Romans Chapter 1 : The Righteousness Of God

Just go for a walk like that. I'm not one of those cold weather states. I'm in Texas. It's been beautiful down here, like perfect weather 70, sunny, cool at night. It's been beautiful. But I want to open this up right now. We're gonna start our journey through the book of Romans. But I want to give you guys an opportunity because it's been two weeks. I know God's moving in the lives of, of all of us. I just want to hear what's been going on the last couple weeks. Any God stories, testimonies as you guys drum up the, the courage to be the first one to unmute. I'm going to share with you guys as many of you know, some of you don't know. I Lucy as he and I, we went to Punta Cana for a few days after Christmas, kind of the end of the year trip that Riley, everybody in the company goes on. And when we're flying down to Dominican Republic, you know, it's kind of a long flight. Lucy had her Bible open. I was actually, I was reading as well at the Bible, but then another book as well. And at the like 20 minutes before we land, you know, it's already at the point where, you know, tables are up, seatbelts are on, we're getting ready to land. And the flight attendant, she walks up to me and she says, I want to know what prayer she told you to pray to lead you to Jesus. And I was like, huh, right? She said, yeah, forgive me if it seems creepy. I looked, I looked, I looked you up. She said, I figured you guys had to be, you had to be a pastor involved with ministry. You have the Bible open. Which one is kind of sad, like if you're reading the Bible, you have to be a pastor, right? But whatever. She obviously had my name from the, you know, flight manifesto and she looked me up and apparently what you saw was a clip from when I was actually on Gerard's podcast because spoke about that quite a bit about what Lucy told me to pray and that was when I was an unbeliever and Lucy told me to just wake up every morning and thank God. So it literally the last 20 minutes of the flight and you know, we're like Landon, she was have an opportunity to minister to her. Her son in law is battling alcohol, he and her daughter are talking about divorce. And it was just an unbelievable opportunity to minister to her. Literally right up to the point where like she, we are like about to touch the ground. She's still like holding onto the Chairs, like, talking to us. So it was just a phenomenal opportunity. Um, and Gerard and I were texting yesterday, and when we make Christian content, right, it's for the one, right? We. We have no idea who's going to see it, who's going to hear it, but if it could impact one person's life and Amen. I don't care if myself, if Riley, or if any of you guys have millions of followers, views, any of that. It's not about growing wise, about growing deep. And if you could reach one person with something that you post, then it's like, mission accomplished. So shout out to Gerard for his. That podcast interview that sparked that conversation with this flight attendant. Now. Let's go.

That's awesome.

Yeah. Yeah. And now I just gotta, you know, check my pride. I could just go around, be like, yeah, just Google me. Just Google me.

SEO is amazing, Right? When you use it the right way, SEO is amazing. Yeah. No, that was. I'm glad you shared that, because that comes at a time, you know, like you said, like, you put all this effort and energy into doing things, and then, you know, the resources that you put into it to make it, you know, the way of the world that it has to be today. And you wonder if anybody's going to hear it or see it, because the algorithm doesn't pick it up. But then, like you said, that one person that's looking for it finds it at exactly the right time that they need and gives you the opportunity to witness on an airplane in the middle of the air. And then the impact that's going to make in someone's life, like, that's what it's about. That's the message of the gospel, right?

Amen.

That's it.

A few years back, I was flying home from San Diego, one of the. We had a few Kings Council events out there, like, very early on. And I was flying back from San Diego, and we had started the podcast, and we had released an episode where our wives were on as well. And that was like the episode that was released that week. And we're talking about, like, nobody knows about King's Council yet. Nobody. Surely nobody's listening to the podcast. Riley and I had to bribe our wives to even listen to the podcast, right? And at San Diego Airport, somebody taps me on the shoulder and he goes, are you Christian Edwards? I was like, yeah. He said, oh, my God, I can't believe it's you. I was just listening to your podcast this morning, and I was like, I can't believe it's Me, like, what do you mean? And he said, yeah, I listened to the podcast and my wife listened to it. Like, it blessed us tremendously. I was like, oh, my gosh. Like an airport in San Diego. So, yeah, you just never know. You never know. But God knows. God knows. Every time we hit the record button, every time we post something, every time we open our mouth about Jesus, God knows exactly. Who needs to hear it. Exactly. Who needs to hear it. Exactly.

I just love. I love that, man. We just got to be faithful and do that one podcast without anything. I remember when we were traveling a lot, we were doing a bunch of events. I got stopped in an airport, too. If somebody recognized me from. From an event and just had the opportunity to, like, minister to somebody, like, I. Outside the first class lounge, like, just in. In a random airport somewhere because they saw my shirt and recognized me, it was like, you just never. You never know. Like, God's got all of these intersections and things. It's all planned up, but we just have to remain, you know, we just have to remain faithful and just step out and do what we're. And just. Just live our lives, you know, doing those things.

Amen. Now they recognize you from a King's council event or. Yeah, as world renowned, you know, inventor and entrepreneur. That was on Shark Tank.

No, no, no, no, it was definitely. No, it was definitely, definitely from the King's Council.

Yeah.

Okay. Okay, gotcha. And I'm digging the hair, Raj. Letting the hair grow a little bit. Yeah, a little bit.

Yeah. Look at that.

Good stuff. Good stuff. So somebody else. Go ahead, Gerard.

