Able To Share

I don't care how much you know until I know how much you care.

Author Unknown

Romans 15:14
Now, my brothers, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. (HCSB)

Paul in this verse of scripture is telling us what the fullness and the overflowing is used for in our lives. It is used to help those around us. Paul says that the knowledge we have that is given to us by God through The Precious Holy Spirit, is to be used to instruct each other. Not in a haughty way, but through a humble and broken spirit.

We are to be filled with good things to share with one another, so the responsibility starts with us to be filled with knowledge, not for ourselves, but for others. We don’t seem to grasp that because we are always so busy taking care of our own worries. God wants us to be so overflowing with His Love that we are able to minister to one another.

Able to instruct “one another” means that we are filled with the goodness of God. Listen to God’s direction in Deuteronomy 4:10, “The Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people before Me, and I will let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.” The words shared at the base of Mt Horeb, are to be shared “forever” between us all…God’s Blessings.

Pastor William

What Are You Full Of?

Without fullness of experience, length of days is nothing. When fullness of life has been achieved, shortness of days is nothing. That is perhaps why the young have usually so little fear of death; they live by intensities that the elderly have forgotten.

Lewis Mumford (1895-1990, American social philosopher)

Romans 15:14
Now, my brothers, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. (HCSB)

We last spoke of the kind of life that Christ bids us live, a life that overflows, and we will not accomplish that by ourselves, for it takes the power of the Holy Spirit living within us for us to achieve this task. Listen to Paul’s words to the flock in Romans 15:14, he says that he was convinced, (that’s a strong word,) that his brothers were full.

Can others say that about you? We joke about what others are full of, and some words are not kind. People are full of nonsense, full of themselves, full of manure? Then we have a warning from our Savior in Matt 6:22-23,“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness!

Notice that we are full of one thing or another. Why is that? It is because of the tendencies of our flesh. We are always consumed by things, and the devil is there to draw our attention away from the things that would enable us to be full. One of his greatest tools is the eye; he too knows pictures are worth a thousand words, that is why it is so important for us to keep our eyes on Jesus…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Overflowing Life

Fill the cup of happiness for others, and there will be enough overflowing to fill yours to the brim.

Rose Pastor Stokes

Romans 15:10-13
Again it says: Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people! And again: Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; all the peoples should praise Him! And again, Isaiah says: The root of Jesse will appear, the One who rises to rule the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will hope. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (HCSB)

So, before we leave this wonderful portion of God’s Word, let’s look at one more important aspect of what Paul is trying to tell us about our attitudes of Praise and Thanksgiving. To me one of the most important words in this scripture is the word that is directed to you and me personally, and it is the word “overflow.”

Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:15 tells us to share this grace, and why, “so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to overflow to God’s glory.” There’s that word overflow again, and then in 1 Thess 3:12 “may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone,” see a pattern yet?

We’re not through, again in 2 Cor 1:5 “For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so our comfort overflows through Christ. Isn’t this great everywhere we are instructed to be overflowing, not with a sip, but with abundance. And finally this in 2 Cor 9:8 “And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.” We are to live overflowing lives…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Obvious Encouragement

All times are beautiful for those who maintain joy within them; but there is no happy or favorable time for those with disconsolate or orphaned souls.

Rosalia Castro

Romans 15:10-13 (HCSB)
Again it says: Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people! And again: Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; all the peoples should praise Him! And again, Isaiah says: The root of Jesse will appear, the One who rises to rule the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will hope. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The root of Jesse, will appear, this was prophesied in Isaiah, this scripture comes from the mouth of the ancient prophet who did not live to see it fulfilled. We, on the other hand, are witnesses to the fulfillment of thousands of Old Testament prophecies, and yet we do not appreciate the power of this prophetical witness.

It is said that the chances of one of these prophecies coming true, is equal to the chance of you randomly picking up a marked quarter among a 2 ft layer of quarters that would cover an area the size of Texas. Ok, so what, so what if this is true, and so what if the prophecies have been fulfilled.

Well, for me it means that just as those promises have come to pass, my eternal rewards in Christ shall come to pass as well. If I am looking forward to my reward I am filled with hope and filled with joy, which is my strength, and the precious Holy Spirit of God residing in me, shall fill me with the strength I need each day until I see Jesus. How about you? Is it a big deal to you, or are you over looking God’s encouragement…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Give Yourself Away

What a man does for others, not what they do for him, gives him immortality.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852, American lawyer, statesman)

Romans 15:7-9
Therefore accept one another, just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God. Now I say that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles, and I will sing psalms to Your name. (HCSB)

If you desire to be like Jesus, it is a wonderful goal that you set before yourself, and it is also the only eternal and lasting goals we can achieve on our temporary journey here. To what extent we each become like Him is determined by our own vision of who we think Jesus is, so it is important that we have a proper picture of our Savior.

