How should we respond to God's calling?
Text: Romans 1:1-7
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Kristin Norman
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2026 CrossTalk Global
Kristin: Imagine if there was a drug that was proven to add years to your life, reduce risk of heart attack and stroke, cut your risk of Alzheimer's disease by more than half. Help you relax during the day and sleep better at night, double your chances of staying drug and alcohol-free after treatment, activate your natural killer cells, diminish your inflammatory cells, increase your good cholesterol, and repair your chromosomes. And what if this imaginary drug was so effective that it also cut the length of hospital stays so much that it reduced our national healthcare crisis? The pharmaceutical company that made this drug would be worth billions. The inventors of the drug would receive Nobel Prizes and have institutes named for them. The good news is that it exists. It's better than a prescription drug because it has no negative side effects, and it's free. Would you like some? Then keep listening as Vicki Hitzges, Nathan Norman, and Kent Edwards pull back the curtain on this too-good-to-be-true product as they begin a new Crosstalk series in the book of Romans. Welcome to Crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life into all our lives. I'm Kristen Norman. Today, Dr. Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitzges, and Nathan Norman begin their discussion in the book of Romans. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Romans 1 as we join their discussion.
Kent: Kristin's question was a good one, wasn't it?
Vicki: It was intriguing.
Kent: Wouldn't it be neat if such a thing really existed?
Nathan: Yeah, you'd make quite a bit of money.
Vicki: Yeah.
Nathan: And it would be beneficial to lots of people.
Kent: Sure.
Vicki: It sounds great. So what's the catch? But she said it does exist.
Kent: It does exist. Would you like to hear what that product is?
Vicki: Of course.
Kent: Well, the most magical elixir of all time that she mentioned is a sense of purpose.
Vicki: Huh.
Kent: More than simply day-to-day objectives, purpose is the intention to accomplish something meaningful for oneself and others. And it may not surprise you to hear that Krista was not the first person to tease people with this miracle drug. Actually, that whole introduction came from Dr. Victor Strecher, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and its director of innovation. He pointed out, after all his research, that having purpose in life transforms people's lives. In fact, even many psychology scholars regard purpose in life as the cornerstone of happiness and a life well lived.
Vicki: I've seen that. Yeah, but I've seen that. I have seen people who could not wait to retire. And especially, I don't know if it's as true for women, maybe, but I'm thinking about powerful men and they can't wait to go out day after day after day and play golf. And they do that a week or two. And I mean, they're done. And a lot A lot of them go back to work because they, they need a purpose.
Nathan: Yeah, yeah. I, I've seen the negative side of these things, right? You see a lot of these true crime podcasts or movies or documentaries, and everyone's like, how did this awful psychopathic person— how did they kill so many people and do all this awful stuff? And really, the answer typically isn't because of some deep-rooted psychological thing that the system failed them. They're bored. They're people who are bored and have nothing else to do. And so they say, I wonder if I give in to the absolute worst impulses humanity has, and they go out and do this. Versus people who have, uh, lives that are filled with meaning and purpose, uh, where they are busy, busy, busy, and yet they, they feel fulfilled. They never have those darker impulses. They don't. How would anyone do this? As a pastor, there are certain people that they'll come up with issues, and the issues are utterly petty. And when you counsel them, they kind of talk about how they've been focusing on this issue over and over, all day, all night. They can't sleep.
Vicki: Because they've got nothing else.
Nathan: They think about this. That's right. They've got nothing else. With every fiber of my being, I want to say, "Get a life." That's not bad advice. But I can't. I try to say it nicer and like, "You just need to go and do something else. Do something meaningful, purposeful. Serve others, serve within the church, serve the community." And then those thoughts tend to go away. And I know this firsthand because when I was an older teenager, I was there. I would play conversations over and over in my head. And now it's just, I don't even care anymore. I got a really offensive text the other day and I showed it to Kristin and I just laughed and laughed. It was hilarious. And I'm not laughing to like cover up my hurt and pain from it. I'm like, I don't even care. This would have crushed me 20 years ago.
