00:00 Introduction to Romans

02:04 God's Message and Its Authority

04:50 The Gospel's Old Testament Roots

07:40 Jesus: The Fulfillment of Prophecy

11:20 The Significance of Jesus' Resurrection

19:32 The Gospel's Demand for a Response

21:56 Faith and Obedience: Inseparable Concepts

28:30 The Gospel's Ongoing Role in a Christian's Life

30:16 Expect the Gospel to Change Your Life

35:46 Your New Identity and Purpose in Christ

Alright, we are in the book of Romans.

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Romans chapter one is

where we're gonna be.

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So turn in your Bibles

to Romans chapter one.

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Romans chapter one.

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We're gonna be looking at

the first seven verses.

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Raise your hand if, if you, if you

know someone who says they're a bad

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texter, a bad, a bad texter, you know

anyone who says they're a bad texter.

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Heard that.

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Or maybe someone, maybe some

of you say, you know what?

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I'm just a bad texter.

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Sorry I haven't responded

to you for five days.

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That's because they're a bad texter.

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Now, someone in my family, there's

a 50% chance, you know who this is.

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Someone in my family.

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Is a, is a, what they

would call a bad texture.

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And they've got like, you know, 25

unread messages that are just sitting

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there and they'll get back to you later.

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I won't tell you who it is.

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Um, but someone in, in my

family is a, a bad texter.

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And, um, but really when you

think about it, when someone, when

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someone's a bad texter, it comes

down to, to who's texting them.

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'cause there's some people that actually

are bad texts and they're not good at

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responding to things, but there's some

people that are selectively bad texts.

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You know these people out there.

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If someone texts them, maybe it

takes them like four days to respond.

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But if someone else texts them,

they're responding in like two minutes.

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Right.

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And, and then they're like, wait,

should I have responded that fast?

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'cause now they think I like them, right?

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There's those people out there, right?

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There's selectively bad textures.

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So some people, you know, they're, it

just depends on who texts them, right?

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If you, if you get a text from,

you know, someone that you don't

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really wanna talk to, someone that

you don't really know that well or

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whatever, maybe you, you just wait.

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You're like, oh, I'll get to that later.

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You read it and then you, you forget to,

to, to swipe back the blue bubble on it.

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And so then you forget that you

read it and you never respond.

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Right?

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That happens.

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But maybe if someone else texts

you, you would be like, oh.

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Sorry, person I'm actually talking to,

I need to respond to this text, right?

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Because who's texting you matters, the

who's sending that message to you maybe

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is really important to you, right?

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So sometimes we're selectively bad texters

because it depends on who's texting us.

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Now see, in our passage today, we're

gonna be be hearing about a message who

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from the most important person ever.

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And when, when God, when the King of Kings

sends you a message, you have to listen.

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You can't be a selectively bad

texter when the God of the universe

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says, I've got something for you.

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You can't just, just leave him on red.

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You can't just reply later.

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You can't just forget about it.

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There's an, there's an authority behind

the person sending the message that

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demands a response, and that's our

main point today is about the gospel.

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The gospel is God's message.

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And our points tonight is that the

gospel is an authoritative announcement.

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The gospel is an

authoritative announcement.

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It's a message, it's an announcement,

but there's weight behind it.

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It's important.

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In fact, it's coming from a king,

and so there's authority there.

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It's not just something you can respond

to later or Mark read and forget about.

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So we're gonna be in Romans chapter one.

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We're gonna see Paul introducing himself

and this gospel to the Romans because

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he, he's, he doesn't know these people.

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So the church in Rome, Paul had never

been to Rome, most of Paul's letters.

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So in case you didn't

know us about the Bible.

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The New Testament.

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A big chunk of the New Testament is

letters that the Apostle Paul wrote

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to different churches, and most of

the churches he'd been to like the

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church in Colossae or the church in

Thessalonika, or the church in Philippi.

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He had been to these churches, and

so he's writing them like a follow

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up letter, say, Hey, here's some

things I want you to remember.

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Here's some, maybe some problems that

I've noticed or heard about, and I'm gonna

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write this letter to you to help you.

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That's most of, most of what Paul's

letters are, but Romans is a letter

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to a place he's never been to.

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He doesn't know these people.

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He hasn't been to Rome yet when

he, when he writes this letter.

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And so he's introducing himself and he's

introducing the gospel to them because

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he wants them to know that he preaches

the same gospel, the right gospel.

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So that's what we're looking

at here in chapter one.

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So read along with me, Romans chapter one.

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We're gonna start in verse one.

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So Paul, a servant of Christ,

Jesus called to be an apostle

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set apart for the gospel of God.

