 Let's begin reading at verse one. I'll read to verse seven, give you the background, develop some things, and then move into our study Romans chapter one beginning at verse one reading to verse seven. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And so let me give you some background, develop a few things, and then move into our study. The apostle Paul wrote no less than 13 of the letters that are recorded in the New Testament and out of the 13 letters it has been said that Romans is recognized as his greatest work. The book of Romans has been called the gospel according to Paul. Now the gospels record the words and the works of Jesus, but Romans reveals the purpose of his death. To do this, Paul gave to the church what is called a systematic theology. Romans is really looked at in that way. Now systematic theology is basically summarizing doctrinal traditions of the faith. So Romans would be the most precise presentation of doctrine in the New Testament. Now it's not simply a presentation of Christian theology, obviously theologies of great importance because you do what you believe, but it's a letter that gives a very practical exhortation about how our lives can glorify God. We need to remember that Christianity is not just a collection of facts to believe, but it's a way to live. It's a life, it's a life of love, it's a life of righteousness and it's this life of love and righteousness that can reveal that we're saved. In Ephesians 4 verse 1 Paul had said, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. And so we're to live in a certain way, we're to walk worthy, we're to walk in accordance to that which we are preaching to walk worthy would be speaking of the manner of life that we live in and its properness. And so Romans teaches us how to walk worthy. It instructs us and encourages us to live a life of love, life of holiness, it serves the purpose of introducing Paul, especially his teachings to the church. Now this is important to know as we begin, Paul did not plant the church at Rome. As a missionary, Paul planted churches in many locations, you read the book of Acts and you see that. He also wrote many letters to churches and he was known by these churches, the churches for example in Corinth or Galatia and Thessalonica and Ephesus in Philippi and Colossae and Crete. These people knew who he was, but the Roman church did not know him by face. And again, that's because he didn't plant the church in Rome and hadn't been there. The origin of the church is not known, it's not recorded in scripture. So as I was looking at the various commentators as they were speaking concerning this, I kind of just brought it down to two basic possibilities. The first is that the church was planted by some who were saved at Pentecost in Jerusalem. The book of Acts speaks of Jews who were in Jerusalem to celebrate in Acts chapter two, verse 10, when it began to give a list of the people, it says strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes were amongst those who were there on that day. So some believe that these saved Jews had returned to Rome and began a church. There are others who would say that the church was founded by Christians who had moved to Rome and that would explain why they had not met Paul before. And for many that's more probable. There are those who say that the church at Rome was founded by Peter, but there's no evidence that the church was. Now as we begin, Paul explains his reasons for writing and his longing to see them. First thing he says, we'll see that in verse nine. He has a spiritual burden for them. In verse 11, he desired to spiritually bless them that they might be established. In verse 12, he desired to encourage them and be encouraged by them. And verses 13 and 15 tell us that he desired to preach the gospel and produce fruit among them. It is believed that the book was written around 57 or 58 and was written on Paul's third missionary journey that's recorded in Acts chapter 20. The theme of Romans is found in chapter one verses 16 and 17. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written that just shall live by faith. That is the key of Romans. Now I want to see how he began in verse one. We'll begin how he introduces himself. Verse one, Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God. Notice how he begins. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle and separated. So he is first a servant. The word servant speaks of a voluntary slave of Jesus Christ, a voluntary slave for life. It's interesting to note that he doesn't begin with a title. He begins with a self description. He's saying I am a servant. Paul's saying I didn't exalt myself. I recognize myself for what I am. He introduces himself to let them know that the first and foremost thing that he is is God's servant. Remember in Luke 22 in verse 27 how the question was asked, who is greater? He who sits at the table or he who serves is not he who sits at the table. Jesus said, yet I am among you as the one who serves. So you go to a restaurant, who is greater? The person seated or the waiter or the waitress. Who's greater? Well, Paul would say, you know that it's the person who's being served. And yet he's saying, I'm a servant. I am not one who is lording it over you. I want you to first and foremost know that I'm here to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I am a servant, but verse one, but I'm called to be an apostle. Again, he didn't push for the office. He didn't go to apostle 101 classes so he could learn how to be an apostle. He says, I was selected by God to hold this office. It's what Jesus said in John 15, 16 when he said, you didn't choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, ordained you, that you should go and bear fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you. The apostles were selected by Jesus Christ. Paul says, I was called by God and separated. I'm separated to the gospel of God. Verse one, I've been selected by God to preach the gospel, a gospel that originates with God and a gospel that declares God. And this calling and this separation is from God and it wasn't from man. When he was writing to and ministering to the church of Galatia in chapter one of Galatians, he said in verses 15 and 16, he said, it