Concerning His Son • Romans 1:1-7 • Sunday, December 21, 2025

The Power of Being Chosen: Understanding Your Sequel in Christ

When we think about movie sequels, what makes them compelling? They continue a story with the same beloved characters, building on what came before while moving the narrative forward. This same pattern reveals something profound about our faith journey and the message of the Gospel.

The Gospel: God's Ultimate Power

At the heart of Christian faith lies a simple but revolutionary truth: the Gospel is the power of God for salvation. This isn't just religious language—it's a declaration that transformation comes not from within ourselves, but from something far greater. We live in a world that constantly tells us to find power within, to be our own heroes. But the reality is starkly different: we are not superheroes, no matter how much we might wish otherwise.

The power to change lives, to grant forgiveness, to offer eternal hope—this power belongs exclusively to God through Jesus Christ. It's a power that doesn't just modify behavior or inspire temporary change. It transforms at the deepest level, bringing dead things to life and making the impossible possible.

The Prequel: Promises Kept

The Gospel didn't appear out of nowhere. It was promised beforehand through prophets in the Holy Scriptures—what we know as the Old Testament. Imagine living in those final 400 years before Christ, a time of divine silence when no new prophetic word came. The waiting must have felt endless, the hope sometimes dim.

Yet all of that ancient testimony was pointing toward one person, one moment, one world-changing event. Every promise, every prophecy, every hint in the Old Testament was a prequel leading to the main feature: Jesus Christ.

Two Natures, One Savior

The Gospel reveals something remarkable about Jesus: He needed to be both fully human and fully divine. Why? Because salvation required it.

As a true human being, descended from David's line, Jesus could keep God's law perfectly on our behalf. Every moment of His life mattered—not just His death on the cross, but every day He lived in complete obedience to God's commands. He did what we could never do: He lived a perfectly holy life.

But He also needed to suffer and die in our place. Only a true human could stand in for humanity. Only someone who experienced our flesh, our temptations, our struggles could truly represent us.

Yet being human wasn't enough. Jesus also needed to be the Son of God. Why? Because only someone of infinite value could be worthy enough to save all of humanity for all time. Think of it like a trade: if you were going to exchange one person for the entire population of earth throughout all history, that one person would need to be of immeasurable worth.

Only Jesus, as God's Son, qualified.

His resurrection proved it. There is no greater power than conquering death itself. When Jesus rose from the grave, God was declaring: "Exchange made. Gift given. Perfect offering accepted."

Grace: The Five-Letter Gift

Grace. Five letters that contain everything. It's God saying, "I want you to be Mine. I want you in My family." Grace isn't just forgiveness—though it includes that. It's every gift God can possibly provide: faith itself, eternal life, His presence, His power, His love, His mercy.

These are gifts we don't deserve. They can't be earned or worked for. They can only be received. And they're all wrapped up in that single word: grace.

Called and Chosen

Here's where it gets personal. God doesn't just offer salvation to humanity in general. He calls specific people. He chose you. He made a deliberate effort to bring you into His family.
Being called means being set apart, being chosen. It means God looked at you and said, "I want you." Not because of your merit or worthiness, but out of pure love. Through baptism, through His Word, through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, God called you to belong to Jesus.

The Power of a Clean Slate

Consider this: What if someone's past reputation made them seem unworthy? What if their history was marked by serious mistakes and poor choices? Does the Gospel still apply?
Absolutely. The Gospel's transforming power means exactly what it says. When God forgives, the past is truly forgiven. The slate is clean. The person is renewed. Society may have a long memory, but God's grace creates something entirely new.

This is what it means to be called a saint—not because of perfect behavior, but because of God's grace in Christ. Every morning we wake up with the gift of His grace, with forgiveness renewed, with the joy of belonging to Him.

Your Sequel: Living in Response

So what comes next? If the Gospel is the main story, what's your sequel?

It's a life lived in response. Because we've been called, because we've been chosen, because we've been loved by God—now we live differently. We share this good news. We love because He first loved us. We show mercy because we've received mercy. We extend grace because grace was extended to us.

This isn't about guilt or obligation. It's about natural overflow. When you truly grasp that you've been chosen and loved beyond measure, your life becomes a response to that love.

Peace That Endures

The message concludes where it must: with grace and peace. Grace that we receive becomes grace that we give. Peace that we feel becomes peace that we portray to a world desperate for both.

This is the continuing story—not a rerun, but a fresh, powerful message that transforms over and over again. The Gospel has that power, and it's available to you today, right now, in this moment.

You are called. You are chosen. You are loved by God. That's not just ancient history—that's your story, your sequel, beginning now.

(Content generated by PulpitAI based on sermon transcript)