Blessings to the Roman Believers
Romans 1:8-9 · Jim Pool · Oct 30, 2005
Romans (2005-07), No. 05
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262335303961

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

I have a big typo. It says November 30th. So please scratch that out. We're not quite to November yet. We're not past Thanksgiving. So I was scheduled to teach next week, which would have been November the 6th, I think. So I went back and I changed the number. But I didn't change the month when I went back and changed all the slides. So that's how that ended up happening.

For sake of review, we did a two-week introduction. The first week was historical and cultural background to the Book of Romans, and then Bob did a spiritual background to the Book of Romans. We spent two weeks doing an intro. And then Hal took the next two weeks and he went through verses 1 through 7.

And as we see, verses 1 all the way down through Verse 17 talks about the righteousness of God revealed. So it talks about the blessings that come because the righteousness of God has been revealed. Then once we get down to the very bottom there, it says, verse 18 of chapter 1 down through chapter 3, verse 20, talks about the righteousness of God required. And to an unbelieving world, the righteousness of God required brings condemnation. So there's the contrast there, the righteousness of God revealed blessings, the righteousness of God required condemnation. So we're going to pick it up this morning in chapter 1, verse 8, and we're going to get down through verse 10.

And so what we're going to talk about specifically this morning is the blessings to the Roman believers, what you find there in the box, the red box or the black box there on your notes because we didn't print those out in color. So we're going to talk about how The believers in Rome, they are blessed by God's grace working in and through them. We find that in verse 8. We're going to talk about how they are blessed by deep personal faith in Jesus Christ, also mentioned in verse 8.

We're going to talk about how they are blessed by Paul's care, concern, and constant prayer for them, which is talked about in verse 9. And then they are blessed because of God's desire to edify them starts in verse 10 and then carries on into verse 11 and we're going to leave most of that for Bob to pick up next week. Bob's going to pick up next week and take verses 11 down through 15. So we'll leave the bulk of that point for Bob to cover next week. So, kind of a big picture as to where we're going this morning. So let's just read chapter 1, Romans chapter 1. Let's read verses 8, 9, and 10.

And I'm reading from the New American Standard Version. It says, First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. For God, whom I serve in my spirit, in the preaching of the gospel of his Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers, making requests, if perhaps now at last, by the will of God, I may succeed in coming to you. That's what we're going to talk about this morning.

Just to kind of take a big picture, a big look at these couple of verses and get juices flowing in regards to just getting familiar with what's happening. Paul lets them know three things. He lets them know in verse 8, he lets them know that he's thankful for them. In verse 9, he lets them know that he is praying for them. And then in verse 10, he lets them know that he is desiring to see them or he's desiring to visit them. So let's just basically ask some real simple questions, just answer out. These are easy questions, just simply the point is just to get us thinking about the text.

So in the context of he's thankful for them, who are his thanks directed to? Yeah, that's exactly right. He's thankful to God, he's thankful to the Lord for them. Who are his thanks through? Just answer out. Pretty simple questions. He's thankful through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's thankful to God through Jesus Christ. So who is he thankful for? Who is he thankful for? Yeah, the believers that are in Rome. Exactly right. And why is it that he's thankful? Why is it that he's thankful for... Why is it that he's thanking God through Jesus Christ for the believers that are in Rome. Because their faith is being heard, being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Yeah, pretty interesting thought. We're going to talk about that in a little while. I like that thought. You know, when we talked last week, I can't remember if I was even here last week. I think I was.

Because Rome was such a center of everything going through it. And so I would think that, I mean, he was so thankful for them, as you said, because since all the merchants and everything, it was kind of the center of the world, the gospel was going out through them all over.

That's right. That's right. Yeah. I mean, if you think about what the political environment was. Sure. Yeah, the same, we talked about it before as our introduction, and historically all roads lead to Rome. Well, the opposite is that all roads lead out of Rome. So, there it is. The Gospel is going out and it's being heard. That's right.

So, Paul is thankful that this is happening. In verse 9, we point out that he's praying for them. Not only is he thankful for them, but he's also praying for them. How often is he praying for them? Unceasingly and always. Isn't that an interesting thought? That he's always unceasingly praying for them. What does that mean? We're going to talk about that a little bit.

