July 14, 2025 • 25 mins
A study in the book of Romans, chapter 1.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching of
our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased to
feature a longtime friend of Kwave, Pastor Brian Jamieson, lead
pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship. They meet Sunday mornings
at 250 South Prospect Street in Orange. We'll have more
information on how you can reach.
(00:22):
Them after today's study. All this week, Brian Jamieson is
looking at the good news of Jesus Christ according to
Paul as written in the Book of Romans. Today Pastor
Brian wants to encourage us in sharing the gospel according
to you and me. Here's Pastor Brian with more of
his study in Romans chapter 1, starting at verse 11.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Now, last time we ended with the apostle Paul declaring
that he, um, that he was seeking a way in
the will of God to come to the people of Rome,
that he had been longing to visit them and, um,
you know, it really is a beautiful thing and he's
continuing with that thought here.
As we pick up in verse 11, he says, for
(01:06):
I long to see you, right, that I might impart
to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established.
That is, that I may be encouraged together with you
by the mutual faith both of you and me.
Now guys, let me ask you this question.
Is it necessary for believers to go to church?
(01:30):
I'm sure you guys have heard this before. Maybe you've
even said it, right? It's like, oh, you know what,
you know, I, I, I, I have a close relationship
with Jesus. You know, I, I, you know, spend time
in the word. I pray and I worship. I don't
need to go to church.
Don't you?
See, we're actually called by, um, I believe it's the
(01:51):
apostle Paul himself. He says, listen, don't forsake the fellowship
of the saints, right? We are called to do this. Now,
it shouldn't be a burden. It shouldn't be something that
we feel that we have to do, but instead, instead,
it's something that we get to do.
It is a great and incredible privilege to be able
(02:12):
to go and minister to the people of God, to
use the giftings of the Spirit that God has granted us,
that we might minister and encourage one another, that we
might establish one another, right? That we might build each
other up and edify one another.
Right, so he says, you know, I long to see you,
(02:32):
that I might impart to you some spiritual gift. Now,
that doesn't necessarily mean that Paul thinks that he has
the power to give a gift, right? Um, I, I've
never been in a church that does that. I've heard
about a couple that think that they can do that where, uh,
by the laying on of hands, they believe that they
can give a specific gift, um, to a person of
the congregation.
That's not what the apostle Paul is talking about here, right?
(02:54):
He says, listen, he says that I might impart to
you a spiritual gift, right? His spiritual gift, right, that
he might use his spiritual gift as an apostle to
minister to them, to encourage them, to exhort them, to
bless them, and he says, so I I I.
Long to see you because, not because I want what's
best for me. I, I, I don't long to see you,
(03:16):
that I might just be so happy. He goes, no, no,
I long to see you, that I might grant you
a gift, that I might bless you.
And guys, this is truly uh the the the purpose
of us meeting one another that we come together in
corporate worship. It's not that we might be blessed, it's
(03:38):
that we might bless another. How many times?
Guys, how many times have we gone to a church, right,
when we're church shopping, we're in between churches and we
start thinking to ourselves, it's like, oh, you know, I,
I don't like the way, you know, the pastor does this,
or I don't like the worship the the worship leaders
just kind of annoying to me. I, I, I just
don't appreciate that, or, you know, I don't like the
(03:58):
color of their bulletins or something like that. Those are
all
Self-centered reasons for going to that church. Remember, we serve
God with our spirit, not our flesh. We don't just
look at the outward, but we look at the inward.
And if we come to a church fellowship, we shouldn't
be coming and saying, what can I get out of
(04:21):
this church.
Wow, their worship is amazing. I love that. Oh wow,
they have a huge children's ministry, and that'll be great
for my kids. Those are not reasons for us to
go to a church. But instead, we need to take
after the apostle Paul here and follow him as he
follows Christ, and he says, Hey, I long to see you,
(04:43):
that I
Might impart to you some spiritual gift. See, the Christian
faith is not a self-centered faith. The Christian faith is
others focused, right? It's about the other person. How are
they doing? What do they need? How can I encourage them?
How may I impart the wisdom of
(05:05):
Scripture to them in a way that is edifying and
that will build them up. Unfortunately, all too often we
get into this um very selfish mindset of church. Well,
I don't like this. I don't like what was said.
I think that, you know, I, I could do a
better job. It's like, it's not about you.
(05:27):
It really isn't. The Christian faith is lived out putting
Jesus first, others second, and we put ourselves last. Now
that doesn't mean that we allow ourselves to be abused
over and over again and just put up with it.
It's not saying that we need to be doormats or
anything like that, but what it
is doing is that the priority is that we use
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our giftings in the Lord to minister to the people
of God, to the sheep of his pasture, of his flock,
that we make sure or we do our very utmost,
our best.
That we might encourage them and build them up, that
they might walk in strength in the Lord, he says,
(06:12):
So I long to see you, that I may impart
some spiritual gift to you so that you might be established.
That is, that I may be encouraged together with you
by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now
I've heard this, uh, illustration before, and it really speaks
to this very well.
