announcement: 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Waking Up to Grace podcast, where we celebrate and explore the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tune in to the Waking Up to Grace podcast on every major platform. You can also listen to our episodes and read our full transcripts at wakinguptogracecom. And now here's Lenny.

Lenny: 0:22

Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. It's a new year and a new study, as we begin our journey through Paul's letter to the Romans.

Melissa: 0:30

Super exciting. Happy New Year.

Lenny: 0:33

Happy New Year, guys. So as we dive into this letter, melissa and I are going to keep you guys in our prayers and anybody who might be listening that our studies will not only reach the ears of our audience, but reach the heart, the zone that only Christ can reach.

Melissa: 0:49

Amen.

Lenny: 0:50

Our voices can reach your ears, but Christ needs to reach your heart. So, if you hear Christ in us, that's our prayer that you can hear Christ working in this ministry and that you can see that you can hear it, you can experience it while we're experiencing the same things.

Melissa: 1:04

Right, it's not about us, it's about him inside us, right.

Lenny: 1:08

Absolutely. We'll be praying for you guys and you know, if you feel it on your heart, absolutely keep us in your prayers as well so that the Lord can carry this thing through to its completion. We can get through this whole letter and just learn and grow the whole time through.

Melissa: 1:23

Amen.

Lenny: 1:24

So I wanted to mention quickly. A while back, melissa and I went through John's first epistle and that wasn't really meant to be a deep dive but more of an introduction to insight that would kind of help somebody through that writing so that they could see it from a different angle. But in our study on Romans we're going to be taking it to a deeper level. This one's going to take a little more time. We're going to be going through this more with a fine-tooth comb and trying to extract everything that the Lord shows us as we're going through this letter.

Melissa: 1:56

That's the plan, God willing.

Lenny: 1:58

Don't be discouraged if you like topical studies, because I also love topical studies myself, but the beautiful thing about going verse by verse, the way that we're going to be doing here is that we end up going into topical studies the whole time, just by structure. The only thing now, though, is that the Spirit of God can lead us to our next topic through Paul's letter, and if we come across connected topics along the way, we're going to cover those too, without further ado. Let's get started, shall we? Here we go. All right, do you want to read Romans, chapter 1, verses 1 through 7? Those are the passages we're going to be looking at. Sure, all right, we'll be reading this from the ESV translation, but we'll also be talking about the NASB translation, because the NASB it reads it just a little bit different. We're going to be talking about that difference once we read this passage. Melissa will be getting right into that.

Melissa: 2:56

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 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.

Lenny: 3:55

All right, thank you for reading that. Melissa and I think we'll take the ladies' first approach to our study today. We both took our notes and we're going to go with Melissa's first. It's a ladies' first approach to our study today. We both took our notes and we're going to go with Melissa's first. It's a ladies first approach.

Melissa: 4:10

Can't argue with that. Let's give this a go. Well, first I just wanted to say how cool is that introduction.

Lenny: 4:18

It's explosive, honestly.

Melissa: 4:20

It is.

Lenny: 4:20

When you really look at it, I mean, we're going to, we're going to be looking at that a little while, probably at least a few weeks.

Melissa: 4:26

I just think that's so cool. Instead of saying hi, I'm Paul, and all this stuff about himself, he is who Christ says he is and he's letting them know.

Lenny: 4:37

Right, that's really cool.

Melissa: 4:38

Amazing.

Lenny: 4:39

His identity.

Melissa: 4:40

His identity in Christ, paul's all about identity in Christ.

Melissa: 4:44

Yes, he's got such a handle on it and we can learn a whole lot from him. So as I was reading along, bondservant stood out to me. Now, bondservant is used in the NASB instead of servant. In the beginning there In the NASB it reads Paul a bond servant of Christ Jesus. And at first I skipped over that, thinking, oh, I know what that means he's a slave to Christ, he's a servant of God. But I wanted to define it to be sure I really knew and I was getting the depth. So here's what I came up with from the Merriam-Webster dictionary the word bond, Bond, it's a uniting force or a tie binding by a pledge, covenant, a guarantee to assure payment, to insure against losses, to make or become firmly united, as if by bonds.

