can even say, this past week I had an opportunity to talk to a dear lady and I was thinking, man, I really need to come and encourage her and give her a bunch of Bible verses.

You know what she was doing?

She was quoting Bible verses to me, okay?

And I'm like, wow, that's amazing.

And that's a blessing.

And so sometimes when I think about it being all about me and how much I can bring to the table, I forget that the Christian fellowship is all about being a two way street, right?

We're here for each other and ultimately we're here for the Lord.

And so what we see here is this.

Paul wanted to encourage them, but Paul wanted to be encouraged as well.

He needed encouragement.

Think about the things that Paul was going through at this point.

I mean, he's been persecuted, he's been chased out of town, he's been whipped, he's been, he's been stoned.

There's all these things that Paul has been dealing with in his life.

And ultimately Paul says, you know what, I need some encouragement as well.

And coming to a place of knowing that you are serving the Lord and we have the same fellowship and the same faith.

Hey, you know what?

That's going to encourage me.

But then he moves on a little bit further here.

Verse 13 says, Now I would not have you ignorant brethren, that often times I purpose to come unto you, but was let hitherto that I might have Some fruit among you also, even as among the Gentiles, around the other Gentiles.

So what's he saying here?

Well, we're going to get to the conclusion here in a few moments.

But what is he saying?

He's saying this.

You should know that I've wanted to come to see you, but doors have been closed.

There have been some roadblocks.

And I'm going to tell you that every time that we try to do the work of the Lord, like Paul and like other people in Scripture, every time we try to proclaim the gospel, every time we try to promote Christian fellowship, every time we try to.

To maybe go with someone and pray for them, there will be roadblocks.

Sometimes those roadblocks are from the enemy.

Sometimes it's a closed door from the Lord.

Ultimately, we see here that Paul was going to face some hindrances in his service to the Lord.

And that's what he says there in verse 13.

He says, I want to come to you, but God is closing doors.

Why?

Well, there's a purpose there so that he can minister to some other Gentiles.

He says, I want there to be fruit among you even as I have ministered to the other Gentiles.

So it wasn't God's plan for Paul to go to Rome as of yet.

Paul wanted to go there, but God was closing the door so that another work of the Gospel could happen.

And you might say, well, Pastor, I want to really try to be fellowshipping within the church.

I really want to have a small group that I can be a part of.

I really want to find a ministry that I can serve in and be around other people.

But every time I try to do that, something seems to come up.

I have a roadblock or have an illness or I have a struggle, folks, that's okay.

That's not God trying to stop you.

God never wants to stop you from obeying him.

Sometimes it might be that God is deviating you to something else.

Don't quit.

The Bible says in Galatians, chapter six, don't get weary and well doing.

For in due season, if.

If we faint not, we will reap.

We will reap that fruit.

And so stay focused on what God has called you to do.

Paul says, I want to come to Rome.

I want to serve in Rome.

I want to love you guys.

I want to be there with you.

But it wasn't God's timing.

Now we know that God eventually allows Paul to get to Rome, but not on the terms that he was thinking.

Okay, fast forward ahead in history.

Paul wanted to go on his accord and minister with him.

But Paul actually does go to Rome later on in life, but he goes as a prisoner.

And he does minister to them, but he ministers to them until the fact that he is persecuted and then ultimately martyred for his faith.

And sometimes in our life, we don't know what God is doing.

But there are going to be roadblocks, there's going to be detours.

And we keep trusting the Lord because God's will will be done.

We must trust in his will.

We must be patient in his will.

And Paul says, I want to be there with you guys.

God has other plans for me right now, but to the best of my ability, I will be there.

And that's what I want us to think about as Christians today, as believers.

Let us desire the fellowship.

Let us desire the thankfulness.

Let us desire the ministry.

Let us desire preaching and proclaiming the gospel to those around us.

And if God closes the door, great, let's just go other way.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's go a different path.

God never wants us.

You know what?

Pray.

If you pray for God's will, pray for God's will in your life.

I really, you know, like, should I go here?

Should I not go here?

But there are some things in scripture that clearly lay out what God's will is that you don't have to sit about and pray about for a year.

Okay?

So for example, someone walks up to me and they say, hey, why do you have hope?

Why do you have faith?

The Bible says in First Peter, chapter three, give an answer for the hope that's within you, Right?

So the Bible very clearly tells us the will of God is for us to point people to Jesus Christ.

And so what I would tell you is this.

As you are living your life and as you are desiring things and as you are wanting to find a direction, do the things that God has clearly laid out for us in scripture.

Tell other people about Jesus Christ.

Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

These are things that are the will of God.

The Bible says this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Right?

To be thankful.

That's actually a passage of scripture.

It's God's will for us to be thankful.

It's God's will for us to study his word.

It's God's will for us to follow him and obey him and to fellowship with others.

