This week, I had no idea how many people would come, if any. I knew that two girls from the Grace College School of Music really wanted to come, but I didn’t know if they’d really make it. After all, we’re meeting at 8:00 am on Friday mornings. It’s not exactly the most popular time of the day. Only one Grace student came, but Jennifer and my roommate, Christi, and I were all there.
I kept putting off getting the lesson together until the night before, but it turned out alright. The Lord really was faithful to reveal insights into His Word. You know, He’s funny like that. I don’t know about anyone else, but I often feel guilty when I put things off. For some reason, I feel like the Lord should punish me for my procrastination. Instead, He desires so much to be known that He is faithful to show me truth about Himself no matter when I seek Him. Isn’t that encouraging? We shouldn’t be afraid of being too late to get to know God or too late to learn from His Word. His desire is always that we will know Him and give Him glory. Therefore, He will honor our search for Him whenever we come to Him.
This week we went through Romans 1:1-17. In preparation, I read through this section several times and came up with a pool of questions that could be asked about the text and its implications. I followed the format Jennifer used last year in the Images series with an Exposition, Development, and Recapitulation. Using that format, I made handouts and placed some of the questions from the pool into the appropriate sections. I also chose what I thought were they key verses and highlighted them: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The Just shall live by faith’ (Rom. 1:16-17). I found a great quote in Compton’s Interactive Study Bible NIVthat said when Martin Luther read those particular verses (16-17), he finally understood the phrase “righteousness from God.” And he said, “I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning… This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven.”
Looking back on our discussion and thinking of group dynamics and flow of material, I think things ran pretty well. I wish we had gotten to the meatier section of the passage a little bit sooner. The Grace College student, Jen, had to leave early and missed the best part of the discussion. I think I need to learn to be more flexible. Just because I planned out all the questions, doesn’t mean we have to cover every single question and be rigid about it. Also, some topics that come up are rightly more important than others, and deserve more time.
So, what did we learn? Lots of good stuff (technical term, you know). =) Let me see, that was four weeks ago now, but if I remember right, we learned how Paul was a great encourager and how he was humble. He encouraged the Romans, whom He’d never met, by writing to them and praising them, saying that He’d heard far and wide of their faith. He also encouraged them by promising to come visit and He told them that He prayed for them often. He greeted them with blessings from the Father of grace and peace. He called the Romans “beloved of God, called to be saints.” Wouldn’t that encourage you to receive a letter from someone saying you’re a beloved child of God, called to sainthood. Yeah, me too, especially from someone as well known as Paul. Speaking of how well known He was, I love that He wasn’t prideful about His own status as a follower of Christ. He was humble. He even said that He was coming to them not just to encourage them, but to be mutually encouraged by their mutual faith. He expected not simply to give, but to receive. We talked in our group about how they weren’t encouraged by good works and kind acts. He didn’t say that they could encourage one another with food and fellowship, but by mutual faith. And isn’t it true that one person’s faith increases the faith in another person when they share and swap stories of God’s faithfulness? What else did we learn? We learned that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation and because of that, we ought not be ashamed of it. You know, I feel so privileged to work with all you Bible Study leaders, because you are spreading the Gospel. And the Gospel is not some dull story written years ago. It’s alive today. It is the saving power of God. It’s life to those who receive it. It’s exciting! I hope you’re all excited too. Think about what it is you’re sharing with the world. It’s hope, life, joy, forgiveness, love, and the redemptive power of an awesome living God.
Posted by cpafbiblestudy 
Posted by cpafbiblestudy 
Posted by cpafbiblestudy 