And the illustration goes like this. There's a fire in
(06:35):
the fireplace and you know, as anybody who's ever watched
a fire, you see the the flames dance around and
you can feel the heat hitting your face. But then
when you look down to the bottom of the fire,
you see those coals and they're kind of orange and
Flashing and you can just see them moving with the heat,
and those coals have a great deal of energy in them.
(06:56):
But if you take a pair of tongs and you
grab one of those coals and you pull it out
of the fire and you set it down, you know,
on the bricks just outside of the fireplace.
Very quickly, that coal which burns so bright when it
was in the fire slowly begins to fade. It darkens
and it cools off until there is no heat in
(07:19):
it at all. But the moment you pick up that
coal and you place it back among the other coals
of the fire, all of a sudden it begins to
heat back up and the light begins to shine from
it once more.
Guys, that is why we're called to fellowship. That's why
we are called to go to church, to surround ourselves
(07:42):
with other believers, because when we are alone, right, when
we are alone and you know, we, we don't have
anybody there to hold us accountable. We don't have anybody
else to think of other than ourselves, right? When we
don't spend time ministering the gospel, loving on somebody, being
Somebody's friend, being a shoulder that they can lean on,
(08:04):
being somebody that they can, um, confide in. When we
don't do that, we start to become cold. We can
become callous to the people around us. We begin to
forget that we are sent as ministers. Jesus in fact
said that the greatest among you will be the servant
of all. Well, how could you be a servant of
(08:24):
all if you spend no time with the all?
Right, we are called to service. We are called, we've
been given spiritual giftings in the Holy Spirit. We have
been given giftings in Christ to minister not to ourselves.
But to others, the kingdom of heaven is about others,
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that we might establish others and not only that, that
we might be encouraged because I, I don't know about
you guys, but in the times when the Lord has
used me to minister to somebody.
I, I get the most incredible spiritual high from it.
It is the most amazing thing. And if I may,
I'd like to share a little testimony. Well, um, a
(09:08):
long time ago, this was many years ago, I was
going to the post office. I had some mail for
the church that I needed to send out, and I
get to the post office and I see this old man, uh,
sitting by his car and he's sitting there and and
you know, the hood is up and he's sitting in
the driver's seat and he's turning it over and you
can just hear it going.
But nothing. And I, I, he gets on the phone
(09:30):
and he starts talking to his daughter and he's like,
hey sweetheart, you know, my, my car is, you know,
it's not working right now. Um, can you come and
pick me up? And while he was talking, I, I,
I looked over at him, I said, Hey sir, I said,
I said, I've got some jumper cables in the car.
I said, you want me to jump your car for you?
And he, he hangs up with his daughter real quick.
He says, hey, you know, I gotta go, a guy's
(09:51):
gonna jump my car. And he goes, yes, please, that
would be great. So I go in, I, I drop
my mail off, I come back out and I hook
the jumper cables to the car, and we sit there
and talk for a few minutes and um
You know, as you guys know, you know, if you,
you know, the moment you hook the the jumper cables
up within just moments, you should be, it should turn over.
If it's gonna turn over, it should turn over. Well,
(10:13):
he goes over and he sits there and he tries
to turn it over. No, it's dead. And you know,
we said, oh, you know, let's just give it a
little bit more time and, and he and I start
chit chatting and he tries it again, still nothing. And then,
you know, I, I, I felt the spiritual boldness and
I said, I said, hey, I said, do you mind
if I pray over your car?
(10:33):
Guys, you should have seen the look on his face.
He was mortified. His eyes shot wide open and he goes, Well,
in the most sarcastic, demeaning voice he could muster. He goes,
if you think that'll help. And I go, great, thanks.
And so I put my hand on the block of
the engine, and I prayed over his car that the
Lord would just revive the battery and that the car
(10:54):
would start. And after I finished, I prayed in Jesus' name,
he goes, he kind of sits there, you know, kind
of silently for a second, he goes, well,
Let's see if that helped, again, very sarcastically. He goes
in there and then as he's sitting down in the seat,
this panic hit me and I was like, Oh Lord,
please don't make me look like a fool. Please don't
make me look like a fool. Please let this car start. Yeah,
(11:14):
because I, I was gonna be really embarrassed if it didn't.
And he turns the key, and sure enough, the engine
roars to life, and I just remember watching him sit
there and put his hands on the steering wheel, and
he just began staring. And then I kind of leaned
over so he could see me and I go, yeah.
It is. And he comes out of the car just
(11:34):
completely dumbfounded. And I said, hey.
I said, can I pray for you too?
And he looks at me and he shakes his head, yes,
and he goes, Yes, please. And so then I put
my hands on him and I prayed that his heart
would be restarted in the same way that his car was.
And you know what, he said, I had a bad
experience at a church and I, I haven't been back
(11:56):
to church in 20 years. He goes, but this Sunday
I'm going to go back. And he just said, thank you.
Right guys, we need each other, right? We, we can
take ourselves out of fellowship. We can take ourselves out
of the church, but you know what? We're needful, right?
We're needful. You never know when your gift, and maybe
you don't even know what your gift is. That's OK.
(12:18):
When you begin to serve the Lord to the best
of your ability, your gift will come to the surface.
