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A Deep Dive into Paul_s Letter to the Romans · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: By his teenage years, he could quote the Torah in Hebrew,
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  Speaker 1: debate philosophy in Greek, and navigate Roman law with precision.
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  Speaker 1: He studied under Gamaliel, one of the most respected teachers
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  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, but there was a fire burning inside him,
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  Speaker 1: a zeal that wouldn't let him rest. When a new
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  Speaker 1: sect began spreading, followers of a crucified carpenter who claimed
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  Speaker 1: to be the Messiah, Saul saw them as a cancer,
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  Speaker 1: threatening everything he believed. These followers of the Way were
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  Speaker 1: saying Jesus executed as a criminal, was the son of God,
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  Speaker 1: that he'd risen from the dead, that salvation came not
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  Speaker 1: through the law, but through faith in him. To Saul,
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  Speaker 1: this was blasphemy, and he became their hunter. The sun
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  Speaker 1: beat down as a crowd gathered outside Jerusalem. In the
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  Speaker 1: center stood Stephen, blood trickling from his brow. Whose stiff
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  Speaker 1: necked people, Stephen, you always resist the Holy Spirit? Which
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  Speaker 1: of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? The crowd roared,
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  Speaker 1: fury building. Stephen looked up his face, radiant, I see
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  Speaker 1: heaven open and the son of Man standing at the
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  Speaker 1: right hand of God. Blasphemer someone screamed. The mob surge,
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  Speaker 1: dragging Stephen outside the city walls. Men removed their coats,
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  Speaker 1: tossing them at the feet of a young man standing
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  Speaker 1: apart Saul. He watched, arms crossed, face like stone. The
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  Speaker 1: first stone flew. Stephen fell to his knees, blood streaming
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  Speaker 1: his final words, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
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  Speaker 1: Another stone, another, then silence. Stephen's body lay still. The
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  Speaker 1: crowd dispersed. Saul picked up the coat's face, betraying nothing
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  Speaker 1: but inside a whisper. He couldn't silence a question he
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  Speaker 1: couldn't answer, What if they're right? He crushed it immediately. No,
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  Speaker 1: these people were deceivers, and he would stop them. In
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  Speaker 1: the days that followed, Saul became relentless, house to house,
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  Speaker 1: dragging men and women from their homes. Families torn apart,
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  Speaker 1: believers imprisoned, beaten, executed. The church scattered like seeds in
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  Speaker 1: the wind. But Saul wasn't finished. He went to the
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  Speaker 1: High Priest, requesting letters of authority to hunt believers in Damascus,
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  Speaker 1: one hundred thirty miles away. He would find them, bring
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  Speaker 1: them back in chains. The High Priest granted it. Saul
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  Speaker 1: set out with temple guards riding hard toward Damascus. The
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  Speaker 1: journey would take a week, a week to plan what
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  Speaker 1: he would do to these heretics. As they rode, a
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  Speaker 1: guard spoke up. They say their leader rose from the dead.
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  Speaker 1: Saul Scoft lies to deceive the simple minded, nothing more.
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  Speaker 1: But what if? There is no what if Saul cut
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  Speaker 1: him off. A dead man doesn't walk out of his tomb.
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  Speaker 1: It's fab rication. The guard fell silent, but the question lingered.
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  Speaker 1: The road stretched endlessly, dust kicking up with every step. Then,
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  Speaker 1: without warning, the sky darkened, not like a storm, it
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  Speaker 1: was as if the sun itself recoiled. Saul looked up.
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  Speaker 1: Light blinding, searing light exploded from heaven. His horse reared,
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  Speaker 1: throwing him to the ground. He hit hard, whin not
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  Speaker 1: from his lungs. Guards scattered in terror. Saul lay there,
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  Speaker 1: unable to move. The light pierced through every defense, every argument,
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  Speaker 1: every certainty. Then a voice, Saul, Saul, not loud, but
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  Speaker 1: it filled everything, the air, the ground, his bones. Why
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  Speaker 1: do you persecute me? Saul's mind reeled. The voice was authoritative, terrifying,
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  Speaker 1: yet familiar. He forced words out, trembling, who are you lord? Silence?
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  Speaker 1: The light intensified. Then three words that shattered his world.
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  Speaker 1: I am Jesus, pause whom you are persecuting? Time stopped.
