Imitating Christ

Philippians 2

¹Does your life in Christ give you strength? Does his love comfort you? Do
we share together in the spirit? Do you have mercy and kindness? ²If so, make
me very happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and having
one mind and purpose. ³When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be
your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves.
⁴Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of
others.

Be Unselfish like Christ

⁵In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.

⁶Christ himself was like God in everything.

But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for
his own benefit.

⁷But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing.

He was born to be a man

and became like a servant.

⁸And when he was living as a man,

he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God,

even when that caused his death—death on a cross.

⁹So God raised him to the highest place.

God made his name greater than every other name

¹⁰so that every knee will bow to the name of Jesus—

everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.

¹¹And everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord

and bring glory to God the Father.

Be the People God Wants You to Be

¹²My dear friends, you have always obeyed God when I was with you. It is
even more important that you obey now while I am away from you. Keep on
working to complete your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³because God is
working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases him.

¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing. ¹⁵Then you will be innocent
and without any wrong. You will be God’s children without fault. But you are
living with crooked and mean people all around you, among whom you shine like
stars in the dark world. ¹⁶You offer the teaching that gives life. So when Christ
comes again, I can be happy because my work was not wasted. I ran the race and
won.

¹⁷Your faith makes you offer your lives as a sacrifice in serving God. If I
have to offer my own blood with your sacrifice, I will be happy and full of joy
with all of you. ¹⁸You also should be happy and full of joy with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. I will be happy to
learn how you are. ²⁰I have no one else like Timothy, who truly cares for you.
²¹Other people are interested only in their own lives, not in the work of Jesus
Christ. ²²You know the kind of person Timothy is. You know he has served with
me in telling the Good News, as a son serves his father. ²³I plan to send him to
you quickly when I know what will happen to me. ²⁴I am sure that the Lord will
help me to come to you soon.

²⁵Epaphroditus, my brother in Christ, works and serves with me in the army
of Christ. When I needed help, you sent him to me. I think now that I must send
him back to you, ²⁶because he wants very much to see all of you. He is worried
because you heard that he was sick. ²⁷Yes, he was sick, and nearly died, but God
had mercy on him and me too so that I would not have more sadness. ²⁸I want
very much to send him to you so that when you see him you can be happy, and I
can stop worrying about you. ²⁹Welcome him in the Lord with much joy. Give
honor to people like him, ³⁰because he almost died for the work of Christ. He
risked his life to give me the help you could not give in your service to me.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Paul pointed to Jesus as the ultimate example of servanthood and selflessness.

OBSERVATION

Imitate Jesus Christ, the humble servant of God. Jesus gave up his rights so that we could be saved.

INSPIRATION

Jesus deliberately stripped Himself of everything-His divine rights and privileges-and crossed the unthinkable chasm between God and man.

Try to imagine the span of that chasm.... The unlimited God became limited man.... Jesus Christ is God.

. . . From the world's viewpoint, Jesus had descended as low as a man-to say nothing of God-could go.

But there was one more downward step, in heaven's eyes the deepest descent of all: from sinless to sin stained . . . . Truly, He could go no lower.

... He knowingly and actively embraced a life of giving, serving, losing, and dying.

What was, and is, really hard for Jesus' followers to swallow is that we are called to do the same. To make ourselves nothing.... We must believe that as painful as it sometimes feels, descending is the only way to greatness.... Jesus obeyed for the sake of love.

And we, His followers and the recipients of His love, are called to do the same. When asked about the two greatest commands, Jesus replied: to love God and to love others. That is what motivated Jesus, and that is what is to motivate us. (From Descending into Greatness by Bill Hybels)

APPLICATION

God views service and humility as strengths, not weaknesses. What steps in your relationships can you take to show greater humility? How can you expand your service to others?

EXPLORATION

Humility of Jesus -- Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 11:29; John 13:5; 2 Corinthians 8:9.

Paul's Summary of His Mission

Paul’s Work in Telling the Good News

Ephesians 3

¹So I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you who are not Jews. ²Surely
you have heard that God gave me this work through his grace to help you. ³He let
me know his secret by showing it to me. I have already written a little about this.
⁴If you read what I wrote then, you can see that I truly understand the secret
about the Christ. ⁵People who lived in other times were not told that secret. But
now, through the Spirit, God has shown that secret to his holy apostles and
prophets. ⁶This is that secret: that through the Good News those who are not Jews
will share with the Jews in God’s blessing. They belong to the same body, and
they share together in the promise that God made in Christ Jesus.

⁷By God’s special gift of grace given to me through his power, I became a
servant to tell that Good News. ⁸I am the least important of all God’s people, but
God gave me this gift—to tell those who are not Jews the Good News about the
riches of Christ, which are too great to understand fully. ⁹And God gave me the
work of telling all people about the plan for his secret, which has been hidden in
him since the beginning of time. He is the One who created everything. ¹⁰His
purpose was that through the church all the rulers and powers in the heavenly
world will now know God’s wisdom, which has so many forms. ¹¹This agrees
with the purpose God had since the beginning of time, and he carried out his plan
through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²In Christ we can come before God with freedom
and without fear. We can do this through faith in Christ. ¹³So I ask you not to
become discouraged because of the sufferings I am having for you. My sufferings
are for your glory.

The Love of Christ

¹⁴So I bow in prayer before the Father ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven
and on earth gets its true name. ¹⁶I ask the Father in his great glory to give you
the power to be strong inwardly through his Spirit. ¹⁷I pray that Christ will live in
your hearts by faith and that your life will be strong in love and be built on love.
¹⁸And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to
understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide and how long and how high
and how deep that love is. ¹⁹Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know,
but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the
fullness of God.

²⁰With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than
anything we can ask or imagine. ²¹To him be glory in the church and in Christ
Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Paul told the Ephesians his goals for them. He shared his prayer for their growth in insight and strength.

OBSERVATION

Although God's love for us cannot be measured by any comprehensible standards, God wants us to know this ocean of love.

INSPIRATION

The promises of God's love and forgiveness are as real, as sure, as positive as human words can make them. But like describing the ocean, its total beauty cannot be understood until it is actually seen. It is the same with God's love. Until you actually accept it, until you actually experience it, until you actually possess true peace with God, no one can describe its wonders to you.

