Romans 10

Romans 10

Hey guys, it's Philip Organ filling in for the busiest man alive. Paul continues the conversation from chapter 9 about faith vs. following the law, and then speaks to some very important truths in this chapter. I just wanted to start this week's blog by asking a few questions that I heard as I read this chapter:

1) Do the descriptions of the Israelites in this passage sound a little like us? (Disobedient and Rebellious, misdirected zeal, clinging to their own way instead of God's)

2) Are we living sent lives, or are we sharing the gospel in our comfort zones?

3) How can someone believe if they haven't heard, and how do we know if they have heard?

I think Paul was teaching me through these questions, and causing me to look at myself and figure out where I stand on these topics, and more importantly, what am I doing about it.

Ultimately, to me this passage speaks to some fundamental truths of our walk with Christ, and that is that we must hear, believe, and confess to find the salvation that is offered to us through faith. Do you remember, or can you put your finger on when you heard the Gospel? Maybe you are like me in that you were raised in the church and so it was not very far away. Can you recall when you chose to believe what you had heard? If you are like me, you rode the coat tails of your parents' faith, followed their rules, and therefore you felt like a "Christian" all along. But when did you choose for yourself that these truths meant something more to you? Can you remember the last time you confessed? If you are like me, you are not repentant enough and allow sin to cripple you and you get complacent and forget to confess. I needed to be reminded of this today, what did you find in this passage?

Philip

Romans 9

Hey everyone, welcome to chapter 9 of Romans.

This can be difficult to read for some of you. And others will have questions about this. That's okay. This is actually a very big discussion between the staff, pastors and Elders right now.... what is our stance on the interpretation of what paul is saying here. (and other scriptures that reference this same subject matter) You see, we somehow think that, because we have the ability to rationalize within our own brains, we can presume to know why God would allow some to have their hearts hardened or just rather take the stance of what Paul says in verse 21, that when a potter makes a jar, doesn't he have the right to choose to create one for enjoyment and one to throw trash into?

The problem at the end of the day is.... we always wonder why it's okay for God to choose to save some and not others, when we should be reveling in the fact that he chose to save us! It is our job to serve Him and worship Him. Not to decide who should be saved and who shouldn't. It's our job to evangelize His message so that, just as scripture says, those whom He has "drawn" near to Him, will hear His voice and message and answer that call.

This is a BIG, HUGE subject. I know that some of you will read it, post on it, and then think about it for the next few days. And then you'll begin to have questions, doubts, and speculations. I just want you to know. When that happens, don't try to just piece it all together for yourself. You have a staff of Pastors and Elders. We are all studying this subject and talking about it at length. Please take the time to talk to me. Call me on the phone, or grab me at rehearsal, or wherever. I do not profess to be the authority on this subject. I'm studying it too. But together we can have a conversation over it and I can show you what I've learned through talking with the other Pastors and Elders and reading the scriptures. Or if you're around one of the other Pastors or Elders, ask them.

Love you guys.

Romans 8

Romans 8

Well, several things stick out to me in this passage. First and foremost, the last few verses. If you didn't know this already, tons of the songs that we sing come directly from scripture. Not just some creative person's talent and imagination. "The Love of God" comes directly from this passage. I think I saw in an interview that Jeff Deyo had been doing a book study on Romans and out of it, wrote about 10 songs. Interesting, huh? At the Journey, we have a belief and a saying that says: Creativity is the direct result of spirituality. Stands to reason, doesn't it? If you spend time in your walk with God, reading His word, and you are a creative person, don't you think it's only natural that God would birth creative things in your heart, as a result of knowing him more?

Anyway, Vs. 9-10 hit me hard. People are either a son or daughter of God, or they aren't. This passage makes it clear. Paul says that you have either had a life transformation, or you haven't. It's that simple. How many people do you know that say they are a Christian, yet live like God doesn't exist.

Next: 26-27. The Holy spirit intercedes for us. This is something we need to understand. That is the purpose of the Holy Spirit living in us. To connect us to the Father. When you pray, do you still try to make your words pretty and sound significant? Or do you just focus on Him, let your wants and desires go by the wayside and just thank Him for what He's done for you and let the Holy spirit in you lead your prayer?

Finally, and I could pick this entire chapter apart verse by verse because I love it so much, Vs. 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? Read that again.... Paul says this with contempt. Who DARES accuse us, whom God had chosen for His own? If this were medieval times, and someone accused a member of a prominent family or royal blood line of any wrongdoing, they would be instantly put to death. I think Paul is eluding to something similar to this. We know that some day God will stand in judgement of this world. On that day, those who have falsely accused us, persecuted us, ignored us, condemned us, or anything other than celebrate our right standing with Him,.... whew! I don't wanna be around for that! Pain.... lots and lots of pain.... weeping and gnashing of teeth! LOL.