Jesus has eternal and unchangeable characteristics that you can set your sights on. We have talked of His unconditional acceptance of others, regardless to their station in life, but the reason that He is this way is what we need to look at. Above we can read and see a background for the actions of our Savior, and the background is service to others.

Jesus, a servant of the circumcised, and a servant confirming the promises of those that believed unseen that He would one day come. Jesus, a servant to the Gentiles, grafted in to His Love. Now why did He give His life in service? So that His Father might be glorified, and so it is that if we will desire to do the same, we will make eternal differences on those that live around us and in ourselves...God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Under Contract

Those people who are uncomfortable in themselves are disagreeable to others.

William Hazlitt (1778-1830, British essayist)

Romans 15:7-9
Therefore accept one another, just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God. Now I say that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles, and I will sing psalms to Your name. (HCSB)

I am amazed at the authority with which the Word of God speaks. God is speaking to us through Paul with a command and not a choice. What is this command? It is this, “accept one another,” and what is acceptance, it is ownership. If you sign a contract to buy a car, you accept the terms that come with it, and you are legally responsible for it.

Now here are some terms that come when we accept Christ. Jesus commands that as He accepted us with all our faults and shortcomings, so we must accept one another. It means that we take ownership of each other’s lives, and that we invest something in each other. As a car needs to be provided certain things to run properly, we also must be serviced.

That service takes place not just on Sunday’s, but on everyday of the week. God says that we are to be roadside assistants to one another on life’s highway. We all run out of gas at times, and we throw a belt, or get overheated and have to pull over for a minute, and that is when we need each other the most. We accept ownership of each other, and stop on our life’s journey to make sure that we all make it safely home…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

It's A Long Road

Long is the road from conception to completion.

Jean Baptiste Moliere (1622-1673, French playwright)

Romans 15:4-6 (HCSB)
For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you agreement with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice.

Before we go on let us also look at Paul’s comments on His Father, for he gives testimony to the character of his God before making his requests of him. He states that his God is a God of endurance and encouragement. That is pretty important isn’t it? I know that encouragement is one thing that I really need in my life, it helps me to endure.

How does God give us encouragement? In 1 Samuel 23:16 we find can find an instance of how it happens; “Then Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and encouraged him in his faith in God.” Paul also tell us this in Hebrews 3:13, “But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.”

David was running from Saul in the wilderness, and I am sure he felt that God had abandoned him. Well, all of us feel that way at different times in our lives don’t we? I know I do, and no matter how strong of a Christian someone appears to be to you, they also need your encouragement, and somebody near you needs it today…God’s Blessings.

Pastor William

United In Mind and Voice

We cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end.

Woodrow T. Wilson (1856-1924, American President (28th))

Romans 15:4-6 (HCSB)
For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you agreement with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice.

Before we now leave these two verses that are striving to build us into a single purpose and direction for our lives, let’s look at the two things he speaks of. For one Paul has spoken of the dangers of a doubting mind, but now speaks of the kind of mind that a Christian should have. It is a united mind, a mind that can only come from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit unites our thoughts and purposes with the Will of God, and allows us to have this stable mind. Ps 133:1, tells us this, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! This unity is not for our own purposes but for the purpose of Christ, so as to stand as against a lost world, and save lost souls.

Christ put it this way in John 17:23 “ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” So for us today, it is Christ in me and you united in purpose and in love speaking with a united mind and voice. As Jesus said in John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Enduring Together

Not in achievement, but in endurance, of the human soul, does it show its divine grandeur and its alliance with the infinite.

Edwin Hubbel Chapin (1814-1880, American author, clergyman)

Romans 15:4-6 (HCSB)
For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you agreement with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice.

These verses must be understood in the light of verses1-3 of yesterday’s devotion on Chapter 15. This gives us a clue of what we will need to be able to endure and hold on to our hope. What is that important ingredient that we will need? It is each other. We need each other and we need God’s Word to be able to successfully traverse this world.

Notice what it is that Paul asks God to grant Christians to enable them to speak with one mind and voice. It is for Christians to be in agreement with one another. This is so important in the church. The saying is of old, “United we stand, divided we fall.” But Paul also tells what to unite around, and that is Christ and the Scriptures.

It is fighting over all the other stuff that divides churches. People have so many preconceived ideas of what is important. Paul is telling us that we are to be in agreement with each other, holding one another up and glorifying God in all that we do. God insists that we be involved in one another’s lives, so as to encourage one another as we each carry our cross for Christ…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Always Building

Never insult an alligator until you've crossed the river.

Cordell Hull (1871-1955, American statesman)

Romans 15:1-3 (HCSB)
Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, in order to build him up. For even the •Messiah did not please Himself. On the contrary, as it is written, the insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.

To me this journey that I am taking through Romans has really enlightened to me the importance of others in our journey here. Just when you think that Paul is through sending home the point, he comes back to it again. What is it that he comes back to regularly? Our, and hear the word he uses here, our “obligation to bear.”