Melissa: 5:43

So think iron to copper fused together to form a close relationship. When you take all that in and you think about us to Christ because that's what Paul's saying his relationship to Christ, his identity, he is firmly united, there is no removing. He is firmly united, there is no removing. So we are bonded to Christ. That is so cool. When we hear the word bond I think we feel good, confident, positive. Yeah, I've got this bond with Christ. Then comes the second word, servant, and that one's kind of like okay, and when you realize that servant is connected to slave, I think a lot of people get very uncomfortable with that, Don't want to think of themselves as a slave to Christ. But I just want to start by saying we have to realize scripture tells us we're either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. We're one or the other. That's just how it works. So I think after I read my definitions here, most would agree they would rather be a slave to righteousness.

Lenny: 6:50

And what you just said there is from Romans, chapter six.

Melissa: 6:53

Thank you, perfect. So yes, servant is one who benefits or helps others. Another word for it can be worship. So that's not so bad and that's pretty cool. We serve, we worship God. We don't really have a problem with that. Service can be called grace, kindness, mercy, contribution to the welfare of others. This one's my favorite an organized fighting force, and I do believe that we, as the church, as the body of christ, we fight for christ with words yeah, and we talked about that, didn't we?

Lenny: 7:32

yeah?

Melissa: 7:32

paul running his race yep and battling using words very much so people might be thinking okay, that's not so bad, I don't mind saying that I'm in service to the Lord, I'm a servant to the Lord. But then when we get to the word slave, that's another word for servant and I think you'll find that this is not so bad as well. Our culture today has shown it in a very negative light. Mankind at the core is evil, so that's not surprising. But when Paul's saying it and when scripture's talking about us being a slave to Christ, maybe think of it this way A slave is a person held in servitude. It is a property of word. So some of those shirts from popular brands I know in the 80s and 90s say property of a brand right. Well, think of it as property of Christ being written on our hearts.

Lenny: 8:29

I like that.

Melissa: 8:31

Well, continuing on, slave can be defined as a device Think of the printer to a computer that is directly responsive to another. You click on print with your mouse and the printer bam.

Lenny: 8:45

It responds.

Melissa: 8:46

God makes a command, we respond. That's directly responsive to another. We can't help as Christians, as the church, to strive and to work for the Lord, and the word strive is another word for slave. To slave is to strive.

Lenny: 9:05

Okay.

Melissa: 9:06

So, as you can see, having property of Christ written on our hearts, being directly responsive to God, striving for God, those are all positive and those all come from the word slave, kind of tied to that divine nature that we've been given that Peter talked about. Yes, it's 100% a positive situation to be a bond servant of Christ Jesus.

Lenny: 9:31

And it sounds irresistible.

Melissa: 9:33

Sure does, and Paul only talks about it as so. So let's hear more about what you have to say.

Lenny: 9:40

So apostleship, when he says called to be an apostle, an apostle is very different than a bondservant. A bondservant that term we can apply to ourselves, those things can be applied to us and Paul was announcing that about himself. He's basically saying I'm in Christ, we're in Christ, but can we be apostles? So Paul's saying in our verses he's a bondservant of Christ. Jesus called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, Set apart. He didn't say I set myself apart, he said he was set apart, implying that the Lord set him apart for the gospel of God. Okay, yes.

Lenny: 10:18

And then later in the passage he says about himself and the others among him. We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. Paul says we have received grace and apostleship, so those things were given to them. This was a gift given to them, and it's also listed among the spiritual gifts. I want to start by saying Paul opens nearly all of his letters declaring his apostleship. The only ones he doesn't do this in are Philippians, thessalonians and Philemon, or Philemon.

Melissa: 10:54

That's my favorite way.

