Obedience of Faith

Well, as I was mentioning, this actually is the last three verses in Romans we're going to cover today. And actually I found there was a lot more meat here than I had originally thought. When I started looking at this and I saw Bob's wisdom in putting this last three verses together. So it's some neat verses.

And actually next week, I need your help next week. I'm not sure exactly what to do. It's a daunting task to review Romans. If I started today and did every waking hour between now and next week, I probably would only scratch the surface. So I need your help maybe if you can email me, tell me, is there something in these two years that you'd like to spend a little bit of time more on, I could go back.

Actually, what I found preparing for this, I went back and listened and looked at some of the notes from the earlier part of Romans. It was fabulous. You get in the web, you go there, you look at the notes, you listen a little bit. We have a fabulous resource these last two years in Romans. It's really neat.

I know Bob's developed himself for that as well. Sure, I'm open for... are the three most significant verses in context of the whole book. Okay, I see what you're saying. Well, I guess I would be kind of biased to Romans 6, 7, and 8. I mean, that would be one thing we could do. Sure. Reviewing the whole book, I mean, when we started the class, Hal asked me to overview the entire book. Exactly. I think what you did maybe should be a little bit different than that. I thought that too. Actually, from my growth as a believer, Romans 6, 7, and 8 have been pivotal. So I mean, maybe that's a good... I don't know.

Any thoughts before, or email me, or tell me, or communicate somehow what you think. We only have like 45 minutes to do it anyway, so whatever. It can't be... okay that's good see he doesn't want to talk about he did the whole book Wow okay I'm impressed That's good. It's a revelation of ignorance. Fortunately, that's probably not on the website. No, it's not. And Bob's probably thankful.

Okay. All right. Okay. Well, thanks for the input. I'll have to pray and think about what to do for next week. And like I said, oh, well, I guess we're not going to have any overheads today. So I guess we're going to get used to it. It'll probably come back after a while, but six minutes. Okay.

Well, actually we can start actually with, Just reading the first three verses, or the last three verses I should say. Can I get someone to read the 16, 25 through 27 in Romans chapter 16? Now to him is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifest Great. Thanks, Bob.

Well, actually, since we're going to do this from the handout for a little while here on on the second part of page one, I tried to I tried to kind of outline and I found it as I studied this very helpful. And you kind of have my little note scribbled on here. So I'm kind of holding this up as. So if you look at the bottom half, it's basically versus twenty five and twenty six. I think they are together. The verse designation is someone did that, some man did that. I think actually it's much easier to see the flow of what Paul is trying to say by looking at this.

The first statement here really is, now to him who is able to establish you. That kind of sets the A part, if you will, Unfortunately, you learned in school, there's an A and a B. Well, this doesn't quite work out that way when you're doing this, but that's kind of the main thought as you proceed down through the rest of verses 25 and 26. It's Him, and actually in the context, it's the only wise God, which we learned is what He's called in 27. Now, to Him, the only wise God who is able to establish you, we're going to explore what that means.

And then there's two statements about according to. according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. That's one aspect. The second aspect is according to the revelation of the mystery. We're going to learn about that. Then there's three sub-bullets of this revelation of the mystery. The first one, the A part of that is, which has been kept secret from long ages past. The B part is, but now is manifest by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the eternal God. And then the C part has been made known to all the nations leading to the obedience of faith.

So I use this kind of outline to study it and it really helped. I use it on each of the successive pages. So we'll just kind of go through So actually you might want to keep this in mind is you might want to flip back to it as we go through this. And you'll see that as we kind of go through each line of this, you'll see how it kind of works out. So any questions about this before we start? All right, good. Let's see it. Well, at what point does it come on, Roy? It's ready now. Okay. All right. Yep. Yep. All right. Yeah. Okay.

So if we go to the phrase, the A part of this, now to him who is able to establish you. And then hopefully we can get a little bit of time here. So actually I just want, we just went through all that right there. Now to him who is able to establish you, Is able is this word, it comes from Dunamis. I really appreciate over the years, Hal would really take note of this word. This is the word about power. It's actually the root word for dynamite. God has a power. Now, the only wise God is able or has the power to establish you.

