TUESDAY, October 14th, 2008

Hey Everyone! Great Job on the devotions yesterday! We are still missing some of the "good Old Faithful" that havent been on much lately, so if you know any of them, then tell them to get their act together!!

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Jon: Glad you are back on man! Will you be here Wednesday Night?
Mallory: I am glad those verses fit so perfectly!
Rachel: I am so thankful for your faithfulness.

This passage is pretty deep, but read it slowly and comment about what speaks to you the most!

Romans 9

1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the
children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

15 comments:

Pastor Lee said...

Wow! This passage is definitely deep! But if you pay attention (especially near the end) there is ALOT of very relevant and very powerful stuff!!

I think it is neat that Paul is going back and writing all about the seed of Abraham, Isaac, JAcob and all of those that we just read about in Genesis...

What is the point of all that? To explain that God is Soverign and He is in control of everything!!

God chooses who He will pour grace on and chooses who He will not... God chooses who will be in authority and chooses who will lose an election.

We do not have the final say... God has the final say!

One verse that meant the most to me is the one that says "if it was not for Gods mercy and grace we would be just like Sodom and Gommorah" (paraphrased)

You know! That same idea applies to my life! I have made many STUPID DECISIONS! and if it weere not for the grace of God! I would not be here today!

If it werent for Gods protection and patience and loooooooooooongsuffering, I would not be your youth pastor today! Thank you God for using me and protecting me and pouring your mercy and grace on me!

How has God prtected you? How has God shown mercy in your life?

Anonymous said...

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http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=46832&altf=Mff&altl=Upnmjo

Anonymous said...

Wow- this was one of those passages that I had to read more than once! It has a lot of deep theological points to it, but the main idea that jumped out to me is that God is gracious and merciful!
I know sometimes I can think about situations and wonder why God showed mercy to certain people, but I have to remember that God is completely sovereign. The more I think about that concept, the more comforting it is! I know I can get nervous about things and alllow myself to stress out about them, but at the end of the day I have to remember that God is in control. He knows everything that is going to happen to me and I don't need to stress out about it. He knows what is going on where I will be next week, next month, and next year. I know that I can trust in Him because He wants the best for my life!

Rachel Evelyn said...

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?: The Lord God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, his decision is final. Romans nine speaks of how the Jews followed righteousness and still they fell short the Glory of God and the Gentiles did not follow righteousness and they also fell short of the glory of God. HE decides how our lives will start and how they will end.

The Lord God is, however, loving and kind, he will always love us. I believe a lot of Romans is about God's love, shown in different ways. Sometimes it can be hard to believe that God loves us when we are struggling through the perils of life. Yet we know that our struggles here compare NOTHING with our rewards in heaven.

One thing I have been working with is changing my attitude and my faithfulness to God. It can be hard sometimes because I think I can do everything by myself and that causes me to turn to things of the world for comfort. I am still praying for God to break me in certain areas of my life that I am trying to control. It is scary because it is happening! Romans is the perfect book of the bible for me right now, and I think a lot of us.

At fall retreat a song called "From the Inside Out" was played and I kept thinking that no matter what we do on the outside it is what is inside that counts. The song basically says that we are going to give God control of our lives, let him do what he wants, because no matter WHAT he will always show us grace.

I just cannot get over what a great God we have. I am so happy I was able to do my devotions at a decent hour today. I do other ones that I can carry with me earlier but I love to see what everyone has to say and to continue on in Romans.

Have a great day everyone and here is that song!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv0qZl_Qu84

Amy :) said...

God has left me with TONS of mercy, for his mercy and grace, I am here and alive and not into trouble, God has given me so many things in my life, I cant comprehend the Mercy He has bestowed upon my life. Pastor Lee I just wanna say thanks for putting this devo blog up here and taking time in the morning or afternoon to put this up for us teens. And Im sorry I wont be able to make it tomorrow at church. But I wish I was comin..See ya

Jonathan M. said...

Yeah i will be there wednesday but i will do my devos later on tonight dont have time at this moment.

Godservant said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Godservant said...

The end of this talks about Israel's unbelief. The country of Israel is a great and popular country because everyone talks about them in the news. However, they lack on thing in their hearts: Salvation. Israel always go by works of the law and not faith in Jesus. If only one day they may recieve salvation........

