04 Feb Better Than I Began

If the Christian Scriptures had a high point, theologically speaking, I think it would be the book of Romans.

Arguably, nowhere else does the central Gospel message of justification by faith in Jesus shine as clearly.

Scholars believe that the apostle Paul, the writer of Romans, took core ideas from his earlier book of Galatians, added in the context of the great city of Rome, and supercharged it, giving us the Epistle that brought to faith such world-changers as Augustine, Martin Luther and John Wesley.

And if the book of Romans itself had a high point–the top of the mountain, so to speak–it would be Romans 8.

Perhaps no other single chapter of the Bible brings together the heart and the head, the mind and the emotions, as much as the single chapter of Romans 8 does.

Songs have been (and will be) written from it; countless messages have been (and will be) preached from it, and rightly so.

So what if?

What if we climbed to the top of the mountain, looked back out over the last two years of all the cultural upheaval we have been through, and asked this question:

What has God been doing?

I think a view from the top, the view from Romans 8, would answer:

God has been making us better than we began.

I firmly believe that is and can be true of all of us, and I hope to show you how from Romans, chapter 8.

So open that Bible, find the little letter that’s changed the world, and climb with me to a place where you can say of yourself: I’m better than I began.

I’ll see you Sunday as we begin this new six-week look at this single chapter.

Much love,

Morgan