Romans Essentials of Faith - Resources Part 1

Good morning, Five Minute Families. How has the beginning of spring been treating you? The longer days, the warmer air, the buds showing up. There is something about the revival that spring brings, allowing us to take a deep, refreshing breath, and say, “ok, Lord, lead me into the next steps.” And, that is exactly what we encourage here at Clear View Retreat - no matter what has come before, no matter how dark, cold, or closed off the previous season of life was - take a deep, refreshing breath and step forward with the Lord. He gives us the resources we need. Today, we are discussing the third of four essentials of faith as Paul discusses them in Romans - the resources available to us now that we have Christ’s righteousness and we better understand His redemption. Basically, as Christians, how are we to live? Insight for Living answered, “The Christian life is a different life. And all the resources we need to live it are found in Christ Himself.” Specifically, today, we want to look a bit at Romans 12:1 through Romans 15:13. First, we need to realize that a resource we have is sacrifice. You might be thinking, exactly how is sacrifice a resource? Well, what is the definition of resource? “an action or strategy which may be adopted in adverse circumstances.” When life gets tough - and it WILL - we must know that if we choose to behave as Christ behaved, making sacrifices for God and for our families, we will be able to better face the norms and storms that come our way. As Insight for Living put it, “In light of the “mercies of God” [discussed in] Romans 1-11, Paul urged us in [chapter 12 verse 1] to ‘present [our] bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual service of worship’.” Next, we see that sacrifice leads to service. As Romans 12:3-21 discusses the values of others and Christian ethics, we see that though we each have different gifts, we are one body in Christ, and we must “[s]hare with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.” (verse 13) Service is discussed