Romans 12 - Daily Bible Study

as it is written in Isaiah the prophet look I am sending my messenger ahead of you who prepare your way [Music] [Music] you only live today once branch together welcome to branch together my name is Jared today we'll be reading from Romans chapter 12 before we dive in and take a moment and pray father I thank you for this day I thank you for each good day you give us thank you for this week as we walk towards Easter I pray that for each of us listening we would remember again the Easter week from your triumphal entry to your last supper with your followers to your time on the cross to when you declared that it is finished and committed your spirit into the hands of the Father - sunday morning - the first day the dawn of new creation when by the power of your spirit you were raised from the dead so it helped us understand more about your cross this week and give us a greater hope that you called the lot dead to life and that you are the firstborn from the dead god I pray for everyone who's listening today that might struggle with that belief give us a greater hope help us believe in a love that's stronger than death help us believe that light conquers darkness and death is conquered by life and death is swallowed up in victory your name we pray amen Romans chapter 12 therefore I exhort you brothers and sisters by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice alive holy and pleasing to God which is your reasonable service do not be conformed to this present world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may test and approve what is the will of God what is good and well pleasing and perfect for by the grace given to me I say to everyone of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think but to think with sober discernment as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith for just as in one body we have many members and not all the members serve the same function so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually we are members who belong to another and we have different gifts according to the grace given to us if the gift is prophecy that individual must use it in proportion to his faith if it is service he must serve if it is teaching he must teach if it is exhortation he must exhort if it is contributing he must do so with sincerity if it is leadership he must do so with diligence if it is showing mercy he must do so with cheerfulness love must be without hypocrisy abhor what is evil cling to what is good be devoted to one another with mutual love showing eagerness and honoring one another do not lag and zeal be enthusiastic in spirit serve the Lord rejoice in hope endure and suffering persist in prayer contribute to the needs of the saints pursue hospitality bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who weep live in harmony with one another do not be haughty but associate with the lowly do not be conceited do not repay anyone evil for evil consider what is good before all people if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all people do not avenge yourselves to your friends but give place to God's wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord rather if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him a drink for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good chapter 12 begins a new section that will take us to the end of the the rest of the book is less confusing and filled with practical teaching these teachings are the outgrowth of the arguments Paul has made throughout the first half of the book Paul saying because everything I've said or argued for therefore here's how to live that out practically in everyday life this is Paul's common pattern in his letters no he opens this whole section of practical teaching with this word therefore or so that but therefore because of the mercy of God present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God this is your spiritual worship or this is your reasonable service this is the thing that makes the most sense to do in light of what Jesus has done you now become a living sacrifice don't be conformed to this world the old world the old way that is passing away but be transformed have a renewed mind so that you can discern God's will and live the good stuff live the good life memorize Romans 12:1 2 - it's awesome it's an absolutely powerful dense two verses that I think really help you understand how we're called to live in light of what God's done in verses 3 to 8 Paul tells his community to stay humble remember we are all one body with different functions and gifts God gives us His grace and he gives us gifts he gives us prophecy gives teachers servers those who exhort generous ones leaders merciful ones and he wants us to use all of these gifts versus knowing to the endless kind of marks of the followers of Jesus they should be people who love to have genuine love the people that hold fast to the good people who is people who hate what is evil people who over come evil with good it looks like he's teak commenting on the teachings of Jesus in this section have a look at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 to 7 and you'll see some overlap here know this chapter is full of practical simple clear teaching on how to live as we seek to follow Jesus in response to His grace towards us there's a lot of terse teachings keep it simple today what sticks out to you as you read you might think oh wow there's a lot to do here there's a lot of different ways we're called to live in light of the good news of Jesus in light of the faithfulness of God but don't give overwhelmed if you're seeking to follow Jesus pick one or two things that you read today and Zone in on growing in those areas do you tend to be haughty well then focus today on associating with the lowly do you tend to be vengeful and want to get people back today pray for your enemies and leave ultimate justice to God do you believe you have a gift be it exhorting others or being merciful or leading others or preaching or prophesying or something like that if you believe God's working in your life and giving you gifts think today about how you might grow in your gifts and use them for God's glory those are a few examples what's hitting you as you read let us know join the conversation by telling us what you're thinking and what verses are standing out to you before we leave today again Easter is coming if you haven't been connected to a church get connected if you need help finding a church let us know we'll do our best to help if you're local you're always welcome to gather with us Sunday or in one of our groups during the week that's all for today see you tomorrow as we branch together [Music]

Channel: Branch Together

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Id: _4E024yklM4

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 28 2018