What is the Answer?

A friend of mine one time was wearing a button just like the one you see above.  I pointed to it and asked, "What's that?". He reached into his coat pocket and gave me a Tract which started out, "Since you asked..." and then he proceeded to tell me about Jesus and what he did for us on the cross.  I have always admired that approach to the Gospel. It seems to me to be effective because we are not intruding and not pushing our faith on anyone...we allow them to ask the questions and allow God to make the answers they need to hear.

More importantly, it brings up the need that people have to have answers...correct answers to life's questions. Every Christian needs to know why they believe and  how to tell people what they believe. People need answers and they deserve that answer that is loving and from the heart.

That is all Jesus wants us to do, isn't it?  To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others just like He loves them.  That's not so hard to do when you look at it that way.

In, Disciples Are Made Not Born: Helping Others Grow to Maturity in Christ  – July 23, 2002 by Walter A. Henrichsen, there is a wonderful story of one college student that wanted to tell his roommate about Jesus (I am paraphrasing the story). Henrichsen discipled him and taught him all the right Scripture to say and how he should approach the topic.  When Henrichsen thought the lad was ready, he accompanied him to his dorm room, where to Henrichsen's horror., the student used all the wrong Scripture and he basically bungled everything that Henrichsen had taught him. At the end of the ordeal, the student asked his dorm mate, "Would like to accept Christ?" Surprisingly (to Henrichsen) the student said, "You bet I would!".  This event taught Henrichsen and important lesson.  It's not about YOU;  It's all about Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Many of us are afraid to share the Gospel, but seriously, it's just telling people an answer to their own question. How hard is that?  You already KNOW the answer!  "What's THAT?"  It's the power of Jesus working through you...that's what it is!

Have a Blessed and Safe Christmas!

Blessings All!

The Choices of Pharaoh

There is a great story in the Old Testament that almost everyone knows.  It's the story of Moses leading God's people out of Egypt.  You can find the story in Exodus...It starts in Exodus 4 and continues for a few chapters.  In fact, it is one of the longer stories in the Old Testament and galvanized Israel as the people of God.  It's one of the keystone stories of their faith.  It also has several important lessons for us, but I would like to focus on just one of those lessons today.

The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is the story I would like to bring to your attention.  it's one that is often overlooked but it is significant in several ways.

1) Moses confronts Pharaoh, not by his own power, but he had the full faith and backing of the Lord.  Pretty much the entirety of Exodus Chapter  4 is devoted to this. Moses had several failings and he was not without fear, but the Lord answered every question and filled in the gapps for Moses at every turn. moses had only to be faithful in what the Lord tasked him to do.  We know the ending, so we know he was successful...not by his own power, but by the Lord's.  Such it is with the Christian as well...I must decrease, but HE must increase.  If we remember that, things will go much more smoothly.

2) When Moses confronts Pharaoh, Pharaoh at first, relented, but then because of his pride, Pharaoh hardens his own heart and refuses to let God's people go as He has demanded. This goes on for a long time.  God is patient with Pharaoh, even though He knows that Pharaoh's pride will get in the way of doing the right thing every time.  We need to be careful of this in our own lives as well.  Listen to what the Lord is saying and be obedient or suffer the consequences.  these consequences can be very serious. Even for the Christian.  Now you cannot lose your salvation, but like Pharaoh, we can indeed lose our life.  Be careful and obedient to follow what God wants in your life.  If we do, His blessings will come to us.

3) The pivotal verse, in my opinion, is this verse: Exodus 9:12 And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.   You see, up until this time, in Chapters 7, 8 and the beginning of Chapter 9, Pharaoh had control and each and every time, Pharaoh hardens his own heart, but here in this verse Exodus 9:12 we see God hardening Pharaoh's heart. God was patient with him up until this point, but after that, Pharaoh's chances were gone.  This hardening of Pharaoh's heart was the turning point, and from then on, Pharaoh's fate was sealed and his destiny set. Way back in Exodus Chapter 4:21 the Lord said he would harden Pharaoh's heart, yet His grace extended a long tome before He did this, giving Pharaoh many chances to change his ways. Alas, hubris is what doomed Pharaoh to his fate.

