Thursday, April 28, 2016
Romans Chapter 13 ~ Righteousness Practiced ~ In the World
Romans 13
1 Everyone must submit to governing
authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of
authority have been placed there by God.
2 So anyone who rebels against authority
is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.
3 For the authorities do not strike fear
in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like
to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor
you.
4 The authorities are God’s servants, sent
for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for
they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very
purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong.
5 So you must submit to them, not only to
avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.
6 Pay your taxes, too, for these same
reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what
they do.
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay
your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and
honor to those who are in authority.
8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your
obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the
requirements of God’s law.
9 For the commandments say, “You must not
commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.”
These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love
your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no wrong to others, so love
fulfills the requirements of God’s law.
11 This is all the more urgent, for you
know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer
now than when we first believed.
12 The night is almost gone; the day of
salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and
put on the shining armor of right living.
13 Because we belong to the day, we must
live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild
parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in
quarreling and jealousy.
14 Instead, clothe
yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself
think about ways to indulge your evil desires.Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Romans Chapter 12 ~ Righteousness Practiced ~ In the Body -- the Church
Romans 12
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I
plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.
Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This
is truly the way to worship him.
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of
this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you
think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and
pleasing and perfect.
3 Because of the privilege and authority
God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better
than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring
yourselves by the faith God has given us.
4 Just as our bodies have many parts and
each part has a special function,
5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many
parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
6 In his grace, God has given us different
gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to
prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
7 If your gift is serving others, serve
them well. If you are a teacher, teach well.
8 If your gift is to encourage others, be
encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership
ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing
kindness to others, do it gladly.
9 Don’t just pretend to love others.
Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.
10 Love each other with genuine affection,
and take delight in honoring each other.
11Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the
Lord enthusiastically.
12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be
patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
13 When God’s people are in need, be ready
to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t
curse them; pray that God will bless them.
15 Be happy with those who are happy, and
weep with those who weep.
16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t
be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know
it all!
17Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things
in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.
18 Do all that you can to live in peace
with everyone.
19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave
that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take
revenge; I will pay them back,” says the LORD .
20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry,
feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this,
you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”
21 Don’t let evil
conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Romans Chapter 11 The Rejection Is Neither Complete nor Final
Romans 11
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his own
people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a
descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 No, God has not rejected his own people,
whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say
about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and
said,
3 “ LORD, they have killed your prophets
and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to
kill me, too.”
4 And do you remember God’s reply? He
said, “No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!”
5 It is the same today, for a few of the
people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved
kindness in choosing them.
6 And since it is through God’s kindness,
then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be
what it really is—free and undeserved.
7 So this is the situation: Most of the
people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so
earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were
hardened.
8 As the Scriptures say, “God has put them
into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and
closed their ears so they do not hear.”
9 Likewise, David said, “Let their
bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well. Let
their blessings cause them to stumble, and let them get what they
deserve.
10 Let their eyes go blind so they cannot
see, and let their backs be bent forever.”
11 Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond
recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available
to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it
for themselves.
12 Now if the Gentiles were enriched
because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how
much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.
13 I am saying all this especially for you
Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress
this,
14 for I want somehow to make the people of
Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have, so I might save some of them.
15 For since their rejection meant that God
offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more
wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead!
16 And since Abraham and the other
patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire
batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if
the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.
17 But some of these branches from
Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you
Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So
now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children,
sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive
tree.
18 But you must not brag about being
grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch,
not the root.
19 “Well,” you may say, “those branches
were broken off to make room for me.”
20 Yes, but remember—those branches were
broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you
do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could
happen.
21 For if God did not spare the original
branches, he won’t spare you either.
22 Notice how God is both kind and severe.
He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to
trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut
off.
23 And if the people of Israel turn from
their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft
them back into the tree.
24 You, by nature, were a branch cut from a
wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by
grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the
original branches back into the tree where they belong.
25 I want you to understand this mystery,
dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves.
Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until
the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ.
