The Three "I Am" Statements of Paul - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Father, we thank you this morning that you give us the ability to worship you in ways where we never thought of. And Lord, we choose to worship you this morning with our minds as we give you our attention to hear what you have to say to us. Lord, we pray that this would not be a throwaway service. Lord, whether we're healthy or sick, you are worthy of our service. You are worthy of our attention and adoration, and Lord, we choose to give that to you this morning.

Would you hear our desire to hear from you? Would you speak so loudly and clearly? Lord, it is in moments like this where we are so weak, where your power is made perfect. And so we lean into you and we ask, make your presence and your power known in our hearts. And let us know as we leave this place even that we have met with the living God.

We pray these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ who gives us the access to the throne of grace and time of need. And jesus, name, we pray. This week, I've been reflecting on a simple, simple, simple, This time of the year, we not only look forward to what God has in store, but we also look back to what He has done. And we were mentioning that on Friday. And in my own mind, my own heart reflecting on the past, it's totally fine to go back to the days when you were first saved.

And the question I bring before you this morning is do you remember when you first got saved? For some of you, it hasn't been too long. It's been a few months. For some of you, it's been maybe a few years. For some of you, it's been many years.

But just in this morning service, could you just reflect on when you first encountered Jesus? Do you remember that turning point? You might not remember the day. You might not remember the hour. You might not remember the exact moment where you were regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

But you remember where things began to change, because when you're changed by this gospel, you will know it. How much changed when you gave your life to Christ? It's as the Scriptures testify that He reaches in and He takes that heart of yours filled with your own desires, ambitions, dreams, and goals. And he takes a new heart and he puts it in you. And that new heart is filled with new desires and new dreams and new ambitions and new goals.

That's what the scripture says. And now these pursuits that you once had don't have priority anymore. There's these brand new pursuits that are now taking hold of your energy, your time, your attention, your devotion. It's a consuming thing, and if you're truly saved this morning, if you really know that you've been touched by God through the gospel, you can testify of this undeniable result of encountering the Savior. One thing that changes for sure is that when you've been changed by this gospel, you desire to share this Jesus with other people to experience that change for themselves in a consuming way.

Knowing Jesus and you wanted other people to really know this Jesus. And you might have not known all the verses. You might have not known all the right answers to skeptical questions, but you just knew one thing. I really want people to come and to share this experience that I've had through this man, Jesus Christ. Do you remember that?

It was something that you longed to do. It was something that you continually asked for open doors to be able to share. And if there's one person in the scriptures that had this dramatic experience, it was the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul in Acts chapter nine, we're going to begin there this morning, met this Jesus Christ in a way that changed his priorities forever. Look at verse 20 of Acts chapter nine.

This is after, on that Damascus Road, he beheld the glory of the Lord, and it literally changed the way he would see things. In fact, physically, he was blinded for three days. And when Ananias came, it's as though those scales fell off his eyes. And, yes, he could see physically, but he he received brand new eyes spiritually. And it says here in verse 20, and immediately what did he do?

And immediately he proclaimed in the synagogue saying, he is the Son of God. He proclaimed Jesus immediately after you encountered him, going to the synagogue saying, he is the Son of God. And all who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priest? See, Paul was on his way to Damascus with letters in his hand ready to go to this place to arrest and to bring destruction to Christians.

Though bore the name of Christ would meet this vicious Pharisee to try to bring them to a place of blaspheming and denying this Jesus Christ that they were proclaiming was God in the flesh. That was his ambition. That was his driving purpose in life. That was the very thing that was controlling him and moving him the way he was moving. But when he met the Lord, what happened?

Everything changed. And his purpose even towards Damascus changed. And now he went from a place with burning fiery hatred with a replacement of a burning fiery love in Christ. He would never go to Damascus the same way again. In fact, Paul would never visit any place the same way again because there was a transfer.

He met Christ, and because he met Christ, he couldn't hold back. He must have testified to the goodness and the mercy of Christ. But was this just the rest of regeneration? I call it the rush of regeneration that when you first get changed, you you have this just sense of drive to go and tell people about the Lord no matter who you are. Was it a seasonal thing that gripped him and then later on weaned off?

Well, look at verse 22. But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. What is that saying there? That he he grew in strength. What?

Physically? No. Spiritually. That as he grew in the spirit, as he matured in the soul, as he continued to discover and explore who this Jesus was, he began to be strengthened. And as he was strengthened, something else was strengthened, his desire to share this Christ.

