The Good News is Calling

Hey guys, good morning, happy Sunday.

Welcome to His Hands Online.

We are jumping back into a series we started just a few weeks ago called This Good News.

We're studying Romans chapter 1, verses 1 through 17.

Romans 1:1–17

And if you read that section of Scripture, it's all about the good news of Jesus.

Paul talks about the good news in verse 1, verse 2, verse 3.

He mentions that phrase seven times in this first section alone because Romans is all about the good news of Jesus Christ.

Good news means that something has happened, something has taken place, and it's so monumental, it's so life-changing that we have to respond to it.

Sometimes things happen that are so big that all of us, as individuals, have to choose how we're going to respond.

We actually have almost a responsibility to respond.

And that happens sometimes in our world when the news is really bad, something tragic happens, and we've got to respond to this.

But sometimes something so good can take place, something so amazing can happen that you have no choice but to respond to it.

And that's what Romans is all about.

It's about the good news of Jesus, what he's done, who he is, what it means to follow him, what he really does for our lives, what it looks like to live connected to Jesus.

It is good news, and we've got to understand it and we've got to respond to it.

We started out by looking at the phrase, this good news is Jesus.

It's all about a person, it's all about who he really is.

And last week we talked about the fact that this good news is love.

And today we're going to talk about the fact that this good news, it's calling you out.

But before we jump into all of it, I want to introduce someone to you.

I've got some help this morning.

I've got a wingman or a wing person, a wing lady, I don't know the right phrase, but it's my good friend Irene Stout.

Hi, everyone.

Okay, so Irene, for uh for people who who go to his hands and maybe have never met you, give us some context for who you are, what you do here at his hands.

Okay, so what I do is I do lead the prayer ministry here.

It's something that I've been doing for a very long time, and I love doing it.

It's something it's it's a passion of mine, if you all who know me would know that probably.

Um but anyway, I also am an elder here, and it's an honor to do that as well, and a privilege, really.

And it's just really cool to be able to be used by God and to be put in the place where he wants you to be, because when you're there, you become very effective, and something happens in that place.

So it's just really exciting to be a part of this body.

Um, my husband and I have been here for a long time, since 2006, and it's been a blessing to my husband and I and to my children, because they all grew up.

Um, and also uh Justin got to be their pastor when he used to be youth pastor.

So, really, it's been a real blessing being part of the Well, Irene, seriously, thank you so much for being here to help me today.

You're gonna help us dive into scripture here in a little bit.

Um, I think it's very appropriate that one of the elders is here for a message on how this good news is calling us out, because I mean one of your roles as an elder is to call me out from time to time, which I don't mind.

Um, but seriously, if you're someone who really wants to go deeper in prayer, Irene does lead our prayer team, and I know many of us watching uh have been to his hands physically and you've been prayed for by the prayer team, you know what that's like.

Uh, if you want to learn more about prayer and learn how to really go deeper in prayer, we actually have a video series on prayer that Irene is in, and it's on his hands online right now.

Just go to his hands.online, search pray, and you'll see Irene.

Watch those episodes, learn.

We actually have another episode dropping this week and the next week.

So you'll wanna you'll wanna take that in because it's really good stuff.

All right, so back to this whole this whole conversation of this good news.

I want to start today by looking at Romans chapter 1, verse 7.

Romans 1:7

This is a really important piece of scripture.

Uh, it's actually something we looked at last week when we talked about the fact that God loves us, that this good news is love, which by the way, that's kind of a cliche to us.

We we hear that a lot.

Yeah, yeah, God loves us.

But the people that Paul was writing to, the people in Rome, uh, they weren't familiar with this idea of a loving God.

Their whole culture was all about the fact that God or the gods really hated people.

They at best could tolerate people, but they definitely didn't love people.

So when Paul says to the Romans, hey, God loves you, that was incredibly, unbelievably good news.

But there's a lot more to verse 7 than just the fact that God loves us.

And so, Irene, would you do me a favor?

Go ahead and read Romans 1.7 for us so we can dive in.

All right.

I am writing to you all in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people.

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Alright, so it's a it's a small verse.

It's small, but it's mighty.

