Romans 12:1-8
Right Thinking About Yourself Introduction: Our Scripture text today is Romans 12:1-8: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. {2} Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. {3} For…
Romans 12:9-21
Love Without Wax Introduction: Ray Stedman shares the story of a man who was passing a used bookstore when he spotted a volume in the window which caught his attention. The book was entitled, How to Hug. Feeling kind of lonely, he stepped inside to purchase the book. To his chagrin he discovered that it was Vol. 13 of a set of encyclopedias and covered the alphabet from H-O-W to H-U-G, “How to Hug.”[i] Could it be there’s an analogy to the Church in that…
Romans 13:1-7
Conscientious Christianity Introduction: Before making the move from the marketplace ministry into seminary and the pastoral ministry, my good friend Brad Harper had me speak to the elders. When I met with them, one of the elders asked me what has turned out to be a life-changing question. He asked, “Paul, if the elders would recommend that you not leave the marketplace and pursue theological education, what would you do?” Now I had spent about three years praying, evaluating, and planning to make that…
Romans 13:8-14
The Unpayable Debt Introduction: Our national debt stands right at five trillion dollars—about $17,500 for every man, woman, and child in the United States. To grasp just how much money this is, if you spent $5,000 every minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, you would have had to start when Jesus Christ lived on earth to spend $5 trillion by the end of this millennium. (Note added in 2022: our debt just surpassed $30 trillion!) Some economists and some politicians are…
Romans 14:1-12
Respecting One Another’s Lifestyle Choices Introduction: One of the greatest arguments for the validity of Christianity has always been its ability to bring together people from segments of society that would normally be estranged from one another. In Christ (the New Testament teaches), social, cultural, economic, and gender barriers are broken down. The tangible evidence of this is the local church, which operates on the basis of mutual love between those whose only common denominator may be their relationship to Jesus Christ…
Romans 14:13-23
Liberty Limited by Love Introduction: Let’s begin this morning by reading our Scripture text, Romans 14:13-23. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. {14} As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. {15} If your brother is…
Romans 15:1-13
The Imitation of Christ Introduction: This is Advent Season. The normal thing we do on these Sundays before Christmas is to interrupt whatever series we are on and turn to some aspect of the birth of Christ for our themes. Especially would that seem appropriate when our last several messages in the Book of Romans have been on the very un-Christmas-y topic of what to do when other Christians disagree with us regarding our lifestyle choices. Yet as I studied the first half…
Romans 15:14-16
The State of the Church Introduction: Four years ago today I preached a sermon with an identical title to today’s. I opened with these words: In a few weeks President Bush will be addressing Congress and the Nation with his annual State of the Union message. In it he will undoubtedly stress his accomplishments over the past year, take credit for winning the Gulf War and for helping to end the Cold War, acknowledge some of the problems facing us, suggest a few…
Romans 15:14-33
The Ministering Mentality Introduction: I grew up in the Roman Catholic church. There are three inevitable things about your life if you grew up as a Catholic boy in St. Louis. The first thing is you went to mass every day. The second is you served mostaccioli at your wedding reception. And third, you played soccer. Until the 1980’s, about the only people playing soccer in America were Catholic school boys in St. Louis. In the summer after fifth grade, I went to a soccer camp…
Romans 16:1-16
Brothers and Sisters in Christ Introduction: A pastor I know wrote the following: A special blessing in my life over the past four years has been getting to know a friend who is a medical doctor. He has a fascinating story about how he came to Christ. After suffering through two disastrous marriages and divorces, he went on a search for meaning and purpose in his life. He decided to volunteer one day a week to work in an AIDS clinic in San Francisco. There…
Romans 16:17-20, 25-27
How to Handle Trouble in the Church Introduction: Listen to the Word of the Lord, as found in Romans 16:17-20 and 25-27: I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. {18} For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. {19} Everyone…
1 Peter 1:1-12
Don’t Just Hang in There; Stand Firm! Introduction: Persecution of the church in our country does not usually consist ot direct attacks on our places of worship or our teachings but rather indirect attacks on the moral and social issues that are inherent to our faith. Ten days ago the city of Philadelphia joined four states (Mass., Illinois, Calif, and I believe Connecticut) in denying Catholic Social Services (and any other adoption agency, like the evangelical Bethany Christian Services) from placing children…