Thoughts on Hebrews

Hebrews Chapter 3

I am hoping these blogs find you well. This was born out of my personal thoughts and study on these chapters. So what I hope is that you actually read the chapters along with this blog.

"Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor then Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor then the house itself."
Hebrews 3:3

The greatest thing about the book of Hebrews is how the author unpacks the gospel and give so much praise and reverence in defneding the power and greatness of God and Jesus Christ. It really is something that brings me into a greater understanding of how great our God is, as well as our Redeemer.

On to my thoughts on this chapter:

All of us, jew and gentile alike, should fix our eyes on Jesus. Moses was faithful, just like many others in the faith. But he,like the many, were faithful as servents. Christ, who is God,is faithful as a son. Therefore, having and deserving greater honor.

Disobedience and unbelief will keep us from the promises of our one true living God. Just like Israel under Moses, who heard God's promise concerning Canaan, they refused to believe it. This act is described as rebellion(v.16), sin(v.17) and disobedience(v.18). The consequence of this action? God,in His anger, closed the doors of Canaan in the face of that whole generation of Israelites (Nu 14:21-35)

Why do we question the things of God? Obviously here is an example of a people who hear God's promise, see miricles,signs and wonders. Yet they refuse to believe and complain the whole entire time. After awhile God is so angered, and finished with them, that he closes the door on the promise He made and gave them over to themselves.

When I concentrate on the things I don't see God doing it 1) shows my disbelief. Why don't I believe that God want's what's good for me?(Ro 8:28). 2) shows my disobedience. When I think God ISN'T doing what He promised, I tend to take over and go about things how I see fit. And 3) is a subtle form of idolitry. When I focus on what God isn't doing I refuse to give Him thanks for what He has and is doing. Therefore I am concentrating on where I precieve God isn't.

I need to rest and be confident in God and His promises and most certainly the gospel. I don't know my direction, path and well being more then my God and Creator!

Untill next time.

"Praise your name oh Lord. Praise you name higher than the heavens and the earth, which are nothing but a speck in your righeous and gracious hand."

Thoughts on Hebrews



Chapter 2




"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away." Hebrews 2:1



As the author is clearly speaking to the newly converted Jews, he begins with a cautious and careful warning. The author spends all of chapter 1 making clear the case that Christ was above angels and that angels are subject to him.

If the law, which was given by an angel through Moses was real and lasting and brought certain punishment for any violation or dissobedience. How much greater will the punishment be if we ignore the gospel, which was given by the Lord and confirmed by witnesses?(vs. 2-3) God also confirmed this message through signs, wonders, miracles and gifts.(v.4) If we live by the law alone, and place creedence in our actions and fail. We deserve Punishment.We reap a consequence. But if we refuse to hear and live the gospel, which was given and confirmed by God, we deserve the ultimate punishment. We reap an eternal consequence.


Just because Christ was made lower then angels for a time, does not diminsh the gospel or new revelation. It does not make the law greater because it was given through an angel. Christ came to restore humanity's dominion over earth. (As Adam sent us into bondage, Christ came to free us, cr. Romans 5:12-21) Jesus, although he was lower for a time, is now crowned with glory and honor at God's right hand, which makes the gospel that much greater then the law. Which makes it possible for Jesus, through his death, to save all humanity.


God sending His son, making him flesh & bone, shared our humanity (v.14) to live perfect and destroy the death,slavery,bondage of evil, the devil and this world. He was made like us, faced temptation to help us, and became "High Priest" (like Moses) to atone for our transgressions. He didn't stay celestial to save angels, but he became merciful and faithful in His service to the Father.

"You made him a little lower then the heavenly beings and crowned Him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under His feet:" Psalm 8:5-6




"My king, my ruler...my Father. Praise you for your love, praise you for your Son. Thank you for adopting me into Your family!"

Thoughts on Hebrews

Chapter 1

"In the beginning,O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands." Hebrews 1:10

I have been going through the book of Hebrews and I am finding that it is a very masterful and powerful book. The author displays greatly the power and majesty of the gospel.

