Episodes
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 10
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
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 09
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
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 08
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
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 07
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
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 06
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
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 05
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!
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Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Monday Sep 04, 2023
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 04
Monday Sep 04, 2023
Monday Sep 04, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 04: Transformation
Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
When you became a Christian, if you are one, is that God is transforming you into the image of Jesus Christ. That is part of what the Apostle Paul has been saying and in the preceding verse 1, had encouraged them in response to this news, to worship God with all their minds and their bodies. It is transformation of mind and body! That is worship! How do we do that, you may ask? It is a fundamental of living a Christian life – transformation! WOW! The process of transformation starts with the Holy Spirit who lives within you, who is your seal of salvation and is the agent of change in your life. This transformation starts in the mind through reading the Bible and praying! Listening to God is part of prayer! Are you aware of that?
Of course the world we live in has many different values to that of the Christian or indeed the universal church. People will try to get you to not change and get you to compromise and adopt or maintain habits and behaviours that are distinctly not Christian. But we, as the Church, are to resist this. We can resist in the power of the Holy Spirit. Because if we resist in our strength and confidence in ourselves, then we are destined to fail. But by using the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you remember, we can prevail, overcome temptations and be transformed into the image of God the Son, Jesus Christ…
What are you personally struggling against? What is your church struggling with? Accede to the impulse of the Holy Spirit who is quietly urging you, prompting you and encouraging you. Then as you learn to listen to His urges, you will as Paul acknowledges, know what God’s will is for you in your life – not only transformation but also what you are to do and how you are to go about it to the praise and glory of God – Father, Son and Spirit.
We hand not just our bodies over to worship Jesus, but also our minds! What you input to your mind will dominate your mind! Sins start in the mind, then transfer to your will. Remember, if you are struggling with sin, confess it quickly to the God and ask to be continually filled and controlled by the Spirit! If the church were to be a lighthouse to the world, this world would be changed to the glory of God and God alone! Worship God – body, mind and will. Part of living life wholly for God in the 21st century.
When you became a Christian, if you are one, is that God is transforming you into the image of Jesus Christ. That is part of what the Apostle Paul has been saying and in the preceding verse 1, had encouraged them in response to this news, to worship God with all their minds and their bodies. It is transformation of mind and body! That is worship! How do we do that, you may ask? It is a fundamental of living a Christian life – transformation! WOW! The process of transformation starts with the Holy Spirit who lives within you, who is your seal of salvation and is the agent of change in your life. This transformation starts in the mind through reading the Bible and praying! Listening to God is part of prayer! Are you aware of that?
Of course the world we live in has many different values to that of the Christian or indeed the universal church. People will try to get you to not change and get you to compromise and adopt or maintain habits and behaviours that are distinctly not Christian. But we, as the Church, are to resist this. We can resist in the power of the Holy Spirit. Because if we resist in our strength and confidence in ourselves, then we are destined to fail. But by using the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you remember, we can prevail, overcome temptations and be transformed into the image of God the Son, Jesus Christ…
What are you personally struggling against? What is your church struggling with? Accede to the impulse of the Holy Spirit who is quietly urging you, prompting you and encouraging you. Then as you learn to listen to His urges, you will as Paul acknowledges, know what God’s will is for you in your life – not only transformation but also what you are to do and how you are to go about it to the praise and glory of God – Father, Son and Spirit.
We hand not just our bodies over to worship Jesus, but also our minds! What you input to your mind will dominate your mind! Sins start in the mind, then transfer to your will. Remember, if you are struggling with sin, confess it quickly to the God and ask to be continually filled and controlled by the Spirit! If the church were to be a lighthouse to the world, this world would be changed to the glory of God and God alone! Worship God – body, mind and will. Part of living life wholly for God in the 21st century.
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Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 03
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 03: Worship and service
Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Here in this first verse of chapter 12, of that magnificent letter of Romans in the New Testament section of the Bible. As they are now Christians, their old life and old bodies have gone! That is what the letter writer Paul has been leading up to and saying. Paul, that great Apostle of the early church, now starts to elucidate about living life for God and for God alone. As Christians they have a new life and new bodies! Paul exhorts these followers of Jesus to worship Him with their whole bodies – not just their minds or their hearts! This is the new transformed person as living sacrifices in response to God’s mercy, justice, grace and love! Jesus sacrificially died for the person, so the person must also sacrifice their old ways of life – thoughts, desires, attitudes and actions – and proceed to live a whole life which is pleasing to God – pleasing in their thoughts, desires, attitudes and actions…
Why? Because that is part of whole life worship of Jesus, the Son of God. Because the whole body of the individual Christian is, in the point of view of God, been declared holy through the death of the Son Jesus Christ on the cross.
As Christians, we are to worship with our whole bodies and minds. As Christians we have been marked and sealed with the Holy Spirit who lives within the Christian –helping, counselling, consoling, comforting and empowering. It is not just worship, but also to be our service of God. Jesus, the Son of God, was the servant of humanity. It is our responsive worship to therefore be of service to God in all things that we do, as we go about our daily lives – work, rest and play.
If you are struggling in some area of life, encumbered with a perpetual sin, then confess to God that sin, ask Him to cleanse you afresh and to fill you with His Spirit. Keep on being filling with His Spirit. Not just on Sundays but every day of the week and in all areas of your life! By being filled with the Spirit, I mean be controlled by the Spirit and let Him guide your thoughts and actions. If the church and Christians were to do that, this world would be changed!! How can we do that? Well, that commences in v2 and tomorrow!
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Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 02
Saturday Sep 02, 2023
Saturday Sep 02, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 02: Keys to Romans
As we saw yesterday, in this letter to the Romans, Paul explores some large ideas such as guild, faith, assurance, propitiation, redemptions, sin, security and sanctification! This is in evidence in the key verses to this great epistle!
Some Key verses to this letter of Romans are:
Some Key verses to this letter of Romans are:
- Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”
- Romans 3:23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
- Romans 8:38-39 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Friday Sep 01, 2023
Romans 12 - Living Life - Part 01
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 01: Introduction
Welcome to our series “Living Life” as we investigate chapter 12 of that amazing book of the Bible, Romans!
"In chapter 12, St. Paul teaches the true liturgy and makes all Christians priests, so that they may offer, not money or cattle, as priests do in the Law, but their own bodies, by putting their desires to death. Next he describes the outward conduct of Christians whose lives are governed by the Spirit; he tells how they teach, preach, rule, serve, give, suffer, love, live and act toward friend, foe and everyone. These are the works that a Christian does, for, as I have said, faith is not idle." Martin Luther in his book “Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans.”
Paul is writing to a group or groups of Christians in Rome in about 45-50AD! Just a few years after Jesus Christ ascended back to God. In this letter the Apostle Paul presents God's plan of salvation, which is in Jesus Christ, and the effect this has upon all mankind. This gospel plan sees God's righteousness extended to all of humanity.
How so? This Gospel plan, urges Paul, is based entirely on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is received by faith in Him, rather than the good works of a human. This letter of Paul’s investigates ideas such as guilt, faith, assurance, security and sanctification.
We continue that idea of key themes in our next podcast before continuing into this amazing passage of Scripture!! Will you join me?
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Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Version: 20240731