Why Paul Wrote Romans | The Backstory Every Christian Should Know | Make Heaven Crowded Ep. 35

In this episode of Make Heaven Crowded, we take a deep dive into the historical context and backstory behind one of the most influential books in the Bible: Romans.

Why did Paul write this letter? Who was he writing to? What was happening in the Roman church at the time? Understanding the context behind Romans helps us better understand its message—and why it continues to shape Christianity today.

We explore questions like:

• What was happening in Rome when Paul wrote this letter?
• Why did Paul feel compelled to write Romans?
• How does the historical context impact the way we read it today?
• What themes make Romans one of the most important books in the New Testament?
• How can Christians remain spiritually connected during busy seasons of life?

We also have a practical conversation about staying connected to Jesus during the summer months. With vacations, holidays, baseball tournaments, and changing schedules, it can be easy for spiritual rhythms to drift. We discuss ways believers can stay rooted in Christ even when life gets busy.

Whether you're studying Romans for the first time or looking to deepen your understanding of Scripture, this episode will help you see Paul's letter through a fresh lens and encourage you to keep Jesus at the center of every season.

🎙️ Make Heaven Crowded – Episode 35
📖 Topics: Romans, Apostle Paul, Biblical Context, Spiritual Growth, Summer Faith
🌐 Learn more at teamfbc.info

Transcript

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Well, hello, and welcome to the Make Heaven Crowded Podcast. I'm Pastor Jordan, and this is Pastor Luke. It is just the two of us. We'll make it if we try. It's just the two of us. We can make it, I think. We'll see. Efficient. Yeah. This is we are both about efficiency, spreadsheets. Uh, we can spell excel. Um yes, budgets, things like that. So we'll see if this this could be the most boring podcast ever. You never know. It might or the most entertaining. Could. We'll see. But uh, welcome. And Luke, you preached on Sunday. You picked off the new sermon series, the summer series, which is an extended series. Uh, we are going through the book of Romans, which is exciting. Romans can be complicated. It can be. And Paul himself, the Apostle Paul, who writes many of the letters of the New Testament, can be complicated. I joke that when you read his letters, you need a decodering to understand what in the world is he talking about. So uh you got to kick us off on Romans, and um, before I give you a second to say anything, my favorite part about uh becoming a new thing, I guess for me, is uh we don't talk about context enough of leading into any particular book of the Bible or anything that's going on, the why behind it. And um all of Paul's letters has a lot of context behind them. And once you learn the context, it really opens up each and every letter or book that or you know, letter he's written or we call books. Yeah. Um and Romans is no different. Um, it is very unique among the letters that he has written to the different churches. Uh so, anyways, I just wanted to start with that. Didn't know if that's where you were gonna start with, but anyways, let us know what was it that you didn't really get to dive into or what you if you had more time, what would you have liked to have expanded on? Yeah, so like uh today's gonna be a fun conversation because we're gonna talk about you know the context of leading into Romans, we're gonna talk about Romans chapter one, one through seventeen, because there's a lot there. Uh, but then I'm gonna pick your brain about, hey, as we're kicking off summertime, uh, I think a big question that people are asking, you know, okay, schedules are busy, people are traveling, they're doing these different things, um, and kind of in Paul's heartbeat in Romans one of being unashamed of the gospel. Well, how do we keep the gospel number one even as we're going throughout summer? So, what are some easy things that they can implement in their walk? You know, as we're diving deep into Romans 1, what are some easy things that they can implement in their walk this summer to make sure the gospel stays first? So I think it's gonna be a fun conversation, one that's easy to apply, that they're able to take and apply to their life on a daily basis. FBC on the go. That's right, man. That's right. And so, yeah, Romans, I think uh before you even start off, I think you have to understand the context. And so we talked a lot about Romans 1.1, just starting off with right there where it says Paul. Okay, we have to pause because even as he introduces himself, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, we've got to take a step back and how that even came about because his salvation story, his testimony is absolutely insane. And so if you didn't get to watch yesterday, that's why you need to go back to Sunday's message and listen to it, because we we went all the way back to the book of Acts, um, where he first comes on the scene in Acts 7, um how he had his come to Jesus moment on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9, um, and and how that kind of teed up. But in all of that, we have the context of the book of Romans. And so anytime that you are in a seminary class, the first and you're studying to be learn the Bible, they take you through a hermeneutics class, and that teaches you how to study the Bible. And every time before when you get to a letter, they teach you the history of that letter and why it was written. Because what we know is that each each book in the Bible, what we call books, so like the book of Romans, it was actually a letter, and it was written by a specific person to a specific audience for a specific reason. Yep. Every letter in the Bible, that's the case. There's a person who wrote it, there's an audience who's gonna receive it, and we have to understand that original context of why they wrote to that specific audience to figure out the original meaning. And I think a misconception that people have, and you'll hear people in the Bible say, go, well, this is what this passage meant to me, right? Yeah. And so we have to be careful with that because the Bible only has one meaning. That's right. And each verse only has one meaning. How we apply it, you can bridge it to a contemporary context or an application. Yeah. And so what he meant to the Romans is what it means today. Now, how we how the Romans applied it and how we apply it might be different. That's how you can read a verse one day, and then the very next day you read it again, but you're in a different phase of life potentially. You might draw something different from it, and you might apply it differently. It doesn't change the meaning of it, yeah, it just changes how you apply it. That was one of the things after our your all's debate on young earth, old earth. Yeah, was one thing I wish we would have been able to have time to dig into was when Moses wrote Genesis to a group of 1.5 million wandering Israelites in the desert, what was his purpose and why was he writing the creation story the way he wrote it to those people at that time after escaping Egypt? Yeah. What would have been their lens that they read it through and the context they would have understood it from? And I think that would have been a fascinating little exercise to again read the Genesis creation story through the lens of an ancient Israelite wandering the desert. Why is he writing it that way and to them at that time in that way? It's the same with every single book, like you were saying. And uh I think that is if you don't do it that way, you're reading the Bible wrong. Yeah. So anytime you approach it, just like we should have done then, you have to ask basically three questions. Who wrote it? Who's the audience, and what's the purpose or occasion of them writing it? And so let's answer some of those because I didn't get to go as deep into that as I wanted to. I went deep into who wrote it. I talked about Paul because I think you have to understand that if you're gonna understand everything else. That was good because he had quite a salvation experience. Yeah, leading up to that, even too. Yeah. And saying next, though, let's talk about the audience. So the the church of Rome is important to understand in this entire context. Uh it's important to understand because Romans is the only book or letter that Paul wrote, which was not to a church that he planted and established. Most of the other letters he's he's writing to uh address a problem, address an issue that rose up during that time. Romans is not. And so that's why it I would say it is the most important theological literature that we have written about Jesus. And so that's why I think it's so important to study because Paul he's not writing in response to all that, he's writing presenting something. Which is that's what's unique to all of his letters, he doesn't ever present it. So and I don't want to steal any of your thunder there, so go ahead. No, so like uh here's the crazy part about the church in Rome is we have to understand how did the church of Rome start. If Paul didn't plan it, how did the church of Rome start? Yep. We have to jump back way back Acts chapter two. Yep, right? So if you jump back into Acts