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Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened

  Good morning. So God’s divine nature is clearly seen in what He has made. Then a verse that is so applicable today: even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and made their idols. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. People today may not serve physical idols like Paul was talking about, but they have other things that become idols in their hearts. And because they do not look to God as their source, they look other places to find meaning in their lives. They cannot believe in an all powerful, loving Creator, so they have to come up with some other explanation as to how everything came about. If there is no Cr...
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Gospel: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “but the righteous man shall live by faith

  Good morning. Paul was talking about the Gospel: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “but the righteous man shall live by faith“. People like the gospel because it gives them their fire insurance; but they don’t like the demand that it puts on the way they live. We came into the kingdom of God by faith, and we are to live the Christian life by faith also. This same verse from the Old Testament is in the book of Galatians. There is where Martin Luther read the quote, and that brought about the Reformation. The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, having been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made,...
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For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek

  Good morning. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. It had been Paul’s goal for a good while to get to Rome. The phrase “rest of the Gentiles“, just like the one from before when he said “obedience of faith among all the Gentiles“ seems to confirm that this church was mostly Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Even though this was Rome, the philosophy etc. of the Greeks was greatly admired. People who were not sophisticated were a lot of times called barbarians. And then a verse we should all live by: for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Remember what Jesus said to the Gentile woman whose daughter was cruelly demon possessed – I was sent to the ...
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For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

  Good morning. Well it only took two days to get through Paul’s first sentence. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all (don’t you mean y’all?), because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. How would you like that to be said about you - that your faith was being proclaimed throughout the whole world? Even when he was about to zap somebody, Paul started his letters saying something nice about the people. For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. Other than perhaps family or for really good friends, how many people do we unceasingly pray about? This, and Paul had never met these people. He was praying though, that he might succeed in coming to them. We just saw at the end of the book of Acts that his prayer was granted, but not in the way that ...
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Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord

  Good morning. We continue with Paul’s introduction. He was very famous for extremely long sentences. Speaking of Jesus – who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That plus all we did yesterday is one sentence. Until Jesus was raised from the dead, He was just an extraordinary man with miraculous powers. There have been numerous people throughout the ages who have performed miracles such as He did; but none of them were raised permanently from the dead. All three members of the Godhead are mentioned at work in this sentence. Paul says that his designation as an apostle came stra...
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Concerning His Son who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh

  Good morning. Today we begin the book of Romans. He has not been to Rome yet. My Bible says that there is a verse near the end which talks about the collections that he was going to take to Jerusalem, which is the occasion near the end of Acts which got him into trouble. Paul basically introduces himself at the beginning and gives his qualifications for writing. He says that he was a bond servant of Christ Jesus. My Bible says that this is different from being a hired hand. He completely belonged to his owner, Jesus. Called as an apostle. There are too many people who are designated by others or even by themselves as apostles. The true ones, like Paul, are designated by God as apostles. Set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures. God did not make up everything as He went along. He had everything completely planned out and revealed it through hints to His prophets in the Old Testament. Concerning His Son who was born o...
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Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen

  Good morning. The Jews replied, we have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you. That was good. They did not have any preconceived notions about him. Thank goodness they did not have cell phones back then. They could judge for themselves based on what he said. But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere. They came back another day, and Paul explained to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening. Just like all the places that Paul went, some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. Paul finished his presentation by saying, the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, you will keep on hearing, but wi...
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