Now look what it says here. He confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. Now go back to verse 20. Look what it says. And immediately, so right after he met the Lord, he proclaimed Jesus being the Son of God.

So in his infancy, you can say that Paul proclaimed Jesus was the Son of God. But as he grew in strength, he didn't just proclaim him, he proved him. He went from proclaiming to proving. What does that mean? That Paul came to a place where as he studied and as he grew in the scriptures, he was able to now go to the scriptures and show from the scriptures that Jesus Christ is truly God.

And that's a sign of growth, spiritually speaking, that as you grow in the Lord, you know what you'll be able to do? You'll be able to understand the scriptures more and point people not just to your own testimony, but to the infallible word of God that Jesus is who he says he is. You will be able to prove as you strength. See, if you're weak in the spirit, one sign of that is that you can't go to the scriptures and discover Jesus. And Paul didn't even have the New Testament.

Paul only had the Old Testament scriptures, and Paul was able to go back to the Old Testament and prove that Jesus was the Christ, that he was to die on the cross, that he was to go into the tomb, that he was to raise after three days. He can go to the Old Testament and do that. And so it's more than just giving your testimony, and that is a powerful thing. It's now being able to go to the testimony of the scriptures and show other people, hey. This isn't just my opinion.

This is what the word of God says thousands of years before my own experience. He's he was strengthened in his spirit because he was strengthened. He did not just proclaim, he proved. And by God's grace, that's what we're gonna be doing in the new year and Friday Bible studies. We're gonna go to the Old Testament and see Jesus and see God, the Trinity, all these different things.

What? So we can have a big fat head? No. So that we can win people to Christ. He went from proclaiming to proving.

And as he grew in the spirit, so did his zeal to share this Jesus. And so I see a man who wasn't just operating under the fresh faith that he had by becoming a Christian. But if we're honest with ourselves, let's just be real. Some of us have known the coldness of the heart of sharing our faith. I mean, before, you prayed for opportunities to do it, and now we convince ourselves not to do it, and we give ourselves excuses why we shouldn't do it.

Beforehand, it was something that we would pray and ask open doors for, but now it's things that we make excuses for. At one point, you would have to be convinced not to do it, but now you and I almost have to be convinced to do it. And I believe that when a person becomes apathetic in sharing their faith, one way to overcome that is to allow the heat from another person's passion to radiate off of them onto our cold and stony hearts to melt and to realize the joy of being able to extend the gospel to someone else. And in this short message, we're gonna do that through the Apostle Paul in our main text this morning, which is Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one beginning in verse 14.

Let's read Romans one fourteen-sixteen together, and let's experience the fiery passion of this man called the Apostle Paul, and let it just radiate off of us and to melt any callousness that has developed over the years, maybe weeks even. Look what Paul says in verse 14. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Verse 15. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In these two verses, we three we see three Paul making three I am statements. Verse 14, he says, I am under obligation. Verse 15, he says, I am eager to preach.

And verse 16, he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. Three I am statements that Paul makes in relationship to his evangelistic zeal in proclaiming Jesus Christ. And so we explore these things. In verse 14, he says, I am under obligation. The New King James, the King James says, I am a debtor, and I believe that word displays a clearer picture of what the original is trying to say.

I am a debtor to both Greeks and to barbarians. What does that even mean? I am in debt to them. Did Paul owe them money? But to be in debt denotes an idea of owing someone something that you have.

That that you have something that belongs in a sense to someone else, and you are responsible in giving it to them. And if you withhold that thing that you have to give, you are in a sense offending that individual. And this was Paul's understanding that I possess something, that I've been granted something, and it's not for me to have for myself. I am in debt to and he says Greek barbarians, all these different people. What is he trying to say?

To everybody. I'm in debt to all men, whether wise or foolish, kings or paupers. Doesn't matter who they are. I've been granted something, and it is my responsibility to give it out. I can't keep it to myself.

Was Paul operating under guilt with that statement? Was he being driven simply because he was commissioned by an apostle to be a preacher to the nations? Is that what he was saying here? Listen, I've been granted a call. My call, my job, my nine to five is to go and preach.

No. Paul had an understanding of this gospel that it is so glorious that I must give it out. And so another way of looking at it is is him saying, you know, I I had this disease that was killing me, that was gonna destroy me, and I found a cure, an unending supply to cure this disease that all men are infected by it. And how can I keep this cure to myself when all people are in need? I'm a beggar, and I found an unending supply of bread.