It is not something that you can do with your mind. Your finite mind is not capable of dealing with anything as great as the love of God. Your mind might have difficulty explaining how a black cow can eat green grass and give white milk-but you drink the milk and are nourished by it. Your mind can't reason through all the intricate processes that take place when you plant a small flat seed that produces a huge vine bearing luscious red and green watermelons but you eat them and enjoy them! You can't understand radio, but you listen. Your mind can't explain the electricity that may be creating the light by which you are reading at this very moment-but you know that it's there and that it is making it possible for you to read! (From Peace with God by Billy Graham)

APPLICATION

Learn to see God's love for you in the details of daily life. Read 1 John and get a firmer grasp on understanding God's love.

EXPLORATION

God's Love -- Psalm 6:4; John 3:16; 15:12; Romans 5:8; 8:35-37; 1 John 3:1.

Freedom in Christ

Keep Your Freedom

Galatians 5

¹We have freedom now, because Christ made us free. So stand strong. Do not
change and go back into the slavery of the law. ²Listen, I Paul tell you that if you
go back to the law by being circumcised, Christ does you no good. ³Again, I
warn every man: If you allow yourselves to be circumcised, you must follow all
the law. ⁴If you try to be made right with God through the law, your life with
Christ is over—you have left God’s grace. ⁵But we have the true hope that comes
from being made right with God, and by the Spirit we wait eagerly for this hope.
⁶When we are in Christ Jesus, it is not important if we are circumcised or not.
The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.

⁷You were running a good race. Who stopped you from following the true
way? ⁸This change did not come from the One who chose you. ⁹Be careful! “Just
a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” ¹⁰But I trust in the Lord that
you will not believe those different ideas. Whoever is confusing you with such
ideas will be punished.

¹¹My brothers and sisters, I do not teach that a man must be circumcised. If I
teach circumcision, why am I still being attacked? If I still taught circumcision,
my preaching about the cross would not be a problem. ¹²I wish the people who
are bothering you would castrate themselves!

¹³My brothers and sisters, God called you to be free, but do not use your
freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful self. Serve each other with
love. ¹⁴The whole law is made complete in this one command: “Love your
neighbor as you love yourself.” ¹⁵If you go on hurting each other and tearing
each other apart, be careful, or you will completely destroy each other.

The Spirit and Human Nature

¹⁶So I tell you: Live by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your
sinful selves want. ¹⁷Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the
Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so
you cannot do just what you please. ¹⁸But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not
under the law.

¹⁹The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful,
not being pure, taking part in sexual sins, ²⁰worshiping gods, doing witchcraft,
hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people
angry with each other, causing divisions among people, ²¹feeling envy, being
drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn
you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit
God’s kingdom. ²²But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. There is no law that
says these things are wrong. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified
their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil
things they wanted to do. ²⁵We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should
follow the Spirit. ²⁶We must not be proud or make trouble with each other or be
jealous of each other.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Christians in Galatia faced a problem. Should they embrace the Jewish Law? Paul emphasized the importance of faith and warned about the danger of emphasizing law above faith.

OBSERVATION

Paul taught that if you begin to keep the Law, you are obligated to keep all of it. Instead, Christians ought to trust Jesus who makes them righteous.

INSPIRATION

The way we live, the things we say, the attitudes we entertain, the lifestyle we adopt, the enterprises in which we engage are all continuously producing either positive or negative results in society. Far too many people assume they can adopt a neutral stance. They feel they can be noncommittal. They try to remain detached, uninvolved with the trauma, turmoil and tension of their times.

Again and again Jesus pointed out that this was impossible. "Either you are for me, or against me," He said. "You cannot serve two masters at once. Either you hate one and love the other or vice-versa ...'

We live in an atmosphere of antagonism, an environment of enmity. Yet amid such adversity Christ calls us to produce peace.

This peace is love quietly, strongly, persistently meeting every onslaught against it with good will. It is that inner attitude of tranquility and tolerance in the face of angry attacks. It is the willingness to accept the assaults of others even at the price of personal humiliation. It implies that even though my enemies and detractors may be at war with me, I can be at peace with them. (From Salt for Society by Phillip Keller)

APPLICATION

How do you exhibit your faith? Do you hurry out the door after church on Sundays? Or, do you take the time to greet and listen to the concerns of others? Next Sunday, stay and listen. Remember that listening begins to help those in need.

EXPLORATION Faith - Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 13:2; James 2:14.

Thoughts on the Afterlife

The Good News About Christ

1 Corinthians 15

¹Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I brought
to you. You received this Good News and continue strong in it. ²And you are
being saved by it if you continue believing what I told you. If you do not, then
you believed for nothing.

³I passed on to you what I received, of which this was most important: that
Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; ⁴that he was buried and was raised
to life on the third day as the Scriptures say; ⁵and that he was seen by Peter and
then by the twelve apostles. ⁶After that, Jesus was seen by more than five
hundred of the believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but
some have died. ⁷Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. ⁸Last
of all he was seen by me—as by a person not born at the normal time. ⁹All the
other apostles are greater than I am. I am not even good enough to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But God’s grace has made me
what I am, and his grace to me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other
apostles. (But it was not I really; it was God’s grace that was with me.) ¹¹So if I
preached to you or the other apostles preached to you, we all preach the same
thing, and this is what you believed.

We Will Be Raised from the Dead

¹²Now since we preached that Christ was raised from the dead, why do some
of you say that people will not be raised from the dead? ¹³If no one is ever raised
from the dead, then Christ has not been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been
raised, then our preaching is worth nothing, and your faith is worth nothing.
¹⁵And also, we are guilty of lying about God, because we testified of him that he
raised Christ from the dead. But if people are not raised from the dead, then God
never raised Christ. ¹⁶If the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised either.
¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith has nothing to it; you are still
guilty of your sins. ¹⁸And those in Christ who have already died are lost. ¹⁹If our
hope in Christ is for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone else in
the world.

²⁰But Christ has truly been raised from the dead—the first one and proof that
those who sleep in death will also be raised. ²¹Death has come because of what
one man did, but the rising from death also comes because of one man. ²²In
Adam all of us die. In the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again.
²³But everyone will be raised to life in the right order. Christ was first to be
raised. When Christ comes again, those who belong to him will be raised to life,
²⁴and then the end will come. At that time Christ will destroy all rulers,
authorities, and powers, and he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father.
²⁵Christ must rule until he puts all enemies under his control. ²⁶The last enemy to
be destroyed will be death. ²⁷The Scripture says that God put all things under his
control. When it says “all things” are under him, it is clear this does not include
God himself. God is the One who put everything under his control. ²⁸After
everything has been put under the Son, then he will put himself under God, who
had put all things under him. Then God will be the complete ruler over
everything.

