Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20260315 - How Can I Touch That - Faith That Is Real - Romans 16:1-13

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#20260315 - How Can I Touch That - Faith That Is Real - Romans 16:1-13 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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All right, good afternoon, Calvary Church, You guys doing
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good. You know what's so funny?
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Having the opportunity to teach the four different services here
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this weekend and sitting right up front hearing the the
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different portions of the fellowship, different services
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sing differently. You guys had such a sweet ring
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kind of coming out of this section here today and I could
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hear it and I was so blessed by your singing.
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So if you I'm sure you guys are singing over on this side, I
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just couldn't hear you on that side.
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And and so it was just beautiful to to see the variety.
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Well, my name is Jeff Kramer again.
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I was I pastored the church up in Westminster, Co just a little
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bit north of here. I am a Southern California born
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and raised out there in Socal and my wife and I and our
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children, we've been back here in Colorado for 22 years and
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coming back here, it was it was a change for us.
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But God called us back here very distinctively.
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And as he called us from the pace of life in California, he
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brought us to Colorado to take his deeper with him.
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And I found that it was it has been it's been a wild ride for
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for 22 years. God has not stopped with the
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amazing things that he has stretched our hearted and the
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way that he has tested us in the way that you know, he's given us
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the privilege to serve in ministry and all of this.
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I will tell you ministry, being a pastor, pastoring a church,
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teaching before crowds of people.
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That was nothing. I I never desired to do anything
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like that. But after what Christ has done
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for me, I tell you he, he opened up my heart and he equipped me
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and he is he's given me something very special to share
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with you. It's his love when I was one
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year old, right about one years old or so back in 1970.
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We don't have circuit Breakers that are the same way, like
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those little GFI in the kitchens and all that stuff.
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And as a one year old, I bit onto a vacuum cleaner cord and
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it burnt off half of my tongue and the doctor said that I would
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never be able to talk again. And, you know, coming through
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grade school and, and going into junior high and Senior High and
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all that stuff, I, I talked again.
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Elementary school was difficult because I started really bad.
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But I find it so fascinating that God uses the broken and the
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weak people to glorify himself. Because in the middle of all
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that. Yeah.
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Because in the middle of, of everything that is going on, you
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know, we, we, we have busy lives and we, and we, and we think
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that sometimes that God doesn't care about us or that, you know,
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God can only use a certain type of people.
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And it is true, I think that he uses a certain type of people,
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the redeemed people, other people that have responded to
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his grace. And if you've responded to God's
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grace, you know how beautiful it is to be in this, this church,
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this fellowship at this time. You know, Colorado was going
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through a very difficult time. I'm sure that's not news to any
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of you, but it is is as the church is is surrounded by
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darkness. It really just puts us into a
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place to shine brighter and, and, and wherever you are in
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Jesus here today. I hope that that by the time we
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come to the end of this study here today, I hope that you
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sense, I hope that you feel the love of God being poured out for
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you. I hope that, that, that the Holy
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Spirit through the, through the pages of Scripture touches you
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right where you're at. You guys are a, a very committed
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group to come out here in the middle of the day on a Sunday, a
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snowy day at that, and say, Hey, man, I want to go to the House
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of God and I want to worship him.
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And so I, I, I, I pray that God meets you right where you're at.
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Amen. One more thing before we begin
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our Bible study, you know we, we want pastors in our pulpits in
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our churches that are anointed of the Lord, that they speak
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forth God's word, that they rightly divide words.
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And we also want as the Saints gathered together in the House
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of God as we assemble together as one, we also want Holy Spirit
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anointed listening as well. Why?
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So that the words of life that God will speak to us as we read
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his word. So that we take these things, we
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understand that these things are not just ink on a page, rather
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they're God breathe. God has breathed life into his
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word and God's word alive and living right this, this moment.
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And as these truths come from his pages, the pages of
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Scripture here, they're for us, they're for us to hang on to.
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They're for us to grab hold of. They're for us to, to say yes,
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Lord, I believe you to take them by faith to believe in God.
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And when God says that he loves you, when God says that he's
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going to do for you abundantly above anything that you can ask
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or think, When God says that you don't have to go to this world
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alone, you don't have to to hurt and be alone, that you don't
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have to carry anxiety. God says that if you're burdened
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and you're broken down, that you can come to him and you can cast
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your cares upon him because he cares for you.
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These are truths that all or most in this room know about
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because you've read them, you've heard them, they've been taught
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to you from the pages of Scripture.
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And so as we dive in them together, as we look in Romans
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chapter 16, I would encourage you open up your Bible, turn to
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Romans chapter 16. It is the it's the the last
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chapter there in the book of Romans.
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And if you'd like to put a title on your message, I've titled
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today's message. How can I touch that faith that
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is real? And we want an authentic faith.
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We want a genuine faith. And as we get here to the book
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of Romans, Romans is, is often taught, it's, it's, it's often
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brought to this place where we put this big title over it, the
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Gospel according to grace. But I don't think that that we
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always understand exactly the title.
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It's, it's the gospel according to grace because it explains how
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God saves sinners. It's the gospel according to
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grace because because the book of Romans explains and it shows
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transforms lives. And this is what we're going to
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see here in chapter 16. We're going to see then after 15
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chapters of theology, after, after, after Paul has given
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through the inspiration of Holy Spirit, 15 chapters of what God
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has done and how we are justified in Christ and how we
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have grace for obedience and how Paul was not ashamed of the
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gospel of Christ and how there's no condemnation in Christ.