pleased God who separated me from my mother's woman, called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen. So I was called by God. I was separated by God. I didn't seek to be an apostle. I was called by God. I was given ministry separated to the gospel of God. And notice how he says in verse two, this gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. So the gospel is something that has foreshadowed in Scripture. He's speaking of it being foreshadowed in the Old Testament. This is something that Peter would also say in 1 Peter 1, 10 through 12. The apostle Peter said concerning the salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing. When he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow, it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. When they spoke of the things that have now been told to you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, even angels long to look into these things. And so the Old Testament contains all of these prophecies related to Jesus Christ. This upcoming Sunday we're going to be looking at several things related to that as we continue through our study of Mark. But it's the Holy Spirit who gave prophecies related to the Messiah, the things he would do and what would happen to him. And so he's saying this was promised before through the prophets in the Scriptures. Now Jesus on one occasion in John chapter 5 verse 39 said it like this. He said search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. And he goes on in verse 3 concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was born of the seat of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. At this point Paul is revealing some extreme essentials of the Christian faith. Notice first Jesus is declared to be born of woman but he's also called the Son of God. Now when you look at that born of the seed that word seed speaks of offspring it speaks of a family or a tribe. Born of the seed or the tribe or the family or he's the offspring of King David is what he's saying. Now that begins by speaking of his human lineage. It's pointing out that Jesus Christ was fully human. Now when you look in the Old Testament you look at 2nd Samuel chapter 7 and in 2nd Samuel chapter 7 God makes a promise to King David. He says in 2nd Samuel 7 verse 12 when your days are over and you rest with your fathers I will raise up your offspring to succeed you who will come from your own body and I will establish his kingdom. He goes on in chapter 7 verse 16 of 2nd Samuel to say your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me your throne will be established forever. He's not speaking of Solomon or any of the others who would follow. He was speaking of Messiah and so Messiah's going his kingdom will last forever. This is speaking of Jesus's human descent and how that he's the fulfillment of the promise that was given to King David. That's why when you read scripture Jesus is called the Son of David. If you take notes you might want to note that that term Son of David is used around 17 times in the New Testament. It's in reference to that. It's a messianic title. Now we know that Joseph Jesus's father according to the flesh in terms of the people thinking he was father obviously who wasn't he was I don't know the proper way to refer to Joseph other than he wasn't Jesus's daddy. Joseph was David's physical descendant according to Matthew 1 16 but not Jesus's father and Jesus made that clear when he was 12 years old. You know the story Joseph and Mary had left Jerusalem after a day's journey they couldn't find Jesus. They had gone to Jerusalem to celebrate feasts and and as they were returning home they were frantically looking for Jesus and they couldn't find him and so they went back to Jerusalem and and there they found him in the temple and he was listening to and asking questions of the esteemed rabbis and Mary was worried and this is interesting when you see how Mary reprimanded Jesus in Luke 2 48 and 49 it says when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said to him son why have you done this to us look your father and I have sought you anxiously and he said why did you seek me did you not know that I must be about my father's business in other words Joseph isn't my father and so Jesus's humanity his flesh is derived from his mother Mary. Now Mary was a descendant of David according to Luke chapter 3 Jesus as a descendant of David is a descendant of David by adoption through Joseph but he is the seed of David by blood through Mary and so Jesus had humanity that he derived from his mother but verse 4 says he was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. I want to develop this for a minute the word declared speaks of that which is ordained or decreed it speaks of being determined or appointed Jesus's sonship was openly revealed and validated by his resurrection his resurrection validated everything that had taken place from conception remember that Mary was a young virgin Bible scholars estimate because the average age of a woman who was married during the time of Christ could be anywhere from 12 years old 14 years old she was a young woman she was young she was around 14 I'll give the age 14 because that seems to be the number a lot of a lot of the commentators fall around 14 14 year old girl and she has a visitation we all know the story I don't have to give you full details to it the angel speaks to her calls her blessed amongst women and makes it clear that she is going to be the mother of Messiah how is that possible she says seeing that I have never known a man she says I have purity I've never had intimate relations with a man how is it possible and the angel says well it's going to be to the spirit of God and he gives the whole explanation and so she left for a little while to go visit a relative by the name of Elizabeth she comes back a few months later and she's obviously pregnant and when you think of the city of Bethlehem rather of Nazareth when you think of the city of Nazareth you may think as we Westerners can especially those of us who were in crowded California so you may be thinking of some place with a large population and that wasn't the way it was estimates from Bible scholars related to the population of Nazareth can run from anywhere