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  Speaker 1: Everything Saul believed collapsed in an instant. Jesus, the one
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  Speaker 1: he'd called a fraud, a dead criminal, was alive, was
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  Speaker 1: speaking was Lord. Saul tried to open his eyes, only darkness.
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  Speaker 1: The light had blinded him. Panic, I can't see. A
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  Speaker 1: guard helped him up. Saul stood trembling, blind, helpless. The
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  Speaker 1: hunter had just been caught up. For three days. Saul
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  Speaker 1: sat in darkness, didn't eat, didn't drink, didn't speak. He
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  Speaker 1: replayed everything, every moment, every stone thrown at Stephen, every
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  Speaker 1: family torn apart, every believer dragged from their home. The
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  Speaker 1: truth crushed him. He hadn't been fighting heretics. He'd been
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  Speaker 1: fighting God. On the third day, Anonius came, a follower
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus, one of the people Saul came to arrest.
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  Speaker 1: Annaias placed hands on Saul's head. Brother, Saul, the Lord
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  Speaker 1: Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent
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  Speaker 1: me so that you may see again and be filled
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  Speaker 1: with the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fell from Saul's eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Light flooded back, but more than that, he could finally
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  Speaker 1: see the truth, the reality everything. The Hunter had become
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  Speaker 1: the hunted, the persecutor, a convert, Saul of Tarsus, brilliant, zealous,
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  Speaker 1: absolutely convinced he was right, had been wrong about everything,
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  Speaker 1: and God had chosen him anyway. But here's the question.
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  Speaker 1: Why Why would God choose someone like Saul, someone with
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  Speaker 1: blood on his hands, someone who destroyed families and stood
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  Speaker 1: by while Stephen was murdered. Why him? Because that's the point,
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  Speaker 1: That's what Paul would spend the rest of his life explaining.
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  Speaker 1: God doesn't choose the qualified, He qualifies the chosen. And
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  Speaker 1: if God can transform Saul a murderer, a zealot, a persecutor,
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  Speaker 1: then no one is beyond his reach, not even you.
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  Speaker 1: Years passed, Saul took a new name, Paul the Hunter,
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  Speaker 1: became a missionary. The persecutor became a preacher. Now, in
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  Speaker 1: a small room in Corinth, Paul sat at a wooden table,
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  Speaker 1: A single candle flickered. Parchment lay before him, blank and waiting.
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  Speaker 1: He was about to write the most important letter of
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  Speaker 1: his life to Rome, the heart of the Empire, the
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  Speaker 1: center of the known world. Paul had never been to Rome,
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  Speaker 1: but he'd heard about the church. There, Jews and Gentiles
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  Speaker 1: struggling to understand what it meant to follow Jesus. Together,
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  Speaker 1: they had questions, deep questions. How can a just God
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  Speaker 1: forgive sinners? What's the point of the law if we're
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  Speaker 1: saved by faith? Does God still care about Israel? Paul
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  Speaker 1: dipped his quill in ink. Paul a servant of Christ
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  Speaker 1: Jesus called to be an apostle and set apart for
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel of God. But he wasn't going to give
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  Speaker 1: easy answers. He was going to take them on a
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  Speaker 1: journey into the heart of the Gospel, a journey that
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  Speaker 1: would expose humanity's deepest problem and reveal God's most shocking solution.
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  Speaker 1: He would start with a diagnosis, and it wasn't going
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  Speaker 1: to be pretty. Imagine going to the doctor for a
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  Speaker 1: routine physical. You feel fine, may be a little tired,
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  Speaker 1: but nothing serious. You sit in his office expecting him
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  Speaker 1: to tell you to get more sleep, drink more water. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: he pulls up your test results. His face goes pale.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, he says quietly. It's everywhere in your bones,
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  Speaker 1: your blood, your organs, it's ciss stomach, and it's been
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  Speaker 1: there your whole life. You stare unable to process. But
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  Speaker 1: I feel fine, you say, I know. He replies, that's
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  Speaker 1: the problem. You didn't know you were sick, but the
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  Speaker 1: disease has been growing since birth. That's what Paul does.
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  Speaker 1: In Romans. He starts with a bomb Romans three twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory
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  Speaker 1: of God, not some, not most all. The wealthy Roman
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  Speaker 1: senator taking bribes in the forum sinful, the slave in chains,
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  Speaker 1: powerless and oppressed, sinful. The priest offering sacrifices at the
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  Speaker 1: temple sinful. The mother cradling her newborn sinful, everyone everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Every time, Paul doesn't single out bad people, he includes everyone,
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  Speaker 1: because sin isn't just about actions. It's a condition, a
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  Speaker 1: brokenness woven into the fabric of humanity. He goes even
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  Speaker 1: further the Romans three ten to twelve. There is no
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  Speaker 1: one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands,
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  Speaker 1: There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away.
