Sunday April 15 2012

 

We read Romans 7 over cake and ice cream.  Then we moved onto Romans 8 and lesson 6 about being not guilty.

I didn’t take many notes, so this will be from memory. 

-  In Romans 7, we are told that we now belong to Christ but previously we had been “married” to someone else.  Our question, who were we married to before?  Law? Sin? Satan?   What are your thoughts?

-  How come the Law could not provide salvation?  The study note in my Bible for Romans 7:1 says, “Paul shows that the law is powerless to save the sinner, the lawkeeper, and even the person with a new nature.  The sinner is condemned by the law; the lawkeeper can’t live up to it, and the person with the new nature finds their obedience to the law sabotaged by the effects of their old nature.  Once again, Paul declares that salvation cannot be found by obeying the law.  No matter who we are, only Jesus Christ can set us free!”

-  Who is unable to please God?  Why can’t they please him? --- We struggled with this question and at first we couldn’t put a finger on why.  But then Lori asked… is God looking to be be pleased OR is He looking to be loved?  With the question worded the way it was, it could possibly lead us down the path of a checklist of things to do to keep God appeased.  Is God looking to be appeased?  We think that He is looking for a love relationship with Him, and if we get that part right, everything else will fall into place.

-  How does a person attain true life?  ---- How do we define “true life”?  We batted this around for a bit.  The note I wrote down for this one says – “by living the life God created us for.”

-  Explain what it means to live by the Spirit.  --- To not live by a checklist or a set of rules or a program, but instead to be in relationship with God, on a moment to moment basis via His Spirit. 

-  How should we, believers, deal with feelings of condemnation and guilt?  First of all, all feelings can be deceiving, based on false presumptions.  Instead we need to choose to live in our true identity as God’s children, we have been adopted into His family.  We need to remind ourselves of the truth…. I am not condemned nor guilty… I have been set free by Jesus!!!! 

            -  Romans 8:34 --- Jesus is interceding for us!  God has aquitted us, removed our sin and guilt, so it is Satan who accuses us.  But Jesus is our advocate.

-  Nicole mentioned in her notes that she found this chapter a little confusing.  Can you expand on what you found confusing Nicole?  I don’t want to leave you here confused! <3

-  Something Lori mentioned from the blog post Susan wrote – Acts 13:46…. the words, “you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life.” or as the KJV puts it, “but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life”.  They JUDGE themselves.  Very powerful.  How many out there judge themselves as not worthy of Christ? 

-  And then later on, Lori mentioned she was struggling with the next verse in Acts, verse 48 – “all who were appointed for eternal life believed.”  What is this verse saying?  What does appointed mean in this verse?

 

___________

A FEW EXTRAS:

-       Something interesting to note:  Paul uses adoption or “sonship” to illustrate the believer’s new relationship with God.  In Roman culture, the adopted person lost all rights in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate child in the new family.  The adopted person became a full heir to his new father’s estate.  Likewise, when a person becomes a Christian, they gain all the privileges and responsibilities of a child in God’s family.  One of these outstanding privileges is being led by the Spirit (see Galatians 4:5-6).  We may not always FEEL as though we belong to God, but the Holy Spirit is our witness.  His inward presence reminds us of who we are and encourages us with God’s love.  (study note from my Bible for Romans 8:14-17)

Read more about the Holy Spirit and our connection in Romans 8:23, 1 Corinthians 6:14 (He is a guarantee deposit of eternal life), 2 Corinthians 4:14, and 1 Thessalonians 4:14.

 

-  SALVATION --- we have been saved, we are being saved and we will be saved (past, present and future salvation).   Confused yet?

            -     (from Bible study notes)  -  We have been saved, we were saved the moment we believed, our eternal life began at this moment. (Romans 3:21-26; Romans 5:1-11; Romans 6:1-11, 22,23).      We are being saved at this time because it takes the process of sanctification to make us more like Christ.  And at the same time we have not yet received ALL the benefits that salvation will give us, we won’t get the whole thing until Christ’s new kingdom is completely established.

Lesson 7– GOD’S PERFECT PLAN

READ Romans chapter 10.
***I encourage you to speak up if you feel like the question is worded wrong, or if you feel like the question has an agenda behind it.  There have been a few times where one of us at the discussions disagree with how the question is being presented.  Feel free to wrestle with the wording or any hidden messages you feel the question is leading to.
1.  What is wrong with trying to be saved in your own way?
2.  What part do our thoughts and our words have in our response to salvation?
3.  What promise is given to people who believe and confess that Jesus is Lord?
4.  How does God’s righteousness motivate us to godly behavior?
5.  What does this passage teach about the way the good news is spread, understood, and accepted?
6.  What aspects of God’s character are shown through his plan of salvation?
7.  How are you encouraged by God’s plan to save the world?
8.  Why is it difficult for us to follow Jesus?
9.  What can we learn from Israel’s response to God’s plan of salvation?
10.  How can you guard against trying to earn God’s approval and acceptance?
11.  Why is it important to tell others about your faith in Jesus Christ?