²⁹If the dead are never raised, what will people do who are being baptized for
the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people being baptized for
them?

³⁰And what about us? Why do we put ourselves in danger every hour? ³¹I die
every day. That is true, brothers and sisters, just as it is true that I brag about you
in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³²If I fought wild animals in Ephesus only with human
hopes, I have gained nothing. If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink,
because tomorrow we will die.”

³³Do not be fooled: “Bad friends will ruin good habits.” ³⁴Come back to your
right way of thinking and stop sinning. Some of you do not know God—I say this
to shame you.

What Kind of Body Will We Have?

³⁵But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will
they have?” ³⁶Foolish person! When you sow a seed, it must die in the ground
before it can live and grow. ³⁷And when you sow it, it does not have the same
“body” it will have later. What you sow is only a bare seed, maybe wheat or
something else. ³⁸But God gives it a body that he has planned for it, and God
gives each kind of seed its own body. ³⁹All things made of flesh are not the same:
People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds have another, and fish
have another. ⁴⁰Also there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the beauty
of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the beauty of the earthly bodies is
another. ⁴¹The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon has another beauty, and the
stars have another. And each star is different in its beauty.

⁴²It is the same with the dead who are raised to life. The body that is
“planted” will ruin and decay, but it is raised to a life that cannot be destroyed.
⁴³When the body is “planted,” it is without honor, but it is raised in glory. When
the body is “planted,” it is weak, but when it is raised, it is powerful. ⁴⁴The body
that is “planted” is a physical body. When it is raised, it is a spiritual body.

There is a physical body, and there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵It is written in
the Scriptures: “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”But the last
Adam became a spirit that gives life. ⁴⁶The spiritual did not come first, but the
physical and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man came from the dust of the earth.
The second man came from heaven. ⁴⁸People who belong to the earth are like the
first man of earth. But those people who belong to heaven are like the man of
heaven. ⁴⁹Just as we were made like the man of earth, so we will also be made
like the man of heaven.

⁵⁰I tell you this, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot have a part in the
kingdom of God. Something that will ruin cannot have a part in something that
never ruins. ⁵¹But look! I tell you this secret: We will not all sleep in death, but
we will all be changed. ⁵²It will take only a second—as quickly as an eye blinks—
when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet will sound, and those who have died
will be raised to live forever, and we will all be changed. ⁵³This body that can be
destroyed must clothe itself with something that can never be destroyed. And this
body that dies must clothe itself with something that can never die. ⁵⁴So this body
that can be destroyed will clothe itself with that which can never be destroyed,
and this body that dies will clothe itself with that which can never die. When this
happens, this Scripture will be made true:

“Death is destroyed forever in victory.”

Isaiah 25:8

⁵⁵“Death, where is your victory?

Death, where is your pain?”

Hosea 13:14

⁵⁶Death’s power to hurt is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But we thank
God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸So my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Do not let anything change
you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know
that your work in the Lord is never wasted.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Because of their culture, the Corinthians did not believe in the resurrection. Instead, they thought only the soul would rise from the dead, leaving behind the body.

OBSERVATION

Because Jesus rose from the dead, we have hope, salvation, victory, and purpose. We can be confident in faith and diligent in work for him.

INSPIRATION

A sudden breeze, surprisingly warm, whistles through the leaves scattering dust from the lifeless form. And with the breath of fresh air comes the difference. Winging on the warm wind is his image. Laughter is laid in the sculpted cheeks. A reservoir of tears is stored in the soul. A sprinkling of twinkle for the eyes. Poetry for the spirit. Logic. Loyalty. Like leaves on an autumn breeze, they float and land and are absorbed. His gifts become a part of him.



His Majesty smiles at his image. "It is good."

The eyes open.

Oneness. Creator and created walking on the river bank. Laughter. Purity. Innocent joy. Life unending.

Then the tree.

The struggle. The snake.

The lie. The enticement. Heart torn, lured. Soul drawn to pleasure, to independence, to importance. Inner agony. Whose will?

The choice. Death of innocence. Entrance of death. The fall.

Tearstains mingling with fruit-stains....

[Then,] The Quest.

"Abram, you will father a nation! And Abram-tell the people I love them."

"Moses, you will deliver my people! And Moses-tell the people I love them."

"Joshua, you will lead the chosen ones! And Joshua tell the people I love them."

"David, you will reign over the people! And David-tell the people I love them."

"Jeremiah, you will bear tidings of bondage! But Jeremiah, remind my children, remind my children that I love them.”...

. . . God watching, never turning, ever loving, ever yearning for the Garden again....

[Finally,] Empty throne. Spirit descending. Hushed angels.

A girl ... a womb ... an egg.

The same Divine Artist again forms a body. This time his own. Fleshly divinity. Skin layered on spirit. Omnipotence with hair. Toenails. Knuckles. Molars. Kneecaps. Once again he walks with man. Yet the Garden is now thorny. Thorns that cut, thorns that poison, thorns that remain lodged, leaving bitter wounds. Disharmony. Sickness. Betrayal. Fear. Guilt....

And once again, a tree. Once again the struggle.

The snake. The enticement. Heart torn, lured. Once again the question, "Whose will?"

Then the choice. Tearstains mingle with bloodstains. Relationship restored. Bridge erected.

Once again he smiles “It is good.”

“For just as death came by the means of a man, in the same way the rising from death comes by means of a man. For just as all people die because of their union with Adam, in the same way all will be raised. To life because of their union with Christ” (1 Corinthians 15: 21-22, TEV). (From God Came Near by Max Lucado).

APPLICATION

Be confident today in your faith because of what Jesus has done. He broke the power of death so hat you might have eternal life with him.

EXPLORATION

Confidence - John 6:40; 11:25; Romans 1:16; Galatians 5:1; 6:9; Philippians 1:6; 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Hebrews 4:16; 11:1; 1 John 2:28.

