Okay, real quickly, let's just talk about, you know, the very first word of Romans is what? Look back down your Bible, what's the very first word of verse one? Paul. I think sometimes we don't really understand Paul's life, so I thought I'd give you a 30 second, better be 15 second, it's quarter till. Paul's life has 10 stages. Number one, he's saved about A.D. 33 in Acts 9, and look at that arrow. Most people don't even know this. Paul trained for 14 years before he served for only 10. That is not the American way. I mean, we tell kids, get out there and go. I mean, you'll learn it all later. Go. I mean, that's I won't name any, but I mean, I grew up with campus ministries coming to our church and saying, you don't need to go off to school, just go serve the Lord now. I go, oh, man. It's not the pattern of the scriptures, okay? I mean, how long did Moses train? Actually, 80. First 40 were in Pharaoh's court, and then the second 40 were in the backside of the desert. Then he got his ministry. He only served the last lap, the first two 40-year laps for training. So Paul gets saved, he goes to Galatians, in Galatians it says he goes to Arabia and he's trained by Jesus. I mean, wow. To actually have Jesus, Paul said, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to Scripture and that he was buried. He was serious. Jesus told him that. He wasn't there. He wasn't at the Last Supper, but he gives us the most complete celebration of the Lord's Supper. Why? Where he went to school. You talk about Ivy League? I mean, he went to the top. A couple years, then he goes back home. This is the part most people don't even count. He was at home in Acts 9, 23 to 30. Did you know that's seven years? Just those seven verses in the Bible are seven years of church history. He's in Tarsus. When you look at the list of all of Paul's maladies, you know that he had all these stripes and stones and beatings and all this stuff, and you look at Acts, you don't find them all. I think a lot of them happened at home. I mean, he went back home, and can you imagine having Paul in Tarsus for seven years? I bet there was no house un-knocked on the door by Paul. I mean, if I'm going to be here, I'm going to learn it in home. But then, Barnabas finds him. See how long it's gone? It's ten years. After Paul's conversion in 43 in Antioch, Barnabas finds him in Acts 11, 25 to 30, and says, I'm going to disciple you. Boy, everybody needs a Barnabas. Even Paul. And Barnabas discipled him. And you can read, that's when they first were called Christians. I started out yesterday with that. And then he starts his public ministry, 14 years later. Wow. And he starts 10 years of amazing ministry. First missionary journey, second missionary journey. Oh, by the way, look at the byproducts of this. He has his first missionary journey and then he writes to all of them and does Galatians and then first Thessalonians from the city of Corinth, second Thessalonians from the city of Corinth, first and second Corinthians back to Corinth, Romans from the city of Corinth, Titus from the city of Corinth. Corinth was the most important ministry city for Paul. He wrote two letters to him, four letters from them. Some of the most important books of the Bible. Ten years he spends in ministry. And then, look at God's plan. The man he spent 14 years training, deployed for 10 years on the front, he sets him aside for the last decade of his life. I meet people all the time, they're just lamenting this period of their life. Oh, I'm out of work. Oh, I'm, you know, under the weather medically. Oh, you know, I don't have any money. Oh, whatever. Can you imagine Paul had a hard, alone, suffering decade as a prisoner of Rome? He spent almost 10 years, most of them chained, to rough characters, Roman soldiers, that cursed by the gods and loved to drink and kill and fornicate. You know what I mean? They just were... And he was chained to them. So what did he do? Get a therapist? Help him? A little Zantac, you know, or whatever, you know, to help him? What did he do? What we're all supposed to do. He just led them all to Christ. Did you know that we find gospel outposts at the furthest parts of the Roman Empire? I just was teaching in England and we took, one of our field trips for our class, we took them to Hadrian's Wall. You know, that bisects the British Isles and kept all the ruffians up north, you know, and the Roman civilized people were down below. Do you know what they find at the camp that's right on Hadrian's Wall? The commander's house had a church in it. How did the commander of the legions of the north of Britannia become a Christian? I wonder if he wasn't chained for a while. That's this unusual man. Because they rotated those soldiers all the time. and they were on duty, you were part of, the only special soldiers guarded Paul because they had to be the Emperor's personal soldiers because he was headed for an appointment with the Emperor and if he got lost they would kill the soldiers so they had special kind of like secret service guys that kept Paul in line and those men were some of the most trusted and decorated soldiers and God gave Paul 10 years to evangelize as many jail keepers, as many centurions, as many soldiers as were chained to him as possible. And you know what he wrote in Philippians? Those of Caesar's household greet you. I mean, they were coming to Christ. So I like the way God does stuff. It's totally different. God got him to Rome and killed him and only used him for 10 years in what we would say is public ministry. He prepared him for 14. And then he left him alone to suffer everything he suffered and do the greatest evangelism and writing ministry. Look what he wrote from prison. Luke and Acts were written for his case by Luke. He wrote Ephesians, what a book. Philippians, how encouraging. Colossians, everything you need to know if you never met Paul because he never went to Colossae. What a book that is. Philemon, how to treat, you know, if you're big shot, how to treat those under you, Anesimus. And then look at the pastoral epistles, and right in the middle there, Titus. Amazing.