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All of these things, all these wonderful truths, he closes the
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book out almost like on a surprise turn here because
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chapter 16, it's all about people, not doctrine.
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And what he gives to us is the names, the lives and the stories
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behind the people that God was using, that God had touched that
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were partners in ministry with him.
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And I find this to be a powerful moment here for us.
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I mean, you guys as a fellowship, you're in the middle
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of of, you know, missions marks with all of these flags up here
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inside the the sanctuary. And this is just an extension.
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And as we read through this list of names in a few moments here,
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when we go through the list of all the names that are here, I'm
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going to ask right up front that you give me a little grace on
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these names because there's some names in here.
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I'm not sure if I'm really pronouncing them right.
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OK, But we're going to we're going to try to get to them.
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But I want you to know this again, is that these are real
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people that one day that you and I will meet.
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These are, these are not just some random things that are
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sprinkled throughout the pages of Scripture.
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No, no, no, these are these are brothers and sisters that God
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was working in and through. And I get a chance to visit you
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from Westminster. And I can't look totally into
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the eyeballs of all of you, but I know that that many, most, I'd
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like to say all, maybe all, everybody that is here, brothers
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and sisters in the body of Christ.
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In other words, we're going to spend all of eternity together.
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And so my name is Jeff. What's your name?
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Your name is church. It's a church.
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Come on, dummy. How can I touch that?
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A faith that is real. Well, why does Paul do this?
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Why does he why does he close with with names?
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Because the gospel, it's not just truth that that we read
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inside of a, a book. The gospel is God's fingerprints
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upon our lives and his messages contained within his word and he
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desires that we would hear his voice.
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And so Paul writes this down he he communicates chapter 16 here
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and what he gives to us is important.
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It's people. It's not dead theology on a
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paper. It's visible in Holy Spirit
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transformed lives. And I hope that you're
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recognizing that that God is doing a a marvelous work within
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you. But Romans, maybe you'll
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remember this in Romans one the very first verse of the book of
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Romans. Follow along if you can.
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He says Paul, a bond servant of of Jesus Christ, called to be an
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apostle separated to the gospel of God.
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The good news Paul is telling us in the very first book or the
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very first verse of this book of Romans that it's the gospel of
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God. But this book ends with how the
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gospel of God changes people and he calls people out by name.
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He lists 27 different names are listed here in Romans 1610 of
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these names are ladies, women in the 1st century church.
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What Christ has done through all ages is to bring people together
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and he brings them together in his own body.
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Follow along as I read to you Romans chapter 16 picking up in
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verse one. Paul says this.
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He says, I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a
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servant of the church in Centria, that you may receive
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her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the Saints and assist
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her and whatever business she has need of you for indeed she
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has been a helper of many and of myself also.
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Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
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who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give
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thanks, but also the churches of the Gentiles likewise greet the
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church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Epinatus.
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OK, so we're going to get into some names, so please bear with
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me on some of these names here. Epinatus, who was the first
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fruits of AKI to Christ. Greet Mary, an easy name who
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labored much for us. Greet Andronicus and Junaia, my
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countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among
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the apostles who who were in Christ before me.
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Greed and Plias, my beloved in the Lord.
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Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ.
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Greet, steak, kiss my beloved. Greet and palace approved in
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Christ. Greet those who are of the
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household of Aristobolis. Greet Herodiad, my countryman.
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Greet those who are in the household of Narcissus who are
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in the Lord. Greet Trifina and Trifosa, who
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have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis who
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labored much in the Lord. And finally, we'll stop at verse
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13. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord,
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and his mother in mine. Father God, we ask that you send
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your Holy Spirit to teach us, lead us, and guide us here.
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We thank you for your love for us, and we want to receive your
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love right here today as we go through this study.
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So encourage us along the way. Build us up, strengthen our
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faith, help us to look to you. And we ask this in the mighty
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name of Jesus that all God's people said, all right, how can
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I touch that faith that is real? Listen, we live in a skeptical
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world right now. And again, our state is not
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unique to, you know, challenges that have gone on through the
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course of history, but we live here.
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And so that's why it's important to us.
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And we live in a state that there's a lot of skeptical
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people here. But what does God do in a
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skeptical world? He presents his love.
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He presents transformed lives that that that demonstrate the
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evidence of his fingerprints at work in humanity, lives that we
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can see, lives that we can hear lives that we can we can touch
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real people is what God gives to us.
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And I want you to think about this right there within your
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chair. You know, in times past, there
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was there was a time when people would say, Hey, just just tell
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me and I believe you. We're, we're far beyond those
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days now, but there used to be a time where, where there was, you
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know, just a, a, a belief in your fellow neighbor that you
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could trust, that you could believe what, what they were
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saying. And then time went on and it
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became show me and I'll believe it.
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And then we come to the technology age here.
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And, and as technology is come along, it's like, Hey, show me
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the video and I'll believe it. In fact, I think that, you know,
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amongst young people, I think they have a, a saying there,
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Hey, show me the pics or it didn't happen.
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You know, we live in this type of culture right now.
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And and that's not saying anything about about technology.
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It's merely it's really saying that there is so much skepticism
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that is out there. Pastor Roy that was up here
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earlier today, he was over here and I saw him take out of his
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pocket what looked like a, a tube of, of touch up paint.
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You can see what that is a little, little things of touch
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up paint. He pulled this thing out of his
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pocket and I go, bro, what is that touch up paint?
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And he's all, he's all, no, this is, this is chapstick.