Lenny: 10:56

Where he also includes others as part of his greeting. He does make his apostleship clear throughout those letters, despite that change of greeting. But I just wanted to mention that it's interesting Almost all of his letters open up that way. And then Peter also opens the two letters we have of his declaring his apostleship right off the bat. And then John opens his first epistle, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. That sounds like a declaration of apostleship to me, just in different words.

Melissa: 11:31

Yeah, I see it.

Lenny: 11:34

And then our letter to Hebrews just starts right into the message. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, god spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things. So our author of Hebrews just gets right into information. And that letter is amazing. We don't know for sure who wrote it, but this one doesn't start out declaring apostleship or saying who it is. That part's just kind of left out. In James, chapter 1, right off the bat he announces himself James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, but then he says to the 12 tribes in dispersion In the letter of James we don't see any traces of apostleship in the way that we're used to seeing them.

Lenny: 12:23

The reformer Martin Luther noted this and considered this letter to be not apostolic in that he never mentions once the finished work of Christ Jesus. So I go through that topic in my podcast if anybody's interested. But we have to consider that Christ Yeshua had chosen apostles to go out and declare to Israel about Messiah Messiah is here, the kingdom of God is at hand. This was an apostleship and they were apostles of this and it's incredible, but the message was not the finished work of Christ. Yeshua sent his apostles with that mission, the finished work of Christ mission, the full, fulfilled gospel mission after the Holy Spirit was given. This was a very different message than what they were sending before the cross. You could almost say there was a gospel before the cross and after the cross, due to their limited understanding. And when we look at the word gospel, it simply means good news and good tidings.

Melissa: 13:23

Wow so.

Lenny: 13:23

I think a lot of times we're expecting that the gospel has to be the full gospel. Well, no. The good news about Christ the Messiah is here, the kingdom is at hand, was good news in itself, but it was not the same message.

Melissa: 13:36

So would you say that the finished work of Christ would be the gospel capitals? Yeah, I think that's a good way of saying it actually.

Lenny: 13:45

Yeah, absolutely so. I think just reading Paul's greetings in the letters is actually going to give us a really solid view of what an apostle is. Absolutely so, I think just reading Paul's greetings in the letters is actually going to give us a really solid view of what an apostle is. Though, on the note of apostleship and how they came to be, shall we look for ourselves.

Melissa: 14:00

Yes.

Lenny: 14:01

I'll let Melissa read these findings.

Melissa: 14:04

We have Romans 1.1.

Lenny: 14:07

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God that's the one that we already read that's the one we just are going to be the rest of the epistles, where he says a similar thing but in a different way, and be thinking about these words and let them just let them be pervasive, yeah, and saturate, because you're gonna see words that are describing his apostleship and these phrases that he uses that's so cool.

Melissa: 14:39

All right, first corinthians 1 1 paul, called by the will of god to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthians.

Lenny: 14:52

Called by what? By the will of God. Now, who's going to stop that?

Melissa: 14:58

Ain't nobody going to stop that.

Lenny: 15:00

You can't stop that train.

Melissa: 15:02

No, we got 2 Corinthians, 1.1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. It's the will of God, it's definite, it's not changing.

Lenny: 15:28

Just let it be incredible.

Melissa: 15:30

Galatians 1.1. Just let it be incredible Wow.

Lenny: 15:44

So on that, note what. Read that once more.

Melissa: 15:47

Am.

Lenny: 15:47

I hearing this correctly?

Melissa: 15:48

In case you weren't getting it, that it's from the will of God. Paul spells it out Paul, an apostle, not from men, not through men, but through Jesus Christ and God, the Father, who raised him from the dead.

Lenny: 16:05

That's how he was an apostle. He didn't get his apostleship through men, nor by men, but directly through Christ.

Melissa: 16:14

Amen. That reminds me of Christ's birth, Mary. She wasn't impregnated by men, through men, only through Christ.

