Romans 1 Part 1 (v1-16) MirrorWord Bible Study

We meet every Wednesday at 8:00 PM CST to explore the life-changing truths of the MirrorWord Study Bible by Francois DuToit. Each gathering begins with a 30-minute teaching by Patrick Emery, followed by breakout groups where authentic conversation and connection flourish. Friends join us from across the U.S. and around the world, and everyone is welcome. It’s a joyful, faith-filled community, and we would love for you to be part of it.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Alright, here we go. Romans, the first chapter. It's gonna be great. We're gonna do 16 verses. And one time someone complained, they said, geez, you had other scriptures. Yeah, I'm gonna go over the word. I'm not gonna just stick in the this here. I'm gonna go through the scriptures because it's fun. I like to, like uh Keisha says, connect connecting the dots. And I just this I wasn't thinking about the scriptures till just now, and I want to say this. This is Paul. Paul's talking about there's someone, you know, he knows a man that was caught up into paradise. It was him. And he says this in 2 Corinthians 12, the fourth chapter. This person was caught up into paradise. There he heard words that could not be articulated with language. Now listen to this. He understood a conversation that did not originate in human thought. This is the conversation that we're having. If you want to know the gospel, the gospel to the Gentiles, the New Testament, you gotta study Paul. You can throw out the women's scriptures. Francois does. Women should shut their mouth. That's nonsense. There's no male, no female. There's one in Christ. Okay? And I know that people get tripped up, and some people are offended by Paul because of those scriptures. Francois says that they don't make sense, and he doesn't translate them, which I think is interesting. I mean, what guts that is, I think. But anyway, uh so anyway, let's start with chapter uh uh verse one. I love this. Paul says, this is the mirror word version, by the way. Paul says, passionately engaged by Jesus Christ. I love that. Passionately means deeply involved, intensely interested, emotionally invested. Paul was emotionally invested in this message. He says, identified in him and represent to represent him. And you know what? The truth is, you are identified in Christ. You're a Christ one on the earth, and you represent him also. He is, he says, my mandate and message. Now this is I love this, is to announce the goodness of God to mankind. Not the badness of God, the goodness. The gospel is the goodness of God. Alright? Not the badness. And then the word apostle means to an extension of him, a representative. Paul's a representative of Jesus. He's, you know, remember in uh Acts, remember they took lots to see who should be the apostle to take uh Matthew's or uh Judas' place, and they they got Matthias. And actually, I believe it's Paul was really the the 12th, the one who was supposed to be the 12th apostle. But anyway, now I love this. He says the promise, which is Jesus, by the way, he is the promise, is the womb of this message, which is what the scriptures are all about. Now, why now think about the promise being a womb? In other words, something hidden in a mother, something that's you know that's there, but it's not been manifest yet. That's the Old Testament. Jesus, and I and I love the Old Testament. He's, you know, we have sometimes I hear people always quoting the Old Testament, which is okay if you quote it accurately and if you put it in context. And Jesus says, he says to the Pharisees, and he says it to us. He says, You search the scriptures diligently because you think in them you have eternal life. And those scriptures speak of Jesus. They don't speak of you, they speak of him. They're the promise, the foretelling of the coming Messiah. That's why over in Hebrews 11:1, it says, he says, faith is, Jesus is faith, is the substance of things we hope for, and the evidence of things we haven't seen, the substance, Jesus is the substance of what the Jewish people were waiting for. And just so just so you know, the covenant of Law was not, if maybe there are some Jewish people on here, have some Jewish heritage, but it was not given to the Gentiles. You're given a brand new covenant, which is Hebrews the eighth chapter, by the way. It's a brand new covenant. Like in Hebrews 8, it says, it's nothing like the covenant, he says to the Jewish people that we got on Sinai. Nothing like it. And so just so you're aware, the message that's preached in Christendom is a mixture of law and grace, which the letter kills. Any bit of letter kills. That's Hebrews 5, verse 17. It says it very clearly. All right. So the promise is a womb of this message, which is what the scriptures are all about. Now, the interesting thing to me, it's a message. It's not a I