Latest / HBCWestminster / 10.2.22 Romans 1:2-7 Pastor Danny Gardner

Transcript

10.2.22 Romans 1:2-7 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  We are moving along in the book of Romans, and I can't wait. What a great book this is. We said last week all roads lead to Romans, and we take another bite of the elephant this morning. Would you stand with me as I read again the same text from last week, verses 1 to 7 of Romans 1. The Word of God says, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.
• 0:25
  which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints,
• 0:56
  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father God, we ask a blessing over the preaching of your word. May it be declared with precision, with clarity, with conviction, and the reverence that it is due in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. Well, we said last week the book of Romans is our golden milestone. It is the book in the New Testament which deserves the bulk of our attention.
• 1:26
  by which we gain our understanding and definition of the gospel itself. Romans answers our questions. It transforms the lives of sinners. It is perhaps the greatest book in the greatest book ever written, composed by the man who began a persecutor and ended up a preacher. Romans declares that righteousness of God, which he not only possesses, but that which he also provides by faith in his son, Jesus Christ, for the remission of sin.
• 1:57
  Now, at the time of his writing, the Apostle Paul had not yet been to Rome himself, although we find in chapter 16 that he did know personally some of the church's members. And so he begins the letter, as we said last week in verse 1, by introducing himself, by calling himself a servant, a slave, a bondservant of Jesus, an apostle, a sent one, and one set apart for the gospel, a missionary. And we said, we were reminded that we share each of those titles.
• 2:26
  as well are we not church bond servants of jesus christ slaves of god but happy slaves right choosing to serve are we not also apostles maybe different in terms of apostolic office but nevertheless apostles are we not sent ones to declare the good news and we like the apostle paul have also been given a commission to take the gospel around the world and then after having introduced himself in verse 1 we said that he introduces the gospel and the god of the gospel in this morning's
• 2:56
  text the god behind the gospel we began this morning study in verse 2 but you'll notice that verse 2 in fact all of verse 2 really modifies the subject found in verse 1 the subject being the gospel of god that is how verse 1 ends the gospel of god which verse 2 then says was promised beforehand the gospel is the subject of this morning's message it is
• 3:26
  The good news. And I feel like, church, we could use some good news. You know what's interesting is that you don't typically find good news in the media. Here are the top headlines, as if you needed to be told, of this week's major outlets. Hurricane Ian trashed Florida. It finally made its way out to the Atlantic, where it was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm. And we all thought, well, that's good news.
• 3:57
  except now they're saying it's going to turn back around, pick up speed, be upgraded again to a hurricane, and trash the Carolinas. You're like, well, I thought we were done with that. How does a tropical storm hurricane make a U-turn? But that's what they're saying it's going to do. I feel like we could use some good news. Russia is still at war with Ukraine, and now they're threatening to use nuclear force. Inflation remains at all-time highs. Fentanyl this week, they said, became the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
• 4:27
  They said enough of that drug has been smuggled into the U.S. to kill the entire American population six times over. Isn't that crazy? Even if you could stop the smuggling right now, they said it doesn't matter, it's already here, and I feel like we could use some good news. An NSA agent from Colorado Springs recently stood trial for selling classified information to a man he thought was a Russian informant, a Russian operative.
• 4:57
  Rather, it was an FBI agent posing as a Russian operative, and so he thought that he was a spy. It turns out that he wasn't. He was being charged with espionage, but he wasn't quite bright enough for his scheme to work. He thought, okay, well, let's national news or international news. Maybe we'll just go more local, right? I mean, just what about local? What about the sports? I mean, sports are always kind of our outlet. The Rockies are going to finish 45 games out of first place.
• 5:25
  I don't know how that's even possible, to be honest with you. Like 45 games out of first place. If they played the Dodgers 40 times, they'd have to win all 40 to tie. Do you see what I'm saying? Like that is, that's rough. Then you think, well, that doesn't matter, Danny. That's baseball. This is Broncos country, okay? We don't care about the Rockies. What about the Broncos? Well, the Broncos hopes.