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Which now he's gonna tell us about the

gospel, which he promised beforehand

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through his prophets in the holy

Scriptures, concerning his son who was

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descended from David according to the

flesh, and who is declared to be the

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son of God in power according to the

spirit of holiness, by his resurrection

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from the dead Jesus Christ are Lord

we'll stop right there for now.

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So the first thing Paul is telling

the Romans about the gospel, he

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introduces himself, he says, I'm Paul,

and these are some things about me.

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And then in verse two, he starts talking

about the gospel and he's telling the

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Romans, here's where the gospel's from.

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It's from the Old Testament, it's

from the prophets in the Bible.

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And then what's the gospel

about concerning his son Jesus.

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And then he, he talks about who Jesus is.

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So he's telling where the gospel's

from and what the gospel's about Now.

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Why does Paul want us to know

these specific things about Jesus?

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What he wants us to know about

Jesus is that Jesus is the

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Messiah, the Christ, and the Lord.

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But I think the, the main thing

he's focusing on is the content.

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Like see all this about the what?

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What's in the gospel.

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That's verse three concerning his son.

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So Paul really wants the Romans

to know and really wants us to

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know that the gospel is a message

about Jesus, and that might seem.

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Super obvious, but that's our first point.

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Point number one, remember

the gospel is about Jesus.

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Remember that the gospel is about Jesus.

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Sometimes we can make the

gospel about us, right?

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Sometimes we can make the the

focus of the gospel us God.

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Has a message for you and he

loves you and he wants to save

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you, and it's all about you.

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The gospel is a message about Jesus.

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It's remember what we, we learned

last week, that the gospel

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reveals the righteousness of God.

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The point of the gospel primarily

is to show us about God.

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It's to show us who God is,

what God's like, and to, to

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show us how amazing God is.

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Remember the gospel is about Jesus.

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Well, what does Paul want us to

know specifically about Jesus?

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Well, so when I read letters like

this in the Bible, what's helpful for

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me is to break them into one of your

favorite grammar words, clauses, right?

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I'm not talking about like Mrs.

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Clause and Mr.

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Clause.

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I'm talking about clauses, like

your favorite prepositional clauses

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and all that stuff right now before

you tune me out and fall asleep.

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This is why it's helpful, because

this is a lot easier to read.

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Then this, right?

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This is just a big block.

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This helps me see what's happening.

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Ready?

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So Paul, and then some stuff about

Paul set apart for the gospel, right?

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And then Paul's gonna

talk about the gospel.

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He's gonna say two things about the

gospel, where it's from, what it's about.

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See that?

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See how it's easier to see

when you break it up like this.

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So this is just to help

you read the Bible better.

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So where it's from.

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He promised God promised the gospel

beforehand through his prophets.

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What it's about, it's about Jesus who,

and then two things here about Jesus.

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Paul wants to know these

two things about Jesus.

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He's descended from David

and he's declared to be the

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son of God in power now.

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Why those two things?

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Well, it has to do with

this last statement.

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Jesus Christ, our Lord.

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And maybe this is a phrase that

you've heard a lot at church and

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you don't think twice about it, but

really this statement is loaded.

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This statement is like, you know

what, like a loaded quesadilla is?

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It's got like all sorts of stuff in there.

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That's what this sentence is,

because this, this little phrase

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is actually describing all

of this in just three words.

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Descended from David.

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That's what the Christ means.

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Jesus is the Messiah.

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Then declare to be the

son of God in power.

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That's what Lord means.

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Now, what's the big deal about David?

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Right?

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We talk about this in Matthew.

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People come up to Jesus

and say, son of David.

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It's like, what?

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What's the big deal about that?

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Why do I care about David?

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David's dead.

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David's a sinner.

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Why do I care about David?

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Well, this is why you

should care about David.

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Second Samuel, seven is

God's promise to David.

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God makes this massively important

promise to David, and here's what

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he says to David, when your days

are fulfilled, so when you die.

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You lie down with your fathers,

I will raise up your offspring

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or one of your descendants after

you who will come from your body.

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He's gonna be physically

one of your descendants.

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And I will establish his kingdom.

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And it's like, okay, that's

cool, but check this out.

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Verse 13, he shoveled a house for

my name and I will establish the

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throne of his kingdom forever.

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So David, God is promising that

David is gonna have an A, a, a

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descendant who lives forever.

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Who's the king forever.

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Which is pretty crazy, right?

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Because this can't be about Solomon.

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Solomon builds, builds a house,

he builds a temple for God.

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But does Solomon live forever?

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No.

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Right.

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And then he says, I will be to him.

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I'll be like his father,

and he shall be to me a son.

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So

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Paul really wants the Romans to know

that Jesus is this guy, that descendant.

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That's Jesus.

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And the reason Paul does that

is because the Old Testament.

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Kinda like what we saw

in this verse right here.

