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August 1: Romans 1-2, The power of God unto salvation

I am so excited! The bible journey has begun again. It never gets old, as it is lively and active!  I hope you have your bibles (or bible apps) out for this one. Without further ado:

We began our bible in a year reading at Romans chapter 1:

To all who believe, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ- (I.E. the Gospel  as noted in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4) -- is the power unto salvation. Furthermore, believing, goes hand in hand with obeying. I'll show you...


be·lieve/biˈlēv/

Verb:
  1. Accept (something) as true; feel sure of the truth of: "the superintendent believed Lancaster's story".
  2. Accept the statement of (someone) as true.

Origin of Believe
Middle English beleven from old English belefen {be-lee-fen}, from be+lyfan, lefan  to allow, believe; akin to Old High German gilouben  to believe, Old English leof  dear --more at LOVE- from Merriam Webster





I hope you caught that. Did you see the word love pop out from there?
Jesus himself said if you love me, obey my commandments ( John 14:15). I know it seems like a stretch to some, but to believe something, if you really think about it, is to hold something dear. You are confident in its truth. There is, if we may say, a love for the thing we believe.

 Believing in the gospel is obeying the gospel. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation  to them who believe( Romans 1:16). If you do not believe, the gospel is ineffective for you. And remember believing is obeying.

Obeying the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, is surrendering to its power.  The belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, lends to our salvation. 2 Thessalonians 1:8, and 1 Peter 4:17, all speak of OBEYING the gospel, and the result of not doing so.
 There is more to believing than saying, there must be an acknowledgement of the truth of that thing. We naturally give credence to what we believe, by acting on it.

Paul says, in Romans 1:17 The righteousness of God is revealed.
 Where? Through the gospel, which is-- you got it-- the death burial and resurrection of God manifest in the flesh, Jesus the Christ.

I believe the gospel; how is the gospel obeyed?
Through the process of  death, burial, and resurrection...

How then are we to die? Die to sin. Romans 6:11 Galatians 2:20 Galatians. 5:24

What of the burial? Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12 1 Peter 3:20-21

OK, and how do you obey the resurrection, the restoring of life? Colossians 2:12



Peter put it simply, repent (die to your sins) be baptized (bury the dead man) in the name of  Jesus Christ for the  remission (debt-payment and/or release from) of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy spirit (ressurection  by the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead- Colossians 2:12)


This is how the process, of the righteousness of God is revealed- from faith to faith.
 God gives a measure of faith to every person ( Romans 12:3)
Faith is activated when we believe the Gospel.
 Another level of faith is attained to obey it, which then ushers us to a level of faith to turn from your old ways. This faith again blooms into the faith to believe in the cleansing power of Jesus's name with baptism, and subsequently your faith blooms to a level to receive the Holy spirit of God, with the evidence of speaking in another tongue as the apostles received it.

From faith to faith- when the power to live godly in this present age is poured over and into you, and initially manifest by the miraculous speaking of a an unlearned language under the influence of the Holy Spirit- God's sovereignty is revealed. The scriptures have this to say on the subject:

 For Jesus became sin for us that we may be called the righteousness of God ( 2 corinthinas 5:21). Us? The righteousness of God? Hmmm...
 But without faith it is impossible to please God ( Hebrews 11:6). It takes faith, and you will be awestruck at the things that are possible, when God is involved. Faith is saving faith, when it is mixed in with the hearing of the word ( Hebrews 4:2).

According to Romans 1 :21-22, we don't want to fall in the mindset  "to know God, yet glorify him not as God." We can do this by putting God in a box because of our own wisdom, intellect or philosophy. We want to force his will into our own, rather than the other way around.We fall into the trap of changing the glory of our incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. If God is God, then he has a perfect, all seeing, all powerful, all knowing way, that works.

The road to Salvation is not through Romans, but first through the Gospel of Jesus Christ; with stops in Acts, Romans, 1 &2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and more.

Jesus is the way the truth and the light- He is the door.

And that way, I am not ashamed of, for "it is the power of God unto salvation".

Amen.
-Chantel

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