01 May 2022
Two-Minute Features | 08 May 2022

The Goal of Being a Strong Brother or Sister (TMF:1845)

Friday, May 06, 2022
Peace to Live By: The Goal of Being a Strong Brother or Sister (TMF:1845) - Daniel Litton
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       This section of Scripture begins in talking to the stronger brothers and sisters within the church. The chapter is addressed to them, for Paul says, ““As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him.” That’s the goal of all us, as believers, to become stronger in faith and have less and less restrictions that are based on worry and fear. That’s our goal. God obviously still accepts the weaker brothers and sisters, but we can learn from Paul’s address here that it is the stronger brothers and sisters that we are to strive to be like. That doesn’t mean we immediately push for that, but that should be our ultimate goal. The individual who is strong is the person who doesn’t let things easily offend him or her. The individual is slow to anger like God is. They believe the best about others, and have hope that they are going to become stronger, to become more and more Jesus. We are to welcome weaker believers but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions, as Paul stated.

Paul Begins Discussion on Church Unity (TMF:1844)

Thursday, May 05, 2022
Peace to Live By: Paul Begins Discussion on Church Unity (TMF:1844) - Daniel Litton
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       Paul states, “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables” (Romans 14:1, 2, ESV). Paul is now moving into a new discussion. In the last half of chapter 13, he had been discussing how we should live holy lives as we simply don’t know when the end is going to come for us. It was like what Jesus would say, when he told us to “Watch.” Anyhow, here to begin chapter 14, Paul is moving into church unity really, how brothers and sisters with varying backgrounds are supposed to live with each other. In Paul’s time, at the time each of these new churches were being established, they were each founded city by city, city by city. And that’s an important point. It means that the groups of believers at that time had a vast variety of different kinds of people within them. There were no denominations within a single city like we have today. It would be like today if we took all the believers in Columbus and just made one church, abolishing any differences in doctrine and what not. That’s the picture here of the church in Rome.

Jesus Paid the Penalty for Our Sins (TMF:1843)

Wednesday, May 04, 2022
Peace to Live By: Jesus Paid the Penalty for Our Sins (TMF:1843) - Daniel Litton
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       It is very important that we are keeping careful watch on our minds, and the thoughts that are going through them. As Paul told the Corinthians, we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5, ESV). We should not just be going around thinking about whatever we want to think about. We have to learn, with God’s enablement, with God’s power, to discipline our minds. Ask God to help you with that today. That concludes our text for today. Perhaps you’ve been listening to all this I’ve been saying. Maybe you’ve been listening, but you don’t know God, you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I want to tell you that anyone can come to him, can be made right with him, you yourself included, by trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for his or her sins, and his rising from the dead. Yes, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, but we have to accept that free gift of salvation. I encourage you to go to God today in prayer and tell him you would like that.

Putting On the Armor of Light, Part 2 (TMF:1842)

Tuesday, May 03, 2022
Peace to Live By: Putting On the Armor of Light, Part 2 (TMF:1842) - Daniel Litton
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       Paul warns us against sinful types of social relations, like sinful types of parties, and sinful types of personal relations, namely sexual immorality. He also warns against any type of problems that could develop at church, or even with unbelievers, like that of fighting and being jealous of one another. Paul said, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Our goal, our aim, is to become more and more like Christ. We are to model what we feel he would approve of, and to not follow after those things we feel he would disapprove of. And then Paul says, “and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” There should be no premeditated sin among us, within us. We should not be considering or plotting ways in which we can sin. It is very important that we are keeping careful watch on our minds, and the thoughts that are going through them. As Paul told the Corinthians, we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5, ESV).

Putting On the Armor of Light, Part 1 (TMF:1841)

Monday, May 02, 2022
Peace to Live By: Putting On the Armor of Light, Part 1 (TMF:1841) - Daniel Litton
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       Notice we are to “put on the armor of light.” Paul talks about this in-depth in Ephesians chapter 6. Let’s quickly look at that passage, and I want to look at it in The Living Bible. Recall, we used it last week. Ephesians 6, starting in verse 13: “ So use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will still be standing up. But to do this, you will need the strong belt of truth and the breastplate of God’s approval. Wear shoes that are able to speed you on as you preach the Good News of peace with God. In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. And you will need the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the Word of God” (vv. 13-17, TLB). Therefore, Paul warns us against sinful types of social relations, like sinful types of parties, and sinful types of personal relations, namely sexual immorality.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.