Romans 15:17-21 “In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be
proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except
what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by
word and deed, by the power of signs and
wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the
way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;
and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has
already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is
written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who
have never heard will understand."
From these verses we see that Paul’s ministry was a
successful one. It is important to
understand however that when speaking of success I am not necessarily speaking
of success in human terms but rather success in heavenly terms.
As we consider Paul’s ministry here we see two things that
are present in Paul’s life that prove pivotal to his success. The first is a
proper understanding of the power behind his ministry, and the second is a
passionate obedience to God’s calling in his life.
Continue reading "Sunday Recap: July 27, 2008" »
Well, this morning I left for the office and stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some things for the youth BBQ Saturday and family day on Sunday, when Jen called. She spoke with that concerned motherly voice, you know the one that makes a father's heart kind of sink because you know that what is about to follow is not going to be good news. Olivia had fallen against our island in the kitchen and cut her head pretty good. There was lots of blood and lots of screaming going on. I left the cart in the aisle at Wal-Mart and rushed home to see how bad it was.
When I arrived it was clear Olivia was going to need a trip to the ER. Sure enough when we arrived they told us that she would need 2 staples to close the wound. So after 2 hours, lots more blood, and even more intense screaming we arrived home. What a day!
Praise God that the situation was not as serious as it could have been. I was reminded again of the words
Continue reading "What a Morning!" »
Romans 14:1-23
Paul’s words in chapter 14 are dependent upon our
understanding of chapters 1-8. You
remember that in these chapters we were instructed concerning justification and
sanctification.
In chapters 1-3 Paul spent much time focusing upon
justification. Justification is when a
person is declared right in the sight of God.
All have sinned and as a result we are all in trouble with God. The only way that our relationship with God
can be restored is if we can be somehow obtain righteousness. The problem of course is that this is not
possible for us. One popular that many
people try to obtain righteousness is by the keeping of the law, the Ten
Commandments or as most people refer to it “just being a good person.” In chapter 3 verse 20 however we are told
that no one, no exceptions, will be justified by works of the law, in other
words, there is nothing you can “do” no good works you can perform that are
going to justify you, or make you right with God. No one is able to meet the righteous demands
of the law therefore no one will ever be declared righteous by it. The law cannot make us right with God, rather
it reveals to us that we are not right with God.
Continue reading "Sunday Recap: June 29, 2008" »
