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Episodes
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 14: Go! Love! Really Love!
v9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.
To have a gift or gifts, such as those Paul lists here, is a sign of God’s love for you! Therefore you are to love others – all others. If you are doing it after God’s own interests and the welfare of other people then you really do love others. Really love them! People can smell out fake love in an instant! If you are doing things for your own interest and welfare, and patronising towards others or as a means to manipulate them, then that is a fake love.
Why do you do what you do for God and for other people? Is it because you are driven by your love for God and love for others? This is love for others without pretence or hypocrisy. That is real love! If it is for any other reason, then it is not real love. That includes loving those who wouldn’t naturally be the target of your love - including those who hate you and those who have done you wrong. To love only those who love us, is what those outside the church expect as normal behaviour. But as Christian Disciples, we are to do more and to be seen to love more than any other people! That can be very hard to do. But if we use the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, then we can do it. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you and He will.
How is the invisible God seen? God is seen through Christian Disciples showing love for other people. If the Church was to be seen as loving others and loving their local community, the Gospel message, the story of God’s love, would have an enormous impact. The Christian Disciple is to be so filled and magnetized with God’s love and grace, that it is a magnetic attraction to others to the majestic goodness of the awesome God that they serve and obey. Our motive for all things is to be love. That includes gently restoring people into living a life worthy of following God if they are a Christian Disciple. There can be no excuse for sin in the life of those who claim to follow Jesus Christ.
How and in what way do we love – love God and love others? That is what Paul goes on to say! Go and love!
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Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 13: Gift of Kindness & Mercy
8 And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
This could also be the gift of Mercy… We know that God is a God of mercy and kindness, therefore those who claim to follow Him, must also be cheerfully kind to others. Some people have an extraordinary capacity to be kind and merciful to people they meet who are in need – they certainly have this gift! They give a WOW about God. People like Mother Theresa.
However, all Christians should seek to be kind and merciful. This would include visiting the sick, caring for the elderly, sick and disabled, the unemployed, orphans, widows, the destitute. It could simply be a listening ear, a smile or a kind word at the right time to somebody. One way to do it cheerfully and gladly is to do it as a generous thanksgiving to God. If you are to help people with kindness and mercy, show you are happy to help! The word Paul uses here is hilaroteti. We get the word ‘hilarious’ from it! Laughter can be good medicine when used appropriately! As Calvin said “to observe sadness in the countenance of those by whom assistance is given, makes them to feel themselves despised.”
How are you and your church being kind and merciful to people in need? How are those you know who are housebound being shown kindness? Are you and the church using imagination to be kind and merciful – helping people to be a part of the church community? How can you help with kindness and mercy those who are unemployed and looking for work? Let each of us use our imaginations to help those in need with kindness and mercy.
I read today of a homeless man who died in one of the richest parts of London. As he died, he fell and was found dead impaled on fence railings. The link to the story is here. Imagine if that man had been shown genuine kindness and mercy? To be fair, he may have rejected any kindness towards him. I don’t know. But I do know that we sometimes reject the kindness and mercy of people out of pride instead of accepting with gratitude and humility. I know I am like that sometimes!
Go! Be cheerfully kind and merciful. Thank you.
However, all Christians should seek to be kind and merciful. This would include visiting the sick, caring for the elderly, sick and disabled, the unemployed, orphans, widows, the destitute. It could simply be a listening ear, a smile or a kind word at the right time to somebody. One way to do it cheerfully and gladly is to do it as a generous thanksgiving to God. If you are to help people with kindness and mercy, show you are happy to help! The word Paul uses here is hilaroteti. We get the word ‘hilarious’ from it! Laughter can be good medicine when used appropriately! As Calvin said “to observe sadness in the countenance of those by whom assistance is given, makes them to feel themselves despised.”
How are you and your church being kind and merciful to people in need? How are those you know who are housebound being shown kindness? Are you and the church using imagination to be kind and merciful – helping people to be a part of the church community? How can you help with kindness and mercy those who are unemployed and looking for work? Let each of us use our imaginations to help those in need with kindness and mercy.
I read today of a homeless man who died in one of the richest parts of London. As he died, he fell and was found dead impaled on fence railings. The link to the story is here. Imagine if that man had been shown genuine kindness and mercy? To be fair, he may have rejected any kindness towards him. I don’t know. But I do know that we sometimes reject the kindness and mercy of people out of pride instead of accepting with gratitude and humility. I know I am like that sometimes!
Go! Be cheerfully kind and merciful. Thank you.
