(# 381) Romans 12 - God’s Love Has a Drawing Power

 

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church with worldwide impact based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Many people in this world say that Jesus Christ is not God.  They describe Him as a good man, or a prophet, or a rabbi, or a teacher…anything but what He is…God!  In First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 14, the apostle Paul says, and I testify with him…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:14

…if Christ has not been raised from the dead, but of course He has been, then our preaching is vain, and your faith also is vain.

 

What a waste of our time if we are just worshipping a dead man!  First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 17 says…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:17

…and if Christ has not been raised rom the dead, but of course He has been, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.

 

If Jesus Christ is not God, then there was no atonement for the sins of all mankind, and al of us are still in our trespasses and sins…thus spiritually dead…thus doomed to the Lake of Fire!  At Barah Ministries we start every lesson by celebrating the truth of the Word of God as it is revealed in places like Romans, Chapter 1, Verses 3 and 4…

 

ROMANS 1:3-4

…God the Son (the Lord), was born of a descendant of David according to

the flesh (as Jesus Christ),//and was declared the Son of God with divine power (omnipotence) by His resurrection from the dead, according to the agency of the God who is the Spirit of holiness (God the Holy Spirit)…it is this Jesus Christ our Lord of whom we speak…

 

Welcome to a place where you can worship the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the One and ONLY God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God’s Love Has a Drawing Power

 

We continue our study of Romans, Chapter 12.  For several weeks we’ve been contemplating the depth and the magnificence of Verse 1…it’s the beginning of our study of the DO’s and DON’Ts of the Christian Way of Living.  What are some of things we are to DO when we PRESENT OUR BODIES TO GOD AS A LIVING SACRIFICE…a sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God?  Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 25 to 30 outline a few things we must choose to do…

 

EPHESIANS 4:25

Therefore, laying aside falsehood (stop lying), instead we believers in Christ are to speak the truth…each one of you with his neighbor…for we are members of one another.

 

1+1=1 in the Christian Way of Living.  We are to see every person as being important, just as we see ourselves.

 

EPHESIANS 4:26

Be angry, and yet do not sin…and do not let the sun go down on your anger…

 

There is a legitimate and righteous anger…yet we are to dismiss grievances quickly rather than letting them build up…rather than holding on to them. We are to control our anger, instead of letting our anger control us.

 

EPHESIANS 4:27

…and do not give the devil a single opportunity.

 

We give the devil opportunity with us when we sin.

 

EPHESIANS 4:28

He who steals must steal no longer…but rather he must work for things…

performing with his own hands what is good…so that he will have

something to share with someone who has need.

 

God wants us to be honest.  The whole purpose of us making money, as Christians, is to be able to share it.  Some of it we share with the utility company or the phone company or the grocery store…sharing for our own benefit…and some of it we direct to the purpose of helping others.

 

EPHESIANS 4:29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only say such words that are good for edification (building others up), according to the need of the moment… so that the words will give grace to those who hear.

 

We are to watch our tongues…I have been at the wrong end of a lot of nastiness from the tongues of others lately…people who love putting others down, either out loud or in their minds…people who love to use people’s vulnerabilities against them.  God abhors this kind of conduct, and especially from Christians.  My mom used to say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.”  In short, let your tongue be helpful to others rather than hurtful.

 

EPHESIANS 4:30

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (who is a Person)…the One by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 

The Holy Spirit does not appreciate sin.

 

EPHESIANS 4:31

Let all bitterness and rage and anger and brawling and slander and all malice be put away from you (take it off and throw it away).

 

EPHESIANS 4:32

Instead, be kind to one another, and be tender-hearted toward one another, forgiving each other, just as God the Father, in conjunction with the Christ, also has forgiven you.

 

When we PRESENT OUR BODIES TO GOD AS A LIVING SACRIFICE…we relax in the absolute confidence that He knows we will have disputes with others, just as the Lord had disputes with others in His time on earth…and we know what God the Holy Spirit keeps on pouring into us…unconditional love…the divine solution to every one of our human problems.  Love always conquers hate.  Let us love one another.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

HOPE IN FRONT OF ME

Danny Gokey

 

In the Greek language, the word for HOPE…elpis…means absolute confidence.  As Christians, we always have HOPE in front of us…absolute confidence…through our access to the divine omnipotence of our Lord.  When we use His omnipotence by handing our problems over to Him, we have HOPE…the absolute confidence that He is on our side and He’ll solve our problems.  So as we listen to Danny Gokey to sing HOPE IN FRONT OF ME, let us turn our problems over to the Lord.

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, thank you for working out our problems as we slept…thank you for ensuring us the victory in every situation…than you for handling our problems when we hand them over to you…

 

Help us to accept your just and righteous verdict in every circumstance in our lives, and remind us with Your still small voice that You are there for us, working all things together for our good…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...

Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God’s Love Has a Drawing Power

 

What is God’s perfect will for every believer?  It’s highlighted in Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 1…

 

ROMANS 12:1

Therefore…I (Paul)…urge (beseech) you…brethren (believers in Christ)… as you keep on being persuaded because of the many mercies of God…TO PRESENT YOUR BODIES (by choice, not by command…as) A LIVING AND HOLY SACRIFICE… acceptable to God the Father…which is your spiritual service…worship.

 

This verse has depth and magnificence in its many parts…let’s remember these parts together…

 

THEREFORE

 

…is our look back at Romans, Chapters 1 to 11 where the apostle Paul introduces us to the soil into which each of us can choose to sink our roots… the Christian Way of Life…a lifestyle in which we are made dead to sin and dead to the Law by our magnificent God…Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 14…

 

ROMANS 6:14

For SIN shall not be sovereign over you believers in Christ…for you believers in Christ are not under LAW but you are under grace.

 

I (PAUL) BESEECH YOU

 

And now that as believers in Christ we are rooted and grounded in love…the apostle Paul is begging us…inviting us…to be in awe of the commitment we made when we became believers in Christ.  In Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verses 14 to 19, the apostle Paul prays that we might be made continually aware of the depth and magnificence of our commitment…

 

EPHESIANS 3:14

For this reason I bow my knees in prayer) before God the Father…

 

EPHESIANS 3:15

…from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name…

 

EPHESIANS 3:16

…that God the Father would grant you believers in Christ, according to His glorious riches, that you be strengthened with power (divine omnipotence) through His Holy Spirit indwelling the inner man…

 

EPHESIANS 3:17

…so that Christ may indwell your hearts through faith…and that you believers in Christ, being rooted and grounded in the sphere of unconditional love…

 

EPHESIANS 3:18

…may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, how broad and how long and how high and how deep God’s love for you is…

 

EPHESIANS 3:19

…and that you may know (in the depth of you) the reality of Christ’s unconditional love for you, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

 

The Lord wants you to know His love for you, to experience His love for you, and most of all to reflect His love for you to others… VOLUNTARILY…not under coercion.

 

BRETHREN

 

…a reference to you believers in Christ

 

ROMANS 12:1a

Therefore…I (Paul)…urge (beseech) you…brethren (believers in Christ)… as you keep on being persuaded because of the many mercies of God…

 

BECAUSE OF THE MULTI-FACETED MERCIES OF GOD

 

God’s love has a drawing power…the mercies of God, completely revealed completely in Romans, Chapters 1 to 11…mercy like the Lord shows to The Jewish Race…as Isaiah reports in Isaiah, Chapter 63, Verse 7 is a drawing

power…

 

ISAIAH 63:7

I (Isaiah) shall make mention of the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us (The Jewish Race), and the Lord’s great goodness toward the house of Israel (like the Exodus from Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea), which He has granted them (The Jewish Race) according to His compassion and according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses.

 

Even though Israel and The Jewish Race rebelled against the Lord, as we learned in Romans, Chapters 9 to 11, the Lord keeps on loving them in the face of their rebellion…just as He keeps on loving us Gentiles in the face of our rebellion…an unconditional love that draws us to Him.

 

Let’s take a quick music break…and when we come back we’ll take the offering and we’ll hear more reflections on our learning from the last seven lessons.

 

MUSIC BREAK

EYE OF THE STORM

Ryan Stevenson

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God’s Love Has a Drawing Power

 

Let’s begin the next portion of our lesson by giving you a chance to make an offering…we need and we value your financial support to continue the work of this ministry…please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

JAMES 3:5

So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.  See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

OFFERING VERSE

 

JAMES 3:6

And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity…the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

JAMES 3:7

For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

JAMES 3:8

But no one can tame the tongue…it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God’s Love Has a Drawing Power

 

Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 1…

 

ROMANS 12:1

Therefore…I (Paul)…urge (beseech) you…brethren (believers in Christ)… as you keep on being persuaded because of the many mercies of God…TO PRESENT YOUR BODIES (by choice, not by command…as) A LIVING AND HOLY SACRIFICE…acceptable to God the Father…which is your spiritual service…worship.

 

TO PRESENT YOUR BODIES

 

Shut up…grow up…show up…with ALL of you…Mark, Chapter 12, Verse 30…

 

MARK 12:30

‘…and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

 

When God asks us to voluntarily PRESENT OUR BODIES, He is asking us to BE AN EXACT REFLECTION of this life of mercy He has given us.

That’s what PRESENT YOUR BODIES is all about…REFLECTION… IMITATION… we are to reflect mercy…we are to imitate God’s mercy…do you?  In your marriage?  In your relationships?  In every area of your life?  That’s what we have been looking at for the last several weeks.

 

If you don’t reflect and imitate God’s mercy, then you are a reflection of God’s merciless enemy.  In other words, you’re reflecting selfishness.  You can assess for yourselves which one you are doing.  And don’t play the confusion game when you are thinking about it.  People who play the confusion game are not confused.  They’re committed.

