Alright, we're there in Romans chapter 1, and as you know, we're doing our Bible memorization
challenge, and I guess I kind of realized part way through, it kind of makes sense to
be preaching on what we're memorizing.
And so basically, once we're done preaching Revelation on Wednesdays, then on our next
memorization challenge is going to line up with what I'm preaching on is going to be
what you're going to be memorizing, pretty much the week right before.
So if you want to take up the memorization challenge, you're going to be hearing a sermon
preached on it, so really kind of just drive it home and stick with you.
So obviously, we're already in the ninth week, but if you haven't started the challenge,
you could always start memorizing now, either before or after I preach these sermons, it's
going to help drive home what I'm talking about in these sermons.
Because starting this week, every week, one of the sermons is going to be on the Book
of Romans.
We're going to slowly go through it, and the Book of Romans talks about a lot of different
subjects.
Now, with every chapter in the Bible, chapter 1 is always introductory, okay?
We're not going to go through the whole chapter here today, we're going to go through half
of it.
Now, a lot of this is just kind of introductory to the book, and it's all important, but next
week we'll start to hit the meat and potatoes of it, okay?
Notice chapter 1, verse 1, where it says this, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ.
Now, go to Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 6.
See what the Bible teaches is that when you're saved, you're saved forever, you cannot lose
your salvation, but you have a choice of whether or not you want to serve God or be a servant
of sin.
You're going to serve something.
You're going to either serve God or be a servant of sin.
Paul said he's a servant of Jesus Christ, and would to God that we would all serve Jesus
Christ with our lives.
Notice what it says in Romans 6, verse 17, Romans chapter 6, verse 17, but God be thanked
that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered to you.
Paul speaks about being a servant of sin.
You say, what is that talking about?
Well, think about someone who smokes cigarettes every day.
They want to stop cigarettes, right?
They don't want to keep smoking.
It's unhealthy.
It's expensive.
They want to stop, but they're not able to.
Why?
They are a servant of sin.
They don't actually get to do what they want to do.
They're not actually free.
See the world says if there's no rules, then you'll be free.
That's not true.
If there were no rules, then you would become a servant of the things you're doing.
And people that are smoking cigarettes and getting drunk, they are a servant in bondage
to those sins.
He says, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
to you.
See, when you hear the word of God preached, did you realize it can free you from the bondage
of sin you have in your life?
This is why it's important to come to church because if you're not hearing this preached,
you will become in bondage with things that you don't want to be doing.
Verse 18, being then made free from sin, he became the servants of righteousness.
And see, when you're saved and you choose to start living for God, you become a servant
of living for righteousness.
You know, when I look at my life, I'm like, man, I must read the Bible.
I must memorize the Bible.
I must pray.
I must go to church.
What takes place is you're a servant of righteousness.
Now look, you're not upset to do that.
I mean, I'm happy to come to church, aren't you?
I'm happy to read the Bible.
I'm happy to memorize the Bible.
But you always feel like, man, I need to learn more.
I need to read the Bible more.
Because you become a servant of righteousness if you obey the doctrine that's delivered
you.
Turn back to Romans 1, Romans 1.
Now God wants every saved person to serve him with their lives.
Every single saved person.
But notice what it says in Romans 1, verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called
to be an apostle, okay?
Now I want you to realize that in today's world, we don't have apostles anymore.
Paul was the last one who saw the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so look, you might have been possessed by a devil and seen something, but look, you're
not a modern day apostle.
There are no apostles in today's world, okay?
And so I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians 1.
So realize to be an apostle, you're actually chosen for that job.
You don't choose it yourself.
God actually chooses you.
And Paul was someone who was chosen to be an apostle, okay?
First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 1.
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and sauced the knees
our brother.
It was the will of God that Paul would be an apostle.
Now there are many people that lived during that time period that weren't bad people.
They were good people, but they weren't called to be apostles.
Paul was actually called to be an apostle.
Then it says, go back to Romans 1, go back to Romans 1, Romans chapter 1.
And so look, Jesus handpicked who were going to be the apostles.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Romans chapter 1, verse 1.
It says called to be an apostle separated onto the gospel of God, okay?
Now when it comes to separation, there's always a dual meaning.
You get separated from the world, separated from wickedness, separated onto God.
Here it says separated onto the gospel of God, which means Paul's whole life was just
devoted to try to get people saved.
He was separated onto the gospel of God.
That was his mission.
That was his goal in life, okay?
Verse number 2, which he had a promise afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures.
Now in verse 2, it said which he had a promise afore.
What was promised in the holy scriptures?
Referring to the Old Testament scriptures.
He had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel.
The gospel was promised in the holy scriptures in the Old Testament, the Bible's saying.
So according to verse 2, because the end of verse 1, separated onto the gospel of God,
which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures.
So according to the Bible, the gospel was mentioned in the Old Testament.
Go to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15.
See, the Bible actually states that every single prophet, he testified about Jesus Christ.
It doesn't mean that he knew the name Jesus Christ.
It doesn't mean that he was preaching directly about Jesus, but there was symbolism in those
books that pointed toward Jesus Christ.
Every single book in the Old Testament, and the Bible says the gospel was promised in
the holy scriptures in the Old Testament.
What is the gospel?
Well, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1.
1 Corinthians 15, verse 1.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached on you, which also
ye have received, and whereon ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory
what I preached on you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.
So in verse 3, Paul says the gospel is what he received, and he said, I'm going to explain
the gospel which I received, because throughout the Bible, you don't get saved unless someone
explains the gospel.
Someone must explain it to you.
He says, look, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, because
every single person who's saved, you're saved because somebody told you how to get to heaven.
That's the way it works.
I didn't get saved by reading the Bible on my own, and look, if you could get saved by
reading the Bible on your own, Cornelius, which we talked about in the first sermon,
guess what would have happened?
He would have got saved on his own.
But God had to send a soul winner specifically to him to get him saved, because, look, he
says in verse 3, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, talking
about the gospel.
I received the gospel from someone, now I'm delivering it to you, because everybody gets
saved by hearing the gospel from someone else.
How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
So the Bible teaches us, even in the Old Testament, that Jesus was going to die, be buried at
M'ling-Nabu-Hai after three days.
That's what the Bible teaches in every single book, okay?
This was promised in the Old Testament.
Now there's a lot of false teachers that will ask things like, how many gospels are there?
That is a dumb question, my friend.
It's referring to the same gospel here that was referred to in the Old Testament.
It's clearly the same thing that Christ died, he was buried, and that he rose again.
That is the gospel, okay?
Now people can repeat that and they say they believe it, but then all of a sudden you see
their little idol where Jesus is still on the cross.