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And I said squatching says you're a Bigfoot follower,
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aren't you? You know, I don't know if some
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of you remember the the Bigfoot videos, the hoax of of the days
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gone by and all that stuff, but I know, I do know that you see a
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lot of bumper stickers that say, oh, I'm a believer.
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I'm a squatcher. You know, listen, in 2026, we
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live in a world of deep fakes. And can I call for your
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participation for a second? Would you would you participate
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in this if I was to ask you? And I'm not setting you up for
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anything, OK? Last service thought I was
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setting them up for something. I'm not setting you up for
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anything. It's just a genuine question.
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OK, How many of you in this room are on social media?
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Please raise your hands and keep it up just so I can scan the
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room for a second. OK?
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A vast is it OK, Do this with me.
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It's OK, OK to say a vast majority of this room's on
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social media. Yes.
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All right. Thank you.
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Award right here to this man. Good voice.
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Yeah. But in 2026, we live in a world
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of deep fakes. What do you mean, Jeff?
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Well, you know, if you're on social media, you know, there's
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there's AI generated voices, There is there's AI generated
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videos, there's edited realities, there's filters on
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everything so that we can, you know, look our best and all of
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that stuff. It's, it's, it's everywhere.
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Hey, man. And we could no longer trust in
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pictures. We can't trust in videos, we
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can't trust in voices, any of that stuff.
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And So what do we say if I can't touch it?
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I don't believe it. And honestly, I, I think that we
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can understand that. But when brokenness comes into
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our churches, when people walk into our church and maybe maybe
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even you walking in today or maybe maybe others listening on
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the radio here right now. When others are in a place of
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brokenness and, and being overwhelmed by anxiety and not
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sure what the future holds and not sure how to go forward
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because there's been a death, a divorce, or some difficulty
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within their life. And people need something that
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is tangible. We don't want people coming into
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the church skeptical. And if they do come in
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skeptical, we want to make sure that we touch them with the love
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of God so their lives are changed.
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And then this is this is the church.
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We're gathered as a church here on a on a Sunday morning.
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We're assembled together as the Saints.
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And it's so that we can be built up within the faith.
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It's so that we can be strengthened in the love of God.
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But it just doesn't stop with us personally.
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Is God is God works in US. God desires to work through us.
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Can I, can I hear an Amen for that?
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Yeah. And so comes we come to the very
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first idea of the morning or of the afternoon.
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And that is proof for this skeptic.
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Follow along if you can turn to your left.
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I don't know, just 20-30 pages or so.
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The Gospel of John in chapter 20, Gospel of John chapter 20
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verse #24 John writes and he records how Jesus shows up and
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he appears after the resurrection and he shows up
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where the the apostles are at. It says now Thomas called the
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twin one of the 12. He was not with them when Jesus
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appeared. The other disciples therefore
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they said to Thomas, well we have seen the Lord.
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And Thomas said, unless I see in his hands the Prince of the
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nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my
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hand into his side, I will not believe.
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Is it OK to call that a skeptic? Can we say that?
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Can we agree that that that Thomas was skeptical?
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He was skeptical about the resurrection And what does God
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do? What does Jesus do?
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Well, I Jesus gives proof for this skeptic.
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He told Thomas he's Thomas is sitting there saying hey, unless
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I see it literally means unless he was to experience from
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observation and touch unless he could get that physical
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feedback, if you will, he was not going to believe.
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So what happens? Well, the story goes on in verse
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26. You find that eight days pass by
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and and Jesus the apostles are together again.
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The disciples are all in one location.
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All of a sudden Jesus shows up and and and he doesn't allow the
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things to pass by of where Thomas was at 8 days ago.
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Jesus starts the conversation right from that point.
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He says, Thomas, come on, come and touch me.
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And then he directed Thomas and the others that were listening.
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Don't be unbelieving, but be believing.
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Believe me. Here's the point church, that
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Jesus didn't rebuke Thomas for a desire for evidence.
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He proved the reality that Thomas needed.
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And then he called the disciples out and he he called them to set
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up a pattern of faith for us to follow.
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And that is if Jesus has spoken it, The guys that did ministry
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with him for three years of his earthly ministry, they saw the
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lives that were touched, The eyes that were blind were open,
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the hands that were withered were healed.
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The woman with the blood flow is stopped.
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All of these physical touches, if you will, there's the
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evidence. They saw the evidence of Jesus
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at work. Well, Jeff, I know those gospel
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stories, but what does that mean to me?
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Why don't I don't know what your personal story is, I don't know
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how Jesus has touched you, but I can tell you mine that on May
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7th of 1993 it right about 8:00 at night time.
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Here I am at 21 years old, been married for a year, have a one
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one daughter at that point and my life is imploding.
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I grew up in a household. It was a divorce household, like
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many people that were coming from the 60s, from the 70s.
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It was a divided house. My parents got divorced when I
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was when I was young. I was six years old.
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Dad lived most of his young life like the devil, but he was a he
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was part of the Catholic Church. My mom lived on the other side
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of the fence, reckless in, in some ways, but but she was part
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of it was a heretical Pentecostal movement, the word
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faith movement and all this stuff and that.
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What did that leave me in the middle of, of, between both of
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them? It left me as a skeptic.
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It left me as a doubter of God. It left me as like, no, I can't
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trust God. I'm not into this God thing.
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And so under the pressures of marriage and, and, and being a
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young father and all that stuff, that was it.
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I was done. I nailed down to take my life
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with a gun. Tragic.
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I was a broken, a broken man, a young man, but it was in that
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place right there before I took my life.
