Romans12

1 Therefore I call you, brothers, by the compassion of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

• To be acceptable to God our thinking needs to agree with His.

• John 15:3 Now you are clean through the word I have spoken unto you.

• 2 Timothy 3:15 All scripture is given by inspiration of God.

God has dealt to every man a measure of faith

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same office.

• Faith is trust in the truth.

• John 17:17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.

The Lord has made us one body in Him

5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6 Having then differing gifts according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teaches, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorts, on exhortation: he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

• We are told to do what God has gifted us to do.
• No person does everything.
• We are not to judge others because they do not do the same things for the Lord that we do.
• Ministry is serving the need of others.
• Prophesying is telling forth God’s words (Amos 3:8).
• Teaching is clear instruction in God’s word.
• Exhortation is to encourage, build up, strengthen others in God.
• Giving is sharing or giving to others.
• Ruling is to preside, to lead, to stand in for God.
• Mercy is to show compassion on others (1 Corinthians 12:7-18).
• All areas of serving God take enemy fire so that others can get through.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10  With brotherly love be tenderhearted toward one another; in honor, preferring one another; 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; devoted to prayer; 13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you: bless, and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those that rejoice, and weep with those that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.17 Repay no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.

Vengeance belongs to God; He will repay

19 Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord. 20 Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink: for in doing this you will heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

• God’s vengeance is perfect and far above us because He alone knows the depth of our suffering and He works out the perfect retribution for all, and for the good of all. He turns it for good.
  

• Psalm 94:1 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, show yourself.

• Isaiah 28:29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

• Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government will be upon his shoulder: and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

                                              Romans 13

God places rulers over us for our good

1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist were appointed by God. 2 Whoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God: and those that resist will receive to themselves a judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will you then not be afraid of the power? Do what is good, and you will have praise of the same.

• All leaders in authority today have been placed there by the Almighty God.
• This verse tells us that even though some countries elect their leaders, God controls the outcome.
• Those who resist authority receive a judgment to themselves. They do it to themselves.
• God is the ultimate authority and if we refuse His authority, we have chosen the other, the evil one.

• Daniel 2:21 he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.

• Daniel 5:21 And he (Nebuchadnezzar, earth’s ruler) was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; until he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appoints over it whomever he will.

• Psalm 75:6-7 For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7 But God is the judge: he puts down one, and sets up another.

God has given us armor of light

4 For he is the minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing: for he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath on him that does evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 Also for this reason pay your taxes: for they are God's ministers, attending continually on this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not covet; and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, namely, Love your neighbor as yourself. 10 Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 And knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: so let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

• All the pieces of our armor are related to the Word of God: Light, Psalm 199:105. Truth, John 17:17, Righteousness, Hebrews 5:13, Faith, Romans 10:17 Sword, Ephesians 6:17.

• Ephesians 6:13-17 Therefore take to you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual looseness and lasciviousness, not in quarreling and envying. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not make provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

• John 8:12 Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

• 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

                                                 Romans 14

God holds up the weak and makes them stand

1 Receive the one that is weak in the faith, but not to judge his thoughts. 2 For one believes that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eats herbs. 3 Do not let him that eats despise him that does not eat; and do not let him who does not eat judge him that eats: for God has received him. 4 Who are you that judges another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Yes, he will be held up: for God is able to make him stand. 5 One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6 He that observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he that does not observe the day, he does not observe it to the Lord. He that eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that does not eat, he does not eat to the Lord, and gives God thanks.

• The one who judges is taking God’s place because God alone is judge.
• Only He has all the facts.
• Only He knows man’s heart.

• John 5:22 For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son

All life is to God

7 For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord: therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ both died and rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and living. 10 So why do you judge your brother? Why do you treat your brother as nothing? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will confess to God. 12 So then every one of us will give an account of himself to God.

• 1Corinthians 3:11 For no man can lay another foundation than the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work will be shown: for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work remains that he has built on, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss: but he himself will be saved; yet so as by fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

• Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. 14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that considers any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 But if your brother is grieved by your food, you are not walking according to love. Do not destroy him with your food, for whom Christ died. 16 Do not let your good be spoken of as evil.