Now that isn’t strong enough, so he goes a little farther, he says that obligation is one of “bearing,” which is saying we must help steady those with weaknesses. Moreover even those with no strength at all, we must help for their own good or pleasure, so that they might be able to stand the onslaught of satan. This is what Christ does for us isn’t it?

We are to feel for those whom are insulted and put down and we are to find their weaknesses focus on them and build them up into strong and faithful believers in Christ, now that’s what being a Christian is really all about isn’t it. Not that you are a spiritual guru, but that you are a servant, who feels the insults of others so strongly that you are stricken to help them, just as Jesus was for us…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Targeted Faith

He was of the faith chiefly in the sense that the church he currently did not attend was Catholic.

Kingsley Amis (1922-1995, British novelist)

Romans 14:20-23
Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to cause stumbling by what he eats. It is a noble thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother stumble. Do you have faith? Keep it to yourself before God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin. (HCSB)

Faith has a different meaning to many in today’s world. Many times we hear someone speak of their belief in a “higher power.” That isn’t a new thing. In Paul’s day he also saw the tomb, or plaque erected in belief to the unknown god. Paul immediately began to tell them about this God that they didn’t know.

Many people in today’s world have their faith defined more by what they do not believe than what they do believe in. They are so afraid of believing in the wrong thing that they abandon their search for the right thing, therefore their faith is mostly “undefined,” they really don’t know what they believe, or what they are living for.

Paul is saying here that that kind of belief is sinful, moreover, in the Greek this kind of faith is said to have missed the mark. Belief, or faith, the subject of Paul’s words here, is defined as living life with a target or a goal in mind. Paul is saying that living without God’s goals as your ultimate goals in life will cause you to lose life. Another way of saying it is, if you aim for nothing, you are sure to get it…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Dangerous Doubt

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and interferes with our relationship with God. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.

Romans 14:20-23
Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to cause stumbling by what he eats. It is a noble thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother stumble. Do you have faith? Keep it to yourself before God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin. (HCSB)

James 1:6 gives us this insight on the damage doubt can do to us as Christians, “But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.” Strong words are used here of doubt, let’s look at them.

Have you ever seen a surging sea? It is unpredictable first of all, for its danger is that you can never prepare yourself to meet this powerful force. It is also a driven force, that is that there is a strong and determined movement in a direction, and lastly, it is tossed, by the wind which again can be, a powerful destructive force on its own.

Like a boat at anchor, the rope slack at one moment can receive a powerful jolt, uprooting the anchor and putting the ship on the rocks. This is the powerful strength of satan, in that he will always hit us when we least expect it, and one of his most used tools is the tool of doubt. Doubt, a powerful force to stop us as Christians, throws us off course, and into the raging seas of the world…God’s Blessings.

Pastor William

Causing Doubt

When you start to doubt yourself, the real world will eat you alive!

Henry Rollins

Romans 14:20-23
Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to cause stumbling by what he eats. It is a noble thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother stumble. Do you have faith? Keep it to yourself before God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin. (HCSB)

I think that we have thoroughly covered the importance of our considering our spiritual family in everything that we do. If you haven’t read those devotions before this one, I strongly urge you to regress and go back and understand that this journey that you are on while you are on this earth is not a conquest that you undertake alone.

The subject that I think we really need to pull out of this scripture is “doubt.” So why does Paul bring this word to the forefront after this encompassing word encouraging us all to walk in love? He knows that we can get distracted by judgment, by our beginning to think that I have the right and only way, and if you’re not like me, you are wrong.

Paul is saying to us, your walk before God is yours, and it is not your business to get into the walk of someone else and start pointing fingers. God is able to handle and correct the walk of His children and I have seen that in the ministry that He has given me. Walk the truth and it does all of the correcting that is necessary. Our actions will be our words, and our holy walk a witness to our brothers and sisters, and to a lost world…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

The Other Guy Matters

To win true peace, a man needs to feel himself directed, pardoned and sustained by a supreme power, to feel himself in the right road, at the point where God would have him be -- in order with God and the universe. This faith gives strength and calm.

Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)

Romans 14:19-20 (HCSB)
So then, we must pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to cause stumbling by what he eats.

I was moved by the words of Amiel. Think for a moment of what it is that he is saying. If we “individually” are not at peace then we will not promote peace, the reason for that being the fact that we are not at peace within ourselves. Thus the words of Paul brings meaning to our present day dilemma, so then…we “must” pursue peace.

In this pursuit Paul also says that we are not to do it alone, and it doesn’t happen alone, it happens because we are seeing to it that someone else is at peace and in that process I am assured to be at peace. In this process someone else is included in my pursuit of peace, and my peace depends on how much I am helping someone else to be at peace.

What a different way to look at things. Being concerned with me too much can be detrimental to my peace, and being concerned about someone else can build my peace. The penalty for not doing that is the loss of my personal peace, and more than that if I am harming my brother, I am destroying myself…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William