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I just yelled out to God. God, if you're real, I need you
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now. The earth didn't shake, the
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curtains didn't rattle. The lights, they dimmed a little
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bit. No, I'm kidding.
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They didn't. They didn't.
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No, that happened. But instantaneously,
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instantaneously there was a weight that was lifted off of my
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heart. I was changed.
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I was born again. I, I didn't know the terminology
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and I didn't know all of this stuff at that point in in time,
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but I did know that as I got off my knees in that moment that I
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was different. And I think it's important that
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that for us as the church that when we come across these
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portions of Scripture, I'll flip back to Romans 16 by the way.
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Then when we come across these portions of Scripture like this
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at the end of an amazing epistle about everything that God has
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done for us and we we run through a list of names this,
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but it's OK. It's right that we would gain a
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sense of understanding about what's going on.
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And in the age of skepticism that we live in right now, what
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has God-given to us? God has given to us.
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God has given to the church. God has given to the world the
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certainty of his word. It is certain God has given to
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us the reality of the resurrection.
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You know, we're fixing to celebrate the the resurrection
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of Christ here at the beginning of April.
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It's a celebration. People that are in the faith,
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people that are outside of the faith, many people will pack
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into our churches. You know this, this service will
23:21
be overflowing. God has given to us the presence
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of his Holy Spirit and don't miss it, that God has given to
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us people that bear the testimony of a transformed life
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right here in Romans chapter 16. And in all of the chairs that
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are inhabited within this room, God is given a testimony and
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that testimony is your life has been saved by the blood of Jesus
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Christ, Amen. Now your life and my life as a
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Christian. We're not perfect, but God has
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not called us for perfection. God has called us to surrender
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to his grace. God has called us to receive His
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grace. God has called us to walk with
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him, to abide with Him, to get to know Him.
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Can we say it that way? God has called us to get to know
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him, and He's continually offering us help.
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And so it's important that we are stirred up by way of
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reminder on these things. Take a peek at the screen,
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Hebrews 4 and 16. Many of you perhaps know this
24:27
verse Paul writes. He says, let us therefore come
24:32
boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
24:35
find grace to help in time of need.
24:38
Friend, I don't know how you've come in here today, but I know
24:41
this, that God's grace is enough for every single day of our
24:45
life. You know, it's been said in more
24:49
recent months, not years, but more recent months, you know,
24:54
from those sociologists and people that track civilization
24:58
and the pressures within cultures and times and all that
25:00
stuff, that Americans are the most anxious people in all the
25:08
countries of the world. I mean, think about that.
25:11
Think about that statement. I mean, we have so many
25:13
countries right now at war and where, where bombs are going
25:17
off, if you will, within in the countries.
25:18
And yet it's it's Americans that are the most anxious people.
25:24
We can't look down upon the statement.
25:25
We have to address what's going on and when we speak about these
25:29
things inside the, the, the, the church, what do we do?
25:32
We anchor our hope back in Christ so that he takes the
25:34
anxiety away. That, that, that I understand
25:36
that I can cast my cares upon him because he cares for me.
25:39
And when I'm casting my cares upon the Lord, God is the one
25:41
that is carrying the anxiety away.
25:43
And he's, he's, he's giving me peace in place of anxiety.
25:49
When I got saved, that's exactly what I needed.
25:51
I didn't know that. And here's 30 some odd years
25:54
later, I still need that. I still need to have God's
25:59
perfect peace working within me. And so this brings us to the
26:02
second idea as we, as we as we slowly work through some of the
26:05
names within this, this list here in Romans 16 second idea.
26:09
And that is the gospel that you can touch.
26:14
So all of these people here bless you over here, somebody
26:18
sneeze, bless you. So all of these people here in
26:20
Romans 16, he, he, he starts this off by commending Phoebe.
26:28
She was changed by the gospel and then the testimony that
26:32
starts with her life, but it also continues through the other
26:35
lives. There's a few takeaways, I guess
26:37
that we could learn from these people and what was going on.
26:40
First one is this, if you can receive it again, it is Phoebe.
26:44
What do we know about Phoebe? Well, we know that her name
26:46
means bright and radiant. Radiant I I don't know if she
26:50
was young or old. The scholars give a range
26:52
somewhere between 30 and 60 years old.
26:54
That's not too precise. There's kind of a broad spectrum
26:57
there. But she was known for being a
26:59
servant. Can we just can we realize that
27:02
that that the implications of that was nothing more than she
27:05
was faithful. She was known for being faithful
27:11
and, and, and, and she, she took this letter Romans that Paul
27:17
wrote in Corinth, 7 miles away from century where she lived.
27:22
It's a lot of information there, but just understand that she
27:24
took, she took this letter from Paul and she got on a boat,
27:31
sailed to Rome and delivered the letter.
27:33
She travelled 800 miles here. She was counted faithful.
27:38
She was counted as a servant to carry the most important letter
27:42
of Christian doctrine that we have in the entire New Testament
27:45
here, the most important letter with Christian doctrine here.
27:48
She carries this up to Rome, to the churches that were in Rome.
27:54
Well, Jeff, thank you for the the history lesson here.
27:58
But what in the world does that mean to me today in 2026?
28:00
It's snowy outside. I'm not sure if I'm going to
28:03
have a second lunch after this service or not.
28:05
But speak to me. What's, what are you saying
28:08
about me? I think the very simple
28:11
application is this is that today in the church that we need
28:14
faithful people to stay engaged in the mission because many have
28:18
forgotten this. And God saved you.
28:22
He saved you not to enshrine you.