 

PRESENT YOUR BODIES…as the apostle Paul sat in a prison in Rome, He contemplated his fate in Philippians, Chapter 1, Verse 20…

 

PHILIPPIANS 1:20

…it is my earnest expectation and it is my hope (absolute confidence), that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

 

Paul knew that whether he was to move on in this life or to be martyred that the Lord would be served.  He asked the Corinthians to contemplate this very real truth in self-reflection…First Corinthians, Chapter 6, Verse 19…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is indwelling you, whom you have from God the Father, and that you are not your own possession?

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:20

For you have been bought by God the Father with a price (redeemed by the blood of His Son)…therefore glorify God in your body.

 

AS A LIVING SACRIFICE

 

As a result of all that the Lord has done for you, outlined in Romans, Chapters 1 to 11…you are to choose to become a voluntarily sacrifice… the indicative mood in the Greek…the mood of request…not imperative mood in the Greek…the mood of command.  What did the Lord do for you?  He came from heaven…He took on human form…He lived a sinless life…He died on a Cross…He was buried…He was resurrected from the dead… He ascended into heaven…He is seated at the right hand of God the Father… He is acting as your Advocate…He sent His the Spirit to you to lead you into all the truth…that’s all…

 

And we are to be a LIVING SACRIFICE, not a dead sacrifice like the Old Testament ritual sacrifices designed to cleanse people from sins…little did they know, as is revealed in Hebrews, Chapter 10, Verse 4…

 

HEBREWS 10:4

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

 

A LIVING SACRIFICE…First Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 5…

 

FIRST PETER 2:5

…you believers in Christ also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God Father through your union with Jesus Christ.

 

A SACRIFICE THAT IS HOLY AND A SACRIFICE THAT IS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD THE FATHER

 

When are we holy?  We are holy from the moment of salvation because God makes us holy.  When are we acceptable to God?  We are acceptable to God when we voluntarily obey Him. 

 

WHICH IS YOUR SPIRITUAL SERVICE
 

The merciful life… a life directed by God…not by our own “goodie two shoes” agenda…Hebrews, Chapter 13, Verse 15…

 

HEBREWS 13:15

Through the Lord Jesus Christ then, let us believers in Christ continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

 

And as for the life of mercy…

 

HEBREWS 13:16

And do not neglect doing good and sharing…for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

 

This is the life that is acceptable to God…the obedient life…a life where you don’t let unbelievers feel good about deciding to go to the Lake of Fire.  As Christians, we use the truth to make people uncomfortable with a fiery destiny. 

 

In summary…Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 13…

 

ROMANS 6:13

…and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness…but present the members of your body to God the Father as if you are one of those brought alive by God from the dead…and present the members of your body as instruments of righteousness to God.

 

IN other words…voluntarily choose to live a life doing things God’s way…and when you do, this is called…

 

WORSHIP

 

…toward God first…and then imitating Him…reflecting Him…to all mankind.

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

Have you considered there are only two kinds of people in this world? There are BELIEVERS IN CHRIST…those who have been justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and there are UNBELIEVERS…those who remain condemned in their unbelief by rejecting a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, either through ignorance, or through antagonistic intentionally. The Word of God makes it very clear!  John, Chapter 3, Verse 18…

 

JOHN 3:18

“He who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is not judged…he who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the uniquely born Son of God.”

 

Everyone who has ever lived belongs to one of these two distinct groups and will spend eternity in one of two places…in Heaven, or in the Lake of Fire From a human perspective, it is difficult to understand why an unbeliever refuses to believe the greatest news he will ever hear about the greatest gift he could ever receive. It is even more difficult to comprehend why anyone would remain an unbeliever after they have been confronted with the reality of their own choosing to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, a place where they will suffer soul-racking remorse, eternal torment, and dreadful agony with no hope of escape.  You can choose to be free of this predicament.

 

ROMANS 3:10

“There is no creature who is righteous, not even one…”

 

ROMANS 3:23

…for all creatures have sinned and fall short of the essence of God…

 

ROMANS 6:23

For the compensation from sin is death (an eternity in the Lake of Fire), but the free gift of God the Father is the resurrection life or those in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

COLOSSIANS 2:9

For in Christ Jesus all the essence of Deity dwells in bodily form…

 

 

JOHN 1:14

…the Word (the Lord…God the Son) became flesh (Jesus Christ…God took on human form), and tabernacled (lived) among us, and we beheld His glory…the glory of the uniquely born One from the source of God the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

FIRST PETER 2:22

…Christ Jesus, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth…

 

JOHN 1:12

But as many as received Jesus (accepting His work as the payment for their sins), to them the Lord gave the right to become children of God the Father, a right given to those who believe in Christ’s Person…

 

JOHN 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment…but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life, but the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

 

ACTS 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

CLOSING SONG

COUNT IT ALL JOY

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

www.barahministries.com


©® Barah Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved.