All Inclusive

Below are notes I took from my Pastor's Sermon this morning

Pastor Micheal Benton, Fairfield Baptist Church

6133 Redan Road, Lithonia, GA 30058

Scripture: Romans 1:14-17

• (14) I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
• (15) So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome.
• (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.
• (17) For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

All Inclusive. That was the topic of my Pastor's message this morning. He talked about the discomforts, frustrations, trials and tribulations, headaches, stomaches, and uncontrollable pains we feel in our bodies and how we go to doctors seeking relief. If we don't feel well, our performance and production are affected... we don't smile and are not happy. Pain causes us to live in bondage and come short of our desired goals. Sin has invaded our lives and causes us to lose focus on God; because of the sins man brings to the human race, we cannot fulfill God's destiny of the human race.

When Adam acted on sin, sickness took place in his body and Adam hid from God. That's the same thing we do today... we sin and hide from God. The Book of Romans is God's prescription for the ills of man. We are sick people in need of this prescription from God. The Romans did not have health care but Israel did. God saw this, raised up Apostle Paul, gave him the prescription and told him to take it to the Romans. God has a remedy for the entire world. He gave instruction to Moses to tell the Children of Israel that He had them covered. If we are children of God, we are covered. If we are children of God, we ought not to worry. If we worry, we ought not pray... if we pray we ought not worry.

In Verse 14, Paul lets us know that he is accountable to somebody - he did not get to where he was on his own; somebody helped him get there. Each of us needs and has needed somebody who helped us when we could not do for ourselves. We owe much to parents, teaches, spouses, children, Pastors, friends - those who laid the foundation and we wouldn't be the same today without those who have stood behind us all these years. For this same reason, we ought not to sit down on God because he was on the scene long before others in our lives were there. He has had the healing prescription since the beginning of time and if we take this medicine, we can be healed.

God gives us hope regardless of what side we are on. if we get the Word of God on the inside of us, it will work sin out of us. Paul said we need to be delivered because sin will put us in bondage. We don't want to go to doctors who have no prescription; we want to go to somebody who can help us with our ailments. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will take jealousy out of our spirits and worry out of our minds. It can do anything - it is 'All Inclusive'... God's love is 'All Inclusive'.

Verse 14 and 15 tells us we need to be delivered. Verse 16 tells us we have Power... Power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes... God gives us power and if we lean not to our own understanding He will direct our paths. Verse 17 tells us to 'just' live by faith... things we don't have but by faith believe they will be. The Word of God is just like taking a pill for our aches and pain... it will never deliver, heal, or set us free until we get it on the inside. The Word of God is 'All Inclusive', get it on the inside of you and it will give you strength whenever you need it.

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from my Pastor's sermon.