Dive into an insightful episode where we explore the teachings of the Apostle Paul, tracing his unlikely journey from a Pharisee to a beacon of hope for the Gentiles. We delve into the essence of availability over ability, seeing how Paul’s life exemplifies God’s use of ordinary individuals to achieve extraordinary purposes. As we study the final chapters of Romans, discover the simplicity and power of early church gatherings that centered on the apostles’ teachings, fellowship, and prayer, forming the foundation of modern Christian practices.
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.
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And so, going back to these last chapters in the book of Romans. We’re about to wrap this book up. The most unlikely person in the world to go to the Gentiles was the Apostle Paul, who was an authority of Jewish law, called a Pharisee of the Pharisees, trained by the greatest teachers in all of Israel. You would have thought he would have been the one to go to the Jew. And Peter would have been the one to go to the Gentile. So what did God do? Took Paul who had no credentials at all to go to a Gentile. He had been raised in Jewish culture and sent him to the Gentile and took old Peter who didn’t do anything except kept fish and sent him back to the educated Jew. What is the purpose of that? What do you see in that? That God doesn’t need Your talent. He just needs your availability. And we keep thinking, don’t we hear all the time, ooh, if this politician could come to Jesus. I’ve said to people before, if you were drowning, what would you rather have? A lost lifeguard who knew how to swim or a saved one who didn’t. So the issue that we’re dealing here is the fact that God doesn’t need your ability, just your availability. And we keep thinking that we need to be educated and we need to be this and we need to have position and we need to have influence. And all of those things are a detriment because God doesn’t need those things. All he needs is available people. If he needed those kind of things, he would have had all kings and kings. and political leaders but what do you have a bunch of tax collectors that people hated a bunch of fishermen from galilee just people who loved god and that’s all he needs in you it’s just a heart that loves god he doesn’t need your education doesn’t need your degrees just a person who loves god and he’ll use us paul was something else i can’t wait to meet him Now, we’re not going to go through all of these things. Paul went through the Sanhedrin. There was a plot to kill him. He was transferred to Caesarea, tried before Felix, and all of these things, and went up before Festus and King Agrippa. He had a bunch of trials. And in all of these things, he ultimately ended up appealing to Caesar and therefore sailed to Rome. Going back to these last chapters in the book of Romans. He was writing to them prior to these things happening that I’m going to go to Jerusalem. We’ve just talked about what happened there and then on to Rome. Now he goes ahead to say, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Caesarea. Now, you have a bunch of names here. Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Jesus Christ, they risked their lives for me. Not only I, but the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets in their house. Where did the church meet in the early days? In a house. You mean they didn’t have any buildings of stained glass? Didn’t have a $90,000 organ? Didn’t have a youth program? Or an executive ministry? What did they do in that house? It says that they met daily for the apostles’ teaching and for fellowship. and for prayer. Now, folks, do you see anything else in the Bible where the church was anything except meeting for the apostles’ teaching and for fellowship and prayer? You see anything in the Bible where it was anything different than that? Anytime. Starting off in what you and I would call home Bible studies. Now, home Bible studies are something that’s kind of gone by the wayside. Because when Christianity by the emperor Constantine was named a religion that you had to belong to. And it was named a state religion that you had to belong to. And if you didn’t, you could undergo persecution. Well, you had to have a place to house all these people because they used to meet in homes. Now you need a building. And so that’s where the big buildings started coming up and assemblies filled full of people that didn’t know the Lord from a You know, ones that used to meet in the homes for fellowship and prayer. They were born again, but they were thrown in with a whole group of people that just had to be there because if they didn’t, they got persecuted by the Romans. And that was the beginning of the end of the church as God designed the church to be. There’s no place in the world that you will gain any more and grow any more in your knowledge of Christ than in small settings where you can study the Word of God together. And you can ask questions. And you can be taught and pray together and fellowship together in the Lord. Today, what has the church become? An entertainment center. It’s become a place where you sit and you say, we’ve got these buildings, what are we going to do with them? Can’t