Christians, we are in our own lives struggling with many hard issues and yet the Lord is patient with us so that we may change our ways.  Do not neglect such grace. It may not be extended forever.  For those of you you who are sitting on the fence and have not made a decision for Christ, please be aware that the time is short to do so. Please make a decision today...and choose life: Choose Jesus!

Blessings all!

Shine!

"Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

This should be the position, posture and product of all Christian life. Not that we shine with our own light, but that we reflect the glory of the one who brings true life!. If people cannot see the change of energy and attitude as you go through your day, examine yourself to see if you are truly living the renewed life that only Jesus can bring to you!

There will always be times when we don't feel like we can represent Christ because of what we have done or what we have done to us, but suck it up person of God and move on! Jesus has showed us the way....let us follow Him one step at a time! With our master we will stand or fall...and stand we will!

Blessings on your day!

Thanking God

Romans 1:8  First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

Many of us pray to God and are thankful for His blessings in our life. Paul takes it up a notch with this simple statement of how he prays for the Roman church.

He says, "First, I thank my God... "

First and foremost Paul thanks God...and not just any god...but "my God" Paul has a personal relationship with the All Mighty.  This is not just some generic prayer he is praying. It is a personal and very moving prayer to his God whom he knows and makes known in Spirit and in Truth. many times we hear prayers that are general and they seem as if they are intended for believers and non-believers alike.  When Paul prays to his God...it is a prayer that is intended for the believers ears alone.

He says, "...through Jesus Christ for you all"

Paul does not approach God the Father alone, but "through Jesus Christ". We have  a tendency to approach the throne of the All Mighty much tot flippantly. We need to have more respect. Jesus said, Luke 12:5 "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!" He was talking about the Father here. No other being has that authority but Him. And yes...fear Him and respect Him.

He says, "...for you all" 

Paul also does not single out people when he is praying about the Romans. "..for you all" There is an interesting story in 1 Samuel 30:21-25 where David confronts some men in his army who do not want to divide the spoils of war with some of the support people who stayed behind the lines to care for the camp. These were called wicked and evil men. When David hears of their plans, he tells them this. ” 23 Then David said, “You must not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, who has kept us and delivered into our hand the band that came against us. 24 And who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.”   You see, David understood that winning the battle takes everyone doing different tasks.  Some seem to be more important that others, but in reality, it takes everyone exercising what gifts God has given them and what He has called them to do to be successful.  In any church this is true as well.  The Romans were made up of many different types of people, but it was everyone who shared in the battle and they share in Paul's praise for what they have done.  May it also be so with us today.  It takes everyone of us working with Jesus as the head to make a church work

Finally Paul states, ..."because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world."

This is what it's all about, isn't it?  It's not about fame or power or money. It's because of Jesus and His love and sacrifice for us that we can proclaim faith. Oh that our FAITH would be proclaimed throughout the whole world! Not out Denomination or Church or pastor...or even what we do...only that our Faith be proclaimed as being true and honest and uplifting.  If that be true, then surely at the end of our journey we will hear God himself say, Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Amen.

Blessings All!

Paul Lifts the Gospel

In the 1st chapter of Romans we see Paul encouraging the church in Rome.  He is very clever at doing this and establishes where is heart is at right from the get-go. Just as Jesus was lifted on the cross, Paul Lifts the Gospel to another plain...Let's look at it together...

1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

Verse 1: Paul establishes himself as an Apostle and servant of Jesus Christ. He does this in many of his letters because he had a bad reputation of persecuting Christians before his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Have no doubt Paul is a 100% changed man.   And such are we changed as well, if by faith, we have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and have repented of our sins and move forward in our lives following the Christ who sacrificed himself for us!


