One of Paul’s most effective teaching methods is the use of rhetorical questions. In building his argument that justification is by faith alone, apart from works, he is arguing against taking his teachings about the grace of God to an absurd extreme. In Romans 5:20, Paul declared “where sin abounded, grace abounded more.” His rhetorical question in 6:1 is to cut off the absurd conclusion that the grace of God is so bountiful that it doesn’t matter if we continue in known sin.

In 6:14, Paul pronounced, “You are not under law but under grace.” But lest anyone misunderstand this wonderful truth, he is quick to ask, “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” He answers both questions with a resounding, “Certainly not!” This can be also be translated, “May it never be!”

Many of us might look at these two questions of Paul with a quick, “Well, of course, I would never do that.” But with a moment’s reflection, the Spirit of God moves upon our conscience reminding us of how many times we have fallen to a temptation while thinking in the back of our minds, “God will forgive me” or even remembering 1 John 1:9, and saying, “I will confess this later.”

Let us not be deceived like this. Paul’s summary in verse 12 is: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” As children of the King, we should not let sin reign in our lives. We should instead submit ourselves to our good, good Father, hallowing His holy name in our hearts.

Tom Day

Money in and of itself is not what is evil but it’s the love of money that is evil. Paul warns Timothy the love of money will cause you to do all sorts of wicked and evil things. For one, it will cause you to stray away from your faith. Jesus says in Matthew 6 on the Sermon on the Mount, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other…” Your faith is the first one to go. Do you serve God or do you serve money? You can’t do both.

Your greediness will bring trouble your way. When you love money and it’s the only thing that matters to you, you begin to bend the rules. Which is why your faith is the first to go. You cut corners and begin to cheat others, which brings troubles. It could be in their greediness that a marriage comes to divorce. It could be that in their greediness, the law catches up to them and they end up serving time. Whatever the case may be, the love of money will drive you to do evil things, resulting in sorrows.

What drives you? Is it the love of money and more of it? Or is it the love of God unto good works?

Joshua Navarro

We know that there are many names for God in the Hebrew text of scripture. All of them are wonderful, and each of them highlights a divine truth of His character. One of them is El Qanna; Jealous God.

In our culture, being jealous can bring to mind a negative association, that of weak insecurity, or selfishness. But in the heavenly sense, it is a benevolent term, illustrating devotion and the strength of a love that is boundless in pursuing the object of its desire. Charles Spurgeon put it this way, “Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did He choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another.”

Let’s take a moment to examine our hearts today. Any goal, anything, or any aspiration that stands above our Lord is unfaithfulness on our part. Realizing this, I am driven with joy back to my First Love, the One who paid the highest price to set me free and win my heart. We are His bride, Church, let’s be true to Him!

Jeff Deal

There are a few words in Greek for being poor, but the word used here doesn’t just describe someone who is having trouble paying bills or who is barely getting by financially, but instead it is someone who is destitute or helpless.

There are many today that consider themselves to be spiritual people. They go to church a few times a year, they meditate or pray, or believe in a higher power, so they are spiritual. Unfortunately, that kind of spirituality is fleshly and worldly and leaves the individual with a false sense of security. They think that they are spiritually wealthy, but their spirituality won’t overcome this world.

But to be “poor in spirit” means that we realize that we are spiritual paupers with no hope of seeing the “Kingdom of God” without God’s help. And as we come to Jesus and receive from Him His Spirit, ours is the “Kingdom of God.” Now the Kingdom of God isn’t Heaven, though that is ours as well, but we receive the Kingdom of God in our hearts, as new creations with new life in Christ and as children of the King.

So there must be emptiness before there can be fullness, and poverty of spirit precedes riches, grace, and blessings in the Kingdom of God.

Pastor Doug Hardin

Worship of the Lord is something wonderful and if you go through the Psalms, you can find many songs praising the Lord. The above is one of the many Psalms that David wrote and what really sticks out to me is what David is calling us all to. Notice he isn’t saying that only he will magnify and exalt God, but rather we should be doing this corporately. I encourage you today to join with your brothers and sisters in Christ and magnify and exalt Jesus’ name as great this day! When the saints worship God together, the world sees how wonderful He is.

Blessings,

Pastor Sean Boehm

Jacob finally meets his brother after some 20 or so years. He continued to devise plans up to the last moment and yet, after all that, when Esau saw him, he ran right to his brother and gave him a hug.

There are a couple of points here. One, the most important thing Jacob did was when he prayed in the last chapter. God worked everything out for him, making the fear he had useless. Fear usually is.

Second, we tend to think others’ attitudes towards us are worse than they really are. Can I tell you an ugly truth? Most people aren’t thinking about you at all. They have their own lives to live and are focused on that.

How much time do we spend worrying when we could spend time worshiping? Corrie ten Boom said, “Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” Give your worries to God and live today for Him!

Casting my cares upon Him,

Pastor Ron Kitchell

A military campaign must fulfill two objectives. The first is to conquer and subdue the enemy. The second is to occupy the disputed territory. The occupation is considered the more difficult task. In a foreign land surrounded by the enemy, without support you can be quickly overrun and driven out.

Our spiritual battle is similar. Jesus has conquered sin and death (Romans 5:21) but we must occupy until He comes again. In this war, we are more than conquerors. Jesus has won the victory and the Holy Spirit now occupies us. We are surrounded by the enemy but we are not alone. We will never lose our support for He will never leave nor forsake us. We live in hostile territory but be of good cheer, for He has overcome the world.

Occupying till He comes,

Pastor Rod Harris

The message and imagery here are pretty self-evident. We picture someone sitting quietly with maybe some crackers and cheese as opposed to a crowded room with a huge spread, louder chatter, and mayhem everywhere. The point that Solomon is making in this proverb is also straightforward. There is a real benefit and peace that comes with simplicity. I think we all know the more stuff we have and the more we focus on that stuff, the crazier things get. So take time today and go somewhere simple and in that place of quietness, “Be still and know that He is God.”

In the beauty of simplicity,

Pastor Gerard Deleeuw

If you needed yet another verse to convince you of God’s great love and concern for your life, add this one to your list of memory verses. Every wandering or misery we encounter in this life, every tear that we have shed, every heartbreak and sadness we have faced, God records them all. Not one of them is wasted or goes unnoticed by our heavenly Father. He keeps good records and is more than a little concerned for your day-to-day life. Remind yourself of that today when you are faced with hardships or setbacks. God is watching, not just with interest but with a compassionate heart! He will work all things together for good, be assured of that.

Always on His mind,

Pastor Jack Abeelen

I think we have all said, especially in our youth, “I swear to God.” We said this as a way to validate whatever just came out of our mouth to ensure our hearers we are telling the truth or will follow through with whatever we committed ourselves to.

When looking at the above verse, I guess this has been a practice that has lasted most of history. Apparently, even God Himself validated his promises. But as we read this Scripture, He couldn’t swear to anything outside of Himself because there was nothing greater than Himself to swear to. That is why to this day, we still say, “I swear to God” because there is no authority, no higher power, nor worthy witness than God Himself. When we say we “swear to God,” we mean what we are saying we have God to answer to!

Well, just like God’s promise to Abraham, His promises to us are backed up by this same principle. God will have to answer to Himself only for the promises or claims He makes and because we know that God is perfect in love, power, and knowledge, He cannot fail Himself. If God can’t fail Himself, that means He can never fail us.

His promises are the real deal, “I swear to God!”

Pastor Jason Witt