Life Changing News (Romans 1:1-7) | Louis Azuma

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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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: 00:15:54

but also not totally a great dude.

322

: 00:15:56

Sin a lot, right?

323

: 00:15:57

You've got someone like maybe David,

you think maybe he's the guy and then

324

: 00:16:02

that thing happens with Ishiba and then

it's kinda all downhill from there.

325

: 00:16:05

Then maybe it's gonna be Solomon, right?

326

: 00:16:06

David's son and then he marries

a bunch of people and walks

327

: 00:16:09

away from the faith, right?

328

: 00:16:10

And then you've got all these kings of

Israel and they're all terrible, or these

329

: 00:16:14

kings of Judah and they're all terrible.

330

: 00:16:15

And over and over we're seeing

that no one's good enough.

331

: 00:16:18

No one can can save the human race.

332

: 00:16:21

No one can undo what Adam did.

333

: 00:16:23

You and I can't do that.

334

: 00:16:24

We're hopeless.

335

: 00:16:25

We need a king who's gonna do that?

336

: 00:16:27

We need a savior.

337

: 00:16:28

We need a leader.

338

: 00:16:29

We need the guy that, that the whole

Bible has been waiting for, and Jesus

339

: 00:16:34

is that guy, and that's the gospel.

340

: 00:16:39

Jesus does that through his

death on the cross because he

341

: 00:16:43

can take away all of the sin.

342

: 00:16:44

Anyone's ever committed.

343

: 00:16:46

But remember that the, the

good news is about Jesus.

344

: 00:16:51

It's not primarily about us.

345

: 00:16:55

Now, I think one other way that

Christians do this, we make the good

346

: 00:16:59

news about us, is that we make the

gospel about getting us out of hell

347

: 00:17:04

instead of getting us to be with Jesus.

348

: 00:17:08

Right?

349

: 00:17:08

It's kinda like, imagine if you

started dating someone and then

350

: 00:17:11

you found out they only dated you

'cause they hated being single.

351

: 00:17:14

Right.

352

: 00:17:14

That would stink.

353

: 00:17:16

That would be, that would be terrible

if, if you start dating someone and

354

: 00:17:18

then you know, a few months or a year

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

355

: 00:17:22

started dating you 'cause I didn't wanna

be single and I found someone better and

356

: 00:17:24

I broke up with you being one of them.

357

: 00:17:25

Right.

358

: 00:17:25

That would suck.

359

: 00:17:26

That would be horrible.

360

: 00:17:28

That's a little bit like

how you treating God.

361

: 00:17:32

If you're just saying, God, the

only reason I wanna be a Christian

362

: 00:17:34

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

363

: 00:17:37

You're saying, God, I

just want your stuff.

364

: 00:17:38

I don't want you.

365

: 00:17:40

I just want the benefits

of being a Christian.

366

: 00:17:42

I don't actually wanna be with Jesus.

367

: 00:17:46

That's you making the gospel about you.

368

: 00:17:48

You're being a consumer of the gospel.

369

: 00:17:50

You're saying, I just want

the benefits of the gospel.

370

: 00:17:53

I don't want, God.

371

: 00:17:54

I remember a couple years ago, actually,

pastor PJ was preaching this sermon

372

: 00:17:57

and he said, if you got to heaven and

Jesus wasn't there, would you even care?

373

: 00:18:00

Would it bother you?

374

: 00:18:02

Would you be disappointed?

375

: 00:18:03

You all, maybe all your, all

your saved family is there.

376

: 00:18:05

You have no more sin, no more death, no

more decay, no more anger, no more hurt.

377

: 00:18:11

No more pain.

378

: 00:18:12

But Jesus isn't there.

379

: 00:18:14

Would you be okay with that?

380

: 00:18:17

Maybe if you are okay with that, it's

because you don't really love Jesus.

381

: 00:18:21

You just want his stuff.

382

: 00:18:23

That's one way that we make the

gospel about us and not about God.

383

: 00:18:27

The point of the gospel, the point

of the good news, the point of

384

: 00:18:29

salvation, the point of forgiveness,

the point of justification is

385

: 00:18:32

because it gets you, Jesus.

386

: 00:18:34

You get Jesus.

387

: 00:18:35

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

388

: 00:18:37

The good news is that you get Jesus,

and that's the point of forgiveness.

389

: 00:18:42

The point of forgiveness is not great.

390

: 00:18:44

Now I'm forgiven.

391

: 00:18:45

Yes, that's, that's great.

392

: 00:18:47

But the main point is you're

forgiven so that now you can

393

: 00:18:50

have a relationship with God.

394

: 00:18:51

You can be with Jesus, you can be

with the most awesome, the most

395

: 00:18:55

satisfying, the most loving, the

most amazing person, God himself.

396

: 00:19:00

That's why forgiveness is so

good, because of who you get.

397

: 00:19:05

That's why justification

being made righteous is so

398

: 00:19:07

good because of who you get.

399

: 00:19:09

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

the gospel about what you get from God.

400

: 00:19:15

Remember that the gospel is about

Jesus, the king, the Messiah, the

401

: 00:19:19

one who's gonna fix everything.

402

: 00:19:21

But also the one that you get

to be with if you trust him.

403

: 00:19:27

So we talked about the, the

gospel is not a suggestion, right?

404

: 00:19:30

It's not a message you leave on red.

405

: 00:19:32

It's an authoritative announcement

from a king, and that authoritative

406

: 00:19:35

announcement demands a response.

407

: 00:19:37

So look with me, Romans chapter one.

408

: 00:19:39

We're gonna be in verse five.

409

: 00:19:40

So verse four ends talking

about Jesus Christ our Lord.

410

: 00:19:44

Verse five, through whom?

411

: 00:19:47

Through Jesus, we have

received grace and apostleship.

412

: 00:19:51

To bring about the obedience of faith for

the sake of his name among all nations.

413

: 00:19:57

So what Paul's saying here is that

the gospel demands a response that

414

: 00:20:05

Jesus has sent out these, these

apostles and given grace for a

415

: 00:20:12

purpose to bring about something,

and that's the obedience of faith.

416

: 00:20:16

So point number two is respond

to the gospel with faith.

417

: 00:20:20

And obedience respond to the

gospel with faith and obedience.

418

: 00:20:33

Something really interesting in the

Bible, there's three places in the Bible

419

: 00:20:36

where the gospel is a command, and you

might have never thought about that.

420

: 00:20:41

The gospel is a command.

421

: 00:20:43

It's Romans 10 16, 2 Thessalonians

one eight, and one Peter four 17.

422

: 00:20:49

I think.

423

: 00:20:50

It says that people

need to obey the gospel.

424

: 00:20:54

So the gospel's not just

a message, it's a command.

425

: 00:20:56

And that's because, like we

said at the beginning, it's

426

: 00:20:58

an authoritative announcement.

427

: 00:21:00

It's, it's an announcement

that's coming downhill at you.

428

: 00:21:05

There's, there's an expectation that

you're gonna do something about it, right?

429

: 00:21:10

Like when they on the plane, when

they say the captain has turned on the

430

: 00:21:12

seatbelt sign, that's an announcement,

but it's also a command, right?

431

: 00:21:17

Buckle up.

432

: 00:21:18

So the gospel is an

authoritative announcement.

433

: 00:21:20

It demands a response, and that

response is faith and obedience.

434

: 00:21:25

You see that Jesus Christ has

given grace and apostleship.

435

: 00:21:30

So apostles, those are people who

were witnesses of the risen Christ.

436

: 00:21:33

We think like Matthew, we think

Peter, we think Paul, right?

437

: 00:21:38

People who saw the risen Christ physically

and were sent personally by him to

438

: 00:21:43

go tell people about what happened.

439

: 00:21:45

To go tell people the good news.

440

: 00:21:46

That's what apostles are.

441

: 00:21:47

That's why there's not apostles anymore,

because no one gets to meet the risen

442

: 00:21:52

Jesus and get personally commissioned

by him to go preach the gospel.

443

: 00:21:56

So apostles are sent to preach the

gospel, and the point of that is to

444

: 00:22:02

bring about the obedience of faith.

