We must be under complete submission to the will of God

Romans 1:8–13 ESV

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

Statement of Doctrine or Application:

We Must Be Under Complete Submission To The Will Of God

Other Texts that support this statement:

Luke 9:23-27

23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.24 For whoever wishes to save his [a]life will lose it, but whoever loses his [b]life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Isaiah 45:22-23

22 Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.

23 I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness

And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

Acts 5:29

29 But Peter and the apostles answered and said, “We must obey God rather than men.

Why Does this Matter?

As followers of Christ we are called to not just have a relationship with Christ, but to love him as our Lord and Savior. We are to carry our crosses every single day.. In today’s world we are torn between submitting to the World and to Christ. We cannot do both. We are either of the world or of God.

3 Main Points:

1. We Must Have A Christian Worldview

2.  “Be Established in our faith”

3.  Prayer Life

Main Point #1: We Must Have A Christian Worldview

Statement

We either walk in the light God or darkness of the world. We either have a secular worldview or a biblical worldview.

Prove

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ [a]for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

The world is the darkness. It is ruled by Satan and we can see that in every aspect of life today. We can see the fruit of what the world lacks and that is belief in God. We cannot tiptoe the line of the world and God.

“My God” He is a personal God, he is a God that Paul knows very well and has a deep relationship with. This is the type of relationship that we should aim for.

Example: People talk about sports stars, musicians, actors/actresses like they know them. In reality they don't know you, don't want to know you and you will never know them.

Flowers in texts

2 corinthians 11:3

3 But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be corrupted from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

The World is going to try and deceive you. They’re going to make it look tempting, easy, good, fun.

Matthew 12:30

30 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

You are not with God if you go against what he says: Abortion, Gay Marriage, etc.

Ephesians 5:8

8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

Before we were saved we were in the darkness, but after we turn our lives to Christ and away from the world we are in the light.

Illustrations

What was life like before being saved versus now? It feels like you can see how evil the world actually is. Conversations that are had, how people act, talk, priorities. When you are in the darkness you don’t see or realize it, but after is when the light shines on the evil.

Apply or Confront

What are we filling our hearts with? Is it movies, social media, conversations that will eventually lead to a pattern of sin

Main Point #2: “Be Established In Our Faith”

Statement:

Becoming a Christian is the beginning of our journey as believers not the end.

Prove:

11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be strengthened;

12 that is, to be mutually encouraged, while among you, by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

That though the people of Rome are Christians and Paul thanks God for them, and though he rejoices in the fact that their faith is spoken throughout the world he knows that they need to be established, they need to be strengthened in their faith.

Conversion is not the end; it is a beginning, and because a man is converted does not mean that this is the end to the story.

Why do we need to be established: The moment a man becomes a Christian he becomes a very special object of interest to Satan. Although he cannot take away our faith he can make us miserable.

We have to be established in every part of our lives. We need to have our minds established (Doctrine), but we need to have our hearts established as well (Heart Posture).

We can see the excitement that Paul has for visiting the Christians of Rome, it isn’t excitement to see the city itself, it's a genuine excitement to visit the christian people themselves, in seeing them and having fellowship.

Flowers in texts:

1 Corinthians 3:1-2

3 And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are still not able,

The purpose for food is to nourish, but a baby can’t get nourishment from solid food because they do not know what to do with it, they don't understand it.

(What happens if we don’t progress)

Hebrews 5:12-14

12 For though [a]by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the [b]elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the [c]mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.

On the flip side, what happens if we only get milk and don’t progress to solid food? We won’t get the nourishment that we need to survive.

We are born “babes of Christ” that sounds like the beginning not the end.

Illustrations:

Enzo started to walk last week and this week Sarah and I are going to sign him up for the NYC marathon….How is that going to turn out?

A baby learning to start to walk is not the end. I hope they continue to progress their skills.

Apply or Confront:

As Chrisitans Satan is going to challenge you, confront you and try to make your life as challenging as he can. If you are an infant of Christ how do you suppose you are going to stand up when someone challenges your faith and belief?

Main Point #3: Prayer Life

Statement:

As Christians we have access to God. Our form of communication with him is in prayer. We have a God that wants to know us and wants us to know him. Our prayers to God are going to show where our heart is and ultimately our submission.

Prove:

10 always in my prayers earnestly asking, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

Here we see Paul praying that God will make it possible for him to travel to Rome

Paul was a great man of prayer.

We see how constant he is with prayer, but also how compliant to the sovereign will of God.

Verse 8: “I thank My God”

He is not a God afar; he is a God that is very near and personable.

Paul recognizes that his journey will only be successful or prosperous if it is in God’s will for him to do it. If God does not open that door for Paul it doesn’t matter how much he wants to make this journey he is going to obey The Lord. So what does he do; he continues to pray.

Flowers in texts:

Romans 15:22-23

22 For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you;23 but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you

God is using these preventions or hindrances to do what will glorify him most.

Paul feels that he is called to preach to people that have never heard to Gospel before so he is going to do that

Evangelize areas that were not evangelized yet so he is going to do that.

So God kept him back from making that journey to Rome and Spain because Paul had a specific mission that God needed him to do and the thing is Paul listened.

This is what true submission looks like. Paul knows that he will not be successful or prosperous if it is not in God’s will.

Illustrations:

Buying the gym

Apply or Confront:

If we are in submission to God we will listen to him when he clears a pathway for us. As you guys get older you will see and experience making tough life choices and will come at a crossroad on what to do.

Are you praying to God? Are you praying that if xyz happens it will glorify his name.

That it is his will be done not ours.

We see Paul who is in complete submission to God that he prays that he will open the doors.

And he is obeying what God is showing him.

Confront Culture or False Teaching

Popular culture tells us that we know what's best for ourselves: Why do we need to pray to a God that isn’t here? We are in control of our lives.

Here we have Paul who is as loyal to Christ as one can be saying “I’ve been really wanting to go to Rome, but it is not in God’s will at the moment to do so, so I continue to pray and wait.

Do we ignore what God is laying out for us because we think we know what is best or do we have complete submission?

Apply To Their Live

There will be a time in your life when you are not going to be under your parents teaching, your parents rules or your parents house and you will be confronted with either conforming to the world or following Christ how can we do this:

Fill your heart and time with Christ.

Challenge yourself as a Christian (Apply what you read to your life).

Be in Fellowship with other believers that will help you grow as a Christian.