Grow: Reach (Romans 1:14-17) | Myles Holmes | May 18, 2025

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

So good to be together this morning.

If you have your Bibles, you can open them up to Romans chapter 1, verses 14 to 17.

Romans 1:14–17

If you don't have a copy of God's word, the ushers are making their way down the aisle, and you can flag one of them down.

They'd love to get a copy into your hands, which you can keep as our gift to you.

One of the most influential missionaries in the history of the Christian church died before he was 30 years old.

You might have never heard of him, but one of my greatest theological heroes, Jonathan Edwards, called him a hero.

This man's name was David Brainerd.

Might not know much about him, apart, in fact, from Edwards publishing his journal.

History might have forgotten completely about him.

He never had a mega church.

He was never famous in his lifetime.

He died when he was just 29 years old, but his life burned with this fire, both for the lost and for the gospel.

He was a missionary to the indigenous people of colonial America.

And throughout his time, he recorded throughout his journal the constant illness.

Doctors look back at it now and say it was likely tuberculosis.

The harsh winters he faced, the deep loneliness, the severe depression.

Yet, despite all of this, he would ride on horseback, sometimes for days, through the freezing wilderness to reach the small, scattered, and unreached villages with the gospel of Jesus.

He was so committed to the cause.

One year in the winter, he wrote in his journal that he was so committed to hearing Christ's command.

When Christ said the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, Christ's command was to pray.

David Brainerd was committed to this, and so he prayed for hours in the middle of the winter with his knees on the snow, he said, until the snow was red from his freshly cracked knees.

He wasn't driven by fame, success.

He certainly wasn't driven by comfort.

He was gripped by something deeper.

He wrote this once I cared not where or how I lived or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain souls for Christ.

While I was asleep, I dreamed of these things.

As soon as I awoke, the first thing I thought of was this great work.

His life was consumed with this passion, so that even in his death, his life would speak.

Jonathan Edwards would, who was a dear friend, would take his journal and publish it, and that little book would go on to shape generations of gospel ministries.

It would stir the heart of William Carey, who really many view as the father of modern missions, who carried the gospel into India.

It inspired David Livingstone, carried the gospel into Africa.

It lit a fire in Jim Elliott.

Many of us know of Jim Elliott, who was a missionary who preached the gospel to an unreached tribe in Ecuador.

Now I think about that, and I read a quote like that, and I'm hit with this weight of this reality that the need for gospel urgency is the same today as it was then.

That just as many people are lost today as were lost then, that just as many people in our midst that you and I rub shoulders with on a day-to-day basis are eternally bound for hell.

That they are lost.

And I read a quote like this, and I and I kind of look at myself in the mirror and I ask myself, what needs to happen for my life to then be shaped like this?

How can I be gripped with this kind of gospel urgency?

And so my question this morning for myself and for you is this where does this fire come from?

What shapes a person to live like this?

Well, Paul in Romans 1 verses 14 shows us this gospel urgency in his his own life.

Romans 1:14

We'll be surprised this morning to learn that it doesn't come from personality, it doesn't come from charisma.

We know people like that, right?

Who just have a fire for sharing the gospel, and it kind of comes from this like personality of they're just the most extroverted person, people you ever knew.

But this morning we hear from Paul who has both this gospel urgency, but this clear wrestling match with this shame that he he often writes about, this weakness he feels when it comes to sharing the gospel.

And what Paul reveals to us this morning is that it's not charisma, it's not personality that lights this gospel fire within us, that it is nothing but the power of the gospel pressing so deeply into a person's soul that they cannot help but proclaim it.

Paul in this text gives us three I am statements.

He shows us how the gospel had been shaping him with this urgency to spread it.

Notice in verse 14, he says, I am under obligation.

Notice in verse 15 he says, I am eager to preach the gospel.

Notice that in verse 16 he says, For I am not ashamed.

But in verse 16, he tells us why he's this way, what drives it all.

Look what he says there, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

We've been spending our time over these last few weeks talking about growing as maturing disciples of Christ, and really that growing comes by driving deeper down into the foundation that is Jesus Christ.

And what Paul came to understand as he grasped the power of the gospel was that the more that he abided in Christ, the more the gospel shaped his priorities and his passion and his purpose in life.

I say this this morning perhaps as a warning, but also as an invitation that as we think about the marks of a maturing disciple, a disciple who abides in Christ, then connects in the church, when you do those two things, you abide in Christ in a way that you're, you know, digging deeper into him day after day, and you connect in the church in a way that you've surrounded yourself with people who are pressing the gospel deeper into you day by day.

