Y'all know I don't carry that title. But guess what? My pastor do. And I'm proud to serve under him. On behalf of our pastor, the Reverend Dr. T. Jefferson Rogers, Jr. and Lady Rogers, our pastor emeritus, William Walker and Sister Walker, on behalf of our officers and all these preachers, all our members, and any visitors, we greet all of you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Truly, it's a blessing to be saved. Let us pray for a moment. Father, we bow before you in Jesus' name, so grateful and thankful, Lord, for this another opportunity to bow down before your holy throne of grace, and Father God, share with this your great people what you share with us we pray lord as I decrease increase please in Jesus name give a word of lord let everybody lead with a blessing bless our pastor lord wherever he is right now in his family in Jesus name amen with your bibles please turn with me to the book of Romans 6 chapter to verse 15. The Book of Romans 6th chapter verse 15. You found it? Yes, say Amen. Amen. The 15th verse of the sixth chapter of Romans begins this way, What then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid, that means certainly not. Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you being then made free from sin ye became servants of righteousness I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness for when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness what fruit had he then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death but now being made free from sin and become servants of God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Somebody ought to be shouting right now. Once wrapped up, tied up with a sin boat on me but because of Jesus Christ He didn't have to untie the boat to save it so it can be put back on again. He just tore it away and disposed of it. And he did it quickly. He didn't try to live to get 100 years old, for he set us free. He did it quickly. He got on the scene one year. Three years later, the job was done. The bowl of sin was disposed of. The price for our sins was paid once and for all. Hallelujah! That's something to shout about. I could see it if it was something just temporary, like so many folks make it seem like. People say, I've been born again. But when you look at lives, they make it seem like what Jesus did was temporary. They make it seem like it was not lasting. They make it seem like it can't even last for a day. But it was lasting. It was forever. It was once and it was for all. For all! Whosoever will, let him come. He didn't just die for you, he died for me too. That's something to be happy about. That's something to shout about. That's something to make sure we live a life for God. Amen? So the world don't feel like he did it all in vain. Boy, this book of Romans It serves as a flagship to the fleet of polling letters in the New Testament. This letter also loomed large in the history of Christianity. countless men and women of the faith have singled out Romans as the weapon God graciously used to bring about their surrender to Christ. Romans have been called the Christian Constitution, the Constitution of Christianity. the Christian manifesto and the cathedral of the Christian faith. Yet, one of the purposes that Paul wrote this letter was to prepare the Romans for his planned journey there. Oh, Paul had already planned that he would go to Rome, but sometimes you make a plan to go, you will go, but you don't know how you're going to go. He didn't know when he went he was going to be in chains. Also, it involved Paul understanding that believers needed to be established. In other words, believers needed to be set up on a firm and permanent basis. That's why I'm glad we ain't standing on the Constitution of the United States. Because it's subject to change at any time. You emancipated one minute, next minute you're a slave again. You got the right to vote, one minute, the next minute it's taken away. You got freedom of speech, one minute. And if we don't watch it, you ain't gonna be able to say what you want no more. If we don't watch it, you might have to die for talking about the name of Jesus Christ. Especially if somebody get in there that don't know nothing about him and don't want to hear nothing about him. It involves power. understanding that believers needed to be established. Therefore, Paul wanted to give them a well-instructed faith. He didn't want to just serve them He wanted some peas and a piece of meat on there too. He didn't want to give them a snack. He wanted to give them a full course meal. He don't want them eating and in five minutes they back at the table again. But he wanted to. Give them something. Instruct them in a way where when they get what they got and they do what it was supposed to do for them, that they wouldn't want nothing else but it. They wouldn't want nothing else but it. They wouldn't want nobody else but it. They wouldn't want to serve nobody else but Him. He wanted them well instructed in the faith. I don't know about you, but when I'm sitting in that pulpit or sitting over there on that pew, I ain't talking to nobody. I got my eyes locked in on the pastor. I got my ears glued to what he's saying. And I'm praying, God, help me to see what he's saying to me. He ain't just talking to you, but he's talking to me too. Sometimes preachers think the gospel ain't for them. Some of them think they already know more than the pastor do, but he's talking to me too. I want what he got, too. Because I don't know about y'all, but our pastor got something. Boy, he got something. And he got it for you and me. Let's give him a hand. I'm telling you. I'm telling you, you listen at that type of preaching, this type of doctrine that Paul got in the book of Romans second to none. He wanted them to be well instructed in the faith, making Romans a masterful presentation of God's plan of salvation for the Jews