TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - May 19, 2025 - Romans 16:1-16 - Paul's Commendation to Believers

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

In this heartwarming conclusion to the Book of Romans, the Morning Manna class reflects on Paul’s final greetings—a seemingly simple farewell filled with deep theological and relational insights. Rick and Doc explore the profound value of each name listed by Paul, emphasizing how spiritual family, service, sacrifice, and diversity in the early church offer us a blueprint for faithful living today.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 5/19/25You can partner with us by visiting FaithandValues.com, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!AmericanReserves.comIt’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!Amazon.com/Final-DayApple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books!books.apple.com/final-dayPurchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.Sacrificingliberty.comThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today!Trunews/faucielf

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna. It's Monday. So it's a Monday Morning Manna. And we're delighted to have you with us in the class. Whatever hour you're joining us. We meet at 8am Eastern Time in a live class at faithandvalues.com, but thousands of people join us throughout the day as they watch or listen to the class and various platforms. By the way, we are streaming every day at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern Time. And we have a simultaneous stream on the old True News stream on social media, but also we've started a morning manna stream on the same platform News stream on social media, but also we've started a Morning Manna stream on the same platform that you're using,

whatever it is, there's now a Morning Manna stream. So please start moving over there to the new Morning Manna stream, because at some point in the near future, we're going to disable the True News feed, because it's hard to tell people to find a morning man a Bible lesson at a news website. So just for the time being for the next couple of weeks,

we'll continue both feeds, but know that there is another feed on the platform that you're watching. You can find it, Morning Manna, a Bible class at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern time. So today we begin our study of chapter 16. We will finish chapter 16 tomorrow. And this is just a long goodbye that's all chapter 16 is

it's a big long goodbye from Apostle Paul so the challenge is how do we how do we build a a Bible lesson out of somebody saying goodbye to a lot of people. Out of a list. That's our challenge here for today. We're going to do it. We're going to find something in here to teach. So Doc, I'm going to pray and then I'm going to have you read chapter 16 verses 1 through 16.

Okay. It's about more than half of the chapter. Almighty God, our dear heavenly father, father, we are so grateful to be in your family. We are so appreciative that you would not let us be lost, but you made a way, and that way is your Son. And you sent your Son to die for us, and you sent your Son to search for us as the Good Shepherd. We are humbled by this knowledge, Father, that you have made us part of the elect. So Father, we are gathered here from many nations this knowledge, Father, that you have made us part of the elect. So Father, we are gathered

here from many nations this morning to learn about your Son and his kingdom. And we invite the Holy Spirit into this class to take charge of morning manna and teach us and enrich us and illuminate our hearts and minds. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen. Amen. And good morning, everyone, no matter where you are across the world and some of the places that are checking in today. We've got friends in Germany today, in Russia, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Brazil, and of course all across the US and Canada today. We welcome you and we are privileged that you have taken time out of your schedule to be with us live in the 8 o'clock hour here on Faith and Values

for Morning Manna. We are in Romans chapter 16, the last chapter of Romans, and I'm going to be reading from the King James today, verse 16 verses. Starting at verse one, Paul writing, I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Sincrea, that you receive her in the Lord as become saints, and that you assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you, for she hath been a sucker of many and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Achilla, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epiphant, Nidus,

who is the first fruits of Ikea unto Christ. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us. Greet Andronikas and Jania, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplius, my beloved in the Lord. Salute Urvain, our helper in Christ, and Stacus, my beloved. Salute Appellus, approved in Christ.

Salute them which are of Aristobulus's household. Salute Herodian, my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Tryphenia and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Pursus, who which labored much in the Lord. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord,

and his mother and mine. Salute Anson Credus, Flagon, Hermos, Petrobus, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus, Angelia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints which are with them. Salute one another with a holy kiss, the churches of Christ salute you." I actually read all those names without messing up a single one.

