Romans 15:4-6,13

Romans 15:4-6, 13

4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Last week I read from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and I think it goes very well with what Paul is starting off with here in verse 4.

16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

All Scripture is God-breathed – These five words to me are the heart and soul of everything else. If you haven’t put your complete faith in to what this Bible say’s, then I would say that you need to seriously sit down and pray about this. If you would say that you are a believer in God and in Christ and that you have faith that they are who they say they are, the only reason you know this is because of the Bible. This is were any information you have about them came from.

When I was a younger man I use to say that I believed in God and in Christ but thought the Bible was just a book of stories written by men in hopes of us leading a better life

My problem was that my lack of faith in the Bible was due to my ignorance in what the Bible said. I never really read it to any extent, I didn’t meditate on it, and if I did it was with so little effort that I was confusing myself about what the Bible really said and meant.

I think we can take verse 16 and 17 and just remove the center portion and stick them together and shorten it up All Scripture is God-breathed so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped. The word thoroughly in the Greek ar-tee-os means complete or perfect. All Scripture is God-breathed so that the man of God may be complete.

If you do not study and know scripture you are in some regards an incomplete Christian. If you do not study and know scripture you can not progress towards perfection, perfection being Christ which is who we are called to be like.

I want to encourage you all, no matter if you are single, married or married with kids, pick a book in the New Testament and go through it, either by yourself if you are single or together if you have a family. If you think you may need a little help with explanation pick up a good Study Bible. Life Application Study Bible or the MacArthur Study Bible.

Also if you ever have any questions about what you are studying or what I am teaching up here, come talk with me. That is what I am here for.

Romans 15:4

4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Verse 4 is telling us about the importance of Scripture and from it we will gain these three things, endurance, encouragement and hope. There are many more things that we will gain from Scripture but we will look at theses three for now.

Endurance or Patience – As we look through the Bible one thing we can’t help to notice is the overwhelming desire of the many men and women talked about, to complete the work that God has laid before them.

You have heard me say several times before that the Bible is not a book of stories about people who once were, but a testament to the fact of who Gods children are always, examples of what God can accomplish through us.

This is who we are we are loyal, enduring warriors for Christ, and no matter what comes in our path we will stop at nothing to overcome it so we can get back to doing Gods work.

At least I hope this is who we are? Does this sound like you? It should. I hope you are not one who makes excuses about not being gifted, or not being able for some reason. It is not that you are not gifted or able but it is that your faith is weak, and that’s were you need to start, by building your faith.