Greetings from Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus. God chose me to be an apostle and gave me the work of telling his Good News. 2 God promised long ago through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures to give this Good News to his people. 3-4 The Good News is about God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As a human, he was born from the family of David, but through the Holy Spirit he was shown to be God’s powerful Son when he was raised from death. 5 Through Christ, God gave me the special work of an apostle—to lead people of all nations to believe and obey him. I do all this to honor Christ. 6 You are some of those who have been chosen to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 This letter is to all of you in Rome. God loves you, and he has chosen you to be his holy people. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1-7, ERV)
Two compelling pieces of evidence for Jesus being the Son of God:
1.
Jesus fulfillment of
Messianic prophecies
This
message is from the Lord: “The time is coming, when I will raise
up a good ‘branch’ from David’s family. He will be a king who will rule in a
wise way. He
will do what is fair and right in the land. (Jeremiah 23:5, ERV),
see Romans 1:2-3 above
2. Jesus
resurrection from the dead
3 I gave you the message that I received. I told you the most
important truths: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; 4 that
he was buried and was raised to life on the third day, as the Scriptures say; 5 and
that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve apostles. 6 After
that Christ appeared to more than 500 other believers at the same time. Most of
them are still living today, but some have died. 7 Then he
appeared to James and later to all the apostles. 8 Last of all,
he appeared to me. I was different, like a baby born before the normal time. 17 And if Christ has not been raised from
death, then your faith is for nothing; you are still guilty of your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 17 ERV), see Romans 1:4 above
Since Jesus has shown
Himself to be the Son of God, you should do two things:
1. Serve Him
16 “But one of your slaves might say to you, ‘I will not leave you.’ He might
say this because he loves you and your family and because he has a good life
with you. 17 Make this
servant put his ear against your door and use a sharp tool to make a hole in
his ear. This will show that he is your slave forever. You must do this even to
the women slaves who want to stay with you. (Deuteronomy 15:16-17, ERV), Romans 1:1, 6 above
2. Share Him
19 I will give you the keys to God’s kingdom.
When you speak judgment here on earth, that judgment will be God’s judgment.
When you promise forgiveness here on earth, that forgiveness will be God’s
forgiveness (Matthew
16:19, ERV), see
Romans 1:1, 5 above
“When you give someone your time, you are giving them a
portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That
is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.” (Rick Warren) [i]
[i] Inspired by the sermon “Introduction: Serving the Son
of God” (installment two) Sunday January 27, 2019,
Pastor Dave Jansen, CenterPoint Gahanna Church Gahanna, OH.
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