Calvary Fellowship of Ottawa

Message from Andy Falleur on December 20, 2020

In this Bible Study from Pastor Andy Falleur in Romans 16, we read through the closing greetings of the letter from Paul to the church in Rome. There’s a glimpse into the Christian community in Rome and a glimpse into the people around Paul. It’s interesting to see both men and women, and people from all different cultures and ages, marital status and socio-economic levels. There’s also echoes back to the beginning of the letter and there’s information that helps to date the letter and give the circumstances around it’s delivery. What’s also interesting is to see the various ways that Paul describes the people, and how there’s some people that shouldn’t be greeted. They are to be avoided. It’s very interesting to see how and why these people ended up in this list and preserved for us by the Holy Spirit.

In this Bible Study from Romans 15:14-33, Andy Falleur shows how this particular section serves to not only be a way to prove the veracity of the New Testament, but also as an illustration of all that Paul has been describing and “reminding” in his letter to the Church of Rome so far. We can see that Paul is a person that was evil, and has received the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We can also see his sober view of the people in Rome, the sober view of himself, his calling, the recognition of God’s purposes in the world, grace at work in his life, love motivating him, and how he’s welcoming the wide variety of people that are believers. There’s even a glimpse of submission to the governing authorities. This is all a real life illustration, of how to make plans as a Christian, using all the instructions that Paul has given in Romans 12-15.

In this Bible Study from Romans 15:1-13, Pastor Andy Falleur shows how Paul continues the ideas from chapter 14, where there are significant differences of opinion and even conviction about various “disputable matters” among Christians. The major point that Paul makes is how we are to “accept” or “welcome” or “receive” one another especially when these differences exist. The point is that we are able to live in harmony, which produces hope, endurance, encouragement and provides a powerful witness to people who have never heard about Jesus. In this study, there are some illustrations of how that has worked out at Calvary Fellowship of Ottawa, even from the earliest days. And, then how we are to handle ourselves in light of the obvious differences of opinion and even conviction in disputable matters that exist in our congregation today.

This is a Bible Study from Andy Falleur in Romans 14:1-23, where the Apostle Paul is giving the believers in Rome instructions on how to handle themselves in disputable matters. It’s interesting that even in the time of the Apostles, while the New Testament is being written, that they had various topics and issues and questions that weren’t necessarily settled or sorted. Good, godly Christians had differences of opinions very similar to what happens to us today. There are some matters where there should be no dispute, and Paul writes about those in 1 Corinthians, but these are items that Christians have a difference of opinion, and sometimes conviction about, and we need to know how to handle ourselves when those differences are present. Matters like: Tobacco, Alcohol, Netflix, R-Rated movies, Casinos, Hockey Pools, Mixed bathing, Facebook, Coffee, Politics, Plandemic, I mean pandemic, Unrestricted access to the internet with no accountability software, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik-Tok, Circumcision, Tithing, Secular Music, Clothing Styles, Bible Translations, Yoga, Acupuncture, Chiropractics, Gas fuelled cars, Recycling, Compost Bins, Daily Devotions, Women in Ministry, Head-coverings, home-schooling, vaccines, tattoos, cannabis, contraception, the Missionary position.