Christmas Carols are like theological fruitcake—they are crammed full with good things. In the case of our beloved carols, they are teaching truth, but we have to actually listen.

What if we lived in a world in which it were impossible to ever say “Thank you?” What if somehow God removed our faculty to show gratitude? What kind of world would that be?

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, has that experience for nine long months. Because of his disbelief, he is struck dumb until the baby is born.

Can you imagine?

The Advent season can be a wonderful time filled with hope, joy, peace, and love as we prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ.

Unfortunately, some of us may be walking through a challenging season in which there seems to be no hope we can cling to. Some of us might have just received news about a terminal illness. Others might have been laid off at work, whereas some might face relational challenges with their spouses or kids. Regardless of where you find yourself today, what do you do when all hope seems to be lost?

The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth gives us a glimpse of hope to cling to no matter how dark or challenging our situation might be. Sometimes, the day-to-day hope is all we can cling to.

We wrap up our Romans series by looking at the remarkable list of names Paul includes in his final chapter.

Romans 16 is fascinating because the list of names enables us to reconstruct the ethnic make-up of the Roman church network.

It is remarkably “diverse” in the modern sense of the term, even though Paul has a completely different way of thinking about diversity.

In fact, the way the world is pursuing diversity is completely backwards from what the New Testament teaches.

That’s the bad news. The good news is Jesus wants his church to be diverse, and when the church proclaims Jesus as Lord, unity and diversity are the result.

And the proof is Romans 16:22—the slave who wrote the greatest letter in history.

Sometimes it is just really that simple: in light of everything that God has done for us, “therefore” what else can we do but offer our lives as living sacrifices to the Lord?

That’s Paul’s basic point in Romans 12:1-2, and it’s all summed up in that little word, “therefore.”

“Every human being is looking for someone who is looking for us.” This is a profound insight into human nature, and also shows us the way to reach the people who don’t think like us, who don’t like us, who even hate us.

The Apostle Paul reminds the Romans that unless someone *goes* and tells people about the love of God, they won’t know it.

The same is true for us—it is our responsibility to tell the world about Christ.

The first step is to *move toward* other people.

In fact, if you want to change the world, you have to go first, because love goes first.

“Don’t get too big for your britches.” That’s the warning the Apostle Paul gives to the Romans Gentile Christians in chapter 11. He chides them not to start thinking that God owes them salvation and warns them against feeling entitled. Or, to put it another way, Paul tells them not to drop the football before the goal line.

The great tragedy in the American church is that so many of us have stopped growing in Christ. We reached a point and have just stopped. But at Asbury we believe God has MORE for everyone, and that not even hard times and sufferings can separate us from the MORE that God has for us.

The language we use to describe our relationship with Christ and our pursuit of Christian virtue may be holding us back from what God actually has for us.

We often say that our goal is to live “like Jesus,” but the apostle Paul’s language suggests a different vision for our participation in the Gospel message—a different metaphysical reality altogether, where we are “in Christ” and He is “in us.”

So how do you know which one you are?

What Paul tells us in the magnificent eighth chapter of his Letter to the Romans is that suffering is a feature in the life of a Christian, not a bug. Why? Because God is teaching us about the cost of love. When you love something in this world, you’ll have your heart broken. Love always comes with a cost, and no one make it out without wounds. But the scars are part of the story.