Zeal, Fervor And Serving - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 12:11,

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."

Some churches boast of successful ministry by pointing to the growth of their congregations, the many who have responded to the outreach, the programs, the opportunities, the exposure to God's word they have provided people. And, where those lead to the spiritual maturity of their members they ought to be commended. I'm sure there are many churches who do well.

On the other hand, many churches harbor folks who just may not know Jesus Christ personally. I have known (and I am sure you have as well) people who attend church because their spouses do or their families do. I have known people who have become active in a congregation because it provides a customer base for their business. Worse yet, there have been news stories where individuals have joined a church for predatory purposes.

We seldom are able to look into another person's inner soul and know the condition of their hearts. Should we even care? If we love one another, I think it is incumbent upon us to care for the spiritual health of those around us. How about our own spiritual condition?

Every once in a while, after someone we know has passed, you hear someone say (and we may say it), "At least he is in a better place now." Sometimes it causes me to feel a certain discomfort because, although he may have been a church member, the reality of the verse above was never apparent in their life. Of course it is not ours to judge and the Lord is the only one who knows our hearts. However, should there not be even a hint of zeal for the Lord in a true believer's life? Should there not be some "spiritual fervor" going on? Should there not be some labor in one's life that is recognized as a service for the Lord we know and love?

I'm sure I could be way off base here, but I have a hunch that many burgeoning congregations just may not be composed of many whose spiritual lives are marked by the health and spiritual vitality that would reflect Paul's admonition here.

But enough about others. How about me? Where is the needle on the gauge of my zeal? As I look back at the past week, is there a spiritual fervor for the Lord evidenced in my serving the Lord?

Some things should be evident in a spiritually healthy believer's life. Paul's admonition here provides some clarity.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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The Chosen Pursuit of God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 11:7-8,

"What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written: 'God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.'"

In this chapter of Romans Paul speaks to the issue of why so many Jews rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, while the Gentiles were more receptive. One would think the nation God founded as his own people to pursue his redemptive agenda would be the people most receptive to the gospel message.

In the previous chapter Paul observed, "For I can testify about them [the Israellites] that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." Romans 10:2. There he pointed out that the Jews sought their relationship with God through law-keeping. Here Paul points out that only "the elect" obtained that relationship. "The elect" being those who pursue God in his chosen way (his elected way), of faith, not law-keeping.

Paul also points out here, as he quotes Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10, that there are those who, in rejecting the gospel of faith, are hardened by God, a horrific position to find oneself in. This would render one incapable of later embracing the Lord in faith while in this life. This is a theme we find in John's quote of Isaiah 6:10 as well, where he speaks of God blinding the eyes and hardening the hearts of those who rejected Jesus Christ, John 12:30-41.. Dead men walking!

A lot of questions answered in this chapter!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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The Roman Road - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 10:17,

"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."

Here Paul clearly tells us all where saving faith comes from. In the verse above he says that faith is our response to the gospel message, "the word about Christ." When we are presented the gospel message we either embrace Jesus Christ in faith or we don't. This is the way we are saved.

So clear was this message that the early church movement was called "the Way" in several places in the book of Acts. When Paul (earlier call Saul) was still persecuting the church, we read in Acts 9:1-2, "Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem." Those who took the gospel message of Jesus Christ to others who had never heard it were engaging in "the Way" - the way to be saved.

Sometimes "the Way", the early church movement, brought a very negative reaction. In Acts 19:23 we read, "About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way." It resulted in a riot in Ephesus. The gospel message had very strong reception in some areas and strong resistance in others. What message could bring such reactions?

The gospel message, which can be given in a variety of ways is important for believers to know and to share with others who are not believers. That message is not a recipe of specific words, but of specific principles and ideas. I recall being exposed to one approach in giving it decades ago called the "Roman Road." It is called that because it is consistent with the notion of a "way" as discussed above and is based entirely on a handful of verses found in the book of Romans. Here is one approach to the "Roman Road":

"There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." Romans 3:22b-23a. (We have all sinned.)
"There is no one righteous, not even one..." Romans 3:10. (None of us are fit for heaven.)
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23. (We're all in trouble, but wait! There is a gift from God available!)
"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. (God provided Jesus Christ to pay for our sins!)
"If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." Romans 10:9-10. (We have to embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord, believing God raised him from the dead and then declare it! The crux of the message.)
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..." Romans 8:1. (Now we have God's favor and are headed on our way to heaven!)

A simple 6 step approach to the Roman Road (there are many variations to it). All these verses could be easily memorized within a couple of weeks and prepare anyone to be a "soul winner" for the Lord! The Roman Road!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

We Have Every Confidence! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 8:31b-35a,

"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"

Paul asks some great questions in this passage. With five rhetorical questions, Paul reasons beyond any question the assurance every believer should ever need for total confidence of what the future holds for those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith.

Paul points out that since God is for us, who could possibly come against us? He points to the provision of the Father, providing the Son of his love, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins on that cross. Since God gave us his Son, how is it he won't give us all?