Tylermon33 said...

i guess this passage says that God is in control of everything and it will always be that way. if we just believe that God is in control of everything then our lives would be a whole lot easier because we wouldn't be making as many dumb decisions because we would realize that God is in control of everything and that He will help us with what ever we need. so we need to trust in God and know that He is in control of EVERYTHING.


this passage is very confusing.
also i was just wandering if we are still going to do a chapter a day of if we are going to do half a chapter a day like we were doing when we first started the devos. also Pastor Lee i won't be a church tomorrow because i have a football game tomorrow, so sorry about that.

McCue said...

Yes, this has a lot in it but like Pastor Lee said most of it is trying to convey the Lord's unlimited power before us. The thing that hits me the hardest and speaks to me most is that it sounds like in Romans 9:30-33 Paul is referring to a struggle in the Israelite church. He mentions that rather than following God's will as faith they are following it as if it were law. He also says that the Gentiles have attained righteousness through faith and by faith. To me this says that it can be so easy to think of the things that we as Christian's should do as just systematic and redundant, almost "going through the motions". If this is our mentality we will fail and never aspire to what God truly wants for us we will become unrighteous. Yet the Gentiles attained a righteousness because it sounds like they kept that fire burning for God. Pouring a passion and dedication into every work they did and did it for Big Man's glory.
Lord today I pray that I'm not just going through the motions and that I will rekindle a fire for you Lord to grant me the heart of David. Help me attain a righteousness through faith.

FoOtBaLl XtReMiSt (cary) said...

this is a confusing passage...

im not going to write much because i really dont understand it...

but it kinda looks like to me that it says here that god is in control of whatever happens.

PEACE

Mallory B (basketball team) said...

Well mainly what was in this chapter is that God is in control. We need to trust him through everything we do in life and obey what He tells us to do also! Yeah I agree this was confusing I had to go back and read it more that once too. And also God has a plan for everyones life and already knows what is going to happen the rest of our life because He is God!!! Also I dont think most of us realize how much mercy God gives us! He gives me a good amount though! The ending honestly is what confused me the most. But what this passage is just mainly telling us is that God is in control of everything!!! bye everyone I will see you tomorrow night!

Anonymous said...

Todays chapter was a little confusing but i willtell you what stuck out to me.


in verse 21 it says "hath not the potter power over the clay,..." in other words it is saying doesnt Jesus have control of his people.it should be lke that but alot of the time it turns to WHY doesnt Jesus have control of his people.the truth is that when something horrible happens people start pointing fingers and a lot of the tiime that finger is pointed right at God.they think why did God do this to me or why isnt God helping me or i have even heard why does God Hate me.When i heard that i had to say something i mean if God hates you soooo much than why did he send his son to suffer and die on a cross for YOU?Now most of us know that God has a plan for everyones life.each probably entirly different than the other and anything that he allows to hapen to you is for a reason weather it be good or bad.by explaining this exact statment to my friend i was able to lead her to the lord.she now knows Jesus as her saviour not someone who is tring to make life miserable.she realized that it was the opisite.God wants us to be hapy and i can remember a specific woman in our church that always says the best way to be happy is to: read the bible,live the bible,,and share the bible.Any way i wont keep babling on but you get the point.

see you all tomorow at church!!!

Rachel☺; said...

Wow.
Well what i really understood best was around verse 15 and after.
That is so true how God has the control over what happens all by the grace he pours on the situation. He is the final say, He can overcome anything, and He can defy the odds no matter hoew impossible it sounds to us;
Boy am i glad that i have something so incredibly strong to lean on!
One thing i immediatelythink of is my back, even though it still gives me trouble to this day, (and just so happens to be right now) i made it through that surgery unexpectedly well.
If i didnt have it, i wouldnt be here, and when they did do it, i was expected to have possible paralysis in my legs.
Even though both situations sounded pretty unfavorable, it all worked out amazingly by Gods grace. Something that couldve been taken as such a huge worry really turned out great under His protection.
A big situation to me is a grain of rice to God; shouldnt i put our trust in the stronger one? The one in control?
The more glory i give to God for His grace and His way in my life, the more grace i seem to recieve... undeservingly!
I know i am not grateful enough and never could be, but could really stop to think about how graceful God is and give Him so much more glory for what He has done.

Rachel☺; said...

*my trust

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