Pastor Ron Hindt: Go Fish

Forewarned: A Message about God (the Pastor part should have warned you, but I'm trying to be clear here).

Pastor Ron finished up his series at church last Sunday. Called Back to Basics, it covered the following four areas:
Daily Bread - The Word of God (the Bible)
Knee Mail - Prayer
The Importance of Fellowship
Go Fish - Witnessing

I've liked them all, but I can't think of any instance when I didn't like what Ron preached. He opens the book and preaches the Word and points out where it applies to us, with kindness and humor, but never condescending or patronizing. He also doesn't pull any punches.

He said in the beginning of the message that there are usually four types of people in the church: the uninvolved, the condemners and the helpers. Point at the one you think we should all be…

For this message he also covered what is known to Christians across the globe as "The Roman Road" or the steps you point out to the curious that explain what Christians believe.

Confession time: Nobody ever went over the passages for the Roman Road with me. I've known about it for decades and never bothered to look it up. So here it is (all using NIV).

Rom 3:10 - As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;

Rom 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Rom 5:21 - so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 10:9 - If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

There you have it. And so do I.



The Romans built about 50,000 miles of roads



To sum it all up: None are righteous (we can't save ourselves), all are sinners (regardless of the sin), all deserve death, the wages of sin is death, BUT if you confess your sin and accept Jesus, the debt is paid by His blood and you have eternal life.

Call it after-life insurance.

Let me finish this by making an observation. Many people in my past told me that they didn't believe in religion, and I even have a post on this. I agree. Religion has often been the excuse for massive destruction and pain in this world. Religion is sometimes used by men (generically speaking) to justify their own evil desires. But I need to add a word of caution to this.

Hammers are sometimes used by men to kill and destroy. Hammers were not designed for death and destruction; they were designed for building. Misuse of a tool does not negate the purpose of the tool.

Religion is a tool. It is the mechanism that people use to describe their relationship to their deity. When that deity is a PERSON (even if the deity reflects the desires of the person but goes by the name of another deity, such as Jesus), trouble follows.

We all seek truth. For Christians that Truth is a relationship with the Jesus, the Christ and His Lordship over our lives (hopefully).

The Roman Road is about the relationship. I hope you see that.