Following Jesus Son of God …

Message Title: Pop Quiz for Guides to the Blind!

Message Text: Romans 2:17-29

MP3: LESSON 6 Sunday August 17 2014 Pop Quiz for Guides to the Blind Romans 2-17-29

Good Friday Evening Everyone,

Time flies when we are having fun, right! NFL preseason starting, SEC football almost here. Late summer and fall can be great. But then winter … Ugh!

Anyway, we continue in Romans and Paul continues to “come after” the established religious folk. We could consider that Paul is merely venting or just enjoys kicking dirt in their face, or we could maybe consider his love for the Jewish people and look at this as softening up their hard, calloused shell so the goodness of God’s truth will penetrate as he continues through this amazing letter.

We do that sometimes …

Just venting … getting it off our chest … but why?

Today maybe we can substitute “evangelical or fundamental Christian” for “Jew,” and
“the Bible” for “the law” but the issue is the same. We claim to have it all and know ourselves as guides to the blind and light shining in darkness.

But has our religion led us into something other than an assent to, or a knowledge of, the truth of God? Is our truth compelling enough to change our lives? We say that Jesus is Lord but does he rule our lives? Do we obey him no matter what?

How foolish to call God Sovereign, when as mere humans we call his holy instruction into question and defy and disobey him in basic tenets of the faith!

We strain God’s holy words through our grids of human rationalization and personal self-interest. We no longer hear God. We merely talk to ourselves.

I love God’s people, but I have no qualms about attacking religion that takes us farther from God even though we profess intimacy with our lips.

Dave

Message Title: Checking our Firmware – Pop Quiz for Guides to the Blind!

Message Text: Romans 2:17-29

• PDF 6 Pop Quiz for Guides to the Blind : Romans 2-17-29 : FFC : dave scott : 0081714 : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF 6 Pop Quiz for Guides to the Blind : Romans 2-17-29 : FFC : dave scott : 0081714 : STUDY SHEET TWO

Hello to You,

Here is an overview of how our study has progressed thus far:

• 1:1-15 Paul introduces his letter, establishes himself as a spokesman for God and cultivates his connection with the believers at Rome.
• 1:16-17 The great statement of the Gospel. The entire letter captured in two verses.
• 1:18-32 A general statement of the sinfulness and rebellion of mankind.

And now this week … 

• 2:1-16 Paul goes after the religious crowd.

I have never preached through Romans, so maybe this is why I have not seen this sequence so clearly before. Paul has just in general terms spoken to the sinfulness and foolishness of humankind. But now he gets more personal as he sets his sites on established religion. In this case, the Jews.

• (Romans 2:1 NCV) If you think you can judge others, you are wrong. When you judge them, you are really judging yourself guilty, because you do the same things they do.

They judged others, and in so doing, they brought condemnation upon themselves.

Message Title: You Do the Same Things!

Message Text: Romans 2:1-16

• PDF 5 You Do the Same Things : Romans 2-1-16 : FFC : dave scott : 081014 : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF 5 You Do the Same Things : Romans 2-1-16 : FFC : dave scott : 081014 : STUDY SHEET TWO

Hello All,

Here is Sunday’s message.

Dave

• C. S. Lewis, “In creating beings with free will, omnipotence from the outset submits to the possibility of such defeat. What you call defeat, I call miracle: for to make things which are not Itself, and thus to become, in a sense, capable of being resisted by its own handiwork, is the most astonishing and unimaginable of all the feats we attribute to the Deity.

  I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.

  I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man ‘wishes’ to be happy: but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good. They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved” (The Problem of Pain [London, 1943], pp. 115–16).

Message Title: “Successful Rebels – Getting What We Demanded from God!”

Message Text: Romans 1:18-32

• MP3: 4 Sunday August 3, 2014 – Successful Rebels-Getting What We Demanded from God 080314

Hello & Happy Friday to You,

How do you picture God’s wrath being revealed from heaven? The fist of God? God having sinners under his thumb? God coming after you.

God will one day judge those who have not believed in Jesus Christ and received his gift of eternal life. It will be worse than a fist or a thumb.

But our text today tells us something very different about the wrath of God being revealed, something much more terrifying than God’s continued involvement in our lives, whether positive or negative.

So what does God do that should paralyze us with fear (if we had the sense to acknowledge it) as he reveals his wrath from heaven?

He merely leaves us to ourselves. We didn’t want God involved in our lives; we wanted to be free from God and his rules and direction. So God left us to our own way.

And the human race is in a tailspin … No hope unless … By God’s grace and mercy, we turn once again to him for his Way and his salvation.

Message Title: “Successful Rebels: Getting What We Demanded from God!”

Message Text: Romans 1:18-32

• PDF 4 Successful Rebels-Getting What We Demanded from God Romans 1-18-32 : FFC : dave scott : 080314 : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF 4 Successful Rebels-Getting What We Demanded from God Romans 1-18-32 : FFC : dave scott : 080314 : STUDY SHEET TWO

Hello All,

Here is Sunday’s message.

Dave

Message Title: Not Ashamed of the Gospel!