I think that's kind of a neat place to start. There's several verses that I thought kind of complimented that. Can I get someone to look at Romans, this is why I went back and looked at other sections of Romans, Romans 8, 38 and 39. I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor towers nor things present nor things to come. are things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Right.

So this shall be able to separate us is the same phrase here, same word, with the root of this dynamite power that God has, the power that they got. So, you know, basically it's a tremendous statement when that word is used. It's a statement of what God is able to do. He's able to prevent us from being separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus, as spoken in this verse. He's able to establish us. That's an important thing. We're going to see how he wants to establish us in Jesus Christ.

So the next part of this is this word, actually 14. Let's see. Let me see what 14 is about. I forgot. Basically, 414 is the idea of, for the Lord is able to make you stand. He has the power to make you stand and stand you will. That's 414. And so if we move on to establish. Establish is the idea to fix, make fast, set. It's used confirming aspect. So he's able to establish it. Actually, kind of maybe a free translation might be he's able to stabilize you, to make you stable. So God's desire is to make you stable in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see some of that in...

In fact, this is when I went back and listened a little bit in Romans 1.11, and I'll read that.

Romans 1.11. I went back and listened to what... I think Hal taught that one.

It says Romans 1.11 says, for I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gifts to you that you may be established. And the idea here is not that Paul had a reservoir of spiritual gifts and he was doling them out. It was that he wanted to teach them Christ. He wanted to show them Christ. And when he showed them Christ, they would see the wonderful blessings they had. So he wanted to show them show them Christ, to establish them in Christ.

Another verse I think that's good at is 1 Peter 5.10, the last part of it. God of all grace, who called the church to glory in Christ all himself, with that confirms strength and establishment. Thank you, that's excellent. Let me write that down for my notes. What was that again?

1 Peter 5.10. That's great. That's really good. And then the first Thessalonians verse. Let's just look at that for a second. First Thess 3. In fact, actually, we're going to be going over that if you stick with the good class. That's a commercial announcement here. Yeah. I'm joking.

But we have the most teachers. You must admit that if you get prizes for the most teachers and it's a great blessing to me to have that. And I think Bob and I talked about this just, you know, this is so busy these days. Great to have a lot of gentlemen there wanting to teach. And that's really great. just the lack of time. There's several ways to look at that.

I get someone to read 1 Thess 3.11-13. Thank you.

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our So God's desire, as is stated here, is to establish you, to make you stable, to settle you down. And isn't it wonderful as we learn the truths about who we are in Christ, that has that very effect. I mean, I can testify that personally. When I came to know, wait a minute, I'm seated with Christ in the heavenlies, I have all these spiritual blessings, my prayer life changed dramatically. I was praying to have all this stability, and it was already there waiting for me. It's just incredible. God's desire is to stabilize a believer. That's what makes this section kind of a hidden little gem at the end here.

Now to him, the only wise God who is able to establish you, to settle you down, and then it's going to go on from there. So actually, Wiest renders this, now to the one who is of the power, that's where that dunamis comes from, to establish you. Okay, so that's the A part. And now we're going to have two sets. This is the first aspect of God's stabilizing or settling you down.

And it's all wrapped up in Jesus Christ. It's wrapped up in something called my gospel. and the preaching of Jesus Christ. It's going to be very obvious. He's going to stabilize you in your savior, in his son, who has the key to the Christian life. It's all about Christ, all about what he's done, and your relationship to that. That's the first aspect he wants to stabilize you in.

The gospel is this word euangelion, I think it's pronounced. It originally denoted good tidings, but later became a word stood for good news and there's a couple of verses here actually I have a question I think, let's see. Actually it's found, it's after this little phrase my my gospel, let me just see did I have a, actually I'll just stop right there.

So this little phrase my gospel it occurs earlier in Romans and let's just look at that for a second in Romans 2.16 And let me just go ahead and read that. It says, let's just kind of back up here. For when the Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves, are a law to themselves, in that they show the works of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing them witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing them or defending them. on the day when, according to my gospel, you will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

So my gospel seems to be, and actually Timothy talks about that too, my gospel, in that context it says, let's just look at it for a second, 2 Timothy 2.8.

