{"id":1106,"date":"2009-07-30T16:46:45","date_gmt":"2009-07-30T22:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1106"},"modified":"2009-07-30T16:46:45","modified_gmt":"2009-07-30T22:46:45","slug":"romans-115-listening-and-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-115-listening-and-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 1:15 – Listening and Ready"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 1:15<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, as much as is in me,<\/span> I am<\/span><\/em> ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul was ready to risk his life to obey God\u2019s call in his life.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The expression \u201cI am ready<\/span>\u201d is translated from prothumos<\/span><\/em>, which is a compound word made up of pro<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cbefore or forward\u201d and thumos<\/span><\/em>, which refers to \u201ca temperament, passion, or mindset.\u201d This word means \u201cpredisposed, willing, or ready\u201d to do what is expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreach the gospel<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word euangelidz\u014d<\/span><\/em>. This is another compound word which is made up of eu<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cgood or well\u201d and angell\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto announce, proclaim, or tell.\u201d Hence, euangelidz\u014d<\/span><\/em> refers to \u201cproclaiming or telling the good news\u201d that Christ has paid our sin debt for us by His death on the cross.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul continues on with the idea that was started in the previous verse. He is compelled to preach the Gospel to the Greeks and the barbarians, and now he is saying that he is also ready to preach the good news to the people in Rome. Paul was completely submitted to God and committed to whatever God wanted him to do! Keep in mind that this was written during the reign of Nero who hated Christians. Yet Paul was willing to risk his life to proclaim the gospel message.<\/span><\/p>\n

In yesterday\u2019s verse I asked you if you knew what God has called you to do and whether or not you feel compelled to do it. I\u2019m sure that some of you responded with the question, \u201cHow do I know what God has called me to do?\u201d That\u2019s a question that many Christians wrestle with today. <\/span><\/p>\n

The only way to know what God has called you to do (or what God is calling you to do) is to be in constant communication with Him. Now, I can already hear some of you saying, \u201cBut I pray to Him constantly!\u201d and I\u2019m sure some of you do. But you will notice that I said \u201ccommunicate with\u201d not \u201ctalk to.\u201d Communication requires a two way conversation. Sometimes we Christians get so busy talking to God that He can\u2019t get a word in edgewise and even if He did, we wouldn\u2019t hear it because we are so busy talking.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOK,\u201d you say, \u201cwhat do I need to do to hear God\u2019s message for me?\u201d The first thing you need to do is to be quiet. Then you need to listen. Note that \u201clisten\u201d is an active verb not a passive verb. Listening is something that we do intentionally and it takes effort. We need to listen to God speaking to us when we hear a sermon. We need to listen to God when we read and study our Bible. We need to listen to God when we are praying. Sometimes, the best way to listen to God is to get away from all the distractions of life and just listen. It could be in a quiet, out of the way place outside somewhere, or it could be while you are sitting in the bathtub or standing in the shower preparing for the day ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42<\/span><\/strong>)? Martha was so busy she didn\u2019t have time to listen to the Lord. Mary, on the other hand, sat at His feet and listened.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you busy, or are you listening?<\/span><\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/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 \"\"(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<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 1:15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. Truth to Learn Paul was ready to risk his life to obey God\u2019s call in his life. Behind the Words The expression \u201cI am ready\u201d is translated from prothumos, which is a […]<\/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":[119,428,429,430],"class_list":["post-1106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gospel","tag-listening","tag-preach","tag-ready"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-hQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106","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=1106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}