Romans 10

WooHoo! Still keeping on schedule!

Also, I have an awesome little announcement. I am going to start doing testimonies of people that have an impactful story, so everyone! I will be doing one a month starting in February.  Chelsea Zerwehk  I am really excited for this little segment and hope if reaches the readers (you) in a different way than the previous post have been.

will be the first to share.

If you guys ever have any ideas or request feel free to share them with me.  Also, if you wish to share your testimony on the blog let me know, because I would be more than happy to ‘publish’ your story.

Anyways…on with Romans 10!

I didn’t really get interested in this chapter until about verse 9 when Paul explains to us what we need to do in order to be saved; “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  I think my favorite thing about this is that there is no guessing.  We don’t have to try and figure out what we need to do to be saved, we are told, straight up.  It’s not living a sin-free life, or giving all our money away, or being a pastor.  Nope, it’s simply believing and having faith, which when you kind of think about it, isn’t a huge task to ask of us.  Countinuing off of verse 9, I also really verses 10 – 13:

“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."”

I love how verse 10 breaks it down, kind of, and tells us what we get from believing and living with God, righteousness and salvation. That’s a pretty good trade-off, but this also means that we can’t only believe.  We must confess with our mouth, actions, and hearts that we have faith in God.  It says in Matthew 10:33 “if you deny me before man I will deny you before my father.”  I feel that that verse is one that gets overlooked a lot and isn’t really recognized for its harsh truth.  As Christians we hear these verses all the time and they begin to lose their sting, but I want to encourage you to look at the word in a new light because it’s important that we still take these verse seriously and that we are still convicted by them.

The next little bit that stuck out to me was verse 17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”  What jumped out at me in this verse was hearing, we learn and grow by hearing and listening.  Think about it…how did you find out about God? From someone telling you, right?  Whether it was the church, a friend, a parents, etc. but someone one in your life told you about the Christian faith, and that’s why you’re here now.  The seed has to be planted for a relationship to grown, and for some people in your life you may be the only one willing and able to plant that seed, so I encourage you to keep an eye out for opportunities to share and if and when that opportunity presents itself to you, don’t pass it up.

Lastly I want us to notice verse 21: “But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’”

I like that this verse reminds us to not always think that the people in the church are always the most spiritual.  Sometimes they are the ones that are most blind, and sometimes it takes a “non-believer” or a new Christian to open there eyes a bit.  So just a little reminder, don’t be afraid to ask questions or challenge what someone else says, because maybe they really need the eye opener.

I am back at school coming this Monday, so I hope I am able to stay on schedule.  I have a lot to write about.  God has been working wonderfully in my life this past month, and I thank him everyday for it.  I have been pushed out of my comfort zone so many times this month, and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me in this coming year.  Alright, I am done talking about me (for now).

Have a wonderful week friends!

Romans 9

Hello all and happy night before most of you have to go back to work/school.  Fortunately for me I have nothing but time on my hands so I am able to stay “on schedule.”  So here we are, Romans 9 just above halfway done.

There are 3 critical points within this chapter that I want to touch on, the first being in verses six through eight. 

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.

Here Paul is referring to the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 17.  It is not by biology or flesh that we are Abraham’s decedents, therefor inherits to the promise, but through the promise we are decedents.  I feel that this is an idea that is often overlooked by most readers.  We are simply sons and daughters of Abraham, and I knew when I was little I definitely thought we all came from him.  I blame this on the song we used to sing in Sunday school “father Abraham.” Here is the song if you so wish to hear it.  However, there is more lineage than that, but I don’t know it.  Every promise God makes in the bible is a promise to us now because we know it is a wholehearted promise. 

The second point is verses eleven through sixteen.  Here Paul will truly show us what God’s about and will break down for us what we are in His likeness.  These verses, for me, are very convicting.

for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

God knows our hearts before we even develop them.  He knows who is pure and who is stone.  He does not reward one over the other though and he does not hold our coldness against us.  He simply uses the one that allows themselves to be used.  Paul quotes Exodus 33:19 in verse 15 and here we are shown that out God cannot be controlled and He is not at are beck and call.  So often we question and challenge Gods will for our lives, but who are we to do this against our creator?  My foot notes put Gods way simply for us: “Keep in mind the kind of God we worship: He is sovereign; he is not arbitrary; in all things he works for our good; he is trustworthy; he will save all who believe in him.  When we understand these qualities of God, we know that his choices are good even if we don’t understand all his reasons.” 

