Cornerstone Independent Baptist Church
3/01/26 Sunday Worship Service

  • Lord’s Supper

    The Lord’s Supper is good heart preparation for our revival services coming up in two weeks.
    Ask the men to come and have a seat at the front.
    Reminder: when the men bring the plate around, if you wish to participate, you’ll need to take from the plate.
    Pray and thank the Lord for giving His body and shedding His blood for us.
    Serve the bread
    Read Matthew 26:26
    Partake
    Serve the grape juice
    Read Matthew 26:27-28
    Partake
    Read Matthew 26:29-30
    Pray

    Review

    Turn to Romans chapter one
    Two weeks ago we saw that in verses 8-13, Paul answers two questions:
    Why he was writing this letter
    What kept him going in life and ministry
    He was motivated by several things:
    He was motivated by their faithfulness to the Lord - Romans 1:8-9
    These Christians lived in a horribly wicked city, but their faith was an example to other Christians all across the Empire.
    Application: Is our faith in Christ an example to those around us?
    He was motivated by a desire to see them strengthened - Romans 1:10-11
    Paul wanted to see these Christians made even more secure in the doctrines of the faith.
    He was motivated by a desire for mutual encouragement - Romans 1:12-13
    Paul wanted to go to Rome, but it wasn’t to go sightseeing. It wasn’t to visit the halls of the senate. It was so that they could all encourage each other to keep walking with Jesus.

