(Notes from Peter Heins on a 5 session class taught by Ken Burford)
Background--
Paul wrote Romans when he had never been to Rome, which was unlike his other writings, although he talks about his plans to go there
Paul had nothing to do with starting the church in Rome—Acts 2:10 some were there from Rome, so it is conceivable that they found their way back there at some point
Romans is a treatise on the gospel of Christ with Galatians in the background. Romans is an extension of Galatians, so we need to read Galatians to understand Romans better.
Romans can be viewed as “deep stuff” and it can be virtually ignored to our detriment
Hebrews 5:11—6:3
Typically people view Romans as for the mature, yet Romans is foundational, and if you don't get it you will not ever get mature—it is the milk!
Romans deals with these foundational things mentioned here: repentance from dead works and faith in God
Casey Moser (scholar who died in mid 70s) had a saying, “if you get Romans, God gets you.” You got to get these things to get the gospel.
(It is good to read Romans in a more literal version, like ESV or NASB)
Romans 1:1-17
Here is Paul's thesis statement
The basis of the gospel
◦ Revealed from God—Scripture
◦ Rooted in history, in a man: Jesus (vs.3), and His resurrection (Morrison's book Who Moved the Stone)
◦ What is the faith?
▪ The obedience that comes from faith
▪ Faith is focused on the believer, and “the faith” is referring to the content of the gospel
▪ Does it matter what you believe or is it good to just believe in something? According to the gospel it does.
▪ What you trust matters, and whether you trust, matters more than the degree—Jesus mentioning the example of the mustard seed
· Example: weak faith in a strong bridge or strong faith in a weak bridge
· You don't need to have great faith as much as needed to trust in the right thing—like the example, enough faith to put one foot in front of the other.
· Faith grows with experience, where we trust God and continue to believe with the next step—if you are not willing to take the step you have no faith!
▪ Verse 6 faith is belonging to Jesus
· “I got saved...” really?! From what?
· From what and for what purpose have you been saved?
◦ Romans answers those questions
▪ Vs.17 righteousness of God—Romans is about understanding righteousness, and it is not something you should understand after many years of becoming a Christian but very early on.
· Righteousness of God
◦ “Self-Righteousness” – a negative connotation because we use it of people who are arrogant
◦ Yet most people can have a self-righteous concept of righteousness because we don't understand that righteousness comes from God
· Habakkuk 2:4 quote
· Habakkuk 3:17-19 is the faith Paul is talking about
◦ It is easy to have faith when everything is fine and dandy, but what happens when it is all taken away.
◦ Like our three heroes thrown into the fire: it takes faith to go into the fire, but even more to trust God even if He does not save you from the fire.
Vs.18-32
“wrath of God” – right away we see what we're saved from
Paul will talk about three groups of people
◦ Here talking about people without the revealed, inspired word of God—relating to God through nature, much like any native religion. We can relate this back to Paul's speech in Athens (Acts 17).
▪ What does God expect us to figure out about Him, even without the Bible?
· That there is a God, that He exists
· That God is powerful, merciful, loving, creative, generous
· You learn about the unpredictable calamities
· God expects us to seek Him, to acknowledge Him, and give thanks to Him
▪ What are the fundamental issues here?
· 1. Honor/Respect (fear—Proverbs 1:7) and 2. Be thankful
· You find someone without those two things you find a lot of other things messed up
· God expects us to get those two things, and people can figure out that without the Bible
▪ God only gave Adam and Eve one command and they blew it.
▪ If you acknowledge the creator of the universe, and you realize what He has given you, you become grateful and want to say thank you however you can
▪ So God holds us responsible
Romans 2:1-12
Here we have God, man, and their own sense of a moral code
We make moral judgments all the time, and even if you don't keep the Bible, you have that code
Will anyone match up with their own moral code?
We can forget the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and we will be condemned by our own moral code
If God were to send us to hell, would He be fair? Yes, because we have not kept even our own moral code.
Vs,13--20
Vs.24 just like the name of Jesus is blasphemed among those who do not believe in him because of those who say they do
God, man, revealed law God expects us to obey—man has not been able to keep that either
In all cases man falls short
Today innocent people even go to jail, even guilty people can get off, yet with God you will be brought to judgment, and you will not get off if He finds you responsible!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Dating Devotional 1/27/2010
Gary and Gail Sciascia
1. No Rules Just Righteousness
a. Why do you think the Bible does not talk about dating?