Shall I not go to other beggars and point them to the supply when they are looking for sustenance? I was desperately thirsty to the point of death, and I found a well that never runs dry. Shall I not point others to drink of this well in Christ? I I have something, and I it's not for me to keep. And there's an awesome picture of this.

Every time I have the chance to read through this book in second Kings and and I find myself in this chapter, I always am softened by the physical picture that is being displayed and how there's a spiritual parallel to it. I encourage you to turn your Bibles to two Kings chapter seven to see with me what I'm talking about. Two Kings chapter seven. What's happening in this chapter as you turn there? Israel was surrounded by Syria.

And as they were surrounded and barricaded by this army, it caused a famine within the land. They couldn't go out and grab food, so they were stuck with whatever supply they had. And essentially, this war strategy was let's just starve them to death. And it's a very nasty and ugly picture when you read the details of this chapter. Why?

Because people were beginning to sell dove dung and donkeys heads for for for prices that were just outrageous. In fact, it goes even deeper than that. You have a scene where the king is having a dialogue with a woman, and this woman is telling the king, hey. Me and this other woman, we we were so hungry. We decided to eat our own children.

And we made a decision that today I'll boil my child, and tomorrow we'll boil your child and eat him. And we did it, and I ate, but now she's not giving up her child. And the king goes, that's enough. Let the Lord do to me what I'm about to do to you if I don't do this to Elijah and cut off his head. So Elisha was a prophet in the land at that time.

And as he sends a messenger to threaten Elisha, Elisha gives word back and says, watch by tomorrow how the sale prices will change because there's gonna be influx. There's gonna be an income. There's gonna be a reward. There's gonna be a blessing from God where everybody will be fed. And it was a miraculous idea because you have this army surrounding how did it make any sense.

And then in verse seven downward, We cut to the scene of these four lepers, and these four lepers are hanging by the gate. They couldn't be in the city. And you know what these lepers are having? They're having a conversation. They say, why are we here?

We stay here. We die. Why don't we just go to the the camp of the Syrians? And as we go there, if they receive us, then we're okay. They receive us, and maybe we'll have some kind of food for ourselves.

But if they kill us, well, we're gonna die anyway, so why don't we just go? Alright. That's a good idea. It's a win win pretty much or lose lose. Let's find out.

So they go to the camp, and verse eight reads this. And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and golden clothing and went and hid them. What happened? They found that the camp was completely empty. No soldiers were there.

And the scriptures gives commentary that the Lord made a sound as though chariots and a great army were coming against Syria. And they said to one another, what? Surely Israel has hired the Hittites and the Egyptians to come against us, and they fled the scene. So here are these lepers, perfect timing. Come on in.

No soldiers. What is it? Bountiful possessions, clothing, and they went and hit them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went ahead. They hit the jackpot.

So they have all this clothes and all this food, and they're beginning to eat, and you could just imagine you have four lepers in this huge campsite just plundering whatever they wanted, hiding things. And now look what this one leper says. Verse nine, then they said to one another, we are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us.

Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household. You see, they've experienced good news. They've stumbled upon a treasure, and they thought to themselves, who are we to contain this to ourselves? Shall we not go back and declare to a needy people what we have discovered? I remember reading that first time saying, That's the gospel right there.

And so you see that this is the idea that Paul is giving. I'm under obligation. I found something, and I know that there's a world that's in need. How can I just feast on this myself? How can I gather these blessings for myself?

Which tells us something about the gospel, does it not? That you can't really sense that debt to others unless you first experience the riches in Christ. Is it possible the reason why many don't have that zeal? Now it's not always the case because even those who are truly saved can come to this place of apathy, But is it possible that many don't have that zeal because they never experienced the glorious riches in Christ in the first place? They've never stumbled upon the treasure.

They never saw their need and found that overwhelming tide of goodness fall upon them like these men. How can I keep this to myself? How can I hold this to me? So they go. They go to testify, and when they did, revival pretty much broke out.

And this is why Paul says, hear this verse in first Corinthians nine twenty three. When he tells the Corinthians why he does what he does concerning preaching, He says, I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings. I want other people to join me in the thrill of knowing and experiencing what God has provided in the Lord Jesus. That's why I feel this debt. It's just too good for me to contain for myself.