chapter 2, which actually has roots to Genesis chapter 10, right? Yeah, because you know, Genesis chapter 10, Tower of Babel, Acts chapter 2, people are in uh all the nations are present again. They're present back in Jerusalem, the day of Pentecost, which is literally just 50 days uh talking about 50 days after the Passover. That's how we get that, because people are scared of the term Pentecost, but it literally just means 50th, 50th. And so we got 50 days after that. They are all gathered there again, they're in Jerusalem. It says what the Holy Spirit fell upon them in that moment, and everybody heard it in their own language, and it says that there were visitors there that people were present that were from Rome. Rome, yep, and isn't that the last group of people that it mentions? Yeah, I was trying to figure out when it uh it rattles off a very number of different locations, and then Rome, I think, is either next to last or near the last. The last one it literally says visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism. Yeah. And so of those, uh was it 3,000 that were led to the Lord that day, those Romans then go back to Rome, and they would have most likely been been the ones that started the church in Rome because they would have brought this gospel back to their people. So isn't that but to me the detail of the Bible is so important. Yeah, we have a book of Rome, or the church of in Rome. Paul didn't plan it. How did we get it? Right there. There it is. Yeah, you you have yeah, people that are present at the day of Pentecost that gave their life to Christ. So they go back and they start a church, they start start a home church in Rome. Yeah, and that's where Paul gets into, and his first part of Romans chapter one is him praising these people. Hey, you experienced the Holy Pirit, Holy Spirit on the on the day of Pentecost, you brought that back home, you started your own church, so much so that we have heard about your faith all the way over here in what we're learning. Yeah, and so Paul had heard about what they had been doing. Well, and he would have, would you say it would have been Priscilla and Aquila that he would have heard that through when he met them in Ephesus or Corinth as tent makers? Yeah. Yeah. And so I also don't think just because Paul didn't plant the church, I think he knew a lot of the people of that church. Yeah. Or he or he got to know them, uh, and even probably through Priscilla and Aquila became acquainted with people that were from that church. Because then there's uh kind of some history to that, is uh a lot of persecution came down onto the Jewish church, the Jews within Rome. A lot of them fled. The church didn't dis uh mantle or break apart, but the gentile believers stuck around the church, and as the Jews had fled and went away, like so Priscilla and Aquila that you run into in Acts where Paul meets them uh and their tent makers and they're working together, a lot of those Jews leave Rome and then the Gentile believers stick around and continue to grow so that then when the Priscillas and the Aquillas go back of the Roman church, they see a very different church. And so now Paul is writing to them about hey, hey, hey, it's all okay. We're equal. Yeah. Jew and Gentile. It's I know the church changed on you, or the Gentiles kind of took over a little bit, but it's gonna be okay. Yeah. Anyways, there's a little bit of context to that. Yeah, no, it's so Priscilla and Aquila, and you mentioned all those names mentioned, and you're right. He goes through a laundry list in chapter 16. Oh, chapter 16. I can't remember, is there 28 or 32? There's 28 or 32 names that he mentions at the end of the book. It's the most he mentions out of any other book. Yeah. Whenever he's giving his closings, it's the most that he mentions in Rome, probably because of what you just mentioned. Is he name-dropping or does he know these people? Right. And like, well, part of it, in order to name drop, he has to kind of know them in some way. Yeah, that's true. What he's doing there is he's kind of bridging relationships. Yeah. Saying, hey, what brings me authority to tell you all this? Hey, you guys know Priscilla and Aquila, they're they've been bragging. They're my best friends. Yeah. And so they he actually meets them, like you said, in Corinth in chapter 18 of Acts, right? But then in we know in Acts 20, that's probably when Paul wrote the the letter to the church in Rome. Yeah. Uh after leaving Ephesus, he even leaves Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos, I believe, behind in Ephesus, uh, to grow that church. And then he leaves as and he goes back to Corinth, right, for three years. Yep. And he then writes his letter to the Romans from Corinth. Uh, is it three years or three months? Three months. Three months, sorry. He was in Ephesus for three years. Yeah, that's okay. And in those three months, he writes his letter to the Romans. But he's writing with like, hey, you know what? I feel like I've completed the job I was supposed to do in these areas, uh, Galatia, uh, from when he got sent from Antioch with Barnabas and then Timothy and all these other guys, um, he felt like he had completed his mission of reaching the Gentiles of that Greece area. Yeah. And now he feels like, hey, all that's left is one spot. And what we believe to be the ends of the earth, which is what Christ's final command was, your Jerusalem, your Judea, and to the ends of the Samaria, ends of the earth. He feels now, I've got to go to the ends of the earth. Yeah. Which was Spain. Yeah. Or uh Tarsus, right? And he was but there's another word that is used in Isaiah and also in the table of nations in Genesis 10, which would have meant Spain. Tarsus, I think it was called. Uh, so that's where he's heading. And he needs the Roman church to be his sending church, and it's almost like he's sending them a letter, preparing that he's coming. I'm gonna explain to you the maybe the little issues they may have with regards to hey, we're all equal Jew, Gentile, it's all gonna be okay. Tarsus. Tarsus. Okay. Did I what did I say? Tarsus, which is where he was born and raised. Yeah, dang it. I was close, they're very similar. Um, anyways, uh, he needs them to send him, which a lot of people don't know. Why did he write the letter to the Romans? A lot of people, there's a kind of a long-standing disagreement going way back as to why did he write that letter? I think it's because he needed a sending church. That's right. I well, if you think about it, he's with Priscilla and Aquila. They had to be bragging about the church of what's going on in Rome. Yeah. Like saying, can you imagine the feedback they gave Paul? Like, hey, dude, we were at the day of Pentecost. We, you know, we were we had people that were at the day of Pentecost. They brought it back to Rome. We started our home church. Here, this is what God is doing in Rome. Yeah. And they were so excited about what God was doing in their church of Rome, they were telling Paul, this missionary, about it. And you know what's clicking in Paul's mind. I gotta get to Spain. I got to Spain. And so in hook, because in his ministry, he's just thinking about Spain. And so as he's talking to Priscillaquila, he's hearing about this church, and now he's saying, Okay, Antioch was a church that helped raise me up, and I did ministry that sent me to all these other missionary places around this area. Well, what if Rome can be my sending church like Antioch in order for me to go and reach all the places? Well, launch the other way. Yeah, because we're hearing about this from Priscilla and Aquila in chapter 18, and then he leaves them behind and in chapter you know 19 or whatever, and then in chapter 20, when he's in Corinth for three months, he's like, I got some time. I'm gonna write a letter to the Church of Rome and prepare the way for myself for whenever I get there. And then what we get from him is what he would have probably normally spoken about in person to a lot of the places of Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia. That's why the book of Romans is so powerful. And why it's so powerful. Yeah, uh it's pretty cool when you start to connect all these little dots and the why behind Romans, it's like, oh, that's why he lays all that out. That's why. Or that's why he talks about, hey, we're all equal as Jew, Gentile. It's pretty cool. So that's why I love the concept. He was running into that problem of Jew and Gentile almost everywhere he went. Yeah. And so that spiel that we get, or this this argument that we get in Romans is essentially the argument he was presenting to every single church that he was going to implanting. Yeah. Because you had this, okay, you had Jewish Christians who thinks they need to follow the Old Testament law plus have grace in Christ, and then the Gentiles not understanding at all. Do I just need grace? Or do I need that? And so their problem was like their old cultural ways, which were whoa, wow. Okay, no, no, you don't go to the temple prostitutes anymore. Literally, that level of wow, that's not right. Yeah. So you have a crazy mix within a church of understanding. That would be wild. And that's where like the the argument is so beautiful because of who's writing it. And that's Paul, who had a master's in arguing the Pharisee law as a