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Hello, and welcome to our daily drive time devotions through the book of Romans.
Today we're in Romans chapter 1 verses 8 to 17. Here's what those verses say,
beginning in Romans 1, 8, Paul writes, "First, I thank my God through Jesus
Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.

God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching this gospel of his Son, is my
witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times. And I pray
that now at last, by God's will, the way may be open for me to come to you. I
long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you
strong.

That is, that you may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not
want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you, but
I've been prevented from doing so until now. In order that I might have a
harvest among you, just as I've had among the other Gentiles, I am obligated,
both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and foolish.

That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. I am
not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of
everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. For in the
gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith
from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.

Anyone can tell bad news. Telling bad news is what I would call reporting
history. But telling good news, that's changing history.

And in Romans chapter 1, verses 8 to 17, Paul talks about telling the good news.
It's interesting. Paul uses the personal pronoun "I" 14 times in Romans 1, 8 to
16.

He shows in talking about how God worked through him to tell the good news, that
telling the good news is a lot more than just what you say. It's who you are. I
want to, as we take a look at these verses, look at all those times that he used
the word "I.

" As you sort through all of those, you can see six actions that change people
through the example of the apostle Paul. Now I'd like to work our way through
these. Instead of just talking about these, let's work through these together.

Let's do them as we talk about them, rather than just talk about them. Let's do
some history changing right now. The first of these six things that Paul did is
talked about in verse 8.

Paul says there, "I thank God for you. " And so my question would be this. Who
do you need to thank God for right now?

First Paul, when he talks about things that he did that changed other people's
lives, he talks up in verse 1 about him thanking God. He says, "I thank God for
you. " Let me ask you.

Who do you need to thank God for right now? The power of thanksgiving is an
incredible power. It has the power to change your life.

It has the power to change the life of the person that you're giving thanks for.
It has the power to change every relationship in both of those lives. Who do you
need to thank God for right now?

It may be someone you've forgotten to thank God for. It may be somebody you
don't want to thank God for. It may be someone that you deeply need to thank God
for.

Do it right now. And while you're listening, just say, "Father, I thank you
for," and put that person's name before the Lord. That has history changing
power more than you and I will ever realize until we get to heaven.

In verse 9, the word "I" comes up again and he says, "I serve you. " And so the
question there is, who do I need to serve? Who do you need to serve today?

Maybe it's just a willingness that comes into your heart right now to serve as
the opportunity arises. Or maybe God's put somebody specific on your mind right
now. I need to serve.

Maybe it's a phone call. Maybe it's a practical need that needs to be met. Maybe
it's your decision to reconnect with someone.

Who do you need to serve today? Paul says, not only do I thank God for you and
serve you, he also says, "I pray for you," as he writes to the Romans. So who do
you need to pray for?

Now I know you just prayed for somebody as you thank God for somebody, but this
might lead you and I to think through who could I specifically pray for with a
need that they have in their life. Sometimes we think of prayer as just a
conversation with God, and it is a good thing to talk to God. But prayer is more
than that.

Prayer is acting. Prayer is inviting the God of the universe who has more power
than you and I could possibly imagine to meet our needs. But it's pretty selfish
to just ask God to meet our needs.

We also need to ask him to meet the needs of people that we love, people that we
know, even people that are enemies Jesus taught us. So who do you need to pray
for right now? God, I pray for, just put that name in your mind right now, pray
for that person, some need that you're aware that they have.

It'll make more of a difference in their life today than you could possibly
realize. We're going to play some music for you right now to give you a few
moments to talk to God in prayer. As Paul continues to talk through what he did
for the Romans, he talks down in verses 11 and 12 about his desire to impart a
spiritual gift so that they could be mutually encouraged.

I encourage you. Who do you need to encourage? There is tremendous power to
encouragement.

And maybe just as this Bible study ends in a few minutes, first thing you need
to do is grab your cell phone and call somebody and encourage them. Another
thing that Paul said, the fifth of these six things that he did for the Romans,
he said, "I planned to come to you. " That has always amazed me.

Sometimes we just sort of let life happen and we serve God as the opportunity
arises. But Paul says, "No, I made an intentional plan. I planned to come to
you.

