 Good morning and welcome to CPC103. We could be with us. I should be with us. Heavenly Father, Jesus we thank you Lord for visiting here. We thank you for this new week for Lord Father that you have blessed us with. Lord thank you for bringing all together Lord Father to learn from your word, Lord Father to learn about Jesus. Lord as we are going to start our classes Lord Father, let your Holy Spirit be present here Lord Father, let your presence be evident Lord Father. Let everything that you are teaching us Lord Father, let it fall in the good ground and let it grow and bear fruits in us Lord Father for your kingdom and for your glory Jesus. We submit our minds our hearts Lord, we surrender everything into your precious hands. We always give you all the glory and honor in Jesus, my precious and we pray. Though we intended to start with the book of Romans, I thought I will catch up with the book of Acts and few more points that we did not stress upon. So we will continue with the book of Acts. So as we all know Luke begins the book of Acts where he left in his gospel. So Acts records the initial fulfillment of the great commission which has been shared in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28 verse 19. So as it begins there and it grows in the New Testament church, we see Acts 1 where it talks about in Acts 1.8. Acts 1.8 says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So here we see the apostles are waiting for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. So as they waited in Acts chapter 2 we see on the day of Pentecostus fully come they were all with one cord in one place. Acts chapter 2 verse 1 and 2 I would like to read 2, 3, 4. I'll just read. And suddenly became a sound from heaven as of a rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they appeared to them as divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues and the spirit of the inhabitants. You see as they carried, as they waited in the upper room where 120 were gathered in that room and they were waiting, they saw the infilling of the Holy Spirit upon each of them and you see traces of events which took place just after that you see many events that took place. What happened where Peter was so fearful ran away from the ministry to back to his business. You see the minute he was filled with the Holy Spirit he was strengthened by this great courage and boldness. What did he do? When he was filled with the Holy Spirit he stepped out with boldness and he started reaching to the 3,000 people who were there and also act raises various such events in the early church that took place where the Christianity from Christ to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit were growing rapidly. They grew in so much that let's turn to Acts chapter 11. You see the disciples like the Peter step out in boldness and go and preach wherever they preach the good news the signs, wonders and miracles back them up. You see what happened? You see the growth of the church was so evident and the church in the Antioch especially where they were preaching grew and in verse 26 chapter 11 verse 26 says and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch okay that is about talking about Apostle Paul so it was that the whole year they assembled with the church and thought a great many people and the disciples were first called as Christians in Antioch. So this is the place where the disciples who gathered together the church who formed together to hear the good news were first called as Christians in Antioch and Acts the book of Acts is also a very vital book of transition from the gospel to the episodes from Judea where you know the the Judaism to Christianity a form the name called Christians were first called from the law to the grace where the gospel of grace was reached not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles and to reach to the utmost part of the earth so what we see here is from Acts we see there were three part movement that took place based on Acts chapter 1 verse 8 what happened in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 what did it say? It says when the Holy Spirit comes upon you you shall be a witness in Jerusalem Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth so what happened here? Part 1 Part 1 what we look at the ghost to Jerusalem the gospel was preached in Jerusalem where Peter and the disciples begin to preach the gospel to everyone according to the commission that they picked from Acts chapter 1 verse 8 so Peter along with the disciples they go out boldly preaching the good news in Jerusalem and part to what happens now this good news expands to Judea and Samaria now who carries to Judea and Samaria we see Philip carrying this good news and going to Judea and Samaria where the divided Israel kingdom is back under God's rule and guidance with that the part 3 the gospel goes to the ends of the earth that is beyond the Jews it goes to the Gentiles so who carries to the Gentiles? Apostle Paul carries this good news and he reaches out to the Gentiles and he calls himself and the Apostle to the Gentiles because his heart was moved towards the Gentiles and that's when he goes on the 3 the prominent 3 missionary journeys he takes the gospel to the ends of the earth through the 3 missionary journeys now we see the disciples carrying the gospel everywhere and preaching boldly to everyone and wherever the gospel was preached Holy Spirit backed them up has a human to carry the gospel because that was a commission that was given to them by Jesus and now whenever they went and preached the good news Holy Spirit backed them how? we see one of the instant when Peter and John were heading into the temple they saw a crippled man so what did Peter do? in faith he just stepped out he said look at me I don't have silver or gold in the name of Jesus rise up and walk so Peter just spoke the word he said in the name of Jesus rise up and walk but what happened Holy Spirit as per the promise backed them up with power it was the Holy Spirit who made this person rise up and walk at the very command at the very command of the instruction given by the Lord Peter got up and carried the gospel to the gentile that is to the Cornelius house now Cornelius is not a Jew he's not yet been baptized in the water but then at the very instruction you know Peter goes to Cornelius house and shares the gospel the good news the minute Peter shared the good news what happened? it was backed by the Holy Spirit the immediately Cornelius and his household were baptized by the power of the Holy Spirit so Holy Spirit backed them up not only there but in many instances Peter even when Philip where minister to eunuch the Holy Spirit backed them up when Apostle Paul shared the gospel to many Holy Spirit backed them up you see wherever the good news was preached Holy Spirit was present there the same way today the Holy Spirit is also present with us when we share the good news when we carry this gospel Holy Spirit backs us up so through this book we see that the more we are separated we see that you know there's a confirmation as the gospel of John where it says I'll send you a comforter who will abide with you forever that was a promise saying I will send you the comforter who's a comforter? Holy Spirit have this comforter is abiding with you and me so when we when we share the gospel when we preach this good news when we carry this good news we need to be assured that this comforter is with us we don't have to make the other person understand all we have to do is take this good news and share it just like how the simple disciples did that and the Holy Spirit will back us Holy Spirit will bring signs, wonders and miracles in and through us because that's the promise that Jesus gave to the disciples if that was fulfilled in them it will also be fulfilled in and through us now what happened now the church is under a mission just like how you know the disciples took this very seriously by carrying the gospel they took the great commission very seriously they carried the gospel day and night just like how Jesus instructed go to by to to the ends of the earth they went every place who go whoever listens hears the word abide they preach the gospel let there be peace in that place they did they followed the instruction today the church is on a commission and it has come to us today Jesus is looking at each of us and asking are we carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth because still the world is yet to know the name of Jesus so we should take this gospel and go to the ends of the earth and share the good news so that each of us may come to the knowledge to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ where people where this good news where this gospel will be preached to every tribe every language every people every nation the name of Jesus to be preached the good news of this gospel will be preached and the Holy Spirit will back us so that you know they will encounter Lord in a very tangible manner just like how the apostles continue to preach in the book of Acts same way today we can carry this gospel which is which has power which has power to bring life into death which can bring healing to the sick which can transform the heart to God and be filled with the knowledge of Christ so that we may carry this gospel to the ends of the earth so this is what the gospel of Acts ends with saying that this commission is just not for the disciples or to the apostles but it is for each of us that we may carry the gospel yes so with that we can move to the book of just share the slide all of us can see the slide so today we are going to study on the book of which many scholars believe that it is the greatest book in the entire Bible that's the book of Romans so the book of Romans is also known as the book of justification please make a note book of Romans is also known as the book of justification book of Romans is also known as the book of justification so what do we know who's the author of this book who's the author Apostle Paul is the author of this book so this is the first of many books that Apostle Paul wrote. He wrote at least about 13 epistles, 13 letters. Some of the scholars say even Hebrew is included. If they may not much wrote but if they include Hebrew then it would be 14 but otherwise 13 are written by Apostle Paul. So the book ranges in size from one chapter like the letter defilement to about 16 chapters like the letter to Romans and the first Koreanians. So most of his books are epistles or letters that were