Home - Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ

The Love of the Gospel (Romans 8:31-39)

“What then shall we say to these things?” (Romans 8:31). Romans 8 is a glorious chapter that has wrestled with the conflict between being children of God and experiencing suffering. The defining mark of the Christian is being led by the Spirit and no longer being led by the flesh. If we live according to the desires and the will of the flesh, we will die (Romans 8:13). But if we live according to the desires and the will of the Spirit, we will live (Romans 8:13). But suffering challenges and tests the way we think about our relationship with God. But Paul has put forward an important truth for every follower of Christ to hear. We are children of God, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him (Romans 8:16-17). But our suffering is so that we can be glorified with him (Romans 8:17). Paul then tells us that everything in God’s plan and everything in creation is moving us to our glorification. For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). This is what brings us to the important question Paul asks: “What then shall we say to these things?” You might notice that the rest of chapter 8 is filled with questions. People ask questions so that we will think and give a response. Paul is going to ask a flurry of questions so that we will think about our circumstances and our relationship with God and then provide the necessary answers. Open your copies of God’s word to Romans 8:31-39 and we are going to explore Paul’s questions so that the answers we give will provide hope and assurance as we see the love of gospel…

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More In Readiness (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

Every year we are told to begin preparations because we live in south Florida. When June 1 rolls around we are told that we need to stock up on hurricane supplies. We need to have extra water on hand. We need to make sure we have batteries for flashlights and radios. Make sure your generator is ready to run. Have your trees trimmed back. There are many steps that are given to us so that we can be prepared for any named storms that head our way. But how many of us have done this? When the reminder on June 1 came, how many of us went through the checklist, made the necessary purchases, and have everything ready for this year’s hurricane season? I will not ask anyone to raise their hand. But if we did not make preparations, I want us to consider why not. Maybe we think we are not going to have a storm this year. Maybe we think we can get ready later. Maybe we think we will make preparations when we see the storm heading our way. Maybe we think we are ready and do not need to follow the recommendations given. We can be tempted to approach the return of Christ and our preparation in the same way. At the end of 1 Thessalonians 4, the apostle Paul wrote to those Christians about the future hope of Christ’s return. When Christ comes, we will be gathered together and always be with the Lord. But this leads to Paul’s instruction about being ready for Christ’s return. As Paul concludes his teaching about excelling even more, he wants these Christians to excel even more in readiness…

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Jonah: A Prophet Without Love

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More In Future Hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

The apostle Paul is writing to Christians to encourage their faith to grow further and deeper. While the Christians in Thessalonica are doing well, he is urging them to excel still more (1 Thessalonians 4:1). We have noticed that Paul is looking at areas in the Christian life that might be easily overlooked when trying to be pleasing to the Lord. Paul has written about holiness, exposing the problem of sexual immorality. Paul also wrote about love, exposing the problems of not aiming to live a quiet life, not minding your own business, and not working with your own hands. But in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 the apostle Paul is going to shift his discussion to the second coming of Christ. It seems in our religious culture that there are two perspectives when it comes to the second coming of Christ. One perspective is to scare everyone, suggesting that every world event or every change in the country’s culture must mean that Christ is coming back today. I think this has led to the other perspective which is to suggest that the second coming does not matter at all. The suggested idea is that it does not matter what we believe and there is no reason to study it because God wins in the end and he is going to come back. What we are going to notice in our lesson today that the apostle Paul did not subscribe to either of these perspectives. Paul did not ignore the topic but also did not try to instill a constant fear in these Christians either. What do we need to know about Christ’s return so that we can be pleasing to God? What hope are we to have in knowing that Christ is coming back? Please open your copies of God’s word to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 we are going to look at how we can excel even more in future hope…

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Current Studies

The Love of the Gospel (Romans 8:31-39)

More In Readiness (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

Jonah: A Prophet Without Love

More In Future Hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)