And I remember seeing that happen in my very own eyes. Back in Canada when we used to just do random evangelism, I remember stumbling upon just a a couple of guys that were on the streets, young high school kids, and you could tell they were troubled. And one conversation led to another, and they were younger, maybe 13, 14, 15. And we went to McDonald's with them and just got them some ice cream. And remember there was me and another person and these two strangers that we just met.

And one conversation led to another, and this young boy was sitting beside me, and I'll never forget his face, began to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as the gospel was being unfolded, his ice cream was melting in his hand. And he's looking at me, young kid. And as he's looking at me, he's not licking his ice cream. He's just looking and staring.

I thought to myself, I better hurry up. But as I concluded, this young kid that I met that night stared at me and said, I've never heard this before. And he was stunned, silent by the idea that there's a God that loves him in the midst of all of his mess. And I learned something that night. Don't ever assume that everybody in the West knows about the gospel.

I remember another time being in college and bumping into this exchange student who was who was from China, And we got to know each other and just began to talk normal talk, and one day he decided to come over, and when he came over, it was just me and him in the living room. And then he asked me what I was doing that weekend, and when I looked back, I said, well, I'm going to church. He says, church? What do you do at church? And I began to explain what church was.

Why do you go to church? Well, because I have a relationship with God. Who's God? And I began to speak with him, and I'm talking about zero knowledge. It went to the idea of Adam and Eve.

He's like Adam and Eve. Who's Adam and Eve? Sin. What's sin? I was stunned.

I was this person has been in America for how long and he's never heard this. He never understood there was a God. He never understood that there's sin. He never understood that they were created. And I remember his reaction when I says, you can pray to God and talk to me.

He says, what? I can talk to this God? You could talk to him right here, right now. How do I do it? And it was like, as if you've never heard this before.

I thought to myself, how can I hold this back from people? Am I assuming that everybody walking in the streets just because they have iPhones and nice cars know who this Jesus is? Oh, God. Let me feel that I'm in debt to others to share this news, realizing that they don't even know their own need and not to assume that everybody has an understanding. Just because we have radio stations and and seminaries, that doesn't mean anything.

I'm in debt. But he doesn't just say that. He says in verse 15, I am eager. I'm eager to preach. Again, the New King James, the King James says, I'm ready.

I'm ready to declare the gospel. This is a second I am statement. And we get the impression the reason why he's saying this is because Paul, though he's writing to the Romans, has not yet himself been to Rome. Now there's much debate about how this church community began in Rome, but we know this for certain that there is strong evidence that Paul himself has never been to this place to see this community of believers. How do we know that?

Look at verse 13. I do not want you to be unaware brothers that I've often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. He goes, I wanna let you know that the reason for why I've not visited. I'm not telling you this because there are things that I didn't want to no. No.

He's saying I've been prevented. I really wanted to come, but things have not allowed me to do so. Then you go back to verse 10. What does it say? Always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

So this was something that was consuming Paul's heart. In fact, it translated in his prayers saying, God, give me an open door to go to Rome. I wanna be able to go there. I wanna go to the to the the the central place of his modern day to be able to declare the gospel. I don't wanna stay here.

I'm so thankful for what you've given me, but, Lord, extend my endeavors to this place. So we see here that he's bubbling up inside as his desires to go, and he goes, I can't wait to come and share this good news. I can't wait to come into that place and just see what God will do and what doors he'll open. And it's a fascinating thing because I read this. I am eager, and I ask myself reading that verse, how do I become eager like Paul was?

How can how can I get to the place not making an excuse that he's an apostle and I'm just this average Joe? No. How can I have this eagerness and this desire to be ready to go forth, to have this desire to spread this news? And I believe it's connected to the first point, that he first understood the debt that he had. He first understood the glorious riches like those lepers did when they found this field of blessing.

And I believe that the more you and I get deeper in our understanding of the goodness of God, the more that zeal will become a greater and greater reality. That if you really engage with this book, engage with the presence of God in a real way, in an experiential way, the result of that is this growing bubbling desire to actually wanting to to share to share. Think about it. When Paul went to Damascus, you'll never see Damascus the same way again. When Paul went to all these places, he had a completely different vision, and that's true for you and I.

And when you go towards that campus, you won't see that campus the same way. Maybe you had before you had different ambitions, different desires, but now you're walking with a new step. When you go to your workplace, you don't see it as what you did before when Christ reveals himself to you. Now you see it as something else. You don't see people the same way.

