Having spent the first 11 chapters of Romans looking at the Gospel, Paul now takes the last 4 verses of Romans 11 to praise God.  As he does, he shows us that God is greater than we can possibly imagine, and that God deserves our everlasting praise.

 

Make a point to humbly praise God for His greatness.

 

 

Romans 11:33-36

Oct. 9, 2022

 

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Driving down a twisty mountain road, coming home from a camping trip, one of our daughters got car sick.  We had to pull over to get her cleaned up.  A few minutes later, some of our friends with whom we'd been camping pulled up behind us to see if everything was okay.  As my friend was walking back to his car, he happened to cast a glance at the wheel on the trailer he was towing and discovered that the bearings had failed, and the wheel had almost come completely off the axle.  If he hadn't stopped, he most certainly would have lost the wheel in just a few more miles. Sometimes unpleasant things happen, but they lead to something good.  In this case, my daughter getting sick, led to my friend pulling over, and narrowly avoiding what would have been a bad accident on a mountain road. 

 

In Rom. 11:11-24 we find that Israel's rejection of the Gospel led to its spread to other nations, resulting in salvation for many people.  God continued to leave the door open for repentance and the acceptance of the gift of forgiveness He offers to all.  But, it all started with Israel. Three things stand out in this section of Romans: 1) God can bring blessings out of bad things; 2) Watch out for pride & presumption about our place with God; 3) God promises to receive those who are repentant.

 

What we find is that - faith is the one way to have a right relationship with God.

 

 

Romans 11:11-24

Sept. 11, 2022

 

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Many of the things we do in life have a particular order to them, and often if things are attempted out of order, it just wont work.  When I was a paramedic and was going to start an I.V. on someone, there were a number of things that had to be done before I pulled out that needle. I needed to open a bag of Saline; attach the drip tubing and purge it of air; prepare any containers to take blood samples; set out tape and items necessary to secure the I.V. to the patient; place a tourniquet on their arm; swab the location with alcohol; and then I was finally ready to get the needle out.

 

There is an order to things for hearing God's Good News as well.  You can't call on God if you don't believe in Him; you can't believe in Him if you've never heard of Him; you wont hear of Him if nobody tells you about Him; and that can't happen unless somebody is willing to go tell people.

 

People need to hear the Good News that they can ask God for His gracious salvation.

 

 

Romans 10:14-21

Aug. 28, 2022

 

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We've probably all seen people walking around, so focused on their phones, that they've stumbled into fountains, bushes, or even run into things.  When our attention is elsewhere, it's easy to get tripped up.

 

As Paul concludes chapter 9 of his letter to the Romans, he speaks of Christ as a stumbling stone for some people.  When it comes to receiving God's forgiveness and salvation, sometimes people get tripped up.  Paul's words highlight 3 stumbling stones people still trip over today: 1) We can stumble over our own sin; 2) We can stumble over our own service; 3) We can stumble over salvation’s simplicity.

 

Don’t get tripped up trying to earn salvation, simply trust in Christ.

 

 

Romans 9:30-33

Aug. 14, 2022

 

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