445

: 00:22:04

Now, what does that mean?

446

: 00:22:06

Well, you can take it a couple ways.

447

: 00:22:08

You can say that it means

obedience, that like that faith is

448

: 00:22:12

obedience, which is true because.

449

: 00:22:15

To obey the gospel.

450

: 00:22:16

How do you obey the gospel?

451

: 00:22:17

You believe it, right?

452

: 00:22:18

You trust it.

453

: 00:22:19

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

putting my confidence in Jesus.

454

: 00:22:23

That's how you obey the gospel.

455

: 00:22:24

So faith is obedience.

456

: 00:22:26

But also I think what Paul is saying

is that all obedience requires faith.

457

: 00:22:33

Everything you do that

obeys God requires faith.

458

: 00:22:39

Every time you do what God says,

it's an act of trust in him.

459

: 00:22:46

And also I think what Paul is

saying is that faith expresses

460

: 00:22:49

itself in obedience, right?

461

: 00:22:50

You heard James chapter two.

462

: 00:22:51

Faith without works is what?

463

: 00:22:53

Dead right.

464

: 00:22:54

Faith without works is dead.

465

: 00:22:56

If your faith doesn't have obedience

coming out of it, it's dead.

466

: 00:23:00

It's like a body it

without a pulse, it's dead.

467

: 00:23:04

Your faith is is not real.

468

: 00:23:06

It's it's stone cold.

469

: 00:23:09

So.

470

: 00:23:10

What Paul is saying is that all

obedience requires faith and that faith

471

: 00:23:15

and obedience and are inseparable.

472

: 00:23:17

They, they're a package deal.

473

: 00:23:21

And if you think about it, this is

actually such a, a really insightful

474

: 00:23:26

concept that obeying God and trust in

him are linked because when you, if you

475

: 00:23:31

think deeply about obeying God, every time

you decide whether to obey God or not.

476

: 00:23:36

It's a decision about whose

promises you are going to believe.

477

: 00:23:40

God's promises or sins promises.

478

: 00:23:43

'cause sin always makes you a promise.

479

: 00:23:45

Sin says it'll be great, right?

480

: 00:23:48

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

481

: 00:23:52

Sin says, this will make you happy.

482

: 00:23:54

Sin says, I will satisfy you.

483

: 00:23:56

It's making you a promise.

484

: 00:23:57

And then God makes you a promise.

485

: 00:24:00

He makes you this the same promise.

486

: 00:24:02

I'm what's best for you.

487

: 00:24:04

I will take care of you.

488

: 00:24:05

I will protect you, and you have

to decide who you're gonna believe.

489

: 00:24:09

Who are you gonna trust?

490

: 00:24:11

Are you gonna trust God's promise?

491

: 00:24:13

Or are you gonna trust the promise of sin?

492

: 00:24:16

Right?

493

: 00:24:16

Think about, uh, the silly example would

be when you wake up in the morning, this

494

: 00:24:24

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

of putting your trust in something.

495

: 00:24:28

When you, if you snooze

your alarm, you're saying.

496

: 00:24:31

I believe that snoozing my alarm

is better for me than waking up.

497

: 00:24:34

Right?

498

: 00:24:36

That's what you're saying.

499

: 00:24:38

And so the, your bed is

promising you something.

500

: 00:24:41

It's promising you sleep, right?

501

: 00:24:42

It's promising you rest.

502

: 00:24:43

It's promising you comfort.

503

: 00:24:46

And then, but waking up is

also promising you something.

504

: 00:24:48

Right?

505

: 00:24:48

It's promising you maybe more time, maybe

more energy 'cause you're more productive

506

: 00:24:52

'cause you got up or maybe you feel

better about yourself later or you're not

507

: 00:24:55

stressed 'cause you're not in a hurry.

508

: 00:24:57

There's two promises at war, and you

have to decide which one's better.

509

: 00:25:00

Do I wanna sleep more or do I want

to have the benefit of not being

510

: 00:25:04

stressed and not being in a hurry?

