Hi and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Mark Dahan is our writer for today, and the devotional is titled The Power of the Gospel.

Ancient Rome had its own version of the Gospel, the Good News. According to the poet Virgil,

Zeus, King of the Gods, had decreed for the Romans a kingdom without end or boundaries. The gods

had chosen Augustus as divine son and savior of the world by ushering in a golden age of peace and prosperity. This, however,

wasn't everyone's idea of good news. For many, it was an unwelcome reality enforced by the

heavy hand of the emperor's army and executioners. The glory of the empire was built on the backs of enslaved people who served

without legal personhood or property at the pleasure of masters who ruled over them. This was the

world in which Paul introduced himself as a servant of Christ in Romans chapter 1. Jesus, how Paul once hated that name, and how Jesus

himself had suffered for admitting to being the king of the Jews and savior of the world.

This was the good news Paul would explain in the rest of his letter to the Romans.

This gospel was the power of God that brings

salvation to everyone who believes. And oh, how it was needed by those who suffered under Caesar.

Here was the news of a crucified and resurrected Savior, the Liberator, who conquered his enemies

by showing how much he loved them.

Now let's hear what the Scriptures have to say about our Liberator Jesus Christ.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional Scripture reading is from Romans, chapter 1, verses 1 through 7, and also

verses 14 through 17. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the

gospel of God. The gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding

his son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who, through the Spirit

of holiness, was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ,

our Lord.

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