28/02/2018
Morning saints. We start off today with the first Chapter of the Pauline Epistles in the order that it is encountered and this is Romans Chapter 1. Here are a few pointers to consider as you study this scripure with us
We see from verse 17 to 32 what kind of environment the church of Rome was found
It's an environment very similar to that which we find ourselves in today in our cities, towns, workplaces where the following four things have become the case pertaining the relationship between people and God
1. They had known the truth about God and His power and existence but still continued in unrighteousness
2. Their self professed wisdom turned into foolishness as they started to turn to idolatry, and immorality. It is even specified how sexual immorality became rife as this process of corruption kept giving birth in the society
3. Further on the characters that they carried became more corrupt and inhumane as the distance between God and man increased up until it affected relationships among themselves as families and people
4. It further on describes how the result if all their doing was going to be death yet they had pleasure to continue still because their minds and hearts had not only been drawn to lust after wrong but further on had now been darkened and confused beyond any real sense
It is in such an environment that the apostle Paul encourages the church of Rome and exhorts them by first clarifying the Christ who came in the flesh was also the Son of God in Spirit and in Spirit was the who had called each individual unto Himself
The apostle also expressed his desire to come and impart spiritual gifts amongst them through which the power of God will be transmitted in their midst and further on into the corrupt environment they find themselves in order to conquer the enemy who may be using flesh and blood to do his work but is actually a spirit and can only be conquered by spiritual weapons. These gifts serve as the spiritual weapons.
The apostle expresses that his desire was to also see them to have fruit amongst them. This fruit speaks of the church's development and growth in the Lord through obedience and subjectivity to the faith which becomes the reason why the apostle received his apostleship as stated in verse 5
The climax of his exhortation is seen in verse 16 which is our conclusion for the study today
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. To the Jew first and and also to the Greek"
Thank you so much for being part of our study today. We will soon be looking forward to start chapter 2 as we continue with the Epistles
Any questions you can WhatsApp on 0739844091
Email at [email protected] or simply inbox Pst Sibusiso Makhubu on Facebook or drop something in the comments. It's all welcome
Have a blessed day ahead full of victory
Pastor S Makhubu
LITW President