I was just gonna say that's impressive, Roger. I'm a little bit jealous, I have to admit. I mean, I shouldn't be jealous, but I'm.

That's.

That's pretty impressive.

So somebody else on mute. Talk to me, Jonathan. You're unmuted. You got something. You're unmuted, but I can't hear you. There you go. I got.

We better now?

Yes.

Oh, okay. All right. Yeah. No, I love those God stories. Like, I think for me, just this last couple weeks, the, you know, through ups and downs, vision of the new year, getting a word from God can bring so much certainty in life. And I, like, live by a word each year usually, or theme. And it's funny, it sounds like Christian. Yours and eyes are pretty similar. Mine's prosperity this year. And usually sometimes the last couple years, I haven't got confirmation on a word or theme until a couple weeks into the new year, but I was like, halfway through December, I Was like, yep, that's definitely the word. Got a ton of confirmation. And so it's been, I think, like, it's a cool over the last, like, couple weeks during Christmas to have a. Have a word and, and be able to kind of set the intention and kind of just get a peek at what God wants to do this year. So I'm excited for this year.

Amen. Amen. Prosperity. I love it. Yes, Raj. He said his is steadfast, and he shared with me yesterday how he. He came to that word, but certainly makes sense. Steadfast. For me, it's increase. And you guys know me well enough that I'm going to give you the word of God. I'm going to give you truth. I'm not into prosperity messages as far as, like a. A false prosperity message. Obviously, we're called to. To prosper 1,000%, but, you know, somebody typically gives you a word of increase. You know, I've been to plenty of services where it's about increase, and usually it's just about financial blessings. Right. But the Lord just kept giving me that word like he's gonna release the increase this year. And I don't think it's just a word for. For me personally. I know it's a word for me personally, but I don't think it's just a word for me. I think it's for the church. There's going to be just an increase in elevation across the board. And of course, that starts with our faith.

Right.

And I've told you before, if you're praying for increased faith, usually what comes along with that is something that isn't so great or prosperous that leads to that faith. But, um, I. I have such an optimism and excitement about 2026. I can't remember the last time I went into a year where I. I was this excited about a year. So my word is increase. Sunny said gratitude. That's great. Anybody else have a word or. You know, we didn't talk about it much last week when we ended the, you know, the 2025 season of Bible study. But having a word, seeking the Lord, not just picking a word. There's plenty. You could just choose. But really seeking God as to what your theme will be for the year. And increase isn't just about, you know, every week. I'm expecting my bank account to have or a higher balance. It's everything. My devotion to the Lord, capacity, discipline. Right. Things that are in my hands. If God's given me in increase across the board, then my, my discipline needs to be Increased as well. My obedience needs to be increased. Anybody else have anything for the year? Consistency. Love that. Can't go wrong with consistency. Anybody? Everybody's quiet. Open up the year 2026. I'm pumped up. Everybody's quiet. Everybody's quiet.

I've got something for you. Our the word for the year for us is stewardship. There's been a lot of opportunities to collaborate with other people and it's just for me, the, the word that the Lord has really put on my heart is just stewardship. Because, you know, I have a lot of responsibilities already, some new opportunities and obviously a new baby and just taking care of what the Lord has already blessed me with and making sure that I'm taking care of the things that he's already put in my lap to lead and guide those well, instead of bringing more on myself because I have a tendency of bringing more on myself than what I can handle. And I feel like God can grow me a lot with what I already have instead of trying to take on more out of some sort of sense of excitement or pride that really isn't from God. So just taking care of the things that I've already got rather than trying to bring more in. That's why stewardship is kind of our theme for the year.

Amen. Just because your theme is stewardship, we're going to send you a free copy of book 3 of the Kingdom Entrepreneur series where there's a whole chapter on stewardship. Finally done with book three. Finally done. It was a painstakingly, well, rewarding process to get that book done. And yeah, and Riley was kind enough to put me down as co author. So, you know, it's book three by Riley Meek in it. And when you guilted him into that.

For the second, for the last book.

