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As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
In this session, you will explore more about what the Bible has to say about the Gospel and what Christ’s death accomplished for us.
Read Romans 12:3-8
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
After Paul exhorts the Romans to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s working to renew their minds, he talks about one of the fundamental changes in the new mind: how we view ourselves. Don’t think of yourself like you used to think but do it with an honest evaluation. This is humbly accepting who we are in relation to God and to other people. We should not compare ourselves to others because it is God who gives. He gives a measure of faith to each person. He gives different gifts. He gives different roles. We should use whatever we have been given by faith with all our heart. Do not be surprised by diversity in the church! We should encourage each other to use our faith and our gifts cheerfully, trusting God with all our hearts.
Read your assigned verses and then tell the group:
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is for ever praised. Amen.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
19 This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Every person is separated from God because of their sin and deserves punishment. Through our sinful nature, there is no way any person can fulfill the requirements of the law to be right with God. This is called becoming righteous.
Read your assigned verses and then tell the group:
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared,5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour,7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
People must depend upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ instead of their own good works to become righteous before God and received by Him. Only Jesus perfectly fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law. Because of God’s mercy and love, Jesus died as a substitute and sacrifice for all people and was raised from the dead. Those who receive Christ as Lord are declared righteous because of Christ’s work on the cross. Good works are a fruitful result of our salvation.
Read your assigned verses and then tell the group:
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.46 He told them, ‘This is what is written: the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.48 You are witnesses of these things.
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel –7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!9 As we have already said, so now I say again: if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God –2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.’
17 All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
The Gospel means “good news.” The Gospel is good news about Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins and His resurrection. The Gospel is confirmed as true by Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecy and His resurrection from the dead. This proved He is the Son of God.
God has declared punishment for sin against all mankind. But because of His love and mercy, He made a way for our sins to be forgiven through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. A person is justified (declared to be right) before God by believing the Gospel, rather than by doing good works. Here is a Gospel definition: Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead. If anyone believes the gospel and by repentance, surrenders himself to Christ as Lord, that person’s sins are forgiven.
Version 2.10
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