And I actually read all those names without messing up single one Well All right, there's gonna be challenge when I do it So so dog if I get if I get stuck on any of these names I'll just move my lips and I'll let you say the word right Sounds like a plan. We'll just dub it in okay, so As I said, it's it's a long goodbye

and Is there anything to learn? in this chapter Oh, yes from paul saying goodbye to so many people Well, let's let's jump in and see what we can find We'll start with verse one I commend you, I commend unto you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church, which is at Synkreia, that ye receive her in the Lord as becomeeth saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business

she hath need of you for she hath been a succor of many and of myself also." So Paul opens chapter 16 with a long list of greetings and a very powerful commendation of a woman named Phoebe. He describes her as a sister in the Lord, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. She's in the church of Cinquea, which was a Corinthian port city, had a very strategic role location. So he's highlighting her role in ministry, and he sets the brethren who are in the churches of that region. He says, I commend unto you the Greek word for commend, semestime. It has apostolic authority. Yes.

There's weight behind this word. In other words, he's putting his authority and his seal of approval, if you will, on Phoebe. Yes. So she's sending this letter. She's going to carry this letter to Rome for Paul under his authority under his approval. And so that's what that word means. You're absolutely right. Yes, she is. She has apostolic approval. She's not an apostle, but she has approval. She's not an apostle, but she has the approval of an apostle. The endorsement. That's what I was looking for. The official endorsement of Apostle Paul.

So when you receive her, you are receiving Apostle Paul. If you mistreat her, you're mistreating Apostle Paul. He describes her as Phoebe, our sister. So he identifies her as part of the family. She's not just a woman. She's just not a member of a church. She is a sister in the Lord. There's a close family bond and he's describing the church in St. Cria as a family, a spiritual family. And so we should learn from this that we should treat other brethren as family members, treat them with affection. He also describes her not only as a sister, a member of the family, but he also describes her as a servant. The Greek word is diakonos. Right, the same word for deacon. Right. So she is, she's a deaconess.

That's what he's saying here. That Phoebe is recognized as a deaconess in the church of St. Crea. It's obvious Paul had immense trust and confidence in Phoebe. He said that they should receive her in the Lord. In other words, she is the ambassador of Jesus Christ. Treat her as though she was sent personally by Jesus Christ. And he's encouraging the church to show true Christ-centered

hospitality to welcome her. As become with saints. There's the holy standard. Receive her as becomes the saints. The behavior that is, should be from saints. Conduct that is befitting God's people. Act with dignity. Treat her with respect.

This is an important godly woman. Treat her with respect. Let your conduct with her be befitting God's people. Set a holy standard in how you receive her the hospitality that you give her He said assist her in whatsoever business So she she was this is this woman was involved in a lot of things She's this is a very active, I don't want to use the word strong willed because I know she, there's no doubt she was in submission to God.

But she wasn't a patsy, She wasn't sitting in the corner collecting dust. This was an active woman. And he said, assist her in whatsoever business, church business, whatever she's doing. If she's getting food for the poor, help her. If she's getting supplies for the church, help her. If she's engaged in some kind of business affairs, if it's legal, civil, if she's getting documents approved,

whatever it is, help her. Right. Assist her in whatsoever business. Right, so apparently Phoebe, maybe she was a business woman of some kind. Obviously she was a businesswoman of some kind. Obviously, she was trusted enough to carry Paul's documents to Rome, and she had the means to do that of her own. So not only was she, you know, she had to be a woman of some means, if you will, that's

what we would say today. So she was both a benefactor, she was a protector of others, obviously, from what Paul is writing about here, a well-established leader within the church in Sincrea. And so there was a lot that's going on in these two verses. You see, a lot of times we just read through a list of names like this, and we don't even consider how it all ties in to plan of God and everything but what we're learning a lot about this one woman here and another thing too Paul did not diminish women, Paul did not consider women second class or anything of the like. Look at this he's's trusting her. The book of Romans

that you're reading today, Phoebe carried to Rome. Yes. Doc, any, any, uh, guess the distance from Sincrea to Rome? I didn't, I didn't look it up. I can find out real quick. So let me ask. Now the King James uses an old English word, a secura, secura of many, S-U-C-C-O-U-R-E-R. It's an old word. It means somebody that is a protector, a guardian, a helper.