and for the Gentiles. Not only was one of his purposes to prepare Rome for his upcoming visit and to make sure that the children of God was well established in the faith. Finally, this letter is pastorial. Paul wanted to exhort Jewish and Gentile believers to live in harmony. In other words, he wasn't trying to force them to. He wanted to exhort. He wanted them to, he wanted to encourage them to. You shouldn't have to force no child of God to live in harmony with another child of God. You say you've been born again. I say I've been born again. They said they've been born again. We are all out to get along with one another. Nobody shouldn't have to come up in here and put no gun to my head to make me go over there and sit by you. Nobody shouldn't have to put no whip to my back to make me ask you, how you doing today? That ought to come automatic. It ought to come automatic. In other words, what I'm saying, if you've been born again and you can't do it, it's in you. So our job is to exhort. How about that? How about that? I said, if you've been born again and you ain't treating folks right, I'm telling you it's in you and it's our job to exhort you so we can hurry up and bring it out of you. Because the quicker it get out of us to our neighbors, the better off we will be. Oh yeah, it'll be a big help to them, but the better off we will be. What am I saying? I'm saying it's in you. If you've been born again, It's in you to live for Jesus. It's in you to love one another as I have loved you. It's in you, if a brother's overtaken and a father, ye with your spirit restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. It's in you to do good unto all men. especially them that are of the household of faith. So if you're not doing it, I dare you to keep on coming here. I dare you to keep coming to Bible study. I dare you to keep coming to hear the Word. Reverend Walker said, man, heart is like a rock, but the gospel is like a hammer. And every time a man hear that gospel, that hammer, hit that rock. Oh, sometimes it may not look like it in a month. It may not look like it in two months. Sometimes it may not look like it in two years. But look down the line, as often as you can get them to hear that word, as often as you can come to hear that word, after a while, that hammer keep hitting that rock, after a while you'll see a hairline crack. Now the gospel is going to start getting in. What am I saying? I'm saying that when the devil done had us most of our life. Somebody say all my life. When the devil done had us most of our life, and we get set free. Everything in us don't come out of us at the same time. God got to put us in the washing machine. Don't need now one of them to tumble the clothes. It need to agitate. It need to agitate. It needs an agitator. One that's going to agitate that dirt out of us. One that's going to agitate that hate out of us. One that's going to agitate that evil out of us. And then he ain't through. We need to go in the rinsing water. And then he ain't through. We need to dry out. where he'd have made us clean, where he'd have made us new, where he'd have made us whole. Oh me, oh man. What a God we serve. What a God we serve. It's in you, but it's our job through the word of God to exhort you. And that's what he had to do in his pastoral part of the Book of Romans to exhort Jews and Gentile believers to live in harmony. As in most of the early churches, The gospel, it brought different groups together who otherwise would have stayed apart for nationality reasons, status, or culture. But because they received the gospel, it brought them together. under one roof. And once they came together under one roof, listen to me good, the challenge was to preserve their oneness in Christ. It's in you, Saints. It's in you. You wouldn't be here today if it wasn't in you. You wouldn't come to church on Sunday if it wasn't in you. You wouldn't come if you didn't want all of it out you. Summer is already out, but all of it ain't out. That's why we got to keep on studying to show ourselves approved under God, a white man that need not be ashamed that we may rightly divide the word of truth. That's why so many sitting out there right now in Radio Land, in Facebook, and on YouTube need to come here. need to come here. I can understand it if you're not able, but if you're able, you need to come here. I wouldn't dare tell somebody every week I saw the pastor on Facebook while I'm out there washing my car. I saw him on Facebook while I was cutting my grass. I saw him on Facebook while I had my pajamas on. Hadn't even washed my face or brushed my teeth. I'll be shamed. I'll be shamed. Even if I didn't have no ride. The church bus is running. There are driver hills right there. I'll be shamed. I know COVID hit hard. And when it hit, it shook all of us up. It shook me up. I was in a place where folks were wiping all around me while I was sitting down. But guess what? When they got through wiping, I was wiping where they wiped, because I didn't know what they had. I know it shook us up. I know it shook us up. But the pandemic part of COVID is over with. The pandemic part is over with. We don't learn how to protect ourselves the best that we can. So I'll be shamed to be sitting at home when I'm able to come. That's what we need to do. Forsake not the assembly of yourselves together. And the more as you see the day approaching, this is what God wants for our life. The challenge was to preserve their oneness. Listen, preserve their oneness in Christ. Throughout this letter, Paul deals with problems arising from Jewish and Gentile differences. Listen to me good. We gonna have our differences. But look, know what we got in common. What we have in common is greater than any difference. What we have in common is greater than all the differences of all of us put together. What we have in common, our Lord Jesus Christ can overcome the world. He said, I