Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:6-7 KJV)

In last three verses in Matthew 28, Jesus gave His disciples a commission to go to other parts of the world and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To do this task, we must deny ourselves and take up His cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). This means that we need to give our wills away and willing to do God’s will.

As we continue to study Romans 1, we read that Apostle Paul is talking to the Roman citizens to be saints of Jesus Christ. Remember that Rome has been pagan nation since the early church era and is still existed. Most Catholic Churches arrived from Rome that has many Babylonian religious rituals. But Paul was talking to Roman citizens and trying to bring their attention to God.

God doesn’t like to loose any of us, even if we are enemies of God. But we sometime choose to be separated from Him. We read in the First Book of Corinthians that God can use the foolish people to shame the wise. Even though Rome is a pagan nation, God can use the ungodly nation to bring the revival among the people.

The word “revival” doesn’t only means to receive physical healing, but it also means spiritual awakening or reunite with God.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name… (Romans 1:5 KJV)

We cannot just receive the grace and apostleship without producing obedience based on faith. Romans 5:1-5 tell us, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

The definition of faith is a belief in or confident attitude toward God, involving commitment to His will for one’s life. It is more than just believing. James tells us that if we have faith without action is considered as dead (cf. 2:20). In the same way, we have to take action to receive grace and apostleship. As we studied earlier in this series, Paul didn’t deserve to be called apostle, but God choose him to be missionary to reach to Gentiles for His sake. Even though he went through many hardships to spread the gospel to the Gentile nations, Paul obeyed God and took actions to do his assignment.

We cannot build the church without purpose. Nor can we be in apostleship without reasoning. Jesus gave us the Great Commission with purpose—purpose for us to reach other people into relationship with God. If we are called as children of God, then we have to obey God’s Words. There is no shortcut to receive the title of apostleship. And there is no greater office seat when we would become apostles or pastors. The five-fold ministry is not about taking charge over the ministries, but take lead to help the other brothers and sisters in the church.

Pastors, teachers, prophets, deacons, and evangelists are not separated from their church members. They have to follow the Great Commission as the rest of members. They have to take action to activate their faiths. If we want to live for God, we all need to obey Him and take action to do according to His will.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead… (Romans 1:3-4 KJV)

Spirit of holiness doesn’t just come from being right with God, but we need to understand how to become holiness through Jesus Christ. The KJV Study Bible says “the spirit of holiness” is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of Trinity. In John 14, Jesus gave us the other definition of the Holy Spirit as Comforter.

In Romans 1:3-4, Paul declared that Jesus Christ declared to be the Son of God who has the power to resurrect from the dead. He resurrected from the dead because He’s holy and has the spirit of holiness.

You and I can receive the Holy Spirit just as the twelve apostles did on the Pentecost (Acts 2). But we must be holy before God. God knows that we are not perfect because we are struggling with sins. He knows when we are weak and strong for Him, but that doesn’t mean that we can keep live our living unholy. We must keep strive to be holy before God, just as Moses did in the wilderness. His words tell us that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9). God choose us to be His ambassadors for His kingdom. This does mean we cannot continue to live just as we are, but live a life with God’s expectations.

This is why Jesus wanted to give us the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Nowadays, many churches don’t bring the subject of holiness anymore. We would like to do we like. Without understanding of holiness, we cannot get go any closer to God.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: (Romans 1:1-4 KJV)

In the previous study, we learned about Paul’s servant-hood as an apostle, even though he didn’t deserve a title (I Corinthians 5:9). Even though we do not deserve to save by the grace of God, He chooses us to be his children and priests. We are not lucky that God saved us, but He wants to bless us and use us for His plan for the mankind.

Throughout the Old Testament, God promised His people that He will bring a great revival to all the people through His Holy Son, Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 1 tells us that God will use His last prophet to save His lost people, includes Gentiles. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” (Hebrews 1:1-4 KJV.)

God called Paul (Saul) with the purpose of saving the lost souls to Himself. He wanted also to reach Gentiles, so they could receive the gift of salvation and they could have eternal purposes. This world is His since the beginning of time, even though Satan takes over the world. God gave us a command to have a dominion over the earth and multiply. Since the first seed which God created, there was a greater purpose behind it.

Before He created the mankind, He knew that we would go astray from God. Even though we are not going to be perfected until we would enter His kingdom, God always has plan to use us to bring His glory to the earth. I believe that His seed of David was the beginning of His plan since Genesis 3. His seed produced to reach the both Jews and Gentiles through Jesus Christ.

We all have life with purpose which God had planted. We have choice to whether to accept His plan and complete the course. Just as God gave Jesus the purpose to save the mankind, we have a great purpose to use our gifts, which God gave us, to reach out to His lost children to bring them Home.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Romans 1:1 KJV)

As is the custom in most of his epistles, Paul begins by extending greetings and offering thanks. Identifying himself as a bond-servant of Christ, he mentions his apostleship and its mission in the gospel of God concerning His Son: to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles (Romans 1:1-6). Addressing the recipients of his epistle as "all who are beloved in Rome, called as saints," he extends to them the popular two-fold greeting of that day: "grace" and "peace" (v. 7). He is thankful for their well-known faith and reveals his desire to visit Rome and to proclaim the gospel there (vv. 8-13). The motivation behind that desire is his sense of obligation and bold conviction that the gospel is God's power to save (vv. 14-17).