Paul says that since God chose us for himself for all eternity, we are beyond any condemnation. The scriptures teach us that God chose for himself all who will embrace his Son in faith. Since we are among that number no one can "separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Verse 29.

If this were not enough to provide us assurance of our place in the family of God, Paul points out that Jesus Christ himself is praying to the Father for each of us! Imagine, my name and your name being brought before God the Father by his Son, Jesus Christ!

This is simply astonishing and amazing assurance and confidence we have in Jesus Christ!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

The Believer And The Ten Commandments - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 7:13b,

"Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful."

Here is Paul's response to a huge error that existed in his day, and is just as prevalent today, if not more so. The "it" in the above quote is the law God gave Moses, and specifically the decalogue, the Ten Commandments. As Paul discusses this he uses the tenth commandment as his illustration, however, he is looking at the entire Torah, all the law God gave Moses. Nonetheless, he uses the prohibition of coveting as his example.

In this passage, Paul points out that believers, Christians, are no longer under the law, and specifically the Ten Commandments. He says, "For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." Romans 7:5-6.

Naturally it would be asked, if Christians are no longer under the Ten Commandments, then of what purpose was the law? Here he answers that. The law was given by God to Moses to expose the sinful condition of mankind. The point being that mankind, unable to keep the law and recognizing their sinful condition that was exposed by it, would be driven to throw themselves at God's mercy.

As Paul develops his discussion of this, he points out that no one could ever keep the law. It is a hopeless pursuit. In trying to keep the law, the sinful nature is exposed within a person's heart with the intention of prompting them to recognize the need for a savior. No one feels a need for being saved unless he recognizes he is in peril. That, specifically, was the purpose of the law.

Why then do so many churches teach that we all should seek to keep the law? Very simply, most churches subordinate God's word to their own perceived theology. The theology is in error, and unless people spend time in their Bibles, they will continue to pursue what their parents thought, what good 'ole pastor Brown taught and/or what they assume the Bible teaches.

The immediate question so many people ask when confronted with this truth is, "Then are you saying anybody can do whatever they want and still get to heaven?" My answer is a resounding "Yes!" Since the "new man", someone who has experienced the "second birth" Scripture speaks of, has the Holy Spirit dwelling within, the things we desire have changed.

In the following chapter Paul says, "You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ." Romans 8:9. And in verse 5 of that chapter he says, "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."

So then, yes! Those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith do what they want, and it is not the same that sinners want to do. Believers may stumble, sin, disappoint themselves, God and others, but the indwelling Holy Spirit is faithful to prompt such a believer in such circumstance to get up, brush themselves off, and seek to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, the appropriate worship for us all. It is a more demanding approach in serving the Lord than keeping the law, but one in which the Spirit enables us.

Believers are to serve God in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the law. For believers, the law has already accomplished its purpose.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

The Best Opportunity Offered In This LIfe! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 6:23,

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Several chapters back in Paul's letter to the church in Rome he made this observation, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", Romans 3:23. He now points out in the above verse that the penalty for sin is death. Eternal, everlasting death. As the descendants of Adam, we all come into this physical life as spiritually dead. Spiritually dead and headed for an eternity described, horrifically, in Revelation 20:8, "The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." In the previous chapter in Revelation this comment is made, "Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15.

In this life we "earn" a horrific eternal wage due to our sinful condition, by just showing up. However, Paul explains that rather than ending up in that lake of fire, we can receive a wonderful gift from God: eternal life in his family, in paradise!

God's motivation for providing us with an opportunity to join his family, by having his Son, Jesus Christ pay the penalty for our sin is found in that famous verse, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Simply by embracing Jesus Christ in faith is all God requires! Is there any better opportunity in life that we could possibly have offered to us?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

An Amazing Grace! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 5:1-2a,

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand."

Through our faith in Jesus Christ we have gained access into a grace we stand in! Merriam-Webster defines access as "permission, liberty, or ability to enter, approach, or pass to... a place" It also means the freedom or ability to obtain or make use of something. Through the use of our ability to make choices, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ we gain access into this "grace."

The grace Paul speaks of here refers to what he just spoke of in the previous chapter. A tremendous "blessing". Grace is a gift and the gift is to have our transgressions forgiven, no sin held against us, Romans 4:7-8. There Paul quotes Psalm 32:1-2a,
"Blessed is the one
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord does not count against them..."

Why would the Lord forgive us our sins? We have all sinned, every human who has ever walked the earth, save Jesus Christ. Why would the Lord forgive us our sins and make a way for us into his family? He forgives our sins because he loves us! God is a just God and he had his Son, Jesus Christ pay the penalty for our sins because he loves us.

A few verses later in Romans 5 we read, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8.

This, to me, is an unfathomable love! The heart of our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is beyond measure, and impossible to comprehend. All that we can do is to know of it, submit ourselves to it, and enjoy it for all eternity!

What an amazing grace!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.