When you guys see the COVID you'll see it. If you get a magnifying glass out, you'll see at the very, the very bottom will say co authored by Christian Edwards. So just look out for that. We're by the end of this week, we should have the Kindle version. Then we're going to have a marketing campaign for it probably next week. But you guys will be in the loop for sure. For sure. And we'll send out an email to everybody about that. But, yeah, pumped about that. And honestly, not just because I am co author of the book, but the book is good. The book is good. There's actually a chapter called Call to Increase as well. And I don't know if it's because I've been working on this book for the last six months that my word is increase. I don't know if it was more subliminal. Just kidding. It truly was from God. Truly was. Leslie, don't know your word yet, but fasting year, starting with coffee. Okay, good, good. Yeah. Fasting. If you don't have a word or don't know a word or don't know where to start in seeking the Lord, fasting is always a good way to. To start and draw near to him. Being that we've been away for a couple weeks and, you know, just missed the fellowship, obviously, I encourage you guys to speak up on anything. Anything on your hearts today. But I am excited to get into the book of Romans. I didn't necessarily think we'd be going through the book of Romans, and. But that's what the Lord pressed upon my heart over these last couple weeks. Roger just dropped the notes for today's study. The goal is to get through all of chapter one today. But knowing myself and you guys knowing me, there's a slim chance we get through all of chapter one today. But Romans is a phenomenal book. Phenomenal book. It's noted as being the most theological and systematic among all the books of the New Testament. And it's been called the manifesto of the Christian life. And you could pretty much discover the theme of Romans by looking at some of the words that are used most frequently. The word God is used 153 times, right? So one in every 46 words in the book of Romans is God. Law is used 78 times. And it doesn't always refer to the law of Moses. Sometimes it just means a principle or like a rule in operating life. Righteousness 66 times, faith 62 times, gospel 12 times. And when you put these words together, really, the theme of the book is made clear. It's how we're made righteous before God. By faith. And it's not by works. It's not by the law of Moses, but it's by our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is the good news. This is the. The gospel. And we know that the gospel is that Christ, he came to this earth, he died, he. He was crucified, he was buried for three days, and he rose again. We know that that's the gospel, but what. What does the gospel mean to you? Like, what is the. The good news of the gospel? What? Because really, the theme verse could be found in verses 16 and 17 of chapter one, where Paul declares, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it. It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The, the good news. It's like, yes, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. And that gospel again is the, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But the, the good news to me is that there's a God that loves me despite me. The good news to me is that despite all my uncleanliness, my unrighteousness, that God could wipe the slate clean. And all it takes is my true faith, my dependence, my reliance upon Jesus Christ. That's remarkable that the grace of God, that unmerited favor, but getting what we don't deserve, this new life, this resurrection life that we have, the Holy Spirit, the actual presence of God himself by way of the Holy Spirit living within us. And then when you have the presence of God living within you, what do you get? You get peace that you've never had before in your life, before he came into your life. You get a strength, a boldness, a courage, all that comes with that. So the gospel, although it is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, as Paul says in Corinthians, but the good news for me is that, man, there's answers out there. When we're seeking, when we want fulfillment, when we have these curiosities, there's answers out there. The remedy for most of the problems we have is Jesus. The answer for all the longings of our soul, the thirst of our soul, the longing of our flesh is Jesus. And that's not just good news. That's great news. That's miraculous news. That's phenomenal news. That's the best news anybody could possibly here. Now, Romans has played a factor in every great revival the, the church has ever seen. And I didn't know some of this until I really started diving into this particular study. But Augustine, back in the fourth century A.D. the great Augustine, he. He was actually saved because of the book of Romans. In the summer of 386 A.D. a young man wept in the backyard of a friend he knew his life of sin and rebellion against God left him empty and feeling dead. But he just couldn't find the strength to make a final, real decision for Jesus Christ. As he sat, he heard children playing a game. And they called out to each other these words, take up and read, take up and read, thinking God had a message to him. In the words of the children he picked up a scroll laying nearby and began to read. The scroll where he started reading said, not in reveling and drunkenness, but not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. That's Romans 13, 13, 14. He didn't read any further. And through the power of God's word, in particular that scripture right there, Augustine gained the faith to give his whole life to Jesus Christ at that moment. And then the Martin Luther. Right, the, the. The Protestant Reformation, that, that whole revival, essentially that Martin Luther paved the way for what was greatly impacted by the Book of Romans. In 1513, Martin Luther, who was a monk, he was, you know, the, the Catholic Church was pretty much Christianity at the time. And he lectured on the Book of Psalms to seminary students. But in his life, there was just inner turmoil. While he was studying, he came across Psalm 31:1 that said, in thy righteousness deliver me. Now, that passage confused Luther. And Luther always had this understanding of God's righteousness as God is righteous, and because he's righteous and I'm not, I'm gonna feel the wrath of God. It was almost this. This just fearful, not in a healthy, like, reverent fear of God, but this outlook of God that, that he's righteous. He's so good, I can't possibly please him. I can't possibly come close to him. But he came to understand through the Book of Romans that when that talks so much of God's righteousness, remember we said righteousness is mentioned 66 times, that the righteous righteousness of God isn't a righteous God just impending or imputing wrath upon unrighteous man. It's a righteous God imputing his own righteousness unto unrighteous man. And when he had that aha moment, he, he essentially that's. That's when he wrote his 95 theses and left the. The Catholic Church and started this great Protestant Reformation. But it's through the Book of Romans where you truly get to understand what the righteousness of God really means. And yes, God is righteous, God is holy, and we should fear him. We should have reverence for him. But going back to the good news, what's the good news is that this righteous judge, that in this righteous Creator that we can't hold a candle to as far as us in our walk and us being so imperfect, us sinning even as believers, the holiest of Christians still sins. Now, as I've talked about before being a devout follower of Jesus Christ. Does it make you sinless? But you are going to sin less.

Right.

But the, the Book of Romans just allow Martin Luther to have this aha moment. And, and that's really what it, the, the character, the deity of Jesus and who he is. Yes, he, he's righteous. And it's the same, you know, righteous, wrathful God. Right? A God who hates evil in the New Testament is Old Testament. Anybody who says the God of the Old Testament is, is different than the God of the New Testament doesn't know the Old Testament or New Testament. Right. It's the same God through and through. And he's righteous, he's holy. And he calls us to be holy because he is holy. And we become holy when we are, are saved and we're sanctified, we're set apart and we, and, but our job is to get as close to Jesus as we possibly can. And when we do, we are going to be holier and holier and holier. It's not just trying to perform a life that's holy. That would be what the Pharisees did. And Jesus had some words for, some harsh words for them as to how hypocritical they were because inside they were, they were just dead and rotting while the outside looked all polished and shiny. Now Martin Luther would go on to write a commentary on the Book of Romans, which was instrumental in the ministry of John Wesley in May of 1738. John Wesley at that point was a failed minister and missionary. And he reluctantly went to a small Bible study where somebody was reading aloud from Martin Luther's Commentary on Romans. And John Wesley would say about this while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation. And an assurance was given me that he had taken my sins away, even mine. And that's the night John Wesley was saved in London in 1738. And Romans can be, I mean, we just finished the Book of Revelation in October and that could be a tough book to, to read through. Romans could be tough just because you could read this and be like, man, I am so far from God, I'm so distant from God, I'm so imperfect. But when we, and my goal is to truly dive into this book and to, to really capture the, the totality of the Book of Romans so we could appreciate it just like all these other great men of God did. A lot of churches, they'll, they'll schedule like A revival night. And I've yet to gone to a revival where, you know, it just like systematically walked through the Book of Romans, but the Book of Romans, it is so instrumental in so many rival revivals throughout church history. You know, I think this nation needs a revival. Clearly, you know, mayor of New York City on January 1st got sworn in with the San on the Quran. Right. We see what's going on in this nation and we desperately need a revival. And I don't think that any church could schedule a revival, you know, next Thursday night revival. It's good. I understand the, the idea with it, but I think that my prayer for everybody as we walk through this book, and I don't know how long it's going to take. Will it be 16 weeks or 16 chapters? Probably not, but probably won't be as long as the Book of Revelation or the Book of Acts or maybe even the Gospel of John that we walk through. Now chronologically, Romans follows the Book of Acts, and we did walk through the Book of Acts two years ago. But chronologically the, the Book of Romans was written. It would have been in Acts 18, like during that time when Paul was in Corinth. So that's when he actually wrote to the Romans. And what we're going to see here in chapter one, that Paul desperately wanted to visit Rome, desperately wanted to, but he was hindered always in one way or another. And in Acts 23, Jesus appeared before Paul and told him, you know, essentially, you've been faithful to me here in Jerusalem and, and, and making your way out Samaria, and I'm going to send you to be that faithful witness in Rome. Now, like a lot of our answer prayers, you know, you could imagine Paul would be getting, yes, finally going to get to Rome, that this is going to be, you know, maybe my fourth missionary trip. But it didn't go down exactly how Paul probably expected it to go down. He wound up making his way to Rome finally in Acts 28, as a prisoner, he was on a prison ship that made its way to Rome. So he had been incarcerated for a few years. He finally appealed to Caesar, which was his right as a Roman citizen, and he made his way on a grain ship with a bunch of other prisoners to Rome. Now, unlike a lot of the other epistles that, that Paul wrote, which were to correct the church, a lot of those churches he founded and then had to quickly correct the church in Rome was thriving at this time, that there was Jews, there was Gentiles. And I, I find it interesting when Jesus says in Acts 1:1:8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So to the uttermost parts of the earth. Even though Rome was essentially center of the world at the time, in regard to Jerusalem, that would be the uttermost part of the earth. And when Jesus said this, Paul wasn't even a saved man. That didn't come till Acts chapter nine. And Paul was responsible for being the, the vessel that God used to bring the gospel to some of these uttermost parts of the earth, the ends of the earth. But he wasn't responsible for bringing the gospel to Rome. It's, excuse me, pretty much universally accepted that we know that some Jews from Rome had gone to, to Jerusalem for Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and that today of Pentecost, when the greatest outpouring the Holy Spirit occurred, that there were Jews that got saved and made their way back to Rome and started a church. And this was a thriving church.

Church.

