Episode 2: Jesus High and Lifted Up—The Ascension of Christ
Release Date: 09/11/2024
S3E6 Romans: Mercy Motivates
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The Why and the What of Spiritual Commitment: Overview of Romans 12-15 Can a single decision change a Christian’s life? I think it can! There is one decision that the Book of Romans urges every Christian to make. It is a decision so significant and with such potential to transform and bless that Paul devotes eleven chapters to preparing us to consider it. Romans 12:1-2 invites individual believers who have read this great treatise on the mercies of God to respond in a way that pleases God and maximizes their experience of their so great salvation. It is a commitment to God separate from the...
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S3E5 Romans: What About Israel?
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In our modern minds, chapters 9-11 may seem like a sudden history lesson, interesting to some but irrelevant to the discussion. Understanding the great and glorious themes of salvation and appreciating more than ever the mercies extended to us through grace (chapters 1-8), we could quickly move straight to the practical application of those themes to our lives in chapters 12-16. Not Paul. Guided by the Holy Spirit Himself, the apostle to the Gentiles digresses into a discussion of his people, the Jews, who had, for the most part, failed to accept the salvation offered in the Gospel, even...
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S3E4 Romans: God’s Glorifying Mercies
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Listen, and be encouraged. Salvation then includes the free gift of justification, the process of sanctification, and the future rewards for the sanctification process included in glorification. In moving from “sanctification salvation” to “glorification salvation,” we are moving from what we are to “work out” (Philippians 2:12-13) with a view to future reward (2 Corinthians 5:10) having received “justification salvation” as a grace gift apart from any works (Romans 3:24) to the actual experience of our promised deliverance from the very presence of sin forever in heaven...
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S3E3 Romans: Sin Shall Not Reign
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Listen, and be encouraged. Christ’s mighty work on the Cross sets His people free from the reign of sin and death (Romans 5:12-18). His mighty life provides the power to live the life they were set free to live (5:19-21). And His Holy Spirit unites them with Him through spiritual baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13). This concept of being united with Christ is developed chiefly by Paul. In Romans 6:1-10 he links union with Christ to victory over sin, teaching that believers are identified with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection: The Spirit unites believers to Christ—dead to sin and alive...
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S3E2 Romans: Justified Freely By His Grace
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Listen, and be encouraged. Romans 3:21-26 is the foundational passage for the doctrine of justification. All the concepts involved in justification—the righteousness of God, faith, grace, redemption, and propitiation—are skillfully and wonderfully integrated into the most powerful paragraph in the Bible. Justification by faith has been “ground zero” to every revival in church history. Humanity’s ruin through sin and God’s remedy through faith in the justifying merit of Jesus Christ is a message that cannot be restrained. The personal implication of this powerful doctrine is...
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S3E1 Romans: By The Mercies of God, Give it Your All
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Listen, and be encouraged: In the first hundred years of Christianity, there was no more strategic community of believers than those living in Rome. “All roads lead to Rome” was a common phrase demonstrating that the city was the Empire's cultural, commercial, and political center. To this young church, Paul writes his most thorough treatise on Christianity. His purpose is clear—to call them to a life of commitment by giving their all to God (Romans 12:1-2). His motivation is also clear—to encourage them to make this radical but reasonable decision because they are overwhelmed by...
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Episode 17: The Protection of Community
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Click for notes on this message and to more material and episodes. THE ETERNAL BENEFIT AND VITAL ROLE OF COMMUNITY: Spiritual maturity sets us on a path to realize our destiny, which we were made new in Christ to accomplish (Ephesians 2:8-10). It’s a winding path following a continual process best described by Paul in Philippians 3. In the maturing process, Paul describes an awareness of a value system changing dramatically because of who he now was in Christ: Those who walk in the Spirit glorify God in their liberty. Freedom from the Mosaic Law does not mean freedom from responsibility....
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Episode 16: Free to Pursue Your Destiny in Christ
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Click for notes on this message and to more material and episodes. The Eternal Benefit of Spiritual Maturity: Spiritual maturity sets us on a path to realize our destiny, which we were made new in Christ to accomplish (Ephesians 2:8-10). It’s a winding path following a continual process described by Paul in Philippians 3. In Paul’s process of maturing, he describes an awareness of his value system changing dramatically because of who he now was in Christ: God has a specific destiny for your life. It is always greater than your capacities and goals.
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Episode 15: Walk in the Spirit Toward Spiritual Maturity
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Results of Living by the Spirit from Galatians 5 Click for notes on this message and to more material and episodes. Those Christians who live by the Spirit display Christ’s selfless love, not by following the law but by having crucified the flesh (5:22-24). This is the true fruit of liberty—love. We have been set free to live by the Spirit to love with the type of love characterized by the eight characteristics listed (22-23). Since the law was given to constrain the flesh, there’s no need for the law when we live by the Spirit (23b). When we trusted in Christ, the power of the...
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Episode 14: Use Your Freedom!
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Christ set us free to mature and love others. Click for notes on this message and to more material and episodes. Liberty leads to maturity; legalism leads to immaturity. Even one legalistic rule, regulation, or preoccupation derails the work of the Spirit in your life to make you more like Christ. What is a rule, regulation, or preoccupation that you feel you are most vulnerable to following to “become righteous” due to your home, church, or religious culture of origin? Liberty leads to unity; legalism leads to disunity. What do you feel is a non-biblical “standard of righteousness”...
info_outlineLuke’s sequel to his gospel, the Book of Acts, begins where he left off—the ascension of Christ. The emphasis is different. The Gospel of Luke stresses the work of Christ while He walked on earth; Acts highlights the work of Jesus done by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.
Without Acts, we would have no record of the beginning and growth of the early church. Luke traces the birth and expansion of the church to strengthen the faith of Theophilus, a fellow Christian who may have helped finance Luke’s missionary and writing ministry (Luke 1:1-4). The Holy Spirit had a much broader audience in mind—the church of Christ throughout the age of grace. Luke’s selective but accurate history of the first 30 years of the church answers Theophilus’ questions in a timeless way.