written to individuals or churches with a personal greeting or exhortation, admonition, doctrinal instruction. There's also a personal information and salutation been given in these letters. Let's look into Paul's pre-life story. So what do we know about Apostle Paul? What was his background? What was the incident that we all remember about Apostle Paul? Anyone from the class? Y'all can unmute and check. He met Jesus on the way to Damascus. Yes, he met on the road to Damascus. Right, anyone else? He was a Jew, right? Anyone else? He was against Christians. That's why he went to kill them. Right, okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. So who was Saul and who was Paul? Have y'all any time thought who was Saul? Who was Paul? How did this name change? Like how God changes people's name in the Old Testament from one name to the other? Did something God did that with Apostle Paul? Anyone? How did his name change from Saul to Paul? Because certain places his name was addressed as Saul and after that we see him being addressed only as Paul. Why was it? Any thought? Anyone from online? Online class? Anyone would like to share on this? Okay, so Saul was this Jewish name and Paul was this Roman name. Okay, Saul was this Jewish name and Paul was this Roman name. So because he was very dedicated to the law, to the Jews, so he was addressed as Saul previously. But after being encountered to, after being encountered by Jesus, they started addressing with his Roman name as Paul. But both were his name. Just the way the people addressed him or he addressed himself was with his Roman name more. Okay, so Paul was born in Tarsus with his original name being Saul. We see in the Acts chapter 7 verse 58 that his original name was Saul as per the Jewish name and he was born in Tarsus. He was born as a Roman citizen and he was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. Okay, so he was educated, he was educated in Jerusalem under the leader, the Malleil, who was a very well known teacher, a reputed teacher, both for the secular and for the religious world. Paul was fluent in at least three languages. What are those three languages which was spoken in this time? Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and also they say Innu Latin, little bit of Latin. So Paul was trained as a Pharisee. Paul was trained as a Pharisee because in Philippians chapter 3 verse 5. Okay, because of time we will leave that but you can make these scriptures, make a note of these scriptures where you can refer. Okay, he was trained as a Pharisee and he was groomed for the Sanhedrin. So Paul became a very zealous opponent of Christianity thinking that this is a new cult group who's trying to come against the Jewish Torah, who's coming against Torah. So what happened with that? He was a key player in the death of the first martyr, Stephen. Okay, and then we saw he was the lead persecutor of the church in the Book of Acts in chapter 8. How he went behind the Christians or the followers of Christ and he went to persecute them even until death with the approval of the government. And as he received the letter from the authorities, he went to imprison all the Christians and that's when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. And he also, he was part of all the tortures, trials and the death of many Christians and he was instrument for scattering the Christians to different places because of fear of Paul, the disciples were scattered to different places and that was one of the reason how they carried the gospel outside Jerusalem. They all were in one place but the minute they were persecuted to save their life, they went to different places and as they went all they did is they preached the gospel. They shared who Jesus was. They shared that Jesus was the Son of God. He was a true Messiah of which the Old Testament prophets spoke about. So we also see Paul was a good candidate for salvation, sometimes people that resist the most becomes the most zealous to spread the truth. Paul resisted this Jesus so much that he went, he tried to kill and persecute the Christians but then minute he encountered Jesus, what happened? He was ready to lay down his life for this truth, for this gospel. Totally the Lord changed him, Lord transformed him totally. So where do we read about Apostle Paul being transformed in the book of Acts chapter 9. When you read chapter 9 the first part like from verse 1 to 19, we see Paul's experience of salvation and also about his preparation. We see that in Acts chapter 9, turning to Acts chapter 9, yeah verse 1 to 19. So what we see about how he was, how he confronted Jesus and how he was going to persecute them on the way he encountered Jesus. And after his encounter, what was the instruction given? When he verse 4, he says, sorry verse 3 onwards, as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven and verse 4 says, he fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying, what did it say? Did it say Paul, Paul? This Jewish name, Jesus called out this Jewish name saying, Saul, Saul, why did you? Why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you Lord? And their Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goats. So he trembling in astonishment said, look at him, one who's so bold, so