511

: 00:25:06

Now, if you make this, if, if you

take this ground level Christian

512

: 00:25:09

lifestyle, right, what, what does

it actually look like to, to fight

513

: 00:25:12

sin and believe God's promises?

514

: 00:25:15

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

coveting, you see someone and you're

515

: 00:25:20

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

516

: 00:25:22

Wish I had that.

517

: 00:25:23

I wish I was talented like that.

518

: 00:25:24

I wish I looked like them.

519

: 00:25:25

I wish I was in their family.

520

: 00:25:27

I wish I could do what they do.

521

: 00:25:30

I wish I had as much money as they do.

522

: 00:25:32

When you're coveting, there's a,

you're faced with two promises.

523

: 00:25:36

One promise is stuff will satisfy you.

524

: 00:25:39

What that person has will make you happy.

525

: 00:25:42

The other promise is God says,

I know what's best for you.

526

: 00:25:44

I love you.

527

: 00:25:46

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

528

: 00:25:48

You've got two promises at war there.

529

: 00:25:50

Who are you gonna believe?

530

: 00:25:52

Obeying God to be content

and not covet takes faith.

531

: 00:25:57

You have to trust him

and say, you know what?

532

: 00:25:59

I trust that my father loves me.

533

: 00:26:01

I trust that my father only gives

me things that are best for me, and

534

: 00:26:04

I trust that my father knows what's

best for me, even when I disagree.

535

: 00:26:07

And then you obey him and you be content.

536

: 00:26:09

So you're, you're choosing whose

promises to believe and what.

537

: 00:26:12

You can take this any

sin, go down the line.

538

: 00:26:14

And that's exactly how

obeying God works now.

539

: 00:26:23

When

540

: 00:26:25

you're thinking about this, and

you're gonna talk about this

541

: 00:26:28

in small groups, obeying God

requires you to know his promises.

542

: 00:26:33

If you don't know God's promises,

you have nothing to grab onto.

543

: 00:26:37

There's nothing for you to

put your faith in because you

544

: 00:26:39

don't have anything specific.

545

: 00:26:40

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

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

546

: 00:26:44

When you're tempted, you

don't have any way of escape.

547

: 00:26:48

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

548

: 00:26:50

And you said, no, I'm

not gonna read the Bible.

549

: 00:26:51

I'm not gonna think about the Bible.

550

: 00:26:52

I'm gonna forget about it.

551

: 00:26:55

So God's promises are your way

out of temptation, and that's why

552

: 00:27:01

we care so much about the Bible.

553

: 00:27:03

That's why we care so much about you

reading the Bible and knowing God's

554

: 00:27:05

word and memorizing it and thinking

about it because that's how you fight.

555

: 00:27:11

God, that's how you fight.

556

: 00:27:12

Temptation is with God's promises

because sin is making you a

557

: 00:27:15

promise and you need a better deal.

558

: 00:27:16

If you're gonna not sin.

559

: 00:27:18

If you're gonna obey God, you need

a, you need a better promise on

560

: 00:27:20

the table because otherwise you're

gonna give in every single time.

561

: 00:27:28

Now, we could talk more about for the

sake of His name, but that kind of

562

: 00:27:31

goes back with our first point, right?

563

: 00:27:32

That the gospel is for God's glory.

564

: 00:27:34

Your obedience is not for you.

565

: 00:27:36

Your obedience is for God.

566

: 00:27:38

It's for God's glory.

567

: 00:27:40

So just like we don't wanna make the

gospel about ourselves, we also don't

568

: 00:27:45

wanna make our faith about ourselves.

569

: 00:27:47

We don't wanna make following

God about us, right?

570

: 00:27:51

We don't wanna make following God about,

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

571

: 00:27:54

I've started doing more things for God and

obeying him, now I feel good about myself.

572

: 00:27:57

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

feel I don't feel guilty all the time.

573

: 00:28:02

Can someone open the door?

574

: 00:28:03

Weston's locked out?

575

: 00:28:06

Um.

576

: 00:28:09

We don't wanna make our

obedience about ourselves, right?

577

: 00:28:11

Don't make your obedience

to God about you.

