Today, we start to up with Paul’s introduction to the Roman Christians. Let’s look first at his prayer in verse 8-12. Paul starts off by thanking God. What are you thankful for? We live in a very unthankful world and it has plagued the church for years.

Paul also says, that the church’s testimony of FAITH is known throughout the world. The phrase, throughout the whole world, most likely means the Roman empire. This still, however, is a great task. The way they lived their lives and the manner of their conversation was a testimony to the whole world. What is your testimony to the world? Do your neighbors even know that you are a Christian? Not that you go to church, but do they know the testimony of your faith?

Then, Paul prayers for the church that they may have power. He starts by praying without ceasing. When was the last time you prayed for someone else and sought God for their struggles and needs? I Thess. 5:17

Paul also prayed personally for them. We too many times pray very selfishly. We pray for our struggles and our needs and we totally forget about the hurting church around us. We must pray for each other and let me encourage you to pray right now for some in need in the church.

Paul also prays particularly for them. He prays for a prosperous journey. First of all, let me encourage you to pray specifically to God. He wants to have a relationship with us and wants to hear every little detail. Do not bore God and treat Him as a crutch by just rambling on about vague things. Be specific. Also, notice what Paul prayed for, a prosperous journey. If you read the New Testiment, you will see Paul had anything but a prosperous journey. Yet, Paul never once questioned God but rather gave Him glory through it all. What is your reaction if your plans do not line up with God’s and you get something other than what you prayed for?

Then Paul wraps up his prayer by requesting a gift. The gift was the ability to establish the church encourage them. Paul tells us that when you encourage the church, you get blessed in return. What are you doing for the sake of the church?

John MacArthur say in Truth Wars, that the emergent church thinks the Christian message should be kept pliable and ambiguous seems especially attractive to young people who are in tune with culture and in love with the spirit of the age and can’t stand to have authoritative biblical truth applied with precision as a corrective to the worldly lifestyles, unholy minds, and ungodly behavior. The poison of this perspective is being increasingly injected into the evangelical church body. This is not the Christianity of Christ and the Bible. Christ used the law to allow the Spirit to convict the person and did not try to be attractive but convictive. Lets follow the Master and not man’s devises.

We must realize the truth of the scriptures and that time is against us. We do not have time to become attractive to this world. This world is selfish, evil, and unholy. Why would the truth od God’s Word be attractive to them? It goes against who they are a a person. So let’s reach out with compassion but with the unadulterated truth.

We have been given a clear message for the purpose of confronting this world’s belief system. We have also been given the Holy Spirit who does the convicting and the prodding. We must be obedient. Faithfulness demands it and honor of God requires it. We cannot sit by and do nothing while worldly, revisionist, and skeptical attitudes about truth are infiltrating the church.

Using finger prints is a fairly new concept to place specific people at the scene of the crime. Up until the early 1900’s, nothing was known about fingerprints and their uniqueness. Now we understand that we each as individuals have our own fingerprints and they are the same as no one else. In Romans, Paul shows us the fingerprints of Christ. Was He truly the Messiah or was He simply a person who
happened to be in the right place at the right time?

First, Paul tells us in verse 2 we are told that the prophets gave very specific details concerning who the Messiah would be. For a person to fulfill just eight of the prophecies, his chances would be a one in a billion million. That is several times the total number of people who have ever lived. To fulfill all the prophecies would be one in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion. Christ fulfilled all the prophecies 100% making Him clearly the Messiah.

Secondly, Paul mentions the prophecy of being royal blood. If you follow Christ lineage in Matthew and in Luke, they are seemingly contrary to each other. One is the lineage traced through Mary, Christ’s earthly mother. This lineage goes straight back to David through Zerubbabel. If this was not enough to prove Christ’s royal line, the other account follows Joseph back to Zerubbabel then to David. This makes Christ heir to the throne both through the bloodline of Mary His mother and through Joseph His stepfather. When God does something, He does it all the way.

The third fingerprint of Christ is the most powerful of them all proving that He truly was the Messiah, the Son of the Most High God. Verse 4 tells us that Christ is declared the Son of God through the resurrection from the dead. No mere mortal could ever do this. Christ is the Messiah making His death, burial, and resurrection the only way to salvation. When we as a church partake of communion, we testify to the fact that Christ gave Himself and took the full wrath of the Father to bring all humanity to Himself. This is only possible because Christ alone is the one, true Messiah.

The seventh most used argument is that they confess their sins and ask for forgiveness all the time. This is a good thing to do but does not get us into heaven. If a person stands before a judge, guilty of rape and murder, and says that they are sorry and asks for forgiveness, they still must face the punishment. If the judge simply looked at them and said, “Okay. I believe you are sincere so you are free to go but do not do it anymore,” they would be a horrible judge. God is the ultimate judge and if we are guilty, which we all are, He must pronounce judgment upon us whether we are sorry or not. Justice must be served and a payment must be made. The payment was made through Christ, and Christ alone. Then ask them if they think they are a good person.

