Sold Out For Jesus Series

Romans 1: 1 – 4

Sold Out For Jesus

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

I find language very interesting. For example, our English word ‘think’ comes from the Latin word ‘muse’. Now, if you put a letter ‘a’ before a word such as ‘amuse’ you get the idea of ‘not think’. Can you see the significance in just this word? There must be something Satan understands about not wanting human beings to think. As a society he has us spending billions each year in ‘amusements’ – things which keep us from thinking. Now stop and think why he would want to do that with us?

We begin our studies of all that the apostle Paul wrote starting with the book of Romans. In my years of studying the things Paul wrote, it is clear to me that he was very intelligent. I believe that he is one who wants us all to ‘think’. You do not think so? If you have some time briefly scan through all of Paul’s writings, you will note that he is the ‘question’ man of the bible. In order to make sure we get down pat certain biblical truths, he asks questions to get us to think.

Paul jumps right out of the gate and will hit us with two of the truths that we Christians have to make sure are solidified in our hearts. These two are ‘faith’ and ‘belief’. So, stop and take a few seconds to think what these two words really mean? Could you present to all of us in comprehensible language what they really mean? I do not see too many hands going up.

Can you see how important this issue is to our very lives? If we do not have concrete solid footing on basic beliefs, then we can and will fall susceptible to all weird doctrine.

Let me therefore ask you this question, ‘How are we saved?’ I think most of you would respond with the statement, ‘by faith’. This is true, but somehow I need more information.

Believing requires something to believe in. Is this point pretty clear to you? I see by your puzzled faces that we are not all on the same page. Let me say it again, ‘believing requires something to believe in.’

Do you believe that we humans require food to be able to live? We are all in agreement then that you think that this statement is true. Yet, ‘will all food keep us alive?’ Got you thinking now didn’t I?

There was a television program a few years back which was called, I believe, ‘Super Size It’. In this documentary a guy ate all his meals at a fast food restaurant. If the person who took his order asked if he would like to ‘super size’ his order, then he would agree. The significance of this test showed that eating this food all the time was killing him. His liver could not put up with this type of food and was literally shutting down. Within two weeks of the test, he was hospitalized. His doctor told him ‘straight up’ that he would die if he stayed on this diet.

I like pizza. However, if I just ate this every day would I be okay? - Of course not. So, can we all agree now that just eating food properly will keep us alive? In actuality, it is what we eat that counts. So, taking this truth, of what we eat is what really counts, and then relating it spiritually, it is what and Whom we believe in that counts. It is vital to our eternal lives.

You can see from this example that many other truths Paul will bring forth to us in the through the book of Romans.

We are saved by faith. This means that we are saved by our faith in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our minds and hearts are locked on The Holy Blessed Trinity As The Only True and Living God Almighty – El Shaddai.

Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – Is The One in Whom I put my trust and belief in and in no one else. If you believe that there are other gods or ways to be saved or reach heaven, then our ‘beliefs’ are not the same. Yes, you have a ‘belief’ but your ‘belief’ and the Ones Whom Paul and the other writers of the bible point out, then your ‘belief’ is not the same as ours. Do you understand this point?