This episode was originally recorded on the first weekend of Advent, that season of the Christian calendar when believers all over the world begin preparing their hearts to celebrate the "comings" of the Lord, both His first and second coming. For thousands of years believers waited for Messiah to come, and now thousands of years later we wait for Him to come again. We wait full of thankfulness for what He's done and full of hope that the day will come when our prayers will be answered in full: His kingdom will come and His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The focus for this first week of Advent Is hope. We want to let the amazing truth of the incarnation stir us to fresh faith. We want to marvel again that God's eternal Son put on human flesh and became one of us forever.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

This episode was originally recorded around Thanksgiving!

Paul describes his own frustrating experience as a believer who wanted to obey God but couldn't because the temptations of his flesh were too powerful to resist. And then he suddenly explodes with thanksgiving. Immediately after crying out, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" He joyfully shouts, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" He's able to give such heartfelt thanks because he's not living in defeat anymore. He's not being dragged around by appetites, emotions and old ways of thinking that still reside In his flesh. Even though those forces continue to pull at him and tempt him, he's found the keys to freedom, and he tells us what they are so we can be free too.

Regardless of how challenging this past year may have been, as believers in Jesus Christ each of us has so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. The amazing gifts Paul describes here are ours as well. And because we possess these gifts we know for certain the year ahead will be full of God's mercy and power so we can walk in increasing freedom from our old ways. We're forgiven, full of the Holy Spirit and freed from sin and when we lay hold of these truths real, lasting change takes place. We can thank God not only for His faithfulness during this past year, but because the year ahead will be even better.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

This portion of Paul's letter is specifically addressed to the Jewish members of the churches in Rome. He is explaining to them a spiritual truth based on their common experience as Jews in reading and trying to obey the Law of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy). Today two thousand years later as we listen in on that conversation, it's easy to miss how it applies to us. But it does apply. In fact, Paul is talking about an area of relationship with God in which we all struggle. There is an odd phenomenon we observe in ourselves. When God speaks to us, whether through His written Word, or by the inner voice of the Holy Spirit, or prophetically through another human vessel, there can be an initial, momentary flash of stubborn resistance even though we may be certain we just heard from Him. As a born-again believer I love Him and have made a sincere, general commitment to follow Him in every way. Yet there's something about His specific ways of doing things that runs counter to the way I would expect or prefer to do them. Often, no almost always, when God speaks some kind of command to me, I find my first reaction is to argue with Him. My emotional response, if put into words, might be summarized as, "Oh no! You've got to be kidding!" This passage helps to explain why I react that way, and that insight is essential for me if I am going to let God train me to become like His Son.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well! 

Sin wraps us in chains and drags us places we don't want to go. It truly turns us into slaves, people held in bondage unable to do as we please. But becoming "God's slave" is a very different matter. He who gave us a free will so we could choose to love and obey Him in the first place does not take that freedom away when we become born again. God has absolutely no desire to have little mindless human beings running around serving Him. The idea is repulsive to Him. The Bible clearly teaches that what He longs for are children, adopted sons and daughters who serve Him, because they love Him and become holy, because they want to be like the One they worship (Jn 15:15; Ro 8:14-17,23,29; Gal 3:26; 4:6,7; Heb 2:10). And because this is His nature, our service of Him will always be freely chosen. So if I'm to become the "slave of obedience" that Paui describes I must constantly choose to submit myself to God's will. But such glorious freedom brings with it its own form of danger. If I have freedom to obey, then I also have the freedom to disobey, and when I disobey, I open the door for a powerful force to come in and recapture me, a force which will try to take hold of me and pull me away from God if I continue to indulge in It. That's the danger Paul is warning us about in this passage. He assures us that God is more than able to protect us from these deadly forces (Ro 8:31 -39) but now he's reminding us that we must be diligent to let Him. Last episode he told us how to die to sin. He said we must by faith bury the old self with Christ; we crucify that old, selfish, rebellious spirit we inherited from Adam (Ro 6:1 -7). But this episode he tells us how to stay free from sin. He says the way we'll avoid sliding back under control of those old forces is to choose to "enslave" ourselves to God. Let's discover what he means.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

In communion (the Lord's Supper) Jesus gives Himself to us: "This is My blood shed for you," and each time we partake we receive those precious gifts afresh by faith. But in water baptism we give ourselves to Him; we offer Him our old sinful self so it can die with Him on the cross and be buried with Him in the grave. And this is where Paul says our new life begins: with our "death." It sounds morbid when you hear that word and don't understand what it means, but in the spiritual world there is no getting away from the fact that death precedes life. Something must die before new life can be born. So we shouldn't be surprised that when Paul starts talking about how believers can live beautiful, new lives free from the power of sin that he starts with the subject of death... our death. Jesus teaches this so clearly when He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit (Jn 12:24). First and foremost, He was talking about Himself. He was telling us He had to die on the cross so He could bear much fruit... us. But He went on to say that this principle of dying is true for us as well. We must die to this world like He did if we are to become His followers (Jn 12:25, 26). But what does that mean? Does it mean I become grumpy and stop enjoying people and the beauty around me? No, it doesn't. In fact the more I die to 'this world," the more I enjoy people and the beauty around me. That's when new life really begins.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

