ROMANS

Hey friends!

Romans is such a fantastic book. Our class got to walk through it this week with Chad Hampsch. We use it a lot for walking someone through salvation (ie. Roman’s Road) and although I have read through Romans before, this week was so eye opening to look at the book as a whole as well as in detail. It’s so rich! I’d love to give you an overview and some of my thoughts on the book of Romans.   

Romans 1:1-1:17 - Not Ashamed

Key Passage: Romans 1:16-17 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”

- Here Paul introduces himself as a servant of Christ and tells them how he longs to visit Rome.

- Paul explains that the gospel was first to Jew then to Gentile. Though there is a difference in nationality and the Jews are God’s specially chosen people, there is no difference in salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul goes out of his way to use Old Testament references to reach out to the Jews in Rome. He explains how righteousness in the Old Testament was desired and atoned for but righteousness is sinless perfection which can only be fulfilled through our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:18-3:20 – Condemnation – Everyone has sinned

Key Passage: Romans 2:5 “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what he has done.”

- This section is all about our unrighteousness and our need for God. God is righteous and in that He requires wrath.

- First Paul talks about God revealed through creation. Chad gave an example that made a lot of sense to me: God is more consistent than gravity because He created gravity. I love understanding God’s character through His creation! Paul talks about suppressing Truth which in turn tells us that we have Truth and choose not to acknowledge it. This is so evident in the way that we take His creation for granted. None of us have an excuse because we all see His creation daily.

- Kindness leads to repentance (2:4). Paul reminds us not to pass judgment but to live with authentic humility.

- Paul explains that the law has absolutely no value outside of righteousness through Christ.

Romans 3:21-5:21 - Justification

Key Passage: Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

- Paul explains that righteousness is through faith and goes on to explain by laying out the Old Testament example of Abraham. It is so cool to see the Lord’s plan for salvation in action even in the Old Testament. Jesus was always the plan. Paul defines faith and explains that even before the Covenant of the Law given to Moses, people of God were counted righteous because of their faith.

Romans 6:1-8:39 - Sanctification

Key Passage: Romans 8:5 “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

- First Paul shows us that we need to die to our sin and LIVE in Christ. When we identify specific sins in our lives, knowing how it offends our holy God, we can ask God to free us. We experience this freedom by choosing to die to our flesh and choosing to obey God. As Christians we get to live a life not ruled by our fleshly sin but instead a life with the Lord as our master. We can do this by preparing our minds (1 Peter 1:13) for action to go to battle (Ephesians 5) against strongholds of sin. Sanctification is nothing that WE do. Instead we ask GOD to sanctify us by the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is to let God rule our lives and obey Him (in order to obey Him, we need to know His commands). Abiding in the Lord will result in sanctification - we will bear fruit as a result. Abiding and focusing on Him is all we need to do. It’s simple. But it’s also the most complex, difficult thing to do. Here's some good news, friends: God is for us (Romans 8:31) and in Him we are more than conquerors because nothing can separate us from the love of a Father who constantly pursues us (Romans 8:37-39).

Romans 9:1- 11:36 – Restoration

Key Passage: Romans 9:30-31 “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the ‘stumbling stone.”’

- In this section Paul explains the restoration of His people, the Jews.

- Paul explains that the Jews have missed the messiah. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone by not believing that Jesus was the Son of God. They were pursuing their faith by works and not by faith.

- Paul has great zeal for the Jews to know Jesus and he calls them to wake up because Jesus has come and because they need to realize that the Gentiles are a part of the plan. Paul continues to refer to Old Testament examples and passages in attempt to help the Jews connect the dots. Jews had a great zeal for God but were lacking in knowledge and they made righteousness up in their own life. Righteousness of God is made real by those who believe in Jesus Christ.  

- This was quite possibly my favorite discovery from these chapters: The purpose of ministering to Gentiles is to make the Jews jealous, causing them to turn back to God (Romans 11:11). I love God sovereignty and detail. I used to get a bit caught up in the fact that the Jews are currently blinded and that in this specific time that we are living in today is the time of the Gentiles. Very few Jews know Jesus and this time will last until the fullness of the Gentiles come to know the Lord. It is so cool to see the Lord’s love for ALL His people in all periods of time. When there were more Jews who knew God and they were set apart as God’s chosen people, the purpose was to be a light to all (including Gentiles). And now, when there are more Gentiles in the faith, the purpose is to turn the Jews back to God. Wow, our Lord is amazing!

Romans 12:1-15:13 – Application

Key Passage: Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

- This section shows us how to worship the Lord with our lives: by using our gifts to glorify Him, by loving others, by our actions, by submitting to authority, and by sharing the gospel. It’s not about doing the right things because when we think that way we are tricked into thinking that we have to earn our salvation. But it is about making Jesus our everything and offering our lives to Him and obeying His commands because of our love for Him.