Lenny: 16:22

Yeah.

Melissa: 16:22

Holy Spirit.

Lenny: 16:24

You'd have to pull like a Joseph Smith to say you're an apostle. Today Paul's description is happening for a reason because the other apostles were with Christ physically. Christ had already died and was crucified when Paul made his conversion, when Paul was converted by Christ.

Melissa: 16:41

Yes.

Lenny: 16:42

So he had to prove himself like hey, no, I met him, you know.

Melissa: 16:47

Right.

Lenny: 16:48

But then he met with the disciples. No, I met him, you know right. But then he met with the disciples. Their stories checked out, they saw that he was to go to the gentiles because of the grace that god had given him so what proved it? He wasn't in their pack and he never even looked to them for any kind of credibility. But when they met him, when he went there to meet them, they saw what he had been given and gave him the right hand of fellowship.

Melissa: 17:09

What did they see?

Lenny: 17:10

Grace.

Melissa: 17:11

And the truth.

Lenny: 17:12

The gift that he had been given by God.

Melissa: 17:15

Through his words right.

Lenny: 17:16

Yeah.

Melissa: 17:17

The truth, when you brought up Joseph Smith as an example and his words.

Lenny: 17:21

don't check out, yeah, and he's dead. He's telling you your Bible's wrong. Look the other way over at me.

Melissa: 17:31

But, as he said, where's he at?

Lenny: 17:32

and he's dead, he's dead.

Melissa: 17:32

And where's christ alive, alive and well and living his?

Lenny: 17:34

life in and through every one of us that's right.

Melissa: 17:38

Next we have ephesians 1 1 paul, an apostle of christ jesus, by the will of god, to the saints who are in ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Now he's boldly calling us saints by the will of God.

Lenny: 17:54

Yeah, we have an identity too, and he always lets us know that His and ours at the beginning of his letter. That's right. He never starts out saying you dirty, rotten, misbehaving sinners.

Melissa: 18:04

No, and he doesn't say I'm just a sinner saved by grace. No.

announcement: 18:09

No, he doesn't he. I'm just a sinner saved by grace.

Melissa: 18:10

No, no, he doesn't. He is bold in Christ.

Lenny: 18:13

Only of his past life. He refers to himself as such.

Melissa: 18:16

Right.

Lenny: 18:17

And people get hung up oh. Paul said he's a sinner Got to keep it in context.

Melissa: 18:21

Now saints Colossians 1.1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother. He of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother.

Lenny: 18:33

He knows it's by the will of God. He's making sure people know that this is a God thing. This isn't my thing. I'm not doing this on my own accord. This is not by men, this is not through men, this is from the Lord.

Melissa: 18:43

He's really hammering that down. 1 Timothy 1.1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God, our Savior, and Christ Jesus, our hope.

Lenny: 18:57

By command of God, that's powerful.

Melissa: 19:00

That's right.

Lenny: 19:01

I love that See when he brings out the words command God commands. In his letters he's saying like this is what God wants, this is God's will, this is what god wants this is god's will. This is god working through a command is again like god's sovereignty working. When god commands us, it happens, you know, this is the way I see it. That's a descript of what he will be doing in and through us, not a description of our responsibility and I don't believe we're sitting on our hands.

Melissa: 19:29

Amen. It's very comforting when you know that his will is being done.

Lenny: 19:34

Yeah.

Melissa: 19:34

Nothing can mess that up. You can't do anything to lose your salvation or mess up God's will.

Lenny: 19:41

We can live freely and at peace, and all these things within his will. We don't have to worry about it, he's got it covered.

Melissa: 19:50

It's beautiful. Next we have 2 Timothy 1.1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. By the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, Wow.

Lenny: 20:05

So now it's by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that's in Christ Jesus. That is our life, that's our life force.

Melissa: 20:13

It is, and we just talked about how Jesus is the only king and the only God who's alive and well.