• 5:50
  lie squarely on the shoulders of the man that they've already paid a quarter of a billion dollars to before he ever threw the football, that they're nicknaming Danger Russ, Russell Wilson, right? But after the first three games, maybe he has the potential to have his nickname changed to Disaster Russ. Could use some good news. You think, well, the midterm elections will certainly fix everything. They're only five weeks out.
• 6:20
  People will undoubtedly put their hopes on candidates who cannot follow through on their promises. It feels like we get our hopes up every time. Whatever direction the election falls, it doesn't really matter. It seems like we end up in the same place. And it seems like, and it feels like to me, that we put our hopes on things that can't possibly live up to the hype. Maybe we're setting our sights too low. We're becoming too easily satisfied with what the world gives, and we neglect what the Lord has given us.
• 6:50
  In Christ. We neglect focusing our sights, putting our sights on something higher. And it reminded me of years ago when our family was watching the MLB player draft. And we often do that together, I and my sons. Hallie doesn't necessarily care, but she pretends to. And we watch the MLB player draft as they're going through the first couple of rounds. We don't watch all 60 rounds of it, but we'll just watch the first couple of rounds. Here are the up-and-coming players. And we get our hopes set on who are the Dodgers going to draft.
• 7:20
  whatever. And Pearson, our oldest son said, and he was maybe in junior high at the time, he said, dad, wouldn't it be cool if I got drafted someday? And I was like, yeah, that'd be cool. Daddy's retiring, you know, like that'd be great. And I said, well, Pearson, why do you want to get drafted? And he said this, he says, because then I would have access to all the stadiums.
• 7:42
  He said, I get to play at all of the stadiums. And he said, that'd be so cool. I'd have access to all of the stadiums. To which his little brother, Chase, who was only maybe in kindergarten, said, Pearson, you don't need to get drafted. He says, you can just be the beer guy. Then he stands up and he acts like he's holding one of those trays and he starts walking around the house. Ice cold beer here. That's pretty funny. We're all laughing.
• 8:12
  Hallie, my wife, just says, you know, Chase, maybe Pearson could set his heights even higher than being the beer guy. And Chase just thought, well, what's higher than the beer guy? And then he says, you mean he could sell Dippin' Dots? Like, yes, maybe, maybe he could be the Dippin' Dots guy. This morning's sermon is a reminder, church, to set your sights on something higher, to fix your eyes upward, to set your hope.
• 8:42
  on the gospel of god and you're going to notice in our text that as we work through the passage christ is actually the central focus of the gospel because a gospel without christ is no gospel at all he is its very heart to preach christ in fact is to preach the gospel and to preach the gospel is to preach christ he is the central focus of the gospel and therefore the central focus of this sermon you'll notice
• 9:12
  That He will be revealed in verse 2. He will reign in verse 3. He will be resurrected in verse 4. And He will make us the recipients of His grace in verse 5. And so let's go through it together beginning in verse 2. Christ was revealed in the Old Testament long before He was ever revealed in the New Testament. In fact, both Testaments, Old and New, communicate a singular message. Verse 2 says, The Gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets,
• 9:42
  In the Holy Scriptures, the gospel of God is deeply rooted in the Old Testament. The soil from which comes the plant of the New Testament is the Old Testament. In other words, the plant of the New Testament is rooted in the soil of the Old. It is the dirt from which the New Testament springs.
• 10:08
  Robert Culver, in his commentary on the life of Christ, has said it this way, the apostle Paul felt that any day in which a Jew attended synagogue services, he would hear prophecy of Messiah read. Did you catch that? It doesn't matter what day you go to the synagogue. It doesn't matter what Old Testament text they're preaching from. You will hear about Jesus from the Old Testament. He continues, every word of the Old Testament is certainly messianic by way of preparation for the coming of Christ. There is an organic unity.