The last three I will lump together because they all have the same root problem, self-righteousness. Some say, “I have lied, but that does not make me a bad person.” Or, “It is narrow to believe that there is only one way to heaven.” Or, “You take care of you and I will take care of me.” In each case, they must be stripped of self by the use of the law and brought to a place where they see themselves as they really are. Also, John 14:6 says that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. It is pretty narrow. What religion we were brought up in does not get us to heaven or cause us to go to hell. We all are doomed to hell because we have broken a Holy God’s law. Once again, stay on track and ask if they think they are a good person.

This week we are starting a study through the book of Romans. This study will take us some time as we will not be in a hurry to finish it and may take breaks as the Spirit directs. There are several thoughts we must keep in our minds as we work through Romans.

First, Paul the apostle wrote Romans while he was at Corinth around the year 54 A.D. Next, he wrote it to the Christians in Rome, verse 7, and to the church in general according to 16:5. In addition, the purpose of the book is to declare man’s sinfulness and to show forth God’s righteousness.

There are three key thoughts that we need to keep in mind. First, the key verses are 1:16-19, the key chapters are 6-9, and the key word is righteousness. Just like a well written symphony has a main melodic line woven throughout the song, so does Romans have righteousness throughout the entire book.

In verse number one Paul starts off by giving the Romans his credentials. He first states that he is a servant of God. We too should be servants of God but most have a hard time with surrendering to His will. We, like Paul have been born into this world as sinners being a servant of Satan Ps. 51:5, Eph. 2:3. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. However, we can become new creatures II Cor. 5:17. Most of the time, though, we do not crucify ourselves Matt. 16:24 and we try to serve two masters which is impossible Matt. 6:2.

Paul also tells us that he was called to be an apostle. Acts 26 gives us a look at Paul’s conversion and we are told that Christ tells him that he will be a minister to the gentiles. We are also given a mission by God in the Great Commission. I Peter 2 also tells us that we have a work to do. If you have repented and received Christ’s forgiveness, you have been given a specific work and we must be obedient.

Lastly, Paul tells us that he was sanctified to the gospel. Everywhere Paul went, he preached the gospel. Reaching people is at the heart of Christ. What is at your heart?

One of the top ten questions is, “what about the tribes in the deepest jungles that have never heard about Christ?” Along with that is, “If God loves me, He would not send me to hell.” First, it is not whether you have heard the gospel or not that sends you to hell but rather your sin. God has given all of us a conscience to point to Him. If you look at civilizations from all ages, there have been some forms of a god. This is because of this conscience. God has made His hand clear in His creation and it testifies to man. God also promises that if a person cries out to God he will send someone to preach to them. All are without excuse.

Another is, “Why is there suffering if God is a loving God?” There is no other way to say it accept, “we live in a fallen world.” Romans 5:12 tells us that all men are sinners and because this is the case, we must all face death. Disease, suffering, and death are a result of man’s sinfulness. Rather than viewing suffering as an excuse to reject God, it should be seen as a very real reason to turn to Him.

Another response when witnessing is that they are already saved even though the evidence says otherwise. If a patient thinks they are healthy, even though the doctor knows the contrary, he will ask them how their appetite is. Unhealthy people loose their appetite. The same is true for the Christian. If they have not read God’s Word in a while, this is a pretty good indicator that they are unhealthy or maybe lost. Then, ask them if they think they are a good person. If they are lost, they will most likely answer that they are so proceed by taking them through the Ten Commandments.

The key to dealing with questions is to stay focused. Satan wants to sidetrack you so remember to be polite but stay on track.

To go through the fire and come through as pure gold we must allow them to strengthen our relationship with God. When our relationship is strengthened, we are strengthened, we draw closer to Him, and God is glorified. Fires will come and the only aspect that we can control is our attitude, which then determines our altitude. So, the question is what can we do to help us have the right attitude?

First, we must be seeking God personally. Mankind is become increasingly lazy and it is infecting the church. We carve out a little time for God, come to church, expect Him to fill us for the week ahead, and then we leave. When we are not fed, we blame it on the pastor; however, it is not the pastor’s job to feed you. The shepherd leads the sheep to pasture but cannot force them to eat. They are right in the green pasture but they must do the eating. The same is true of the church.

Sheep also need to be fed daily. If your main and only source of sustenance comes from church, then you are most likely malnourished. We must practice preventative care and seek God personally and daily (Prov. 8:32 – f.f.).