578

: 00:28:14

And it's easy to do that.

579

: 00:28:15

Oh, I serve at church and now I, I

feel I feel better about myself, right?

580

: 00:28:19

I feel good enough.

581

: 00:28:19

I feel like I'm doing the

right thing that's making it

582

: 00:28:22

about us and not about God.

583

: 00:28:27

So anyway, we need to respond to

the gospel with faith and abuse.

584

: 00:28:30

Now, this last part of our passage.

585

: 00:28:33

We think, if you think about

this, it's kind of weird.

586

: 00:28:35

We're gonna get into this in our,

in our next sermon too, but Paul is

587

: 00:28:38

talking about the gospel to Christians.

588

: 00:28:41

Paul is talking about

the gospel to Christians.

589

: 00:28:47

A lot of times we can think that maybe

the gospel is for unbelievers, right?

590

: 00:28:52

When you think about who

do I preach the gospel to?

591

: 00:28:56

Later on next week, Paul is

gonna say, I'm here to preach

592

: 00:28:59

the gospel to you guys in Rome.

593

: 00:29:03

They're Christians, and that's 'cause

what we talked about last week.

594

: 00:29:06

Remember that the gospel

isn't just a one-time thing

595

: 00:29:10

for Christians to get saved.

596

: 00:29:12

The gospel is, we talked about the

battery for your whole Christian life.

597

: 00:29:15

The gospel empowers your whole Christian

life, not just your conversion.

598

: 00:29:21

Look with me at the, the beginning

and the end of our passage.

599

: 00:29:25

We're gonna look at verses

one and then six and seven.

600

: 00:29:27

So we talked about Paul

and who he is, right?

601

: 00:29:29

Paul's a servant.

602

: 00:29:30

He's called to be an apostle.

603

: 00:29:31

He's set apart for the gospel, and then

he's talking about the Romans later on.

604

: 00:29:37

He says, including you who are

called to belong to Jesus Christ.

605

: 00:29:40

And then he has his like letter

greeting to all those who are in Rome.

606

: 00:29:45

Who are loved by God and called to be

saints grace to you in peace from God,

607

: 00:29:49

our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

608

: 00:29:53

These people, the Paul and the Romans have

been changed by the gospel, but Paul keeps

609

: 00:30:00

telling them the same thing about them.

610

: 00:30:03

They're already saved, but he

keeps telling them who they are.

611

: 00:30:07

They're loved by God.

612

: 00:30:08

They're called to be saints.

613

: 00:30:09

He's telling them I'm a servant.

614

: 00:30:10

I'm called.

615

: 00:30:11

I'm set apart.

616

: 00:30:13

Expect the gospel to change your life.

617

: 00:30:16

That's our third point.

618

: 00:30:16

Expect the gospel to change your life

619

: 00:30:23

because these people, right?

620

: 00:30:24

Paul, he wasn't always that way.

621

: 00:30:25

Paul wasn't always a servant of God.

622

: 00:30:27

Paul wasn't always an apostle.

623

: 00:30:29

The Romans weren't always

624

: 00:30:33

Christians, right?

625

: 00:30:34

The, the Romans weren't always saints.

626

: 00:30:37

Before the gospel.

627

: 00:30:39

They weren't right before the gospel.

628

: 00:30:41

They were unrighteous.

629

: 00:30:43

They were guilty, they

were under God's wrath.

630

: 00:30:46

So expect the gospel to change your life.

631

: 00:30:49

And usually when we talk about

change your life, we're thinking

632

: 00:30:51

about like little things, right?

633

: 00:30:52

Like, oh, well the gospel changed

my friends, because now I don't

634

: 00:30:56

hang out with the same people.

635

: 00:30:57

Or the gospel changed the way I

spend my time because now I don't

636

: 00:30:59

do the same things I used to do.

637

: 00:31:00

Or the gospel changed my thoughts.

638

: 00:31:01

'cause now I think about different things.

639

: 00:31:03

Those are all true.

640

: 00:31:04

But those all come from the gospel

changes who you are, and that's what

641

: 00:31:08

we're really talking about here.

