Sermon for Dec 22, 2019

This morning I'll be reading Romans chapter 1 verses 1 through 7.

And I'll be reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Romans was written by Paul toward the end of his third missionary journey, probably from Corinth,,, according to two of my commentaries. One of the commentaries that I read stated that he wrote it from Philippi,,, after leaving Corinth. They all agreed that he apparently wrote it during the mid 50's AD

1 Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God’s good news — 2 which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures— 3 concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh 4 and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness. 5 We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name, 6 including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling: 7 To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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This is the fourth Sunday of Advent and our reading focuses on "seeing love" this morning.

Last Sunday's reading,,, which was the third Sunday of Advent focused on "seeing joy".

A joy that we experience because of Jesus Christ.

A joy that others can see if we truly have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and then once they "see",,, then they will want that kind of relationship too!

The second Sunday of Advent,,, focused on "seeing peace".

The ability to "see peace" all around us,,, even in the middle of so many things going wrong in the world today.

The peace that we have because we know that God is in control no matter what happens to us or around us.

The first Sunday of Advent reading focused on "seeing hope".

Hope as it's used here is a hope that is definite,,, not something that might happen.

It's something that we receive through faith in God.

The faith that we have,,, even though we don't deserve His faithfulness!

Our "Hope" is in Jesus Christ and everything that He accomplished here on earth for each one of us.

A "Hope" that no matter what happens here today,,, we know that God is working everything out for our good,,, for those of us that love God!

All of these readings combined,,, are intended to help us each week to "see" the hope,,, peace,,, joy,,, and love that is available to us as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Hopefully these readings will help us to see these things all year long as well.

(3:39)

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Our reading for today focused on "seeing love".

The love that God has for us,,, that is really undeserved,,, has been the focus ever since the beginning.

Paul writes in verses 1 & 2: 1 Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God’s good news — 2 which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures—

This is the "good news" that we celebrate every Christmas season.

This was promised long ago just as Paul stated.

After the sin committed by Adam and Eve in Genesis we learn of this plan.

In it reads: I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

In this verse God is telling Adam and Eve that a plan is in place to right the wrong that they have done.

You see,,, from the very first sin,,, God lets us know that He has a plan in place,,, even though to us,,, it takes a long time to fulfill it.

It's through scriptures such as these that lets us know that God loves us because we can look back and see where these things were promised,,, and He was faithful to supply them,,, even though we don't deserve them!

That's where our knowledge of scripture becomes so important to our faith.

We know that God spoke about these things before they happened,,, and,,, we know that they did happen,,, even though we might have questions about why they took so long to be fulfilled.

That's why,,, when it seems like God is taking a long time to answer our prayer,,, we shouldn't get discouraged.

We must remember : “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

You see,,, just like this plan that God told Adam and Eve about,,, that took many, many years to be fulfilled,,, and,,, we cannot understand why it took so long,,, God is answering your prayer,,, just not the way or the time that we think it should be!

That knowledge of scripture allows us to "see love" where we might be thinking that God is ignoring us!

(6:02)

It's because of these scriptures,,, where God has been faithful to do what He said that He would do,,, and,,, also,,, the memories where God has answered prayers in the past,,, that gives us the faith that we need to get through each and every day.

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Paul goes on in verse 3: concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh

In this verse Paul is confirming that God was faithful to His promise and Jesus Christ is the answer to that promise by being a descendent of David.

What a blessing to be able to read and study the words in the Bible that we have that prove that God is faithful to His word.

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In verse 4 it says: 4 and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.

Jesus was declared to be the "Son of God" by His resurrection from the dead.

Our Christian walk would be useless without the resurrection of Jesus.

Everything that we hold dear to our faith depends on the resurrection.

We have the testimony of the many disciples and followers of Jesus that gave their life because they could not be silenced about this miracle.

Men,,, that after the arrest and death of Jesus were scared to say anything,,, but then,,, became so bold and courageous after they had witnessed the resurrected Christ.

It's their testimony that proves to me that Jesus is alive today!

In ,,, it says: 33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34 A Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while. 35 He said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful about what you’re going to do to these men. 36 Not long ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed, and all his partisans were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. That man also perished, and all his partisans were scattered. 38 And now, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” So they were persuaded by him. 40 After they called in the apostles and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.

(8:54)

This happened after Peter and John have been brought before the Sanhedrin because the angel of the Lord has released them from prison and they were preaching boldly in the temple complex.

You see,,, it's through these types of scripture that we have the privilege of reading today that show us beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves us!

Gamaliel was correct,,, if this would have been something that the disciples and people of that time had made up,,, it would have gone away!

But we are here today as testimony that this was true then,,, and it's still true today!

(9:31)

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In verses 5 - 7 it says: 5 We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name, 6 including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling: 7 To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul tells the Romans,,, and us today,,, that he,,, along with the other apostles,,, have received grace and apostleship through Jesus Christ and the fact that they were called by God to preach this good news to others is also passed on to the Romans that this letter was addressed to.

According to my study Bible,,, that means that we have both a privilege and a great responsibility because of this that was passed on to us through the Romans.

Paul and the other Apostles received the privilege of being called,,, but they also received the authority and the responsibility to share the message of God's forgiveness to others.

It says that God also graciously forgave us our sins when we believe in Him as Lord,,, and in doing so,,, we begin a new life.

And in obedience to this new life,,, we must be ready to tell others about Jesus,,, just like Paul and the other disciples.

That doesn't mean that we will all be called to be missionaries or preach,,, but we should be able to give an account of the things that God has done for us if anyone was to ask.

Also,,, Paul in verse 7 says,,, that those that become Christians are invited by Jesus Christ to become a part of God's family and to be His very own people,,, set apart for His service.

What a blessing this is,,, to be able to share this good news with others!

Because of all that God has done for us,,, we should be able to help others "see God's love" just by the way that we live our life.

(11:32)

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Early in the week,,, as I was waiting and praying for guidance from God on which scripture to use this morning,,, when I read through the lectionary readings,,, as I read the scripture that I used today,,, I immediately understood the good news that Paul was writing about,,, but at the same time,,, I was reminded of the times when I wondered why we still need the Old Testament.

When I was growing up,,, it seemed like so much emphasis was put on the New Testament that the Old Testament wasn’t needed.

Now that I have become familiar with the way the whole Bible fits together,,, and how all of it gives the bigger picture of God's love for us,,, I can clearly see how limited we would be in our thinking about His love for us.

This would limit our ability to "see love" which is the focus for this fourth Sunday in Advent.

This would also limit our ability to see any of the other words that were our focus each Sunday in Advent.

It's so much easier to see hope,,, peace,,, joy,,, and love when we have the written word of God that testifies to God's faithfulness from beginning to end.

That's why we must be able to remember the times in our own life when God has answered our prayers.

Times that now looking back,,, we can see that God was working and answering our prayer even though it seemed like we were being ignored.

It's these things that make us able to easily see all of these things that we are focused on these four Sundays in Advent.

And hopefully they will make us aware of them all year long!

(13.08)

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So as we sing our final hymn,,, let me remind you that the alter is always open,,,

If you feel God speaking to you,,, don't hesitate to come,,, maybe you just have questions,,, God will answer,,, you just have to ask Him,,, whatever the need may be,,,

As we sing the final hymn,,, come if needed!

Oakdale - Hymn Page -

Seminary - Hymn Page - 382

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