I AM A BELIEVER.

Short testiomony: Grew up unchurched. Crazy kid that got in lots of trouble. Met a pretty little Iva girl and followed her to Church. (Tried to kiss her during Church) SMH! Experienced the love of God that was demostrated through the folks in this Church. Gave my life to Christ. Experienced a call to ministry. God taught me to trust Him. Went for it the best I knew how. I didn’t have a clue what to do!!!

Thank you: Ray & Crystal Boles, James Bruce SS/RA, Charlie & Vivian Hayes prayers and encouragement, Sharron Stone (believing God could do a miracle in my life) and so many others that I can’t begin to list you all. Thank you Union Baptist Church, from the bottom of my heart, I am partly who I am b/c of the Lord’s work in and through you!

Let’s Pray!

Funny Story: Camp Lavida / Life Verse.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:7)

It’s funny how God uses the littlest things to make the biggest of impacts in someones life. In this case, this verse became a constant reminder of what I needed to be the man God was calling me to be.

I needed the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord. A wisdom that was beyond my ability to attain. I needed a constant divine intervention. I needed the Lord’s help to do the Lord’s work.

We all need the Lord. Many times we try other things and we end up finding ourselves wanting more. In the end, the only thing that we really need is the Lord. We need his love, forgiveness, and we need his wisdom.

I believe the Lord wants to use each of you for a greater Kingdom purpose. God is willing to do a marvouls work in your life if you’re willing to trust and obey Him. He wants greater things for you and those around you; greater than you can imagine.

Paul reminded the Ephesians of this when closing his prayer, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Eph 3:20–21). (1984). Zondervan.

What does it really mean to believe the Gospel?

We will be looking at Romans 6:1-14 if you have your Bibles turn there with me.

Introduction: The Apostel Paul is writing to the believers in Rome from Corinth. These believers are likely perdominantly gentile and stand in need of a solid explanation of what it means to be a Christian and believe the Gospel. Chapters 1-5 tell us what God has accomplished for us in the Gospel, and chapters 6-8 tell us what God will accomplish in us through the Gospel. In the first verse of Romans 6, Paul asks a simple question, “shall we continue sinning?”

Does the gospel message lead you to change the sinful patterns in your life? And if it does, how does it do so?

Paul is basically re-explaining and re-applying the doctrine of justification and of our union with Christ.

Keller, T. (2014). Romans 1–7 for You (C. Laferton, Ed.; p. 137). The Good Book Company.

Romans 6:1-14 (NIV84)

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Believing the Gospel means you have...

Died to Sin.

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2)

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Ro 6:1–2). (1984). Zondervan.

What does this mean?

There can be different understandings to this verse and many that sound great. However, If we look closely we can see that Paul actually explains what he means by this in the verses to follow.

Some might say...

This verse means that believers don’t sin.

This verse means we ought not sin.

This means we are slowly moving away from sin and it is weakening in us.

This means that we renouce sin.

Do true believers never face and deal with sin—NO. Paul later states the he was a sinful man. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:17-18)

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Ro 7:17–18). (1984). Zondervan.

The rest of this passage sets out to explain what it means to die to sin. In a simple way, it means that we as believers are no longer under the power of sin.

When we place our Faith in the Lord. We die to our self. We no longer live our lives out of our own desires, but trade those in for God’s will.

My favorite Bible verse is Luke 9:23, Jesus sets the standard of believing and following him, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Lk 9:23). (1984). Zondervan.

Dying to sin is crucifying yourself: your desires, dreams, ambitions, positions, possesssion, popularity, and your prosperity. It’s trading it all for Christ.

You can’t live for the Lord and be true to yourself. You have to betray your desires and abandon your passions to truly follow Jesus.

Paul finishes verse two by saying...how can we live in it any longer?

If you believe the Gospel, if you know the goodness of the Lord, if you have experienced the forgiveness and grace of God…HOW can we live out our lives as if nothing has changed?

We live for ourselves because we don’t, have forgotten, or we have never believed the Gospel. Listen to how Paul speaks to the believers in Rome.

3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)

Believing the Gospel means you ...

Live A New Life.

This new life is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the living God working in and through a dead man.

I’m afaid that many people have traded tradition and religion for the power of God at work in them. You can change the things you do and not be a new creation.

A new life isn’t about getting your ticket punched to go to heaven, living a moral life, or following the traditions of how you were raised. It’s about God’s nature residing in side of you.

Believing the Gospel is always accompanied by real life change.

When someone believes the Gospel, they identify with Christ by dying with Him and then being raised to life with Him. This new life is found in Christ and lived out daily by the believer.

Church, the Gospel is powerful and life changing.

“The road that leads to heaven is risky, lonely, and costly in this world, and few are willing to pay the price. Following Jesus involves losing your life-and finding new life in him.” -David Platt

Follow Me, pg. 11

Shall we continue sinning? By no means!

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:6-7)

The New Life is a life of freedom, we are no longer slaves to our nature. We are free from sin because of the power of Christ at work in us.

One commentator puts it like this...

A Christian’s “old self” is gone completely. The old “ego,” the old self-understanding, the old stance of the whole person toward God and the world—all that is gone. It has died—I died—and “anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (v 7). As a Christian, “I,” my truest self, really seeks God and loves his law and holiness. While sin remains in me with a lot of strength, it no longer controls my personality and life. It is still able to lead me to disobey God, but now, sinful behavior goes against my deepest self-understanding.

Keller, T. (2014). Romans 1–7 for You (C. Laferton, Ed.; p. 142). The Good Book Company.

Unbelievers sin and when they do, they are acting true to their identiy—it’s who they are. Why wouldn’t they sin? They live according to their nature.

Believers sin. However, when they do sin they don’t feel comfortable or ok about it. They actually feel bad and untrue to their identiy in Christ. It feels wrong and unnatural, because believers are in union with Christ.

Believing the Gospel means you ...

Resist Sin.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (Romans 6:12)

Paul teaches believers, it is because of our death with Christ and the resurrection power of Christ within the each believer that we can reject our sin nature.

I’ve learned that this is less about saying no to all the things I shouldn’t do and more about saying yes to the things I should do.

Believing the Gospel means you ...

Offer Yourslef to God.

13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. (Romans 6:13)

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)