It's like, I thought that you believed he rose again, then why are you carrying a little
idol with Jesus still on the cross?
But they're actually showing you what they do believe, because they don't believe the
payments already been made.
They think that, you know, you still have to work your way to heaven.
The Bible says here, though, the gospel, it was promised in the Old Testament, okay?
Now you could preach a whole sermon on that, and I'm sure I will at some point, but go
back to Romans 1.
Romans 1, but look, just in the first couple of verses, you see a lot of explanation, very
important information, just to kind of set the scene for this book.
And in Romans 1, verse number 3, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.
So look, when Jesus rose again, it proved he was the true God.
It proved he was the living God.
I spoke about the power of the resurrection on Easter.
I can't remember if this Easter or the one before, I spoke about the power of the resurrection.
He declared himself to be the son of God with power.
Verse 5, by whom we have received grace and apostleship.
So once again, he mentions apostleship.
He was chosen to be an apostle for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name.
Notice in verse 5 how it says all nations, all nations.
Go to verse 19, verse 19.
So you have to understand, Jesus is salvation for every nation, every person in the world.
He is the way to heaven no matter where you live.
It doesn't matter if you grow up in a Buddhist country or a Muslim country or a Hindu country
or an atheistic country.
Salvation is by Jesus Christ no matter where you live, okay?
It said among all nations for his name.
There's a lot of people that say, well, you know, I mean, you here in the Philippines,
your God is a Christian God, but don't all roads lead to heaven?
Don't all roads lead to Rome?
It's like, well, all roads might lead to Rome, but they don't all lead to heaven, my friend.
It's like, no, they don't all, because what did Jesus say?
He said, I am the way, not a way, but the way, the only way to get
to heaven is Jesus Christ.
I am the way, the truth, the life, which means if you try to get there by Islam or Buddhism,
you're going to end up straight in hell.
As we talked about in the first sermon, there's two religions.
One religion is believe on Jesus Christ, and if you choose that route, you go to heaven.
If you go any other route, you end up in hell.
That's the way it works, because he says among all nations, verse 19, because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it onto them.
God has manifest who he is inside of each and every single one of us.
That's why I said everybody is born with an innate belief that God is real.
Every single person.
There's certain things about God where you believe that and you know that to be true
from the day you are born.
He's manifested into you for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even as eternal power
in Godhead so that they are without excuse.
So God says I've manifest this into you, and he talks about the creation of the world in
verse 20, and he said people are without excuse because the creation teaches there's a God.
Now this is an example of where atheists would mock at that.
They would say, well, that's stupid.
You say, Brother Stuckey, how do you know there's a God?
Walk outside and look at the sky.
That's proof right there.
You say, well, I don't believe it.
Well, then you're a fool according to the Bible.
That alone is proof God is real.
It's not the only proof, but it certainly is proof that when you walk outside, you can
see that God is real.
Go to Psalms 19.
Right in the middle of your Bible, the book of Psalms, Psalm 19, Psalm 19.
Because what the Bible said is from the creation of the world, we can see and know that God
is real.
And let me tell you something.
God's creation is proof of his existence.
You don't have to try to, let's try to date the age of the fossils to find out if God's
real.
You can just see that there are fossils and that is proof God is real.
I mean, just seeing that there are fossils and there's the mountains, the sky, that is
proof God is real.
You say, I think that's a dumb argument.
Well, that's what Psalm 19 says.
And this is what it says in Psalm 19 verse one, the heavens declare the glory of God
and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
We can look at the firmament, the open air, the sky, and we can see God is real according
to Psalm 19 verse one.
You can look at the sun, you can look at the moon, you can look at the stars, you can look
at the clouds, and you can tell God is real simply from that.
It showeth his handiwork.
Verse two, day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge.
You say, what is that referring to?
It's saying during the day, God is revealing he is real by what he's created.
Primarily think of the sun.
The sun is uttering speech to you.
Now don't misunderstand me, I'm not a Pentecostal.
If you say, Brother Stuckey, the sun talked to me the other day and I heard these words,
it's like you're misunderstanding what symbolism is, okay?
I'll talk to you about it after the service.
But look, seeing the sun, it does teach you something.
You can look at it with, I mean, doesn't a picture tell 10,000 words?
Just take a picture of the sun, take a picture of the sky, look at it.
It's speaking to you through that picture.
You can tell through the sun that God is real.
Day unto day uttereth speech.
Everybody in this room knows that you're going to wake up tomorrow morning and the sun's
going to rise, go to bed at night and the sun sets.
You say, why?
Because God has made it that way.
Everything works like that.
Like clockwork, you know that is going to take place.
Seeing the sun is proof, God is real.
Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge.
You look up at the moon, you look up at the stars, you look up at the sky, that will teach
you knowledge.
It shows you God is real according to the book of Psalm, okay?
And look, here's the thing.
If someone has an open heart and you kind of explain that, they're going to have to
admit, yeah, you know, I look out there, it looks like there's a creator.
Now you don't get saved by looking at the sun, okay?
But that alone should show you God is real according to the Bible.
And so notice what it says in verse three, there is no speech nor language where their
voice is not heard.
What is that saying in verse three?
Well, verse two talked about the sun and the moon and the stars and the sky and in verse
three there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
What that's saying is in every country in the world the sun rises and the sun sets.
In every country in the world you have the moon, you have the stars, it doesn't matter
what language.
See what I'm explaining to you works in Europe or Africa or Asia or wherever the sun rises
the sun sets.
Day unto day showeth knowledge or showeth speech, night unto night showeth knowledge
according to the Bible.
So no matter what country of the world you live in, you have the sun, the moon and the
stars, right?
I mean, if you don't have the sun in the country you live in, you're going to die because it's
going to be very cold.
Every single place in the world the sun rises and the sun sets.
And so look, every single day people can see the sun rising no matter where they live and
there's proof of God's existence.
So God reveals himself to every person in the world just by what he's created every
day.
Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
So it does not matter if they speak Spanish or French or German or Kapampangan or whatever
language you want to think of, there is no language, no speech where their voice is not
heard.
See the voice of the sun, the moon and the stars, it's to everybody God created that
way.
Verse four, their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of
the world.
So according to verse four, the line of the sun, the moon and the stars and what he's
created, it's gone through all the earth.
There's not a single place on this planet, the Bible says, where people are not going
to be able to be aware of what God's created.
It's right there.
Everyone has the sun, the moon and the stars.
It's gone through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.
So look, any mom, any dad could just ask their child to walk outside and say, well, here's
proof of God's existence, no matter where you live.
Now, if there's a lot of countries that are not Christian countries, but they have proof
of God's existence just through that alone, okay?
