Dove Creek Bible Church's Podcast

Mark Chapter 11

In Galatians 3:1-5, Paul ask the Galatians specific questions about how God has worked in their midst. He is trying to get them to rethink so they will react differently

In Galatians 2:15-21, Paul explains we are dead to the law through the law, when this occurred, and why we are free from the law

In Galatians 2:11-16, Paul explains why he had to publicly confront Peter. There are several applications in this passage about the gentle art of confrontation.

The Apostle Paul explains his journey from legalistic Pharisee to Apostle of Grace.

In Acts 15, men come down from Judea to Antioch and state "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." If the men from Judea had prevailed circumcision would have become a precondition to salvation and trying to live the Christian life out of legalistic obedience of duty and obligation would have the standard rule of life among Christians. You see, what all legalists are ultimately trying to accomplish is to do the new covenant in the old covenant way. Fights are never fun, but they are sometimes important. Without question there are many times when a fight is simply not worth it. This is not one of those times so Paul does not agree to be agreeably disagreeing on the subject. Paul begins this epistle in a no-nonsense fashion getting quickly to the point!

Romans 16 contains the closing words of Paul in what has been called the greatest piece of writing in existence and the greatest book of the New Testament. In the last chapter, Paul extends greetings to 26 individuals (24 by name) and gives special recognition to women who served in the church. From this last chapter we learn everyone is significant, every ministry is important and people deserve praise and recognition for their service.

Guest Speaker, Paul Schliep, EFCA West Director of Pastoral Care, Transition Support, Theology and Credentialing, breaks down Psalm 22, the psalm on Jesus' heart and lips as He endured the cross.

In Romans 15, Paul continues to talk about building each other up. He goes over three things to consider about acceptance, three principles to consider before admonishing someone else, and his threefold priorities in serving others.

The first half of chapter 14 addresses the importance of acceptance which on the flipside means to refrain from judging others. The second half of the chapter concerns itself with how to avoid offending each other and the flipside to not offending is to actively seek to build up or encourage. What are the responsibilities of a strong Christian toward a weak Christian? Also how do we avoid giving offense to weaker Christians without letting them call all the shots about what we can and cannot do?

Christians have differed over what is and what is not appropriate for Christians to participate in since the founding of the church. Consider the problems faced by new Christians in the Roman Empire. What if you were a stone mason who worked for a business involved in the building of the walls of a heathen temple or a seamstress who worked for tailor who made robes for heathen priests? Should you look for another job? What if you worked for an incense maker or a silversmith or goldsmith who primarily made his money through idolatry? What if you were a sailor who worked on a ship dedicated to some sea god? What if you were a doctor? Should you work with the sick found in hospitals dedicated to the god, Aesculapius? New Christians were trying to determine where and when to draw the lines. Christians then, as now, drew their lines differently. So how should I respond to you if your list of do's & don't's is different from mine? Paul gives us the answer in Romans 14.

Here in Romans Paul discusses the ongoing debt of love that fulfills the law. He explains there how love seeks to make itself manifest.

What is a Christian's civic responsibility to governing authorities? Is the counsel to submit to governing authorities in Romans 13 and 1st Peter 2 qualified of unqualified? In other words, does Paul's counsel here mean something different in a democratic republic than it would in a communist regime? What are some different ways Christians have approached this issue of what was their justification

In these verses Paul instructs us on how to relate to people who are causing your grief in some way. He cautions we should avoid our natural instincts and leave any vengeance to God. Furthermore, somewhat counter-intuitively Paul exhorts us to not just resist our natural desire to fight back, but to show kindness to our enemies.

In chapter 12 of Romans, Paul looks at the different relationships of the Christian. First, he deals with our relationship to God in verses 1 and 2 which is to be one of sacrificial devotion, next he addresses our relationship to ourselves in verse 3 which involves evaluating ourselves with sober judgment, and then he spoke of our relationship with others in the church which involved the sharing of our gifts beginning in verses 4 through 8. Verses 9 through 16, which are the verses we will cover today, Paul shows us how we're to love our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Paul, thus far has described the problem of righteousness which is condemnation because of sin (Romans 1-3:20), the provision of righteousness which is justification in Christ (Romans 3:21-5:21), the power of righteousness which is sanctification enabled by the Spirit (Romans 6-8), and the program of righteousness in the case of the nation of Israel (Romans 9-11). From chapter 12 to the end of the book we learn of the practice of righteousness or the outworking of righteousness through our service to Christ. Verses 1-2 deals with our relationship to God which is to be one of sacrificial devotion, next he addresses our relationship to ourselves in verse 3 which involves evaluating ourselves with sober judgment, and then we consider our relationship with others in the church through the sharing of our gifts in verses 4 through 8.

Romans 11 is about Israel's future, but not everyone is agreed on who or what constitutes True Israel. Paul seems to suggest Israel has been temporarily set aside for now as God concentrates on the Gentile nations...or does he? What are we to learn from God's dealings with Israel? This sermon addresses these and other questions.

In chapter 9 of Romans we learned about about Israel’s past; chapter 10 is about Israel’s present and what we find is that Israel has been set aside as God’s primary vehicle in revealing Himself to the world. Paul gives four reasons why they were set aside in today's sermon.