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Promises the gospel before Jesus comes.

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The Old Testament is a gospel book.

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I don't know if you've ever

thought about that before.

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The gospel is in the Old Testament.

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The gospel didn't show up with

Matthew, mark, Luke, and John the

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gospel's in the Old Testament.

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In fact, the gospels in the Book

of Genesis because in the book

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of Genesis, Moses is writing.

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The book of Genesis, and he's describing

what happened in the garden, right?

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The Garden of Eden, Adam Eve sin, and

then God curses the serpent and he

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says there's gonna be an offspring,

same word, offspring, from the woman

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who's gonna crush the serpent's head.

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And so the rest of the Old Testament

is trying to figure out who's that guy?

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Who's the guy who's going to.

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Figure everything out.

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Who's gonna get us back to Eden?

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Who's gonna put us back

in the garden with God?

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Who's gonna fix death?

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Who's gonna fix sin?

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Who's gonna fix our separation from God?

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Who's gonna fix God's wrath?

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Who's that guy?

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That's the whole Old Testament.

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And then boom, Matthew,

chapter one, right?

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Jesus.

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The Son of David, the son of Abraham.

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So the whole Old Testament,

including this promise to David.

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Is about Jesus.

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Jesus is gonna be the guy, the Savior.

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He's gonna be the one

who's gonna fix everything.

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And so Paul, when he says that Jesus

is descended from David according to

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the flesh, that just means humanly

speaking, he's one of David's descendants.

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He's saying that Jesus is that guy.

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He's the Messiah, he's the Lord.

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He's the king who's gonna fix everything.

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But then there's this, this part about.

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Serpent or this part about

the son of God in power.

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Now, if you slow down and read

this, there's a huge problem that

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might come to your mind, right?

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Let me ask you if this,

this popped into your head.

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Jesus was declared the Son of God.

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Now the word here, some

translations would say, appointed,

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did Jesus become the son of God?

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Yes or no?

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No.

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Jesus was already the son of God, right?

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So Paul can't be saying that Jesus

already became the Son of God,

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like, or sorry, wasn't the son of

God, and then became the son of God.

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That's not what Jesus, that's

not what Paul is saying.

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Paul is not saying that

Jesus became the son of God.

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So, so what is he saying?

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He's saying that something

happens at the resurrection.

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Something happened at the resurrection.

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That, that to Jesus.

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Now, Jesus didn't change, but

Jesus stepped into this rule

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right here, son of God in power.

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That's the important part.

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Now, look what Peter says in Acts two.

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Okay?

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Acts two, Peter is preaching

right after the resurrection.

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He's preaching to all these Jews in

Jerusalem, and here's what he says.

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So Jesus, God raised him from

the dead and we all saw it.

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Then he's exalted at

the right hand of God.

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Jesus the man was not there, and

then he's raised in the dead and he's

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exalted at the right hand of God.

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And then he talks a bit about David, and

then look at this last part right here.

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Let all the house of Israel therefore

know for certain that God has made him

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Jesus, both Lord and Christ, and see

that has made Jesus both Lord and Christ.

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So there's a sense.

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In which, yes, the son of God was already

the king, but Jesus the Messiah wasn't

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at God's right hand reigning Jesus

the Messiah was on earth suffering.

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Right?

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And so then when Jesus was raised from

the dead, Jesus stepped into his rightful

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place as the reigning son of God.

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He disarmed Satan at death.

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Right?

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That's why we, we sing

about death being defeated.

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That's why we celebrate

Easter, because Jesus is now.

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He's defeated death.

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He's the conquering king.

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He's not just the king because he's God,

he's the king because he defeated death.

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He's the king because he defeated Satan.

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'cause the only thing Satan can

do to you is get you to believe

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that God won't forgive your sin.

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The only power Satan has over you

is unforgiven sin, because that's

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the only way anyone goes to hell

is if your sins don't get forgiven.

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And now guess what?

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Your sins can be forgiven.

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So Satan really can't do anything to you.

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The only thing Satan can really

harm you with is unforgiven sin.

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That's the only thing that will

actually harm you because God

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will use everything else for good.

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So Jesus at the resurrection was

appointed the Son of God in power.

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He's put at God's right

hand, and he's reigning.

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He's defeated sin and death.

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He's taken away everything Satan

can do to you, and he's stepped

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into this rule as the Messiah.

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Jesus.

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The, the human was not the

Messiah until he was born, right?

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Because Jesus was born, right?

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So at the resurrection, Jesus

didn't become the son of God, but he

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became exalted at God's right hand.

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And that's what Peter is talking about,

and that's what Paul's talking about.

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They're saying that.

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Jesus is, is the king.

