 Good morning everyone. Good to see some of you joined class. Maybe the others will join, but we'll begin. So can one of you please lead us in prayer? Anyone? Anyone like to lead us in prayer? Can we pray? Sure Charles, thank you. Dear Heaven and Father, we thank you so much for this wonderful morning. We are really thankful to you that you can even connect us. Thank you for the connectivity. Thank you for the gadgets and the internet and everything. Lord, we pray that you will keep it up. You will maintain the internet connectivity and that even other people that are yet to join in, you will be able to join and do whatever you have prepared for us to study. We will be able to study it with the glory of your name and the goodness of your church. In Jesus' name we pray and believe. Amen. Amen. Thank you Charles. Am I heard and audible? Is there clarity in my voice? The audio? Okay, even the video is nice. Sorry Charles. You are okay. Even the video is nice. Okay, the video is nice, but am I loud enough? Okay, Kennedy says yes. Okay. So we'll begin class. Last week we were looking at a little bit about the introduction to the episode of Lawrence. And we began looking at chapter one. Okay, we looked at chapter one verse one and in that we saw about how Paul introduces himself as a conservant of Jesus Christ, which is something that he chooses and he also mentions that he is chosen by God as an apostle. And he has been separated to the gospel of God. And we went quite a bit on the meaning of what he meant by the gospel of God. So Paul understands the gospel of God in a very comprehensive way. For him, you know, the gospel of God is not just something for us like, you know, it's something that we share with sinners as a way of salvation. But for him, it is the message of God. It's the gospel of the message of Jesus Christ. It's the gospel of message which is preaching. And it's the gospel of message which brings peace in the lives of people. And it's also a gospel that Paul says it's my gospel, which is something very personal, which he has received for himself. Okay, now we'll move on to verse two. He says, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Now, which he promised here is talking about the gospel. So the gospel which was promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. So we see that the gospel is not just in the New Testament, but the gospel is something that was there in the Old Testament. It was proclaimed by the prophets in the Old Testament. And, you know, the Paul is saying that the gospel that he is preaching, this message of good news was already promised in the Old Testament through the prophets. And he noticed how he mentions about the Old Testament. He doesn't say Old Testament, but we are referring, he just mentions this as Holy Scriptures. But we know that, you know, the prophets were mentioning the Old Testament. But look at how and what he mentions about the Old Testament. He mentions the Old Testament as the Holy Scriptures. So we see Paul's regard for the Old Testament that it was not just the Old Testament that, you know, we refer to as Old Testament, but he refers to it as Holy Scriptures. So I think that is what we need to be also mindful of that, you know, the Old and the New Testament is not just something that God has given to us, but it's Holy Scripture. It's God's breath. It's God's words. Okay. So the Old Testament, the prophets were promising of the good news that was coming. And that coming, they were pointing out was towards the coming of Jesus. So we see it was to Paul's understanding that the gospel we are preaching is not something that is new, but it was something that was spoken of in the Old Testament. And we see Paul's heart for the Old Testament that for him it was not just the Old Testament or law, or the Torah, but it was the Holy Scriptures. Verses 3 and 4, when somebody read verses 3 and 4, please. Romans 1, verse 3 and 4. Concerning the son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Okay. Thank you. So the gospel is about Jesus Christ. In relation to Jesus Christ, Paul mentions two things here. In the natural, that is according to the flesh, he came as a descendant of David. And why is he mentioning it here? It's important because it was the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies. The Old Testament prophecies were talking about the root of David, the offspring of David. They were pointing to someone coming in the life of David. And hence Paul is saying, all that the prophets spoke about or pointed about that was Jesus. And that is Jesus because he is the seed of David. So he's mentioning about the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in terms of the natural according to flesh. He came as a descendant of David, but who was, who truly was Jesus? He was the son of God. And how do we know that? Because he came with power in the spirit of holiness and he was raised from the dead. Okay. So how do we know that Jesus was truly the son of God? Two things is because he came with power and we came with the spirit of holiness, you know, and he was raised from the dead. Okay. Now notice how he speaks about the Holy Spirit. He refers to Holy Spirit as a spirit of holiness. Okay. And we too need to think about the Holy Spirit as a spirit of holiness. Sometimes when we use the phrase Holy Spirit, we use it just like, you know, any, like someone's name. You know, the Holy Spirit is just not like any other name that we almost commonly use every day. But the Holy Spirit is the spirit of holiness. So when we use the Holy Spirit as