Paul's Description of Love



1 Corinthians 13

¹I may speak in different languages of people or even angels. But if I do not
have love, I am only a noisy bell or a crashing cymbal. ²I may have the gift of
prophecy. I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge,
and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these
things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing. ³I may give away everything I
have, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain
nothing if I do not have love.

⁴Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not
proud. ⁵Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love
does not count up wrongs that have been done. ⁶Love is not happy with evil but
is happy with the truth. ⁷Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always
hopes, and always remains strong.

⁸Love never ends. There are gifts of prophecy, but they will be ended. There
are gifts of speaking in different languages, but those gifts will stop. There is the
gift of knowledge, but it will come to an end. ⁹The reason is that our knowledge
and our ability to prophesy are not perfect. ¹⁰But when perfection comes, the
things that are not perfect will end. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I
thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I stopped
those childish ways. ¹²It is the same with us. Now we see a dim reflection, as if
we were looking into a mirror, but then we shall see clearly. Now I know only a
part, but then I will know fully, as God has known me. ¹³So these three things
continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

The Corinthians compared spiritual gifts and ministries. They rated a person's value to the church by that person's gifts.

OBSERVATION

All spiritual gifts are equally valuable to the church. But love is even greater than all of them combined.

INSPIRATION

Paul used the metaphor of the body to illustrate the interdependence of individual Christians (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). When one part of our physical body suffers, the other parts suffer; when one part accomplishes its duty, it is always a cooperative effort...

This interdependence results in a cooperative concern for the various parts of the body.... Similarly, we as Christians are connected in Christ. When one Christian fails, we share his failure and care for his needs. When he is restored to fellowship, we rejoice with him.

We can't afford to believe that it doesn't matter whether we are actively involved in the struggles against the world or whether we are drifting aimlessly with the tide. When we lose our passion for the church (Christ's Body) and are preoccupied with our own concerns, our witness will be submerged. We will drown in the icy waters of indifference....

The same is true in the local church. A church preoccupied with its own differences or torn by schism is a good candidate for ultimate oblivion....

Differences must be held without bitterness, self-righteousness, and pride. In this way, a church can work out its differences and exercise discipline without diminishing its impact on the world. (From How in the World Can I Be Holy? by Erwin W. Lutzer)

APPLICATION

Teamwork is important, whether on the job or in a ministry. How are you doing as a team player? Are you using your spiritual gifts as well as you can? (If you're not sure about your gift, ask the Lord what contribution you can make.)

EXPLORATION

Harmony of Believers - Leviticus 19:18; Psalm 133:1; Romans 15:5-7; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Philippians 2:1-2; 1 Peter 3:8.

Life in the Spirit

Be Ruled by the Spirit

Romans 8

¹So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty. ²Through Christ
Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made me free from the law that brings
sin and death. ³The law was without power, because the law was made weak by
our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son to
earth with the same human life that others use for sin. By sending his Son to be
an offering to pay for sin, God used a human life to destroy sin. ⁴He did this so
that we could be the kind of people the law correctly wants us to be. Now we do
not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit.

⁵Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that
their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking
about the things the Spirit wants them to do. ⁶If people’s thinking is controlled by
the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there
is life and peace. ⁷When people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, they
are against God, because they refuse to obey God’s law and really are not even
able to obey God’s law. ⁸Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot
please God.

⁹But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if
that Spirit of God really lives in you. But the person who does not have the Spirit
of Christ does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰Your body will always be dead because of
sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made
you right with God. ¹¹God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God’s Spirit is
living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who
raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through his Spirit that lives in
you.

¹²So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves or live
the way our sinful selves want. ¹³If you use your lives to do the wrong things
your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to
stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.

¹⁴The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them. ¹⁵The
Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of
God. With that Spirit we cry out, “Father.” ¹⁶And the Spirit himself joins with
our spirits to say we are God’s children. ¹⁷If we are God’s children, we will
receive blessings from God together with Christ. But we must suffer as Christ
suffered so that we will have glory as Christ has glory.

Our Future Glory

¹⁸The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that
will be shown to us. ¹⁹Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God
to show his children’s glory completely. ²⁰Everything God made was changed to
become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it and because all
along there was this hope: ²¹that everything God made would be set free from
ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.

²²We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain, like
a woman ready to give birth. ²³Not only the world, but we also have been waiting
with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we
are waiting for God to finish making us his own children, which means our
bodies will be made free. ²⁴We were saved, and we have this hope. If we see
what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People do not hope for something
they already have. ²⁵But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we
are waiting for it patiently.

²⁶Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as
we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with
deep feelings that words cannot explain. ²⁷God can see what is in people’s hearts.
And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God
for his people in the way God wants.

²⁸We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him.
They are the people he called, because that was his plan. ²⁹God knew them before
he made the world, and he decided that they would be like his Son so that Jesus
would be the firstborn of many brothers. ³⁰God planned for them to be like his
Son; and those he planned to be like his Son, he also called; and those he called,
he also made right with him; and those he made right, he also glorified.

God’s Love in Christ Jesus

³¹So what should we say about this? If God is with us, no one can defeat us.
³²He did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all. So with Jesus, God will
surely give us all things. ³³Who can accuse the people God has chosen? No one,
because God is the One who makes them right. ³⁴Who can say God’s people are
guilty? No one, because Christ Jesus died, but he was also raised from the dead,
and now he is on God’s right side, begging God for us. ³⁵Can anything separate
us from the love Christ has for us? Can troubles or problems or sufferings or
hunger or nakedness or danger or violent death? ³⁶As it is written in the
Scriptures:

“For you we are in danger of death all the time.

People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.”

Psalm 44:22

³⁷But in all these things we have full victory through God who showed his
love for us. ³⁸Yes, I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor ruling
spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, ³⁹nothing above us,
nothing below us, nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Although Christians still struggle with sin, the threat of judgment for their sin was removed at the Cross.

OBSERVATION

This great chapter begins with no condemnation and ends with no separation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

INSPIRATION

Why does a mother love her newborn? Because the baby is hers? Even more. Because the baby is her. Her blood. Her flesh. Her sinew and spine. Her hope. Her legacy. It bothers her not that the baby gives nothing. She knows a newborn is helpless, weak. She knows babies don't ask to come into this world.



And God knows we didn't either.

We are his idea. We are his.

His face. His eyes. His hands. His touch. We are him. Look deeply into the face of every human being on earth, and you will see his likeness. Though some appear to be distant relatives, they are not. God has no cousins, only children.

