In Michael Elliott's sermon 'People in a place: Beloved Saints', he explores the Apostle Paul's greeting in Romans 1:1-7, emphasizing the importance of how we use words to establish relationships. Elliott examines Paul's greeting as a reflection of his relationship with the Roman Christians, whom he had never met, indicating a deep care despite their geographical and cultural distance. The sermon discusses the unity of Jews and Gentiles in Christ and highlights how all believers are considered 'beloved of God' and 'called to be saints', emphasizing the present reality of this identity rather than a future status. Elliott underscores the transformative nature of being called by God and the implications of living as saints through divine calling. He also discusses the significance of God's love, which transcends cultural and ethnic boundaries, uniting all believers. The sermon concludes by reflecting on the vastness of God's mercy and the love shared among His people.

The meeting of God's Word, our sermon text for today. The actual passage I'll be explaining for you all is the first part of verse seven, but for context I will read all of Paul's greeting here verses one through seven in its entirety. So here now, Again, the holy, inspired, and preserved Word of God. Rowan's 1, 1 through 7. Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

Through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Already thank you for your word preserved for these many centuries We Trust your guiding hand in preserving this from enemies without and within. That would have sought to insert things, bring the accusation of mistakes, but we trust you that it is preserved faithfully. Please open our eyes to hear the truth here. Guide my mouth in preaching accurately.

May I not devolve into the supposed wisdom of men, but stay close to your wisdom, O God, and may there be much blessing to each soul gathered here today. We pray in Jesus name, amen. Please be seated. In interacting with people, I think often one of the hardest parts of a conversation is the very first part. How do you begin that dialogue?

How do you say hello? Think of times when you write an email, you know, longer so much write letters, right? Or a text message even, or WhatsApp, Facebook, whatever messenger you use. When you send those messages, how much meaning or thought do you get into before you get into the question of asking what you're up to, where you going for dinner, etc. What kind of salutation or greeting do you give?

So as I think about it, the amount of time I give is not much. Often it's you assume the person already knows who you are, you know who they are, and you just launch right into the topic. The fact that we jump right into the text message without much interaction, even saying who the other person is, is an indicator that we're familiar with them, right? You can just jump right back into that conversation because they know who you are, you know who they are, maybe you were chatting 30 minutes ago or even the day before, but there's that familiarity. And therefore the greeting is very brief.

Well, the depth or intricacy of that greeting indicates the nature of the relationship for us in text message or email or even on the phone just as much as it does for Paul here. The fact that this is a long greeting is a bit intricate, and here we get in verse 7 to him identifying his audience. There's a reason for that. He doesn't know them well. He'd never been to Rome, and therefore he spends six verses talking about who he is, his office, his calling, praising God for the Jesus in whose name he comes, and then identifying, you are the ones I am speaking to.

And that's the verse we come to here in the first half of verse 7, is him identifying his audience. So I want you to think of this context here as if you were getting a text message from or about to send a message to somebody you'd never talked to before, say you got their phone number from a mutual friend, well you need to say who was this person like last night sending a message to Mr. Roundtree. I've never messaged him before, just got the message, his phone number from Pastor Allison, I need to tell Mr. Roundtree I don't have the proper clothes, and so how do I identify who I am?

How do I have him even listen to the question I'm about to state and the need I'm about to make known? And that's what Paul is doing here. So key point is how do we greet people? But even more basic than that is words matter, right? The words we use to greet people matter based on how well we know them and in the case here of salutation There is meaning in how we say hello and how we name the people we are talking to.

So we're going to look at how is it that God moved Paul by the Holy Spirit to identify the people he was writing to and then by way of application How is it that God views us? He wrote this letter to us via Paul, via the saints in Rome hundreds of years ago, but it is for our edification and admonition to learn what Paul has to say in this letter. So words have meaning. How does God move Paul to identify his audience and how does that identification of Paul's immediate audience apply to us? How does God view his people?

So God's people, wherever they are, have been brought into a loving relationship with him And that's what's stated here, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, he identifies his people, he names them as those whom God's love pours and rests upon and they are called to be saints. My friend, that's you and I. And so far as we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not in Rome, elsewhere, in Texas presently, beloved of God and called to be saints. So we're going to look at this under three headings. The people who are in Rome in this context, but in whatever place, first looking at the people, second looking at God's love, and third at his calling.

