Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 77

March 18;   Romans 16:25;   133/260(I);   ‘Established’

Romans 16:26 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began

Paul teaches that the gospel is able to ‘establish’ you.  That means, God’s Word can strengthen and set you in a firm direction.  Nothing else can do this.  Everything else changes.  The Lord teaches that He is the Lord our God and that He changes not (Psalm 15:4). God’s Word is an unmovable pillar that never changes.  You can and must build your life on the Word of God and nothing else.  Paul goes on to say that the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, revealed to Paul mysteries.  Paul had the incredible honor of teaching the Church the eternal truths of who we are and what we have because of the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus.  If we only had the gospels, we would know that the Lord Jesus died for us and rose again.  We would not know what His redemptive work did for us.  The Lord chose to teach Paul what belongs to us because of the Lord Jesus’ ‘work’ on our behalf. The Holy Spirit taught powerful truths to Paul.  These truths were recorded in the epistles (letters) of Paul and are written to build our faith in what Jesus did for us.  At the Bible School we attended, the founder always emphasized that much of our study of the Bible be in the epistles or letters to the church.  Since we are the church, it is so vitally important that we know what is ours so that we can take advantage of what Paul teaches.  Romans to Jude is where serious Christians need to spend a good deal of their Bible reding time.  Much of the power and success of your life and ministry are in the letters of Paul.  We were created by the Lord to continue the ministry of Jesus.  Who we are in Christ as taught to us by Paul plays a huge role.