do, it's me listening to a message. Hebrews 4 12, he says the message spoken Christ is the most life-giving and dynamic influence within us. It's just a message. Abraham heard a message. Says, you will have a child to a barren wife. And he believed it, and it was reckoned him as righteousness. Say, I am righteous because I believe in Jesus. That's it. Simple as that. Righteousness is by faith. You can't, by the way, I always like this. I used to teach us a long time ago. Can you can you in can you improve on righteousness? Is there any work you can do to improve on righteousness? And the answer is absolutely not. It remains, I love this, the the promise, it remains the central prophetic theme of the content of the inspired writing. He's talking about the Old Testament, right? Remember in John 1.17, and I always like to say, sometimes it's good to say scriptures backwards and saying, right, it says, the law came through Jesus, grace and truth came through Moses. No. He says the law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. It's the complete opposite. Grace, God's favor, God's favor didn't come through Moses and the law, it came through Jesus Christ. And his favor and his truth, that that which is hidden being revealed, which is what truth means. And I was looking at Hebrews, uh, there's different scriptures that are great. It says here, Hebrews 1.1 says, throughout ancient times, is whoever the writer of Hebrews is, definitely Paul influenced. Throughout ancient times, God's, and he's talking to the Hebrews now, not us. God spoke in many fragments and glimpses of prophetic thought, foretelling thought, to our fathers. Now this now, now, this entire conversation has finally done in what sonship. Suddenly, what seems to be an ancient language falls fresh and new like the dew of the tender grass. He, Christ, is the sum total of every utterance of God in the incarnation. Jesus Christ is the word of God. The Bible is not the word of God, the Bible has the words of God in it. Jesus Christ is the word of God. He's the incarnation, he's the very image bearer of the Father. That's why he says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, you want to study about the Father, look at Jesus. And that, of course, he's found in the scriptures. I'm not, I'm not saying the scriptures aren't important. They are. But my say, but you were there looking for Christ. And when we see Christ, we see the Father. And we see the Father. Jesus also is not an example for us, he's an example of us. We also see ourselves because we're image bearers. Adam never lost being an image bearer. He just believed he was not an image bearer. I'm not going to go into that tonight. He always was an image bearer. He just didn't believe it. You're, you and I, right now, are image bearers of God. You're never not going to be an image bearer. You are an image bearer. Alright. Let me see here. I just want to do one John. I just love this. I love this one John 2. This is so great. 2.8. It's so easy to kind of read over this stuff and not really go, what is he talking about? He says this, and yet, this is this. 1 John 2.8 says, and yet it is a glorious new message. He's talking about the gospel that I'm writing to you. You may ask, how can that which is also which is old also be new? This is the message before to Adam, before he fed the fall. This is the same walk. Herein lies the secret of its newness. Whatever is true of Jesus is equally true of you. Say whatever is true of Jesus is true of us, other than we're not the King of Kings and we're not the ultimate Lord, right? But we are in union with Christ. And over in 1 John 4.17 it says, in this union and communion, the love of God has been perfected. When I come up for is the word is in in the most translations judgment, but it means it's Crisis, which is Christus. I know as He is, so am I. Even though I'm feeling condemned and bad about myself, whatever God believes about Jesus, He believes about you. Jesus is not an example for you, he's an example of you. He is the faith tree, he is the I am tree, he is the tree of life. And he says this in other words, it's not a message, it's not the Moses message. It's an old message, and now it's been resurrected in the incarnation in Jesus Christ. That's declared you innocent, holy, well-beloved, beyond reproach, righteous, image-bearer sons and daughters, not just friends of God, sons and daughters, offspring of God, which is scriptural, by the way. I mean one time I said, You're little gods, it says that in John 10, 10. If some guy just was all offended, I said I didn't read anything, it wasn't the scripture, my God. Just read it. Okay, verse 3 the son of God. I love this. The son of God has his natural lineage from the seed of David. Now, if you look at Matthew, Matthew goes back with ancestry through Joseph to David and beyond for ancestry. Luke goes through Mary's ancestry to David and beyond. And John goes, I mean, he goes right to the heart. In the beginning was the word. That's his lineage. And he says here in the commentary. I'll read some in the commentary, some of it I don't for time's sake, just so you know. Matthew 22, 41, 45. Jesus asked the Pharisees, What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he? The answer is the Son of God. That's the answer. Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David. No, he's the son of God. Who are you? Sons and daughters of God. I like to say the our father, right? The first two line, first two words are probably should have been the most scandalous. Our father. See, he's Jesus' father, and he's my father. Whose son is he? He's the son of God. That's the point here. And Matthew 23, 9 in the commentary says, You must not call anyone here on earth father because you only have one, only the one Father in heaven. Say, I have one father, he's in heaven. And heaven is not somewhere else. Heaven's in you and all around you. The kingdom of God is in you and all around you, Matthew Luke 17, 20. It's in you and all around you. Heaven is just a different dimension, it's an invisible dimension. Anyway, verse 4. However, I love this. His powerful resurrection from the dead by the Holy Spirit. If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you, he'll give life to your short-lived mortal body. Romans 8 11. While you're dead in your trespasses and sins, what did he do? He raised you up with Christ, gave you the life of Christ, and gave you joint seeding with Christ. Hebrews, or Ephesians 2, and then in Hebrews 1, he says, that you would have the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so you'd know that the power that's at work in you, as he demonstrated when he raised Christ from the dead, it locates him where? As the sun excuse it, locates and confirms him being in sonship in God. Anyway. And down here in Hosea it says, only scripture that prophesies the third day resurrection. Here is the single dramatic prophecy. We are co-included in his resurrection. After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise us up. In another interesting scriptures, you know, Jesus, this is just Mark. Is it 33? Mark 30 10, 33 says, Jesus says, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be turned over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn and set condemn and sentence him to death and turn him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him and spit on him and whip him and put him to death, and after three days he will rise from the dead. Those are prophecies. It locates him as son, sonship, messiah. Alright, verse 5. I love verse 5. The grace. Grace is favor. It yields joy and light, and it's favor given as grace. I used to read the Amplify, big Amplify guy, and he used to say, unmerited favor. It's not unmerited favor. You can't earn it, but you are a son, and you get it because of sonship. So yeah, you deserve it, but you can't earn it. Does that make sense? So grace and commission we receive from him is to what? To bring about a faith-inspired lifestyle in all the nations. His name is his claim on the human race. What's his name? Yeshua. Jesus is a Greek Greek form of it. It means Yahweh rescued, or just means salvation. Here comes salvation. A faith-inspired lifestyle, not a law-inspired lifestyle. Romans 8 14, the sons of God are led by what? The Spirit of God. Where does the Spirit of God live in you? Whose mind do you possess? The mind of Christ. 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3, uh 16 says, Do you not know that you possess, not going to, the mind of Christ. In the gospel, a faith-inspired life is believing what God believes true in Christ. Demonstrated in Christ. What God believes about Christ, He believes about you. What happened? What does God believe happen? You know, people always get messed up in, well, I did this and I did that. Well, just so you're aware, God's not looking at what you did and didn't do. He's looking at the cross. Jesus is your Savior yesterday, today, and forever. You are never your savior. Your actions will never save you. It's Jesus Christ that saves you. Every minute, every second of every day of the rest of your life, nothing you do saves you. Jesus Christ does. And what God believes on the cross, it says you were in union with Christ when he died, the whole creation. God doesn't see just you and everybody back. I mean, that'd be stupid. He'd have to come and die again and again and again. He did it in one swath for every person who ever lived from Adam on to his point and every person that will live or keeps on living. Who knows what's going to happen? He saw in God's mind, everybody died when Christ died. Everybody was raised when Christ was raised, everybody ascended when Christ ascended. That is what God's