Romans 1 8 First I thank my God
through Jesus Christ for you all that your
faith is spoken of throughout the whole world
For God is my witness whom I serve
with my spirit in the gospel of his
son that without ceasing I make mention of
you always in my prayers Making requested by
any means now at length I might have
a prosperous journey by the will of God
to come to you For I long to
see you that I may impart unto you
some spiritual gift to the end that she
may be established This is that I may
be comforted together with you by the mutual
faith both of you and me Now I
would not have you ignorant brethren that oftentimes.
I purpose to come unto you But was
let hitherto that I might have some fruit
among you also even as among the Gentiles
I am a debtor both to the Greeks
and the barbarians both to the wise and
the unwise So as much as in me
I am ready to preach the gospel to
you that are at Rome also Father we
thank you for your word.
And as we look at it this evening,
we ask that you would feed us Teach
us Lord as we get some wonderful insights
into this wonderful man the Apostle Paul and
Lord we might learn something as we see
his heart kind of opened up and Exposed
to us in this greeting.
We ask that you teach us Strengthen us
all in Jesus name.
Amen One of the things that is very
common I think oftentimes in fact if you
are one to read commentaries And follow them
oftentimes you'll notice that many commentaries they kind
of you know They they'll actually break down
the commentary, you know with all sorts of
outlines and things with it Which is very
good very helpful but oftentimes at the beginning
it'll just have it'll explain a greeting and
it'll just say Paul is greeting the folks
in and saying hello to so-and-so
and doing this and that but they just
kind of have a general thing as if
it's a greeting and they almost have a
great tendency just to kind of fly by
a lot of the opening things in many
of the Paul's epistles and Oftentimes maybe almost
beginning at verse 16 that we won't look
at tonight But where Paul says I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ for is
the power of God into salvation And this
is where many look at now Paul beginning
to really Teach and to really get into
things but so far he's kind of given
a greeting He said who he is what's
going on and where he's been and what
he's doing and then kind of giving some
initial greetings To those that he is writing
to but actually I believe that there is
Tremendous information about Paul and about his heart
and about what made Paul the man that
he was Sometimes we look at somebody and
we wonder God Why is it that some
people you look at this guy?
He saw this scripture so mightily.
He understood them.
He taught so Tremendously, he he had this
tremendous gifting He had this tremendous heart this
tremendous capacity to minister and we almost envy
it and wish God Why I wish I
could do these things and had this capacity
to teach or do to minister or to
be used mightily and but I think God
when he picks somebody and he uses somebody
it isn't for their ability It isn't for
the giftings He is going to put in
them or any human capacity as much as
oftentimes It has an awfully lot to do
with the type of a person They are
with their heart and here in the initial
opening part and portion of this book here
Paul Opens his heart to us in a
tremendous a wonderful way in the sense that
if we were just to slip by these
Greetings we would miss a lot Because I
believe that if you and I can pick
up the truth in these verses we're looking
at tonight.
It can transform our very life I believe
that and so as we look at it
I hope you'll look at this and wonder
is there something that I read here that
is that transforming?
but here as we look at Paul, we're
looking at obviously a tremendously godly man a
Spiritual man a mature man a man there
that had so much to give and so
much to share with so many people But
one of the things first of all that
he says first there He's like the first
thing I want to say to you is
in verse 80 says first I thank my
God through Jesus Christ for you all that
your faith is spoken of throughout the whole
world But Paul is somebody the first thing
he meant mentions to him He's not got
a lot of things.
I want to tell you and I'm gonna
be writing a letter He didn't know he
was writing Romans He just thought he was
writing the letter to some friends at Rome
And as he's writing that he just pouring
his heart out to him and the very
first thing he wants a she's first I
want you to know how thankful I am
for you and one of the things about
a spiritual person About a godly person about
somebody whose life is really desiring to be
used and this fact is being used You'll
see from Paul not just here But in
many of his letters and we're gonna look
at a number of his greetings in a
moment But you'll see he is constantly thanking
God for people and he is constantly thanking
people For their lives and what they mean
to him and what they mean to the
kingdom of God Paul He could look at
somebody and and you just sense within him
as you read his letters that here was
a man immensely grateful to people in First
Corinthians 1 4 and I'll just read these
these are the greetings in his epistles and
1 4 He says I think my God's
all my God always on your behalf for
the grace of God, which is given to
you by Jesus Christ He's looked it was
he starts to the church at Corinth.