*** For more passages on God’s plan of salvation see:

1. John 3:16
2. John 4:22
3. Acts 4:12
4. Acts 28:28
5. 2 Corinthians 7:10
6. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
7. Revelation 7:10

"How did Jesus fulfill the meanings of the Jewish feasts?"

http://www.gotquestions.org/questweek.html

Question:

"What did Paul mean when he said he had kept the faith?"

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Teri shared this…

Barnabas and Saul in Antioch

I'm reading through Acts right now.  It's a book I have avoided for a long long time.  I thought it was boring.  It isn't.  These verses caught my attention today:

Acts 13:38 & 39  "Therefore my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses."

Here Paul and Barnabas are speaking to observant Jews.  When the Jews fail to accept the good news, they respond this way:

Act 13:46 "Then Paul and Barnabas answerd them boldly: "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.""

Acts 13:48 says the Gentiles were glad and honored and believed!

These verses make me think about people today who think they have to fix themselves before they are worthy to accept eternal life. It makes me think of people following religious rules (Muslim, Christian, Jewish whatever). They can never quite be justified or accepted because they can't get the observance of the rules right.

;oP Growing Weeds for Jesus

In Visible Fellowship

Good post about a new book - http://lisanotes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/in-visible-fellowship.html

quote from the post:

The reason God gives us discernment
about a weakness or a fault in another believer
is so we will bring the issue before God,
praying on behalf of our brother or sister.

…If we spent as much time in intercessory prayer
for others as we do complaining about others,
how would that change the life of our community?

How would that change us?

- JON WALKER, In Visible Fellowship

and

Intercession means no more than to bring
our brother into the presence of God,
to see him under the Cross of Jesus
as a poor human being and sinner in need of grace.

Then everything in him that repels us falls away;
we see him in all his destitution and need.

His need and his sin become so heavy and oppressive
that we feel them as our own,
and we can do nothing else but pray.
– DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Community

Why You Need to Find Community {even when you’re really hurting}

Apr 12, 2012 05:30 am | Ann Voskamp

http://www.incourage.me/2012/04/why-you-need-to-find-community-even-when-youre-really-hurting.html

(*****READ the comments section of the article too!!!)

Yes, we all need community!  Loved this article.  Here are some of my favourite quotes from it:

• There are times when leaving things unsaid to most, and mostly said to one, can be the way love covers over a multitude of sins.
• The shields that protect you can easily become the bars that imprison you.
• I didn’t want love to hurt and the truth is that love means to suffer and there’s no getting around it.
• And found loneliness to be more injurious than rejection because it can be self inflicted. There is always someone to love.
• Love is a tree, each person a branch. And a pile of cut off branches doesn’t make a tree. Love can only be comprehended in community. You need imperfect people in your life to perfect your practice of love.
• There are no solitary saints; all sanctification is forged in community.
• The chance to love imperfect people is another chance to perfect His love in me. And all the believers are belongers.
• That her keeping company with her had kept something inside of her together.
• Joining and participating in just one group or community this year cuts your odds of dying in half over the next year.
• Love is a tree, each person a branch. And a pile of cut off branches don’t make a tree. Love can only be comprehended in community.

His Timing

LESSON SIX --- NOT GUILTY

The lesson book has skipped chapter 7 of Romans but I encourage you to read it anyway.  A very encouraging portion in chapter 7 for me is the Apostle Paul’s “do-do” statements, how even he found it hard to want to do and actually do what is right.

But now on to lesson six … we are not guilty.

READ Romans Chapter 8.  (I myself have really enjoyed reading the lesson from The Message Bible.  Things seem more clear to me from it.)  (The Message can be found online at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208&version=MSG)

Think about a time you were “let off the hook” after you had been caught at doing something wrong.  How did you feel knowing you wouldn’t have to do the punishment for your wrong doing? 