Can I get someone to read 2 Timothy 2.8? Remember that Jesus Christ and the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. Well, it seems like maybe there's a couple of things that kind of occurred to me. You know, one thing is that the gospel, you know, The gospel declares what Christ has done. He died on the cross. He was buried and rose in the third day.

So that's the gospel. But I think what Paul and Timothy are pointing out is that when you believe that, that's you. So it becomes personalized. So it's my gospel. So he wants you stabilized according to a gospel that's yours. Not just out in the, you know, it's a fact for all the world to know, but it becomes my gospel. And some, actually I was reading a little bit, some thought that it might be in this case when Paul says it, might be that he, because he was with the Lord face to face, he had He had the gospel pure and simple.

In fact, we're going to see that in just a second. That's one of my questions. How did Paul learn the gospel? Do you guys remember how he did that? Vern actually covered this recently. How did Paul learn the gospel? Did he hear it down the corner? Did one of the disciples witness to him? It's kind of a trick question. Go ahead. Okay, go ahead. You think about when they were stoning the Lord? That's not stoning the Lord. It's kind of a trick question. Go ahead, Art.

In addition to that, did not he see the gospel or know of the gospel in the Old Testament? Well, he probably did all that. I think Paul was a very educated man. He probably heard of it, but it actually almost comes back to this being my gospel. When did he really hear it with hearing ears? And he declares that, in fact. Go ahead, if you want to. I can context it a little bit. If you look at verse 7 and say what I said, the Lord gives the understanding in all things.

And that leads into Ada about my gospel. And I can't help but go back to Romans 6, 3, and 4 because it's about him being raised from the dead. His gospel went beyond simply salvation based on the sins. His gospel crucified him, buried with him with baptism unto death, risen with him in the midst of life. That's a my gospel that extends beyond the Galatian era.

Okay, okay, okay, okay. Well, I thought it was interesting and I kind of focused on the beginning of that, but that's excellent. I thought it obviously included that too. Yes, go ahead. I'm reminded of the verses in Galatians 1, 6, 1, 6, where he speaks of someone coming with another gospel. Exactly, exactly. It makes me wonder how much, not just in Galatia, but in other places, maybe there were people that were claiming to have some kind of a gospel. Maybe there was discussion among some Galatians. Right, right.

Well, could you read, as you're opening, could you read Galatians 1.11 for me? Actually, how about 1.11 and 12? Okay, but I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus.

So Paul had a very special situation. He got the gospel, even though he may have heard about it, he got it personally. by the Lord, one-on-one. And it seems like that allowed him to go... There's the historical gospel, if you will, that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third day. But then the greater gospel is all that we have in Christ, and Bob was alluding to that. So I think that's part of why he says, my gospel, because it's part of who Paul is.

So I think there's actually several answers for that, and that's good. OK. OK. OK, so the second part is what seems like, you know, it's almost repetitive in a way. According to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. But this preaching is a proclamation. It's a proclamation of the truth. It's not so much the act of preaching, but it's actually the substance of what's being preached. The preaching of Jesus Christ. Sure. Exactly. It is. It is. And I know.

So I think in a way, I almost thought we could say, this is our gospel. I was thinking about what Paul did. Paul, he took ownership of that. And we can say, well, this wonderful gospel, it totally describes the Christian and the total work of God on behalf of him. Right. Exactly. Right. No, I agree. I agree with you. So we can say this is our gospel because it becomes personalized because we realize that we were in Christ. You can really go off on some really neat paths here.