Uh, and I want us to look at one specific word and really build off of that, and it's the word called.

It says that we are called by God.

Now, in the Greek language, that word called is actually this word, which is pronounced klatos.

Klatos.

And uh and there's another word in Greek that's very closely related to this word.

This word klatos is actually a part of this word, and it's the word uh eklesia.

Ecclesia.

And so um Irene actually speaks fluent Spanish, and I imagine, Irene, that uh that this word sounds a lot like a Spanish word that anyone who speaks Spanish will be familiar with.

Is that is that true?

Yes.

Okay, what what word would that be in Spanish?

Iglesia.

Iglesia.

And what does what does eglesia mean in Spanish?

Church.

Church.

I every time I hear that, it makes me hate the fact that I speak English because English is such an ugly language compared to like iglesia means and and we just say church.

Like this one syllable, harsh sounding, it's like uh what is what is love in Spanish?

Amor.

Amor, and it's just love.

It's like caveman language, but this is the only language that I speak.

So uh ecclesia or ecclesia, which sounds like egglesia, it means church.

I I combine those two together.

It means church.

And so this word church, ecclesia, it's it's actually related to that word clatos that we just looked at.

You can kind of see it right there, that K-L-E.

But this first part, E-K, ek, that's a preface in Greek which means out from.

And so uh this part means called, this part means out from.

What what this word ecclesia, which we translate church, literally translates.

What it literally translates to is the ones who have been called out.

The ones who have been called out.

It says in Romans 1 7 that we've been called by God.

We are the church.

We're the ones who God has has called out.

Now, normally in in our understanding of the phrase called out, it's a bad thing.

Like you don't want to get called out.

As a young person, I got called out all the time for talking too much.

I know that's a shocker, but it was constant.

In our understanding of the phrase called out, you don't want to be called out, it's bad, but that's not the connotation here at all.

I think a better understanding for us in our language might be the phrase called up.

It's not something that we say very often, but uh if you're a baseball fan, you've probably heard of a player being called up.

What that means is if they play for like a minor league team and the major league team says, we want that player on our team, we're ready to, we're ready to bring that player up, they're gonna call that player up from the minors.

And when they do that, it's them saying to that player, hey, we recognize that you're ready for something greater.

You're ready for something big.

And the moment that player answers that call, forever, for the rest of that player's life, they can say that they are a major league baseball player.

It doesn't matter if you only play one minute in a major league baseball game, you never have to describe yourself after that moment as anything other than a major leaguer.

You would never hear that person say, Yeah, I was a major and a minor league baseball player.

No, no, you're just a major league baseball player because you were called up into something more significant.

When Paul uses this phrase, called, when we when we read about the church in scripture, those who have been called out, it's not God calling us out saying, hey, something's wrong with you, get it together.

It's actually God calling us into something incredibly significant.

It's God bringing us to a place that we can never be on our own.

It's the same word, by the way, Klatos, that you would use if you were inviting someone to a place of honor at a banquet.

They would be called to that place.

That's what God is doing.

So, Paul in Romans 1.7, he's saying, hey, this good news is that God has called you out.

He has called you up, and he's inviting you to come to a place with him that you could have never imagined being before.

That is unbelievably good news.

But but I believe this, and I want you to hear this.

This is good news that goes over our heads a lot as followers of Jesus.

Because very often, very often we miss out on the full power of the good news, of this good news, because we forget that that we've been called into something new.

We've been called into something great by God, but that also means that we've been called out of what we were in before.

Because to step into this new life that God has created for us means that we've got to step out of the old.

And very often we we struggle to do that.

Very often we we forget that in order for us to fully embrace this good news, for us to fully embrace everything that Jesus has for us, we're gonna have to, we're gonna have to let go of some things.

That he's calling us to make a change, that he's calling us to let go of the old and step into the new.

If you think about Jesus in his life, he's always calling people.

He's always calling people to follow him.

And and the people he calls are pretty interesting people.

And one of the knocks against Jesus were the kinds of people that he called to be his disciples.

And so he had people who were prostitutes, he had people who were tax collectors, and and tax collectors were the worst of the worst.

