Have you ever wanted direction for your life ... and, to learn how God directs us, you take your Bible, open to a page of scripture, and with eyes closed you point your finger to a verse and read it?
For most of you, the results are mixed. Sometimes what you read is meaningful; at other times, the verse does not seem to apply to your situation.
I decided to try this with our new Bible study by Armin Panning, "The people's Bible—Romans." I tried it five times. Here are some of the sections of his study that I discovered:
• The first words come from discussion of Romans: "God credits that righteousness to the believer." god looks at the believer as perfectly holy. He declares the believer to be just and holy. Hence, justification is 100 percent completed.
The new life of faith, however—the Christian's walk with God—is in a constant state of becoming. The Christian's life of holiness, often called sanctification, grows and matures as the Christian experiences continually new outpouring of grace and goodness from a loving God. Do these words from the Bible study intrigue you? I hope so.
• The second is a commentary on Romans 1:16-17: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of god for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Of these verses the Romans study by Panning says, "Being ashamed of the gospel would imply that Paul was hesitant about proclaiming it, that he was afraid of making claims and promises from it that might go unfulfilled. If such unreliability was the case, when all is said and done, Paul would end up embarrassed and discredited for making false claims and promises that he couldn't keep."
• A final look at the commentary will come from near the end of the book: "What we do for a weak brother is in reality being done for Christ himself as well." Regarding such deeds done by his believers, our Savior testifies that on the last day he will declare, "I tell you the truth: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). Hence, in living a life of loving service for others, we are actually glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I enjoyed turning through the pages of this Bible study. I hope this brings you excitement at growing in God's Word. Remember that we will have a study book for each one joining in the study. Come to our Sunday-morning Bible study and grow in God's Word.
Taking a look at God's Word,
Pastor Brad Homan