So according to the Bible, you are without excuse if you reject God, because look, God
has proven himself to everybody in the world just by what he's created.
Turn back to actually turn to Acts four, Acts four, Acts chapter four.
Now look, obviously people still need to hear the gospel to get saved, but you have proof
that God is real by what he's created.
Now I've heard some crazy things though, where I've heard people talk about the gospel of
the stars.
Who's heard of that before?
The gospel of the stars.
Anybody?
Maybe just I'm the only one who's heard that.
Basically, you can look up at the stars and it's like Romans 3 23, for all of sinned and
come short of the glory of God.
Now here's the problem with that.
People speak different languages.
So I don't know if in the Philippines it's, I don't know if it's that here in the Philippines
and you go to Spain and it says, you know, something else, you know, that doesn't really
make a whole lot of sense, okay?
The Bible does not teach that you can look up at the sky and it just has the words for
all of sin and come short of the glory of God.
It wouldn't make sense because we speak different languages, my friend, but the sun, the moon
and the stars is proof of God's existence.
Now people still need to believe on Jesus though, because in Acts chapter four, Acts
chapter four, it says in verse 12, Acts chapter four, verse 12, neither is there salvation
in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved.
So according to the Bible, we must be saved through the name of Jesus.
Now look, I have heard Baptist preachers say that, well, if you grow up in a non-Christian
country, you know, you can get a free pass into heaven.
Look, if that's the case, then the Bible would say, don't go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature.
Just let them die without hearing about Jesus and they go to heaven.
That's ridiculous.
The Bible says there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved.
Turn to Romans one, Romans one, Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one in verse number six,
Romans chapter one in verse six.
He says in verse six, among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ to all that be
in Rome, beloved of God called to be saints.
Now in verse seven, he mentioned saints and a saint is someone who believes on Jesus Christ.
So obviously Paul is writing to people that are alive, right?
The Catholic church likes to declare someone a saint like 50 years after they die.
But Paul's not writing to dead people.
He's writing to people that are alive and saved because look, if you are saved according
to the Bible, whether it's the Old Testament or New Testament, you are a saint according
to the Bible.
Okay.
The Catholic church declares someone a saint after they've already died.
And it's just like, that's not the biblical definition of what a saint is.
A saint is someone who's alive and who's saved.
And Paul says, I've written to you, beloved of God, called to be saints, graced you in
peace from God our father in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse eight, first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is
spoken of throughout the whole world.
Now think about that statement Paul makes.
He says, your faith, the people in Rome is spoken of throughout the whole world.
Now was there an online ministry 2000 years ago?
People put their sermons on the internet and everyone's heard about them.
Everyone's listening.
No, their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world without an online ministry.
And what that teaches you is this is an area where people are going soul winning, getting
people saved.
And the word of God was going to all the world and people had heard about what they were
doing in Rome.
And let me tell you something.
If the day would come where we could not put our sermons online, our goal would still to
be that the faith of our church was spoken of throughout the entire world.
That's what you see in Romans chapter one.
And back then, people used to take the things of God a little bit more seriously.
Back then, you know, Christians, it's like reading the Bible.
Yeah, that's the bare minimum.
That's what you do as a family.
You read the Bible for an hour together at night.
And in today's world, we have so many distractions.
And you have to ask yourself this question, are most churches, is their faith spoken of
throughout the whole world?
No, it's not.
But according to the Bible, it can be, says in Romans one verse eight.
Verse nine.
For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without
ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers.
Making request if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will
of God to come unto you.
And so Paul is praying and asking God if he can basically be in that area to preach the
gospel and help that church in that time period.
He says making request if by any means now at length.
So for a long period of time, he would like to be there just preaching the gospel and
getting people saved.
Verse 11.
For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end he may
be established.
That is that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me.
Paul says this.
I want to be comforted by the mutual faith.
Paul was probably the greatest soul winner outside of the Lord Jesus Christ who's ever
lived.
But what Paul said is, you know what?
I need to be comforted.
I need that mutual faith to come for me.
And look, I don't care how spiritual you think you are.
There's not a single person on the planet that if they were a saved person, and they're
never around any other Christians, they're never around people that believe the same
things.
There's nobody who's going to last strong spiritually like that.
Say what's your proof?
Elijah is my proof.
I mean, do you think you're better than Elijah?
Who's going to come back during the end times?
Do you really believe you're better than Elijah?
And yet Elijah becomes depressed because he felt like he was the only one.
We need that mutual faith.
Okay, that's what the Bible teaches.
Now, look, for me personally, I have moved before to go to churches.
I've moved across the country in the U.S. because I wanted to be a part of a church
where there'd be more people I could fellowship with.
And the Bible says, they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.
And so look, you need to be around people that believe the same things as you.
Let me tell you something.
Nobody can last being outside of church.
Every single person needs to be in church for their own spiritual survival.
If you're not, you're going to start to get kind of weary on the things of God.
You say, why?
Because you're getting brainwashed by the world 168 hours a week.
Every single week you're getting brainwashed by the world.
And you go to your job on Monday and you're around coworkers who are talking about things
that are not about the Bible, that you don't care about.
And then all of a sudden it gets to you after two, three, four days.
And look, being a church kind of revives you, especially if you don't read the Bible.
Look, if you don't read the Bible, it's like when you show up for church on Sunday, you're
literally on your deathbed and I'm doing my best to resuscitate you and to fire you back
up so you'll read the Bible for yourself.
But look, when you're not around God's people and you're not reading the Bible, you're not
praying, you're literally going to be basically dead.
And I have to revive you every single week.
And let me tell you something.
I use a lot of Bible.
I try my best to scream and be angry, but I can only do so much.
You need to, in your own personal time, read the Bible, okay?
Because look, we're not able to be around fellow Christians every single day.
And so you must be here every single week though.
If you don't get that reviving, you're going to start to feel like man.
I remember when, I don't know how long ago this was, but I tore my ACL from playing soccer
and I had surgery on my knee.
And so for around seven weeks or so, I was not able to go to church.
I couldn't drive or anything.
Obviously tearing your ACL is a major surgery.
And it's like man, I started to get very depressed just sitting on my house all the time, not
being around fellow soul winners, not being in church.
I became very depressed not being around church for a long period of time.
That's what takes place.
I literally, after around seven or eight weeks when I was allowed to finally drive, I literally
went soul winning.
And I had crutches and I was like hopping around on one foot from door to door because
I was like man, I want to go soul winning.
It's been so long.
I must be around fellow Christians because look, when you're not around fellow Christians,
you're going to start to become weary on the things of God.
All of a sudden you're not going to find it that enjoyable to read the Bible.
