Evangelism and Missions
Romans 10:1-17
Romans chapter ten is one of the great evangelism/missions passages in the Bible. I invite you to open your Bible and let’s look at it together.
Paul’s Passion v.1a
In Romans 9-11, every chapter begins with an expression of intense concern on the part of Paul for his own people, the Jews. (9:2-3; 11:1 and here in 10:1a).
“My heart’s desire . . .”
Paul had a passion for the salvation of his people.
Question: What are you passionate about?
This word translated “desire” here is a rare word that actually suggests the idea of “good pleasure” or “delight.” Paul is saying that what is really pleasing to him or would really delight him would be the salvation of His countrymen.
What delights you? What brings you good pleasure?
When it comes to the lost, do you really care? When was the last time you shared the Gospel with someone? When was the last time you invited someone to church?
This was Paul’s passion so he does whatever he can and one of the things he can do is pray for them.
Paul’s Prayer v.1b
The most important prayer that we can pray is for the salvation of those who are lost.
I’m not saying that other prayers are not important, but Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Matt 16:26)
The Pagan’s Problem vv.2-3
What’s the problem?
A zeal for God but not according to the truth which leads to seeking to establish a righteousness which is false and not submitting to God’s righteousness.
Paul knew what he was talking about because that described him before his conversion on the road to Damascus.
Man’s ideas of righteousness are completely different from God’s truth about righteousness.
God is the only righteous one. We are not righteous and cannot be righteous on our own, so who can stand before God and be acquitted.
Have you ever heard someone say, “You’re going to go to hell if you don’t change your ways.”
I’ve got news for you; you’re going to go to hell if all you do is change your ways.”
God’s Provision v.4
NET Bible: “For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.”
Sermon on the Mount: Didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, to compete it.
It was because Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly that He was able to be our substitute in dying for us on the cross.
And since He is the end of the law by fulfilling it on our behalf, the source of righteousness, He is the righteousness of all who are joined to Him by faith.
Look at 2 Corinthians 5:21
Third verse of “It is Well With My Soul”
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought;
my sin, not in part, but the whole
is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul
Prerequisite of Righteousness vv.9-10
Now it becomes personal. In verses 5-8, Paul has been quoting Moses or speaking about what Moses (the law) states. But beginning in verse 8, Paul states, “The word is near you.”
“If YOU confess with YOUR mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in YOUR heart that God raised Him from the dead, YOU will be saved.”
Have you believed on Christ Jesus and confessed Him before others?
If not, then notice the good news in verse 13.
The Possibility of Righteousness v.13
The possibility of God’s righteousness, true righteousness as found only in Jesus Christ is available to “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.”
Calling on the name of the Lord is to believe on Him and trust in what He has accomplished on the cross by dying for your sin. The Bible promises that you will be saved if you do this; you will be saved from your sin and from the wrath of God that hangs over you because of it.
Don’t put it off. Call on Jesus Christ today.
That concludes the introduction to today’s message.
Seriously, we hear . . .
Paul’s Plea for Missions vv.14-15, 17
About vv.14-15 commentator E.F. Scott remarks,
“These verses might seem to be only a digression, but they are central to the whole Epistle. More plainly than anywhere else Paul here discloses his purpose in writing as he does to the Roman church. He is coming to Rome in order to make it his starting point for a new mission, and he needs the cooperation of the believers in the Capital.”
John Murray writes, “The main point is that the saving relation to Christ involved in calling upon his name is not something that can occur in a vacuum; it occurs in a context created by proclamation of the gospel on the part of those commissioned to proclaim it.”
These verses are the classic statement of the need for Gospel preaching and for the expanding worldwide missionary enterprise.
Paul’s Plea for Missions: Calling on Christ
If a person is to be saved, as verse 13 states, he or she must “call on” Christ. This is more than an intellectual assent to certain truths about Jesus. It is committing yourself to Jesus as your own personal Lord and Savior.
Paul’s Plea for Missions: Belief in Christ
Intellectual understanding without commitment is not true faith, but neither is commitment without intellectual understanding. You must know who He is and what He has done for you.
When I was nine . . .
Why did I walk that aisle?
Unless the facts are proclaimed, the message is not the Gospel.
Unless the facts are understood and believed, the faith that follows is not true faith, regardless of its intensity.
Paul’s Plea for Missions: Hearing Christ
In order to believe in Christ a person must hear Christ. Let me repeat the last two words, “hear Christ” because that is what the verse literally says. Some translations have added the word “of,” but it is “believe in him whom they have never heard?”
The point is that it is Christ himself who speaks to the individual and that it is hearing him that leads to belief and then to calling on his name in salvation.
“God told me so-and-so” or “The Holy Spirit said”
When I (or any other minister) stand up to teach the Bible, if I do it right, it is not my word you are hearing. It is the Word of God and the voice you hear in your heart is the voice of Christ.
And when you respond, you are not responding to me, you are responding to Him, who is calling you through the appointed channel of sound preaching.
Luke 10:16, “He who listen to you listens to me,” and “he who rejects you rejects me.”