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He's saying that Jesus is the Old

Testament king who's gonna fix everything,

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and he's saying that Jesus is the reigning

son of God in power at God's right

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hand, who's defeated the worst things

that the world can throw at you, right?

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He's defeated death.

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He's defeated sin, and

he's defeated Satan.

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Now, why does all that matter?

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Why do I care about Old Testament stuff?

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Why do I care about the Davidic Covenant?

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Why do I care about Jesus

being at the right hand of God?

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Well, the good news.

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Exactly that it's built on, on

this, that Jesus is the Messiah and

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Lord, he's the right guy because

the whole history of the world is

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people who aren't good enough, right?

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If you ever read the Old Testament

and you think about, oh, Abraham well

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had a lot of faith, but also a sinner.

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You think about Jacob, well, he.

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Kind of, you know, he got like, he

got like a, a country named after him,

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but also not totally a great dude.

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Sin a lot, right?

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You've got someone like maybe David,

you think maybe he's the guy and then

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that thing happens with Ishiba and then

it's kinda all downhill from there.

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Then maybe it's gonna be Solomon, right?

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David's son and then he marries

a bunch of people and walks

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away from the faith, right?

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And then you've got all these kings of

Israel and they're all terrible, or these

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kings of Judah and they're all terrible.

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And over and over we're seeing

that no one's good enough.

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No one can can save the human race.

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No one can undo what Adam did.

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You and I can't do that.

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We're hopeless.

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We need a king who's gonna do that?

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We need a savior.

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We need a leader.

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We need the guy that, that the whole

Bible has been waiting for, and Jesus

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is that guy, and that's the gospel.

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Jesus does that through his

death on the cross because he

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can take away all of the sin.

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Anyone's ever committed.

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But remember that the, the

good news is about Jesus.

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It's not primarily about us.

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Now, I think one other way that

Christians do this, we make the good

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news about us, is that we make the

gospel about getting us out of hell

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instead of getting us to be with Jesus.

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Right?

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It's kinda like, imagine if you

started dating someone and then

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you found out they only dated you

'cause they hated being single.

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Right.

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That would stink.

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That would be, that would be terrible

if, if you start dating someone and

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then you know, a few months or a year

in, you're like, oh, actually I only

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started dating you 'cause I didn't wanna

be single and I found someone better and

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I broke up with you being one of them.

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Right.

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That would suck.

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That would be horrible.

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That's a little bit like

how you treating God.

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If you're just saying, God, the

only reason I wanna be a Christian

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is 'cause I don't wanna go to hell.

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You're saying, God, I

just want your stuff.

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I don't want you.

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I just want the benefits

of being a Christian.

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I don't actually wanna be with Jesus.

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That's you making the gospel about you.

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You're being a consumer of the gospel.

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You're saying, I just want

the benefits of the gospel.

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I don't want, God.

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I remember a couple years ago, actually,

pastor PJ was preaching this sermon

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and he said, if you got to heaven and

Jesus wasn't there, would you even care?

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Would it bother you?

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Would you be disappointed?

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You all, maybe all your, all

your saved family is there.

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You have no more sin, no more death, no

more decay, no more anger, no more hurt.

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No more pain.

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But Jesus isn't there.

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Would you be okay with that?

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Maybe if you are okay with that, it's

because you don't really love Jesus.

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You just want his stuff.

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That's one way that we make the

gospel about us and not about God.

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The point of the gospel, the point

of the good news, the point of

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salvation, the point of forgiveness,

the point of justification is

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because it gets you, Jesus.

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You get Jesus.

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That's the whole, that's the good news.

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The good news is that you get Jesus,

and that's the point of forgiveness.

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The point of forgiveness is not great.

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Now I'm forgiven.

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Yes, that's, that's great.

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But the main point is you're

forgiven so that now you can

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have a relationship with God.

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You can be with Jesus, you can be

with the most awesome, the most

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satisfying, the most loving, the

most amazing person, God himself.

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That's why forgiveness is so

good, because of who you get.

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That's why justification

being made righteous is so

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good because of who you get.

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You get to be with Jesus, so don't make

the gospel about what you get from God.

400

Remember that the gospel is about

Jesus, the king, the Messiah, the

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one who's gonna fix everything.

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But also the one that you get

to be with if you trust him.

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So we talked about the, the

gospel is not a suggestion, right?

404

It's not a message you leave on red.

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It's an authoritative announcement

from a king, and that authoritative

406

announcement demands a response.

407

So look with me, Romans chapter one.

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We're gonna be in verse five.

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So verse four ends talking

about Jesus Christ our Lord.

410

Verse five, through whom?

411

Through Jesus, we have

received grace and apostleship.

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To bring about the obedience of faith for

the sake of his name among all nations.