And so these are all things that we need to ask God.

Hey, show me how to do this, but not show me to do this.

I don't need to sit around and say, lord, is it your will that I'm fellowshipping with people?

Is it your will that I tell the people about you?

We already know that's his will, and we find his will through his word.

And so therefore, hindrances, roadblocks will happen, difficulties will happen, but don't quit.

Push forward.

Push forward in the will of God.

Now, God will close doors, and that's okay because he'll open other doors.

And that's what happens here with Paul.

And so we go down here.

Let's look at verse number 14.

He says, I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.

Paul says, I owe people a lot of things, and not in a financial way, but Paul says, I've been blessed by this world.

I've been blessed as a Roman citizen.

I owe people something.

Okay, now Paul could give them a lot of things, but what does Paul say he's going to bring to them?

What does Paul say is the best thing that he can bring to people that he owes something to?

It says it there in verse 15.

He says, so as much as is it so, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome.

Also, Paul says the best way that he can help others, the best way that he can serve others, the best way that he can be kind to others and pay back what has been given to him is by preaching the gospel.

The best way to pay people back is the greatest news ever given.

And that is the message of Jesus Christ.

And so what does he say?

He says, everything in me, with everything in me, I'm going to preach the gospel to those around me and to you.

And he says there, verse 15, he says this.

He says, as much as in me is I am ready.

What is he ready to do?

He's ready to preach the gospel.

The question that I would give you here this morning is this.

Are you ready?

Are you ready to preach the gospel?

You might say, well, that's, that's not my job.

That's your job.

You're the preacher.

You preach.

But the truth is is that pastors preach.

But the Bible says that preaching is not isolated, alone to the pastor of the church.

The Great commission is not just for pastors.

The Great commission is for all believers.

We should be ready to preach the gospel where God calls us.

God might call you to preach the gospel in the children's ministries.

Preach the gospel with everything in you.

To those little kids, some of you might say, well, I'm not called for children's ministry.

I'm called to the senior saints ministry.

Preach the gospel with everything in you.

To those senior saints say, well, my ministry is somewhere else.

My ministry is the people that are in this walk of life.

My ministry is in.

In this walk of life, folks, wherever God calls you to go, where is your Rome?

Wherever your Rome is, Preach the gospel with everything in you.

So I don't know if I have three points in a poem and an analogy.

That's okay, but preach the gospel.

What's the gospel?

That Jesus Christ came to this earth.

He's God in the flesh.

He dwelt among us.

He knew no sin.

But he who knew no sin became sin for us.

He died on the cross for our sins.

The Bible says that God commendeth or demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus died for those who sinned against Him.

But yet we know that as believers, we trust in him in faith, that he extends that grace to us.

And he saves us.

And he saves us from.

From a life of sin.

And he saves us to a life of hope.

And we as Christians can know that we no longer have the direction of destruction to a place called hell.

But we have hope in Jesus Christ to live with him for eternity in heaven.

That is the gospel.

Jesus died on the cross.

He rose from the dead, and he is ruling and reigning today.

And so that is the gospel.

We proclaim that.

So the, the question is, is this, Maybe God's not calling you to Rome.

Maybe he is.

I don't know.

Maybe some of you are saying you have a heart for, for Rome, Italy, for Paul, his heart was Rome.

He wanted to get to Rome to preach the gospel.

But for you, where is your heart?

Where is God pressing you on?

Is God pressing you in a certain area of ministry?

Is God pressing you for your workplace?

Is God pressing you for your home folks?

Sometimes Christians forget about the number one missionary field, and that is our home folks.

My, my goal is to preach the gospel on Sunday mornings.

My goal is to preach the gospel seven days a week, 365.

But if I neglect the souls that are within my home, I'm missing the whole point.

My number one mission field is Alicia, Micah, Nora, Silas.

That's my initial mission field.

I do not want to miss them.

And then it goes out from there.

And so for us that have children within the home, maybe Grandchildren within the home.

Hey, minister to them the gospel.

That's your mission field.

Well, for some of us, our mission field grows.

And then we have our workplace, we have our hobbies, we have our community.

We have all these different people that we come across.

And so that's our Rome.

And sometimes the Bible says that our mission field is not going to be an easy place to minister to.

I don't think Rome was an easy place to minister to for Paul.

There were going to be people that were going to be pressing against him.

There was going to be every reason for him to quit.

But the Bible says no.

If God has called you there, what?

We should be ready to preach the gospel for where he calls us to go.

And God clearly lays out a path for us.

And so therefore we are to preach the gospel where we are.

It's like saying this.

The Bible says, love your neighbor as yourself.

And, and you know the, the lawyer there that was in that passage of scripture, that young man, he says, well, who's my neighbor?

Right?

Your neighbor is whoever you come across.