You'll find it. I promise you, you have one. If
you have given your
Heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
has entered you, you have a spiritual gift. You have
a place and a purpose in the church, in the
greater body of the church and uh in a local church.
(12:40):
You have a place and a position there.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring Pastor Brian Jamieson,
senior pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship in Orange. Visit
their website at OCCF.cc. And now, let's continue with today's
study in Romans chapter one.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
And he says, so listen, he goes, I, I, I
am longing to see you, that we might be encouraged,
that I might establish you, the blessing you with a
spiritual gift and that I might be encouraged together with
you through our mutual faith.
Right? Have you ever had one of those guys that
comes up to you and they're just, they're full of
faith and they're full of joy, and it becomes infectious, right?
(13:24):
Your heart stirs and it's like you, you, you get
excited for the things of the Lord when they tell
you about what you know what God is doing right now,
this day in their lives. It gets
So exciting. And guys, we can be that to other
people as well. Not only do we get encouraged, but
then we can also encourage others and it is an
(13:44):
incredible blessing. And so I would say, please, please, I
beg of you brothers and sisters, do not rob the
church of your presence.
We need you. We need you, and guess what?
You need us too, that we might encourage you, that
we might bless you. And so, guys, guys, don't think
(14:08):
of the church as a burden. Don't think, oh, I
gotta get up. You know, we should jump out of
bed on Sunday morning, right? We, we should be like, hey,
you know what, I've had a long tiring day, but man,
I can't wait to hear from the, the word of
the Lord today, right, on those midweek studies.
Right, if we don't, right, we will fade, and because
(14:28):
we fade, the church will fade. The impact of the
church will fade.
Right? We are a part of it, right? In the
same way that your body, right? It, it might be
able to function without one of its kidneys, but you
know what? It doesn't function to the best of its ability.
And if a whole bunch of organs start shutting down, man,
(14:48):
that body's in trouble. And so guys, we need each other.
So let's long to be with each other. Let's encourage
each other by our mutual faith. Let's stir each other
up to love and good works.
Now Paul continues on in verse 13, he says, now
I do not want you to be unaware, brethren. He says,
(15:09):
I don't want you to be ignorant. He goes, I
often plan to come to you, but was hindered until now. I,
I was hindered until now. Now, guess what?
There are many things that can hinder us, uh, from
the will of God. Now, sometimes, sometimes it's just circumstance. It,
it's literally just circumstance, you know, it was a red
(15:29):
light when you wanted it to be green and sometimes
those things can slow us down. Sometimes it could just be, hey,
you know what, work got really busy and I wasn't
really able to be there and there there's not a
strong spiritual significance to it. It's just
Living life, everyday life, having issues, sometimes things just happen, OK?
(15:49):
So sometimes those things can hinder us from doing the
will of God, from fulfilling God's plan and purpose in
our lives. Now, sometimes it can be me. Sometimes it
could just be that, you know, I'm in a place
where I'm not being spiritually sensitive. It can be a
place where it's.
Man, I haven't done my devotions for a little while
(16:11):
and I'm feeling kind of dry. I'm not hearing the
still small voice of the Lord, and you know, I'm
just not there. And so, you know, I'm hindering myself,
my own choices, right? My own devotion to the Lord
is hindering me from fulfilling all that God has for me.
And then finally, uh, there is this thing called spiritual warfare, right?
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There is an enemy that would seek to supplant you,
would seek to stop you and hinder you from moving
forward in the upward call of Jesus Christ. OK? We,
we need to not be ignorant of these things, right?
It is absolutely true. In the book of Daniel chapter 10,
starting at verse 12, uh, he says this.
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Then he said to me, an angel speaking to Daniel,
he says, Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first
day that you set your heart to understand and to
humble yourself before God. Your words were heard, and I
have come because of your words. But the prince of
the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, and behold, Michael,
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one of the chief princes, came to help me, for
I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
Now guys,
We don't always see it. We don't always recognize it,
but there is an enemy, right? Satan and the demonic
forces do seek to stop us. Now, if we are asleep,
(17:37):
if we are a cold, if we are doing nothing
in the name of Jesus, if we keep our mouth
shut and just are just doing our daily grind, you
know what, those demons will probably not do anything to
impede you. They won't do, because again, you're hindering yourself.
However, the moment we begin to really walk with Jesus,
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the moment where we are in His word, that we
are praying and worshiping, the moment that we begin ministering
and edifying our brothers and our sisters and the Lord, right?
When we start to do that, all of a sudden
the enemy goes, oh no, we gotta stop this. And
so they come after us.
And they'll begin, you know, doing things to try to,
you know, overthrow this movement of God in our lives, right?
(18:23):
We need to not be unaware of these things. We
need to understand these things, and when we get push
back from the enemy, right, we need to be steadfast
in the Lord. Now,
In the last couple of years, um, me and a
couple of the people from our church, the like the
the leadership of our church, have noticed something that every
(18:44):
time we have a new young man or young woman
who is really starting to make some progress with Jesus,
when they really start, um, really listening to God and
they're hungry for the word of God, and they're thirsty
for righteousness, and they're really beginning to make progress, almost
inevitable actually it's happened every single time.