Vicki: I'm too busy to care, Matthew.
Nathan: This is hilarious now because I'm too— I'm busy with the church. I'm busy with the community. I'm busy with my kids. I'm busy with Crosstalk. You know, what is this to me? Right? What is it to me? Nothing. Nothing.
Kent: Hmm. It's fascinating that according to these secular researchers, people who live life best have an intention to accomplish something meaningful for themselves or for others. A sense of purpose is critical for living a life of success. Wow. To your point, Vicki, I can't think of anything worse than being stuck on a golf course in the rest— at the end of my life.
Vicki: Well, that may say something about your game.
Kent: Well, it does. I mean, I'll confess, I am not a good golfer. But at 6'6", it's hard for me to find clubs that actually touch the grass. So, you know, my defense. No, but the idea that living a life of purpose brings benefits is not as new as some psychologists might think. In fact, we can see the importance of purpose in the Bible, even in the life of the Apostle Paul. Nathan, can you— we're going to be looking at the book of Romans together and written by the Apostle Paul. Can you give us a bit of detail about his early life?
Nathan: Yeah, he was born in Tarsus, which is modern-day Turkey. He was a Roman citizen by birth, which is a pretty rare status that was rare and valuable in the 1st century. It gave him rights that others would not necessarily have. He was a member of the tribe of Benjamin and studied in Jerusalem under Gamaliel, one of the most renowned rabbis of the time. And he went to extremes to observe Jewish teachings and traditions.
Kent: That's not an exaggeration, is it, Vicki?
Vicki: No, it is not.
Kent: Because he says in Galatians 1:13, he confesses himself that—
Vicki: Well, here's what he says. He says, "You have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the Church of God and tried to destroy it." I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Kent: Wow. So Paul started off with a strong purpose in life, didn't he?
Vicki: Yeah. Wipe out Christians.
Kristin: Yeah.
Kent: Stop the growth of the church and do it by persecuting Christians. That was a strong purpose, and it certainly motivated him. But a radical change took place in his life. What happened, Nathan?
Nathan: It says in Acts 9, Saul was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues so that if he found Christians, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a loud voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,' he replied. 'Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.' Wow.
Kent: So what did Paul discover on his way to Damascus?
Vicki: Oh, he discovered the Lord.
Kent: Mm-hmm.
Nathan: Jesus was really who he said he was. He is God in the flesh. Died and rose again, and he needs to now dedicate his life not to persecuting the followers of Jesus, but turning people into followers of Jesus. It's a radical reorientation of his life.
Kent: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, we see that described. He talks about his reorientation in the first 2 verses of Romans chapter 1.
Vicki: It says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, Isn't that something? A servant of Jesus Christ 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.
Kent: In these two verses, we see the radical reorientation of Paul, the entirely different purpose that gripped him and motivated him for life. Here he says Jesus Christ is not his enemy. Instead, he describes himself as a servant of Christ Jesus. What does that word mean? What does it mean to be a servant of Christ Jesus?
Vicki: Well, it depends on what you mean by it. You can be somebody that works for, or you can be the property of someone, more like a slave.
Kent: Yeah, and that's really how it was commonly used in the New Testament. To be a servant was, yeah, you were bought and paid for.
Vicki: So you became property.
Kent: You became property. So the whole image here is of a slave market where people would be brought out and some rich person would come and literally buy them. And he's saying, I have been Bought with a price. I am now the servant, the doulos in Greek, of Christ. And you say, okay, so, like, okay, in the ancient world people bought slaves, but they bought them for a purpose, right? I mean, if you didn't want to do your own laundry, you'd buy someone who could do laundry. If you didn't want to actually cultivate your own crops, you'd buy someone who had some farming skills. You purchase someone to do a specific task. And Paul says that he's a servant of Jesus Christ, set apart. That means he was assigned a task. Like any slave, he's been bought at a price to do a task. What was the task that he was bought at a price to do?