642

: 00:31:09

So let's start in verse seven at the

very end, to all those in Rome who are

643

: 00:31:14

loved by God and called to be saints,

Paul thinks that these are the two

644

: 00:31:18

most important things about the Romans.

645

: 00:31:21

They're loved by God and

they're called to be saints.

646

: 00:31:24

Now, a saint in the Bible

is a Christian because saint

647

: 00:31:30

just means someone who's holy.

648

: 00:31:31

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

649

: 00:31:33

God made you holy, your

holiness comes from God.

650

: 00:31:36

So a saint is not someone who did a bunch

of cool things for the church and then

651

: 00:31:40

the church decided to call them a saint.

652

: 00:31:42

That's a manmade thing.

653

: 00:31:44

The Bible says that every

Christian is a saint.

654

: 00:31:48

'cause you see this in all of Paul's

letters, especially you see it

655

: 00:31:51

in the letter of the Corinthians.

656

: 00:31:52

And the Corinthians are like

one of the worst churches

657

: 00:31:53

ever, and he calls them saints.

658

: 00:31:56

So a saint is anyone

who's made holy by God.

659

: 00:31:59

Anyone who's a Christian.

660

: 00:32:01

So he's reminding them who they are.

661

: 00:32:07

The gospel changes your identity.

662

: 00:32:09

You're loved by God, and

you're called to be a saint.

663

: 00:32:13

See, so much of being a Christian

is remembering who you really are.

664

: 00:32:17

It's remembering who God has

already declared you to be.

665

: 00:32:22

Which might sound weird, but

when you think about it, it

666

: 00:32:24

makes total sense, right?

667

: 00:32:25

Because what do so many of

our struggles come from?

668

: 00:32:27

It's come from, from

forgetting who we are.

669

: 00:32:30

You feel like you're stuck in sin?

670

: 00:32:31

Oh, I just can't stop doing this.

671

: 00:32:33

I can't stop watching this.

672

: 00:32:34

I can't stop saying that.

673

: 00:32:35

I can't stop thinking that.

674

: 00:32:37

Well, God says you're not

a slave to sin anymore.

675

: 00:32:39

So Romans six says, consider

yourself dead to sin.

676

: 00:32:42

You don't have to do that.

677

: 00:32:44

You can tell yourself, I

don't have to do that anymore.

678

: 00:32:48

You need to believe the right thing about

yourself before you can fight your sin.

679

: 00:32:52

Or maybe you feel like, oh, well

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

680

: 00:32:55

God's gonna take care of me.

681

: 00:32:56

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

gonna work this out this time, the

682

: 00:32:59

situation at my family is really

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

683

: 00:33:02

gonna make it through this thing.

684

: 00:33:03

Or I don't know if I, this my

school's gonna way going to

685

: 00:33:06

go the way I want it to go.

686

: 00:33:07

Or if I share the gospel with my

friends, I dunno what's gonna happen.

687

: 00:33:10

Paul wants you to know

you're loved by God.

688

: 00:33:12

And if you're loved by God,

is God gonna let anything

689

: 00:33:14

that's actually harmful to you?

690

: 00:33:17

Destroy you.

691

: 00:33:18

No, God loves you.

692

: 00:33:20

He's gonna take care of you.

693

: 00:33:21

Right?

694

: 00:33:21

So remembering who you are actually

will help you as a Christian.

695

: 00:33:25

So much of your Christian life is gonna

be remembering who you really are, if

696

: 00:33:29

you are in fact a Christian, right?

697

: 00:33:31

This is useless if you're not a

Christian, because then you're

698

: 00:33:33

just lying to yourself, right?

699

: 00:33:36

But imagine, right?

700

: 00:33:38

Imagine you adopted a dog

from the street, right?

701

: 00:33:41

Like let's say you adopted this dog.

702

: 00:33:44

Right.

703

: 00:33:44

This dog is on the street,

wasn't taken care of very well.

704

: 00:33:47

Imagine you adopted this dog

and you like cleaned it up.

705

: 00:33:50

You made it look super cute and

awesome, and it's all clean, and you

706

: 00:33:54

give it a bed and you start feeding it.