• 10:37
  in the old testament in other words it's all pointing one direction its predictions are not isolated but features of one grand prophetic picture its rituals and institutions part of one great system its history not loosely connected events but an organic development tending toward a definite end as you're going through the old testament he says don't just view it as a bunch of parts in a box all of those parts are
• 11:05
  are are moving toward they're connected and they're uh firing all toward the coming of a definite end and we know that definite end to be christ himself a prominent american preacher one you've all heard of just four years ago in 2018 said that the modern christian church must unhitch that is the word that he used unhitch the christian faith from the old testament that crazy
• 11:37
  It's a famous Bible preacher. Guys on TV, you've heard his name? He says, if the Christian church is like a truck pulling a trailer, that trailer needs to be unhitched. That trailer is the Old Testament. It is bogging us down. It is slowing us down. Can you imagine if next Sunday I come in here and I say, hey church, you know that first two-thirds of your Bibles. We don't need it anymore. A couple of you guys as you're going through.
• 12:05
  your Bible reading in a year, you'd be like, you know what? It wouldn't be all bad news. Sometimes we rejoice as that page turns from Malachi to Matthew in our Bibles. He claimed, same guy, that the first century apostles did exactly that. They, and I quote, unhitched the church from the worldview value system and regulations of the Jewish scriptures, referring to the Old Testament. Now listen, church, this is blatantly untrue. Every time the New Testament uses that term scripture, and it does frequently through the New Testament,
• 12:36
  What we understand is the Old Testament is exactly what they were referring to. When Paul told Timothy that all Scripture is breathed out by God, is God breathed, the Scripture that he was referring to is the Old Testament. In fact, that's why it often refers to it as Scripture. Scripture, right? The script, it's written down. What you have is the written Word of God is breathed out by the Lord. Additionally,
• 13:04
  When the New Testament uses phrases like the law and the prophets, it was referring to those Hebrew scriptures containing the first five books of Moses, those major and minor prophets which comprise our Old Testament. Jesus one day in Matthew chapter 5 even emphatically stated that he did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to what? Fulfill them. He never said unhitch the Old Testament.
• 13:34
  He in fact said the Old Testament talks about me. If you want to know who I am, he would have said, go and read the Old Testament. In fact, I think that we cannot have a full picture of who Christ is without understanding what the Old Testament said about him. And this brings us to our point. The Lord does not divorce the Old and New Testaments, and nor should we.
• 14:00
  they communicate a singular message, and that message is the gospel of God. That's what verse 2 says. The gospel was not an afterthought. It was not a sudden pivot in God's strategy to reach the nations. It is from Genesis to Revelation. The scriptures are one continuous flowing message. Paul's preaching throughout Romans preserves the continuity.
• 14:27
  of that message and this is his reason for using the phrase the holy scriptures do you see that in verse 2 the holy scriptures teach about Jesus now don't forget who the apostle Paul was we talked about him last week prior to his conversion Paul was the man in Jewish circles I mean he was a celebrity
• 14:51
  right an itinerant preacher a traveling rabbi he was trained in all of the best schools he was highly regarded in jewish thought and in fact he knew how their schools worked he knew how the ancient rabbis thought and the jews of his time had become so accustomed to looking first to the rabbinic writings for the source of their understanding that they came to view the old testament as secondary when they had a spiritual question
• 15:20
  They didn't go to the Old Testament first. They went to the rabbis first, and they began to view the Old Testament more as a sacred relic than as the inerrant, authoritative word of God. They perverted the Old Testament and created a religious system that was man-made, man-centered, was grounded in the traditions of men rather than in the holy.
• 15:50
  scriptures and that is why from verse 2 the apostle paul ties the remainder of the book of romans what we said was the definitive work on the christian gospel he ties it to the old testament holy scriptures it was adherence to that perverted religious system that most aggressively sought to destroy jesus during his earthly ministry right
• 16:14
  They were the ones who were trying to get rid of him because he kept trying to topple their human tradition. This even becomes important as you continue to study the life of Paul in the book of Acts because of how many times he was rejected, imprisoned, beaten, stoned, possibly even stoned to death in Acts chapter 14 under the allegation that he was seeking to destroy the Jewish traditions and religion simply because he was teaching the word. The word.
• 16:44
  was standing against this perverted religious system. And church, this is why it is so important for us to go to the Word first. Before we go anywhere else for answers, the source of truth must be the Word of God. When we are faced with a dilemma, always ask yourself first, what does the Word say? When you're struggling at work, when you're struggling...
