July 26, 2024
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 ESV). The apostle Paul explained that being made right with God could not be achieved through trying to keep the law. For all have sinned and fall
July 25, 2024
“I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” (Romans 9:2-3 ESV). The apostle Paul was continually filled with sorrow and anguish because of the Jews rejection of
July 24, 2024
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35 ESV). The apostle Paul posed a rhetorical question concerning the love of Christ asking, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then after offering several possible separating scenarios,
July 18, 2024
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1 ESV). The apostle Paul taught the Roman believers that they had been “justified” by faith. This is the doctrine of justification. One way to remember this doctrine is the saying, “Just-as-if-I-never-sinned.” For the word “justified”
July 14, 2024
“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 ESV). Don’t presume upon the riches of God’s kindness, thinking you will not appear before God’s judgment seat in the end. Don’t let the apparent way that
July 12, 2024
“For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (Romans 1:11-12 ESV). God made us for Himself and fashioned within us a deep need for fellowship. As Christ-followers our spiritual
March 31, 2024 | Romans 6:4-11 |
Of all the symbols that Christians might have chosen as an emblem of the faith, why the cross? The answer is that the cross points to Christ’s death as payment for our sins and the fact that the cross is empty points to Christ’s resurrection as the power that gives us new life in Him. The empty cross points to the empty tomb!
In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, he told them that it was being united with Christ in His death and resurrection that made it possible for them to live a new life. We can experience this new life in union with Christ’s death and resurrection.
January 21, 2024 | Romans 12:3-13
We have more communication technology, but less person to person communication. We have more social media, but less time socializing together. We’ve supersized our stuff, but we’ve downsized our time with others. As a result we are becoming more and more isolated from our families and communities. That’s why the call of Christ is a simple call to a personal relationship. Jesus says, “Come, follow me.” Jesus wants to connect us to God and to God’s family.
In the book of Romans chapter 12, the apostle Paul appealed to believers to fully devote themselves to God, which would lead to a transformed and renewed mind that would know and follow the will of God (Rom.12:1-2). He then instructed them in the new way they were to think of themselves and one another in Christ. We can have this new way of thinking of ourselves and one another in Christ.
August 6, 2023 | Matthew 5:1-3; Romans 7:15-25 |
We all have problems. We have hurts, habits, and hangups that we can’t overcome. It’s like something inside of us is broken and it leaves us powerless to change. We’re held captive and can’t get free!
How are you doing at overcoming these hurts, habits, and hangups? For most of us, no matter how hard we try, we find ourselves powerless to break free, so we continue to be held captive by them.
The apostle Paul wrote about these feelings of brokenness, of feeling powerless to change. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he described how admitting our brokenness can move us toward God’s blessing. We can see how admitting our brokenness can move us toward God’s blessing.
August 2, 2023
“Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.” (Romans 16:3-5 NLT). In Paul’s letter to