a name that we use commonly, like just like any other name, then the whole meaning of the name of the Holy Spirit and who he is and who he signifies, his attributes, his nature is completely lost. Now for us, the Holy Spirit can just mean the name of the spirit of God. It can mean the person of the Trinity or can just mean the person in the Godhead. And so the title just comes very easily for us. But when we turn it around and say it's spirit of holiness, it actually causes us to pause and to think that it just gives such a greater weightage and meaning when we say the spirit of holiness. Because when we talk of the Holy Spirit, we're talking about the spirit of holiness. Not only is he holy, but his presence is holiness. That is why we say spirit of holiness. That means not only as a person, as his nature, his attributes is holy, but his very presence is holiness. When we do church or when we come together as a church, the sense of holiness is many times often lost. There is no sense of the awe of God. And we speak so much of the Holy Spirit. We welcome him, but we do it with the least sense of holiness or regard for who he is. But when we call upon the Holy Spirit or when we do church, there should be a sense of consecration, a sense of holiness we walk in because we are saying the spirit of holiness come. We're saying spirit of holiness move among us. We're saying a spirit of holiness work among us. So when we stand in awe and regard of who God is, it also manifests in and through our worship, in and through our lives. And we can experience the full extent of who God is and what he does in our presence. This is just a side note about the Holy Spirit. But the main thought that Paul is actually bringing about here is that Jesus Christ was proclaimed, announced and revealed as Son of God is revealed as Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from the dead. So the main thought here is that Jesus Christ was proclaimed, announced, revealed as Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness. It's the Holy Spirit who reveals the person in work of Jesus Christ's power and by the Resurrection from the dead. So there are two means here, the Son of God with power and the Son of God by Resurrection from the dead. So both points to Jesus as the Son of God. So he's establishing who Jesus is, Jesus as the Son of God. First he establishes the natural, according to the flesh that he was the descendant of David thus fulfilling all the prophecies that were written about him in the Old Testament. And also he's talking about the greater and the bigger aspect of Jesus as the Son of God. And he's saying he's the Son of God because he's the Son of God with power and the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead. Both pointing out to Jesus as the Son of God. Verse 5 says, through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. So Paul is saying here that through Christ we have received grace and apostleship. As a side note, we just want to mention that there is grace and there is apostleship. Now apostleship has to do with commission. It has to do with mission that God gives us. Now grace is God's empowering over our life to fulfill the commission, to fulfill the mission, to fulfill the work that God gives us. So the two things, grace and apostleship. Apostleship has to do with commission. It has to do with the mission that God gives us. And grace is God's empowering us in our life to fulfill the commission, the work of the mission that God has entrusted to us, what has given to us. Now this is a common way Paul talks about his ministry. He says to Christ we have received grace and apostleship. So what is the commission that God has given us? We have been given the commission to bring people in obedience to the faith in Christ Jesus in all the world. And that is what he's mentioning in verse 5. So what is the commission that God has given us? The commission that God has given us is to bring people in obedience to the faith in Jesus Christ in all the work. So the work we are doing or the work we have is the work we have been given from God. And we have his grace to empower us to do this work that he has given us. And what is the work? The work is to make people to come in obedience to the faith in Jesus Christ in all the world. Now Paul uses the phrase in obedience to the faith in other places as well. We see this phrase in Romans chapter 15 verse 18 where Paul says when he's talking about making Gentiles obedient to the faith through signs, wonders and miracles. He also mentions about this phrase obedience to the faith in Romans chapter 16 verse 26 where he refers to people coming to the obedience to the faith. So coming to the faith is coming to a place of obedience. Now obedience to the faith is not emphasized when we say come to faith in Jesus Christ and you will be saved from your sin. Or come to faith in Jesus Christ and you will be blessed. Or when we say come to Jesus Christ and you will be healed or come to Jesus Christ and you will be set free. But Paul is looking at this phrase as obedience to the faith as coming to obedience. It's coming to a place where you surrender and submit all of your self. It's coming to a place of giving up your freedom to obey Christ. And this is something we need to make clear when we are preaching the gospel. That coming to the faith in Jesus Christ is not just for our sins to be saved. Yes, all of that is inclusive. Coming to the faith in Jesus Christ and you will be blessed. Coming to the faith in Jesus Christ and you will be healed. You will be set