from 60 it was a small village she may be 200 so in a small village up to 200 perhaps you think they'd be aware of this young girl who left for a while came back and now she's showing and so and I'm going to deal with this by the way in more detail this upcoming Sunday but she had shame and and Joseph is aware of it right and he's thinking how he can put her away privately without shaming her why because we're told that he's he's a righteous he's a noble man according to Jewish law she was betrothed according to betrothal that means that she was actually married without the consummation the consummation would take place after the ceremony so they had legally they were regarded as married that's why he considered divorcing her they were already considered married they just hadn't consummated that would take place through a ceremony so he's thinking about this this woman that he was betrothed to it I'd assume that as a young man he may very well have loved this woman and he's thinking what am I going to do Mary is with child being a just man he wanted to put her away privately what does that mean according to the law a woman who had done such a thing could be stoned to death she could have been she could have suffered capital punishment so he's thinking and he says and that's when the angel said don't be afraid to take her because that what she is carrying is from the father it's a miraculous birth so you have a man and you have a woman who are going through this terrible pain because it's not that that she didn't she didn't want she said let it be done to me according to thy word I'm open to whatever God wants me to do she was willing to do that of course but the penalty so this young woman has a child born out of the appropriate wedlock and then Jesus at the age of 30 leaves for his ministry out of Nazareth so for all of these years she lives with the stigma of being the woman who became pregnant and that village was aware of it and these are things that she would keep in her heart these are things that she would deal with on her own it was a shame that she was regarded in this way and there was a grief that she she lived with every day but then Jesus went out and ministered and for three years little over three years he went out and did things that made people begin to believe that maybe maybe this one is something more than simply a human being but you don't know that until he dies on the cross he's buried and three days later he rises from the dead and in doing so demonstrates by the spirit of holiness by the Holy Spirit that he indeed is Messiah and that vindicated his mother at the same time any who would have remembered her claim that this was not something done out of fornication would have had that claim validated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and so from the seed of David he received his humanity but his resurrection demonstrated that he was the Son of God he says in verse five through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ and so through Jesus Paul received grace and apostleship he received grace in ministry now grace we know is God's unmerited favor by which you're saved and why and how you're gifted to serve the Lord apostleship was his office as well as his ministry every person who has received by way of application has received God's grace also has ministry and one of the things I would encourage all of us in this room all Christians really not just in this room is know what your gifts are know what God has called you to do and then do it there's no there's no place in my life that is more that gives me more joy and or contentment than doing exactly what I've been called by God to do so seek the Lord what is the call God has placed on your heart has God called you to be a missionary has God called you to serve in the children's ministry has what what has God called you to do I wonder how many of us have spent the time and our needs to ask the Lord about that I wonder how many of us have have thought you know this is what I enjoy doing this is where there is fruit see one of the ways you can determine what your gift is is to simply look to see where there's fruit and where there's joy you love to do this and there's fruit in it there's guys who say I want to be a teacher but nobody comes to listen to them so they're probably not a teacher but maybe they're called to do something else there are people want to be worship leaders they can't sing maybe you shouldn't do that but you can find what it is what gives you joy and sometimes somebody may say to you something that awakens you to the gift because you may not even be aware of it my father when I was 20 years old was I was actually 22 I was talking to a young man in my family's kitchen in my parents house and a young man asked me a question actually young man made a statement in front of my father to me and I said to him well actually that's not what the bible says but the bible says concerning that is this and I explained passage to him and he said well thank you for explaining that and I said cool he walks away and my father says to me I didn't know I didn't know you could do that I said do what I didn't know you could explain the bible and I said really because I didn't think of it but that was the seed that the lord actually watered in my life that awakened me to perhaps that was something I was supposed to do sometimes somebody may say something to you they may say something that blesses your heart and your spirit leaps in recognition and you bear witness with that and you say you know that's something I like to do sometimes you may go on a mission trip and you say to yourself and you come home nope I'm not a missionary you'll find out but you know what man once you once you uh once you discover that place there's no greater joy than serving in that place there's no no greater joy see a lot of Christians are bored because a lot of Christians aren't doing what they're called to do Paul said I've been called by God I received his grace and I received a apostleship I received his grace that's what saved me that's what gifted me but I also have an office I have something I do I have ministry that I perform and that's something we need to know the bible teaches very clearly that we minister by the