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  Speaker 1: They have together become worthless. There is no one who
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  Speaker 1: does good, not even one think about that, no one righteous,
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  Speaker 1: not even one, not the moral person who volunteers it shelters,
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  Speaker 1: not the religious person who prays three times a day,
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  Speaker 1: not the kind person who never raises their voice, no one.
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  Speaker 1: Because God's standard isn't pretty good, it's not better than average.
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  Speaker 1: It's perfection, absolute, flawless holiness, and we've all missed it.
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  Speaker 1: If you feel it, don't you that gnawing sense that
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  Speaker 1: something is fundamentally wrong. Not just in the world, though
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  Speaker 1: that's obvious wars injustice, cruelty, greed, but in you what
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  Speaker 1: you should do and yet you don't do it. You
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  Speaker 1: know what you shouldn't do, and yet you do it anyway.
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  Speaker 1: Promises you didn't keep people, you hurt, things said in
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  Speaker 1: secret you'd never want exposed, the weight of guilt, the
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  Speaker 1: sting of shame, the frustration of trying to be better
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  Speaker 1: and failing again and again. That's not weakness. That's not
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  Speaker 1: a character flawed. That's sin, the universal human condition. Paul
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  Speaker 1: describes how humanity turned away from God, choosing to worship
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  Speaker 1: created things rather than the creator. Roman's won twenty one
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  Speaker 1: to twenty three for although they knew God, they neither
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  Speaker 1: glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. But
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  Speaker 1: their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
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  Speaker 1: Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and
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  Speaker 1: exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made
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  Speaker 1: to look like a mortal human being and birds and
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  Speaker 1: animals and reptiles. This rebellion led to broken relationships, twisted desires,
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  Speaker 1: a world spiraling into chaos. Paul paints a picture of
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  Speaker 1: ancient Rome, its wealth and decaden, its violence and exploitation,
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  Speaker 1: pride and corruption. But he could just as easily be
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  Speaker 1: describing today. We worship success, pleasure, power, approval, safety, control,
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  Speaker 1: anything but God. And this separation from God, this fundamental
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  Speaker 1: break in the relationship we were designed for, affects everything.
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  Speaker 1: It corrupts our minds, hardens our hearts, leaves us desperately
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  Speaker 1: searching for meaning in things that can never satisfy. Paul
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  Speaker 1: sums it up with devastating clarity Romans six twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: For the Wages of Sin is death not just physical death,
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  Speaker 1: spiritual death, separation from the source of life itself. It's
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  Speaker 1: a terminal diagnosis, and there's nothing we can do to
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  Speaker 1: cure ourselves. You can't earn your way out, can't work
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  Speaker 1: hard enough, can't be good enough, can't meditate, self improve
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  Speaker 1: or positive thinking your way into wholeness. The gap between
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  Speaker 1: humanity and God is infinite, and we can't bridge it.
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  Speaker 1: A person climbs a mountain, exhausted, desperate. The summit is
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  Speaker 1: in sight. They reach, reach their hands, slips, they fall
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  Speaker 1: because the standard isn't pretty good, it's perfection. So if
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  Speaker 1: that's the diagnosis, if we're all infected with the disease
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  Speaker 1: we can't cure, then what's the solution. Here's where Poul
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  Speaker 1: drops the most shocking truth in human history. Picture an
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  Speaker 1: ancient Roman courtroom, stone walls, torches, casting flickering shadows. A
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  Speaker 1: judge on an elevated platform, stern and unmoved. You stand
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  Speaker 1: before him in chains. The evidence has been presented, witness
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  Speaker 1: is testified. The proof is overwhelming. You're guilty. You know it.
