LHC Midday Word

Friday, 26 November 2021

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS - Chapter Twelve

A living sacrifice

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform 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.

Humble service in the body of Christ

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Love in action

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.

11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

Romans 12: “zeal” (v.11)

Isn’t it a fact that firebrand Christians can be very off-putting? We can get embarrassed at the way they behave, wishing they didn’t act so brashly.

Such ‘fire’ can be inappropriate. When Paul wrote “never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord” (v.11), what did he mean? Does “fervour” require us to be loud and excitable, bombarding victims with a string of Bible texts, interspersed with ‘Hallelujahs’?

Shouldn’t it rather be controlled passion like Christ exhibited, with his goal to win minds and hearts? Will it help or hinder our real purpose if we appear fanatical?

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READING

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS

Chapter Twelve

Read by David Suchet

===

OVERVIEW

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS

Chapter 1 to 4

Overview

(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/ej_6dVdJSIU

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS

Chapter 5 to 16

Overview

https://youtu.be/0SVTl4Xa5fY

===

SERMONS

Romans 12: 1-8

Everyone with a Gift

Timothy Keller

Romans 12:2

Do Not Be Conformed to This World

John Piper

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STUDIES

Romans 1-4 "The Bible in 5”

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/Ng0FZNnmJVo

Romans 5-16 "The Bible in 5"

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/Pk1h-lqW6eA

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Romans part1

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/OpXQbCnMWgA

Romans part2

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/TiCXzATXLmo

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Thursday, 25 November 2021

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS - Chapter Eleven

The remnant of Israel

1 I ask then: did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah – how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me’? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:

‘God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that could not see

and ears that could not hear,

to this very day.’

9 And David says:

‘May their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling-block and a retribution for them.

May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,

and their backs be bent for ever.’

Ingrafted branches

11 Again I ask: did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

All Israel will be saved

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

‘The deliverer will come from Zion;

he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

And this is my covenant with them

when I take away their sins.’

28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.

32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Doxology

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom

and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,

and his paths beyond tracing out!

‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counsellor?’

‘Who has ever given to God,

that God should repay them?’

For from him and through him and for him are all things.

To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

Romans 11: “reject?” (v.1)

Paul asks a blunt question, “did God reject his people?” (v.1). A misguided opinion about the Jews is that they slew Christ, and so God ‘cut them dead’. Not so by any stretch of the imagination.The Lord is bigger than such a mean tit-for-tat.

Paul says

[1] “I am an Israelite myself” (v.1), so the idea of a blanket rejection is absurd;

[2] even Elijah had felt “I am the only one left” (v.3) but God corrected him, “I have reserved … 7000” (v.4);

[3] God will reverse history as Jews are “grafted into their own olive tree” (v.24);

[4] “all Israel will be saved” (v.26) when that reversal occurs. All Jews for Jesus!

-=-=-=-=-

READING

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS

Chapter Eleven

Read by David Suchet

===

OVERVIEW

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS

Chapter 1 to 4

Overview

(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/ej_6dVdJSIU

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS

Chapter 5 to 16

Overview

https://youtu.be/0SVTl4Xa5fY

===

Romans 11

All Israel Will Be Saved

John Piper

STUDIES

Romans 1-4 "The Bible in 5”

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/Ng0FZNnmJVo

Romans 5-16 "The Bible in 5"

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/Pk1h-lqW6eA

-=-=-=-=-=-

Romans part1

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/OpXQbCnMWgA

Romans part2

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/TiCXzATXLmo

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Wednesday, 24 November 2021

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS - Chapter Ten

1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

5 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: ‘The person who does these things will live by them.’ 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?”’ (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 ‘or “Who will descend into the deep?”’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’

12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. 18 But I ask: did they not hear? Of course they did:

‘Their voice has gone out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.’

19 Again I ask: did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

‘I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;

I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.’

20 And Isaiah boldly says,

‘I was found by those who did not seek me;

I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.’

21 But concerning Israel he says,

‘All day long I have held out my hands

to a disobedient and obstinate people.’

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

Romans 10: “prayer” (v.1)

How does one handle rejection and hurt? What do you do with your unfulfilled “heart’s desire” (v.1)? Sigh? And say “ah, well …”? And slump down in sad resignation? Paul translated his longing for the salvation of his whole nation Israel, with their generalised rejection of Jesus, into a positive action of “prayer to God” (v.1).

Praying isn’t just a shot in the dark, hit and hope, give it a try, thinking ‘maybe it’ll work, you never know’.

It will

(A) calm you down – you’re in a stew, and need that;
(B) make you view things more positively;

-=-=-=-=-

READING

The Letter of PAUL to The ROMANS

Chapter Ten

Read by David Suchet