Romans 1:16-17, The Power of the Good News

 ¹⁶I am proud of the good news! It is God's powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. ¹⁷The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith.  It is just as the Scriptures say, "The people God accepts because of their faith will live."

Now  we know why Paul was so specific a few verses back when he defined the Gospel as the story of Jesus...fully God and fully man...raised from death to redeem mankind.

Because that story has the power to save people...

Think about it. The story! Not our wisdom, not our passion...but the story. The power is in the story itself.

But...it has to be told.

Many of us refrain from telling the story because we are so unsure of ourselves we think we'll do more harm than good. That might be true, if the power was in us. But, it's not.

Imagine this. Every single time we tell the story of Jesus there is enough power present to bring somebody to faith. Telling people about tithing can't do that. Telling people about sanctified living can't do that. Because those things aren't the Gospel. They are fruits of the Gospel that has been planted and burst forth into new life.

How many folks around us would be believers today if only we had told the story? Potentially, every single one who heard it...because there's enough power there. Well, today is a new day. How about unleashing some of that power?

Live boldly out there today...

Romans 1:8-15, A Prayer of Thanks

8First, I thank God in the name of Jesus Christ for all of you. I do this because people everywhere in the world are talking about your faith. 9God has seen how I never stop praying for you, while I serve him with all my heart and tell the good news about his Son.


10In all my prayers, I ask God to make it possible for me to visit you. 11I want to see you and share with you the same blessings that God's Spirit has given me. Then you will grow stronger in your faith. 12What I am saying is that we can encourage each other by the faith that is ours.


13My friends, I want you to know that I have often planned to come for a visit. But something has always kept me from doing it. I want to win followers to Christ in Rome, as I have done in many other places. 14-15It doesn't matter if people are civilized and educated, or if they are uncivilized and uneducated. I must tell the good news to everyone. That's why I am eager to visit all of you in Rome.

Paul is thankful for the Roman Christians for one important reason. "Because people everywhere in the world are talking about your faith". There was a time when that was said about American Christians...

Paul's natural response was to pray unceasingly for them...and want to visit them. It's possible that, at least for Spirit-filled Christians like Paul, there is a predilection for committed Christians. This makes me wonder...

Who would I invite to dinner this evening?
Joel Osteen or Joel Coen?
James Dobson or LeBron James?
Billy Graham or Billy Joel?
Joyce Meyer or Mike Myers?
Rick Warren or Warren Beatty?
Charles Colson or Charles "Buddy" Holly?
Jay Seculow or Jay and the Americans?
Charles Stanley or Charles Barkley?
Beth Moore or Michael Moore?

Column left? or column right? My choices will say something about me. How about you?

Live boldly out there today...

Romans 1:1-7, From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.

God chose me to be an apostle, and he appointed me to preach the good news 2that he promised long ago by what his prophets said in the holy Scriptures. 3-4This good news is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! As a human, he was from the family of David. But the Holy Spirit [a] proved that Jesus is the powerful Son of God, [b] because he was raised from death. 5Jesus was kind to me and chose me to be an apostle, [c] so that people of all nations would obey and have faith. 6You are some of those people chosen by Jesus Christ. 7This letter is to all of you in Rome. God loves you and has chosen you to be his very own people.


I pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

The Book of Acts closes with the Apostle Paul arriving in Rome for his trial, around 60AD. He then spent two years under house arrest. Paul did not bring Christianity to Rome since there were already Christians in Rome when he arrived there...as evidenced by his authoriship of the Epistle to the Romans, arond 55-57AD.
Neither the Bible nor other history says how or when Paul died. According to Christian tradition, Paul was beheaded in Rome during the reign of Nero around the mid-60s at Tre Fontane Abbey
If you remember the Apostle Paul in Corinth...where he met Aquilla and Priscilla and Apollos...that is where he was when he wrote this letter to the Christians in Rome.

Much is made of the term "gospel". We throw the word around indiscriminately when referring to scripture. Ministers "preach the Gospel"...as though it can be anything within the front and back cover. Not quite.

"Gospel" derives from the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον (hwe-angellion) meaning "good news". Paul opens his epistle to the Romans by explaining carefully and specifically what the "Gospel" is. It is the account about God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! As a human, he was from the family of David. But the Holy Spirit proved that Jesus is the powerful Son of God, because he was raised from death...and has chosen you to be his very own people.


I make this point (as does Paul) for a reason. If we are busy preaching anything that does not include the testimony of Jesus as God's Son...sent to redeem us, we are not preaching the Gospel.