And Paul didn't start the church, but there's 36 different names of people who are at that church in Rome that Paul actually lists in this book of Romans by name. So he knew them. We're going to see here, that he, he prayed for them. He did not cease to, to pray for them. And he wanted to go there. And this is what I love about Paul. One, he's praying relentlessly for people he doesn't know. Right. He's just heard about them or, you know, however he knows these individual names, but he's always praying for them. But then he wants to go not just so he could be a blessing to them, but so that they could be a blessing to him, which is remarkable. Think about that and just think about your own pride for a second when you're in a room of people who are ahead of you in the faith and more mature. They've been in ministry for a number of years. They, they could quote more scriptures than you even know are in the Bible and you're like, oh man, I'm just out of my league with this. Well, Paul had this mentality where no matter where you are in your faith now, the faith that they had in Rome, that they were known throughout the world for their faith, that's what it's about. It's not being known for how many verses you could recite or memorize. It's not about, you know, being the best theological expository teacher on planet Earth. It's about your faith. And Paul wanted to be around that. He wanted to be around other believers who are just on fire for Jesus. And no matter where you are in your walk, don't ever think that you can't bring something to the table around people who are ahead of you or more seasoned in their walk. And likewise, if you are somebody who season in your faith, got years of ministry, Bible training under your belt, don't ever think for a second that you can't glean something from somebody who is a babe in Christ. I, I think it's always good to be around those babes in Christ because they're so on fire for the Lord. And sometimes, you know, I look back when I was first saved and I remember the note that I still have on my phone today. One of the, the many questions I wrote down as I'm trying to make my way through scripture was how was Joseph, Jesus Father in the New Testament if he's all the way back here in Genesis? Like, I didn't even know there's people in the Bible who had the same name. I was like, if I see Joseph, there's got to be one Joseph in all scripture, right? But so obviously I wasn't exactly fit to teach the Bible at the time, but I had such a heart and such a hunger and a fire in my belly for, for Jesus that I was able to make impact on those around me. So Paul, if anybody's qualified and, and could take up that, that position where, oh, that. I, I already know that. Imagine being around Paul, like in, in heaven. I've told you many times, he's one of the first people I'm going to go and grab a cup of coffee with in heaven, which after reading Revelation, we know it's probably not going to be like that. However, in my mind, I'm still going to go and, and try to ask him for a cup of coffee. But you can imagine Paul, it's like, what could I possibly share with this guy that he doesn't already know? What, what could I possibly say to this guy that he hadn't been through to like, to the extreme? Like, I, I could share my testimony, which is a radical testimony. And he's like, well, yeah, that's, that's cute, kid, but this is my life, right? But Paul just had that heart posture where, no, I'm gonna glean whatever I could glean from everybody around me. So with that said, let's get into it. We got 22 minutes to go. So I'm gonna read the first 17 verses and then we'll dissect it a bit. Romans, chapter one, verse one. Paul, A bond. Servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name, among whom you also are called of Jesus Christ to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints in your. Your Bible there to be may be in italics if you see italics in your Bible. It's something that the translators put so we could get a greater understanding, and this is probably an instance where it's not necessary. We're not called to be saints like it's something that we. We strive for. We're called saints. We are saints. Once we're saved, we're set apart. We're plucked out of darkness. We are saints. Paul says grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. As I mentioned before, it's like, man, if you're going to be known for something, be known for that. If the world knows anything about. About Christian Edwards, let it be. He. He had faith, man. He had faith that was just like. Like radical faith. Didn't even make any sense. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers, making a request, if by some means, now at last, I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. Remember, as he's writing this, this is back in. Excuse me. While he was in corinth in chapter 18 of Acts. So he so desperately wanted to make his way to Rome. He says, for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me, Right? So he's like, yeah, I. I want to go be a blessing, and I want to be blessed as well. I want to be encouraged by your faith. Now, I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you, but was hindered until now that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles, I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and unwise. The, the Greeks and barbarians may read that's like, wow, what the heck is that? Well, to a Jew you were either a Jew or a Gentile, a Jew or a non Jew. And oftentimes the Gentiles were called Greeks because that was the, that was the culture. When Alexander the the Great came in and they usurped the Medo Persian Empire, his goal was, was culture. Everybody was going to speak that Greek language and he was effective at it and it was quite effective for the will of God as well. So Paul's a debtor to the Greeks because the, the Greeks, these, these Gentiles, these non Jews and the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire did establish, you know, a peace, right, that they, they ruled with an iron fist. But now there's a piece. But they, they developed a great transportation system as well when the Roman Empire usurped the Greek Empire. And with that Paul, you know, a lot of times we, we utilize technology. It could be a burden, it could be a hindrance to us, but we utilize it for good. Well, when Rome built a great transportation system, Paul definitely used that for good. So he's, he's a debtor because of that. It's like, yeah, but without that I wouldn't be able to, to go on these missionary journeys and start all these churches. But he says to the barbarians as well. Now the barbarians. Hold on, but excuse me one second. Lucy had to go to work early. Watch that for a bit. So the, as I said, the Jews, they only saw two people groups, Jews and Gentiles. Well the Gentiles or the Greeks, they only saw two, either a Greek or a barbarian. You're, if you're a barbarian, you were, you didn't know the language, you weren't as classy or dignified. So Paul goes on in verse 15. So as much as in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome. Also Paul's ready. I love that. And I, I asked all of you, are you ready to preach the gospel? Are you ready if God put somebody in your path today? Are you ready to preach the gospel? Paul was, was ready. He wrote to Timothy, be ready in season and out of season, meaning never not be ready to open your mouth and share Jesus. And then as I said, this is kind of the theme, verse or verses in the book of Romans. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it is the right. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. From faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. And that quotes from Habakkuk2. 4. The just shall live by faith. So he's not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God, the salvation, the power of God that Dunamis power. It's the power of God. It's the, the gospel, the, the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ that with. If Christ didn't rise from the grave, if he didn't resurrect, there would be no gospel. There would be no faith. Was the power of God's salvation. It's such a. A potent verse and there's so much there. And who, who does it apply to? It's everyone who believes, right? And when we get to chapter eight, we're going to talk about predestination and things like that and the elect, we're going to talk about all that. But who is this gospel for? Who is it that. This power? Who. Who is this opportunity to be released, to be freed from the bondage of sin, to, to go from being a slave to righteousness to a slave. I'm sorry, a slave to sin to a slave of righteousness. Because we're all slaves of something. We're all slaves to something or somebody. Every one of us. We're all drawn to different things that we all could probably. Those of us who've been walking with the Lord, we could probably all look back and see the things that, that we were drawn to and really had a hold of us that we were in bondage to in our life. And we're a slave to those things. Idolatry. We live our lives for, for. For things other than Jesus. Anything that takes the. That sits at the. On the throne of your heart. If it ain't Jesus, then that's idolatry. It could be family member. You know, there's a lot of unhealthy relationships like, like parent child relationships where the, the parent will absolutely live for their kids. Everything is about their kids, kids, kids. And usually it's just simply them trying to find a void in their life that can only be filled with, with Jesus and they make their child their everything and it turns into an unhealthy codependent relationship. But this, this power of God, the salvation, this gospel call, this gospel message, the one that Paul was always so, so ready to preach. It's so Important, So important that we're, we're ready to preach it. And it's a message that doesn't just change lives, the change changes eternities. Eternities. Trying to think, we have 13 minutes. Trying to think how much I want to dive in now. Well, let me, let me open it up to, to you guys now. Now. Oh, I love that, Gerard. Romans 1:5, verse 5. Here it says, through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith. Now that apostleship, what we're all called, you know, you may not have the office of apostle, and you're certainly not going to have the same office of apostleship that Paul did, who actually, you know, today an apostle would be like a, a sent out one, right? So we're all apostles in that regard. And you know, you may not have that, that title or walk in the office of apostle, but we really do as far as apostleship, and we receive grace and apostleship. And even, you know, Paul, he was devout as a Pharisee, right? And even the word, word Pharisee is to mean, it means separatist, right? If you're a Pharisee, you're separate. And they, they saw that as like, we're the elite, we're the upper escalon, echelon, where the elite. And now what Paul is saying here in this first half of the passage is he's saying, yeah, I was separate and I was, I was faithful in my calling, in my duty, but now I'm an apostle to Christ. It's now, it's not, I'm at this level, it's now crisis all the way up here, the highest level. And I'm a bond servant to him. I'm this, this curious, right? The, the word in the Greek, this bond servant. And I'm the slave to Christ. And a bond servant was one. Now I, I, I love that Paul starts all his letters saying that he was a, he's a bond servant and a bond servant. When you're a bond servant, oftentimes, you know, you were indebted somebody or something like that. But every seven years, the, the year of jubilee, you had an opportunity to be freed from your master. And a lot of times those, those slaves, they were like, now my masters treat me great. And what they would do is they would get like an earring essentially, that says I belong to, right? So when we think of bond servant, it wasn't just the role of master and slave and what we kind of think in the west here, what slavery is, he's a bond Servant, he's willing. It's like, no, I'm a willful servant. I'm willfully enslaved to my master, because if I'm not enslaved to him, I'm going to be enslaved ultimately to the devil and whatever advice he has for me. But let's talk about that for a bit. We've received grace for obedience. So it's unmerited favor and, and the obedience. And I love that. Although. And part of Martin Luther and him, you know, coming from the, the Catholic Church, where, especially at the time where it was very workspaced, you know, one of his big issue issues was penances, where you have to pay a certain amount to the church to be forgiven sin, right? So that was one of his big issues. And he reads this and he says, wait a second. I've been called through grace and apostleship, through, through the grace of God. It's just unmerited favor. God. God called me when I was in my muck and meer, and he called me out to, to not just save me, but then send me out and to be obedient to him. Faith without works is dead, right? So if there's no works that follows your faith, it's a dead faith. It just is. It works is the natural evolution or the natural fruit that comes from a true faith. You can't help but. But get up every day just with this joy and giddiness and zeal to serve Jesus without that real faith, right? But if it is real faith, you get up and part of the works is the discipline, the obedience of spending time with the Word in worship and prayer and getting closer to him, closer to him, closer to him. And then the closer you get to Jesus, the more like Jesus you will be. Kind of like any other relationship you have. The more time you spend with somebody, the more you're going to wind up being like that person. That's why it's important who, who you keep company with. Right? That's why, you know, everybody's met the person who's like, yeah, well, the strippers got to get Mr. Too, too. So I'm gonna go down to the strip club or I'm gonna go down to the bar. You know, a lot of sinners in there. I'm going to minister to them. Well, guess what? Most likely they're going to have more influence on you than you have on them. But Gerard, you have. See you, your camera's on. Do you have any words you want to share about that verse?