What will happen then as a result is this fire will be kindled within you to reach the lost.

In fact, that's our main point this morning.

I want you to understand this that spiritual maturity fuels gospel urgency.

And likewise, gospel urgency feeds spiritual maturity.

If you and I want to grow, we need both of these things.

We know this to be experientially true.

You likely, as a believer, have experienced the fire that is lit in you when you have the opportunity to share the gospel, but we know it to be biblically true as well as we come here to Romans chapter 1, that if you want to grow, you need a spiritual maturity that is fueled by gospel urgency.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Well, here's the reverse of that then.

Here's the warning that spiritual growth will always stall whenever we treat reaching the lost as optional.

If your life is filled with as much abiding in Christ as you can have, if you are trying to connect with as many Christians as you can, I want you to understand that without reaching the lost, you will become like stagnant water.

You were saved to be sent.

We must carry this as a burden like Paul did.

You and I must be convinced that evangelism is not a gift that is reserved for the few, that every Christian is called to be a seeker of souls.

And Paul in Romans 1 shows us how a deep understanding of the nature of the gospel shapes this within us.

Let's read it together.

Would you stand with me as we read God's word in Romans chapter 1, verses 14 to 17?

Romans 1:14–17

Paul says, I'm under obligation, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

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.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

Let's turn to the Lord in prayer.

Father, we bow before you at a time like this, thinking about the great need that is before us.

And God, by the presence of your Holy Spirit being given great clarity, Lord, that that what we're doing here as a church, Lord, it's not it's not playtime.

We're not messing around here.

We're not trying to be focusing on fluffy things, Lord.

There is a great need, more urgent and pressing than any other need we could ever know of.

More eternal than any sickness that we'll ever experience, Lord, is the devastation and destruction that sin has brought into our lives.

It isn't it is an eternal death.

And Jesus, we're gripped by this commission that you have given us to go and make disciples.

We stand in awe of this reality that despite our weakness, despite the fact that we sometimes don't even know what to say.

Sometimes we're so filled with fear and shame and guilt, God, that we're just silent.

We stand in awe of this fact that despite that, Lord, you have chosen to use us.

And so, God, I pray that with a sense of the urgency that is required because of the reality of the gospel, because there is one way to eternal life through Jesus Christ.

I pray that with a love that is present in our hearts for those who are lost, God, that you would use this time by the power of your Holy Spirit to speak to us and to equip us.

God, equip us with a great burden.

A great burden for the lost that drives us to an unrest unless we're used to preach the gospel and to reach the lost.

God, we need you.

We need you right now, Lord.

We need you to keep us from being filled with shame, Lord, that maybe we're not enough.

Lord, fill us with this confidence that God that you can do a work through us, an eternal work, and that you long to.

God, we love you, and we pray this in the name of your son.

Amen.

Amen.

You can grab a seat.

Paul is showing us here the way to gospel urgency.

Showing us here that when the gospel presses deeply into us, it radically reshapes our heart for evangelism.

Three bold identity statements that Paul makes because he had come to believe that the gospel was the power of God.

He says, I am under obligation, I am eager, and I am not ashamed.

But I want to start this morning really at the end of our passage to get a sense of where this obligation and this eagerness and this boldness come from.

I want you to understand this morning that Paul doesn't make these statements sort of out of thin air.

He doesn't make it saying, like, you know, this is just who I am.

I bet you guys wish you were kind of like this.

These statements are rooted in something deeper and they're fueled by something stronger, and it is something this morning that if you and I can grasp will fuel us as well.

Look at verse 16 with me.

Put your eyes on the text and notice there a very small but important word.

Often, as we read scriptures, the small words are incredibly important.

Notice that word in verse 16, for.

Twice in verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God.

That word for is key.

It tells us here that the driving motivation of this obligation, this eagerness, and this boldness is the very gospel of Jesus Christ, which Paul had come to understand was the very power of God itself.

In other words, the gospel to Paul wasn't just a preference.

It wasn't like what he, you know, this is what I like to do.

This is what I like to talk about.

The gospel was like a wildfire in Paul's heart.

It had lit a fire inside of him that had spread to every part of his soul, that had consumed all apathy and had ignited in him a mission to reach the lost.

And the gospel then, as we press deeper in it, will do the same in us.

