Paul’s parting words to the church in Rome disclose three important characteristics of an authentic disciple of Jesus: Christians love one another, protect the Truth, and give thanks to God. In today’s devotional, Dr. Michael Youssef discusses these characteristics in more detail.
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[00:00:00] You are listening to My Devotional, the Daily Devotional from Dr. Michael Youssef and Leading
[00:00:06] The Way.
[00:00:09] Authentic Discipleship by Dr. Michael Youssef
[00:00:13] Paul's parting words to the church in Rome in Romans 16 disclose three important characteristics
[00:00:20] of an authentic disciple of Jesus.
[00:00:24] Christians love one another, protect the truth, and give thanks to God.
[00:00:31] Love One Another
[00:00:32] Most of Paul's letters end by emphasizing the importance of participating in genuine loving
[00:00:38] relationship with fellow believers.
[00:00:40] From the list of names in Romans 16 we see the apostle care deeply about each individual
[00:00:46] person, not just the church as a whole, and no doubt prayed for the believers of
[00:00:51] the cities he visited by name.
[00:00:55] Protect the Truth
[00:00:57] Paul also understood we can't properly love people if we don't also love truth.
[00:01:02] That's why we must protect truth and stand against the greatest harm to the Christian community,
[00:01:08] the undermining of God's word.
[00:01:10] As believers we must allow the Bible to have authority over our lives.
[00:01:15] When we give Scripture its proper place it will weed out any false teaching that
[00:01:20] threatens to take our eyes off Jesus as revealed in Scripture.
[00:01:25] And give thanks to God.
[00:01:28] Like Paul, who is grateful for his salvation and sanctification is apparent in each of
[00:01:33] his epistles, we too must readily praise God for our redemption and renewal.
[00:01:39] As authentic disciples we must daily thank our Lord not only for calling us but for
[00:01:45] transforming us day by day into people who reflect our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ.
[00:01:52] Let's pray together.
[00:01:53] God, thank you for your grace and compassion for us.
[00:01:57] We praise you for the wonder of your love displayed through Jesus Christ and the precious
[00:02:02] gift of salvation.
[00:02:05] May you be glorified eternally.
[00:02:08] We pray this in the name of Jesus.
[00:02:10] Amen.
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