Who We Are Series

Romans 1:1-7

Getting on the same page as God about: Who We Are

Read Romans 1:1-7

Introduction

A. During a foot ball game you will occasionally see a Quarterback through a pass that is just so far off you wonder what he was thinking

B. Then you see the quarterback and the receiver pointing in different directions saying stuff like I was running this way and the quarterback saying you should have ran this way

C. Eventually you will here the commentator say something like “those two were not on the same page”

D. To which you respond with the very sympatric “Duh” like I couldn’t tell

E. Here is the sad part, many times we are the receivers and God is the quarterback, and we run to the wrong spot

F. Unlike football In this case the quarterback in never wrong, we are on the wrong page

G. That is what the book of Romans does

H. It gets up on the right page with God

I. Romans is one of the most often studied books in the Bible

J. Paul write some of the most essential concepts for being on the same page as God

K. One of the interesting things about this book is that it was written to people who Paul had never meant

L. He longed to go to Rome but had not been able to make it there yet.

M. See Rome was the most powerful city in the most powerful empire.

N. Paul figured out that if he could spread the Gospel in that city, that it would be easy to then circulate throughout the world

O. Paul also wrote this to begin a relationship with the Church at Rome

P. This way he would have greater access and greater credentials

Q. What is interesting to note about this book compared to all the others that Paul wrote is the more general nature

R. All the other letters had to do with specific things that were occurring. This one, being that Paul had never been there, was more general

S. Today we are going to look at getting on the same page as God about who we are.

T. Are we just puppets?

U. Are we to do whatever we want to do?

V. Are we just salves?

W. Are we Kings?

X. We need to make sure we are on the same page as God in this area

Y. So today we are going to look at

a. Our Position

b. Our Purpose

c. Our Passion

I. Our Position (1)

A. Explanation

1. Paul starts out this great letter with Paul a servant of Christ Jesus

2. That is very interesting, there is two meaning behind the word servant which are both very vital in our understanding

3. First Paul favorite expression to call Jesus is Lord

4. The word servant is one that implies the Lord, Jesus in this case, has complete control over the person, Christ is the master or the owner

5. So when Paul is using the word servant he is saying that God is in complete control of his life

6. The second meaning is in the Old Testament it is the word that was used to describe great men of God.

a) Moses was the servant of the Lord (Joshua 1:2)

7. This was the proudest title of the a Prophet

8. By calling himself an Apostle, it is stating who he is working for, telling us who his boss is

a) If these were Pails thoughts and dreams rather then apostle he would have called himself the CEO of Paul Outreach Inc. But these were indeed not his thoughts, not his ways, not his leading, but Gods

9. You all so notice in this verse that he was set apart for the Gospel

10. He refers to this setting apart twice in his life. Once was before he was born he knew God has plans for him (Read Gal. 1:15)

11. The second time was by man as the church leaders anointed him and Barnabas as missionaries Acts 13:2

B. Application

1. So what can we learn as far as who we are from Paul telling us who he is

2. There is a very tricky balance to maintain here

3. Being a servant, when we thing of servant, we get the whole hired help idea in our head

4. We need to keep that thought and we also need to add to that thought of the Old Testament prophets

5. It is an honor to be God’s servant. Now let me warn you, not to let that get to your head and you stop being a servant.

6. Our apostleship, our servant hood, our being set apart, all come from God

7. We are Gods. He owns us