2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,

Verse 2: This Gospel, this GOOD NEWS that comes from God himself was a promise that the Old Testament pointed to. Now we have the New Testament a new way with which God will save souls bent on self-destruction. This Gospel is Jesus and what he did on the cross for us! But bear in mine, Paul did not have the New Testament. He only had the Old Testament and so, he shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. These are the "holy Scriptures"!

3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

Verses 3 through 6:  Paul never misses an opportunity to present the Gospel of God and so, here, we see him presenting it in a capsulated form. Paul is talking to jewish Christians in Rome and so he establishes the fact that Jesus is a Jew...and not just any Jew, but a "descendant of David according to the flesh"! This is important when talking to jewish Christians and encouraging them in their faith. this Jesus, a Jew was shown to be the son of God but not just for the Jews alone but also for the Gentiles.  You see, for a Jew, there were just 2 types of people.  Jews and Everyone else who was not a Jew...the Gentiles or Goim...they were all considered to be barbarians and unclean people.  You would never see a real Jew have anything to do with a Gentile...that is until the Gospel of Jesus was established and Paul says that this Gospel reconciled even the gentiles to God through the sacrifice of Jesus' death on the cross!  This is indeed GOOD  NEWS...for everyone now!

7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 7: Paul encourages and blesses.  We, as Christians need to do this more often.  There were plenty of problems in the Roman church for Paul to address, but he starts off the tone of the rest of the discussion by showing the Romans how much love he has for their church and how much love that God has for them as well.  Notice he is talking to believers here...to those "called as Saints" but he is very emphatic in stating that he wishes them grace and peace from both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

This is my blessing for you as well! Grace and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!

Blessings All!

My Birthday Verse

Today's Birthverse is:

November 30

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
Proverbs 11:30 NIV

The Value of Bible Study

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

I have always thought, even before I was a Christian, that the Bible was a special piece of literature.  Once I became a Christian and was personally in a relationship with Jesus, this idea did not go away, but rather, was enhanced by the knowledge that the Holy Spirit gave me. In fact, when I first became a Christian, the Bible took on a whole new place in my life and I began to read it over and over and over again and I still am amazed at the wisdom I find.  It's called the Living Word of God for a reason.  You can read the same verse one day and get something from it, then you can read the same verse again at some point in the future and apply it differently to your life.  The MEANING of the text never changes...but HOW you APPLY it to your life does.  It's quite amazing actually.

I like to call the Bible a Love Letter from God...to ME. It's more than History, although it is that, it's more like someone who loves you from afar has sent you a chronicling of how He has set the world around you in motion and has intervened in your life both before your were born and now, without you knowing it and has even provided for you a future you can look forward to and rejoice in because as you read it, you can get the sense that all of history was deliberate. Joyful stuff.

I study the Bible every chance I get. I study it in the morning, during the day and at night.  When I am not studying it, I am pondering what I have read in it. It consumes me and at the same time completes me.  I tweet Scripture. I post Scripture verses. There is nothing I would rather do. "But why?", you may ask.  Simply because I do not think there is anything than more important for believers and non-believers alike to know. We believers ought to love and live the Word of God every day, 24x7x365...and non-believers need to know that length and breadth and deepness of God's love for THEM.  Reading and knowing the Bible will indeed show them that.

May you have a blessed time reading and studying God's Love letter to YOU!

Blessings All!

It's not about YOU.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires

There is no easy way to put this, and so, I've decided to put it as simply as I could.

We have been spoiled in our churches. We have become soft, uncalloused and unchallenged.  We demand worship bands and worship leaders with upbeat tunes that make us tap our toes and clap our hands.

The center of our worship is not God, it is ourselves.  We want to feel good. We want to experience oneness with God. We want to hear a snappy sermon with lots of Powerpoint slides or video that illustrate vividly and humorously with about 3, maybe 4 points...no more.  If  we had anymore points then the worship service would run over an hour and that...well...that would make us unhappy.  We do NOT want to be unhappy in church!