The superiority of God through His son is demonstrated by seven descriptive statements:
1)"appointed heirs of all things," ( cr. Romans 8:17) Christ,having performed the work of redemption, was righteously and gloriously exalted to the posistion of firstborn heir of God(the inheritence of God's estate)

2)"through whom he made the universe." (cr. John 1:3) All things were made through Christ. Nothing was made without Him or apart from Him.

3)"The Son is the radience of God's glory." (cr. John 1:14) The brilliance of the sun is inseparable from the sun itself. The Son's brilliance is inseparable to or from diety. He himself is God!

4)"exact representation of his being." (cr. Romans 9:5) Jesus Christ is not just an image or reflection of God, the Son Himself is God. An authentic representation of God's being.

5)"sustaining all things by his powerful word." (cr. Col 1:17) The Son dynamically and righteously, as only He can do, holds everything together that has been created through Him.

6)"provided purification for sins." (cr. Titus 2:14) Through His redeeming death on the cross.

7)"Sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven." Christ is actively ruling with God as Lord over all!!!!

Jesus Christ was superior to all angels.Therefore,however great,awesome, and powerful they themselves are portrayed in the eyes of man. No angel could lay claim to his inhertited name.

The author then usues examples in the OT showing 3 things:
1) That He is God's Son (Ps. 2:7, 2 Sam 7:14)

2) He is worshiped by angels (Ps 104:4, Ps. 45:6-7)

3) Though Christ is God, He is distinguished from thr Father ( Ps. 110:1)

What is absolutely amazing and mind blowing is we see how much God loved His Son Jesus, and how great God is for giving us His son. As well as how amazing Christ is for his atoning death. As Paul says in Gal 3:29, if we are Christ follower's, then we are heirs with Christ! This has nothing to do with anything we are or do, but everything to do with God and His righteousness imputed to us by faith (Romans 4:13)

Be encouraged Brothers and Sisters in Christ

"Praise be to the most righeous Father and Creator"

Joel Osteen and the Glory Story: A Case Study

Michael S. Horton, Ph.D.

"Name it, claim it"; the "health-and-wealth" or "prosperity gospel" : these are nicknames for a heresy that in many respects is only an extreme version of perhaps the most typical focus of American Christianity today more generally. Basically, God is there for you and your happiness. He has some rules and principles for getting what you want out of life and if you follow them, you can have what you want. Just “declare it” and prosperity will come to you. God as Personal Shopper.

Although explicit proponents of the so-called “prosperity gospel” may be fewer than their influence suggests, its big names and best-selling authors (T. D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, and Joyce Meyer) are purveyors of a pagan worldview with a peculiarly American flavor. It’s basically what the sixteenth century German monk turned church reformer Martin Luther called the “theology of glory”: How can I climb the ladder and attain the glory here and now that God has actually promised for us after a life of suffering? The contrast is the “theology of the cross”: the story of God’s merciful descent to us, at great personal cost, a message that the Apostle Paul acknowledged was offensive and “foolish to Greeks.”

For the rest of this essay:

http://www.wscal.edu/faculty/wscwritings/horton.osteen/glorystory.php

A civil rights group is criticizing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for hanging a Jewish symbol outside his capitol office, saying it could turn the state building into a shrine for other religious icons according to a report in the Palm Beach Post on Friday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said the hanging of a mezuzah, which contains Hebrew blessings, is the equivalent to the government's endorsement of a religious symbol, the Post reports.

"The problem is that if he says yes to this religious symbol, he's not going to be able to say no to any other religious symbol," said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida ACLU, told the Post. "While it may look like a lovely gesture, it's very short-sighted."
Crist, a Methodist, received the mezuzah as a gift from Jewish state Rep. Adam Hasner. The governor told the Post he understands the separation of church and state but doesn't think he did anything wrong.

"But you have a freedom of religion, not a freedom from religion. All I'm doing is attempting to be respectful and grateful," said Crist, who said he has no intention of removing the mezuzah from his office.