And what is it that he's praying for? What's the content of his prayer? What is it that he's praying for? Verse 10, perhaps by the will of God that I would be able to succeed in coming to you. So, he's praying that he would be able to come and to visit them. He's desiring to visit them. Whose will? Notice this, whose will is he dependent upon in desiring to see them? God's will, that's right. If God wills, I would be able to come in to see you all.

Interesting point there that we're going to talk about as well. I'm not going to answer this question right now, but we're also going to get to it a little later in the lesson. What does it mean to serve in my spirit? He makes that statement in verse 9 for God. Who am I serving? My spirit and the preaching of the gospel of His Son. What does that mean? We're going to ask and attempt to answer that question. as well as a pretty interesting question there, as I've been studying this week.

So, the first thing I want to talk about is that they are blessed by God's grace working in and through them. As we talked about the blessings that are coming to the Roman believers, starting in verse 8, the first one is that they are blessed by God's grace working in and through them. So, let's talk through this a little bit. First of all, we answered it already. that Paul is thanking God.

God is the one who he is thanking for his work in and through them. And when I put the slide on the computer, we lost our Greek font. So I don't know what Greek font you used last week, Hal, but yours worked and mine didn't work today. So that's why we have a duplicate here in our Greek word there for whatever that's worth.

So Paul is, look at verse 8, first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. So Paul is thanking God and this is in a present active indicative, it's he is doing it and he's doing it right now and it's a reality. It's not like Paul is, well, I'm thinking about being thankful to God for you guys. If you guys will get your act together and start doing these certain things, then I'm going to be thankful to God for you all. No, he says that I am right now. He's the one that's doing it. It's a reality. I am, at this very moment, thankful to God for you all.

When I gave the opening lesson on Romans, the cultural introduction, we talked about how there was a little bit of division and even some strife, in a sense, between the Gentiles and the Jews. Remember in the church? in Rome, and we talked about, we went to chapter 15 and 14, how Paul encouraged them to work together. And so we kind of honed in on that there were some problems there in the Roman church. And after that class, Craig came up to me and pointed this very thing out to me and says that even though that's true, Paul says that he thanks God for them through Jesus Christ because their faith is being heard. So there was some some division there, some difficulty between the Jews and the Gentiles, but also Paul was thankful for them at the same time. So we certainly need to be pointing that out, that Paul's thankful for them. It's interesting that this same thought appeared in the opening of other letters that Paul wrote.

Let's look at this, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 4. Let's go over there. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 4. How would you read that for us? 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 4. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given to you by Jesus Christ.

Romans 1.8. He says, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. Very similar. Now go over to Ephesians. Chapter 1. Let's look at this, Ephesians. Lindy, would you read this one for us? Ephesians 1. And let's look at verses 15 and 16.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks Remembering you in my prayers, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better.

Okay, good, thanks. Notice that he says, for this reason too, having heard of what? Having heard of their faith. It's the exact same thing that he's bringing out. in the book of Romans. And then he mentions too, that I do not cease to give thanks for you. And again in Romans he says he's praying always unceasingly, praying for them.

Philippians 1. Just one book over. Philippians 1. Let's look at... Dave, would you read that for us? 1.3.5, yeah. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the Gospel from the first day until now.

Okay, again, same, we're seeing a very similar theme. We won't take the time to continue reading through those, but 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, and 3 drives from the same point. 2 Thessalonians 1, 3 drive the same point home. Then Philemon, verse 4 and verse 5 drives the same point home. We won't take the time to continue to read through all of those. God's grace working in the lives of believers. They're blessed.

The Roman believers are blessed by God's grace working in and through them. Go back to Romans, the text for this morning, and Paul says, I am thankful to God through Jesus Christ for you guys. I'm thankful for you guys. That's an interesting thought that he's thankful to God for them, and it's because of God's grace that is working in their lives. We're very familiar, I'm sure, with Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 10.

For by grace ye have been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works. The ascending man would boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. They're talking about the grace of God in the lives of believers and working in the lives of believers. Let's go over to Ephesians 3. Ephesians chapter 3. in verse 20. Laban, would you get that for us? Ephesians 3, 20 and 21. Sure. So there is...