That may seem harsh and maybe it is, but it is true more often these days. Examine your own attitudes about how your church operates a worship service...honestly. I think you will find that you demand to be entertained. The result is really what Scripture had warned us would happen.  Paul states in 2 Timothy, and rightly, that there would come a time when people's demands would be to hear what they want to hear and the result would be unsound doctrine and a soft, unScriptural faith.  That time has come and it is getting worse.

We can combat this in our own lives, strangely enough, by becoming more demanding...more discerning about what we want in our churches for worship.  It's not about us...it is all about HIM. I for one, WANT doctrinally sound sermons...and not those who necessarily make me feel GOOD about myself.  There are plenty of things that I KNOW I can improve upon...people are just not giving me honest feedback.  I need a sermon that challenges me!  Whether it is to study the Bible more or to be more Christ-like in my live or responses to other people.  I don't need my ears "tickled"...even though that is what I want...it is not what I NEED.  I should be made to feel uncomfortable...and even sad at times...those feelings are healthy for my soul.

I need other Christians to be honest as well. We so often are like the Penguins of Madagascar and we just , "Smile and wave boys, smile and wave." when we see others in error.  Instead we are to build up the body of Christ in Love until is attains the fullest maturity in Christ Jesus.  We are failing our fellow believers when we are silent on doctrinal error.

Of course, all this comes at a price.  You may not feel good all the time and there will be times that tears are shed.  People may even not like you anymore...even those 'Christians' who were once your friends. However, it will be during those times when your faith will reach a level of maturity that you had not before. It will be during those times when you will feel closer to God and His Kingdom. It will be during those times when you will be acting most Christ-like and telling people what they NEED to hear and not actually doing any tickling. It will be during those times when the Body of Christ will grow into the kind of faith which will actually do some good in this world by lifting Jesus while they themselves are saying..."I must decrease and He must increase!".

Blessings all!

Come to the Light

John 3:20-21
For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

Have you ever did anything in the dark?  What I mean by that is try to obfuscate your actions?  You were operating without the light of Christ when you did that.  You probably felt sad or had a pit in your stomach.  Not a good feeling!  That was the Holy Spirit telling you that what you were doing was wrong and not in accordance with God's Word.

Christians ought to do everything out in the open.  They should abhor darkness and everything associated with darkness. We cannot operate as the world operates.  We represent the light and indeed, without it, we would not be Christians. We cannot reflect light while we ourselves are in darkness...

Listen to the Holy Spirit. He will guide you into all truth and righteousness!

Blessings All!

But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

Feeling like Pilate

Feeling like Pilate

Today is not a good day for me.  I am usually upbeat but today, I am down. Like the title says...today I feel like Pilate...as in Pontius Pilate.  The crowd cheering outside, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" while inside, Pilate takes a basin of water and washes his hands in the clean water saying. "I find no guilt in this man." After he did that, the leaders took Jesus away to crucify him.

Pilate, seeing that a riot was brewing simply took the easy way out and gave in to the crowd.  A crowd which was falsely accusing Jesus of conduct deserving death.  How did Pilate feel when he did this? I would think he feels much like I do now. Weak, wrong and worried.

Weak:  I feel week because I did not stand up to what I KNEW to be a wrong decision. I cannot go into the exact details of this, but it makes me sick just thinking of it.  May the LORD forgive me for being weak. More than this, I exalt in my weaknesses, because when I am weak, then I am strong.  I ascend to this intellectually, but in practice, it seems to be a harder thing to grasp.

Wrong: To give in to a crowd who is condemning a person who is not worthy of condemnation is wrong. Plain and simple. There is no other way to look at it.  This says much,much more about US than it does about the person being condemned. And what is says about US...and ME is that we ought to be examining our life and our faith...are we acting like Jesus would have acted or are we acting more like that crowd demanding the crucifiction of JESUS? Shame on us for acting more like the world we live in rather than living in the Kingdom Jesus died for. Shame on me for not being bold.