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Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 12: Gift of Leadership
Romans 12:8 If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.
Now Paul comes on to the gift of leadership. Leaders are to lead with diligence, take their responsibilities seriously but also with care for those they are leading. The word used here indeed can mean leader but also mean to give aid or care for. Perhaps Paul meant both – a leader must be caring and giving aid to those in need – doing so with diligence and without manipulation or favouritism.
Whatever kind of leader you are – for example pastor, priest, elder, deacon, Sunday School teacher, Small Group leader or Prayer Group leader you are to lead with care and diligence and to lead by putting all your heart into it! Love those you lead as Christ loves the church – sacrificially – doing your best for those you are leading – regardless of the size of group you are leading. Leading and being willing to show people your love of God and your love of them.
As a leader, you are being watched and looked up to by those you lead – whether you want to be or not. As a leader, you are not to lead others by being filled with pride and being unapproachable! Rather, you are to lead others with godly humility, be encouraging of others cheerfully and being approachable. As a leader you are to set the example, and demonstrate a way forward to those you are leading. WOW!
Good leadership also has good accountability to others as well as to the whole community. As a leader, are you accountable to anybody else for what you do and how you do it? As part of your Godly responsibility, you are to be accountable to others to live a life of integrity worthy of the gospel, which is seen to be as holy and blameless. As a leader, it is a necessity that you be dependent on the Holy Spirit for strength and care – remember that He lives within you!
Finally, whether you are a leader or not, pray for your church leaders – they need your prayers and dare I say, they will covet your prayers for them.
Go! Lead others with diligence, responsibility, love and care.
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Monday Sep 11, 2023
Monday Sep 11, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 11: Gift of Giving
Romans 12:8 If it is giving, give generously.
And now we have a gift which echoes that of God the gift-giver – the gift of giving! When we give to others, contributing to those in need, we are to give generously and liberally. I wonder if that describes your giving? Again, some people have this wonderful gift – they are able to give just like that – generously and liberally. Yet, all Christians are to give generously because that is how God gives good gifts – generously and abundantly.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:3-4 “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
We are not to give to others in need in the hope of getting something in return for that help. Giving to others is for the benefit of the person being helped and not to be for our own benefit? Does that describe you when you give or when you are the receiver of somebody else’s generous giving to you? Too often we don’t give generously and use the excuse of it being poor stewardship of our money as the reason not to give generously to those in need.
If you are in need and somebody offers to help you generously, how do you react? Do you accept with humility and a grateful heart, giving thanks to God for His provision through other people? Or, in your hour of need, are you too proud to accept the help of God as He uses other people as His hands and feet? Too often we can hinder the work of God in our lives because we are too proud to accept help when it is offered.
Giving – go and give generously to somebody in need today and every day!
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Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 10: Gift of Encouragement
Romans 12:8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.
Now we come to perhaps one of the most amazing gifts – encouraging! Why is it amazing? Because of the impact it can have on the receivers of encouragement! This could mean anything from encouraging to exhorting to comforting to counselling to rebuking gently. The encourager is to build people up in their faith and life with words of warning, comforting words or a sign or gift of appreciation. The gift of encouraging can be done in the gifts so far in this lift: prophecy, preaching, serving, or teaching as well as the gift in this list to come: giving!
Encouragement can be done from the platform to many people at the same time. However more often than not, it is as one person interacts with another person, individual to individual. Encouragers urge people to respond rightly to God. Encouragers strengthen the weak and comfort those who are in sorrow. Paul himself had a great encourager on his ministry team – Barnabus (Acts 4:36; Acts 9:26ff)! If you are a counsellor in your church, you are exhibiting your gift of encouragement. Are you aware of that? WOW!
Oh how the church needs encouragers! A quiet encouraging word to that teacher or preacher you just heard in your church, or the music leaders – anybody! Your pastor or church leader would appreciate a kind word or a gift from you.
I can tell you from personal experience, that I get more verbal encouragement from those who are not Christian than I do from those who are self-professed Christians. But it should not be that way! Again, every Christian can encourage somebody else – even without the specific gift of encouragement. As we looked at in verse 5, as Christians, we belong to each other, so let each of us be practical in our encouragement of each other! Perhaps the next person you speak to will need a word of encouragement! What will you do? Encourage that person or simply ignore them? Who are your encouragers? Have you made sure they know how much you appreciate their encouragement of you?
Of course, God the Holy Spirit is also the great encourager – always urging us and encouraging us to live obedient lives worth of Jesus Christ whom we follow. Will you listen to His encouragement of you, as He urges you to go encourage somebody else? Or will you ignore His encouraging voice to do so?