have what? Overcome the world. Differences is the world. Tell me the world ain't in the church. When we got a single Jesus Christ that done died for our sins and done saved us and has gifted us with eternal life and you mean to tell me I'm going to be mad at you? You mean to tell me I hate you? You mean to tell me I can't sit by you? Uh-uh. I'm going to take you by the hand. We're going together. We're going together. The challenge, the challenge, once you get them Jews and Gentiles, They could all just be black folks. Once you get all of them under one roof, that's the roof up there. That's where the challenge begins. Now look what I just said. I said throughout this letter, Paul deals with problems that was arising. Boy, I wish I was a little bit taller to take it on up. In other words, what he was saying, what he was saying, he dealt with problems arising from Jewish and Gentile difference. When he said rising, he mean it started a little bit of problem. Somebody looked at you wrong. Somebody made a mistake and said the wrong thing. I heard so-and-so say so-and-so about me. She thinks she cute. Who he think he is? I'm a man just like he is. In other words, it started from something little. And guess what? Well, what caused it to start little? and get so big. It started off with, she looked at me the wrong way. Then it went to, girl, you know she looked at me the wrong way. She looked at me too. After a while, it's a group. Next thing you know, the husband's involved in it. The next thing you know, the children involved in it. The next thing you know, you've got hell in the church over something ain't worth even talking about. Well, when we put Jesus first, when we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, guess what? That problem, it stay right down there. It'll stay right down there. Amen. It'll stay right down there. Amen. I don't even want to pick it up, really, but I got to pick it up because I got to wipe my face. But look, the problem, it'll stay right down there. We can't get it mixed up, saints. This is what Paul wants us to see. not only see it with our eyes, he want us to hear it with our ears. Not only hear it with our ears, but he want us to take it in to our heart. And when it get in our heart, we can tell somebody else about it. When it get in our heart, we can win somebody to Jesus Christ. When it get in our heart, the church won't look like the world. When it get in our heart, we'll be meeting the challenge of preserving the oneness in Jesus Christ as we faithfully go to heaven together. Now, who in here want to leave somebody behind? Don't raise your hand. Don't put it up, please. Together, one body. This is what Paul is working his way to. He emphasizes. what everyone shared. Look, a child of God ain't supposed to look at nothing but what we would share, what we got in common. We looking at the wrong stuff. I don't care if she has got on a nice dress. Tell her, baby, that's your nice dress. Hey, if you want one, baby, where you get it from? It sure look good on you. Ask her, you think it'll look good on me if I get one? She'll probably tell you, oh, yeah, girl, it will. Brothers. We can compliment more than Deacon McClain. I compliment him every week, everywhere I seen him. I saw him at public. He wasn't in no suit, but I guess what? He was cleaner than me. I had my old work clothes on. He done did his working. I'm still working because I messed up while I was supposed to be doing my working. If I'd have did what I was supposed to, I might have met him in public with what he had on. We got to complement one another. We got to love one another. What I'm saying, children of God, is in you. It's in me. God wanted to come out. And what I love about God, He ain't trying to bring it out all at one time. But guess what? He ain't glad that the rest of it's still in there either. Growth in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Paul emphasizes what everyone shared. Since there is only one God, He is the God of both the Jews and the Gentiles. Since there is only one God, He's the God of the husband and the wife. Since there is only one God, He's the God of the deacons and the pastor. Since there is but one God, He's the God of this preacher and those preachers too. Since There's one God. He's a God of those ladies and these ladies too. Since there is but one God, He's a God of those men and these men too. Our aim is to preserve the oneness that we have. Do your best every day of your life to develop the oneness that we all have on the inside of us. Make sure that it come out. Don't wait to speak to folks when pastor tell you to go around and shake two or three hands. Some might be glad he said two or three. I'd be way around there, way around there. I'd be looking back. I'd be shaking folks' hands, looking back. They said, what? I said, I'm looking, trying to make sure the pastor don't beat me back in the pulpit. Meet as many as you can. Ask as many as you can, how you doing? If you ain't going to shake but two or three, go home knowing who the two or three was. Get home. Little child asks you, mama, did you shake hands? Yeah. Who hand you shook? Oh, no. What's wrong with saying my name is so-and-so? What's your name? How you doing today? Ooh, you got a pretty smile. Ooh, I love that dress. Boy, you sharp as a tack. We got to preserve the oneness. And let me show you what I'm saying. If we do this, what God will do, He will build around it. He'll build around this. When some of your old clique see you going hug in her neck, guess what? And they thought you would never do it like you've been talking about the folks. Guess what? After a while, God will build around it. Amen. Amen. Since there is. But one God, he is the God of both the Jew and the Gentile. Both groups, according to our text, are under sin. Both are saved through faith. in one body. They are both obligated to obey