I thank God always on you for you
in 2nd Corinthians 8 16 he says but
thanks be to God which put the same
earnest care Into the heart of Titus for
you, but he looks at Are we how
wonderful of a God we have how thankful
we ought to be Godly people are thankful
people.
They're people that they look around and they
can't believe they get to be alive They
can't believe that God wants to use them
and God gives them all of these people
around them in Philippians 1 he says I
thank my God upon every remembrance of you
He just had this wonderful memory of people
in Colossians 1 3 he says we give
thanks to God and the father of our
Lord Jesus Christ prayed always for you over
and over in Paul's epistle Then first Thessalonians
1 we give thanks to God always for
you all making mention of you always in
our prayer He's somebody that he just read
my remembrance of you my my thoughts of
you As soon as like Paul you get
as soon as your name would pop up
in my mind.
I'm thankful for you I even the memories
I have of you and it's interesting many
of the people that Paul was actually So
excited to tell him how he remembered them
they were not happy introductions when he met
them Some of them beat him Some of
them had him in prison Some of them,
you know stoned him left him for dead
and he was sent back now The Lord
wakes him up lets him live send revives
him sends it back That is now those
people that just tried to kill you go
back and tell him again.
We love him and God loves him He
said okay, let's go, you know and and
then he would go but God had done
so many things within his life That something
had happened that he realized I do love
them and I am thankful for people You
know and in one of the most wonderful
things that begins to happen in somebody like
the Apostle Paul We're God's grace and peace
as we looked at last week It transformed
his life is that that Greg grace in
that piece that is so powerfully come in
He looked at people in an entirely Different
perspective.
He saw people differently.
He looked at God.
I'd see people.
He was like a kid in a candy
store People look at him all God.
It is so wonderful in many times We
you know, we've got people around us and
we're not thankful for them And then as
soon as you're not thankful for somebody or
that very moment I think you've been extremely
limited any capacity you have to work with
them to help them to encourage them to
bless them to teach Him to do anything
for him of any good the Bible says
speak the truth and love many times we
speak the truth, but if there's no love
if we are not thankful for The people
that we're we're with and ministering to or
around we will not be able to help
them in one of the greatest Things that
can happen in somebody's life was when God
gives them a grateful heart and one for
people that they love them How many times
and maybe tonight you may you mean you
think coincidentally, but maybe some of you you
got a bunch of people You don't like
You sit right here right now And as
soon as I bring up the thought and
I said you got a list already going
and I even even asked you for a
List yet, and you said I sure do
you know or something and then you could
go down, you know My boss my husband
my wife my these people that my neighbor,
you know or whatever else it is and
on out of these people people people people,
you know or something and You know and
then that'll destroy your capacity if you don't
love people even more than your own life
That's how Paul was and he was thankful
for them so often we're kind of like
the two great buddies supposedly out one day
taking a walk through the forest and as
they come out into a clearing in a
little Valley there all of a sudden they
look over and here's this huge Grizzly bear
that has just looked and seen lunch and
it starts running at him and one of
them he reaches down He grabs into his
knapsack and he's putting on his tennis shoes
and his friend looks over He says are
you kidding?
He said so but you can't outrun a
grizzly bear and he looks at him He
says I don't have to outrun the grizzly
bear.
I just have to outrun you You know,
but sometimes we think we're great friends, but
when push comes to shove We'll run over
each other Survive Paul was not that way.
He looked at people and he cared for
them.
He loved them they meant an awfully lot
to him and First Thessalonians 2 13 Paul
says for this cause.
I also thank God without ceasing Because when
you receive the Word of God, which you
heard from us you received it.
He looks at them.
He says, I'm just so grateful I'm so
thankful first Thessalonians 3 9 for what?
Thanks.
Can we render to God again for you?
Here's the guy.
He said I don't even know how to
thank him anymore for you.
I I'm just you what?
Thanks more.
Can we render to him?
I'm just so immensely Grateful and maybe you
know one thing tonight.
You just might if there's people you look
and realize I don't like them I don't
like people.
I don't need people, you know Or the
you're it immediately it has a greater effect
on you than the people you don't like
than the people you aren't thankful for Paul
was somebody God was so powerful to him.
