NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO TOUCHING BASES UNTIL AFTER CHRISTMAS
20 Nov 16
ROMANS SERIES, PART 7
Saying Yes!
Mark Kotchapaw
In order to leverage this document for yourself personally or in a group, it will be necessary for you to take notes, even pictures of various PowerPoint slides, in order to capture key quotes in order to reflect on the text. We encourage you to take notes, develop your own questions and engage with the text as you feed yourself and perhaps those you lead.
Series Title: Good News Bad News
Description: From the moment we wake up to the moment our heads hit the pillow, we can be bombarded with bad news. Social media has made our world a lot smaller and exposed us 24/7 to the constant deluge of bad news. This fall we are starting a study in the book of Romans. In the first 17 verses Paul talks about the good news, the good news that he will expand upon in his letter to the Romans. Join us as we unpack the good news, are challenged by it and anchored in it.
PREAMBLE:
All Christ followers know that saying “yes” to what God wants in our lives is not always easy. Sometimes it is downright hard. We are often tested deeply and tried greatly when we seek to align our lives with God’s desire for us to live holy lives. The apostle Paul puts some language to this heart struggle in Romans 7.
Big Idea: Saying “Yes” Can Put You To The Test!
Text: Romans 7, focusing in on v.13-25
Question: What does the language of saying “YES” sound like?
NOTES:
“I don’t understand my own actions” (v.14,15)
“I do the very thing I hate” (v.15b)
“For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (v.18b)
DISCUSSION: (SAMPLE QUESTIONS TO ADD TO YOUR LIST)
Talk about the perils in Christian community when we are not willing to be this honest with each other. What is some of the fallout when we don’t get honest with each other about our struggles to walk in obedience? How can it create the wrong understanding of what it means to be holy? How can dishonesty in this area cause people to never win in their area of struggle?
Discuss as a group – “the very thing I hate”. What is that thing in your life? What do you think it was for Paul? What is it about your past, your temperament etc. that causes you to struggle at times with that “very thing”?
Is your community grace-filled enough to walk with each other as you deal with that “very thing”?
How has community not done well in the past in not helping people deal with that “very thing”?
What are attributes of good community that can be healing and helpful as people walk towards greater holiness?
You will note that Paul’s acknowledgement of his struggle did not leave him in a state of morbid spirituality. His self-awareness lead him to Jesus. Discuss the following:
We don’t just need Jesus for salvation, that is the first YES. We need Jesus for every subsequent YES as we, THROUGH HIS STRENGTH, align ourselves with who He
has made us to be.
Mark Kotchapaw