That's probably one of my favorite verses. is able to do far more than we can even ask or think. So, I mean, how do you even think about that? That God can do far more than what we can even ask or think. I think that's what Paul is thankful for in the lives of these believers. That God is working in their lives in such a way that God is able to do far more in them and through them than they can even dream of asking.

And to Him be the glory. Is it talking about physical things or spiritual things there? Spiritual. Sure, because if we look at the Ephesians passage, Paul is entering into this prayer, verse 14, "...for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man." So this prayer there is of a spiritual nature. So then when he comes down to verse 20, that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, beyond and beyond, Whatever you can ask or think, I think he's driving home there in a spiritual nature. We're not going to exclude the physical or the circumstantial, because God can do that as well. But I think the focus is on a spiritual sense.

It's all citizenship. That's right. Exactly right. It's all citizenship in where we are seated in the heavenlies with the Lord in our position. That's exactly right. He's thankful. of the position in which God has put the Romans. Yeah, exactly right. Sure.

We want to take the time to look at 2 Corinthians 4. It talks about where they are pressed on every side but not discouraged, beat down but not destroyed. working in their lives. And then Philippians 2, 13 says for God, it's God who works in us both the will and the do of His good pleasure. Again, I think that's what Paul is driving at. He's thankful that they're being blessed by God's grace working in and through them. Okay, back to Romans.

He says, I thank my God through Jesus Christ. We talked about that. Hal hit that a couple of weeks ago, that the word D out there is through, and it means Christ is the source, so he's thankful through Christ, because Christ is the source, and we answered it earlier on our opening brainstorm questions, that they're thankful for all the believers that are at Rome. That kind of covers the first phrase there for us. Okay. Let's see here.

Secondly, they're blessed by deep personal faith in Jesus Christ. And he continues on, he says, he's thankful to God through Christ for them all because their faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. So Paul is thanking the Lord because their faith is being proclaimed.

The reason he's thankful is because of their faith, and this word faith is pistos, and it's a noun in this particular usage, and it's used 244 times in the New Testament. I thought it was just interesting when you look at this word believe, or I believe in the verb sense, pistou, it's used 247 times, how close the number is. It's used as a noun and then it's used as a verb. Just a couple of references there as to where it's used as a verb in a sense that I believe.

So, he's thankful for their faith and they're being blessed by this deep personal faith in Jesus Christ. And let's notice that their faith came by hearing. I'm sure we're all very familiar with Romans in chapter 10. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Their faith's object was Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ, and that's mentioned to us, made clear to us in Galatians chapter 2 and in verse 20. And their faith was being strengthened by God. Hebrews 12, 2 tells us that God is the author and the perfecter of our faith.

Now these three things make up the process of their faith being heard throughout the whole world. Because finally we come down to that their faith is being proclaimed. That's what we're talking about here in verse 8, chapter 1 of Romans. So these three things are faith, commandment, and hearing. The theography of their faith was Jesus Christ, and God was the one who was strengthening their faith. And because those three things happened, and they were real in the lives of these people, thus their faith was being proclaimed or heard about throughout the whole world.

God was performing His good work, as it tells us in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6. Any thoughts? Okay, let's look at Romans in chapter 4, a couple of chapters over. Because they're being blessed by this deep personal faith in Christ. He's thankful because their faith is being heard. Let's talk about this faith here for a minute. Chapter 4 and verses 3-9. Laban, would you just read that? Chapter 4 and just go all the way down. Start in verse 3 and go all the way down through verse 9. For what does the scripture say?

And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned in him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him, he justifies the ungodly. His faith is reckoned as righteousness.

Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon a man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Is this blessing then upon the circumcised or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say, faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.

OK, great, thanks. So we hear about faith a lot right in there, and we talk about the blessings that are coming as a result of faith, and the believers here are being blessed by their deep personal faith in Christ. I won't take the time to read all of chapter 5, verses 1 down through 11, because we'll run out of time if we keep reading all these sections, but let's read the first two here. It says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in hope of the glory of God." Thankful for their deep personal faith in God, because why? Because of their faith they have this peace with God. We'll get into these verses in detail later, but awesome scriptures. And we have this introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.