grace of God remember Ephesians 4 7 to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift in 1st Peter 4 10 as each one has received a special gift employed in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God he goes on in verse 5 and he says through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name for the obedience of the faith among all nations for his name obedience to the faith speaks of obedience to the gospel message in other words Paul was ordained to be a preacher and missionary of the gospel when he speaks of the faith the faith includes faith in the name of Jesus Christ as the only savior of the world obedience speaks of obeying the Lord because obedience is the consequence of genuine faith you see people sometimes will say oh I'm a Christian but that's only because they're not Buddhist or they're not Muslim or they're not something else America used that one time when it was was you know a few years many years ago now was a nation that actually was called a Christian nation the Supreme Court actually stated that the United States is a Christian nation because of the underpinnings of our nation being built on Judeo-Christian ethics and principles and so the people in the United States in the early days into the mid-18 hundreds and even early 1900s were regarded as Christians and that I think is one of the great deceptions that ultimately overtook people because Christianity isn't something you're born into Christianity is something you're born again into and when the gospel isn't being preached and people aren't hearing the the need for repentance the confession of sins a recognition of who Jesus Christ is what he has done on the cross and those kinds of things and they say well I'm a Christian because I was water baptized or as a Christian because I was raised in this church no faith is always demonstrated by a changed life it's a way of life and that's what happens and so in Matthew 7 21 Jesus said it like this he said not everyone who says to me Lord Lord we'll enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who's in heaven now on one occasion Jesus had cast out a demon and when questioned and tested about this work Jesus began to respond after he did so there was a woman in the crowd and she was moved by what he had done and what he was saying and according to Luke 11 27 and 28 she said to him blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you but he said more than that blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it see obedience not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father obedience is the fruit of true salvation so faith in the Lord is demonstrated by a consistent life of obedience not just words but faith and it's demonstrated as we've already looked at in 1st John by love for God and for people in 1st John 2 4 and 5 it says he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments as a liar the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him and by this we know that we are in him so he speaks of in verse 5 the obedience to the faith among all nations for his name missions the name of Jesus was not intended to be kept in a small country called Israel the name of Christ in the gospel of Jesus is intended to be taken throughout the world Isaiah 45 22 says turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God there is no other Jesus in Mark 16 15 said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature to every person don't be out there preaching to dogs you know you tell the dog you can be a new creation in Christ and it becomes a cat no that's not what he's saying so you go out through all the world and you preach the gospel and so this is really still part of his introduction he goes on in verse 7 and he says to all who are in Rome beloved of God called to be saints grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ beloved of God you're beloved of God you've been reconciled through Jesus and that's removed the barrier the sin that had separated you has been dealt with by the blood of Christ and the faith in Jesus notice he says you're called saints a saint is the word Hagiaus it speaks of something that's been separated and the Bible says it kind of like this either you're a saint or an ain't right I heard you you already knew it and he says grace in peace may his grace overflowing you and may you have his peace you know if there's anything we need by the way right now in this nation that we're living in it's his peace we need his peace because there are a lot of frightened Christians you know there are and you know them and I know them and perhaps you've gone through that yourself and you had to you had to grow in that area there's a lot of people who are afraid and I and I understand that by the way as you grow older you begin to understand more and more you know in in my life I I have seen difference dying my parents and my father-in-law people I've loved very deeply and I understand that I understand grief I understand sorrow I understand missing I understand all of that but what I don't understand is the fear because perfect love casts out fear for fear has torment and I haven't I haven't been given the spirit of fear but of power and love in a sound mind and so that that's something that actually drives it out he shall keep him in perfect peace who's who's mind to stay it on you because he trusts in you Isaiah 26 3 says the scripture teaches us in Christ we have peace in this world you'll have tribulation you have good cheer I've overcome the world and see so that's where our faith really really is settled it's it's what jay verne and McGee used to say that's where the rubber meets the road that's that's where our faith actually is demonstrated in how we live in the midst of things like this and so we have a walk with the Lord in a piece that comes from him and so he goes on and he says in verse 8 and now we're actually going to begin first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world think about that when he says I thank God because your faith is spoken of throughout the world this is its reputation your faith is spoken of your faith in Jesus and your godly reputation is well known every church has a reputation in the community and perhaps in the world it serves every