Romans 16 Don’t look now, but the sleeping giant is waking up!
1 Now I introduce and commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deaconess (servant) of the church at Cenchrea, 2 that you may receive her in the Lord [with love and hospitality], as God’s people ought to receive one another. And that you may help her in whatever matter she may require assistance from you, for she has been a helper of many, including myself. 3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their own necks [endangering their very lives] for my life. To them not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 5 Also greet the church that meets in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the first convert to Christ from [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor]. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked so hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and [once] my fellow prisoners, who are held in high esteem in the estimation of the apostles, and who were [believers] in Christ before me. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, the one tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet my beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, an eminent and choice man in the Lord, also his mother [who has been] a mother to me as well. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all God’s people who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
Can you imagine after the rapture getting to meet and greet all these saints all over the world who have played a role in this ministry? This is so awesome, we can hear so many testimonies, meet so many saints all of whom are filled with faith.
17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep your eyes on those who cause dissensions and create obstacles or introduce temptations [for others] to commit sin, [acting in ways] contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. Turn away from them. 18 For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites and base desires. By smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting [the innocent and the naive]. 19 For the report of your obedience has reached everyone, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
Amen. We are getting wonderful news that public support for BLM has crashed after people have learned more about what they are really all about. Meanwhile parents are flooding school board meetings and voting them out while opposing Critical Race theory. Kudos to them as well. There are still others who are standing up to these laws that say they must have transgender males share lockerrooms and showers with girls in Christian high schools. Still others are seeing the hypocrisy in keeping strip clubs and casinos open during the pandemic but locking down churches. We just learned that one governor who approved of young children receiving transgender operations had received $250,000 from those that would profit from doing these operations. Also a tv show directed at 3-8 year olds teaching them how to be drag queens received national attention when Tucker Carlson put the spotlight on it. Public TV is now trying to defend this filth. Still others are getting involved in precinct politics and from the ground up taking over the politics in this country to push back on this attempt to turn the US into Sodom and Gomorrah. Recently there was an issue with one of the George Floyd statues and someone was complaining to me about him. "Why did they make a statue to him" they asked. They mentioned others whose death seemed far more unjust. I explained that George Floyd is designed to split the nation. If you had a person who clearly was killed unjustly the whole nation would agree, if you had a person who clearly was killed by the police in self defense again you would have the whole nation agreed. Glorifying George Floyd is right in the middle, designed to cause dissensions and to create obstacles and introduce temptations to others to sin.
The [wonderful] grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. 21 Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. 22 I, Tertius, the writer (scribe) of this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church here, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. 24 [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.]
There are so many different functions needed. Talk radio is essential at getting the word out, many do their own podcasts. Others work producing these. Still others are setting up platforms that support and defend free speech, preventing the tech giants from censoring them.
25 Now to Him who is able to establish and strengthen you [in the faith] according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [of the plan of salvation] which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now has been disclosed and through the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the commandment of the eternal God, leading them to obedience to the faith, 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forevermore! Amen.
And yes, there is a place for those of us who are preaching Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past. My whole life I just wanted to know what the Bible said and I suspect there are many others who would like to know as well. Recently it occurred to me that Joe Biden allegedly got 80 million votes in this last election and eight months later his support is now less than half of that. Still there might be 40 million people that support Joe Biden being president. So I asked how many people would support Jesus? 400 million, sure, of course. How about 4 billion people, again that is quite likely. Even among those who are not Christians Jesus is highly regarded, much higher than Joe Biden. What about the leaders of the other superpowers, do you think Xi or Putin is more popular than Joe Biden? I doubt it. That is why they are terrified of Christians! We easily have 1 billion people who will be obedient to the Lord by faith and how many do they have? The only ones who are obedient to them are the ones they write fat checks to. There are only so many multi million dollar checks they can write. They don’t have a single person that would be as obedient and faithful as hundreds of thousands of genuine Christians.