lawyer. And so, like, you have this guy who's are can argue Jewish law better than anybody else, but then somebody who is hit by the grace train of Jesus on the road to Damascus, like that, and now going and telling everybody about, no, guess what? You don't need all this Jewish law. Yeah. You just need grace. And so when these Jews try to bring up the arguments, he's like, guys, I know this law better than you. Yeah, let me just tell you what your argument's gonna be and I'll give you the answer. And then he finally just gets to the point that the Jews say, Hey, if you guys want to do all that, you can. Just stop forcing it upon the Gentiles. And I mean, and so he lays out this argument so beautifully in Romans. But we know he wrote that in Acts chapter 20. So how your Bible's connected, we're starting to see how this is forming. And the crazy part is he in the first part of Romans 1, he's telling them, I'm so excited the door's opening up for me to finally come to you. And I can see you face to face. But Paul does not get to Rome until when Acts chapter 28. Yeah, it's pretty much the very end. The very end. Yeah. And instead of going there preaching, he goes there to be in prison. Yeah. And so like he he arrives in Rome in what he thought in writing a letter to be preaching and encouraging and equipping the church. Instead, he arrives where? In chains. Yeah. And we know he's in chains in Acts 28. And this is like the greatest cliffhanger of all time. Like if I like Luke, I'm I I just want to know why did you stop? Because he he we know he's in prison for two years in Rome. And that's it. That's all we know. Yeah, and this and before I confuse, because he has two stints in prison in Rome. This is then where he writes his prison epistles to Philippians, uh, Ephesians, and uh Colossians. Right. And even Philemon. Yeah. So, but this is where the the it and that man, this will preach, right? We know how often do we preach on Acts 28? Uh never. Never, right? But like how much it does preach because he's in prison, yeah, but yet he's turning it around and showing them, no, you guys think my chains are holding me back from preaching the gospel? Well, let me just tell you this, church and Philippians. The people in Caesar's house send their greetings. Yeah. What does that mean? Hey, the people that are keeping him in chains, he is now converting people in Caesar's house that are becoming Christians and he's showing them, hey, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I'm in chains. It doesn't matter. I'm in chains in Rome, and guess what? I'm preaching the gospel. So what how do you think when he wrote in Romans 1, when he says he's encouraging the church in Rome? Yeah. How's he encouraging their church in Rome? By keeping the faith, even though he's in prison and he's still inspiring them to do so. Yeah, and it also brings to the context of what he talks about with joy and strength through Christ and how he can do things even while he's in chains. Yeah, it's pretty powerful stuff. The con true context of why he says those things is pretty cool. Yeah. Even just his Ephesians letter is absolutely amazing, knowing what the situation he's in. So yeah, it's pretty wild that he finally gets there and he's in jail. Yeah, and well, like, and like once you start understanding, like, okay, so Acts 28, it ends with Paul in prison in Rome. Yeah. That's where it ends. The very next book of our Bible and our canon is a letter to the Romans. And isn't that cool? How that all like Luke had no idea when he was writing Acts. That's a good point. He had no idea when he was writing Acts that one day when the canon would come about, that the very next book would be Romans. Yeah, and so you I guess you wonder, because although it doesn't fit the chronological order of all the letters, it does kind of fit the chronological order up following Acts. Right. And since Roman is that all-encompassing systematic understanding of the gospel and Christ and understanding righteousness and God's plan and our sin and all that kind of stuff, it does start to kind of make sense. Why it got plunked right there without even Luke planning it that way when he reads it? Yeah, the Bible works from a very general to specific. Like if you look at creation, you look at different things, it'll give a general outline of how creation was done, and it'll give you the specifics. Specifics after, yeah. And then the same way that much of the Bible is written that way. And I heard it put this one way. Um, Romans is basically Paul's general gospel, and every other letter that he writes. Gets into the specifics. It gets into the specifics. Oh, that's pretty cool. And you can trace it back to Romans. And so yet they put Romans right behind Acts because that's his longest letter. Yeah. Right? And so they they went by by length. And so that's his longest to a church. So they put that first, but with it being its longest, you could almost trace you could trace almost any aspect of the other letters back to an argument he's making in Romans. Oh, yeah, there's a lot of repetition or said slightly different way to a different group of people, but there's a lot of repeat or a little more explanation, or he says it, he gives a little more context, whatever it is. Yeah, it is. Well, the example, like you know, he says, I want to encourage you, or impart some spiritual gifts. Well, what spiritual gifts is he talking about? Well, if you fast forward to this part of Corinthians, he actually lists out what the different spiritual gifts are going to be about. And so that's where he kind of gets into it. Yeah, what funny we were talking about this because one of the things I had in mind of wanting to do was take all of Paul's letters and just pile them into one cohesive, if he were to bundle them all together, make one cohesive letter. Yeah. The thing is, when you do that, like 85% of it comes from Romans. Yeah, right. And that and that's like what it that's the cool part about Romans and why it's so important in the theology behind it all. But that's always when you understand, like, oh man, Romans 28, there he is, he's in prison. Acts 28. Or Acts 28, he's in he's in prison. You turn the page. And there it is. I see it right in your Bible, right? Now now we're in the letter to Rome. Yeah. That he wrote back in Acts 20. But after we put the canon together, here it is. Yeah. And so uh, yeah, there's a lot of information that happens obviously between Acts 28 and Rome. And yeah, you can get into that. And what happened at the end of Acts 28? Why did Luke leave it as a cliffhanger? Some scholars believe because I mean that's when he wrote it, is when Paul was in prison. He was with him there. But yet he has a timeline of how long he's in prison, but he just doesn't pick up the story. Yeah. Right? And so they that's like the early one. There's also a later one that you know he was writing and passed, like after 80 70. So Paul had already been passed away or been killed and everything like that, and he was writing back in time. Um that's one of the theories? That yeah, that okay. Luke wrote Acts in like 8070 something. Okay. Um, later on. Yeah. Um, but anyway, that's a dive into the book of Acts. But yeah, that second stint in Rome while Timothy is there with him and he's nearing execution, that's where you go read Second Timothy. Yeah. That gives you some context. I call that the fourth missionary journey. Yeah. It's like there's like this time after Acts where there's like a fourth missionary journey that you can piece together from his letters uh that he traveled around um and did some more work. Uh again, it goes back to I've talked about it several times reading the Bible chronologically, uh, and learning the context that leads into a letter or why he wrote a letter. I don't know. I just think it opens it up so much more. I mean, you can go from Acts to Romans and you're going to be fine. But there's just something about the where Paul was, why is he doing this? Where is he at in life? Because he's nearing the end. He's in his those days, he's in his 60s or seven or so, early 60s. And that's old for then. And then he has been through a lot in his life, from being shipwrecked and thrown in prison to they've tried to stone him several times. He has been through a lot, and his body must have been saying, I'm done. His mind may not have, but it's just kind of cool to get the context behind a lot of these things. And it really helps to see the heart behind some of the things he says and why he says it. So, anyways, yeah, I just love that. And that's what like the book of Romans, like the way we need to understand reading it. Okay, so we have who wrote it, Paul. The backdrop, he's in Corinth when he's writing it. He just talked to these people that were from Rome. He's encouraged by what he's hearing from them. So we understand that more completely why he's writing it. We understand the people in Rome, right? So we talked about this, like the audience he's writing to. That is people that were at the day of Pentecost. They went back and started their church. But we know that the Jewish Christians who started that church in Rome, they were getting persecuted by Nero in Rome, and they were driven out of Rome. But there was Gentile Christians who had developed during that time, and they start taking