But Simons says Crist's good-will gesture has legal implications.
"The problem is we have a governor who wants to try to please everybody... He just spontaneously accepted this gift and decided to hang the mezuzah on the doorjamb before he realized that there are constitutional issues that govern when government can decide which religious symbols it is going to embrace," Simons told the Post.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303657,00.html

Pastor Provocateur

I saw this article and thought it was very interesting and informing. Why am I posting this on here you ask? Well I have actually listened to over 50 of Pastor Mark's sermons in the past 7-9 weeks and I would say he has impacted and inspired me and the way I think,lead and teach.

I know a lot of people that have heard of him feel he is too edgy and irreverent in a lot of ways but I love his coarseness and blunt approach. The greatest thing of all is, he doesn't get up in the pulpit and pass along some formula or new way of doing things. He points everything he teaches to Christ. Whether it be Old Testament or New, Christ is at the center of his message.

How refreshing in a time of preachers preaching to itchy ears!

Love him or hate him, Mark Driscoll is helping people meet Jesus in one of America's least-churched cities.
Collin Hansen

Mark Driscoll looks no different than he does any other day. He's wearing the hip pastor uniform—blue jeans and an untucked shirt with the top two buttons undone. Yet he speaks in a subdued tone that hints at wear and tear.

He begins his talk about lessons learned as a church planter with common-sense advice about how pastors can blow off steam. Driscoll, 36, plays T-ball with his three sons or feeds ducks with his two daughters. Hardly the stuff that provokes raging blog debates and church pickets. As Driscoll's Mars Hill Church in Seattle has grown to 6,000 members in 11 years, quiet moments like this with his family have preserved some of his sanity.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/september/30.44.html

Romans 2:11-16
God doesn’t Play Favorites No Matter What!



So if you didn’t know we are going through the book of Romans. If you haven’t been here or you just forgot here is where we are at up to this point.

Chapter 1: Paul starts of the book with a pretty sizable greeting. In it he really goes into great detail about himself and why he is qualified to write this gospel soaked letter. As he goes into the rest of the chapter he shifts his focus to the gentiles and why the gentiles are completely depraved and hopeless. God’s wrath is ready to be poured out on them as He gives them over to their own lusts and desires aside from God. We, the gentiles, have no excuse and we can not claim ignorance or good deeds because we fall so miserably short of God’s glory and standard of what is righteous.

Chapter 2: Paul turns to address the Jews and their sinfulness. They have no room to boast over the gentiles. They are hypocrites and have no basis to claim any goodness whatsoever. As the gentiles were given over to our idolatry, the Jews are no better off, in fact, are probably worse off because they were God’s chosen people and given the law in written form. They refused time and time again to acknowledge and accept Him as King.

This brings us up to date and leads us right into the next section of the text.

Isn’t it funny how we sit here and think of ourselves as righteous? I like how Pastor Mike put it last Sunday. “We know we aren’t perfect, but we think we are better then the rest of our friends or family or T.V. and movie stars.”

What is it that is inside of us that loves to watch other people fail? I know that Pastor Jake taught about our ingrained hypocrisy when it comes to how we view ourselves and how we view other people.

My wife and I were talking the other day. We both noticed that when you talk to somebody about heaven, the first thing they start talking about is the things that they don’t do which make them good. Our sinful nature gives us perfect vision of sin in everybody else’s lives but when it comes to our own sin, we don’t see too well.

So let’s start reading more of Chapter 2, here Paul unfolds how this thinking gives us no argument in front of God.






Read Romans 2:11
11For God shows no partiality.

· So here what we see Paul saying is God shows no favoritism to anybody. Remember in this chapter Paul is specifically dealing with the Jews. The beginning of this chapter Paul lays out the case that Jews have no basis to claim favoritism with God.
· Having a right standing before God has no basis on ethnicity or anything else we are or do.

Example

Read Deuteronomy 10:17
17For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
· Our God is the supreme Creator, Ruler and Judge. He is completely sovereign and nothing we do, say or plead to Him with can sway His mind any different. He doesn’t owe anyone anything ever. Especially when it comes to salvation.

