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October 1 - Romans 1 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Shaun here and it is Wednesday.
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  It's the 1st of October. It is a new month, a new book.
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  Everywhere you look, things are starting fresh.
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  How good is that? Today we are going to as well as
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  cracking open the second month of springtime.
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  Oh, where it actually starts to warm up in this part of the
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  world. That's good news for everyone.
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  We are also going to open up this book of Romans, how Romans
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  are that old chestnut. This is an interesting book that
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  is often kind of read with maybe not the right lens.
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  Many people read it as like this definitive summary of all of
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  Paul's theology, this master document that everything else
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  falls underneath. Well, back in the day, that's
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  certainly how it was viewed. But now theologians tend to look
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  at it more differently. They say, no, this was a letter
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  written to a certain audience at a certain time for a certain
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  occasion. It's not necessarily his last
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  will and testament. This was written in about 55 AD
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  when Paul was in Corinth and under the the decree of the
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  emperor, all of the Jewish Christians were were kicked out
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  of Rome. The Roman emperor said you guys
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  are causing all this kerfuffle believing in this new way, get
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  out of Rome. So they all had to leave and
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  then Neuro came into power and said no, it's alright friends,
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  you come back into Rome, you're allowed.
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  And when they returned, they found this church that had grown
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  but grown full of Gentiles, which was not good news if you
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  were one of the Jewish Christians who had left and
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  returned, say there was all sorts of division and conflict
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  in this church. So Paul writes this letter to
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  encourage unity. And the irony is, friends, over
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  the years, all of the details in this book, which is written to
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  encourage unity, really has been used by a church to argue
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  different points on different arguments and and kind of create
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  division. So let us put on that lens of
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  this being written to draw our church together where we can all
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  find a place for each other and find our commonality in faith in
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  Jesus as we read together Romans chapter 1.
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  This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by
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  God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his good news.
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  God promised this good news long ago through his prophets and the
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  Holy Scriptures. The good news is about his Son
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  in his earthly life. He was born into King David's
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  family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was
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  raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, He is
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  Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us
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  the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles
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  everywhere what God has done for them so they will believe and
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  obey Him, bringing glory to his name.
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  And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to
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  belong to Jesus Christ. I'm writing to all of you in
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  Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy
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  people. May God our Father and the Lord
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  Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
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  Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all
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  of you because your faith in Him has been talked about all over
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  the world. God knows how often I pray for
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  you. Day and night I bring you and
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  your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart
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  by spreading the good news about His Son.
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  One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God
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  willing, to come at last to see you, for I long to visit you so
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  I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow
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  strong in the Lord when we get together.
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  I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be
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  encouraged by yours. I want you to know, dear
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  brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you,
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  but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see
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  spiritual fruit, just as I've seen among the Gentiles.
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  For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the
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  civilised world and the rest of the world, to the educated and
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  uneducated alike. So I am eager to come to you in
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  Rome too, to preach the good news.
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  For I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ.
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  It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes,
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  the Jew 1st and also the Gentile.
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  This good news tells us how God makes us right in His sight.
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  This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.
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  As the Scriptures say. It is through faith that a
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  righteous person has life. But God shows His anger from
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  heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the
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  truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God
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  because He has made it obvious to them forever.
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  Since the world was created, people have seen the earth and
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  sky. Through everything God made,
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  they can clearly see His invisible qualities, His eternal
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  power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not
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  knowing God. Yes, they know God, but they
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  wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks.
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  And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was
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  like. As a result, their minds became
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  dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they
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  instead became utter fools and instead of worshipping the
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  glorious, ever living God, they worship idols made to look like
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  mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
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  So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their
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  hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and
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  degraded things with each other's bodies.
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  They traded the truth about God for a lie.
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  So they worshipped and served the things God created instead
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  of the Creator Himself who is worthy of eternal praise, are
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  men. That is why God abandoned them
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  to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against
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  the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with
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  each other. And the men, instead of having
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  normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each
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  other. Men did shameful things with
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  other men and as a result of this sin, they suffered within
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  themselves the penalty they deserved.
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  Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned
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  them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that
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  should never be done. Their lives became full of every
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  kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarrelling,
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  deception, malicious behaviour and gossip.
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  They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and
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  boastful. They invent new ways of sinning,
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  and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break
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  their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.
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  They know God's justice requires that those who do these things
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  deserve to die, yet they do them anyway.
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  Worse yet, they encourage others to do them too.
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  Jesus, you certainly call us to live a certain way.
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  You call us to reflect you and your Kingdom, for the fruits of
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  your Spirit to grow and be evident in our lives.
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  But Lord, as that happens, as we are transformed to be more and
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  more like you, Lord, I pray that it's your mercy and your love
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  that grows most of all, so that we never place ourselves on a
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  throne of judgement, but that we always love, that we always
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  reach out, that we always point people to you and your love for
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  them. You are a glorious, gracious
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  God, and I thank you for your Kingdom into which everyone is
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  invited, loved, and cherished by you, their Maker and their Lord.
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  I pray all of this in your wonderful name, Jesus, Amen.