Romans 7:14-8:8 Have you ever done something you wish you had not done? Have you ever committed a sin and afterward wondered why you did it? Of course you have! This is a reality of living in our fallen world but this does not have to be the way we live.Romans 7:14-8:8 describes the spiritual battle which wages inside each of us. We find ourselves constantly failing to live a righteous life, and P...

Romans 7:1-13 How are we as New Testament believers supposed to interact with the Mosaic Covenant? Are we still supposed to follow the laws given to Israel or can we ignore them? These are questions that often puzzle people. Paul in Romans 7 wants us to understand the purpose of the law so we can know what we should do with it. The purpose of the law was largely to magnify sin. It was meant to be ...

Romans 6:1-23 Dead to sin? Alive in Christ? What does it mean? It means we have the power of his resurrection at our disposal to resist sin. The Greek word for power is dunamis, the root of the word dynamite. We have available to us dynamite power to resist sin. The imagery of baptism speaks first to the fact that we proclaim our sinful nature dead with Christ. Then as we come out of the water, we...

Romans 5:6-21 How do you know God loves you? What causes you to not see God as an angry tyrant in the sky who is constantly trying to punish you? A universal human longing is to know we are loved. We often spend our lives trying to earn love from people and to merit love. We try to perform so people will love us, we try to love others hoping to receive it back, and we attempt to be found lovable. ...

Romans 4:13-5:5 The Bible is filled with God’s promises. In Romans 4 Paul zeroes in on one specific promise, God’s promise to Abraham. One of the promises which God made to Abraham is he would have children like the sand in the desert and the stars in the sky. Yet when he was 99, he still had zero children of promise. Abraham’s response to this seemingly absurd situation was faith. He continued to...

Romans 4:1-12 If you grew up going to Sunday School you probably remember the song “Father Abraham”. A cute song which comes right out of Romans 4. On the surface it may seem slightly cryptic, but it helps us to understand that Abraham is the paradigm and “father” of faith in the Bible. Abraham believed God when he was told to leave his land and family for the Promised Land. He did this when he kn...

Romans 3:9-31 What are the essentials of the gospel you would want to share with someone? This is one of the most important things to think through in the process of making disciples. Thankfully, we do not have to make it up, the Bible tells us what the important things are to share. Romans 3:23-24 provides us with a great summary of the gospel. These verses give us the key truths that we need to ...

Romans 2:25-3:8 If salvation is by grace through faith, why do anything at all? Why not just sit back, sin a bunch, or be apathetic toward God when you have placed your trust in Jesus? If you have ever thought these things, then Romans 2-3 is for you.As Paul points the church in Rome toward the truth that they are saved by grace through faith, he addresses the purpose of religious activities Paul ...

Romans 2:1-24 We cannot live without making judgments. We daily make moral judgments about what is right and wrong, and we constantly make judgments about how to spend our lives. Further, we constantly evaluate others based on our understanding of truth. Romans 2 points out that all these judgments may be incorrect and even when they are accurate, we may be guilty of the very judgments we make of ...

Romans 1:18-32 God is a God of grace and justice. He has done all that is necessary for eternal life and calls people to a relationship with him, while at the same time standing against sin and wickedness. As we consider God and draw near to him, we need to keep both attributes in mind. God’s grace is evident in that “what may be known about God is plain.” God has generously revealed himself to th...

Romans 1:1-17 Where have you seen God’s work in your life in the past and where do you see it today? Most of the Bible is looking back to what God has done. Whether we are reading of creation, the Exodus, entering the Promised Land, or Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, Scripture looks back to what God did in the past. These stories are meant to transform our present. We need to dust off their...

Acts 28:1-31What is the last book you read or movie you watched with a surprise ending? A story where there was a twist, unanswered question, or a lack of resolution at the end? The book of Acts is like this. It ends with Paul in prison in Rome and we are left to wonder, what happened next?We may not be satisfied with the ending, but it is perfect. The final verse reads, “Boldly and without hindra...

Acts 27:21-44 When things go wrong in my life I am tempted to panic. At times I do panic, and it is probably fair to assume that some of you are in the same boat (or should I say wrecked ship!!!). If everything is going well in our lives, it is relatively easy to trust in the Lord. Unfortunately, there are times when we encounter major obstacles to our faith.Paul faced all the challenges we face, ...

Acts 27:1-20 What are the consequences of not being a good listener? After Paul’s travel adventure put him on an Alexandrian ship for Italy, God revealed to him that disaster was going to occur. They were sailing too late in the season and needed to stop. After Paul communicated this to the centurion, we are told that “instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of...

Acts 26:1-32 How strong is your hope? Is your hope able to fill you with joy and an eternal perspective regardless of your present circumstances? Does your hope provide confident assurance that God's future is better than today's best?As Paul recounted the reason for his imprisonment for Agrippa, Felix, and Bernice, he stated, "It is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I...

Acts 25:1-27 We live with our feet in two worlds. We live in America, but we also live in God's kingdom. How should we balance these two things? St. Augustine wrote a classic book on this very topic called the City of God roughly 1500 years ago. He described the reality of living with dual citizenship. Paul found himself wrestling with this very same idea in Acts 25. Paul knew that God was his ult...

Acts 24:1-27 How much do you value truth? Are you willing to speak it, stand up for it, and suffer for it? Paul consistently did all three of these things during his lifetime. Paul found himself imprisoned for two years in Caesarea. The reason for this lengthy prison stay was largely Paul’s unwillingness to back down from the truth. Paul’s first appearance before Felix is summarized for us. We see...

Acts 23:11-35 What brings you courage? Courage is defined as "the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear." Can you face the most difficult/painful of circumstances and say that you are able to do it without fear? This is what God tells Paul to do in the face of his imprisonment and death threats. He tells him to "take courage" and not t...

Acts 22:17-23:10 Do you ever feel like your past keeps you from serving God in the present? Do you ever feel like you have committed too many sins to be used by God? The life of Paul is a powerful reminder that your past never disqualifies you from living for Jesus in the present. In recounting how Jesus transformed his life, Paul does not whitewash any of his past. He told the crowd of how he had...

Acts 21:37-22:16 Every moment is an opportunity to share Jesus with someone. Whether you are in line at the grocery store, sitting on your lanai, on a walk with friends, or for Paul even immediately after being arrested, it is never a bad time to talk about Jesus. So, how often are you talking about him?We have seen people use a number of different methods to share Jesus throughout Acts. Stephen r...