Read Romans 2:12
12For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

· In v.11, Paul uses that verse to cut off any other argument the Jews would have. Here in this verse, Paul makes his argument even more solid by taking the words out of their argument before they can even use it as a defense. The Jews were going to appeal to the Law of Moses as God showing partiality and favoritism here. The Lord gave the Law to The Jews and not the gentiles so their hypocrisy came from thinking God showed them favoritism and nobody else, as seen as the Law only given to them specifically.
· This is also that is something that includes everybody. The Law reveals God’s hate for sin, but the cause of sin isn’t in the Law, it is the sin that is so deeply rooted in our hearts.

Read Romans 2:13-15
13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

· Here Paul goes more in depth on his case that the Jews are not under any sort of favoritism by God through the Law given through Moses.
· The amount of revelation of law by no means shows favor. The Jews were given the Law in written form on stone tablets. The gentiles were given no such thing. What Paul is pointing out here is we are all created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27) so the law is actually known by everyone (work of the law written on their hearts).

Example

Acts 10:34-35
34So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

· For this reason, no one (Jew or Gentile) can claim ignorance and Jews can definitely not claim any sort of partiality to anyone by their ethnicity.
· More importantly, they can not go to God with any sort of argument of ignorance or special privilege.


· One other thing that we see here that is interesting, on the Gentile side of things. We can not in any way claim ignorance in front of God. There is no way that we can be justified by any sort of personal righteousness. Paul points out that there is a universal (Jew and Gentile) presence of a moral standard and a common sense of and obligation to live by these standards which reveal a sense of an accountability to someone or something for a failure to live up to these standards. Essentially, we are accountable to God by our failure to live by this moral law that He has put into motion. Regardless of the amount of this law that has been made clear to us. This again is shown by the conscience.


Read Romans 2:16
16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

· The gospel that Paul is preaching is the bad news of judgment which comes before the good news of grace.
· We also see that it is not the amount of revelation received but the response to the revelation itself that counts on this judgment day before God.


· I really want to focus on the last part of this verse.


Read John 5:22
22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,

· What we see here is the authority given to Christ by God the Father.

Read Hebrews 4:13
13And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

· Through Christ, who has all authority, everyone’s heart becomes transparent to Him, our righteous judge. Our thoughts, motives and everything on the inside that no person sees is made clear in the sight of God.

Read Matthew 7:21-23
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

· Just because we claim that we know God, doesn’t mean He actually recognizes us as His. We take comfort and assurance in our actions that we perceive we do in His name in order to merit us on the right side of His righteous judgment.

What does this mean?

What all this boils down to is we have no excuse whatsoever when it comes to our justification to God. Our merits, the things that we claim to do that are good are useless. Whether Jew or Gentile we can’t say either of us is better. The Jew can’t claim favoritism over the Gentiles as God’s chosen people. The Gentiles can’t boast over the Jews that they have messed up and claim ignorance to God because the Law wasn’t given to them as clearly as it was the Jews.

This is the gospel in its greatest form. We are nothing. No one will have any sort of excuse when we stand in front of the Great and Righteous Judge. The gospel message is what saves us; it’s what should encourage us daily, it’s what we should live our life for. There is such power and presence in the gospel message. No other religion has anything like it. Every other religion has some sort of way that you merit yourself to come into the good graces of some sort of god you will give you some sort of utopia.

This is the most ridicules thing. We serve a living and powerful God, Creator and Ruler. We also are so fortunate to have a mediator and Savior who identified with us to save us perfectly.

If there is one thing I want you to take from this message tonight is this. God doesn’t love us and save us because of who we are, but because of who He is! We are saved from God’s wrath purely by the Love, Grace and Mercy of the one true living and all powerful God. There is nothing we can do, think, say, argue, plead that will save us from the condemnation that we so rightly and justly deserve.

Romans 1:18-32
The Wrath of God and His Restraints



We are going to be talking about 2 subjects from the text that are very hard to hear. I mean hard to hear as in they aren’t talked about very much at all, and especially in the western church, they are avoided all together.

This portion of scripture deals with the sinfulness of the gentiles. If you guys didn’t realize this already gentile means anybody outside of ethnic Israel. Paul talks about our condition apart from the gospel and apart from His saving grace. The text is going to point out 2 things predominantly here. That is:

1. Our idolatry
- We know that there is a God, but we refuse to acknowledge Him.
Even though He has made Himself evident to everybody.