If you read down through there, This passage just kind of keeps building and keeps building and keeps building and reaches this kind of crescendo at the end of verse 10 and 11. Awesome, awesome passage there, and it's by faith that they have entered into these blessings, their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so we see there that their faith is being proclaimed, if we go back to chapter 1, that their faith is being proclaimed, or I think the KJV uses the word, their faith is being spoken of.

And again, in the present passive indicative, it's happening, it's being spoken of right now, and it's a reality. It's not again, you know, your faith will be spoken of if this is happening, or if this happens, or we're thinking about speaking about your faith. No, it's happening right now. This is going on in the present time. And God was the one who was seeing to it that their faith was being spoken of.

Another reference, 1 Thessalonians 1.8, the Thessalonians' faith was also being spoken of. There's a little cross-reference there. And when it says that their faith was being spoken of throughout the whole world, what it means is that it was referring to the Roman Empire, that their faith was being spoken of throughout the Roman Empire. When it uses the word whole world there, that's what it's referring to.

So Jim, do you think that's in the newspapers or do you think that's in the Bible? I think it's within the body. The roads are going out of Rome. Because where Paul wrote this from, we talked about that, he was over in Corinth. And boy, he was hearing. He was hearing of their faith that was being spoken of throughout all the area there.

Any thoughts? Let me ask this question. What is heard of us? Is it our faith or is it something else? I think it's pretty interesting that their faith is what was being heard about. It wasn't that they had this tremendous ministry or they were doing these great, tremendous good works. Now, ministry is not bad, it's good, and good works aren't bad, they're good. But he mentioned that their faith is what was being spoken of. I find that to be pretty interesting.

So, somebody says, Man, I've heard of Holly Hills Bible Church. What have they heard? Have they heard of the faith of Holly Hills Bible Church, or have they heard of something else? And then what is it in our own lives? Have they heard of the faith of us, or have they heard of something else?

Don't you think, too, though, at that time, they were being pretty persecuted. If they were believers, they were really different than the rest of the Roman Empire. I mean, just by the way they carried themselves, the way they didn't, worship idols, go into temples. So, it was obvious. I mean, it was very obvious if they were Christians, because they were not participating in all that other stuff.

That's right. That's right. Whereas, I think today, you know, it's more obtuse, sort of, believers. Yeah, yeah. Because there are plenty of people in the world who act good or have good work. Right, right, right. You know what I mean? So I don't know. It might be a little more difficult for someone of the world to recognize our faith. Right, right.

It's easier for us to blend in. That's not necessarily what we want. I mean, at times it's appropriate. We don't want to stand out like a sore thumb. I hope we're a whole lot different from the world. I mean, you listen to the news and you see what's going on. And I hope that my faith shows in this world. Sure. Yeah, but the world can't really measure your faith, can it? It can't really... I mean, because the world doesn't relate to faith. I mean, what is faith to the world and a believer? And what's faith? Faith's believing what God has revealed, right? So the world can't touch that. They have no... they can't relate to that at all.

It's like another language. But you see, people of the world in times of crisis seem to hunt out the Christian because there's something different. I mean, it's like they need something to hold on to. They don't know quite what it is. And I've seen that so many times. You know, Carol, I've thought about that a lot. You know, the world gets through crisis, too. I mean, we talk about the rest we have, and that's true. But the world gets through it, too. And some people get through it very well.

They don't have the Lord Jesus Christ. So I think, you know, we could really go tangential here today. Back to you, Craig. You want to say something, Craig? I think Bob did a really good job of covering the specific realm, all the strife that they had going on. The Jews had been booted out and only recently let back in. They had every reason to be bickering. I think it's pretty clear from what Paul says that there was some of that going on.

But I have this belief that when it says that we're to be lights into the world, I think that God makes that happen. And so despite all that's going on in the Church, I think it's really important that their faith is being heard throughout the world. I think that's proof that God will be glorified. We'll see. The big thing is that our faith has to have an object, and an object is the Word of Jesus Christ. So we may not say a word, don't have to say a word, but the world can see the person of Christ through us, and that speaks volumes.