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  Speaker 1: The judge knows it. Everyone knows it. The judge raises
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  Speaker 1: his gavel, His voice echoes. The sentence is death. The
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  Speaker 1: gavel begins to fall. The door slams open, and light
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  Speaker 1: floods the room. Every head turns. A figure walks in calm, confident,
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  Speaker 1: radiating authority Jesus. He walks past you without a word,
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  Speaker 1: and stands before the judge, I'll take the sentence, he says,
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  Speaker 1: let them go silence. The judge leans forward. Confused, you
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  Speaker 1: are innocent, he says, this makes no sense. Why would you,
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  Speaker 1: I know. Jesus interrupts, but I'm taking their place. Guards
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  Speaker 1: move toward him. You watch, unable to speak. This stranger,
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  Speaker 1: this innocent man, is being led away to die for you.
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  Speaker 1: Your chains fall to the ground with the clatter. You're free.
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  Speaker 1: That's justification. That's what Paul describes in Romans. Not you're
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  Speaker 1: forgiven because you're not that bad. Not. God will overlook
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  Speaker 1: your mistakes if you try really hard. But this you're
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  Speaker 1: declared righteous because someone else paid your debt Romans five eight.
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  Speaker 1: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this.
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  Speaker 1: While we were still sinners. Christ died for us. Read
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  Speaker 1: that again, slowly, while we were still sinners, not after
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  Speaker 1: we repented, not after we cleaned up, not after we
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  Speaker 1: proved ourselves worthy, while we were enemies, while we were rebels,
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  Speaker 1: while we were guilty, Christ died for us. On a
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  Speaker 1: hill called Golgotha, three crosses stood against a darkening sky.
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  Speaker 1: The man on the center cross, Jesus of Nazareth, hung
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  Speaker 1: between heaven and earth nails pierced his hands and feet,
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  Speaker 1: a crown of thorns cut into his scalp. Blood mixed
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  Speaker 1: with sweat ran down his face. The crowd below mocked,
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  Speaker 1: he saved others, but he can't save himself. But they
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  Speaker 1: didn't understand. He could have saved himself, could have called
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  Speaker 1: down legions of angels, could have stepped off that cross
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  Speaker 1: and destroyed every one who put him there. But he didn't,
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  Speaker 1: because he wasn't dying for his sins. He was dying
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  Speaker 1: for ours. Every lie you've told on him, every person
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  Speaker 1: you've hurt on him, every selfish choice, every lustful thought,
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  Speaker 1: every prideful word on him, the weight of humanity's sin, past, present, future,
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  Speaker 1: crushing down Romans five six. You see, at just the
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  Speaker 1: right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for
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  Speaker 1: the ungodly. And in that moment something happened that had
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  Speaker 1: never happened before. God the Father turned away from God
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  Speaker 1: the Son, the perfect relationship that existed for all eternity broken.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you
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  Speaker 1: forsaken me? Why? Because he was taking our place, experiencing
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  Speaker 1: the separation from God that we deserved, Bearing the punishment
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  Speaker 1: that was ours. Thunder crack, the earth shook, Darkness covered
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  Speaker 1: the land. It is finished. Jesus breathed his last The
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice was complete. Three days later he rose from the dead,
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  Speaker 1: proving death itself had been defeated, sins power broken, a
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  Speaker 1: new way opened. This is justification by faith of Romans Three,
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  Speaker 1: twenty one to twenty four. But now apart from the law,
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  Speaker 1: the righteousness of God has been made known, to which
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  Speaker 1: the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness is given
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  Speaker 1: through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There
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  Speaker 1: is no difference between jew and gentile, for all have
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  Speaker 1: sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and
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  Speaker 1: all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption
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  Speaker 1: that came by Christ Jesus. You can't earn it, can't
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  Speaker 1: achieve it, can't work for it. You can only receive
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  Speaker 1: it by faith, by trusting that what Jesus did on
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  Speaker 1: the cross was enough that his righteousness covers your unrighteousness,
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  Speaker 1: that his death paid your debt Romans five one. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: since we have been justified through faith, we have peace
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  Speaker 1: with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God.
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  Speaker 1: Not because you're perfect, but because he is, not because
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  Speaker 1: you're worthy, but because He makes you worthy. This is
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  Speaker 1: the gift, free, complete, unchangeable. But here's the question that
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  Speaker 1: always comes. Next. A person sits in a church pew
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  Speaker 1: raises their hand. If I'm all ready forgiven, if salvation
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  Speaker 1: is a free gift, then why does it matter how
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  Speaker 1: I live? Can't I just do whatever I want? And
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  Speaker 1: that's when Paul drops the next revelation. Dawn breaks over
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  Speaker 1: a river, mist rises from the water. A small group
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  Speaker 1: gathers on the shore. Now a person steps into the water,
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  Speaker 1: waists deep. A baptizer stands beside them, hand on their shoulder.