Message Text: Romans 1:16-17

• MP3: Sunday July 27 2014 Not Ashamed of the Gospel Romans 1-16-17 Dave Scott

Hello Everyone,

Romans as a possibility …
Months ago as I looked to my preaching calendar for this year, I thought of The Letter to the Romans as a possibility. As we have now begun that study, God has dramatically confirmed that decision in my heart and mind. He has also confirmed it as I see the excitement in which you have received the study.

Not an easy decision …
But I didn’t make this decision easily. Much thought and much prayer. Part of my hesitation was the difficulty of some parts of Romans – election, foreknowledge, vessels prepared for destruction, etc. Honestly, it was a little intimidating.

Until …
Until I realized that God only calls me to be faithful to the task. Most of Romans – such as this Sunday’s study in Romans 1:16-17 – is very clear and amazingly powerful. As for the difficult texts, well, God took the pressure off when I realized that I don’t have to have all the answers. No one else does. In fact, I thought of how prideful I would be to think that I could tie together all the theological loose ends that godly men, dedicated scholars, have not been able to do for generations.

Explosions …
Getting to my point, I do not believe I have ever had a time as inspired and called as I am now in my preparation and eagerness for presentation as I have since taking this step of faith toward Romans. If you hear any explosions coming from the western prairies of Illinois, it may be me sitting before God learning these truths “all over again for the first time.”

Amazement …
God continually amazes me. I know part of this is because of my recent trial with the bike wreck, and I believe God is going to do deep things in my life because of that. But this began early on as I humbled myself before God and received this stewardship to preach through Romans. God is great and greatly to be praise.

So here are this week’s study sheets. Lord willing I will have the message MP3 posted no later than Tuesday next week.

Dave

Message Title: Not Ashamed of the Gospel!

Message Text: Romans 1:16-17

• PDF 3 Not Ashamed of the Gospel : Romans 1-16-17 : FFC : dave scott : 072714 : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF 3 Not Ashamed of the Gospel : Romans 1-16-17 : FFC : dave scott : 072714 : STUDY SHEET TWO

*A note on my numbering system for the study sheets. I plan to put all the study sheets and probably message notes also together in book form when I am finished. So everything will be number as such 1, 2, 3 … or PDF 1, PDF 2, PDF 3, etc.

Hello All,

God willing I will now be posting my messages on Romans on the blog in MP3 format every week. Here is the first. This is actually the second in the series but the first recorded.

Dave

Message Title: The Obedience of Faith: The Blessing of Believing & Obeying God!

Message Text: Romans 1:5-15 & Selected Passages

Sunday July 20 2014 The Obedience of Faith Romans 1-5-15

Hello to All,

Some of you know, and some of you do not. I have been “missing in action” for the last several weeks as I crashed my bicycle on June 8 and have since undergone two surgeries on my hip. Not a pleasant thing. In fact, possibly the most trying time of my life.

I am now (finally) in recovery mode. Lord willing I will begin walking again in September and will regain full use of my right leg. Currently I am on a “toe-touch” restriction. No weight on my right leg until about the second week of September. The doctor says that I will even be able to ride my super cool Trek Domane road bike again. That is, once I get it into the bike shop for minor repairs from the crash.

I have been gone from church since June 1. I attended last Sunday morning and will resume our Romans study this Sunday July 20. God is God is what I learn over and over. And … people are people.

The Letter to the Romans is amazing. You possibly are like me and already knew that, but I am learning it “for the first time all over again” as the expression goes. This week I will preach the message that I had scheduled for June 8 with God’s revisions. 🙂

Message Title: The Obedience of Faith: The Blessing of Believing & Obeying God!

Message Text: Romans 1:5-15 & Selected Passages

Here are our study sheets.

• PDF 2 The Blessing of Believing God : Romans 1-5-15 : FFC : dave scott : 060814 : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF 2 The Blessing of Believing God : Romans 1-5-15 : FFC : dave scott : 060814 : STUDY SHEET TWO

Praise be to our God who is high and holy and offers to share his righteousness with sinners through salvation in Jesus Christ!

Praise be to this same God who makes weaklings like me and you his ambassadors to share this amazing message of God’s love and righteousness!

Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of his excellent greatness!

Dave

Hello All,

Oops! Really busy last week and forgot to post the study sheets for our introduction to Romans. I received a very good response to the beginning of the study and believe the journey through Romans will be amazing. And, yes, I thought before I used the word amazing as I believe it to be so.

I have also posted some introductory study sheets listing all the occurrences of “faith” (40 times in 35 verses) and “righteousness” (32 times in 29 verses) per the English Standard Version of the Bible. These are excerpts from the verses. If you can read through even these snippets concerning faith and righteousness in Romans and not be stirred by the Spirit of God, then please check your pulse. 🙂

Message Title: Bringing about the Obedience of Faith

Message Text: Romans 1:1-7

• PDF 1 To Bring About the Obedience of Faith : Romans 1-1-7 : FFC : dave scott : 060114 : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF 1 To Bring About the Obedience of Faith : Romans 1-1-7 : FFC : dave scott : 060114 : STUDY SHEET TWO
• PDF faith verses illustrate
• PDF righteousness verses illustrate