At the end of the book of Romans, I would like to, if all of us can see fit to come together, have an online communion service to commemorate the work of Christ in us through His death and resurrection. We would each need to have our own cracker and grape juice handy. Still, I think it is a good thing. Unless of Course, everyone would like to do it sooner. Also, this is far less than I would like to have here. Print is not, at least to me, the best way to do this. The first thing that we notice in the book of Romans is that Paul wants everyone to see how he finds his identity in relation to God. The beginning is very easy to overlook. If you do, you will surely miss the meaning in it. It's there for a purpose. There are no words thrown in the Bible just for fluff's sake. It's important that, if you read a passage and it does not teach you something, you should get on your face and pray to God that He reveal His truth to you over time. Just talk to him about His greatness and the things you have seen him do in your life if you're having trouble focusing in on something. Just realizing the awesomeness of God, even in a small part, is eye opening. Paul has a realization of God that He wants everyone to know. In the first eight verses of chapter 1, Paul reminds us of that personal relationship and the authority of God. He knows himself to be in a right perspective and here's how he shows it: 1) "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ," First thing is first. He is a servant of the risen Savior sent of God. 2) "called to be an apostle," He has been given a purpose for good in life. It is interesting to note that if you are called, you also have the option of not answering. Paul displays vast obedience in those tiny words. It is also possible to be so busy and tied up that you never really hear the calling. It is important that we remain humble and un-occluded so as to be able to hear the calling of God. 3) "separated unto the gospel of God," God has specialized him for the task. It is far too often that we hear the calling and direction of God and will still do nothing because we fear the insecurity of what is unknown to us. That word separated carries with it the idea of limits being placed. There is direction. For instance, you may go this far and no more,... as in a fence boundary. The idea is that God excludes the unknown from us. We are set apart from the world and to His righteous appointment. I can tell you for a fact that, sometimes, the limits that God sets are limits that take away from what you already have. Even in this, He is doing you Good!!!! I, because of trouble with my transportation, ended up having to take the bus for quite a time. Having achieved the freedom of driving around when and where I wanted, this was a real blow to my pride. When I finally came to grips with my situation and the fact that God was with me no matter what I got around town in, God did two amazing things using me. He had a local drug dealer turn his car around and go the other way so that he could offer me a ride to where I needed to go. This is a guy I knew in middle and high school. He wanted me to hear a twisted rap song about Satan creating everything and all religions so that he could just have fun and torcher man. Anyway, we ended up talking a great deal. That's what he was hoping for. I have to say that he really listened. I thank God that He enabled me to see and understand the opportunity to do God's will instead of turning down the ride. He did not trust Christ there. However, he has been convicted in his heart and I trust that God will bring him my way again some time. The other amazing thing was having a very strange 17 yr old kid on the bus approach me and begin to tell me all about his dealings in wicca and other things. He was really reaching out and expressed his desire to know God. Needless to say, I was able to share Christ with him and open his eyes to some things. Had I still been holding on to my shame, God could not have seen fit to use me. It was His doing that I was on the bus in the first place. If I was ashamed of Him and His work, the Bible tells me that He would, likewise, have shame regarding me. Paul makes it clear that there is no shame in his game. This is the intro to a real power blast of truth from God!!! Now, in verses two through six, Paul ensures that we see the reason why we have any appointment of God at all. The Christian ought to remember always that God has sacrificed His only begotten son for our sakes. This was no small price to pay. If we are freed from doubts, worries, and sin, why do we persist in these things? Paul makes certain to point out that Jesus is the fulfillment of Prophecy in that He comes from the royal line of David. Mary is from the line of David. Furthermore, all throughout the Bible, good kings all have their genealogies traced back through their mothers to the lines of their fore fathers. Bad kings are through their fathers only. Why is this? This is because sin is passed down through the male. Good kings were always related to their fore fathers through their mothers because it symbolized the breaking away from the sins of their fathers. It was also pointing to the Savior God would send. Now, Paul is also keen to point out that Jesus was also a man and not alienated from our feelings in the closing of verse three. Picking right up in four, we see that Christ is also the appointed Son of God. What paul is doing is laying down the basics of a right standing with God before he does anything else. This is what we ought to do in all things. We need to start with the basics,... those things that are foundational and work up from there. As we move on, based upon that foundation, we find that Paul wishes the church peace in God. He passes his wishes on to God through direct prayer for them. Remember, the basics come before prayer. For example, when we first asked Jesus into our hearts, we first were willing and then we had prayer for the Salvation of God in Christ. Moreover, in verses ten and fifteen, Paul says that he has a strong desire to personally do good for them. In fact, He wishes that he could even go out of his way making a trip to do so. He realizes his special spiritual gift and, as any mature Christian should, finds it difficult not to share it. Thus, his great desire. Well, if it wasn't understood there was no shame in him before, He says it again and clearly in verse sixteen. It is a real travesty that there are so many Christians that will not reveal their faith