And so the first thing I want you to see this morning is about this gospel urgency, is that it is empowered by gospel truth.

If we want this gospel urgency, it'll only come in our lives as it is empowered by the truth of the gospel.

Why is Paul unashamed?

Why is he eager?

Why does he feel the weight of urgency?

His answer, because the gospel is the power of God.

Paul had come to realize something that is essential for you and I to realize this morning.

It had hit him like a lightning bolt.

It was a moment of clarity that changed everything.

Paul realized the treasure that God had really given him that was the gospel.

When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he wasn't handed a self-help plan.

Paul wasn't, you know, given some life-changing advice from Jesus.

And he certainly wasn't given a religious checklist.

Paul had all those things.

What Paul was given on the road to Damascus was news.

It was news.

It was good news.

That's what the word gospel means.

At its very heart, the word gospel is good news, and it's the very thing we're told that Jesus came to preach.

He came to proclaim good news.

We're told about it in Luke chapter 4, verse 43, when Jesus himself says, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God, for I was sent for this purpose.

Luke 4:43

Loved one, do you understand that Jesus was sent to this world not just to tell you how to live, not to give you some good advice that might enlighten your life or make this world a little easier to live in?

Jesus was sent with good news.

It was a proclamation of something that had happened.

And it's essential then for us to understand that at the very heart of Christianity is not something we must do for God, but it's news of what has been done for us by God, by Jesus Christ Himself.

Love one, you need to understand that at the very heart of Christianity is the good news that Jesus lived the life you could never live.

And there are some who need to hear just that because your days are filled with this religiosity where you're just trying to do something to please God, but you cannot do it.

Jesus has already done it.

Loved one, it's the news that Jesus died the death that you would never want to die.

He effaced the condemnation that you do not want to face.

And he was raised with the new life, with the transformation that you have been seeking your whole entire life.

Jesus has it all.

The life that you long to live, the death you fear to die, and the power you want to have.

He has it all.

That's the news.

It's already been done.

And so listen, the Christianity, how it comes to us is not in a rule book.

How it comes to us is in this realization, this proclamation that we hear at a time like this, and what we believe throughout our life that we are more loved than we could possibly dream of by Jesus Christ, even though we are more sinful than we could ever even possibly imagine.

That is what is at the very heart of the Christian worldview.

And you know, that's that is what makes Christianity different than any other worldview.

No other worldview has news at the very center of it.

Every other worldview tells you something that you must do.

Christianity comes and to the contrary tells you what has already been done.

Take then, as an example, the prevailing worldview of our day of secular materialism.

This idea that there is no God, that we are just material, we're just matter.

It's the prevailing worldview of our day, and the heart of secular materialism is not news, but it's really this sort of self-determination.

It says that if you want life, if you want happiness, if you want joy, you then need to just become biologically optimized.

Because all you are is matter.

There is no soul.

And so make sure you know you really are just an animal.

Make sure you get your sunlight, make sure you eat healthy, make sure you get enough sleep.

This is where happiness comes.

Identity, then, isn't something that you can receive.

There's no news unless you build something yourself.

Meaning in your life isn't given to you by God, it's invented.

You make it yourself.

And so, in the end, then there is no good news.

Salvation is something that falls on you.

Understand that this is the heart of religious moralism.

Whether it's whatever religion it is, the heart of it is not news but advice.

It says, try harder, be better, do these things this way, and then you can find happiness.

But the more you commit to religion and a religion of works, the more pressure you feel to keep doing better.

There's never good news because even when you do things right, they're never right enough.

The very center of our culture today is another worldview.

It's a progressive ideology.

It's this belief that your identity is something you create, not receive, so that you can be whatever you want to be, so that truth is personal, not objective.

And it means that love is an unconditional affirmation.

That anything less than unconditionally affirming what other people are doing or saying is harmful.

And we see this everywhere, don't we?

Classrooms, corporations, social media, government policy.

It's a worldview where sin is offensive and the only salvation is being able to express yourself.

You see, all of these things are worldviews that make a proclamation that salvation is possible, but none of them center around.

News like the Christian worldview does.

All of them say do, none of them point to what has been done.

And Paul came with this significant understanding that good news was at the heart of Jesus' message, but it wasn't just any news.

Notice, loved one, in verse 16, what Paul says about this gospel.

He says, For it is the power of God.

Paul had come to understand that this news was the very power of God that upon hearing it could unleash life into people's souls.