In this case, she would be a patroness, somebody that comes to the rescue, somebody that provides many times that the word is used in relation to financial assistance. So I get the feeling she, you know, when Paul said, assist her in whatsoever business, she probably was in business. You know, she probably had business affairs

and she was using her money for the purposes of the church. And Sakura is somebody that comes to the financial rescue of someone. Yes, there you go. Well, you have to have money to financially rescue somebody. Yes. You gotta have more money than they need.

One way to think about this is she was possibly a major sponsor, Paul, because that word succour there. It's hard. It's a tough English word. It means like a patron, or a sponsor, some someone like that. Yeah, so obviously, she was a woman of some wealth, had to be. Yes, the Greek word is prostatis. And it means a patroness, a helper, a protector, a guardian, a supplier. That's another term for someone who secures.

They have emergency supply. They take care of people. They come to the rescue of people. By the way, Rick, it's 750 miles from some creative room. Okay, so here's a woman who traveled 750 miles by foot. Was it by land or sea? A little bit of both. So, Sinclair was a port city, so yeah, so she traveled by ship and by foot.

How many of you would travel 750 miles if I asked you to do me a favor? To deliver a letter. Yeah. Think about that. Now you know why Paul spoke so highly of her. And he trusted her. She'd get the job done. She was going to get it done.

He had no doubt in his mind, Phoebe will deliver the letter. Now we get to, I'm going to do two verses. We did verses one and two together. And now I'm going to do verses three and four. Greet Priscilla and Achilla, my helpers in Christ, who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." So now we move on to this married couple, Priscilla and her husband Akilah. They are Paul's fellow workers. Right. And notice that Paul cites Priscilla first, ahead of her husband. Right. And a lot of Bible scholars believe that she carried more weight. She had more prominence in the church.

I mean what we see here, here's another strong woman in the church of Sincrea. And so you've got Phoebe and now you have Priscilla and her husband and Keila. Paul described them as my helpers in Christ Jesus. Paul described them as my helpers in Christ Jesus. An interesting piece of, you know, a trivia, I guess, Bible trivia about them is that they were tent makers like Paul. Yes. And I have the feeling, can't prove it, but I have a feeling that Paul franchised them.

I'm of the view that Paul had franchises all over the area. And he taught people how to make tents, and a portion of their tent sales went to Paul. That's my view, I can't prove it, but I just think Paul was such a smart man. He probably did it the same way. They did the same trade he did, and so, yes. So I think Paul said, look, let me show you how I'm making it. This is how I supply my own need.

Here's the way I make tents. My tents bring the top dollar. You make them this way, you're gonna sell a lot of tents at a high price. People will pay for your tents. And so this couple were tent makers, but they weren't tent makers, but they were They weren't tent makers to become the king and queen of tent making but to finance their ministry

The ministry was the priority the tent making was the means to pay for their ministerial work He described them as my helpers in Christ Jesus, my fellow workers. He said, they laid down their own necks. Okay, so to me, Paul doesn't go into detail, but it's obvious Paul was thinking of some persecution or maybe a specific incident where they literally, maybe got between somebody who wanted to hurt Paul and they got between them, laid down their own necks.

They risked their lives. Could have been to save somebody else or to get something done for the gospel. But he said, this is a couple that's not afraid to die. Yes. They do not fear death. They are committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. So not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

So this couple was well respected through a region. Not just one city, but but a region they had a reputation So I assume that they were moving about town to town visiting the churches selling tents But what we see here here's a couple They're a model for teamwork And there was equality equality ministry, husband and wife working together. Now we move to verses 5 and 6. Likewise.

Hey, Doc, if you have anything to add to this, please jump in because I'm, you know, if you have anything you want to say on these individual verses, so verses five and six, likewise greet the church that is in their house. Talking about Priscilla and Killa's house here. Yes. Talking about Priscilla and Killa's house here. Yes. Salute my well-beloved Eponetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaea. Is it Achaea? Achaea.

Achaea? Yes. Achaea? Yes. Under Christ. Yeah, I made it sound like a South Korean car, greet Mary who bestowed much labor on us. So now he's encouraging the brethren in Rome,

say hello to the church that meets in the house of Priscilla and Akilah, the church that is in their house. So to give you guys an understanding, give everybody an understanding how these letters traveled, right? So what would normally happen, whether it's Romans or Corinthians or anything like that, is that the letter would be written and then delivered. But along the way, the letter, the person delivering the letter, if you will, would stop in different towns because it wasn't like you could just drop it in the mailbox down at the local Sincrea Post Office and send it that way. These were hand delivered. And along the way,

they would meet other believers and other churches, and then these letters would be read in those churches. We read out loud in those churches. And so imagine that this letter, the book of Romans, read out loud in the church and now you get down to the end here and so maybe this letter passed through the church, you know, in Corinth because Priscilla and Achilla had a house church in Corinth. Maybe it stopped there and maybe it was read there and then it was taken to the next stop and was read there, maybe even copied there. So this, it wasn't just like, you know, we wrote it now, all right, take this to Rome. It made a lot of stops along the way, was read multiple times along the way. And so these names are listed here as maybe people that were going to be,

you know, hearers of this along the way. That's how the gospel was, the New Testament was transmitted initially was just orally. They read the letters in churches, and that's what's going on here. That's right, there was no New Testament Bible. The pastors, and they were called the president, presidents of the assembly. So they'd meet in homes on Saturday night. They'd have a dinner called the agape feast, and then the pastor, the president of the

assembly would read a letter, one of the letters circulating around just like Doc explained it. He would say, hey, we have a new letter. This is from Paul. Yes. And maybe he you know, he divided it up over weeks to get through that letter. But that was that was the scripture that they had. Yes. It was written on parchment and it wasn't it wasn't in a book. So he Paul says the church that meets in their house, Priscilla and Akilah. So we see the importance of house churches in the first century.

Then Paul named Eponetus and he describes, he goes, my well-beloved Eponetus. This is somebody that Paul thought highly of, had affection for him, well-beloved. What stood out about it? He said, the first fruits of Achaia. Yes. What's that mean, Doc? That means he was one of the very first believers

in that area, in that region. And so not only is he well-beloved, but obviously he's still a believer in good standing there for Paul to commend here in this letter. And so, I mean, it says a lot. So he's saying to the Church of Rome, hey, I've got folks that got converted back in Ikea. They're still serving the Lord. They're doing great in Jesus. And so this ministry is continuing to grow and develop. Epinetus, he's one of my first fruits in Ikea. You might even heard of him, even there in Rome. So he's honoring the church's pioneers.

Yes. And he said, look, Epinadus, he's the one that first to get saved and he's still there. He hasn't fallen away, he's still serving the Lord. Then he said, greet Mary, who bestowed much labor. So what Paul recognizes with the woman named Mary is she's diligent, she's hardworking, she is faithful. Verse 7.

Well, if I could throw something in on verse 6, Rick, that word labor there is a different kind of word for labor than you find in other passages. This was the word kopio in the Greek, and it means to work to the point of exhaustion. Not just to work, but to work to the point of exhaustion. In other words, this particular Mary, and we don't know if she's one of the other Marys that's mentioned in the Bible, but it's obviously a Mary that Paul knew well enough to commend to Rome. She just works. She just works. And even though we don't know much about her, Paul is commending the unseen labor which she has been doing. Without thanks maybe, without even recognition.

You know what, Rick? Sometimes the greatest gift that we have in the church today are the folks that just toil endlessly in silence. Yes. Mary was one of those women who was not famous. She was just faithful. Faithful, not famous. There you go. But she got her name in the Bible. There you go.