(19:05):
An unbelieving person, a male or female, depending on uh the,
the saint who was starting to go forward with Jesus, right?
Comes along and starts saying, hey, you know, uh, uh,
you wanna go on a date, you wanna do these things. It,
it is the craziest thing. Every single time, if it's
a young man who's going forward with Jesus, all of
a sudden some really pretty unbeliever comes alongside and begins
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saying like, hey, you know, I, I'm really interested in you, hey,
can we go out? If it's a woman, hey, you know,
that this really attractive, you know, strong man comes along
who's not a believer and just like sweeps them away,
and
You know, it is funny. It, it is literally science.
We warn people at our church is like, hey, if
you start going forward with Jesus, don't just immediately jump
into a relationship because, uh, oftentimes it will be used
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to slow down your progress in the Lord or completely
usurp it altogether. There's this one young woman, um, it
just really breaks my heart, but she was so excited
for Jesus. She was coming on Sunday, she was coming
on Wednes, Wednesdays, she was so excited and then, um,
This guy came into her life and she fell just
head over heels in love with them and she completely
(20:13):
just walked away from the faith. And it just truly break,
it just, it breaks my heart to think of it
to this day. But um guys, don't be unaware, right?
Don't be unaware that there is an enemy out there
that will hinder you and try to stop you from
fulfilling all that God has for you because God's will
for your life is good.
(20:34):
And then he says, not only that, he goes, but
he was hindered, right? He wanted to come to them.
He goes, don't be unaware. He goes, I often plan
to come to you. He goes, but I was hindered
until now, and this was the purpose that I might
have some fruit among you also, that I might be
able to come and contribute to the.
Ministry that you guys are doing there because again, their
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faith has been heard around the world. He goes, I
wanna come and I, I wanna partake in what you
guys are doing. This is an incredible thing. So Paul's
encouraging the believers. He says just as among the other Gentiles,
in verse 14.
He says, I am a debtor both to Greeks and
to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. Now, what
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is he talking about there? Well, if you're a Jewish person,
there's the Jew and there's the Gentile. But if you're
a Gentile, there's the Greek and there's the barbarian, right?
So it's basically anybody who's not yourself, right? If you're
a Jew, anybody who's not, you know,
of your race or your ethnicity, then they're a gentile.
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If you're a Greek, then anybody who's not a Greek
is a barbarian, right? Somebody who's savage, who's uncouth, who's uneducated. And,
and so he's using their language to meet them where
they are to um share with them a truth that
they need to understand. He says, I am a debtor.
He says, I owe the
(21:59):
Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was both to Greeks, the educated,
and to barbarians, the uneducated, both to the wise and
to the unwise. He says, I, I, I don't pick
and choose who I minister the gospel to. Jesus Christ
saved me, and I owe a debt to him. This
is my response to Jesus for saving me, for lifting
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him up for
Calling me for sanctifying me to the gospel, he says,
so now my response is that I will now share
the gospel with all. It doesn't matter if they're, you know,
highly thought of or if they're lowly thought of. It
doesn't matter if they're rich, poor, slave free, male, female, Jew, Gentile,
it doesn't matter. He is a debtor to all. And
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then he says, uh, so as much as in me,
verse 15.
I am ready to preach the gospel to you who
are in Rome also. And and now my brothers and
my sisters.
I want to ask you this question.
Have you received the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he your,
(23:07):
not just your friend, not just your savior. Is he
your Lord? Have you surrendered your will to his?
Is he your god and master?
If you are, then a response to that love and
that grace.
It should be that you love God and not only
(23:28):
God but you love your neighbor, your enemy, your spouse,
your children.
Right? We have become debtors of the gospel that we
might minister it to all who would hear.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
This is Pastor Spotlight, and you've been listening to Brian Jamieson,
senior pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship. We invite you
to join us right here at the same time tomorrow
for more of Pastor Brian's study in Romans chapter one.
Pastor Brian has a rich history of ministry in Orange County.
He was ordained in 2006 by Joey Barran, pastor of
(24:06):
Worship Generation. While serving at Worship Generation, Bryan served in
many ministries all the way up to associate pastor. In 2010,
Brian was sent out to plant Orange County Christian Fellowship,
now in Orange. Pastor Brian says that OC Christian Fellowship
is a beautiful small local church.
(24:26):
Focusing on discipleship, fellowship, and the study of the whole
word of God. You're invited to come worship this Sunday.
Sunday worship at OC Christian Fellowship is at 10:30 a.m.
at 250 South Prospect Street in Orange in the fellowship hall.
Wednesday night worship and study is at 7 p.m. at
(24:48):
4101 Noel Ranch Road in Anaheim in the library on
the second floor.
For complete details on worshiping with Orange County Christian Fellowship,
visit their website at OCCF.C. That's OCCF.cc. We invite you
to join us right here at this same time tomorrow
(25:10):
for more of Pastor Brian Jamieson's study in Romans chapter 1.
We hope you'll join us. Pastor Spotlight is a production
of Kwave Radio.