28:25
He saved you to wipe away your sins, to give you spiritual
28:29
life. That we would have a place with
28:32
him but in this world, that we become the vessels for him, that
28:39
he fills us with his Holy Spirit and he pours our lives out to
28:43
serve others. And Phoebe, she is a wonderful
28:46
example of that. And the greater implication is,
28:52
is that that in a, in an age of spiritual drift, we need people
28:57
that are staying committed in the epistles of John, not the
29:00
gospel, but in the epistles of John, there's a phrase in there
29:05
that John uses. He, he says there's Satan that
29:09
he's rocked the whole world to sleep.
29:12
The, the, the, the world is under the sway, literally of the
29:16
wicked. One can, can you just think
29:18
about that Satan come along and just just coddling and doing
29:21
this rocking motion. Satan wants to deceive, Satan
29:25
wants to kill, Satan wants to destroy.
29:27
You guys know those, you know, you know that terminology here.
29:31
But maybe we are, we're not always thinking about the aspect
29:33
of spiritual drift and how Satan wants to put us to sleep and he
29:36
wants to to make the church so asleep at the wheel that we're
29:40
no longer committed to the mission that Christ has given to
29:43
us. And our pastors don't want to
29:45
disrupt things. And, and I'm not Speaking of
29:47
your pastor or this fellowship. I'm just giving general
29:51
terminology here, general phrases here, OK.
29:55
The pastors here in 2026, I mean, they're more concerned
29:58
about keeping a crowd than they are pursuing Christ.
30:01
May that not be named amongst us.
30:03
May we understand that Phoebe's life that this is an example of
30:07
a real faith of a faith that you could touch of a faith that
30:09
we're we're seeing. It's producing evidence.
30:12
Something is there. God's at work right here and the
30:19
gospel produces people that serve other people.
30:23
The gospel produces because the Holy Spirit is, is working
30:27
within us and because God's at work that we naturally serve
30:32
other people instead of serving ourself.
30:34
This was Phoebe. She laid it all down to take
30:37
this letter. Listen, if she didn't take this
30:39
letter, no doubt we wouldn't be having this conversation.
30:42
But think about all the other Bible truths, the biblical
30:45
truths that are contained right here in Romans about there not
30:47
being any condemnation to those who are in Christ.
30:49
Think about how often we get into a bad spot or we blow it
30:52
here or we blow it there, or we've got some, some guilt that
30:55
that's on our shoulder from the past and, and, and that we're
30:57
just so condemned. We're so defeated.
30:59
We're we're anxiety ridden. We're ready to take our life and
31:01
all that stuff. Listen, without this letter,
31:04
without these truths, without Phoebe serving and putting
31:07
somebody else's life first, we wouldn't have this.
31:10
We wouldn't have these wonderful pillars of faith that are in
31:13
God's word to know about his character and to know that we
31:15
can stand because God is holding us with his righteous right
31:19
hand. We're in his grip of grace.
31:21
It's his right arm that supports us.
31:25
Well, what else do we know? Well, if we were to move on down
31:27
to the list, maybe, maybe the, the, the second little take away
31:30
that we could put on here is, is number 2 is the, the, the gospel
31:34
produces risk takers, risk takers.
31:37
I thought we weren't somebody supposed to be doing risky stuff
31:39
as Christians, as if you're living a boring Christian life.
31:44
There's all kinds of crazy risky stuff to do as, as as
31:47
Christians. Hey, listen, every has anybody
31:49
in here ever tried to smuggle Bibles before?
31:52
That's that's real. I don't know if we have time for
31:55
a story. We'll find out.
31:57
OK. I got to be very careful here.
32:01
It's about 10 years ago. I won't tell you the country.
32:06
I'll just kind of give the continent, across Asia, there's
32:11
a group of about 30 of us that were smuggling Bibles into a
32:14
country and we would be making multiple trips.
32:20
It would go through the border. There's different teams.
32:22
And in the smuggling of Bibles, please don't think, oh, how
32:25
cute, you're taking 12 Bibles to a foreign country.
32:27
No, no, no, no, it's tons of Bibles.
32:30
Literally tons, tons. OK, not 10s, tons, TONS, tons of
32:34
Bibles. Oh, wait.
32:36
But it's done little by little. And so on this one day, this
32:42
country that we were going into somehow got word that something
32:46
was happening. And they take all the multiple
32:48
lines that are crossing into the country through the customs and
32:50
all that. And they they reduce it down to
32:52
a single line and you have to go through.
32:55
It was a scanner. You're putting up your suitcases
32:57
and your backpacks on the conveyor belt to be scanned.
33:01
Well, I'm leading the pack and I'm about 20 in line behind this
33:04
scanner thing here and, and I'm going, Oh no, what have I just
33:10
done? What did I get myself into here?
33:13
I'm never going home to see my wife and kids again.
33:17
Well, it gets worse. This military guy from this
33:21
country that I won't tell you, he comes up, he has a machine
33:25
gun on. I don't know.
33:26
It looked like AK47 is what it looked like.
33:28
And he starts yelling at the lady in front of me and it was,
33:32
I thought he was going to do something violent to her right
33:35
there. It was, it was horrible.
33:37
And there's a barrier right there.
33:38
And he takes the metal barrier and he just slams it open and he
33:42
tells her and he points her across the way.
33:45
Well, here I am with a backpack full of Bibles and a suitcase
33:48
full of Bibles, and I'm standing here and I'm pretending like I
33:52
don't hear what's going on and all this stuff.