courageous, what happened? At the presence of God, he started to tremble. That was the first sign saying that he has firstly encountered the true God. He trembled and he said, Lord, what do you want me to do? There's submission. You see, there's submission now with him. And then the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. And then Saul rose from the ground and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one but then led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. He was not able to see and they led him to Damascus and verse then says, now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias to him. The Lord said in a vision Ananias and he said, here I am, Lord said. The Lord said to him, arise and go to the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold, he is praying and in a vision is he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight. Just like how he was instructed, Paul, I mean Ananias met Paul prayed for him and he was also Paul was commissioned by Ananias and later we see how Paul carries this goodness or his testimony. He first starts by sharing his testimony among the people, among the disciples. Briefly he started to read Damascus, verse 20-22. We read how Apostle Paul started sharing his testimony and in the book of Galatians chapter 1 verse 17, we see that he spent about three years in Arabia because of the persecution. They also started searching for Paul. So he went, the disciples encouraged him for him to be at safe so they sent him to Arabia for some time and it was about three years and Paul attempted to join the disciples at Jerusalem where he met Barnabas. So for the first time he also met Barnabas. So after the rejection, death and threats, he returned to Tarsus and he started to get back to his work. He started to work as a tent maker now. So after this incident, about 10 years, when the church started to grow in Antioch, now the disciples need help, they need help. Suddenly they remember Apostle Paul. We need to get Paul here, he was encountered by Jesus and he also started to preach. He may be of good help. So what happened? Barnabas says, okay, I will go in search of Apostle Paul to Tarsus and bring him back to the church in Antioch so that we can be strengthened and we can do much more than what we are doing now. So Barnabas goes to Apostle Paul in search of him. He goes to Tarsus, he meets Apostle Paul and he brings him back to Antioch in Syria and now the church grows. Okay, church grows become strengthened and then Apostle Paul and Barnabas lays a foundation in the church of Antioch. Now the church is established well. So once the church is established well, now they decide, okay, we need to take this great commission seriously. Let's go on a journey. What they do? They go, what are the three missionary journeys? Paul is known for his three missionary journeys. So the very first journey he goes with Apostle Paul and who are companies along with them, John Mark. We discussed this when we covered the Gospel of Mark. Okay, this was the encounter. Okay, we will cover that later. Okay, so Paul is noted for his three missionary journeys. So in the first missionary journey where Barnabas and Paul heads along with John Mark. So this journey they cover the places from Cyprus to the cities in Asia Minor. We see that when we read Acts chapter 13 and chapter 14. And the second missionary starts from Acts 15 to 16. We see that the second missionary journey they initially start up to follow up wherever they visited in the first missionary journey. So Apostle Paul wants to visit same places so that he can strengthen the church. He can check how the church is grown and flourishing. So what he does in the second missionary journey, what happens? There's a drift between Barnabas and Apostle Paul because of John Mark. So there's a split. So Barnabas takes John Mark and heads out the other way. Well Apostle Paul takes Silas along with them in the second missionary journey and they go. They head towards the region of Macedonia and later we also see Timothy joins them and they cover certain places like Macedonia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth. These were the very significant places that they covered in their second missionary journey. We get to read 15, 16, 17 and 18. In the Book of Acts these are the four chapters 16 to 18 that talks about the second missionary journey and they cover different, various different places and how Silas and Timothy joins along with Apostle Paul. And later we see the third missionary journey which is again a follow-up journey of the places they visited in the first missionary journey and also in the second missionary journey. So this time again Paul, Silas and Timothy go and they go into a new place which is this new place they cover Ephesias. In second missionary journey very briefly they went to this place but in the third missionary journey is where they stay and they try to establish a church there. So this journey ended up Paul and his team in Jerusalem been presented for the Relief Fund. They try to collect a Relief Fund from the Gentile churches. Okay and we also see Paul's arrest death and other traditions here. So Paul was arrested in Jerusalem by the Romans and Paul stood for trial before the Sanhedrin