He was so real to him He was
so sovereign to him that even when people
were doing things to him Throwing rocks at
him wanting to kill him one that he
could she could see a look in their
eye That he was he saw that look
it was something there that He no doubt
remembered I had that look once That's my
look.
That's how I was and God won me
the gospel changed me and Paul I think
he could look at people and realize I
want I want you to know I know
how we can get that look out of
your eye and we can transform you And
if there are people we don't are we
and we're not thankful for and we can't
love And we don't want around we're in
trouble Kind of like I don't know if
I ever told you the study of the
father's the story of the full-on trip
to Israel You know with his wife and
mother-in-law and his mother-in-law
died tragically.
Sorry, but you know and on the trip
in Israel and and the Undertaker meets with
him and says to him.
He says well, we've we can either bury
her here for $150 or We can send
her back to America for 5,000 Fella
says send her to America.
He said no.
I don't think he understood He says if
we can bury your mother-in-law here
for $150 or we can return her they
send her back and have her buried in
the United States, but it's 5,000 He
says I don't send send her back.
He says why and he says 2,000
years ago You killed somebody and buried him
here in three days later.
They rose from the dead And I don't
want to risk that with this woman Sometimes
there may be somebody that if they were
dead you'd be fine And you'd pay $5
,000 to have it done.
And then you're and then at the same
time you would you'd you're Wish God would
change their life.
I think God looks as I'd like to
change you first But how important is are
we thankful for people has that ever got
into us because that is one of the
greatest keys That there is in life And
it's also a great weakness at least with
many and I suppose to me It's a
tremendous weakness to tell you that be very
honest with you on one hand I have
a tremendous gratitude for people, but I'm terrible
at verbalizing it Paul wasn't Paul was somebody
you could hear over and over.
I thank you.
I'm so thankful for you You're so wonderful,
and I don't know why I don't have
any excuse.
My parents are this way You're my mother
You can't get around her without getting kissed
and getting touched and getting hugged and how
grateful for you Okay, I love you, too
You know or whatever and I get my
I got two brothers my older one I
he calls me and he calls me sister.
I am so thankful for you.
You're the greatest brother and I say oh
Sorry you feel that way, you know or
whatever and they're so verbal my sister.
I mean people I don't know why I
fit in this family or where but but
the thing is is that I am is
I'm unbelievably grateful by verbalizing it When we
determined God teach me how to say what
is in my heart to communicate These things
Paul had so no such weakness He could
look at people and what in and he
loved him and he could tell him and
he was thankful for him and he would
tell him and Not only though did he
did he was he thankful for him.
It goes on there in verse 9 and
she said For God is my witness whom
I serve with my spirit in the gospel
of his Son that without ceasing I make
mention of you always in my prayers People
that are thankful for people pray for people.
They're truly thankful to God They realize I
am thankful for them.
They're they're gonna be somebody that that they
are gonna be gonna pray for them They're
gonna not just realize well, I'm thankful for
him, but it is something there were Paul.
He had not just a heart that Had
that for people they look as he said,
I'm thankful for you, and you're always in
my heart But then he could look at
him and he says and the reason I'm
you're in my heart is because I'm praying
for you always Caring for you.
He just Paul doesn't think about people He
just didn't wonder about people.
He just didn't consider people.
He prayed for people a lot of times
How many people do you have in your
your your life that maybe you're not thankful
for them?
Well, if you're not thankful for him, you're
probably not praying for him either, you know,
sometimes, you know My nature is I can
look at somebody and say well, I don't
pray for you, but I pray about you
You know or something but Paul was somebody
he says I pray for you And there's
a huge difference when there are people if
we are thankful for people you then you
will Automatically you'll pray for them And if
you have a difficult time praying for people,
you probably are having a difficult.
I'm being thankful for people James 5 James
writes and you know He says can fish
confess your faults one to another and he
says and pray for one another that ye
may be healed He Paul says pray for
each other that God will work within your
lives And the the thing here is that
Friends are not only people that that are
thankful for each other.
They pray for each other.
They intercede for each other Okay, you know
with Aaron and her, you know the story
of course, of course with Moses when?
Exodus 17 and begins his and then came
Amalek and fought with Israel and Moses spoke
unto Joshua and he says take out, you
know The men gathered them together and Aaron
and her and I we're gonna go up
in the mountain and you take you know
The army down in the valley and you'll
fight but then they went up in the
hill and Moses had the rod of God
in his Hand it tells us when the
rod was held high when Moses just lifted
up and interceding Offering up himself and the
people to God there that says when Moses
held the rod of God high Israel prevailed
But is he tired and the hand was
down?