707

: 00:33:56

And then you come home from

school and the dog is gone.

708

: 00:33:59

You're like, where'd dog go?

709

: 00:34:01

And you find out later the dog

is like back on the street.

710

: 00:34:04

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

sleeping under the bridge in a puddle.

711

: 00:34:08

And you're like, what are you doing?

712

: 00:34:10

I adopted you right?

713

: 00:34:11

I I made you my dog.

714

: 00:34:14

Dog.

715

: 00:34:14

Right?

716

: 00:34:15

I, I made you mine.

717

: 00:34:18

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

718

: 00:34:20

I gave you food.

719

: 00:34:22

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

living the way it's supposed to anymore.

720

: 00:34:29

Right?

721

: 00:34:29

This dog doesn't have to go

out there and do those things.

722

: 00:34:32

It anymore.

723

: 00:34:33

It has a new home.

724

: 00:34:34

It a new owner, it's a new,

it's, it's adopted, right?

725

: 00:34:39

It's, it's changed.

726

: 00:34:42

That's what it's like when

Christians go back to our old sins.

727

: 00:34:47

You're like this dog that someone's

adopted and then goes out and lives

728

: 00:34:52

on the street and eats roadkill

and, and God is like, I, I have

729

: 00:34:58

something so much better for you.

730

: 00:34:59

Why are you going back

to what I saved you from?

731

: 00:35:04

When you're a Christian and, and you

commit those same sins that you used to

732

: 00:35:08

use those same words, you think those same

thoughts, you have those same desires.

733

: 00:35:13

It's you going back to the street

and you're saying, I'd rather have

734

: 00:35:18

this than what my father has for me.

735

: 00:35:21

So remember who you are.

736

: 00:35:23

Remember that you're loved by God.

737

: 00:35:25

If you're a Christian and

you are, you're clean, right?

738

: 00:35:27

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

I'm not sure if I could really be.

739

: 00:35:31

Be a Christian 'cause I, I

sinned and, and all this stuff.

740

: 00:35:33

Remember that God says, right, he's

faithful and just forgive sins and

741

: 00:35:39

cleanse you from all in righteousness.

742

: 00:35:41

Remember who you are.

743

: 00:35:42

You're, you're clean,

you're washed by the blood.

744

: 00:35:46

And then also when you become a Christian,

the gospel changes your purpose.

745

: 00:35:51

So it changes your identity who you

are, and it also changes your purpose.

746

: 00:35:56

Or whose you are, because if you read

this verse, the very la first verse is

747

: 00:36:00

gonna be where we, where we end tonight.

748

: 00:36:03

There's someone else here.

749

: 00:36:06

Paul's identity and Paul's role

is dependent on another person.

750

: 00:36:12

You see that all of these

things require someone else.

751

: 00:36:16

A servant needs a master.

752

: 00:36:18

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

someone to do that, needs someone to

753

: 00:36:23

call them, needs someone to send them.

754

: 00:36:25

Then he set apart for the gospel by who?

755

: 00:36:28

Right?

756

: 00:36:28

These are all things that happened

to Paul and they define Paul.

757

: 00:36:33

The gospel has changed who Paul is.

758

: 00:36:35

You remember who Paul was before

this, he was killing Christians.

759

: 00:36:41

He had a different life purpose

and God changed his life purpose.

760

: 00:36:47

He's bought by God.

761

: 00:36:48

So this word servant here means slave.

762

: 00:36:50

If you're a Christian, like that song

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

763

: 00:36:54

God bought you.

764

: 00:36:55

And so God determines your purpose.

765

: 00:36:57

Now, so big picture that flows

into the small things, right?

766

: 00:37:03

That flows into why.

767

: 00:37:04

Why are you, why are you in

the class that you're in?

768

: 00:37:06

Why did you pick the

electives that you picked?

769

: 00:37:09

Why do you hang out with the

people you hang out with?

770

: 00:37:12

Why do you watch the things you watch?

771

: 00:37:14

Why do you say the things you

say, you have a new purpose now

772

: 00:37:17

because you're not yours anymore.

