Aug. 03, 2025
Background:
- Part 1: Romans Chapters 1 - 11: How God has shown His Righteousness to the world and the Romans Road
- Part 2: Starting in Romans Chapter 12: takes a turning point and starts speaking to those who went down the road and accepted Christ; teaches us how to behave like a Christian
- Paul is telling us what we need to do to talk and walk like a Christian
- Each believer in Christ has one gift
- Are we using it and do we know what our gift is?
- That may not be our final ministry but we should still do our best
- Paul does not list his ministries in scripture in order of importance (1 Corinthians 12:12 & 1 Corinthians 12:25-26)
- We have a command to win souls for Christ
- Every generation of Christians will experience rejection
- We must ask ourselves could it be our actions are speaking louder than our words
- We should want our life to preach because people are watching us, they should see something different in us than they do the world
- Faith, Hope, and Love ( 1 Corinthians 13:13)
Key Sermon Points:
1. How we should relate to other believers (vs 9-10)
- We must have a genuine love for one another and not pretend
- It may involve giving up time or money
- We need to humble ourselves and exalt others, it will not be easy (Acts 15: 36-41)
- We may not always agree with our fellow believers but we should always forgive as God forgave us
- We are to love the person and not the wrong they did ( Matthew 18:15)
- Paul did not hold anything against Mark or Barnabas ( 1 Corinthians 9:6 & 2 Timothy 4:11)
2. Our service in ministry (vs.11)
- A: Not lagging in diligence
- We must have an enthusiastic joy in service of the Lord (Hebrews 6:12)
- B: Fervent in spirit
- We must be on fire when witnessing for Christ (Mark 10:7 & Matthew 10:14)
- C: Serving the Lord
- We do not have to be the best but do our best (Colossians 3:23-24)
- Our service to the Lord is not about anyone but God
3. Three different behaviors of this walk (vs 12)
- A: We should be rejoicing in hope and our hope should be in Jesus
- God can not lie so we believe what the Bible says
- Rejoice in Jesus (Philippians 4:4 & Titus 2:13)
- B: We should be patient in tribulation
- Knowing that God is always with us
- We need to wait on the Lord(Isaiah 40:31)
- C: We should always continue steadfastly in prayer
- God will give us strength to walk through our daily trials ( 1 Thessalonian 5:17 & James 5:16)
4. It's a Stewardship ministry (vs 13)
- We should give generously and meet the needs of others selflessly
- We can not have a closed fist when it comes to giving
- We never know what someone is going through
- Be hospitable (1 Peter 4:9)
- Let brotherly love continue (Hebrews 13:1)
- When we accepted Jesus we should have started the process of sanctification, which is becoming more like Jesus Christ
- As Christians our goal is to become a little more like Jesus and a little less like ourselves (Philippians 2:5)