"Thou shalt not dance" is not the Gospel

"Thou shalt not drink" is not the Gospel

"Thou shalt not..." is not the Gospel.

These may all be matters of interest...even matters of importance. But, they are not the Gospel. why? Because we can preach these truths until we are blue in the face...and get perfect compliance out of our congregations...while never tasting eternal life. So then, what did all that discipline gain us?


That would not qualify as "good news".

Our focus, as AB Simpson said, is "Jesus only, Jesus ever". Let's not get distracted.

Live boldly out there today...

Acts 28:16-31 Paul in Rome

16We arrived in Rome, and Paul was allowed to live in a house by himself with a soldier to guard him.


17Three days after we got there, Paul called together some of the Jewish leaders and said:


My friends, I have never done anything to hurt our people, and I have never gone against the customs of our ancestors. But in Jerusalem I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans. 18They looked into the charges against me and wanted to release me. They found that I had not done anything deserving death. 19The Jewish leaders disagreed, so I asked to be tried by the Emperor.


But I don't have anything to say against my own nation. 20I am bound by these chains because of what we people of Israel hope for. That's why I have called you here to talk about this hope of ours.


21The leaders replied, "No one from Judea has written us a letter about you. And not one of them has come here to report on you or to say anything against you. 22But we would like to hear what you have to say. We understand that people everywhere are against this new group."


23They agreed on a time to meet with Paul, and many of them came to his house. From early morning until late in the afternoon, Paul talked to them about God's kingdom. He used the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets [b] to try to win them over to Jesus. 24Some of the leaders agreed with what Paul said, but others did not. 25Since they could not agree among themselves, they started leaving. But Paul said, "The Holy Spirit said the right thing when he sent Isaiah the prophet 26to tell our ancestors,


`Go to these people and tell them:
You will listen and listen, but never understand.
You will look and look, but never see.
All of you have stubborn hearts.
Your ears are stopped up, and your eyes are covered.
You cannot see or hear or understand.
If you could, you would turn to me,
and I would heal you.' "


Paul said, "You may be sure that God wants to save the Gentiles! And they will listen." [c] 30For two years Paul stayed in a rented house and welcomed everyone who came to see him. 31He bravely preached about God's kingdom and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one tried to stop him.

A couple things stand out in this text...

First, Paul makes it clear that he is a prisoner....not because of anything he has done...but because of the great hope of Israel, the Messiah.

In other words, if Paul was a bad Jew and didn't believe in the promise of Messiah he would be home free. but, since he was faithful he found himself on the horns of a dilemma. The rest of Israel didn't have a clue of who Messiah might be, and Paul knew...so there was trouble.

Which seems weird. What the religious leaders were actually saying was "we don't have a clue who Messiah might be, but we know it's not Jesus!"

To which Paul's response might well have been naive when he thought they'd all appreciate what he had to offer on the subject.

Second, Paul made it eminently clear that failure to recognize Jesus was neither the fault of tradition nor scripture, but a stubborn unwillingness in the people to open their hearts to the truth. The Holy Spirit got through to some, but not all.

Which brings me to the application...

If we honestly don't know, are we willing to listen?

Has what we do know ever really cost us anything?

The first answer will let us know if God can ever really use us. The second answer will let us know if God ever really has...

Live boldly out there today...

Acts 28:11-15, From Malta to Rome

June 28,



11Three months later we sailed in a ship that had been docked at Malta for the winter. The ship was from Alexandria in Egypt and was known as "The Twin Gods." [a] 12We arrived in Syracuse and stayed for three days. 13From there we sailed to Rhegium. The next day a south wind began to blow, and two days later we arrived in Puteoli. 14There we found some of the Lord's followers, who begged us to stay with them. A week later we left for the city of Rome. 15Some of the followers in Rome heard about us and came to meet us at the Market of Appius and at the Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and was


I love to recount the incident early in my military Career then a senior officer sat next to me at a table and said "Lee, I have just one piece of advice. This is a long journey you are undertaking. Don't think about how long the path is, or where the path leads. Do your job well every day and the destination will take care of itself".

He was very right...

It's interesting that Paul, on his way to trial was thankful and encouraged. I think that is mostly because wasn't as concerned about the outcome of things as he was about being in the center of God's will.

We might use this as a barometer in our own lives. If our minds are obsessively controlled by the "outcome" we probably have mistaken priorities. After all...if we are truly in the middle of God's will, the outcome is, by definition,the best possible outcome.

Scripture says "he is at perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me".

Live boldly out there today...

