Romans 16:3-5a: Prisca and Aquila
Introduction: If I were to ask you to think of 24 names in a church you have never visited, could you do it? Could you name 24 people in the names of one of our sister Reformed Churches you have not visited? We come to now to the Greetings section of the letter where Paul greets 24 people in the Church in Rome. First mentioned are Prisca and Aquila. Apart from Timothy mentioned in 16:21, these would be the best known to us that Paul greets. Acts 18 as well as Paul’s ministry in Ephesus in Acts 19 give...
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Romans 14:1-3: Gospel Based Community
Introduction: Welcoming people of differing convictions is a hot topic today. Inclusivism is the politically correct thing to. Divisions among Christians are a perennial problem and the new sub-section we are beginning in Romans speaks to these matters. Paul has been talking to us about being living sacrifices as our response to God’s mercy to us in Christ. He has covered several areas of ethics. He has spoken about our minds, our attitudes, our body life and use of gifts, the love we ought to have to various parts of society, and our responsibility to the government. Out of...
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Partaking in an Unworthy Manner: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Introduction: Paragraph 8 of the Lord’s Supper in the 1689 Baptist confession of faith reads’ “All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord’s Table and cannot, without great sin against him, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto; yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves.” It can be dangerous to be in Church sometimes! Not because a rock fall can come down and wipe out the Church...
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