Romans Chapter 1 (July 18)

Get Stoked

we did romans like 2 books ago...

I don't think it's the 18th either, haha.

we're starting it next monday julian

im loving this new layout though !!! <3

Me too! SERIOUSLY!
All nature-y and cute. LOLOL.

wallah

I'm gonna be working till 12:30 so I'm gonna post really late today. Just a heads up for people who care lol. ^

Night shifts, eh? I had an extremely early one... 6 AM to 2 PM with unpaid overtime... ugh... plus house work. I'm pretty exhausted, I've gotta say... anyway, onto today's devotion.

Although we did happen to read Romans not too long ago, I guess EVERYTHING in the bible is always a good reminder. Why not refresh our memory of Paul's letters?

Note that the writer of Romans, I believe, is the apostle Paul (formerly Saul when he was a Pharisee, considered to be some of the most intelligent people of his time - AND most powerful, being both Jew and Gentile, if I remember correctly) - the one thing that Sam always used to mention was about talking about Paul's distinct line - Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It always makes me think about how filled Paul was with the holy spirit!

Verse 11 and 12, right off the bat, definitely tell me a whole lot about teamwork - let me quote it real quick!
- For I want very much to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each others faith, both yours and mine.

Being Christians and fellow brothers and sisters, and especially being in this praise team, it's always a blessing to realize how much we get to always encourage each other - especially as Grace and Kevin have done in the emails, haha! It's those encouragements and constructive criticisms that I think help to make us an even better team. There's always someone better than the best... or so we'll see in life!

The rest of what I realized was the 'tyranny' I should say that evolved from humans living off by themselves and how sin can grow so exponentially. The idea of sin... rather just a distortion in the relationship between ourselves and God... can be said in that it's so easy to fall prey into, but it's so difficult to escape! Sam mentioned a while back that sin is fun - and a good example of the extreme wickedness that Paul describes goes into sex, greed, deceit, murder.... and so on.

I think that in itself told me this: For every opportunity to commit good, there's also an opportunity to commit evil.

Take care guys, I need a break.... Timmies is no joke... GAME OVER. Please do pray for me, I'm like, dead.

ME TOO grace&esther LOL
ROMANS 1
what stuck out to me in this chapter was that God's wrath on wicked people was not to punish them by making certain things happen to them, but it was explained that God just let them fall into the abyss of wickedness that they have created for themselves. God, as we have learned before,cuts them off like a fruitless vine. Letting them becom overwhelmed in their sins--"29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. " -- thus, they become totally detatched from God has taught us to live and Go himself. This is from their OWN doing! i think this is scarier than having punishments being inflicted upon us because God just lets you go, as if he doesnt care enough to try to help you any more :O its a reminder, especially in the summer to not lose control because were "free to do anything" and fall into sin! i think its a good reminder for us to remember how important and precious our relationship with God is
yaahh thats all i got for today!
hope you guys had a great dayy!
night

Aha I got something similar as Jennifer from this chapter
basically everyone is guilty of sin, and everytime we sin, it breaks God's heart.
We must try and stay away from sinning even if we are tempted. Like if we know it's wrong/bad... We should know to stay away from doin it again, although this may seem to be easier said than done.
Pray to God for strength to stay away from sinning and also for forgivness.
God loves us still, and unlike us humans who hold grudges for like ever and sometimes find it too hard to forgive.. God always forgives us. Amazing

And I really like the first verse. In the contemporary version it is worded something like "God called me to be a prophet." "God chose me to..."
but it really inspires me! It reminds me that God has a set plan for our lives and all of our gifts and roles... Were assigned by God. We are chosen an called to be leaders in worship. This is an amazing priviledge and opportunity given to us by God let's not take advantage of that~

Love you all!! <3 have a good week
Started packing and more than half the suitcase is filled with stuff for my moms relatives. So heavy LOLLL

Ohhh man, it's so hot outside. I can't escape the heat! I'll even probably end up sleeping in the basement. Geeeez.
Anywhoo,

12 When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.
We might just say we aren't good enough to show how passionate we are about God (which is a little confusing, but I feel that way sometimes!), and we stay behind so we can try to learn more from others but this verse shows us that we have to "encourage others" just as much as others encourage us! (:

So, like Jennifer,
I saw a bit about how God got to the point where we stopped caring.
And we all know that it's really the moment someone stops caring is the moment that should hurt you most because once you realize that they cared in the first place (really knew it), it's already too late.
So, we have to always remind ourselves that keeping God close to us is all that we really need.
We are the ones to pass on our beliefs to our sons/daughters/the next generation, so we have to show them with PROOF, the miracles and such that you receive when you really follow God.

