Tue Sep 23

Last week had this reading and topic, keys, and questions, but the wrong notes.

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the words gospel and faith.

Reading

Romans 1:8-17—The Powerful Gospel

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Paul wanted to preach the gospel to Rome.
This gospel is all about Jesus’s work.
The gospel reveals God’s righteousness.

Questions

(some read the ?s before notes, then ask them after)

How can men and women be right with God?
Where does true righteousness come from?
What does this powerful gospel do? How?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors. Today’s notes are from a commentary on Romans by Stuart Olyott)

This gospel … is not simply a declaration of who Jesus Christ is; it is also a declaration of what he has done. Verses 16–17 show to us that the key word in gospel preaching is ‘righteousness’. In the gospel of Jesus Christ it is made clear how men and women may be put right with God. For God himself is holy and righteous. Men are sinful and depraved. How can people like that be put in a right relationship with such a God? The gospel tells us. It is in the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed. It is not a righteousness which you can earn. It is a righteousness which is revealed from faith to faith. The gospel begins with faith and ends with faith. It is all about how men and women may get right with God by means of faith. By faith in whom? In Jesus Christ, God and man. It is the person who is righteous by faith who will be saved, as even Habakkuk in the Old Testament had taught.

The power of this gospel … lies in the fact that it is the means that God uses to save people. Whom does he save? ‘Everyone who believes’, Jew or Gentile (1:16). It is the power of God to everyone who believes. By the preaching of this message God actually brings men and women into a right relationship with himself. It is not everyone who hears who is saved, but everyone who believes. This certainly applies to the Jew first, but it also holds good for the Gentiles.

This is how the apostle Paul introduces his summary and explanation of the gospel.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 22e, 119t

Prayer

Rejoice in God’s righteousness granted by faith in Jesus.
Give thanks for something from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.