Romans

The What, How, and Why of Transformation [Romans 12.1-3]

Many speakers over time have given calls to action. We have heard TED talks, charges to graduating classes, employers motivating company employees, and newly married couples being toasted and challenged as they embark on a new life together. Usually, the best “speeches” not only give the call to action, the “what” one should do, but also “how” one is to do it, and of course the “why” they should act. They also may highlight some pitfalls one should avoid. Paul, in his letter to the believers in Rome, includes all of these things in his call to grace-inspired Gospel transformation.

Kim Williams

God of Encouragement [Romans 15:4-13]

God of Encouragement [Romans 15:4-13]

Throughout our lives, it can be so easy to rely on our own strength, our own knowledge and our own endurance to run this race of life. That is not what God has called us into. God, through Christ, has shown us what it means to serve one another in love and humility. God has called us into hope by relying on the scriptures and the message of endurance from a God of encouragement. So through humility, just as Christ humbled himself, let us love one another and praise the God of endurance, strength and encouragement.

Josh

Put on the Lord [Romans 13:13-14]

Put on the Lord [Romans 13:13-14]

Yesterday, Michael covered Romans 13:11-12 which encouraged us to “put on the armor of light”. How, exactly, do we do that? In today’s reading we get our answer: we are to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”. We all know what happens tomorrow in America. You’re going to see tons of lights. They’ll be draped on Main Street, hung on trees, and wrapped around polls. Oddly enough, many of these lights will be intended to draw us to some of the very things Romans warns about (sensuality, immorality, and general excess).

Todd + Amy Smith

Put on the Armor of Light [Romans 13:11-12]

Put on the Armor of Light [Romans 13:11-12]

In today’s passage, Paul exhorts the readers to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” This is both an external call since Paul uses an external metaphor for light and darkness, saying that the night is gone and the day is at hand, and an internal call since Paul uses an internal metaphor of waking from sleep (a transition from darkness to light).

Michael