When you come to church though and people are talking about the Bible and they're talking
about soul winning and they're talking about exciting stories, do you know what it does?
It kind of fires you up inside your heart to want to live for God.
And this is something for every single person, including myself in this room.
I need to be around fellow believers to be motivated to live for God.
We have this mutual faith.
And look, if Paul the apostle said, I need to be around fellow people, you know what
all of us do.
And so realize this, this isn't really part of the sermon, but there's kind of a false
understanding about Paul the apostle.
Paul the apostle was not going to areas where there's nobody saved and just going soul winning
on his own.
He was actually going to areas to try to help build churches and create it.
But there's already people of mutual faith there that he was working with.
He's not saying, you know, because he's going to apply this to his life as well.
He says, I need that mutual faith.
Paul always had other soul winners he was with.
And they'd start new churches, but he was always with other people because nobody is
going to be this lone ranger renegade soul winner that's going to be successful.
You need to be around other people.
It works this way with every area of life.
Okay.
I mean, isn't it true that if you go to the gym and work out, it's a lot easier to do
it if you have like a lifting partner.
Something to go with.
I mean, it's a lot harder.
It's a lot easier to bench press when you know somebody's going to pull that bench press
up if you can't lift it off your chest.
Otherwise you've got to do that roll technique.
And let me tell you something.
It doesn't work very well.
Okay.
I've been there before.
It's not pretty.
It's not good.
You hear a crash.
You look like a fool.
It's helpful to have a lifting partner.
Okay.
And so look, with every area of life, you need people of mutual beliefs and mutual interests
to help motivate you, especially the spiritual life.
Verse 13, now I would not have you ignorant brethren that oftentimes I purpose to come
on to you.
So he's saying, I've wanted to go soul winning with you for a while, but was let hither to
that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
What he's saying, the part in parentheses, a parenthetical statement.
You can take that out and the sentence would make sense.
What he's saying is he was basically stopped from going soul winning with them, but he
wanted to.
He said, I was let hither to.
But he said, I wanted to have some fruit among you also.
I wanted to go soul winning with you.
Now look, when he says I wanted to have some fruit among you, he's not saying that they're
going to basically grow avocados.
Okay.
That's not what it's referring to.
He's not saying, you know, we want to grow avocados and mangoes and bananas.
He's saying basically going soul winning.
It says he that winneth souls is wise.
It said the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise.
So winning souls is the fruit of a Christian, the Bible says.
That's what he's saying.
Verse 14, I am deader both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to
the unwise.
So as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Now notice verse 16.
And I think verse 16 is one of the greatest verses in the entire Bible.
I think it's one of the most important verses for a saved person to understand what it's
saying.
It says in verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Now let me say this.
It says to the Jew first and also the Greek, but you could say to the atheist, to the Hindu,
to the Buddhist, to the Muslim, to the Catholic, whatever you want to put in there, it would
apply the gospel as the power of God onto salvation.
Okay.
Every single person that believes that is how they get saved.
They hear the gospel and they get saved.
Now look, there are a lot of techniques to try to reach people of other religions.
There are a lot of ministries out there that have all kinds of subscribers, a hundred thousand
subscribers, and they're going to teach you how to win a Mormon.
They're going to teach you how to win a Hindu.
And let me tell you something.
Verse 16 gives you the answer of how to win a Hindu.
You preach the gospel to them.
Now let me tell you something.
Some of you right now, you say, that sounds too simple.
I don't really think that you could just give the gospel to a Hindu or a Buddhist or a Muslim
and they're going to get saved that way.
Well, let me just give you some examples from my life because I've been soul winning since
I was 19 years old.
I'm 35 years old.
That's a long time.
And let me tell you something.
I've won many people of various different religions, okay?
And every single one that I won to the Lord, I won through giving them the gospel.
Every single religion, that's how you get them saved.
It's not just how you get the Catholics saved.
It's how you get the Buddhists saved.
Say, how do you know that?
Because I've done that.
I've given the gospel to Buddhists and seen them get saved through that.
I've given the gospel to Hindus and I've gotten many Hindus saved by giving them the gospel.
That is how they get saved.
I've given the gospel to many Jehovah's Witnesses.
And you know how they got saved?
By hearing the gospel, okay?
It's the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation.
That is what gets people saved.
We don't need an apologetic ministry to, how do you reach Muslims?
No, you reach them by explaining the gospel.
You say, Brother Stuckey, but you know, they're not going to want to listen to you.
Well, most won't.
But when you go soul winning, you ask people, can I show you what the Bible says that it
takes to get to heaven?
And you know what?
Some Muslims say yes.
Some Hindus say yes.
Some Buddhists say yes.
And when you show it to them, some will believe and some won't.
Now, we know that a larger percentage of Catholics will believe than a Hindu, but some Hindus
will believe.
And let me tell you something, from my personal experience, Hindus are some of the most receptive
people to the gospel.
And I don't know why, but I've had several times in the U.S. where I've won Hindus to
the Lord, showing them the gospel.
And it's like many times they believed.
It's like they're a lot more receptive than Mormons.
I'll tell you that.
They're a lot more receptive than Jews.
It's like, you know, but you have to understand, no matter what the religion is in the world,
people are raised in whatever country.
Look, if you were raised in Cambodia, you'd be a Buddhist too, okay?
If you were raised in India, you'd be a Hindu too.
If you're raised in Spain, you're going to be a Catholic, okay?
If you're raised in Scandinavia, you're going to be a Protestant, okay?
Look, everyone's part of the religion because that's how they're raised, okay?
And let me tell you something, no matter what the religion in the world is, some will
hear the gospel and get saved.
It does not matter what the religion is, whether it's an atheist, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu.
That's the secret.
What's the secret to how to get an atheist saved?
Preach the gospel to them.
And some will get saved.
Now the majority won't, but some will get saved, okay?
Look, I've seen it with all of these different religions before.
Because here's the thing, you remember the Hindus you get saved, you don't remember the
Catholics, right?
I mean, if you're going soul winning every week, you get Catholic saved, you kind of
forget about it.
But look, I remember distinctly, it's like, I remember getting that Hindu saved.
I remember getting that Buddhist saved.
Because look, you know, there's a lot more Catholics and Hindus out there, and they're
more receptive.
But let me tell you something, it's still the gospel that gets them saved.
Now look, when you're preaching the gospel to a Hindu or a Buddhist or Muslim, you're
going to have to probably spend a little bit more time.
You're probably going to have to be able to prove Jesus is the only God, that there's
one God, explain the Trinity if you're talking to people of these religions.
You're going to have to know more verses than the Romans wrote.