We are, incredibly, the body of Christ. And though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this: We are his. Unalterably. He loves us. Undyingly. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (see Romans 8:38-39).

Had God not said those words, I would be a fool to write them. But since he did, I'm a fool not to believe them. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ ... but how difficult it is for some to embrace this truth.

You think you've committed an act that places you outside his love. A treason. A betrayal. An aborted promise. You think he would love you more if you hadn't done it, right? You think he would love you more if you did more, right? You think if you were better his love would be deeper, right?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. God's love is not human. His love is not normal. His love sees your sin and loves you still. Does he approve of your error? No. Do you need to repent? Yes. But do you repent for his sake or yours? Yours. His ego needs no apology. His love needs no bolstering.

And he could not love you more than he does right now. (From A Gentle Thunder by Max Lucado)

APPLICATION

Do you sometimes feel that God can't really love you? If so, look at this chapter and commit it to memory. God is there whether you walk away from him or not. Thank God for his acceptance of you because it's based on the finished work of Christ and not on your own merit.

EXPLORATION

No Separation-John 10:27-29; 17:1-3; Romans 5:8-9; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

Stuggle With Sin

An Example from Marriage

Romans 7

¹Brothers and sisters, all of you understand the law of Moses. So surely you
know that the law rules over people only while they are alive. ²For example, a
woman must stay married to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her
husband dies, she is free from the law of marriage. ³But if she marries another
man while her husband is still alive, the law says she is guilty of adultery. But if
her husband dies, she is free from the law of marriage. Then if she marries
another man, she is not guilty of adultery.

⁴In the same way, my brothers and sisters, your old selves died, and you
became free from the law through the body of Christ. This happened so that you
might belong to someone else—the One who was raised from the dead—and so
that we might be used in service to God. ⁵In the past, we were ruled by our sinful
selves. The law made us want to do sinful things that controlled our bodies, so
the things we did were bringing us death. ⁶In the past, the law held us like
prisoners, but our old selves died, and we were made free from the law. So now
we serve God in a new way with the Spirit, and not in the old way with written
rules.

Our Fight Against Sin

⁷You might think I am saying that sin and the law are the same thing. That is
not true. But the law was the only way I could learn what sin meant. I would
never have known what it means to want to take something belonging to
someone else if the law had not said, “You must not want to take your neighbor’s
things.” ⁸And sin found a way to use that command and cause me to want all
kinds of things I should not want. But without the law, sin has no power. ⁹I was
alive before I knew the law. But when the law’s command came to me, then sin
began to live, ¹⁰and I died. The command was meant to bring life, but for me it
brought death. ¹¹Sin found a way to fool me by using the command to make me
die.

¹²So the law is holy, and the command is holy and right and good. ¹³Does this
mean that something that is good brought death to me? No! Sin used something
that is good to bring death to me. This happened so that I could see what sin is
really like; the command was used to show that sin is very evil.

The War Within Us

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not spiritual since sin rules me as
if I were its slave. ¹⁵I do not understand the things I do. I do not do what I want to
do, and I do the things I hate. ¹⁶And if I do not want to do the hated things I do,
that means I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷But I am not really the one who is doing
these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them. ¹⁸Yes, I know that
nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is
earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them. ¹⁹I
do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to
do. ²⁰So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is
sin living in me that does those things.

²¹So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me.
²²In my mind, I am happy with God’s law. ²³But I see another law working in my
body, which makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law
working in my body is the law of sin, and it makes me its prisoner. ²⁴What a
miserable man I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? ²⁵I
thank God for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful self I am a slave to
the law of sin.

 The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Paul taught the Romans that the Law could never guarantee eternal life. He proved again that Jesus Christ could save.

OBSERVATION

The Bible teaches us how sinful we have become, but Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit provide the power to overcome sin.

INSPIRATION

Our country imprisons more people per capita than any other nation except the Soviet Union and South Africa; yet we have the highest crime rate in the world. If that's law and order, spare us any more.

Baffling? Yes, but nothing new. Eighteenth-century British officials tried to cut crime by promoting large crowds to witness the hanging of pickpockets. There was a problem, however. Other thieves had a field day stealing the wallets of those gathered to watch the execution of their fellow pickpockets.

The paradox makes no sense to the secular mind - but the Christian should understand. For where is the anguish of the human soul more poignantly expressed than in Paul's letter to the Romans. "The good I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish." He never wanted to covet, Paul explains in Chapter 7, until the law said "thou shalt not covet." Then he found himself filled with covetousness of every kind.

Why? The sin within us uses the law itself to produce the very offense the law is intended to prevent. But in the next chapter the apostle answers the dilemma: though the law alone could not restrain sin, through Christ we are set free, rescued from the sin which controls us. (From Who Speaks for God by Charles Colson)

APPLICATION

What sin do you struggle to avoid? Thank God that he will one day rescue you from the struggle. Until then, let a prayer for strength be a reflex reaction to temptations.

EXPLORATION

Victory over Sin - Genesis 4:7; Psalm 119:133; 1 John 3:4-6.

Paul's Theology in a Nutshell

Romans 3

¹So, do Jews have anything that other people do not have? Is there anything
special about being circumcised? ²Yes, of course, there is in every way. The most
important thing is this: God trusted the Jews with his teachings. ³If some Jews
were not faithful to him, will that stop God from doing what he promised? ⁴No!
God will continue to be true even when every person is false. As the Scriptures
say:

“So you will be shown to be right when you speak,

and you will win your case.”

Psalm 51:4

⁵When we do wrong, that shows more clearly that God is right. So can we say
that God is wrong to punish us? (I am talking as people might talk.) ⁶No! If God
could not punish us, he could not judge the world.

⁷A person might say, “When I lie, it really gives him glory, because my lie
shows God’s truth. So why am I judged a sinner?” ⁸It would be the same to say,
“We should do evil so that good will come.” Some people find fault with us and
say we teach this, but they are wrong and deserve the punishment they will
receive.

All People Are Guilty

⁹So are we Jews better than others? No! We have already said that Jews and
those who are not Jews are all guilty of sin. ¹⁰As the Scriptures say:

“There is no one who always does what is right,

not even one.

¹¹There is no one who understands.

There is no one who looks to God for help.

¹²All have turned away.

Together, everyone has become useless.

