First Baptist Church, Pineville's morning message for July 26 was brought by our associate pastor, Brother Ryan Crawford: "For I Am Not Ashamed of The Gospel!"
We stood for opening prayer and the reading of God's word. The opening scripture reading was taken from: Romans 1:1-16:
1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
2. (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
3. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
4. And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
5. By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
6. Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
7. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
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;
10. Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
11. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
12. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
13. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
14. I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
15. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (With particular emphasis on verse 16 throughout Brother Crawford's lesson.)
"Paul is writing here to the Roman Christians in a local church in Rome. Telling them how much he desired to come to them. And how desperately and dedicated and determined he was to not only share the Gospel with them, but to invest spiritually with them all. There was something in Paul's message right off the bat that would catch anybody's eye. He mentions the word Gospel four times in just 16 verses. Something about the Gospel excited him, drove him, overwhelmed him, confounded him, that for the Gospel's sake, he had something to say. He even went so far in verse 16 to say: (probably one of the most famous sayings in all the Bible) 'I am not ashamed of the Gospel.' Not only did he say it, but Paul's life backed it up.
So my question to you today is, as a Christian church, are you ashamed of the Gospel? God has said, if you are ashamed of me on earth, I will be ashamed of you in heaven. Are you willing to say I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ? Stand up for it, stand firm on it, base your life round it, share it with pride. Even though the world may say, hide it, YOU show it. Forget your honor, forget your reputation, feel no guilt regarding the Gospel."
But exactly what is the Gospel? It is the 'Good News' of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:
1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Pure and simple. "That is the Gospel. Our sin caused Christ to die. But that we might live through Him that died, Jesus loved us so much, He offered Himself up as the free gift of Salvation." "So why could Paul write to the Romans and say that he was not ashamed of the Gospel?" And more importantly for us today, how can we learn to not be ashamed as Paul?
"First, I believe Paul Experienced the Gospel. Man did he ever experience the Gospel!" Acts 9:3-6 says:
3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
"And it was there that Saul found Jesus. There it changed his life. And there he became Paul. Paul experienced the Gospel. It was a conscious, personal decision, followed by a practical delivery." Romans 1:5, By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name. "So it only made sense to Paul, if I am saved, I should not be ashamed, AND I should obey God."
"Secondly, Paul Endured the Gospel. Paul exemplified the Gospel, he lived the gospel. You couldn't separate Paul from the Gospel. Paul embodied the Gospel, he loved the Gospel, Paul lived it." Romans 1:9a, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel. "Paul was abiding in the gospel. In other words ... EVERYONE needs to hear what I have ... love. ... and how I got it."
"Finally, this morning: Evangelize the Gospel. Everybody deserves to hear the Gospel. There is no one you will ever approach, ever talk to, about Christ, who is not deserving of the free gift of Salvation. No one. See Romans 1:15 above. "This verse demands we preach the Gospel. Everywhere Paul went he was either sharing his personal testimony, or he was preaching the Gospel. He never got over his salvation. With everything he had Paul wanted everyone to know about Jesus."
"There is but one purpose for a Christian, and that is to give the Gospel to everyone. To take as many treasures to Heaven (those souls without Christ on the earth) with them, that they can. Don't wait for 'someone else' to do it, because 'someone else' doesn't exist. You do it, you serve, you witness, you abide in the Gospel." Because Christ has come into your heart, just like He did with Paul, so you too can honestly say ..." For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus The Christ!
All verses quoted above are from the King James Bible.
We now have two morning worship services. Our first service, the Early Morning Service, is at 8:30 a.m., with Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. After Sunday School, the second morning worship service, the mid-morning aervice, will start at 11 a.m.
Monday at 6:30 p.m, Altar Prayer services.
.Wednesday at 7 p.m., KFC for children (meal provided), and Bible Study for adults.
Friday at 6:30 p.m., "Through The Bible In A Year," and potluck meal.
Saturday at 3:30 p.m., Nursing Home Ministry at Golden Living, Anderson.
Please remember you can hear a rebroadcast of one of our pastors' services, on KURM radio, 100.3 on the FM dial, at 8:30 a.m. Sunday mornings. Or listen to our pastors' services at www.firstbaptistchurchpineville.com/Sermons.html. If you have no church home of your own, we would love for you to join us (off the northeast corner of Pineville square, just behind U.S. Bank) in ours. No friendlier, down home church, can be found anywhere in the four-state area.
Religion on 07/30/2015