Goin Ye Therefore

Had to do a public speech on any subject I wanted for Communication Class. Since some others were doing subjects like, "Homos*xuals should be raising children" and "Pro-choice" I figured fair is fair, so I decided on the topic: "Why Christians believe the Gospel will bring eternal life." It took a little convincing of the Professor, at first, but got the green light. Did I ever preach it today. Started off with some testimony, conviction of sin, then Romans 1:16 and let er rip from their. Should have seen their eyes! The smirkers wiped the smiles off their faces. Some where about to cry. The Holy Spirit was at work through me. This felt good!

I had about ten of those little NT Bibles with Psalms and Proverbs which I offered. Five people came to ask for one; I gave the others to people who were looking like they needed it during the "speech" but seemed a bit shy about it. You could tell they were glad to recieve it.

I've always told my children to not be afraid to speak up in their secular schools. Today, I got my own opportunity and walked the walk the walk.

Praise God.

 

Yeah, although this may be a litle embarrasing in front of you guys. I basically went off the the first lines and said them a bit differently, off the cuff. I had just about all the verses Romans verses memorized and added a little inbetween so I was able to give them with some spunk. LOL


I’ve got some really Good News to share with you all today. And I’m going to take you on a trip down a road to accomplish this. This road is called the Romans Road and is a quick and effective way to explain what Christians believe will bring you eternal life.

I am going to present this Good News, which is called the Gospel BTW, and demonstrate that the Gospel can be summed up in just a couple minute from the Book of Romans.

First, a little background, I want you to know that about 15 years ago, I was of the same mindset, and having the same types of thoughts about this subject as I imagine many of you sitting here have.

When I thought about God, I figured I was never going to be able to know the truth about Him, at least not until I died. There were too many opinions out there. If I were to go to church, which one would I go to? How was I going to know who to believe anyway? I often wondered if God was working on my conscience, but He didn’t talk to me, at least not directly, like I could ask Him questions about this or something.

You should understand then, that I didn’t know much about it, but I believed deep down in my heart there was a God and figured He knew all the things I did and was going to judge me for them when I died. And sometimes, I wondered if I was being good enough to get to Heaven.

I knew for sure that I wasn’t going to go to some church and have some high and mighty preacher tell me I was a sinner, but in ignorance I hoped that a loving God would understand this predicament I was in.

So, life went on. But life got rough: I did a lot of things that I regretted. My heart was broken so many times that it ended up being hardened. I married young, had a child, that marriage failed, she left state, and I lost contact.

Determined to not have anymore serious relationships I played the field for a while, until this one girl came along that I couldn’t seem to get rid of. After seven years of this, and even though I treated her like dirt, I decided if she loves me THIS much, I might as well marry her.

We had a child, and this child softened my heart, and for the first time in a long time, I felt a deep love for someone again. Problem is, my marriage was about to fail and there was nothing I could do about it. The writing was on the wall, and I was about to loose the most precious thing if my life. I had no where to turn, no one on this earth that could help me.

So ONE NIGHT I cried out to God, that I needed to know Him, and I needed Him to guide me through this, that only He could help me, and I needed to know how to hear Him.

I didn’t know it at the time, although I did feel a peaceful comfort come over me, but He answered my prayer, (Mathew 7:7) Ask, seek, knock.

The very next day I began the journey of a Berean Biblicist.

(Act 17:11) These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

I picked up the Bible and began searching for the answers to change my life. That said:

Before I take you down this road I need to establish one more thing.

Let’s consider the Ten Commandments:

Pick Victim:

Have you ever lied? What does that make you?

Have you ever stolen anything? What does that make you?

Jesus said who ever looks upon a woman to lust after her is an adulterer.

Shane have you ever looked upon a woman is this way?

What does that make you?

So you are a lying, thieving, adulterer and deserving of death according to the Ten Commandments.

By What Name are you forgiven of these sins?

The Bible says…

(Mat 18:20) For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Therefore…I would like to welcome you all to church, in the presence of God. Those of you here for the first time…welcome! I would like to warn you it is not a perfect church. It is full of sinners, myself included.

As the late great Adrian Rogers once said: “There are people who can preach the Gospel better than I can, but there is no one that can preach a better Gospel than I can.”

From the book of Romans…

The Romans Road…

(Rom 1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

(Rom 3:10) As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

(Rom 3:23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

(Rom 6:23) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Rom 3:24) Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

(Rom 3:25) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

(Rom 8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

(Rom 8:38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

(Rom 8:39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Rom 10:9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

(Rom 10:10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

(Rom 10:13) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

(Rom 10:14) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Is too long so I will post the conclusion next:

 

Conclusion:

The Roman Road carries you down a path that explains God’s message of eternal salvation in a nut shell. I planted the seed, but the Holy Sprit does the actual persuading through these Words. You are a sinner and the only way to be forgiven for these sins is to have faith, the object of that faith is the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for you…He offered you a free gift of forgiveness and eternal life in His loving Grace through believing and confessing this truth.

Thank you.


It really did go well, and man, was I tempted to have an alter call at the end. :laugh:

:laugh: Forgot I borrowed one of Blackbird's lines. Sorry Dude. :laugh:

 

Well, the professor agreed with you; I got a 90%. Considering the average grade was 51% that was a pretty good grade.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement, it has been very hard for me to do public speaking in the past, probably due to a severve speech impediment as a child which kept me quite as a teen and this has been hard to overcome as an adult. I will admit I caught my self shaking when I sat down, but oddly I never did notice it when I was up.