Then, we must seek help and opportunity to help. When going through the fires, we are tempted to be isolationists. Satan knows that by ourselves he can keep us defeated and steal our joy. When this happens, we fail. Ecc. 4:7-12 gives us insight on why we need each other. In numbers, we accomplish more, we are stronger, and when one falls others lift. We cannot become reclusive and then blame the church. We must run to the church and not from it. The church, however, does need to be aware and seek out those who are faces trials.

Lastly, we must sanctify and serve God (I Peter 3: 14, 15). Shadrch, Meshack, and Abednigo are examples of this. They literally faced the fire and sanctified God. When Peter stood before the counsel that beat him and told him to stop preaching, he said he must obey God rather than man. Peter sanctified God in the fire. So, what will be the outcome when you come face to face with the fire?

To be effective, you do not have to have all the answers but you do need to have a carefully crafted message. When Christ witnessed he did it in four steps. First, he related to those whom He talked. He formed a relationship in just a few moments. Then, he created opportunity to swing to the spiritual. Once talking of spiritual matters, He allowed the Law and the Holy Spirit to convict. Lastly, Christ revealed the gospel to them only after they were convicted.

So, once we have swung to the spiritual, what do we say? The first question is something like, “Would you consider yourself to be a good person?” This is very inoffensive and puts people at ease because we all want to think that we are good and we usually take pride in showing it off.

Then you can follow it up by asking, “Do you think you have kept the Ten Commandments?” Once again, they will be quick to show you. Then you can ask to see if this is the case by taking them through a few of the Commandments. Once they see they have broken the commands of God, you can ask, “If God were to judge you by the Ten Commandments, would you be innocent or guilty?” Followed by, “Would you go to Heaven or Hell?” Then, “Does that concern you?” If they are concerned and the Spirit is working, they are ready for the gospel.

They might try to argue but we must keep them focused. Remember, you will not have all the answers so it is best to not try to answer their questions. Simply allow the Spirit to do His work.

What is your hope based on? Is it based upon the fact that God will get you through? Is it based upon the fact that God will never allow you to be temped above what you can handle? Is it based upon the fact that God will supply for our needs and give us strength for the day? All of these are true but should not be the bases of our hope.

If we only hope in the now and present we loose perspective. We forget what the big picture is all about and begin to place value upon earthly things. The Church has become predominately more materialistic due to a lack of hope for the future. We forget that we are not living for today but should be laying up treasures in Heaven.

We also are lulled to sleep. Our excitement for the things of God diminishes and sin does not upset us as it used too. When was the last time you were thrilled to witness to someone and allow God to work on his or her hearts? When was the last time you were excited about going to church and worshipping our Lord and Savior? Remember, church is for God not us so I do not care if you think it is boring or not. The question is whether God was glorified and happy with our services or not.

Then, we are robbed of our happiness and pleasure by the great deceiver. God has given us happiness and pleasure on earth as a foretaste of heaven and as an avenue to enjoy God. However, we miss this when pleasures do not satisfy because our hope is weak. The pleasures of the day should point us to our Maker. He knows us and knows what we like. He has given us desires and the ability to take pleasure in earthly things; however, we abuse these things because of a false hope. We strive for more and more because earthly things cannot satisfy. Once again, they are to point us to our Maker and give us a small taste of Heaven and should be enjoyed as such.

To regain proper hope and wake up we must be people of the Word, Romans 12:1, 2. We must also set our minds on heaven and meditate thereon, Colossians 3:2. Then, we must be active in corporate exercises. We must change our mindset, look to the end, and run the race for the finish not the cups of water along the way.

You are probably familiar with a concept called “friendship evangelism.” This philosophy says you need to be friends with someone and build a strong relationship with them before you can witness to them. How long and strong a relationship do you need before speaking about God?

What happens to your lost friend if they die before you tell them of the need for a Savior? To be brutally honest, they will die and spend an eternity in the lake of fire. The Bible teaches that their blood will be on your hands meaning that you will be guilty of not telling them of the Savior. So, how could you even consider such an approach? We are to redeem the time for we know not when we shall die.

Let me ask you another question. Who are the hardest people to who we witness? Isn’t it our unsaved relatives? Why is this? Perhaps it is because we have a relationship with these closest to us and we risk losing or straining this relationship if we witness to them. We do not like to offend those closest to us.

This is why we need to make it a habit to witness. We should regularly share the gospel with strangers. We need to understand that we can build a relationship with someone in three to four minutes if you truly care about the person’s salvation. Remember, the person to whom you are speaking may not have a tomorrow.

To start the relationship we need to make good use of tracts. Many tracts at livingwaters.com make it easy. Some look like credit cards and million dollar bills. Others are optical allusions. These great icebreakers put people at ease and make it easy to swing the conversation to the spiritual. Witnessing is exhilarating and can change the loves of those around you and even change the world.