Romans 15:14-16:27 – Conclusion

Key Passage: Romans 15:23 “But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain.”

- In Paul’s conclusion to this letter, he tells them that he hopes and plans to visit them. Paul has a strong desire to bring the gospel to the furthest regions (even Rome.)

Friends, you are a trooper for sticking with me to read all of that! I hope that you are as challenged as I am by the book of Romans. I am learning a ton this year and am so ever thankful for how God is shaping me as I learn Truth.

Have a blessed day!

Joyfully His!

~ Mal

Abide in the Spirit

Hello sweet friends!

This has been an amazing week (surprised?). Haha! I feel like I say that every time but it really is always true! This week Dr. Pete Deison taught a class on the Holy Spirit. It was just wonderful. The person of God that I felt like I understand the least was the Holy Spirit so it was so neat to spend a week discovering more about Him.

Knowing the Holy Spirit is such an important aspect to our faith! Different views on the Holy Spirit cause controversies in the church and can cause confusion so it is so vital for me to know what I believe about Him. Also, Jesus promised that the Spirit would come after Jesus ascended into Heaven. Jesus said that it would be better for us if He left and the Holy Spirit arrive. This makes me want to know the Spirit more and excites me that He is dwelling inside of me.

Did you notice that I’ve been referring to the Holy Spirit as a “Him”. I think before this year I would have referred to Him as an “it”. One thing that I learned this week was that the Holy Spirit is a person. Yes, I always knew that He’s a person of the trinity, but I think my view of Him was more as a power than a person. This idea might come from the fact that the word Spirit seems to imply a breath or wind. But actually, the Holy Spirit has characteristics like intelligence (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), Feelings (Ephesians 4:30), and he has a will (1 Corinthians 12:11). He also has many works: He teaches (John 14:25), guides (Romans 8:14), commissions (Acts 13:4), commands (Acts 8:25), restrains (Genesis 6:3). intercedes (Romans 8:26), and speaks (John 1:26, 2 Peter 1:21). Also He can be obeyed (Acts 10:15-21), lied to (Acts 5:3), reverenced (Psalm 51:11), blasphemed (Matthew 12:31-32), grieved (Ephesians 4:32), and insulted (Hebrews 10:29).

Sorry that was kind of a lot of lists; hope you’re sticking with me. It just empowers me so much to know that the person of the Holy Spirit is living inside of me.

Another encouragement from this week was learning about what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Pete taught us that being “filled” means a continual filling and growth. It’s not that we can receive more of the Holy Spirit but that our relationship and knowledge and practice of walking in the Spirit will grow as we mature in our walk with God. The Greek word for "fill" is pleroo which means “wind”, “permeates”, and “control”. I love the illustration of wind guiding and allowing myself to be controlled by it. The Holy Spirit reveals all things to us and allows us to understand scripture in a way that we would not be able to without Him. As I grow in my walk with God I want to beg the Holy Spirit to reveal more and more to me so that I can be continually sanctified and grow in my understanding of our amazing Lord.

I hate that I often suppress the Spirit and try to do life on my own. I want to fully embrace the life that is offered to me in Jesus name! Friends, the Holy Spirit lives in believers! He is God. The God of the universe wants an intimate relationship with us! May our quiet times never become routine or a check list, but instead let us abide in the Lord and keep ourselves in His love. Also in thinking about what I am going to be doing this fall (which is still uncertain), I want to choose to trust the Lord and have a restful attitude in seeking out opportunities. One thing that Pete said that will stick with me is “Clarity is the last thing you get” when making future plans. It is so true and it is so good! If decisions were clear then we would not have to practice our faith. Proverbs 16:3-6 says ^“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.  ⁴ The LORD works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster.  ⁵ The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. ⁶ Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided.” It says commit. I want to trust unwaveringly in the Lord and the way that the Spirit is guiding me.

He is good. I cannot wait to leave tomorrow for Israel and see the places that I have been learning so much about this year! I promise to take lots of pictures! Hope you all have a great week!

Joyfully His,

Mallory Joann

Acts

Hello friends!

First of all let me just praise the Lord right now for this year! I cannot imagine being anywhere else. What a transforming and growing year!

Yet again, this week was just fantastic!  Mitch Maher came and taught on the book of Acts. There is so much in that one book! Just look at how amazing our God is as you look at the apostles’ lives, specifically Peter and Paul.