free. Yes, all these are different aspects. But the major aspect, the main truth of coming to the obedience to faith is coming to a place of total submission and total surrender, total obedience. Coming to a place where we are giving up our freedom and obeying Christ. And this is what we need to make clear as we preach the gospel. So when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, you are coming to a place of obedience to Christ. That is why when we receive salvation, we are saying we are making Jesus as a Lord and Savior. Savior means he saved us from our sins. And that is what most of us give preference to that aspect. But most of us don't make him Lord of our sins. Where we don't give him the Lordship of our lives. We don't submit and surrender our entire being, our wills, our emotions, our passions, our desires to him. And that is what God wants us. He wants us to make him Lord and Savior. And so coming to a place of obedience saying, Lord, I am following you and you alone for the rest of my life. And saying, this is where I want to be God. Totally surrendered, totally submitted. This is where God wants us to be. This is where he wants us to come to. Yes, there's feeling, blessing, forgiveness when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. But coming to faith in Jesus Christ is basically coming to the obedience to Christ. We'll move on versus 6 and 7. So can you tell me if it was 6 and 7, please? Quickly. Was it 6 and 7? Can I read? Yes, sure. Please go ahead. Among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you. So here Paul is saying that the believers of God have been given a call and commissioned to preach his good news among all nations. Paul is saying that as a believer he has been given this call, he's been given this commission to preach the good news among all nations. And he's telling the other believers that he's writing to that you are also part of that. You are also called of Jesus Christ. You have also been brought to a place of obedience to the faith. So from verses 1 to 6 we see Paul is saying that he's a born servant of Jesus Christ. He was called and separated. He's basically talking about who he is. Then he goes on to say what he's proclaiming. He's saying he's proclaiming a message that was proclaimed by the prophets in the Old Testament, which is the Holy Scriptures. And it's a message about Jesus Christ who was declared to be the Son of God with power and by resurrection. And then Paul goes on to mention what he is doing, that he is doing this by the grace and the commission that God has given him. And then we see he talks about his objective. What is his objective is to bring people in all the nations to be obedient to the faith. Now verse 7 onwards he goes on to mention why he's writing to the Romans. Why he's writing to the church or why he's writing to the believers at Rome. In verse 7 he mentions that. It's always interesting in Paul's letter to see how he looks at the people of God. So here he says to all who are at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. Very interesting how Paul looks at the people of God. What is our view of the church or believers when we see them? What do we think of them? It's very interesting that Paul sees other believers as people of God, beloved of God and the people who are called to be saints. So do we look at other believers, our church members in this way? Do we look at them as beloved of God? Do we look at them as saints? Or when we look at them we're constantly reminded of all their sins, how they live, how they behave, their attitudes. If they're proud or they're arrogant. But it's important that we can learn from this that we need to look at people of God as those who are beloved of God, those who are called to be saints. It's so beautiful to see how Paul looks at the people of God. And as beloved of God Paul is saying, telling the church and the believers at Rome that you're deeply loved by God. You are special to God. You are called to be only one. So he's just reminding them of their identity and who they are. And we also learned that this is the way that we need to look at the believers in our church. We need to look at the people of God. Here also we see how do we perceive believers in church? How do we speak of them? Some of us who serve a church or minister at church, how do we perceive believers? How do we speak of them? And we can learn from Paul that he chooses to see people as beloved people of God, those who are called to be holy, those who are called to be saints. Now when we look at people in this way, it gives us a totally different perspective and a mindset. A totally different attitude in which we can relate to them or how we will behave to them, how we will regard them and how we will worship together in unity and oneness. Because God chooses to dwell in unity and oneness. He chooses that this people with one like he is, which he mentions in his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17. And then Paul goes on to say, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is just like well wishes that he is giving, just like we wish people, bless them, just give them our well wishes the same way. This is Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is just some well wishes that Paul is wanting to share with the believers in the church. Let's look at Romans chapter 1 verse 8. Can somebody read that please? Romans chapter 1 verse 8, 8 and verse 9 as well. Can somebody read that? Romans chapter 1, 8 and 9. First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is broken off throughout the whole world. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Thank you. Thank you. So he goes on to talk about how he is praying for the believers at home. So he says first he offers a prayer of thanksgiving. He is thankful to God. So what is he thankful to God about the believers at home? He is thankful to God about their faith. Now why is he thankful to God about their faith? We need to understand that the church at home was being severely persecuted. And as we said in the introduction, you know, this couple analysis and sorry, Paulus and his wife, you know, they come to Corinth because of the edict that was passed by Claudius that all the Jews had to leave Rome. And we also see that when they go back, you know, the church at home constantly face persecution and Paul heard about this and he continues to hear about their persecution. But in the midst of persecution he hears about their faith and he is just thanking God for the faith that they have in the midst of their persecution. And so here also we can learn that we can find things to thank God for the people we serve and minister to. Okay, look for things that we can thank God that we can praise God for the people in our church to believe us in our life group or in our Bible study group or our prayer group. And just thank God for, you know, for who they are, you know, for God's work in their lives. What else did he thank God for? Okay, it was nine. He says, I'm praying for you and God is my witness. Okay. So he continues to pray for the church at home. And he's saying God is my witness. That means he's saying I'm not just writing it here for the sake of writing and I'm praying for you, but I am actually really praying for you. And I want to point out this phrase in verse nine says, who I serve with my spirit. A very important phrase that we can dwell on Paul says, whom I serve with my spirit. You know, when we serve God, we think about it as a physical work. You know, we think that I have to behave like this. When I go to church, I have to behave like this. I need this prayer group, I have to behave holy or I need to dress in a certain way. I have to preach in a certain way. I need to, you know, I have this style, this way of doing things, you know, speak these jargons, you know, show myself as holy and all of those things. So we're so focused on doing God's work as something that is on the outside. Yes, it's important the way we dress, the way we behave, our attitudes, our actions, our reactions, all that is important. We're not undermining that. But Paul is saying that, you know, he wants to serve God with his spirit. He wants to say, I want to serve God with my spirit. Very interesting. You know, he's saying that I'm not serving God with my body, but first I'm serving God with my spirit. Okay, so the question we need to ask ourselves is what is the condition of our spirit? You know, even as we are believers, maybe we are not apostles, we are not pastors, teachers. We're not in full-time ministry, but it really doesn't matter because each one of us are called as priests. You know, we have ushered into the kingdom of God, and as part of the kingdom of God, the sons and daughters of the kingdom of God, God has given us his dominion, his rule, his government to be established here on earth. We are hairs with God, we are co-heirs with Christ Jesus, and so we've been given all the authority and power to establish his kingdom here. And the question we need to ask ourselves is what is the condition of our spirit man? You know, when we serve God, it is the work of our spirit. It's not just the work of our bodies, it's the work of our spirit. So ministry work is spiritual work, which our spirit is doing. Just like, you know, we are part of the kingdom of God, of the kingdom of heaven, we are called to usher in the kingdom of God and in the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven has two dimensions. One is the spiritual dimension and the other is the natural dimension. The time and the age that we are in right now, we are in the spiritual aspect, the spiritual dimension of the kingdom of God. But when Jesus comes again the second time and, you know, he, you know, fights the battle of Emma Godon, and he overthrows all the rulers at the nations of the world and he establishes his physical kingdom here, the millenium kingdom in Jerusalem. Here in our midst, and we will all be part of God's physical kingdom, a thousand year rule, we will see the physical aspect of his kingdom. But presently we are part of the spiritual dimension of the kingdom of God. And our ministry work is spiritual work. And the anointing, the power, the authority comes from the invisible into our visible realm. So the invisible realm is God giving us the power and the authority which we see manifested in our invisible realm. It also is the authority and power that we receive is spiritual because God is a spirit being and, you know, the authority and power you give us is spiritual. So everything that we are doing in ministry or, you know, whether we are in business or whether we are in the secular field or whether we are just a housewife, whatever we are doing, we're actually building the kingdom of God. And it's a spiritual dimension of the kingdom of God. It's a work of our spirit. It's a spiritual work because it's the spirit man is doing it. So we need to keep our spirit man in good shape. We need to keep it strong. We need to build up our spirit man. Like Paul says, don't feed the carnal nature. There is always a war between the flesh and the spirit man. And he