October Week 1 & 2- The Year I Turned to Jesus. Romans Chapter 3. No one is GOOD, but in JESUS we have the HAPPIEST HOPE! 😍

Dear precious friends,

Before we get into our Roman’s study we would love to encourage you with this TRUTH from God’s Word:

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ‘ Philippians 4:4-7

In the One Year Bible on October 3rd, Philippians 4:4-7, encouraged us that we are called to REJOICE in The Lord ALWAYS!🌞 In the NLT it says that we are to ALWAYS BE FULL of JOY IN THE LORD! God is calling us to be full of joy in the Lord no matter what is going on in our life or in the world.

Are there things in your life that are causing you anxiety, worry, or sadness? Bring them to God in prayer!

If I am being honest I am definitely not ALWAYS full of joy. At times, I CAN allow the worries of the world, struggles, and stresses in my own life squash my joy and definitely my gentleness. Being less than joyful is pretty normal right? It really has to be a supernatural-God thing to ALWAYS be full of joy even through sad and hard times.

Well, then how do we do it? How are we ALWAYS joyful?

James 1:2-4: Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

1. For myself, I recognize that I need to repent. Repenting is saying sorry to God for not doing the things He has called us to do, or doing the things He tells us not to do. God is actually telling me (telling us ) to not worry, to be joyful, to be gentle, to pray in all situations. So, when I’m not (when we aren’t) doing those things we are actually not doing what God is calling us to do. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make straight your paths.
2. We should seek Jesus in walking in ALL the things God is telling us to do, and to not do! So let me explain this. It seems like it’s easy to focus on the things God tells us not to do, but ignore the things He tells us to do.
   • For example: don’t murder, lie, steal, cheat, lust etc. We got it ✅, DON’T DO THOSE THINGS!! BUT, we are actually ignoring God telling us to focus on: whatever is true, lovely, right, admirable think of such things (Phil 4:8), be gentle, forgive, don’t easily anger, have patience, be kind, be united in Christ.
     • Then actually asking God to help us give up those things or habits that aren’t what God is calling us to do. Like do we keep watching The Summer I Turned Pretty, or do we find something else to watch that is more glorifying to God? This stuff is HARD you guys, but this is how we grow as disciples of Christ Jesus. Giving up our old ways for His ways. (**reminder this isn’t about legalism or judging others this is about walking in ways that God is calling us to walk in.)
3. We can ALL be encouraged that as daughters of Christ Jesus we can and should walk in HIS JOY through all things! This is not easy, but through the love of Christ Jesus we can find a true joy & peace that only can come from knowing Him!
4. Be thankful! God in His infinite wisdom & love tells us that we do not have to be anxious or worried. He wants us to have JOY in Him! And, with thankfulness of all the amazing things God has given us, despite the brokenness of this world or our earthly situation, we can be comforted that we are secure in Him. God so LOVINGLY tells us that He is near! We don’t have to do this life alone!! In Psalm 34:18, God tells us: The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. What a kind and loving God that wants to bring us joy and comfort us in our brokenness. God saves the crushed in spirit!
   • ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ‘ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

So dear friends, I want to encourage you today that whatever you are facing bring it to Jesus! Pray to Him and ask God for His help, and the peace of God that goes beyond our understanding will protect our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. God is near! ❤️

So, let’s pray, and ABIDE TOGETHER in God’s Word!

Father God, thank You for all that You have given us! We thank You Lord for Your love and Your truth that is found in Your Word. Help us Lord to understand what you are speaking to us through Your Word, and help us apply Your truth to our lives today! We love You God. Amen. (a prayer from Psalm 119:18 & 34)

✨✨✨✨ NURTURING OUR QUIET TIME ✨✨✨✨

We would also love to encourage you moving forward to seek God in helping create a special quiet time routine for yourself with the Lord. So, just like in all things we should ask for God’s help! We can pray to the Lord and ask Him to give us the desire and discipline to make a daily habit and routine to seek Him!

1. PLAN TIME WITH GOD – MAKE IT FUN AND SPECIAL! 💕

Our quiet time with God TRULY is the most wonderful time with the person who knows us most and loves us best of all!! So, dear friends, we want to encourage you not only to make it special, but also to make it a priority! With permission from your parents, of course. Light a candle and make yourself a special drink. Grab your Bible, journal, or study materials. Find a special spot in your home where you can feel God’s comfort, love, and undivided attention! We have to plan time in our day when we will seek Him, or it simply won’t get done!