Acts is written by Luke as a continuation of his gospel book (Luke). Mitch raised an interesting question: He asked “Whose ‘acts’ are recorded in this book?” Are they the acts of the apostles who spread the gospel to the farthest regions? Are they the acts of the early church? How about the acts of the Holy Spirit? It records the acts of the risen and exalted Jesus through His Spirit in the lives of His people! Get excited.

In the Old Testament the Jews were under the Old Covenant of the Law and offered sacrifices to atone for their sin. The New Testament gospels explain that Jesus then came and paid the price by becoming the ultimate (perfect Lamb) sacrifice on the cross to atone for the sins of all and redeem those who accept Him.  He conquered the grave and now we have a New Covenant where the law is written on our hearts instead of tablets. Cool. The book of Acts tells the story of the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. In this New Covenant life changed a lot for the Christ believing Jews.

The book of Acts starts out with Jesus ascending into Heaven and soon after the Holy Spirit comes down on those who believed. Change number one: Holy Spirit indwelling believers. In this case, fire came on the people and they spoke in tongues as a sign of the Spirit in them.  Bold moment: Peter uses this opportunity to preach the gospel to people around.  I love that Peter uses this as a teachable moment. He doesn’t focus on the tongues or on the Spirit but uses the opportunity to glorify the Lord and evangelize. I hope to point clearly and boldly to the Lord when I see God working in my life or the lives of those around me, giving all glory to God.

Later, Peter and John are arrested after healing a man and again preaching the gospel in boldness. When they speak with the Sanhedrin they speak boldly about Christ. Just think, Peter is the man who denied Jesus 3 times before His crucifixion. Something changed in the disciples when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. This persecution leads to more and more coming to the faith. How encouraging is that? When things are hard and we feel persecuted, stand firm! God is glorified and more come to know Him. His plan is bigger than the suffering we endure and He turns all things to the good for His glory. Perspective is good.

Philip goes to Samaria and brings the gospel to them. This is a big deal because the Samaritans are “half-breed Jews” and the people were not sure if they were to be included in salvation. Well guess what? They are! Peter and John come and pray with them and the Holy Spirit comes on them. This means a lot to us today if you are a Gentile because this makes it one step closer to Gentiles being grafted into the faith. Praise the Lord for adopting us into His Kingdom! Sure enough, God calls Peter to spread the gospel to the Gentiles and he is obedient. The Gentiles are added and the church celebrates!

Saul was one of the top persecutors of Christians before the Lord called him on the road to Damascus. Saul’s name changed to Paul and he became a great missionary and wrote much of the New Testament of the Bible we have today. He brought the gospel to the furthest regions of the world during three missionary journeys. Let me tell you, if God is quick to forgive a top persecutor like Paul, then He is quick to forgive even the sins in our life that we believe to be unforgivable. If God is able to turn a man like Saul into Paul and use him, you bet He can use you and me!

Paul goes on his first missionary journey with Barnabas to Asia Minor. Some time after bringing the gospel to Galatia (located in Asia Minor), false teachers had come in and confused the people so Paul writes a letter to them. Before this year I had no idea when Paul wrote his letters. It gives a neat perspective when reading the letters in the New Testament. Can we talk about Barnabas for a minute here? His name means “the encourager”. He took Paul, an ex-persecutor, under his wing on their first missionary journey. We all need a Barnabas, someone to believe in us and encourage us. I hope that I can be a Barnabas to others, encouraging and spurring them on.

Paul’s second missionary journey was to the Aegean area. There he wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians. His third missionary journey was to Ephesus. There he wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians. One thing that I loved realizing in our study of Acts was that there are a few places in scripture that Paul says that the Spirit kept him from going to a certain area or that his disciples warned him not to go into a certain area. This was so encouraging to me at this point in my life. I am trying to decide what I want to do next year and it is so great to remember that the Lord will shut doors and turn me away from places that He does not want me. He will guide me and will make each step clear. What great peace we have knowing the Lord is for us!

Each of Paul’s journeys spread the gospel out farther and farther. He deeply wanted to spread the gospel all the way to Rome. He wrote Romans in preparation for his coming. He was arrested in Jerusalem and then appealed to Caesar in Rome. While in prison he wrote the rest of the Pauline letters we find in the New Testament.

And that, my friends, is my attempt at summing up the book of Acts. You should read Acts. There is so much more to discover and it is so good.

Thanks for reading! Have such a blessed day!

Joyfully His,

Mal

Marvelous Mystery

Hi friends! 

Well this was our first week back from Christmas break. My break was amazing!  I feel so blessed that my departure from home was so bittersweet.  I am thankful that I truly love being in both Pella and Branson.  The beginnings of spring semester at the Institute have been so fun! 

This week we had Glenn R. Kreider, a Professor of Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary speak in class on the trinity.  Goodness gracious, what a blessing to dedicate our time this week to learning more about who our triune God is!   

