{"id":23456,"date":"2022-10-05T22:00:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T05:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-15_1-13-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-09-20T17:43:38","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T00:43:38","slug":"romans-15_14-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-15_14-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus on the Grace God Has Given You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romans 15:14-21 \u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 15:14-21.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 15:14-21 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done–
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 14-21: \u00a0A running theme in the book of\u00a0Romans\u00a0is: focus on the grace God has given you.<\/p>\n

For example, earlier in\u00a0Romans\u00a0Paul writes:<\/p>\n

“For\u00a0by the grace given me<\/em>\u00a0I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment…” (Romans\u00a012:3)<\/p>\n

Elsewhere Paul writes:<\/p>\n

“We have different gifts,\u00a0according to the grace given us.<\/em>” (Romans\u00a012:6) \u00a0Then Paul shares examples of different gifts (grace) that God gives different people to serve Him. (Romans\u00a012:4-6)<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Romans\u00a015:15, Paul focuses on that same point again.\u00a0 He says that even though the Roman Christians were already competent to teach one another, he wrote this letter to them “because of the grace God gave me\u00a0<\/em>to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles”.\u00a0 In other words, for reasons Paul couldn’t fully explain himself, God gave Paul certain grace: a special burden, passion and ability to reach non-Jewish people for Jesus Christ.\u00a0 As Paul says in verse 20, \u201cIt has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.\u201d\u00a0 Part of the grace God had given Paul was this dream to be a pioneering missionary who would take the message of Jesus Christ to people who had never heard it.\u00a0 Paul could even cite verses that fueled this God-given dream of his.\u00a0 Quoting from Isaiah 52:15, Paul says in verse 21, \u201cThose who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

What’s the lesson here?\u00a0 God has given each of us grace (gifts) so that we can be effective ministers for Him in this world.\u00a0 So if you want to be effective in serving God, focus on “the grace God has given you”.\u00a0 In other words, focus on the ways God has gifted you to serve Him.<\/p>\n

How do you know what grace God has given you?\u00a0 Online spiritual gift tests can only tell you so much.\u00a0 The better test is: try serving God in different areas and ask yourself, “In which area do I see the most fruit or impact when I serve Him?\u00a0 In what areas has God given me a special amount of ability, experience, passion, burden or drive?” \u00a0(As Paul writes in verse 20, “it has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known”.)<\/p>\n

Focusing on the grace God has given you does not mean we should only serve God in areas where we feel passionate.\u00a0 Serving God is more about serving where the body needs us than about our own self-fulfillment.<\/p>\n

Focusing on God’s grace also does not mean you should only serve in areas where you think you are the only one talented in that area (v14-15).\u00a0 There may be others who seem to have a similar gift as you, but don’t let that discourage you from exercising your own.\u00a0 After all, God had a reason for providing our physical bodies with more than one eye, more than one ear, more than one toe and more than one nostril.\u00a0 He often does the same with the body of Christ so that the body can be stronger.<\/p>\n

Focusing on God’s grace means to do your very best with what God has entrusted to you.\u00a0 May you focus on God’s grace and make the most of all your God-given talents and opportunities for God’s glory.<\/p>\n

Thank You Father for the grace You have given me to live for You.\u00a0 Please help me to focus on it and make the most of it, never taking it for granted or being ashamed of it.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 15:14-21.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 15:14-21 (NIV)
\n14\u00a0\u00a0I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me
\n16\u00a0\u00a0to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done–
\n19\u00a0\u00a0by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
\n20\u00a0\u00a0It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
\n21\u00a0\u00a0Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 14-21: \u00a0A running theme in the book of\u00a0Romans\u00a0is: focus on the grace God has given you. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23456","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\/23456","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=23456"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23459,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23456\/revisions\/23459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}