because they don't want to be called things like judgmental. Let me make it clear. You don't have to preach a single word to people. All that needs be known is that you do, with your mouth, confess to being a Christian. If your deeds match, you will make enemies. If they do not, you will make mockers and a liar of God in the eyes of those around you. It's also interesting to note that Paul takes care, here, to say, "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." You see, God will look after His own first and then He'll share the wealth from there. If you want to be comfortable in all matters of living, you need to know for sure that you are one of His. Uncertainty leads to confusion which leads to ineffective efforts,... failures. Paul follows through with the knowledge that the just shall live by faith. To have faith is to depend upon and to trust in. It is too often that we say those words and then run right out and do the same exact things the world does. Just look at how we deal with our finances. We say we have faith and then run right out and place our faithin the lord VISA. We say we have faith and hen we cut the same corners on the job as the non-christians. We say we have faith and when problems come, we panic. We say we have faith though we can't control our speech. It's no doubt that we are seen as hypocrites. Faith requires far more than head knowledge. It requires the willingness to act upon. If you have the willingness, why would you not? It is a false thought of many that if they can get their lives together, then, that is when they will have more faith,... then, that is when they will be able to better obey God. That is a lie from the Devil!!!!!!!! Good works is not the maker of faith. Real faith is the maker of good works. Trust and obey is what we are told in God's Word. God will surely show the faitful His glory. Those busy working on being faithful will never even notice that God is there. They will be too busy. In the verses past seventeen, we learn that the benefit of having and acting upon faith in God puts us in His grace. How can I say this? Well, those very verses show us that not being so orientated is placing ourselves under God's wrath. When we know the truth and treat it as though it were a lie and push it away, we are attempting to push away the same God we claim to trust with our eternal lives. Oh, and by the way, to know the truth and not act upon it is the same offense I just spoke of. No one has any excuse. This includes Christians and non-christians alike. All that God has made bares His mark. He has given us all a conscience and we know what is right. Furthermore, a Christian is empowered with the very Spirit of the living God. How dare we try to shut it up so that no one sees it!!! Paul is proclaiming his relationship with the Father in a manner that puts most Christians of today to shame. We don't realize that there is real power within us at every moment!!! God can do far more than bring just one person to us on the bus,... as great as that is. God can bring thousands for us to witness to. God can shake the foundations of the world with the words we speak in Him. I wonder if this is why, in Revelations, God shows us that He will send two witnesses of Him that have already passed. I want to be a witness that God is not ashamed to use today!!!! We need to ask ourselves and pray for God to give the answer, if it is that we are truely willing to serve Him, are we willing even when we loose out on the things we want? Are we willing to just trust that He will bring us and keep us in His glory? Or, are we just more than willing to let the job be done by somone else? Do we not care that none on the Earth will stand for God the same as the two that have past? Are we willing to just sit by and allow the goog work of God be plagued with the vermin of sin? What values will we teach our children? We need to check our foundation to ensure that it is right with God. Otherise, we will fail and we will curse our children to worse. The problem is that we are trying to run a race and we haven't even gotten a good start. Neither have we gotten the steps of our stride in order. With the failure of the most basic of all things in our human relationship to God, we destroy all else. We wonder why we are ineffective. We begin to doubt that there will ever come an answer to prayer. We start to expect all the negative that the world has to offer. We search needlessly to fill our voids with things that only yield emptinesses,... those things being sin of the lusts of the flesh. We follow the latest and greatest lie to come along on a whim. It's all because God, in our lives, has not been given the proper perspective. Paul starts with the basics. That is where we need to start as well. Otherwise, just as in verse twenty-two, by thinking ourselves to be wise, we'll only increase our foolishness. As Paul goes on from here, we see that all manner of perversions stem from the incorrect start of the race. That is to say a failure in the basics. That failure is worse than a failure to come along the way after a good start. What have you to build upon when even your start is bad,... your foundation is flawed? Many of us, hold on to some of our old sins as though they were a favorite cuddle toy of our own and as though, if we were to let go, we would end up, somehow, loosing some needed thing to survive. Then, later on, when our steps are confused, we wonder why it is that we don't understand. When we end up in strange places that God's Word would not hold up, we can't understand how it ever happened. A fornicator can't regain his virginity. He can start over again though. If we have fornicated in our walk with God, that is to say, if we have gone astray or have refused to go at all, we must start over. We must make the relationship right from the ground up. Our hearts must be correct to His Good Will. If we do not, verse twenty-eight shows us that we will one day purposefully forget God. I look forward to chapter 2. I will likely soon transfer over to an audio file of some sort. I find it very difficult to compress the whole of what is to be said in typing this all out. This is mostly due to my lack of real typing skills and busy schedule. Also, it can be listened to while other things are being done at the same time. God Bless Us ALL!!! With Love from your Brother in Christ, ISDAMan [This message has been edited by ISDAMan (edited January 21, 2000).] [This message has been edited by ISDAMan (edited January 22, 2000).]