Who are you supposed to preach the gospel to?

Who is every creature, everyone that you come across?

Every time God opens a door, proclaim Jesus Christ.

And it doesn't have to be a formal setting where you bring out your Bible and go through every passage of scripture with them and force them to get saved.

Folks that we don't want to hard sell the gospel, okay?

All we do is lay out the truth of Jesus Christ and it's the Holy Spirit that does the work.

Okay, show me, show me.

You know, we see this on TV sometimes.

I watch YouTube and some of you know that that can be a good thing or a bad thing.

Sometimes I watch preachers and they're out in the streets and they've got the best analogies for the gospel.

They have all the historicity of scripture in Jesus Christ and a person rejects.

And then I've witnessed this, a child winning someone to Christ by just basically going through the gospel.

And you would say, well, that person has a much better presentation.

They know how to close the sale.

But yet at the same time, how come that little child who just knows the basics of scripture can lead someone to Christ?

It's because the power of the gospel is not based in the person who is presenting the gospel.

The power is in the gospel itself.

And so therefore we proclaim the truth.

You don't have to have every answer for every opposition.

You don't have to have all the Bible verses memorized, but you need to know what you believe.

In if you believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, be able to explain that to people.

Explain what Jesus Christ did for you.

Explain what you are trusting in.

And this morning, if you can't explain what you are trusting into somebody else in love, you are not ready to preach the gospel.

You are not ready.

Paul says, I am ready.

That's Paul's theme, by the way.

That's his.

That's his slogan in his ministry.

I am ready.

How many of us would say this morning, I am ready.

If the opportunity arises, I am ready.

If the ministry opens, I am ready.

If someone's asking, I am ready to preach the gospel.

Or you might say, hey, you know what?

I've got so much on my plate.

I just don't know if I'm ready.

I got a lot I got to prepare for.

I.

I don't even really know what I believe, folks.

Get that right today.

Figure out what you believe about Jesus Christ so that you can tell people the truth of who he is and what he has done for you.

And so we see that verse 15, and Paul says, I am ready to preach the Gospel.

Question that I want to pose to you today is, it's a basic question for everyone in this room.

And I'm asking myself the same question, am I ready?

Are you ready?

The other question with that is, if the answer is yes, great, start moving, Start preaching, start living.

But the other answer, maybe you say, no, I'm not ready.

Then the question would be this.

What do you need to do?

What do you need to trust in?

What do you need to change?

What do you need to get rid of in your life so that you can say, I'm ready for whatever God has me to do.

God is not calling everyone to preach from this pulpit.

God is not calling everyone to be an evangelist.

God is not calling everyone to.

To be an apologist where you can know all the ins and outs of the history of the church.

God's not calling everyone to be everything, but he's calling you to know where your ministry is in the Gospel.

Every believer that is sitting here today, every believer that is watching online, has a gospel ministry.

The Bible very clearly says that.

And the question would be is where is your gospel ministry within the church and within your community around you?

Folks, we want to impact the world.

Maybe, maybe you've never thought about that.

The Bible says that early on in the church that there was a small group of people, a small group of disciples.

The Bible says that they turn the world upside down.

Just that small group.

How do they Turn the world upside down.

Well, they had a lot of resources at hand.

They had a lot of money.

No.

They had the government behind them.

No.

How did those individuals turn the world upside down?

They preached the gospel.

They lived differently.

They truly believed.

They.

They gave away what they had for the cause of the gospel.

They left their comfort zone and they went to a place of danger, of difference, of stretching them.

And so this morning, are we willing to say that, you know what?

As a church and as an individual, I'm ready to do my best to turn this world upside down for the gospel.

Think about it in this room, think about how many people can be one to Christ.

If all of us got serious about that, think about how that would be amazing in our communities.

Think about how that would be amazing within the world today.

Then if all Christians just said, you know what?

I'm ready.

I'm done trying to serve everything else.

I'm ready to go.

And so this morning, if there is something in the way, if there's a distraction, maybe you say, I just don't know the Bible well enough.

I don't even know what I believe, Folks.

Dig deeper.

There's something called the Romans Road.

We're going to go through it here in this, in this book.

A very simple path to explaining to people what it means to know Jesus as their savior again.

You don't have to have the whole Bible memorized.

There's so many things today with.

With the advent of technology that you can walk through with individuals.

There's tracks in the back if you're not into smartphones, but there's so much today at our fingertips.

Let's use it for the gospel.

Let's use it for the purpose of winning souls to Christ.

That's the purpose.

And then from there on, we say, you know what?

I'm willing to stay with them.

I'm willing to fellowship with them.

How much of a tragedy is it that we have people come through these doors and trust in Jesus Christ as savior, and then we just expect them to figure it out?

You know, we've got some kids in the room today, and so we know we've got a lot of parents in the room.