Carrying on with the preaching and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, I have a couple of verses here which just talk about the proclamation or preaching of Jesus Christ, and I think actually in the interest of time, basically they talk about the fact that proclaiming Jesus Christ and basically if our preaching is in vain if Christ didn't die on the cross. So these verses actually just kind of speak to the word preaching and how it's a proclamation of the truth. So I just want to kind of move on here to the next So that's the first aspect, according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

So the second part, according to the revelation of the mystery, and that's the second aspect of God establishing you. So he wants to establish you, which is kind of interesting, in the revelation of this mystery. And we're going to learn about this mystery here. And actually, it's going to have three aspects that we're going to focus on here. But just taking the first part here, the revelation is this uncovering or revealing. And I had some... I didn't actually put down some verses, but if you look traced through this, it's sometimes contrasted with covering versus uncovering.

So it's bringing to light, the revelation of the mystery. This mystery is this word that Verne likes, wisterion. I think that's how you pronounce it. That's where Verne gets his mooses flying back and forth if he hadn't. When you see the mooses, you can blame it on this Greek word right here. Basically, you guys already know this, mystery in the New Testament is something that has previously not been revealed. It's not mystery or strangeness. It's something that has not been revealed.

What we're going to see as we trace through here is that it was God's purpose not to reveal this truth in ages past. We're going to see that aspect. And actually, I kind of got ahead and answered the question already. OK, the question is here, and actually, we'll make it a little hard to see. What do you think the mystery, the unrevealed fact is in this passage? I'll probably go back and look at the passage to pick up on that. So actually, if I just go back, I'll just read.

Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, and it's going to go on, which has been kept secret for long ages past. So what's this mystery that's been kept secret for long ages past?

Absolutely. That's actually kind of neat. If you could talk to your Jewish friends and they would really come to grips with that, that would be a real significant thing. God has a plan for all of creation. I think Ephesians is a really good place to see that. Let's look at Ephesians 3. And can I get a volunteer to read one through seven?

All right, thank you. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote it before, in Greek. By referring to this, one can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations has now been known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to the holy apostles and prophets of the Spirit. To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow-hearers, fellow-members of the body, a fellow-partaker of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of this power. Thank you. Actually, I thought the, I kind of put them down here, the kind of the verse six kind of the Gentiles. So this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promises in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So this mystery that God, that was unrevealed in past times, is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs. Okay.

So now, actually, if you go back to page one, I should have had a little insert here, back to page one, you'll see that there's an A, B, and C that kind of delineates this mystery, the revelation of the mystery. So the first aspect of the revelation of the mystery is that, and I've already kind of alluded to it, it was kept secret for long ages past.

And has been kept secret is in the perfect tense. You guys can remember that. It's kind of interesting it was in the perfect tense. Back to your notes here. I got part of my thought. That's good. The perfect tense is the idea that it's a past completed action with abiding results up into the present.

It said that it was kept secret in the past and continued up into the present, actually until God God's time came, and the next part of the verse is going to show you that a point in time came when he wanted to declare that the Gentiles are part of his body, part of his plan.

The word for secret is basically to keep silent. I had a verse that talked about that a little bit. I won't read it in the interest of time. It literally means God was silent on the matter about this mystery. Actually, Weiss at the very bottom renders this, according to the uncovering of the mystery, which during eternal times has been kept secret in silence. So it points back long ages past, or actually it could be rendered times eternal.

So this is something that God, this is part of his plan. He was not going to reveal his plans until a certain time came. Now if you go to the next page, which is page 7, chart 7, this is kind of the contrast. It says, but now. But now is manifest. So God now manifests this mystery by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the eternal God. Sure, go ahead.

Is that fair for God to do that? That's a good point. I had thought about saying, well, why did he do that? I couldn't think of an answer, so I asked the question I couldn't think of an answer for. Why would he do that? You look through the history of Israel and maybe it's to show that man is incapable of doing anything on his own.

Let's try the law route. That obviously doesn't work. That's a total disaster. Basically, God shows that man cannot is incapable. At a point in time, he shows them that they need a savior. They need to live, and the savior lived his life through us. But he did keep it secret. He didn't tell.

But now is manifest. Manifest is this idea to open to sight, to make visible. Let's see Roy, is it too soon yet? I don't know all the sounds to know exactly when I should listen more carefully. Yeah, I guess it kind of changes. I'll keep it here. Okay. Is that in the back? Okay. Okay.