The mention of "salvation" naturally leads to the need for all men to be saved. Paul begins to demonstrate this need on the part of the Gentiles. He explains that because of the Gentiles' failure to acknowledge the eternal power and divine nature of God as revealed in the world around them, and for their subsequent pride and idolatry, they were therefore exposed to God's wrath from heaven (vv. 18-23). This wrath manifested itself in God simply letting them reap the fruits of their vanity. By giving them over "to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts," "to vile passions," and "to a debased mind," the result was such corruption that even those who knew better were caught in its clutches (vv. 24-32).

The Book of Romans begins with “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle…” Even though he doesn’t feel to deserve to call as apostle (I Corinthians 5:9), Paul called himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ.” The word “servant” means slave or slavery, a person bound in servitude to another human being as an instrument of labor; one who is no longer free and has no rights.” (Youngblood, Ronald F., General Editor; F.F. Bruce and R.K. Harrison, Consulting Editors, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1995.)

In this first verse in Romans 1, Paul told his Roman citizens that he now belongs to Jesus Christ. He is not what he was before, but he changed his identity to the Person who changed his heart from the stony heart to a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). His stony heart was rotten, which darkness overshadowed from seeing the whole character of God in the Old Testament. Now, his new birth is able to show the fullness of God’s character.

Being a servant of Jesus Christ doesn’t mean that He would make us prisoners of slaves as what King Pharaoh did to the children of Israel. Even though we are prisoners of Jesus Christ, He wants to take care and love us as His own children. Jesus didn’t let Paul suffer forever on the way to Damascus (Acts 9). Jesus called Paul to bear Hi name before Gentiles, kings and children of Israel (Acts 9:15). God had a purpose for Paul, so do we.

Jesus called us to be a witness of His name to the whole world. Matthew 28:18-20 state, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. (Acts 9:23-25 KJV)

More than any other individual, Paul (Saul) was responsible for spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. Before he began to become an apostle of Jesus Christ and proclaim the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, Jesus told him that he is going to suffer for His name’s sake (Acts 9:16). Although most of us may don’t like to hear this from our Heavenly Father, there will be a time that we must to go through some hardship to meet our goals for God. As we read through Acts 9-28, Paul went through many difficult times to spread the Word of God to Gentiles.

He made three missionary journeys through much of the Mediterranean world, tirelessly preaching the gospel he had once sought to destroy (Acts 26:9). After he returned to Jerusalem bearing an offering for the needy in the church there, he was falsely accused by some Jews (Acts 11:27-29), savagely by an angry mob (Acts 21:30-31), and arrested by Romans. Unlike today’s Christian evangelists, Paul and other apostles were the most hated by Jews and non-Jews because of Jesus Christ. Even Pharisees hated Paul after his conversion to Christianity, because they don’t like to hear what was fulfilled by the words of Moses and prophets about Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote the letters to Romans in Corinth, as the reference to Phoebe (Romans 16:1, Cenchrea was Corinth’s port), Gaius (Romans 16:23), and Erastus (Romans 16:23—all of whom were associated with Corinth—indicate. Paul wrote this letter toward the close of his third missionary journey (about A.D. 56), as he prepared to leave for Palestine with an offering for the poor believers in the Jerusalem church (Romans 16:1-2)

In this letter, Paul presents the theological truths of doctrine (chapters 1-11), while the last five chapters give detail its practical outworking in the lives of believers and the life of the whole church.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. (Acts 8:2 KJV)

Before we would go into the Book of Romans, we must need to understand about the life of Paul. The first time mention of this author is in Acts 8 as his original Hebrew name, Saul (Paul as in Greek). He was born in Jewish nation and came from the tribe of Benjamin as the first king of Israel, Saul the son of Kish. He was born about the time of Christ’s birth in Tarsus (Acts 9:11) and was also a citizen of Roman. As a Jewish leader, he was also a Pharisee, who hated followers of Jesus Christ.

Before his conversion to Christianity, Paul was the one of Pharisees and tried to persecute every believer in Jesus Christ that he can find in the face of earth (Acts 8:1-3). In fact, Saul murdered his future brethren, Stephen by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Jews (Acts 7:1-8:3). Unfortunately, God did not let Saul kept killing His people.

As we read in Acts 9, Saul was on the way to Damascus to kill more Christians, Jesus showed up to this murder. “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” (Acts 9:3-7 KJV.)

Have you wondered why God didn’t stop Saul until he’d get closer to Damascus to kill Christians? We must first to understand that God didn’t protest to His people to escape from Saul. He wanted to show Saul that there is God who is in charge of this land. The land of Israel was founded by God and He gave it to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants. It was not about protest. God wanted to show Saul who He is and wanted to used him as instrument to bring His lost people into Himself. God also wanted to use Saul to give new dream in his life. Hebrews 11:40 says, “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”

There is so much information on Saul’s (or Paul’s) life that we can take to apply into our lives. The first four of the New Testament is on the foundation of Christianity, but when we get into Paul’s life and his writing, we can find the life application to our own life. The whole books of the Bible are our daily living manual book that God gave us. We have choice to use the Bible as just religious textbook or a handbook for our livings for God.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink