Austin Life Church

At the end of Romans 7, Paul paints a painfully accurate picture of a person who is trapped and defeated by their sin and flesh. Apart from Christ, we too are like this person, but in Christ, we can have real victory over the sins that once trapped us.

As humans, we are all slaves to something. Meaning, something or someone is calling the shots for our lives, telling us what is true and how to live. For those under grace, we are slaves to righteousness, slaves to God and His ways. He calls the shots in our lives now!

In faith, we have shared with Christ a death to sin and resurrection to a newness of life! Sin can no longer reign in our lives. We are set free, so live set free!

Adam was supposed to lead us to a life of knowing, trusting, and following God. Instead, in his own passivity and disregard for God, he and Eve went their own way and brought sin into the world. Jesus on the other hand, did what Adam could not do, and has introduced a new and better way for us.

By faith in Jesus, our position before God is changed, and we are moved to a place of rejoicing and celebration in all that is to come! Praise be to God for His abundant blessings. 

Often times when we look to faithful men and women of God who have gone before us, we judge their salvation by what we can see, the fruit in their lives. This was true of Jews with Abraham as well. But Paul tells us that even Abraham, the father of Judaism, was justified by faith alone. True faith. Faith that is fully convinced God is the One True God, that God is true to His Word, and thus surren...

When we’ve believed something our entire lives, it’s difficult to just change what we believe. Can it really be that what makes me right with God has nothing to do with what I do, but wholly on what Jesus has done? Yes. Yes and amen! Our justification is wholly made possible by Jesus alone.

No one is good; no not one. Paul has spent the first 2.5 chapters of Romans communicating that no one - not the religious (Jews) or irreligious (Gentiles) - is right before God. But now, there is good news. Hope has come. God has justified us, made us right, through redemption in Jesus.

Christ did not come to the Earth to condemn us for our sins, but in order that through Him, we might be set free from the bondage of our sins! Paul reminds his Jewish brothers and sisters in Romans 3:9-20 that they are all under sin, just like the rest of humanity. It is because of this sin that we are in need of the Grace of Christ.

Early in the letter of Romans, Paul is wanting all people, whether Jew or Gentile, to know that God will righteously and impartially judge all according to their works. This truth is particularly challenging for the religious to understand and embrace, because they don’t see themselves as those to be judged. But God’s judgement is in fact impartial. Whether religious or irreligious, He will judge...

We are created to produce Godly fruit with our lives. And to do that, we must abide in Jesus; be connected, and remain connected. And we abide as we trust Jesus, and obey His commands. Well Jesus immediately gives us a command to obey - love one another. We are to love one another as He has loved us. 

From the very beginning, God has intentionally designed us to work, to be active, to produce something with our lives. Fruit is what the Bible often calls the results of our work and our living. God has called us to bear fruit, produce good results with our lives that multiply, increase, reflect God’s Glory. How do we do that? We abide in Christ and keep His commandments. 

We use the word love to mean many things. But the love of God for us primarily means the intentional choice to think and do what is kind, good, and best for another. God made the choice to love us, to do for us what is best. That is why Jesus came!

In Jesus we remember and celebrate that He is our source of great joy. In this world we all face various trials of various sizes. But in Jesus we have everlasting joy offered to us in spite of our sufferings. 

We often times think of peace as the absence of conflict. And that is true. But it’s incomplete. Peace, as understood by the Biblical word peace, is both an absence of conflict, and the presence of flourishing. It is thriving free of stress and worry. And in Jesus we have peace with God, with one another, and within ourselves. 

As was revealed to Simeon in Luke 2, Jesus coming to us to live just like us brings the fullness of Hope to believers. Even when we don't have the answers for why things feel hopeless, we can know our Savior stood in the same, difficult circumstances we too stand in. Our God is one who knows our heartache and gives true Hope!

Paul is addressing Jewish Christians in Rome to remind them that they are not "better than" the lost without the power of Christ. We have all sinned and are separated from God, but praise Jesus who lowered himself so we might be made righteous! Remember His holiness at work in you when interacting with others.

Paul is eager to preach the Gospel, for it is salvation from the wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. In communicating the good news, Paul wants to help people see the bad news they are living in apart from the Gospel. The bad news being, that we walked away from God, and He let us have our way. 

In John 20, the power of Jesus is on display as he calls the name of Lazarus and he comes out of the tomb. We see here that anything is possible when Jesus calls our name. So, how will you respond?

As Paul begins the body of his letter, he starts by telling the Romans why he is so eager to see them in person. He wants to mutually build one another up and reap a harvest among them by preaching the Gospel. The gospel according to Paul is the secret ingredient that brings life and helps a person grow, and Paul is obligated to, eager to, and unashamed to preach the Gospel.

Around the year 55 AD, Paul writes and sends a letter to the church in Rome to help explain the gospel of God so that the church will respond with gospel-fueled obedience - to His glory and their good.

As the story of Esther concludes, we see a great and remarkable reversal take place. What was meant for evil, the Lord turned and leveraged for good. And as people we are instructed and reminded to remember who God is and what He has done on our behalf.

God is a God who saves, who comes to our rescue. And the natural, and appropriate response to our rescue is rejoicing and gratitude.

Whether in this life, or the next, God will always oppose the proud, and lift up the humble. For His glory and the good of all people.

At all times, God is faithfully at work to fulfill His promise and lead us to abundant life in Him. Even when we cannot see Him, even when we don’t acknowledge Him, God is faithfully working for our good. For us, the questions are: Will we trust Him? And will we live in such a way to be ready and be used by Him?