Bread of Life Fellowship

Paul guides us to consider the sovereignty of God that lies behind this gospel. God is sovereign in how he saves (in mercy to those who believe). God is sovereign in who he saves (as we will see God crafts for fitness the vessels of mercy). And God is sovereign in order and timing in which he brings his salvation to the nations.

An overview of Romans 9 brings us to verse 22-24 and the challenge to the obstinate heart. Who are to to say to the one who has formed you? Consider God's sovereignty before your Salvation.

From James 1:9-11 the danger of finding our identity in temporary things is corrected by the truth found in God's Saving GRACE!

God entices us to ask for wisdom holding out to us a promise, a provision, and His own generous presence. Finally He entices us with a precedent set. God is a giving God. Finally there one proviso... Ask in faith and don't doubt the Provider. Introductory words on the author James and then an in depth look at the promise to give wisdom to those who lack it.

When Jesus cried out, "If anyone thirst come to me and drink" we must understand that he was present before those he was inviting. He still is. The waters of revival are not far from us but right before us.

Ruble #1 - We lose sight of God's power; Ruble #2 - we replace the authority of His word with our own renditions and our own needs, the doctrines are replaced with ethics and moralisms and we forget all that Christ has delivered us from and does deliver us from. Ruble #3 - We become dispossessed of the wonderful doctrines of justification, regeneration and therefore our understanding of sanctification is just something like, Try harder, be better, we all stumble and fall so pick yourself up, dust yourself off and do your best. And with this #4 the final load of Rubble in the Well is A THOUSAND LITTLE THINGS!

The doctrine of the new birth is faintly preached in our day. The reason is that it would not be received with joy in many congregations. 1 John was a letter most gladly received to its initial recipients. The same letter preached in many of our churches would be sobering and greatly convicting. So be it!

Deny or stifle a robust emotional expressions of guilt, shame or fear and you lose your hold on the greatness of the doctrine of justification. What the individuals need is not that these emotions be tamped down. Instead they must be raised in them to an acute level. This is what the Holy Spirit is doing as he convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. Then when at full flame these emotions drive us to an answer for them in the cross of Christ.

The topic is Illumination. The same Spirit that revealed God's message through the authors of Scripture must illumine that message to the Christian. The danger of imposing your sovereignty (read wishful thinking or assumed virtues) over the text of scripture was presented in our last message. On the other side of such such subjectivism, we may inappropriately come before God's Word is a smug self confident textualism. Because God's special revelation may be understood through the application of common sense hermeneutical principles does not mean that this word can be known without the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Once you lose faith in a Sovereign all powerful God you lose confidence in His Word. The authority of God's Word is lost in the church and must be restored.

What blocks the well keeping us from the revival waters of Christ's life? The first piece of Rubble that must go is a diminished view of God. The Rubble of unbelief in a sovereign, active, all powerful God blocks our way to the water in the well,

Follow the examples of spiritual giants on their way back to the wells of salvation.

Many in our generation have wandered from the wells of salvation and worked out a certain kind of success apart from this well. But the time has come to separate from the world and get back to what our spiritual fathers drank. The problem is that during our absence the enemy has filled this well with rubble and refuse. Satan wants to deny us the joy of our salvation found in Christ.

A controversial passage traditionally viewed through the window of God's sovereignty. We have instead recognize that the primary attribute that should guide our understanding of this passage is to be the attribute of God's mercy.

What does Paul mean when he says that "not all of Israel are of Israel?" The best way to answer that question is to ask, "What is the primary focus of Romans Chapter 9?"Answer that question correctly and you will then be in a position to understand what is the argument of Romans Chapter 9:6-13?

The grief of Paul over Israel reveals the proper point of grief for the intercessor who pleads for those under judgement.

The bestowments that God has given to Israel that Paul mentions in Romans 9:4 are like dormant seeds. We may see that Paul is interceding over these latent hopes seeking that God would cause them to sprout and bring forward their fulfillment of blessing for that nation. Here we learn more of the hope that should lie in our intercessions for others.

Paul's intercession for the Jews begins with the name He gave to their nation.

Paul's heart for the nation of Israel is a burden hard to comprehend apart from the work of the Holy Spirit leading him into the heart of Christ for the lost of his nation. Consider here the movement into identification with the lost that the Spirit will take the intercessor.

Paul's prayer for Israel teaches us a proper perspective on our love of country.