So first, let's dive into the first clause of the first half of verse seven, to all who are in Rome. The people in this place. I see here the facts that Paul was writing to people in a place. Seems kind of obvious. We don't write to animals in a place.

We write to people. But they're real, live people. As I already noted, Paul had never been to Rome. But that doesn't mean he didn't care deeply for them. He wasn't interested in them.

He didn't care about their souls, about their lives, and all the need for doctrine and true Christian living. In terms of the people he wrote to, though, a little technical here, to all who are in Rome, there is some controversy as to whether he means by this all, one option would be all the saints, Christians distributed throughout that region, or is he referring to multiple churches? So a little bit of a technical argument there. In all who are in Rome, is he meaning all the separate bodies that would have been meeting on a Lord's Day and they're gonna pass around this letter, Or is he speaking just collectively to all the Christians and trying to include in there the Jew and Gentile distinction? As if you've studied through Romans before, you note there is some question, who is ultimately his audience?

Is it Jews or Romans? Jews or Roman Gentiles? And it's both, really. The church there was mixed. Jews that had emigrated there, some due to persecution leaving Jerusalem, and then also Gentiles who had been converted.

So I see it as that second option, that the all is the all types of people, all ethnic origins, Jew and Gentile alike, but also very likely there were so many Christians in Rome at the time of this letter being written that yes, it was to the various congregations. So I take kind of a both-and approach to that. So while it's very possible and even likely that there were enough Christians in Rome to constitute more than one congregation, the epistle consistently points to including Jew and Gentile together. So that's the allness, all the Christians, whatever your background are. And when you have a moment sometime, read through Romans and note the occurrence of all.

So all who are in Rome are who? They are Romans 3.9, all who are men without excuse before a holy God. Romans 3.19, all who are guilty before God. Romans 5 1, all who are justified by faith. 5 6, all who were weak, ungodly people that Christ died for.

Romans 8 1, all who are then free of condemnation, needing to walk in the spirit, not the flesh, and we could quote other ones. So that's the all. All you wicked people that God has saved, all you Jews, all you Gentiles, all you people living in the Roman province, in this congregation, that congregation, et cetera, all of you who are guilty, yet redeemed. That is the all that Paul is speaking to. So, to drive it home, a key point in all of Paul's letter here, and in others, is the equality of Jew and Gentile alike.

So while there is a uniqueness and a blessing that came upon God's covenant people from generations past primarily and that they had stewards, they were stewards of the scriptures and therefore had access to God's word and that they had the ability to tie their faith linearly to Abraham, that is a great privilege. We don't want to denigrate that. But in essence, Jew and Gentile are equal now, all having sinned, all having fallen short of God's glory, all needing to repent and believe, and by faith having Abraham as their spiritual father." Right? That's the lineage of the Gentile, not to tie it my father, my grandfather, great-great-grandfather, etc., trying to make some line of births going back to Abraham, but by faith we are of the line of Abraham. Let me quote for you that from Romans 416.

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace so the promise might be sure to all the seed not only to those who are of the law, I'd be referring to Jews, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. So yes, Abraham's my father and your father, if we are in Christ. That's the all people that Paul is referring to here. And it's not just Paul's writing in his letters here, but let me quote two other places, this fact of the unity of God's people, that allness together. Acts 10, God shows no partiality and every nation whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him.

So that's the unity of God's people the world over. And then Revelation 5 9, Jesus is worthy to take the scroll, having redeemed us to God by his blood, and here's that universality, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. So I want you to feel this fellowship, this unity of God's people across the world, across time, across ethnic boundaries, because by way of application, while there was diversity within the church, so there's age, there's different work engagements that people have, family situations, whatever your heritage of faith or non-faith is, many aspects of our backgrounds are different, but really when it comes down to it, we are very much the same. We're all just sinners in need of a savior, right? That's the same, no matter your background.