Vicki: To spread the gospel, the very thing he was persecuting people for.
Kent: Yeah. So now there's a complete reorientation of his purpose in life. Before, he was trying to promote Judaism by destroying Christ and his followers. Now, since he's met the risen Christ, knows that he was wrong, he says, "No, I've been bought with a price by him. I am his servant, and my purpose in life is the gospel of Jesus Christ, to tell the good news. Which is why he explains to the Romans in synopsis form the message that he gives everywhere he goes in verses 2 through 4.
Vicki: He says, the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets and the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who is 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.
Kent: Hmm. So here in these verses, he really makes— well, I think he makes probably at least 3 major points here, doesn't he, Nathan?
Nathan: Yeah. He's saying Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament. Jesus is both divine and human. He's literally the Son of God.
Kent: Okay.
Nathan: And he was resurrected from the dead. After he paid the price for our sins.
Kent: Okay. And our Lord and Master who has set us apart for what?
Vicki: Telling other people.
Kent: Of telling other people the good news of the gospel. That's the essence of the gospel. Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament. He is not an aberration. He was promised from Genesis on. That he is both divine and human, literally the Son of God, who died and rose again to pay the price for our sins. And that is the purpose for which Paul was set aside to accomplish. So Paul's calling in life, his purpose, was changed to telling others the good news of the gospel. And Paul took his calling of God very seriously, didn't he? In Acts chapter 9, God was very clear in explaining Paul's purpose to Ananias, wasn't he?
Vicki: Well, it said, "The Lord said to Ananias, 'Go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles, their kings, and the people of Israel.'" Hmm.
Kent: So that was his calling. So it might be interesting, maybe, uh, It's possible to say as we look at this text, "Well, that was good for Paul, but it doesn't really apply to me. Maybe this calling of the gospel only applied to him, but his purpose doesn't necessarily have to be my purpose. It was a unique calling for Paul." Well, that's not entirely true. It can't be. Because in Matthew 28, we're all familiar with what Jesus says to all of his disciples, not Paul specifically, but to the 11 disciples. He says what?
Nathan: Yeah, in the Great Commission, it says Jesus came to the 11 disciples and said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them all I have taught you." So the purpose that God gave to Paul wasn't just only for Paul.
Kent: It was for all of the disciples, right?
Vicki: Right.
Kent: Yeah, but it wasn't just to all of the apostles. It went broader than that because in 1 Peter 3, Peter tells the believers who were scattered across various provinces. Well, what does he say there?
Vicki: He says to always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
Kent: Well, that sure sounds like the gospel, doesn't it?
Vicki: It does.
Kent: So he doesn't just tell Paul that that is his purpose. He also tells the other disciples that it is their purpose. And now Peter is saying to all the Christians that he's writing to, that is also their purpose. And Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, he said he should not be ashamed to testify about our Lord. Ah, so Timothy's under obligation to not be ashamed, but to also share the gospel.
Vicki: And just in case that's not broad enough, in Acts chapter 8, it says, "A great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Kent: Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." The primary purpose of Paul's life the disciples' lives, and the first-century Christians' lives was to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. That's the primary purpose of our life. As servants bought with the blood of Jesus, we, like Paul, the other disciples, and the first-century Christians, have been set apart, mandated to share the gospel with others. That was Paul's primary purpose, and it's to be ours. Okay, but some people might say, "Well, come on, we all have different gifts, and evangelism is not my gift. I have the gift of help or mercy or teaching or whatever, and evangelism is not the primary objective of my life." How would you answer that objection?
Vicki: Well, it should be our purpose. We just read that several places. It should be our purpose, no matter what our other gifts are, to share the gospel.
