Sermons on Romans
Renew
A year ago we had just announced our theme for 2020, which was, “Focus On What Matters,” using Philippians 3:13 as our theme text: “This one thing I do.” Little did we know what 2020 was going to hold for us and for the world. Many of us probably have mixed feelings as we begin another year. There’s some hopefulness in us, I think, as we anticipate the vaccines’ distribution and subsequent slowing down (we hope) of the virus. At…
We Confess
In some ways, confession is quite simple. A person stands before a church or before his family and friends and states that he believes in Jesus as God’s Son. But of course, it’s not that simple, or at least it shouldn’t be. Imagine what that confession meant for the people who made it in the first century . . . they were publicly identifying themselves with Jesus Christ and a burgeoning movement that had no social capital. In fact, depending…
The Kindness and Severity of God
Is God kind or severe? Does he act out of love or justice? Is he patient or wrathful? Our congregational reading plan had us beginning with Deuteronomy on Thursday, and if we haven’t read the Old Testament in awhile, we’re probably a bit overwhelmed with how God presents himself to the Israelites. In fact, if I may say so, sometimes God seems a little harsh and demanding. We’re going to wrestle with this theme Sunday morning, considering how God is…
Too Bad or Too Good?
The essence of Satan’s nature is that he lies to and about us. He loves to make accusations concerning us, and here’s one of his favorites: About the good news of Jesus Christ, he’ll say one of two things: For some people, he tells them that they’re too bad, that they have no hope for mercy. “Your sins are worse than everybody else’s . . . God doesn’t show mercy to people like you.” And many people believe him, assuming…
Learning to Trust God: He is “for us”
Last Sunday we studied the importance of trusting God: it changes everything about us, from the way we face tragedies to the consistency with which we obey. All of us want to trust God more, but how do we? That’s the point of the message this Sunday. Romans 8 is one of the most beautiful and most-loved chapters in the whole Bible. In the culminating paragraph at the end, Paul encourages the Christians at Rome to know that nothing can…
The Gifts of Grace
We present our bodies as living sacrifices to God (what we studied last Sunday), but what does that mean? Specifically, does it have any meaning within the body, the church, in our relationships with one another? Paul explores this in the verses immediately after the text from last Sunday. In order for us to be living sacrifices, Paul encourages us to use the gifts God has given us. Paul mentions several gifts: prophesying, serving, teaching, exhorting, contributing, leading, and extending…
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