And the same future lies ahead of us as people of faith, union with the Lord Jesus Christ. So our culture around us tries to create this division, creating bitterness, envy, pity, but properly, God sees us all as sinners. Not that we're cookie-cutter exactly the same people, have the same heart issues, same specific challenges, but God sees us remarkably similar. Everyone is a sinner and in being saved we're freed to live out our unique life callings and giftings, freed from pride, freed from sin, free to love him with our whole heart, with our whole minds. So let us be humble before the Lord.

An honest confession will simply say to God, woe is me, a sinner, due to me as seems best in your sight, right? That's how we speak to God initially. And with that humility, God lifts you up into the privileged status of saint. That we'll get to here shortly. So friends, all that to say, the first phrase in this greeting tells us about Paul's audience.

All, all those people, all those people needing salvation, all those people in Rome, in need of God's grace, walking in light of the gospel, no matter their cultural or religious or even within that region of Rome, geographic background, Jew and Gentile alike. So that's the all, all the people there. Well, where, Where was he speaking to? Rome. And addressing all of them, he's not writing to some nameless or faceless or theoretical mass of people out there, as if it's just some wherever.

No, this is not an impersonal cookie-cutter letter. He is writing to a specific set of people, and as we've already said, he identifies them as those who are in Rome. But consider for a moment and just step back from our familiarity. I mean, anybody who's read the Bible much knows, okay, the book of Romans, and you kind of skip over the fact that Rome is a place and Romans means there's people, but if you'd never read the Bible before, you're completely ignorant, and people said, oh, there's an epistle to the Romans. You'd be like, what's an epistle?

And then what do you mean, Romans? Like, what does that have to do with the Bible? I know that, you know, the Olympics were there occasionally. What's up with Rome? And, but for us to step back and think how truly startling it is that Paul would be writing a letter to Rome.

Rome had humble roots, very humble roots, on the back of the Tiber River, grown up into the center of what, at the time of this writing, is one of the most powerful empire on the face of the earth at that time, likely, and even without looking as a summary of human history, one of the most powerful empires to ever arise in human culture. But far from godly. While they're known for their power and for their breadth of Scope of their responsibilities across that region of the world not known for righteousness not known for humility Not known for kindness rather known for their lack of virtue within this very carnal and human Empire God had a people that is the remarkable thing Some of God's people were in Rome. Amidst the darkness, the carnality, and the anti-God culture there, of all places in Rome, God had his people. There are so many stories out there and I encourage you to read whether it's missionary biographies, so people going to these places, or stories of the people there, or hearing the word of the missionary, or God reaching out to them more directly.

But the grace of God happening in these dark places. Currently, the church from what I hear is growing dramatically in Iran, great trials as we spoke of referred to earlier in Nigeria, other dark places like among the communist rebels in Venezuela, certainly in North Korea, God is working in these very, very dark places. He's working in similar places to Rome today, whether it be Washington, D.C., or Paris, or Brussels, or these dark, further away lands, the 1040 window, as they call it. Well, one more detail before we move on to the next section, actually. Speaking of Rome, the Greek text here says, "'To all who are in Rome, ' or, "'to all those in Rome.'" And it's understood that this means people, right?

It doesn't actually say though people in Rome. And so while it's an obvious thing that he's writing to fellow believers, image bearers of God, Let us not forget that the Holy Spirit laid upon Paul's heart real people. Real people he hadn't met. There were some individuals there in the congregation that he did know, but broadly speaking, he had never met face to face these Roman Christians. But he obviously had this evident love.

So I want to state that for you, just to stir us up to the love and good work of having before our eyes and our hearts Christians the world over. We may never meet them. Paul did have the opportunity to travel ultimately to Rome and meet likely many of these people. So we may be part of a prayer chain. We might read things on the internet about Christians in North Korea or Nigeria, Cambodia, and other places.

We never meet them this side of heaven, but let us be steadfast in lifting them up to the Lord in their trials because the body of Christ is far and wide. These are real people going through real pain and suffering, genuine trials that we may never face. But these are real people, as I said, image bearers of God. Paul cared deeply for these Roman Christians and made God stir us up to true, genuine Christian concern for Christians across the world. So with that, let us move on to the next clause.