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  Speaker 1: Buried with Christ in his death, the person takes a
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  Speaker 1: deep breath. Then they submerge beneath the water, silence, stillness.
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  Speaker 1: The world above disappears, only darkness. Then they're raised up,
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  Speaker 1: water streams from their face. They gasp for air, eyes wide,
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  Speaker 1: seeing as if for the first time, raised to walk
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  Speaker 1: in newness of life Romans six four. We were therefore
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  Speaker 1: buried with him through baptism into death, in order that
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  Speaker 1: just as Christ was raised from the dead through the
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  Speaker 1: glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
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  Speaker 1: This isn't symbolic, This isn't metaphor. Paul says, when you
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  Speaker 1: place your faith in Christ, something real happens, something supernatural,
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  Speaker 1: something that changes you at the deepest level. Your old self,
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  Speaker 1: the person you were before Christ dies, actually dies, that identity,
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  Speaker 1: that life, that way of being over finished, buried a gravestone.
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  Speaker 1: Here lies the old self, dead and gone, that person
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  Speaker 1: defined by mistakes, a diction shame past no longer exists.
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  Speaker 1: And what rises isn't a better version. It's a new creation.
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  Speaker 1: Think of a caterpillar. It crawls limited, bound to Earth.
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  Speaker 1: Then it enters a chrysalis. Inside something incredible happens. The
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  Speaker 1: caterpillar doesn't improve, it dissolves, completely, breaks down at cellular level,
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  Speaker 1: and from that dissolution, something entirely new emerges. A butterfly
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  Speaker 1: with wings, ability to fly, colors it never had. It's
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  Speaker 1: not the same creature. It's been transformed Romans six, six
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  Speaker 1: to seven. For we know that our old self was
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  Speaker 1: crucified with him, so that the body ruled by sin
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  Speaker 1: might be done away with that we should no longer
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  Speaker 1: be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has
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  Speaker 1: been set free from sin. A person stands before a mirror.
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  Speaker 1: They look at their reflection and see something different, not
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  Speaker 1: just physical appearance, something deeper. They see themselves as God
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  Speaker 1: sees them, loved, excepted, made new. The brokenness is still there, scars, struggles, imperfections,
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  Speaker 1: but it doesn't define them anymore. They're no longer sinner
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  Speaker 1: trying to be good. They're saint learning to live like it.
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  Speaker 1: But here's the tension, here's the loop. You have to
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  Speaker 1: choose to live like it's true Romans six eleven to thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but
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  Speaker 1: alive to God in Christ. Jesus. Therefore, do not let
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  Speaker 1: sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey
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  Speaker 1: its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself
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  Speaker 1: to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer
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  Speaker 1: yourselves to God as those who have been brought from
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  Speaker 1: death to life, and offer every part of yourself to
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  Speaker 1: Him as an instrument of righteousness. Count yourselves reckon it,
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  Speaker 1: choose to believe it, Act like it's true. Two paths diverge.
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  Speaker 1: One path a person reaches for familiar, old comfort, the
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  Speaker 1: drink that numbs, screen that distracts, words that hurt another path,
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  Speaker 1: they reach for something different, kneel, pray, call a friend,
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  Speaker 1: speak life instead of death. A figure stands at a
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  Speaker 1: cross roads. Left path darkness, narrow, familiar, right path light, unknown, beckoning.
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  Speaker 1: Every day, every moment, every choice walking in old death
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  Speaker 1: or new life, living like who you were or who
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  Speaker 1: you are. The choice is yours, every moment, every decision
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  Speaker 1: Romans six fourteen. For sin shall no longer be your master,
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  Speaker 1: because you are not under the law, but under grace.
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  Speaker 1: And just when you think you got it figured out,
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  Speaker 1: Paul reveals the struggle inside Paul's mind. A battle rages.