We could have a four-week study on that. Maybe we will. What happened with Corinthians, we finished a few weeks early, so we went back. This is week four, so maybe we'll flag something that we could come back to later. That's a pretty prophetic statement there.

They are blessed by Paul's care, concern, and constant prayer for them. He talks about this in verse 9. For God, whom I serve in my spirit, in the preaching of the gospel of his Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you. So, they're blessed by Paul's care, concern, and constant prayer for them.

Now, we've looked at a lot of these already when we started off by noting the similarities in verses. Now, the ones that I underlined are the ones that he mentions, not only that he's thankful for them, but he's also praying for them. So again, we won't take the time to read through all of those, but the ones that are underlined there, he also says that he's praying for them. Quite the consistency in the opening of lots of Paul's letters.

2 Corinthians 11.28, Paul expresses his heart and his concern for all the churches. He talks about the external concerns and the external difficult circumstances that Paul is having in his life and he says, above all of that is the internal concerns that I have for all the churches. Just get a little glimpse of Paul's heart there and his concern for the churches. So I want to look at this verse a little bit in the NAS and then in the KJV. What we have in the red, we have a relative clause that's underlined there.

And so if we were to read it without the relative clause in the NAS, it would say, For God is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you. Now notice that the KJV, they break up this verse a little bit differently. The KJV says, For God is my witness that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Always in my prayers is in verse 10 in the NAS, and in the KJV they put it on the end of verse 9 as opposed to the beginning of verse 10. Just some interesting things to look at there. I personally like the way that the KJV has done it, and that's the way that we're going to approach this verse this morning.

I think it fits better that, for God is my witness that without ceasing I make mention of you, always in my prayers seems to be the complete thought there. So why would Paul say, for God is my witness, and the idea here is of a witness or of a record. Why would he say, for God is my witness, as to how unceasingly I make mention of you in my prayers?

We're going to deal with the relative clause second. We'll deal with this other thought first. Why would he say that? Just because who else would know that he's been crying for his people? Yeah, sure. And that to make a statement, that I've been praying for you without ceasing always. It's a pretty bold statement, don't you think? And so he's saying that God is my witness that this is really true. Bob? Yeah, I don't believe him. I really don't. The question is, what form does prayer take?

And we're going to see in Romans 8 that there's a lot of communication that takes place with utterances. The issue is, without ceasing always, if we interpret that literally, you couldn't believe he could think about anything else other than that, right? So what does this really mean?

I think it reflects the bond that is so secure in heavenly places that that communication is often without context. I agree. I agree with that. It's an N-word. Intimacy and fellowship and a union between him and the Lord that he's able to say, I am unceasingly and I am always praying for you in prayer, simply communicating one's dependency upon God.

And so I'm continually communicating my dependency for you guys before the Lord. So obviously he's not talking about an outward verbal prayer, because he can't be verbally talking to God always unceasingly. And again, he makes reference to this type of praying always in all these other books. So this mindset or this inward heart of, like you said, intimacy is certainly where I think he's going with it. Any other thoughts?

Is he also contrasting with what the Roman gods and goddesses would have done with a prayer for other human beings? The contrast here that his god is listening and listening to this subject compared to what the other deities there would, they were always hoping they were listening and hoping they were listening and what were they praying for? and setting up some extreme contrasts in both attention and content. Yeah, I think that's a good point. A couple of references there, you can look up on your own, where Paul also uses this same phrase, for God is my witness. He's talking about other things, not in the context of prayer. But God is my witness regarding other things that are going on there.

Unceasingly, I make mention of you in my prayers. And this idea here of unceasingly or without ceasing, meaning there's not much time between his prayers for them. And I think it's probably stronger than that. Probably more than that. It's a continual. So, again, it's not necessarily a physical, because we all have lives. Paul has lives. We can't all become monks and go live somewhere where we can pray constantly and remove ourselves from everyday life. We can't do that.

But there was this relationship, and we're going to get to it in a minute. I think that's where the clause comes in. There's this communication inwardly and spiritually, this fellowship of praying continually for them. I make mention present, middle, indicative, and he's remembering them in his prayers. Okay, so now let's take a look at this clause here.

Whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of this gospel. So, obviously God is the one who he is serving. So, what does Paul mean by whom I serve in my spirit? So, the word serve here is It's a Latrual, it's a present active indicative. Again, the same idea as what the other verbs have been talking about. It's not something that he's thinking about doing, but he is doing it. It's a reality and it's happening right now and he's doing it. So, whom I serve, the idea here of serving is one of worship, or of worship to God, or of being a worshipper of God, whom I worship. in my spirit or whom I serve in my spirit.

John 4.24 tells us that God is a spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. And again, Hal covered chapter 1 verse 1 where Paul refers to himself as a bondservant.

We won't take the time to go through all the individual words there. Let me summarize. It is in his personal spirit. We went back and forth, well, is he saying that he's serving in the Holy Spirit, or is he saying that he's serving in his personal spirit? That was kind of the question I initially came up with when I was looking at this passage. So, when you look at the word spirit, the same word is used of the Holy Spirit, it's used of unclean spirits, and it's also used of human spirits. An example is Stephen.

When he is being stoned, it's recorded in Acts 7.59, when he's being stoned, he looks up to God and he says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, talking about his, Stephen's, human spirit. So the same word is used there, so we can't get a whole lot of help finding different words to help us understand he's talking about the Holy Spirit, he's talking about his personal spirit. Acts 17 and on down through those other verses there give other references to human spirit, the same word that's being that's being talked about.

Here's a potential explanation. We can stop here and take a break and talk about this a little bit for whatever time we have remaining. So, Paul's human spirit is being referred to here, and his human spirit is in fellowship with God. So, there's that intimacy, there's that closeness, there's that fellowship that I think you were driving at there, Bob. So, he is inwardly, rightly related to God as he's serving God. And so I think that we could take the step, the last phrase there, because his human spirit is in fellowship with God, and because he is rightly related inwardly in his spirit to God, I think we could take the step and say that he is walking in the spirit. And that's not necessarily the main point of what this passage is saying, but I think we could go ahead and take that step and make that assumption. So let's hash this over a little bit. Bob? Jim, I think Romans 8, 27 is so appropriate here.

It says, and he, meaning God, that searches the heart, knows what is in the mind of the spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit, right? Because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. I mean, again, that deals, that's the section of Romans 8 that deals with our communication constantly with our Heavenly Father. And it's he, meaning God, who who ultimately searches the hearts, not his own spirit.

I mean, in a sense, that, if you will, is the merging of the human spirit with the Holy Spirit, just like you preached before. That's really good. That's neat. Do you have thoughts? Interesting idea of of that intimacy and of that fellowship. And if that intimacy and if that fellowship is there, we can assume we're walking the Spirit. And then what flows from that is a mindset of continual dependency and prayer and unceasing communication to God.

I want that. I don't know about you guys. That sounds really good to me. And it's possible. If it's possible for Paul, it's possible for us to have that. You know, it's not saying, again, not that we're down on our knees by our bed, you know, 24-7. We can't do that. But that relationship and fellowship, that's there. It's possible.

I like also what the 828 passage says when it says that it's the will of God. Because, you know, so often we're praying for things, I know I do, that may not be the will of God. And I think that's the real important, I think, part of prayer, is being intimate enough with the Lord to have that, I don't know, I guess the Holy Spirit being able to give you that insight of what the will of God is. So that what you're praying for is within His will, as opposed to what the flesh wants. And that comes out with Paul, because in verse 10, he says, it will last by the will of God if I may succeed in coming to you.

So, he's in communication with the Lord, he's dependent upon the Lord, and if God doesn't want him to go to Rome, then he doesn't want to go to Rome. There are other passages where he wanted to go someplace, and the Holy Spirit prevented him from going there. Jim, in two related principles, one, there's no condemnation of those that are in Christ Jesus, right? So, there's no barrier.

And the second thing is we're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, right? That's right. So, I mean, that opens up infinity to us. Yeah. In terms of our relationship. That's right. And there's no pressure on us other than to believe that's true. That's right. It's a whole different agenda. Yeah. You know, if you think about your day as you walk through, I mean, your mind goes on to things like your job and your career. Sure, sure. And it has to. That's right, that's right. That's kind of putting rubber to this thing, because here's this kind of huge conceptual idea of what we're talking about, and I see a lot of questions in people's eyeballs, like, what in the world are you talking about?