Let that sink in…

In verse twenty and twenty-one we are given a summarized illustration of the verses above:

On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

The last point I want to touch on is in verses thirty to thirty-three. 

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Paul is making an extremely important point here.  It is made numerous times throughout the bible but we, having the forgetful nature that we do, need to be reminded constantly.  The point being: actions speak louder than words.  The Gentiles, Gods not chosen people, gained righteousness through their actions and faith, not through the law.  Where as most of the Jews stay so strict to the law that they are distracted by it.  The Gentiles understood Gods grace and did their very best to honor him with their lives.  My footnotes so nicely put that here “Paul explains that God’s plan is not for those who try to earn his favor by being good; it is for those who realize that can never be good enough and so must depend on Christ.”  The Jews worked to be good enough and the Gentiles lived by favorite saying: “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.”  Another wonderful point that my footnotes make is about verse 32.  Many people feel that they need to earn their way into heaven when this is not the case at all.  “God asks us to be humble but many of us are unwilling to humble ourselves because that requires us to put our will at Gods disposal.”  This ties nicely back with verse 20, we think we know what is best for ourselves when in actuality we know nothing.  Maybe we don’t feel that God taking away our child, parents, pet, ect. was fair, but it was best because out of that we have been able to turn to God and grow in our relationship.  We grew in our relationships with those who love and care for us, with our church family, and so much more. 

God made us strong enough to deal with whatever he throws our way, he gives us the tools we will need and he will always be there.  God tells us this in 1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Challenge of the week:  Look at everything you life right now good, bad, difficult, happy, heartbreaking, etc. Now…thank God for it, all of it. Whether he is blessing you or challenging you, you are growing. 

Also, here is a fun little story I found, it’s really short: http://2good2lose.com/thoughts.shtml 

Romans 8: God Is Always There

It may be because I am a bit out of tune and haven’t read in a while, but this chapter stumped me a few times.  Some of the ideas don’t make that much since to me so maybe when you read through this you can let me know what you thought.

Romans 8 begins by explain what we are as humans.  We are weak and undeserving but God saw our strength and what we could do, he had grace for us.  In verse 2 and three it says “for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” Gods spirit has always been present and with every new born Christian the Holy Spirit is made stronger and Gods light in the world becomes brighter through us.

My favorite verse in this chapter is verse 10: “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”  This is, to me, a really good reminder that we need to live by the sprit.  Our flesh is already dead, so what’s the point of living by it?  It is important to have faith and trust in Gods plan for us, trust that whether it is good or bad it is what is supposed to be happening. 

Verses 12 and 13 really highlight these ideas, and verse 17 reminds us that being a Christian isn’t always rainbows and calm seas. 

The next section, verses 20 to 30 is become a bit unclear.  We are to inherit the kingdom as Gods his children.  We are waiting to be accepted to his kingdom by the redemption of our bodies (verse 23).  This makes since, but it’s a difficult thing to be clear on and wrap our heads around. 

In verse 26 it says that the Holy Spirit helps up when we are unable to conjure up the words to use to speak with God.  It says that the Spirit intercedes for us, which makes since because the Holy Spirit is our link to God.  We are not always left to our own resources and efforts.  Our God is gracious and He meets us where and when we need him to.  He wont make us get there on our own.

Next in verses 28 and 29 we are reassured.  Even though things may not always be easy and things may not go the way we want or the way we planned, they will always work together for our good.  The only thing we need to worry about is being like Christ.  Which should be enough in itself to worry about.  We need to trust God, pray, share, ect. like Jesus did when he was flesh.  It is our job as Christians to be the body of Christ.  This means taking the beatings and persecutions as well.  Things are never promised to get better and in fact they will probably get worse, but we need to have faith even in the hard times or we will sink just like peter.

This chapter ends on a wonderfully positive note: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angles, nor principalities, nor things present, not things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Not even Satan can separate us from Gods love.  If we are perusing Him and we have faith, God will always be there.  Even when we walk away and being to sink He will have His hand stretched out towards us waiting for us to grab on so He can pull us back to Him. 

He will never leave us or forsake us.


Song of the day and Really awesome Christian band you should check out!

Superhero
by: Family Force 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WUjyooSz-M