• 17:12
  In your marriage, when you're struggling with your kids, your grandkids, ask yourself first, what does the word say? When you're not sure of the will of God, go to the word first. When you're tired or tempted or confused about life's problems, go to the holy scriptures. Pick up your Old Testament with this kind of Jesus in every verse perspective. Let that glorious reality revive your study of the Old Testament.
• 17:43
  Ask yourself, as you're reading the Scriptures, Old and New Testament, how does this text reveal Christ or make the way straight for Him to come? Christ was revealed, church, long before He was ever born. Continue in verse 3. You're going to notice, second, that Christ reigns by the power of His resurrection. The gospel we see in verse 3 concerns the Son of David, and in verse 4 it says that that Son of David turns out also to be...
• 18:13
  the son of god now i believe that verses three and four could very well be quoting one of the earliest christian hymns on record it's not the first it's not the only time that the apostle paul will do this i think the end of romans chapter 11 also quotes an early christian hymn but as he quotes this hymn paul issues two parallel statements regarding the son he is the son of david
• 18:37
  By human heritage, according to the flesh, a descendant of David. And then in verse 4, the son of God in power. Look at verse 3. Concerning his son who was descended from David, according to the flesh. Now it's interesting to note that the New Testament both begins and ends with a reference to Jesus being the son of David. The very first verse in the New Testament is Matthew 1 and verse 1, which says this.
• 19:06
  The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. It is the very first truth revealed in the New Testament that he is the offspring of David, the descendant of David, the heir to his throne. But that's how it begins. But look how it ends. Revelation 22, last chapter in the Bible. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David.
• 19:34
  The bright morning star. This truth, his human heritage, the claimant to David's throne, is revealed from beginning to end. That messianic line being traced from the promise to Eve in Genesis 3, that one of her descendants would make all things new, to the promise to Abraham, that one of his descendants would bless the families of the whole earth, to the promise to David, that one of his sons would forever sit on his throne.
• 20:05
  was finally fulfilled and even exhausted in Jesus. Now, listen, church, I'm going to qualify the next three and a half minutes of the sermon, all right, by saying we're going to get a little bit academic. We're going to dip our toe into some theology, into a little bit of doctrine. So everybody put on your thinking caps. First service struggled, all right? So we'll see if 9.30 you guys are a little more awake, a little more alert. That promise.
• 20:35
  was fulfilled and even exhausted in Jesus. Jesus was legitimately, from an earthly perspective, the King of the Jews. Isn't that true? He was the Son of David and therefore had a legitimate claim to the Jewish throne. But take note, my friends, that although the title King of the Jews was exhausted in Jesus, in other words, everything,
• 21:04
  that is true about that title, the King of the Jews, found its fulfillment in Jesus. Nevertheless, Jesus was not exhausted in that title. The title is exhausted in Jesus, but Jesus is not exhausted in the title. What do I mean? And here's where everything went quiet at 8 a.m., all right? What do I mean? Was Jesus legitimately and finally the King of the Jews?
• 21:33
  Yes. Should we look for another one? No. But is that all he was? No. The title King of the Jews is exhausted, but Jesus is not exhausted in the title. There is so much more to him than simply being the King of the Jews. Isn't that true? He's also the King of everything else.
• 21:56
  everything else. It turns out not only was he the son of David, but he is also the son of God. And look at verse four. He was declared to be the son of God, right? You catch that so much bigger, so much bigger than his earthly throne. He was declared to be the son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now I'm going to point out what I believe to be the most powerful word.
• 22:24
  in verse four it is that word declared that were declared he was declared to be the son of god in power that word declared could also be translated appointed appointed now i think the esv translators chose the word declared because it's a little easier to understand maybe a little bit less ambiguous it provides some clarity it's a little simpler and certainly jesus was declared to be the son of god in his
• 22:55
  resurrection it was a statement it it was proof that jesus was who he said he was yes and amen he was declared to be the son of god by raising from the dead however that word declared actually pushes that truth one step further he was appointed to be the son of god in power by his resurrection jesus was and i'm going to say the word reappointed because i think it brings a little more clarity
• 23:24
  He was reappointed to his glorified status that he enjoyed with the Father prior to his incarnation. Before Jesus was born in the manger, who was he? Now listen, before each of us were born in the hospital rooms or wherever you were born, right? Some, maybe like Henry out in a field, I don't know, right? Before you were born, who were you? I mean, other than known by God.