It's his Amalek prevailed and then Aaron and
her it says one got on one side
and the other on the other side and
they lifted up his hands and You know,
the the battle was won as Moses was
weary, but there they came alongside They know
what it was to bear one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ Know
what it is to do to pray and
I don't think sometimes we realize how that
that seems to touch God's heart when he
sees people that pray for others They care
for each other one of the most interesting
Phenomena I thought suppose that there is about
prayer in the Bible is the Lord says
when two or more you agree on earth
touching anything Do it Says when you can
come and there is an agreement that happens
when you know, you and and you come
to me with it and You know, it
moves my heart.
I love it.
I think God's so used to seeing his
kids we come God I need this God.
I want this God.
How come when you know, come on But
when but when somebody else Sounded like our
own kids sometimes when they're young and growing
up daddy.
Can I daddy?
How about when please?
and I don't know how much we listen
as parents, but I had three sons and
when The two of them would bring the
third and say dad, would you please?
Do this for him Sit there and say,
all right.
What are you guys up to?
Don't you with this see three of them
unified?
To see three of them coming and and
two of them laying hands in a sense
on the other green not for themselves But
for somebody that they love God loves to
see is brought together that that would motivate
me to say look I don't even really
want to give it to you and it's
probably a bad decision, but just seeing you
guys Care for each other like this you
can have it You know and and I
don't know what you're gonna do with a
stick of dynamite, but have fun but anyway,
nobody or whatever else but the point of
it is is that when we When we
realize that what it is to intercede And
what it is to care and to pray
for one another I've had a friend that
I've had for over 40 years grew up
with him and Yesterday called me and we've
been through a lot of times through our
lives He's still in and out of contact
is in different levels and things, but we
have a great love for each other And
yesterday he called me and told me that
he'd found Cancer in his lung and In
here it was unlike any conversation We've ever
had and we've had a lot of conversations
spiritually And there's been a lot of time
a lot of scripture a lot of sharing
but there was something there that just was
so real and You realize this is out
of man's hands in it.
This is in God's hands and In here
I not only I look there is somebody
that I'm very thankful for But they're all
sort of realize the opportunity before we hung
up to pray for him And then I
had to tell him I won't cease to
pray for you I well, I can't know
I won't stop praying for you And when
we have something, you know And we when
you care for people you you pray for
people and Paul had this this heart and
this is a these are great Fundamental ingredients
of a godly person.
Do we are we thankful for them?
Do we pray for them and In verse
11, he says for I long to see
you that I may impart to you some
spiritual gift that to the end You may
be established You know People that are thankful
for people pray for people and people that
pray for people long for people in Poem
Paul says longing there, you know I'd be
in in Philippians Paul says I long for
you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ
In other words, this is something when Paul
says there is the people he's gonna write
this tremendous letter to why did God give
him?
The letter why did God give him these
great truths?
Why did God give to Paul one of
the greatest, you know things ever written the
book of Romans?
And I don't believe it was just any
little coincidence He just happened to be the
right guy came along at the right time
and God wanted to send a letter somebody
here You got the time you can write
here send it No I think there was
somebody that because God was giving the some
of these great truths to somebody that that
was thankful for people He we loved people
he prayed for people he longed for them
Do you ever have something happen where for
another person?
He ever had something that can maybe happen
in your life to where you literally when
Paul says how I long for you in
the bowels Of Jesus Christ the pit of
your stomach is what he's in You ever
have something that it literally in the pit
of your stomach.
It just grabs you Emotionally it is so
profound.
This is how Paul when he thought of
people When he cared for people when he
was thankful for people and when he prayed
for people He says how I long for
you.
They weren't just statistics.
They weren't just People they were people that
he deeply cared for that.
He deeply wanted to see Happen in Romans
9 later on Paul is gonna write and
he's gonna tell him in this very letter
He says for I wish I could wish
that I myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren my kinsmen According to the flesh
Paul looked at these people that everybody else
could hate These Jews that were so hostile
and angry and trying to destroy the church
His brethren, but he looked at him and
he said, you know, I I wish God
could take my name out of the Lamb's
Book of Life and write their name in
it Now that is a remarkable thing Think
about that Think about is there anybody in
the world that you care for you long
for so much?