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  Speaker 1: Two armies clash, one wears light, one darkness, evenly matched, brutal, relentless,
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  Speaker 1: never ending. Paul sits alone, head in hands, face showing strain, exhaustion, frustration,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Romans seven fifteen. I do not understand what I do
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: for what I I want to do, I do not do.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: But what I hate I do. Even Paul, the apostle,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: who wrote half the New Testament, who planted churches across
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the Empire, who saw Jesus on the Damascus Road, felt
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: it the war within the gap between knowing what's right
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: and doing it, between who you want to be and
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: who you actually are. A person lies in bed late
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: at night, phone in hand. They know they should pray,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: should read scripture, should rest. Instead, they scroll mindlessly, endlessly
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: comparing to others, feeding on outrage, numbing with distraction. They
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: know it's empty, won't satisfy, they'll regret it, but they
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: do it anyway. Another person stands in a kitchen staring
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: at a bottle, sober for six months, worked so hard,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: so much progress, but the craving is overwhelming. Just one drink,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: just to take the edge off. Their hand reaches another
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: sits across from their spouse. Harsh words hang in the air,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: cutting words they can't take back. They knew better, promise
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: they'd be patient, kind, gentle, But in the heat of
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: the moment, old patterns took over. Damage done. You know this,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: You know what it's like to fail again, fall short again,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: make promises. You can't keep the frustration, the shame, the voice.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: What's wrong with you? Why can't you change? Romans seven
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: eighteen to nineteen. For I know that good itself does
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: not dwell in me, that is in my sinful nature.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: For I have the desire to do what is good,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: but I cannot carry it out. For I do not
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: do the good I want to do, but the evil
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I do not want to do. This I keep on doing,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: cannot not find it difficult, cannot There's a force inside.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Paul calls it the sinful nature that pulls toward destruction,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: toward self, toward death. And no matter how hard we try,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: we can't overcome it alone. The tension builds, frustration mounts
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Roman seven twenty four. What a wretched man I am?
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Who will rescue me from this body that is subject
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: to death? A cry of anguish, helplessness, surrender. He's tried everything,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: done everything, given everything, not enough, silence, only breathing, ragged broken.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: The candle flickers, then his face changes, Light dawns in
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: his eyes. The burden lifts, hope floods back Romans seven
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: twenty five. Thanks be to God who delivers me through
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, our Lord. There it is the ancest Not
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: try harder, not be better, not pull yourself together, but
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: this surrender to the one who already won the war
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Romans eight one to two. Therefore, there is now no
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit, who gives life,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: has set you free from the law of sin and death.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Read that again. There is now no condemnation, not less condemnation,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: not eventual freedom. If you work hard enough, no condemnation.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Right now, this moment, as you are, you are free.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Chains shatter, prison, door swings open, Light floods darkness. Not
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: because you defeated sin, but because Christ did. Not because
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: you earned freedom, but because He purchased it. The war
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: within is real, The struggle is ongoing. You'll face it
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: tomorrow and the next day, but the outcome is already decided.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Victory is yours, not by your strength, but by his.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: So what does that mean? If you can't win this
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: war alone, if you'll keep struggling, falling short, what's the point?
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: At the point is this, You're not alone in the fight.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Wind moves through a forest, leaves, rustle, and dance. You
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: can't see the wind, can't hold it, can't control it.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: But you see its power, feel its presence. The Holy
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Spirit not a force, not energy, not a feeling, a person,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: God himself dwelling inside you, inside a human chest. A
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: light appears small at first, then grows, spreading through veins
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: like fire, filling every part Romans eight eleven. And if
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: is living in you, he who raised Christ from the
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: of his spirit, who lives in you. The same power
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Think
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: about that. The same spirit that hovered over waters at creation,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: that parted the red sea, that brought dry bones to life,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: lives in you. Romans eight fourteen to fifteen. For those
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: who are led by the spirit of God are the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: children of God. The spirit you received does not make
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: And by him we cry abber father abber Aramaic for daddy,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: not formal, distant father, intimate personal close. In ancient Rome,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: orphans were everywhere, children abandoned by parents who couldn't afford them,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: left on street corners, outside temples to die or be taken.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: But imagine one of those children, dirty, forgotten, invisible, approached
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: by a wealthy man. The man kneels, looks into the
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: child's eyes, opens his arms. You're mine now, he says,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: You're coming home. The child hesit, unable to believe, but
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the man doesn't leave. He waits. Finally, the child runs
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: into his embrace. The man lifts them, holds them close,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: carries them home. The child is now an heir, with