Welcome to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching of
our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased to
feature a longtime friend of Kwave, Pastor Brian Jamieson, lead
pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship. They meet Sunday mornings
at 250 South Prospect Street in Orange. We'll have more
information on how you can reach.
(00:22):
Them after today's study. All this week, Brian Jamieson is
looking at the good news of Jesus Christ according to
Paul as written in the Book of Romans. Today Pastor
Brian wants to encourage us in sharing the gospel according
to you and me. Here's Pastor Brian with more of
his study in Romans chapter 1, starting at verse 11.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Now, last time we ended with the apostle Paul declaring
that he, um, that he was seeking a way in
the will of God to come to the people of Rome,
that he had been longing to visit them and, um,
you know, it really is a beautiful thing and he's
continuing with that thought here.
As we pick up in verse 11, he says, for
(01:06):
I long to see you, right, that I might impart
to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established.
That is, that I may be encouraged together with you
by the mutual faith both of you and me.
Now guys, let me ask you this question.
Is it necessary for believers to go to church?
(01:30):
I'm sure you guys have heard this before. Maybe you've
even said it, right? It's like, oh, you know what,
you know, I, I, I, I have a close relationship
with Jesus. You know, I, I, you know, spend time
in the word. I pray and I worship. I don't
need to go to church.
Don't you?
See, we're actually called by, um, I believe it's the
(01:51):
apostle Paul himself. He says, listen, don't forsake the fellowship
of the saints, right? We are called to do this. Now,
it shouldn't be a burden. It shouldn't be something that
we feel that we have to do, but instead, instead,
it's something that we get to do.
It is a great and incredible privilege to be able
(02:12):
to go and minister to the people of God, to
use the giftings of the Spirit that God has granted us,
that we might minister and encourage one another, that we
might establish one another, right? That we might build each
other up and edify one another.
Right, so he says, you know, I long to see you,
(02:32):
that I might impart to you some spiritual gift. Now,
that doesn't necessarily mean that Paul thinks that he has
the power to give a gift, right? Um, I, I've
never been in a church that does that. I've heard
about a couple that think that they can do that where, uh,
by the laying on of hands, they believe that they
can give a specific gift, um, to a person of
the congregation.
That's not what the apostle Paul is talking about here, right?
(02:54):
He says, listen, he says that I might impart to
you a spiritual gift, right? His spiritual gift, right, that
he might use his spiritual gift as an apostle to
minister to them, to encourage them, to exhort them, to
bless them, and he says, so I I I.
Long to see you because, not because I want what's
best for me. I, I, I don't long to see you,
(03:16):
that I might just be so happy. He goes, no, no,
I long to see you, that I might grant you
a gift, that I might bless you.
And guys, this is truly uh the the the purpose
of us meeting one another that we come together in
corporate worship. It's not that we might be blessed, it's
(03:38):
that we might bless another. How many times?
Guys, how many times have we gone to a church, right,
when we're church shopping, we're in between churches and we
start thinking to ourselves, it's like, oh, you know, I,
I don't like the way, you know, the pastor does this,
or I don't like the worship the the worship leaders
just kind of annoying to me. I, I, I just
don't appreciate that, or, you know, I don't like the
(03:58):
color of their bulletins or something like that. Those are
all
Self-centered reasons for going to that church. Remember, we serve
God with our spirit, not our flesh. We don't just
look at the outward, but we look at the inward.
And if we come to a church fellowship, we shouldn't
be coming and saying, what can I get out of
(04:21):
this church.
Wow, their worship is amazing. I love that. Oh wow,
they have a huge children's ministry, and that'll be great
for my kids. Those are not reasons for us to
go to a church. But instead, we need to take
after the apostle Paul here and follow him as he
follows Christ, and he says, Hey, I long to see you,
(04:43):
that I
Might impart to you some spiritual gift. See, the Christian
faith is not a self-centered faith. The Christian faith is
others focused, right? It's about the other person. How are
they doing? What do they need? How can I encourage them?
How may I impart the wisdom of
(05:05):
Scripture to them in a way that is edifying and
that will build them up. Unfortunately, all too often we
get into this um very selfish mindset of church. Well,
I don't like this. I don't like what was said.
I think that, you know, I, I could do a
better job. It's like, it's not about you.
(05:27):
It really isn't. The Christian faith is lived out putting
Jesus first, others second, and we put ourselves last. Now
that doesn't mean that we allow ourselves to be abused
over and over again and just put up with it.
It's not saying that we need to be doormats or
anything like that, but what it
is doing is that the priority is that we use
(05:50):
our giftings in the Lord to minister to the people
of God, to the sheep of his pasture, of his flock,
that we make sure or we do our very utmost,
our best.
That we might encourage them and build them up, that
they might walk in strength in the Lord, he says,
(06:12):
So I long to see you, that I may impart
some spiritual gift to you so that you might be established.
That is, that I may be encouraged together with you
by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now
I've heard this, uh, illustration before, and it really speaks
to this very well.
And the illustration goes like this. There's a fire in
(06:35):
the fireplace and you know, as anybody who's ever watched
a fire, you see the the flames dance around and
you can feel the heat hitting your face. But then
when you look down to the bottom of the fire,
you see those coals and they're kind of orange and
Flashing and you can just see them moving with the heat,
and those coals have a great deal of energy in them.
