Sermon
Notes & Quotes
Stephanie Allen
Taking People to Jesus: Righteous & Unrighteous
Romans 1:1; 16-17; 25
Judges 21:2-3
2 The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. 3 “Lord, God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”
Bethel is “House of God”.
Judges 21:25
25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
Romans 1:24-25
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Romans 1:25
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Judges 21:25
25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God
Acts 20:22-24
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Acts 20:22
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.
Paul serves Christ so that the Gospel will get out. The righteous not only can’t not tell, but they also can’t not listen to the will of the Father. The will of the Father is that the Gospel – the Good News get pushed out into the world so that the captives are set free. That is Paul’s message for the Romans – I want you to know righteousness.
Romans 1:11-13
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,[d] that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
Romans 1:14-15
14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Romans 1:17
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Application questions to take before the Lord:
"Do I know the voice of the Shepherd?"
"Do I trust the voice of the Shepherd?"
Stephanie Allen
January 18, 2026
Taking People to Jesus: Living by Faith
“How much longer Lord?”
Habakkuk 1:1-4
How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
Habakkuk 2:4
“See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person will live by his faith”
אֱמוּנָה 'emuwnah – faith When the Septuagint translates the Hebrew to Greek it will use the word pistis/Faith
Romans 1:17
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
II Corinthians 5:7
7 For we live by faith, not by sight.
“I would rather walk by faith than by my foolish sight”
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
James 2:14-17
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Romans 1:18-
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:25
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Romans 1:29
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Habakkuk 3:17-18
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Stephanie Allen
January 11, 2026 -Taking People to Jesus: Testimony
Romans 1
What are we called to do as disciples?
Mark 16:15
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
John 20:21
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Luke 24:45-49
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
And of course, my favorite one of the calls....
Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
You get it. The Gospel (εὐαγγέλιον) is what we as the Body of Christ (both individually and together as the church) take out into the world. The Gospel isn’t a thing. It isn’t a system or a bunch of words. The Gospel is the new thing that points people to the Kingdom of God. I want to normalize this year what has seemed like a taboo for disciples. There has been no shortage of commentary for Christians as to how we are both supposed to engage in evangelism, but only if we have permission, if it feels safe, if we feel like we even need to, etc. Let me stress that evangelism is not argue; in fact I would recommend that we don’t argue with people. We are not trying to convince people to sign-up like it’s Amway. We don’t need to go door-to-door – in fact I would say that is not evangelism as much as it is intrusive. No, we don’t need to be pushy, we need to be present. Every one of us has been placed already in families, work situations, with friends where sharing what God is doing in our lives is normal. It doesn’t need to be weird or forceful. But that’s not what we have been told over the last thirty years.
Romans 3:28
28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
It blows Luther’s mind. He is able to actually understand the words. Could you imagine? People trusted that what was read in Latin meant what they said it did, but Luther understood he hadn’t been told the truth. Even as a priest, he had trusted others to relay and teach the Bible to him. That is how we can be deceived. Don't outsource your understanding of God’s Word to anyone. Not even me.
Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—
Most notably, before the writings, his missionary work and long before he referred to himself as an “ambassador in chains” for the Gospel or a “servant of Christ”, he was also this:
Acts 9:1-4
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
He was actually asking for the right to pull Christians off the street and arrest them and the eventually being killed. Paul/Saul was at first trying to KILL the Gospel long before he ever thought of pushing it out into the world.
Acts 8:3
3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Knowledge of the Gospel isn’t what changed Paul. Paul actually met the Gospel and THAT changed him.
Acts 9:3-4
3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Romans 1:2
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,
Paul is saying, in a letter, read aloud to the church in Rome by Pheobe, that the term “good news” when applied to what and whom he is talking about was not a Roman official, but THE Lord known as Jesus. This “good news” is not about a human rising in the ranks or claiming a divine calling, but the ACTUAL one was divine- Jesus.
Romans 1:4
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 1:5
5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.
Romans 1:6-7
6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Romans 1:11-12
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
Romans 1:15-17
15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
We know how it will end for Paul. He will be killed by Nero. He will spend most of his adult life either escaping death such as a shipwreck AND facing persecution and jail. Why? Think about that for a moment? I started this whole sermon talking about why we should go out into the world with the testimony of Christ. The Gospel is pushed out into the world by us and has ever since the disciples first began to proclaim it and yet most of us don’t. We are scared. Or we don’t see the point. Maybe we aren’t even sure if it is the thing for us and perhaps that is why we keep it to ourselves, but Paul begins with why he continues to serve Christ by telling of the Gospel.
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
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