says, you need to feed your spirit man and not your carnal nature. Okay. So Paul is saying that, you know, he serves God with the spirit. That even as we, whatever we do, whether we do ministry or secular work, you know, we are serving, we are building the kingdom of God. We are, you know, it's a spiritual work. Our spirit is doing. So we need to keep our spirit man in good shape and strong. It's part of spiritual work. He says that, you know, he's doing anything and praying for those that I want to go and serve. So look at Paul's heart here. You know, he's not only desiring to go and meet the believers at home, but he's also praying for those he wants to go and for those he wants to serve. So before we even go and minister to people, we need to pray for them. That's what we learn from here. We need to pray for those we want to go and those we want to serve. Okay. We move on to verse 10. When somebody read verse 10, please. I'll read. Thank you. Making requests if by some means. Now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. Thank you. So part of that praying for the saying that I want to go. I want to come and meet you and I want to serve you. The KJV version says making requests if by any means now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come to you. So Paul is praying that you will have a first prosperous journey. You know, it's God's will to come to you. But we see that his journey was, you know, it was not even a prosperous one. You know, if you look at history, we see what happens. You know, Paul tells the church at home that he wants to go to Jerusalem. And he wants to give the saints that helped them because there was severe famine. And then he wants to go to Spain on his way to Spain. He wants to stop by a drone. And so we see that, you know, he wants to have a pleasant prosperous journey. But when he was at Jerusalem, the Jews accuse him. We read about what's in Acts chapter 22. And then, you know, he's put in prison. He's taken to Caesarea, where he's taken by 20 Roman soldiers. And he's held in Caesarea as a prisoner for two whole years. And then, you know, Paul appeals to Caesar. And so since he appeals to Caesar, he has to come home. So he's sent to Rome. And we know that he did not have any prosperous present journey. They were stranded at sea for 14 days. They ended up in a shipwreck. And they finally had to step, you know, land in Malta where Paul got bitten by a wiper. But the expedients know how. We read about this in Acts chapter 23, 25, chapter 28. And then, you know, takes three more months for him to sail. And when he arrives at Rome, he does not arrive as a freedman. He arrives as a prisoner. And then he's put in a house arrest where he's given freedom to, you know, Jews, half people come and meet him. So we see that even during his house arrest, you know, Paul ministers to people who came to him. And surely the believers were blessed and the church was strengthened. So really it was about three years after he writes this letter that Paul actually got to Rome. And he was brought there as a prisoner and he has a very difficult journey. But Paul was able to spend two full years at Rome and impart him to the lives of the people and the believers of the church at Rome. Okay, so a lesson we can learn here is sometimes, you know, the journey itself may be very difficult. It might be very difficult for us to fulfill the will of God. But success is not determined by our comfort or how easy is the journey. But it is about fulfilling the purpose of God. So, you know, Paul wanted to go on meet the believers at Rome. He wanted to have a pleasant prosperous journey, but it did not happen that way. That did not hinder him from, you know, doing what God wanted him to do when imparting into the lives of the believers at Rome. We look at, we progress, we look, go on and we look at verses 11 and 12. Paul says, for I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift that you may be established. That is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Okay, so Paul is saying that he longs to see the believers at Rome and impart them some spiritual gift. We need to know that the church at Rome was not a baby church. As we saw in the introduction, there were believers who were there on the day of Pentecost and they came back to Rome and they preached the gospel and established church. So the day of Pentecost happened on sometime on AD 13. And when Paul is writing this was maybe AD 57, so almost 27 years. So Paul is saying, I want to come and give you some spiritual gifts. Now, spiritual, he wants to impart spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts can be imparted and they can be trained. You know, some things of the spiritual of the spirit can be caught. Some things can be taught. So impartation can happen in different ways. One way we can impart is through sharing and teaching, which is what the word impart in Greek means to give a share of. Okay. And it's the same word that is also used in Romans 12 was eight. Ephesians 4 was 28 and in Luke 3 was 11 where it says, if a man has two quotes, let him give one to another who has none. So giving, sharing. So impartation can be about sharing and teaching. Impartation can also be impartial and spiritual gifts also could be through association. When we relate to people, when we associate with them, when we fellowship with them. We can pass on from one person to the other. So Paul is saying that he is longing to see them and impart them some spiritual gift so that he can encourage them and also be encouraged. Let's look at