Our study of Romans started intense and uncomfortable. Paul boldly proclaimed the wrath of God against all ungodliness and presented an airtight case for mankind’s guilt. This bad news made us eager for some good news, and we were introduced to the gospel of righteousness attained through faith. Now here we are. Romans 5 is a powerful crescendo of the triumph of our faith. Faith that brings us from lost and broken sinners without hope to reconciled, redeemed, and righteous children of the King of Kings! Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord J ..read more

The Gentiles in Rome had put their faith in Jesus. They had walked away from their godless lives and were trying to live lives that glorified God. However, the Jewish religious leaders insisted they follow a detailed set of rules to be considered righteous. You must be circumcised. You must not eat this kind of meat. Do this. Don’t do that. The Roman Christians were confused and concerned. They knew they could not keep these rules perfectly. But Paul wanted them to understand that it wasn’t what they did that made them righteous in God’s eyes. It was only saving faith in Jesus Christ that coul ..read more

Resurrection Sunday is my favorite day of the year. Nothing in the human experience is more cause for celebration than the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Victory was purchased on the cross and proven at the empty tomb! One of my favorite parts of the Resurrection Story is when Mary Magdalene discovered the empty tomb. Mary had devoted her life to Jesus. No one had ever loved her like He did. He showed her grace and forgiveness despite her shameful past. He gave her a whole new life full of hope and purpose. When she was with Him, she felt strong and safe. Then He died and s ..read more

We’ve made it through the first few chapters of Romans, and now we know both the bad news and the good news. Sin separates us from God and destines us for wrath, but righteousness is available through faith in Christ for all who believe. Faith is the key, but what does that look like? How can we have the kind of faith that makes God’s gracious salvation a reality? What is saving faith? Throughout the Bible, there are many examples of people who have had saving faith. People who trusted God with the outcome no matter what the circumstances looked like. One of these people was Abraham. Abraham w ..read more

I’m taking a brief break from my Romans deep dive to share some practical advice from the Word of God on how not to fall apart when life kind of stinks. My husband recently had a health scare that led to more discoveries and we’re going on day five of his hospital stay. He is doing okay right now, and it is incredible how God has had His hand on all of this. We are thankful, hopeful, and eager to get to the other side of this, but it’s scary, and we’re tired. The other day in my journal I wrote: “I’m physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.” As soon as I put a period at the end of that s ..read more

The original readers of the letter to the Romans were both Jews and Greeks who had come to faith in Jesus Christ. Many of the Jews across the region still clung to the idea that the Law of God and the rite of circumcision passed down from their forefathers put them on a higher plane with God than the pagans who shared their Christian faith. They depended on religious rituals and outward signs to make them right before God, but Paul made it clear it is faith alone that makes you righteous in God’s eyes. Whoever you are, it is always faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone. And true circ ..read more

In Romans 1, when Paul confronted the stuff we’d rather not talk about and laid out the litany of sinful lifestyles people who deny God get caught up in, he knew there were some in the crowd with puffed chests and raised chins. He knew people were looking around at others and shaking their heads. Whispering to the person next to them, “I’m glad I’m not like those people.” But no one is without excuse, and Paul knew that type of thinking was just as dangerous to their souls as flaunting a sinful lifestyle. “You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excu ..read more

Don’t tune out, yet. I know we’re talking about things that make us squirm, but we can’t skip over the parts of the Bible that make us uncomfortable. Romans 1:24-32 is one of those passages. We don’t hear many sermons on it or see many pithy social media posts about it. It’s the stuff we’d rather not talk about. To be perfectly honest, I’d rather not write about it either. But it’s God’s word, so here we go. Chances are pretty good you know someone who is living a homosexual lifestyle. Our culture has normalized it to the point that even many churches have welcomed this particular sin with ope ..read more

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