But she got her name in the Bible. God saw to it that she got her name mentioned in the Bible. Right. She wasn't a social media influencer. She didn't have any of the, she probably didn't have a TikTok or anything like that. She just works. She just works. She was committed to Christ. You know, we, when I think of Mary, I think of a lady that lives here in town that every

once in a while when we have a special need to pack up boxes like, you know, whatever it might be to send gifts out to donors and friends, that we can call her up and usually that very same day, she'll come over to the offices and help out. And she's, you know, she doesn't preach to 10,000 people. She doesn't have a broadcast ministry. She, you know, doesn't run a soup kitchen, but she loves to serve the Lord, even if it's packing up boxes. She loves anything like that. That's the kind of person I'm thinking about here, Rick. A humble servant who's not seeking anything other than to please the Lord.

Yes. Now, verse seven, salute Andronikos, Andronikos and Jania, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners who are of note among the apostles who also were in Christ before me. Yes. Now, this is a special couple. Andronikos and Jania. First he identifies them as his kinsmen. Right. I'm going to interpret that meaning they were Jewish. Yes, that's, I think so too. And my fellow prisoners. Maybe they shared a cell. fellow prisoners. Maybe they shared a cell. Or if they didn't go to prison together, maybe the Andronikos and Jania had their own separate prison term. But Paul says, hey, you're one of us. You've gone to prison for Christ. And then he said, who are of note among the apostles?

Yes. That means the other apostles, Peter and John and others, know of this couple. Now that elevates them to a very high level. Their reputation, their reputation got around a vast region that the other apostles knew about this couple. Right.

And then Paul said, they were in Christ before him. They were saved before Paul was saved in Damascus. Yes. So they were early pioneers among the early church. Right. Now, there's some commentators that kind of go back and forth on that phrase, who are of note among the apostles. Some try to say that they were apostles.

When I say apostles, I mean small a apostles, not big a apostles. But I think just based on the text and way most commentators look at it, they were well-respected, they were endorsed by the apostles. Whether or not they were little a apostles or not, we can debate, but for sure they were endorsed by the apostolic authority of the early church.

That's right. And Jania, here's, here's another strong woman in the early church. Right. So you get Priscilla and Akilah. Now you have Andronicikos and Jania. These are husband and wife teams who are laboring for the Lord and willing to go to prison for Christ. Right. And even in these first seven verses here, we learn something. It doesn't matter if you're single, if you're married, whatever the case is, there's a place of ministry for everybody. I know a lot of people, you know, maybe for whatever reason they find themselves single, maybe they were widowed, whatever the situation may be. God can use you in your singleness as much as if you're married. And so, but that there's a role for everybody, whether you're a married couple, or you're married. And so, but that there's a role for everybody, whether you're a married

couple, or you're a single person, God has a role for you within the body of Christ. Don't feel like you have less of a role because you're not married, or because you are married. Either way, there's you could actually you could actually have a much bigger role because you're not married. Right. Because you're free. You're free to travel. You're free to move about and do things You don't have a spouse that you have to consider in a family and all those things that go with marriage It's interesting the two couples that we have here Priscilla and Kayla Paul said

This is a couple that's willing to lay down their own next. Right. And then you have Andronikos and Jania, and he said, he calls them my fellow prisoners. So Priscilla and Akilah were willing to die, and Andronikos and Jania were willing to go to prison. That's right. That's why they're in this letter.

If you wanna get mentioned in Heaven's Hall of Fame, you gotta be at this level. Right. Okay, now we're gonna get into the entire alphabet. Starting with A. Yes, we start with verses 8 through 12. Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. Salute Urbanus, our helper in Christ, and Stachis,

Stachis, my beloved. Stachis is fine, yeah. Stachis, my beloved. Salute Appellus, approved in Christ. Greet them which are of Aristobulus household, salute Herodian my kinsmen, greet them that be of the house of Narcissus, which are in the Lord, salute Trifina and Trifosa who labor in the Lord, salute the beloved Pursus, which labored much in the Lord. How'd I do, Doc? You did great, right? Wow, okay. I got through it. Thank you, Jesus. I didn't make a fool of myself. So who do we have here? We've got a diverse group of workers in the church.

