(#462) Romans 14 - Follow the Example of The Lord Jesus Christ

Class Outline:

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Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome To 

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a small, intimate, local Christian Church with worldwide impact.  My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We make a difference by teaching the Word of God from God’s perspective, and not from man’s perspective. 

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Follow the Example of The Lord Jesus Christ

 

In Romans, Chapter 14 we learned many things, two of them very important ones…don’t condemn others….and don’t hinder others with your conduct.  In today’s lesson we transition to Romans, Chapter 15 which adds a message messages to Romans, Chapter 14…as believers in Christ we are to follow the demonstrated example of the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, in today’s lesson…just as we do every month…we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper…as God teaches the significance of Walking in the Newness of the Resurrection Life.

 

In the opening of every lesson at Barah Ministries we learn something about God.  In recent weeks we have learned that God is FORGIVING…He is JUST…He is RIGHTEOUS…He is SOVEREIGN…He is OMNISCIENT… He is OMNIPRESENT…He is OMNIPOTENT…He is IMMUTABLE… He has VERACITY…He is ETERNAL.  Today we learn that God is GRACIOUS.

 

What is grace?

 

GRACE (the word CHARISin Greek)

God’s policy in relation to His creatures by which God treats creatures better than they deserve to be treated without violating His own integrity.

 

God is not sentimental.  In His graciousness, God NEVER treats His creatures the way they deserve to be treated.

 

God’s grace is action oriented…He delivers us from our enemies…He delivers us from affliction…He delivers us from adversity. He pours His enabling power into us, providing daily guidance, total forgiveness, and constant preservation.

 

God’s grace offers us unconditional love when it makes no sense for Him to do so.

 

God’s grace is a conscious decision He made to pay for our mistakes so that we wouldn’t have to do it ourselves.  

 

God IS grace…in His very Person…John, Chapter 1, Verse 14….

 

JOHN 1:14 And the Word (the Lord…God the Son) became flesh (true humanity… Jesus Christ)…and He lived among us…and we saw His glory…the glory of the uniquely born one from the source of God the Father…full of grace and full of truth.

 

God’s grace refused to condemn His creatures when condemnation is exactly what we deserve.  Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 7…

 

EPHESIANS 1:7 In the Lord Jesus Christ we believers in Christ have redemption through His shed blood…the forgiveness of our trespasses…according to the riches of His grace…

 

In grace, God always does things for us that we would never consider doing for anyone else.  John, Chapter 1, Verse 17…

 

JOHN 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses…grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

 

Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 17…

 

ROMANS 5:17 For if by the transgression of Adam, spiritual death reigned because of him…much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of absolute righteousness from God will reign in the resurrection life through the graciousness of the One…Jesus Christ.

 

Welcome to a place where you can learn to reside within the sphere of grace as you traverse the desert of your life.

 

So much of the life we live is dark…but it is not God’s intention for creatures of light to live in the dark…here is Gloria Estefan describing her transition to life in the song COMING OUT OF THE DARK.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

COMING OUT OF THE DARK

Gloria Estefan

 

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!  There are so many times in the midst of the trials you allow us to experience that we just lose our way…and we begin to see ourselves as worthless…thank you for never agreeing with our assessment of ourselves…

 

Teach us to see ourselves as You see us…teach us how to see the resurrection life You have given us from Your perspective…show us how to have the courage to lead others to You…

 

…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s

name...Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Follow the Example of The Lord Jesus Christ

 

We begin the transition in to the study of Romans, Chapter 15.  Before we get into it, I want you to consider a few things.  

 

For nearly five hundred hours we have been studying the thought of a man we know as Saul of Tarsus…the apostle Paul.  We may forget about it, but Paul is a person just like you and me. No better than us…according to him much worse…Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verse 8…

 

EPHESIANS 3:8 To me (Paul), the very least of all saints…this grace was given to me by God…to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ…

 

God has a deep intimate and personal plan for Paul’s life, just as He has for your, and Paul adequately describes it here.  Paul is a person just like you and me.

 

He taught by means of letters delivered to and read in churches.  The letter to the Romans is a letter to people. These people lived in a city we are familiar with…Roman…and people who live in Rome, even today, are known as Romans…so this letter we are studying is a letter written to the people of the churches in first century Rome.

 

The letter to the Romans is the foundational letter in biblical Christianity.  It details how to be saved in Chapters 1 to 8…it tells what has happened to today’s Jews in Chapters 9 to 11…and it gives the do’s and don’ts of Christianity in Chapter 12 to 16.

 

Scripture in its original for was not divided into chapters and verses. Chapters were introduced to the bible in the twelfth century…verses were introduced in the fifteenth century.  The divisions were useful but not reflective of the original intent of the authors of biblical letters.  For example, Romans, Chapter 15 is a new chapter…yet in the original form of Scripture, Romans, Chapter 15, Verses 1 to 7 actually complete what has been separated out as Romans, Chapter 14.