So kept secret, has been kept in silence, and that was a verse that just talked about that. Long ages past are times eternal. So this wasn't kind of a passing thought. God from times past, from times eternal, this was his plan. According to the uncovering of the mystery, covering the mystery, which during eternal times has been kept in silence. So God kept it in silence.

Now here comes the contrast. But now it's manifested by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the eternal God. So like I said, this is the second aspect of the revelation. So he kept it in silence, now he's manifesting it. That's the contrast. And two aspects of this, through the by or through the scriptures of the prophets.

And actually there's a neat verse that just talks about, let's look at Romans 3.21. I found myself going back to, like I said, earlier portions of Romans.

Romans 3.21.

And Romans 3.21 says, but now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. So that term, the law and the prophets, I think is kind of synonymous with the scriptures of the prophets.

So God's word is the source of this manifestation. It's not some other supernatural thing. It's God's word is declaring what his plan is now. and it's according to his command, what he has in mind. That word commandment is the idea... Commandment is the idea of the authority. It's used like in 1 Timothy that God has the authority. He has the power and the authority to keep things silent and to manifest them. He's God. He's in control. So he's going to reveal it or manifest it through the scriptures according to his authority of the eternal God.

Roger, we often go back and look at Old Testament prophecy in terms of the gospel. Absolutely. Even though his purpose was not to make it so clear. looking back through the prophets, pointing to Christ. So in a sense, where you're going at point C, I don't mean to jump ahead of this tape. Right, exactly. Exactly. In fact, when you go back and look at what the prophets had written, ultimately, by faith, they could have accepted. Exactly. Exactly.

Abraham is like a shining light. It's neat. Vernon, Mike, and myself have been looking at the word dispensations and the word stewardship. and you look at Abraham's life, it kind of stands out. That's a total faith operation from beginning to end. God comes to Abraham and basically says, believe me, and Abraham does. He trusts him totally. Whereas you go to other people in there, and they, you've got Moses, there's all kinds, but Abraham, a simple operation of faith.

It kind of stands out. With our eyes to the New Testament, we look back and we say, there it is. It's right there. The information is there. It's in the scriptures. This manifest is open to sight, made visible, but now has been made known through the prophetic writings according to the mandate of the eternal God.

This is the cool part. I like this last little section. Actually, what was cool was Hal had gone over part of this before, so I made use of some of his notes on this too, which is great. The third aspect, the revelation of the mystery. The third aspect, what was made known to all the nations? This is another trick question. It's a mystery. The mystery was made known to all the nations. Christ is proclaimed to all. He's not one that any should perish, so all should come to repentance. All right, so here's kind of a pivotal question. Actually, it was asked before, back in October of 2005. What's this obedience of faith all about? Do we get some law in here now? Do I get the law, kind of push some law in here? No law. Amen. No law. Does this word ever bother you? In fact, this has, over the years, had bothered me.

People kind of say, look, here's some law. They didn't say law, but they kind of said, well, Roger, No, we must have to do something, be part of it. Right, and that's where it's just wonderful to look at what the word means. It's this compound word, to hear under, hupo akuo, to hear under, or to listen under. We're to listen under God's word. That sounds a lot different than obey, obey, obey, get in there, obey. We're to listen, we're to have listening ears. That's what the Christian is to be, a person that listens. And that's what it takes to come to faith in Christ, to listen. to listen to what the message is. Defining the word really is just so helpful.

Let's go back here and look at a parallel verse that Hal covered about two years ago in Romans chapter one. Let me go ahead and read five through seven. Well actually let me just back up here. I'll start in verse 4. Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his namesake among all whom you also are called of Jesus Christ to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So in this case here in verse 5 it says to bring about obedience of faith among the Gentiles. So God's desire is to bring about this thing he calls obedience of faith. So I think a couple points that were made I thought were just really important. Obedience proceeds out of faith.