Let each of us encourage at least one person a day.
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Saturday Sep 09, 2023
Saturday Sep 09, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 09: Gift of Teaching
Romans 12:7b If you are a teacher, teach well.
How is your church doing at teaching the Gospel truths? How, if you are a teacher, going about it? Teaching is different from preaching. Are you aware of that? While preaching is expressing the mind of God to people, teaching is also training and taking a person or people on a journey from one point to another. That could be a teacher in Bible college, a Sunday School, a home group or other small group as well as one to one discipleship. Teaching is leading people into understanding God’s word.
Calvin describes a bible teacher somebody “who forms and builds the Church by the word of truth.” Does that signify your experience of teaching – by others you hear or even yourself?
Teaching is part of the Great Commission expressed by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. So everybody who is a Christian is at some point is to do some kind of teaching - as that is part of evangelism. Evangelism is for all Christians to do – of one kind or another.
Of course some preaching can also be teaching. Teaching is interpreting the Bible to make it understood to both the individual and a group of people. That is expository Bible teaching which is also preaching…
But just because somebody is a gifted teacher, or indeed also a preacher, we are to test the Bible for ourselves. Even if you think that Bible teacher is amazing, test what that person says. Analyse it for yourself and don’t be afraid to disagree with the teacher. Even the finest of Bible teachers would want you to be like that! If a teacher insists that they are right, and there is no discussion about it, then be very wary. In Romans 16:7, Paul writes this about teachers “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”
Conversely, how about next time going up to a teacher, talking to them and giving them some encouragement. But more about encouragement in our next study!
How is your church doing at teaching the Gospel truths? How, if you are a teacher, going about it? Teaching is different from preaching. Are you aware of that? While preaching is expressing the mind of God to people, teaching is also training and taking a person or people on a journey from one point to another. That could be a teacher in Bible college, a Sunday School, a home group or other small group as well as one to one discipleship. Teaching is leading people into understanding God’s word.
Calvin describes a bible teacher somebody “who forms and builds the Church by the word of truth.” Does that signify your experience of teaching – by others you hear or even yourself?
Teaching is part of the Great Commission expressed by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. So everybody who is a Christian is at some point is to do some kind of teaching - as that is part of evangelism. Evangelism is for all Christians to do – of one kind or another.
Of course some preaching can also be teaching. Teaching is interpreting the Bible to make it understood to both the individual and a group of people. That is expository Bible teaching which is also preaching…
But just because somebody is a gifted teacher, or indeed also a preacher, we are to test the Bible for ourselves. Even if you think that Bible teacher is amazing, test what that person says. Analyse it for yourself and don’t be afraid to disagree with the teacher. Even the finest of Bible teachers would want you to be like that! If a teacher insists that they are right, and there is no discussion about it, then be very wary. In Romans 16:7, Paul writes this about teachers “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”
Conversely, how about next time going up to a teacher, talking to them and giving them some encouragement. But more about encouragement in our next study!
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Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 08: Gift of Serving
Romans 12:7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well.
Did you know serving is a gift? Wow! Is this serving only a gift for some people or for all people? Some people do have a gift of serving and are particularly adept at doing it! However, serving is for all Christians – whether they specifically have this gift or not!
This serving is by offering assistance to other and in that way, we also serve God. We are to serve wholeheartedly, not just other Christians, but all others including our enemies – those that despise and ridicule us. Serving others is a way of loving others. Serving is love in action. Serving is love getting it’s hands and feet dirty in service of others.
When we as Christians serve and help others, we are emulating of course the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ. For it is through serving, that the Christian Disciple reflects the greatest servant of all - Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to serve and to give his life for others.
As Jesus said in Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The Christian life is not to be static or inactive, but rather it is to be dynamic and active. The word ‘servant’ is used at least 500 times in its various derivations. Spiritual growth comes from serving, rather than being served. This is because what ever is given in service of God and others, faith grows and Jesus Christ gives back even more. Serving others is a sign that you, as a Christian Disciple, trust God and are having faith in Him.
When you, as a disciple and partaker of Jesus Christ, serve in any capacity, then God’s honour is released. This is done because service shows the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ to those being served and to those watching. That is to be our motive for service. Serving is never about what you can get out of it. When that is the motive, God is patently not glorified. God’s glory and supremacy is the goal of all those who would call themselves a Christian Disciple.
So go … serve. As Christians, we are all commanded to serve God.