Paul’s Plea for Missions: Preaching Christ
For a person to hear Christ, someone must proclaim Christ to him or her.
This does not exclude other valid forms of communication today, such as print media. (EM Hartman)
But there is something special and necessary about verbalized communication, particularly preaching, since it is through such preaching that God most often chooses to make the gospel known.
How many of you, like me, called on the name of the Lord, came to faith in Him as the result of hearing the Gospel preached from a pulpit?
Paul’s Plea for Missions: Sending Christ’s Messengers
If people must believe in Him before they call on Him. If they must hear Christ before they can believe. If there must be preaching of the Word if people are to hear Him. Then, for Christ to be proclaimed to such people, preachers must be sent to them.
By whom? By God, of course. This is God’s work. No one can it lightly upon himself. What did Jesus say in Matthew 9:38? “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
God must send the messenger. But it is also true that messengers must be sent by the churches, just as Paul and Barnabas were sent on their missionary journeys by the Gentile church at Antioch.
In fact, one of the objectives Paul had in writing Romans was to enlist the support of the Roman church in his plan to take the gospel beyond Rome to Spain and other places west.
The application for you and me today is that if people today in unreached areas of the world are to hear the gospel and have the opportunity to believe on Jesus Christ, those who know Christ must combine their resources to send God’s messengers to them.
We must do it. A strong commitment to missions is mandatory for an obedient church.
Pray
Give
Go
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Missions
As a cooperating Southern Baptist Church, we support missionaries locally, statewide, nationwide & internationally, through the Cooperative Program. We also support two missionaries on an individual basis:
Joni and Friends
For several years Parkway has sent a group of teens and young adults to serve at a Summer camp for disabled children and their families. This camp is run by Joni and Friends International Disability Center and you can find more information about this wonderful opportunity at www.joniandfriends.org. If you have questions about serving at Joni and Friends, please contact Elder Warren Robbins at:
Boyd and Jennie Hatchel - Central and Eastern Europe
Boyd and Jennie Hatchel with their children Mallory, Miles, Madison, and Mason serve as International Mission Board Missionaries to the Romany (Gypsy) people group in Central and Eastern Europe. For five years they lived and ministered among the Roma in Romania. In 2005, their team's ministry expanded to include the Roma in some of the surrounding countries. To better facilitate their team's new territory, the Hatchels relocated to the Czech Republic in August 2005.
Boyd is a graduate of the University of North Texas (Denton, TX) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Ft. Worth, TX). Jennie has an education degree from Louisiana College (Pineville, LA) and attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Ft. Worth, TX).
Boyd serves as the Strategy Coordinator for Team Romany. Jennie serves as the team's Prayer Coordinator and Entry Orientation Coordinator. Prior to their being appointed to minister among the Roma, Jennie taught school in Texas and Boyd served as Associate Pastor of our own Parkway Baptist Church.
For more information about this mission, you may contact the Boyd & Jennie at .
Paul and Sophie Liu - People's Republic of China
The People’s Republic of China is the most populated nation (1.3 billion people) on the face of the earth. It is also an officially atheistic country and is one of the least evangelized nations in the world. For every 7,000 believers, there is only one ordained pastor. It is easily the neediest country in today's mission field.
Reverend Paul Liu, and his wife Sophie, created the Ark Project to bring the word of God to the people of China. They know the language. They know the culture. They know the people. They know the church. They know the Lord. They know the opportunities.
They interpret, evaluate and negotiate the environment with a Chinese mind and are uniquely qualified to bring the word of God to the Chinese people. They have established connections and relationships that are vital to their mission. The Liu's purpose is to bring lost sheep to the Ark. To bring lost souls to the Cross.
The cost of travel rises daily. Bibles for new believers and study Bibles for other preachers are a necessity. For more information about this mission, you may contact Pastor Kirk Taylor at .
E3 Partners Mission - Sam and Vicki Ingrassia
Since 1993, Sam and Vicki Ingrassia have served in missions ministry with e3 Partners Ministry (Equip-Evangelize-Establish), an international evangelism and church planting ministry headquartered in Plano Texas. Sam has led Church Planting Teams and Leadership Development Conferences to Russia, Sicily, Romania, Moldova, Venezuela, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Haiti and Guatemala. However, the Ingrassia’s main focus in missions is serving as Strategy Coordinators over e3’s work in 2 countries: Romania and Colombia. This means leading trips to these countries but also providing oversight, vision and implementation for the overall work in these 2 countries.
Sam and Vicki originally helped Parkway develop her annual summer mobilization to Romania as Parkway participated in several trips together with them. Sam trained at Dallas Theological Seminary where he completed a Masters Degree in 1983. Following a call into pastoral ministry, Sam served 9 years at Jacksonville Chapel in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. Subsequently the Ingrassia’s have served God’s kingdom in helping mobilize the church for the purpose of evangelism and mission church planting.
Sam and his wife, Vicki, have been married for 34 years and have three young adult daughters, Christina, Nicole and Stephanie. Vicki is also on associate staff with e3 Partners, serving side by side in the field ministry. She also a leader in the e3 Prayer Ministry.