I wanted to do this so much that I made a plan to do this. " I found that
sometimes when I'm serving God, the opportunity just sort of presents itself and
I'm able to serve and it happens. But there's other times when I have to make an
intentional plan if I'm going to talk to someone and share my faith with them.

I have to make an intentional plan if I'm going to reconnect with someone that I
haven't seen for a long time. I have to make an intentional plan if there's
maybe a problem with somebody in my family and I'm not really spending the time
with them that I should or I haven't talked with them for a long, long time.
What do you need to plan to do right now?

And then ask God for the strength to do what you plan. The sixth thing that Paul
talks about he did for the Romans is he says, "I'm looking forward to having a
harvest with you. " What harvest do you need to rejoice in?

Some good thing that God did through your life, in your life, in your family.
That's what a harvest is, is when you see God's abundance, you see God working,
you see the fruit of your faith working in your life. What harvest do you need
to rejoice in?

You're not going to make a difference in this world. You're not going to be a
change instrument unless you can rejoice in the music that change makes, unless
you can look and see what's happening in people's lives and take a moment to
say, "Thank you God, I rejoice in this. " God wants us to rejoice in the
harvest.

So what harvest do you need to rejoice in? When someone told me the good news,
it changed the history of my life and I need to rejoice in that. But they do
too, that they had a part in telling me the good news.

Paul in these verses not only talks about what he does for others, but he talks
about his own heart. He talks about the keys that unlocked his love and his
service for others and his effectiveness in that service. He says three things.

He says I am obligated, I am eager, and I am not ashamed. I'm obligated, he
says, both to Greeks and non-Greeks, to people. Obligated not by guilt, but by
grace, by God's grace.

He also says because of that, I'm eager. I need to be reminded, we all need to
be reminded that it's okay to be eager about some things. Everybody wants to be
cool.

Nobody wants to be eager about anything. It's okay to be eager about God. It's
okay to be eager about the good news and the difference that it can make in
people's lives.

Even if people don't think I'm cool, it's okay to be eager about that. And then
Paul says I'm not ashamed. How could you be ashamed of the good news?

And yet, many of us are. We act as if this good news of Jesus Christ that's come
into our lives needs to somehow be hidden because maybe somebody else wouldn't
understand. Or maybe somebody would think I'm a religious fanatic of some kind.

Jesus Christ is the good news, God's only good news that's come into this world.
Two thousand years ago, when Jesus Christ came into this world, he answered
life's biggest questions. If there were any other way to get to God besides
through Jesus Christ, Jesus wouldn't have needed to come into this world and die
a cruel death, but he came and he died.

And in Paul's day, there were some who acted ashamed of the fact that Jesus had
died as if it were some kind of a scandal, something to be humiliated about.
Jesus came to die for us and Paul was not ashamed of that because he realized
that it was by God's power that Jesus not only gave his life, but also took up
his life again and was resurrected. This book was written to the Romans.

They lived in Rome and Romans were in love with power, much as Americans are in
love with power. We just love power. And Paul says the greatest power that's
come into this world is the power that you see on the cross, the power that
Jesus Christ had to stretch out his hands, offer himself, submit himself, and
give himself for us.

That's a different picture of power that most of us have, but it is God's power
to make a difference in this world, in my life, in your life, and in all of
eternity. So let's tell him thank you. Would you pray with me and just say,
Jesus Christ, thank you.

Thank you for the good news, the good news that you love me, the good news that
you gave your life for me, and the good news that the power of God is at work
saving everyone who believes I'm one of those people, or you may need to believe
right now and become one of those people. And then say to him, Jesus Christ,
because I appreciate what you've done for me, I want to make a difference in
other people's lives. Help me to be thankful.

Help me to be a servant. Help me to remember to pray for others. It's so easy to
forget.

Help me today to be an encourager and to plan to do the right thing, the godly
thing, and to rejoice when I see what you're doing. I pray this, Jesus, in your
name. Amen.

Thanks for being here for this look at Romans 1, 8-17. Tomorrow, we're going to
look together at Romans 1, verses 18-23.