i. Because they did not do it like we do it
b. We can either say one of the two things
i. The Bible does not say anything on it, therefore we should not do it
ii. The Bible does not say anything on it, therefore we need to have guidelines
c. Appreciate the people in your life that ask you about your purity and help you establish and follow guidelines in your dating
2. Whining or Shinning
a. Philippians 2:14-16
i. Dating is an area that we need to stand out from the world—the world is very corrupt in how they do dating
ii. When you see a couple that does well, a lot of advice is sought and taken—it takes a lot of conscious effort and humility
b. Absolute Purity Principle—if you are going to have a rule, here is the one to have
i. Matthew 5:8
ii. Mark 9:42-50
1. Most people live in such a way asking, “Where is the line of sin?”
2. Whereas Jesus calls us to get way away from that line!
3. Another reason why we practice in this church, disciples dating other disciples (1Cor. 7:39)
iii. Ephesians 5:3
1. Not only not sinning but don’t even get close to giving off a bad example
iv. Gail shared how women are emotional creatures and how technology can get someone’s heart out of control—Song of Songs 2:7; 3:5; 8:4
v. 2Corinthians 5:16-17
1. We need to do a reboot and get a totally new perspective on dating because we come in with such a worldly view
2. We need to change our view of how we view the opposite sex
a. Not there for your pleasure, but they are God’s daughter
vi. 1Corinthians 13:4-8
1. A big one here to get on straight when we talk about dating is “love always protects”
2. We need to protect one another’s purity
a. Women dressing immodestly
b. Talking in flirty ways
3. Do I give off a sexual vibe?
vii. Analogy about a train getting going, we do not protect the purity if we do not think maturity about not even allowing it to get going
1. Right and wrong ways to show affection
viii. The world will say we’re crazy but look at what the world is producing. When people get in trouble is when they leave guidelines
3. Practical Dos and Don’ts of Dating
a. Seek to build a great friendship because it serves as the best foundation anyhow
i. Worldly dating says, “I am attracted to you therefore I want to be with you,” whereas disciple dating says, “Let me get to know you as a friend and maybe we find out from God there is something more.”
b. Don’t waste your single years
i. Your ability for free time is unprecedented…and you can glorify God so much with it.
ii. Don’t bemoaned about being single
c. Do plan out your dates
i. If you plan it out verses not planning it out will make the difference in a date being special or not
ii. Find out what they like to do, get creative ideas
d. Don’t get overly intense or heavy
i. A date is not a time to go into discipling mode
ii. Keep the spirit light not heavy
e. Do be chivalrous
i. Get the door, don’t be sarcastic and make stupid jokes
ii. Have them in at a decent time because few good things go on well after midnight
f. Don’t rely on hormones
i. That infatuation feeling has a tendency to wyen, and it takes work to recreate it
ii. A lot of people are not willing to put in that work
iii. That is the time you see whether true love comes out or not
g. Do be a good date—encouraging
i. Does the sister say AMEN when you pick her up or when you drop her off
h. Encourage all the brothers /sisters not selective about it
i. We are brothers and sisters in a body, and we don’t want anyone to feel like an outsiders, like not on the in with people
ii. Everyone needs encouragement and so we need to have a giving ministry
i. Don’t have to spend a lot of money to make a date special
i. Would a brother feel secure taking you out on a low budget date?
j. Do show appreciation for the date
k. Getting Serious—
i. Proceed with a lot more advice than even when you are friendship dating
ii. Emotional progression before it’s time is dangerous
iii. Philippians 1:9 Message Interpretation
iv. Women get secure when the guy takes the lead, leading it in a godly way
v. Avoid weasel dates—just randomly meeting up
vi. Avoid black holes in the fellowship—gravitating toward one another too much
l. Who has the gift?
i. Based off 1Corinthians 7
ii. Not all gifts are permanent—so right now everyone in the ministry has the gift of singleness—take advantage of it right now
iii. The purposes of friendship dating are far reaching and have so much benefit
1. Thinking of friendship dates from a spiritual point of view calls you to even ask, “who am I least attracted to?”
a. We need to have the attitude to meet one another’s emotional needs even when it is not “natural”
b. If you remain selfish you will look back and wish you would have done it different.
4. Q/A Time Split Between Men and Women
a. What do you think about dating in other ministries—Campus dating people in the singles?
b. What about going to Singles Conferences?
c. What do you think about dating websites like DT Space?
d. Is it better to the idea of “building friendship” to interact with people in a group?
e. What about the issue of struggling with the fear of being single for the rest of my life?
i. It is not a dating issue but a trusting God issue
ii. The worst thing in the world is not being single but marrying the wrong person
f. What is a healthy attitude of finding the one at a young age?
g. How do you get back into dating after breaking up?
h. At what point should you get advice to start dating steady?It is a good thing to run it by someone mature as soon as feelin
1. No Rules Just Righteousness
a. Why do you think the Bible does not talk about dating?