over leadership in the church. Right. Well, finally the Jewish Christians come back to a very different church. They come back to a different church and they are displeased with some of it. And Paul hears about this, most likely from those different people he mentioned that he had come to contact with. Yeah, could you imagine a unified, uh, grounded and strong Christian church in the heart of the evil empire of Rome? And the potential difference it could possibly make. Well, now we see the results of it today. Yeah. But yeah, um, he probably saw he had a vision of, oh man, if only we could if we can get these guys together and on the same page and working together, this could be amazing. Yeah. And so, like, and back going back to Acts 28, I mean, what island was he in prison? It's like Malta or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, they trace it back, the believers in Malta, to that point when Ra when Paul was shipwrecked there. Oh, yeah. And they like so they got the things they experienced while Paul was there was phenomenal. Yeah. And so they traced their lineage of their faith all the way back to that moment. And they actually have a day celebrating the shipwreck of Paul on Malta. That's awesome. I I was talking to John Bryan about that. John Bryan was like, hey, could you imagine going to Malta today and just seeing the remnants of what Paul created there? Uh, because they he blew them away. Where they show up with shipwrecked, they're trying to build a fire, he's got he gets bit by a snake, and they think, oh, this dude's gonna die. Nothing happens to him, and so then they think, Whoa, who is is this guy a god? You know, they went from meaning of him as Satan to God in one snake bite. Yeah, and then he starts healing people. But there's so many analogies of like or things fulfilling in the Bible. Was that a reverse of what happened in the Garden of Eden? Is it fulfilling what happens? Oh wow, yeah. What happens to the snake in Revelation? It is thrown where? In the fire. In the lake of fire. Yeah. What happened to the snake? It goes to the fire. So there's so many things connecting there, but Malta, they can trace it all the way back to that up. They have a shrine, they have like not a shrine, but they have a day celebrating all of that. But he brought the gospel, and it's like you gotta think like what Paul's thinking in the middle of that shipwreck and these people in Malta and around Rome and what's going on. You know what they don't have? Anything remembering Caesar at that time. Oh, you know, like 2,000 years later, what are they talking about? Paul. And the gospel that he brought. Yeah, but that's the other amazing thing for the rest of us. When you're in those situations, you we would all be in despair, mad at God. Why is this happening to me? But Paul's like, this is part of my mission. Yeah, I'm here for a reason. So guess what? You're gonna get to know who Jesus is. Well, that's a lot of people count it as like, oh, woe was me. And he never talks about it. He always talks about the joy inside of all of that. It's it's phenomenal. Yeah, man. So, like that's where you know the again, unifying Rome, the Roman church was so important to him, is because man, if they have this type of faith where they can start their own church in the middle of a place like this, yeah, imagine if they can get on the same page. And little did he know that it may not be between Jew and Gentile, but 2,000 years later we we still have this little disagreements and how those words are trying to unify, hey, I'm both here for the Jew and the Gentile. It don't matter. I'm here for the person that grew up in church, I'm grew here for the person that has never set foot in church. And if we're all able to get on the same page, look what's happened whenever we'll do it. Yeah, do it. And so that's why he he goes into even a list. That's why he says, I'm here for the Jew and the Gentile, the wise and the foolish, the Greek, the non-Greek. Like, I'm the gospel's for everybody. Yeah, and that's why part of his reasons for writing Romans is to make that argument the church should be unified. Um, because that's what you have going on there with the audience. The next thing that he's trying to do is he's trying to clarify his gospel. And so, like, that's a second big thing. He's trying to clarify this is what you guys have heard about my teachings. I'm just gonna lay it out for you. And so, why are we all on the same page? It's because of this gospel. Yeah, and so he clarifies that for them. Number one, to unite them, but also number two, which sets up number three, if you guys are gonna be my sending church, you have to understand the gospel in which we believe in. And he's so he's preparing the way for him to get there so they can be the church that helps him reach all the way to Spain when once he gets there. So that's kind of his heartbeat behind it, but he frames it all in an argument for the gospel. And so, how should we read Romans? You almost need to read it like you're in a courtroom, and he's presenting the argument of why this gospel is the one true gospel, and he's presenting it to a judge and a jury, and he's almost like the both sides, yes, too. Yeah, and he plays both because he poses the question and then he brings the answer, yes, or the argument and then he brings the answer. He's the prosecutor and the defender, yeah. Like he is he is the both of them, yeah. And he's making that argument and showing why this and defending why this is the gospel, yeah. And so that's what makes it so beautiful. And um, you know, I we were talking about this, and I didn't use it on Sunday because I couldn't find enough stats to prove it, but I saw one commentary, and if it's true, it's awesome. Yeah, uh, but it makes sense. So you have Paul who grew up in Tarsus, who had a what we do know in Tarsus, there was a major, there's a uh law school that took place there, as in they learning the law of the land. And Paul then grew up learning Pharisee law, like he went to the Jewish law school, typically and became a Pharisee. So he knows how to argue like a lawyer from the city he grew up in to be in a Jewish law. Romans is written as if it was in the court of law. Yeah. And in fact, uh what again this one commentary said is Harvard Law, when they first came into existence in the 1800s, for the first 75 to 100 years, they actually it was required as part of their readings for Harvard Law students to read the book of Romans, not for theological purposes, but to understand how to make a a great argument in a court of law. Yeah, that's pretty wild. Because what Paul does again, he he presents his case, he he presents his case of the gospel, he then balances the hey, this is God's sovereignty, God's human's role in it, and oh, here's some objections you might have, and he responds to the objections before you can even bring them up. Yeah. And so that's why they had him read it, is because he does such a great job of presenting the the objections. What are you gonna think of as an objection? I'm gonna figure it out and I'm gonna bring the answer before you can. Yeah. That would explain even because he was he could debate, nobody could out debate him. And so if you he had that kind of law background and understanding the even the art of debating, and then understanding the Roman law, but then folding in the Pharisee law or the Jewish law, he was untouchable. I mean, there's nobody that could hang with that guy, I bet. And that's what I like to think. It makes sense that that that's true. I'm not gonna say, yes, you have to believe that that happened. Um it's just cool if it does. And in the honestly, the argument Romans supports that it being true. Yeah. Do you remember what commentary you I do not um because I typically commentaries they they have to have a source. So if they if you found that in a comic store, I'll have to find it. It'd be good. They probably have a re a good reason why they added that. So yeah, and then because I all I know is I I did look it up in Chat GBT about the Harvard Law or whatnot. And what chat did say is many students, it was um maybe not required but highly recommended to read scripture and different things in their classes. Gotcha. Um, but it didn't say what it was looking for was a detailed books list, and it did not have that requirement list that the students had to read. But it did support that it was common in colleges for them to read scripture during that time. I believe it. Yeah. It was a different world then. It was different. Very different world. Like when you understand all that going on in Tarsus, how the argument that he's or that he was making and how he presented it, what was going on in Rome at the time, and Paul, whenever he was writing this letter, then when you dive in to read it and you see how he presents his argument, it's powerful. It's cool. Yeah. And so anything else on the that's just the context. That's just context. Yeah. So how about we get into your chapter one starting in verse one or anything? You think context, context-wise, did I miss, you think? Uh no. Um only well, only one thing um I was thinking about was when he talks about that he is not ashamed of this gospel. I would uh the context I understood that to be was that anybody that died on a cross, it was just considered shame. And