Now here's the truth, and I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but there's a lot of soul
winners that probably just don't know enough about the Bible to get people saved from some
of these other religions.
Because you need to know more than Romans 3.23 and Romans 6.23.
You might have to go to some other places in the Bible that prove that Jesus is God
to get people of these religions saved.
And so look, if that's you, praise the Lord that you know how to get a Catholic saved.
Learn how to get someone of these other religions saved.
It's the same basic presentation, but you're going to have to explain some more verses.
Because they're messed up on more things.
The Catholic believes in the Trinity.
The Hindu, they don't believe in the Trinity.
The Buddhist, they don't believe in the Trinity.
So you're going to have to spend more time, but let me tell you something, it's still
the gospel that gets them saved.
That is how you get them saved.
There's a story I have one time.
I was preaching the gospel to someone in, I used to live in Arizona, and I ran into
this kid who was like 18 years old or whatever, and we kind of argued about evolution for
an hour.
And at the end, he's like, man, you gave me some things to think about.
Okay, now look, I don't recommend you do this.
I don't do this anymore.
I don't argue about evolution at the door or whatever.
But he was really interested in it.
Well, he didn't get saved, but I ran into the same guy one year later, and he did get
saved.
But you know what the difference was?
I didn't argue about evolution.
You know what I showed him?
I showed him the gospel.
Now I did show him Genesis 1, 1.
I said, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
I said, you have no answer for the beginning of this world.
It's like, you know, you say we evolved from this thing.
Well, where did that come from to begin with?
I said, you have no answer for the beginning.
I said, here's the answer.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
And then I said, well, let me show you Romans 3, 23.
So I'd show him a verse, I'd show him about the flood, and I said, well, let me show you
Romans 6.
So I kept going back to the gospel, and you know what?
It took about 40 minutes, but he got saved.
You say, why?
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
And look, it sounds so simple, but God's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise.
This is the methods God's used.
And this is exciting because, look, it would be very hard to get people saved in these
other religions if he had to memorize all these crazy facts and all this stuff and just
spend, you know, 10 years of your life learning how to win a Mormon to the Lord.
You know, if you know how to win a Catholic to the Lord, you know how to win a Mormon
to the Lord.
You just have to show more verses.
It's the same thing.
You explain the gospel.
You say, what do you do if they don't listen?
You do the same thing you would do to a Catholic.
If they want to argue with you and they don't listen, you move on to the next door.
There's a mistake some people make when they talk to someone from a cult.
They say, well, if it was a Catholic and they started arguing with me, I'd just go to the
next door.
But if it's like a Buddhist, I'll just spend like five hours arguing.
It's like, no, because the Buddhist that's ready to get saved, they're going to be willing
to listen and not try to argue with you.
If they want to argue and debate with you, they're not going to get saved anyway.
That's the way it works.
So look, no matter what the religion of the world is, ask them if they're willing to listen
to what the Bible says.
And look, if they want to argue with you or debate with you, just move on.
Okay.
I've had many people at the door that got mad at me and look, I'm friendly at the door.
Anyone who's gone soul with me, I don't argue at the door.
I'm not a jerk at the door.
But oftentimes you'll talk to people and they want to argue with you.
They want to teach you about their religion.
And you know what?
I'm not interested in that.
And one thing I've said before when I was going door to door, someone wanted to argue
with me and I was leaving.
And he's like, hey, you came to my door and you're not willing to talk about this.
I said, hey, you know what?
I said, if you knock on my door, you can tell me what you believe.
But I knocked on your door so I could tell you what I believe.
It's like, well, maybe if that guy starts going door to door and hey, you know what?
If I had seen him, I would have kept that promise.
I was like, you knock on my door and I'll listen to what you have to say.
Okay.
Because here's the thing.
Just common sense.
If somebody's a door to door salesman, are they going to stop at a door and listen for
45 minutes to someone trying to sell another product to them?
No, they're not because they have a purpose for being at that door.
And our purpose when we're going door to door is to win people to the Lord.
So look, if people don't want to listen, what did Jesus say in Matthew 10?
Shake off the dust of your feet.
Just go on to the next door.
And look, you need to, as a soul winner, be willing to do this because there are people
that are willing to argue with you and when you realize they don't want to listen and
you show them Acts 16 and you ask them, well, what does it take to be saved?
And they say, live a good life.
They're not paying attention.
They're not going to get it.
If they're willing to listen, you give them the gospel no matter what religion they're
from.
If they're not willing to listen, you just move on to the next door.
So the Bible says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
Everyone who gets saved, they hear the gospel to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Now notice what it says in verse 17, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from
faith to faith.
Now you say, what does that mean from faith to faith?
What it means is this, someone who's saved, preaches the gospel to someone who's unsaved
and then they get saved and it goes from faith to faith.
That goes back to what we said earlier that throughout the Bible, it says nobody gets
saved on their own.
Somebody of faith preaches the gospel to someone who does not have faith.
They get saved and it's faith to faith.
That is God's method to reach the world.
A saved person preaches the gospel to an unsaved person and they get saved.
From faith to faith.
Now obviously throughout the Bible, it's obvious you must be a saved person, okay?
Someone who has the right faith preaches the gospel to someone who has the wrong faith
and a saved person preaches the gospel and the Spirit of God works in that conversation
and they have the choice to believe or reject and then some believe and some don't believe.
So look, if you're a saved person here today, you must understand that's a responsibility
on all of us.
Look, the person, the Catholic down the road is not going to get other people saved and
help us out.
They're not preaching the same gospel as us.
I mean a lot of the Baptists aren't going to help us out.
They're not preaching the same gospel as us.
It comes from someone of faith to faith.
So look, every single one of us is important because last I checked, most people in this
world are not saved.
I mean isn't that what you experienced door to door?
People that go soul winning?
Very few people have the right answer of salvation.
They have the wrong beliefs.
And so look, as saved people we must spread the gospel to other people.
Now the best way to do this is we have this mutual faith where we have soul winning times
and we work together to accomplish this, okay?
Now the great thing about a church like this is we have a lot of soul winners.
So you say, Brother Stuckey, I've never been soul winning before.
No problem.
You can come soul winning, you don't have to say anything.
And you can learn how to go soul winning.
And look, it's not as intimidating as you think it is.
I mean, I remember the first time, you know, I preached the gospel to someone other than,
you know, family members.
I remember just being like, I was shaking, I was scared.
I was like, because look, I'm not an outgoing person.
And that might surprise you, but I am not an outgoing person.
My personality, I'm perfectly happy to sit at home and just be alone.
I'll be honest, when I was younger, I was just like, man, I'm just going to get a job
up on the mountain, get home from work, just the whole weekend, just be away from everybody.