and he was rescued by Rome and he was sent to Caesarea where he stood before the trial, the trial before Felix and Agrippa. And even at this moment you see every situation Apostle Paul took as an opportunity to share the good news, to share the gospel. So Paul realized that it was a very unfair trial which was happening. So he appeals to Roman government. So Paul travels to Rome on a prison ship and finally gets into a shipwreck and he ends up on an island called Malta and how he gets an opportunity to share the gospel to the people on Malta. See everything was planned by God. Every step was planned by God. God destined even when he was prison, even when he was on the ship, God brought a shipwreck. He took him to an island where he can share the gospel there. So in that island people were ministered and they came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So yes, so even though he was under custody he ministered to them. So even during this time the tradition says that Paul wrote 1st Timothy and Titus during this time period when he was released from the trial and Paul would have traveled to Spain for about two years and Paul was taken to Rome eventually. He was again in the he was arrested and he was taken by the Roman government and where eventually he was killed by beheading him in 67 AD. We all know the author of this book is Apostle Paul. The purpose of writing, what was the purpose of writing this book? Some of the scholars say two things, to prepare for his future visit. It was very clear that the book that Paul had never, he wrote the book to Romans but he was never been to Rome when he was writing and he tried to come on several locations to Rome but he could not always as planned, I mean he had a different plan to visit other places and it appeared that people in Rome, they had a good knowledge about Paul through his letters and they were waiting to know him or to visit him. The second point we see is to strengthen the foundation of the church in Rome, the church that was there to strengthen that. So he wrote many letters to strengthen the concept of salvation of faith and we also see this would be the letter of Rome, letter to Romans is completely a strong letter which gives a salvation of faith and we also see that he emphasizes on the spiritual heritage of God on the foundation of faith. So we are able to see that this letter has so much on the doctrine of faith and that's why they consider this letter to be very important. The main message of this letter is the righteousness of God. The words that are used in this letter is the righteousness and justification which occurs over 60 times in this book and God becomes the main theme of this book. So chapter one to four, Romans chapter one to four, we see it talks about righteousness that has been required and chapter five to eight, it talks about the righteousness that we receive and from chapter nine to 11, we see the righteousness has been rejected and again chapter 12 to 16, we see how this righteousness been revealed through Jesus Christ. So some of the unique features of this book we see is justification. Romans 4-25, when we take Romans chapter four verse 25, we see who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. So justification is the process by which God declares us not guilty based on our acceptance on the finished work of Jesus Christ. The second we see Romans 3-25, for God said forth as a propitiation, what is propitiation here means by his blood it says. Propitiation is nothing but the mercy seat, the mercy seat in the tabernacle, we see right the tabernacle and the holy of holies inside there's a tabernacle and on the tabernacle the upper layer the lid is the mercy seat where the high priest is to come and sprinkle the blood. So what happened in the New Testament? Jesus blood was shed on this mercy seat. So what is propitiation? Propitiation is nothing but Jesus who became the propitiation, Jesus who became the sacrifice to us. So Jesus is our mercy seat in the New Testament. So this is what talks about that propitiation is a process by which God removes the due punishment for us when the sprinkling of Christ blood was shed on behalf of you and me. The third point we see is redemption, redemption. Chapter 3 verse 24, Romans chapter 3 verse 24, it says being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus because of the time I'm just reading the scriptures out so that we understand redemption. So this is the process by which Jesus Christ paid the debt, paid a price to free us from the bondage of sin and death. There are five points. So in five points, the fourth one is Romans chapter 5 verse 2 talks about sanctification through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You also see another verse, let me check. Okay, chapter 15 verse 16 says that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. So we see sanctification is a process by which the Holy Spirit of God takes the level of experience of Christ to match up the position of Christ. So this is a very practical application of atonement where we see we have been sanctified in Christ Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. The last point, fifth one is glorification. Let's turn to Romans chapter 8 verse 18. It talks about