I mean we look there.
We're kind of like again the guys out
there in the forest, you know Hey, you're
a great buddy.
But when the grizzly bears coming, I'm sorry.
I got a run It's you or me
But to think there that Paul looks there
and he says I could wish myself accursed
for my brethren's sake They would know God
There's a man who longs there is a
man who sees people with the heart of
God Because you see that's exactly God's heart
God long for people so much is he
let his son be accursed For our sake
and when God can implant this kind of
a heart within us Do I long for
people do I care for people is this
in my heart for people?
And it is something there were you know
Paul had this a Great love a great
care a great compassion, you know for people
Read a story of a couple of fellows
back in World War one actually But they
growing up they were inseparable so much so
as they enlisted in the army together.
They trained together They were shipped overseas together
They fought side-by-side in the trenches
and one time during an attack one of
them was out of the out of the
trenches Trying to get over to another one
and he was shot and laid out there
dying and there was no way anybody could
possibly even Dream to get in who he's
a sitting duck, but just laying there dying
in front of him and this buddy He
started to get up to go out and
a sergeant comes over and grabs him and
pulls him back in He says I order
you don't go.
There's nothing you can do for him except
for you will just die trying And so
at the moment the sergeant turned around to
go this fella Still jumped right out ran
out there and grabbed his buddy coming back.
He was mortally wounded here He by the
way and his buddy had already died He
comes back and he by the time he
gets him back his buddy is dying is
dead He's dying the sergeant is both angry
and yet moved and he says why?
Why did you do this?
And he says it was such a waste
of your life and of his And yet
and then he says oh no his last
words, you know, we're not a waste He
said his last words out of his mouth.
He said when I got to him Sergeant
the only thing he said was I knew
you would come Jim There was something there
that he looked at his friend and realized
I've got somebody in the world that I
know he'll come and Paul was that kind
of guy he looked at people and he
so loved them He so cared for them
that he was going to get to him
one way or another He was going to
pray for him.
He was going to intercede.
He was going to reach out He was
going to find a way to make a
trip to him I long to be with
you that I can impart something to you
and when these are the type of people
so often we want to get to a
letter and study it and learn the Greek
and study the Hebrew and learn how to
parse the sentence and do all sorts of
things when they come to the deeper meaning
But so often the people that the deepest
meaning really comes to are the ones that
find themselves Sitting before God and saying make
me this type of a person One time
many years ago, I am in Mary very
long and at the time I was over
one night Jean I were or day.
I can't remember whether it's day or night
now, but uh at My mother and father
-in-law's house and while we're there the
phone rang and it was wilbur smith Now
some of you may have heard and know
that name.
He was a very good friend of my
father-in-law's and they prayed together Billy
graham once said about wilbur smith.
He'd never man who knew the bible better
in all the world than wilbur smith He
was a brilliant man with the bible but
he Called and my mother-in-law answered
the phone.
She's so high and she's and uh, my
father-in-law He was kind of said
put out his hand to take the phone
and and because it was always, you know
Calling to talk to him and he's holding
his hand out there and and she says,
uh, oh just a minute Let me get
your fill or something.
He and she says oh Oh Oh Oh,
you know, she just kind of several times
said yes.
Well, oh, yeah, okay You know or whatever
and then she says yes and bye to
you, you know and hangs up the phone
and we're looking at this thing and And
she said there.
What was that?
He says You know, what what was that
conversation?
She said well it was wilbur And he
asked me if i'd pray for him And
I said, you know what, you know and
and he said well i'm tired i'm starting
to teach romans again He says i've already
taught the book over 50 times in my
life I know it very well But as
I was studying at this time the lord
put you on my heart and asked told
me to call you And ask you to
pray for me as I teach this book
because he spoke to me and he said
You do not know it as well as
marguerite anderson And there was something I think
that when we find sometimes I mean just
look at this guy Boy, he knew it
on one level, but he looked at her
and he says I don't know it like
you And when there is something within us
that we're saying god, I want your word
not just in my mind I want it
to penetrate my heart What makes me tick
who am I when I think of people
when I think of the world?
When I think of the frustrations or I
think of what happens in life.
Am I somebody that before god so?
Deeply I want to be a thankful person
I want to be somebody i'm a prayerful
person.
I want to long for other people These
are the ingredients.
