{"id":22967,"date":"2022-09-04T22:00:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-4_9-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-08-15T11:53:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T18:53:45","slug":"romans-4_17-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-4_17-25\/","title":{"rendered":"What God-Pleasing Faith Looks Like"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romans 4:17-25\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 4:17-25.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 4:17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed–the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 17:\u00a0 God called Abraham a father of many nations (Genesis 17:5) even when Abraham and Sarah had no success bearing even a single child.\u00a0\u00a0God specializes in doing the impossible and speaking the possible out of impossible situations.<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s why Paul calls him \u201cthe God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romans 4:18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 18:\u00a0 It was a risk for Abraham to believe that God could make him the father of many nations despite the circumstances that were against him.\u00a0 But with that risk came a great reward.\u00a0\u00a0In the kingdom of God, you\u2019ll find that the level of reward you experience will often be proportional to the level of risk you take.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Romans 4:19-22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-22:\u00a0 Notice what Paul says in verse 19: \u201cwithout weakening in his faith, he faced the fact\u2026\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0God-pleasing faith is not denying reality or ignoring the facts.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to forfeit your brain in order for your heart to have God-pleasing faith.\u00a0 God-pleasing faith is acknowledging the fact that there is a problem, but also acknowledging another fact which is that God is greater than the problem and is faithful to fulfill His promise.<\/strong>\u00a0 As verses 20-21 say, Abraham \u201cdid not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.\u201d<\/p>\n

You could say that faith is acknowledging all the facts rather than focusing on just those facts that would cause us to lose heart or waver through unbelief.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Abraham did.\u00a0 Abraham did not deny the fact that his body was as good as dead or the fact that Sarah was unable to have children.\u00a0 But Abraham focused even more on another fact: God is faithful to do what He promised.\u00a0\u00a0 When we have a similar attitude as Abraham in facing challenges, it pleases God.\u00a0 That\u2019s why God credited it to Abraham as righteousness (v22).<\/p>\n

Romans 4:23-24 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone,
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness–for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 23-24:\u00a0 Just as God credited Abraham\u2019s faith as righteousness, so God does the same with us when we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.<\/p>\n

Romans 4:25 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 25:\u00a0 Some scholars believe that verse 25 was a song or a creed that the early church would recite.\u00a0 It summarizes the gospel in one short sentence.\u00a0 First it speaks\u00a0to how Jesus died for our sins so that we could be forgiven.\u00a0 For without Christ\u2019s death, there is no one else to pay for our sins.\u00a0 Second, it speaks to how Jesus was raised to life for our \u201cjustification\u201d (that is, so that we could be declared righteous). For Jesus\u2019 resurrection gives us great reason to believe that Jesus is who He says He is, that His words can be trusted and that there is saving power in His name.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for showing me that faith does not mean that I must deny reality or ignore the facts.\u00a0 Rather, it\u2019s about remembering the most important fact: that You are greater than everything and faithful to every promise You make.\u00a0 Thank You that the faith I place in Your Son Jesus You credit to me as righteousness.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 4:17-25.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 4:17 (NIV)
\n17\u00a0\u00a0As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed–the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verse 17:\u00a0 God called Abraham a father of many nations (Genesis 17:5) even when Abraham and Sarah had no success bearing even a single child.\u00a0\u00a0God specializes in doing the impossible and speaking the possible out of impossible situations.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Paul calls him \u201cthe God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Romans 4:18 (NIV)
\n18\u00a0\u00a0Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22967"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22970,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22967\/revisions\/22970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}