Acts 28:1-10, On the Island of Malta

1When we came ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta. 2The local people were very friendly, and they welcomed us by building a fire, because it was rainy and cold.


3After Paul had gathered some wood and had put it on the fire, the heat caused a snake to crawl out, and it bit him on the hand. 4When the local people saw the snake hanging from Paul's hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer! He didn't drown in the sea, but the goddess of justice will kill him anyway."


5Paul shook the snake off into the fire and wasn't harmed. 6The people kept thinking that Paul would either swell up or suddenly drop dead. They watched him for a long time, and when nothing happened to him, they changed their minds and said, "This man is a god."


7The governor of the island was named Publius, and he owned some of the land around there. Publius was very friendly and welcomed us into his home for three days. 8His father was in bed, sick with fever and stomach trouble, and Paul went to visit him. Paul healed the man by praying and placing his hands on him.


9After this happened, everyone on the island brought their sick people to Paul, and they were all healed. 10The people were very respectful to us, and when we sailed, they gave us everything we needed.

It's typical...we look at the physical evidence and make our judgment.

"This man must be a murderer! He didn't drown in the sea, but the goddess of justice will kill him anyway."


But, of course, the snake didn't kill him so the folks had another thought.
 
"This man is a god."
 
And...neither observation was true. You'd think such wild inaccuracies would discourage people from speculating. Nope. We have developed a new thought in jurisprudence: What I say is absolutely true until you prove it to be absolutely false. Nevermind the impossibility of proving a negative.
 
Then again, that doesn't account for the times I contradict myself by making mutually exclusive claims.


I know a priest who lives with a friend. It's surely a "no win" situation. If the friend were a woman folks would say he was having an inappropriate relationship with her. The friend is a man so the claim is...they are homosexuals.
 
So really...a priest has no choice be to live alone...just to satisfy the inquiring minds of a heathen world? The Catholic Church itself discourages that. But...the world just won't believe people can live by another set of standards.
 
I'm not commenting on the veracity of the testimony. I don't know the truth. What I am saying...for sure, is that there is always a lot more than meets the eye. And really...why do we pronounce judgment anyway? I believe it's a sin. Generally, in scripture, when judgment was pronounced people said something like "thus saith the Lord!"
 
None of that today...just gossip.
 
The real truth is, I'm not as good as I appear. Neither are you.  God has set a divine example by keeping my sins just between Him and me (and then...He buries them). That might be the best path to follow. I know we love to "make sense" out of things but God has already done that through His son. So, what would have been the proper response for those folks around the fire? "In the light of Christ...what does this mean?"
 
I can't really expect the world to do this but I have a right to expect the Body of Christ to conduct itself properly.
 
Live boldly out there today...

Acts 27:39-44, The Shipwreck

39Morning came, and the ship's crew saw a coast that they did not recognize. But they did see a cove with a beach. So they decided to try to run the ship aground on the beach. 40They cut the anchors loose and let them sink into the sea. At the same time they untied the ropes that were holding the rudders. Next, they raised the sail at the front of the ship and let the wind carry the ship toward the beach. 41But it ran aground on a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck firmly in the sand, and the rear was being smashed by the force of the waves.


42The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners to keep them from swimming away and escaping. 43But Captain Julius wanted to save Paul's life, and he did not let the soldiers do what they had planned. Instead, he ordered everyone who could swim to dive into the water and head for shore. 44Then he told the others to hold on to planks of wood or parts of the ship. At last, everyone safely reached shore.

My dad owned an apartment building in south Minneapolis. Summers, he paid me to paint, wallpaper, or whatever else needed to be done. One afternoon...while I should have been painting an apartment...I was playing on the roof. I wasn't paying close attention and remember unintentionally stepping backwards off the roof with my right foot in mid-air.

But I didn't fall...just gasped with relief.

I was walking down a path in South Vietnam. I inadvertantly glanced in a bunker and saw a Time Magazine. I immediately dove into the bunker to grab the magazine before somebody else took it. Just as I hit the bottom of the bunker a mortar landed within feet of where I had been standing.

Not a scratch...just a gasp of relief.

Most of us don't know about our close calls. What if we had been a prisoner on Paul's boat? Would we have known how close we came to death? But for the presence of the Apostle Paul, we would have met our doom.

All of it completely out of our consciousness or control. It hardly seems fair, but that's often how death arrives. How many of us remember how close we came to death when we were born? But for the grace of God, through Christ, we were born dead and would have remained so till this day.

So, here we are...not a scratch. Do I hear a gasp of relief?

Live boldly out there today...