Translate Your Learning into Living

Prepare: 'In the Christian life, doctrine and duty always go together'
Read: Romans 12:1-8

What is true dedication? Christian dedication involves three steps. (A) Offering our bodies as living sacrifice. The Christians; body is God's temple (1 Cor.6:19, 20; Rom.8:9). We should learn to count it a privilege to glorify God and magnify God in our bodies (Phil.1:20,21). (B) Offering our mind to God. While the world wants to control your mind, God wants to transform your mind (Eph.4:17; Col.3:1-11). To make you spiritually-minded through His Word (2 Cor.3:18). (C) Offer our will to God. We must learn to surrender our will to God through disciplined prayer, to know His pleasing and perfect will for our lives.

What are the essentials for Spiritual ministry? : Each believer has a spiritual function to perform within the body of Christ. Each believer has a gift (gifts) to be used for the building up of the body and the perfecting of the saints (Ephe4:11-13). Hence, each believer needs to know what gift (gifts) God has given him so that he can glorify God with his gifts.

What is your gift? Your gift is given, not to boast about it or to belittle others, but must be dedicated to God and used faithfully for the good of the body of Christ. For a Christian to minimize the gifts of others and emphasize his own gift is to deny the very purpose for which gifts are given. Spiritual gifts are tools to build up and not to tear down one another.

Respond: Lord Jesus, enable me to be a person who would always build others up and not tear down anyone. 

The Mystery of Life

Prepare: What do you do when it looks like God is on the side of the enemy?
Read: Psalm 44:1-26

The nation was facing a crisis, and it seemed that God had forsaken his people and was helping the enemy. Israel was a scattered people, shamed and scorned.

You remember what God did: This does not mean living in the past but learning from the past. Your situation maybe painful, but God has not changed. He is still the God of miracles.

You trust in Him: If you trust your own resources, you will fail. Sometimes God allows defeat just to remind you that you must trust Him and Him alone.

You remain faithful to Him, come what may: Like the average person who is cast down and finds it hard to get his prayers answered, the psalmist accuses God wrongfully and maintains innocence for himself. Here the psalmist brags about his own faithfulness to God and his clean living, Remember Satan's lie about Job?Is ours a "commercial faith"? Are you faithful to God only because He does good things for you? God tests your faith to see if it is sincere.

The psalmist had the boldness and rashness to ask God to awake and arise to help him, after he had accused God of dealing with him unjustly. Oswald Chambers said, that "when a man gets to despair he knows that all his thinking will never get him out. Consequently he is in the right attitude to receive from God that which he cannot gain for himself. "

Respond: Trust Him even though you may not fully understand what He is doing. 

Amazing Grace

Prepare: Grace is God reaching across sin's chasm to everyone.
Read: Romans 11:1-12

Every part of the ceremonial meal of the Passover symbolizes the wonderful provision of God for the Jewish people. The Lord's Table should fill us with a profound emotion, which carried an even more passionate meaning for me as a Christian. God truly is the one who makes provision for His people. The history of the Jewish people is the history of God at work, to bring the Saviour into the world.

The theology of Romans 9-11 magnifies God's grace and extols His sovereignty. Never lose the wonder of your salvation or of the greatness of God. No matter how deep the valley or difficult the battle, a vision of God's greatness puts joy in your heart and strength in your soul. God knows what He is doing even if you do not understand it fully.

There is a future for Israel; Paul is proof of that and so is Israel's past history. God has always had a believing remnant in Israel, no matter how dark the day. When you become discouraged about the future of the church, read I Kings 19 and focus on God's greatness.

We live in a world where we can see the effects of rejection all around us. That is why the good news of God's grace renews our hope and restores our joy. Grace accepts, forgives, and continues to offer love and hope in spite of hardened hearts-and yes, even in spite of rejection.

Respond: Lord, we pray for the nation of Israel that those who reject You, may find the grace that You so freely offer. 

Selective Hearing

Prepare: Creation itself speaks to us of God's love, provision and majesty.
Read: Romans 10:14-21

Have you ever experienced what I like to call "selective hearing"? For example, you are having a conversation with someone and suddenly realize that you haven't heard a word the other person is saying. Unfortunately, it would seem that often we hear only what we choose to hear. Over the centuries, God sent many prophets to tell His chosen people of His love for them. God sent His Son, Jesus. Israel chose not to hear the One who came to offer them salvation.

