Romans 16

Romans 16 (Amplified)

- v17 I appeal to you, brethren, to be on your guard concerning those who create dissensions and difficulties and cause divisions, in opposition to the doctrine (the teaching) which you have been taught. [I warn you to turn aside from them, to] avoid them.

- v18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites and base desires, and by ingratiating and flattering speech, they beguile the hearts of the unsuspecting and simpleminded [people].

- v19 For while your loyalty and obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I would have you well versed and wise as to what is good and innocent and guileless as to what is evil.

- v20 And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) be with you.

Romans 15

Romans 15

- v4-5 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,

- MSG v4-5 Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all.

Romans 14

Romans 14 (The Message)

- v15-16 If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don't eat, you're no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don't you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!

- v17-18 God's kingdom isn't a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness' sake. It's what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you'll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.

Romans 13

Romans 13 (The Message)

- v3-5 Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you'll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage. But if you're breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren't there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it. That's why you must live responsibly—not just to avoid punishment but also because it's the right way to live.

Do you see your church leaders as a form of government too?

Romans 12

Romans 12

- v3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

- v16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Romans 11

Romans 11

- v11-12 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

Romans 10

Romans 10

- v11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

- v13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

- AMP v17 So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).

- v19 “ I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation,
I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”

Romans 8

Romans 8

- v30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

- v33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? ...

- v34 Who is he who condemns? ...

- v35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? ...

- v37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Romans 8

Romans 8

- v24-25 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

- v31-32 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

What you hope for will be freely given to you.

Romans 8

I've been stuck on Romans 8 for a number of days now. There is just SO MUCH in it, and I wanna take a few days to chew on it.

Just before the very first time I read it last Thursday, I had a barrage of condemning thoughts hitting me, for no apparent reason, at 6.45am, thoughts about my unworthiness to serve in Ministry, thoughts about my crumbled spiritual walls, thoughts about ppl not liking me.

And then I looked up at my screen and saw it -

Romans 8:1
- There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus

Instantly, all the thoughts lifted. And then I asked myself, do those thoughts have any grounds at all? Even if I don't condemn myself, I'm not perfect either. And how do I explain those things that have already happened in the past?

Romans 8:28
- And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

If you really, really believe that ALL things work out for good, then whatever has happened, is happening or will happen MUST be good! It's so easy to look at things negatively. What if we do things radically, and look at things super positively for a change, because we have the grounds of Romans 8:28?

Romans 6

Romans 6:15-23 (The Message)
What is True Freedom?

- v20-21 As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.

Romans 5

Romans 5:1-5
Faith Triumphs in Trouble

- NKJV v3-5 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Developing Patience

- MSG v3-5 There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Romans 4

Romans 4 (The Message)
Trusting God

- v3 ...What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own."

- v4-5 If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.

Romans 3

Romans 3 (The Message)

- v28 What we've learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We've finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.

Romans 2

Romans 2 (The Message)

- v11 ... God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.

- v29 ... And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.

Romans 1

Romans 1:16-17
The Just Live by Faith

- v16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

- AMP v16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,

- MSG v17 God's way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: "The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives."