This is a small group that was following the plan to read through the Bible one chapter at a time with Good Morning Girls. Good Morning Girls is on an indefinite break. But will we continue reading through the Bible.
Each Monday go to the Weekly Reading Plan or the Bible Study Thread for our current book to see the introductory post for the week and the weekly reading passages, discussion questions, and memory verse.
Be sure to come here each day to see what the members of the group are sharing. Try to participate in the discussion with a post at least once each week to share with us what God is teaching you. Posting on the forum helps motivate all of us to keep reading by seeing the others persevering and it provides additional insight and learning.
Each Friday we will attempt to share a Friday Devotional that addresses some of the topics we have read that week.
Please also take time to read the Group Overview post that provides some ideas on how to get the most out of your study here! You can find this post in the the "Bible Study" section of the board.
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Re: Romans
Week of August 14
This Week’s Reading Assignment
Post your input below this post.
S.O.A.K. any verse of your choosing.
I have broken the reading down by day based on key points in the scripture.
You can read it in one day, several days, or follow the reading plan.
Stop by the forum at least once this week and post your input, what verse stood out to you, or your discussion question response.
This Week: The Blessing and Imputation of Righteousness
Last week we confirmed that we are justified only by faith. This week we read of the blessings of our faith and the joy and peace we have in Christ.
Reading Schedule
Justification: The Provision of God’s Righteousness
The Blessing of Righteousness
Monday: 5:1-2
Tuesday: 5:3-5
Wednesday: 5:6-11
The Imputation of Righteousness
Thursday: 5:12-17
Friday: 5:18-21
Verse of the Week
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Discussion Question
Even in our weak sinful nature, Christ died for us! Think back to the life that you had before Christ, how has it changed?
Last edited by TBG (8/13/2017 8:45 pm)
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Re: Romans
Week 5, Romans 5
We have finished first 4 chapters and established the following:
1) All humanity is hopelessly trapped in sin and needs rescue
2) Obeying the law will not rescue anyone
3) God's righteous character has moved Him to rescue the world through Jesus' death and resurrection.
4) We are not justified by faith
5) God did this so that He could create a multi-ethnic family of Abraham as His people comprised of both Jews and Gentiles
6) This justification by faith now gives us
a) a new status - right with God
b) a new family - God's people
c) a new future - transformed life
We will now see in the rest of Romans how this shapes our life.
This video provides an overview of the remaining chapters in Romans.
The Blessing and Imputation of Righteousness
Last edited by TBG (8/16/2017 8:51 am)
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Thread Starter- esuzannah
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Re: Romans
Chapter 5
I spent many years after being saved focused on what I thought I needed to do instead of who God was and what He had done. As a result my life was like the tide....close to God and then far away....I made lots of mistakes and went down many wrong roads before I was finally discipled and taught Who God is. I think is an important chapter for a follower if Christ to understand, in verses 15-17 Paul uses the words "free gift" five times!
We do nothing for this gift. No purchase nesassary, no relationship, no friendship, no action on our part. It is a free gift given to us...(besides turning to Him and accepting it of course)
I was thinking this week about when I give someone a gift and how important their response is to me...so how do I respond to God's gift to me? I desire to respond on daily basis to Him who gave me this amazing free gift...that I did not earn or deserve.
My prayer is to remember it daily and give Him praise and glory and joy.
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Re: Romans
Romans 5
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Imagine what we were like before we came to Christ? Think about the vile, defiant, prideful, wicked people we are prior to Christ. And if you think you were not that bad, see Romans 1.
But, God, while we were His enemy, hating Him, rejecting Him, vilifying Him, He died for us.
What great love! He saved us from His wrath and so is the one who justifies, the justifier.
So, we can be confident that He will be faithful to save us, regardless of our failures and faults.
20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
We cannot out-sin God's love and grace. No matter how much we sin, God's grace will abound more! Now we have already established that we should not purposely sin so that grace can increase because this disrespects the sacrifice of Christ. But when we do sin, take heart, don't lose heart, God's grace abounds!
We should be absolutely confident in God's love for us, even when we sin and even when we fall short. His grace is endless and it is a statement of His greatness, His love beyond human comprehension, His righteousness.
But this great love compels us to extend like love to others; to love others as Christ has loved us!
21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God's steadfast love and unmerited favor rules over all things including sin through the righteousness of Christ and this will result in our eternal life. Wow!
Discussion Question - Last Week
This week we were reminded that Abraham remained faithful even though he had to wait to receive what was promised to him by God. His faith made his righteous. What is it that you are waiting on and how strong is your faith today?
I stopped waiting on something that I had dearly wanted and finally found peace to surrender this to God and embrace the other blessings He has in my life.
But, I have been thinking greatly on prayer lately and on God's power and sovereignty. This has encouraged me to have absolute confidence, not with words or intellectual accent, but heart felt confidence, in God's ability to save my loved ones and to change hearts and lives and to bring unity, truth and purity to His Church.
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Thread Starter- TBG
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Re: Romans
esuzannah wrote:
Chapter 5
I spent many years after being saved focused on what I thought I needed to do instead of who God was and what He had done. As a result my life was like the tide....close to God and then far away....I made lots of mistakes and went down many wrong roads before I was finally discipled and taught Who God is. I think is an important chapter for a follower if Christ to understand, in verses 15-17 Paul uses the words "free gift" five times!