But when it's described in that way, I think it's helpful. I kind of think of it in regards to, we're occupied with Christ because of God's grace and His work in our lives, and as we're occupied with Christ, I'm dealing with my children, and I'm dealing with my job, and I'm dealing with whatever it is that's coming into my life, but it's all in perspective of looking unto Jesus. So it's like, I'm looking here, and all these things are happening in the same line of vision, if that makes any sense. And so there's that dependency and that communication of prayer that's there, and intimacy and fellowship as I'm looking to the Lord. This is the same... not that it always happens, I'm not trying to... it's in and out like it is with all of us, more times out than it is in, but it's a growth process. But that's kind of the way I think about that.

Again, we could stopped for a month right there, but let's click on. Okay, so, he is serving in his spirit in the preaching of the gospel of his son. And so, just some observations that the preaching of the, in the NAS is not in the Greek. The KJV leaves it out, but the NAS puts it in.

I just want to point that out. came across a very similar passage last week or two weeks ago. It should be 520. I think that's a mistake. Yeah, 320 was several slides ago. 520, where proclaiming was not in the Greek. We're running a little short on time, so I don't know how long we can bat around this question or if we want to move right on.

For the believer, what does right service look like and what does wrong service look like? Because Paul is saying that I serve the Lord in my spirit. So, I think that would... Paul is saying that's right service. And so then, what would wrong service look like? We could bat that around, but I'll just make a comment that right service would be when your human spirit is rightly related to God, thus you're walking in the Holy Spirit. Wrong service would be when you're walking in the flesh, or whatever. is of the flesh is unpleasing to God. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God.

We kind of batted that around last week, a little bit too, in this class. Was that the first or second bell? First bell. All right. What does the content of the prayer request? We talked about this in our opening questions to get the ball rolling. It was simply to make it to Rome. But notice that he was open to whatever God's will was.

That's critical. That's critical, and again, we could stop here and have another study for a long time, but we won't do that. Acts 16, 6-8, I was making reference to this just a second ago. Paul knew what it meant to be led by the Spirit, or the will of God, because he was desiring to go one way, and the Spirit of God prevented him from going there, and he went another way. So here, here's a guy that knew what it meant to be led by the will of God, or to be led by the Spirit of God, and we know that. 22, 42, Jesus says to the Father, not my will, but yours be done, as he's asking that God would take this cup from him, what is ahead of him in the future, but not my will, yours be done. For us personally, it's Old Testament passage, but a great one, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't lean upon your own understanding, in all of your ways acknowledge him, he's going to direct your path.

So as we're looking Under Jesus, we're looking at Him, we're going through our daily lives. If that's our mindset, He's going to be directing our paths and our wills. It will not be our own, but it will be what God's will is. And if it's God's will, He'll go and make it to see them in Rome. If not, then He won't. And we walk by faith, not by sight. Just a simple review. We won't spend much time here. Why did you want to go to Rome? We covered that. We're going to just jump right over that.

So, if we were to personalize it, we could also say this, that we are blessed by God's grace working in and through us. Just as the Roman believers, as they are and were blessed by God's grace working in and through them, so are we. We're blessed by God's grace working in and through us. And we are also blessed by deep personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're blessed by people's care, concern, and constant prayers for us. And you know what? They're blessed also, other people. are blessed by our prayers and concerns and cares for them.

So, any closing thoughts? There's a few verses there, 8 through 10. Well, we'll pick it up next week in verse 11. Okay, let's pray. Lord, thank You for this morning. Thank You for Your Spirit, which You've given and You've said is going to lead us and guide us into all truth. that you would continue to have your way and your work in our lives and draw us and grow us and conform us to that point of that intimacy that we conversed about here and that we would be walking by faith. as the Roman believers were, and that our faith would be what is heard of us throughout our communities, and our workplaces, and our neighborhoods, and things of that such. So thanks. Pray for Vern as he gives a sermon upcoming. In your name we pray. Amen.