January 26, 2020
Rose of Sharon Baptist Church January 26, 2020
Church Service Notes
AM Service
Scripture: Romans 10:8-17
Today we will continue discussing our vision of running our race in a worthy manner as Rose of Sharon Baptist Church. Our race includes worship, discipleship, fellowship, missions, and evangelism. We have looked at implementing actions teams to engage in missions and evangelism. Last week we focused on missions. This morning we will focus on evangelism.
Evangelism is sharing with other people about the love of God to fix our sin problem. All people have a sin problem that results in the imperfect life we have, separates from our holy God, and leaves us condemned to eternity in hell. The Gospel is the love of God who sent His son, Jesus, to live for us. Jesus lived without sin, died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and then He arose from death. If a person believes in the truth of Jesus, repents of their sin, and decides to surrender their life to Jesus’ Lordship, they can be saved. It is our responsibility as Christian to share the Gospel with others so they may know the truth and have an opportunity to surrender to Jesus. Romans 10:8-17 tells us the need to evangelize.
Verse 8 reminds us as Christians that we have heard the Gospel truth, we know the truth of the Gospel. Verses 9-11 present the Gospel to us. Verses 12-13 contain very important teaches we must take to heart. The Gospel is for everyone. God loves all people and every person regardless of their sins. We must love people and every person the same way. We cannot choose to withhold the truth of the Gospel from people for reasons such as not liking them, rivalries, past wrongs, different backgrounds, jealousies, or any other reason – the need for the Gospel extends to all people. Remember, no matter how different we think we are, all of us are sinners in need of God’s saving grace! Verses 14-15 emphasize that we must verbally share the Gospel so others can hear it and choose to be saved or not. Many Christians try to excuse themselves from sharing the Gospel by proclaiming they will live exemplary lives before others. While that is noble and something we can strive for, we must share the Gospel with words. If a person never hears the Gospel and all they see from us is good behavior and kindness, they may think nice things about us, may be thankful they know us, but they still have a sin problem and not know the Gospel’s answer. It is tragic for us to not share the Gospel with people. Verse 16 tells us that not all people will believe the Gospel. It is not our burden to save people, that is the work of the Holy Spirit, our task is to share the Gospel and allow people an opportunity. While it is disappointing for a person to reject the Gospel, do not underestimate the seed that you plant, others may water it and see the decision made. However, we must be faithful to plant the seed of the Gospel. Verse 17 concludes the passage by reminding us that people must hear the Gospel if they are going to believe.
I want to encourage you to share the Gospel with others. There are resources available to help you in sharing the Gospel. Our morning service was blessed to have Dion Brown join us and share with us the 3-Circles evangelism tool. Our Association has different resources that can be shared to help you share the Gospel if you would like. I want to encourage you to practice sharing the Gospel with another Christian and then share the Gospel with someone you know who needs the Savior!
PM Service
Scripture: James 5:13-18
For our evening service we joined with Oak Dale Baptist Church to pray for our churches. I want to encourage you to prey for Oak Dale Baptist Church regularly, for God to move in their congregation and community to draw people to Him. Pastor Tim Dudding shared a devotion with us during our service that focused on prayer. This passage of James repeatedly focuses on prayer. It provides the example of Elijah, who was regular person like you and me, but who had a powerful prayer life. I believe we need to grow in our faith and follow Elijah’s example in praying. We need to be praying for salvations, for healing both physically and spiritually, and for restoration. Join me in praying.
If we can be of help in some way to you, please let us know.
In Christ’s Love,