33:54
I'm going, please just go away and leave me alone.
33:56
Let me cross and come, come back.
33:59
Oh, no, it didn't stop there. Next he turns towards me and
34:02
starts going off on me. Oh, I'm dead.
34:07
I have no idea what he was saying, but he pointed to me and
34:09
he's all like this and I said OK, He let me go into the
34:13
country. I dropped those Bibles so fast,
34:16
got out of that country so fast. And I'm here today for because
34:20
of that. It's a true story.
34:24
I think there's a few other juicy pieces in there, but it's
34:27
probably not right for me to say those from the pulpit.
34:29
All this to say is risk takers, man.
34:31
The gospel produces risk takers. Priscilla and Aquila, they were
34:34
just those people. They were a husband and wife
34:36
team. Again, they assisted Paul.
34:38
We find that in Acts chapter 18 that a leather shop there in
34:42
Corinth. But you know what they were
34:44
known for? They were known for home
34:46
fellowships. Starting home fellowships.
34:48
Today we call them small groups, but they were known for for for
34:52
starting home fellowships. And then it is such a powerful
34:56
lesson here for us because this husband and wife team, what was
35:00
so beautiful about it is that spiritually they were pulling in
35:04
the same direction. They were on point with whatever
35:07
God was doing within their life, man.
35:09
And, and, and, and in fact, what is the Bible?
35:11
What does Paul tell us right here in verse #4 he says that
35:14
they risk their own necks for my life.
35:17
These guys were risk takers. They planted churches, home,
35:21
fellowships. And when the grace of God
35:25
changes our lives, guess what? Fear loses his grip.
35:29
These guys risks it all. And so if you need a good story
35:32
for your walk, go smuggle Bibles somewhere.
35:38
God's grace produces courage in us to obey his word.
35:42
And Paul told us at the opening side in in chapter 1, Romans one
35:45
and five, he says that we've been given enough grace for
35:48
obedience to the faith. I like that that God has given
35:51
us enough grace for obedience. And we should understand that we
35:54
are going to trip, we are going to fall.
35:55
We're going to have good days and bad days, but one thing's
35:58
for certain, this is truth that God is going to complete.
36:01
He's going to finish what he started within us and we're
36:03
going to be encouraged along the way.
36:05
And some need encouragement to get back in the game.
36:07
Some need encouragement to get going.
36:09
Some need encouragement to receive faith, to receive the
36:12
forgiveness, to send from Christ.
36:14
But it is a work of God in our world.
36:16
It's tangible, it's real. It's faith that is real.
36:19
It's faith that can be touched. And so we come to the the third
36:23
thing here in this the third thing that we see within these
36:27
collection of names and, and, and again, just a casual search
36:29
on this is that the gospel produces perseverance and unity.
36:36
Well, take a peek here, verse number six.
36:37
It says, it says, greet Mary, who labored much for us.
36:41
Mary, one of the most, one of a common name, I guess that we can
36:45
pronounce easily today. So I like this, but he says,
36:49
greet Mary, who labored much for us.
36:53
This, this word speaks about intensive labor to the point of
36:56
exhaustion. I, I, I don't know if you've in
36:59
in more recent days, I don't know if you've ever labored to
37:02
that point. Like, like you're working so
37:04
hard, right to the point of exhaustion, whether it's in a
37:06
day or through a season that you've gotten to that place that
37:09
you're just, you're just spent, man.
37:11
You're just, you're poured out. I know that when we read the the
37:14
Gospel of Luke in chapter 5 that we find that Jesus shows up to
37:19
meet Peter on the shorelines at the Sea of Galilee and, and,
37:23
and, and what he speaks to Peter is after a night of laboring of
37:28
toiling. This is the same word.
37:30
He was completely fruitless in all of this.
37:32
Jesus shows up there and he says, hey, cast the Nets plural
37:38
in on the other side for a catch.
37:40
You know, Peter did it. But the idea is, is that that he
37:47
was exhausted. And I think it's sometimes that
37:50
that we can go through our our, our weeks, our days, our months,
37:53
our years and be in a place of exhaustion.
37:59
But Mary, in this example here, she shows us of how we're to
38:05
press on even when we get tired. And serving, serving Jesus is it
38:11
should be something so natural for us as Christians.
38:13
And I know that I know you guys are in a beautiful church here.
38:16
And I know that, that, that, that our pastor Ed and, and the
38:20
pastoral team has, they're amazingly gifted of the Lord.
38:24
And there's, there's, there's wonderful stuff that that goes
38:26
on here. But God has put us together as a
38:32
body. And it, it is, it's not for a
38:34
select few to be pulling the load.
38:37
Our pastors equip the Saints for the work of ministry.
38:41
It's the pastors that are building us up is the pastors
38:44
that are, that are creating those moments in those those
38:46
spaces, those opportunities, if you will, for us to get
38:49
involved. It's not the qualification of
38:51
our life. Listen, you're qualified if
38:53
you're in the body of Christ and the only way you can get in the
38:55
body of Christ is just receiving God's grace.
38:57
You're born again. But it's a message that we need
39:01
to be reminded of because so frequently we have, we have too
39:05
few people doing too much work and, and, and, and rather it
39:08
should be spread amongst the body of believers.
39:12
I don't know what that looks like on a daily basis within
39:14
your life. And I know that God hasn't put
39:15
it there as, as some weird heavy law, but I do know this.
39:20
I do know that we're yoked up to Christ.