    Introduction

    Read Romans 1:8-17 (14-17 is our text)
    On November 18, 1952, Lieutenant Royce Williams was flying his first combat mission off the coast of Korea. The weather that day was described as “brutal” with “low, gray clouds” and “strong winds.” He had no idea what that day would hold, much less that he would soon endure 35 grueling minutes of aerial conflict. Seven Russian mig 15’s emerged from the clouds, and like any good pilot, he counted the odds and decided to dogfight…1 on 7. He would down four aircraft in that battle, and although he eventually had to retreat, he fulfilled his mission of protecting the US ships in the area.
    His heroic actions were classified and he kept the secret to himself for 50 years, but all that changed this week when Captain Williams was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery.
    Outnumbered and outgunned, he entered that dogfight knowing that it would probably be his last, but he went anyway. It is only reasonable that we as a nation owe something to this man. It is only reasonable that he should be repaid for his gallantry.
    What does not seem reasonable to us is when Paul says in verse fourteen that he owed something to Greeks and to non-Greeks alike, that he owed something to complete strangers who had done nothing for him. That makes little sense to us!
    Yet Paul…
    Next slide here:
    He was motivated by a sense of obligation - Romans 1:14-15
    This wasn’t an obligation to friends and family, but to people he didn’t even know.
    Now when Paul refers to Greeks and barbarians, he wasn’t being prejudiced and making a subtle jab at people.
    He was using the vernacular of the day to refer to everyone in the Roman Empire - those who conformed to the Graeco-Roman culture, and those that did not.
    Even here in America, every corner of our country has formed its own little dialect of the English language. Down south, I remember hearing Alton Beal, president of Ambassador Baptist College, describe what it was like growing up in Yadkinville, NC. Now if you don’t know where Yadkinville, NC, is, that’s okay, I still don’t know either. It’s out in the boonies, they’d say.
    Brother Beal would describe how as a little boy, he and his buddies would spend their free time roaming all over the country around where they lived. They would run around playing “like a bunch of heathens” - his words, not mine.
    Now he didn’t mean that as an insult, and neither did Paul. It was just the common way of naming everyone and every culture in the Roman Empire.
    That’s who Paul felt a sense of obligation to.
    He felt an obligation to the sophisticated Greeks.
    He felt an obligation to the pagan tribes of Germany and Spain.
    He felt an obligation to the simple people that inhabited the island on which he was shipwrecked.
    An obligation to do what? An obligation to preach the Gospel.
    Read Romans 1:15.
    You know, it’s normal at times to feel like you owe something to loved ones, but to strangers? Not so much.
    Application: Christian, as much as I can, I want you to feel Paul’s heartbeat this morning. I want you to get a sense of what motivated him in life and ministry.
    Deep within his soul, this man felt a lifelong obligation to tell others about Jesus.
    Do you?
    You may not be a preacher. You may not be the greatest theologian, but you do have something that’s unique to you. You have your own personal story of how Jesus saved your soul.
    Don’t discredit that.
    Don’t discredit the power of your story.
    Spend some time thinking about it. Remember it as best as you can. Then find someone you care about and tell them about Jesus and how He saved your soul.
    You owe it to them.
    Paul was motivated by a sense of obligation, secondly…
    Next slide here:
    He was motivated by his confidence in the Gospel - Romans 1:16-17
    Read Romans 1:16-17
    For many years as a young person, I loved water, but I didn’t know how to swim. I loved water, but only if I could throw a hook in it and not my own self.
    I didn’t have many opportunities to go swimming during my childhood years but there was one major obstacle that I faced and it was this: I hadn’t learned to trust my life jacket.
    I remember friends would say things like, “hold your nose, jump in the pool, and I promise you that you’ll float back up to the top!”
    And I’d be like, “Nuh-uh! No thank you! Not doing it!”
    I’d see my friends jump in and I’d see their life jackets work just fine! But when it came to my life jacket, I didn’t have any confidence that it would do its job when I put it to the test!
    Paul had no such concerns about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
    With every ounce of his being, he believed the message that he preached!
    He believed it had the power to save souls from an eternity in hell!
    He believed it had the power to completely transform lives here on earth!
    He believed it had the power to restore families, to change communities, and to turn the world upside down!
    By this point, Paul had seen it time and time again! First, he saw his own life changed when he believed the Gospel He saw Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor of Cyprus, believe the gospel! He saw a suicidal jailor in Philippi believe the Gospel! He saw churches established all across modern day Turkey and Greece!
    How? By the power of the Gospel.
    Seeing these things gave him confidence and motivated him to continue on in his life and ministry.
    Application: Christian, I want you to stop and think about this: is it possible that you don’t tell others about Jesus because you just don’t have a lot of confidence in the power of the Gospel?
    You may know the simple facts of the Gospel like the back of your hand, but if you don’t have confidence in its life-changing power then its not likely that you’re going to share it.
    I was a 12 year old boy when I went out with my church and knocked on my first door to invite someone to church and to tell them about Jesus.
    I can’t remember who I was with, but I can remember how I felt. I was scared to death. My knees shook and my voice quivered when I spoke.
    There were a couple reasons why I didn’t have a lot of confidence in that moment. Listen closely because you might identify with some of these:
    For one, I didn’t realize how simple the Gospel is. Paul expresses it most clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
    All have sinned.
    Jesus died for our sins.
    Reject your sin and trust Jesus alone to save you from your sins.
    Application: The good news of Jesus Christ is simple enough for a child to understand. Don’t overcomplicate it. Don’t overthink it! Yes, it’s full of deep theology too, but theological knowledge doesn’t save anybody. Choosing to believe the Gospel does!
    Another reason why I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the power of the Gospel was because I hadn’t seen it change lives. And what I mean is I hadn’t seen much of a change in my own life at 12 years of age, much less a change in others!
    You may be a Christian who has been saved for decades, but if you haven’t seen the power of the Gospel to change lives, then chances are, you’re not going to have confidence to share the Gospel with anyone else either!
    Application: Christian, if that describes you, I want you to know: your confidence can grow in the power of the Gospel.
    I have seen it with my own eyes. I have seen God change lives - including people in this room. In my college dorm, I saw God take an anxious young man that couldn’t stand large crowds and turn him around to pastor a church in eastern PA.
    I saw God slowly bring about changes in my own life.
    Christian, if you haven’t seen that for yourself, we need to talk. The Gospel is powerful, but you’ve got to see that for yourself.
    I still remember as a teenager at Servant’s Heart Camp, the day came when I strapped on a life vest and took a flying leap off the dock and into the lake.
    It was an all or nothing moment.
    Either that life vest would do its job as advertised, or the camp would one day name the lake after me in my memory.
    It was an exhilarating feeling when I felt myself surface that first time and I heard the splashing and voices of my fellow campers. But with that, my confidence in my life vest immediately grew.
    Application: Christian, Paul was motivated in his life and ministry because he was confident in the power of the Gospel to change hearts and to transform lives.

    Conclusion

    So what motivates you?
    The Gospel still is powerful today, but the only way you will see that is if take God at His Word and take steps of faith out of your comfort zone.
    You owe it to your unsaved friends and family to tell them about Jesus.
    These things motivated Paul.
    They motivated him to trek mile after mile on Roman roads.
    They motivated him to sail to unfamiliar places and to pagan cultures.
    In summary, Paul was motivated by the things that moved the heart of God: lost souls and a saving message.
    Church family, I challenge you to be motivated by the same things.

    Invitation

Cornerstone Independent Baptist Church
7177323232
4 members