26 And so all Israel will be saved. As the
Scriptures say, “The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn
Israel away from ungodliness.
27 And this is my covenant with them, that
I will take away their sins.”
28 Many of the people of Israel are now
enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still
the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
29 For God’s gifts and his call can never
be withdrawn.
30 Once, you Gentiles were rebels against
God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to
you instead.
31 Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy
has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy.
32 For God has imprisoned everyone in
disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.
33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and
wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions
and his ways!
34 For who can know the LORD ’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to give him advice?
35And who has given him so much that he needs to
pay it back?
36 For everything comes from him and exists
by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Romans Chapter 10 The Cause of That Rejection
Romans 9:30 - 10:21
30 What does all this mean? Even though the
Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with
God. And it was by faith that this took place.
31But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to
get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.
32 Why not? Because they were trying to get
right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled
over the great rock in their path.
33 God warned them of this in the
Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people
stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never
be disgraced.”
Romans 10
1 Dear brothers and sisters, the longing
of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved.
2 I know what enthusiasm they have for
God, but it is misdirected zeal.
3 For they don’t understand God’s way of
making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to
their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.
4 For Christ has already accomplished the
purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are
made right with God.
5 For Moses writes that the law’s way of
making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands.
6 But faith’s way of getting right with
God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring
Christ down to earth).
7And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place
of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).”
8 In fact, it says, “The message is very
close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the
very message about faith that we preach:
9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved.
10 For it is by believing in your heart
that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that
you are saved.
11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who
trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this
respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on
him.
13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of
the LORD will be saved.”
14 But how can they call on him to save
them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have
never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells
them?
15 And how will anyone go and tell them
without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet
of messengers who bring good news!”
16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News,
for Isaiah the prophet said, “ LORD, who has believed our message?”
17 So faith comes from hearing, that is,
hearing the Good News about Christ.
18 But I ask, have the people of Israel
actually heard the message? Yes, they have: “The message has gone throughout
the earth, and the words to all the world.”
19 But I ask, did the people of Israel
really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said, “I
will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation. I will
provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.”
20 And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God,
saying, “I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to
those who were not asking for me.”
21 But regarding Israel, God said, “All day
long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”
Sunday, April 24, 2016
37 Kenneth Hagin - How to be led by the Spirit 3
Published on Feb 1, 2013
December 1986
These and more video's can be found at Jeh's Video Bible School http://www.jehtoday.net/word/bible/vb...
These and more video's can be found at Jeh's Video Bible School http://www.jehtoday.net/word/bible/vb...
36 Kenneth Hagin - How to be led by the Spirit 2
Published on Feb 1, 2013
December 1986 - Walking in Love
These and more video's can be found at Jeh's Video Bible School http://www.jehtoday.net/word/bible/vb...
These and more video's can be found at Jeh's Video Bible School http://www.jehtoday.net/word/bible/vb...
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Read Scripture Series: Letter to the Romans - Ch. 5-16
Published on May 1, 2015
The Book of Romans explained with animation
Want to see more?
Our Website: http://www.jointhebibleproject.com
Say hello or follow us here:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/joinbibleproj
Facebook: http://fb.com/jointhebibleproject
This video explores the main ideas and flow of thought in chapters 5-16 of The Letter to the Romans, Paul the Apostle’s most epic work.
The Bible Project is a non-profit creating animated videos that explain the narrative of the Bible. These videos are free to use for personal and educational purposes. Download a full resolution version of this video along with a study guide at www.jointhebibleproject.com.
Support us so we can make more videos! You can give to the next video at www.jointhebibleproject.com.
Help us translate this video into more languages! Email support@jointhebibleproject.com
About the author:
Tim Mackie is a Pastor of Door of Hope church and a Professor at Western Seminary.
Want to see more?
Our Website: http://www.jointhebibleproject.com
Say hello or follow us here:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/joinbibleproj
Facebook: http://fb.com/jointhebibleproject
This video explores the main ideas and flow of thought in chapters 5-16 of The Letter to the Romans, Paul the Apostle’s most epic work.