I believe that made paul so much of
what what paul, uh paul was Even like
moses had this kind of a heart It
reveals to me why god chose moses in
so many ways when one time god even
You know is upset with the children of
israel and he says moses step aside.
I'm gonna just destroy him That's it And
moses i'm sure god knowing exactly, you know
What was in moses's heart but allowing a
situation for moses to have some wonderful work
happen within him Where something rose up within
moses's heart and he comes back before god.
He says wait a minute God if blot
my name out of your book Not theirs
and I think god looked and he says
That's what I was looking for you care
And moses he could get angry and he
could be frustrated and he was at times
But he was somebody there that he uh,
he knew what it was to long for
people And paul knew what it was to
long for people not and because he longed
for him He also encouraged him in verse
12.
It says and that is he says that
I may come That I may be comforted
together with you by the mutual faith both
of you and me He looks at me.
So i'm just long.
I'm just looking together for us just to
be together Our faith talking about it sharing
together being comforted and the word there it
suggests means encouraged He said I could just
to get with you and just have something
that we start talking I know it'll be
so encouraging to be with you I know
it'll be so wonderful if I could just
get there and we could just sit down
and we could talk and we could Be
together.
I got so many So many things that
I know would just be such a wonderful
time we could have A Paul was the
type of guy.
I think sometimes when he looked at people
he they he did it was everybody He
saw it was almost like a saint Or
it was somebody who didn't know that That's
what god's plan for him was yet And
he could just look at him to say
I got so many things to tell you
If you'll just let me talk to you
if you'll let me share a little bit
I can tell you what god thinks about
you And what he's got for you and
what he's got to give you the mutual
faith He's the way I can share it
and I can I want to come I
want to be there with you Paul was
the type of guy, you know that you
all would always hope I suppose to be
around with you when you're in trouble You
look at this guy if ever there's somebody
you might want to call on when you're
down You realize this guy no matter where
he was he had hope He could be
in anything and he had encouragement and he
had a message and he had a heart
And half the time when he'd write these
letters he'd be in prison he'd be in
chains But when you wrote the letter you
thought you'd think he's sitting on tahiti, you
know out on the beach You know with
the waves coming in with you know with
somebody playing music while he's saying let me
write a letter What will I say today?
They're so beautiful They're so powerful and yet
here he's in prison and he's suffering and
he's going through terrible things and yet It's
like paul.
Could you say let me think about people
And he could sit there in prison and
all of a sudden in his trials he
could run I'm, so thankful for these people
They're so wonderful And I pray for him
and I long for him and I want
to encourage them I got something for him
and I think most of people when they
get one of paul's letters and he's so
positive so Overwhelmingly wonderful paul's the type of
guy to me you'd read his letter And
you'd almost think you know jesus Lord why
can't I be in prison like paul, you
know or something?
It's sort of a thing.
This guy's got it made.
Look at what he's what Why does paul
get to go to all the prisons, you
know or something?
He was a guy that he had so
said victory was so deep and so real
within him It had nothing to do with
any external situation And you'd get around a
guy like this and you'd just look at
him and just say talk to me I
don't care what you say I know you
love me.
I know you care and I know you
you'll pray for me And when we are
somebody that we would long to be like
that if you because paul was somebody just
in Encouraged and he and he loved and
he enjoyed people in verse 13 He says
now I would uh not have you ignorant
brethren how that oftentimes I purpose to come
unto you And I led some other place
That I might have some fruit among you
also i've been wanting to come and I'd
have some fruit as And he said I
just wish I you could just see how
much paul was this type of a guy
that he just seemed to enjoy people He
seems like the ultimate christian Socialite, you know
sort of a guy this the did he
loved being around people?
And the amazing thing about this is this
was not what he was Paul was a
guy that when you look back at his
life before you want to meet a guy
who hated people And hated life people were
the major irritation in the world for him
He loved to make people miserable And so
often we sometimes maybe think well, you know,
i'm not real outgoing i'm not real sociable
It's one of my things.
I mean, I I do love people but
and i'm kind of thankful for him But
but we have this thing.
Well god made me different I'm, not one
of these social people.
I'm not outgoing You know, I i'm a
single, you know, my only child I have
only child syndrome And you know or something
and you know only child I was just
told, you know Speak when you're spoken to
and they never spoke to me, you know,
or whatever We have all these excuses on
why we are what we are.
Well, i'm reclusive in my nature And we
have all of these things.
