Local Lessons From Romans
Recently someone from church emailed about how the Romans study is equipping their witness for the gospel and worldview for cultural engagement. The note was encouraging, so (with permission) I am editing the note and sharing a piece of it here with identities covered up for obvious reasons. As a preacher, it is so encouraging to hear how God is teaching folks through the ministry of the word on Sundays.
Here's the note... (and feel free to share more encouraging things with our pastors about how the preaching is helping us all grow in grace together)
"I'm writing a quick note to you pastor... Wanted to encourage you... a couple weeks ago we had one of Phoebe's friends from college come over. It was around the time you were preaching through Romans 6. We had a meal together and so after we all prayed giving thanks to God for the food this naturally led to a discussion about his Catholic upbringing and about how even though he doesn't "still practice" prayer makes him feel good. He then asked Phoebe what she got out of going to church now. It was so awesome to see my spouse, give this detailed summary of your sermon on Sunday, including the laws of the Jewish people, the fact the Jews didn't want to accept the grafting in of the Gentiles and how that parallels with racism today and finally about how Jesus came and followed the law PERFECTLY, which segued into the gospel, explaining how Christ's perfect righteous record lifted the condemnation of the law for His elect. The conversation was great. Our guest was glued to the ideas and topics of the text. We then went on to talk about the diversity of our church and how we discuss real issues we still face today such as racism/poverty etc. It was really awesome, I wish you could have heard it because I think it would have edified you how the sermon and simple outreach to friends over food is turning into a witness in our city. Through the main points of a sermon, the gospel was shared with an unbeliever. We're praying God will move and save through the power of the gospel. Thanks you preaching Romans and equipping us for witness.
Your DRC family,
Paulos and Phoebe