Did you know serving is a gift? Wow! Is this serving only a gift for some people or for all people? Some people do have a gift of serving and are particularly adept at doing it! However, serving is for all Christians – whether they specifically have this gift or not!
This serving is by offering assistance to other and in that way, we also serve God. We are to serve wholeheartedly, not just other Christians, but all others including our enemies – those that despise and ridicule us. Serving others is a way of loving others. Serving is love in action. Serving is love getting it’s hands and feet dirty in service of others.
When we as Christians serve and help others, we are emulating of course the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ. For it is through serving, that the Christian Disciple reflects the greatest servant of all - Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to serve and to give his life for others.
As Jesus said in Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The Christian life is not to be static or inactive, but rather it is to be dynamic and active. The word ‘servant’ is used at least 500 times in its various derivations. Spiritual growth comes from serving, rather than being served. This is because what ever is given in service of God and others, faith grows and Jesus Christ gives back even more. Serving others is a sign that you, as a Christian Disciple, trust God and are having faith in Him.
When you, as a disciple and partaker of Jesus Christ, serve in any capacity, then God’s honour is released. This is done because service shows the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ to those being served and to those watching. That is to be our motive for service. Serving is never about what you can get out of it. When that is the motive, God is patently not glorified. God’s glory and supremacy is the goal of all those who would call themselves a Christian Disciple.
So go … serve. As Christians, we are all commanded to serve God.
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Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 07: Gift of Prophecy
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
Now Paul comes to the expression of the Roman Christians faith – their gifts! First of all we have prophecy! Much debate is made of what Paul means here by this word “prophecy!”
Calvin’s opinion is that Paul means any one skilfully and wisely performed the office of an interpreter in explaining the will & mind of God. For example, preaching. That is in his own words “hardly anything else than the right understanding of the Scripture, and the peculiar faculty of explaining it, inasmuch as all the ancient prophecies and all the oracles of God have been completed in Christ and in his gospel.”
Others insist that prophecy is the prediction of future events as pre-thought by the mind of God, such as occurred at the beginning of the church and recorded for us in the New Testament. Yet others, would insist that prophecy was only those writing what we have as the New Testament today, and that this gift of prophecy has expired and is no longer in use for today.
I am of the mind that it is both the correct explanation of God’s mind in preaching and the speaking of future events… Whether we preach or predict, we prophecy and Paul exhorts his readers, the original and also us today, to use our faith to speak God’s mind and will. That is what the prophets of the Old Testament did – revealed God’s mind and will to the people.
That is our job today too – revealing God’s mind and will to people – not just in preaching and in prophecy, but also in evangelism – telling others what Jesus, the Son of God, did in his birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension. Preaching and prophecy are gifts from God and are the outworks of faith of the believers who have those gifts.
Tomorrow – another gift - serving!!
Now Paul comes to the expression of the Roman Christians faith – their gifts! First of all we have prophecy! Much debate is made of what Paul means here by this word “prophecy!”
Calvin’s opinion is that Paul means any one skilfully and wisely performed the office of an interpreter in explaining the will & mind of God. For example, preaching. That is in his own words “hardly anything else than the right understanding of the Scripture, and the peculiar faculty of explaining it, inasmuch as all the ancient prophecies and all the oracles of God have been completed in Christ and in his gospel.”
Others insist that prophecy is the prediction of future events as pre-thought by the mind of God, such as occurred at the beginning of the church and recorded for us in the New Testament. Yet others, would insist that prophecy was only those writing what we have as the New Testament today, and that this gift of prophecy has expired and is no longer in use for today.
I am of the mind that it is both the correct explanation of God’s mind in preaching and the speaking of future events… Whether we preach or predict, we prophecy and Paul exhorts his readers, the original and also us today, to use our faith to speak God’s mind and will. That is what the prophets of the Old Testament did – revealed God’s mind and will to the people.
That is our job today too – revealing God’s mind and will to people – not just in preaching and in prophecy, but also in evangelism – telling others what Jesus, the Son of God, did in his birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension. Preaching and prophecy are gifts from God and are the outworks of faith of the believers who have those gifts.
Tomorrow – another gift - serving!!
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Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 06: Gifted Graciously!
v4-6 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. 6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
As we saw in our previous study, part of the Christian life is that each of us has special abilities and gifts! Paul uses the illustration of the human body! Your body is made up of many parts, each with a distinct purpose and function! So it is with the Church – Christ’s body! We have these gifts, each of us, because of God’s amazing grace toward us!
