Acts 18 - What Do You Do When You Are Asked to Stay?

Romans 5 - How Does God Demonstrate His Love For You?

Romans 5 - How Does God Demonstrate His Love For You? Since we’ve been made right with God through faith, we experience peace with God through Jesus who gives us access to God’s unconditional love - His grace. In a relationship with God, we now see everything differently. For example, our suffering in life helps us learn how to persevere which helps us develop character which helps us grow to have hope. Everything is different because we now know what it’s like to experience God’s unconditional love which we can feel though His Spirit which lives in us! When we are powerless, Jesus is there to rescue us. God demonstrated His love for us in that Jesus willingly died on the cross to rescue us! #newtestament #romans #outreach #bless #mission #jesus #faith #spirituality #christianity #evangelism #discipleship #diversity #earlychurch

Romans 4 - How Are You Made Right with God?

Romans 4 - How Are You Made Right with God? The apostle Paul writes about Abraham from the Old Testament. Abraham lived a long time ago and is considered an important figure in the Bible. Paul explains that Abraham was justified or made right with God, not because of his good deeds, but because of his faith. Paul gives an example and explains that if someone works and earns money, their paycheck is not a gift but something they have earned. When it comes to a relationship with God, we can't earn our way into His favor. Instead, it is through faith, like Abraham had, that we are made right with God. Paul goes on to explain that faith is trusting and believing in God's promises, even when we can't see them yet. He uses Abraham believed in God's promise of having many descendants, even though he and his wife were very old and didn't have any children yet. Abraham looks up and simply trusts God’s promise. God graciously responds by entering into a covenant with him, promising that Abraham will become a father of many nations, that God’s blessing may come to the whole world. Abraham's longevity along with others found in Genesis 5-11 can be explained in a helpful article from BioLogos - https://biologos.org/articles/long-life-spans-in-genesis-literal-or-symbolic #newtestament #romans #jesus #faith #spirituality #christianity #mission #outreach #bless #diversity #evangelism #discipleship #earlychurch

Romans 3 - Are You Righteous On Your Own Without Jesus?

Romans 3 - Are You Righteous On Your Own Without Jesus? In light of the controversy in the Roman church, what’s the advantage in being Jewish? The Jewish people were entrusted with the words of God through which we are all made aware of our sin and our need for God! Paul emphasizes that both Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin and stand guilty before God. Paul quotes several Old Testament passages to emphasize the universality of human sinfulness, declaring that "there is no one righteous, not even one. "The human heart is so broken we all need God. But the good news is that because of Jesus’ death on the cross, He became the sacrifice of atonement so that all people may be made right before God. #newtestament #acts #jesus #outreach #faith #spirituality #christianity #mission #bless #earlychurch

Romans 2 - Do You Judge Others?

Romans 2 - Do You Judge Others? Just after the list Paul writes describing the ways we have fallen short in our thoughts and our actions, he writes in Romans 2 about not judging others. He points out that it was God’s kindness in our lives that led us to turn to him. In other words, when we understood God loves us in spite of our sins, we willingly repented. We asked him for forgiveness. As followers of Jesus it should be our kindness towards others that leads towards their repentance to God. One of the biggest challenges in the early church was the ethnic and cultural challenge of creating a new community made up of Jews and Gentiles. Paul points out that through Jesus now all need a circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. In other words, knowing the law is not what makes us right with God, it’s obeying the law. We have all fallen short of that, but fortunately as J.I Packer wrote in Knowing God:“Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died in our place, to reconcile us to God and to give us eternal life.” #newtestament #acts #jesus #faith #spirituality #christianity #mission #bless #outreach

Romans 1 - Do You Worship Created Things Rather Than the Creator?

Romans 1 - Do You Worship Created Things Rather Than the Creator? Paul writes to the Romans about his desire to come and visit and his calling as an apostle to the Gentiles, a messenger and witness that Jesus is the Son of God as demonstrated by his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. This “gospel” or “good news” is that we can be made “right with God” by faith. In other words, when we try to follow all the rules in order to get to God, we will always fall short. And just in case we think we are righteous on our own not needing Jesus’ sacrifice, he reminds us how we are all without excuse and able to see the beauty of creation which points to God but instead we worship what God created rather than the Creator. For example, God created sex as a gift in the context of marriage, but instead lust has so affected our minds we see men and women as objects for our own pleasure. Sometimes the “wrath of God” is demonstrated when God gives us what we want allowing us to experience the consequences of our evil choices. #newtestament #acts #jesus #faith #spirituality #christianity #mission #bless #outreach