Second, once we turn away from ourselves in repentance, we turn toward Jesus Christ in faith. To hammer this point home about faith, I want to read some verses from Romans 3-4. Rom 3 – 21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the […]
Conclusion of Romans: The Gospel of Jesus Christ on Full Display (pt 2 of 3)
Wouldn’t you agree with that assessment of the human condition? We may look all good on the outside. But when we are honest with ourselves and we look inward, I think we can all agree that we are not good, that there is something fundamentally wrong with us. We are filled with selfishness, envy, lust, […]
Conclusion of Romans: The Gospel of Jesus Christ on Full Display (pt 1 of 3)
We have finally reached the end of our book of Romans. At the time when we began in Sept of last year (9/7/2010), I was in a period of transition as my job had just ended and I was praying about being the pastor of this church. And my first burden was, what do I […]
Rom 14-15: Building True Unity – The Nuts and Bolts of Church Life (pt3 of 3)
What about at a church level? What does judgment and gossip, mixed in with anger, do to a church? It divides people into various camps. In the church at Rome, you have Jewish Christians on one side judging the Gentile Christians. Imagine a conversation between two Jewish Christians, if you will. Can you believe sister […]
Rom 14-15: Building True Unity – The Nuts and Bolts of Church Life (pt2 of 3)
In contrast, I want to describe the other way of doing church. It is a kingdom of religion. It’s where we eat and drink. It’s where we draw sharp lines in the sand and say, thou shalt not cross over this line. It’s where gray areas are elevated to the level of moral absolutes. And […]
Rom 14-15: Building True Unity – The Nuts and Bolts of Church Life (pt1 of 3)
Romans 14:17-19, 15:1-7 We had a wonderful time of fellowship during our Memorial Day picnic. We were the hosts and we invited LBC WLA to join us. I trust that those who were there ate some really great food, as we promised. The ribs were out of this world. And our feast was followed by […]