2. The state and condition that sin holds in our lives
- Which i sthe result of our idolatry. That being, not honoring God
and His commands. Just filling our own desires of what we want
apart from Him

This portion of the text may seem very bleak and dark, but it goes to show our
true condition. Not what we think we are, but what we actually are and the power of God to make us who He wants us to be in Him through Christ.


Read Romans 1:18
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

· There are 2 things that Paul establishes in this verse.

1) The wrath of God reveals how much He hates sin. God is absolutely repulsed by evil and sin. Which happens to be what we are.

2) God’s judgment isn’t this far off thing that happens later. His wrath can strike at any place and time as He sees fit, because we are nothing but filled with sin.

· One observation I have here is how Paul words this verse. “Ungodliness and Unrighteousness.” Maybe, this is kind of an order in which things happen. Meaning, when we refuse to be “godly” that leads to our natural act of unrighteousness.

· The other observation I have here is how Paul says we suppress the truth. That would seem to indicate us lying to ourselves about what we know about ourselves.


Illustration
Have you ever been asked a question that you knew the answer to but you refused to speak the truth because it got you or someone else in trouble? I think we have something in us that refuses to tell the truth to ourselves in regards to how horribly filled with unrighteousness we actually are.

· What Paul is pointing out here is we cannot, under any circumstance, claim ignorance. We can’t go in front of God and say, ”You can’t send me to hell God, I had no clue about you or your commands.”

Read Romans 1:19-20
19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

· So here, Paul goes into more detail. Everybody has a sense that there is a God through the expanse and sheer awesomeness of creation. The invisible God is seen in the visible creation. There have been numerous studies that have shown this world and the things of it did not just appear by accident. Someone had to put it together.

Example
Think of our bodies. We know evolution is a crock. As a matter of fact a story just came out that said two of those men on the timeline of evolution, that were suppose to be millions of year apart, were just found together. This is just one of many stories that scientists are concluding that something had to create us. Also, what I never understood about evolution. Who created the monkey we evolved from in the first place? Who created the water that splashed against the rocks to create everything we see now? You cannot get or make something from nothing.

Read Genesis 1:26-27
26Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

· God created us in His own image. Creation and everything in this world point to a mighty and powerful God. With all the advancement in medicine. We are able to do transplants and make prosthetics. I am sure we could instruct an entire human body. But there is no way we could give it life. This does nothing but point to a mighty, majestic Creator.

Note
I have heard this question asked before. “If we need Jesus Christ to go to heaven, what about the tribes in the middle of Africa that never hear the name of Christ? Do they not even get a chance to go to heaven?”

· Paul is showing here that even they know enough of God to be held accountable. There are stories of people finding these indigenous tribes and they actually have a God that is worshipped by people and they offer things to it to glorify him, as well as go to him for forgiveness of sins. Why do they do that? So they won’t feel the wrath from a God that, they perceive, has the power to give them eternal damnation. Isn’t that interesting? This thing is just pre packaged and built in us.

Read Romans 1:21-23
21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

· So Paul states here again that humanity has a general sense of God. Humanity’s sin is refusing to acknowledge God even though they know enough of Him to be true. The consequence of not honoring Him and giving Him thanks leads the heart and mind to go dark.

· We also see here how idolatry is so ever present. We think we know what is good for us, by not acknowledging and honoring God, but we are actually worse off and stupid for worshipping the things that are created, and more specifically the things that God created for us to have dominion over.

Illustration
This is us worshipping the created things over the creator. This is like someone telling me “Hey, nice tattoos.” Why are they in awe of my tattoos when all I did was get them? I wasn’t responsible for putting them on there. The tattoo artist, or creator of the tattoo, should be the one getting the praise.



Read Romans 1:24-25
24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

· That word “Therefore” insists, almost always in the scriptures, as an action that follows some sort of instruction or teaching. Here, because we are idolaters, God removes His divine restraint on both our sinful actions as well as the consequences of those actions.

Read Romans 1:26-27
26For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

· I want to point out a couple things here.