for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So glory is not a process, but it is an act of God by which man completes the process of full redemption and is whole spirit soul and body which through which it overcomes effect of sin and death. We allow the Holy Spirit to move in and through us. So only by this power we can overcome sin and death. So it is in this book of Romans, we see that we walk through salvation because in chapter 3 verse 23 that says that you know all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So all people in this earth are sinners since separates us from God and keeps us from fulfilling our destiny. So Apostle Paul writes that we all are sinners and there is a requirement who is required to save us Jesus Christ. So he brings the point that we all are sinners and we need a redeemer to redeem us. So this redeemer is the one with the Old Testament prophet talks about his Jesus and we need Jesus. He is the Savior who came into this world who died for us. So through the letter of Romans, Apostle Paul portrays how much we need Jesus. He also says in Romans 6, 23 he says that the wages of sin is death. He brings this point to know us what is the payment that we deserve. You and I deserve and he says there's a prize that has been paid by Jesus. He has redeemed and paid a price and he has bought us. If we accept him as Jesus as a Lord and Savior, we can be redeemed from this sin of death. And through that he demonstrates in Romans 5, 8, but God demonstrates his own love towards us by sending Jesus only the God and Son who died on the cross for you and me. So when we believe, we can be saved through him. Yeah. So how do we believe in Romans 10, 9 Romans chapter 10, verse 9, very important verse. It says when you believe, okay, let's read 8 on word. What does it say? The word is near to you. It's in your mouth and in your heart. That is this word of faith which we reach. He says, if you confess, that is in agreement when you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus Christ of Nazareth from death, you will be saved. You will be saved. The next verse says, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So when we believe that Jesus is the Lord and Savior, it's not only we but even our household will be saved from this death. So what makes the Book of Romans special? What makes Book of Romans special? This Book of Romans have been a book which has been inspired many scholars. It has been a life-changing book for many people throughout the history. We all know Martin Luther. How many of us know Martin Luther? Martin Luther came to a personal faith, personal faith by through this book. Chapter 1 verse 17, chapter 1, Romans chapter 1 verse 17, when Martin Luther read this word, the just shall live by faith, is heart triggered with this scripture and that which led to the Reformation. So it was Martin Luther's commentary, the Book of Romans that stirred his heart and also we see John Wesley saying that this book, the letter to Romans helped him to receive Jesus as his personal Savior and it is the truth found in the Book of Romans that have served the many bases of faith for all who call upon the name of Lord Jesus will be saved. So this is the foundation of our faith. This letter to Romans is a foundation of a faith where we stand. This book, this letter helps us to be grounded in faith in Lord Jesus Christ. This book tells us that why we need Jesus in our life. This book literally tells us what is our status in this earth. If we do not have Jesus, we are nothing but sinners and the wages of our sin is death. We all deserve death but it is through Jesus when we accept Jesus as a Lord and Savior. It's not only you will be saved but your family will be saved. So how can we accept Jesus as a Lord and Savior? It's nothing by confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart and exercising the faith. So the just shall live by faith. So by faith we live in Jesus Christ and we have this power to be redeemed in Jesus Christ where we can live this new creation life. We become new created in him where we have been united back to God in the way God created you and me. So that is what this letter talks about and it establishes the faith in each of us. So yes, we have passed the time. Let's end this time with a word of prayer and we can have a discussion on this. We will continue to study the book of Romans even in the next class tomorrow. Father, we thank you. Lord, we pray that even as we we have started the epistles of Apostle Paul. Lord, I pray just like how you had an encounter with Apostle Paul and you had this encounter with him that he could surrender his life completely to your Lord and do what it takes to do. Father, I pray that even when each of us study and journey through these letters, we pray that we will have an encounter with you in a personal way so that we will be rooted and grounded in your word and we will stand in faith with the same courage and boldness that the Apostle Paul ministered to people. Lord, help us to encounter you in a new way that we may move in your spirit. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' name, people, amen. Thank you so much for joining in today's session. God bless. See you all tomorrow with the same letter of Romans. God bless. Thank you.