Romans (A Bible Study)

I want to mention something before I get to the main part of this post. I think it's pretty relatable. 

The global situation and stresses have been wearing on me lately. On top of everything, I went and hurt my back (or that could just be my old age!). At any rate, the other day, my best friend was feeling as stressed and disheartened. We felt better after reading Psalm 139 to each other aloud over the phone. It was like the fastest-acting medicine for the blues. Chuck Missler suggested once in a video Bible study to try reading your Bible passages out loud because you could get a deeper meaning of what it says. It works for me. Now, whenever I am reading for comfort, I will be reading out loud. Now, on to the main event.

My current Bible study is on the Book of Romans. I am using the Bible (of course) and a video series with Chuck Missler leading the study group. 

I wanted to share a couple of things from the Bible study and my thoughts on the comforts of the Bible in general. Here are some of the highlights from the first part of the study:

• Christ didn't come to make bad men good; he came to make dead men live. (Missler ties this into the Prodigal Son parable so I have made a note to go back and study that again). He makes the point that the gospel is not to make dumb men smart of for progress or development, etc, but that it is simply for those of us who are lost.
• The theme of Romans (which is a letter not to the church but to the believers - aka you and me) is "the grace of God revealed". 
• The gospel is not as complicated as we sometimes make it. The definition is given in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:
• That Jesus died for us
• That he was buried
• That he rose on the 3rd day
• That when we think of Paul's letters to believers and to the churches, he is "preaching". Notice that he doesn't rely on theatrics or great oration. Church architecture and size is not important. Paul doesn't rely on awesome choirs or fancy robes and throne-like seating. He simply shares encouragement and teaching.

As I was going through the first couple of videos, I had to pause often to think of how complicated we make everything. Christ loves us and offers forgiveness and salvation but we have to parse and dissect what that means. We get so far past the simple love and forgiveness that we get confused with rules and methods. Romans is a guide to what we are offered and to remind us that we cannot earn our forgiveness because, one, it's not for sale and, two, we couldn't afford it. It's freely offered. That's it.

In my daily life, I will forget the redemption Christ has blessed me with and start worrying. I worry that I'm not "doing Christianity" the right way or that I am failing at being a believer. I worry about my weaknesses and trespasses and forget to be thankful and know that I am forgiven. I am not willfully or gleefully sinning. I am not telling the Lord to take back his love and forgiveness; I am just being human.

So, this study is good for me in a "daily walk" kind of way. I was thinking of the Lord's Prayer and how the mention of the "daily bread" part ties into God feeding the Israelites manna. I am reminded to live the moment I breathe in because the next moment, the next breath is not promised.

Keeping it simple is a reminder I needed and this study helps. It dawned on me that most people who reject Christianity do so based on very complicated ideas or reasons. Every non-believer I know gets me into these conversations of "If" and "Then why" and "But" and want complicated answers. The answer isn't complicated. Jesus died, he was buried, and he rose on the third day - for us. He died so that we may live. Simple.

I just wanted to share this sort of stream of consciousness moment with you. Maybe this will encourage you in your own Bible study. 

Peace

--Free

No Body of His Own

Just an interesting tidbit of wisdom my husband passed on from a sermon he heard when we were talking about how Satan attacks us at times:

We have to be prayerful at all times. Satan doesn't have a body (Jesus did), so he has to use other people to attack us sometimes.

Tim & I have been doing a lot of praying and renewing a committment to our faith. It seems like our prayers made Satan mad because he got real busy for a few days. Once we realized what was happening and put our focus back on the Lord, Satan had to go back to his corner to regroup.

Just a little bit of wisdom for you to share among yourselves. Don't stop praying!

***

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer (Romans 12:12)

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4:8)

Peace
--Free

Free & Faith

I am starting this blog because I wanted a place to post about matters of faith and Christianity. I have other blogs I started for different reasons. By the way, since this is going to be about me (Free) and matters of faith, that's where the title came from (and it was available for Blogger!)

With this blog I hope to share conversations and thoughts with others about the daily life as a Christian. For the last many years of my life I have been complacent and lazy about my faith and commitment to the Lord Jesus. Things have happened recently to encourage me to be more firm in my walk as a follower of Christ.

For so long I have been a worker, daughter, wife, sister, friend and citizen who happens to be a Christian. I now want to be a Christian who happens to be a part of society. In other words, I want to be a Christian first.

One of the things that happened to me recently was that I happened across a series of sermons on culture and music by a pastor who is exposing the deception that has crept into aspects of everyday life. Here is one of the videos:





After hearing this teaching, I really had to take a look at some of the entertainment choices I'd made. It was a little shocking to me to realize how little attention I had paid to the arts and culture I was fond of. That led me to prayer and the desire to be more discerning. Since then, I have dusted off my neglected Bible and gotten back into the reading and studying of God's Word. I never should have allowed myself to be lured away.

The thing about life is that, if you are not careful, you can get pulled away from the most important things by meaningless things. For myself, I allowed myself to get so busy filling up time with working, talking and amusing myself that I grew away from spending time being thankful to God. I grew away from praying (except for before bed and when worried about something), reading the Bible and just being an attentive child of God.

Let me tell you something about how lax I have become as a Christian. I rarely attend church anymore. I curse on a daily basis. I gossip and criticize and belittle. I spend more time doing my hair and nails than I do praying or reading God's Word. I have been so disobedient.

Calling myself a child of Christ, I have often been more worried about offending friends and family. I have been so self-centered that I forgot to be thankful every minute to my Savior.

So. This blog is something I am doing to connect with other Christians. I want to share the Word and encourage and be encouraged. With my other blogs I have met people and formed connections that have nothing to do with my faith. I joined Twitter and connected in a matter of weeks with hundreds and hundreds of people. I sincerely hope that I can do the same here.

Oh, and because this is my blog, I will be opinionated! LOL. I will be sharing information and ideas that may offend some people. The only Person I am seriously worried about offending is Jesus Christ. Everyone else can just choose not to visit this blog.

Peace
--Free

Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.