773

: 00:37:19

God bought you and then

you're called, right?

774

: 00:37:23

Paul was called to be an apostle.

775

: 00:37:25

You as a Christian are called to

be wherever God has you right now.

776

: 00:37:30

You're called to be a student.

777

: 00:37:31

Right now you're called

to be a son or a daughter.

778

: 00:37:33

Right now you're called

to be maybe a sibling.

779

: 00:37:37

You're called wherever

God has you right now.

780

: 00:37:38

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

781

: 00:37:41

Maybe you're discontent with that,

but if God wanted you somewhere else,

782

: 00:37:43

guess where you'd be somewhere else.

783

: 00:37:46

If God wanted you to be in a different

family, you'd be in that family.

784

: 00:37:49

If God wanted you at a different

school, you'd be at that school.

785

: 00:37:51

If God wanted you in a different

class, you'd be in that class.

786

: 00:37:53

But God has you where

you are for a reason.

787

: 00:37:54

He's called you there.

788

: 00:37:55

He's put you there, and

that's where you are.

789

: 00:38:02

And then set apart, right?

790

: 00:38:04

He's set apart for the

gospel to share the gospel.

791

: 00:38:06

That's Paul's specific

calling to share the gospel.

792

: 00:38:09

If you think about these, all of these

are are undeserved gifts from God.

793

: 00:38:16

Paul didn't earn these, Paul didn't

earn the privilege of serving God.

794

: 00:38:19

Paul didn't earn the privilege

of preaching the gospel.

795

: 00:38:22

These were all given to him by God.

796

: 00:38:27

So the gospel isn't the kind of

news that you just forget about.

797

: 00:38:33

It's not the kind of

news that you respond to.

798

: 00:38:34

Three days later, the gospel's

an authoritative announcement.

799

: 00:38:37

It comes with.

800

: 00:38:38

Purpose.

801

: 00:38:39

And if, if, if you respond to

it, it'll change who you are.

802

: 00:38:42

It'll change what you do.

803

: 00:38:43

It'll change the way you think.

804

: 00:38:44

It'll change your values.

805

: 00:38:47

And that's because the

gospel is about Jesus.

806

: 00:38:51

The gospel is about the king who's

come to fix everything, to get

807

: 00:38:54

rid of sin, to change the world.

808

: 00:38:57

And we need to respond to that with trust.

809

: 00:39:00

And to put our trust in Jesus means

we're also gonna follow Him and obey him.

810

: 00:39:05

So let's pray and we'll

go to small groups.

811

: 00:39:10

God, thank you for these reminders

that we are who you say we are.

812

: 00:39:15

We know that's so hard for us to believe

that at times we tell ourself things that

813

: 00:39:21

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

in this room right now who is struggling

814

: 00:39:27

to believe that you say who they are,

that you define who we are, that you

815

: 00:39:32

would give us the faith to trust you.

816

: 00:39:34

That we remember that if we are in Christ.

817

: 00:39:37

We are loved by you, that we are

clean, we're forgiven, we are adopted,

818

: 00:39:43

we are welcomed, um, all because

of Jesus and not because of us.

819

: 00:39:47

I also pray for people in this room

who may not have responded to the

820

: 00:39:49

gospel, who have maybe kept suppressing

the truth, pushing it down, and,

821

: 00:39:54

and trying to forget about it.

822

: 00:39:56

I pray that you would convict them and

you would not let them forget about it,

823

: 00:39:59

that they would be bothered until they.

824

: 00:40:02

Trust in you, and I pray for maybe any

Christians in the room who are being

825

: 00:40:08

passive and, um, pushing against the, the

calling that you've given them or the,

826

: 00:40:15

um, identity that, or the purpose that

you've placed on them, that you would

827

: 00:40:19

guide them and help 'em to see that your

plan for them is, is best, that you love

828

: 00:40:23

them and you care about them, and that

the, the work that you have them to do is

829

: 00:40:26

good and fulfilling and satisfying praise.

830

: 00:40:29

In Jesus name.

831

: 00:40:30

Amen.