For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to first the Jew and then also to the Greek. Romans 1:16
If I had to say what my favorite book of the bible is, I would have to say that it is truly the book of Romans. And the reason why is that I read it at a very crucial time in my life when I had been questioning my own salvation and wasn't sure if I would end up in hell because I had left a church that I felt had been preaching a very extreme gospel.
It is with that in mind that I would like to share with you some of my very favorite verses in that book, that helped pull me out of that fearful mindset and put me on a whole new path of love for my Savior Jesus Christ.
I was raised in a Baptist Christian home. My first experience with God was at age 8 when one night after church, my father led me to the Lord. I was very receptive to this and even though didn't understand the ways of God throughout most of my life, the bottom line was I really did want to please him. Even when I wasn't.
In the late 70s my sister got hooked in with a group in Ohio that were following the teachings of then Hobart Freeman of Indiana. They had home bible studies and also one of his approved teachers would come down from northern Ohio to teach on Sundays and Wednesdays. (By the way, he started as a Baptist, and eventually got out of that and started his own beliefs)
I won't go through what they taught. At least not today. I might have done that in some of my other posts if you care to check. (it's been a while since I wrote about those experiences)
But, it was in this organization where I got off into a place I would come to regret.
In the meantime, my sister and her family moved to Florida with some of their friends, to 'start their own bible studies' under this man.
Sadly, the whole thing came between my sister and our parents and messed all of us up to a degree. Our parents did not agree and thought the teachings were too far off the grid of truth. In fact, my dad called it a ' borderline cult." And my sister came to the belief that being called a Baptist just wasn't pliable anymore for her. Its teachings just were not enough and all of the rest of our family better start believing the way that she came to believe. She tried to push it on whoever she could as much as she could.
I myself was a part of it for probably going on two years. Long enough that when I finally tried to leave, I really was scared that if I left, I may go to hell when I died. It took several months to get my mind straightened out and it was because I finally decided that I wanted to do my own study in the bible to learn what I did believe.
And I believe it was at that point, the Holy Spirit led me into the book of Romans which I read through and studied each morning after my family had left home for the day.
Romans 1:16 became a very favorite scripture to me because what I was to learn was that I would return to almost all of the teaching I had grown up with within the Baptist Church. For me, it represents the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, I believe there are other denominations that have born-again Christians in them that teach Jesus. And there are many that don't. But, for me, I chose to identify with the Baptists. And unlike my sister that became ashamed of what she had grown up with, and decided it was no longer good enough for her, I returned to it by the end of my study which took me a month of study incidentally.
I identify with the apostle Paul that was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God to those of us that believe, no matter who we are. And as long as we believe it, we do not have to be ashamed of who we are in Christ.
And that is why Romans 1:16 is one of my favorite verses in the bible.
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Thanks for coming by today friends.
I hope this post makes sense today. I hope you will have patience with me as I go through this book. Have a blessed day.
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