• Homosexuality is a sin and there is no questioning that. How you deal with that and people in that lifestyle is a whole different message all together. This is just something that you need to strike the balance between truth & love in dealing with.
  
• Paul is using this as another example of how depraved, sinful and backwards our thinking is. We exchange what is right, natural and of God and we pervert it to do what is best for us. Completely removing God all together and yet again refusing to acknowledge Him and His commands. Again, here we see God’s hand removed and He gives us over to ourselves and we pervert and sin and that leads to more consequence.
  
  

Read Romans 1:28-32
28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such thing deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

· Sin brings a hate for what is known to be truth and risks abandonment by God.

· What we see here is our refusal to acknowledge God causes:

1. God to remove His hand and give us over to ourselves, which in turn affects our relationship to Him. (v. 18)
   
2. It causes a warped vision of us and the things of Him. (vs. 21-25)
   
3. We are given over to what we desire most apart from God, which is sin and unrighteousness (vs. 26-32)
   
   · We are so filled to the brim and rooted with sin and idolatry that we can’t help but think that it is right and encourage other people in their sin as well.
   
   Illustration
   Have you guys ever done something you know was bad and you tried to convince someone else to do it with you just so you didn’t feel like you were the only one? It makes you feel like what you did couldn’t be that bad if others were doing it too.
   

· This is what I believe Paul is talking about here. Just being around sin causes more sin. We take such a nosedive in our sin that we even encourage sin in others to make it “not so bad.”


The wrath of God is a scary, scary thing. We see just a glimpse of how horrible and horrendous it can be when God removes all the restraints on us to do what we desire to do and are left to suffer the consequences of those things, and God actually has divine restraints on those consequences as well.

The best part about learning about the wrath of God and how sinful, idolatrous and unrighteous we are is it also shows God’s redemptive power.

It is such a wonderful thing. God, in His love, mercy and grace sent His son Jesus Christ to live what is not possible for us to live, that is a perfect and righteous life. He was a man and He was tempted and He experienced all that we experience, and yet still remained unblemished. God’s wrath was poured out on Christ on the cross at Calvary.

We hear so many times about becoming “saved”. Have you ever thought about what we are saved from? Is it Satan? Hell? What is it? We are saved from God and His wrath and nothing else. To think anything else gives no reverence to God and His power. A couple weeks ago, Pastor Mike did a 2 part series titled Un-punishable. By repenting and asking God into your life you to can become a Christ follower and be on the opposite side of God’s wrath.

That doesn’t mean you won’t ever hurt or suffer or experience pain. God loves us so He disciplines us for our own good. But we will not experience the wrath of God that we should experience and that Christ stepped in and took for us.

I can’t help but preach Jesus Christ to you after we hear a message about God’s wrath and our sinful state.

Romans 1:1-17
The Romans Revolution and the Power of the Gospel



Martin Luther said this about the book of Romans:

“This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth a Christian's while not only to memorize it word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul. It is impossible to read or to meditate on this letter too much or too well. The more one deals with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes.”

This book has a lot of hard concepts to deal with. But you know what? I’ve learned that when you hear something in scripture that seems hard to deal with, or seems to go against anything that you or I think. The bible isn’t wrong. It’s my head! Scripture is God breathed(2 Tim 3:16-17) and there is nothing wrong or contradictory to it. When I come across difficult sayings or concepts I dig deeper and study harder. Those are the times where God shows Himself to be even greater, even more loving, even more almighty and gracious.

Romans is a book that I consistently go back to for understanding and clarification on so many things. It deals with all the main components of the Christian faith: Law, Sin, Grace, Faith, Justice, Flesh, Spirit, and so on.

Paul does 3 things in this section of the text.

He Gives a greeting (vs. 1-7)

Paul gives an introduction and intention (vs. 8-15)

Paul gives the theme of the entire book (vs. 16-17)



Paul’s Greeting

Read Romans 1:1-2
1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

Usually all letters during this time were started out with some sort of greeting in this style. Paul, here, has a very extensive greeting where he introduces himself by:
- Name: Paul
- Identity: (servant) Someone who is under total control of his or her master.
- Job (apostle) An official messenger of the gospel.
- Purpose (set apart for the gospel) God is the source of the message he brings

In verse 2 Paul is explaining that this isn’t something that he created himself, but the gospel was revealed in the Old Testament through prophets, which were God’s voice to the people.