so then when your savior dies on a cross, you're like, really? You're gonna follow that savior? That's who your hero is. He died on a cross. It doesn't get worse or more shameful than that. And so he's saying, I am not ashamed of that, because Jesus dying on the cross now leads to salvation. That's right. It now has the power to get to where everyone needs to be. So I'm not gonna be ashamed of that at all. I mean, he's that Sunday, so thank you for forgiving. But I thought that's what you started with. You had that in your sermon on Sunday. Yeah, I did, but I didn't go into detail in the full detail of hey, so that's a preview to the preview. So like that's so let's get there because that's that that's like the hinge verse. So when I read my Bible, in order to help me understand, I have to take big sections and break it into parts. And I think that helps understand the argument. I had to learn this because literally, for uh I had a test over the book of Romans, and the test in my Romans class was you guys know Dr. Reeves, he came and preached here. Yeah, you know, this was his test for the book of Romans. One essay question. All right, give me a theological outline from Romans 1 through chapter 8. You couldn't use your Bible mean. Couldn't use your notes, and you had to present the theological brutal. The outline. So that's how I learned the book of Romans. Yeah, it's gonna make you learn it. Yeah. Did they tell you that's what the test was over prior to going into it? No, but you knew in his class your test was going to be what you've been studying Romans. What you studied from the last test to this test. Okay. And so what we had was the last test covered the introduction to Romans. So we knew this test was gonna be from Romans 1, 1 through where we had just finished up. Okay, that makes sense. That helps a little bit. Yeah. Um, and so that that's how so when I read Romans chapter 1, I see it in three distinct sections. And with chapter verses 16 and 17 as kind of like the hinge verse. Okay, yeah. And so that's why when I pr talked through it on Sunday, if you notice, I used kind of three different sections. The first section is him his doing his introduction. Romans one through seven. The next part I I always remember to has prayers from a pastor, and that was Romans eight, uh, or Romans one verses eight through fifteen. And then from verses sixteen and seventeen, sixteen, seventeen is kind of your thesis statement. Yeah. So it connects what's going on it connects what's happening in in 14 and 15 to the rest of not just the chapter, but the letter. And then the next part, I always believe it's the power of salvation. Because he's gonna start talking about uh the God's wrath against sinful humanity and different things like that. But it all kind of rewinds to what's happened, yes, yeah, right? And so like he he all of this is about all about him presenting the gospel, which the gospel starts with what? Sin. And so after 16, 17, he starts presenting his gospel, which presents the power of salvation, which he has to start with sin. Yeah, and so that that's kind of like the three main parts is you have one through seven. Why do we need a savior? Verses one through seven, the introduction, eight through fifteen, prayers from the pastor, 16 through, I think what is it, 31. I don't know, you took the test on it. 31 thir through 31. That's talking about sinful humanity, but through the power of self. So those are like the three main parts. So starting off there's some powerful things in that next section. That's what I sponsored. I was like, hey, you want to understand what it looks like to live in righteousness or not to? You need to come back next week. And so uh but one through seven, that introduction. What we need to understand about this introduction is it's the longest introduction we have out of any of his letters. Yep. Very true. It's the most detailed. Yeah. Why? I don't know. You tell me. You took the test. Not too. Because he hasn't met them yet. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. So like he has to introduce them. So in his introduction. Although he knows them, he's never been there, so he feels like a true introduction of why should you read my letter. Like, there's a difference between like, okay, when you text somebody that you've never texted before, yeah, you start with a little you know of them. Yeah, you're gonna approach that differently from somebody that you know and you're texting them. Like the other letters are kind of like, hey, it's Paul, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. This one is like, hello, I am the apostle Paul, who I preach this gospel. And like, so he goes into more detail explaining who he is. Yeah. And that's what he does in verse one. But what he introduces here is I believe and I take the introduction as he introduces three things. Number one, he introduces himself. Number two, he introduces his gospel. Number three, he introduces who this letter is for. And so he starts off, introduces, hey, I'm Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, to who? And he's specific. I'm set apart for this gospel promised before like, and so he's specific that he's a I'm sorry, he's set apart for the gospel of God. He's very specific about he set apart for that gospel. And then he goes into detail what that gospel is. So the second introduction he makes is the introduction of his gospel, and he summarizes the entire gospel in two verses. He goes back saying, Hey, everything in the Old Testament predicted Jesus. Jesus came, he was fully man and fully God, and he brought salvation uh through his resurrection. Yep. And he said, That's the gospel, that that's the apostle and the gospel I'm called to preach. Through him, we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name's sake. That's right. And so that's what he does through the verses two through six. He outlines the gospel and then introduces our response to the gospel. Right. And then uh, and we talked about this on Sunday, is we have to understand we don't see it because this is we're not it's not being read to us, but he's reading this to an audience, or the person who's reading it wasn't Paul, but whoever's reading this to the church, there's Jewish people present, Gentiles present. And there's certain lines in here where he's gonna be looking at the Jews, and certain lines where he's gonna be looking at the Gentiles. Yeah, I liked how you presented that there in your sermon too. And so, like when he gets to this point, I was like, hey, and we were called, he's actually looking at the Jews and saying, we were called to this apostleship for what? To go and reach these Gentiles who are also part of God's holy people. And so he was looking at the Jews saying, Hey, whether you believe it or not, yeah, we are called to this apostleship, but he's also talking to the Gentiles, saying, Hey, once you receive it, you're also called to go and reach those people, uh, those Gentiles as your friends as well. And so it's pretty cool how that all works out. And he'll do that whole thing. And just that whole concept right there, we don't understand the magnitude of all that, even just the whole the mingling of Jew and Gentile together now as one happy family. Well, that's what we got to understand is like these letters, they it wouldn't be mass distributed. Like, so like when Romans was written to Rome, we are reading this as right in front of us as individual people. Most people listening to this podcast, they have their Bibles open right now, they can read Romans right there in front of them. The church in Rome, they didn't have that. Nothing Paul's letter. It was what they were the letter was written to one person. It'd be like us walking up on a Sunday morning and saying, Hey, y'all, we we received a letter from Paul, and we're gonna read it to you guys today. And we're gonna learn something today. Yeah. And it may have taken them a while to go through all of it. So we have to understand that when they are first hearing this, it was actually just verbal communication that they were hearing it from. That's why we don't pick up on the cues of when somebody's people are yeah, when somebody's presenting it face to face. Yeah. And so that's how we we normally don't think about oh, he how he was looking at the Jews at that point. Well, he could have very well been looking at individual wanting it's the person's reading it and they're like, I know who he's talking about, and I'm gonna look at them while I'm reading this. Yeah. Could you imagine that? Oh man. It'd be that person's like, yeah, that's me. I did that. Because yeah, and when we start understanding it that way, I think we read the Bible, like it comes to that's when it starts to come to life. Really come to life, yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, and then he introduces like, hey, by the way, this is who it's for. I'm not writing to just the Jews, I'm not writing to just the Gentiles. This is to all in Rome. Who are loved by God. That's right. And he unifies them right there in that moment. Yeah. He says, by the way, yeah, you're all loved by God, uh, and you're all called. It's not just the Jews anymore, that's just his holy people. So he uses that terminology so specifically. That's pretty cool. Like you are all part of his holy