While Paul speaks about love being the mark of the Christian and his/her resp;onsibility to extend it to all men, he is also aware that there are times and circumstances that make ‘loving others’ difficult. In Romans 13;11-14, he outlines some of these difficulties while also calling believers to see ‘how’ love can flourish – irt’s by ‘putting on the Lord Jesus Christ’.

Message

Outline

• The tenth in this series
• Living a life of love…
• ‘To live below with saints we know…’
• See how Paul tells us that we are to live and love…

1. Knowing that the end is near us (v.11-12a)
2. Knowing that the fight is around us (v.12b)
3. Knowing that the flesh is against us (v.13-14)

Augustine’s conversion
Delivered from the kingdom of darkness
Time is short!

In Romans 13:8-10, Paul spoeaks again about love, but this time in the context of the Law of God. The Old and New Testaments are not enemies but friends, and love is a dominant theme of both the Old and the New Testaments, even though some would say otherwise. In presenting this call to love to the beleievers at Rome, Paul actually tells them that by ‘loving’ they will fulfill the requirements of the Law! In this way, love and Law intersect and belong together.

Message

Outline

• The ninth in this series
• The overarching response of love…
• Is Law opposed to love?
• See how Paul tells us that …

1. Love is the greater debt we owe (v.8a)
2. Love is the summary and fulfillment of the Law (v.8b,9, 10b)
3. Love determines how we treat others (10a)

Take a self-inventory!
Why love? Because we were loved first…!
The debt paid for us!

In Romans 13:1-7, Paul continues along in the same train of thought, but with a different application – that of how believers ought to relate to those who are in positions of authority over them. How should believers live as those wanting to give themselves as ‘living sacrifices’ to the God who showed us such great mercy and do this in relation to governments that do not believe in Him? They should be the best citizens they can be, by standing up for righteousness and by the way they pray for and submit to these governing authorities (with exceptions of course!)!

Message

Outline

• The eighth in this series
• Remembering our context…
• How to approach a text like this?
• See how Paul encourages us…

1. How to consider our appointed leaders (v.1-2)
2. How to pray for our appointed leaders (v.3-4)
3. How to live under our appointed leaders (v.5-7)

How did Jesus approach this?
Where all this is heading….!

In Romans 12;17-21, Paul sets out the way in which the believer should respond to those who hate and mistreat them. Jesus promised that His followers would face persecution for His sake and this is certainly borne out in practise. Believers all around the world are mistreated in major ways, but also, many of us face offences, insults and bullying even if these are not due to anything related to our faith. It’s a hard, evil world that we live in. How do we respond?

Message

Outline

• The seventh in this series
• Facing a danger…
• First being ‘in Christ’…. then living this life…
• See how Paul teaches us to be like Jesus and …

1. Reject the way of revenge (v.17, 19-20)
2. Pursue the way of peace (v.17b-18)
3. Overcome evil with the opposite (v.21)

‘Be’ something’ before ‘do’ something
This world!
Different weapons for the war…

In Romans 12:14-16, Paul continues to explore the applications of what it means to be transformed from within by the Spirit of God. Having addressed the way we are to relate to each other within the body of Christ, his concern now is to apply some more principles in relating to others who are ‘outside’ of the people of God. A life lived in the way he teaches, does (not surprisingly!) remind us of the Lord Jesus, who was all that Paul taught!

Message

Outline

• The sixth in this series
• That ‘inside out’ transformation…
• Two sets of triplets
• See how Paul teaches us to be like Jesus in …

1. The way we think of others (v.14-15)
2. The way we think of ourselves (v.16)

1 John 3:17
That pair of army boots
Like Jesus who was all these things…

Having laid the foundation of love as being the key character trait of the believer, in Romans 12:11-13, Paul adds more to the picture of what it means to live the Christian life. In these verses, Paul gives a set of commands that believers are to follow, not as a way of ‘putting on’ Christianity as an outward, external thing, but as an inward thing, something that comes from within, through the transformation Paul spoke of in Romans 12:2. Love is the beginning of the response but is only the beginning. Faithfulness and zeal and prayerfulness all need to be added on, as we grow in maturity and service to the Lord.

Message

Outline

• The fifth in this series
• That ‘inside out’ transformation…
• Triplets and doublets
• See how Paul points us toward these character traits …

1. Wholehearted ministry (v.11)
2. Faithful consistency (v.12)
3. Shared generosity (v.13)

KPI’s
Time for a stocktake…
The thankful heart

The world often throws up the line or the comeback that ‘love is love’. Well, it is, and it isn’t. In Romans 12:9-10, the Apostle Paul, gives us some clear instructions as to how God’s people should ensure that ‘love’ is the key to the way we function as a church. He speaks of love, but not as the world understands it, rather as God defines it -and He has the right to define it – after all, we only love because ‘He loved us first’.

Message

Outline

• The fourth in this series
• A quick backtrack…
• From gifts to ‘graces’
• See how Paul points us to a kind of love that is …

1. Free from hypocrisy (v.9a)
2. Full of discernment (v.9b)
3. Focused on others (v.10)

Have I ever truly loved another?
Where this all starts!

After estabslising what believers should do in response to God’s grace with their lives (Romans 12:1) and their minds (Romans 12:2), Paul progresses the way that this response to grace should affect the way we treat each other in the body of Christ (Romans 12:3-8). Here, Paul points out that we are one body with different gifts and that these gifts are gifts of grace (Greek: Charismata (gifts), Charis (grace)) for the building up of the body. The way we serve each other will indicate the way in which we have learned to give ourselves as living sacrifices and just how much our minds have been transformed by grace.

Message

Outline

• The third in this series
• What we’ve learned…
• Outward expression of inner transformation
• See how Paul points us to the character traits of …

1. Walking in humility (v.3)
2. Living in harmony (v.4-5)
3. Serving with fidelity (v.6-8)

The parable of the tea bag
The healthy church….
You are the body of Christ

In Romans 12:2, Paul continues the theme of how we ought to live in response to the wonder of God’s grace given to His people. After telling us that nothing less than offering ourselves as ‘living sacrifices’ to God will do in verse 1, he then rounds out the picture by telling us the ‘how in verse 2 and indeed, in the rest of the chapter. Verse 2 tells us that a right response to God in this way includes our minds. Why? Because right thinking and right theology ultimately leads to right living, just as bad thinking and bad theology ultimately reveals itself and ends up in wrong living!

Message

Outline

• The second in this series
• What we’ve learned…
• A high bar & cheap grace
• See what Paul says about responding to grace…

1. What we ought not do (v.2a)
2. What we ought to do (v.2b)
3. Why we ought to do it (v.2c)

Can you spot the difference?
What’s the Lord’s end goal in this?

It’s kind of unusual to start a series on the book of Romans at chapter 12, three-quarters of the way through the book! But in an attempt to cover the more ‘practical’ aspects of the Christian life, and to follow on from the series on Malachi, Romans 12 is a great place to start – especially Romans 12:1, where Paul gives some clear instructions about how to respond to the wonderful grace of God in the gospel – clear instructions but hard to do when you think about what they involve!

Message

Outline

• The first in this series
• Chapters 1-11? …
• ‘Therefore’ – theological & practical
• See what Paul says about responding to grace…

1. What it is we should do (v.1b)
2. Why it is we ought to do it (v.1a)
3. What we are doing when we do it (v.1c)

That s…. word!
One man who took this seriously…
What will you offer to the Lord?