Romans CH 8 is a favorite chapter for many Bible-readers. It addresses a key topic, very significant in our age and all ages and that is – security.

The word comes up a lot in our time and place – security system, security guard, internet security, Homeland Security, Social Security, food security, job security…We live in a world that's INsecure and vulnerable to terrorism and viruses, change and various dangers but ALSO, philosophically, psychologically, socially and spiritually MODERN HUMANITY faces its own insecurity. Men and women and children are facing the existential dilemma …the desire for security.

I'm going to DARE to do something preachers KNOW not to do, i.e., look at the GRAMMAR used by the Apostle Paul:

1. Words that RELATE (Prepositions are your friends!)
2. Words that STATE (Fact vs. Command)
3. Stating and Relating (Grammar Can Be Fun!)

Sermon by: T.J. Campo

Text: Romans 2 Peter 3:15-16; Romans 7:13-25

Sermon by: Jonathan Lacy

Text: Romans 5:1-21

Sermon by: Jonathan Lacy

Text: Romans 4:1-25

In this next section (and we only read the start and finish) it's NOT: Satisfied in God, Loving One Another and Doing Good in the World but THE reverse (FOUR points):

1. Satisfied in Self
2. Judging One Another and
3. Doing Harm in the World (+appendix)
4. I Show You a Still More Excellent Way (1 Cor. 12.31)

Today Paul introduces the remedy. In some ways, the rest of the letter is ALL ABOUT what he says here. He says it, at first briefly and then spends the rest of his ink explaining the implications, answering the objections and unpacking the effects this solution has on our relationship to God, to the Church, to those outside the church and to ourselves.

So today, an introduction to the answer:

1. The Predicament Facing Everyone
2. The Path to Repair
3. The Pertinence to Worship

This is the clearest teaching on homosexuality in the Bible… So what IS the teaching and how are we to apply it in the modern world? Those are two difficulties in this passage (so early in the book!). Today, we attempt to interpret this daunting section. I hope to do it in FOUR POINTS:

1. As Plain as the Nose on Your Face
2. Be Careful What You Wish For
3. Give Me Liberty AND Give Me Death
4. "L'chaim" (That's the Jewish toast meaning, To Life!)

In today's introduction, Paul offers this elaborate greeting, and shares with these Roman Christians his desire to visit them. He hadn't started the church in the capital city; he's apparently never been to the church, but he evidently KNOWS a lot of their members (See CH 16!) and wants to see them. I want to look at this desire. Why? What does this desire in Paul say about Christianity and its impact on people who believe it… not only in the ancient world … but in the lives of the modern people here today?

Let's look at Gospel Desire:

1. Big Ideas
2. Big Desires
3. Big Picture