413

So what Paul's saying here is that

the gospel demands a response that

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Jesus has sent out these, these

apostles and given grace for a

415

purpose to bring about something,

and that's the obedience of faith.

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So point number two is respond

to the gospel with faith.

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And obedience respond to the

gospel with faith and obedience.

418

Something really interesting in the

Bible, there's three places in the Bible

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where the gospel is a command, and you

might have never thought about that.

420

The gospel is a command.

421

It's Romans 10 16, 2 Thessalonians

one eight, and one Peter four 17.

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I think.

423

It says that people

need to obey the gospel.

424

So the gospel's not just

a message, it's a command.

425

And that's because, like we

said at the beginning, it's

426

an authoritative announcement.

427

It's, it's an announcement

that's coming downhill at you.

428

There's, there's an expectation that

you're gonna do something about it, right?

429

Like when they on the plane, when

they say the captain has turned on the

430

seatbelt sign, that's an announcement,

but it's also a command, right?

431

Buckle up.

432

So the gospel is an

authoritative announcement.

433

It demands a response, and that

response is faith and obedience.

434

You see that Jesus Christ has

given grace and apostleship.

435

So apostles, those are people who

were witnesses of the risen Christ.

436

We think like Matthew, we think

Peter, we think Paul, right?

437

People who saw the risen Christ physically

and were sent personally by him to

438

go tell people about what happened.

439

To go tell people the good news.

440

That's what apostles are.

441

That's why there's not apostles anymore,

because no one gets to meet the risen

442

Jesus and get personally commissioned

by him to go preach the gospel.

443

So apostles are sent to preach the

gospel, and the point of that is to

444

bring about the obedience of faith.

445

Now, what does that mean?

446

Well, you can take it a couple ways.

447

You can say that it means

obedience, that like that faith is

448

obedience, which is true because.

449

To obey the gospel.

450

How do you obey the gospel?

451

You believe it, right?

452

You trust it.

453

You say that's, I believe that I'm

putting my confidence in Jesus.

454

That's how you obey the gospel.

455

So faith is obedience.

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But also I think what Paul is saying

is that all obedience requires faith.

457

Everything you do that

obeys God requires faith.

458

Every time you do what God says,

it's an act of trust in him.

459

And also I think what Paul is

saying is that faith expresses

460

itself in obedience, right?

461

You heard James chapter two.

462

Faith without works is what?

463

Dead right.

464

Faith without works is dead.

465

If your faith doesn't have obedience

coming out of it, it's dead.

466

It's like a body it

without a pulse, it's dead.

467

Your faith is is not real.

468

It's it's stone cold.

469

So.

470

What Paul is saying is that all

obedience requires faith and that faith

471

and obedience and are inseparable.

472

They, they're a package deal.

473

And if you think about it, this is

actually such a, a really insightful

474

concept that obeying God and trust in

him are linked because when you, if you

475

think deeply about obeying God, every time

you decide whether to obey God or not.

476

It's a decision about whose

promises you are going to believe.

477

God's promises or sins promises.

478

'cause sin always makes you a promise.

479

Sin says it'll be great, right?

480

Sin says, I am what's best for you.

481

Sin says, this will make you happy.

482

Sin says, I will satisfy you.

483

It's making you a promise.

484

And then God makes you a promise.

485

He makes you this the same promise.

486

I'm what's best for you.

487

I will take care of you.

488

I will protect you, and you have

to decide who you're gonna believe.

489

Who are you gonna trust?

490

Are you gonna trust God's promise?

491

Or are you gonna trust the promise of sin?

492

Right?

493

Think about, uh, the silly example would

be when you wake up in the morning, this

494

isn't a sin, but this is just an example

of putting your trust in something.

495

When you, if you snooze

your alarm, you're saying.

496

I believe that snoozing my alarm

is better for me than waking up.

497

Right?

498

That's what you're saying.

499

And so the, your bed is

promising you something.

500

It's promising you sleep, right?

501

It's promising you rest.

502

It's promising you comfort.

503

And then, but waking up is

also promising you something.

504

Right?

505

It's promising you maybe more time, maybe

more energy 'cause you're more productive

506

'cause you got up or maybe you feel

better about yourself later or you're not

507

stressed 'cause you're not in a hurry.

508

There's two promises at war, and you

have to decide which one's better.

509

Do I wanna sleep more or do I want

to have the benefit of not being

510

stressed and not being in a hurry?

511

Now, if you make this, if, if you

take this ground level Christian

512

lifestyle, right, what, what does

it actually look like to, to fight

513

sin and believe God's promises?

514

Think about maybe when you're, when you're

coveting, you see someone and you're

515

like, oh, man, I wish I had what they had.

516

Wish I had that.

517

I wish I was talented like that.

518

I wish I looked like them.