They would have been more reviled than any other people in their culture because they were they were criminals, they were traitors, you name it, they extorted money from people.

We've talked a lot about tax collectors in the past.

They were the worst of the worst, and Jesus called one of them, Matthew, to be his disciple.

He called him out of being a tax collector, and he called him into being a follower.

But we have to understand about that is Matthew didn't he didn't do both.

He didn't work as a tax collector Monday through Friday, and then on the weekends, he was a disciple of Jesus.

He understood that in order to answer that call that Jesus had placed on his life, that he had to step out of what he was doing before.

I'm not saying that when Jesus calls us into a relationship with him, we have to quit our jobs.

But what I am saying is that when Jesus calls us into a relationship with him, that a part of that calling is the understanding that there's going to be a lot of things that need to stay in the past.

There's mindsets, there's attitudes, there's ways of thinking, there's there's ways of believing, there's ways of acting that that don't belong in this new life that we're called into.

That's that's the way of the world.

In fact, um, Irene, if you wouldn't mind turning to 1 Peter chapter 2, and reading, reading verse 9 real quick.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

These really go together.

Okay.

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people, you are a royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession.

As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

Irene, is there is there any aspect of that that like jumps out to you at all?

Is there like any any phrase there that you just like you you read it and it just does something for you?

Well, you see, I exact I know what it means to be called.

Okay.

And so when, especially you know my story.

So when God took a hold got a hold of me, I was like, this is it.

Like I knew that once he revealed that he is God and that he is actually died for me, and I really that became a truth in my life.

Everything that I thought I knew or I was I thought I had it together, I really didn't.

And my life transformed from that day forward.

It was like light bulb, revelation, he is real.

And when I left this convention, it wasn't a Christian convention, but when I left the convention and I went home, the Holy Spirit began to talk to me.

And so for me, I was in this world of darkness, because I really was.

And when I left that convention, I literally felt if I remember right, it was a real estate convention, right?

No, it wasn't a business convention.

It was a business convention, it was a marketing convention.

And you go to that, you're thinking you're going there to like be better at business, and you walk away with a-be like this major, you know, rich person or something.

But you walk away with a relationship with Jesus.

Oh my gosh, yes.

But it's like that, but I really, literally felt that I got pulled up.

I I'm gonna say that because that's exactly how I felt.

I had this heaviness, there was a lot going on in my inside me that when the Lord opened my eyes to the truth, I received it immediately.

And when I left, I was floating.

I'm literally saying this, I felt like I was floating on clouds.

Like lit, he pulled me out of this world, the things of the world, the thinking of the world, and he gave me, it's like he opened up this entire understanding of the kingdom of God that I never even understood yet, but it was like I knew there was more.

Like I just knew it.

So immediately I started to, I mean, we're talking Holy Spirit.

I had nothing, I had no background in Christianity, nothing.

I mean, we were Catholic, but we didn't practice, so I had really not no knowledge.

Right.

All I knew is that something happened on the inside of me that changed me, literally from the inside out.

Right.

And so things that, you know, Holy Spirit would tell me something, you gotta stop that.

Okay.

I I didn't even question that.

I was like, right, yes, I'll stop cussing.

Yes, yes, I will change the way I dressed.

Yes, you know, things.

I mean, those are little things you've done.

Yeah, there'll be certain things in your life, like behaviors, and and it wasn't, and I I've heard your story, so I know that it wasn't like a shameful thing.

It wasn't like, it wasn't like he was he was looking down on you.

You're feeling you're doing something that's been normal in your life up to that point, and all of a sudden now the Holy Spirit's saying, no, no, no, that's not for you, and you're like, oh, okay.

And you start just obeying him and all that.

But you understood when you said yes to Jesus, you understood that you were also having to say no to the old life.

Yes.

And I actually think that that's where, as Jesus followers, we get tripped up a lot, is that we almost try to we try to do both.

Uh, one of the famous stories of Jesus calling disciples is the story of him calling some fishermen to be his disciples.

And uh he tells the fishermen, drop your nets and follow me.

And I've often thought about the mental picture of what it would have been like if the fishermen had said, Yes, we're gonna follow you, but we're not gonna drop our nets.