That's my natural personality.
Now being a soul winner, it changes your personality, because you realize, you know what, it's like
you need to be around people to get them safe.
You can't just expect them to get safe.
But look, when I first started preaching the gospel, I'm just like, really scared.
It's like, I've never done this.
I don't know how to do this.
And then you realize after you do it, that wasn't as hard as I thought it was.
Because I mean, before you go soul winning, you're afraid there's going to be someone
who's like this hardcore Hindu that's an expert at Hinduism.
And he's going to pull out all these random verses from Ezekiel and be like, how do you
answer Ezekiel chapter 17?
I've never had a single person turn to Ezekiel when I've gone soul winning, in 15 years of
soul winning.
You never have anybody turned to anywhere.
What you learn when you go soul winning, nobody knows anything about the Bible, nothing.
They literally know nothing.
I mean, they'll quote you, well, doesn't the Bible say faith without works is dead?
Hand them the Bible.
They never know where it is.
They never know where anything in the Bible is.
I mean, isn't that true to us that are soul winners?
Nobody knows anything about the Bible.
You could tell them anything they're going to believe it.
I mean, you could, I mean, you can literally say anything.
You could say Moses was on the ark and they'd be like, yeah, I remember that.
It's like, they'll believe anything.
Nobody knows anything about the Bible.
And look, when they try to tell you, oh, the Bible teaches you can lose your salvation.
Where?
And they're, I don't know, but it's in there.
It's like, that's always the answer.
They don't know anything about the Bible.
So look, you don't have to be afraid when you're going door to door because what you're
going to find out, you can literally talk to a pastor and you're going to find out that
the pastors don't know anything about the Bible either.
They literally know nothing.
You turn them down.
Look at John 3 16.
And then they're like, well, see, it says you got to repent of your sins.
It's like, I mean, do you have the same eyes that I have?
It's like, whosoever believe in them.
It's like, what part of that do you not get?
It's like, where does it say repent of your sins?
I mean, it's throughout the entire Bible.
The whole Bible says you must repent of your sins.
Can you give me one verse?
It's in every chapter.
One verse.
They're like, they don't know.
Why?
They just repeat things that they've heard.
So look, you do not have to be nervous when you go soul winning.
Because quite honestly, very, very few people know anything.
And here's the thing.
If somebody wants to argue with you or debate with you, that's not someone we spend our
time with because they're not going to get saved anyway.
And look, I want to be honest, though, as a soul winner, don't feel embarrassed to look
like a fool by the world standards.
I have walked away from many conversations where the person I was talking to, they felt
like they won the argument.
They won the battle.
It's like, man, I made that guy walk away.
It's like, yeah, I'm not going to waste 45 minutes of my time.
I don't mind if he thinks I'm dumb.
The world will always make us look, make us think that we're dumb.
You could be the smartest person in the world.
The world's still going to think you're dumb.
It's like good.
I mean, Isaac Newton, you know, I don't know that he was saved, but I mean, he believed
in God.
It's like people would say Isaac Newton was dumb today.
It's like, because if you just believe what the Bible says, no matter how smart you are,
you could have the greatest degree in the world.
They're going to say you're dumb anyway.
And so look, if somebody wants to argue with you door to door, just move on because you're
going to find some people that do not have faith and from faith to faith, you can share
your faith with them.
But let me help you out.
If you're going soul winning and the door you're at, they're doing all the talking,
they're not going to get saved.
It's like many times you go to a door and it's like, they say they're going to listen
and it's like, do you understand what the word listen means?
Because your mouth is moving quite a bit.
It's like, you're like, hey, can I show you what the Bible says?
They're like, oh, sure.
And then you quote, you know, Romans 3 23.
They start telling you a story from the 1970s, you're like, what?
It's like, they're not going to get saved.
That's the way it is.
But look, very few people know anything about the Bible.
The Bible says it's the gospel is the power of God and salvation.
Salvation goes from faith to faith.
So if you're a safe person, God needs you.
And at our church, we have many soul owners that can preach the gospel.
So look, we could have 10 new people come soul winning that have never gone before.
And that's not a problem.
We'll pair you up with someone that knows what they're doing.
And you know what?
We're going to reach a lot more people that way.
And here's the other thing, everybody, whenever you learn anything new, you're not good at
it when you start.
I mean, isn't it true?
I mean, is there anybody that the first time you picked up a basketball, you just went
through the legs and boom, you know, tomahawk dunk.
Is there anybody like that?
No, I mean, it doesn't work that way.
Right?
I mean, when you first start shooting a basketball, your form is probably something like this,
you know, something crazy.
When you start anything new, you're not going to be good at it.
That's something important for all of us to realize you have to constantly grow.
Look, when someone first gets married, they're bad at it.
That's the way it works.
Say why?
Because they're new at it.
I mean, aren't you bad at everything you start?
You first get married, you're bad at it.
You first become a parent, you're bad at it.
And look, you can decide to get better at it and work at it, or you can just be miserable
your whole life.
It's your choice.
But everything you do when you start at it, you're not going to be the best at it.
You don't have any experience.
I know it seems easy to be a parent, oh, that's going to be so easy, you know, you just change
some diapers and you hug them and stuff.
It's like, yeah, you know, once your child's been crying for three hours, you're like,
man, I just want to rest.
And then, then your baby does this.
They will not only cry, they want to be held, but they require you to stand while you're
holding them.
Is that not true?
Parents in this room can attest to that.
It's like, hey, I'm willing to hold you, but it's like, Christabel, why do I have to stand
while I hold you?
But they require you to stand also.
So guess what?
After like an hour and a half, you're like, man, I just want to rest.
You're like, man.
So yeah, you know what?
Good luck, everyone who's going to be a parent.
But look, whenever you start at something, you're not going to be the best at it.
So look, if you're going soul winning, it's okay if you don't know what you're doing.
When I first started going soul winning, I did not know what I was doing.
When I first, when I preached my first sermon, it was terrible.
I didn't know what I was doing.
I mean, you can even go back.
There's a video on, Pastor Anderson posted it.
His first sermon is recorded.
Who's seen his first sermon?
He preaches his first sermon, one of our friends from the US.
And a lot of churches, when you read the Bible, they'll ask you to stand.
So everybody stands, they read the Bible.
And you know, when you first preach, you're nervous.
I don't get nervous anymore.
But I was nervous for a while when I preached.
But it's like when you first preach, you're nervous.
And basically everybody's standing.
He forgot to tell them to sit down.
So he's preaching for like five minutes.
And then one of the pastors like, hey, you know, tell them to sit down and say why?
Because whenever you start anything, it takes work.
It's like my first sermon.