There is no one who does anything good;

there is not even one.”

Psalm 14:1-3

¹³“Their throats are like open graves;

they use their tongues for telling lies.”

Psalm 5:9

“Their words are like snake poison.”

Psalm 140:3

¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and hate.”

Psalm 10:7

¹⁵“They are always ready to kill people.

¹⁶Everywhere they go they cause ruin and misery.

¹⁷They don’t know how to live in peace.”

Isaiah 59:7-8

¹⁸“They have no fear of God.”

Psalm 36:1

¹⁹We know that the law’s commands are for those who have the law. This
stops all excuses and brings the whole world under God’s judgment, ²⁰because no
one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us our
sin.

How God Makes People Right

²¹But God has a way to make people right with him without the law, and he
has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about. ²²God
makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true
for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same: ²³All have sinned
and are not good enough for God’s glory, ²⁴and all need to be made right with
God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin
through Jesus Christ. ²⁵God gave him as a way to forgive sin through faith in the
blood of Jesus’ death. This showed that God always does what is right and fair,
as in the past when he was patient and did not punish people for their sins. ²⁶And
God gave Jesus to show today that he does what is right. God did this so he could
judge rightly and so he could make right any person who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷So do we have a reason to brag about ourselves? No! And why not? It is the
way of faith that stops all bragging, not the way of trying to obey the law. ²⁸A
person is made right with God through faith, not through obeying the law. ²⁹Is
God only the God of the Jews? Is he not also the God of those who are not Jews?
³⁰Of course he is, because there is only one God. He will make Jews right with
him by their faith, and he will also make those who are not Jews right with him
through their faith. ³¹So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? No!
Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Paul showed that no one can claim innocence. Everyone has sinned. But through Christ's death on the cross God has redeemed us.

OBSERVATION

Willing and ready, God will forgive us if we come to him in faith.

INSPIRATION

Salvation is free! God puts no price tag on the Gift of gifts - it's free! Preachers are not salesmen for they have nothing to sell. They are bearers of Good News, the good tidings that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." Money can't buy it. Man's righteousness can't earn it. Social prestige can't help you acquire it. Morality can't purchase it. It is, as Isaiah said, "without money and without price:' God is not a bargaining God. You cannot barter with Him. You must do business with Him on His own terms. He holds in His omnipotent hand the priceless, precious, eternal gift of salvation, and He bids you to take it without money and without price. The best things in life are free, are they not? The air we breathe is not sold by the cubic foot. The water which flows crystal clear from the mountain stream is free for the taking. Love is free, faith is free, hope is free. (From Day by Day with Billy Graham by Joan W. Brown)

APPLICATION

Have you accepted the free gift of God, forgiveness and eternal life, won for you by Christ? Submit to Christ's rule in your life and kneel to his lordship. Don't wait.

EXPLORATION

Faith - Acts 13:38- 39; Romans 4:25; 5:16,18; 10:10; Galatians 2:16; Titus 3:7.

Paul's Arrival in Rome

Paul on the Island of Malta

Acts 28

¹When we were safe on land, we learned that the island was called Malta.
²The people who lived there were very good to us. Because it was raining and
very cold, they made a fire and welcomed all of us. ³Paul gathered a pile of sticks
and was putting them on the fire when a poisonous snake came out because of
the heat and bit him on the hand. ⁴The people living on the island saw the snake
hanging from Paul’s hand and said to each other, “This man must be a murderer!
He did not die in the sea, but Justice does not want him to live.” ⁵But Paul
shook the snake off into the fire and was not hurt. ⁶The people thought that Paul
would swell up or fall down dead. They waited and watched him for a long time,
but nothing bad happened to him. So they changed their minds and said, “He is a
god!”

⁷There were some fields around there owned by Publius, an important man on
the island. He welcomed us into his home and was very good to us for three days.
⁸Publius’ father was sick with a fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, prayed,
and put his hands on the man and healed him. ⁹After this, all the other sick people
on the island came to Paul, and he healed them, too. ^10-11The people on the island
gave us many honors. When we were ready to leave, three months later, they
gave us the things we needed.

Paul Goes to Rome

We got on a ship from Alexandria that had stayed on the island during the
winter. On the front of the ship was the sign of the twin gods. ¹²We stopped at
Syracuse for three days. ¹³From there we sailed to Rhegium. The next day a wind
began to blow from the south, and a day later we came to Puteoli. ¹⁴We found
some believers there who asked us to stay with them for a week. Finally, we
came to Rome. ¹⁵The believers in Rome heard that we were there and came out
as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Inns to meet us. When Paul saw
them, he was encouraged and thanked God.

Paul in Rome

¹⁶When we arrived at Rome, Paul was allowed to live alone, with the soldier
who guarded him.

¹⁷Three days later Paul sent for the Jewish leaders there. When they came
together, he said, “Brothers, I have done nothing against our people or the
customs of our ancestors. But I was arrested in Jerusalem and given to the
Romans. ¹⁸After they asked me many questions, they could find no reason why I
should be killed. They wanted to let me go free, ¹⁹but the Jewish people there
argued against that. So I had to ask to come to Rome to have my trial before
Caesar. But I have no charge to bring against my own people. ²⁰That is why I
wanted to see you and talk with you. I am bound with this chain because I
believe in the hope of Israel.”

²¹They answered Paul, “We have received no letters from Judea about you.
None of our Jewish brothers who have come from there brought news or told us
anything bad about you. ²²But we want to hear your ideas, because we know that
people everywhere are speaking against this religious group.”

²³Paul and the Jewish people chose a day for a meeting and on that day many
more of the Jews met with Paul at the place he was staying. He spoke to them all
day long. Using the law of Moses and the prophets’ writings, he explained the
kingdom of God, and he tried to persuade them to believe these things about
Jesus. ²⁴Some believed what Paul said, but others did not. ²⁵So they argued and
began leaving after Paul said one more thing to them: “The Holy Spirit spoke the
truth to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet, saying,

²⁶‘Go to this people and say:

You will listen and listen, but you will not understand.

You will look and look, but you will not learn,

²⁷because these people have become stubborn.

They don’t hear with their ears,

and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise, they might really understand

what they see with their eyes

and hear with their ears.

They might really understand in their minds

and come back to me and be healed.’