All Christian Disciples have Spiritual Gifts, for “in his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.” (Romans 12:6). God the Holy Spirit, through His infinite wisdom, mercy and grace bestows these gifts that belong to Him, upon Christian Disciples! What is the purpose of these gifts? These gifts are to be used primarily to bring glory to God and to extend His Kingdom here on earth! They are opportunities for Christian Disciples to serve other people. If these gifts are not being used for God’s purposes, then they are meaningless.
If each of us is serving as we ought, using the gifts and talents that God has given, then God is being praised and His kingdom here on earth being extended. We are one body – the Church! We belong to each other – even if we don’t particularly want to be! That is connected with our previous study about each person thinking of themselves appropriately – not too highly and not too lowly.
So each of us has gifts, given by God freely to those who are following Him. We have them due to His generous grace upon each of us. WOW!
We start looking at each of the gifts in this list in our next study! See you then!
As we saw in our previous study, part of the Christian life is that each of us has special abilities and gifts! Paul uses the illustration of the human body! Your body is made up of many parts, each with a distinct purpose and function! So it is with the Church – Christ’s body! We have these gifts, each of us, because of God’s amazing grace toward us!
All Christian Disciples have Spiritual Gifts, for “in his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.” (Romans 12:6). God the Holy Spirit, through His infinite wisdom, mercy and grace bestows these gifts that belong to Him, upon Christian Disciples! What is the purpose of these gifts? These gifts are to be used primarily to bring glory to God and to extend His Kingdom here on earth! They are opportunities for Christian Disciples to serve other people. If these gifts are not being used for God’s purposes, then they are meaningless.
If each of us is serving as we ought, using the gifts and talents that God has given, then God is being praised and His kingdom here on earth being extended. We are one body – the Church! We belong to each other – even if we don’t particularly want to be! That is connected with our previous study about each person thinking of themselves appropriately – not too highly and not too lowly.
So each of us has gifts, given by God freely to those who are following Him. We have them due to His generous grace upon each of us. WOW!
We start looking at each of the gifts in this list in our next study! See you then!
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Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 05: Be Warned
Romans 12:3 "Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us."
Now these Roman Christians, have a warning from the great Apostle Paul…. A warning which is also for us as the church today, if we are listening. This verse, in some manuscripts also starts “Because of the grace…” When Paul had his conversion, God had poured His grace out upon the Apostle. So it could be said that Paul’s privilege and authority had come from God’s grace upon him.
Perhaps when Paul says “Don’t think you are better than you really are”, Paul is looking back at how he used to be! He was then a man called Saul, a proud and zealous man for God, a Jew of Jews! A man eager to please God by persecuting these Christians! No more though! Now called Paul, he was an apostle and emissary sent by God to preach the Gospel throughout the world! Just as he was told at his conversion just a few short years ago when he was on the road to Damascus to pursue and persecute the early church. It is not only privilege and authority from where Paul speaks from, but also grace – grace from God… It is grace alone that Paul was changed from the path of being the persecutor to being one of the persecuted.
We must not think too highly of our selves, our skills, our abilities over-estimating or exaggerating either our strengths or our weaknesses. We are to think of ourselves with honesty and with self-accountability! That is why it is also good to be accountable to others. That could be a good friend, or your home bible study group.
As Christians, we are to think of ourselves rightly – not be so high and mighty that we can fall off our own perch. We are to think of ourselves appropriately and not with lustful pride! Faith here means a special gift which God has given everybody who is following His Son, Jesus Christ. But we start to talk about gifts in our next study!
Perhaps when Paul says “Don’t think you are better than you really are”, Paul is looking back at how he used to be! He was then a man called Saul, a proud and zealous man for God, a Jew of Jews! A man eager to please God by persecuting these Christians! No more though! Now called Paul, he was an apostle and emissary sent by God to preach the Gospel throughout the world! Just as he was told at his conversion just a few short years ago when he was on the road to Damascus to pursue and persecute the early church. It is not only privilege and authority from where Paul speaks from, but also grace – grace from God… It is grace alone that Paul was changed from the path of being the persecutor to being one of the persecuted.
We must not think too highly of our selves, our skills, our abilities over-estimating or exaggerating either our strengths or our weaknesses. We are to think of ourselves with honesty and with self-accountability! That is why it is also good to be accountable to others. That could be a good friend, or your home bible study group.
As Christians, we are to think of ourselves rightly – not be so high and mighty that we can fall off our own perch. We are to think of ourselves appropriately and not with lustful pride! Faith here means a special gift which God has given everybody who is following His Son, Jesus Christ. But we start to talk about gifts in our next study!
Right Mouse click or tap here to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!