My attempt at explaining the trinity based on class notes:  There is only one God. The Father, Son and Spirit are all God. The three persons of God have always existed and will always exist. They exist at the same time, not morphing from one to the other. Each member of the trinity is not accurately described as a part, but instead they are all fully God. They share all attributes and have different roles/functions. For instance God the Son (Jesus) uniquely was sent to earth as God incarnate. All roles of the Godhead have equal value.

Mallory, you don’t make sense.  How can He be 3 yet one? There are no examples in all creation to perfectly describe our perfect God. There is nothing on earth like Him.  There is no illustration we know of to accurately explain Him. Professor Kreider explained to us that some like to use water as a solid, liquid and vapor to explain the trinity.  The problem is that water cannot perfectly and fully exist in a solid, liquid and vapor form all at the same time. As much as I try to wrap my mind around how He works the more I come to the conclusion that God is big. If I could fully understand everything about the Lord, He wouldn’t be big enough.  I have faith that He will reveal to me everything that I am capable of understanding about Him and I will continue to seek that Truth found in the Bible. Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what is unseen as it says in Hebrews 11. If we could see the trinity maybe we would be missing the beauty of faith. 

What difference does this make in our lives? Studying the trinity affects the way we read the Bible and the way we understand who God is.  When we understand more about God we live differently. Our life is worship (a response to God for who He is; in that we respond in the way we live) so as we understand more about Him our lives are transformed. Knowing God ignites a passion. Knowing how huge and majestic God is in His great mystery grows us more in love with God and causes us to trust in Him. It also grows a passion in hearts for sharing God’s goodness with others. When we’re excited about something we want to share it with someone.  We can use the Word to explain the trinity to others the best we humanly can. The trinity is a great mystery but there are pieces of it that we can put in words to help bring clarity to someone who is having trouble with its logic. It is important to understand the trinity to explain it to unbelievers as trinitarianism is something that separates Christianity from other religions.    

Please let me know if you have questions. We learned so much this week about the Trinity and I would love chat more about it with you! Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day! 

Marveled by God’s greatness,

Mallory :)

dig into prophecy

Hello friends!

            

          This week in class Blake Holmes from Watermark Church in Dallas, TX came and gave an overview of the prophetic books in the Bible. It was just awesome to look at the prophets knowing what we’ve learned so far about the Word.  Knowing the big picture story of the Bible is incredible and I will forever read the book differently because of it. I love that when I look at Amos I now know that it was written before the exile to warn Israel of the coming judgment.  Knowing what happens before and after that is also amazing (reading in context… it makes reading the Word so rich)! In the past I rarely studied the prophets (as evidenced by their unmarked pages).  The prophets were intimidating and hard to understand.  Now, however, I want to study them all!

            I absolutely love how the prophets give evidence of the authenticity of the Bible.  It was written in 3 different languages by 40 different authors over a span of 1500 years yet is consistent and without contradiction.  The prophets further prove its authority.  We got to study Daniel in depth the week before last. Can I tell you that God’s sovereignty displayed in that book is stunning?!  One prophecy describes a dream of a statue and a corresponding vision of 4 beasts, each part of the statue and each beast representing a kingdom that would rule next. In history we can see that it happens exactly as God said it would.  God told us His big picture plan through the prophets.  These 4 kingdoms described in Daniel were revealed during the Babylonian’s rule.  Daniel did not get to see the other kingdoms. Such specific details about battles between the northern and southern kingdoms of Greece (which was the 3^rd kingdom to rule) were revealed in Daniel’s prophecy that could only be explained by an all knowing and almighty God.   

            So many of the prophets told details about Jesus coming to be the Messiah.  God reveals the coolest details about the exact timing of the Messiah’s arrival (triumphal entry) in Daniel.  I won’t explain it all in this blog, but if you’re interested you need to ask me about Daniel’s 70 week prophecy (it will change your life). Isaiah is another prophet who has many amazing Messianic prophecies including a virgin birth (Isaiah 28:16), John the Baptist (Isaiah 40:1-5), a coming servant who will bless both Israel and the gentiles (Isaiah 49:1-26), and tons more.

            Looking at the prophets is so neat in this Christmas season!  The multitude of truths spoken by prophets helps me understand the big picture story of the Bible as God mercifully calls the nations to repentance and as He reveals the big pieces of His plan.  It reminds me that the Old Testament books are an anticipation of Christ and the New Testament is Christ revealed. It’s all about Jesus.  Merry CHRISTmas!  He came!  God’s plan all along was to save us.  And it happened.  What a gift!

           

Have such a wonderful Christmas! Sending love and cheer and Christmas warm fuzzies!

Blessings,

Mal