Mainstream Orlando

Hope and Joy

Romans 15:13

13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

God is our only source of hope and as we trust in Him, we can be confident that He will fill our hearts with what we need. As we trust in Him, our lives may not be perfect but we can know that He is the source of our hope and joy. 

Challenge: Read Romans 15. Take time today to thank God for the hope that He has placed in our hearts. 

Harmony Over Hostility

Romans 14:17-19

17 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too. 19 So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.

The goal of walking with Jesus is not to get bogged down in arguments and disagreements, but to live lives of goodness, peace, and joy. This passage is not a license to sin.  There are behaviors in scripture that are clearly labeled sin and are prohibited. Directly addressed Biblical principles always supercede a personal conviction on an issue, however, when not directly addressed in Scripture, we are to still obey the conviction the Holy Spirit places on our lives

Challenge: Read Romans 14. Ask God for opportunities to be more united with the church body.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Romans 13:8-10

8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. 9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

This scripture makes it clear that we have an OBLIGATION to love one another. We don’t have a choice- we are commanded by God to do so. We are indebted to love one another unconditionally all because Jesus loved us unconditionally. 

All the commandments are summed up in this one commandment which means that the ultimate goal of our righteousness is to love others and ourselves. 

If you find it difficult to love others, the source might be a lack of love for self. Jesus loves you, knowing full well all your sins and mistakes and he still thinks you are worth loving. Do we know better than Jesus? You are able to love yourself as Jesus is able to love you. 

Challenge: Read Romans 13. Take time today to show love to 3 people in your life in a way that’s out of the norm for you.

Spiritual Gifts

Romans 12:5-8

5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. 6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

There are 3 sets of spiritual gifts. This set is the motivational gifts. These gifts describe how God has wired our personalities and abilities to do His work. Every spiritual gift listed in the Word is always meant to build up the body, not for personal gain. Having a specific gift is the way you are primarily motivated to serve the Lord and His church and we should aim to grow in our gifts by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Challenge: Read Romans 12. Spend time in prayer asking God to reveal what gifts he has equipped in you to help build up the church.

Kind AND Severe

Romans 11:22

22 Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off.

God is Kind AND Severe and He means business. If you are wanting God, He will be with you, helping every step of the way. We can know that in our failures, we can trust that God’s Kindness draws us to repentance. But if you choose to walk away, He will also allow you to do that, resulting in a “cutting off” of His blessing. God calls us to be “all in” because He is an “all in” God. Nothing else compares to a life completely surrendered to Him. 

Challenge: Read Romans 11. Take time today to reflect on the moments in life where you had to decide to trust in God. What was the outcome of trusting or not trusting in Him?

Salvation

Romans 10:9-10

 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

This is one of the main verses that tell us how one is to be saved. Salvation is clear and simple and it is confessing Jesus is Lord, believing He was raised from the dead, turning from your sin, and following Him. It is possible to know that you are saved. (No need to question if you are saved or not).

Challenge: Read Romans 10. Thank God for your salvation. If you are unsure of your salvation, follow the example in this verse and be sure of your salvation.

Burden for the Lost

Romans 9:1-3  

With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.

We are supposed to have a burden for the lost people around us such as our friends, neighbors, and family. We cannot earn someone’s salvation for them, but we should be as invested in being a light as if it was our salvation. We should never take this lightly and never take for granted the salvation that has been given to us. 

Challenge: Read Romans 9. Pray about who is in your life that God wants you to be a light to.

God’s Investment

Romans 8:29-30

29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

We can rest assured knowing that God is invested in our salvation. He laid down his life to pay the price for sin and from the very start He has constantly been pursuing us to enter into a life altering relationship with Him. The nature of God is giving and as He gives, He promises that we will one day receive glory. 

Challenge: Read Romans 8. Take time to thank God for all the 3 specific blessings that God has given to you.

Life to the Full

Romans 7:4-6

So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. 5 When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

The relationship between salvation and good works is reinforced in this passage. Good works are the result of salvation; salvation is not the result of good works. Because of our salvation, we have the ability to produce the fruit of God. This fruit is produced by walking in the spirit day to day and knowing it is not a formula written down in a book. This looks like staying away from sin because the bible is clear that sin ultimately leads to death, in some cases physical death, in all cases spiritual; eternal separation from God. As we walk in the Spirit, we can know that this is the best kind of life!

Challenge: Read Romans 7. Ask God to reveal any areas of your life that you need to allow to die, to make way for living in the spirit.