When you had a little child, baby, let's say, I'll use.

I'll use my own children.

As an example.

When Silas, he's 15 months old, we don't look at Silas and go, why aren't you acting like your older brother?

His older brother's nine years old.

You start, silas, you need to order food at the restaurant yourself.

Okay, we're not going to be ordering for you anymore.

You're a big boy.

No, we don't do that.

Why?

Because he's.

He's at that maturity level where he can't do certain things.

And we don't expect him to do something that he's not capable of doing.

We walk alongside him and train him so that one day he will be like his older brother and then he'll have more independence.

And that's sometimes what we happen within the church.

Someone comes forward and gets saved and we go, all right, now why aren't you serving and preaching in.

In 20 different ministries?

Why don't you have this?

Why don't you have that?

Why?

Why didn't you know that saying that word is a wrong word?

Instead of questioning them and looking down upon them, let's, as the church, come alongside and say, hey, let me show you what it means to trust in Jesus.

Let me show you what it means to serve Jesus.

Let me show you what it means to study the word of God.

That's called discipleship.

And so, yeah, if there's a person that's saved 50 years, we expect them to be at a certain place in their life.

But if there's someone that's newly saved within our church, we take it upon ourselves to say we are the conduits of understanding who Jesus is.

And so therefore, we point him or her to scripture.

We point him or her to serve alongside of us, to be the example for the truth of Jesus Christ.

And so, with all that being said, next week we're going to look at verse number 16.

Because one of the reasons why many folks are not ready to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ is because they are ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There's fear, there's apprehension.

And so Paul in the next verse says, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.

Next week we're going to dive deeper into that message that we're preaching.

How we can live boldly for the gospel and not be afraid of the outcome of the proclamation of the truth of who Jesus Christ is.

Folks, we are living in days that very clearly are evil.

The Bible says, redeem the time, buy back the time, because the days are evil.

We live no longer in a society that is pro gospel.

We live in a society that is pro self, pro flesh, pro sin.

And what sometimes we can say is this, you know what the gospel isn't.

Gospel isn't what it used to be.

Maybe we wouldn't say that.

We would say there was a day in our community back in the 50s and the 60s, that there were some people that just, you know, they.

They just came to Christ and.

And they knew what it meant to be a Christian.

You know, what the truth is, is, yeah, there was a time in America when it was more culturally accepted to be a good person.

Christ, like, so to speak, a churchgoer.

We live in a time where church isn't just an accepted norm, but the gospel is still powerful.

The same gospel that was changing people's lives 50 years ago, 500 years ago, is the same gospel message that we have today.

And some of you in this room, all of you that are believers in this room, are a product of the power of the gospel and ultimately the indwelling of the spirit.

And that's what we're preaching.

And so we're going to talk more about that next week, how we can live boldly for the cause of the gospel.

And really, what is the power of the gospel?

We're going to talk about that next week.

So I'd encourage you to come back here to Middletown Baptist Church.

I'm going to ask all of you if you're able to just stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed as the music plays today, I have just one, one question for you.

The question is this.

Are you ready?

Are you ready to do what God has called you to do by proclaiming the gospel to all around you, not every single person that comes up to you.

They might not be ready to hear the gospel, but when God opens that door, am I ready to live that gospel in front of somebody else?

Or am I so distracted with the things of this world that I'm not ready?

There's a couple reasons why you're not ready.

There's a couple reasons why I might not be ready.

The first reason is this.

You're not ready because you might not know Jesus Christ as your savior.

You can't point someone to Jesus if you don't know Jesus.

The Bible very clearly says it is by God's grace that we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves.

It is a gift of God, not of works.

Lest any man should boast, the Bible says that salvation is not by works.

It's not by my church attendance.

It's not by my good deeds.

The only way that we could come to Christ and know him and have forgiveness in him is by putting our full faith and trust in his work on the cross, his victory over death, and saying, lord, save me from my sins.

Faith, trust in him.

If you haven't trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Do it today.

Trust in Him.

Know that you have everlasting life.

The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

That's Jesus that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, should not die, should not be separated from him, but have everlasting life.

It is through Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation.

But maybe you've trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, but you have said, you know what?

I have so much going on in my life.

I'm not ready to have that life of Christian fellowship.

I'm not ready for to be the one who's proclaiming the Gospel.

I'm so caught up in my own struggles.

I'm so caught up in my own distractions that I'm not even able to do what God has called me to do.

Hey, get that right today.

Come to him in faith and say, lord, clean me up, change me, get me to a place of desiring you more and more so that we can proclaim the message so that all of us are ready to preach the word to those in need of the Gospel.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.

Thank you for what you have done for us.

Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of your work.

We ask all these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads here this morning.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon?

You can.

You can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast.

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.