We'll get over it So what?
that We think that we're that that's Who
we were or how we lived or how
we came Into the world and therefore that's
fundamentally what we are Most people don't believe
this about me, but I my mother when
she tells me when I was a little
child There's four children in our family four
children in four years.
They're all born And i'm the second child.
I have second child syndrome in the uh
But it's something to where she said, you
know, you were so reclusive You didn't need
anybody in all world when you're a little
child And the four kids kids would be
out there and playing and they'd all have
the toys And you just take a bunch
of toys and you go over and sit
in the corner And you'd have the greatest
time you'd go for hours just playing with
your own toys and then one of the
kids would come over and look and take
take one of the toys and walk away
and you would just Stare at them walk
and walk like would you do that?
And then they come back and they get
another toy and you'd watch them go But
then you'd go on playing until they got
the last toy and then we'd watch you
every time Then you'd sit there a minute
and stare at them Then you'd get up
and walk across that room and grab that
toy and spack them with it and go
right back And sit down in a corner
I mean, you know, I mean which I
I look there and realize that's me I'll
tell you what I mean to this day
I don't have fellowship that I enjoy with
anybody in the world like I do myself
You know, I mean by human nature a
lot of us we can just just put
me in a corner.
Leave me alone And we get along we
all agree me myself and I I don't
need anybody But paul looked at that as
if to say get over it Romans 12
13.
It says that we are to be given
to hospitality A leader is to be blameless
the husband or wife vigilant sober good behavior
given to hospitality Paul writes to the church
and tells titus.
He says be a lover of hospitality First
peter 4 9 peter writes and he says
use hospitality one to another without grudging.
He says open your life Open your life
and share it with people Not because it's
your nature But because it's god's call In
so many times I do people they they
say i'm not that's not me.
I'm, just not that type And i'm a
loner, you know, well That's not an excuse
That's like somebody saying i'm a thief I
was born a thief I stole from my
brothers and sisters when I was little you
see I'm a thief Well, that's sin You
got to get over it Let he who
stole steal no more But when we sit
there and say well i'm a loner get
over it And when we realize that is
god did not create me to be a
loner It means one of the sad things
I mean the world sometimes you see people
that they they bought into some sort of
a thinking that i'm supposed to spend my
life Alone because my nature seems to be
that way I mean even animals play with
each other You know no big thing Let
me just read a little thing to you
that kind of touched me a little bit
If you can start the day without caffeine
If you can get along without pep pills
if you can resist complaining to and boring
other people with your troubles If you can
eat the same food every day and be
grateful for it if you can understand Uh
when your loved ones are too busy to
give you any time If you can overlook
it when something goes wrong and through no
fault of yours and those That love you
take it out on you If you can
take criticism and blame without resentment if you
can ignore a friend's limited education and never
correct him If you can resist treating a
rich friend better than a poor friend If
you can face the world without lies and
deceit if you can conquer tension without medical
help if you can relax without liquor If
you can sleep without the aid of drugs
If you can say honestly that deep in
your heart you have no prejudice against creed
color religion or politics Then my friend you're
almost as good as your dog A dog
does all those things and it's still your
best friend Still yeah, it takes all sorts
of rejection.
We kick them around.
We leave me alone.
It's your fault same food every day and
yet it's still Social You think it ate
us But the thing is is that when
we look there and say god give make
me a lover of hospitality a lover of
people and then lastly Paul was somebody that
one of his most wonderful qualities that I
think had so much to do with the
man that he was as he Was indebted
to people Verse 14.
He says I am a debtor both to
greeks and to barbarians both of the wise
the unwise So as much as in me
I am ready to preach the gospel to
you that are at rome also Paul was
somebody there that he looked at every person.
He said I owe it to you I
owe god's love to you I go my
love.
I owe my thankfulness.
I owe my prayers to you.
It isn't something I just Choose to do
although it's either choice involved.
It's more than that I owe it to
you I'm a human being that's created in
god's image on the way to being recreated
in jesus christ's image and therefore I owe
you because god seemed to have his heart
where he Gave all of these things in
his heart I owe it to you as
well So I love you and I care
for you and i'm thankful for you And
I pray for you and I want to
encourage you and I want to bless you
You know Jesus had taught greater love hath
no man than this and he laid down
his life for his friends Paul could look
at all of them and just say I
I owe it to you God has so
blessed me with the greatest eternal truths The
most fabulous and wonderful information all the world.
