The gospel message is good news, but many people have questions about it. Is God's character trustworthy? Is He really faithful in all things? The beauty of the gospel is in its ability to have satisfying answers to tough questions, even the questions asked with bad intentions.
We've all had times when we've done the "right" thing for the wrong reasons. A life transformed by Jesus isn't just about doing the right things. It's a transformation of the heart. If our heart isn't in the work that we do, then we can quickly fall into the trap of hypocrisy.
God's law provides a clear standard to live by, and yet our sin nature means no one will be able to live it out perfectly. Some pride themselves on how well they can "follow the rules," while others try to claim the law is outdated and irrelevant in light of God's grace. So what is the purpose of God's law?
We can all fall easily into the trap of pointing out the wrongdoing of others while completely ignoring our own. When we believe that our obedience to a set of religious rules will somehow give us better standing with God than the people around us, we forget the central message of the gospel: only through the saving grace of Jesus Christ can we be made right with God. The religious and the rebellious both need Jesus.
When our worship turns away from God and goes instead toward the worship of pleasure, our culture's decline is inevitable. The final verses of Romans 1 follow the progression of what happens when a people reject God's design for relationships and make their own desires their primary focus. And even though our culture seems hopelessly lost, we must never lose sight of God's ability to transform lives through the power of Jesus Christ and the hope of the gospel.
God's wrath isn't a comfortable subject, and yet we all have a desire to see evil confronted when it affects us or the people we love. When mankind rejects God's design for life, the consequence is disorder, confusion and the destruction of truth. Everyone needs to make a choice: will we accept God as the authority in our lives, or will we try to make ourselves the authority instead?
The gospel is good, life-changing news for everyone, everywhere - so why don't we share it with more people? In a culture that continues to drift further from biblical truth, we can find ourselves hesitant to have Christ-centered conversations for fear of rejection. How do we remain unashamed of the gospel and stay on mission to share it?
The good news of the gospel is for everyone, everywhere. If we've been transformed and set free by the power of Jesus Christ, our priority should be to share that news with everyone we know. The Apostle Paul's burden was to encourage the people of Rome. With whom has God given you a burden to share the gospel?
The gospel is good news for everyone, everywhere, for all time. As his letter begins, the Apostle Paul adopts the attitude of a servant and invites us to join him on the mission to share the good news about Jesus Christ with the world.
What does it mean to serve like Jesus? We often see serving as a task to be checked off our list, but Jesus models serving as a lifestyle. As Jesus gave his life in service of others, his call to us is to do the same. Every moment we have on this earth is an opportunity to live a lifestyle of service.
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