CIRCLES FOR THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.Today the Daily Post has asked us to get in shape! Round is a shape you know. 🙂 And so we have been asked to show you our CIRCLES FOR THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
Click the underlined link to go around to other circles of the blogosphere!
Here are mine.
We are continuing our discussion through the Book of Romans today and we are moving on to verses 14 and 15 of chapter 1 which reads,
I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
I am interested in the word right at the beginning of the verse, “obligated”. What does Paul mean when he says he is obligated?
I am also interested in who Paul is indebted to. He is indebted to the Greeks and the barbarians; that is the people of Greece and all the  Gentiles beyond the influence of the Roman empire.
Why is Paul indebted to all these people? Is it because they have been so nice to him?
By the time Paul writes his letter to the Romans he has been stoned by the Ephesians, whipped and unjustly imprisoned by the Philippians, sued by the Corinthians and unjustly arrested by the Jews who also plotted to assassinate him. The debt he owes cannot be one of gratitude.
Could he be talking about a cultural obligation. Is he saying “The Greeks have created western culture! They are so awesome I feel obligated to them!”?
Nah! Paul was a Jew a Pharisee even associating with Gentiles was something frowned upon, never mind considering their culture as something to be admired and feel indebted to them about.
So what did he owe the Greeks and barbarians, money?  I am being totally tongue-in-cheek.
The word “obligated” here is the word, opheiletÄ“s. It refers to a person who owes someone else a debt. It refers to someone who has wronged another and must make amends.
Had Paul somehow wronged the Greeks and Barbarians? No he was not a debtor to any of them strictly speaking. The debt Paul owed was to God. It was a debt he could never pay back. Jesus had taken Paul’s sin and paid for it with His life and Paul owed Jesus, God the Son, an eternal debt of gratitude.
God had transferred Paul’s debt to the Greeks and the Barbarians. Paul owed them the right to hear the gospel not because he owed them but because he owed God.
Every Christian today owes that same debt to God. God has done the same thing with us that he did with Paul. God has transferred the debt to those people around us. You see God needs nothing from us but they do. They need to hear the message of salvation from us. We owe it to them not because of who they are but because of who God is.
Sharing the triuth we know is an obligation not an option. It is a duty not a choice.
If you have missed any of our previous discussions on the Book of Romans they can be found on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Nancy Merril has asked us to give her a VINTAGE LOOK IN A PHOTOGRAPH.
I am not sure I really captured it. But I tried. See how Nancy and others did it by clicking the link above.
This week I am taking some time to write a post in response to PATRICIA’S IN OTHER WORDS CHALLENGE.
The quote we are being asked to spin off of is…
“If you spend too much time thinking about
a thing you’ll never get it done.”
Bruce Lee
Find Patricia’s other contributors at the underlined link above:
Here is my post:
Taking the Narrow Road
by JE Lillie
Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Ma. 7:13,14
They say “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”
While I will take the word of Jesus over the word of “They” any day, I think in this case both Jesus and “They” are talking about the same thing, at least in some respects.
The “wide gate and the broad road” are the “road to Hell”, one and the same. This wide broad road to Hell is filled with well-intentioned people, good people. Some of them are way better and more likable than I am. The fact remains they are on the road to Hell, a real place of real punishment.
That is because good intentions and even good behavior don’t get you to Heaven; Faith does.
Paul said, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
Later he wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life inb Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Early on in the same letter Paul revealed that the method of receiving this gift of eternal life (Heaven defined) is by faith when he wrote, the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,e just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”Romans 1:17
Jesus himself said faith was the key when he stated, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son John 3:16-18
Over the course of my life as a minister I have asked thousands of people to put their faith in Jesus and follow Him. Some have rushed to embrace Jesus as their living hope. Â More however waved me off saying things like:
“I’m just not convinced yet.”
“If God will prove Himself to me first then I will believe Him.”
“I tried Jesus once. It didn’t work.”
“I have a lot of things I want to do first. Religion will come later.”
One man even said to me…
“If I have to accept Jesus to go to Heaven I am perfectly happy to go to Hell.”
Most of these people (even the guy who said he was happy to go to Hell) were people I liked, were people I would want to know for eternity. Most of these people were filled with lots of good intentions even in the midst of what I considered their misguided priorities.
But all those intentions are “wide-road” mentalities, earthly mindsets that will fade with their lives unless they do the one thing which can put them on the narrow road. That one thing is putting faith, hope, focus, love and life energy into following Jesus. Nothing else matters until that commitment is made.
Maybe as 2016 dawns on your life you are wavering over the Jesus decision. To you I give Bruce Lee’s warning as the New Year begins.
“If you spend too much time thinking about
a thing you’ll never get it done.” Bruce Lee
Will 2016 be the year you begin to trust Jesus as your God?
Cee has challenged us to bring her our black & white BRICKS AND STONES this week. You can check out the stonework of Cee’s contributors by clicking the underlined link.
Here are mine…
There is little else besides stonework at this part of Trinity College in Dublin.