Lenny: 20:20

That's like saying according to the promise of your eternal life, I am an apostle of Christ. Think we can trust this guy.

Melissa: 20:29

Gosh, I just can feel the peace and the hope.

Lenny: 20:32

Believe it or not. I know there's people out there that think Paul was like a Joseph Smith.

Melissa: 20:37

Really yeah.

Lenny: 20:38

They say, oh, paul never met Christ, he was making it all up and you're like okay, well, peter says that his writings are scripture and Peter's writing says people misunderstand Paul's writings to their own error or something along those lines, like they do the rest of scripture. He actually calls Paul's writing scripture in that passage.

Melissa: 20:58

If you, if you're recognizing it yeah, recognize them as an absolute brother, yeah and so I don't know where they get their basis.

Lenny: 21:07

I'm sure they have some way of spinning it, but yeah.

Melissa: 21:11

Like we talked about with Paul's conversion. How would the other apostles know that he indeed was sent by God, by Christ it was through the words.

Lenny: 21:21

It was his teaching, it was his doctrine. His words, they all line up with scripture. His heart, his spirit.

Melissa: 21:26

They all line up with scripture. Everything checks out, so that's how we can know, even today, Paul proved his case in the scriptures. That's right. Titus 1.1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Christ Jesus, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of truth which accords with godliness.

Lenny: 21:50

No, that one's boring.

Melissa: 21:52

Just kidding, that's really cool, I'm just kidding. We're saints, we accord with godliness, we're elect. We've got it pretty good.

Lenny: 22:01

Yeah, doesn't that seem like that gives us a pretty well-rounded understanding of apostle there. Nah, I'm not sure we had enough, we got any more and understanding of apostle there.

Melissa: 22:07

No, I'm not sure we had enough yet anymore.

Lenny: 22:14

Well, in that case, I'd like to mention that in Greek, the word used as apostle here is apostole, and according to Vines, according to the Vines Concise Dictionary, which is a Bible dictionary apostle is ascending a mission, and it signifies an apostleship. Somebody has to be sending them out. People would argue that the Spirit of God sends us. That's where I have to refer to what we see in the Scriptures, these people declaring themselves as apostles. It's a spiritual gift that was given in the age of signs and wonders and miracles, and it was given directly by Christ. We can't just go by this. We have to look at context so that we don't start declaring ourselves apostles.

Melissa: 22:54

It was given by Christ in the physical.

Lenny: 22:57

Yes, a literal happening. Christ literally sent them on a mission.

Melissa: 23:01

Yes, and that mission has been complete because, it is finished.

Lenny: 23:05

Exactly. This was a mission they were chosen to fulfill, and they did. They were sent out by Christ To Paul. Christ revealed himself. Paul met and was taught by the ascended Christ. Now let's read about Paul, who went by Saul at the time, and how he became an apostle of Christ. When we read, I recommend meditating on the sovereignty of Yahweh, because this is an incredible example of our Lord getting his will done Right after persecuting some Christians, being responsible for more death and imprisonment and abuse. We read in Acts 9, verses 3-22,. Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and, falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him yes, yes, Great question.

Lenny: 24:10

He recognized him as Lord and didn't know who he was. And then Yeshua was like I am Yeshua, who you are persecuting.

Melissa: 24:19

Would you say Christ put those words in his mouth?

Lenny: 24:22

He definitely had the idea and made it loud and clear, didn't he?

Melissa: 24:26

Yeah, he did.

Lenny: 24:28

But rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. And you will be told what you are to do. A disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ananias. And he said here I am Lord. And the Lord said to him Rise and go to the street called Straight and at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he is praying.

Lenny: 25:04

And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias. Come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. I had to pause there for a minute. I mean, that's incredible. A chosen instrument.

Melissa: 25:39

I wouldn't necessarily recommend going around calling yourself a chosen instrument but I think, like the word servant, when it comes to being one for God, that's not so bad.

