[Opening Prayer]

Dear Lord, as we prepare to study Your Word, we pray that You will open up the scriptures to us and bring forth Your revelation today—bring forth a depth of revelation and impart in us nuggets of truth that will help us press through in the days ahead. I thank You, Lord. I thank You, Holy Spirit and we invite You to come in and be our teacher today. 

My heart is just so full of gratitude for the opportunity that we have to come together and learn of Your Word. I thank You Lord, in Your precious and most holy Name, Amen. 

[End]

As I poured over the 12th Chapter of Romans and the 12th Chapter of 1 Corinthians for this next teaching, the Lord said, “Do not forget what came before.” Initially I thought that was a curious thing for Him to say but as I studied, it became very clear to me. Let me explain:

Romans chapter 12 begins with the word, “Therefore.” When you see this word in the Bible, remember to consider what came before. “Therefore” is there for a reason, so I looked back at Romans 11 to see what Paul was discussing. Paul was addressing the Jews and the Gentiles and detailing for us the grafting process that the Lord has done with the Gentiles to bring them into the Vine.

There are those in Rome—not only in Rome, but you see throughout the New Testament writings—a constant division occurring where the grafting in of the Gentiles is being challenged. 

The Word of God has come. To be specific, the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior—the One that was written of throughout the Old Testament, the One the prophets of old spoke of for thousands of years, He has come. He died for us, He is our King, He is our Messiah, He is the One and the reason we will live in eternity with the one true Almighty God. Every promise spoken throughout the Old Testament have been fulfilled through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 
Now, there is a hunger and a passion and a zeal and a fire that comes with that information as it is spreading throughout the countries!

Paul knows there is a purity of the Word that must be upheld. It must be upheld. You cannot deviate from the words contained therein; you cannot stray from the purity of the Word. It’s crucial to our walk with God. The enemy will always send in someone to bring division. We can either allow that as an opportunity to refine us, to develop us, to purify us, to strengthen us as a unit, OR it could split us down the middle—some will go to the right and some will go to the left. 

Here in Rome there was a merging of the Jews and the Gentiles. This consisted of the Messianic believers, and everyone else. Yet, together, under the New Covenant of Jesus, they all come under the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We learn in the book of Romans, there were Judaizers infiltrating the young church. Their desire was to bring them under the law of circumcision, so they “can receive the fullness of the promise.” Earlier in Romans, Paul shared truth to combat that fallacy. Now, in this next section of his letter to the people of Rome, he begins detailing the gifts God has given His servants. 

First, Paul talks about having unity in the Body of Christ—and I am not talking about a false unity. I am talking about the true unity the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ is called to walk in still today. This unity is born out of His sacrifice and lived out through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We also learn that we have a new thing happening in the Body of Christ because when you look at the word “spiritual”, you will see that it was not mentioned in the Word of God until the time of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was released into this earth, into the people of God in the upper room. We could not have contained the Holy Spirit, were it not for the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and He is here to teach us, to train and to develop us. He is here to comfort us and give us what we need to live a life of holiness, and whether it was 2000 years ago or today, the Holy Spirit serves the children of God in the same manner.

The introduction of the Holy Spirit into our life brings with Him the ability to fulfill our purpose in life, the ability to fulfill the call that God has placed on our life and the strength to press on when things become so overwhelmingly difficult that we are not sure we can.

 
Perhaps there are those who feel it was much easier to follow God before we had so many distractions. (I’ve thought this myself in the past.) The introduction of technology, the conveniences of modern life, the introduction of the 40-hour work week, the introduction of the 80-hour work week—perhaps if we lived 2,000 years ago it would so much easier, we could spend all our time focusing on God, and spreading the Gospel. 

I beg to differ. They did not have the Word of God in written form 2,000 years ago. While it was in process, it would take hundreds and hundreds of years for it to finally come to a place where there would be a Bible available in every church, let alone a Bible in every home. Today, we not only have several Bibles in our homes, we have the Bible on our devices, our iPads, our Kindles, and on the computer. In addition, we have access to study tools that they did not have back then. And, we also have the “building blocks”, the foundation of the saints that went before us upon which to build our faith. 

Jesus is the Cornerstone; all others form the body, the Church. We link ourselves with their faith and allow God to impart deeper revelation, deeper intimacy, greater authority, all anchored in the Chief Cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is more available to us than ever before; we only need to press in to receive!

To be continued next week…

Blessings & Love,

Ricci Johnson-Wilson