• Romans 12:11 – Serving God is an active lifestyle.
• Romans 12:13 – Hospitality in those days was more the idea of having someone in your home that needed a place to stay.
• Romans 12:14 – We should continue to speak well of people who are persecuting us and remember them in prayer to God. God requires us to love even our enemies.
• Romans 12:15 – We share in both rejoicing and weeping because we love each other. Jealousy could make it easier to weep when others suffer, so we must be careful.
• Romans 12:16 – We are all children of God. We should not see ourselves as being above others.
• Romans 12:17 – It can take a lot of control to not repay evil for evil. If you don’t stop the cycle, evil just continues.
• Romans 12:18 – Strife should not start with us.
• Romans 12:19 – We must leave it to God to punish in the perfect way.
• Romans 12:20 – See Proverbs 25:21. Treating your enemy well could be like throwing cold water in his face – an embarrassment and a wake-up call.
• Romans 12:21 – This is a good summary of the preceding verses.
• Romans 13:1 – In what sense does God establish governments? See John 19:10-11. God clearly doesn’t approve of every leader just because they hold a leadership position. God approves of governments existing in a general sense.
• Romans 13:2 – Resisting authority = resisting God. See Titus 3:1; I Peter 2:13-17. It is okay to resist government when it contradicts God. See Acts 4:18; 5:8, 42.
• Romans 13:3-4 – God authorizes capital punishment for governments – they “do not bear the sword in vain.” The New Covenant does not have the idea of the “avenger of blood.” Now the civil government has that role. See Genesis 9:6.
• Romans 13:5-7 – There are two reasons to be in subjection to the government – fear of punishment and our own conscience. We are commanded to pay taxes regardless of how the government is using them. The Roman government used tax money to persecute Christians, yet Christians were still instructed to pay the taxes.

Introduction

• II Timothy 2:2
• Ephesians 4:11-12
• Each and every Christian needs to be studying the Bible on a regular basis!

What are you curious about?

• Make a list: “Things I’m curious about.”
  • Acts 17:30
  • Acts 13:47
  • Pick the most interesting thing on the list and study that!

Do some simple study

• Find all the relevant passages.
  • Example: The Lord’s Supper
    • Matthew 26:26-29
• Read!
• Compare translations.
  • What does the phrase “drink ye all of it” mean? Comparing translations shows that Jesus meant for all of those gathered to drink of the grape juice. It did not mean for them to drink all of the grape juice.
• Read the context.
• Consider the original meaning.
  • Matthew 26:27 – “fruit of the vine”?
• Account for figurative language.
  • Is it literally Jesus’ blood? Matthew 26:28-29. Jesus was using a metaphor.
• Check fallible sources for passages and ideas.
  • Don’t do this before reading the passages yourself first!
  • Acts 19:1-7; 18:24-28 – Apollos taught an incomplete message at first.
  • Acts 17:1-3
  • Are people proving their points from the passages?
  • Don’t look for the “church of Christ position”!
    • Matthew 15:2; 19:3-9 – Jesus directs the Pharisees back to the text when they try to figure out what doctrinal camp He is in.
• Harmonize all the passages into a conclusion.
• Repent and change yourself as needed.
  • Luke 6:46
• Save your notes.
  • Set up your own filing system, either on paper or digitally, so that you can find your notes again later.
  • Editor’s note: Consider a Zettelkasten system like Obsidian if taking notes digitally.

Conclusion

• II Timothy 2:15

Compliment someone

• Bible connection
  • Luke 6:43-45
  • Romans 12:9
  • Matthew 12:34-35
  • James 1:26
  • Ephesians 4:29
  • Hebrews 3:13
  • Hebrews 10:24-25
  • Complimenting others exhorts and encourages others. It takes the spotlight off us.
  • Luke 19:6 – The example of Zaccheus.
  • John 4:29 – The example of the Samaritan woman at the well.
  • Hebrews 13:1
  • Matthew 12:36
• Why is this hard?
• Why is it hard to accept a compliment?
• How can we improve on giving compliments, exhortation, and encouragement?
  • Golden Rule: Treat other people the way you would like to be treated.
  • Show interest in other people’s interests.
  • Philippians 4:8 – If we focus on positive things like this, complimenting others is so much easier.

• Ephesians 2:5, 8-9 – Does grace mean we have no role in salvation? Faith clearly has a role in salvation. God provides salvation through His grace, but it is on us to receive it.
• John 3:16; 8:24; Acts 16:31; Romans 3:21 – What faith does for the believer.

Faith alone is not sufficient

• Romans 10:9-10
• If salvation is dependent on confession, confession is not a “work” because we know that works don’t save us (Ephesians 2:8-9)!
• Acts 2:37-38 – Peter didn’t tell them to do nothing because they had already been saved. Acts 3:19-20
• Mark 16:15-16 – Belief and baptism are both equally required for salvation.
• Isaiah 59:16 – God’s own arm provided salvation, but we may accept it.
• Acts 9:18; 22:16 – Saul had been repenting and fasting for three days, but was not forgiven of his sins until he was baptized.

• Titus 3:5
• Ephesians 5:26 – This may also be a reference to baptism, indicating that baptism is a work of Jesus.
• Ephesians 2:10