That's the idea here. Paul has come to that place. I'm eager. I'm ready to do this for the gospel. And I believe it's connected to the first point.

Now here's the question that Paul request Paul's request wasn't met. His desire to go to Rome, did God meet that desire? Well, hear this verse. You don't have to turn there. Acts twenty three eleven.

The following night, the Lord stood by him, Paul being Paul, and said, take courage. For as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, you must also testify in Rome. I love it you connect these verses. So what does Jesus say to him in Acts 23? You're gonna go to Rome.

I've heard your prayers. I've seen the desires of your heart, and I'm gonna make a way for you to testify about me in that place that you so desire to go to. And that's amazing because God heard him and answered him. But what is is even more amazing is the means by which Paul was able to go to Rome. So so he received their assurance, you're gonna go to Rome.

Now read from Acts 23 onward and see how he got to Rome. A riot broke out. He was falsely accused for starting a riot. What does he do? He's imprisoned for months and years.

He stands before kings. He has all these people viciously attacking him. He gets on a boat. He gets shipwrecked. He goes on an island called Malta.

He gets bit by a snake. Then he finally arrives to Rome. Isn't it amazing that God is willing to take you somewhere, but he will not reveal necessarily how he'll take you there? And do not be shocked that between where you want to go in the Lord in his service, do not be surprised if the road looks like this to get there because that's what happened to Paul. But the main point is that God answered it.

God answered his desire. And I can tell you this, brothers and sisters in Christ, you don't have to be an apostle to experience this reality. If you and I have come to the place where we understand the debt that we owe unto men with the hope of glory in us, and that sense of obligation turns into an eager desire, and it becomes a prayer. Lord, open a door for me. Not enroll necessarily.

Open a door for me in my workplace. Open a door for me in my family. Open a door for me with my friends. When it becomes a prayer, expect God to answer it. And when it is answered, do not be shocked if how you get to that place is not necessarily what you had in mind.

Let me give you an example of that. Before this, I was doing an internship in advertising. Some of you already know this story. But my internship was only three months, college student. My internship was only three to four months, so I only had a window of opportunity to come to a place to be able to share, and I really wanted to share.

And so I was I came to a place where I I was trying to find opportunities for it to happen in any conversation. Anything that they would give me, I would try to try to make it into a conversation with the gospel in that first week. And I realized that it was not working. So so people were talking about different things about how they had this scary dream or something like that. I thought to myself, oh, okay.

I could tell you how you don't want, you don't have to have fear. And it just it was not working. It was not working. And so it just became a prayer, and it was just a group of friends and I every week. We just asked the Lord to open doors for our workplace and and different things like that, and God heard that prayer.

Now the reason why I'm sharing this is just a personal testimony of how God can answer these prayers when you have that eagerness, and it was not what I expected. How he answered the prayer was not how I expected, but God answered that prayer. You say how? Some of you already know this. I came into work in that first week, the the latter part of that week, and somebody approached me that was one of the production managers and said, Hey, we need to ask you a favor.

I said, Sure. What's the favor? Well, we're running a commercial for the Olympics. This is when the Olympics are in Russia. And we need an actor in it, and we want you to do it.

And I thought to myself, okay. What's it for? We need somebody to advocate homosexual marriage and to essentially act something out where you pretty much advocate it. I thought to myself, I'm getting fired. And as she began to explain, show me the the script and everything, I thought to myself the whole time just nodding my head, How how is this gonna work?

And so I came back to my desk. I texted my brother. I texted another friend. I said, I think I'm losing my job. I pray that I wouldn't.

And sure enough, by the end of the day, I went to that person. I said, I'm a Christian. Thank you for the opportunity, but this is what I believe about marriage respectively. And I began to explain. As I began to explain, that person was kinda shocked, but could tell was trying to contain the shock.

And says, well, you know, we here advocate, and we are proud sponsors of the LGBT community and all that. And I said, that's fine, but this is where I'm at. And I I just I can't I can't accept this. I can't do this. That's fine.

That's okay. And you can tell that after that, it was awkward for a few days because here's this intern, and they thought this intern surely is gonna bite on this opportunity to make an opportunity for himself, but he didn't. So it was a little awkward that whole time. I thought, oh. But God used that.