 

We won’t get into Romans. Chapter 15 until after the Homecoming, but I wanted to let you look at and listen to the first seven verses to see how it completes Romans, Chapter 14.  The message of this passage encourages us to remember that we are to reflect Christ by following His example. 

 

ROMANS 15:1 Now we who are The Strong in Faith ought to keep on bearing with the weaknesses of those without strength (The Weak in Faith)…and we should not just be interested in pleasing ourselves.

 

ROMANS 15:2  Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.

 

ROMANS 15:3  For even Christ did not please Himself…but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”  (Psalm 69:9)

 

ROMANS 15:4  For whatever was written in earlier times was written to teach us…giving us endurance and encouragement through the Scriptures…so that we might keep on having hope.

 

ROMANS 15:5  Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another (in unity) according to your union with Christ Jesus…

 

ROMANS 15:6  …so that with one heart you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

ROMANS 15:7  Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God the Father.

 

If you really listen to these words you can see easily how these are concluding words for what is broken out as Romans, Chapter 14…not the introduction of news ideas as if it were a whole new Romans, Chapter 15.

 

In the first week of May we’ll begin our study of Romans, Chapter 15…and probably by the end of June we’ll complete our study of Romans, and we’ll be ready to move on to Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

 

Let’s take a five minute break…when we come back we’ll take the offering and then transition to The Lord’s Supper Celebration.

 

FIVE MINUTE BREAK

Unconditional Love

Donna Summers

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Follow the Example of The Lord Jesus Christ

 

Let’s welcome Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

ROMANS 15:1 Now we who are The Strong in Faith ought to keep on bearing with the weaknesses of those without strength (The Weak in Faith)…and not just please ourselves.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

ROMANS 15:7  Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God the Father.

 

OFFERING SONG

THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU

David Bauer, Instrumental

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION At the Cross, the Lord Showed Us How to Walk In the Newness of Life

 

Welcome to The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ in The Christian Way of Living.  Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ demonstrates His desire for a deep, intimate and personal relationship with His believers by creating a way to keep on sharing His body and His blood with us, just as He did with His apostles on the night before His death.  Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 14 to 16…

 

LUKE 22:14 When the hour had come (and His crucifixion was near)…the Lord Jesus Christ reclined at the Passover table…and the apostles reclined with Him.

 

LUKE 22:15  And the Lord said to the apostles, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer…”

 

LUKE 22:16  “…for I say to you I (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall never again eat this Passover meal until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God the Father.”

 

In First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26, the apostle Paul says, on behalf of the Lord…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26 …as often as you eat this bread (His body)…and as often as you drink this cup (His blood)…as part of the Lord’s Supper Celebration…you proclaim as a reality and you announce the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross…and His resurrection from the dead…until He comes again at the second coming.

 

For non-resident congregation members, you are invited to join in the sharing of the communion elements with your resident congregation family.  Get your own bread and your own cup and celebrate with us.  We are one…we are in unity with each other…we are in fellowship with each other…so let’s break the bread and drink the cup together in grateful remembrance of our Lord. This is a celebration for which we set aside time.  We don’t do it on the move.  It is a happy time and a significant event in the Christian Way of Living.

 

During The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the Lord Jesus Christ wants His

believers to look back to REMEMBER how He rescued us from the kingdom of darkness. He wants His believers to look back to REMEMBER His sacrifice…the shedding of His blood for us.  The Lord Jesus Christ wants His believers to REMEMBER the deliverance to life He orchestrated, bringing us into His kingdom of light.  The Lord wants His believers to look forward in ANTICIPATION of His coming again.  

 

As believers in Christ, when we celebrate The Lord’s Supper, we stop to reflect.  We ask ourselves, “What did the Lord Jesus Christ do for us at the Cross?”

 

When I look back to the Cross I see a Lord who showed us how to die to sin so that we could live the resurrection life He has to offer…Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 5…

 

ROMANS 6:5 For if we believers in Christ have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, and of course we have, certainly we also shall be united in the likeness of His resurrection from the dead…

 

As believers in Christ we must KNOW that we are dead to sin, the main reason the Lord went to the Cross in the first place…Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 5…

 

EPHESIANS 2:5 …all of God’s creatures were dead in our transgressions…

 

We were born physically dead…we were slaves to sin because of our condition in union with Adam…First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 22 says…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22a …all in union with Adam at physical birth (and that is every human being) are set to die the second death in the Lake of Fire…

 

The Lord Jesus Christ went to the Cross because He was the only One who could free us from the power of this spiritual death.  The only way to life was death.  At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ freed us from slavery to sin and to the Law.  The Lord compares Himself to a grain of wheat in John, Chapter 12, Verse 24…

 

JOHN 12:24 “Truly, truly, I (the Lord Jesus Christ) say to you…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies…it remains alone…but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

 

The death of a seed is necessary for a harvest.  The Lord Jesus Christ went to the Cross to provide each of us with the opportunity to share in this death so that we could have the victory of the resurrection life.  We who believe are His fruit.  This resurrection life requires FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ… placing our confidence in Him to accomplish our salvation…Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31  “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

The Lord parts The Red Sea of death for us…He delivers us from an impossible situation…for there is no way any of us could ever save ourselves from our sins.  All who express their faith in the Lord for salvation are delivered to the resurrection life.  