We do nothing for this gift. No purchase nesassary, no relationship, no friendship, no action on our part. It is a free gift given to us...(besides turning to Him and accepting it of course)
I was thinking this week about when I give someone a gift and how important their response is to me...so how do I respond to God's gift to me? I desire to respond on daily basis to Him who gave me this amazing free gift...that I did not earn or deserve.
My prayer is to remember it daily and give Him praise and glory and joy.
Wow, how freeing to come to the knowledge that it is not our work, but His work. His burden is easy and His yolk is light. I loved this statement, "I was thinking this week about when I give someone a gift and how important their response is to me...so how do I respond to God's gift to me?"
How do we respond to God's profound, steadfast, faithful love and grace which leads to eternal life?
Before I was walking consistently with Christ, I was living for myself and my goals. After surrendering to God's authority in my life, I am thoughtful about what I am living for and not just going on auto-pilot. I am not just pursuing whatever I desire and being led my by goals but seek to serve others and love God more by serving Him more and I seek to live in a way that pleases and is honoring to God and not just in a way that pleases me.
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Thread Starter- TBG
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Re: Romans
How Does Character Produce Hope?
Romans 5:3-5 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
I have read this for so many years, and I never really understood how character produces hope. I understand the rest of the chair how suffering leads through the stages to character. But, how does character produce hope?
According to Desiring God, "The goal of everything, including suffering, is hope. Many lose hope during tribulation, but God intends for tribulation to produce hope… through faith."
The stronger my character, the stronger my hope and trust in what God can do.
It strengthens my hope in God's ability to ensure my perseverance; it strengthens my hope that God can and does work and deliver.
As the character of Christ increases in me, it strengthens and clarifies my ability to hope and trust in God.
Here is an article that did a good job of exploring this passage.
How Does Character Produce Hope?
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Thread Starter- TBG
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Re: Romans
Week of August 21
This Week’s Reading Assignment
Post your input below this post.
S.O.A.K. any verse of your choosing.
I have broken the reading down by day based on key points in the scripture.
You can read it in one day, several days, or follow the reading plan.
Stop by the forum at least once this week and post your input, what verse stood out to you, or your discussion question response.
This video provides an overview of the remaining chapters in Romans.
Reading Schedule
Sanctification: Demonstration of God’s Righteousness
Monday: 6:1-11
Tuesday: 6:12-23
Wednesday: 7:1-6
Thursday: 7:7-12
Friday: 7:13-25
Verses of the Week
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! (Romans 6:15)
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. (Romans 7:18)
Discussion Questions
As Christian’s we live under grace. How does this give you the strength to rid yourself of things that God is convicting you to release so you can serve Him better?
Though we are made new in Christ, all of us struggle with sin in our lives. What is one thing you know is right to do but you struggle to live out in your life?
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Thread Starter- TBG
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Re: Romans
Very deep and profound things in chapter 6. Probably should have done an entire week on Chapter 6.
God has freed us from the control of sin so we don't have to give ourselves to sin, we can choose to use ourselves - mind, body, time, money, hearts - to be used for God's righteousness. If we are a part of Christ's body, then we cannot move without His mind initiating and controlling our movement.
6:12-14 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
This passage and these verses seem to be teaching that we can choose to not obey sin because sin does not control us. We can resist sin because we are set free from the power of sin to control us.
We know that when we read further that we will still sin because sanctification is a process. But, sometimes I think the knowledge of the fact that we will never be perfect and never get to the place of never sinning in this life that it gives us "permission" to not even really turn from sin and stop submitting to it. We are just resigned to the fact that we will sin instead of understanding that God has freed us from sin and our expectation is to live in righteousness.
I wonder if this is why we see so little fruit in the lives of those in the Church.
6:21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
Do we really believe this to be true? Really? Do we really believe that yielding to sin is death?
6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
God has freed us from sin so that we are compelled to do His will and obey Him in all things which leads to the fruit of sanctification and the outcome of this is life.
6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We earn death as payment for our employment in sin. God does not send us to death; we earn death. God gave us a free gift of life. If we quit our job working sin, we can live forever off the free gift of life.
6:19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
As we continually use ourselves for righteousness this leads to our increasing sanctification.
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Thread Starter- TBG
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Re: Romans
Romans 7
Wow, these last two chapters have been overwhelming in there significance. Challenging to wrap your head around.
7:5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
7:8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
When the focus is on obeying by my will it simply arouses passions. Don't focus on doing good by my will. Don't focus on me at all. I am dead, my feelings, thoughts, efforts, and will are irrelevant.
The law stirs up my sin. As I strive to not sin, I focus on sin instead of on Christ.
Focus, instead, on Christ and His will. Let Christ live through me.
7:6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Released from striving for obedience and free to serve in a new way, through the Spirit. The Spirit strengthens and works through me through the Word, prayer and meditation.
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Thread Starter- esuzannah
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Re: Romans
Chapters 6 & 7 wow so much to soak in.
Discussion question- one of my biggest sin struggles is anger/impatience with my children. (And sometimes other people too!) And it seems I cannot break free from it-- these chapters give me hope that I can and I will, that I am not alone.
Vs. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace."
At some point in time I had written beside this verse in my bible this note: "causes the 10 commandments to read like promises." Wow....if you are struggling do that! And put your name in there- Suzannah shall not... It's quite powerful to put your name in like that to see what Christ has done for us.
Last edited by esuzannah (8/27/2017 5:17 am)