Heaven and Hale

Today we are reading Romans 13. It is just 14 verses, so we will talk about the whole chapter today. Romans 13 is really a continuation of chapter 12. You probably know this, but the men and women who were inspired by God to write the Bible (Paul in this case), did not write in chapters and verses. The letter to the Romans was just that, a letter, and when it was translated for us, the organizatio...

I’m calling today Romans 12 Part II because we are really just talking about all of chapter twelve again, in light of what we talked about yesterday, which is that you can’t have chapter twelve without the eleven chapters that come before it. Chapter twelve is the beginning of the practical application section, the Paraenesis, and it’s pretty easy to read and comprehend compared to the first eleve...

I'm so excited to have my favorite guest (and the only guest I've ever had) here to recap yesterday AND last Sunday's message. Joseph is with me to talk about parts two and three of the community series: Community, God's Plan for the Church, and Community, God's Plan for Eternity.  You ARE a Bible reader. You CAN understand God's Word. You WILL be changed by what you...

Paul spent the first eleven chapters in just deep, theological thought, but then he gets to chapter twelve and it’s like “Okay, now let me put the kid gloves on.” There’s a good reason for that, and it’s not just something Paul does in his letter to the Romans. In fact, this is part of Paul’s writing style.  I need you to remember allllll the way back to the first episode (it might have even been...

I am so excited to wrap up chapter 11 with you all today, and talk about all the things I didn’t get to talk about yesterday. But first, let’s review. Do you remember what the metanarrative is? A metanarrative is an overarching account of events and circumstances, or stories, that provides a pattern that explains all the little stories it encompasses. And the metanarrative of the Bible is Creation...

We are wrapping up this section today and tomorrow. Chapters 9-11 all belong together because they answer that “essential question” we’ve been talking about for days: “What about the Jews? What about God’s promise to Israel? How does that fit in with the Gospel message?” So, today we will read Romans 11:1-12, and tomorrow we will finish chapter 11.  This chapter was really hard to split into two s...

Today we are finishing up Romans Chapter 10, reading verses 14-21. Yesterday we began talking about Israel’s rejection of Jesus, which begs the question: How, if all the law and the prophets of the Old Testament pointed toward a savior, a messiah, how did they miss him? Why did they not accept Jesus as the one they had been waiting for? Paul gives us plenty of answers as to why in the first part o...

Today we are talking about Romans 10:1-13. It’s not a lot of scripture, and I don’t think it will take very long to talk through what’s going on here, but I do think we have a great opportunity to point out a very important Bible study mistake that a lot of us make in what we will read today. Let’s just say we have been reading Romans and maybe we missed a couple of days of reading, or maybe we ov...

Yesterday we started a section that will answer a big question for Jewish Christians. Do you all remember in elementary school when the teacher would write the “Essential Question” on the board? Or is this just something I remember and know about because I taught elementary school. In every curriculum there are different units of study. For instance, one unit I taught in third grade was about the...

Romans 9 is a difficult chapter to swallow, there are some verses in here that make NO SENSE, even compared to some of the other things we have read previously in this book! Let’s just go ahead and pull these verses out right up front: Romans 9:15 “For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” and then verse 18, “So he has mer...

You all know I love a good Bible study resource, and you also know that one of my favorites is the Halley’s Bible Handbook. It literally gives a summary of every chapter of every book of the Bible. Halley’s broke chapter 8 into five sections, and we’re recapping it in two episodes, so all this to say, we’re covering a lot of scripture in each episode. I’m just hitting a few key spots, and really w...

Y’all we made it to one of my favorite chapters in all of scripture, Romans Chapter 8! You know, I told you that chapter seven was a tough one for me to get through, but I think it has made me appreciate chapter eight even more. When we think about everything we have read from chapter one to chapter seven, ending chapter seven with such a great description of the war, the struggle raging within us...

Welcome back to the Summer Reading Plan, today we are finishing up chapter seven, and y’all, I know it’s been deep. I feel like we’ve been trying to walk through quicksand, but I also feel this Word changing me, and changing my heart. Try not to get stuck, keep moving forward. You don’t have to understand everything, every single detail, everyday. Lord knows I don’t! Just try to find one thing to...

