Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 32.
and so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to
God because of all he has done for you.
Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable.
This is truly the way to worship him.
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God
transform you into a new person.
By changing the way you think, then you will learn to know God's will
for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect because of the privilege
and authority God has given me.
I give each of you this warning, I don't think you are better than you really are.
Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves
by the faith God has given us.
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function.
So it is with Christ's body.
We are many parts of one body and we all belong to each other.
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as
much faith as God has given you.
If your gift is serving others, serve them well.
If you are a teacher, teach well, if your gift is to encourage others.
Be encouraging.
If it is giving.
Give generously.
If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.
And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Don't just pretend to love others.
Really love them.
Hate what is wrong.
Hold tightly to what is good.
Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.
Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
Rejoice in our confident hope.
Be patient in trouble and keep on praying.
When God's people are in need, be ready to help them.
Always be eager to practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you.
Don't curse them.
Pray that God will bless them.
Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with each other.
Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people and
don't think you know it all.
Never pay back evil with more evil.
Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.
Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Dear friends, never take revenge.
Leave that to the righteous anger of God.
For the scriptures say, I will take revenge.
I will pay them back, says the Lord.
Instead.
If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.
Don't let evil conquer you but conquer evil by doing good.
Everyone must submit to governing authorities for all authority comes
from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.
So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has
instituted and they will be punished.
For the authorities.
Do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong.
Would you like to live without fear of the authorities?
Do what is right and they will honor you.
The authorities are God's servants send for your good, but if you are doing
wrong, of course you should be afraid for they have the power to punish you.
They are God's servants sent for the very purpose of punishing
those who do what is wrong.
So you must submit to them not only to avoid punishment, but
also to keep a clear conscience.
Pay your taxes too for these same reasons for government workers need to be paid.
They are serving God in what they do.
Give to everyone what you owe them.
Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them and give respect
and honor to those who are in authority.
Owe nothing to anyone.
Except for your obligation to love one another.
If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God's law.
For the commandments, say you must not commit adultery, you must not murder.
You must not steal, you must not covet.
These and other such commandments are summed up in this one commandment.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no wrong to others.
So love fulfills the requirements of God's law.
This is all the more urgent for you know, how late it is.
Time is running out.
Wake up for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
The night is almost gone.
The day of salvation will soon be here.
So remove your dark deeds, like dirty clothes and put on the
shining armor of right living.
Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see.
Don't participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or
in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy
in instead, clove yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And don't let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.
Accept other believers who are weak in faith and don't argue with them about
what they think is right or wrong.
For instance, one person believes it's all right to eat anything but
another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables.
Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who
don't, and those who don't eat certain foods must not condemn.
Those who do for God has accepted them.
Who are you to condemn someone else's servants?
Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall, and with the
Lord's help, they will stand and receive his approval in the same way.
Some think one day is more holy than another day, while
others think every day is alike.
You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable.
Those who worship the Lord on a special day.
Do it to honor him.
Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord since they
give thanks to God before eating.
And those who refuse to eat certain foods, also want to please the Lord and
give thanks to God for we don't live for ourselves or die for ourselves.
If we live, it's to honor the Lord.
And if we die, it's to honor the Lord.
So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
Christ died and rose again for this very purpose to be Lord, both
of the living and of the dead.
So why do you condemn another believer?
Why do you look down on another believer?
Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God for the scriptures,
say, as surely as I live says the Lord.
Every knee will bend to me and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.
Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.
So let's stop condemning each other.
Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another
believer to stumble and fall.
I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus, that no
food in and of itself is wrong to eat.
But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong.
And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love.
If you eat it, don't let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died.
Then you will not be criticized for doing something you believe is
good for the kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink,
but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God and
others will approve of you too.
So then let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.
Don't tear apart the work of God over what you eat.
Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something
if it makes another person stumble.
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might
cause another believer to stumble.
You may believe there's nothing wrong with what you're doing, but
keep it between yourself and God.
Blessed are those who don't feel guilty for doing something
they have decided is right.
But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you
are sinning if you go ahead and do it.
For you are not following your convictions.
If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.
We who are strong must be considerate of those who are
sensitive about things like this.
We must not just please ourselves, we should help others do what is right
and build them up in the Lord for even Christ didn't live to please
himself as the scriptures say.
The insults of those who insult you, oh God, have fallen on me.