people now. Called to be his holy people. Yeah. So grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, why does he use grace and peace? Why? Why would he why why do you think? Grace and peace? Well, that's what Jesus brings. That's right. So, and that's what we need to go carry forward is bring the this grace and this peace that the gospel brings. So uh that would be my first stab at that. What would you say? Yeah, and I I I think that is definitely true. And I also think he's connecting it back to the Jews whenever they live inside of being God's holy people and they follow his word, what followed with that and relying on him? It brought God's grace, yeah. They were given something they don't deserve, but it also brought peace. It's whenever they were operating outside of God's holy people, they were operating to a different king or a different way. They did not have that peace over them. And so what Paul is saying is like, hey, when you guys are operating as God's holy people, united together under his lordship, his kingship, grace and peace is among you through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's crazy. Yeah, cool, awesome connection. Good stuff. So that's just the introduction part. And then I think it's really cool because then he goes into his just as well. Because that's just verse that gets us to verse seven. Yeah, that's that's through verse seven. And then eight through fifteen, I we kind of summarize really quickly, is all he is is really getting at here. First off, he tells them, like, hey, this is my prayer for you guys. Um and I kind of went through like, hey, we we pray for our church. Uh I don't know if they understand. And he does this little some of the his other I'm constantly praying for you, and I remember you in my prayers, and I think about your love for others and the grace that's abounding in you and the good works that you're doing. Yeah, he he does, it's kind of consistent with some of his other letters of the churches that are doing correct. And you get again, like, what are the things that you pray for? Are the things that you constantly think about. And what we just outlined, he meets Priscilla and Aquila in chapter 18. He's with them doing ministry all the way from 18 to at least 19 when he probably leaves them. Chapter 20 is we know when he writes this letter. What has constantly been talked about in his life during that time? Probably what's going on in Rome. Rome. Yeah. And he's probably sharing his plans with Priscilla and Aquila of what if I ever get there, this is what I'm gonna do. Right. Yeah. And so when he's saying, like, hey, I'm gonna. And they're probably encouraging, you gotta go there. And we've got to bring what you're doing here to there. You know, so most likely he's probably constantly praying, like, Lord, open up a way, like help me get there, help those people in their faith. And I'm asking that you would go ahead and prepare the harvest because what's the next thing he talks about? Hey, there's gonna be a great harvest. I I'm praying that there's a great harvest among you guys. Yeah, and if we jump all the way to chapter 16, doesn't he talk about I have longed to come and meet you all and be and come to Rome personally? This has been a long time that he has wanted to do this. Um, so yeah, I bet a lot of that stems. He even says it right here in verse 13. He says that I have planned many times to come to you, but have been prevented from doing so until now. Yeah, that's big, right? My Bible has that in parentheses. Yeah, it was kind of uh added in here. He obviously added a little extra context to the why he couldn't make it. Yeah, and he he and he tells them, like, hey, this is why, but this is why I'm so excited to come to you, in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I've I had among the other Gentiles. He's praying for salvation in Rome. Yeah, and he knows that there's a lot of people to reach in Rome, and so that's why he's encouraging, he wants to equip the church so that they can go and get that harvest. But he also admits, like, hey, it hasn't been intentional that I've been avoiding you guys. Yeah, I've there's been a lot of other things been going on. I've wanted to, but also what he has been seeing like this is why it's so important in other contexts, is why he wrote it. He is starting to see the Lord open up the door through meetings. Somebody like Priscilla and Aquila, through the conversations that they're happening, now he's able to sit down and write this letter. He's seeing the Lord open up the door after door after door that he's going to make it to R. Yeah, those uh those friendships that were created were not just out of coincidence. No, he saw those as a divine friendship, divine moments. And so he is literally writing this saying, hey, God has prevented me up until this point from going there. I don't know why. Because we know in Acts what it said the Spirit prohibited prohibited him from going from certain locations. Yeah, it prohibited him to go to Ephesus for a little while, but then later on he got to go. Yeah. But he was dealing with a lot of junk in some of these other places for quite some time, and then he was on a boat for a while. So the question becomes, why would God prevent him from going someplace to share the gospel? Might not have been ready yet. Correct. Yeah. Whether it was Paul was not ready. Yeah. Or number two, the harvest wasn't ready. Yeah. And so the groundwork still had to be done for Paul to go in there and do what he did to bring a great harvest. Yeah, and even with that whole when they were heading to thinking about going to Ephesus, he has a dream and says, No, you're not going there yet. You need to go over here. He has a dream of a man talking about, please come here with your gospel. That's the Holy Spirit. He even says the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ within like two verses or one verse. He refers to both of them. But it was just it was the prompting of the Spirit. It's like, not yet there, go here. And but had to have been the same. And it's so cool when you think about Paul's experience and how 100% reliant he was on the leading of the Spirit and what he's going to do, how he's going to do it, even the abilities he was even able to have in all these different places according to what was going on in every different city he went into and whatever gods they may be worshiping and the things he was able to accomplish to kind of just bring people in that hey, no, no, no, that's not the real God. Let me show you the real God and show you how more powerful He is. It's just fascinating to see that the ordered steps of an individual who's truly dedicated their life to God's plan and really what happened, what can happen, and just how amazing that can be. Now, obviously, this is a different time and a different set of what's growing and happening. And really, this is what he was made for. It's just fascinating to when someone has truly surrendered, watch out. Yeah. Get ready and buckle up because you're about to go on a very wild ride with God. That's right. Um but I think you're hitting it as that's why we need to live unashamed of the gospel. Yeah. Because Paul saw every conversation as a divine appointment, a divine moment, and he thought in each conversation that the Lord had already been working on their heart and they were prepared for that moment of him being able to do that. Nothing's an accident. And he was either going to water that seed, or he was gonna, or he was either gonna plant that seed, he was gonna water that seed, or he was gonna bring that seed to fruit through that conversation. Could you imagine if we all live that kind of in in that intentionality? Well, that's why you know the very next thing he says, he says, I am obligated both to the Greeks, the non-Greeks, the wise, and the foolish, so that that is why I'm so eager to preach the gospel for you in Rome. He's telling them, it doesn't matter who I'm in contact with. Yeah, I'm seeing that as a divine appointment, divine moment. And when you start thinking about that and God's sovereignty, and that's what I you know, I told the story about me on an airplane and not being a pat about being a pastor, what not. But if we saw every conversation as a divine opportunity that God has orchestrated for them to be in front of you in that moment, and we thought every single time that the harvest, he's he's it's ready right now, how would we approach those conversations? Yeah, well, and even just the as he says, I am not ashamed to share this gospel. For us, it's I'm not afraid, yeah, and I don't care what you think of me, I'm still gonna share it. Yeah. I don't care if you think I'm a weirdo, I don't think, I don't care if you think I'm just oh, here we go, another Bible thumper. Yeah, or he didn't care. He goes, I'm gonna do this, and it's then I it's up to the Holy Spirit, and it's up to God to then decide what's gonna happen with this person because they now know who Jesus is. Yeah, that is off the the they're they are no longer unaware uh and I don't care what you think of me because this is how I feel about this gospel. Yeah. Again, could you imagine if we lived with that um just confidence and security? And I don't care what you think of me, I know what God thinks of me for doing this. And that's