John 15:12-17 (HCSB)12 This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard...  Read More

GOD EQUIPS US TO SERVEBecause of God’s great grace, mercy, and love, anyone can find salvation through Jesus Christ.KEY TRUTH: Apart From Christ, Every Person Is a Sinner Who Is Spiritually Dead (Romans 3:10–12; 6:1–4)KEY TRUTH: In Christ, Believers Are Set Free From Slavery to Sin and Can Choose to Live for God (Romans 6:5–23)FAMILY CONNECTION: CONTINUE THE DISCUSSION AFTER CHURCH!What is grace? ...  Read More

1.  What is God calling you to throw off, to die to? How will you feel once you do? What fruit did you reap when you focused on yourself? What fruit do you reap with God as your focus?2.  What does sanctification mean to you? Should it affect your daily life—how you drive, how you manage employees, how you cheer in the sports stands?3.  How can you remind yourself that death doesn’t have the final...  Read More

Romans 6:20-23  (HCSB)20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from allegiance to righteousness. 21 So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, since you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the end is eternal life! 23 For the wage...  Read More

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God 15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart...  Read More

Romans 6:12-14  (HCSB)12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.S...  Read More

Romans 6:1-11  (HCSB)The New Life in Christ 6 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the d...  Read More

Romans 3:10-13  (HCSB)10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.Sarah Ricciardi In college I read Augustine’s Confessions. I can’t quote him, but I remember a portion where he talks about infants. He argue...  Read More

God's Design for PurityDo what is good, right, and productive, even in unwanted circumstancesKEY TRUTH: Model God’s Design for Purity by Living Godly, Productive Lives (Jeremiah 29:1-5, Genesis 39:1-9)KEY TRUTH: Model God’s Design for Purity by Building Strong Christian Families and Engaging the People Around Us (Jeremiah 29:6-7, Genesis 2:18-25)FAMILY CONNECTION: CONTINUE THE DISCUSSION AFTER CHU...  Read More

1.  Why is it harder for us to reprimand sin than to let it slide? Why is it better to correct sin earlier than later? How do you find the balance between confronting sin without ruining a relationship?2. In 1 Cor. 6:11 Paul says that the Corinthians “were washed, were sanctified, were justified.” This means they experienced salvation in the past AND that they weren’t responsible for the washing, ...  Read More

1 Corinthians 7:25-40 (HCSB)About the Unmarried and Widows25 About virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 Therefore I consider this to be good because of the present distress: It is fine for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 ...  Read More

1 Corinthians 7:1-24 (HCSB)Principles of Marriage7 Now in response to the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have relations with a woman.” 2 But because sexual immorality is so common, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. 3 A husband should fulfill his marital responsibility to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. 4 A wife does ...  Read More