✨✨✨✨ October Discipleship ✨✨✨✨

A disciple is willing to abandon everything. Following Jesus mean letting go of:

Comfort, Control, Plans, Sometimes OUR Dreams. Our old life. (The Garden High School Ministry)

“You can’t walk in the new life Jesus offers while clinging to the old.“

Our Discipleship Question for October is: What are you holding on to that is preventing you from growing in your relationship with Jesus? And what are you willing to give up to follow Christ?

These are great questions for us to ponder as we are seeking the Lord, especially when finding or should we say “making” time to follow Him.

… they left everything and followed him. Luke 5:11b

What are you leaving behind?

✨✨✨✨

Lord, I pray that these precious friends will feel Your nudge on their hearts to seek You. I pray they will make time in their busy schedules to read Your Word & present all their praises and requests to You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This past week, we began reading chapter 3, Romans 3:1-20. Now in week 2, we are wrapping up the remaining verses in the chapter, Romans 3: 21-31. You guys this is MEATY stuff! What I mean is that Romans isn’t the easiest book of the Bible to quickly understand, so don’t be discouraged! Stick with it, and God will definitely speak to you! God, through the apostle Paul, is sharing so many amazing truths. At first glance, it might seem difficult to understand, even for me. But, I want to encourage everyone that we can take one verse, or even one word at a time! We don’t have to feel like we have to understand everything to allow the Holy Spirit to teach us. So read the entire passage, and then just focus on the one or two things that stick out to you.

“B” verses for chapter 3:

Week 1:

‘Yes, there are great benefits! First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God. ‘ Romans 3:2

‘True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him, “You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in court.” ” Romans 3:3-4

‘Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.

All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “They rush to commit murder. They don’t know where to find peace.” “They have no fear of God at all.” ⍟⍟⍟ Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. ⍟⍟⍟ For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. ‘ Romans 3:9-10,12,14-15,17-20

Week 2:

‘We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. ‘ Romans 3:22

‘For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. ‘ Romans 3:23-24

‘Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.’ Romans 3:27-31

Lord please help us to Investigate what You are teaching us in Your Word! Amen

Let’s start at the beginning of Chapter 3

Romans 3:2: Yes, there are great benefits! First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.

YOU GUYS THIS IS SO AMAZING!! Why is this so important? The Jews were entrusted with the very WORDS of God!! This is really important for us to understand. The scriptures revealed God’s plan of redemption by faith through Jesus from the very beginning! We should recognize what a special privilege this was for the Jews then. But now also, as Christians this is such a privilege for us too! When we read the words of God, He will reveal Himself to us! THE WORD of God is how we know Him, and how we can fight our battles! We cannot let the enemy tell us that the Old Testament doesn’t matter. Even Jesus rebuked the Sadducees for making this mistake! (see Mark 12:24 below)

Here are 11 verses that share the importance of the Word of God:

1. (Jesus said) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17
2. Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? Mark 12:24
3. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” Galatians 3:8
4. and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:15
5. And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 (talking about Abraham)
6. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:3
7. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 (ESV)
8. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (ESV)
9. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
10. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)
11. …and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Ephesians 6:17 (ESV)

What an incredible blessing the Jews had the word of God, the Laws, and the prophets. What an incredible blessing that we now have Jesus Christ who has revealed Himself to be the Word of God! (John 1:1 (ESV))

Dear friends let not take this incredible blessing for granted! We have the Word of God.

✨✨✨✨ This is our reminder why we are called to abide! This is why we are encouraging you to make time with Jesus, so that you will know His word!

‘If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.’ John 15:7-11.

-These words are from Jesus himself, and I love how this ties into the verse from the beginning of our lesson. In Christ, when we abide in Him, our JOY may be full!

Because of time, we are going to fly through the rest of Chapter 3. I know this is crazy since Chapter 3 contains some of the most important verses in Christian Theology. However, in prayer to Jesus for this teen study, we ask God to reveal Himself to us in a way that is true, but we also want to ensure we stay on track with the time we have for this lesson. 😍

Romans 3:3-4, points out that if someone were unfaithful, does it mean that God is also unfaithful. And Paul says, “Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true.” God is faithful and good no matter what! In the book, Romans Dead to Sin and Alive to Christ, author Tara-Leigh Cobble asks the question: Does it comfort you to know God is faithful even when you have failed? For the believer in Christ Jesus, this is so comforting, and reminds me of this verse:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

ONCE WE ARE IN CHRIST JESUS – WE ARE SECURE, even our FAILURES CANNOT SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD!