And so those things that every person was searching for in those other worldviews, whether it was this sort of self-determinism or this feeling of like I'm all right through religion or this affirmation, Paul came to understand that at the center of his worldview that Jesus had given him on Damascus Road was this power that said, you don't have to earn those things.

They've already been given to you in Jesus Christ.

It was the power that people were looking for.

The gospel is the power of God.

You know, before I became a Christian, it was obvious that my life needed change.

I was filled with anxiety.

As a young 12-year-old, I was filled with anger.

My life was filled with fear.

Afraid of life itself.

Afraid of school, afraid of anything.

And everything.

We had tried everything, every kind of therapy, you know, every program the school offered.

We had tried everything to find healing, but I didn't know what I needed.

My family didn't know I needed.

The doctors didn't know what I needed.

Nothing would work.

Thankfully, there was a missionary and a pastor who did.

They knew exactly what I needed.

They believed this verse that the gospel, the good news of what Jesus Christ had done was the power of God.

And so they met with me, and in that moment, they knew that I needed something more than just emotional support.

They knew that I needed something more than just sort of better behavior.

They knew that the power that I needed to transform my life was none other than God's power itself.

And so in that moment, they preached the news of what Jesus had done.

And when I heard that news and believed that news, everything changed in my life.

Everything.

It was the power of God through the declaration of the gospel, the good news of what Jesus Christ has accomplished.

And listen, maybe you are here this morning and you are like I was before I heard that news.

You're looking for change.

You know life isn't the way that it should be.

You know things are not going right.

You know there's darkness in the world.

You're looking for healing.

And maybe this is just like another thing you're trying.

It's like you, you know, you tried keto.

That was the worst idea you ever had.

And you tried therapy, but it sort of just like made you look inside.

And you know, you looked inside and you're kind of horrified by what you saw there.

And you heard about this whole Christianity thing, you said, and you said, well, maybe there's maybe there's hope there.

I want you to hear this clearly.

The answer to your deliverance is not inside of yourself, it is outside of you.

It is it is in this news of what Jesus has already done.

This news that even though you are more sinful than you could possibly imagine, you are more loved than you could ever possibly dream of by Jesus Christ.

That he has lived the life you never could, died the death you'd never want to, and been resurrected with new life that he offers to you this morning.

It has nothing to do with you.

And if you believe this news, everything will change.

I'm not saying that as like a prophet who's looking into your life and saying, okay, well, these are the details of what's going to change.

I'm saying that because I believe what Paul believed about this news of what Jesus has accomplished, that it is the power of God for salvation.

That it is so much more than just the words of man, it is the power of God.

Others of you, you've already believed the gospel, but but maybe in this moment, you have been, like I often am, like we all often are, you've forgotten how powerful it is.

And years have passed since your own dramatic rescue.

And I can say that it's dramatic because whether you, you know, were raised in a Christian home or you were saved out of a life of drugs or whatever it is, your testimony is always a miracle.

And it's been years since that dramatic rescue, and time has sort of lulled you into this apathy so that you've lost the wonder of what Jesus Christ accomplished on your behalf.

You've lost confidence.

And in your interaction with the lost, you feel pressure to avoid the gospel, this sort of shame in the sense that it's better just to leave it to the experts.

Can I tell you something about my own story?

I have no idea what those people said to me.

I remember a few details about what happened.

I remembered I was in a country style.

I remember that I was, you know, 12 years old wearing the freshest bathing suit button-up combo you've ever seen.

It had it had flame, matching flames on the shorts and the shirt.

And it felt like it wasn't fitting for the serious nature of the conversation that we are having.

And I remember that my mom drove me there in that outfit, and I have questions about why she would do that, but here we are today, okay?

I do not remember what they said.

I don't remember the argument.

I don't remember the way that the gospel was presented.

All I know is that the news changed my life forever.

All I know is that I I met a power there that radically changed everything the course of not only my life, but eternity.

It's because the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

That's the power of the truth.

But listen, that belief, if it is sitting in your mind that the god of what the gospel is, it does not just sit there.

It begins to shape your entire life.

That's the second thing that we see in this passage.

Notice, secondly, that gospel urgency is then shaped by gospel belief.

Gospel urgency is empowered by gospel truth, but once that truth is in your mind, it begins to shape your entire life.

The gospel truth, in other words, has this sort of gravitational weight to it that when it is that in the center of your life, everything orbits around it.