519

I wish I was in their family.

520

I wish I could do what they do.

521

I wish I had as much money as they do.

522

When you're coveting, there's a,

you're faced with two promises.

523

One promise is stuff will satisfy you.

524

What that person has will make you happy.

525

The other promise is God says,

I know what's best for you.

526

I love you.

527

I've only given you what's best for you.

528

You've got two promises at war there.

529

Who are you gonna believe?

530

Obeying God to be content

and not covet takes faith.

531

You have to trust him

and say, you know what?

532

I trust that my father loves me.

533

I trust that my father only gives

me things that are best for me, and

534

I trust that my father knows what's

best for me, even when I disagree.

535

And then you obey him and you be content.

536

So you're, you're choosing whose

promises to believe and what.

537

You can take this any

sin, go down the line.

538

And that's exactly how

obeying God works now.

539

When

540

you're thinking about this, and

you're gonna talk about this

541

in small groups, obeying God

requires you to know his promises.

542

If you don't know God's promises,

you have nothing to grab onto.

543

There's nothing for you to

put your faith in because you

544

don't have anything specific.

545

So if, if you don't know God's

promises, you don't know God's word.

546

When you're tempted, you

don't have any way of escape.

547

God said, I'll give you a way of escape.

548

And you said, no, I'm

not gonna read the Bible.

549

I'm not gonna think about the Bible.

550

I'm gonna forget about it.

551

So God's promises are your way

out of temptation, and that's why

552

we care so much about the Bible.

553

That's why we care so much about you

reading the Bible and knowing God's

554

word and memorizing it and thinking

about it because that's how you fight.

555

God, that's how you fight.

556

Temptation is with God's promises

because sin is making you a

557

promise and you need a better deal.

558

If you're gonna not sin.

559

If you're gonna obey God, you need

a, you need a better promise on

560

the table because otherwise you're

gonna give in every single time.

561

Now, we could talk more about for the

sake of His name, but that kind of

562

goes back with our first point, right?

563

That the gospel is for God's glory.

564

Your obedience is not for you.

565

Your obedience is for God.

566

It's for God's glory.

567

So just like we don't wanna make the

gospel about ourselves, we also don't

568

wanna make our faith about ourselves.

569

We don't wanna make following

God about us, right?

570

We don't wanna make following God about,

well, you know, now that I've be, now that

571

I've started doing more things for God and

obeying him, now I feel good about myself.

572

I feel like I'm good enough and I, I

feel I don't feel guilty all the time.

573

Can someone open the door?

574

Weston's locked out?

575

Um.

576

We don't wanna make our

obedience about ourselves, right?

577

Don't make your obedience

to God about you.

578

And it's easy to do that.

579

Oh, I serve at church and now I, I

feel I feel better about myself, right?

580

I feel good enough.

581

I feel like I'm doing the

right thing that's making it

582

about us and not about God.

583

So anyway, we need to respond to

the gospel with faith and abuse.

584

Now, this last part of our passage.

585

We think, if you think about

this, it's kind of weird.

586

We're gonna get into this in our,

in our next sermon too, but Paul is

587

talking about the gospel to Christians.

588

Paul is talking about

the gospel to Christians.

589

A lot of times we can think that maybe

the gospel is for unbelievers, right?

590

When you think about who

do I preach the gospel to?

591

Later on next week, Paul is

gonna say, I'm here to preach

592

the gospel to you guys in Rome.

593

They're Christians, and that's 'cause

what we talked about last week.

594

Remember that the gospel

isn't just a one-time thing

595

for Christians to get saved.

596

The gospel is, we talked about the

battery for your whole Christian life.

597

The gospel empowers your whole Christian

life, not just your conversion.

598

Look with me at the, the beginning

and the end of our passage.

599

We're gonna look at verses

one and then six and seven.

600

So we talked about Paul

and who he is, right?

601

Paul's a servant.

602

He's called to be an apostle.

603

He's set apart for the gospel, and then

he's talking about the Romans later on.

604

He says, including you who are

called to belong to Jesus Christ.

605

And then he has his like letter

greeting to all those who are in Rome.

606

Who are loved by God and called to be

saints grace to you in peace from God,

607

our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

608

These people, the Paul and the Romans have

been changed by the gospel, but Paul keeps

609

telling them the same thing about them.

610

They're already saved, but he

keeps telling them who they are.

611

They're loved by God.

612

They're called to be saints.

613

He's telling them I'm a servant.

614

I'm called.

615

I'm set apart.

616

Expect the gospel to change your life.

617

That's our third point.

618

Expect the gospel to change your life

619

because these people, right?

620

Paul, he wasn't always that way.

621

Paul wasn't always a servant of God.

622

Paul wasn't always an apostle.