God used that. The conversations after that with different people, not in light of that, but just how God opened doors. And sure enough, it came down to my last day of the internship. It was my final day before I left, and I was doing my work in the back there on the couch, and I hear a plop behind the couch, and it was that same person that asked me to do it in the first place who had not talked to me after that moment for the entire time in my internship, and looked at me and says, before you leave, can you please tell me more about your relationship with Jesus? And for that whole hour, I began to just talk to her about who Jesus is to me, why he's changed me.

It was an amazing conversation. I don't know where that person is at today, but if you're eager, God is willing to open the door. And when he opens the door, don't be too surprised how he uses circumstances for you to get to that place like how Paul wanted to get to Rome. Paul says, I'm so ready to do this. But not just that.

In verse 16, he says, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And so a part of the eagerness that he had in wanting to share the glorious truth of how he was saved was that he was not embarrassed about this truth. There was nothing about the gospel to him that would hinder him from sharing it. And why should we be embarrassed about this gospel?

What about this gospel is embarrassing? What about this news should we be shy about? Now there are embarrassing ways to share it. I can agree with that. But the good news itself is not embarrassing.

And I often reflect on the boldness of this world, the corrupt, vile, morally twisted messages that they are willing to declare on platforms without blushing. And I think to myself, I have this clean, pure, gracious, freeing gospel. Should I hold this back when the world is vomiting lies without blinking an eye. And we might be protesting because we think of Paul's culture and say, well, Paul lived in a day in which people were more open to such conversations and more primitive in in their lifestyle and less sophisticated. Hold up.

This is Rome. Paul's saying this in in light of going to Rome, one of the largest city in Paul's day. This is the center of political and government heavily influenced by Greek theology. Saturated with temples and shrines dedicated to different gods and goddesses. Absolutely infested with sin and practices and habits that are even to some degree beyond what we're seeing today.

What much more public and much more vile where here's an example. They they would kill Christians as entertainment at one point. They they pressed upon the people emperor worship. That's what Paul is talking about here. You wanna talk about hostile.

You wanna talk about proud. You wanna talk about a a system that love to satisfy the flesh. This was the day. And Paul said, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed, and I'm ready to go. I can't wait to go into that kind of environment and declare what I have to say.

And so I I see a man who was not fearful. I see a man who was not embarrassed. I see a man who was so convinced that this is the truth. Why was he not ashamed? For it is the power of God to salvation.

I'm not offering an option here. As I'm sharing this, this isn't just one of many philosophies or one of many different things in which you can adapt your lifestyle to and is on the same par as different type of no. This is the means by which you can be saved. As I share this, if it's contacted by a heart that believes in it, what will happen? They will experience salvation.

Saved from what? Hopelessness. Saved from what? Sinfulness. Saved from what?

Purposelessness. Saved from what? Hell itself. I have that kind of news on the tip of my tongue, and I'm not ashamed to declare it because there's no other news that could be contacted by faith and bring such powerful deliverance. So he says, I'm ready to go.

For in it I love it. For in it in what? In the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed. In this news is the righteousness of God revealed. What righteousness?

The righteousness that he wants to impute into you if you receive it by faith. That's what's in it. How can I hold it back? Paul says, I I I wanted to share this, and I'm not embarrassed about it. I'm under obligation.

I'm eager, and I'm not ashamed. Paul had the answer the world was looking for, and he did not wanna hold it back as long as he lived. But Paul was human, was he not? And there are moments in life where we feel like we are unstoppable when it comes to wanting to share this good news. And there are other moments where we almost feel crippled by fear, and that's something that's true because we're just flesh.

So we can look at this and almost put Paul on a pedestal and say, yeah, but that's Paul. And this man was almost superhuman, but you read a verse like Ephesians six nineteen, and you hear Paul making a crest a request while he's in prison. But this man was so consumed with the gospel. Listen. He doesn't ask in his prayer request to be delivered from prison.

He asked what? And also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. I'm not asking for deliverance. We talked about this when we went through Ephesians. I'm not asking to get out of this, but I'm so consumed with the desire to share my faith, to share this good news.

Would you ask the Lord on my behalf that while I'm in here, I can share with some guards and other prisoners about how glorious Jesus is? Now the fact that he's requesting for boldness implies that he needed courage to do so. And I look at that and go, thank God. If the apostle Paul needed boldness, so do I. The apostle Paul needed courage, Surely, I can ask God for courage.