So having looked at to all who are in Rome, what's with this beloved of God? To all who are in Rome, beloved of God. So they are real, live people in this place of Rome, a dark place, but a place where God is shining in the light of the gospel, Paul is reaching out to them, they are beloved of God. That is to say valued, treasured. Regardless then of being Jew or Gentile, various ages, different backgrounds culturally, male, female, in Christ.

They are objects of God's special love. Some other kind of catchphrases, but I don't want us to hear these just as Christian catchphrases, but really understand this is how God views his people. 1st Peter 2, 9, his own special people. Deuteronomy 33, 3, God loves the people. From Deuteronomy 32, 10, He keeps his people as the apple of his eye, which is to say special, unique, caring regard.

And then Ephesians 1.14, he is focused on his people, will not take his eyes off them. They are his precious, purchased possession, bought at a price. So, brothers and sisters, let us soak in the kindness and the mercy of God that he loves his people. He is holy, he is perfect. Apart from God, a natural man where each of us was before repentance and saving faith We are far far from that righteousness and that holiness left to ourselves And again apart from this transforming grace.

We are so very very sinful yet Yet God reached out touched us Not that he could gain anything from us by being saved. We don't have anything to offer him. We don't add anything to his world, so to speak, yet for his kindness and mercy to magnify his love and mercy, he saved us, he united us to Christ. We are beloved of God. Truly, truly amazing.

Remember, and I want to emphasize this again, God doesn't need anything from us. He's not lacking in strength or skill. He doesn't need a physical person to get on a ship and go across to Burma, as the missionaries of old did. He could do it other ways, dreams and visions and just touching individual lives there if he wanted to. But yet he does desire to have individuals do these things as his ambassadors.

And I want to draw us then to why is it that God the Father even loves us? How could he love sinners, people so wicked as we are when left to our own devices? And of course it rests in our union with Jesus. Because in each of the gospel accounts we read at the time of Jesus's baptism that affirmation, that statement of great love of God the Father to God the Son. And it is a voice that came at that time saying, You are my beloved Son.

That's the same word used by God the Father to his son as Paul uses to his friends in Rome. God the Father saying, you are my beloved son. He loves his son. And then as we have faith in Christ, we are united to Christ, we are made partakers of that divine love. God the Father looks out at us.

He doesn't see our stains, our sins, that's been washed away. He sees Jesus as friends. He sees Jesus as spiritual siblings, right? Jesus is our brother, and he has cleansed us. He has washed us and made us clean.

We can't appeal to the Father for any favor, any kindness in of ourselves. We appeal to the Father, you love Jesus, and therefore you love me in Christ, and therefore we do have that privileged place as sons of God. Here this part of Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3 he says, may Christ dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." That is how huge God's love is for his people. And Paul acknowledges, this takes some pondering, right? This is worthy of stepping back and thinking about because we don't often meditate on the truth of the vastness of God's love for us.

I also want to read with you Psalm 136. This came to me in my preparation of this sermon, and it is an antiphonal psalm, so an answering back, and I want to do this a little differently. I'm guessing not often in sermons do you have a time for you to speak but it is appropriate in this psalm that and I'm gonna ask you to answer back because in the wording here so if you could turn with me to Psalm 136 you know each of these verses ends with for his mercy endures forever and that word there mercy is the Hebrew chasset, which certainly accurately translates as mercy. I'm not questioning the translators who wrote New King James. But there's another aspect of loving kindness.

God's covenant love brings us mercy and his covenant love expresses his love for us, which I've just been speaking to you about. So, as I read each part, the first part, so the A of each verse, like for verse one, oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good. I'd like you all to collectively answer back, for his loving kindness and mercy endure forever. Okay? So let's practice with verse one.

Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his loving kindness and mercy endure forever. Amen. Let's continue on and we are gonna do the whole chapter. We may think it's long, it's repetitive. Let it be repetitive and that it pounds into and soaks into our hearts that God's loving kindness, his chesed care for his people, endures forever.

This is how God the Father views us in his beloved Son. Verse 2, Oh give thanks to the God of gods. For his love and kindness and mercy endures forever. Oh give thanks to the Lord of lords. For his love and kindness and mercy endures forever.