623

The Romans weren't always

624

Christians, right?

625

The, the Romans weren't always saints.

626

Before the gospel.

627

They weren't right before the gospel.

628

They were unrighteous.

629

They were guilty, they

were under God's wrath.

630

So expect the gospel to change your life.

631

And usually when we talk about

change your life, we're thinking

632

about like little things, right?

633

Like, oh, well the gospel changed

my friends, because now I don't

634

hang out with the same people.

635

Or the gospel changed the way I

spend my time because now I don't

636

do the same things I used to do.

637

Or the gospel changed my thoughts.

638

'cause now I think about different things.

639

Those are all true.

640

But those all come from the gospel

changes who you are, and that's what

641

we're really talking about here.

642

So let's start in verse seven at the

very end, to all those in Rome who are

643

loved by God and called to be saints,

Paul thinks that these are the two

644

most important things about the Romans.

645

They're loved by God and

they're called to be saints.

646

Now, a saint in the Bible

is a Christian because saint

647

just means someone who's holy.

648

If you're in Christ, you're holy.

649

God made you holy, your

holiness comes from God.

650

So a saint is not someone who did a bunch

of cool things for the church and then

651

the church decided to call them a saint.

652

That's a manmade thing.

653

The Bible says that every

Christian is a saint.

654

'cause you see this in all of Paul's

letters, especially you see it

655

in the letter of the Corinthians.

656

And the Corinthians are like

one of the worst churches

657

ever, and he calls them saints.

658

So a saint is anyone

who's made holy by God.

659

Anyone who's a Christian.

660

So he's reminding them who they are.

661

The gospel changes your identity.

662

You're loved by God, and

you're called to be a saint.

663

See, so much of being a Christian

is remembering who you really are.

664

It's remembering who God has

already declared you to be.

665

Which might sound weird, but

when you think about it, it

666

makes total sense, right?

667

Because what do so many of

our struggles come from?

668

It's come from, from

forgetting who we are.

669

You feel like you're stuck in sin?

670

Oh, I just can't stop doing this.

671

I can't stop watching this.

672

I can't stop saying that.

673

I can't stop thinking that.

674

Well, God says you're not

a slave to sin anymore.

675

So Romans six says, consider

yourself dead to sin.

676

You don't have to do that.

677

You can tell yourself, I

don't have to do that anymore.

678

You need to believe the right thing about

yourself before you can fight your sin.

679

Or maybe you feel like, oh, well

I just, I, I, I don't know if

680

God's gonna take care of me.

681

I don't know if, if God's really

gonna work this out this time, the

682

situation at my family is really

tough, or I don't know how we're

683

gonna make it through this thing.

684

Or I don't know if I, this my

school's gonna way going to

685

go the way I want it to go.

686

Or if I share the gospel with my

friends, I dunno what's gonna happen.

687

Paul wants you to know

you're loved by God.

688

And if you're loved by God,

is God gonna let anything

689

that's actually harmful to you?

690

Destroy you.

691

No, God loves you.

692

He's gonna take care of you.

693

Right?

694

So remembering who you are actually

will help you as a Christian.

695

So much of your Christian life is gonna

be remembering who you really are, if

696

you are in fact a Christian, right?

697

This is useless if you're not a

Christian, because then you're

698

just lying to yourself, right?

699

But imagine, right?

700

Imagine you adopted a dog

from the street, right?

701

Like let's say you adopted this dog.

702

Right.

703

This dog is on the street,

wasn't taken care of very well.

704

Imagine you adopted this dog

and you like cleaned it up.

705

You made it look super cute and

awesome, and it's all clean, and you

706

give it a bed and you start feeding it.

707

And then you come home from

school and the dog is gone.

708

You're like, where'd dog go?

709

And you find out later the dog

is like back on the street.

710

It's like trying to eat roadkill and it's

sleeping under the bridge in a puddle.

711

And you're like, what are you doing?

712

I adopted you right?

713

I I made you my dog.

714

Dog.

715

Right?

716

I, I made you mine.

717

I gave you a home, I gave you a bed.

718

I gave you food.

719

You would say, this dog isn't, isn't

living the way it's supposed to anymore.

720

Right?

721

This dog doesn't have to go

out there and do those things.

722

It anymore.

723

It has a new home.

724

It a new owner, it's a new,

it's, it's adopted, right?

725

It's, it's changed.

726

That's what it's like when

Christians go back to our old sins.

727

You're like this dog that someone's

adopted and then goes out and lives

728

on the street and eats roadkill

and, and God is like, I, I have

729

something so much better for you.

730

Why are you going back

to what I saved you from?

731

When you're a Christian and, and you

commit those same sins that you used to

732

use those same words, you think those same

thoughts, you have those same desires.