Yes, and from a variety of different backgrounds, we know that by their names. Yes, and Paul is celebrating their faithful service. He calls them beloved, three people he calls beloved. And Plius, Stacus, Pursus, they get the title beloved. That shows Paul had deep affection for them. They had personal bonds with Paul. Urbanus was described as a helper in Christ.

Appellus approved in Christ, Appellus approved in Christ, which means his service got the thumbs up from Jesus. Right. Isn't that something we all want? No, not want. Excuse me. Desire. Put our word back in. Isn't that something we wanna desire?

To get a thumbs up from Jesus. You are approved, your work is approved. You are a helper in my church. So what we're seeing here is, Paul is praising their labor, their faithfulness. He says, these are diligent workers. Then he speaks of the entire household of Aristobulus and Narcissus, two different households. And he's, you know, I would think, Doc, these are probably referring to house churches, a church that

met at Aristobulus' house and another church that met at Narcissus' house. Again, we see the home fellowship. He refers to Herodian as my kinsman again My my assumption is Herodian was Jewish Triphina and trifosa he said they labor Pursus labored much So Pursus got an extra star. Trifina, Trifosa got a star for their labor, but Persa's got two stars. She labored much.

Paul's, Paul's, he's noting their diligence, their tireless service. What we're seeing here is, here are some examples for you to emulate. And there's a diversity here. It's men and women who are the leaders of the church. Right, and you have from a variety of different backgrounds too. So we started off with Phoebe, who obviously is a wealthy woman, but you get down to

verse 8 with Amplius. Amplius was a slave name, a common slave name. So it's likely that Amplius was either had been a slave or was a slave, but that's what some commentators are saying. So you have the whole spectrum of different types of people and the backgrounds that we're talking about. We Paul talks about fellow kinsmen. And then he talks about Appellus and Herodian, which if if we're to believe some of the records, Appellus may have actually served in Herod and Gryphos, you know, administration. And so, and, but out of that, out of Asteriobulus' conversion, there was a house church that developed. So you here

you have somebody in the political realm that's converted. And then you have Herodian. Now, when you hear that name Herodian, so he's not the the Juju. He is part of that, you know, class of Jews that were very Hellenized, if you will. They were very Greek in their manner, their speak, the way they dress, the haircut, everything. A Jew, but of the Herodian class. And so it's not that they were all from a particular segment of the Jewish population or even a particular segment of the Gentile population. The cross of Christ extended to across wealth and poverty, across race and creed. across race and creed. The cross of Christ was going through every segment of society at this time in Paul in these names. As we read through it, sometimes just read through the names, but when you look at the names and you realize the background, you say, oh my goodness,

the gospel was everywhere. It was penetrating everything. Doc, are you suggesting that Jesus Christ is the originator of diversity and inclusion? Yes. Hmm. But the devil has turned that around today, hasn't he? And most of that DEI stuff started in what I would consider the backslidden church, but most of it started there. Verse 13, Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine. Salute Rufus chosen in in the Lord, and his mother, and mine.

Yes. So Rufus was a distinguished believer, and his mother, Paul considered Rufus's mother to be his adopted mother. So mom must have been up in years if Paul considered her his mother. Right. Now Rick, did you see in the commentaries on Rufus here who they think this is? see in the commentaries on Rufus here who they think this is. No, I didn't. They think it's Simon of Cyrene mentioned in Mark 15, 21. That's right. We said that I think in the Book of Acts. Right, because it says in Mark 15,

21, and they compel one Simon a Serenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus. So he was either Simon himself or it was Simon's son. So now you have someone that has a spiritual heritage right back to Jesus. heritage right back to Jesus. Yes. So, Paul has great respect for this man. Yes. And he loves his mother.

Here, once again, you see these family ties. So Paul is referring to when he's with Rufus and his mother, he's calling Rufus' mother, he's calling her mom. Yes. Hey, think about that, apostle Paul. Hey, think about that. Apostle Paul. How would you like Apostle Paul to come to your house and your mother's there and he's calling your mother, Mom? That's the closeness of Chosen in the Lord. Chosen by God, the elect, ordained, selected by God, chosen in the Lord. Which really I think Doc adds to the belief that he was Simon and Cyrene, that he was chosen, he was there to carry the cross.