39:22
In other words, the calling that he's put upon us and the gifting
39:25
that he's given to us individually is specifically
39:27
suited for us. And he's the one that shoulders
39:30
the weight. We just respond by faith.
39:34
Now, I don't know how that applies here within this third,
39:36
this third service or this 4th service of, of, of of the
39:40
weekend at your church. But I do know this, that God
39:44
uses every one of us. And if you're not in a place of,
39:46
of, of serving, I would encourage you to, to consider
39:50
your steps as you move forward as to where God would have you
39:52
serve in your church. And don't give up when you get
39:57
tired. If you need a moment to pull
39:59
over to rest, pull over and rest.
40:03
All right, what else does he have?
40:04
Let's finish with the final two things here as we wrap up this
40:06
message here. Number 10 verse #10 he says
40:08
agreed. A palace approved in Christ
40:10
greet those who are of the the household of Aristobolis.
40:15
Crazy name. Again, I'm not sure if I'm
40:16
pronouncing that right, but Bible scholars say that this is
40:19
possibly the grandson of Herod the Great.
40:23
And, and, and just in case you don't remember who who Herod the
40:26
Great is, is that he was the king that tried to destroy Jesus
40:32
at his birth, right. The wise men came and told him,
40:35
hey, we've seen his star in the East and and there's a new king,
40:38
the Savior and the Messiah and all this stuff.
40:40
And and Herod the Great. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
40:42
Go find out where he's at within Bethlehem and come back and tell
40:45
me. And and here it tried to to wipe
40:49
out all those the young boys 2 years old and and under.
40:54
But this Aristobulus, this guy was a family member.
40:58
This, this was possibly his grandfather, Herod the Great.
41:02
But now he's, this is a guy in that lineage and in that family
41:06
line. He's a guy that has come to
41:08
faith in Christ. And instead of taking life, he's
41:13
supporting life. He's telling people about what
41:15
Christ has done. And one day we're going to meet
41:19
this guy and we're going to ask him how to pronounce his name
41:21
the right way. OK, the final one here, first
41:25
number 13, he says greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord and his
41:34
mother and mine. Now, if you can just pause and
41:38
look to me for just a second, this with Rufus here, this final
41:41
guy, What we see within this is that we see something amazing
41:46
played out in this list of names.
41:48
This is not just unfamiliar people.
41:51
And, and, and I need to make sure that I'm magnifying this
41:53
right now because you're not sitting in a chair within a
41:55
church as an unfamiliar person. If you're in the body of Christ.
41:59
There's something very special here that I want us to, to be
42:02
able to apprehend here that Rufus, this man that his dad was
42:06
Simon the Cyrenian. He was the he was the guy in
42:08
Mark chapter 15 that helped Jesus carry his cross on the way
42:12
to Golgotha. That's his dad.
42:15
But Paul put something special in here and he says his mother
42:18
and mine, Rufus, his mother and mine.
42:21
And that tells us that church, that it's a family, that the
42:25
church is a family. And that becomes important to us
42:28
because Jesus asked in his earthly ministry, he says who is
42:33
my mother, who is my brother, Who is my sister?
42:35
And why did he respond? Those who are doing the will of
42:39
my Father in heaven, these are my mother's, my brothers, and my
42:43
sisters. It's the, it's the, the visible
42:47
evidence of the gospel at work within the body of Christ within
42:50
our lives. And here's the point.
42:52
If you can receive it, what evidence can a skeptical world
42:56
still touch today? It's not perfect people.
42:59
It's changed people. It's people who show the work of
43:03
the Holy Spirit within them. It's, it's, it's, it's the body
43:06
of Christ, people who serve, people who sacrifice, people who
43:09
persevere, people who love, people who are willing to lay
43:13
their life down for another. This is the tangible evidence
43:16
that is, that is still visible right now today.
43:20
The God is actively at work and he's saving people.
43:26
And when somebody comes into a church skeptical, listen, I know
43:30
that it's that it's the Holy Spirit that comes alongside to
43:33
lead people to the cross. And it's the Holy Spirit that is
43:36
drawing people, and it's the Holy Spirit that is using our
43:39
life to touch people. In Ephesians 4 and 16, take a
43:47
peek at the screen. It says this, that He makes the
43:51
whole body fit together perfectly as each part does its
43:54
own special work. And notice this, it helps the
43:58
other parts grow. So if the whole body is healthy
44:03
and growing and full of love, church, don't forget that Christ
44:09
saved you. He brought you out to bring you
44:11
in. He laid His life down so that
44:14
you would have a life. Christ sits at the right hand of
44:17
the Father right now. But the Holy Spirit is in the
44:20
heart of every single man and woman on this face of the globe
44:24
that is that has been saved. That is part of the body of
44:29
Christ. And we're fit together so
44:32
perfectly. And then do we want do we want
44:35
healthy churches? Do we want growing churches?
44:36
Do we want churches that are full of love with then what does
44:39
it mean? It means it's a body work.
44:40
It's all, it's, this is for all of us.
44:43
It's not a heavy task list to do.
44:46
It's just a, it's a, it's a right response of the goodness
44:51
to the goodness of God. And so we, we wrap up our time
44:56
by by remembering this Holy Spirit evidence.
45:01
The Bible tells us that God desires to lead us into all good
45:04
things. Psalm 32 and 8 puts it this way.
45:08
The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your
45:11
life. I will advise you and watch over
45:13
you. I like that.
45:17
I need that. I've been teaching my, my, my
45:19
fellowship a lot about this verse because I, I mean, I want
45:23
every bit of what God has for me.