And it's almost a silly picture, but it's the idea of these fishermen following Jesus but holding on to these large nets.

And how it would have just slowed them down.

It would have just kept them from being able to pursue Jesus.

Think about all the places Jesus had them go, and if they were dragging these nets behind them the whole time, they would have been completely encumbered.

But very often, as followers of Jesus, that's what we experience.

We wonder sometimes why am I not experiencing the peace that I read about in Scripture?

Why am I not experiencing the freedom?

You know, we we we don't live in bondage to sin.

We are not bound, if you're a Jesus follower, you've got to hear this, you are not bound to do anything that doesn't please the Lord.

Now, that doesn't mean you're not gonna struggle with it, that doesn't mean that you're not gonna be tempted by it, but if you believe that you have to, that's not true.

Because Jesus has freed you from it, he's called us out of darkness and into the light.

So you you're not you're not a slave to anything because you've been freed by Jesus, but but we have to believe that.

We have to, actually in scripture it says, consider yourselves in Romans later.

We'll read this as we keep going through Romans, consider yourselves free.

We have to think that way.

That you've been called into this new life and you can drop whatever version of your nets you have, you can drop those, and you can move unencumbered into this new life that God has for you.

Very often, as believers, we get tripped up because we we don't realize that in order to say yes to this calling, to step into a relationship with Jesus and to experience everything that He's got for us, it also means we've got to recognize that He's calling us out of the old.

And it actually says, uh 1 Peter 2.9 and Romans 1.7, great example of the fact that the Holy Spirit inspires scripture because two different authors, but those two scriptures are like right together.

Because Romans 1.7 says that we've been called to be God's own holy people.

And then it says in in 1 Peter 2.9, what did it say, his very own possession?

Very own possession.

Yeah.

He's called us to be his very own possession, his own holy people.

So I want you to think about that for a second.

You have been called by God to belong to him.

Now, now I don't know if that hits you the way that it's meant to hit you, but think about the fact that in our world, things gain tremendous value if they're in the possession of someone important, right?

So, like, no one wants anything that belongs to me.

No one, no one would ever say, hey, do you do you want do you want Justin's shoes?

Like, no, they no, I don't want Justin's shoes.

Why would it?

Maybe if they're in good shape and they they're the exact size, yeah, sure, I could use a pair, but but no one would want my shoes, right?

But like you might want Michael Jordan's shoes.

You know, that's a whole different thing.

Like, oh, these were once worn by LeBron James.

You're like, really?

For real?

Then I'm gonna put them up.

I'm a basketball fan, so I'm gonna put those up.

I'm gonna display them.

I'm gonna display some guy's used shoe on my wall at my house because that person is important.

Things gain value when they're in the possession of someone important.

So think about that in the context of God saying he's called us to be his own special possession, that we're his own holy people.

That word holy in the Greek is hagios, and it means that we're different.

It means that we're other, that we're not like everything else in the world, that we're special.

There's a truly beautiful idea there.

That word holy, hagios, it always means the things that are pertaining to God.

And so it's telling us that we've been called to be holy.

We've been called to be God's people, to belong to him.

That's a beautiful thing.

He's called us out, he's called us up, and we want to experience that.

We want to take hold of that.

He loves you and he's chosen you.

I mean, I really want you to hear that and let that sink in.

He's chosen you.

Matthew chapter 3, verse 13 says that Jesus, early in his ministry, that he walks around and he chose those whom he wanted to follow him.

Matthew 3:13

It's a really simple verse, but it's really powerful.

It says that Jesus walked around, he's like, I want that one, I want, yes, I want you, I want you.

And he wants you.

If you have ever once in your heart felt a stirring of the Holy Spirit, if you've ever once in your heart felt like God is speaking to you, like God's even just calling you to do something, that is God saying, I want you on my team.

I want you to be part of my kingdom, I want you to be part of my family.

I love you, I want you, and I'm calling you up.

I'm calling you out of the minors and into the majors, I'm calling you out of insignificance, I'm calling you into significance, into importance, I'm calling you out of darkness, I'm calling you into the light.