To him who alone does great wonders. For his loving kindness and mercy endures forever. To him who by wisdom made the heavens. For his loving kindness and mercy endures forever. To him who laid out the earth above the waters, To him who made great lights, The sun to rule by day, the moon and stars to rule by night, to him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, And brought out Israel from among them.

For His loving kindness and mercy endures forever. With a strong hand and with an outstretched arm. For His loving kindness and mercy endures forever. To him who divided the Red Sea in two and made Israel pass through the midst of it but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. For his loving kindness and mercy endures forever.

To him who led his people through the wilderness. For his loving kindness and mercy endures forever. To him who struck down great kings. For his loving kindness and mercy endures forever. And slew famous kings.

For his loving kindness and mercy endures forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites. Struck down great kings and slew famous kings. Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, And gave their land as a heritage. For His loving kindness and mercy endures forever.

A heritage to Israel, His servant. For His loving kindness and mercy endures forever. Who remembered us in our lowly state, and rescued us from our enemies. Who gives food to all flesh. Oh give thanks to the God of heaven.

Amen. Is that not a privileged position we are in that God's mercy and loving-kindness forever falls upon us, his people. He loves his people. The wording then of Paul's text, we are beloved of God. Amazing.

What's the last section here? Called to be saints. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints." And I do want to, and I will venture to not on my own authority, but it's interesting if you read through the Commentaries on this, kind of some strong opinions. These are kind of standard reformed commentaries that this is really not the best wording. That is easy to misunderstand.

Because the to be here is not thinking of like, I'm trying to become this, as if it's a future thing to be a saint. And many sections of Christendom abuse this wording, or at least the principle that could be derived here, in thinking you're not saints now, you're saints in the future. Once we've documented some miracles and some healings and you know put your name in lights and built a church in your name, then you are a saint. It is not a future thing to be a saint. It's not a special class of Christians that are saints.

To be saints here, called saints, is a present reality. So proper biblical theology with which Paul is in complete agreement affirms the present reality, the nowness of Christians being saints. By faith we are now saints, not by works of righteousness that we could do to get us into the kingdom, not by works of righteousness we can do as part of our sanctification. That is not what makes us saints or what makes us more saintly or makes us special, but it is God's saving grace, his sanctifying grace, it's a present reality that we are saints. Some of the translations offered up by some of these writers, which I would agree with.

One is Saints by Divine Calling. So we're called, which isn't merely like, hey, I'll come in for dinner. That's not so much the calling as called to a identity, called to a role and experience of our lives. So Saints by Divine Calling highlights the fact that this calling is of God. This isn't just grandma calling you in for dinner.

This isn't the teacher calling you in from the recessed schoolyard, this is God putting an identity upon each and every one of us. So again, saints by divine calling. And to put that into the full section of the verse here, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, who are saints by divine calling. So we're the called ones. We're called by God.

We're called out of the world, right? We're rescued from that sin and darkness that we've spoken of earlier. We were called into a new state of being, light and life in Christ. As Christ's sheep, we hear his voice, right? Who is it we answer to?

Not Satan anymore. Read through the Proverbs and Who is it that the ungodly man follows? That sweet, seductive, dangerous, deadly voice of the wicked woman. But as redeemed people, we hear Jesus's voice and we follow him. More and more as we grow closer to the Lord, we become deaf to the calls of the world.

The world does call, and of course it's a warning that we need to heed to know that it will call, but we are to train our ears to not hear it and certainly not follow it. The world calls, but we don't hear it, we don't follow, we hear Jesus, and we do follow him. So that's the point, we are saints by divine calling. And fundamentally then, this phrase indicates the source of our salvation and the impetus of our sanctification as we continue to live out this life as saints following this divine calling. But what is it that living out of our calling?

And here we get to the kind of the wording or a dual meaning to the word Saint. So in two different parts, Saint is holy as in clean, but also holy as in set apart, right? There's holy and not holy and we are made distinct. In the temple of old there was the holy place where not everybody could go and even the few people that could go into the holy of holies only went there on occasion. So there's a separation right in the cleanness aspect of holy there's a separation from dirty So what was dirty is now made clean, it is holy.