He has made me a steward of it
And i've got to get it out.
I owe it to you.
I am a debtor to you And when
we realize that this is great love lays
its life down I'm sure many of us
for one reason or another growing up probably
read the tale of two cities charles dickens
book And if you remember the book you
remember that there was these two very close
friends charles darnay and sydney carton and these
two friends, uh You know darnay is a
frenchman and to make this story extremely short
he ends up where he gets thrown into
a dungeon And about to go to the
guillotine the next morning But his friend carton
There was somebody that he looked there.
He had all but wasted his life corrupt
englishman Ruined everything about his life, but he
looked over at his friend there that was
going to the guillotine the next morning And
he gets into the uh, the prison He
drugs his friend Changes outfits with him has
his friend dragged out Where he's left and
as you know the story the next morning
he's heading off there to the guillotine And
there to die in the place of his
friend And there he turns and as dickens
says as he writes there as he's going
to the guillotine He says greater love this
man.
He turns greater love hath no man in
this thing laid down his life for his
friends And he realized you know, I can
waste my life But if I can learn
before I die to love somebody more than
me I've learned something And when we realize
that when you look at paul again here
a man there A man, as I said,
he once hated people He was feared by
people.
He couldn't stand people couldn't tolerate people Nobody
was good enough for paul and paul wasn't
even good enough for himself And yet when
god's love changed him When their god's grace
and god's peace overtook him The next thing
you know is he he became somebody says
the love of christ constrains me It's gripped
me.
It's grabbed my heart and then through the
rest of this letter We're going to see
some tremendous theological truths But one of the
greatest aspects of it is the heart to
the man from which it comes And when
we find and ask ourselves lord, what am
I?
Do I love people?
John writes in his epistles and he says
love not the world Neither the things are
in the world for the things are the
world the lust of the flesh the lust
of the eyes and the pride of life
And all that the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life is The lust of the
flesh is your passions The lust of the
eyes is possessions and the pride of life
is your position and a lot john says
don't ever love Your passions don't love possessions
and don't love your position in life They're
all things Don't ever love something that is
inanimate and can't love you back Love those
that are in god's image they can return
it And many times, you know, we we
love the world We love our this or
we love that and then this or that
or something's denied us and we're hostile and
we're angry but when we love people And
we love loving people And say god this
is why i'm created Not to love a
thing Let it go Not to love a
position not to love a passion Not to
love a sport not to love other desires
Oh, we're around the world and we're in
it, but we're not to be of it,
but we're to love one another And that
when we say god give me this heart.
I think we're on the right road Let's
pray father, we just thank you and praise
you for your love Thank you dear lord
for your desire for us And lord, I
pray that tonight your love would constrain us
We would look and maybe again there's people
that we don't care about That we gladly
outrun them and leave them for the bear
to eat There are people that if they
just died right now we'd just say that's
just fine Lord I pray that you would
give us a heart Like yours Because these
people that we're so angry at You look
at and you say well, they Just a
saint that doesn't know how to be one
yet It just hasn't been delivered the goods
they don't know mercy and love and grace
they don't know Forgiveness and hope they don't
know my power But lord, may we come
tonight and say lord, would you may your
love constrain me?
And as paul goes on later in Romans
When he says the love of god is
shed abroad in our hearts by the holy
spirit who has given to us Lord, may
this kind of a love That isn't ours.
We can't cultivate it on our own.
We can't decide it It's a gift from
you It's poured out when we begin to
cry out to the spirit of god to
say I want heaven's love.
I'm tired of my own My own is
so impatient.
It has so many limits It's so weak.
It's so vulnerable.
It isn't consistent It has no staying power
But I thank you that the love of
god.
There's no shadow of turning in it.
It's the same yesterday today and forever It
changes not Lord, this is the love we
want And tonight we just want to open
our hearts and ask lord that you would
just take your word And father, maybe some
of us need to say lord, forgive me
just take out These attitudes towards people people
that jesus you died for People that you
still look at and you love them as
much as you ever loved me Before I
ever met you And lord, may you give
us love and may we find ourself being
able to be thankful And lord, may we
find ourself in the gratitude of life Lord
of being able to to pray And to
long And the lord begin to put people
in our heart in such a way Instead
of in our mind where we're angry But
in our heart where we love Lord teach
us these things We ask it in jesus
name amen