obedience to the faith

the theme of the book of Romans is "obedience to the faith"...a statement found in 1:5 to begin the book and stated again in 16:26 to close the book...Paul is writing to the believers in Rome...some of which went to "church" in houses...some in synagogues...etc...and some of these churches were comprised of mostly gentile believers...some were comprised of mostly jews...and some had a mix...paul directs much of Romans to the jews...they still thought they were better than the gentiles...they had failed to realize that Christ had created a new body...the church...that was to have one unified faith...it didnt matter what the history, race, beliefs of a person in the past (though the jews did have an "advantage" because they were God's chosed people and were given the law)...this new body was to be obedient to the one faith in Christ to impact the nations and spread the faith...

in 1:16 paul claims that he is "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ"...this is speaking of the matter and method...for it is the gospel that is "the power of God unto salvation"...

in verse 17 the Holy Spirit guides paul to write that the gospel reveals the righteousness of God "from faith to faith"...that is from saving faith - to living faith...and then he quotes Habakkuk and says, "The just shall live by faith"...and in verse 18...we find out why we cannot be ashamed of the gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed...because the wrath of God is upon those in unbelief...those that have not traded their sin for the righteousness of Christ...

i think that there are many reasons (excuses) why we don't witness...or in other words we are ashamed of the gospel...but i think many times it is because we just want to fit in to our surroundings...we are worried that people may think we are odd because of our faith...

here are a couple of quotes that i really enjoyed in John Ashcrofts book...

"It doesn't matter what you think about me; what matters is what I think about you."

"The whole idea of faith includes understanding that the verdict of eternity stands above the verdict of history."

we have been given an eternal Book (word of reconciliation) to accomplish a job (ministry of reconciliation) that has eternal consequences...let us not be ashamed of the gospel...for "hope maketh not ashamed"...and our blessed hope is KNOWING that Christ is coming again...for us in comforting love...for unbelievers in wrath...

John 3:36: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

i know that there are students and teachers at rogersville that are not saved...along with employees at dmp...and customers and acquaintances at mbtweens...employees and customers at atlas...there are unbelievers on the police force...in the academy...there are unsaved people that rent our houses...that live next door or across the street...that are parents of the kids that our kids play with and go to school with...etc...just as there are customers, acquaintances, and peirs in the trade in my world...

obedient to the faith...to impact the nations

later from 3rd St.