I always spent some time thinking about this. If you look at the chapter in Galatians there, we have the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, gentleness. Actually, there's one self-control. I really didn't go and spend a whole lot of time, but I was thinking you could actually phrase those gifts of the spirit as being the love of faith, the joy of faith, the peace of faith, the self-control of faith. So I think when you think about it, obedience has to come out of faith. Otherwise, faith is a sham. You put in the cart before the horse. Obedience is a fruit.

It comes because you know Christ. And you say, it makes sense. It makes no sense that I would act this way. I would act in accordance with who I am in Christ. So the faith is a starting point. And that's kind of the second point. Chronologically and logically, faith comes first. then the obedience or yielding. If you flip those around, and I've heard people try to do that. They try to push the law on this. Here, look at that. Obedience to faith. See? Law is there.

They don't say law, but they say, see, you've got to get that obedience going first. Get the obedience going, then you get faith. Or your faith will grow if you have more obedience. I found this very helpful. It's a fruit. In that context, it really fits in well. Obedience is a fruit. That's a fruit that God desires. He desires that we walk in obedience to who he is.

We can't do that. You can't do that in the flesh. Absolutely. The faith has to come first. It does. That's why people get so despondent. because they're trying harder to have that obedience. Exactly. And they can't. And they're frustrated. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right.

The last part, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ we glory forever. Amen. The only wise God, maybe more literally, it's God alone is wise. In this word wise, spoken of God as surpassing all others in wisdom, being infinite in skill, insight, knowledge, and purity. God alone is wise. He's the only wise God. It says, let God be found true, let every man be found a liar. It's a contrast. God's wisdom excels any man. Lastly, be glory forever, amen.

And actually, that phrase shows up in various other books in the New Testament in Philippians. It says, now to the God and Father be glory forever. Amen. In Timothy it says, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.

Be glory forever and ever. Amen. I left out the ever and ever in the first one there. in Hebrews, equip you with every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. So that seems to be a typical way of ending just a marvelous book. To God be the glory. And to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever. Amen. Any other thoughts or comments? Well thanks, it's been great. I mean we'll have one more class to do here, but I've enjoyed my time. I wasn't here from the beginning and it's been great. You know, on the way down this morning, Margaret and I were kind of reflecting on this. I was reflecting.

He was giving me a lot of issues that are kind of before us right now related to children. Otherwise, it seems like the burden of earth. They think sometimes it's pretty heavy. And, you know, this this this might have been very helpful. Remember that we're established. Isn't that neat? There was an attempt on my behalf to mark a little lot of some of these issues. Bob, you and law. I know, I know.

It's good because it does reflect that the big picture is already well understood. Our act of faith doesn't mean that we're helpless doormats, but the fact that laws not the way right exactly exactly we're already established yeah wait it heavily places it isn't neat that that's God's that's his plan that's his purpose to establish to settle us down to make a stable in his son and you know right to show that we are not in control Well, and Bob, just to you know, I should buy and I have similar discussions.

You know, we have I have three, three kids and none of them are married. And so my wife says, well, when things are, when things get moving along here, you know, I got to. I've got one son who's 29, I've got a daughter who's 24, and I have an youngest son who's 21. I'm thankful for all three of them. I'm very thankful, but things don't work out the way we see them.

We have an idea, this is how it's going to work out. God has a different idea, a different plan. He brings your children. He's the author of life. He knows what he's doing. It gives us the privilege of interacting. The closest relationship you ever have with another human being is your parents. I'm thankful for all that. It's not easy sometimes, but it's really neat.

Okay, well, I'll try to think of some things. Email me or call me or do something if you have other, please look at this or that. I think I may just, since Romans 6, 7, and 8 are kind of pivotal, I might fall back and look at that a little bit and see what for next week. Okay, let's close then.

Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for this day, Father. We thank you for your word, for the marvelous plan that you desire to establish us, to settle us down, and settle us down not just in terms of maybe luxuries of this world, Lord, but to establish and settle us down in your Son. And we know that has to come by faith. Faith for salvation and faith daily, Lord. And we know that all that you desire from us is wrapped up in faith. It's simple trusting you moment by moment. And we thank you just for your plans and your purposes in each of the lives here today. In Christ's name, amen.