God calls for leaders. God calls for men and women who will father this generation into greatness and glory. The clarion sounds loudly.  It is a necessity.

Elisha examples the kind of father for whom the Lord seeks.

“So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.”

2 Kings 5:9 KJV

Consider yourself in this situation. Naaman, a powerful man, hears that Elisha has power to heal. The entire nation and nations around have heard of them miracles surrounding Elisha. The king depends on him. The people depend on him. Other nations depend on him. They depend on him to intercede with God and bring solutions. This is the kind of father leaders God seeks. Men and women to whom others will come for leadership. God is looking for spiritual fathers connected into His power and grace.

Elisha meets this day with exact solution.  His instructions to Naaman result in a full healing.  But that is not our story.

“So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.”

2 Kings 5:9 KJV

The world comes with its horses and chariot and stands at the door of the spiritually equipped father leader.  Protests erupt in our streets over the right to keep our rights and live with them.  Riots erupt seeking an anarchist destruction of peacefulness.  Black lives matter.  They do. A cancer lives in our nation that just does not seem to ever be resolved in racism, bigotry, and control.  It infects Black lives, Indigenous lives, and Latinx lives in ways no governmental interruption can resolve.  People call for a reordering of our systems of help in the community with less force and more compassion.  Prostitution  and human trafficking abound.  Anger, abuse, alcoholism, and addiction rule our homes.  Petty failures become prison sentences and our prisons are holding cells for the mentally ill beset with a plague of depression, anxiety, and addiction. Naaman stands at our door with all his horses and chariot and looks for a solution.

And the church hides.  We hide behind worldly solutions. We cower like the servant of Elisha.  In another situation, when Elisha was beset with an army all around, the servant cowered.  Elisha prayed and the servant saw what Elisha saw.  Angel armies surrounded and protected.  Elisha walked into the enemy and took them captive.  When Naaman came with an unsolvable issue, all the politicians failed and Elisha and the Lord prevailed. But, the church cowers behind solutions that do not work.  We look to politicians to solve moral failures and it will not work.  Moral failures need moral solutions.  Elisha, the father leader, must come out with solutions that work.

Let this admonition be the opening to our study of the letter of Romans.  Paul addressed a similar situation in the early church.  The world desperately needed then and needs now, clear call to a life before the Lord.  Over and over, we become consumed with ourselves and our ideas and believe that we can solve every problem with our logic and tenacity.  So far, we are doing an abysmal job of it.  Our solutions just don’t work. An the world stands at our door and knocks.  It seeks answers.  

Romans is a letter of answers. Paul had seen much of the Greek world seeded with Christianity.  He would not rest.  In this letter, he reveals that he wants to use Rome as a launch pad to take Christ further into the regions of Spain.  This man is a missionary.  He has no thought of rest from the work of the gospel other than to gain strength for the next steps.  That is passion. That passion is a base commodity we need today.  That power of the Holy Spirit that keeps us in motion is something we cannot afford to lose in any circumstance. Remember that as we study this letter.  It is this passion and influence of the Holy Spirit that lives inside him and brings life to the message.  The message of this letter to the Romans and to us is brought to life with the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  He brings it clear.  He makes it alive.  He shows us the finger of Christ that guides the words and the thoughts.

There are answers here for our days. There are answers for every day. This is a timeless tome. It is given to us to show us a better life forward. It is written to bring us out of darkness of religion and ritual and legalism and into the light of faith and empowerment in Christ. Here we find the Kingdom of God full of righteousness, peace, and joy empowered by the Holy Spirit. Here we find the Kingdom of God that includes all of mankind in one family in Christ. Here we find power to overcome our mistaken living and imperfect obedience. Here we find faith that receives the gift of God into our lives with full forgiveness and assurance of a better life now and into the eternal future.