Good intentions aren't enough. Wanting to please God and live a clean life isn't enough. The incessant pressure we face is simply too much to withstand. It's like swimming against the tide. I may be able to hold on for a while, but sooner or later I'll grow weary and be carried along against my will. Unless we understand this and humbly accept our own weakness, we'll never live victorious Christian lives. This is what Paul is trying to show us. He wants us to see it's impossible to live godly lives without constantly receiving real, active help from God. So we'll understand why, he analyzes what happened to the human race when Adam sinned, and then he shows us what changes when we put our faith in Jesus... and what doesn't, that is, not yet. Knowing what does change and what doesn't change yet makes all the difference in the world. It explains why I fail and teaches me what I must do to succeed. Any Christian who has struggled with an addiction or been overwhelmed by compulsive emotions; any pastor or caregiver who has tried to help someone be released from bondage; anyone who's wondered why so many Christians fail to live the Christian life successfully will find the answer in these chapters (Ro 5-8). We and the entire church in the 21st century desperately need to understand them. Frankly, it's life and death. People are trapped and miserable, waiting for someone to teach them how to do what Paul says here.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well! 

Just as Abraham's faith brought him righteousness and great blessings, those who have faith in Jesus Christ also receive righteousness and great blessings. Yet as Paul reminds us in this passage, our faith doesn't always protect us from suffering. In fact, some times we suffer because we have faith. We still live on a rebellious planet, in rebellious bodies and during a season of time in which Satan is active. So, along with blessings Paul says we can also expect "tribulations," and by that term he certainly means the things we suffer because of our faith in Christ (religious persecution, spiritual oppression, temptation, the pain of loving and serving...), but his words here are true for all the suffering this world brings upon us. In the midst of any type of trials, Paul wants us to remember that God is able to use those trials to make our faith stronger and to draw us closer to Him. This is why he says we can rejoice in or boast about our tribulation. Instead of destroying our faith, tribulation will only prove that our faith in God is genuine. Of course it pleases Him to see our faith endure a test, and He rewards us accordingly (Heb 11:1,2,6), but He already knew our faith was genuine. The person who actually discovers how real our faith is in the middle of a trial is... us. In difficult times we discover we really meant it when we surrendered to Jesus and took up our cross to follow Him... that there is within us a true faith that nothing can shake.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well! 

Just as faith is a choice, so is unbelief. Both begin and are sustained by a decision. I decide to believe, or I decide I will not believe; I decide to look for evidence of God, or I decide to look for evidence there is no God. In effect, faith and unbelief are both forms of faith and require constant reinforcing... an ongoing pattern of choosing... an ongoing pattern of looking for evidence of God or evidence there is no God.

Everyone lives life by faith. Just ask them. They'll tell you what they believe, and they guide their life accordingly and resist influences that try to change their thinking. The problem is no one can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what they believe is true. Atheism is a faith; science is a faith; materialism is a faith; sensuality is a faith; nihilsm is a faith (there is no ground for truth or morals); existentialism is a faith (there is no real meaning to life; you have to invent one); communism is a faith, and obviously all world religions, cults and sects are faiths. As humans you and I have no choice but to live by faith. The question becomes: what will I choose to believe; what concepts will guide my life; what steps will I take to prepare for death? And whatever I choose will mold me and change me into its image. Taking this one step deeper, you might say all humans worship... but what or whom we worship varies widely.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well! 

There are realities within God's own heart, ingredients in His eternal nature, which cannot be ignored or changed, even by Him. They are essential elements of who He is, and who He is forms the foundation of all creation, of the spiritual and the physical worlds. Justice and love are both completely true of God, but love is His dominant trait. Above all else He loves. This is why we exist; this is why He has given us freedom; this is why He has made the ultimate personal sacrifice to rescue us from our misuse of that freedom. He is the Rock upon which all of the universe rests. He defines what is good and bad, right and wrong, clean and unclean, beautiful and ugly. And He never changes. In the passage before us Paul wants us to see that in order to save us God did not violate His own justice. He is able to give the gift of righteousness to those who have faith, not because He is morally indifferent to our sins, but because someone else paid our penalty. The cruel demands of justice, which shows no mercy, have been met. Today we'll look into the heart of God and see there some frightening realities... and a depth of love beyond our comprehension.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well! 

God's grace sets people free to be honest... honest with Him... honest with ourselves... and honest with others. And the reason is simple: I no longer have to be afraid. Because of Jesus Christ, I no longer have to lie, or blame, or deny, or hide, I can let God shine His light into the deepest recesses of my heart and show me the unvarnished truth about what's really there... without being afraid. Even when He points out things that are selfish, cruel, dishonest, fearful, proud or unforgiving, He doesn't leave me, or hate me or judge me. Instead He does the most amazing thing. He takes those vile motives and lays them on the shoulders of His beloved Son as though they had been His sins and then He punished Him instead of me. When I see what He's done it leaves me feeling two profound emotions at the same time: bitterly sorry and so grateful I hardly know what to say. It's all completely unfair and it makes no sense. There's nothing in my human experience that explains why He would still love me. When I face those ugly things inside of me I am dismayed by them but He doesn't react like that. Seeing me for who I really am He just draws closer and asks me to trust that He's doing a good work in me and will continue to perform it until I see Him face to face (Php 1:6). And the encounter itself leaves me different. I feel clean and light and stronger... and less afraid of being honest.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!