Attributed to King David, this psalm captures the confidence that those who trust in the Lord can have when they are facing enemies. With it being the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this psalm reminds us to put our hope in God for “vain is the salvation of man”!

The Apostle Paul closes his masterful epistle with a glorious doxology. Along with going through this closing blessing and praise to God, in this final sermon in our Romans sermon series we will reflect on some of the great doctrines of Romans we have covered. The aim will be to remember, rejoice and worship God.

Before Paul closes the epistle with a glorious doxology, he gives the church in Rome a passionate warning and sends warm greetings to them from the believers serving Christ with him. The warning remains relevant to every faithful church and the warm greetings remind us that serving Christ is a team effort.

Romans 16:1-16 can appear to be nothing more than a list of greetings. But in this passage, we see Paul's heart for God's people and we see God's people's heart for God. Join us this Sunday as Pastor Matt Jantz draws out numerous lessons from the text that should encourage God's people today.

With these verses, the Apostle Paul explains why he had not yet visited the church in Rome and shares his upcoming travel plans. Paul hoped to visit Rome soon and knew their fellowship would bring him joy and refreshment. In the meantime, he asked them to strive together with him in prayer. This passage provides us with a beautiful picture of ministry and the blessing of fellowship.

It is important to recognize and rejoice in what God has done in and through us. At the same time, Christians should not be complacent but have a holy ambition to grow in godliness and serve Christ. In these verses the Apostle Paul models both satisfaction in Christ and ambition to glorify God.

Paul has been instructing the church in how we are to love one another as God commands. With these verses, the apostle exhorts those who are strong in faith to use their strength to bear with the failings of the weak. The motivation and the means by which the strong are to bear with the weak is the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ, the strongest of all, went to the cross for us, so by faith in Christ those who are strong can and must love the weak.

This passage contains the second half of the Apostle Paul’s teaching on how the weak believer and the strong believer are to love one another. Here we are given a practical guide for true Christian community that will help us glorify and enjoy God together.

The previous chapters of Romans have laid emphasis on the importance of love, whether by loving our enemies or loving our neighbor. In Chapter 14, Paul will now lay out what it looks like to walk according to love as it relates to those within the church, whom he will term the ‘weak’ and the ‘strong’ - those who have certain conscience issues and scruples and those who are exhibiting their liberty in Christ. He will show us how each is to welcome and love one another in light of the truth and glorious reality that Jesus Christ is Lord over all.

All who God has justified by faith have been brought out of spiritual darkness and are to live for Christ. However, at times God’s people become spiritually lazy and live as if they are still dead in sin. With this passage Paul exhorts us to be spiritually awake, to cast off sin and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.