I'm not looking at Romans one fourteen to 16 and seeing a man who's almost, again, this robot that seems to be wired to just go go go go go and not stop and not let anything affect him. No. There are circumstances, situations, even people that made him a little shaken. He says, God, give me boldness. God, help me not be embarrassed about this.

God, help me believe that not everybody in here understands what Christianity is really about. You would be stunned to know the ignorance about our faith. So we ask for boldness. I share this this morning with one simple desire for us is that we would be able to look at all those things from 14 to 16 and be able to check off and say, Yeah. Yeah.

I feel like I'm a debtor because I have a revelation of the treasure. Yeah. I'm ready, and I'm eager, and I've allowed that sense of debt to produce in me a sense of desire for God to open a door. And as long as I go to this workplace and that school, I'm gonna begin to ask the Lord for open doors. And I don't know how he's gonna do it, but when he does, it's gonna blow my mind, and hopefully he'll blow their minds.

And, Lord, by your grace, let me never be ashamed of who you are and what you've done for me and what you've done for them. Lord, give me the Holy Spirit's power, and help me not put all the responsibility on my spiritual leaders. Help me realize that I've been saved just as much as my preacher has been saved. Help me realize that my pastor, my spiritual leaders can't go where I go to work, can't go where I go to the gym, can't go to the grocery store where I go to the grocery store, that you've deposited in me a jar of clay, the hope of glory. And Lord, let it not stay in there, open my mouth, and let this truth come out.

So this simple message this morning is to simply stir our hearts to believe God again that his gospel is meant to go out. It's meant to go out. And I love what God is doing here, that we meet multiple times a week, but may that not stop us in the moments where we go out to keep our mouth shut, to say, Lord, let me know the thrill again that possessed the apostle Paul, that possessed me at one point. And let me trust and believe that this is the means by which I will see the Holy Spirit move powerfully. And that's our prayer for 2019, is it not?

And so if you've come to the place where maybe it's not your heart is not as stirred as it used to be, God is so compassionate and gracious. But we just come today in faith to say, Lord, stir it up again. Stir me up again. Help me believe that I am on mission twenty four seven and that you have divine appointments waiting for me, and you have opportunities that are lining up for me to share. Would you pray that this morning with me?

Can we ask the Lord for that as we cry out to him? Father, we come this morning asking that in this service to take us to step one and help us realize, like those lepers, what you have laid before us as a banquet in Christ. And in seeing the feast of abundant goodness, may we come to the same conclusion as those men. This is needed by the Holy Spirit. Lord, we are so fallible.

We are so prone to failure to realize what you have for us. May we come to that same conclusion. How can we leave this good news to ourselves? And, Lord, would that sense of debt produce an eagerness, and would that eagerness be backed up with a sense of joy and not embarrassment, of a healthy pride in knowing that there's nothing about this gospel that is meant to be hid, but, Lord, it's it's meant to go out. God, give us wisdom as we go to restaurants, as we go to school, as we go to work, that there are different ways of fishing.

It's not the same way every time, but, lord, we pray in this new year there'd be new opportunities. And, God, we would be a seed supplier and sowers, Lord, into the hearts of men and women that need hope. And so, Lord, realign our hearts, stir us afresh again, bring us back to that Damascus Road, Lord, where it was like we hit the floor running, and it was like something switched on where we made every opportunity an opportunity to share Jesus. So, Lord, we ask by the Holy Spirit's power that we would be able to say, I am under obligation. I am eager, and I am not ashamed of this gospel.

Do it, Lord, please, because if this was just a a nice little message, then it will fail in its purpose, but we pray that it would reach down deep inside of us and actually affect the way we live our days in the days to come. We ask for boldness, as Paul asked. We ask for faith, as Paul asked. We ask for open doors, as Paul asked. Help us believe that this is what keeps our faith fresh.

This is what keeps us praying and believing and seeking. And we know that there is a mission that we are to fulfill. Lord, we praise the name of Jesus. We love the savior. We adore him, lord.

And I pray and we pray together that every time we come to read your word and discover new truths, it would only feed the fire and the desire to say, I wanna share this, and I wanna make it known. God, would you give me the chance to do that? Would you give me the opportunity to do so, Lord? Set us on fire again this morning to prepare us and posture us for another year for the glory of the name of your son. Oh, Lord, we worship you.

We worship you in song and delight of who you are. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.