Romans 7

Romans 7

We've discussed before, that Paul was very smart. And if you don't pay attention to this chapter closely, you can get confused easily. I've read it several times, and each time, I get something new from it. But in a nutshell, Paul begins to reveal the sinful nature of man. He doesn't try to convince everyone that the "law" is bad. No, rather, it is good and holy, because it is of God. He doesn't dispute that. But what he is trying to point out here is: no one, because of their sinful nature (brought about by Adam and Eve) is able to obey the law. It would take a perfect life, a completely sinless life, to obey God's law. And since God is the only perfect being in the universe, we cannot live up to the law. No matter how hard we try, we fail. And Paul is trying to stress this point. He will, for the rest of the book of Romans, try to beat this into our heads. He does this, because, he needs the people he's ministering to (that would be the people he's talking to, as well as us) to understand that while the law is good, our sinful nature prevents us from obeying it. Hence the need for a savior. Remember, these people didn't deny, nor should we, that they could not atone for their sins without a sacrifice. They understood that they could not live up to the law. No matter how hard they tried, they still led a life of sin.

So, we too, must understand that we cannot atone for our sin. We can live the best life we think is possible and we still can't pay the debt. But if we understand that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our Sacrifice, then we die to the condemnation of the law. And its only His grace that pays the debt for us. Therefore, we SHOULD try to live a live worthy of that sacrifice. But we must also understand that we will not ever master sin. We will only be vindicated of it, through Jesus. And I believe, as Erik said yesterday, that we will be judged, not for the good or bad that we've done, but what we've done with Jesus.

Love y'all

Romans 6

Romans 6

This is, perhaps, my favorite chapter of Romans so far. Paul finally begins to get into the whole "Jesus is the Son of God" thing.

Having set up the last few chapters with Adam and the law, Paul now tells of Jesus' resurrection, proclaiming that Jesus is alive, and has defeated death. And to me, this is the crux of the entire chapter: verse 16. "Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?"

He is basically saying: if you choose to obey the law, then you are a slave to it. And you can never fulfill the law, nor can any human obey it. It is impossible, due to our sinful nature. But through Jesus, we can be free of the law, and be a slave of righteousness. And who doesn't want to be righteous?

I love this picture that Paul paints for us. So many of us still try to do our own works to find ourselves in the good graces of God. We have to understand that only by following the way of Jesus can we truly be found in His grace. Because only He was found without sin. I've been having a conversation with the worship leaders recently about idolatry and what we give ourselves to. This is something that we should all wrestle with. If we are not putting aside our sinful nature, then we become slaves to something other than Jesus. And that is idolatry. And God made it clear that we should have no other gods before Him.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

Romans 5

Romans 5...

As Paul preached the Gospel to the many people, (especially the Jews) he continued to use their foundation of faith to show them who Jesus is and why they needed to believe in him. We see how Paul differentiates between Jesus and Adam. He explains that, as they know, Adam brought sin into the world. And because of that, many have sinned since. He uses this as a measurement of God's grace, saying that, as sin increased, so did God's grace, up and to the point that there was no law that could contain the sin anymore. Therefore, with God's perfect timing, God had to do something bigger than any law could provide. Because of this, Jesus was born, led a perfect life and died sinless. And Paul argues that not many people would just die for a great person, let alone a bunch of sinners. But that's what Jesus did. He died for all. But here's where Paul eludes to the divinity of Christ. He doesn't come right out and say it yet, but it's well known, and he will flaunt this for the rest of the book, pretty much.

He points out that Adams sin brought death. And even Jesus died. But.... until Jesus, no one had ever beaten death and risen again. Paul knew that it was well documented by numerous accounts and many people that Jesus had appeared after His crucifixion, proving that He had defeated death and was truly the Messiah.

The overall point that Paul is trying to make here is that, once we were not rightstanding with God. He even says that we were God's enemies. But now, through the Son, we have been made friends again with God.

This, to me, really strikes a chord. To think that the God of the universe, Creator of heaven and earth, is my friend? WOW! That's a lot to process. I mean, I love my dad with all my heart. And I see him as just that... my dad. But I don't know if I look at him as a friend. My friends are my friends... my dad is.... well, my dad! And He's just my earthly father. To think that my heavenly Father is my "friend"... well, I guess I've never thought about it like that. This is something for me to ponder. What do y'all think?

robbie

Romans 4

Romans 4

Well, obviously, we're talking about faith here. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the full story of Abraham, but if you're not, you need to go back and re-read it. (CLick Here) This is the dude who took his son up on a mountain and was going to offer him as the sacrifice. That's right... he was gonna kill his son, because God told him to. I'm not going to ruin it for you. Suffice it to say, Abraham was found to have more faith than any man in the world. This is what Paul is talking about when he says it was recorded for our sakes. Not Abraham's.

This is important! Don't miss this. Paul is still setting up his letter here. I know we're in the fourth chapter, but still, Paul is educated. Remember? He knows he needs to set the stage and the groundwork for the bomb that he's about to drop, which is... Jesus is the Son of God. Moses' law is bunk, and the only way you can enter into heaven is to have... (here it is!) FAITH!. This is why Paul is spending so much time on this subject. The Jews and the gentiles were all aware of the story of Abraham. No one, believer or not, doubted the faith that Abraham had. And this is what Paul was trying to make them see. And here's why. Because Jesus had already ascended into heaven. The only way someone could become a Christ follower, is because they had faith that Jesus was who He said he was. Still holds true today.

So.... how's your faith? BIG question. I'll be honest with you. I've had times when my faith was weak. I think it's a natural occurrence. As long as we live on this world, we will always have Satan planting doubts about things in our lives. Especially our faith. The key is to stay in the word. Equip yourself with the spiritual armor that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6. And don't forget that you are the sons and daughters of THE King.... not "A" king, but "THE" King.

-Robbie