Chosen in the Lord. Wouldn't you like to have that label affixed to your name, Raymond, chosen the Lord? Richard. What we do. Chosen in the Lord. We do. That's right, we do.

Once you understand that you were chosen before the foundation of the world You understand you are chosen in the Lord You're not an accident child In in the Lord's family you were not born out of wedlock He doesn't have any Any accidents in his family. He chose his children.

He handpicked his children. All right, so now we go to verses 14 and 15. Salute Asincritus, Feligon, Hermas, Petrobus and Olympus and all the saints which are with them. So he's mentioning two separate groups here. So the thinking is that these were two separate house churches that he's greeting here. So the first one, verse 14, what does all these names have in common? They're all Greek names. So this is probably a, more than likely, it was a house church of Gentiles. Okay. Some of these names are familiar slave names, so it might be, you know, converted slaves. So, but something to keep in mind here, even though that these names are mentioned,

it seems like at times in passing, you know, their names are written forever before God, right? There are no just throwaway saints in the kingdom of God. There is no just, you know, I could go through our live chat today. I'm looking at some of the names. We see a Shelley and a Kathleen and a Robert and a Lisa, and you just see those names listed. You might think, well, just a list of names here. But they were important enough to be recognized by Paul. More importantly, they were important to be recognized by the Holy Spirit of God to divinely inspire Paul

to write about them. And most importantly, their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life as well. I agree. So as Doc said, these are two home fellowships, home churches, mostly Greek, all these names are all Greek. Assemblies of Gentiles, brethren and saints which are with them. He says the brothers who are with them and in verse 15, and all the saints who are with

them. Paul's, again, he's embracing everybody as brothers and sisters or brethren. Now we get to verse 16, salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. This is a practice that has gone out of style in Western churches except some of the old traditional churches like the Anglican Church. Or in the Middle East. In the Middle East it's still regular, it's still normal. Yes. It's still practiced today.

In the Western churches it's hardly hardly ever practiced a holy kiss. So Paul concludes his letter with his greetings to the brethren and he says, and give them a holy kiss for me. And the assemblies of Christ greet you. This is, it's hard for Westerners to understand this because unfortunately Westerners sexualize everything. Right. Our modern society is so perverted that we sexualize everything but this was a this was an if a

an act of affection To kiss the cheek of a fellow believer To say I love you. You're my my brother or my sister your family I have affection for you. And look, it's a holy kiss. This isn't a sexual kiss, a romantic kiss, it's a holy kiss. There's godly intent. There's godly intent. It is expressing sincere fellowship. You know, I've pointed out in the past that in the Garden of Gethsemane, when

Judas came with the Roman soldiers to betray Jesus, it, you know, everybody knows Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. But up until a couple of years ago, my understanding was, you know, Judas kind of like ran up to Jesus. It's about a quick peck on his cheek, and motioned to the Romans, hey, there he is, there he is, that's him. No, it was more than that. The word that's used,

the best way I can describe it is Judas slobbered all over Jesus. Yeah, it was an intimate, you know, grasping kiss. He multiple kisses. And so, you know, Jesus just stood there as Judas was kissing his both cheeks, his forehead, his chest, just kissing, kissing, kissing all over him. It wasn't a single kiss. over him. It wasn't a single kiss. And that's how Judas signaled to the Roman soldiers, hey, that's the one you want to grab. But in many cultures, this is still an act of affection. Again, Westerners have trouble with it. And it's because of our modern society.

We just normally sexualize every single act. But in this case, it's a holy kiss. It's a show of affection to your brethren. And it was normal. And it's still normal today in the Middle East among Arabs. It's the way you greet one another. So, Doc, that's my lesson for the first 16 verses of chapter 16.