• 23:57
  Non-existent. But is that true of Jesus? He was pre-existent, right? So before He was born in the manger, who was He? He was the Son of God, second person of the Trinity, omnipotent, all-powerful, all-knowing, co-existent, co-eternal with the Father. Amen? He was completely glorified. All of the glory of God resided in Him. He was limitless. He was boundless. Amen?
• 24:24
  At the incarnation, the scriptures say that all of that glory was veiled. For three and a half decades or so, the glory, the power, the knowledge were veiled. Right? Limited. For three and a half decades, Jesus, if you want to think of it this way, was bound. At least in a physical sense, he was bound. But at the resurrection, what happened? The bonds were broken.
• 24:59
  The limits were removed. The veil was pulled back. Does that make sense? And so who is he now? He is who he was before, right? There was that veil for the 33, 35 years. That veil covered all of that. But at the resurrection, he was declared to be the Son of God. Notice verse 4. You guys all have your Bibles? Look at it again. The Son of God in what?
• 25:31
  Power. The limits are gone. He exuded power from the time of his baptism until the time of his crucifixion. Right? Miracles, feedings, walking on water. However, there were also times of limitation while he walked on the earth. In the physical sense, anyway. He grew tired. He grew faint. He thirsted. He grew hungry. He died. A real death.
• 26:01
  He didn't swoon. He didn't faint. The God of the universe died. And if the story had ended there, we would all have a very different understanding of Christianity. Isn't that true? If the crucifixion had happened, but the resurrection had not, wouldn't the gospel be different?
• 26:23
  We'd all be wondering, I wonder if it worked. I mean, is he still paying off my debt? When will he get to my spot, right? The resurrection, the living Jesus proves that the whole thing really was finished. His resurrection was a declaration of power. It was an undoing, if you want to think of it this way, an undoing of the incarnation. All of the limits that he took upon himself were finally...
• 26:46
  broken, and unveiled a fully glorified, never again weak Son of God was displayed. Now you say, well, why does this matter to us? And it does matter, church, because we do not serve a crucified Lord. We serve a resurrected Lord, right? And you sense the difference there. The resurrection changed everything. You're like, well, duh, yeah, yeah.
• 27:17
  It is what we hang our hope on. The gospel is more than merely Jesus died on the cross for your sins. The gospel must also include, and He rose from the dead, conquering sin and death and mankind forever. Can I get an amen? Amen. Okay, now you can take your thinking cap back off. But this is why verses 5 and 6 are so vital. Because all of that leads to us becoming recipients of that grace.
• 27:49
  He says in verse 4, here's why the gospel works. He was everything that he said he was going to be on earth and in heaven. And he rose from the dead to prove that it worked. And now you can be recipients of his grace. Look at verse 5. Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. The gospel provides grace, that is forgiveness of sin.
• 28:16
  and apostleship that is a calling or a job for each of us to do now look how john phillips has worded it he said this grace comes before apostleship in the way that salvation comes before service we are saved and then we're given a job to do jesus said come unto me before he said go into all the world commitment comes before
• 28:41
  or I'm sorry, commitment to the truth comes before commitment to the task. Conversion comes before vocation. The apostle reiterates that we cannot give away that which we do not first possess. You can't give the gospel if you don't have the gospel. And we are confronted here with our personal knowledge of the Savior through the grace of God. He says we have been given grace. Now grace can be defined simply as unmerited favor.
• 29:11
  Grace is kindness and mercy bestowed on one who has done nothing and can do nothing to earn it. As is stated in Ephesians 2, verse 8, salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, which means that God grants forgiveness and salvation as a gift to those who believe in His Son. It doesn't come by baptism. Salvation doesn't come by the recitation of creeds or by confirmation or by communion. Salvation comes by the grace of God.
• 29:42
  received through faith in Jesus Christ. And this is, church, what it means to be born again. This is the message of John 3.16. Before we go any further in our study of Romans, we get two verses in. Ensure, beloved friends, that you have received that grace, the forgiveness of your sin through the resurrection of the Son of God in power.