Family, work, church, leisure, it all orbits around the center of your life, which is what Jesus Christ has accomplished for you.

Gospel urgency is shaped by gospel belief.

Now, in a moment like this, in a message like this, I do want to address this feeling that many of you are likely having.

I know that feeling because I often have it myself.

It's very human.

This sense of shame.

This sense of shame that wells up in us.

Like maybe you heard before the service this morning that we're even talking about reach.

You know, you did the math, you know, there's three marks abide, connect, reach.

We did abide, we did connect.

We're probably gonna get to reach.

And there's likely this sort of like even groaning this morning of like, okay, you know, well, I better gear up for this one.

This is gonna be tough.

Because often as we talk about evangelism, we know what we should be doing.

And we feel this great weight, this great burden that we should be doing more.

We could probably be honest that there are very few of us who came in this morning with this kind of idea of, like, you know, I've I've been sharing the gospel enough this week, okay?

I've had enough of that.

Most of us carry regret.

Most of us can think about the conversations where where it like God had just teed it up for us to hit and we totally flubbed it.

Feared.

We feared.

We were silent.

We have a sense that we should be doing more, but but I want you to see something clearly this morning.

And that's that shame will never drive a lasting passion for seeking the souls of the lost.

Shame won't do it.

Shame can't.

Shame can kind of give you a sprint.

But shame cannot cause you to run with the endurance, the race that is set before you.

Only two things will.

We see it here in Paul.

It is this love for the lost.

Notice that Paul brings up all these people: the Greeks, the barbarians, the wise, the foolish.

He's even eager to preach to those who are in Rome.

You know, Rome at this time is the central power of the world.

Paul looks at everyone, he's just he's got this overwhelming love for the lost.

But paired with that is this sense that the gospel is the only thing that can lead to their healing and salvation.

It is these two things, a love for the lost and this deep belief in the gospel power that will ever fuel a desire to reach the lost.

In other words, we could say this: a maturing, a maturing Christian becomes a little bit like a doctor.

You know, a doctor endures many years of schooling, and most of them, I hope, it's not just for the prestige of saying I'm a doctor.

Ideally, they get in there because they want to help people.

And so they're willing to go through the pain of all these years of schooling to give them the knowledge so that when you see them in the doctor's office, you know, you don't want the doctor that loves you but doesn't know what to do.

You don't want to go into the doctor's office and with this problem, and the doctor, you know, is so compassionate.

Sit right here, I care for you, I love you.

And you say, Well, I got this pain in your knee, and they're like, What, a knee?

I've never heard of it.

What are you talking about?

You want a doctor who's got a a combination of love for you and a knowledge to know what will lead to your healing.

And Paul looks at Christians and says, You ought to have both of these things.

Surely, if you're a Christian, you know the power of the gospel, don't you, loved one?

Like, can't you look back in your life and see like everything's different now because of the gospel?

Don't you often look in your life and say, man, where would I be apart from the gospel, apart from the hope that I have in Jesus Christ?

Don't you often look at the news and say, what would I do if I didn't have the hope of Jesus Christ?

How I don't know how they do it apart from the hope of Jesus Christ.

Loved one, you know the power of the gospel.

Where is the urgency for the lost?

Where is the love for the lost?

That's how, I mean, I look at a message like this and my heart breaks.

I felt like even this morning I couldn't, I couldn't even sing the worship songs because there's such this weight of like, why don't I feel it?

It starts with repentance.

Because when your heart is gripped with this love of Christ that flows out into a love for the lost, and your mind is convinced because like you know it theologically, but you know it experientially that the gospel has the power to save, then welling up in you is this gospel fire.

This unwillingness to stay silent.

You'll then speak, not out of shame, but out of a love for the lost and a conviction that you have not in and of yourself, like it's not like you're something great, but you have in the news that is the accomplishment of Jesus Christ, you have the power of God for salvation.

You have it.

This is where the heart to reach the lost, it really begins.

It begins with asking us ourselves this question in this very moment, honestly asking ourselves this question: do you truly believe that the good news of Jesus is the answer to the darkness that fills the world?

Loved one, I've never been more convinced of it.

Like, I am just so convinced that on the one hand, our world is an incredibly messed up, dark place.

Amen?

Like we don't have to talk very long about that.

It is messed up.

But I'm, you know, the more that I see what's happening in politics, and the more that I, you know, see what's happening in even, you know, your own family and things that are even happening in this church, the more I'm realized, like, we are just not the answer.