Verse 9-20 Goes into saying, As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.” ALL PEOPLE, Jew, Gentile, ALL are under the power of sin. Then verses 11-18 use quotes from the Psalms and Isaiah. They highlight the sin starts in our heart and extends to all parts of our body! I love this diagram (below) from Tara-Leigh Cobble’s Romans Dead to Sin and Alive to Christ study:

This diagram shows that what we see 👀, say 👄, and do 🏃🏽‍♀️ without Jesus Christ is evil for all of us! As the scripture says: No one is good not even one! (Romans 3:10) And, Paul inspired by God uses the Old Testament, Psalms & Isaiah, to prove how sinful man is!

Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! Psalms 14:1

Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues. Psalms 10:7

Then in Romans 3:19-20, Paul gets to the point. THE LAW- COULDN’T SAVE THE JEWS- IT ONLY SHOWED HOW GUILTY AND SINFUL THEY WERE.

‘For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. ‘ Romans 3:20

BUT JESUS CHRIST!!

Week 1 of Chapter 3 left us feeling sad. If we tie all of this together, we see we are ALL sinful. The law—our rules, EVEN THE BIBLE in it self—cannot fix us, no matter how hard we try to be good and nice! Our hearts are evil and we are separated from a Holy God!

BUT WAIT?!?!?!? Didn’t I just tell you guys it’s SUPER important to make time to get in GOD’s Word?!?!? YES I DID!! BUT, REMEMBER HAVING A QUIET TIME doesn’t save us or make us good. We have a quiet time so we can hear from God, but we are saved by faith in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross.

Week 2!

‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ‘Romans 3:23

(Reminder this is our first step in the Romans road to Salvation. Go back to the beginning of our study to check this out, and we will talk more about this again later.)

If you have ever been to a Christian camp there is usually one sad and tearful night where everyone is faced with the realization that NO ONE CAN have a relationship with a HOLY GOD in their own strength. EVERYONE IS SINFUL AND, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO IN THEIR OWN STRENGTH TO SAVE THEMSELVES FROM THIS SAD condition.

But then, praise God, at camp the morning finally comes, and typically that next day is the very BEST DAY, because hope is shared! Jesus Christ is our HOPE!!

So let’s keep reading to understand! Going back a few verses to verse 21:

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. Romans 3:21-28

YAY AND AMEN!!! Hallelujah!! Our hope is our faith in Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross for us He paid the price for our sin, and we are made right when we believe that Jesus shed His blood for our sin on the cross. And, no one can boast! This is not because of what we have done. It is all because of Jesus and what He did for us!

‘There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. ‘Romans 3:30

Okay, how can we apply all of these amazing TRUTHS from God’s Word to our lives?

1. IT’S SPIRITUAL – it’s a Jesus thing not an us thing! It’s a miracle that happens in our heart when we place our faith in Christ!
2. IT’S BY GRACE.
3. PRAISE GOD that WE HAVE HIS WORD!

Praise God for Jesus, for His Word, and for the Holy Spirit that lives in each one of us when we come to faith in Him!

So, one morning last week, as I was praying about how to share all of these important TRUTHS with you, God gave me this wonderful passage of scripture to share with you:

‘When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. ‘ Colossians 2:11-15

When we come to Jesus Christ through faith in Him, a spiritual procedure happens in our heart, and our lives!!! We are not the same!!! When we give our life to Jesus Christ, we are born again, a new creation!!! Our sins are cut away!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Peter 1:3

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:15

When we gave our life to Christ, the Holy Spirit did a supernatural work. It happened by God’s grace! God says through Christ’s sacrifice He actually cut the sinful nature away from us. When God looks at us, He doesn’t see our sin anymore. He NOW sees Jesus Christ!!! So although yes we still sin, our ultimate desire is now for Jesus and for His goodness! This is why we should have a desire to spend time with Him! This is why Paul introduces himself as a servant of Christ Jesus.

A servant of Christ was Paul’s new identity, and that is now our new identity in Christ Jesus too!

And lastly, always remembering it’s by God’s grace!

‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,’ Ephesians 2:8

Dear friends our relationship with JESUS CHRIST is a GIFT!!!

Praise God! For the believer in Christ Jesus, Jesus is truly the best gift we have ever been given in this life and for eternity!

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (ESV)

Praise God!

Let’s pray!

Lord Jesus, thank you for Your glorious wisdom, love , and forgiveness You have for us! Forgive me for the many ways I miss the mark of Your Holy ways! Help me and all those who confess You as Lord and Savior to seek You and Your word. Help us to throw off our old selves and the dark ways of this world. Guide us to walk in Your ways of light, love, and truth! Amen

Chapter 4 is next!! We got this, let’s abide together in Him! ☺️💪🏻☺️