Sep 3, 2023
Romans: “Living Sacrifices”
Series: Romans
Romans 12:1-2
Paul gives us a springboard for the Christian life in a disarmingly simple phrase: "living sacrifices." To be a “living sacrifice” is to be fully at God’s disposal. It means, actively, to be willing to obey God in anything he says in any area of life; and, passively, to be willing to thank God for anything he sends in any area of life.
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  • Sep 3, 2023Romans: “Living Sacrifices”
    Sep 3, 2023
    Romans: “Living Sacrifices”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 12:1-2
    Paul gives us a springboard for the Christian life in a disarmingly simple phrase: "living sacrifices." To be a “living sacrifice” is to be fully at God’s disposal. It means, actively, to be willing to obey God in anything he says in any area of life; and, passively, to be willing to thank God for anything he sends in any area of life.
  • Aug 27, 2023Romans: “The Mystery and Power of God”
    Aug 27, 2023
    Romans: “The Mystery and Power of God”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 11
     
    As Paul continues to wrestle with God's faithfulness to the Jewish people, and the Jewish nation's rejection of Jesus, he reflects on how God is always doing something that we didn't know about. That leads him to end the chapter with praise.
  • Aug 20, 2023Romans: “Confess and Believe”
    Aug 20, 2023
    Romans: “Confess and Believe”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 10:1-21
     
    Paul follows up the discussion in Romans 9 about God's faithfulness and Israel's unbelief and talks about what we do need to do to receive the salvation Jesus has accomplished for us: we confess that Jesus is Lord, and we believe with our hearts in his life, death, and resurrection. Since the heart is a token of the whole self, this means we are to trust our whole self to the person and work of Christ as our righteousness. We are to transfer our trust from our own efforts to be righteous to Christ’s righteousness on our behalf. That is the faith that saves.
     
  • Aug 13, 2023Romans: Assurance in God’s Promises
    Aug 13, 2023
    Romans: Assurance in God’s Promises
    Series: Romans
    Romans 9:1-33
     
    After ending Romans 8 with a beautiful declaration that God will see to completion the great work of salvation in His church, Paul answers a natural question from the Gentile and Jewish believers in the Roman church: "Well, what about the Jewish people? They rejected Jesus, so didn't God's promises to them fail? If God's promises to the Jewish people failed, why won't the promises of the gospel fail?" Paul takes the next three chapters to explain that God's promises never fail, even when human beings do.
  • Aug 6, 2023Romans: “Facing Life With Confidence”
    Aug 6, 2023
    Romans: “Facing Life With Confidence”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 8:28-39
     
    A Christian’s hope for the future— their own future, and that of the whole of creation— is a foundation for enabling us to face each day, and all it brings, with confidence.
  • Jul 30, 2023Romans: “Groaning in the Spirit”
    Jul 30, 2023
    Romans: “Groaning in the Spirit”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 8:13-27
     
    As we walk by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, He helps us to see how it is that our faith in Christ prepares us to face the unavoidable brutalities of life.
     
     
  • Jul 23, 2023Romans: “The Freedom of the Gospel”
    Jul 23, 2023
    Romans: “The Freedom of the Gospel”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 8:1-11 
     
    In chapter 8 Paul discusses how the gospel transforms how we see ourselves, and how the gospel leads us to experience the freedom that Jesus gives. This is vital, because most religious people don’t feel free because they are caught in one of two traps: the performance trap and the pretending trap.
     
  • Jul 9, 2023Romans: “Gotta Serve Somebody”
    Jul 9, 2023
    Romans: “Gotta Serve Somebody”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 6:15-23 
     
    Paul answers a question/challenge from some of the Jewish Christians in Rome: "If we live under God's grace, and not the moral law, then why can't we just sin as much as we want to?" Paul replies that, since God designed us to worship Him, to give ourselves to Him, that we're hard-wired for worship. When we sin, we're not just freely doing whatever we want to do, we're giving ourselves over to the power of sin. And doing that brings death and chaos to our lives, both here and into eternity.
     
    Instead, we are to give ourselves to Jesus, because when we surrender ourselves to him, we're not losing freedom, we're gaining it.
  • Jul 2, 2023Romans: “Winning The War Against Sin”
    Jul 2, 2023
    Romans: “Winning The War Against Sin”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 6:6-14 
     
    While we have been set free from our slavery to sin, the fact is that the experience of every Christian continues to be this struggle (sometimes brutal) against sin. So how do we, as believers, fight that battle? Paul begins to address that topic in Romans 6, and answers questions like, "If I now have Jesus’ resurrection power, why do I still struggle so much with saying no to sin? Why does my heart still feel so stubborn sometimes? Why does my mind wander in prayer? Lose focus in worship? And how can I change?"
  • Jun 25, 2023Romans “The Foundation For Everything”
    Jun 25, 2023
    Romans “The Foundation For Everything”
    Series: Romans
    Romans 6:1-5