Ohman, I'm super tired so forgive me if that sounded a bit all over the place. I'll read it over in the morning or something. Hahah, goodnight guys! (:

Hey Guys! I just got back from work,,, haha. So come visit
Today was fricken hot, but saw Horrible bosses the other day with Billy. JOKES.
Anyway, on to my devo!

Julian, you reminded me of why we say Grace to you and Peace, and you know Sam said it is because of "the Grace in our lives, we have peace of knowing where we are going" Dang i miss that.
Anyway, Verse 12 is amazing! Encouragement is HUGE, and i cannot stress that enough! Amongst our team, i want to
see encouragement! It can be a little note, to even a pat on the back saying good job. Its the little things that count
and It's what keeps us together!

Also, the thought of God's wrath is scary. Although it's not particularly in this chapter... I remember some part in the Bible it saying somehting like you're on yoru way to heaven and Jesus sees you and says he doesn't recognize you and doesn't remember you or something like that. That FREAKS ME OUT. Jesus is a loving God, but he is also a JUST and a God past our understanding. You can't assume God will just forgive all things and live your life like that. In the end, God decides where you go. Scary tingz.

Those are my two cents, Keep up the devos and do them well!
What happened to the rest of the team. TSK.

Wow, 4:30 already!!
So TIRED!!! WORK!!! AHHHHHHH

25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

This verse pretty much speaks for it self. Exchanged the truth about God for a lie. That's something that we do without noticing. Well at least something I came to realize. What I realized is that When I do something bad, I try to convince myself it's alright to do it or at the most I try to make myself think that it's the right and only way to do it although in the back of my head I knew that's something God wouldn't want me to do. And one thing I came upon to realize is that Money is something worshiped, When I say worship, it's not that we actually bow down and pray to money but it means that we put money first. Worship is a life style and if our lives are more based on money than God, THAT IS WORSHIPING MONEY!! I know money is something that actually makes me argue with me, my mom, and also my brother. EACH WEEK we argue about it. I mean, I work most of the time and people only work to make money. We spend MORE time to earn money than we spend time to bond with God. I don't know about you guys but I think we ALL worship money even tho we are the ones talking about how worshiping money is bad. One of the reasons why we give tithe or offering, is not only to give back what we little that we earned but also to show God that we are not worshiping money but you. I haven't given offering for the longest time and I guess that's something I need to start doing.

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 practice them.

Just like I said before, "They not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." We not only commit sin but we let it happen without even saying it's a wrong thing to do. We tend to ignore that sinning is something unacceptable. We sin and we just let it slip by. People were sooo used to sinning that they see it as nothing bad. We all do that. That's very corrupted of us. This chapter actually just makes me realize how big of a hypocrite I am. The only thing I don't understand is that this chapter says that God gave us all this sinful mentality, if anyone reads this and has an answer to it, please answer it thank you...

^^^^ 4:30 but it says 3:59
LOL

I couldnt do devo yesterday and monday cause i had work the whole day LITTERALLY and soccer.... 7am-1am... outside.... in the sun.... so hot...... D:
Anyways i got payed so its all good! 230:D

Romans 1

8 First, i thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you,
because your faith is being reported all over the world.

Always be thankful because no matter for all of our actions that we show, even though it may not seem like it, it is
for Jesus Christ. Also, always be faithful and never lose faith under any circumstances because when you start to
lose faith and blame Jesus in your bad times, it not only effects you but others as well. This is because we are
basically disciples of the Father, and what Peter is saying to the other disciples is that, "the type of faith you bring to the table, reports all over the world." this means that through your actions in faith, others are affected by it and it
can change them too. ALWAYS STAY THANKFUL TO GOD, AND NEVER LOSE FAITH!

i read over your guys devos haha a lot of you did verse 12 but im gonna do it too because it kinda attaches to my first part of the devo.

12 Faith is everything. If you dont have faith, you are just asking for trouble. You cant even encourage people if
you dont have faith in others. Everyone in this praise team should have SO much faith in eachother because we are like a 2nd family hahaha. We should also be able to encourage eachother easily because the faith in eachother is what brings us closer together. Except for kevin.
faith is key!

ezzzzz

3:56!!! nevermind!
i will do my second devo late ron in the day