 

Salvation is truly a cause for celebration.  Yet even though the Lord delivers us immediately to victory through salvation, He simultaneously sends us to the desert, just as He did with The Jewish Race, to let us know just how deep our weakness goes.  We are not entitled little kids…we spend our lives learning about our previous condition of death so we can know just what the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the Cross for…to shed His blood to cover our sins…and to provide for our deliverance to the resurrection life.

 

In the wilderness that is our lives, it takes us years to recognize the miracle Christ accomplished at the Cross on our behalf.  Why?  Because God has an enemy and so do you.  In First Peter, Chapter 5, Verse 8 we learn that Satan…the enemy of God…the ruler of this world…

 

FIRST PETER 5:8 …your adversary…the devil…prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking

someone to devour.

 

Satan and the members of his demon army…the fallen angels…slow our progress…they divert us to what is not the resurrection life…they hate the Lord and everything He stands for, including us…they see us as something to be destroyed.  They have no appreciation of divine things…they only know antagonism toward God and everything else…they undervalue the divine…they seek to neutralize all that is potent and powerful and supernatural in our lives…reducing it to what is common.  We let them.

 

The enemy is resident on the inside…it is called the flesh…an enemy is attacking from the outside as well…it is called the world…and as we listen to the forces of darkness, they reduce our lives to the ordinary.  Fortunately for us, our God has intention in our lives. Our enemies may seek to thwart His intention…they may seek to undermine our influence in the world…we may even acquiesce to the enemy…yet the Lord, through the Cross, completely thwarted the enemy’s ability to ruin our lives.  At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ made it impossible for the enemy to win. 

 

The Lord Jesus Christ bore our burden…sin.  The Lord calls us to things that are bigger than the world...things we can’t even imagine…things we can never really see ourselves doing.

 

The fight across the desert requires FORTITUDE…courage amidst pain. Satan uses people to slow our progress…especially those closest to us…but the Lord, through His Cross, provides us with the power to FORGIVE… Luke, Chapter 23, Verse 34…

 

LUKE 23:34  But Jesus was saying (as He hung from the Cross), “Father, forgive them… for they do not know what they are doing.”

 

The Cross drove a stake in Satan’s heart, in his strategy, and in his insidious evil plans to rob us of the resurrection life.  The things that slow our progress have to die.  Christ put them to death at the Cross.  We have merely to shed them…and to know that God will not let them succeed in our lives.  Romans, Chapter 6, Verses 1 to 4…

 

 

ROMANS 6:1 What shall we believers in Christ say then (face-to-face with these things)? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

 

ROMANS 6:2  May it never be! How shall we who died to the sovereignty of sin still live in it?

 

ROMANS 6:3  Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into union with Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

 

ROMANS 6:4  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might WALK IN NEWNESS OF THE RESURRECTION LIFE.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ gave us God the Holy Spirit to ensure that we EXPERIENCE our already accomplished victory.  Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 2…

 

ROMANS 8:2 For the law of God the Holy Spirit…the law of the resurrection life in union with Christ Jesus…has set you believers in Christ free from the law of sin and of death.

 

We are to experience this victory in the midst of our suffering in the desert.  God the Holy Spirit’s job is to deliver the Lord’s believers to The Promised Land…to the newness of the resurrection life.  Paul tells us our job in First Timothy, Chapter 6, Verse 12 is to…

 

FIRST TIMOTHY 6:12  Keep on fighting the good fight of faith (as we proceed across the desert)…take hold of the resurrection life to which you were called…

 

Fighting the good fight of faith requires us to forget about the mistakes of the past…to stop living life in the rear view mirror…Philippians, Chapter 3, Verses 13 and 14…

 

PHILIPPIANS 3:13 Brethren, I (Paul) do not regard myself as having laid hold of spiritual maturity yet…but one thing I do…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead…

 

PHILIPPIANS 3:14  …I press on toward the goal…for the prize of the upward call of God the Farther for those in union with Christ Jesus.