There's only one answer, and it's the G it's the blood of Jesus Christ.

There's only one healing hope for Canada.

It is that the gospel sees a revival in our nation.

And you know, do you know where that begins?

It begins in the church.

This is why I truly believe that the church is the most important institution in all of human history because Jesus came to this world and his heart was broken.

He looked at Jerusalem and he wept.

He saw Lazarus when he was dead, and he wept by the brokenness and destruction and devastation that sin had brought into this world.

And what was his answer?

He looked at Peter, and as Peter had confessed him as the living Son of God, he said, Peter, on this rock I will build my church.

And the church that is filled with this passion for God's glory to see lost people saved and saved people matured, and those mature people multiplied is the only answer to the brokenness of our world.

Loved one, that's why I'm so committed to discipleship.

That's why I'm so committed to growth.

Because I just don't think there is any other way.

There's no other way.

So we have to stop and look in the mirror and ask ourselves do we really believe that we have in the gospel the only thing that can save?

It means the role of the church is not optional.

It is immensely urgent.

That we must accomplish that first part of our mission to see lost people saved.

If we want to see God glorified, we must see lost people saved.

But that doesn't begin with a strategy in our church.

It doesn't begin with us like implementing the right pragmatics.

You know where it begins?

It begins right here in your heart with this burning passion and urgency to share the gospel.

It begins with a burden that we carry.

Notice that's where Paul begins.

Notice the power of gospel, of the gospel causes Paul to say this.

I am under obligation in verse 14.

Do you see it?

I'm under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians.

This this word under obligation, it carries this sense of debt.

In fact, some translations will say that I am a debtor to the gospel.

Paul considered himself in debt, not to God.

This wasn't a debt of righteousness that God was demanding from his life.

This was a debt to people.

This was he was under obligation to the Greeks and to barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish.

Paul was a debtor to these people.

Now, there's two ways to be in debt.

You know, if you were to give to lend me$1,000.

In fact, we're gonna have the ushers come and there's gonna be a basket going across right now.

If you were to lend me$1,000, I would be in debt to you.

I would owe you a thousand dollars.

Now, if you were to give me$1,000 then to give to a mutual friend of ours, I would still be in debt to that friend, wouldn't I?

Carrying something that has been entrusted to me, I find myself then in a debt to another person.

And loved one, this second debt is the one that Paul is talking about right here.

It is it is in the sense that we are entrusted with the gospel that makes us debtors.

When God called you, he gave you a commission to go.

When Jesus, when you became a disciple, you came under Jesus' words in Matthew 28 that said, Go and make disciples of all nations.

In that moment of faith, Jesus gave something to you that you now hold it is the news of what Christ has accomplished, and he gave it to you for someone else.

He made you a debtor.

Now a maturing disciple will hear these words of Paul and find agreement with them.

It will understand that you are not just saved, you are sent.

You are not just called, you are commissioned.

That the gospel is not yours to keep, you are called to carry it to the world.

Paul understood this about himself.

He says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 4 just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak.

1 Thessalonians 2:4

Now Paul was an apostle, which made his calling specific.

Paul specifically was called to the Gentiles.

Where other apostles were called to the Israelites, Paul was called to the Gentiles.

We don't have that same specific calling, but we do have the same burden.

We understand or should understand what Paul says in Acts chapter 20, verse 24.

Acts 20:24

I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

That language is not apostolic language, it is discipleship language.

That is what the gospel produces in us when we believe it deeply.

It is this weight, it is a good weight because it's a life-saving weight.

When you go to that person who does not know Christ and you tell them, listen, I just have something that I have to get it off my shoulders.

I don't care if it ruins our relationship, it is so important for me to say, to for you to understand this, that you are loved by Jesus and that He has done for you what you are trying to do right now.

It is the weight that we bear.

It is a holy burden.

And so let me ask you, do you see yourself this way?

Do you see yourself as a debtor?

Do you wake up knowing that you have been entrusted today with something eternal?

Are there names and faces in your life that press on your heart because you recognize that you carry something they desperately need?

Do you recognize that in your sphere of influence, whether it's your family or your neighbors or your co-workers, you have a reach that no one else does.

You may be the only person they know who really knows the gospel.

The gospel has truly gripped your life, and as it increasingly grips your life, you feel the weight, not a weight of guilt as though Jesus needs you.

He doesn't need you, but a weight of purpose, of this sense that I've been commissioned to something greater than what anything else I could accomplish.