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: full rights, full inheritance, full belonging. That's what the spirit does.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: You're not a servant trying to earn God's approval. You're
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: a child, fully loved, fully accepted, fully home Romans eight sixteen.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: God's children. A person kneels in a dark room alone, broken,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: No words come, just tears. They don't know what to pray,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: don't know how to articulate the pain, confusion Longing, Romans
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: eight twenty six. In the same way, the Spirit helps
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: us in our weakness. We do not know what we
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: us through wordless groans. In that moment when you have
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: no words, nor strength, no hope, the Spirit prays for
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: you God, praying to God on your behalf invisible hands,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: lifting unspoken prayers through darkness into light. You are never alone,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: so what could possibly separate you from this love? Paul
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: asked the question, then answers with one of the most
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: powerful declarations in scripture, Romans eight thirty eight to thirty nine.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: all creation will be able to separate us from the
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Love of God, that is in Christ, Jesus our Lord.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Death itself dissolves, demonic forces powerless, the chaos of time irrelevant,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: the vastness of space meaningless, all darkness, all threats, all
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: powers in the universe cannot separate you from God's love. Unbreakable, unconditional, unstoppable.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: This is the assurance Paul offers. This is the foundation
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: he builds. But just when you think the story is complete,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: when all questions are answered, Paul raises one that threatens
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: to unravel everything. An ancient olive tree stands in a grove.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Trunk gnarled, and massive roots dig deep into rocky soil.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: Some branches are broken, lying on the ground. Other branches
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: wild from different trees, have been grafted in. They grow together,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: now natural and wild, old and new. Paul faced a
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: question that haunted him. If Jesus is the Messiah, why
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: did Israel reject him? God chose Israel, made a covenant
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: with Abraham, gave them the law through Moses, spoke through
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: their prophets. Everything pointed to Jesus, the lige, the prophecies,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: the promises. Yet when he came, most didn't recognize him.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: They rejected him, crucified him, continued waiting for a messiah
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: who'd already come. How could this be? Had God's promises failed?
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Paul stands overlooking Jerusalem at dusk tears stream, Romans nine
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: two to three. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: in my heart, for I could wish that I myself
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: of my people, those of my own race. He would
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: give up his own salvation if it meant Israel would
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: be saved. That's how deeply he loved them. But Paul
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: doesn't leave it there. He explains the mystery Romans nine six.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: It is not as though God's word had failed, for
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Being
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: part of God's people was never just about ethnicity. It
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: was always about faith. Throughout Israel's history, God worked through
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: a remnant, a faithful group who truly sought him. Abraham
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Not all descendants followed that faith, but some did a remnant,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: and now that pattern continued. Some Jews embraced Jesus as Messiah.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Many didn't, but their rejection accomplished something unexpected. It opened
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: the door for Gentiles. For two thousand years, gentiles non
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Jews had been outsiders, strangers to God's covenant, without hope,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: but now through Jesus, they were grafted in. Wild branches
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: added to the cultivated tree. A gardener approaches the olive
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: tree with wild branches carefully, skillfully, he grafts them into
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: the trunk. They take hold begin to grow Romans eleven
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: seventeen to eighteen. If some of the branches have been
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoote have
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: been grafted in among the others, and now share in
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: do consider this, you do not support the root, but
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: the root supports you. Don't be arrogant. Don't think you
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: replaced Israel. You were grafted in by grace, by mercy,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: not by merit. And the God who grafted you in
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: can break you off if you become proud. But here's
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: the hope, here's the mystery. Paul reveals the natural branches
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Israel can be grafted back in on the ground. Broken
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: branches still show signs of life, green shoots, tender growth.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: The gardener Neels examines them, hope fills his eyes Romans
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: eleven twenty three to twenty four. And if they do
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in. For
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: God is able to graft them in again. After all,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: if you are cut out of an olive tree that
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: is wild by nature, and contrary to nature, were grafted
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: these the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Then Paul makes a prophecy Romans eleven twenty six. And
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: in this way all Israel will be saved. As it
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: turn godlessness away from Jacob. God's plan isn't finished. The
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: story isn't over what looks like rejection is part of
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: larger redemption. Paul steps back, overwhelmed by the scope of
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: God's plan, the complexity, the beauty, the mystery, Romans eleven,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: thirty three to thirty four. Oh, the depth of the
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out who has
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: known the mind of the Lord, or who has been
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: his counselor He can't fully understand it, can't wrap his
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: mind around all the pieces. But he trusts because he's learned.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: God's ways are higher, His timing is perfect, his promises