Isaiah 6:9-10

²⁸“I want you to know that God has also sent his salvation to those who are
not Jewish, and they will listen!”

³⁰Paul stayed two full years in his own rented house and welcomed all people
who came to visit him. ³¹He boldly preached about the kingdom of God and
taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one tried to stop him.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Paul, Luke, and the others survived the crash. Paul arrived in Rome and attempted to bring the message of Jesus to the Jewish community in Rome, but they rejected the message.

OBSERVATION

The message of God is meant for all people. It cannot be limited by race or culture.

INSPIRATION

There, then, is the watchword of those men of the New Testament and the secret of their amazing, indomitable vitality-never "we are able,” but always "He is able." God is able! Christ is able! Able to succour the tempted, able to save to the uttermost, able to support and keep you from failing, able to subdue all things to Himself, able to secure you in deaths decisive hour, able to surpass your dreams of immortality. All this is yours and mine, if we are Christ’s.... Why should we not believe it and confide in it, and lift up our hearts to its splendor...Come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord! (From The Wind of the Spirit by James Stewart)

APPLICATION

Give thanks to God for the sacrifice of the early Christians who spread the Good News from Judea. Learn a little bit more this month about someone who helped pass on the gospel throughout the centuries - Augustine, Luther, Wesley, Carey, or Zinzendorf for starters.

EXPLORATION

Good News for Everyone - Isaiah 40:28; John 3:31-35; Philippians 2:5-11; Titus 2:11-12; Revelation 14:6.

Shipwreck on the way to Rome

Paul Sails for Rome

Acts 27

¹It was decided that we would sail for Italy. An officer named Julius, who
served in the emperor’s army, guarded Paul and some other prisoners. ²We got
on a ship that was from the city of Adramyttium and was about to sail to different
ports in the country of Asia. Aristarchus, a man from the city of Thessalonica in
Macedonia, went with us. ³The next day we came to Sidon. Julius was very good
to Paul and gave him freedom to go visit his friends, who took care of his needs.
⁴We left Sidon and sailed close to the island of Cyprus, because the wind was
blowing against us. ⁵We went across the sea by Cilicia and Pamphylia and landed
at the city of Myra, in Lycia. ⁶There the officer found a ship from Alexandria that
was going to Italy, so he put us on it.

⁷We sailed slowly for many days. We had a hard time reaching Cnidus
because the wind was blowing against us, and we could not go any farther. So we
sailed by the south side of the island of Crete near Salmone. ⁸Sailing past it was
hard. Then we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

⁹We had lost much time, and it was now dangerous to sail, because it was
already after the Day of Cleansing. So Paul warned them, ¹⁰“Men, I can see
there will be a lot of trouble on this trip. The ship, the cargo, and even our lives
may be lost.” ¹¹But the captain and the owner of the ship did not agree with Paul,
and the officer believed what the captain and owner of the ship said. ¹²Since that
harbor was not a good place for the ship to stay for the winter, most of the men
decided that the ship should leave. They hoped we could go to Phoenix and stay
there for the winter. Phoenix, a city on the island of Crete, had a harbor which
faced southwest and northwest.

The Storm

¹³When a good wind began to blow from the south, the men on the ship
thought, “This is the wind we wanted, and now we have it.” So they pulled up the
anchor, and we sailed very close to the island of Crete. ¹⁴But then a very strong
wind named the “northeaster” came from the island. ¹⁵The ship was caught in it
and could not sail against it. So we stopped trying and let the wind carry us.
¹⁶When we went below a small island named Cauda, we were barely able to bring
in the lifeboat. ¹⁷After the men took the lifeboat in, they tied ropes around the
ship to hold it together. The men were afraid that the ship would hit the
sandbanks of Syrtis, so they lowered the sail and let the wind carry the ship.
¹⁸The next day the storm was blowing us so hard that the men threw out some of
the cargo. ¹⁹A day later with their own hands they threw out the ship’s
equipment. ²⁰When we could not see the sun or the stars for many days, and the
storm was very bad, we lost all hope of being saved.

²¹After the men had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up before
them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me. You should not have sailed
from Crete. Then you would not have all this trouble and loss. ²²But now I tell
you to cheer up because none of you will die. Only the ship will be lost. ²³Last
night an angel came to me from the God I belong to and worship. ²⁴The angel
said, ‘Paul, do not be afraid. You must stand before Caesar. And God has
promised you that he will save the lives of everyone sailing with you.’ ²⁵So men,
have courage. I trust in God that everything will happen as his angel told me.
²⁶But we will crash on an island.”

²⁷On the fourteenth night we were still being carried around in the Adriatic
Sea. About midnight the sailors thought we were close to land, ²⁸so they
lowered a rope with a weight on the end of it into the water. They found that the
water was one hundred twenty feet deep. They went a little farther and lowered
the rope again. It was ninety feet deep. ²⁹The sailors were afraid that we would
hit the rocks, so they threw four anchors into the water and prayed for daylight to
come. ³⁰Some of the sailors wanted to leave the ship, and they lowered the
lifeboat, pretending they were throwing more anchors from the front of the ship.
³¹But Paul told the officer and the other soldiers, “If these men do not stay in the
ship, your lives cannot be saved.” ³²So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the
lifeboat fall into the water.

³³Just before dawn Paul began persuading all the people to eat something. He
said, “For the past fourteen days you have been waiting and watching and not
eating. ³⁴Now I beg you to eat something. You need it to stay alive. None of you
will lose even one hair off your heads.” ³⁵After he said this, Paul took some bread
and thanked God for it before all of them. He broke off a piece and began eating.
³⁶They all felt better and started eating, too. ³⁷There were two hundred seventy-
six people on the ship. ³⁸When they had eaten all they wanted, they began
making the ship lighter by throwing the grain into the sea.

The Ship Is Destroyed

³⁹When daylight came, the sailors saw land. They did not know what land it
was, but they saw a bay with a beach and wanted to sail the ship to the beach if
they could. ⁴⁰So they cut the ropes to the anchors and left the anchors in the sea.
At the same time, they untied the ropes that were holding the rudders. Then they
raised the front sail into the wind and sailed toward the beach. ⁴¹But the ship hit a
sandbank. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move, but the back of
the ship began to break up from the big waves.