church does if you think of the different churches in in the bible that are spoken of you have the church of Corinth and anybody who's read Corinthians knows that it was known for its carnality division and a variety of other things it had a bad reputation Rome had a good reputation your faith has been spoken of people around the world are aware of you and that's a pastor's dream because their love and their faith in Jesus Christ is well known in 1st Thessalonians 1 8 and 9 it says this to the Thessalonian church from you the word of the Lord is sounded forth not only in Macedonian at Kaia but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God you have made it unnecessary for me to have to preach because you have done that because your life has been such a testimony and the things that you do and the things that you say add up they're consistent and and he said this is something that is a blessing to me that's been called a pastor's dream to have a church that is hungry for the things of the Lord and willing to take what they learn and to distribute it to not keep it to themselves but to take what they've been taught to live it and to give it to to go into the neighborhood if necessary or possible and to share with them to speak to people on the job or in the classroom wherever to be open and able and he said this is something that you're known for it's known throughout the world that God is doing something in you and he says in verse 9 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 prayer before the Lord I'm telling you the most sincere truth you see my service to him begins with my spirit but it's revealed by my outward life and so I'm not speaking of just a verbal commitment I'm saying that I live this and I am constantly and ceaselessly praying for all of you because I love you and I care for you and I want you to grow he says in verse 10 making request if by some means now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you I'm praying that God will allow me to come and see you but it has to be within his will I have a great burden to see you but the burden isn't the call though I have a burden to do this God has not necessarily called me so I'm waiting on the Lord to direct me to you but he knows my desire is to be with you why is that well verse 11 for I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established I want to come and minister to you I want to spiritually strengthen your faith I desire that you be filled with the spirit I desire that you exercise your gifts in Ephesians 411 and 12 he himself gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ I want you to grow and I want you to exercise your gifts I desire you to be established meaning firmly planted on that solid rock again in verse 11 I pray that God's word and spirit will fully guide you and fully empower you and that you'll stand strong in him verse 12 that is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me now this is an interesting thing for him to say at this point I don't he's saying I don't want you to think that I think too highly of myself one of the things that I'll say and I'll say this briefly it doesn't have to be said in a prolonged way just keep this in mind a genuinely humble servant is somebody who doesn't have arrogance it's somebody who doesn't want themself push themself esteem themself too highly you'll see this through the book of Romans a truly a true person who really has relationship with Jesus Christ is going to be an absolutely humble person you know my pastor Chuck Smith I'll say this quickly by illustration was was known very well through the world but a lot of people don't know that when Billy Graham was still alive and still was ministering in all one of uh one of the stories that pastor romaine shared with us was how that Billy Graham was in southern california doing an evangelistic crusade and romaine said this to us he said you know he says your pastor won't tell you this so i'm going to he said did you know that Billy Graham comes when he's in california southern california and sits in the parking lot here at calvary coast amesa he sits in the parking lot Billy Graham sitting in his car in the parking lot how do i know because we saw a car with somebody sitting in there and we approached him and it was Billy Graham and he was asked you know mr. Graham what are you doing sitting in the parking lot did you want to see pastor you know it's one of those things and what Billy Graham reportedly said was no i just like to sit in the parking lot because the presence of the spirit of god is so powerful here i just want to sit here and drench in the spirit now that is something chuck never told any of us he never told us stories like that why because he was truly humble for chuck and for us as believers the number one thing isn't that everybody knows who you are the number one thing is everybody knows who jesus is and when you understand that you're gonna have true humility and that's what he wanted he didn't want people to think to that he thought too highly of himself in verse 13 he says now i don't want you to be unaware brethren that i often planned to come to you but was hindered until now that i might have some fruit among you also just as among the other Gentiles i don't want you to be unaware and it's not that i haven't wanted to see you i haven't been able to come either he'd been too busy in ministry or perhaps there were spiritual hindrances he had said to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2 18 we wanted to come to you certainly i paul did again and again but satan stopped us so there was some reason he had not been able to do so but his desire he says is to have fruit among you it's been said that paul was the world's hungriest evangelist his greatest desire was to preach the gospel and win people to jesus christ and the greatest joy in his life was to see people come to faith in christ there are those who strive for recognition for prestige a large work influence money paul strove to preach the name of jesus in romans 15 20 i've made it my aim to preach the gospel not where christ was named lest i should build on another's foundation he says in verse 14 i'm a debtor both to greeks and to barbarians both to wise and to unwise i'm indebted to