Life Community Church
Life Community Church
Day 9 | Dream Big Devotional | Kayce Eilermann
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We trace how Romans 10 moves from belief to hearing to telling, and why unity and urgency belong together. Saul’s transformation into Paul, a split church in Rome, and a challenge from an atheist converge to push us past preference and into courageous speech.
• reading Romans 10:13–15 and its logic of hearing and belief
• Saul’s encounter with Jesus and mission shift to Paul
• Rome’s church tension and Paul’s call for unity
• the trap of preferences over purpose in church life
• witness by character and by clear words
• Penn Jillette’s challenge about loving enough to tell
• practical courage for family and friends
• closing prayer for boldness and prepared hearts
Lord Jesus, embolden us to tell. Lord, increase our faith. Let us feel the urgency to tell that there is life in Jesus. Lord, go before us, prepare the hearts of the people that will encounter, prepare their hearts to hear and believe. We give everyone and everything to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, hey everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I want to start right off with something Pastor Jamie said in the very first devotional video of this series. He said, God cannot be contained, but he chooses to be encountered. And that's our prayer for you that during this time of fasting and seeking him, that you would encounter the living God. So today we are reading Romans chapter 10, verses 13 through 15, and it says this everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That's why the scriptures say how beautiful are the feet of the messengers who bring the good news. So the book of Romans is one of the longest and most important letters written by the Apostle Paul. Paul is formerly known as Saul of Tarsus. He was a rabbi and a Pharisee in Jerusalem, passionate, extremely passionate about Torah and following the traditions that God had given his people long ago. And he saw Jesus and his followers as a threat to these traditions. So, in an effort to defend the God he loved, or rather the traditions that felt familiar, Saul begins persecuting the growing church, imprisoning and even killing followers of Jesus. But in Acts chapter 9, Saul has an incredible encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. This is one of my favorite New Testament stories. When Jesus reveals himself and says, no, Saul is actually the one going against God, Saul doesn't argue or defend himself. He repents. He really does desire truth. Saul just wants to know and serve the one true God, the way God wants to be known and served. So Saul's life is radically changed. He begins going by his Roman name, Paul, and his new mission in life is to tell everyone everywhere about the risen Jesus, no matter how much it costs him. As Paul travels, he helps start new churches so believers will continue to gather and grow in their faith. He writes many letters to these churches for correction, guidance, for teaching, and the book of Romans is one of these letters. So this letter is written very late in Paul's career. We know at this point Saul Paul has already suffered greatly for the sake of the gospel. Several years prior to this letter being written, all of the Jews are expelled from Rome under Emperor Claudius. But five years later, they are allowed to return. When the Jewish Christians return to Rome, they find a very unjuwish church because all the Gentile Christians had been leading it for the past several years. So the church begins to fight and split over their differences. When Paul hears about this fighting, he writes this letter, the book of Romans, to establish two crucial things: unity of the church and an urgency to spread the gospel. The enemy does not want unity of the church, and the enemy does not want us to know, to feel the urgency to spread the gospel. He wants us all in our own little corners of disagreement, bitterness, gossip, preference, apathy, splitting hairs over maybe a phrase you didn't like in the message on Sunday, or I can't worship because I don't like the song or the style, or this isn't how we did communion at my old church. I can't believe they let that person lead a life group. We need more activities. We need less activities. We talk about this too much. We don't talk about this enough. The church is not a day spa that caters to the wants and the preferences of ourselves. The church is a gathering of humans, by the way, that just want to know and encounter God. We gather together to encourage each other and then leave this physical place to tell about Jesus. Romans 10 is about telling. Now you might say, my whole life is a testimony, the way I live. And that's great. That's perfect. That's actually exactly where Christ's followers are instructed to start. Matthew 5.16 says, let your light shine for all to see, for all men. So when they see your good deeds, when they see the way you live, they will glorify God. They'll know Jesus because of the way that you live. And 1 Peter 3.15 says, always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you why you have the hope you have today. Prepared, not on the spot. Be prepared now for people to ask you questions. These two areas of being a witness are actually easy for me. I find it easy to be a good person, to be kind, and to let my light shine as I go about my regular life. And I do have people willingly ask me what's different about me. And they start the conversation. And I'm prepared to say that it's because of Jesus. But telling, the enemy wants us to be afraid of telling. Why? Because he knows the word. And the word says that faith comes by hearing the good news about Jesus. Saul was willing to kill to preserve tradition. Paul was willing to die for the sake of telling people about Jesus. There's a famous magician named Penn Gillette, and he calls himself beyond atheist. I think he actually even has a book. But he was approached after one of his shows by a fan who is a Christian, and the man very respectfully shared the gospel with Penn. And after this encounter, Penn made a video where he says that anyone who claims to be a Christian, they have to be out telling people all the time, everywhere, the truth about Jesus. And this is a direct quote. He says, How much do you have to hate someone to believe there is eternal life and not tell them? So let's ask us this from a beyond atheist. He doesn't even believe any of this, but he's saying, if you call yourself a Christian, how badly must you hate someone to believe what you say you believe and not tell them? So we ask ourselves, who do I hate so much that I believe this, but I'm not going to tell them? It's scariest for me with my family, and it's scariest for me with people who say they are religious or spiritual or they say they know God, but I know that I need to tell them that Jesus is the only way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can come to the Father except through him. Do they know that? Have they heard that? But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless they believe in him? Okay, wait, start over just the Bible verse part. Sorry. But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? Lord Jesus, embolden us to tell. Lord, increase our faith. Let us feel the urgency to tell that there is life in Jesus. Lord, go before us, prepare the hearts of the people that will encounter, prepare their hearts to hear and believe. We give everyone and everything to you in Jesus' name. Amen.