Unashamed of the Good News

Good evening! I am excited to share with you and thankful to Brother Jason for allowing me to come speak to you.

June 21st, 2022, the day that LeBron James won his first NBA championship. I was so excited; I called my Mom, saying, “he did it...he did it!” I was so excited to share this news with her. And, I know you’ve probably got that thing, that thing that you are always so excited to share with others.

I believe that we as Christians, people that believe in Jesus and do what he says, have a good news worth sharing. Yet, so often we don’t find ourselves sharing. We find ourselves feeling awkward, ashamed, and afraid of speaking up about the good news, about who God is and what he has done.

Romans 1:16–17 NET 2nd ed.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”

Teach

Paul wants to preach to the Roman church because he is not ashamed of the gospel.

Because of this, Paul is eager and excited.

He doesn’t want their money; he wants them to know about the good news.

The good news is God’s power for salvation.

The good news is power because:

We are spiritually dead, needing to be made alive.

We are slaves to sin, needing to be set free.

We are separated from God, needing to be brought back to him.

We are unrighteous, needing to be made righteous.

Paul would have known this power.

Christian-Killer --> Christian Leader

God’s salvation is for all who believe, both Jew and Greek.

How many things in life are completely all-inclusive? Not many.

For the righteousness from God is revealed in the gospel, from faith to faith.

Righteousness means being right with God—not because of what we’ve done, but because of what Jesus did for us.

Jesus was completely righteous and died for us, so that if we believe in his good news, we can have his righteousness.

Just as it is written, the righteous by faith will live.

Whether we live forever with God is determined by our faith.

Tell

Be unashamed to share good news with people because of its powerful and all inclusive effect. 

Where’s my fish at? Can someone bring me my fish? I have been watching this podcast called “youth group fails.” For some reason, there are a lot of youth group fails concerning fish. A lot of youth pastors want their youth groups to share their faith with their friends, and so, they have come up with some creative ways to do this. Sadly, many of these ideas have resulted in the death of too many fish. I’ve heard of youth pastors putting fish in blenders and asking their youth group, “why do you care so much about these fish, but not about your friends that are dying and going to hell?”

Fish: if you really believed in God and hell you would tell others about your faith. 

Don’t worry, Mute 2 won’t be dying tonight. He’s safe. But, I think there’s a problem with this approach.

I believe this is wrong, guilting you into telling others about Jesus. I believe it also produces unnatural sharing. I am not saying you shouldn’t feel sad about your friends not believing in Jesus. Jesus himself said something like that:

Matthew 23:37 NET 2nd ed.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!

But, I think there’s more to it than this. I don’t believe guilt is the primary motivation for sharing good news with your friends.

Can I have Jude come up here? I don’t know if you know this, but Jude and I have a long history. Years ago, I broke Jude’s collarbone on a waterslide. This is payback.

Do you like Chick-Fil-A? I want you to come up here and take this CFA sandwich. Taste it; take a bite. Is it good? Wouldn’t this be good to share? Pick someone, and tell them to come up here. They can pick someone to.

Instead of being guilted into sharing Jesus with your friends, you should believe that Jesus is just that good and it should be natural to share him.

Listen to this verse:

Psalm 34:8 NET 2nd ed.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the one who takes shelter in him.

CFA: Good news is tasted and shared. 

When was the last time you were excited to share Jesus with someone? Why do you think that is?

Taste, be burdened and share. 

You don’t share because you haven’t tasted. 

Let’s consider our passage of Scripture tonight.

Paul wanted to preach to the Roman church because he is not ashamed of the good news.

The good news for all people is that God has given you his righteousness if you believe in him.

If you really believe that God has given you his righteousness, so that you can live forever with him, why would you not be eager to share.

Have you truly experienced the power of the gospel in your life? If not, tonight is the night to respond to Jesus. Consider Paul’s radical life-change. Perhaps it’s time for you to stop sinning and believe in Jesus and be changed.

Some of you have been changed by the good news; you have been saved, but you have come to grow tired of it. It’s like a meal that you have eaten over and over, and now you seemed to have grown tired of it. Know that this good news never gets old.

If we had tasted, heard, and saw what God had done, we would share. 

If you’ve never experienced this life-changing good news, tonight you can.

Salvation 

Submission 

Treasure