afford to put up a $9 million or $12 million or $24 million. That’s a small building anymore. Just to meet once a week. So we’ve got to keep it filled up. So let’s have activities. And so it becomes an activity center. And you’ve got the groups now. In the early church, they didn’t have singles meeting over here and marrieds here. And then young marrieds and then old marrieds. And then older marrieds. You just had everybody meeting in the same room, kids, everybody just meeting in the same room, studying the Word of God. So what have we done? Divide up the body. So we put the young marrieds over here, and don’t you associate with those old marrieds? And you put the old marrieds over here, you put the singles here, and don’t you associate with those married people? And you get all of this going on, and then you get the executives, because they need to be a little bit more than the others. They make more money than the rest of the group, so let’s get all of them together. And it goes on and on and on and on. And I ask you, did Jesus have a high school ministry? Did he have a campus ministry? Did he have a singles ministry? Did he have an old people’s ministry? A young people’s ministry? No. What did he do? He went out and proclaimed himself. What did the apostles do? Went out and lifted up Jesus. And what did he say he would do? Draw him in unto himself. And we’ve perverted this thing unbelievably by dividing up the body of Christ and separating everybody till nobody knows anybody except their own little group. And that’s why, to be real honest with you, that’s why we have not done, during this period of time, have not done a separation. The one we have, I wish quite frankly that we didn’t. Because I do not believe it is healthy to separate a bunch of people doing one thing one place and the rest of the people doing another place. And so the early church was home Bible studies. Met in smaller groups. Might have been as big as this one. Could have been. Probably not much bigger if they were than this. But small groups where you can get to know each other. Where you go back and say, did you know anyone? Nobody would know the back of their head. You know what that looks like. I stared at it for an hour. And that’s all we know. And so we have to understand that everything has been materialized through the ages. And you look at the ones that really get the oohs and the ahhs are the bigger buildings. And the bigger you get, the better. And then you go to the pastor’s conferences, and if you have one of those, then you ask people, what’s the size of your church? Why? Because yours is 20,000. Now, if you only had 20 in it, you wouldn’t ask that question to anybody. And so it becomes a bragamony. We were visiting in a hospital room the other day, and the Sunday school teacher of this gentleman came in, and she wasn’t there two minutes until she announced she was a Sunday school teacher, and we got 70 on the roll. I felt like saying, how many roll in? nickels and noses. The church that I used to grow up in, we used to advertise our priorities every Sunday on those little deals that set up right in front. Last week’s attendance this, this week attendance this, last week’s offering this, and this week’s offering. Advertise your priorities. Nickels and noses. That’s all we care about. And folks, that’s unfortunately in many instances what the church of Jesus Christ has been reduced to. And we look at that and say, praise God, just look at all the people there. I say, where? At the cowboy game? They’ve out-polled every church I know in town. We have perverted what God told us to do. Study the Word. Know the Word. Internalize the Word. Because you’re born again. And you need the Word. So, he talks about all these people that were his friends. And they met in their houses. Talks about Epinatus, who was the first convert to Christ in province of Asia. Greet Mary, who worked hard for you. Andronicus and Janius, my relatives who have been, I love this, been in prison with me. And they are outstanding among the apostles. And they were in Christ before I was. That meant that Paul had some relatives who were saved before he was. Now, you can imagine how thrilled they were with him. Because if they were saved before he was, they could have been a target for his venom. But I wouldn’t be surprised that they just might have been praying for him. And I think that that is to me quite a statement to say that my relatives were in Christ before I was. Talks about Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord. Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ and my dear friend. And to greet Apellos, tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. Herodian, my relative. He had a lot of relatives. And he goes on and on. I mean, I wish their names were Paul and Harry and Anne and Sue. It would be so much easier. So let’s go to verse 17 and skip all of it. He says, I urge you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching that you have learned. Now, folks, when Paul calls this his gospel and he calls it a gospel of grace, it was not a gospel of commingling law and grace. It was not a gospel that was an extension of Judaism. It was not the teaching of Moses plus Jesus. It was something brand new.