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: are sure. What seems like an ending is always a
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: new beginning. What looks like failure is always leading to redemption.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: This is the loop, the infinity of God's plan. We're
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: all part of it, jew and gentile, natural and grafted
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: past and present in future, one tree, one root, one family.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: But Paul doesn't end with theology. He ends with something
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: far more powerful. He ends with people. Paul's quill moves
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: across parchment, nearing the end now, but before he signs off,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: he does something unexpected. He starts writing names Romans sixteen
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: one to two. I commend to you our sister Phoebe,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: a deacon of the church in century A. I ask
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: you to receive her in the Lord in a way
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: worthy of his people, and to give her any help
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: she may need from you, for she has been the
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: benefactor of many people, including me. Phoebe a woman, a deacon,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: a leader in a world where women were often invisible.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Paul honors her publicly powerfully. She was likely the one
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: who carried this letter to Rome, traveling over eight hundred
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: miles alone on dangerous roads, entrusted with the most important
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: theological document ever written. Ordinary woman, extraordinary calling. Romans sixteen
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: three to four. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co workers
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: grateful to them. Priscilla and a Killer tent makers by trade,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: teachers by calling. They opened their home for church gatherings,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: taught theology to brilliant scholars like Apollos, partnered with Paul
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: in dangerous missions. Not paid clergy, not seminary trained, just
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: ordinary believers doing extraordinary things. Romans sixteen seven greet Andronicus
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: and junior, My fellow Jews who have been in prison
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: were in Christ before I was junior. A woman called
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: outstanding among the Apostles. She'd suffered for the faith, been imprisoned,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: bore the scars of following Jesus, and Paul honored her
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: without hesitation, name after name, Mary Urbanus, Stachis, Apeles, Tryphena,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: and Triphosa perss Rufus and his mother each won a story,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: a sacrifice, a life poured out for the Gospel. Some wealthy,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: some slaves, some Jews, some gentiles, some men, some women,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: but all family, all part of the body, all mattered.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Paul's greetings aren't just polite formalities. They're a master class
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: in honor. In a culture that valued status, power, recognition,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Paul flips the script. He celebrates hidden servants, quiet laborers,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: those whose name's history would have forgotten. Because in God's
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Kingdom there are no small roles. Every person matters, every
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: gift is needed, every sacrifice is seen. Think about your
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: own life. Who has walked with you, who encouraged you
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: when you wanted to quit, Who prayed when you couldn't pray.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: Romans sixteen invites us to honor them, to thank them,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: to recognize we don't walk this journey alone. The gospel
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: isn't just theology. It's community. It's Phoebe carrying the message,
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: Priscilla and a Quilla opening their home, Andronicus and Junior
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: bearing the scars, ordinary people doing extraordinary things because they've
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: been captured by extraordinary love. But Paul doesn't end with nostalgia.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: He ends with a warning Romans sixteen seventeen. I urge you,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters to watch out for those who cause
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Division doesn't always come loud, It comes subtle, in whispers,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: in questions that sound reasonable but undermine truth. Paul says,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: guard the unity, protect what God is built. Then Paul
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: lifts our eyes one final time, not to himself, not
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: to accomplishments, but upward Romans sixteen twenty five to twenty seven.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Now to him who is able to establish you in
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: a cordance with my gospel. The message I proclaim about
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ in keeping with the revelation of the mystery
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: known through the prophetic writings, by the command of the
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: eternal God, so that all the gentiles might come to
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: the obedience that comes from faith. To the only Wise God,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen to the only
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Wise God, Be glory forever through Jesus Christ. This is
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: how Romans ends, not with human achievement, but divine glory,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: not with self congratulation, but worship. Not with an ending,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: but an invitation. The quill continues moving. New names appear
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: on parchment, but now they are not ancient, their modern
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: early church in catacombs by candlelight, Martin Luther nailing thesis
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: to door, underground church in China, small group in your city,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: same gospel, same power, same infinite love. The names form
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: a pattern, an infinity symbol, unbroken, unending, always expanding. That
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: a new name appears. We can't quite read it, but
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: it's there, waiting. Because this story includes you, your name,
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: your life, your calling. The loop continues. The story goes on,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: and the next chapter it starts with you. An open Bible.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: Romans one sixteen glows for I am not ashamed of
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: the Gospel because it is the power of God that
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: brings salvation to everyone who believes, First to the Jew,
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: then to the gentile. Everyone the power of God for
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: salvation to every one who believes. The letter is finished,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: but the story it's just beginning. Want to know your
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: Bible on a deeper level, then click on the screen
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: and watch Ephesians next. Stay blessed,