Gary Gleans

                                                                   Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”   Paul gives us the reasons that he is not ashamed of the Gospel.  He has dedicated his life to the advance of the Gospel, and he is willing to suffer for the cause of the Gospel.  The book he is about to write is all about the Gospel.  It demonstrates our need of the Gospel: condemnation of all men.  It reveals the purpose of the Gospel: salvation.  It describes the result of the Gospel: sanctification.  It defends the doctrines of the Gospel: vindication.  It provides the instructions of the Gospel: exhortation.  There is certainly nothing to be ashamed of in the Gospel because it is the way God makes Himself known and available to man.   TH

                                                                                  Romans 1:8-15 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—   that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, [ c ] that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.   As Paul greets the R

                                                                                  Romans 1:1-7 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 the 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. Paul begins his letter to the Romans by identifying who he is, what his purposes are and reminding his readers who they are in Christ.  God has identified us with Christ for the purpose of joining

                                                                             Acts 28:17-31 After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers,   though I had done nothing against our people or   the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.   When they had examined me, they   wished to set me at liberty,   because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.   But because the Jews objected, I was compelled   to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against   my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is   because of   the hope of Israel that I am wearing   this   chain.”   And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of   the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with reg

                                                                             Acts 28:11-16 After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead.   Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days.   And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers   and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome.   And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.   And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.   The trip to Rome was far from uneventful.  God’s sovereign control over each step along the way is clear.  Several more legs of the journey are summed up in this passage.  In the end, Paul made it to his

                                                                        Acts 28:7-10 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.   The ship Paul was on was blown across the ocean completely out of the sailor’s control.  However, God was clearly controlling it and brought it near the island of Malta before destroying the ship and saving Paul and all the passengers.  This was not just random storm with a random result.  God was at work to provide for both the passengers and the inhabitants of an island that was i

                                                                             Acts 28:1-6 After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”   He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.   We rarely know why God does what He chooses to do.  It may not make any since to us for Paul t

                                                                                       Acts 27:21-44 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,   and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island.” When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again

                                                                                       Acts 27:1-20 And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius. And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the le

                                                                             Acts 26:24-32 And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul,   you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.”   But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind,   most excellent Festus, but I am speaking   true and   rational words.  For   the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”   And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be   a Christian?”  And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day   might become such as I am—except for   these chains.”   Then the king rose, and   the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them.    And when they had withdrawn, th

                                                                                       Acts 26:19-23 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,   but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.   For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.   To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass:   that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”   Paul continues to testify to Agrippa by explaining what God’s confrontation and commission caused him to do. Any encounter we have with the Lord and the Word of God should bring about change in our liv

                                                                                  Acts 26:12-18 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.   At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.   And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’   And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.   But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you   to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, tha