Read Romans 1:3-6
3concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Paul is pointing out the dual nature of Christ. He was “ man” (descended from David) or “flesh”. As well being declared the Son of God, or “divine”.

He was made flesh to share our weaknesses (cf. Heb 4:15-16)

15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

He was divine and declared fully the Son of God (cf 2 Cor 13:4)

4For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

• Paul also shows that through his obedience of faith, God appointed him to bring the gospel message to the World (gentiles)

Read Romans 1:7
7To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a very gospel soaked greeting and only sets the stage for the things to come in the rest of this letter.

Paul’s Introduction and Intention

Read Romans 1:8-12
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

· First, Paul is giving an encouragement. The church at Rome has been an example to other churches that have heard of the things they were doing.

· Second, Paul is telling them how excited he is for them and the foundation they have laid as a new Christian church. As well as how much he labors in prayer for them.

· Third, he shows his desire to visit them for 2 reasons:
1. “to impart to you a spiritual gift”
This is not a spiritual gift like tongues or prophecy, but of encouragement through
what I believe is the gospel message

2. “that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith,”
This message of the gospel not only encourages Paul’s hearers, but Paul as well.
Note:
I just want to point this out to you guys. Us, as Christ followers should be built up and take encouragement from the gospel message. So many times we sit here and look for things to make us happy: music, boyfriends/girlfriends, ipods, looks, etc, etc. we need to not take satisfaction in the gifts we think we need, but in the gift giver. Christ is our gift! We shouldn’t be looking for the next thing that will make us feel happy and worthwhile. We need to be built up, and encouraged in Christ as our ultimate gift!

Illustration:
This would be like if someone gave you a million dollars and sent you the check in the mail and all you did was hug and thank and kiss the mailman who simply handed you an envelope. Was the mailman responsible for that million dollars? NO! In the same way, we don’t need to look for God where he isn’t. We need to be satisfied and infatuated with the giver and creator of all, not the created things.

Paul’s theme to the book of Romans

Read Romans 1:16-17
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

· WOW! How awesome are these two verses? There is nothing more powerful than the gospel message. Paul is stating here that the work Christ did had such a power that it actually transcends all barriers. It is not something that is exclusive but is for anybody and everybody through faith in Him and His son.

· The faith we have is giving to us by a mighty and powerful God. God reveals this in the Old Testament:

Habakkuk 2:4
4"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

God’s righteousness is shown in the righteousness of Christ, which is imparted to, or considered by God to belong to the one who believes. This is the how we are justified or saved. This has nothing to do with our merits or the things that we try and do to save us or please ourselves. It is purely from God, through Christ by faith. This is what Paul means by from faith to faith.

· Paul also points out that “the righteous shall live by faith” meaning; life is a continuing fellowship with God. It’s trusting and depending on Him from the moment we are regenerated till the end.

The revolution starts now. I don’t want to oversimplify anything or try and tell God what to do. But we see in the bible how big things start and huge moves of God begin with prayer and God’s word. Do you guys read your bibles? Don’t you want to know what’s on the mind of God? Don’t you want to know what it is like to be satisfied in Him and nothing else? This is it. I have been praying and will continue to labor in prayer for God to revolutionize your hearts. I pray that you do the same.

Pray that God shows you truly who you are and also, that He then reveals the new person He wants you to be in Him.

Welcome!

Well, I have started a place to post my thoughts, teachings and anything else I want to throw out their that, I hope, will benefit any and all readers of this things. This will be the main place I post all of my notes on the book studies that I am going trhough right now.

The story about the name. It is a reference from Nehemiah 4:16-18

16From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.

I want to appeal and encourage both you and I to continue to work( the trowel) and defend( the sword) that which God has called us to build. That could be marriage, business, family, relationships, ministry, or anything!

Please leave me comments and encouragements and if this helps you, feel free to use it and pass this site onto your friends.

TIM