the humility of Paul. He's not saying, you know, as an apostle, I'm in a position only to give, to impart. And I want somebody who receives because what I receive is revelation from Jesus Christ is directly through him through revelation. It's that's why I say it's my gospel, but we look at Paul's humility here. He's saying, I not only want to come and impart to you, but I also want to receive. I also want to be encouraged by myself. So as ministers of God, you know, we need to know what each one of us carries. Okay, we need to know that we have the grace of God. We need to know that we have the truth in the word of God. And so each one of us carries something. Okay, we carry the truth of God's word in us, the revelation of God's word. We have the grace that this given to us to carry on to fulfill God's purpose for our life. And you can carry, even as you carry something, you know, make it your desire to give it out to others. So whatever you're learning here, Romans as well, you know, you can use it to teach, to preach, to impart to others. So Paul is intentional about what he's saying. He's saying, I'm carrying something and I now want to impart that I want to give it to you. So imparting to others should also be something that is very intentional for us. It's not that we just keep on receiving, but we also give. Okay, and something that we can use to impart into the lives of Christians, believers, non-believers, to make them strong, secure and established in the faith. We look at verses 30 to 15. Can somebody read verses 30 to 15, please? Verse 13, 15, now I do not want you to be unaware. Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you, but was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the Gentiles. I am adept at both to Greek and to barbarian, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as is in me, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. Thank you. So this is the second time, you know, Paul is letting them know his desire that he wants to come and see them. You know, even in our ministry, we need to have this desire to do things. Like Paul, he had a desire to go and minister to believers in various cities. We also need to desire to go and minister to people to impart into the lives, to give what we have to see the grace and through that we have to impart into their lives. And even as Paul, you know, he plans to go and visit different people, believers, different churches that he plans that he has planted. He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17, he says, the things I plan, do I plan them according to the flesh? Which means Paul is saying that the plans that he makes to visit people, to write to them, you know, to establish churches, it's not according to his own desire, it's not according to his flesh, but according to the spirit. That means he's depending on the leading of the Holy Spirit. So we do, you know, even as we live our lives, you know, we need to plan according to the spirit, you know, who to go to, where to go to, when to go, what to preach, what to say, constantly being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. And it was for me, he says, I'm a debtor, go to Greeks and to Barbarians, both the wise and to unwise. He says, I know something to these people. So what does he mean? In Galatians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9, Paul was a Jew, but he says that the Lord made him an apostle to the Gentiles. Okay, even though Paul was a Jew, you know, God made him an apostle to the Gentiles. So we see that God appoints certain people to serve certain groups of people, certain in certain geographical areas, certain tribes, certain people groups, tribal groups, and it's God who actually calls us and appoints us and gives us the mission. So the major part of the Gentiles were the Greeks. And so that's why he mentions here, you know, the Greeks who, the major part of the Gentiles were the Greeks. And the people, the Barbarians that he mentions are people who are not highly educated. So Paul is saying that the call of God to minister or to be an apostle to the Gentiles makes it indebted to God. That means he owes God something. God has called him, has given him something, so he owes God something. Why? Because God has appointed him, you know, to the Gentiles, has appointed him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. So because God has appointed you for them and you have to go and fulfill the call to serve them, you know, Paul is saying, I am indebted to God because I'm appointed by him. I'm called to go, I'm called to fulfill the call and I'm called to serve them. So one way, you know, we are also indebted to God because we are called to fulfill a certain assignment that God has given to us, whether it is among children, new adults, you know, or people groups. And we need to fulfill what God has called us to because we are indebted to him. And how can we fulfill that is by going to the people that God has asked us to go, you know, to serve them to minister to them. And hence, Paul says he owes the people of Rome something because he's called to preach them and hence he is ready to come to them and preach the gospel to them. What's 15 he says, so as much as it's in me, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. Paul goes on to say that this message of salvation is something that he's ready to preach the gospel. He's ready to preach to the people who are in Rome. Okay, verse 16 he says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God, the salvation for everyone who believes for the true first