why, but he even gives the credit to I'm unashamed because it is the power of God that brings salvation. So I'm not gonna be ashamed of the the power that brings salvation. But what you were hitting on before, he's talking about the very thing that everybody in Rome thought of as shameful, which was the cross. Yeah, and that's where you know, because crucifixion, it was shameful. And what Paul is looking at saying, that cross right there, I'm no longer, I'm not ashamed by it. And you shouldn't be either because this is what it brings. Because this is what it's done for you, and that's what it does for everybody else. Yeah, and that's why it it's the power that brings salvation. Yeah, it's the amazing thing of how God it's just almost I almost think if you if you think what God's plans are or whatever you think if you think God is thinking about, just pretty much think the opposite. Yeah. Uh because whatever you have dreamed up God is gonna do, He is gonna do so not what you expect. Just like this whole he's I'm gonna save people through shame of what is thought to be shame, and I'm gonna bring victory through it. That's right. Completely turning things upside down. I mean, it is bizarre a world what God has brought to the world. Yeah, it is just it's beyond any, and even the Jews are expecting a warrior king. Nope, not bringing that. It's not what don't expect that at all. Well, it's crazy now, 2,000 years later, that Paul Trump, like, hey, that cross doesn't represent shame. Now, 2,000 years later, our society has brought stigma like that you should be ashamed to be a Christian. That because of whether it's how Christians have operated in the past or uh you should be embarrassed about your faith or whatnot. Or people feel some sort of this shame. Like you were saying about on an airplane, you're afraid of what their perception of a pastor is, that immediately gets put on you, and you're like, ugh, I don't want them to think of me like that. Yeah. That's rough. I get it. Yeah. And it and I think that's what you're kind of getting saying. I may have stole that from you. I'm sorry. That's exactly what I was saying. Yeah. Yeah. That's rough. And yeah, it's it's funny. And it is a kind of a weird conversation when you tell people that you're a pastor, they immediately start. Especially Southern Baptists. Yeah. And depending on when you grew up, uh, people will immediately think of the movie foot loose. No fun, no dancing, no, I mean, very stern, strict, legalistic. Yeah, that is we are so far on that. But that's what people's perception of a pastor or even a Southern Baptist pastor is. And I even sometimes wonder what my kids' friends think of me uh until they get to know me. Um, just kind of like, oh yeah, their dad's a pastor. I wonder what that's like living there, or what I don't know if I really want to go over there because it's probably pretty strict, you can't have any fun or anything like that. I just kind of wonder, you know, because there there are a lot of stereotypes that are connected to that. You know how like I've I've learned, I try to get three questions deep now. Um so like even like they might say, Oh, what do you do for a living? I'm a pastor. And even if you can tell that things kind of change, you know what they will open up to about a pastor is what they can be how the pastor can pray for them. Yeah. And so like I try to get, I I just try to simply ask them, like, hey, how's things going? How how are you doing? And they might say, Good. Sometimes through me even saying that I'm a pastor, they might even say, honestly, things are not going good right now. Yeah. And they feel more open to share. And then I just ask them a simple second question, why? Why do things going good? Tell me one reason why things are going, or tell me one thing that why things are going bad. And the third one, it's just like, how can can I can I pray for you? Yeah. And it's crazy, like a lot of times what they ask to be prayer for leads to a gospel conversation after the prayer. Yeah. And so that that that's kind of the avenue that you're doing. Yeah, and then also, you know, in even like if you think of Paul's perspective of everything is intentional, yeah. You're sitting next to the person on the plane, and then they ask you, What do you do? And you say, Well, I'm a pastor. And let's say they've had a bad experience with a pastor, even a Southern Baptist pastor. Hey, guess what? You have the opportunity to fix that perception. Say, Yeah, I believe you, I understand. Um, that's not right. And I will affirm you, and knowing that that wasn't right, and this is how it really should be. Yeah. Um, it was also funny, I liked your Uber story, uh, and not to compare. Uh, I did uh when uh early days of being a pastor here, uh Heather and I took a trip to Kansas City on our uh anniversary, one just a quick weekend getaway, and we took an Uber. And obviously, it's funny you get in these conversations with Uber drivers, um, and the gal asks, what I did. And I'm like, Well, I'm a pastor, and she's like, Oh, really? And she literally like starts spilling her life out. And at the end, I'm just like, Hey, can I pray for you? This lady literally, she's driving the car after we stop. She is literally turned around, like completely crisscrossed applesauce in her driver's seat, facing us in the back, and we're praying together. And it was just kind of like, I wasn't expecting that. But it's shocking that how much yeah, there is kind of the worry that, yeah, you're probably gonna have a stereotypical thought of me or what I'm kind of personally, but man, there's a lot of times people are like, You're exactly what I needed. Like you experienced then again that oh my goodness, you are the sign. Yeah. Could you I when I heard you say that, I'm like, Luke, how did that feel? To think that you were a sign from God. Yeah, but like, and here's the part if what happened on the plane didn't happen. You wouldn't have been convicted, maybe? I'd maybe not have been convicted to even talk to this guy about it. And that's the part that kind of blew me away. And and like here's I don't know what it all came about from that guy. I gotta pray for him. All I know, he's like, Do you guys have church online? I know for a fact he at least watched one week online, right? Because I mean he subscribed to our YouTube right out. If so, reach out. Yeah, that'd be awesome. But like, it was just such a humbling moment to me. But also, like, okay, going back to the not ashamed, this is like the hinge verses for the rest of the book of like, hey, this is why you should not be ashamed of the gospel, because it brings the power of salvation. Yeah, and that's why next week we're gonna talk about hey, the power of salvation. The power that comes through the gospel. Yeah, yeah. And once we understand the weight of the gospel, it will literally be like, why am I ashamed of that? Yeah. And you gave a little preview with the baptisms we had, some of the baptisms that we had yesterday. And we should live that way. Yeah. All right. And that's where like my biggest encouragement from anybody is don't be ashamed of that gospel that you believe in. And that's what he's telling the original audience of saying, Hey, Gentiles, that gospel of grace that you received, don't be ashamed of what you believe in. Yeah. Hey Jews, that man died on a cross for you, but he loved you so much that he predicted it in the Holy Scriptures beforehand. He came to fulfillment through the line of David, and he was also fully God that rose from the grave. Don't be ashamed of that. So everything he said up to that point, it was leading up to him making this argument of I do I am unashamed of the gospel. And what he's modeling to them is for them to also be unashamed of that gospel that he's also preaching. Yeah. And he's about to spell that out what it looks like. But I think that carries over to us, like, okay, we're kicking off the summer. How do you live unashamed of the gospel throughout the summertime? And this is like the tension that I want to get to as a pastor is just because you go on vacation, Satan does not go on vacation. Yep. Just because you go on vacation, the gospel does not take a break. Right. And so you want to elevate your vacation experience. How many people like can you share the gospel with somebody on your vacation? Why is it so hard to share the gospel on vacation? Because our vacation is all about who? Us. Yeah. Right? Like, we're relaxing, we're taking away. We're taking a break. We're still thinking about other people. Yeah. But can you imagine just when you were in an Uber on vacation, or you are at a restaurant and that waiter or that waitress, you are sitting next to that person, um, whether it be on a bus, uh going from one place to the other, or on the plank. What if you just imagine those moments as divine moments and opportunities, even when you are on vacation? Yeah. I think that's how a beginning point of how you can be unchained about the gospel. Absolutely. Or even just uh don't get disconnected from church. That's good. Uh like we were joking, FBC on the go. Uh we now have the mean you have the means to still attend church while not being here through our watching online or um viewing it on Facebook Live. Um, and so you don't have to completely disconnect from church, you can