Worried: I can't help but be worried about our future.  Not only in the short term, but in the long term as well.  Where do we see God in all this?  In the case of Jesus being crucified at least we can look back and say that is was all part of God's plan...but in this case where have let God be God? When have we trusted in His plan and when have we allowed Him to speak? Where is our trust in HIM?

I know that all things work together for good....for those who love God...who are called to HIS purpose.  I KNOW that God will take this and will exalt Himself and will shame those who are looking on this as if they know better and are taking things into their own hands. But still, there is some piece of me which is saying...I could have done better...I could have done more...instead, in the end I abdicated my responsibility...like Peter, I ran and hid. Nice.

May the Lord Bless us in times of trouble and in times of Joy. May we also give Him all the glory for all circumstances. Amen.

Blessings All.

The Lesson of the Trees

The Lesson of the Trees

My Dad was a logger.  He worked in the woods longer than I could remember and he insisted that his boys work in  the woods with him.  That means that when I was in 3rd grade my dad took me into the woods so that I could learn the trade.  This never sat well with me because, well, it was hard work and I could not do what I wanted to do, which basically was lazing around, playing and  being me.  How dare he try to teach me to work!  As I look back on it, it wasn't something that I enjoyed doing much.

One day when we were cutting some trees down, I noticed that the taller and larger trees were always next to older, large trees and I asked my Dad why that would be so.  He told me that in order for for a tree to reach it's full potential, they needed a strong and tall tree nearby.  He said that he believed that the older tree would shade the younger tree and in order for the younger tree to get enough sunlight, it would HAVE to grow taller so that it's leaves could rise above the other trees and capture the sun.  If it did not grow, it would eventually die.  That is how, he explained, that  the older trees forced the younger trees to grow tall and strong and when they had served their purpose, we loggers would come along and cut down the older trees and then the job of growing new trees fell to the younger strong trees which were left and so, the process was repeated.

As I grew older and a little bit wiser, I began to understand and appreciate the reason my Dad took me into the woods in the first place.  It was to challenge me to grow.  He had learned the lesson of the trees and he was trying to teach me. He knew he had to challenge me in order that I might grow into a man and in forcing me to work in the woods with him, he was making that a reality. It wasn't something I appreciated or even wanted, but it was something I needed.  I am now happy that he loved me enough to ignore my whining about the work.

I am working with Christians instead of trees and it is surprisingly like when I was a kid working in the woods, except now I am playing the role of my dad. I find that people are exactly like me and they too do not like to be challenged. Like the trees, if they are not challenged, they eventually will end up taking the path of least resistance and will not grow; they will be spiritually weak.  If they do not grow they will die or be so weak that they are not effective and that is not acceptable.

This is a particular problem in the Church today. People want to be comforted.  They want to feel good and like me, they certainly do not appreciate being challenged.  However it is a truth that the trees have long ago learned....and that is while it is not the most pleasant thing to go through, we all grow stronger and more useful when we are challenged to grow.

So remember that the next time you feel uncomfortable during a sermon and your ego is not stroked and you come away saying, "You know, that really wasn't a feel-good sermon."  Take a lesson from the trees and grow.  In that way you might be able to say, "You know, that really wasn't a feel-good sermon...but I really needed to hear that!"

Blessings All!

Can a Christian be persecuted by other Christians?

Can a Christian be persecuted by other Christians?

Matthew 5:11-12
"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

I  have sometimes felt persecuted by what happens to me beyond my control. I think may of us have had this feeling.  Sometimes we throw a pity-party and invite everyone we know to attend...I've done that before and have been less than satisfied with the result. :-)  But if you think about it, there are differences in being persecuted and in being criticized by jealous or insecure people.  Here are my reasons.