looking at. He's looking at the accomplishment of the cross. He's not looking at you other than he knows that you're included in it. Does that mean we shouldn't have good actions? Of course we should have good actions. But your actions don't define you. Jesus Christ defines you. You are not your actions. You're what God says about you. That's a faith-inspired life, believing what God believes. And it wouldn't, you wouldn't need faith if it was all happening. Abraham believed and he had a barren wife, then it being post-metopausal, and even says in Romans 4.19, it says, when he after he, of course, he, you know, had God had a baby with her with Hagar and all that stuff, when he finally figured out that no contribution from their side could bring about the promise, no contribution from your side can bring about it either. You just hear a message. It's a message you hear, and when you believe this message, this message will transform your thinking and the way you act, the way your desires, and the way you walk. It's powerful. And it's effortless. How is it effortless? Because you're just listening, you're gazing at Jesus. Oh, what else I write on here? That's about it. That's about it. Little bit of forced gump. That's about it. Anyway. Oh, here, I got and do the commentary in uh verse 5. Paul immediately sets out to give a new definition to the term obedience. Wow, a new gotta be obedient, brother. Okay, let's hear. No longer by the law, but but of faith. I'm gonna read that again. Paul immediately sets out to give a new definition to the term obedience. You're not a slave, brothers and sisters. You're sons and daughters. No longer by law, in other words, do do do do do, but of faith. Now this is obedience from Greek means to be under the influence of what is heard. Wow. Think about that. Under the influence of what is heard, hearing from above. Whose mind you present? Whose mind do you possess? His. Where does he live? He says, Gosh, it's two nine and ten says the whole God dwells in you. The fullness of the Godhead dwells in you right now, in b in your bodily form. First in Christ, now in you. You're the temples of the Holy Spirit. You're not going to be. You are right now. The whole Godhead. You can't get any closer to the Father, Son, and Spirit than you are right now. He's filled and flooded your body, even if you don't feel it. Wow. I love that. Where was I? I might uh start having someone's joyous joyous bliss, I'll have to quit. Isn't that great? Faith inspires. Remember, remember I'm just gonna Romans remember Romans 10.17 says faith. Now listen to how it what it says. It's easy to read over this. Faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of Christ. It does not say. Faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God. It says hearing the word of Christ. The word of Christ. Faith comes by hearing. Wow. And he's there telling him and the same commission is for us to what? Bring about a faith-inspired lifestyle in the world, in us and in the whole world. Remember in Galatians 5, 6 it says, circumcision or uncircumcision doesn't mean anything, but only what? Faith can energized and activated what? Through love. We love him because he first loved us. Understanding the love of God effortlessly brings faith. I know, like Francois says, it's easy for love to believe. Right? When somebody fell in love with you, they just started believing. Yeah, a little bit of romance. I just want to read Hebrews 4.12. How am I doing any? Am I getting too long here? I am, aren't I? I'll just skip. Read it. Hebrews 4.12. Read the whole thing in the mirror. It's great. In Jesus Christ, unless you are individually discover who you are. Wow. Say in Christ, I discover who I am. 2 Corinthians 3.18. As you behold, as we behold as in the mirror, the glory of the Lord. Christ is the mirror. The reflection is you. You're the unveiled face. No one can see you. Boom! The veil comes down. In Christ, you're revealed as a son. You're the glory of the Lord. Says you're being transfigured. That word's the opposite of sin. Metamorpho. Metamorpho, which is uh meros, versus ha morph uh morphe, which is meros is a is a root word, but it's opposite. You're being transfigured into what? His image, from the glory of the old, which is the promises of Christ, to the glory of the new. And my favorite part of the scripture says, and this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. It's the Spirit of God energizing and transfigured and changing you into Christ's very old image as you just gaze at as Him is your example of who you are. He is the perfect image bearer. Hebrews 1 3 says he's the very imprint of God. Colossians 1 15, it says he's the very image of the Father. He says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. That's what he's saying that, because he's a very perfect imprint. He's also the very imprint of who you are right now. He's the example for you. He came down as the prototype of the real you, so you can understand who the father really is. Understand who you really are. You can see it in the flesh instead of reading out trying to discern it out of the Old Testament. I used to say this, you know, it says, out of deep, dense darkness has come a great light. If also we had is the Old Testament, like they did in Hebrews, also we'd have it, we'd just end up in darkness. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. And you are the light of the world. That's a whole different subject. In address, in addressing you, Paul says, I addressed all in Rome. In addressing us, even today, he's addressing the whole world. He says, I am convinced of God's love for you. Say, Paul is convinced of God's love for me. Say, God loves me. I don't know why, but he does. He loves you. And 1 Corinthians 13 is how what he thinks about you. He sees he doesn't take into account a wrong suffered when you do something wrong. He doesn't take it into account. He says he believes the best of you at all times. I bet you don't even believe the best of you at all times. But he does. He restored you. Look at the verb here, the tense, past tense. He restored you to the harmony of your original design. That's the point of him coming. He's restored your innocence. He's removed your sin as far as the east is from the west. Behold the Lamb of God who what? Takes away the sin of the world. Only goat's butt. Sheep follow. That's faith. Say this. He restored me already to the harmony of my original design. That's what God believes. So you can either agree with God or not. Your choice. A faith-inspired life believes God in spite of the contradictions in our life, the things that don't seem to line up. And you know what pleases God, by the way? You being perfectly walking perfectly morally? No, David didn't. I mean, he was a murderer, my God. Not just a murder, he's an adulterer, any premeditated murder, the worst kind, murder one in our country. And he's the apple of God's eye. I mean, yeah, he paid a price on the earth for a few things that he did, no doubt. I mean, your actions have consequences. I'm not saying they don't. But he's the apple of God's eye because of his heart. He was the man of faith. That's the point. What pleases God, Hebrews 11:6, it is impossible to please God without faith. Believe in what God believes. God believes that He's restored your harmony, your holiness to your original design. He says, You were, past tense, made holy in Christ Jesus. No wonder that you are surname saints, which means holy ones. Say, I'm a saint according to what God believes. His grace gift. Now remember, a gift, and I always like to say in our culture, I'm not those people from around the world, but our culture, if someone gives me a gift, I always feel like I have to give them something back. A gift is given something freely with no obligation to give anything back. He gives extravagantly without requiring anything in return. His grace, his favor gift in Christ Jesus secures your total well-being. When now? Oh, yeah, but no, no. He believes that. So why don't we just agree with him? Even though you might not feel like your whole well-being is there, but why don't you believe it, just like Abraham did? Eventually it happened, didn't it? The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is also your father. He's also your God. Remember in John 20, verse 17, Jesus says, I'm going to my God and your God. I'm going to my father and your father. Say, He is my father. He's my Abba. The Spirit comes and testifies that I'm what? The spirit of sonship. Saying, What? Abba, Father. Father, Daddy. The Father. And if anybody wants to see what the Father looks like, all they have to do is look at you. If you want to see what God looks like, look at your neighbor. When you go in the small groups and you see them all, they're all image bearers. You are all image bearers. I was gonna say this in Hebrews 10 10, talking about holiness. It says, You were made holy, how? By the body of Jesus Christ. Say I am holy because of the body of Jesus Christ. Not because of it, I did anything. You need to be more holy. I am as holy as I can be. Because God says I'm holy. Hebrews 10 10. I'm holy. Why? By the blood of Jesus Christ. By the body of Jesus Christ. You gotta be born again. Hebrews 1.3 says, or one you battle. Tongues? Interpretation, anybody? 