Hold Up The Book

In Romans 1-3, the Holy Spirit shows how Gentile, Jew, and everyone are contaminated by sin and lost without God's righteousness. Basically, we're all doomed but for the grace of God.

This message is part of our church theme for the year: "Standing In Grace." We'll be periodically adding another lesson in the series as we spend the year studying through the book of Romans.

Part of basic Christian morality is: "Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." (Rom. 12:13) This message reminds us simply how this is needed and what positive effects it can have.

Romans 14 is a passage to which we frequently appeal when making determinations about issues that divide God's people. But if we're using this passage as a determination of division, then we are actually seeing its purpose as exactly the opposite of what the Spirit meant from it. This message shows how Romans 14 (and the first several verses of chapter 15) are all about UNITY among the people of God; not division.

When the Coast Guard are called out for an S.O.S., what's the most important element of a successful rescue effort? Speed? Hurry? Haste? No, actually. The most important element is skill—the ability and knowledge to actually get the job done. Sometimes, Christians are too hasty to show someone the truth about salvation accurately, so this message attempts to take the necessary amount of time and care to show a person the full truth about getting saved.

How is it that Christians can have peaceful minds & hearts when we face trials and struggles in life? It all comes down to whether we truly trust God's promises.

Married life definitely has its challenges. When two people, both flawed and facing their own individual inner struggles, bring their lives together in such an intimate way, there is bound to be friction. This message addresses some fundamental principles of marriage that will help us navigate the challenges in spiritually healthy ways.

Once a person steps onto the path of faith, it's imperative that each of us stay committed to following him all the way through life. It's a conscious, deliberate, daily decision to follow Christ all the way to the end of life and the beginning of eternity.

Once we start down the path of Christian living, it's important that we never leave it. Our discipleship to Jesus Christ is meant to be, as Eugene Peterson said, "A long obedience in the same direction." This message encourages us to set our minds on reaching the end of that long road, increasing in our faith every day that we travel on it.

Romans is the apostle Paul's magnum opus—the writing that brings together more of God's truth in one place than anything else that he wrote. The Spirit's work through Paul guides the churches in Rome to a greater knowledge and especially greater appreciation of God's plan to save us. The letter will be the focus of our 2023 theme, so this message is the intro to the theme series.

One of the most powerful features of the Gospel message is its ability to bring people together from all walks of life, from all different ethnicities, from all different languages, and from all different religious backgrounds. Sometimes, however, we get led into thinking too much about what divides us from other believers... and so in this message, we try to bring that discussion into the light and see that what unites us is FAR more powerful than what divides us.