Such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us, and the scriptures
give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to
be fulfilled, make God who gives this patience and encouragement help you live
in complete harmony with each other as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.
Then all of you can join together with one voice giving praise and glory to
God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you, so
that God will be given glory.
Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to
the promises he made to their ancestors.
He also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them.
That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote.
For this, I will praise you among the Gentiles.
I will sing praises to your name and in another place it is written.
Rejoice with his people, you, gentiles, and yet again, praise the Lord.
All you Gentiles praise him.
All you people of the earth.
And in another place, Isaiah said, the heir to David's throne will come
and he will rule over the Gentiles.
They will place their hope on him.
I pray that God, the source of hope will fill you completely with joy
and peace because you trust in him.
Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I am fully convinced my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness.
You know these things so well.
You can teach each other all about them.
Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that
all you need is this reminder for by God's grace, I am a special messenger
from Christ Jesus to you, Gentiles.
I bring you the good news so that I might present you as an acceptable offering
to God made Holy by the Holy Spirit.
So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done
through me in my service to God.
Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me bringing
the Gentiles to God by my message, and by the way, I worked among them.
They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders,
and by the power of God's spirit.
In this way, I have fully presented the good news of Christ from
Jerusalem all the way to Ium.
My ambition has always been to preach the good news where the name
of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has
already been started by someone else.
I have been following the plans spoken of in the scriptures where it says,
those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have
never heard of him will understand.
In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been
preaching in these places, but now I have finished my work in these
regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I'm eager to visit you.
I'm planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome.
And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while,
you can provide for my journey.
But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the
believers there for you see, the believers in Macedonia and Acaia have
eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem.
They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them.
Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the good news
from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in
return is to help them financially.
As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs,
I will come to see you on my way to Spain and I am sure that when I come, Christ
will richly bless our time together.
Dear brothers and sisters.
I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to join in my
struggle by praying to God for me.
Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit.
Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God.
Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the
donation I'm taking to Jerusalem.
Then by the will of God, I will be able to come to you.
With a joyful heart and we will be an encouragement to each other.
And now may God who gives us his peace be with you all.
Amen.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cria,
welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God's people,
help her in whatever she needs for.
She has been helpful to many and especially to me.
Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my coworkers in
the ministry of Christ Jesus.
In fact, they once risked their lives for me.
I'm thankful to them and so are the Gentile churches.
Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home greet.
My dear friend, Aus, he was the first person from the province of
Asia to become a follower of Christ.
Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit.
Greet Andika Sanjun, my fellow Jews who were in prison with me.
They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ.
Before I did greet Amples, my dear friend, in the Lord greet Urbanus are coworker
in Christ and my dear friend, sta Kiss, greet apelli, a good man whom Christ
approves and give my greetings to the believers from the household of Aristo.
Greet Herod, my fellow Jew.
Greet the Lord's people from the household of Narcissus.
Give my greetings to Trina and Rifa the Lord's workers, and to dear Persis
who has worked so hard for the Lord.
Greet Rufuss, whom the Lord picked out to be His very own and also his dear
mother, who has been a mother to me.
Give my greetings to asynchronous flagging Hermes Patrius, Hermes, and the
brothers and sisters who meet with them.
Give my greetings to Phil Oligos, Julia Nira and his sister, and to Olympus and
all the believers who meet with them, greet each other with a sacred kiss.
All the churches of Christ send you their greetings.
And now I make one more appeal.
My dear brothers and sisters, watch out for people who cause divisions and
upset people's faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught.
Stay away from them.
Such people are not serving Christ our Lord.
They are serving their own personal interests.
By smooth talk and glowing words, they deceive innocent people.
But everyone knows that you are obedient to the Lord.
This makes me very happy.
I want you to be wise in doing right and to stay innocent of any wrong.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings.
So do Lucius, Jason, and Soci, my fellow Jews.
I tereu the one writing this letter for Paul.
Send my greetings to as one of the Lord's followers.
Gaius says hello to you.
He is my host and also serves as host to the whole church.
Raus, the city treasurer, sends you his greetings and so does our brother Corus.
Now all glory to God.
Who is able to make you strong?
Just as my good news says, this message about Jesus Christ
has revealed his plan for you.
Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time, but now as the prophets
foret told and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known
to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him.
All glory to the only wise God through Jesus Christ forever.
Amen.
This concludes today's immer reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.