1) Persecution needs to come from outside of  the Church.  Hurtful and petty people, often with the best intentions, however misguided and wrong, are within the Church. Jesus has said so...we know this is true.  Paul often had critics from within the body of believers and I don't think he viewed it as being persecuted.  He viewed the people as being disobedient.  Disobedience needs to be dealt with...sometimes from within the congregation and sometimes directly from the Lord.  However, this is not my place, nor my task.  My task is to lift up Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross for everyone to see and to build up the Body of Christ in Love,

2) Persecution cannot come from Christians.  As I mentioned before, it is the nature of human beings to want to be comforted and assured.  It is no different with Christians as it is with non-believers.  In this respect we are just being human. So when we think we are being persecuted, what we really find is that we are just the subject of human beings being human and not letting the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit free reign in their lives.  We need to be grace-full to these people, not judgmental toward them.

3) Persecution is aimed at destruction.  Criticism from within sometimes can seem like it is destructive, especially if you take it personally, but seriously, Criticism actually says more about the people criticizing than it does about the object of their criticism. So instead of being destructive, criticism often is a catalyst for building up rather than tearing down.  Give it over to the Lord and you will see what He can do with it.  In fact, you will rejoice in what He does with it!

So rejoice if you have had critics!  It is by these that the Lord works and strengths us.  Amen and Amen!

Blessings All!

This wicked generation

Folks, don't get side-tracked here. This verse is NOT about demons. Satan and his minions are what they are. This verse is about "THIS WICKED GENERATION" and how if they do NOT put God back into their nice, clean lives, that their lives will be worse than before!  Hey! Listen!

Matthew 12:43-45

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Romans 1:8-17

Romans 1

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, 10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; 12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Perhaps Romans 1:16 is what one normally thinks about from Chapter 1 of this book, but there is much to discuss before we get to that part.

Paul encourages.  He does this a lot. One can imagine why.  Here is a group of Christians in the middle of hostile territory.  Some of them were going through some tough times...well why don't we say that all of them were going through some tough times, because it was true. Just as it is in the Middle East and parts of Africa and other parts of the world where Christians are in the minority we know from what we read in the papers and online that many of them are being persecuted and tortured and even killed.  In Paul's time it was no different.  These people were being pounded day after day.  Paul encourages them.  However he does not encourage them with platitudes but with TRUTH.

Vs 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

Paul says he thanks God for them through Jesus Christ.  Not because they were in Rome, but because of their faith!  It was a strong faith and a faith that was not shy.  It was a faith that was being talked about and proclaimed,something that was lifted up as an example of faith.  A faith that Paul says is being proclaimed, not only in Rome,but a faith that is being proclaimed throughout the whole known world!  In due time, this faith would reach the whole world that we even know today.

Vs 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, 10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;

Paul is so impressed with their faith that he uses the Roman Christians as examples of how faith  should be.  He encourages them by saying is praying for them constantly and finally, he may even be able to visit them in person.  He is stoked!  He wishes that he could see them in person to impart some spiritual gift.  What this gift was or would have been, he fails to mention.  Maybe because it was not up to him which gift the Spirit would give them.  That is best left to the Spirit, who decides what gift is needed to build up the body of Christ.  At any rate, this gift would be used to "establish" them... To make them firm; to bolster their faith and to build them up even further.

13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Paul was eager to come to visit the church at Rome.  Interestingly, he states that he has been prevented from doing so.   I reckon this perhaps in two different ways.  1) That the Spirit Himself prevented Paul from fulfilling his desire to visit.  This is not unheard of even in Paul's ministry.  Paul was very sensitive to the Spirit and His leading and he would not have wanted to go against what the Spirit said.  If the door was not open, then he would have to be satisfied to wait.  This even happens to us today.  Many times I have been asked to travel to someplace to minister and my answer has always been, "If the Lord opens the door I will be there."  One caveat in that...make sure you are willing to go if the door does open...don;t let it be an excuse for you NOT to go just because you are being stubborn.  I too, speak with experience on this as there have been times, I have resisted the Spirit's leading just because I felt it would be a bad move.  We all need practice what we preach and trust God more...me included!