There's also a separation. You've actually distinguished them, right? When our children do laundry, we bring it out of the washing machine. You need to be sure, you identify somehow, that that is now clean clothes, right? Put it in front of the dryer.

So when the previous load is done, you put it in there, because otherwise you've got this thing in a basket and it's all tumbled up. Well, is it dirty or clean? Does it need to go in or is it coming out of the washing machine? Well, God doesn't make that mistake with us. When we are regenerate, he knows we are holy.

We've been washed. There's that wall between the washer and the dryer. We've crossed over. We're headed into the dryer and on with our Christian lives. But I want to point out a bit of an irony here.

Previously, prior to our new birth, we were separate, right? Everybody is separated from something. And this was just a little lecture class. I'm gonna ask somebody here to raise their hands and I'll call on you for an answer. But instead of that, just think as I ask this question, what state of separation do unbelievers lie in?

People who aren't Christians are separate from something. Everybody is separate from something. Christians are separate from the world. Unbelievers are separated from God, right? Being unholy, God cannot be in their presence.

He cannot countenance them. So everybody is separated. Unbelievers are separated from God. Christians, being united to God, are separate from the world. Let me quote a few passages here.

Actually, it's Ephesians 2. Remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So we were separate from God, now being cleansed we are separate from the world. We are separated from the world and united to God.

And how does that set us up for going forward? It's not just that God is moving chess pieces around the world or drawing lines here and there. We have been captured out of the world. We have been ransomed, bought with a price is some of the terminology, and praised the Lord that we have been rescued from that life of sin and death, but we've also been set on this trajectory, consecrated for service. The old man is dead, the new man is alive.

So that's a point I want to make at this point. So Saints isn't just declarative, as if you have a new name badge on you. It's not just that you've been transferred from one lecture hall to another, and now you're sitting in the right chair, and thankfully there's a wall with the door sealed, and you can't go back. That all is true, but that's not the entirety of it. As saints, we are consecrated for service.

Being grafted into a new tree, we bear new fruit. No longer, according from the earlier part of Galatians 5, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, hatred, contentions, jealousies, selfish ambitions, and the like, instead we bear this fruit unto God. The latter part of Galatians 5. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We're students of a new teacher, as it were, right?

We're getting new instruction, we've got new ideas and thoughts and heart desires, we have a new will. We no longer have a futile mind darkened with the understanding and ignorance and blindness, it's Ephesians 4 18, instead we're learning Christ. We have true righteousness and holiness. As Paul speaks of later in this very book, Romans chapter 12, we are transformed in the renewing of our mind. That is the new man, the new trajectory we are on, saints by divine calling.

So by way of summary, it's a short text. Hopefully that's enlightening and to draw your eyes to some of the truths that God has packed here into this verse. But by way of summary, I just want to affirm each and every believer here, trusting in Christ, that you are saints by divine calling, right? Beloved of God in Conroe, Texas. I've already noted some of the ways that these truths apply to you, seeing your evident Christian love, and I trust that some of these applications would be encouraging and maybe challenging to you.

The Holy Spirit can shine the light of his applications into your life much more powerfully than I can. So we'll stop there. But I do pray that the Lord will further impress these truths that there's an allness, all people are alike, humble before God, needing his mercy. We are real people in a real place then, needing to live out our divine calling. My presently is in Omaha, yours presently is in Conroe or whatever neighboring city you live in here.

But as you discuss these scriptures, whether with friends at lunch, upcoming Bible study, with spouses and with children, God might impress upon your hearts how beloved we are in Christ and that trajectory we are on to serve him in faith because in the midst of Personal trials in the midst of a crooked generation in a fallen world Let us be challenged and encouraged by the fact that we are beloved of God. Amen Let's pray Lord, thank you for your amazing mercy in Christ Jesus. We deserve nothing. We have sinned very much against you, greater and lesser sins, and yet you are merciful for Christ's sake. We thank you for this great mercy, for the privilege it is to be your children, to know his love.

May we wake up each day, may we take each bite of food and serve in each effort with this mindfulness that you love us, that you have rescued us, that you treasure us, not for anything we are, but for the greatness of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And it's in his name I pray, amen.