The Lord’s kingdom is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit

17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. 19 So let us pursue the things that make for peace, and things that build one another up. 20 Do not tear down the work of God for food. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who by eating stumbles. 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he that does not condemn himself in what he allows. 23 And he that doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat by faith: for whatever is not of faith is sin.

• The person condemned in his own mind is out of fellowship or contact with God. This is spiritual death.
• Fellowship with God is restored when the condemned person confesses the sin. If a Christian alcoholic is abstaining and you drink in his presence he may also drink and never recover.

• 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

• Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

                                             Romans 15

The God of patience and consolation grants one mind

1 So then, we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself; but as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached you fell on me. 4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be of the same mind one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• 1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world have come.

The Lord Jesus will reign over the Gentiles

He has received us

7 Therefore receive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. 8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers: 9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to you among the Gentiles/nations, and sing to your name. 10 And again he said, Rejoice, Gentiles, with his people. 11 And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; and applaud him, all you people. 12 And again, Isaiah said, There will be a root of Jesse, and he will rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will trust.

The God of hope fills us with all joy and peace when we believe

13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. 14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brothers, that you are also full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to warn one another. 15 Nevertheless, brothers, I have written more boldly to you on some points to remind you, because of the grace that is given to me by God, 16 to be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the good news of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

• Sanctified means set apart, consecrated, made holy.

The good news of Christ is the fullness of blessing

17 Therefore in Jesus Christ I have found a reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. 18 For I do not dare speak of anything except what Christ has done through me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, 19 through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 Yes, I have earnestly strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I build on another man's foundation: 21 But as it is written, Those who have never been told of him will see: and those having not heard will understand. 22 For this reason I have been greatly hindered from coming to you. 23 But now having no more place in these regions, and having a desire to come to you these many years; 24 When I take my journey to Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way by you, when I first am filled in part with you. 25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. 26 For it has pleased those in Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints who are at Jerusalem. 27 It has truly pleased them for they are in their debt. Since the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things. 28 So when I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you to Spain. 29 And I am sure that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the good news of Christ.

• Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us

The God of peace is with us

30 Now I exhort you, brothers, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; 31 That I may be delivered from those in Judea that do not believe; and that my service that I have for Jerusalem may be accepted by the saints; 32 That I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed with you. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

• John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as the world gives, I give unto you. Do not let your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.

• Hebrews 13:5 Let your way of life be without covetousness; and be content with what things you have: for he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

                                              Romans 16

God is able to establish us

1 I commend to you Phebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church at Cenchrea: 2 That you receive her in the Lord, as becomes saints, and that you assist her in whatever business she has need of you: for she has helped many, and myself also. 3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus: 4 who have laid down their own necks for my life: to whom I not only give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 5 Also greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the first fruits to Christ of Achaia. 6 Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us. 7 Salute Andronicus and Junia, my relatives, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

• Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being.

8 Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord. 9 Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. 10 Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute those of Aristobulus' household. 11 Salute Herodion, my relative. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. 12 Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, who labored much in the Lord. 13 Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. 14 Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brothers who are with them. 15 Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

• John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

17 Now I urge you, brothers, to mark those who cause divisions and offences against the teaching you have learned and avoid them. 18 For such men are not slaves to our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites; and by smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the guileless. 19 For your obedience has come abroad to all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but I still would have you be wise to what is good and innocent/unmixed concerning evil.

God bruises satan under our feet

20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. 21 Timothy my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives, salute you. 22 I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salutes you in the Lord. 23 Gaius my host, and the whole church salute you. Erastus, the city treasurer, salutes you, and Quartus, a brother. 24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

• John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

He has the power to establish us

He is the eternal God, the only wise God

25 Now to him that has power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 But now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: 27 To the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

• 1John 3:20 … God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

• Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

• Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

• Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.

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SUMMARY: Romans 12-16

• God has dealt to every man a measure of faith
• The Lord has made us one body in Him
• Vengeance belongs to God; He will repay
• God places rulers over us for our good
• God has given us armor of light
• God holds up the weak and makes them stand
• All life is to God
• The Lord’s kingdom is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
• The God of patience and consolation grants one mind
• The Lord Jesus will reign over the Gentiles
• He has received us
• The God of hope fills us with all joy and peace when we believe
• The good news of Christ is the fullness of blessing
• The God of peace is with us
• God is able to establish us
• God bruises satan under our feet
• He has the power to establish us
• He is the eternal God, the only wise God