![\"\"](\"\/Banner-MOG-60.gif\" "\\"Ministry")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Romans 1:13<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Paul had intended to visit Rome several times, but it wasn\u2019t yet part of God\u2019s plan for Paul.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The word \u201cunaware<\/span>\u201d is translated from agnoe\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which is made up of the privative a<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cnot\u201d and noe\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto perceive\u201d or \u201cto understand.\u201d Therefore, we can see that agnoe\u014d<\/span><\/em> means \u201cignorant or unaware.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlanned<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word protith\u0113mi<\/span><\/em>, composed of pro<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cbefore, in time or location\u201d and tith\u0113mi<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto place.\u201d It means \u201cto place before, in the mind.\u201d In other words, it means \u201cto give thought to ahead of time, to intend, or to plan ahead of time.\u201d<\/p>\n The word \u201chindered<\/span>\u201d is from k\u014dlu\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto hinder, weaken, prevent, or restrain.\u201d<\/p>\n Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I really enjoy the tenderness that Paul shows toward other believers. He could easily have started off this verse with, \u201cYou, brothers and sisters, are ignorant of the fact that I have often intended to come visit you \u2026\u201d but in such matters he is much kinder. He says, \u201cI do not want you to be unaware<\/span>.\u201d The implication is very clear, they were unaware, and he didn\u2019t want that to be the case.<\/span><\/p>\n Paul had wanted to visit Rome for some time, and apparently had made plans to do so on numerous other occasions, but he was prevented from doing so. We don\u2019t know specifically what hindered Paul. It is likely that it simply wasn\u2019t God\u2019s timing.<\/span><\/p>\n His reason for wanting to be with the Roman Christians, as we said earlier, was to share a spiritual gift, probably a message of strengthening and encouragement. He elaborates a little more on his reason for wanting to come in today\u2019s verse, \u201cthat I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other nations.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/em> Paul was not looking to share a plate of dried figs with them, that\u2019s not the type of fruit that he is talking about. He\u2019s talking about the fruit that comes about as a result of the Spirit of God working in people\u2019s hearts.<\/span><\/p>\n You will notice that Paul\u2019s objective is to do that which will ultimately bring praise to God, not what will ultimately bring praise to Paul. This Paul is dramatically different from Saul of Tarsus, who persecuted Christians for personal gain and because of personal zeal. He is still a zealot, but now that zeal is focused on the work of God<\/em> rather than on the work of Paul<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Are you a zealot today? Is there something that you are so totally committed to that you place it above all else in your life? If so, what is it? Is it your children? Is it your business? Is it your husband or your wife? Is it your health? Is it your retirement? These are all good things to be zealous about, but they are all the wrong things if you\u2019re not first zealous about serving God, and doing so His way.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s good to be committed to a cause but don\u2019t let that commitment take you in a direction other than where God wants you to go!<\/span><\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Romans 1:13 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. Truth to Learn Paul had intended to visit Rome several times, but it wasn\u2019t yet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[424,394,425],"class_list":["post-1100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fruit","tag-ignorant","tag-unaware"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-hK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"\/signature.gif\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/space.gif\")
(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:![\"e-mail](\"\/Will_e-mail.gif\")
<\/p>\n