God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, if they do that, they can share three things. One, they can share a new liberty. You saw the scripture, when you yield your members as servants of sin, then the devil is your master. In other words, we get upset when folks say, you wasn't nothing but a slave. Well, we was a slave to the devil. He was our master. Now, if we enjoy this new liberty, we still a slave. But now, we a slave of God. Ain't that something? We a slave of God. Oh God, he like them old slave master now. You get out of line, he got a whoop. He more gracious. That's what I love about him. He don't get you just cause you mess up. He give you a chance to repent. When you say I'm sorry, he believe you. And guess what? He forgive you. And he cast your sins. in the sea of forgetfulness to remember them no more. In other words, when God did what he did through the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and through his resurrection, I am emancipated. And it wasn't no constitution of the United States. that emancipated me. I've been emancipated. Hallelujah. It wasn't no bill on the floor of Congress. I've been emancipated. And he did it quickly. He snatched me out. He spared my life. He saved my soul. He delivered me from death. You can experience that new liberty. It don't make sense to come to church 450 years and still die not set free. Let him set you free. Let him Bring all out of you that he put in you because of the death of Jesus Christ. Don't hold back. Let him have his way. Not only would you enjoy a new liberty, but guess what? You could have a new loyalty. Ah, don't tell me you wasn't loyal that day. Boy, I used to go down to the hill and she'd sing. Boy, they had that lit up dance floor. Every time Disco Daz came, I done left the girl. Come on, let's go. I had to go back and get her. Every time Disco Daz came on, I hit that floor. Every time Keith Swift came on, I hit that club. I was loyal. I took my bill money and bought suits to go to the club. I was loyal. I spent my bill money on bills and setting up the ladies' tables. I was loyal. But you can enjoy a new loyalty, being loyal to God. We were loyal to the devil and he didn't do nothing for us. We were loyal to the devil and he was killing us. We were loyal to the devil and he didn't die for us, but he came to steal, kill, and to destroy. A new loyalty, one to God, showing God grateful we are because of what He did for us. Oh, He didn't have to do it, but He did it anyway. And then we could say He did have to do it. See, because love made Him Ain't that something? Love made him do it. That's why I'm saying to you, if you love one another as I have loved you, by this shall all men know that you are my disciple. Love will make you do some things that will separate the church from the world. Not only would you enjoy a new liberty and have a new loyalty, But guess what? You can experience a new longevity. Oh, eternal life. Oh, I know we got to leave here. but eternal life. And then guess what? You could live longer down here, leaving the devil alone. I don't know about y'all, but he was trying to kill me. Oh, he was trying to kill me. I had to run for my life so many times and I wasn't doing nothing. He was trying to kill me. The subject of this lesson is meet Romans. Meet Romans. God, we see God's plan of salvation unfolded right before our very eyes. We can experience God's plan of salvation in our very hearts. We can testify about God's plan of salvation to the lost world as well as to one another. Meet Romans. May God bless you and may God keep you is our prayer. Amen. Let us continue praying for our pastor. He ain't flying, he's driving. Y'all know how dangerous it is out there on the highway. Keep him lifted up in your prayers. Keep his family lifted up. Keep Reverend Walker and Sister Walker lifted up. Keep our deacons and their families lifted up. All these preachers, And they, family, keep one another lifted up. And don't forget, love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have loved one to another. Let us make our circle. Good job. Good job. You got to replace the carpet up here. You need a burrow. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you so much. All right, that's fine. OK. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any special prayer requests? Sister Louise Madison. Sister Madison. Elaine Meeks. Elaine Meeks. OK. Sister Madison. Sister Clayton asked us to pray for her. Chrissy and April Clayton. OK. Mary Andrews lost her son. Foster and Meats. Asking that we pray for the family of that young man, the football player that passed away here. His family, Caden, I think his name was Caden Tellier. We'll just pray for that family. Do we have any other? Tameka. Jesus Christ. Do we have any others? Edward Dunn. And we will also ask, as Reverend Erskine said, that you keep Pastor Rogers lifted up as he's traveling. Let us pray. Our most gracious Father, we thank you for allowing us to come out to Bible study this evening, Father. Father, thanking you for the words that Reverend Erskine departed in us tonight, Father. Praying that we'll be able to take that word and make needed adjustments in our lives, Father. Father, we're praying for our pastor as he travels, Father. Asking, Father, that you would guide the wheel, Father. Asking that you would wrap your arms around him and his family tonight, Father. Then, Father, we pray for the ones that, what, the special ones that we had on the prayer, Father, asking that you would touch them, Father. Father, knowing that we can't meet them, Father, but asking that you meet them at every need, Father. Father, we thank you for traveling grace, Father. Father, as we depart, Father, we ask that you would bless everyone to be able to make it back to their destination safely, Father. Father, we're asking these blessings, your son Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen, amen.