The missionary heart of Paul comes out in verse 14-17. Salvation is by faith and faith comes "by hearing.. the Word of God". But unbelieving sinners (including Israel) cannot hear unless we tell them. God needs people with beautiful feet (Isa.52:7) to carry the gospel to the lost. Despite Paul's broken heart and God's outstretched hands, Israel did not believe; but the Gentiles did believe and God saved them! When you feel discouraged in your witnessing, remember Paul, continue caring, praying, and sharing the good news. Keep those feet beautiful!

God is still speaking to the world today. Charles Spurgeon said "fate is blind, but the destiny of Scripture is full of eyes. Fate is stern and adamant, and has no tears for human sorrow. But the arrangements of Providence are kind and good."

Respond: Open our ears that we might hear You. Open our eyes that we might see You. Open our hearts that we might follow You. 

Keeping the Law

Prepare: How are our words and actions to be righteous today?
Read: Romans 10:1-13

What makes an item authentic? Is it the package it is wrapped in or the name on the cover? Genuine leather is leather on the inside as well as the outside. Authenticity has more to do with the internal than the external.

The Israelites never lacked in zeal, but too often their zeal was on the outside. Why did Israel stumble over Christ and reject Him? Because they did not understand the kind of righteousness God wanted. Like the Pharisees (and many people today), they thought only of righteous works and could not comprehend a righteousness that comes by faith.

Once Jesus came, He became the end of the Law and became the Way to attain righteousness. Righteousness is not something that we do on the outside, it is something that we are on the inside by God's grace.

Walls have a purpose when we are building a home, but God does not intend for us to have walls that stand in the way of our relationships with others. We are talking about walls that prevent us from sharing the love of Jesus, who is Lord of all. There are no walls in Him. He reached out to the Jew, the Roman, the Samaritan, the woman caught in adultery, and the rich young ruler. Let us tear down any walls that separate us from others, so that His love can flow through us and draw others to Him.

Respond: Open my heart today to hear You and guard my lips, that my words may bring glory to You.

God's Plan and Man's Free Will

Prepare: Who are you to blame God for your sinfulness?
Read: Romans 9:19-33

God can deal with us in any way He likes. He is the Potter (Jer.18:1-17)! If God still wants to save men who will obey Him, Jews or Gentiles, is that not His right? If He has to damn those who harden themselves, may He not do so without our criticism? Verses 25-27 speak about the prophecies concerning His people and the Gentiles.

Why has Israel not attained the righteousness she sought so long? Because she sought it not by faith, but by works of the Law and because she stumbled over the way her Messiah came. The Jews were ignorant of God's way of righteousness by faith in Christ (Rom.3:25-31;Gal 2:16). They went about to establish their own righteousness by works. They attained not to the Abrahamic covenant, which stands alone on the principle of grace through faith. They set all their efforts upon the Law of works and imagined they were justified by outward observance of rituals. When the gospel came along offering free salvation to Gentiles as well as Jews on the basis of grace and faith without Law, they were offended and rejected it.

Messiah came not as a mighty prince and a conqueror whom everyone will be willing to trust in, but as a man of sorrows, humility and death. Many will think it disgraceful to trust in such a person for salvation. In spite of this, whoever trusts in Him will not be ashamed of Him or be confused but be saved.

Respond: Israel's rejection of Christ did not ruin God's plan. His mercy endures forever.

Sovereignty of God

Prepare: God's mercy  and His purpose in election.
Read: Romans 9:1-18

St.Paul is supposed to be the apostle to the Gentiles. But when he thought of his own people, the Jews, he was filled with anguish that they have rejected the gospel of Christ. The Jews are under a delusion that the Messiah is yet to come. In spite of being a chosen race above all the nations, they have failed to come into the grace of God through faith in Christ.

We sometimes are dismayed about the many to whom we have witnessed about Christ, some of them beloved members of our families, who do not accept the message of the gospel. We cannot attribute it always to our fault.

The Bible emphasizes the sovereignty of God. We see Paul sorrowing, praying, and worshipping. He did not feel that God's sovereignty in any way destroyed man's responsibility. The God who ordains the end (saving the lost) also ordains the means to the end, the prayers and witness of His people. They go together. God is not obligated to save anybody, for all deserve to be condemned. Even Israel was chosen only because of His grace and love (Deut.7:6-8). Therefore, nobody can criticize God or say He is unfair. That He is merciful to sinners should make us rejoice!

Charles Spurgeon was asked how he reconciled divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and he replied, "I never try to reconcile friends."

Respond: We must pray as though it all depended on God and work as though it all depended on us - Augustine.