Nathan: I think there are people who have the gift of evangelism, meaning when they are going out specifically to share the gospel, their response rate is extraordinarily high. You think of someone like Billy Graham, right, or someone like our own Vicki who, you know, if we asked her, is on a regular basis sharing the gospel with the people that she stumbles across to on the street and over the course of her daily life. But for the rest of us who don't feel like we have that gift, whatever the gifts and the talents and the situations God has put us in, those are the places God wants us to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in. We're supposed to shine the light of Jesus wherever we go, in whatever situation we find ourselves in, or, or God has put ourselves in, or where we've decided to go. Just because I don't have a, a Billy Graham level of evangelistic ministry, or a, the Apostle Paul level of ministry, doesn't mean that I am not a part of God's overall design to share in the gospel.
Vicki: Absolutely.
Kent: No, I think you're right. I remember back in Bible school about 6,000 years ago when I was in the dorm and one of the deans came through. I wasn't necessarily all that impressed with this guy. He seemed very ordinary. But I'll tell you, he had an extraordinary ability to talk to people about Christ. The guy's name was Ray. And after a while, we all just called him One a Day Ray. I mean, once a day he's leading someone to Christ. I mean, he's just going— Wow. What is so unusual this guy? I have no explanation. But to your point, Nathan, this guy Ray, like others, they have a spiritual gift. I mean, other people can preach better than Billy Graham preached, but Billy Graham had results that no one else had. I mean, that's just That's a gift. That's a God-given thing. We don't all have that same gift of evangelism, but according to this text, we all have the responsibility of evangelism. Mm. That is our ultimate purpose. We have these other gifts, but we use them not in and of themselves, but how they can contribute to the larger, most important goal to tell people about their Savior, Jesus Christ. And you can do it. Anyone can do it. If you like hiking, you'll love to talk about hiking with anyone who will listen. If you're passionate about gardening, painting, needlepoint, or whatever it is, you want to talk about what you're interested in. Do the same with your faith. Tell them about Jesus, the love of your life. Share the difference he has made in your life and how they can enjoy him as well. You know, I find it fascinating that the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea states that every state shall require the master of a ship to proceed at all possible speed to render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost into the other ship. They shall also promote the establishment and operation and maintenance of an effective search and rescue service. Now, what Paul is saying is what is the law of the sea should be the law of our life. We need— if it's right to save people at sea, it would be right to save people on land. We need to personally move with all possible speed to meet the spiritual needs of those around us. And organizationally, every church and denomination should promote the establishment, operation, and maintenance of an effective spiritual search and rescue service for the lost. Yeah, we can learn from the maritime law. In fact, we can't do it otherwise, because like Paul, the disciples in the early church We too are servants of Christ. We too are set apart to bring the gospel to the world. So let's give to everyone we can what Christ has given to us. We must, because we were purpose-built by Christ to do just that.
Kristin: If we have been called into a relationship with God, he gives us a calling, a purpose. Share the good news that Jesus, the long-promised, all-powerful Son of God, invites all people to become his children simply by placing their faith in him. If somebody once told you that and you believe it to be true, give what you were given. The Crosstalk Podcast is a production of Crosstalk Global, equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more about this educational nonprofit organization, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. Crosstalk just finished successful trainings in Bucharest, Moldova, Southern California, and Kansas this season. We're getting ready for another training in Cuba and Nepal in the fall. Help us train the next generation of biblical communicators. All you have to do is click "Donate" in the show notes and make a donation of any size. You can also support this show by rating it on whatever platform you're listening to us. Be sure to join us next week as we continue our series through the book of Romans. You won't wanna miss it.
Nathan: It's better than a prescription drug because it has no negative side effects and it's free. Would you like some?
Vicki: Hey, little girl.
Nathan: He said like a drug dealer. Yeah.
Kent: Oh, oh, I—
Nathan: Kent, we lost your video feed on Zoom, but your audio is still good. So overall, a total improvement of the podcast.
Vicki: I didn't say that. Yeah, that's weird.
Kent: I said it for you.
Nathan: You froze. Things were getting good, and then you went away, and it was like, oh, the rapture. And now we hear this heavenly voice.
Kent: Testing, testing.
Nathan: Say something, I'm giving up on you. Okay, you're good.
Kent: Okay, let's move away from the singing.