Lenny: 25:50

Yeah, it's just a matter of how we perceive it. I just don't think he'd be well received today.

Melissa: 25:55

No, I don't think so either, but the truth is it's an honor.

Lenny: 25:59

But it's incredible the Lord chose him and he tells him this is what I chose him to do.

Melissa: 26:05

That whole story. There was nothing about Paul, so much as lifting a finger.

Lenny: 26:09

Right, and the incredible thing is that he's saying how he must suffer for the sake of my name, for the sake of my character, for the sake of who I am. And do you ever see Paul suffering in regards to not wanting to do what he did? No, he only suffered because of people rejecting the beautiful love that was in his message, but he was filled with it and just loved to do it.

Melissa: 26:32

He was 100% committed to the race. He was filled with it and just loved to do it. He was 100 committed to the race. Yeah, he was running, yeah god changed his will 360.

Lenny: 26:40

So ananias departed and entered the house and, laying his hands on him, he said brother, saw the lord jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight and he said I wonder if there's something to the scales.

Melissa: 27:31

I can't help but think. I'm sure there's a lot to the scales. Taking away someone's sight is leaving them completely helpless.

Lenny: 27:38

It definitely reminds you of that verse the amazing grace. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was blind. We're blind, but now I see, and now we see.

Melissa: 27:51

Yeah, I also couldn't help but think on the note of him doing nothing throughout that whole conversion, not so much as lift a finger.

Lenny: 28:00

I said he couldn't even blink an eye yeah, I mean he was still moving around being a human right, but how much of well. We all move around, make choices, we're not robots and puppets. No, but our will is not above or equal to God's.

Melissa: 28:15

We make choices within God's will, and that's very comforting and humbling.

Lenny: 28:21

I mean the Lord calls on, paul changes his path 360 degrees and now Paul loves Christ with all his heart, even despite it being fully against his will in the first place. He never has to physically drag him. Even despite it being fully against his will in the first place, he never has to physically drag him. It was a change of heart that could only come from something like a heart transplant.

Melissa: 28:39

Right, he just changed him.

Lenny: 28:40

Paul didn't change Paul. The Lord changed Paul. Yes he did, and that's to his glory.

Melissa: 28:47

That story deserves to be read slowly, let it sink in, and it deserves to be read over and over, so we recognize the majesty in that, the power, the glory to God.

Lenny: 29:00

Amen. In Galatians we read in chapter 1, verses 11 through 24,. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel, for I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 1 through 10. Among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the tradition of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remain with him for fifteen days, but I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.

Lenny: 30:04

In what I am writing to you before God, I do not lie. Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing. It said he who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy, and they glorified God. Because of me, I hear it said so often Paul could have chosen not to do this. They read these passages and they conclude at the end well, just so you know, paul could have chosen not to do that. What would make somebody go there? You just want to ask them why are you going there? It reminds me of that office space conversation. You know the line, you know, and he's talking to his neighbor. How does it go, melissa?

Melissa: 30:48

So in the movie Office Space, when the main character asks his neighbor have you ever been asked if you have a case of the Mondays? And his neighbor says what? No man? No, I think a person's liable to get their butt kicked if they ask that.

Lenny: 31:07

So that's the scenario I always picture when I hear people say that. That's where I go in my mind when they go there. I mean, how can we look at the fulfillment of prophecy and conclude that mankind could have decided not to do something? Mankind can change God's course of action if they want to. In a coming study we're going to ask the question does man have a will that is equal to or above the will of God? Most would say that's ridiculous. Who would say that? But that's the meaning of free will. That's the true implication of that doctrine. We'll talk about that soon, as it has strong ties to this word called and, as we see in the topic of apostleship, there is a connotation to God's sovereignty here that cannot be ignored. Nor do we want to ignore it. But don't worry, you're not a puppet or a robot. I'm not going to tell you that. But I wanted to hear what you had to say about called Melissa. We wanted to touch on that word a little bit.