The Bible Project is a non-profit creating animated videos that explain the narrative of the Bible. These videos are free to use for personal and educational purposes. Download a full resolution version of this video along with a study guide at www.jointhebibleproject.com.
Support us so we can make more videos! You can give to the next video at www.jointhebibleproject.com.
Help us translate this video into more languages! Email support@jointhebibleproject.com
About the author:
Tim Mackie is a Pastor of Door of Hope church and a Professor at Western Seminary.
Friday, April 22, 2016
Romans Chapter 9 The Justice of God's Rejection of Israel
Romans 9:1-29
1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with
utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.
2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow
and unending grief
3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and
sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that
would save them.
4They are the people of Israel, chosen to be
God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with
them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and
receiving his wonderful promises.
5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their
ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is
concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of
eternal praise! Amen.
6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his
promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are
truly members of God’s people!
7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t
make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son
through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other
children, too.
8 This means that Abraham’s physical
descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the
promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.
9 For God had promised, “I will return
about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he
married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.
11 But before they were born, before they
had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message
shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes;
12 he calls people, but not according to
their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger
son.”
13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved
Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”
14 Are we saying, then, that God was
unfair? Of course not!
15 For God said to Moses, “I will show
mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”
16 So it is God who decides to show mercy.
We can neither choose it nor work for it.
17For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh,
“I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to
spread my fame throughout the earth.”
18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to
some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to
listen.
19Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame
people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them
do?”
20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere
human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the
one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”
21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t
he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and
another to throw garbage into?
22 In the same way, even though God has the
right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom
his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.
23 He does this to make the riches of his
glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in
advance for glory.
24 And we are among those whom he selected,
both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.
25 Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the
prophecy of Hosea, “Those who were not my people, I will now call my people.
And I will love those whom I did not love before.”
26 And, “Then, at the place where they were
told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the
living God.’”
27 And concerning Israel, Isaiah the
prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of
the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.
28 For the LORD will carry out his sentence
upon the earth quickly and with finality.”
29 And Isaiah said the same thing in
another place: “If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our
children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like
Gomorrah.”
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Romans Chapter 8 Life in the Power of the Holy Spirit
Romans 8
1 So now there is no condemnation for
those who belong to Christ Jesus.
2And because you belong to him, the power of
the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to
death.
3 The law of Moses was unable to save us
because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not
do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that
body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a
sacrifice for our sins.
4 He did this so that the just requirement
of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful
nature but instead follow the Spirit.
5 Those who are dominated by the sinful
nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy
Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
6 So letting your sinful nature control
your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to
life and peace.
7 For the sinful nature is always hostile
to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.
8 That’s why those who are still under the
control of their sinful nature can never please God.
9 But you are not controlled by your
sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God
living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ
living in them do not belong to him at all.)
10 And Christ lives within you, so even
though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you
have been made right with God.
11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from
the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he
will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within
you.
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,
you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
13 For if you live by its dictates, you
will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of
your sinful nature, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God
are children of God.
15 So you have not received a spirit that
makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted
you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to
affirm that we are God’s children.
17 And since we are his children, we are
his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we
are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing
compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for
that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
20 Against its will, all creation was
subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,
21 the creation looks forward to the day when
it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
22 For we know that all creation has been
groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 And we believers also groan, even though
we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long
for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager
hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,
including the new bodies he has promised us.
24 We were given this hope when we were
saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.
25 But if we look forward to something we
don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our
weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the
Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts
knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in
harmony with God’s own will.
28 And we know that God causes everything
to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to
his purpose for them.
29 For God knew his people in advance, and
he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn
among many brothers and sisters.
30 And having chosen them, he called them
to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with
himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
31 What shall we say about such wonderful
things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
32 Since he did not spare even his own Son
but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen
for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with
himself.
34Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ
Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place
of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from
Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or
calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or
threatened with death?
36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we
are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” )
37 No, despite all these things,
overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever
separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers
of hell can separate us from God’s love.
39No power in the sky above or in the earth
below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the
love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)