Oct 27

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Judgment IS Part of the Gospel
    Just a quick note here on verse 16. It's worth noting too, because it points out a rather large departure from Paul's Gospel that the modern church has taken. According to Paul, Judgment Day was part of his Gospel! Ouch! It's not part of most of ours. To be honest, most of us don't want it to be part of the Gospel either! And, to continue the honesty here, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with talking... Read more »

Oct 7

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Guilt Comes From Our Hearts
    Paul continues to talk about how God deals with sin, and in particular zeros in on comparing God's judgment of those under the Law (Jews) and those not under it (Gentiles). He says that God's Law - and by this he must mean the basic moral law of God - is written in all our hearts, whether we have the Law or not. That's why our conscience deals with us all the time. All over the world in every culture... Read more »

Sep 30

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution No Favoritism
    Verse 11 lays down a principle that Paul has been developing in this chapter, and one that he will continue to develop. It's a critical part of God's make up, and it's also critical that we understand and believe this. I think most Christians would say they believe it, but I'm not so sure just how deeply we've really taken this to heart. Like most people, human nature always seems to find a way... Read more »

Sep 29

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution The Awful Judgment of God
    Paul continues to talk about a subject that we don't want him too - God's Judgment! He will continue to do this for a while too. Apparently and in spite of how we approach sharing the Gospel today, Paul thinks it's important to explain that God is holy, he does punish sin, and here's a short look at how he'll do it. In this section you'll note again the concept of God's love holding back his judgment... Read more »

Sep 22

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Storing Up God's Wrath
    Paul here goes very Old Testament on us. The picture he presents here is sobering, and if you actually pay attention to it will get your attention. The concept of God's Wrath being stored up is presented many places in the Old Testament. The picture often used is of a cup being filled up by the sins of Israel. Finally the cup is full to overflowing, and then God pours out upon Israel everything they... Read more »

Sep 18

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution God's Kindness Leads Me To Repent
    There's several things I note about this verse. First it's nice to see something about God's kindness after all we've read about His judgment, perverted sin, etc. This verse is like a breath of fresh air, much needed by the reader! Second, I just LOVE how Paul turns our thinking about what leads us to repentance on its head! Normally, and stereotypically, we think of "hellfire and brimstone" type... Read more »
  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution The 3 Most Relevant Verses in the Bible for Christian Culture Warriors
    If there was ever a word to Christians who are fighting the culture wars - this is it! Why? Because these verses point out exactly what we have failed to do in our confrontation with culture. We clearly have often lacked humility and not only have been seen as judgmental, but have actually been judgmental, and often hypocritical as well. How many Culture War leaders have not just fallen, but have... Read more »

Sep 16

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Deserving Death
    Yes, verse 32 is harsh, no doubt about it. But then again, very often the truth is very harsh as well. This is Paul's summation of God's view of sin in general, and of sin done knowingly and deliberately in particular. In spite of knowing God condemns these things, not only do they keep on doing them, but even worse, they approve others who do it as well! Why is that worse? Because it encourages... Read more »

Sep 15

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Does That Really Belong Here?
    This is a larger chunk of Scripture than I usually look at, but there's no real way to separate these verses from each other. Paul repeats that God has abandoned them to their depraved minds, and then he gives us on his famous (infamous?) sin lists. This is is quite a doozy, it includes murder, and Paul says these people are ruthless and heartless! They sound like the worst group of people you... Read more »

Sep 14

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Abandoned & Abandoning
    I'm captivated by the concept of God giving people over to their lusts in much the same way as people are captivated by a car crash. The concept of being totally abandoned to sin is terrifying, yet it's not completely unknown to us. After all God will let you go out and sin any old time you want too. The Spirit will convict you and tug at your heart, and perhaps God will lead other people to cross... Read more »

Sep 10

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution When God Lets Go
    When I counsel people I often find myself telling them that they need to let go of something from their past, or of something they are dealing with right now! Letting go can be a good thing, but when God let's us go - it's about as bad a thing as can be! Paul tells us that because of their bad exchange - exchanging the truth of God for a lie and worshiping created things rather than the creator -... Read more »
  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution False Claims & Exchange
    I know that verse 22 is written in a very specific context, but that doesn't stop it from also being an unchanging principle of living that we all ought to pay attention too. When you claim to be wise it's usually not very long before you wind up playing the fool! That's something I know I need to remember a lot more often than I do. In this particular case their foolishness showed up in their exchanging... Read more »

Sep 9

Sep 8

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Our Darkened Hearts
    Paul builds on his last verse by saying that although they knew God, they didn't act like it, and the end result of their forsaking two (at the very least) of the spiritual disciplines was their thinking became futile and their hearts darkened. This got me to thinking. Isn't it interesting that out of all the practices he could have mentioned them forsaking, he chose glorifying and thanking God.... Read more »

Sep 4

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution A Somewhat Surprising God
    We have now officially entered the Uncomfortable Zone. For most modern American Christians all this talk about sin and wrath and law leaves them feeling distinctly uncomfortable if now downright creeped out! However, since this didn't deter Paul, let's not let it deter us either! The first thing we learn about God is that he does indeed have and express wrath. Now this isn't what our culture wants... Read more »

Sep 3

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Romans 1:17 - Who Needs A Good Self Image When I'm Right with God?
    We've finally arrived at one of the most powerful verses in the entire book of Romans. There have been and continue to be huge debates on exactly how to translate it, what it means, etc. Here's just a few observations. Paul clearly says that "IN the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed." I wonder how many modern believes have any idea as to what that might be or mean? I think that as you... Read more »

Sep 2

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Romans 1:16 - Not Ashamed
    Here's another power packed verse from Paul. It never ceases to amaze me how he, like Jesus, could say so much in so few words. Does this verse make you wonder if begin ashamed of the Gospel was a problem at the church in Rome? I know it's been a problem for many Christians ever since! During my senior year in High School I was so embarrassed about going to Bible College that when asked where I was... Read more »

Sep 1

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Target Everyone
    It's interesting to note the "target" that Paul picked for his ministry. Paul, the Jew of Jews, who was also raised in a Gentile city and was a Roman citizen, was faced with the seemingly bottomless divide between Jew and Gentile. Neither group like the other and they didn't seem to share anything in common. They had different religions, different customs, different languages, different dress, but... Read more »

Aug 31

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Romans 1:13 - It Don't Come Easy!
    I don't think there's much doubt that we tend to idealize not just the Apostles, but all the New Testament Christians and churches. I mean after all, God spoke right to Paul, so how hard could it have been for him to know what to do and how to do it? Well according to this verse, apparently it was plenty hard enough (don't forget about Acts 16:6-10! They didn't always get it right the first time!).... Read more »

Aug 26

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Romans 1:11-12: Giving & Recieving
    I love how open Paul is about his own needs and weaknesses in his writings. You can see it again here very clearly. We usually only talk about him wanting to impart some spiritual gift to the Roman Christians, and then proceed to argue about what he meant by that. But when you see that statement in it's context, you see that he was expecting and wanting his arrival in Rome to result in MUTUAL encouragement!... Read more »

Aug 25

  • AZgungho
    AZgungho added a text contribution Romans 1:9 - God, The Gospel & Prayer
    It's of great interest to me to note the differences between how people in the Bible expressed themselves and how we talk. Here Paul doesn't talk about how he LOVES God with all this heart, instead he says that he SERVES God with all his heart. That's quite a difference because serving is something that can be seen and evaluated, love isn't. Could it be that's why we prefer to talk about love more... Read more »

Aug 19