How Excited Are We About The Gospel? Series

We started a new study series last week with the Letter to the Romans. When this letter was written 2000 years ago, the City of Rome was the center of the world! The city had over 2 million people with diverse backgrounds but many were slaves. The Church in Rome was very fragile in the sense that it was trying to grow spiritually in a very secular, worldly society! The Church in Rome was like the Church in America today. There is much to learn from this letter for us today. The first thing we learned last week was that the main message of the letter is the Gospel - the Good News of Jesus Christ! That was the main message needed by the Romans 2000 years ago and this is the main message needed for America today!

Here’s the question for us this morning: How excited are we about the Gospel? Are there other things which we get more excited about ahead of the Good News of God? Let us learn from the Apostle Paul.

Please open your Bibles to Romans 1. I’d like you to quietly read for yourself Romans 1:8-17. And as you are reading, will you write down one word adjectives which describe the Apostle Paul. I think we can find at least 8.

Please quietly read v8-17 and jot down descriptions of Paul..

We can note from verse 8 that Paul was thankful!

What was Paul thankful for??

Paul was thankful for the faith of the church which the world noticed! Just a quick thought: How is “our world” seeing our faith right here in South Milwaukee?.

What can we note about Paul in verse 9? Paul was a Servant! And we can note in v10 that Paul was Prayerful. But within v9-10, we can note another thing about Paul.

What does it mean that Paul professed that God is his witness in serving and praying? Paul made himself accountable to God! Another thought: In our service and even in our prayers, who are we really doing it for?

In verses 11-12, Paul was eager to encourage and teach. Paul was an encourager and a teacher.

And finally in verses 15-17, did you notice Paul’s passion and confidence in preaching the Gospel? Paul was passionate and confident about the Good News of Christ!

Was there any description of the Apostle Paul which you noted but I didn’t??

And so, we note that the Apostle Paul was thankful, servant, prayerful, accountable, encourager, teacher, passionate, confident, …………

Let me ask a couple of questions. Don’t you think those qualities of Paul pleased God? Remember the journeys of Paul (show missionary journey maps)? Paul spent the last 33 years of his life declaring the Good News of Jesus Christ. God could have stopped Paul anytime in those 33 years if God wasn’t pleased with him. God was pleased with the way the apostle Paul lived his life!

And do you think those qualities brought joy in Paul’s own life?

We should all memorize what Paul said in Romans 15:17 and make it our own, Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.

Do you want to please God and have joy in life? We should all desire those qualities of Paul!

And the way to have those same qualities of the Apostle Paul is to understand why he was that way. What was Paul’s M-O? What motivated Paul to live that way?

Romans 1:16-17 tells us a lot about Paul and we will talk more about it. But in general, What drove Paul’s life??

Turn briefly with me to Romans 15:20……..

The Gospel drove Paul’s life! The Good News of Jesus

Christ drove Paul’s life!

Now let’s go back to Romans 1:16-17.Why was the Gospel so important to Paul?

We can note 2 things that the Gospel does:

1. It is the power for salvation of everyone who believes!

What do people need to be saved from??

What verse in Romans can we cite for this truth?

Let us note and memorize Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Have you received this gift from God?

What is the first thing a Christian should put on as part of the armor of God? Put on the Belt of Truth! What is this Belt??

The 2nd thing we can note about what the Gospel does from Romans 1:16-17 is this:

2. A righteousness from God is revealed!

Turn briefly to Romans 3:21-24……….

What does it mean to be righteous? Being righteous with God means God no longer sees our sins because Jesus Christ died for them. Believers of Jesus Christ have been justified; have been cleared of all the wrongs committed!