Second thing I want you to see here, though, is that Paul he burns with this eagerness that, and that we must also burn with eagerness.

Paul says this, I am eager in verse 15 to preach the gospel to you also in Rome.

When it came to soul seeking, when it came to evangelism, Paul wasn't like you know a teenager being told to do their homework or go clean the room.

There was no sagging shoulders, there's no sense of shame, there's no sense of like, oh man, do I really have to do this?

He was eager.

I mean, essentially in verses 14 and 15, Paul says, I'm eager to preach to the barbarians, I'm eager to preach to the weak, I'm eager to preach to the Greek ones, I'm eager to preach to the wise ones.

And listen, when I get to Rome, I'm eager to preach to you as well.

When I'm done preaching, I'm eager to preach more.

I just want to preach the gospel.

And the news of what Jesus had accomplished so gripped his life that there was this burning with eagerness.

He had this deep conviction the gospel was the power of God, and everyone needs to experience it.

You know, before, you're gonna be shocked by this, but before Chick-fil-A came to Canada, I was obsessed with it.

When it came to New Market, I was deeply fearful for my life and my cholesterol.

I love Chick fil A.

I never knew until I went to Chick-fil-A that you know, chickens could be so perfectly breaded and juicy, and that sauce could be so amazing and so.

Addictive that it's like borderline criminal.

And maybe what's more criminal than is that I'm talking about Chick-fil-A on a Sunday and you can't go after this to have it.

I love Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A.

And I would come home and I'd you know we'd go to Buffalo, and there are a lot of things in Buffalo I don't like Target, Hobby Lobby, but I would go for Chick-fil-A.

And I would come back and I would say, Man, Chick-fil- I mean I I drove all the way to Buffalo just I love Chick-fil-A.

Now you know what's interesting?

I don't know if there's a better evangelist for Chick-fil-A than me.

And maybe the best.

I mean, I don't want to be prideful.

I love Chick-fil-A, okay?

Told everyone about it.

You know what's interesting though?

Chick-fil-A never sat me down and did like training.

Okay, listen, when you go back to Canada, here's what to say to your friends about Chick-fil-A.

They never had to teach me about their product.

I don't even know anything about it apart from like its wizardry and magic.

That's all I know.

They didn't teach me anything.

I didn't know, you know, I wasn't told here's what to say.

I wasn't shown like this hype video with no intense music and motivation, uh motivational quotes about chickens or something like that.

I wasn't shown anything like that.

What I had was an experience of eating there.

And the sense that like this food is great.

And you know where I'm getting at with this.

Listen, the reason you don't evangelize is not because you need more training.

I mean, we can just be honest with ourselves, it's not because you don't know what to say.

Because often the people who don't know what to say, they actually make the best evangelists.

The reason we don't evangelize is because we've lost the sense of the greatness of who Jesus Christ is.

We've lost a sense of the worship.

See, the only thing that will cause you to burn with eagerness for the gospel is worship.

You must taste the greatness of Jesus Christ.

You must remember the sweetness of grace.

You must stand in awe of the mercy you didn't deserve but received anyways.

This gospel eagerness, it cannot be manufactured.

It can only be awakened as you on your knees bow before the one who is so great.

Your heart is burdened with this sense that you cannot do something but share it.

And so listen, if there is this sense of, like listen, if you're listening to this message right now and there's this sense of shame, take a moment just to praise the Lord that like you want to share the gospel.

That is not a desire of the flesh.

God's not looking at you, you know, as you've been afraid and filled with shame.

He's not looking at you and being like, this person, I'm so disappointed in them.

He knows the desire and he judges the heart and he knows that you want to share.

But understand this: that it will not come from you just kind of like gritting your teeth and like being like, okay, I'm just gonna do this.

It will only come from what from you letting your heart be freshly amazed by what Jesus Christ has done for you.

That's what fuels a life that says, I can't wait to share this.

It's the greatness of the glory of Jesus Christ.

Lastly, I want you to see this: that we must speak without shame.

We must speak without shame.

Notice what Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel.

Love when I I mean, I love that this verse is in here.

Because I don't know if there's anyone I respect apart from Jesus and my wife and my kids.

Okay, anyways.

You know, I don't know if there's anyone I respect more than the Apostle Paul.

I mean, what just a pillar for truth for the gospel.

And yet here he reminds us that he's human.

