http://www.esvbible.org/Romans+12/
In light of everything in this letter, Paul says it's clear that the truest way of worship is to offer your bodies as living sacrifices to please God. We do this by not living like the rest of the people in the world. Not that we are weirdos but that we hold ourselves to a higher standard. Don't let this way of acting lead you to think higher of yourself than you should. Instead, use good judgement for what God tells you to do. A body has many different parts that do different things but they are all connected and come together so that we can go through life. In the same way, Christians are many different people, but through faith in the One True God, we are all connected in the body of Christ. God gave us different Spiritual Gifts and we therefore are important to different aspects of the body of Christ in a specific way. God will use us in those ways. We use a foot in the way a foot is supposed to be used. In the same way, God uses people with the gift of teaching to teach. He uses people with the gift of giving to give, and the person with the gift of serving to serve. If He did not grant you a certain gift, do not fear, He will not make your primary purpose something like that. For example, someone without the gift of giving will not find their primary purpose in funding missionaries. But we are all called to give in some capacity. You do not use a foot as an elbow, and in the same way, God does not use you primarily where your gift does not match. Always love others sincerely and hate evil. Be a family with other believers, especially those around you, Don't be lazy in devotion. Be happy and patient. Pray ceaselessly. Share your relationship with God. Be hospitable. Bless those who persecute you and don't curse them. Live harmoniously. Be empathetic. Don't think you are smarter than you are. Don't be arrogant. Don't repay evil with evil. Live in peace with everyone as much as you can. Don't take revenge. It is God's place alone to take revenge. If you show kindness to your enemies, you will make them feel guilty. Don't let evil conquer you but conquer evil with good.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Romans 11
http://www.esvbible.org/Romans+11/
God has not rejected the Jewish people. He does not reject anyone. Just think of it like this: there are Jewish people who come to know Christ. Paul and all of the other Apostles were Jewish. Israel, and Jewish people by extension, have never fully achieved what they have striven for. Only those on which God has bestowed His kindness can achieve salvation. And you don't get God's kindness by anything you do because if you did, it wouldn't be kindness. The fall of Jewish people made the world rich because it helped open salvation to the non-Jewish. If the Jewish people return to Jesus, the world will be richer. If God is the root of an olive tree, then the branches are holy by extension. For a while, the branches were Israel, but God cut those off who did not believe and grafted the gentiles on who do believe. He can just as easily cur anyone off who does not continue to believe. If Jewish people start to believe, they can easily be grafted back onto the tree. We cannot become arrogant in being one that has received God's approval because the branches of the olive tree did not graft themselves onto the tree. The make had to do it for them. After all, who knows how God thinks? Who has anything to offer Him that He doesn't already have? Who can give Him something that He will have to pay back? God uses us because He loves us, not because He needs us.
God has not rejected the Jewish people. He does not reject anyone. Just think of it like this: there are Jewish people who come to know Christ. Paul and all of the other Apostles were Jewish. Israel, and Jewish people by extension, have never fully achieved what they have striven for. Only those on which God has bestowed His kindness can achieve salvation. And you don't get God's kindness by anything you do because if you did, it wouldn't be kindness. The fall of Jewish people made the world rich because it helped open salvation to the non-Jewish. If the Jewish people return to Jesus, the world will be richer. If God is the root of an olive tree, then the branches are holy by extension. For a while, the branches were Israel, but God cut those off who did not believe and grafted the gentiles on who do believe. He can just as easily cur anyone off who does not continue to believe. If Jewish people start to believe, they can easily be grafted back onto the tree. We cannot become arrogant in being one that has received God's approval because the branches of the olive tree did not graft themselves onto the tree. The make had to do it for them. After all, who knows how God thinks? Who has anything to offer Him that He doesn't already have? Who can give Him something that He will have to pay back? God uses us because He loves us, not because He needs us.
Romans 10
http://www.esvbible.org/Romans+10/
Paul says that he prays for the Jewish people to be saved. It's hard for some of them to accept the message of Christ. Before Christ, they were God's chosen people. They had to follow Moses' Laws to prove that they were worthy of God's approval. It's easy to look at things retrospectively. Moses spoke of faith being the true way to receive God's approval. Scripture even says that the message of faith is near to you and on your lips. It is natural for us to seek God because no one comes into this world as a hopeless case for God. God seeks after the hearts of those who don't know Him. We want this salvation, and we all, at some point or another, come close to proclaiming it and sometimes even succeed. All you have to do to be saved is believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and God raised Him to life from death. By declaring your faith, you are saved because Scriptures say that you cannot be ashamed if you have faith. There is no difference in any people because there is one God that all people must receive approval from to come to true life. Anyone who calls on Jesus' name will be saved; however, if they do not believe in Jesus' name, how can they be saved? How can they believe if they have not heard what He has to say? This is also why it is important to have quiet time with God and to study the Word. Read the whole Bible all the way through, so you know what God is all about. That's what I'm working on. How can they hear if no one tells them the message? How can people tell the Good News if no one sends them? We need missionaries to go out into the world and teach people about the one, true way to Heaven, and those missionaries need environments that foster a growing relationship with Jesus to send them out and teach others how to achieve a similar relationship in their own personal way. At the same time, the message has already gone out through the world because of the Holy Spirit. Scripture says that God is found by those who are not looking and revealed to those who weren't asking. Meaning something similar to what Jesus taught, which is that He came for those who know they are sinners.
Paul says that he prays for the Jewish people to be saved. It's hard for some of them to accept the message of Christ. Before Christ, they were God's chosen people. They had to follow Moses' Laws to prove that they were worthy of God's approval. It's easy to look at things retrospectively. Moses spoke of faith being the true way to receive God's approval. Scripture even says that the message of faith is near to you and on your lips. It is natural for us to seek God because no one comes into this world as a hopeless case for God. God seeks after the hearts of those who don't know Him. We want this salvation, and we all, at some point or another, come close to proclaiming it and sometimes even succeed. All you have to do to be saved is believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and God raised Him to life from death. By declaring your faith, you are saved because Scriptures say that you cannot be ashamed if you have faith. There is no difference in any people because there is one God that all people must receive approval from to come to true life. Anyone who calls on Jesus' name will be saved; however, if they do not believe in Jesus' name, how can they be saved? How can they believe if they have not heard what He has to say? This is also why it is important to have quiet time with God and to study the Word. Read the whole Bible all the way through, so you know what God is all about. That's what I'm working on. How can they hear if no one tells them the message? How can people tell the Good News if no one sends them? We need missionaries to go out into the world and teach people about the one, true way to Heaven, and those missionaries need environments that foster a growing relationship with Jesus to send them out and teach others how to achieve a similar relationship in their own personal way. At the same time, the message has already gone out through the world because of the Holy Spirit. Scripture says that God is found by those who are not looking and revealed to those who weren't asking. Meaning something similar to what Jesus taught, which is that He came for those who know they are sinners.
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