Romans Week 1:
Girl, what’s your bio?
(keep reading below to find out more about this title.😆)
Hey sweet friends! I pray this week is treating you well. If you are following along with our study, The Year I Turned to Jesus, you should be wrapping up reading week 1, Romans 1:1-17, & completing your first ABIDE sheet, & starting on week 2, Romans 1:18-32, but NO worries if you are a little bit behind, there’s definitely time to catch up! I actually timed myself listening to Romans 1:1-32 on the YouVersion app on my phone & it took me about 5 minutes to listen to the whole passage, so I know you got this too! 💪🏻😉😆 (reminder always ask your parents before getting an app etc.)
And, also– Don’t forget to start with our “A” from our ABIDE method, Ask in Prayer. If you are having a hard time setting aside the time to get into His Word, or even find yourself distracted when you sit down to do it, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!! ME TOOOOO! The enemy doesn’t want us to spend time with God as all our mighty weapons come from Him and the sword of the Spirt which is His Word! (see 2 Corinthians 10:4 & Ephesians 6:17) So, we need to fight our battles with PRAYER, as Ephesians 6:18 tells us:
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
So let’s cry out to God with our prayer from Psalm 119: 18- 34. “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law. Give me understanding, so that I may keep Your law & obey it with all my heart… And, Lord, Jesus- please help me get into Your Word. Help me find the time to be alone with You, so I can hear You and what You have for my life. In Jesus name we pray, Amen”
Your prayer doesn’t need to be these words at all, but of course it’s so helpful to use the Bible as your guide, & then to find the words that the Lord puts on your heart. The point is to cry out to Him for help, because He loves you, and He wants you to call out to Him, and depend on Him for everything!
Above you can see my ABIDE sheets for this week. Haha mine are crazy & chaotic! 😍 I wish I was a little more organized, so you could follow all the amazing things the Holy Spirit was speaking to me as I read His Word; but, you will be absolutely amazed by how Jesus will speak to you through the pages of His Word too, as you earnestly seek Him.
What does your ABIDE look like?
***ABIDE STUDY TIP: I recommend finding a good study Bible; with notes and cross references. These tools can help you make scripture connections throughout the Bible & find meaning to passages that are hard to understand. However, I want to caution you from blindly believing every study note that is in the Bible. While the actual Bible is the authoritative & inspired Word of God, study notes can be opinion. So truly seek the Holy Spirit, & use scripture against scripture to understand God’s meaning, but study notes can certainly be helpful! Currently, I’m enjoying MacCarthur’s study bible & The New King James Study Bible. I believe they would be great resources for you to use as well.
And, The NLT translation, is a great place to start, especially as a teen or if you are new to God’s Word, as it has been translated into our everyday vocabulary. I actually read the NLT everyday in the One Year Bible. However, I think some of the original meaning of God’s Word can be lost when translated this way, which is why I also recommend other translations like: ESV, LSB, NKJV & NIV. Using your phone app to checkout other translations can be very helpful! And, I love listening to the audio version while I’m reading along in my physical Bible. I hope these tips will be helpful for you too!
Alright, let’s get back to Week 1, Romans 1:1-17 and our title:
Girl, what’s your bio? 😆
Haha, it’s cringey I know. 😂😅 But, that’s what came to mind when reading Paul’s amazing introduction, inspired by God. This is how Paul introduces himself, and WOW I love it so much! Maybe if he was around today & had social media this would be in his bio? What do you think?😅
How would you introduce yourself? What’s in your social media bio?
This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. 2 God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. 3 The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, 4 and he was shown to be[a] the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.[b] He is Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through Christ, God has given us the privilege[c] and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. 6 And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ Romans 1:1-6
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: Romans 1:16a
So this is my “B” for our ABIDE method for Romans week 1 (read this old post here if you want to understand the ABIDE method better) Romans 1:1-6 & 1:16, and of course 1:16 happens to be our main verse for the year, so I couldn’t miss it!
What verses spoke to you? What verse did you write down for your “B”?
Paul’s introduction, through the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, because he starts with a list of WHO he is in Christ Jesus.
- Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus,
- called to be an apostle and
- set apart for the gospel of God—
How do people know you? Do you know who you are in Christ Jesus?