I'm glad it wasn't recorded.
I mean, it was, I didn't know what I was doing.
Because whenever you start anything, it takes practice and you have to be willing in life
to be willing to embarrass yourself to get better.
That's the way it works.
I have a friend of mine and I'm not going to name his name, you know, from the US.
But he told me the first time he went soul winning, kind of similar as me, but he was
just like his invitations just all fell to the ground.
Like he was nervous and just everything fell to the ground.
And it's like, this is like someone who's a really good soul winner.
But whenever you start anything, you're new at it.
It takes time, takes effort.
It's okay not to be the best at something.
You need to expect that in life.
Whenever you start something new, you're not going to be the best at it.
So anyways, going back to Romans 1 17, it goes from faith to faith as it is written,
the just shall live by faith for the wrath of God is revealed.
Verse 18 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
Now, verse 18 will tie into next week's sermon about people that hold the truth in unrighteousness.
But what I want to talk about is where it says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven.
What does reveal mean?
It means to be seen, to be known.
It's God's wrath has been revealed to us, okay?
Now turn in your Old Testament to Nahum chapter one, Nahum chapter one.
Nahum chapter one, Jonah, Mike and Nahum in your Old Testament in the Minor Prophets.
Now as a quick trivia question that you can remember, the book of Nahum is the book in
the Bible that's about Nineveh.
Jonah is not the book that's about Nineveh.
It's only partially about Nineveh.
The book of Nahum is 100% about Nineveh though.
So basically Jonah preached and then the people turned to God and God spared them for a little
while.
Two books later, God says, I'm done with Nineveh because they were too wicked.
That's what Nahum's about.
And so it's going to mention in chapter one about God's wrath.
Nahum chapter one verse two, Nahum chapter one verse two, God is jealous and the Lord
revengeth.
The Lord revengeth and is furious.
The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all quit the wicked.
The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of
his feet.
So in verse two, it talked about his wrath and remember in Romans one, God's wrath has
been revealed from heaven, okay?
What's that talking about?
Well, notice what it said in verse three, he hath his way in the whirlwind.
Think of a tornado.
Think of a typhoon.
That's God's wrath.
That's what he's saying.
He hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Verse four, he rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry and drieth up all the rivers.
Bashan languisheth and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
Verse five, the mountains quake at him.
What does that sound like?
The mountains quake at him.
Sounds like an earthquake, right?
He's referring to an earthquake here in verse five.
The mountains quake at him and the hills melt.
What does that sound like?
Sounds like a volcano, doesn't it?
Mountains quake at him and the hills melt and the earth is burned at his presence, yea,
the world and all that dwell therein.
So what is the Bible speaking about in Nahum chapter one?
Look, a natural disaster, it's not natural in the sense that just nature created it.
No, it was sin from God.
That's what the Bible's teaching.
Natural disasters, they are the wrath of God upon this world.
You have to understand, God does get angry at countries and locations.
See in the book of Nineveh, Nineveh was destroyed.
And look, you don't think about the Assyrian empire, which Nineveh was their capital city.
You think of Egypt and Rome and Greece and the reason why we forget about Assyria in
the history books is because they were destroyed.
Assyria was the most powerful empire in the world.
It's one of the six great empires that have ever existed in the Bible, the Bible says.
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome, and Greece.
And so look, the Bible says though about this, God's wrath is revealed.
So look, you can look at places in this world that have these massive natural disasters
and kill a million people or whatever, and that's God's wrath being out poured.
So look, I don't have to be an expert on Japan to know that God's not a big fan of Japan.
You say, why?
They're always the country that gets these natural disasters and 150,000 people die.
That's not just nature created us.
No, that's God's wrath being sent.
I mean, Haiti, they had the big earthquake.
I can't remember how many people died, hundreds of thousands or whatever, I think.
But in Haiti, the religion is voodoo.
I mean, how is that your religion?
Your religion is black magic.
Do you really think God's happy about that religion?
Is it really a shock that God just poured out his judgment there?
And let's not be naive when you have these major natural disasters that kill a lot of
people, that is God's judgment.
Look, if there happens to be some earthquake that kills 100,000 people in the Philippines,
it's God's judgment.
That's the reality.
This happens all over the world.
God pours out his wrath, okay?
And look, it has happened in this country before.
Look, when my wife was a young child living in Pampanga, you know, Mount Pinatubo exploded.
It's like, yeah, maybe God's not too happy about you Catholics crucifying yourselves all the time.
Look, God's judgment is poured out on this world.
And that reveals God's wrath.
It kind of helps you understand the wrath of God from the book of Revelation.
So look, these natural disasters that will destroy lots of people, that's God's wrath
being poured out.
Now, I'm not talking about if you accidentally, you know, drop a match in your house and the
carpet catches on fire.
God's wrath, that's not what I'm talking about, okay?
I'm saying when like an earthquake happens and like tons of people die, it's like that's
God's wrath.
Now, let me say something that sometimes I believe God sends out warning shots.
And you know what, when that happens to a country, that country better take heed and
better get right with God or you might have a lot of people end up dying.
And look, in the Bible, Sodom and Gomorrah was not a random event.
God poured down fire and brimstone from heaven.
You say, what is that?
That's God's wrath being revealed in the first century, I believe it was the first century
in Pompeii, where basically the Roman city was destroyed, which was known as like the
sodomite capital of the world in, you know, the first century AD or the second century
AD, where basically God just destroyed it overnight.
I mean, it was the most powerful city in less than 24 hours, it's gone.
The only reason why they know that now is they ended up digging it up thousands of years
later.
It's like, oh, wow, there's this massive city, it's just been forgotten in history.
Look, that's God's wrath being poured out.
It's not a random event.
So go back to actually look at verse six, who can stand before his indignation, which
is his anger, and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
Go back to Romans one, Romans one, we'll hurry up here.
Romans one.
Romans chapter one.
And look, we just need to realize that, you know what, this world is a wicked place.
And I'll tell you what, if you read the Bible, because some of you right now are like, oh,
man, this preacher is yelling and he's saying this is the wrath of God.
But let me tell you something, if you read the Bible, you're gonna be like, okay, I see
it.
I mean, I read to you some verses, but if you just read, I mean, Nineveh, in the book
of Nahum, Nineveh was completely destroyed by God.
It was called the great city, it was the greatest city in the world.
Nineveh was the capital of the world, Assyria owned the world.
When you're reading, you know, first kings, second kings, you can see Assyria owns the
world.
And they were destroyed like this, why?
God sent out a warning shot in the book of Jonah.
And you know what, they did not take heed to it.
And they were destroyed by it.
That's God's wrath.
The Bible said God's wrath is revealed.