i. Because they did not do it like we do it
b. We can either say one of the two things
i. The Bible does not say anything on it, therefore we should not do it
ii. The Bible does not say anything on it, therefore we need to have guidelines
c. Appreciate the people in your life that ask you about your purity and help you establish and follow guidelines in your dating
2. Whining or Shinning
a. Philippians 2:14-16
i. Dating is an area that we need to stand out from the world—the world is very corrupt in how they do dating
ii. When you see a couple that does well, a lot of advice is sought and taken—it takes a lot of conscious effort and humility
b. Absolute Purity Principle—if you are going to have a rule, here is the one to have
i. Matthew 5:8
ii. Mark 9:42-50
1. Most people live in such a way asking, “Where is the line of sin?”
2. Whereas Jesus calls us to get way away from that line!
3. Another reason why we practice in this church, disciples dating other disciples (1Cor. 7:39)
iii. Ephesians 5:3
1. Not only not sinning but don’t even get close to giving off a bad example
iv. Gail shared how women are emotional creatures and how technology can get someone’s heart out of control—Song of Songs 2:7; 3:5; 8:4
v. 2Corinthians 5:16-17
1. We need to do a reboot and get a totally new perspective on dating because we come in with such a worldly view
2. We need to change our view of how we view the opposite sex
a. Not there for your pleasure, but they are God’s daughter
vi. 1Corinthians 13:4-8
1. A big one here to get on straight when we talk about dating is “love always protects”
2. We need to protect one another’s purity
a. Women dressing immodestly
b. Talking in flirty ways
3. Do I give off a sexual vibe?
vii. Analogy about a train getting going, we do not protect the purity if we do not think maturity about not even allowing it to get going
1. Right and wrong ways to show affection
viii. The world will say we’re crazy but look at what the world is producing. When people get in trouble is when they leave guidelines
3. Practical Dos and Don’ts of Dating
a. Seek to build a great friendship because it serves as the best foundation anyhow
i. Worldly dating says, “I am attracted to you therefore I want to be with you,” whereas disciple dating says, “Let me get to know you as a friend and maybe we find out from God there is something more.”
b. Don’t waste your single years
i. Your ability for free time is unprecedented…and you can glorify God so much with it.
ii. Don’t bemoaned about being single
c. Do plan out your dates
i. If you plan it out verses not planning it out will make the difference in a date being special or not
ii. Find out what they like to do, get creative ideas
d. Don’t get overly intense or heavy
i. A date is not a time to go into discipling mode
ii. Keep the spirit light not heavy
e. Do be chivalrous
i. Get the door, don’t be sarcastic and make stupid jokes
ii. Have them in at a decent time because few good things go on well after midnight
f. Don’t rely on hormones
i. That infatuation feeling has a tendency to wyen, and it takes work to recreate it
ii. A lot of people are not willing to put in that work
iii. That is the time you see whether true love comes out or not
g. Do be a good date—encouraging
i. Does the sister say AMEN when you pick her up or when you drop her off
h. Encourage all the brothers /sisters not selective about it
i. We are brothers and sisters in a body, and we don’t want anyone to feel like an outsiders, like not on the in with people
ii. Everyone needs encouragement and so we need to have a giving ministry
i. Don’t have to spend a lot of money to make a date special
i. Would a brother feel secure taking you out on a low budget date?
j. Do show appreciation for the date
k. Getting Serious—
i. Proceed with a lot more advice than even when you are friendship dating
ii. Emotional progression before it’s time is dangerous
iii. Philippians 1:9 Message Interpretation
iv. Women get secure when the guy takes the lead, leading it in a godly way
v. Avoid weasel dates—just randomly meeting up
vi. Avoid black holes in the fellowship—gravitating toward one another too much
l. Who has the gift?
i. Based off 1Corinthians 7
ii. Not all gifts are permanent—so right now everyone in the ministry has the gift of singleness—take advantage of it right now
iii. The purposes of friendship dating are far reaching and have so much benefit
1. Thinking of friendship dates from a spiritual point of view calls you to even ask, “who am I least attracted to?”
a. We need to have the attitude to meet one another’s emotional needs even when it is not “natural”
b. If you remain selfish you will look back and wish you would have done it different.
4. Q/A Time Split Between Men and Women
a. What do you think about dating in other ministries—Campus dating people in the singles?
b. What about going to Singles Conferences?
c. What do you think about dating websites like DT Space?
d. Is it better to the idea of “building friendship” to interact with people in a group?
e. What about the issue of struggling with the fear of being single for the rest of my life?
i. It is not a dating issue but a trusting God issue
ii. The worst thing in the world is not being single but marrying the wrong person
f. What is a healthy attitude of finding the one at a young age?
g. How do you get back into dating after breaking up?
h. At what point should you get advice to start dating steady?It is a good thing to run it by someone mature as soon as feelin
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