 

Our hope is in the windshield…straight ahead…and not in the rear view mirror.  God the Holy Spirit will do His job.  He will deliver us to The Promised Land.  And when we are there we will join Paul in this proclamation…Second Timothy, Chapter 4, Verse 7…

 

SECOND TIMOTHY 4:7  I have fought the good fight…I have finished the course…I have kept the faith…

 

When I look back at the Cross…and see Jesus hanging there…I see His vision for me…that I would have FAITH in Him…so that He could show me how to die to self…so that He could give me the FORTITUDE to have courage in the midst of pain…so that He could help me FORGIVE those who inflict the pain, especially those whom I let into my circle of trust…so that He could inspire in me a good FIGHT…so that I would accept the lifestyle He planned for me…a lifestyle that experiences Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 18…

 

EPHESIANS 1:18c …the glorious riches His inheritance in the saints…

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

Enjoying the Elements

 

Obeying God’s command, we keep on celebrating CHRIST and His Cross on a regular basis.  We eat to remember who He is as a PERSON.  We drink to remember His WORK on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made to deliver us.  We remember with gratitude what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done to save us.  Matthew, Chapter 26, Verses 26 to 28…

 

MATTHEW 26:26  While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take…eat…this is My body (which is being broken for you).”

 

MATTHEW 26:27  And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you…”

 

MATTHEW 26:28  “…for this is My blood…the blood of a new testament (a new covenant)… blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins.”

 

As you enjoy the bread and the cup, REMEMBER the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us keep on giving thanks that we are loved unconditionally and we are accepted fully by a Lord who is always there for us…the One on whom we depend.  Let’s keep on being transformed by His life…His death…His burial…His resurrection from the dead…and His Word.  

 

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, do you know who you really are as a result of your taking advantage of the Cross?  First Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 5 says…

 

FIRST PETER 2:5 ...you...as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood...

 

First Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 9 says…

 

FIRST PETER 2:9 …you are a chosen race…a royal priesthood…a holy nation…a people for God’s own possession…

 

Lauren Dagle suggests we believe everything that our magnificent God says in her song YOU SAY.

 

LORD’S SUPPER SONG

YOU SAY

Lauren Daigle

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU. 

 

Here are seven things for you to consider if you are seeking a relationship with God…

 

POINT 1

There is a God…He is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth

 

The first four words of the bible confirm His existence…Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1…

 

GENESIS 1:1a In the beginning, GOD…

 

God isn’t shy about telling you who He is…Joel, Chapter 2, Verse 27…

 

JOEL 2:27b I am the Lord your God, and there is no other God…

 

He is your Creator…John, Chapter 1, Verse 3…

 

JOHN 1:3 All things came into being through the Lord…God the Son…and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

 

POINT 2

God Reveals Himself in Ways that Make Sense to Human Beings

 

God wants you to know Him…He is not hiding from you…He is not mysterious or hard to get to know…Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 20…

 

ROMANS 1:20 For since the creation of the world the Lord’s invisible attributes, His eternal power and His divine nature, keep on being clearly seen by everyone…being understood even through what has been made (as reflected in the things of nature)…so that all mankind are without excuse (in the matter of knowing of the existence of the Lord).

 

POINT 3

God Has a Plan for All Mankind

 

God is organized, and He laid out His decisions in eternity past…Acts, Chapter 2, Verse 23 says the earth and the universe were created…

 

ACTS 2:23a …by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God the Father…

 

POINT 4

God Has a Personal Plan for You

 

God knows you intimately because He created you.  He custom made a life specifically for you.  Matthew, Chapter 10, Verse 30…

 

MATTHEW 10:30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

 

POINT 5

God Created You

 

You are one of God’s creatures and He had a purpose in mind when He created you.  Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 26…

 

GENESIS 1:26 Then God the Father said, “Let Us (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit) make man in Our image…according to Our likeness…”

 

POINT 6

You Owe God a Hearing

 

Since God created you, you at least owe him a hearing.  He has created in you a desire to know what is beyond yourself and what is beyond this life that is visible to you.  Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, Verse 11…

 

ECCLESIASTES 3:11a The Lord has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set a (desire for a) knowledge of eternity in everyone’s heart…

 

POINT 7

God Has an Enemy, SATAN, Who Does Not Want You to Know Him

 

Satan, the enemy of God, does everything he can to keep you ignorant about God.  Second Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 4…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:4 …the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…who is the image of God.

 

There is nothing more important for you than getting into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  John, Chapter 1, Verse 12…

 

JOHN 1:12  But whosoever received Him, to them the Lord Jesus Christ gave the right to become children of God the Father, even to those who believe in Jesus Christ’s name…

 

Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.” 

 

John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…

 

JOHN 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal 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 instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

 

Consider these things and then get to know the Lord…TODAY!  Do it now!

 

God doesn’t just talk about loving you…He shows you He loves you. Here’s June Murphy to sing about our God’s DEMONSTRATED LOVE.

 

CLOSING SONG

DEMONSTRATED LOVE

June Murphy

 

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

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