(06:56):
But if you take a pair of tongs and you
grab one of those coals and you pull it out
of the fire and you set it down, you know,
on the bricks just outside of the fireplace.
Very quickly, that coal which burns so bright when it
was in the fire slowly begins to fade. It darkens
and it cools off until there is no heat in
(07:19):
it at all. But the moment you pick up that
coal and you place it back among the other coals
of the fire, all of a sudden it begins to
heat back up and the light begins to shine from
it once more.
Guys, that is why we're called to fellowship. That's why
we are called to go to church, to surround ourselves
(07:42):
with other believers, because when we are alone, right, when
we are alone and you know, we, we don't have
anybody there to hold us accountable. We don't have anybody
else to think of other than ourselves, right? When we
don't spend time ministering the gospel, loving on somebody, being
Somebody's friend, being a shoulder that they can lean on,
(08:04):
being somebody that they can, um, confide in. When we
don't do that, we start to become cold. We can
become callous to the people around us. We begin to
forget that we are sent as ministers. Jesus in fact
said that the greatest among you will be the servant
of all. Well, how could you be a servant of
(08:24):
all if you spend no time with the all?
Right, we are called to service. We are called, we've
been given spiritual giftings in the Holy Spirit. We have
been given giftings in Christ to minister not to ourselves.
But to others, the kingdom of heaven is about others,
(08:46):
that we might establish others and not only that, that
we might be encouraged because I, I don't know about
you guys, but in the times when the Lord has
used me to minister to somebody.
I, I get the most incredible spiritual high from it.
It is the most amazing thing. And if I may,
I'd like to share a little testimony. Well, um, a
(09:08):
long time ago, this was many years ago, I was
going to the post office. I had some mail for
the church that I needed to send out, and I
get to the post office and I see this old man, uh,
sitting by his car and he's sitting there and and
you know, the hood is up and he's sitting in
the driver's seat and he's turning it over and you
can just hear it going.
But nothing. And I, I, he gets on the phone
(09:30):
and he starts talking to his daughter and he's like,
hey sweetheart, you know, my, my car is, you know,
it's not working right now. Um, can you come and
pick me up? And while he was talking, I, I,
I looked over at him, I said, Hey sir, I said,
I said, I've got some jumper cables in the car.
I said, you want me to jump your car for you?
And he, he hangs up with his daughter real quick.
He says, hey, you know, I gotta go, a guy's
(09:51):
gonna jump my car. And he goes, yes, please, that
would be great. So I go in, I, I drop
my mail off, I come back out and I hook
the jumper cables to the car, and we sit there
and talk for a few minutes and um
You know, as you guys know, you know, if you,
you know, the moment you hook the the jumper cables
up within just moments, you should be, it should turn over.
If it's gonna turn over, it should turn over. Well,
(10:13):
he goes over and he sits there and he tries
to turn it over. No, it's dead. And you know,
we said, oh, you know, let's just give it a
little bit more time and, and he and I start
chit chatting and he tries it again, still nothing. And then,
you know, I, I, I felt the spiritual boldness and
I said, I said, hey, I said, do you mind
if I pray over your car?
(10:33):
Guys, you should have seen the look on his face.
He was mortified. His eyes shot wide open and he goes, Well,
in the most sarcastic, demeaning voice he could muster. He goes,
if you think that'll help. And I go, great, thanks.
And so I put my hand on the block of
the engine, and I prayed over his car that the
Lord would just revive the battery and that the car
(10:54):
would start. And after I finished, I prayed in Jesus' name,
he goes, he kind of sits there, you know, kind
of silently for a second, he goes, well,
Let's see if that helped, again, very sarcastically. He goes
in there and then as he's sitting down in the seat,
this panic hit me and I was like, Oh Lord,
please don't make me look like a fool. Please don't
make me look like a fool. Please let this car start. Yeah,
(11:14):
because I, I was gonna be really embarrassed if it didn't.
And he turns the key, and sure enough, the engine
roars to life, and I just remember watching him sit
there and put his hands on the steering wheel, and
he just began staring. And then I kind of leaned
over so he could see me and I go, yeah.
It is. And he comes out of the car just
(11:34):
completely dumbfounded. And I said, hey.
I said, can I pray for you too?
And he looks at me and he shakes his head, yes,
and he goes, Yes, please. And so then I put
my hands on him and I prayed that his heart
would be restarted in the same way that his car was.
And you know what, he said, I had a bad
experience at a church and I, I haven't been back
(11:56):
to church in 20 years. He goes, but this Sunday
I'm going to go back. And he just said, thank you.
Right guys, we need each other, right? We, we can
take ourselves out of fellowship. We can take ourselves out
of the church, but you know what? We're needful, right?
We're needful. You never know when your gift, and maybe
you don't even know what your gift is. That's OK.
(12:18):
When you begin to serve the Lord to the best
of your ability, your gift will come to the surface.
You'll find it. I promise you, you have one. If
you have given your
Heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
has entered you, you have a spiritual gift. You have
a place and a purpose in the church, in the
greater body of the church and uh in a local church.
(12:40):
You have a place and a position there.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring Pastor Brian Jamieson,
senior pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship in Orange. Visit
their website at OCCF.cc. And now, let's continue with today's
study in Romans chapter one.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
And he says, so listen, he goes, I, I, I
am longing to see you, that we might be encouraged,
that I might establish you, the blessing you with a
spiritual gift and that I might be encouraged together with
you through our mutual faith.
Right? Have you ever had one of those guys that
comes up to you and they're just, they're full of
faith and they're full of joy, and it becomes infectious, right?
(13:24):
Your heart stirs and it's like you, you, you get
excited for the things of the Lord when they tell
you about what you know what God is doing right now,
this day in their lives. It gets
So exciting. And guys, we can be that to other
people as well. Not only do we get encouraged, but
then we can also encourage others and it is an
(13:44):
incredible blessing. And so I would say, please, please, I
beg of you brothers and sisters, do not rob the
church of your presence.
We need you. We need you, and guess what?
You need us too, that we might encourage you, that
we might bless you. And so, guys, guys, don't think
(14:08):
of the church as a burden. Don't think, oh, I
gotta get up. You know, we should jump out of
bed on Sunday morning, right? We, we should be like, hey,
you know what, I've had a long tiring day, but man,
I can't wait to hear from the, the word of
the Lord today, right, on those midweek studies.
Right, if we don't, right, we will fade, and because
(14:28):
we fade, the church will fade. The impact of the
church will fade.
Right? We are a part of it, right? In the
same way that your body, right? It, it might be
able to function without one of its kidneys, but you
know what? It doesn't function to the best of its ability.
And if a whole bunch of organs start shutting down, man,
(14:48):
that body's in trouble. And so guys, we need each other.
So let's long to be with each other. Let's encourage
each other by our mutual faith. Let's stir each other
up to love and good works.
Now Paul continues on in verse 13, he says, now
I do not want you to be unaware, brethren. He says,
(15:09):
I don't want you to be ignorant. He goes, I
often plan to come to you, but was hindered until now. I,
I was hindered until now. Now, guess what?
There are many things that can hinder us, uh, from
the will of God. Now, sometimes, sometimes it's just circumstance. It,
it's literally just circumstance, you know, it was a red
(15:29):
light when you wanted it to be green and sometimes
those things can slow us down. Sometimes it could just be, hey,
you know what, work got really busy and I wasn't
really able to be there and there there's not a
strong spiritual significance to it. It's just
Living life, everyday life, having issues, sometimes things just happen, OK?
(15:49):
So sometimes those things can hinder us from doing the
will of God, from fulfilling God's plan and purpose in
our lives. Now, sometimes it can be me. Sometimes it
could just be that, you know, I'm in a place
where I'm not being spiritually sensitive. It can be a
place where it's.
Man, I haven't done my devotions for a little while
(16:11):
and I'm feeling kind of dry. I'm not hearing the
still small voice of the Lord, and you know, I'm
just not there. And so, you know, I'm hindering myself,
my own choices, right? My own devotion to the Lord
is hindering me from fulfilling all that God has for me.
And then finally, uh, there is this thing called spiritual warfare, right?
(16:33):
There is an enemy that would seek to supplant you,
would seek to stop you and hinder you from moving
forward in the upward call of Jesus Christ. OK? We,
we need to not be ignorant of these things, right?
It is absolutely true. In the book of Daniel chapter 10,
starting at verse 12, uh, he says this.
(16:55):
Then he said to me, an angel speaking to Daniel,
he says, Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first
day that you set your heart to understand and to
humble yourself before God. Your words were heard, and I
have come because of your words. But the prince of
the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, and behold, Michael,
(17:16):
one of the chief princes, came to help me, for
I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
Now guys,
We don't always see it. We don't always recognize it,
but there is an enemy, right? Satan and the demonic
forces do seek to stop us. Now, if we are asleep,
(17:37):
if we are a cold, if we are doing nothing
in the name of Jesus, if we keep our mouth
shut and just are just doing our daily grind, you
know what, those demons will probably not do anything to
impede you. They won't do, because again, you're hindering yourself.
However, the moment we begin to really walk with Jesus,
(17:58):
the moment where we are in His word, that we
are praying and worshiping, the moment that we begin ministering
and edifying our brothers and our sisters and the Lord, right?
When we start to do that, all of a sudden
the enemy goes, oh no, we gotta stop this. And
so they come after us.
And they'll begin, you know, doing things to try to,
you know, overthrow this movement of God in our lives, right?
(18:23):
We need to not be unaware of these things. We
need to understand these things, and when we get push
back from the enemy, right, we need to be steadfast
in the Lord. Now,
In the last couple of years, um, me and a
couple of the people from our church, the like the
the leadership of our church, have noticed something that every
(18:44):
time we have a new young man or young woman
who is really starting to make some progress with Jesus,
when they really start, um, really listening to God and
they're hungry for the word of God, and they're thirsty
for righteousness, and they're really beginning to make progress, almost
inevitable actually it's happened every single time.
(19:05):
An unbelieving person, a male or female, depending on uh the,
the saint who was starting to go forward with Jesus, right?
Comes along and starts saying, hey, you know, uh, uh,
you wanna go on a date, you wanna do these things. It,
it is the craziest thing. Every single time, if it's
a young man who's going forward with Jesus, all of
a sudden some really pretty unbeliever comes alongside and begins
(19:28):
saying like, hey, you know, I, I'm really interested in you, hey,
can we go out? If it's a woman, hey, you know,
that this really attractive, you know, strong man comes along
who's not a believer and just like sweeps them away,
and
You know, it is funny. It, it is literally science.
We warn people at our church is like, hey, if
you start going forward with Jesus, don't just immediately jump
into a relationship because, uh, oftentimes it will be used
(19:51):
to slow down your progress in the Lord or completely
usurp it altogether. There's this one young woman, um, it
just really breaks my heart, but she was so excited
for Jesus. She was coming on Sunday, she was coming
on Wednes, Wednesdays, she was so excited and then, um,
This guy came into her life and she fell just
head over heels in love with them and she completely
(20:13):
just walked away from the faith. And it just truly break,
it just, it breaks my heart to think of it
to this day. But um guys, don't be unaware, right?
Don't be unaware that there is an enemy out there
that will hinder you and try to stop you from
fulfilling all that God has for you because God's will
for your life is good.
(20:34):
And then he says, not only that, he goes, but
he was hindered, right? He wanted to come to them.
He goes, don't be unaware. He goes, I often plan
to come to you. He goes, but I was hindered
until now, and this was the purpose that I might
have some fruit among you also, that I might be
able to come and contribute to the.
Ministry that you guys are doing there because again, their
(20:54):
faith has been heard around the world. He goes, I
wanna come and I, I wanna partake in what you
guys are doing. This is an incredible thing. So Paul's
encouraging the believers. He says just as among the other Gentiles,
in verse 14.
He says, I am a debtor both to Greeks and
to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. Now, what
(21:17):
is he talking about there? Well, if you're a Jewish person,
there's the Jew and there's the Gentile. But if you're
a Gentile, there's the Greek and there's the barbarian, right?
So it's basically anybody who's not yourself, right? If you're
a Jew, anybody who's not, you know,
of your race or your ethnicity, then they're a gentile.
(21:38):
If you're a Greek, then anybody who's not a Greek
is a barbarian, right? Somebody who's savage, who's uncouth, who's uneducated. And,
and so he's using their language to meet them where
they are to um share with them a truth that
they need to understand. He says, I am a debtor.
He says, I owe the
(21:59):
Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was both to Greeks, the educated,
and to barbarians, the uneducated, both to the wise and
to the unwise. He says, I, I, I don't pick
and choose who I minister the gospel to. Jesus Christ
saved me, and I owe a debt to him. This
is my response to Jesus for saving me, for lifting
(22:24):
him up for
Calling me for sanctifying me to the gospel, he says,
so now my response is that I will now share
the gospel with all. It doesn't matter if they're, you know,
highly thought of or if they're lowly thought of. It
doesn't matter if they're rich, poor, slave free, male, female, Jew, Gentile,
it doesn't matter. He is a debtor to all. And
(22:46):
then he says, uh, so as much as in me,
verse 15.
I am ready to preach the gospel to you who
are in Rome also. And and now my brothers and
my sisters.
I want to ask you this question.
Have you received the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he your,
(23:07):
not just your friend, not just your savior. Is he
your Lord? Have you surrendered your will to his?
Is he your god and master?
If you are, then a response to that love and
that grace.
It should be that you love God and not only
(23:28):
God but you love your neighbor, your enemy, your spouse,
your children.
Right? We have become debtors of the gospel that we
might minister it to all who would hear.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
This is Pastor Spotlight, and you've been listening to Brian Jamieson,
senior pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship. We invite you
to join us right here at the same time tomorrow
for more of Pastor Brian's study in Romans chapter one.
Pastor Brian has a rich history of ministry in Orange County.
He was ordained in 2006 by Joey Barran, pastor of
(24:06):
Worship Generation. While serving at Worship Generation, Bryan served in
many ministries all the way up to associate pastor. In 2010,
Brian was sent out to plant Orange County Christian Fellowship,
now in Orange. Pastor Brian says that OC Christian Fellowship
is a beautiful small local church.
(24:26):
Focusing on discipleship, fellowship, and the study of the whole
word of God. You're invited to come worship this Sunday.
Sunday worship at OC Christian Fellowship is at 10:30 a.m.
at 250 South Prospect Street in Orange in the fellowship hall.
Wednesday night worship and study is at 7 p.m. at
(24:48):
4101 Noel Ranch Road in Anaheim in the library on
the second floor.
For complete details on worshiping with Orange County Christian Fellowship,
visit their website at OCCF.C. That's OCCF.cc. We invite you
to join us right here at this same time tomorrow
(25:10):
for more of Pastor Brian Jamieson's study in Romans chapter 1.
We hope you'll join us. Pastor Spotlight is a production
of Kwave Radio.
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