greeks and barbarians i'm indebted to to the intellectual as well as the one who is not so intellectual i'm a steward of the grace of god and i'm duty bound to faithfully preach this gospel you see i'm a safe sinner and a desire others to be saved too i've been given a ministry and the minister i've been given is to preach to the gentiles you romans are people i want to speak to it says in romans 11 13 i speak to you gentiles in as much as i'm an apostle to the gentiles i magnify my ministry my desire as a saved sinner is to reach other sinners and let me say this quickly that has been and that is the heart of what was at one time called the jesus movement but it was the heart of those of us who at first got saved during that that great revival that took place one thing i still remember and and still practice to this day obviously because it's an essential of my own faith is to tell people about christ tell people about jesus i've been saved you know sometimes people i believe it or not i don't say this for any other reason other than it's just true i was sharing this with some of the men the other day i have a mentoring class that i i'm in it i excuse me i mentor some of the men in the church every other week and i was sharing with them just the other day after second service and i was saying to them that one of the things that i've heard from pastors as well as others is why would they listen to me why do you tear up so easily because a lot of men think i'm effeminate because i cry and and the answer to that is very simple because when the holy spirit touches my heart i'm going to show it you know i i i don't believe i'm not macho i'm real and when the holy spirit touches you just be real and the real is i want people saved i want them saved so i told my mom i wanted wanted saved i told my father i wanted them saved i told my friends i wanted them saved i've been preaching in this church and ministry for 49 years now because i want them saved the apostle paul is the hungriest evangelist but anybody who's been touched by the grace of god becomes a hungry evangelist too and you ask god god give me opportunity to share with somebody my neighbor perhaps or a friend or this person or that person lord i just want to tell people about jesus and i want to speak to those who are educated speaking to the greeks he's saying but i also will speak to the uneducated those who are the barbarians in first chrithians 916 paul said it like this when i preach the gospel i can't boast i'm compelled to preach woe unto me if i don't preach the gospel so he says in verse 15 finally so as much as in me i am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in rom also i'm prepared to preach in small villages i'm prepared to speak in mighty cities because there's only one thing worth living for and dying for and that is sharing jesus the world is waiting to hear the truth the world is hungry you may be you're being lied to by the way all the young people aren't interested that's a lie the young people just want truth and here we are trying to decorate it in worldly cultural things when in fact just speak the truth in love this is the truth jesus can set you free god loves you just remember that finally this book is a beautiful book carries with us and we'll look at this when he said i'm not ashamed of the gospel we'll see that next week i was on a plane i was flying or coming home from israel my son david and one of his friends we're excuse me we're sitting further back than mom and i were i was flying the plane no i was in a different place when my son and and flight stay is real take a time take some time and my son comes with his buddy and dad what son dad come back here with us we're telling this man about jesus i said really yeah come on dad we need your help so i look at marie and i say oh see what my boys got me into now so i go to the back of the plane and there's this very handsome italian man and he's sitting he's a businessman he's wearing a suit a young man and my son's looking at this guy and david was sitting next to him so he's and and matt and david says dad he said i've been telling him about jesus and i'm just standing there okay okay he goes and i told him i asked him what are you and he said i'm a catholic so i told him you're going to hell you're going to hell because you worship marie then he looks at me my son and he says that's right isn't it dad and i'm going oh jesus why did why did you put me in this place and the man's looking at me like is that true pizon is that true and i looked at him and i smiled at him and i said my son is very zealous to share with people about jesus um forgive me if he's a little old i said but son in answer to your question yes he's going to hell if he does not have a relationship with jesus christ that's true and i looked at the italian man and i said this where are you from i'm from rom oh really did you read god's letter to you he said what letter would that be i said the book of romans is found in the new testament i would encourage you to read the book don't you think it's a bit rude to have a letter written to your city and you've never even read it it's from god and he wants you to know something you ought to read the book of romans and he just looks at me i prayed to god that he did i prayed to god that he thought what a goofy dude and wacky little kid but it's true never back down never never never apologize for the truth find a gracious way and use that way i could very easily have been a how far and brimstone preacher that's not what i am i believe in the grace of god i believe that god speaks to our hearts through gentleness and by his word sometimes he'll speak in such a way that it wakesens me that's that's a fact there we still need men like john the baptist there's no doubt about that but we also need men who are able and women who are able to take the truth of god and present it in a way that causes people to see that god loves him and that's what paul was doing he says it's my desire to talk to you about jesus i want to win more to christ and it's my desire to come and see you and so our opportunity to go through the book of romans is see the things that he wanted them to know and by extension the things he would want us to know also and father we ask