Each of us Should Please our Neighbors for their Good, to Build Them Up

Paul tells us that it is not about us....

We are not to live life to please ourselves...we are to live as Christ did....for others....for our neighbors.
...building them up!!!

So how are we to build them up?  Remain in the word...because the scriptures teach us endurance and encouragement.  God gives us hope through Jesus in the word.  It says in Romans 15:4 "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope."

After we are built up... we pass this "hope in Jesus" along to our neighbors to build them up....with the same Hope that we have.  Have you "passed it on"?

Jesus is Lord

How are we saved?

 "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Paul says that both believing and professing are important in being saved. So which is more important?
Which wing ...right or left is most important on an airplane?  Answer: both are important!!!

Are you nervous about sharing your faith?  This is a very common fear.  Why?  We don't want to be embarrassed....we don't want to embarrass our hearers.  We fear we might offend....we might be misunderstood....there are many reasons.  There is a great promise in verse 11. “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Wow...what a promise.  This should spur us on to share our faith verbally....to "profess" our faith.
God's word says we will never be put to shame.  What a guarantee from God.

A Righteousness that is by Faith

Paul, one of the great apologist of all times preaches in a monologue format and argues the age old question, "Is God unjust?" (verse 14)

He immediately answers his own question with, "not at all."

It is easy to get caught up in the debate of "Free will vs Predestination".  But it is far better to focus on the difference between Jesus and "The Law".  The Lord is patient with us when He could be wrathful...He provides a merciful way through Jesus by Faith....Jesus is our Righteousness....and so we are not earning it through a righteousness of our own.(The Law)

So it really shows that a righteous God with a very specific, Holy set of requirements (the Law) has also set up a loophole or maybe better stated ( a perfect sacrifice in Jesus that satisfies His requirements) so that we have an opportunity thru Faith.   Awesome!!!!  All Praise to this Merciful God.

Then we are Heirs—Heirs of God and Co-Heirs with Christ

About 18 years ago...I first read this passage... Romans 8:14-17.  It blew me away.  I had thought about being a "child of God."  ...but a "co-heir with Christ" ????   WOW !!!!!

Yes...the word "co-heir" was the word that caused a quantum leap in my faith. Co-heirs with Christ..
co-heir...that means sharing in God's estate with Christ.  I don't know why it seemed so much more than a "child of God."  But a child with full rights to the inheritance.  Co-heir.

Verse 17 ends with, " if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."  

We will share in the Glory reserved for Christ....we are joint heirs with Him...our brother.

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Can you relate with the confession of Paul in Romans chapter 7?   "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do    I do not do, but what I hate I do."

Do you ever feel this inner tug-of-war?  The spiritual battle going on in our bodies?  in our minds?
in our hearts? We set our minds to follow God...yet we sin even though we try so hard not to....
What is the deal?

Verse 18-19  says,  "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. "

Our flesh is the problem...as long as we are here on this side of eternity....our flesh will wage war against the Spirit living in us.  But along with Paul we can declare..."Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Hallelujah !!!!

For We Know that our Old Self was Crucified with Him

In verse 3 of Chapter 6 ...Paul ask a question: "Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"

Did you know that water Baptism by immersion symbolises that we are being buried with Christ so that we may be raised in "new" life in Jesus?  That is why many pastors say, " The old is gone" when the lay you back underwater.  When they raise you out of the water they say," the new has come."

So Baptism is an outward symbol of a inward transformation.When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior....we are Baptised to symbolize our death of Self...our death of sin....to be raised to live a new life with Christ.

Verse 6-7 says,"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin."

I pray that our Baptism is more than just a symbol...but a true life change,

When We Were Still Powerless, Christ Died for the Ungodly

Wow...Jesus died for us..... not when we started acting right...but while we were still sinners...powerless.

What does this show? To me it shows how wonderfully awesome God is and how truly amazing His grace is...it is reason to worship!!!!!

Jesus is God's Gift to us.
What a gift...eternal life with Him.

"...so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

"...Being Fully Persuaded that God had Power to do what he had Promised"

I think we have trouble fully understanding "Faith."  It seems so vague...

What is faith?  We are quick to "rush in" with our "own power." I don't believe this is Faith even though "rushing in under my own power" seems to be a dominate model for my life.

...But God holds up for us a model of Faith in Abraham.  In Romans 4 it says that Abraham was "fully convinced."    "Fully" here means something over 100%.  So "fully convinced"of what???  Answer..."that God had the power to do what He has promised."

We have a tendency to major on the "traditions of men."  We wear ties on Sunday morning, we listen to organ music, attend church on Sundays and Wednesdays, we look down on people who don't do church like us.....but Faith has more to do with our foundational beliefs. Faith is about being fully convinced that Jesus has conquered death, saved us from our sins and we will live forever with Him. Do we truly beleive that Jesus was God's son...sent to save us from our sin?  We are just strangers and aliens on this earth and one day Jesus will raise us from the dead and we will live with Him in the "New" Heaven and Earth. We need to beleive this more than we trust the world traditions.

Let's live life like we are fully convinced of this hope in Christ.

God Provides a Way

When we choose to be God's messengers...He provides the way.

Sometimes we think..."I know God wants me to tell this person...BUT..."

We fail to remember that God will enable us through our circumstances to deliver His message.
I think it is almost comical how some of the leaders tried to stir up trouble and even vowed not to eat until Paul was murdered.  I bet they got hungry....because it did not go according to their plan...but God's plan.

God literally sent the Roman Calvary to escort him safely to receive a fair trial before the governor.  Did you catch that...God sent in the cavalry...   He is the Almighty...He has all power at His disposal to make sure His message is delivered when He wants....and to whom He wants it delivered!!!

Let us remember that we serve a Might, All Powerful God.  He will deliver His message.  I want to be a good and faithful messenger.

You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard

In Acts 22, Paul is addressing the crowd before being put into jail.  What does he do?
He simply tells his story.  The story God's has given him.

This is what God wants from all of us....to be His witnesses to the ends of the world.  We are not to argue, not judge, not to intellectualize....we are to be His witness to the people.

We are to tell the story God has given us...of what He has done for us.