Welcome to Rome
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
Good Morning
Good Morning and Welcome to Freedom Chapel. My name is Pastor Terry, my wife Michelle and I serve as the lead pastors here at Freedom Chapel. We exist to bring hope to our community we do that by being a Place to Belong, Church for the Whole Family.
If you are new with us this morning would you please take the time fill out that little flap on the side of your bulletin. If you put it in the black boxes by the back door we will make a donation in your name to a local charity and send you cookies. Church can we show our guests some love this morning.
Before I jump into my message I want to first talk to you about some precautions we are taking in order to protect our people as Covid continues to spread through our county.
New People Party
New People Party
We are going to postpone our new people party. It will now be February 27.
Starting Point
Starting Point
We will be also postponing the start date for Starting Point to March 20th.
Would you Pray with me?
Church we are about to begin a journey and it may be a long one. A few years back I took a class for my ordination where I was challenge to preach in a style that is called Expository Preaching. In this style you take and entire book of the Bible and Preach through it piece by piece breaking down or expounding on the book. Over the past two years we have tried that but never to the level I believe that God is calling us to this at this time.
The really cool part of expository messages is that you explore topics that generally get missed or skipped in Topical Messages.
The bad part of expository preaching is you explore topics that people generally would want you to skip when topical preaching.
Here is the truth of the matter. We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Every word in it was inspired by God. Seeing that every word in it is inspired, We believe that it is without error.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
That being considered we are going to dive into the Book of Romans. Well Romans is actually a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome.
On key thing that you need to understand about the letters written in the New Testament. Each one is written specifically to a body of believers. The writer wrote these letters with purpose and the letters to the Romans followed this pattern.
Scholars believe that this letter took Paul up to 11 hours to eleven hours to dictate this letter to Tertius, it’s scribe. it is believed that the cost to write Romans was 20.68 denarii, which he calculates as roughly $2275 in recent US currency. Romans is a carefully thought out and purposeful work.
The purpose of this letter was to introduce himself to the believers in Rome and line out his beliefs before he visited. Paul wanted the Roman believers to have a relationship with who he was before he visited.
Let’s dive into this amazing letter.
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul starts out this letter with an introduction. He is establishing his identity.
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
He identifies himself first by saying he is a Servant of Christ.
However, this has not always been the case. You see Paul used to have a different name and he used to serve another cause.
Acts 7:58 Introduces us to a guy name Saul. As Steven an elder of the Jewish Church is being stoned the Bible tells us that he was cast at the feet of a young leader named Saul.
This Leader was a young Pharisee, Trained be the most respected rabbi of the land Gamaliel. He was a Super Jew so fueled by the law and his faith that he believed that Christians were heretics and his mission was to destroy them and their beliefs.
3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.
4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women,
5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.
Saul set out for Damascus on a mission and on that Journey he had an encounter with Jesus. That changed his identity. It changed his identity so drastically that God had to change his name.
Has Your Encounter with Jesus caused you to change your identity?
Has Your Encounter with Jesus caused you to change your identity?
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
Paul calls himself a servant of Christ.
Paul has made a transformation from sworn enemy of Christ to now calling him Master.
What Paul is saying here is I am subject to the will and wholly at the disposal of my master. To identify himself as a Servant as a Roman Citizen would be like and American Saying he wasn’t an American.
He is setting up this idea that as Christians we should desire to devote ourselves and align ourselves to our Master Jesus Christ.
Who are you a Servant to?
Who are you a Servant to?
Who is your Master?
Who is your Master?
The next characteristic of Paul’s new identity is his announcement that he is an Apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.
An Apostle is some or something, sent. In the New Testament, usually refers to someone sent as an authorized agent by Jesus or the Christian community.
Paul states that he is ambassador for Jesus, with the authority to set up and supervise churches. The authority to correct and discipline believers if necessary.
An ambassador sent out to share the Gospel.
Paul’s New Identity consisted of Three Parts.
Servant..Apostle..Set Apart
Servant..Apostle..Set Apart
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
Paul has this new identity and has been sent by God to share a message. The Message that was promised though the prophets. A message that world has been waiting for since the Fall of Adam and Eve.
That Message was that the war between humanity and sin was over. The Battle was won. Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise:
Fulfilling
Genesis 12:3, Psalms 16:10, Psalm 40:6-10, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 11:1, 49:5-6, Zechariah 9:9-11, 12:10, and Malachi 4:4-5
Jesus has defeated sin, death and the grave.
A message that still rings true today. This message that we need so desperately to take hold of.
No matter what we are facing in this world. No matter what we are going to face.
Christ has the Victory and that Victory has been extended to you and I.
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
What does that have to do with me?
What does that have to do with me?
Why is this relevant to is 2022?
Why is this relevant to is 2022?
Christians in Rome Did Not Face What We Face.
Christians in Rome Did Not Face What We Face.
The Believers in Rome were Facing some stuff.
Nero........Burned the city, Burned Christians to light the streets.
Just like these Romans, God has given us this letter to remind us that.
Our Master Jesus Christ wants to:
1. Give us a New Identity.
1. Give us a New Identity.
No God does not want to change your name or for like Saul to begin going by your last name. God wants to align your Identity to his Word and for us all to begin to walk in the newness of eternity.
It is amazing the how different our lives are when we have something to look forward to .
2. He wants us to live out our individual calling.
2. He wants us to live out our individual calling.
Like Paul God called each one of us out of darkness for a purpose. Many of us don’t realize that even before we were saved God was already guiding and directing us to the place he need us to be his Apostle.
It is amazing what happens in a believers life when they quit working for an employer and start working with God in the place they are employed.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,
3. He wants us to Carry the Gospel.
3. He wants us to Carry the Gospel.
If your going to Carry the Gospel your going to have to
1. Understand the Gospel
2. Believe the Gospel
3. Live out the Gospel.
This is why we are going to travel through this Letter to the Romans together.
This letter is a guide post of what it is to:
Abandon Sin
Accept Salvation
Grow Spiritually
Understand the Sovereignty of God
Live a Life of Service
Let’s Pray.