733

It's you going back to the street

and you're saying, I'd rather have

734

this than what my father has for me.

735

So remember who you are.

736

Remember that you're loved by God.

737

If you're a Christian and

you are, you're clean, right?

738

And maybe you're, you're like, oh,

I'm not sure if I could really be.

739

Be a Christian 'cause I, I

sinned and, and all this stuff.

740

Remember that God says, right, he's

faithful and just forgive sins and

741

cleanse you from all in righteousness.

742

Remember who you are.

743

You're, you're clean,

you're washed by the blood.

744

And then also when you become a Christian,

the gospel changes your purpose.

745

So it changes your identity who you

are, and it also changes your purpose.

746

Or whose you are, because if you read

this verse, the very la first verse is

747

gonna be where we, where we end tonight.

748

There's someone else here.

749

Paul's identity and Paul's role

is dependent on another person.

750

You see that all of these

things require someone else.

751

A servant needs a master.

752

An apostle who's sent, who's called needs

someone to do that, needs someone to

753

call them, needs someone to send them.

754

Then he set apart for the gospel by who?

755

Right?

756

These are all things that happened

to Paul and they define Paul.

757

The gospel has changed who Paul is.

758

You remember who Paul was before

this, he was killing Christians.

759

He had a different life purpose

and God changed his life purpose.

760

He's bought by God.

761

So this word servant here means slave.

762

If you're a Christian, like that song

we sung on Sunday, you're not your own.

763

God bought you.

764

And so God determines your purpose.

765

Now, so big picture that flows

into the small things, right?

766

That flows into why.

767

Why are you, why are you in

the class that you're in?

768

Why did you pick the

electives that you picked?

769

Why do you hang out with the

people you hang out with?

770

Why do you watch the things you watch?

771

Why do you say the things you

say, you have a new purpose now

772

because you're not yours anymore.

773

God bought you and then

you're called, right?

774

Paul was called to be an apostle.

775

You as a Christian are called to

be wherever God has you right now.

776

You're called to be a student.

777

Right now you're called

to be a son or a daughter.

778

Right now you're called

to be maybe a sibling.

779

You're called wherever

God has you right now.

780

That's that's where God has put you.

781

Maybe you're discontent with that,

but if God wanted you somewhere else,

782

guess where you'd be somewhere else.

783

If God wanted you to be in a different

family, you'd be in that family.

784

If God wanted you at a different

school, you'd be at that school.

785

If God wanted you in a different

class, you'd be in that class.

786

But God has you where

you are for a reason.

787

He's called you there.

788

He's put you there, and

that's where you are.

789

And then set apart, right?

790

He's set apart for the

gospel to share the gospel.

791

That's Paul's specific

calling to share the gospel.

792

If you think about these, all of these

are are undeserved gifts from God.

793

Paul didn't earn these, Paul didn't

earn the privilege of serving God.

794

Paul didn't earn the privilege

of preaching the gospel.

795

These were all given to him by God.

796

So the gospel isn't the kind of

news that you just forget about.

797

It's not the kind of

news that you respond to.

798

Three days later, the gospel's

an authoritative announcement.

799

It comes with.

800

Purpose.

801

And if, if, if you respond to

it, it'll change who you are.

802

It'll change what you do.

803

It'll change the way you think.

804

It'll change your values.

805

And that's because the

gospel is about Jesus.

806

The gospel is about the king who's

come to fix everything, to get

807

rid of sin, to change the world.

808

And we need to respond to that with trust.

809

And to put our trust in Jesus means

we're also gonna follow Him and obey him.

810

So let's pray and we'll

go to small groups.

811

God, thank you for these reminders

that we are who you say we are.

812

We know that's so hard for us to believe

that at times we tell ourself things that

813

aren't true and so God, I pray for anyone

in this room right now who is struggling

814

to believe that you say who they are,

that you define who we are, that you

815

would give us the faith to trust you.

816

That we remember that if we are in Christ.

817

We are loved by you, that we are

clean, we're forgiven, we are adopted,

818

we are welcomed, um, all because

of Jesus and not because of us.

819

I also pray for people in this room

who may not have responded to the

820

gospel, who have maybe kept suppressing

the truth, pushing it down, and,

821

and trying to forget about it.

822

I pray that you would convict them and

you would not let them forget about it,

823

that they would be bothered until they.

824

Trust in you, and I pray for maybe any

Christians in the room who are being

825

passive and, um, pushing against the, the

calling that you've given them or the,

826

um, identity that, or the purpose that

you've placed on them, that you would

827

guide them and help 'em to see that your

plan for them is, is best, that you love

828

them and you care about them, and that

the, the work that you have them to do is

829

good and fulfilling and satisfying praise.

830

In Jesus name.

831

Amen.