45:26
And as I understand the Scripture, well, God is willing
45:28
to take me along the best pathway for my life.
45:32
And he's so patient because what he's doing is he's teaching me
45:35
how to yield to him the same way that he's teaching you.
45:41
And notice this, our final verse of the, of the afternoon here,
45:48
Galatians 5 and 22. You'll see this on the screen.
45:51
He says that the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit
45:53
within our lives. And you list out nine different
45:56
fruits, fruits that you guys have heard about fruits that,
45:59
that when you hear these things, you, the, the repetition of them
46:03
often just slides right by and you miss the implication of
46:06
them. Love and joy and peace and
46:08
patience and kindness and goodness all the way down
46:10
through self-control. But here's what we don't don't
46:13
often pair together with those. And it's really it's, it's the
46:17
impact of what the Holy Spirit is producing within our life.
46:19
It's this, it's that hate becomes love that before Christ,
46:24
I don't care who you are, that before Christ, you had hatred
46:28
within your heart in some regards.
46:31
It, it, it, it, it started at the fall of man and, and, and
46:35
and and, and instead of anger, we now have joy.
46:39
But where is this coming from? It's coming from the work of, of
46:41
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is producing
46:44
this within us. Instead of conflict, what
46:47
happens? We have peace.
46:48
Why? Because we live in a world of
46:51
chaos. And Satan wants to create chaos
46:53
within our lives and he wants to confuse us, but we have peace
46:57
because of what Christ has done, because of the active work of
47:00
the Holy Spirit producing these things within our life.
47:02
God is leading us along the best pathway for our life and he's
47:05
doing the work. It's just for us to trust him to
47:08
not be a don't be a doubting Thomas, but to look up and look
47:11
to the Lord, to trust the Lord. My wife says that old men get
47:17
grumpy and, and I surely she's not talking about me because I'm
47:20
a young spry 55 year old, at least in my own mind.
47:26
But what what she also adds is that well, old women get fussy.
47:32
What the Holy Spirit gives us is patience.
47:33
So the grumpy old men or the fussy old ladies, patience.
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God is working patience within us and out of out of control
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people become self-control. And so why does this matter?
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The whole thing comes down to this.
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If you haven't received anything else, please understand if we're
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here today in church, going through a Bible study in Romans
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16, at the conclusion of all that God has done for us and
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we're going through a list of names, the lives that were real.
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And this matters to us for this reason, because why salvation is
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personal is never private. Once you've been touched by
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grace, your life is forever changed or changed and people
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see the work of God in you. It's God doing the work.
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Yeah, we may not make as much progress as we desire to make in
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any given second or any given season, but God says that he's
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going to complete what he started.
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So Calvary Church here in Aurora, the men and women that
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are sitting in the sanctuary and, and, and the many that are
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listening on the live radio right now, I just encourage you
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to rest in the goodness of God. And even though that we're
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living in a dark time in the dark state, God is up to an
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amazing things and your life matters.
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Your life matters. It matters to God, It matters in
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the church. And may you be encouraged to set
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your eyes squarely upon Jesus and may you run your race
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faithfully until Christ brings you home.
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Amen. Let's invite the worship team to
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come back up here and and I would also like to encourage you
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guys to, to close your Bibles and maybe the house condemned
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the lights for us as as folks, feel free to stand to your feet
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as well. Here's the simple truth.
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The simple truth is this may we never forget it that Christ died
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for the sin of the world, that Christ rose from the grave and
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he invites you to come to him. And what a what a special way
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to, to, to end any service of coming full circle back around
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to the cross. The Bible tells us that if we
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believe in our heart and we confess him as Lord, that we'll
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be saved. And as a new believer, I, I had
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no idea be saved from what God? What are you saving me from?
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But would you consider the truth of what God saves us from that
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we're saved from the penalty of our sin.
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We're saved from being guilt ridden.
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We're saved from trying to fix ourselves to become good enough.
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We're saved by what God has done for us.
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And I'd like to invite you to bow your heart as we close in
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prayer. Father God, we just thank you
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for your love. We thank you for your love
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that's poured out through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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We thank you for you having a plan from the inception of
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creation and that you knew that in 2026 at, at this afternoon, a
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snowy afternoon here in March, that we'd be in this place.
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And I know, Father, that, that there are people that have
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planned to be here and, and other people that have not
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planned to be here. And I know there are people here
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that are faithful and people that are here that are hurting.
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But I'm asking Holy Spirit, that you'd meet each of us right
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where we're at to the body of Christ in general, if God has
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spoken to you today, if you sent the sense the Holy Spirit
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encouraging you is because you will, you just raise up your
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hand for just a minute just so I can see you all right?
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I see a number of hands over here and around and around and
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around. OK, you can put your hands down
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with your head still bowed and your eyes closed.
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If there's any that are here that you just want to be sure
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that you're going to heaven and you just don't know, I'd
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encourage you to to invite Jesus into your heart right now and
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maybe you could pray something like this.
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Jesus, I believe that you died for me.
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Please forgive me of my sins and lead my life.
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If you pray that in the quietness of your heart today,
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please understand and please know that the work of the Holy
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Spirit has just started within your life and God will be
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faithful to complete what He started.
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I want to encourage you that is the as we finish out with this
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final worship song. But if there's anybody here that
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has responded to the gospel, I would encourage you to see the
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the pastors that will be down front as we close service.
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God bless you guys and May God continue to work on your behalf
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and show you how faithful he is. Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
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prayer. Call us at 87730 grace that's
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877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
53:01
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
53:05
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
53:10
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.