We continue our journey through the book of ROMANS.
We’re at Romans 5:12ff.
Let’s go!
Tag: Online (Page 17 of 48)
You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:14a, 16bc
Loving our neighbors is certainly ‘good, right, and salutary,’ but is it enough?
Don’t we also need to “share the Gospel of Jesus” with them?
Of course that is excellent and desired! But loving others is a good unto itself and shines a light that ultimately brings glory to God. Our good deeds draw attention to our good God.
SCRIPTURES
- 1 Peter 2:4-12
- Matthew 5:13-16
No class today, Sunday, October 22, 2023.
We’ll resume next Sunday.
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”
Luke 6:27, 31
Ok, so we are called to “love our neighbors,” but for some of us, we may wonder if God really knows MY neighbor and how they aren’t, well, very ‘lovable.’
Peter encourages the elect exiles in Asia Minor to “love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
This is a beautiful invitation, but the verses leading up to that invitation are profound and reveal how God works inside us to make that kind of earnest love possible.
SCRIPTURES
- 1 Peter 1:13-25
- Luke 6:27-33
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
1 Peter 3:13
We are called to relate to our neighbors. But what does that look like in this fallen world?
God calls His people to pursue the welfare of the people and place right around us (i.e., our “neighbors”), even when they are exiled and treated poorly.
We have been made God’s people by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus, and live by Grace.
Now, we use that reality to set our vision of how to live for others in grace.
SCRIPTURES
- Jeremiah 29:4-7
- 1 Peter 3:8-13
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
GENESIS 2:15
We all live somewhere with neighbors and it matters to Him how we relate to the people He has put around us.
God values what He creates and has given a creation mandate to humanity: “work and keep the land.”
As Christians, we know that Jesus redeemed us, not to escape this mandate, but to fulfill it right where God put us.
SCRIPTURES
- Genesis 2:4-17
- 1 Peter 1:1-2
We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
LifeBridge has a strategic plan to help us focus our energies on how to fulfill our mission and serve the Lord and our community.
It includes a focus on “strong youth and family ministries,” having a welcoming, non-judgmental environment, serving “beyond our walls” and “growing in faith.”
Some of this we do better than others, but what a wonderful set of goals as we “love where we live” and “connect people to Jesus!”
SCRIPTURES
- Psalm 127
- Ephesians 2:8-10