Because there's really no sense in saying I'm not ashamed of the gospel unless there is this temptation to be ashamed.

Paul knew that temptation.

He he spoke about it frequently, actually.

In Corinthians, he came to them and said, I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling.

He knew the message of the cross was foolishness to the world.

He knew that the gospel it spoke against people's self-righteousness and spoke against their self-indulgence.

He knew that it was a stumbling block.

And he had even felt constantly the sting of opposition.

He had faced the contempt and ridicule that often comes with gospel preaching, yet he was driven by past that fear.

Why?

Because the gospel, loved one, the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

It is the preaching of the good news.

There's one message that can be spoken that will deliver people from the captivity of their sin.

There is one message that can be spoken that will change the course of people's path on eternal destruction that they're heading towards.

It is the message of what Jesus Christ has accomplished.

Love one, I want you just to, I want you to know this.

It must be spoken.

I mean, we've heard the quote before: preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.

And I just don't know if there's been a more destructive, wrong quote in all history of the church.

Why not both?

Why not have a life that proclaims the excellency of Jesus Christ while also proclaiming the excellency of Jesus Christ?

I mean, the gospel, it's just not charaded very well.

It must be spoken, must be heard.

Because at its heart it's news.

This news can't be hinted at.

It must be boldly and clearly proclaimed.

Jesus must be spoken of.

So let me ask you this morning.

Will you speak of him?

Will you go?

Will you carry this news with boldness and confidence?

Will you stop waiting for someone else who's more qualified than you to do it?

You have the message, and the message has power.

Paul believed the gospel had power for salvation.

So did David Brainerd.

No one was more captivated by the power of the gospel than Jesus.

It was Jesus, we sang about it this morning, who came from heaven to seek and save the lost.

It was Jesus who, when he came from heaven, said these words, I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

He came to seek and save the lost.

And as we celebrate the Lord's Supper this morning, we celebrate this reality that we were once lost, but for the soul-seeking Savior, that is Jesus Christ.

Jesus reached us.

1 Corinthians 11, Paul says that when we eat of this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

And so this moment this morning, it's not only a moment of reflection, this is a moment of proclamation, of gospel proclamation.

His body was broken, his blood was poured out so that you and I could be made whole.

And as we take this together, we are making a bold proclamation in response even to a message like this, saying to the world, there is one place for hope.

Now, if you don't have, if you didn't get a cup on the way in, the ushers are coming to the front, you can flag them down and they'll get one into your hands.

And I want you to know if you're not a Christian, we would just ask that you let this pass.

This is for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

This morning we feel this weight deeply.

That there are people who are in our spheres of influence who have not yet been reached and therefore do not yet get to participate in this with us.

People in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your school, people even in your family.

And so this morning we feel this weight deeply, and as we as we take the elements together, we remember two things.

The first thing is of the reality that Christ shed his blood for us, that his flesh was pierced for us.

The second thing that we remember is that he has given to us a commission to be used to reach the next person.

And so before we take this cup, let's take a moment to reflect and we can bow our heads and close our eyes here.

To confess where we've been quiet and to ask God for help, to be a disciple who burns with gospel urgency.

Let's take a moment of silence together.

Give us a sense of hope, Lord.

Hope knowing that, Lord, we're not saved by our often weak and fear-filled attempts to share the gospel and reach the lost.

And in fact, apart from you, we cannot reach the lost.

It's a work that you must do.

But give us the sense of hope and urgency that comes from this acknowledgement, Lord, that you have chosen to use us as your instrument.

You didn't need to.

You could have written it in the clouds, but you've chosen to use our voices and to use our words.

And so, God, our heart right now is that you would send us.

And as we hold these elements in our hands, we are reminded of the reality that we are sent because Jesus was sent as the greatest missionary.

He was sent from his home in heaven to us.

And the fact that we hold this bread and juice, representative of the blood and body of Jesus Christ, is this constant reminder that unless he had been sent, we would not have life.

And so it is with us, Lord, you send us.

For there are many who our hearts yearn for now with great compassion, who do not know you, and you have sent us, and we are here, Lord, to say, Here I am.

Here I am, send me.

We take this, Lord, to remember those two truths that first you were sent for us, but also that we are sent for you.

And God, we pray this in the name of your Son.

Amen.

You'll find on the top layer the bread.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.

1 Corinthians 11:23

That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Let's take the bread together.

The same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

Let's take the cup together.

And in response, let's stand and worship our God, the one who is mighty to save.