So look, when God sends fire and brimstone to destroy places, and just think of a volcano,
a volcano erupts and lava comes out.
It's like a warning shot from God that you know what, if you don't get saved, you're
going to abide in the lake of fire forever.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Romans one verse 19, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God
has showed it onto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power in Godhead.
So I want you to notice here in Romans 120, it says we can even understand his eternal
power in Godhead.
We can understand the nature of God.
We can understand that he's eternal, that God has never been created.
He's just always existed.
And we can understand the Godhead, his nature, based on what he's made.
Now go to Acts 17, Acts 17, Acts chapter 17, Acts chapter 17, we'll just look at a few
more places and we'll close up, Acts chapter 17.
And so this word Godhead is only a few times in the Bible, and it's referring to basically
the nature of God, just kind of a general definition of it.
But the Bible says we can understand the nature of God by what he's made.
Now we know that God is eternal.
We mentioned the eternal power.
We also know God is a Trinity.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.
God has always been a Trinity.
He always will be a Trinity.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.
Only one God.
But he's a Trinity.
The three in one is what the Bible says.
Okay, now you have to realize there's another religion out there.
It's called Zoroastrianism.
It was the great religion of the empire of Persia until Islam kind of took over.
And they believe something weird where they basically believe, they say they believe in
one God, but they do not believe in one God.
They believe in two gods because they basically believe the good God and the bad God will
just hear from the beginning, and they kind of fight against each other.
It's like, well, that sounds like two gods to me.
See, here's the thing.
God the Father does not fight against God the Son.
God the Father does not fight against God the Holy Ghost.
They're on the same team, okay?
But God is three, he's not four, he's not two, he's not five, and he never will be.
He is three.
That is his nature.
That's how he's always been and how he always will be.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.
Look, you don't have to understand all these things like a math problem.
There are some things that are the deep things of the Bible that you know you take by faith.
This is what the Bible teaches.
Acts 17 verse 16.
Now while Paul waited for them at Romans, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw
the city wholly given to idolatry.
Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews and with devout persons in the market
daily with them that met with him.
Now Paul sees the idolatry and he's angry.
He's mad.
Now Paul was a bit of a traveler.
He went around to a lot of places and when Paul saw a city that was given to idolatry
it made him angry.
Let me tell you something, it ought to make you angry when you see the Feast of the Black
Nazarene.
You ought to be angry about that.
It's not fun.
I mean it's something you should consider wicked.
It's the second commandment.
Now I understand the Catholics take the second commandment out of their Bible and they turn
the tenth commandment into two commandments.
But the Bible says thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
And God is angry with the idolatry.
That's the way Paul felt.
Then it says in verse number 18.
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him and some
said, what will this babbler say?
Other some he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods.
Now notice it said in verse 18 he seems to be setting forth strange gods, plural.
Now how many gods did Paul believe in?
One.
There's one God, the true God, the living God.
But what that shows you is when Paul was explaining the Trinity, these people, they're like, they
don't understand it.
I mean you give the gospel to a Hindu, they're going to think that you're talking about three
manifestations of God or whatever because of their weird beliefs, right?
So it said strange gods and it says because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.
Go to verse 29, verse 29.
And so in Acts 17 verse 29 it says, for as much then as we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by
art and man's device.
And so Paul, as they're confused about the nature of God, he explains the Godhead.
He explains the nature of God and God is the three in one.
And as we're talking about preaching the gospel to other religions, if they are confused
on the nature of God, you must explain to them the nature of God.
Now the good thing is here in the Philippines, Catholics are not confused on the nature of
God.
They understand the Trinity.
They believe the Trinity, right?
I mean, isn't that true?
Most every Catholic believes the Trinity.
But if you're preaching the gospel to a Hindu, yeah, you're going to have to spend some more
time explaining who God is and showing some verses in the Bible.
Go back to Romans one.
We'll finish up here.
Romans one, you say, Brother Stuckey, you know, why don't we just finish the whole chapter
today?
Do you want us to skip lunch?
I mean, the sermons already like an hour and 15 minutes or whatever might be a new record.
I'm not sure.
And we're not even done yet.
We're not even like halfway through the chapter.
And so we'll just close up on verse 20.
Verse 20 is a good verse to keep in your mind, to memorize, to know where it is for the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal power and God had so that they are without excuse.
And let me tell you something tying into the first sermon today.
Atheists are without excuse, Buddhists are without excuse, Hindus are without excuse,
Muslims are without excuse.
You say, why are they without excuse?
Because look, you know from when you're born, God is real, and you can look outside knowing
God is real.
And let me tell you something.
If you actually fear God, because there are unsaved Hindus right now that fear God.
There are unsaved Buddhists right now that fear God.
There are unsaved people living in North Korea right now that fear God, and they want to
be good.
They want to do what's right, but they just don't know what is true.
You know what?
I believe God can and will get them the gospel.
Now obviously if you grow up in a country like this, you have more access to hear the gospel.
But I believe with the people that are living in those countries, God will find a way to
get them the gospel.
You say, why?
Because isn't that what you see in Acts chapter 8 and Acts chapter 10?
Now God has to use a soul winner, but let me tell you something.
People are getting saved all over the planet.
Obviously soul winning is a little bit better here than North Korea, but people can still
get saved in North Korea.
And there are saved people that from faith to faith are preaching the gospel when they
have an opportunity in getting people saved in those countries as well.
So look, an unsaved person in this world, when they stand before God one day, they will
have no excuse or justification where God says, you know what, I'll give you a free
pass into heaven.
No, they are without excuse if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
And let me just say this, just from a logical standpoint, look, if I'm doing whatever, let's
say for example, I break a law here in the Philippines because I don't know it's the
law.
Let's say I do something and I just am not aware of the fact that, let's say for example,
I'm walking without a face mask and, you know, the police decide to stop me and I get
arrested and I didn't know that was the law.
It doesn't change the fact you still get arrested.
So let me tell you something.
People that have broken God's commandments and rules, even if they don't know everything
about the Bible, it doesn't change the fact.
Even if they don't know all the rules of the Bible, they've still broken the rules of
God.
They're still going to be held accountable, which is why we from faith to faith must preach
the gospel to those that do not have faith.
Let's close in word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see
what Romans 1 is talking about.
Help us to just love this book and to study this book and help all of us that are memorizing
it and to read it, God.
It's a great book.
We're going to be in this book for quite a long time.
So much information.
Help us to apply this to our lives, God, and help our church, especially as we're kind
of getting everything back to normal with people coming back to church and being able
to come.
Just ask you to continue to bless this church.
Help us to reach many people with the gospel.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Just as a quick reminder.