and also for the Greek. Now, this is a very powerful statement that Paul makes. He says he's not ashamed of the gospel. He's not ashamed of the message of the kingdom of God. He's not ashamed of the message of Jesus Christ. And he says everything that he preaches and teaches is about Jesus Christ and about the kingdom of God. And he says it's the power of God salvation. Okay, we know that salvation is a very comprehensive word. It includes forgiveness of sins, healing, deliverance, illness, safety, victory, preservation from every harm and danger and everything else. Paul is saying that everything that delivers us from sin and Satan is included in this word. So it's a power of God to salvation. Paul is saying I'm not ashamed because I know when I talk about God, when I talk about this kingdom, when I talk about the salvation, the power of God is made available to people to be saved, to be delivered, to be healed. Because it's a power of salvation that will take place in their lives, what that will save them, that will deliver them, that will heal them, and will set them free. Okay, just before we close, we look at verse 17. Paul says, for it is the righteousness of God was revealed from faith to faith as it is written that just shall live by faith. The new international version says, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteousness will live by faith. Now, this is a very important verse because this verse gave birth to the Protestant Reformation or the Protestant movement. And Martin Luther, he drew inspiration from this verse. So this is a very monumental verse of the Protestant faith. Paul is saying that the gospel is the gospel of righteousness of God and it's revealed from faith. Okay, and he says, the righteous will live by faith or the just shall live by faith. He's coping here from Habakkot chapter 2 verse 4. He said, you know, Paul uses quite a lot of Old Testament scriptures. So this is one place that he's coping Old Testament scripture. Now in the Greek, the word for righteous, righteousness, just, justifier, justifying all have the same root word and hence they mean the same thing. Okay, so Paul is saying the fact that God is right, that God is blameless and the righteousness of God is revealed is unveiled from faith to faith. And in the gospel, he says, we see the righteousness of God being imparted through the people of faith and that is how we become just or righteous. Okay, and so he's saying that in the gospel, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is being revealed and this righteousness is not just being revealed, but this righteousness is actually being given to us and who can receive it, those who receive it by faith. Okay, it's not by works, it is through grace, it's the grace of God that he gives us his righteousness and we receive it by faith. Okay, and when we receive this by faith, you know, we just don't receive it, but we also live by faith. Okay, we live by faith, we walk by faith and that is what he's meaning in these verses and this is what triggered Martin Luther's thinking of the gospel, which is the message of grace is unveiled to us in God's righteousness and this righteousness is being given to people who believe by faith or who receive it by faith. So he's saying that forgiveness of sins, making us right in God's side, justifying us before God is not by repenting or confessing, just by repenting and confessing or it's not by our deeds or our works, you know, but it is by faith. Okay, so the righteousness of God has been revealed in the gospels and it's been given to us and it's given to people who receive it by faith and we don't just receive by faith, we are then called on to live by faith. So how does a person who becomes just because of the righteousness of God that was imputed or put into his account through the gospel that makes him just is that he begins to live by faith. So it is the grace of God, it is his righteousness that is being imputed or has been put in. The righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been put into our account and we receive that by faith. That is what he means by this verse which is very important. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and is written that the just shall live by faith. Okay, we'll stop here. Anyone has any questions, any doubts? I hope you have been following me. Was I too fast? No, okay. Kung and Asha says I was not fast. Thank God to have two in-person students. Was it okay? Anyone has any questions? That's fine, it's also okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Third year I want to ask Westin so I used to miss that. You know the book of Romans is so powerful so we have to make more attention to listen to it very, very much. Yes, very true because here he's talking about doctrines, teachings, it's very profound because he's not only being inspired by the Holy Spirit but as we said in the introduction, Paul is very scholarly in his understanding of the Old Testament and he comes with a lot of logic and reasoning and he presents the truth in a very profound way and yes, it's important for us to listen again, to learn and to understand because this is one of the most important episodes where most of his doctrines, we can understand most of the doctrines in a very profound, in-depth way. Thank you, Harrison. Thank you, I appreciate it. Okay, if there are no questions, thank you for joining us. Have a blessed day and I will see you on Friday in the last hour and hopefully we'll finish Romans chapter 1 and then we'll want to move chapter 2. Okay, thank you everyone.