⁴²The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners so none of them could swim away
and escape. ⁴³But Julius, the officer, wanted to let Paul live and did not allow the
soldiers to kill the prisoners. Instead he ordered everyone who could swim to
jump into the water first and swim to land. ⁴⁴The rest were to follow using
wooden boards or pieces of the ship. And this is how all the people made it safely
to land.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Paul proved to be a calming presence on board the ship as he was taken to Rome. His faith and confidence remained like a rock when trouble engulfed the ship.

OBSERVATION

Trust in God to fulfill his promises. He provides hope when there seems to be no way out.

INSPIRATION

The love of God is a subject that can never be exhausted. No human mind will ever be able to fathom it....

Think of all the hymns and poems that have been composed in praise of the love of God, the books that have been written, the messages that have been preached. And yet that is not enough. God's will is that His love be manifested in our lives! The world today is dying for lack of love, and only Christians can really fill the need.

We should never lose a sense of wonder that God's love for us is so undeserved.

We should love Him with a love that is undivided, obedient, and worshipful, allowing no rival to share the throne with Him.

We should love our brothers and sisters in Christ without regard to denominations or religious labels. John insists that if we do not love our brothers whom we have seen we cannot love God whom we have not seen.

When this is our spiritual craving, we are getting close to Calvary love. (From Alone in Majesty by William MacDonald)

APPLICATION

Imagine yourself on a plane flying through rough weather with engine trouble. Would you be bold enough to provide hope to the person next to you? Would you quickly share Christ with that person? Anyone you know could be close to death. An unfortunate accident could claim the lives of a couple of your friends. What keeps you from sharing Christ with them?

EXPLORATION

God's Love - Psalm 136; Jeremiah 31:3; John 3:16; 11:33-38; 1 John 3:1; Revelation 3:20.

Paul Tells His Life Story to a King

Paul Defends Himself

Acts 26

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak to defend yourself.”

Then Paul raised his hand and began to speak. ²He said, “King Agrippa, I am
very happy to stand before you and will answer all the charges the Jewish people
make against me. ³You know so much about all the Jewish customs and the
things the Jews argue about, so please listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jewish people know about my whole life, how I lived from the
beginning in my own country and later in Jerusalem. ⁵They have known me for a
long time. If they want to, they can tell you that I was a good Pharisee. And the
Pharisees obey the laws of the Jewish religion more carefully than any other
group. ⁶Now I am on trial because I hope for the promise that God made to our
ancestors. ⁷This is the promise that the twelve tribes of our people hope to
receive as they serve God day and night. My king, the Jews have accused me
because I hope for this same promise! ⁸Why do any of you people think it is
impossible for God to raise people from the dead?

⁹“I, too, thought I ought to do many things against Jesus from Nazareth.
¹⁰And that is what I did in Jerusalem. The leading priests gave me the power to
put many of God’s people in jail, and when they were being killed, I agreed it
was a good thing. ¹¹In every synagogue, I often punished them and tried to make
them speak against Jesus. I was so angry against them I even went to other cities
to find them and punish them.

¹²“One time the leading priests gave me permission and the power to go to
Damascus. ¹³On the way there, at noon, I saw a light from heaven. It was brighter
than the sun and flashed all around me and those who were traveling with me.
¹⁴We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice speaking to me in the Jewish
language, saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are only
hurting yourself by fighting me.’ ¹⁵I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord said, ‘I
am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. ¹⁶Stand up! I have chosen you to be my
servant and my witness—you will tell people the things that you have seen and
the things that I will show you. This is why I have come to you today. ¹⁷I will
keep you safe from your own people and also from those who are not Jewish. I
am sending you to them ¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn away from
darkness to the light, away from the power of Satan and to God. Then their sins
can be forgiven, and they can have a place with those people who have been
made holy by believing in me.’

¹⁹“King Agrippa, after I had this vision from heaven, I obeyed it. ²⁰I began
telling people that they should change their hearts and lives and turn to God and
do things to show they really had changed. I told this first to those in Damascus,
then in Jerusalem, and in every part of Judea, and also to those who are not
Jewish. ²¹This is why the Jews took me and were trying to kill me in the Temple.
²²But God has helped me, and so I stand here today, telling all people, small and
great, what I have seen. But I am saying only what Moses and the prophets said
would happen—²³that the Christ would die, and as the first to rise from the dead,
he would bring light to the Jewish and non-Jewish people.”

Paul Tries to Persuade Agrippa

²⁴While Paul was saying these things to defend himself, Festus said loudly,
“Paul, you are out of your mind! Too much study has driven you crazy!”

²⁵Paul said, “Most excellent Festus, I am not crazy. My words are true and
sensible. ²⁶King Agrippa knows about these things, and I can speak freely to him.
I know he has heard about all of these things, because they did not happen off in
a corner. ²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe what the prophets wrote? I know you
believe.”

²⁸King Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think you can persuade me to become a
Christian in such a short time?”

²⁹Paul said, “Whether it is a short or a long time, I pray to God that not only
you but every person listening to me today would be saved and be like me—
except for these chains I have.”

³⁰Then King Agrippa, Governor Festus, Bernice, and all the people sitting
with them stood up ³¹and left the room. Talking to each other, they said, “There
is no reason why this man should die or be put in jail.” ³²And Agrippa said to
Festus, “We could let this man go free, but he has asked Caesar to hear his case.”

The Holy Bible, New Century Version

SITUATION

Festus asked Agrippa for advice on Paul's case, When Agrippa asked to hear Paul's case, Paul recounted how Jesus had changed his life.

OBSERVATION

Christ fills a Believer's new life with joy, hope, love, and peace. People still in the "old life" can see the difference but do not always understand it.

INSPIRATION

It is possible for God's people to live in moderation, wisdom, and exuberant joy. We can so conduct ourselves amid a corrupt society and sick culture that we are a credit to our Master....

My walk with God need not in any sense be a spectacular display of special dedication. It need not have any carnival atmosphere about it to be convincing. I don't have to indulge in theatrics to impress either Him or other human beings.

What He desires most is that I walk with Him humbly, quietly, and obediently. The communion between shepherd and sheep is sweet and secure because He knows me and I know Him! (From A Shepherd Looks at the Good Shepherd and His Sheep by Phillip Keller)

APPLICATION

Do you just say, "I believe"? Or, do your actions prove it? Consider volunteering to meet one of your church's needs.

EXPLORATION

Witnessing - Acts 1:8,21-22; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.