Truth Encounter: Romans Series

Americans are obsessed with working out, yet they have never been fatter. Al Gore has made the environment a top news story, yet plastic bags and other trash continue to choke our planet. Christians often get attacked for heath and environmental problems, yet maybe Jesus is the only one who can help you face the reality that both your body and your planet will run out of gas. Jesus, alone, can deliver on a promise of energy and life that will last forever. Check out Romans 8:26-27 if you want to overcome the groaning of both your planet and your body.

"Condemned to death!" These are the most fatal words that a criminal can ever hear. Can we be sure that we will never hear these words from the divine Judge of the Universe? Men like Martin Luther broke down when faced with the horror of this question. Post modern men and women smile and say, "Such childishness!" Paul's letter to the Romans doesn't think this question about condemnation before God is childish, but the Apostle doesn't just scream condemnation at us. In fact declares, "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Does a dark spirit of condemnation ever assault your heart? I want the Spirit of life to set you free from this law of sin and death and Romans 8:1ff is a certain cure. Listen to the beginning of one of the most comforting sections in Romans--chapter 8.

Do you ever feel that you are in an internal wrestling match with sin and sin is winning? Now there are some super spiritual believers who present an image that they have moved beyond this struggle with the evil inside, but the Apostle Paul is not one of them. Want some authentic revelation about how to really change your behavior? Open your New Testament to Romans 7 and let's pick up the discussion at verse 14.

Do you find yourself in a second marriage? Because of death or divorce millions do. Often you feel pressure from step children or from friends, and even at church you can feel like you have not lived up to God's ideal. Take heart! In a sense the Lord wants all of us to be in a second marriage. Check out Romans 7 where Paul talks to us about A Second Marriage That LIves.

Airlines sell tickets by challenging us to Celebrate Our Freedom by jetting around the country, but what happens when we feel free to celebrate our passions without restraint? You probably won't buy it, but true freedom is found in making a decision to become totally enslaved. Check out Romans 6:15-25 as we let the Apostle Paul ask us, "Whose slave are you?

Americans are obsessed with their bodies. We starve them, have surgeon artists cut on them, and rub youth producing oil on them seeking to conquer the wrinkles. It's assumed that our bodies belong to us; therefore, we can feel free to use them as we see fit. But suppose that this is a crock—that our bodies don't actually belong to us? In Romans 6:1-14 the Apostle Paul confronts believers in Jesus. If you believe He died and rose again to forgive your sin, then you are to use each part of your body as an instrument that plays God's song instead of sin's song. What does your body say to others about your life commitments?

Damien Hirst, the bad boy of English art, released his latest work of art early in June-- a platinum skull imbedded with 8, 601 diamonds. The skull is worth $98 million and wears a big grin of real teeth, but is death a joke, a friend we can smile at? The Apostle Paul in Romans 5:12-21 has a far different response to the fact of death. He tells us its origin and he gives us a promise that can give us hope because diamonds don't last forever.

Hamas gunmen stormed the Fatah strongholds in Gaza last week dragging men into the street and gunning them down. On June 13th Sunni extremists with links to Al Qaeda finished their destruction of the twin golden minarets of the al-Askari mosque in Samara, Iraq’s most revered Shiite shrine, and right here in Texas two little babies were murdered. Is there a battle ground more hopeless than Gaza, Iraq, or the streets of Dallas, and is there any hope for peace? Turn to Romans 5:1-11 and listen for some answers in our study titled Peace with God.

Ever feel like you're drowning in credit card debt and there’s no way you will ever get things in the black? The good news is that you can pull yourself out of the credit card blues. The bad news is that you have a worse debt and the advice you get from many experts about how to make these payments is dead wrong. In Romans 4:13-25 a Jewish rabbi tells us how to get in the clear with God, and his advice goes totally against the advice of the major religions, including Judaism and Islam, and major parts of Christianity.

From Little League Trophies to a cruise in the Caribbean for winning a sales contest in your company most of us understand the thrill and the pride of standing before a reward stand and winning. There is a legitimate pride of accomplishment and the sweet satisfaction of a well-earned reward for hard work, but did you know that when you stand before God, this is one judgment where all your hard work will not get you across the threshold of heaven? Abraham is viewed as the father of both Jews and Arabs, but few understand how you actually do become a son or daughter of Abraham.

Jews do have an advantage when it comes to possessing the revelation of the true God in His Word, their Old Testament Scriptures. This does not mean that they will be excluded from God’s judgment against sin because they had the book that defined what sin is. Neither will Gentiles. In His spiritual MRI, the Great Physician gives a tough diagnosis. If we are all terminally ill spiritually and religious moral principles and practices can’t cure us, what can? This is the question the Apostle Paul finally answers in this section as we continue our study in Romans 3.

From Imus' vocal violence on the Beltway to Cho Seung-Hui real shots in Blacksburg, VA our entire culture again grapples with the thorny question--how do basically good human beings do such hurtful, violent things to one another. In a by-gone era the word "sin" would have been raised, and the idea of our basic goodness would have been called into question. Now we are enlightened, and we talk instead about crudeness and context, isolation, and mental illness. I believe it's time to open the pages of the book that shaped our culture more than any other and think again about total depravity—that’s what the dusty old theologians used to called it. It’s the most politically incorrect doctrine in the bible, but after a week where we mourn 32 victims of raging, murderous violence, its time to turn to Romans 3 and think again about what goes on deep inside the human heart.

Heart disease, like the Stealth Bomber, flies in to destroy under the radar. Physical heart disease can shorten this present life, but spiritual heart disease can cause us to lose our life forever. This is the stealth disease the Apostle Paul tries to expose in Romans 2:17ff. He was Jewish and he exposes the deadly, blinding pride that religious arrogance can bring into the lives of those who take pride in exposing the sins of others but never allow a spiritual arteriogram to expose the clogs in their own heart system.

Will God judge fairly at the final judgment? Will those who judge others and do the same destructive things duck by? Paul declares that God’s judgment will be totally fair and just. The person who persists in doing good, who seeks God’s glory, and honor will achieve immortality and life, and the individual who lives for himself, rejects the truth, and lives for evil will face God’s eternal judgment. God shows absolutely no favoritism. So how do you think you will do when God judges the secrets of each of our hearts based upon His moral standards?

If you suppress the truth about God and flagrantly worship false gods and live for degrading, destructive passions, what will the just holy God do about it? Our society says, “I’m okay, you’re okay!” How does God weigh in on this question?

There's power in a reputation. It takes years of concrete actions to build up a good reputation and it can be destroyed in a few minutes of craziness. What do our daily actions this week have to do with the reputation of Jesus Christ? Dave Wyrtzen begins our study in Romans chapter 1 today with some business mottos. See if what you think about the ratio of image and reality in these companies, then your church, and then your life.

These days everyone feels that things will work out on the other side. The materialists believes there is nothing after death, but the vast majority of people I meet think that things will work out okay for them when death strikes. After all, they are as good as the next person. But the Book of Romans stands strongly against this blasé view of eternity.