Melissa: 32:03

I couldn't help but think of it when you read the beginning of Paul's conversion. Could you just read that beginning again, where he calls Christ Lord.

Lenny: 32:13

As he went on his way, he approached amascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and, falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him saul saul, why are you persecuting me? It's probably more like saul saul. Why are you persecuting me? I like that and he said who are you lord? He says I'm jesus and you are persecuting me. I like that. And he said who are you Lord? He says I'm Jesus. We are persecuting.

Melissa: 32:39

Silly. So we're talking about? How would he have known that he was Lord? I couldn't help but think of the definition of called. And in my mind I'm thinking when you know, when Jesus calls on you, when the Lord calls on you, you're going to hear it. You're going to hear it, You're going to know it's him. Here's the definition of called. It's a little bit lengthy, but it's very insightful to utter in a loud, clear voice to announce with authority, to command, to make a demand, to demand surrender of for redemption. And I'm just picturing Paul hearing Christ's voice, loud and clear.

Melissa: 33:20

To speak of or address by name. He addressed Paul right by his name. He called Paul by his name as if he knew him because he did.

Lenny: 33:31

From the beginning.

Melissa: 33:32

And Paul couldn't help but know Christ.

Lenny: 33:35

Yeah.

Melissa: 33:35

Because Christ had chosen him.

Lenny: 33:37

Because he revealed himself to him.

Melissa: 33:39

Right, just a few more To give a name to. He certainly gave a name to Paul. Regard as or characterize as. Of a certain kind, paul was regarded as an apostle.

Lenny: 33:53

Yeah, his Christian identity To give a name to, to regard as a certain kind. Paul was regarded as an apostle. Yeah, his Christian identity To give a name to, to regard as a certain kind, absolutely.

Melissa: 33:58

Thank you, yes, command to come or assemble A calling on another for something due or supposed to be due. We all have something due and Christ paid.

Lenny: 34:10

Exactly. What was supposed to be due, yeah, but we're due to be due, yeah, but we're due to be his by destiny.

Melissa: 34:16

That's right, so I just wanted to share that. I'm just picturing that word. You know how did and how Paul would have known it was the Lord when he calls on you.

Lenny: 34:25

Yeah, you know I can't wait to do that message.

Melissa: 34:27

I know a lot of fun stuff.

Lenny: 34:29

Even somebody who claims to believe in free will, I think, will enjoy this message, because there's just nothing but goodness in it. We're not going to be attacking anybody. No, not at all, we got brothers out there that believe in free will, and you know, if we're going to ever reach them, it's going to have to be lovingly.

Melissa: 34:45

All things out of love.

Lenny: 34:46

So that's what we got for you this week, guys, and next week I have something. Really I say this all the time, don't I? I got something really good. I'm just excited about it.

Melissa: 34:56

So you can hopefully, I'm not getting you guys too excited you could say that about everything in scripture. Yeah, it's just true.

Lenny: 35:02

So we're going to be talking about the woman apostle next week and I got some good stuff.

Melissa: 35:08

The woman apostle I've never even heard. Wait a minute, you found a woman apostle.

Lenny: 35:14

I'm excited. It's going to be really good. I got some good findings that I want you guys to hear and, like I said, it's over for this week. But always keep in mind, in the description section of the podcast episodes are a link to our episode and transcripts pages where you can leave us comments, let us know your thoughts. If you have any insights of your own, anything to add, anything that's on your mind or on your heart, just click on that link down there and go to our website. It'll take you right there to that page and you can give us some feedback in that comments section. We'd love to hear from you.

Melissa: 35:46

Together, we are the church. Have a great day out there, everyone, amen have a great day out there, everyone.

announcement: 35:53

Amen. Thank you for listening to the Waking Up to Grace podcast brought to you by the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you enjoyed today's episode, we would love to hear from you. You can send encouragement our way right from our episodes and transcripts page, or reach Lenny privately from the contact form at wakinguptogracecom.