• 30:11
  A once saved, once recipients of grace. This goes a step further. It says not only have you been recipients of grace, but he says also recipients of apostleship, verse 5 says, to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. Once you have received grace, go as apostles, as sent ones, and give that grace to the nations.
• 30:35
  Once saved, we have received a commission, a calling, a task to complete. And I would remind us that that word apostle means sent ones, that we are to go. Apostles, we are apostles in that we, once saved, are sent by God with the gospel message. We have been given a task to accomplish. All of us. Not just pastors and elders and missionaries. All of us. Even kids, wives.
• 31:09
  Husbands, employees, friends, neighbors, all of us, everybody who's sitting here and is hearing these words, you have been given a job to do. Do you ever coach an athletic team? Anybody ever coach? Maybe when your kids were growing up, you coached their little league team or their swim team or the gymnastics team or whatever it is, right, that you knew a little bit about slightly more than everybody else. You're like, I guess I'll coach because I'm available.
• 31:38
  You know how as a coach, you get this group of seven-year-olds, right? Some of those kids are more athletic than others, right? Some of them are more spatially intelligent than other kids. You know what's interesting is, and you see it right off the bat, right? You walk up and you're like, okay, that kid can catch a ball. That kid, not in his biggest dreams will he ever catch this thing, right? And so you're like, okay, that kid, probably a shortstop. That kid.
• 32:09
  Like, I'm going to bury you someplace you won't get hurt. Right? What's interesting about them is regardless of athletic talent, they all want to play. And not only do they just want to play, they all want to play key positions. Like, coach, don't bury me in right field. I'm a shortstop. You're like, I don't know. I don't know if that's actually true. The sad reality is that despite our beloved Constitution's declaration that all men are created equal, that truth...
• 32:39
  is only true in terms of your value. Regardless of your age, your ethnicity, your gender, you are to be valued equally. In that way, we are all created equal, but that statement is not true in terms of gifting and talent. I wish it were. I would love to have a fadeaway jump shot like Kobe Bryant. That would be awesome. I would love to show up at church basketball and be able to win, be able to contribute, but the reality is I don't have that.
• 33:10
  I don't have any of those skills. I can barely dribble. And that sad reality comes screaming home every time I try. Do you see what I'm saying? There are some people who are good and there are some people who are not. And because of that truth, a vast majority of us understand the feeling of sitting the bench. Anybody ever sit the bench? Have any bench warmers, fellow bench warmers unite?
• 33:33
  Like anybody else ever ride the pine? You're like, I know that's my job. As uncle whoever comes to you at Thanksgiving says, hey, I heard you're playing. You know, what position do you play? You're like, I play left. He's like, left field? No, left out. Right? You're like, that's the reality. Oh, you left tackle? No, I sit at the bench. But listen, church, not you. Dear Christians, not you. You are not left out. You're in the game.
• 34:05
  There are no benchwarmers. Notice it does not say he gives grace to all and apostleship to some. He gives grace to all and apostleship to all. We all who know the Lord are also called to tell others about him. We're all gifted. And those gifts are different, yes, but gifted. And those gifts are given as an investment with the expectation that there will be a return on that investment.
• 34:33
  Ephesians 2 says not only that you are saved by grace through faith, but also it says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. You are in the game. So may I encourage you to get in the game. The headlines are bleak, it's true. But consider these for maybe some new headlines.
• 35:01
  Instead of going to the media, go to the book of Romans and just start pulling your good news. What about this for a headline? The Lord has revealed himself and his gospel to us in a book which you already possess. That's pretty good news. How about this one? His son was declared to be the son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead. He's alive and he is knowable. That is pretty good news. One more. You've been offered not only salvation,
• 35:32
  but a starting spot in the lineup. You were made for more than dip and dots. Your life matters. Your gifts matter. You're playing a starting role. That's pretty good news. God, thank you for the reminder of what we have in Christ. Lord, thank you for lavishing upon us your love and grace and for giving us a role in your kingdom.
• 36:06
  And God, I pray that we would be faithful to fulfill that commission. God, thank you for declaring that Jesus is the Son of God in power by his resurrection. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that we serve a living God. It's in your name we pray. Amen.