That's what's happening, but we have to believe, we have to believe that we've truly been called, that we've been called up, we've been called to live different, to be different, to walk in this entirely new way of living.

Where it's the Holy Spirit inside of us that's guiding us, it's the Holy Spirit inside of us that's that's helping us make decisions and have discernment, that it's not on us, it's not on our own intellect, our own power, our own knowledge, that it truly is a partnership now between us and God.

We've been called out of the old and into the new.

But if we don't answer that call, or if we try to answer that call but also still hold on to the old, we're gonna miss out on everything that God has for us.

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 says, Let us strip off every weight that slows us down and run the race that he's set before us.

Hebrews 12:1

Jesus has called you to belong to him, he's called you to be his.

And he has an incredible life where he has so many beautiful things planned for you.

And all you've got to do is answer that call.

And believe, believe in your heart that he's seen something in you that he genuinely desires.

I think it's very important for us as believers to know what we believe.

What you believe matters because everything you do, it's gonna come out of your belief.

It's gonna come out of that deep place in your heart where you, what do you really believe is true?

So I really want you to hear this.

You need to believe.

You need to believe that God loves you so much that he sees you not just for who you are today or who you've been, but he sees you for who you're meant to be, who you could be, who you're destined to be.

And he's so excited about who that person is, that he has called you, that he's chosen you to belong to him, to be his own special possession, for you to be his.

And he's called you out of darkness and into light, and he's telling you that you can live an entirely different life through the power that he gives you.

That you can experience all the peace and the grace, and we read it in Romans 1.7, he ended with saying, grace and peace, right?

That all the grace and the peace and the love and the goodness of God that that belongs in your life.

And all he wants you to do is believe that that's true and answer the call.

I mean, I hate to keep using a sports analogy, but they just work.

Like, does it annoy you that I use sports analogies?

Even a little bit?

Okay.

They work though.

There's something about sports analogies.

So I'm good.

Yeah, like like imagine if you're that minor league baseball player and you get the call from the majors, you're getting called up, but you just can't, you just can't believe that they would really want you.

And so you just end up saying, no, I think I'm just gonna stay here.

That would be, I mean, that would be ridiculous.

Everyone around you would say, What's wrong?

With you, answer the call.

Stop talking yourself out of it.

Clearly, they see something in you.

Clearly, they know what they're talking about.

Answer the call.

Or imagine what it would be like if you got called up and you're like, yeah, I'm so excited.

I think I'm gonna play for the major league team, but I also want to make sure I'm still playing for the minor league team at the same time.

Everyone would be like, no, pack up your bags, leave, go on.

You've been called up.

Don't try to play both.

Some of us watching this, we've we've answered the call before.

You've given your life to Jesus.

And we all struggle with things, and we all we all struggle sometimes to shed those old habits, those old ways of thinking.

That's what they are.

They're habits, they're patterns that we just got used to.

And sometimes when we do that over and over again, especially after we know the Lord, we start to believe that maybe we're stuck, maybe, maybe we really don't have freedom, maybe we really can't move past some of these issues that keep us held back.

That's not true.

You can strip it off, you can throw it off, but you have to believe that this calling is real.

You have to believe that he's given you the power to do everything that he's called you to do.

God would not call you to be someone if you couldn't be that person.

You can't do it in your own strength through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You can.

So answer the call.

Believe with all your heart that he loves you, that he's chosen you, that he's called you up, that he's called you to be his own special possession, that you are holy in his sight.

Because he's made you holy, believe that and answer the call.

And if you're watching this, if you're listening to this and you've never given your life to Jesus, he's calling to you.

He loves you.

If you feel anything in your heart whatsoever, any stirring whatsoever, that's the Holy Spirit.

He's saying that he loves you, he's saying that he wants you.

Answer the call.

It's real.

Answer the call.

Irene, before we wrap up, anything else that you want to add?

Anything that jumps out to you as we're talking about this?

I think you know a lot about the Holy Spirit and when he calls you.

Well, that's the when you mentioned Holy Spirit, you know, he is the one that empowers us.

I I could not have shed the things that were holding that I thought was good and you know what I mean, and in society and what society was saying to me at the time.

