One Image is Worth a Thousand Pictures

Have you ever seen something happening and instantly figured out the whole senario including what led up to it? Well on July 4 this happened to me. I heard a siren and thought, "mm, fireworks". I drove several blocks to see a fire truck sitting in the driveway of a Walmart with the door open and no-one in there. The bubble-gum machine was still on. I thought, "what on earth are they doing?" As I drove on I saw the fireman with his walkie-talkie stuck in his back pocket pushing just as fast as he could, a big guy in a hoveround with a "Big Gulp" in the cup holder down to some nearby apartments. The way I figure it Buba decides to run down to the "Walmarts" for a drink. His battery runs down so he simply calls his handy 911 for a push home on his cell phone...Your tax $$$ at work, and no, Tim I'm not cussing.

Conclusion

Romans 12:1-2

With this in mind, Brothers and sisters, I would urge you to throw caution to the wind and let God's astounding mercy motivate you to worship Him to the extent that you would present your very bodies to Him as a living, holy sacrifice, longing to please Him by no longer conforming to this world's way of thinking but letting His ways transform your mind to operate according to His perfect, fulfilling plan.

Useful Jealousy

Romans 11:25-36

I am revealing all this to you so you won't think you are too smart. This hardening of Israel is only until God is finished with the Gentiles then all Israel will be saved. The scripture says, "The deliverer will come from Zion and will remove Jacob's ungodliness. 'My covenant is to take away their sins.' ""

As you begin to understand the gospel they may look like your enemies but it's all part of God's plan. They are beloved for the sake of the promises God made to to their fathers. God does not take back His gifts or callings. Once you were the disobedient ones but now God has used their disobedience to show you mercy. God wants them to see His mercy on you, return to Him and receive His mercy. God universally uses disobedience as a means of shutting people up so He can show them His mercy.

O God,

How deep are your riches,

How wide is your wisdom,

How high your knowledge.

Your judgement and ways are impecable.

Who could know your mind?

Who could counsel you?

Who could ever think they had made you beholden to them?

No, all things are:

From you and

Through you and

To you.

To you be the glory forever,

Amen.

God's Tree of Nations

Romans 11:11-24

Israel is not hopelesly lost but their stumbling has opened up salvation and all of God's gifts and blessings to the rest of the nations. This is meant to provoke them to jealousy and I, though a Jew, but an apostle to those nations gladly participate in this plan. I am excited about being a part of this new frontier because if God is using His blessed Israel in this way He will eventually being them around. Some of them will be moved to jealousy and accept God's plan His way. The little bit of "yeast' that is left will permeate all the dough. Or to put it another way, it is as if God's salvation was an olive tree and He broke Israel off because they were not producing. Then He took wild olive branches (you gentiles) and grafted them in. What a change! Once connected to the rich root of God's salvation you began to produce luscious fruit for Him. Keep in mind, though, you didn't do anything to make this happen and even your nourishment comes from Him. So don't be arrogant or proud about this. That is how the other branches got broken off and if He needs to He can do the same thing again.

So you can see that God can deal with a people regardless of the point they are at. If you respect His kindness He will nourish it. If you don't He will cut you off. As for Israel, if they repent of their unbelief God will graft them back in. You might say you were a branch removed from a wild olive tree and artificially grafted into a domestic one. It would be much easier for Him to replace you with the branches that came from it.

The Principle of the Remnant

Romans 11:1-10

So, has God rejected the very nation He chose? No, not at all. Look at me; I am an Israelite who can trace my heritage back to Abraham. Look at the scripture where Elijah pleads with God against Israel saying, "They have killed your prophets, torn down your alters, I am the only one left and they are after me." But God responds, "I still have seven thousand men who have not bowed to Baal." We are in a similar situation now. God has graciously chosen a remnant and this has nothing to do with what they might do to achieve God's favor. If it did it wouldn't be a gift from God. So Israel doesn't find what they seek but God chooses to give it to some anyway and the rest become hard-hearted just like the scriptures say, "God gave them a stupid spirit; eyes that won't see and ears that won't hear Him right down to today." David writes, "Let their table become a trap and a stumbling block. Let their eyes be darkened and their backs be bent forever."

Progressions of Faith

Romans 10:14-21

Now in order to call on Him they must believe, to believe they must hear and to hear someone must be making this proclamation; and someone must be sent to make the proclamation. The scriptures say someone coming to bring good news is a sight for sore eyes. Now even though they desperately needed this good news they didn't all heed it. (Isaiah says, Lord who has believed our report.") No, the seed of faith is planted when we hear this word as relating to Christ.

Salvation comes from God

Romans 10:1-13
In spite of all this my heart goes out to them and I still pray to God for their salvation. They certainly care about the things of God but they don't understand Him fully. They don't realize that their righteousness must come from God, so instead of submitting to His righteousness they work to establish their own. But our attempts righteousness by keeping laws are meant to drive us to belief in Christ (and His righteousness for us). Moses writes that one who practices a law-based righteousness shall live by it. But of the righteousness which comes from faith he says, "You can't ascend into heaven (to bring Christ down to your level (to say you had a part in it) or you can't descend the ocean depths (to try to make Him meet your needs). No, God has already put His Word near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the word of faith which we proclaim: that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as lord and believe in your heart God raised Him for your salvation you shall be saved. An understanding-and resulting faith-that righteousness comes from God originates in the heart. This seed grows to full salvation as we confess it with our mouth and I, along with the scripture assure you, you will not be disappointed. This is a universal principle. God makes no distinction. Whether Jew or Gentile, He is Lord of all and He has sufficient riches to bestow on all who call on Him. Whoever calls on Him for salvation will be saved.