No, I was going to say to me, I always look at the beginning and the end of a chapter. I feel like that always puts the main focus there. And to me as I'm reading this, Paul's writing is. It's the obedience of faith. It's not just winning to win people over, it's to really get them to understand what faith is and then to obey it, right? To do and allow those works to work through to make that impact and change in their life and then their land that isn't living to that way at that time, you know, so it's like, what does that obedience of faith look like in our life? You know, are we being obedient to our faith? Where are we drawing that from? And are we hearing his voice and are we following him? You know, so it's just that obedience is really just, you know, I feel like that's really a word for me lately in the season is really just that true obedience to me, because I just see a lot of like, culture, cool Christianity. I'm just gonna say it, you know, and you don't see the reverence for what it is, you know, because like you said, he's holy, right? He set us apart. So if we're holy, God wants to indwell in us, we must also be holy, right? So like, how do we do that if we're not obedient to our faith, to His Word.

Amen. Amen. And like you said, so you looked at, you said you look at the beginning, end of the chapter. So you saw at the end of the, the chapter where it says obedience to faith as well.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

So what Gerard is talking about is the last passage in Romans 16, Paul's benediction. And he does, he bookends that this obedience and faith together at the beginning and the end, he says now to him who's able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God. For obedience to the faith, to God alone, wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Yeah, that's great. Pickup, Gerard. He bookends that obedience and faith at the beginning and end of the book of Romans. And obedience doesn't just mean obedient to the explicit commands of Scripture. Obedience to, you know, cut sin out of your lives. Not just sin, but the, the weight, as it says in Hebrews, that easily ensnares us. Right, to lay that aside. But obedience I'm not gonna put them on blast. But Joe Lee, who's on this call, just told me a couple days ago, God spoke clearly to him. He had to cut something out of his life. That, and he's like, I just know God's saying, don't do this. And it's not something that's sinful, something that could probably be argued has been a blessing in his life. And he said, I just know God is saying, I, I gotta cut that out, I gotta do that. And oftentimes, has anybody been in that had one of these dialogues with God where you're trying to convince him, like, oh, I don't think I need to cut that out. I'm pretty sure it's like, no, I, I, no, this is actually helpful for me in, in my ministry. Right? I don't know if you have, but I sure have. Right? Do I really need to cut that out? And I, I think a lot of those times God, God could take something that's so completely random. And it's just a simple test. It's a simple test. And he's saying, okay, I'm giving you a command. And the fact that we even hear God's voice, right, in that regard, where our spirit can know that God's speaking to us and speaking to us clearly, what are we going to do with that? What are we going to do with that? Are we going to dismiss. Hold on. But I'm almost done. Go ahead. What are we going to do with that command? And when we're faithful over being obedient in those minor tests that God gives us, then he's going to entrust us with more and more. But you know, think about, we all want greater finances in our lives. We all want that, right? But can we be entrusted? Can we be entrusted? Because God knows our hearts better than we know our own hearts. And God knows the, the snare that money could be. The, the God that it could be. We can't serve both, both God and Mammoth right now. If God tests us in that regard, why wouldn't he test us? Just kind of see where we're at. And he already knows where we're at. But it's more for us, for it to be revealed to us. Like, oh, man, I sucked, I failed that test. Right? He already knows. He knows if we're gonna pass or fail, but it's for us to, to, to really come into alignment with, with his perspective of where we are ourselves. But any other thoughts on that verse or any other verses that are pricking your hearts this morning.

I think that's super good Christian. I think that what you were highlighting there about obedience is so good going into this. Obedience in faith also, like it's not always going to make sense. Right. You don't always have all the answers and the cookie cutter like answers, but like that's, that's the, that's the, the lifestyle that we're called to walking that out in faith. So not just saying it, but actually doing it.

Yes. Amen. Obedience is better than sacrifice. I'm starting to lose my voice, which is not good because I'm about to hit the road after this for some seminars where I gotta do some speaking. So. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, Donald. Yeah, I, I just, I changed my signature on my Gmail account to bond servant of the Lord Christ Jesus. And that has sparked several conversations. It just perks people's. It's something that gets their attention. It's like, ah, that's different. So yeah, that's good man. And the, the key is not just calling yourself a bond servant, but being a bond servant. Right. For, for all of us, not just you, Donald, for all of us to, to be that bond servant. To know that Jesus, he is our master. Right. And I know Riley has spoken on this quite a bit of us seeing Jesus as a savior, but not Lord, right. Where he's have lordship in every area of our life. The grosses. Oh, Roger, go ahead.

I just wanted to say, Christian, you know, you keep talking about this like, you know, Paul's gonna be the first person to, you know, that you want to have copy with. I think that Paul would be excited to have coffee with you too. I mean, you think about, think about, think about like the perspective that, that, that you have versus he has and, and, and everything, all the knowledge that you have. You've got the complete works right there. And how, you know, I'm sure that he'd love to pick your brain just, just as well. So don't, don't sell yourself short. I think that Paul get a lot out of that conversation as well.

Well, thank you, Raj. Don't get me too puffed up now. You know, I got people googling me on a plane. You're telling me, you know, Paul wants to pick my brain. I gotta stay humble now, now, Raj. But I, I do appreciate it. I, I really do. And I, I was never one where, you know, you go to some event and afterwards everybody wants to talk to, you know, the, the big name pastor, whoever. And then I've found myself where it's like I'm Tracking down the drummer or like, you know, the. The guy singing background. Because I just see, like, they got so much joy, and you just see that their heart for the Lord. I want to talk to that guy, right? And that's just how I always found myself. And that's really where. Where Paul was as far as. Listen, you're on fire for your faith. Everybody knows you for your faith. I want to spend some time with you. Because when you're on fire for the Lord, it's contagious. It is. It's absolutely contagious. When you're on fire for the Lord, I want to remain fired up for the Lord. I'm going on, gosh, in October will be 14 years walking with the Lord, which is wild. 14 years. But I. I don't want the fire in my belly that, you know, when people say, oh, you're still on fire for Christ, it's like, yeah, yeah. Still 14 years into this. 20 years into this. 30 years into it, God willing, 50 years into it. Still on fire for the Lord, still on fire. Zach and Lauren, I know you got something. Lauren, I know you. You're probably going to defer to Zach.

