Rev. David Holwick U (Well-received)
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 30, 2013
Romans 10:11-15
|
I. Painted toenails.
A. My mother's summer tradition.
1) She painted them bright red.
2) That always gave me the creeps.
3) Toenails should look like toenails - pink, not red or blue.
a) And they don't need little flowers painted on them.
b) Feet are about as pretty as they're going to get,
just as they are. [1]
B. One version of feet does look a little better.
1) The prophet Isaiah is the one who came up with the original
metaphor.
2) He said the most beautiful feet are those that bring the
best message.
As he put it in chapter 52, verse 7:
"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those
who bring good news, who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"
a) Isaiah was thinking of the arrival of the Messiah.
b) The apostle Paul knows he has already arrived, so
we don't have to wait for these beautiful feet.
c) Your feet can do just fine.
II. The news is truly good.
A. When you accept it, you cannot lose.
1) You will never be put to shame.
2) Nothing in this life can take it away from you.
B. It is available to all. 10:13
1) There are no "second tier" Christians.
2) No ethnic group or nationality has an advantage over another.
3) God is an equal opportunity saver.
C. Salvation is not difficult, but it involves a process.
III. The process of salvation.
A. To call on the Lord, you have to believe in him. 10:14
1) Note that Paul looks at the process in reverse.
a) He knows where we should end up, but how do we get
there?
2) "Calling" and "believing" sound like the same thing to us.
a) It reflects Paul's distinction between believing in
your heart and confessing with your mouth.
b) Salvation happens inside you, then is confirmed by
the testimony that comes from you.
B. To believe in him, you have to hear about him.
1) Literally, you have to "hear him" - this would be a direct
experience with Jesus, though channeled through a human.
2) When we read the gospels, we can hear his teachings and
respond to him.
a) This is what I did back in 1973.
b) Someone gave me a New Testament (Living Bible version)
and I encountered Jesus for the first time.
C. To hear about him, someone has to speak to you.
1) In Paul's day, there were no New Testaments.
a) You heard the stories of Jesus from other people.
b) We have printed Bibles, but we still need to contact
people in a meaningful way.
2) This is the hardest part about witnessing - making contact.
a) People are actually open to discussing spirituality.
1> They love to give their ideas and personal
experiences to those who are open to listen.
2> They don't want someone to lecture to them, but
they'll kill for a sympathetic ear.
b) After we listen, we can share our own story.
1> When Paul appeared before government officials,
he generally shared his personal testimony.
2> Just remember that our own story is not enough.
Baptist writer Jeff Iorg says the Gospel must be
explained.
The Gospel stands apart from our experience.
Sharing the Gospel is communicating timeless truth
about God's love, humankind's sin, Jesus' death
and resurrection.
We also must include the opportunity to be saved by
grace through faith.
#63309
D. No one will speak to you unless they are sent.
1) God does the sending, and he uses Christians who care enough
that they want others to be reached.
a) Bill Hybels, the pastor of one of the biggest churches
in America, has written:
"We as individual Christians and collective churches
need to recalibrate our sights on the target God has
given us: spiritually lost people.
If people matter to God, then they'd better matter to
us, too ...
Deep in every true Christian, there is an awareness
that we are on this planet for purposes greater than
having a career, paying the bills, loving our
families, and fulfilling our role as upstanding
citizens ...
God wants us to become contagious Christians - His
agents, who will first catch His love and then
urgently and infectiously offer it to all who are
willing to consider it."
#64131
b) These are the "beautiful feet" our passage is talking
about.
2) Most of us would rather not be "sent."
a) We don't want to be viewed as a Jehovah's Witness.
1> They are pushy, even obnoxious.
2> People want to run away from them.
3> They may feel this way even for us.
b) Many witnessing techniques seem trite and manipulative.
A lady once criticized the evangelism methods used by
Dwight L. Moody, the famous evangelist of the 1800s.
In response Moody replied, "I agree with you.
I don't like the way I do it either.
Tell me, how do you do it?"
Moody's critic answered, "I don't do it."
Moody quipped, "In that case, I like my way of doing it
better than your way of not doing it."
#63958
c) Jesus himself noticed that this doesn't come naturally
for us.
In Matthew 9:37 he says, "The harvest is plentiful
but the workers are few."
Are you willing to be one of the few?
IV. How did it work for you?
A. Typical routes of salvation.
1) Many would credit their parents for dragging them to church.
a) But perhaps there was a special person who reached out
to you.
b) (example of famous testimony, teacher reached him, read
recently.)
c) Unfortunately, many families are no longer passing on
the faith.
2) Friends are often used by God.
a) You have a connection with them, and probably respect
them.
b) Friendship can get in the way if they are more
concerned about offending you.
3) Strangers can do it.
a) This is the rarest type of witnessing, but it can work.
b) Even if it is just planting a seed, an accumulation of
encounters can bring a person to Christ.
B. What if your chain had been broken?
1) For me, it took a backslidden soldier.
2) If he had not given me that New Testament, what would I
believe now? What would I be doing with my life?
3) Don't be the broken chain in someone's life.
V. God is sending you.
A. The gospel doesn't just drop out of the sky.
1) God uses a person.
2) He can even use you.
3) Churches are often concerned that people don't come and
fill our sanctuaries.
a) But rather than expecting them to come to us, we should
go out to them.
B. Testament outreach opportunity.
1) During July, we will be asking you to distribute New
Testaments to your neighbors.
2) You don't have to do the entire neighborhood, just 5 or 10.
3) We will use a simple plan:
a) Identify people you want to reach.
b) Pray for them.
c) Introduce yourself to them.
1> First, long-range - send them a letter.
2> Make an appointment.
3> Spell out expectations of what will happen.
d) Show up and give them a New Testament.
C. Can you take it a step further?
1) Invite them to church.
2) Invite them to Jesus.
a) This is where many feel inadequate.
b) What if we cannot answer their questions?
1> Many are terrified someone will ask us a question
we don't know the answer to.
2> Simply respond graciously with what you know, and
admit what you don't know or aren't sure of.
3) We are offering an eternal gift, not a vacuum cleaner.
a) Do it out of love; do it with faith.
b) Let's find out what God can do.
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] For the latest development, see www.menwithpaintednails.blogspot.com
#63309 “People Are Open, So Share the Gospel,” Jeff Iorg, Baptist Press,
http://www.baptistpress.org, July 11, 2011. This column first
appeared at his blog, JeffIorg.com.
#63958 “Eight Questions To Assess Your Evangelism,” Matt Queen, Baptist
Press, http://www.baptistpress.org, March 6, 2013.
#64131 “Contagious Christians,” Bill Hybels, from his book “Becoming a
Contagious Christian;” secondary source: www.SermonCentral.com.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Free help authoring environment