2) The other way this could be looked at is that Satan was delaying his visiting the Romans. This too is echoed in Scripture for if you read Daniel 10:10-14 we see that when Daniel had prayed that an Angel of God was dispatched but he was stopped from seeing Daniel for 21 days until  Michael came and interceded with the "prince of the kingdom of  Persia" who was preventing the messenger in reaching Daniel.   Scholars have conclude that this so-called prince was actually a demon who had dominion over Persia.  Is it any wonder that there are problems in the Middle-East today?  These demons still exist...and they still battle the Lord and His people.

Paul also makes it clear that he is ministering to ALL PEOPLE. Not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles...which is basically everyone else. In our own lives, we must be open and willing to minister and to tell our testimony to anyone and everyone.  We do not have the right to with hold the keys of the kingdom, which is what we are doing when we refuse to give the good news to people we do not like or to people we don't think deserve to hear the Gospel.  Open yourself up to the possibilities. God will do the rest.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Here is these 2 verses is the crux of all of Romans. Verses 16 and 17 Lay the foundation of Paul's belief and practice of the Gospel message.

Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel! Why? Because it is the power of God!
For what purpose? For salvation to everyone who believes!
To whom does this apply? To the Jew first and also to everyone else!
What is the message? The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel message!
How shall we grasp such a message of Salvation? By Faith! as it is written," But the righteous man shall live by faith."!

This stuff preaches itself!  You do not need to add to it at all.  Just ask the right questions and the answers are self-evident!

Blessings to you as you read through Romans!

Romans:The Beginning

Romans 1 (NASB)

1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,  2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures

Who is Paul? Why is he here? Why is he writing to the Romans?


3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Who is Jesus? Why has He come?

5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

What have we Gained from Jesus?  What are we to give back?

7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

To whom do these blessings pertain? What are we called by God? What do we receive?


Blessings all!

Romans Outline

We are studying the book of Romans in Sunday School.  I will be blogging some points about the book here.  Check back occasionally as the posts will probably not be regular,but rather when I have time.   Blessings!  --El

Romans Outline

From: http://www.biblestudytools.com/romans/

Outline

• Introduction (1:1-15)
• Theme: Righteousness from God (1:16-17)
• The Unrighteousness of All People (1:18;3:20)
• Gentiles (1:18-32)
• Jews (2:1;3:8)
• Summary: All People (3:9-20)
• Righteousness Imputed: Justification (3:21;5:21)
• Through Christ (3:21-26)
• Received by Faith (3:27;4:25)
• The principle established (3:27-31)
• The principle illustrated (ch. 4)
• The Fruits of Righteousness (5:1-11)
• Summary: Humanity's Unrighteousness Contrasted with God's Gift of Righteousness (5:12-21)
• Righteousness Imparted: Sanctification (chs. 6-8)
• Freedom from Sin's Tyranny (ch. 6)
• Freedom from the Law's Condemnation (ch. 7)
• Life in the Power of the Holy Spirit (ch. 8)
• God's Righteousness Vindicated: The Justice of His Way with Israel (chs. 9-11)
• The Justice of God's Rejection of Israel (9:1-29)
• The Cause of That Rejection (9:30;10:21)
• The Rejection Is Neither Complete nor Final (ch. 11)
• There is even now a remnant (11:1-10)
• The rejection is only temporary (11:11-24)
• God's ultimate purpose is mercy (11:25-36)
• Righteousness Practiced (12:1;15:13)
• In the Body -- the Church (ch. 12)
• In the World (ch. 13)
• Among Weak and Strong Christians (14:1;15:13)
• Conclusion (15:14-33)
• Commendation, Greetings and Doxology (ch. 16)

The Joy of Learning

Matthew 11:29

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul

Learn from me!

1) God made us to love learning

     a) Curious

     b) Intelligent

2) God made us to share learning

These are how many times these words are used in Scripture...

Teach 123

teacher 68

teachers 73

taught 59

teaches 14

teaching 89

teachings 9

3) God made us to love sharing

Matthew 28:19 [Full Chapter]

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,