I was gonna say something, but I think Lauren was telling me she really has something that she wants to share. I'm just kidding. No, so. So reading these first few verses, it just reminds me of, like, the movie White Christmas just coming out of the holiday season. You know, like Wallace and Davis. We've all seen that movie, right? Okay. So these two guys. These two. It's like a Christmas classic. I hadn't seen it since. Until, like, five, seven years after we were married. So it's a big thing in Lauren's family. It's a classic. Two guys shared a military career. One guy was, like, traveling and. And singing. The other guy was. Was there when there was an attack, and he, like, pushed him out from a brick wall that was getting ready to fall. Anyway, he uses that I saved your life as leverage then to kind of strong arm this guy into a career with him. Throughout the entire movie. It's the. Oh, and, oh, man, my. Because he had an injury, he's. Oh, you know, whatever. He has to convince him. Just remembering, you know, that moment, hey, I saved your life. And the guy's like, man, if somebody ever, like. If somebody ever tries to, like, save your life, just, like, push them out of the way, you know, like, don't let them or something. But I just feel like that's a lot of times Paul's tactic, and when he talks, it's like, he'll say things like, oh, who, by the way, you like, you. You owe me your very life. Like those types of things. And, and it's just funny. He's always trying to, like, paint the perspective. He's like, painting the scenery before he paints the actual thing that he's talking about. And then there's just a mark of excellence to that. Like, end of verse four, going into verse five, it says, jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship. So we owe everything to him to bring about obedience, faith, for the sake of his name. That says, including you who are called to belong to Jesus, are loved by God and called saints. Like, it's basically like, it's all positioning, making sure we see God and his authority, making sure we see our place relative to that, making sure that we see, hey, we have it better than we deserve. So at that point, anything else that he goes to ask for us, is it really an ask? We already owe him everything. You know, he's already, Lord, we're already called to be saints. You know, it's like he qualifies everything before he's even giving any type of direction or instruction or correction on all of his letters. And it's just, you think about it like what Gerard said, like culture. What, what did you call it?

Gerard?

Culture? Oh, he's gone. But basically it's Christianity that plays nice with culture. And I'll have to ask him what that phrase was because I enjoyed it. But he, he paints this or demonstrates this way to, to not back down from that, to have boldness, like, like, just like you said, you know, verse 16, where it's like, I'm unashamed. Well, he's totally unashamed. He doesn't let him off easy. He doesn't let us off, like, to make excuses. We have no room for that. And he lays it on thick and he sticks to his guns and, and that's, you know, for as many things we give fall crap about, like, we can, we can respect that, right? And, and I admire that and want to be more like that. If I've got something to, to say to someone, like, you've given me the advice in the past, like, don't like, apologize after you say something, right? To kind of stick to that and have conviction. And obviously Paul had some, some significant conviction just in the way that he writes and in the way that he communicates, in the way that he calls us, even today, to be more. And to be more devoted and to be more committed to Christ. And it's so cool to see that and how that hasn't changed. Even though culture has changed, even though the way that people interact and relationships have changed, that this still is applicable today. It's just like there's no doubt that this is the words of God, that these were inspired. Because if I wrote a letter today, I would hope somebody knew what I was even talking about a thousand years from now. Whereas this is all. I mean, it cuts right to the heart. So, yeah, I'm excited to get into this study.

Amen.

It was culture, cool Christianity.

Culture, cool Christianity. Amen. Amen. So we'll pick up next week in verse 18. And I didn't mention this at the beginning, but Paul, like every major biblical, biblical doctrine is found in the book of Romans. And, And Paul kind of breaks this up, speaking of, you know, the. Just how strategic Paul was and just the. The way he writes and how it flows. But Book of Romans is broken up into four sections, and that is the wrath of God, the grace of God, the plan of God for both the Jew and the Gentile, and then the will of God and the life of the believer. The section on the wrath of God starts next week with verse 18. And that goes from Romans 1:18 to 3:20. Then the grace of God is Romans 3:21, to Romans 8:39, which is the land of chapter 8, and then the plan of God, chapters 9 through 11. Then the will of God for the believer, the rest of the book 12 through 16. So, yeah, I'm excited to dive into this and I think where we're all gonna grow, not just in our knowledge of the Lord, but just establish a greater, healthier reverence for him, which is always good. It's never a bad thing to grow in your fear of the Lord.

Right.

Lack of fear of the Lord, I think, is why the church is in its current state, corporately, why we see so many pastors fail or fall and. Or both fail and fall and just ultimately why the. The church is not in a thriving position that it could be today, or what you would see when you read through scripture of what the church is and what it's meant to be, what it should be. So I think we're all going to grow tremendously. Now go watch White Christmas. Yeah, Christmas is over. Christmas is over. We. Lucy was very sure to take down every Christmas decoration right the day after Christmas because we were going on vacation A couple days later when we came back from Punta Cana, we didn't want to have to deal with. With Christmas stuff. But speaking of Christmas movies, little plug for one of my good friends. I have a friend named Mark Nathan from Chicago. He made a movie a couple weeks ago before, well, week before Christmas. He had the premiere of it down here in Dallas. It's called Christmas in Chicago. And he premiered it in like 12 different cities. And I think most likely Netflix is gonna pick it up. And I'll be on Netflix for next year, so I'll mention it to you, whether it's Netflix or whatever streaming device picks it up. But it was a good Christmas movie. Christmas in Chicago, it was good. More of a chick flick type Christmas movie, like they all kind of are. But yeah, it was good nonetheless. I like chick flicks. Hope that doesn't offend anybody saying chick flick. You guys know what I mean? Anyhow, chick flick, meaning a rugged, masculine guy should probably shouldn't boast about watching it, basically. But anyhow, love you guys. If you haven't thought of a word for 2026 or even thought about praying about it, give it some thought, seek the Lord on it and report back to us next week. But bless you guys, have an awesome week. And I'm expecting a phenomenal 2026 for each and every one of us. See you guys. Love you. Go.

Thanks, Christian.