MONDAY, October 20th, 2008

Hey Everyone! I hope you had a great day yesterday! If you were not in church last night then you missed out on an INCREDIBLE NIGHT! We had Wings of Morning here and they were fantastic! After church we went over to the Massey's house to hang out with them and then we went home to watch the Rays beat the Red Sox!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!! I was so happy, but I could not tell Katie because I did not want her to think I was rubbing it in. :)

Romans 15

1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.
12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,
16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
17 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.
18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,
19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation:
21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.
22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.
23 But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;
24 Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.
25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.
26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.
27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.
28 When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.
29 And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;
31 That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints;
32 That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.
33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

6 comments:

Pastor Lee said...

I think that the beginning of this chapter is very important for Christians to understand.

The first verse is so powerful! We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. This sounds so simple, but I think that last phrase is what makes it so difficult for us... it says: dont focus on pleasing yourself!

I am not to great at that! I LOVE TO PLEASE MYSELF!!! Wether it means staying up last to watch a baseball game while Katie is trying to sleep, or whether it means passing Will over to Katie because I already changed on dirty diaper that day... the fact is. I please myself far too often.

I think that one of the clear messages in this chapter is that we will experience the joy that we see later on in this chapter if we will simply stop focusing on ourselves!! We need to be selfless and not selfish!

I dont know about you, but I got a lot of work to do to be better at this.

Rachel☺; said...

So this is something i can definitely work on better too.
I know that sometimes i feel like keeping the best for myself or putting off other peoples needs until mine are met, and a lot of times thats how i act too.
Verse 3 reminds us that Jesus never thought of Himself first, He gave His best and His EVERYTHING for us! And we are told to give OUR best to others.
Jesus loved us so much that He thought of us first, so do i care enough about other people to put them first?
The biggest thing that i can work on relating to this is my needing to witness more. I am more concerned about myself being rejected or possibly being disliked rather than being concerned with other peoples eternities. Thats something really important!

Godservant said...

Verse 10 talks about us rejoicing. I'm not sure if any of you remember, but Pastor Lee talked about us being happy not too long ago on a wednesday night. We should go to school with a smile knowing we have the one and only thing we need: Salvation. Some people may thing some things are more important than what other people may consider the most important thing. I bet ya 100 bucks (not really) that 80 percent of lost people would say the most important thing in life is some materialistic item, like chlothes, or money or phones or whatever... Those things are important (because without those 3 things, you would be some naked homeless dude not being able to contact the family) but you CAN still survive without them. However you CAN'T survive without Salvation because you'll never know the day of your death, which is scary. It doesn't have to be scary because you know you have God in your life and He will take you to paradise, no matter your D.O.D.

Godservant said...

Pastor Lee, Julio is coming Wednesday to the service most likely. A good friend of mine, Nick, is coming as well. He was the first person I ever witnessed to. I think I told you the story before at sun splash.

Mallory B (basketball team) said...

Well I am having a problem with this lately because I do try an please myself before others which im not proud of. I do think sometimes about where other people in this world who are not saved will go but now I need to do the witnessing part. We as christians dont need to worry because we know where we are going but Christ died for ALL of our sins! Why should we be able to go to heaven and others not? This is why we need to go out and invite ppl to church and share the gospel and pray! There are many different ways you can please yourself before others but witnessing is a big one because it will change others lives FOREVER!The main lesson from this is not to please yourself first but to put others before you. bye everyone I hope to see ya Wednesday!

Rachel Evelyn said...

The biggest problem with me is that I don't feel strong at the moment. I don't feel that I can bear the infirmities of others without going under myself. I have seen myself ignore the problems of my peers, problems I know that I can help with because I feel too tired. I need to start focusing on the world around me and stop letting my own problems overpower my thought process.
Jesus was selfless on the cross as he died for our sins. He died knowing that we were unworthy and still our God saved our souls. There are times that I let my religion become something that I use to put myself above others, telling myself that if they only had the Lord then they wouldn't have those problems. I really hope that I can start being stronger in my faith and in my selflessness. We are supposed to be images of the Lord God.

YIKES! My room mate and I went to take "naps" from 7:30 at night until 8:30..we didn't wake up until 12:30 and we went to eat. Now I am not tired at all. This is not good. (College sleeping hours aren't any fun.) To top it all off I am sick. Either way I have to fill my days with the Lord so that I can make it through.

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