For the Gospel of God

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:1-7 ESV)

Paul was a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we are all to be who follow Jesus with our lives. And he was called to be an apostle, which was his body part assignment from the Lord. And he was set apart for the gospel of God, which we are also if we are true servants of the Lord Jesus, serving him in our assigned body parts, doing what his word teaches we should all be doing as his followers. And we are all to be sharing the truth of the gospel with the ungodly, and we are to be encouraging one another in the body of Christ.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]  

And the gospel of our salvation is fundamentally this: Jesus Christ is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He always was, and he always existed with God, and he is our creator God. But he left his throne in heaven, came to earth, and he was born as a baby to a human mother, but conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of man. So while he lived on the earth he was fully God and fully human. But he came for one main purpose which was to save us from our slavery to sin.

During his years of ministry on this earth he healed the sick and the afflicted, raised the dead, comforted the sorrowful, fed the hungry, delivered people from demons and performed many other miracles. He also preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and the necessity of submission to him as Lord, and obedience to his commands and holy living, as required for salvation from sin and for eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father.

But the religious leaders of his day did not like him. They hated him, in fact, and they were jealous of him and threatened by his temporary popularity among the people who he was healing and performing miracles. So they did all sorts of things to try to trip him up with his words in order to accuse him of wrongdoing, but they were unsuccessful. So they plotted out a way to have him crucified on a cross as though he was a common criminal because he claimed to be God, which is who he is, in fact. And that took place.

But it was the will of God that Jesus, our perfect sinless Lamb offering for our sins, should die on that cross and then be raised from the dead. For by faith in him we can now be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. For in Jesus’ death he put our sins to death with him so that we might be delivered from our slavery to sin and now walk in holiness and in righteousness in obedience to him, in his power.

But this is not optional for the life of a believer in Jesus Christ. We must die with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily. And we must follow our Lord in obedience to his commands, in practice, and we must live holy and godly lives in the power of God to the honor and praise of our Lord or we do not have fellowship with God, we do not know God, and we are not born of God, and we will not enter into God’s eternal kingdom, regardless of what faith we profess in him with our lips. 

For we who are called to be his saints are those of us who are called to live holy lives, pleasing to our Lord, separate (unlike, different) from the world (the ungodly) because we are being made to be like Jesus in character, mind, thinking, attitude, and behavior, by the grace of God. We are no longer to look like, act like, speak like, and think like the ungodly of this world, but we are to be taking on the character of Almighty God, by the grace of God, as we cooperate fully with God’s work of grace in our lives.

[Isaiah 53:1-12; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 26:26-29; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 17:25; Jn 1:1-36; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:24,58; Jn 10:27-33; Jn 20:28-29; Rom 5:8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 9:5; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 11:23-32; 1 Co 15:1-8; 2 Co 5:15,21; Eph 4:17-24; Php 2:5-11; Col 2:9; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 1:8-9; Heb 2:14-15; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 John 3:4-10]  

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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