The FIRST thing Paul says after his name is that He is a servant of Christ Jesus. Wow what a convicting & encouraging title! A servant for Christ, is this the first way we would describe ourselves? Typically it’s our name, then maybe if you are married, how many kids or siblings you have, then a hobby or job, where you are from etc… But, Paul goes straight into who He is in Christ. In other versions of the Bible the word slave is used here. It’s from the Greek word Doulas, in the Hebrew sense, a servant that willingly commits himself to serve a master he loves and respects (MacArthur LSB). As we are growing as disciples of Christ, we should lean into Jesus to have a willing heart to be His servant, as our #1 identity.
Paul’s Story – “I” is for Investigate
15 “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16 Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future. 17 And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles 18 to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’” Acts 26:15-18 NLT (You can read more about Paul’s amazing transformation in Acts 3, 9, 20-22, & 26.)
In Acts we get to see the amazing transformation of Paul’s life, by the GRACE of Jesus Christ. And, this AMAZING transformation happens in the lives of ALL who truly come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior! (see Romans Road at the end of this post here). When we like Paul understand our sin & depravity apart from God, & we realize the mercy & grace given to us, not by our own works, but by faith in who Jesus is and what He did for us on the cross, for the forgiveness of our sins. This TRUTH will absolutely ignite a fire for us to walk in a manner worth of our calling (Ephesians 4:1-2).
Remember our 2 Corinthians 5:17 truth: In Christ Jesus you are a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come. And you too are now SET APART for the Gospel of God!
So not only are we called to live and walk in our new identity, as a child of God (1 John 3:1), apart from who we used to be, in our fleshly desires ( 1 Peter 2:11). God now has a calling on our life. He has given each of us gifts & talents to accomplish His amazing purposes for us to share His life-saving Good News & to do the good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
What gifts and talents has God given you to be used for His glory?
There’s an amazing sermon here from University Fellowship Church that does a great job of explaining our new status in Christ & encouraging us to walk in our calling, if you have some time, I definitely recommend!
Okay, stay with me as we dive into the latter section of my “B” verses Romans 1:2-6, & 16
Paul, explains that the Good News was told beforehand through the prophets (that you can read about in the Bible!), and who exactly is His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord:
God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. 3 The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, 4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. Romans 1:2-5 NLT
“D” is for Dwell – apply this truth to your life.
THIS PART IS SO EXCITING to me, as I love the Historical & REAL application of who Jesus is. The Bible is full of historical genealogies, which is a list of names explaining what family line someone has come from, & in the above pictures, we see the genealogy from Adam, through the line of King David, to His earthly father Joseph to Jesus. And, in Matthew, Mary, Jesus’s mother was also shown to be through the line of David, as foretold by the prophets. And secondly, this verse points out His DIVINE nature. There is only one man in history, and that man is Jesus Christ that was 100% man, yet 100% Divine (Matthew 1:18), and as Romans 1:4 tells us: He was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.
We believe in a living God, and We have a God who understands our challenges, because He also endured them, but unlike us, was without sin! Yet, He died for our sin so we could be made Holy.
Through Christ, WE HAVE RECEIVED HIS GRACE, and now we also have the privilege & authority to tell the world what God has done for us, & by His grace through faith, what Jesus Christ will do for them too!
Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. Romans 1:5-6 NLT
And finally:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: Romans 1:16a
How amazing that our Week 1 ABIDE, would wrap up with this glorious verse. I pray that like Paul, we would NEVER be ashamed of the Gospel. Because the TRUTH of who Jesus Christ is, Historically & Divinely, & how we understand this amazing reality is our HOPE for eternity!
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. John 3:16
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes!
Do you have this power? Are you tapping into it by abiding in Him? Are you ashamed of the Gospel?
Jesus asked Peter this in Matthew 15:15-16
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Who do you say Jesus is?
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
These passages in Romans, remind us of WHO we are in Christ, and WHO He is! I pray that they encourage you to be confident in the amazing calling Jesus Christ has on your life. I’m sure this week has met you with high’s & lows, but I pray in Jesus’ name that you rest in the peace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
“E” is for Engage in Prayer
I pray this week is a blessing to you as we keep abiding together in His Word through Week 2, Romans 1:18-32.
Amen
Abiding Together in Christ 