Today we are talking about the first part of Romans chapter seven, verses one through twelve. I have got to say, up front, that chapter seven has been the HARDEST chapter to get through, for me. I read chapter seven multiple times, and I looked at all my resources, and I sat down to write some notes, and I just had nothing. I kept asking myself, “Do I really understand this?” I took my Bible and s...

Hi everyone! Welcome back to the summer reading plan. We’re finishing up chapter 6 today, and if you remember yesterday, I said there were two questions Paul was going to answer in this chapter. He’s answering the second question in this section, and it’s really similar to the first. Verse 15 basically says, “Since we are no longer under the law, we can do whatever we want, right?”  The way Paul r...

Hi! Welcome to the summer reading plan, today we are talking about Romans 6:1-14. In the past few days we’ve discovered a couple of things about Paul’s writing in this book. We’ve talked about how Paul is good at anticipating the questions his readers might have, and how he is writing with a lot of logic. He is really breaking everything down for us here. Chapter six is just more evidence for that...

We are finishing up chapter five today. I told you yesterday that chapter five is broken into two parts: the blessing of justification, and an explanation of how it all works. Today we’re talking about how it works. Paul has spent most of the first five chapters telling us how ALL OF MANKIND sins. We are born into sin! You’ve probably heard that phrase before “born into sin.” What does that even m...

This weekend was all about community, and we're just getting started! On Saturday a family in our church hosted a family fish fry, and I was overwhelmed by all the families who came together and how they loved on each other throughout the day. Then, on Sunday Joseph preached on... community! It was so good!  Here's the thing about community though-- you can't force it, and sometimes...

Hi everyone! Welcome to the summer reading plan! We are jumping in to Romans 5 today, and we are talking about verses 1-11. So far, the book of Romans has taken it’s readers on a journey from the time in which it was written, back to when the law was given, back to when God made his covenant with Abraham, and today, it’s taking us all the way back to when sin entered the world with Adam. Paul know...

It’s okay to break down your reading into smaller sections! That is exactly what we’re doing in this Bible study. The book of Romans is a LOT to swallow. So just study ten verses at a time, or five, or one– but be sure to read all the surrounding verses. So we just talked about 4:1-12 yesterday, but I read them again before I jumped into studying this section. It helped me to get focused on what I...

Welcome to day seven of the summer reading plan! Today we are talking about the first part of Romans 4, verses one through twelve. Before we get into it, let’s talk about one of the “P’s of Bible Study” that I don’t mention as often: process. " Just because you question something doesn’t mean you oppose it. God is not scared of your questions." Speaking of questions…. I mentioned earlier...

Today, in Romans 3:21-31, it's all about the law, the law, the law. What does that mean for us? You'll have to listen to find out! You ARE a Bible reader. You CAN understand God's Word. You WILL be changed by what you learn. And, in turn, the Word of God will change your family, your community, and your world. SOCIAL: Follow me on social media! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pro...

Welcome to the Summer Reading Plan-- Day 5! We're talking about Romans 3:1-20 and one of the other reasons why Paul wrote to the Romans: to discuss ethnicity issues within the church. You ARE a Bible reader. You CAN understand God's Word. You WILL be changed by what you learn. And, in turn, the Word of God will change your family, your community, and your world. SOCIAL: Follow me on soci...

We know you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? This is the question that Paul was asking the Romans in the second part of Romans Chapter 2. If there hasn't been a passage to practice using perspective on yet... there is now! Today's passage is all about the Jews and how circumcision bound them to the law. It would be easy to skip over this part.... except that it is still supe...

Today's episode is all about God's judgment... but no worries! We find in scripture that our God is just AND kind. Follow along to see what else scripture tells us about his judgment: God's judgment is... according to the truth (2:2) according to each man's works (2:16) according to the secrets of men (2:16) You ARE a Bible reader. You CAN understand God's Word. You WILL b...