still get filled, and then even what you may get filled with, you can share with somebody. Let's just play this out. Imagine you you take a beach vacation. Yeah. Okay, you're you're at a beach, we're we're all jealous of you. We wish we were there with you. Um, but can you imagine it's Sunday morning and you wake up and it's you know 7 a.m. So you want to go to the sunrise on the beach, you want to go there, you want to hang out in the morning a little bit, but you know, nine o'clock or ten o'clock runs or rolls around because you're an hour and ahead, and you get the family all to come back together and say, Hey, guys, we just were at the beach for a couple hours, but we're all gonna meet back here at this time and we're gonna watch church together. Yeah. It's fascinating. There's a lot more people than we realize that do that, that will do that. Yeah. And it blows my mind, and I'm so proud of them for that. Um, and even like if you're traveling with a ball team, oh yeah, people will still take a minute to let's watch church or let's get capture just a little bit of what they're talking about today and let's learn something. That's a big one. Like, should you allow your kids to play sports on Sunday? A lot has changed over the years. There are no longer sacred days. Yeah. When I was growing up, there were never games on Sundays or Wednesdays. Those were sacred days almost, and even uh you just didn't do it. You didn't have practices even sometimes on those days, because that's when church or youth group or uh definitely Sunday was church. Uh, but Wednesday nights, that was my youth group night, and there was never school activities on a Wednesday night. Um, or if they were, they were they were done in time that you could still get to whatever you had for church. So a lot has changed in our world uh with regards to sports teams, traveling teams. Those now dominate the day. There's always a tournament that is on a Sunday. Um, and it's all year round, maybe except for football, uh, but wrestling, it seems basketball, definitely baseball, I think the volleyball, uh, that all those sports seem to carry through the entire weekend now. Yeah. And so that really puts a challenge to families that are involved in these traveling leagues or just whatever it is they're involved in to try and stay consistent because it is a grind through the summer. It is every weekend for a lot of these uber competitive teams, especially with baseball. Um it's insane. I we were fortunate enough when our son was in traveling baseball. Uh our coach, uh Kyle Rhodes, he was very much a believer. We're not playing tournaments on Sundays. And if we are, it's gonna be after church, is when our games are gonna start. We're gonna make it that way. Uh, and what was cool is even then it's like you being intentional is who on your team aren't believers? Everybody on our team was a believer. It was just kind of like, well, I don't really have a mission field here, but it's just still kind of cool that uh we all know who Jesus is on this team. And then even Kyle leading the way with the boys that uh you have them pray before a game and stuff like that. It was just kind of cool. So that helped a lot. Uh, but you may not be a part of a team like that, and that's where it gets tough. Well, here's what I'd say I think no matter what, it's an avenue. Yeah, as a parent, you get to determine which avenue that they're gonna take. And so it's an avenue number one, it can be a good avenue, avenue number two, a bad avenue. So avenue number two, let's start there. How can it become a bad avenue? What you're showing them is there's things that can get in the way of church, and it's okay. Yep that if because you gave that team your word that you need to show up and you need to be with that team, and so it can become a bad avenue where you know what, yes, you need to be a man of your word, a person of your word, and follow up with your commitments. That's great. But you're also showing them it can be easily distracted to get out of the rhythm and the routine of putting Christ first or potential changing of priority. Right. So, like what you what you model for them though is gonna turn determine which avenue this becomes because it can also be an avenue where you train them up into something good. And that's why I'm not saying like, oh, anytime you play on Sunday, you have to miss that tournament. See, I'm actually on on the different camp, and but I think we're saying the same thing, is we have the ability where our the church is not a facility, but we're a family. But I think what you model to them is you show them the priority of that Sunday morning. So the tournaments, it's not gonna start till like nine o'clock. Yeah. What would it look like for you? Be like, hey, we know it's a Sunday morning, but guys, this is what we're gonna do. Hey, anybody on the team that wants to join, we're gonna watch church online together in the lobby at this time. Um, or maybe church hasn't even started yet. Maybe you just lead a Bible study. Yep. I was just gonna say, yeah. If you're feeling really Right. Oh, over like, hey guys, we're gonna get breakfast with the whatever they're gonna offer. And over breakfast, I'm gonna lead a Bible study for anybody that wants to come and we're gonna pray and we're gonna do it. I think what you're modeling is showing, hey, even though it's Sunday, even though we have a ball tournament, we're gonna keep the main thing, the main thing. Yeah, and that is we're gonna go to the Lord in within his word, in his prayer, uh, whether that's through watching online or opening up the word with the word. Then you might be shocked who shows up. You might be shocked. Exactly. And so, like I saw what I'm saying, like, yeah, there's gonna be times where you do have ball terms, you do have things. You can't control that. But what you can control is how you use it. It takes courage. Use it as an excuse to not go to church and start creating new habits within your family and kids of it's okay to miss church, or are you creating it as an opportunity and an avenue to continue to get into the word, to show what that priorities matter, and an avenue to potentially share the gospel with somebody else. Because I'll tell you this, like my parents, those ball teams, and I was I was one of those kids that I played. I was thinking about that. Played sports on a on Sundays all the time, but I'll I'll tell you. It's amazing the opportunity it has to share the gospel with people by playing through sports and other parents, whether that be on Saturday nights or Sunday morning or different things like that. Yeah, yep, yep. And I believe you talked about how your family was intentional in that way. Yeah. Um, where if you were on a in a tournament on a Sunday, you still found time before the tournament started to as a family even pray together, have a little Bible study together, or divide other people in. So uh it takes a lot of boldness and courage. Um, but that again is the unashamed, I'm unafraid because of what this gospel brings. I don't care. Yeah. Um and hey, when I'm saying that, I'm preaching to me too. Yeah. So big time. Uh it's it's just a it's a new mindset, it's a new heart posture, and it's it's a it's a very much a different change of way of life. Yeah. And that's what like because you know the other thing, kids work now. I mean, I grew up, I worked at Riverfront, and you know, one of the busiest days of the week at Riverfront is down on Sunday, but through what was modeled to me of like, hey, that's not an excuse to not be plugged into God. Like I can work on a Sunday and yet still be plugged in. Yeah, there could be a lot of gospel sharing down the river. Oh my goodness, right? But it wasn't as an excuse to miss miss church because like I can still get in the word, I can watch church online later on, but you you have to make that a priority in your life. And I think part of being living that unashamed life is not letting these things be an excuse to miss, but using it as an opportunity and avenue uh to be able to train up and use it. Yeah. Well, we were blaming Roger for the long podcast. Um, I think we found the problem. Romans. Romans. It's Paul. It's all his fault. My fault. There's a lot to talk about with Romans and Paul and context. So yeah. Well, folks, thanks for joining us. And I hope you found that interesting and going deeper into Romans, Romans can be complicated. Yeah. It is, but it's good stuff. So any parting final words, Lou? Not gonna want to miss next week. So if you want to understand, like, okay, that that's what it is, how do I live unashamed about the power of salvation? Gotta come back next week um on Sunday as we dive into that more and finish up chapter one in Romans. And so it's gonna be a fun summer. Excited to get to hang out with you guys. We're gonna have some special guests on over this next month uh with Roger being gone. So it's not only gonna just be uh me and you. Uh so you're not gonna want to miss out. Not that that's bad or anything. I mean, I I thought it was the best podcast we've done. Yeah, that's what I thought. Um whatever. Thank you guys uh for listening. Thank you for watching week after week. Help it's growing your faith. That's the goal of discipleship here. But until we get to see you on Sunday or next week, go make Kevin Crowding.