I could not have shed those things unless Holy Spirit.

And so, but I had to make a decision.

And once I made that decision, the power of the Holy Spirit is active because God ain't gonna do nothing unless you are willful.

You have to be willing.

You can't just, you know what I mean?

It's not like He's gonna go to you and go, okay, I'm gonna take that away.

You've got to make a decision.

And once you do, and that weight, because that weight of sin, once that weight comes off, because you're no longer tied to that weight, oh my goodness.

It's like, it's almost like the world really opens up and it gets even brighter as we let go more things.

And then he starts to teach you and he starts to position you in a way that nobody else can.

In other words, you start to find yourself loving people.

You feel you begin to find yourself wanting to pray for people, you begin to find yourself wanting to know more about God.

That to me was a big thing.

Now that I I got saved and I got to know, I mean, I wouldn't say saved, I got to that revelation, I need to know who you are.

That's what I told the Lord, I need to know who you are.

So guess what I did?

I got the Bible and I began to read it.

And it was, I'm talking King James at the time.

We're talking a long time.

These and bows of the balls.

These and bows.

These and bows, yeah.

And I, but you know what the coolest thing is?

The Holy Spirit opened those scriptures up to me that I was able to read it and understand what I was reading.

So it became like no big deal.

Like I would read it, I'd be like, wow, this is awesome.

I'm looking up, and the Holy Spirit would convict me when he needed to convict me because there's some things in there, I'm like, oh, really?

That's what that says, you know?

And I but had to make a decision.

Am I willing to follow God all the way, or I'm just gonna stop partial?

And I didn't want to be, I'm not that person.

That's my personality.

My personality is like, we're jumping.

Yeah, you're you're an all the way connected.

So I can't just, you know, go, ah, I'm stuck.

No, I'm going all the way.

But I'm gonna tell you right now, it's the best thing I ever did.

I I there's nothing else in this world.

In other words, you know that parable Jesus said about um the merchant?

You know, and he goes and he finds this great pearl of great prize.

He sells everything.

He sells everything.

That's literally what I felt like.

Like, I found this amazing, amazing thing.

Like this thing was so valuable to me that I'm not gonna let nothing keep me from it.

And I was gonna go all the way.

I'm going all the way in.

And that's and that that's what the Lord really desires.

He wants all of us because he knows where we're at.

He knows the little things that we worry about, he knows, and he cares about them.

That's what's cool, and he wants to be part of your journey.

It's a partnership, it's a relationship.

Yes, and it's a beautiful thing.

And and I think, you know, I've I've known Irene for a long time, and and and I've gotten to see through you and through other people in my life and in my own personal life what happens when you do answer that call.

And I've experienced this, God's kind of always calling to us.

You know, every time I think I've taken every step that he wants me to take, I realize, oh, there's this whole other aspect that I haven't experienced yet.

And he calls out to us.

And so just understand this, Jesus followers.

You've been called.

He's called you out, he's called you out of the old and into the new.

So answer that call.

Don't try to don't try to follow him and drag your nets with you.

That's just gonna slow you down.

If there's anything in your life that you know it's not from him, you know it's not good, let it go.

Let it go.

And believe that you can let it go.

Believe that he's given you that strength and say yes 100% yes to the call that he's put on your life.

Because it'll change everything.

It'll change everything, and you'll never be the same.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much for the fact that you have called us, that this good news of Jesus is calling us, that we're the ones that have been chosen, that we've been picked.

Lord, if I was starting a team, I would not pick myself.

But the idea that you've chosen me to be your friend, to be your child, to be your follower, to be part of your kingdom, God, it blows me away and it fills me with such humility.

Lord, I just pray right now for every single person who's watching this, who's listening to this, who's felt that call that you've put on their life.

And I pray, Lord, that they say yes with all of their might.

That they trust you.

And that, Lord, there's a willingness in their hearts to let go of anything that needs to be let go of so that they can fully embrace what you've called them to be and what you've called them to do.

I pray that in your name, Jesus.

I pray that you encourage us.

Lord, thank you so much for all that you are, for all that you've done for us.

In your name we pray.

Amen.