Romans 8:28–39 (NIV): 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Life certainly has its moments. There are some good times, and there are some bad times. I guess some things never do change in the matter. Charles Dickens wrote something similar in “The Tale of Two Cities” when he said, “that it was the best of times and the was the worst of times”.
What Paul records in Romans deals with the way we should all as followers of Jesus should live, and Paul points towards, using key words, to help us to understand transformation of life and thought when it comes to ourselves and our interaction with “others”. Those key words are obligation, adoption, inheritance, sharing (charity). I could have added the word “liberty” as well, but that word has been abused so much in our American culture, I doubt most could understand biblical liberty. Paul answers the following questions:
A CARNAL Mind leads to CARNAGE! A CHRISTLIKE mind leads to LIFE!
While many Jesus followers love the picture of Jesus flipping over tables (he did this twice by the way, marking the beginning and the ending of his ministry) and forming a whip out of chords, driving out livestock and merchants out of the Court of the Gentiles due to the zealousness of a house dedicated to his Father, every other action was GENTLE. I want us to notice one area that Jesus was gentle where we might not react or judge the situation the same way. Would you be gentle?
Conditional LoveJohn 3:18-19; 35-36, Matthew 6:14-15, Proverbs 6:16-20 and 1 John 4:16-18 Yes, God’s love is unconditional towards us! The way all of humankind has learned to love is different. Therefore, our understanding of love is broken. Because of this, God establishes conditions to recognize if it is His love in us or our own … [Read more…]
Your Faith is in God, Not People
Malachi 3:6-15
Unfaithfulness (Part One) — Malachi 2:13-3:5 NIV Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. Often, we quickly read through it. Most of us only know anything of Malachi because of numerous sermons on tithing. Even the message on tithing may have been taken out of context and usually you only hear sermons on … [Read more…]
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.
“Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God!”