I am starting a new series today. I invite you to join me in studying Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letters in Romans to Philemon. This series will run every Monday. We will study one chapter a week. If you would like to follow along with this series, read the chapter listed for the week and then share whatever God taught you through that chapter in the comment section below. We can minister to one another, as God may teach each of us something different through the chapters.<\/p>\n
This week, we start out by reading Romans chapter 1.<\/a><\/p>\n The first half of the chapter talks about the benefits of faith and how the gospel of Christ is exalted through faith.<\/p>\n In verses 1-17<\/b>, I learned that:<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/b>We often think we have to do everything right to be obedient. But the Bible says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/b><\/span> (Galatians 2:16). When we believe God is who He says He is, and believe He will do what He says He will do, His power is unleashed in us: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153his incomparably great power<\/span> for us who believe<\/span><\/i>. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, <\/b>far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Ephesians 1:19-21). When I am in faith I am filled with God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Holy Spirit and lifted up. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Jude 1:20). <\/b>When I start to lose hope, and God leads me to someone in the faith who is filled with the Holy Spirit, they encourage me and build up my faith. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Acts 11:24).<\/b><\/p>\n James 2:18-19 says,<\/b> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand shudder.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/b>Faith does not just believe God exists. Faith trusts God as Lord of our lives. When we submit our lives over to God He fills us with His righteousness and our actions begin to change.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The second half of Romans 1 talks about the consequences of unbelief, and how it hinders the gospel and leads to unrighteous living.<\/p>\n In verses 18-32<\/b>, I learned that:<\/p>\n God has clearly made Himself known to all of us. There is no excuse for us not to believe Him (v. 19-20<\/a>).<\/p>\n Even though we know God, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t acknowledge and worship Him as Lord and our Creator. Instead we acknowledge and worship the things that have been created. When we start to worship things of this world over God, our hearts begin to harden to the truth and we become blinded by Satan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deception. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers<\/span><\/b>, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (2 Corinthians 4:4).<\/b><\/p>\n When we deny God, He gives us over to our depraved mind (v. 28). The Bible says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Romans 8:6-8).<\/b><\/p>\n We need God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s righteousness to do what is right. When we reject Him we are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153filled <\/b>with all <\/b>unrighteousness, <\/b>wickedness, <\/b>greed, <\/b>evil; <\/b>full <\/b>of envy, <\/b>murder, <\/b>strife, <\/b>deceit, <\/b>malice; <\/b>[they are] gossips, <\/b>slanderers, <\/b>haters of God, <\/b>insolent, <\/b>arrogant, <\/b>boastful, <\/b>inventors <\/b>of evil, <\/b>disobedient <\/b>to parents, <\/b>without understanding, <\/b>untrustworthy, <\/b>unloving, <\/b>unmerciful; <\/b>and although they know <\/b>the ordinance <\/b>of God, <\/b>that those <\/b>who practice <\/b>such things <\/b>are worthy <\/b>of death, <\/b>they not only <\/b>do <\/b>the same, <\/b>but also <\/b>give hearty approval <\/b>to those <\/b>who practice <\/b>them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Romans 1:29-32, NASB)<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n So to summarize Romans 1, when we put our faith in Christ, the power of God is released in us and displayed through us. When we persist in unbelief, we hinder His power to change us and impact the world for Christ.<\/p>\n Heavenly Father,<\/i><\/p>\n We praise You for this study of Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letters. Thank you for teaching us in Romans 1 about faith and unbelief. Help us to continually put our faith in You and make You Lord of our lives. Fill us with Your righteousness so that we are empowered to do what is right. In Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 faithful name we pray, Amen!\u00c2\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did God speak to you through Romans 1? Is there anything He revealed to you that you would like to share with others?\u00c2\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n *Come back next Monday as we talk about what we learned in Romans 2<\/strong>. Use the share tabs below to invite others to join us in this study of Romans to Philemon. You can also subscribe below to receive email reminders of new posts. Have a blessed week walking in faith! <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [subscribe2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am starting a new series today. I invite you to join me in studying Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letters in Romans to Philemon. This series will run every Monday. We will study one chapter a week. If you would like to follow along with this series, read the chapter listed for the week and then share whatever God taught you through that chapter in the comment section below. We can minister to one another, as God may teach each of us something different through the chapters. This week, we start out by reading Romans chapter 1. The first half of the chapter talks about the benefits of faith and how the gospel of Christ is exalted through faith. In verses 1-17, I learned that: Faith is obedience (v. 5). \u00c2\u00a0We often think we have to do everything right to be obedient. But the Bible says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Galatians 2:16). Faith is noticeable and spreads to others (v. 8). When we believe God is who He says He is, and believe He will do what He says He will do, His power is unleashed in us: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,313],"tags":[260,117,20,36,118,264,261,262,259,157,263],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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