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It was a gospel that said, at the time when I went to the cross and was buried and was raised from the dead, and then at the day of Pentecost, that I ushered into this world a brand new group of people called children of the living God, who have my laws written in your hearts. Not the law of Moses, that was called law. But my laws, which is the law of love. To love your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. And to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the only laws that God left us with. Not a law with a punishment. But he says that’s the law of love. It’s a law of love. And the world will know that you’re my disciples by your love one toward another. And if you don’t have love toward another, the world’s not going to know you’re my disciples. So I’ve set a way that the world can know who you are. And that’s when they see love. And when you see love, my friends, you see mercy, don’t you? And you see kindness. When you see love, you see forgiveness. Because you can’t love apart from forgiveness. You see patience with each other. You see kindness toward one another. You see a mind that says, I am not going to keep records of your wrongs. Now, isn’t that a good one? Now, folks, think about this for a minute. How many of you have a very detailed filing cabinet or computer of every wrong your mate’s ever committed? And all you have to do is just push the button and out they come when you need them. And when do you need them? When they’re saying something about you. Because there’s nothing like a good offense. We use those things, don’t we? Against each other. We can come up with things that we did before we knew each other. That’s the way you were. You told me. Isn’t that strange? And yet we say praise Jesus for his cross and forgiveness. But do we extend that mercy? No, we keep records of wrongs. And we’ve got them filed. And we can draw on them real easy. And we do. Don’t we? Is that love? No, it’s the very opposite of love. Jesus said, I don’t keep records of your wrongs. Now, folks, let’s be realistic. What does it mean you don’t keep records of the wrongs? Now, wouldn’t it be nice if you could just do like they do in those little games they play where the right arm just goes, and they’re all gone and never to be thought of again? Have you ever tried that? Say, Lord, erase this from my memory. And Satan says, erase what? Then he’s got you. Yeah. It doesn’t mean that you don’t remember. Because we do remember. It means I refuse to bring it up again. Why? For the sake of love. Because when I bring it up, it hurts you. Doesn’t it? And so for the sake of love. of thinking not more highly of yourself than you ought, thinking of others’ feelings over and above your own, you say, I’m not going to bring this up because of the pain that it brings to another person. Now, you may be in pain over what took place, and that’s true. But I’m not going to cause more pain. And you have people who hold on to resentment. You did something that hurt me. So I’m going to walk away from you. Oh, I’ll be friends with you and I’ll be a surface deal. But I really don’t like you that much anymore because you hurt me. And any chance because you did hurt me that I get a chance to hurt you by bringing up what you did, I’m going to bring it up. Why? Because I want to hurt you. Why? Because you hurt me. Can you see the vicious circle that that is? And so it says in the scripture that the world will know that you are my disciples by your love, refusing to bring up the past. Why? Because the past hurts. Folks, let’s be realistic. We’ve all laughed about this big thing on the screen that God’s going to do when we go to heaven, showing everything we’ve ever thought or done. Have you ever heard that one? When we go to heaven, that little movie in the sky is going to be up there. Aren’t you glad that isn’t going to occur? There’s some of yours I’d like to come see. And I know you’d pay big prices for mine, too. Now, guys, think about it for a minute. How would you like, not through your lifetime, let’s just say it’s past year, how would you like for everything that you’ve done or thought To be flashed up on a screen in here for everybody to see. Just this last year. Not through your life. Just this last year. Anyone want to volunteer for that one? Now, if we don’t want to volunteer, why? It’s because we’ve thought and some of us done some pretty dumb things. And sometimes things that nobody knows about but you and God. Thank God. So, if… There was one of those things flashed up on the screen. Let’s say we had a volunteer. How would you like it then for this whole group to just be reminding you of that for the rest of your life? Would that be love? No. So have all of us sinned and fall short of the glory of God? All of us have. And as a result of that, what right do we have to be pulling up the past of anyone else and beating them to death with it? Do we do it? Have we done it? Sure, Spacey, if you’re hurting me, I’m going to get back at you. I’ll think of something you’ve done wrong. Even if you hadn’t done it wrong, I’ll think of something that you’ve done wrong. And we will. But that’s not love. And what Paul is saying is that the world is going to know that you’re my disciples by your love one for another. Keeps no records of your wrongs. God doesn’t keep any record of your wrongs. And so he’s saying, quit keeping records of wrongs. And learn to love and accept each other. Wouldn’t that be a nice way to live? If we could just all live that way? Now, does that mean that you’re liberal? No, it means that you’re realistic. That I’ve sinned, I’ve fallen short of the glory of God, and so have you. But Christ came and saved us. Came to take those things away. So it says, go do likewise. If you’re in Christ… Go do likewise. You’ll benefit from that. You will benefit. The other person will benefit. And so Paul is saying to us, that is the gospel that he preached. Keep away from people that are preaching a gospel different than that. For such people are not serving the Lord but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the minds of naive people. Folks, smooth talk and flattery is the most dangerous thing in the world. You find somebody flattering you too much, and you know the difference between a sincere compliment and flattery. I mean, a sincere compliment is a nice thing. But then you’ve got the flatterers. And I’ve been around flatterers. I haven’t seen too many in this group, but I’ve been around flatterers. And, you know, people are flattering you for their own benefit. Oh, Bob, that was a fine message. I say, thank you. Satan just told me the same thing. And I have seen people, and again, don’t stop saying that. But I have seen people that I knew full well that they were just blowing smoke. And they were doing something for a purpose. in comparison to people who truly were benefited by what was said. And so flattering lips are dangerous lips. They deceive the minds of naive people. Now, everyone has heard about your obedience, so I’m full of joy over you. And I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon Christ Satan under your feet. Boy, that’s good news. But it hadn’t happened yet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives. Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greets you in the Lord. So Tertius was an amanuensis of the Apostle Paul. I would imagine that Paul’s eyesight… because he talked about a thorn in the flesh and he talked about his eyes, I wouldn’t be surprised that he had poor eyesight and he used an amanuensis or a scribe or a secretary to write down what he was saying. At the end of those letters, you will see where Paul talks about the fact that I signed my name in big letters so that you can know this came from me. Why? Because people were writing letters and signing Paul’s name to them, Peter’s name to them. It’s what’s called a whole group of writings called the pseudepigrapha. And those were writings that were ascribed to the apostles but were not the apostles’ teachings. And so he had an amanuensis, and he said, he greets you. Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. Now to him who is able to establish you, and again that’s to be established in my gospel, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the one who is establishing you in the truth of this gospel, and in the proclamation of Jesus Christ in accordance with the revelation of the mystery, the revelation of this truth that God has developed the two, the one out of the two, and that Christ in you, Gentiles, is your hope of glory, just like Christ in you, Jew, is your hope of glory. This was a mystery that was hidden for long ages past, but is now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe, not just this one, but all nations, and obey Him. To the only wise God be glory forever, through Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, folks, we’ve taken a journey through the book of Romans, in my opinion. One of the most brilliant books that was ever penned. And we’ve seen the heart of the Apostle Paul. We’ve seen the torment given to the Apostle Paul. The punishment. And all of the things that he did so that you and I can sit here today and be what we are. And that’s children of the living God. The book of Romans has been called the most brilliant writings on the face of the earth. And I believe that’s true. And I hope that you’ve enjoyed our trip through there. This is our second trip that we’ve made through the book of Romans. I went a little faster this time. I think the first one took about three years. But maybe it’s a little clearer now to us when we understand the audience and we do understand that he was trying to bring the Jew and the Gentile together in unity. You can’t get unity by trying to get unity. You’ll never get it. You know, there are people who try to, let’s get unified. You can’t get unified by trying. Unity comes as a result of being unified with Him. And when you are in contact with Him, this down here falls together. And so you can’t go out and try to bring people together and bring races together and bring all that stuff together. People try, but you’re not going to do that. It’s like Israel. You know, how many peace talks have we had in Israel? They’ll never be… You know, I know the solution to their problem. So do you. It’s called Jesus. If you got the Arabs in Christ and the Jews in Christ, you wouldn’t have any finding over there. But that ain’t going to happen for a while. But that’s the solution. You’re never going to have peace over there. And you’re not going to have peace in your own heart until you have Jesus there. And you can’t have Jesus in your heart and still be playing church games. There’s a lot of people who have never, ever, ever, truly come to Christ alone. as their personal Lord and Savior. They’re just playing games. They’re sitting around playing games. And the issue is that until you truly know Him and can honestly say that I know Him, you say, well, how do you know you know Him? Because your spirit testifies to that truth that you know Him. And the fact that your mind has been opened up till when you open up this Word of God, you have an ability to understand it. That’s the greatest sign that I know that you’re in Christ is now I can look at the scripture and understand what it means. Not know what it says, know what it means. And that’s a sign. You could not know that apart from knowing Christ. And that’s why some people never read their Bibles because they don’t understand it. And yet they say, I’m a Christian. Well, if you’re a Christian, open up your Bibles because you can understand it. You may not understand all of it. But you understand. You have an understanding to it. And there’s some places in the Bible where Jesus says to you, my little children, there’s so much more I want to tell you, but you’re not ready for it yet. So you say, okay, Lord, good. Put a little check mark there and keep reading. Three years later, all of a sudden that answer comes to you. You go back to your check mark and say, there’s the answer. God showed it to you. You don’t have to go to seminary to learn that. You don’t have to go there. You can get that just from being a child of the living God. And that’s the beauty, isn’t it, of being in Christ Jesus. It’s the fact that regardless of your educational background or whatever it is, if you’re in Christ, you can understand the Word of God. The Spirit will teach you. That’s how we grow.
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We grow by knowing him. Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord. Find more information online at bobgeorge.net. There you’ll also find available CDs, DVDs, and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
