God’s Good News

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Graeme Wilson in Victory Call

⁸ Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. ⁹ God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.
¹⁰ One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. ¹¹ For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. ¹² When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.
¹³ I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles.¹⁴ For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike.¹⁵ So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.
¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. ¹⁷ This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”  Romans 1:8-17 (NLT)
Welcome to the last part of my 3-part Victory Call series! Today we are going to focus on verses 13-15. Paul continues to say that he wants to be with the Roman church because he wants to see spiritual fruit.  He wants to share what gifts he has, and be a part of the growing process at that church.  He’s passionate! His passion is to see people, no matter their situation, come to know Christ.  He’s bursting at the seams to share this message (v. 13-15). Even more questions:

• What am I passionate about?
• What is hindering me from pursuing this God-given passion?
• Where can I readjust my priorities or schedule? (It’s surprising the extra time you find when it’s on paper!)
• What’s my next step?

Paul isn’t ashamed.  This is Good News.  This is God’s power that He’s sharing.  This is salvation from eternal separation from God.  It’s Good News because God already did the work.
I answered some of my “What am I going to do about its?” with just a little bit of thought. God gives us so many opportunities, we just need to buckle down and do it.
What am I going to do about it #1 – Encouraging others in the faith
How about writing to a missionary? Reaching out to the persecuted church? Voice of the Martyrs has a LOT of ways that you can get involved. Did you know that you could even write letters to those in prison for their faith, in their own language? Check out their website: www.voiceofthemartyrs.com  How about a letter of encouragement to your own pastor, a phone call to the leaders in your church? – they could really use our support!
What am I going to do about it #2 – Getting involved?
There are so many things that we can do in ministry to others.  Not sure where to start? Not sure what you can do? Rick Warren, in his Purpose Driven Life study talks about our SHAPE for ministry (Spiritual gifts, Heart (passion), Abilities, Personalities, and Experiences) There are no two of us created alike.  Each of us has a God-designed purpose and plan. A quick google search for “shape assessment” will bring you to a link, the very first one, for a PDF quiz that you can print out and do on your own time to get your gears moving.  I do this with the Barbara’s Place students, and it’s a riot every time. I encourage you to check it out.
Caitlin
Caitlin Culleny  is a graduate of Stockton University and has served on staff for 3 years as a Soul Care worker at Barbara’s Place. She is thrilled to be participating in writing Victory Calls for her sisters in Christ!