…As Christians, living a good and pleasing life while in the world, but at the same time not being of the world is tuff. What will help our Christian walk greatly is knowing it was the same for Paul, for Peter, for James, for John, and every other follower of Jesus Christ. This is what these men did: They experienced God’s righteousness through repentance for themselves. They intentionally turned from the worldly beliefs and teachings and embraced God’s way of life. Repentance is the immediate result of your salvation. Following immediately behind repentance is faith. Faith is the lifetime reward of salvation. The greatest of us have not figured God out, and the least of us have achieved great victories in life, and most of us live somewhere in between…

. . . Thus far, in Romans 1 and 2, we have talked about the separation between Christians and unbelievers. For Romans 2, we described the appearance, purpose, and the intimidation of a courtroom. The drama, the evidence, and the truth are revealed in a courtroom. We compared the similar “players” of a criminal court to a spiritual court. There is a judge, a prosecutor, and a defense attorney. But the defendant may surprise you. The defendant in a biblical court is you. The is terrible news. None of us want to be a defendant in anything. Yet we are. We are accused of the worst thing imaginable, and truthfully, we are all guilty a crime where death is the justifiable punishment. We have all failed God because we have sinned. The good news is this: Not everyone will receive the same penalty. This is because of our “Wonderful Counselor”. He is not wonderful only because of His talent. He is wonderful because of who He is and because of what He has done already on our behalf. Our Wonderful Counselor is Jesus Christ. . .

What is said next is something only God can explain. How do we communicate with, live with, or relate to unbelievers? When we are so far apart on life: How do we break through the unbeliever’s suppression of God’s truth? After all, this is exactly what Paul did during his years of missionary travels. Paul connected with unbelievers, and many were saved once God’s righteous was revealed to them. Paul explains exactly how God did this through his preachings, teachings, and writings. Paul refused to judge professed unbelievers. Please catch this, as it is explained so early in Romans. Paul did not judge professed unbelievers. Despite how they abused him. Despite how they blasphemed God. Despite how the mocked him. Despite how wrong they lived. Despite how they worshiped. And Paul warns us not to judge professed unbelievers.

…The initial steps into Romans are slow but quickly take us into deep, and deeper spiritual waters. Romans is not about wading. Romans is about swimming. And the first few chapters of Romans are absolutely critical. This Lord’s Day, Paul describes us, fellow Christian brothers and sisters, as “righteous” in one verse (Romans 1:17). Paul is describing our state of life as Christians – We are righteous. If Paul had stopped here and moved on without finishing God’s truth, there would have existed a huge gap of confusing and misunderstood religion…

…Fellowship is the visible power of the church to the community. When the world sees us “meet together”, they are naturally curious. So, when more Christians gather to fellowship, it will increase the curiosity of those around us. Whenever others see spiritual things happening, they begin to think spiritually, then the power of God’s Spirit begins to work in their hearts. The easiest and least invasive way to evangelize our community is for us to fellowship together.

This Lord’s Day we concluded our sermon series “God’s Way.” Tonight, we will discuss the sermon series together. There have been so many good comments made about the sermon that I know will be a blessing to others. And it is perfectly fine to have concerns, doubts, and questions about the series. So, tonight be prepared with any comments, questions, and testimonies for our time together. Write down your thoughts and bring them to the table tonight …