Tomorrow we will finish the chapter. Amen. Well, you have anything else to add? No, I just want to encourage everyone, you know, when you see lists in the Bible such as this, take the time to explore the names. Take time to explore the meaning. Get a, you know, Find out where these people are mentioned elsewhere in the Scriptures, if they are. And if they're not, look for something that puts them in common or what the writer says about them. In this case, Paul, he says, Mary, she'll put you to shame working. Priscilla and Nikilah, they've been my faithful servants. Well, start emulating those qualities that Paul points out. He said, look at these believers here. Now, they're examples for you. Mary, man, you can't outwork that woman you study these passages of scripture, and anytime,

I know a lot of times people go through these lists like genealogies and lists like this and just kind of go through it like junk mail that you got in your mailbox. But there's real meaning between in these names. God placed these names in the scripture for a reason, for us to learn from, for us to draw either an example or a warning from in our own lives. And so I would encourage you, anytime you encounter a passage like this, there are difficult passages in the Bible. These passages are not difficult, but they do require patience in working through them. And I just want to commend you Rick, this has been a great lesson today, you know, you

know, going through these names and helping to establish that these were just believers. Some were wealthy, some were slaves, some were Jews, some were Gentiles, some were Herodians. And guess what? They came from everywhere. We're gonna meet them someday. That's right. So you wanna know how to pronounce their names?

That's right. So when you finally meet Philologus or Asencritus that you can say, oh, I know you. Yes. You think they'll wear stickers on their shirts? No, they'll all have a new name, Rick, and it'll probably be easy to pronounce. That's true.

We'll all have a new name. That's right. We'll all have a new name. But a great lesson today. And I just want to encourage everyone, you know, in passages like these, be patient. Ask the Lord to show you the meaning of the names and the passages and everything. Don't just push through them and just say you got it out of the way. There's a lot of rich text in here if you're patient enough. Amen?

A number of people are asking where we're going next. Doc and I are going to have that discussion today and we'll announce it to you tomorrow. Right. Yep. So. All right. So we'll let you know. That's it for me. All right. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we appreciate you being here today as we start off a brand new week of Morning Manna as we finish up the Book ofans here in the next several days And uh, it's been an exciting journey here. I'm looking forward to where the lord takes us in the word next But I just want to encourage you stay in the word each and every day ask the lord to show you

the meaning of the word allow the holy spirit to speak to you and to guide you and direct you in the scriptures and I know every one of you that are faithful folks to watch and listen you're learning line upon line precept upon precept and the Lord is bringing to a fuller revelation of His Word and transformation in your life by His Word. I know it's happening to me, Rick. It's happening to me. And I know it's happening to everyone else too. And I wanna remind everyone one more time

what I said at the beginning. We are now doing a simultaneous stream at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern. It's still going out on True News on social media, but we have a new feed morning manna so If you're using the true news feed at at 3 pm, or if you found it at 10 am Please switch over to the morning manna feed. We're going to discontinue the true news feed

sometime I don't know in the next 30 days All right, we'll cut it off, okay? So I'm giving everybody plenty of time, and there still will be somebody who will contact us and go, what happened? Where's the fee? Where is it? All right, so.

And we're on with Morning Manor, we're on several social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and Rumble. Those are the three big ones there. And I've been posting those links in the chat here this morning. So if you know of folks that like Rumble or like YouTube or like Facebook, as opposed to coming over to True News or Faith and Values,

I've been posting those links. And they're in the Morning Manor Community Channel too. And so I've been sharing those links today and so those are active right now and I would encourage you to check them out. If you're a YouTube subscriber or a Rumble subscriber, subscribe to those channels. Those are the Morning Manna channels on those social media platforms. It helps us get the word out, folks. It really does. The more subscribers we have, the more likely it is

that it'll be suggested to other people on those platforms. So we could use your help in that. And so I've been posting those in our chat today. They're also in the Morning Manor Community Channel today. And I would encourage you to be a part. Helps us out a lot. Yes. All right, everybody. Enjoy your day. We'll see you tomorrow. today and I would encourage you to be a part helps us out a lot so yes all right everybody enjoy your day we'll see you tomorrow God bless you love you bye bye