1 Peter 1.3 says, You're resurrected. You were born again by the what? Resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why you're born again. Not because you did anything. You were resurrected by the body because of the resurrection. You're born again because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I think that's wonderful. I, you know, I was such a mess when I came to when I came to the Lord. I couldn't, I mean, there was nothing I I could do to help him out, which is a great place to be because I saw transformation just by gazing at him. And as soon as I started helping him, it went. I became a Galatian, the third chapter. I did the same thing. Took me a long time to figure it out, but I finally did. And it restored to me the joy of my salvation that I've had ever since. My greatest joy is to realize that what your faith, what you believe, believe in what God believes to be true about you, is announced where? Throughout the whole world. The total cosmos is our audience. You are new creations. 2 Corinthians 5.17. If anyone's in Christ or a new creation, the old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. And there's no question mark. It's poorly worded in most versions. It's a conclusion to the verses above. It's not if he should have said, he shouldn't have said if. I don't know. Maybe today I am and tomorrow I'm not. Today I don't feel like I am. I used to be, I used to be like that. Am I in Christ? Did I confess enough? Did I get all a sin out of my life? Nonsense. Say I am a new creation. I'm not going to be. God believes I'm a new creation. That's a faith-inspired life. Are you gonna believe what God believes? In spite of the contradiction that maybe you're not always so perfect? I think so. Does God have the ability to make you walk perfectly? Yes. Why doesn't he? Because he's more interested in your faith than he is in how perfect you walk. He has us, he very well could make us walk perfectly, think perfectly, not have any bad thoughts, but he doesn't. Because he's interested in you trusting and believing and walking and believing what he says. I mean, if everything was perfect in your life, you wouldn't need any faith. Faith is seeing things that aren't evident. Over in Hebrews, I think it's 11.3 says, we know that the by faith that the world came the world came out of the invisible. What was invisible became visible. That's faith. Woo! All right, where am I? I am completely, I love us, engaged, fully involved in my spirit, in my spirit. I'm fully engaged in my spirit in the gospel of God's son. I'm engaged. I'm fully involved in my spirit, in me, in the good news of God's Son. Jesus Christ is God's Son, and He is good news. This is my saying. I always say this, and everybody's been on your shirt a hundred times or a thousand, probably. I just thought somebody else would have said this, but I've never heard anywhere else. The gospel, the word gospel means good news. If it doesn't sound like good news, it's not the gospel. If it depends on you and me to do something, it's not good news. God doesn't depend on us. Why? Because he's not stupid, we're undependable, and he's not dumb. He depends on himself. He gave everything as virtue of an inheritance, as a gift, and a promise. Why? So he could secure it. That's why. If he depended on you, you guys, we'd all be screwed. He does not depend on you, he swore by himself. And he gave it as a promise. The Old Testament, different story. You had to do something, God did something. If you did something good, God blessed you. If he did something bad, he cursed you. In the New Testament, he just blesses you. He's interested in your faith, just believing. That's what that's why it's called good news. Anyway, I am completely engaged in the Spirit, in the gospel of God's Son, in his spirit, constantly including you in prayers. God is my witness. Where are we? Since I already feel so connected to you, I long to see you face to face. There's something about you know we're gonna have a face-to-face meeting in November. If some of you guys can come, I know some of you, it'll be fun in fabulous Florida. Anyway, it's gonna be fun. And you know, this is face-to-face, and this is great, it's but never as good as when you see people hug them and see them face to face. Anyway, I finally look forward to finally meeting you in person. This is knowing that my spiritual gift will benefit you greatly. That my is apostleship, it will cement and establish you in your faith. Cement. That means seal you, make you strong, give you a foundation. And if you go over to the Hebrews or Ephesians, the fourth chapter talks the apostles or the apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, healers, uh pastors, said, are for what? The equipping of the saints to do ministry, equipping in faith to bring the oneness of faith. And what does that oneness of faith mean? Believing what God believes that happened in the gospel, the I am tree, what Jesus came for, that he declares you innocent. Your sins are forgiven, past, present, future. He believes you're sinless. That's scandalous. Well, and I'm not tonight, just so if you got offended by that, later on I will def I will go into that a little bit more, okay? All the all the I'll say just really quick, all the things that we see call sin are expressions of sin. Sin is not knowing who you are. That's what it is. But anyway, that's a whole different discussion. We don't have time today. I just want to say that because I somebody might hear that. What are you talking about? God believes you're innocent. He believes he's paid for the sins of the world. Hebrews 8 12, he says he has no remembrance of sin. Wow. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world in one swoop on the cross. Hebrews 103 at verse 12 says he's removed your sin as far as the East is from the West. He just said remove it here backwards. That would be a waste he'd have to come and die again and again and again and again. He did it once and for all. That's what God believes. And I know we make mistakes, but he believes you're sinless. I know that's scandalous. And so, where are we? So, in other words, and the other thing about the the I like what he says down here. The gifts were never titles to establish one above other or to become a mere formal titles, but rather to identify specific and dynamic functions with one defined purpose, to bring everyone into the realization of the fullness of the measure of Christ in you. That's the pri I mean the apostle, you know, over in Corinthians, he says the apostles are the last in line. They're like the clown show. I mean, really about a good apostle, you're gonna see somebody really being persecuted by the church, not some big showy guy that's sitting up in front, gathering 20 million people. It's a clown show. Because they're bringing the gospel and the the tree of the knowledge, good and evil. People that believe that do not like the gospel. And so we are mutually refreshed in participating and reflecting on our common faith. In other words, getting together, even now, we're building each other up. I just want to read Hebrews 10 25 really quick. Maybe I'll skip it. Hebrews 10 25 talks about you know, uh not forsaken your fellowshipping, one to another. It didn't say going to church and one to another, right? As you understand, the time has here. What's what's happened? We're refreshing each other in who we are and what we believe, strengthening each other. That's what he's saying. We're gonna come and strengthen you. Until now I have been prevented from coming to you, even though I have frequently desired, I love this, to reap some harvest in you as much as I anticipate the full fruit of the gospel in all the nations, to reap a harvest, to reap the fruits of the spirit. How about to reap joy, to reap the innocence, to redeem your image in likeness, your image bearers, not to someday redeem it, redeem it now, to bear all the fruits of the spirit, the love, peace, joy. And there is a change in behavior. Yeah, there is. There's a change in desire. Anyway, I was gonna read some other stuff. I I put some scriptures in that have come up to me, but then I sometimes just blow over them. I am so convinced of everyone's inclusion, everybody's included. I am indebted. Now, the word indebted is uh ophilitis, which means to give something back that belongs to you. If I'm indebted to you, I have to give back what belongs to you. So I am giving back what belongs to both the Greeks as well as those many foreigners whose languages we do not even understand. I owe this gospel good news message of sonship of Jesus Christ, the incarnation, to everyone. It is not a matter of how literate or educated people are, the illiterate are equally included in the benefit of the good news. The benefit of the good news is the blessing of God. Remember in Ephesians 1, I believe it's 3, it says, He's given you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. He's not going to give it to you at all. He's lavished these. Do you not know that he happily gives you the kingdom? When now? The kingdom of God's in you and all around you. He's given it now. What is it? Romans 14, 17. The kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Because of this compelling urgency, I am so keen or eager to preach or proclaim to you, Romans, also. Oh, this is I have no shame about sharing the good news of Christ with anyone. The powerful, this is now this is the good news. It's a powerful rescuing act of God. It both persuades Jews and Gentiles alike. What is it? What's the gospel? Why would he say that? We, you know, today we think, well, you know, we bring up Jesus and people persecute us. No, he's talking about the law people. These are the people that persecuted him. They're the same people that persecuted Jesus, are the same people that persecuted Paul. He went to every town, went to the synagogue. There's the Jewish people that got stirred up. And sometimes the Gentiles, when he, you know, people quit buying people's idols and stuff like that, then they went crazy. I'm leaving 17 till next week because there's a whole bunch of commentary. And so, in conclusion, the end.