1.  Explain how the Law could not provide salvation.

2.  Who is unable to please God?  Why can’t they please him?

3.  In what ways does the Spirit of God transform people?

4.  How does a person attain true life?

5.  Explain what it means to live by the Spirit.

6.  How should believers deal with feelings of condemnation and guilt?

Words spoken…

A man went about the community telling malicious lies about another man. Later, he realized the wrong he had done, and began to feel remorse. He went to the the man and begged his forgiveness, saying he would do anything he could to make amends. The accused told the slanderer, "Take a feather pillow, cut it open, and scatter the feathers to the winds."

The man thought this was a strange request, but it was a simple enough task, and he did it gladly. When he returned to tell the accused that he had done it, the accused ,man said, "Now, go and gather the feathers. Because you can no more make amends for the damage your words have done than you can recollect the feathers."

The words spoken once released cannot be stopped from harming their intended target . . . the character and soul of another.

good discussion topic…

FLIRTING WITH DISASTER

• How many times do we flirt with something in our lives that has the potential to be sinful and can snowball into something so much bigger?
• “Sin will take you places you never intended to go, it will keep you there longer then you wanted to stay and the cost will be more than you ever thought possible.”
• We may start with simple intentions but disaster may be lurking right around the corner.  We only mean to indulge in a few minutes of an activity and whether it happens five minutes later or a year down the road-we find ourselves in a place we never intended to go, we have stayed there much longer than we thought we would and now the cost/consequences are more than we ever would have thought.
• when we hurt people...  We have lost trust, our word is questioned and we have hurt someone.  The consequences of sin are always more than we think.
• My challenge to you wives today is to search your heart and see if there are slippery slopes that you have been flirting with recently?
• What to do when you realize you are “flirting with disaster?”
• Temptations is temptation because it is appealing.  We want what we are not allowed to have.  That is why simply stopping the behavior many times is not enough.  We need to have Godly counsel and encouragement to help us through these pitfalls.  That being said you may very well need to put an end to a relationship that is teetering on inappropriate.  After doing so, have people in place to help you.

 

(****all the above are from this website http://www.onefleshmarriage.com/2012/04/flirting-disaster.html)

He is Risen!

Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5-11

The Message (MSG)

^5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

^9-11Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

For the hurting…

Read this post today: For the Hurting on Easter @ http://deeperstory.com/for-the-hurting-on-easter/

This a portion of the post:

 

Men fail, but Jesus never does.

People hurt one another. Jesus heals the wounds.

Men close their ears to the pleas of the hurts, Jesus listens.

Leaders turn their eyes from their sinking ship, but Jesus walks on water to rescue the drowning.

Jesus is our Shepherd, and He loves His sheep.

He seeks the lost, he heals the sick, he tends the wounded, he frees the prisoners.

Men will fail you, but Jesus never will.

This Easter, fix your eyes on Him.

You’ve been walking with me all this time ♥

 

ALL THIS TIME
Artist: BRITT NICOLE.
Album: Gold

I remember the moment
I remember the pain
I was only a girl
But I grew up that day
Tears were falling
I know You saw me

Hiding there in my bedroom
So alone
I was doing my best
Trying to be strong
No one to turn to
That’s when I met You

All this time
From the first tear cry
To today’s sunrise
And every single moment between
You were there
You were always there
It was You and I
You’ve been walking with me all this time

Ever since that day
it’s been clear to me
That no matter what comes
You will never leave
I know You’re for me
And You’re restoring

Every heartache and failure
Every broken dream
You’re the God who sees
The God who rescued me
This is my story
This is my story

I hear these people asking me
How do I know what I believe?
Well I’m not the same me
And I saw the proof I need
I felt Love I felt Your grace
You stole my heart that day

Armor of God print outs

http://practicalpages.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/armor-of-god-young-man/

go to the link above to get the larger size to print out

3 days and 3 nights?

Unleavened Bread / Nisan 17 / Easter

 

Since it is the Easter weekend coming up, I am not going to post the new lesson from Romans.  Instead I thought I would share some interesting tidbits about Passover.

Here is a video explaining the unleavened bread used in a Passover meal:

 

Stephanie mentioned to me last year that I should look up all the events that had taken place on Nisan 17.  I never did do it but one of the websites I like to read has published a look at it.  You can find it here: http://heartofwisdom.com/biblicalholidays/2010/03/01/nisan-17-odds-one-in-783864876960000000/

“The Bible records many miracles occurring on Nisan 17. No other day except Passover is mentioned as many times in the Bible. According to the Torah and traditional Jewish interpretation, other events that occurred on Nisan 17 include the following:”

Lots more info at her website, check it out.

 

QUESTION TO PONDER AND ANSWER:  So how did we get to the Easter we have now and how does it tie in with the death and resurrection of our Messiah?