Ancient Stone steps lead away from Torc Falls in Killarney
Stone breakwaters in Doolin
The stone walls of Cabras Castle’s stable yard.
Today we are moving into a whole new realm with our discussion on Romans. For those of you who missed it we just completed a five part series on the gifts of the Spirit using Romans 1:11,12 as our spring board. Those discussions can be found on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we will begin moving on to Romans 1:13,
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,d that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
There are many words I would use to describe Paul. One of those words is not Fly-by-the -seat- of- your -pants. By his own admission in verse 13 Paul was a planner. By his own admission also in verse 13, some of his plans were “prevented” from coming to pass.
Who or what prevented Paul’s plans from coming to pass? Was it the people? Was it lack of money? Was it Paul’s physical condition? Was it the Devil? Was it Jesus? The answer to those questions is: Yes, maybe, probably, assuredly and ultimately absolutely (in that order).
People can get in the way of our plans for sure and for certain.
Money is always an issue when we are trying to walk out the plans we make.
As far as physical condition goes, the older I get the more this becomes a consideration in what I do for Jesus or how I do it for Him in the very least.
The Devil, He sniffs out my plans on a regular basis and always try to put the old kibosh on anything that would benefit me or God’s kingdom.
But ultimately God is in charge of my plans. Sometimes he allows people, money, my physical state and even the Devil to be used as tools to direct and guide me in the way I should go. Everything and I do mean everything is just an implement in His hand to get me going in the direction I need to head in.
Sometimes when I plan a thing (even what I consider a very good thing) I can almost hear God laughing as He puts his own countermeasures in place to change or modify my course. Have you ever been there? Are you there right now? Â Don’t despair. Have faith that God is on your side (Read This).
Jesus is pulling for you to succeed and sometimes that means He has to mess with your plans because they aren’t exactly going to get you where you need to go. So stop being angry with God if He seems to be laughing at your plans. Choose to laugh with Him and accept that the course he is charting for you will take you exactly where you need to go even if it is a little different than the course you had planned.
It is time once again for Friday Fictioneers. That’s the place where 100 authors share 100 words to tell 100 stories from 1 photograph shared by Rochelle our hostess.
Take a peek at all the stories Rochelle’s contributors have shared from the photo below by clicking the underlined link above.
Here is my story:
Copyright: Jean L. Hays
Looking Into the Sun
by JE Lillie
I smiled. The movement was as unfamiliar to me, as slow dancing in the rain. Now I had done both of those things.
I ran nervous fingers through my sopping hair and looked at her, the inspiration for smiling and dancing. I sipped my coffee and wondered how it had grown to this.
“You’re quiet.” She said.
She twisted water out of her own curly locks into a hand towel she had hidden in her purse.
It made me question, did she dance in the rain often?
She smiled at me and I no longer cared. It was like looking into the sun.
It is time to write my last poem of 2015. Using the Secret Keeper’s list of words I am choosing to use the Shadorma form  to sing my way into the 2016.
My necessary words this week are:Â Â | PART | STONE | FLAW | STRICT | NOTE |
Prophetic Song For the New Year
by JE Lillie
Still as stone
The old year sounds dead.
Flawed strict notes
Cannot be
Played again. Their parts undone,
I sing a New Year.
Flaws begin
With new notes unheard.
Unrehearsed
Parts falter.
Strict rhythms fall apart like
Water crumbling stones .
A cycle
Then more than a song
Symphony.
Flawed strict notes
My new theme a stone in place
 Part  of larger work.
I know this post was expected four days ago but it got holidelayed (see what I did there?). Today we are moving on from Romans 1:11 to Romans 1:12. We are however continuing our discussion regarding the Gift of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
If you have missed any of our previous discussion on spiritual gifts you can find them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Romans 1:11,12 reads, “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— — that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”
Whatever you may believe about the spiritual gifts: how they come upon a person, when they come upon a person or what the first evidence of their arrival is there is one thing that cannot be questioned; That is the purpose of those gifts.
The purpose of the gifts of the Spirit is to encourage those who experience them  in the faith. The purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is to strengthen the force of love in the lives of those who are baptized.
Paul says in effect that the reason he longs to impart the spiritual gift to the Romans is so that they and he may be built up in their mutual faith.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit must make a palpable difference in the lives of those who are baptized. It should also make a powerful difference in the lives of those around the one baptized otherwise the baptism is all for nothing.
In 1 Corinthinas 13:1-3 Paul says it this way, Â If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2Â If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3Â If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
The long and the short of it is that  a person can be baptized in the Spirit and still miss the point. The gifts: tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, healing, working of miracles…all of these things are just the method, not the point. If the gifts are manifested but they do not increase the three things which will last forever (faith, hope and love) then it is all just so much useless noise and wasted energy.
I don’t know about you but I have no time or energy to waste! I must let the baptism in the Holy Spirit drive me deeper into faith, hope and love!
Cee is wrapping up the year by beginning a new challenge: RED FLOWERS.
Start seeing red by clicking the underlined link above. Here are my red flowers.
The heart of a Kentucky rose
