Mon Sep 22

Listen up, little ones

Listen for the words gospel and God.

Reading

Romans 1:1-4—The Gospel of God

Keys for kids

• Paul was a willing slave to Jesus.
• As Jesus’s slave, Paul was devoted to the gospel.
• The gospel is about how God saves sinners.

Questions

1. What is Romans about?
2. Why did Paul want to go to Rome?
3. Whose gospel is it?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors Today’s notes are from a commentary on Romans by Stuart Olyott)

What is this letter about? It is about the gospel. … Why did he want to go to Rome? To preach the gospel! Why was he writing instead? Because it was not possible for him to go to Rome, he did with his pen what he could not do with his lips. Romans is an explanation and summary of the gospel.

[The gospel] is not a human invention; it is ‘the gospel of God’ (1:1). It is not an afterthought by God, but something to which all the Old Testament Scriptures have been pointing. There is not one message in the Old Testament and another in the New. The gospel is the climax and fulfilment of what God had long promised through his prophets (1:2).

The centre of this gospel … is the Son of God, ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’ (1:3). The gospel is a person. He is a man, and he is God. You can trace back his human ancestry, and can see that he is a direct descendant of David. … His real identity was powerfully declared when he was raised from the dead. … he was ‘declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead’ (1:4). This divine person is the centre and focus of the gospel of God.

Swedish Method questions

Praise

Psalm 2a, 119t

Prayer

1. Give thanks for the work of Jesus to save sinners like you.
2. Pray for a specific application from yesterday's sermons.
3. Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.