All posts by Nigel Fortescue

Romans 15:14-33 – You’ve Got Mail!

I am not in the habit of reading other people’s mail. I suspect you aren’t either but you may be surprised to know that if you do, you stand to be fined! Stealing and reading other people’s mail could actually land you in gaol!

Well, I felt like I was reading Paul’s personal mail when I started work on Romans 15:14-33. As we draw to the end of this great letter Paul has some personal reflections, personal news and personal greetings to pass on. But they are not without theological intent and the potential to teach us.

With this in mind, you may want to start your growth group asking the question: if you could obtain and read someone else’s mail of any secret file, what would you want to read and why?
(I’d be glad to know if aliens were real! Or to read the Queen’s mail for a day!)

While it feels personal, this passage has a lot to teach us. The passage itself can be broken into two parts
Paul’s task 15:14-22
Paul’s future 15:23:33

Some questions you may want to ponder…

PAULS TASK
1. Do you think Paul is being sarcastic in verse 14-15 or is he making a point about Christian growth (that despite fullness there is more room for growth)?

I suspect the latter is correct and it reminds us not to be lazy in our faith or to think you don’t need to keep growing!

2. How do verse 15-16 help us understand the Christian’s relationship to the OT laws and sacrifices?

I think this is a really helpful way of Paul expressing the reality that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the OT and we are acceptable to god because we trust I his sacrifice of Jesus for us. There are depths to be plunged here in terms of assurance. God in Christ has done all that is necessary for us to be accepted by him. The job is done as we trust in Christ! Paul overflows with joy becasue of this in verse 17. It has not been about Paul but about Paul preaching Jesus to those who don’t know him.

3. No doubt people will want to ask about v.19 – put simply it is a description of what happened with Paul not what will happen with our preaching of the gospel. The Spirit of God is still at work to be sure – opening blind eyes so they may see the glory of Christ and equipping the Church with gifts and fruit of service – transforming lives to be like Christ. This work is often amazing and miraculous!

PAULS FUTURE
In a second post I will provide a map that will help you here and perhaps through the whole passage. It is quite a visual learners nightmare without a map!

You can work your way through v.23-29 and then focus on the urgency to prayer.

4. Why does Paul call for urgency in prayer in these matters? What matters matter to you that you might call for urgent prayers? Do you pray for things that matter? What shapes your prayer life? What should shape your prayer life? What do the prayers of all of chapter 15 indicate should be the focus of our prayers and concerns?

Remember that this is not a call to not pray for the little things, it is a call to expand our prayers beyond our own concerns or navels to the big things that matter more than our own desires. You may want to explore with your group the content of your group’s prayers and how might you add other matters to your prayer life together in a disciplined and constant way – not just in response to what we heard this week?

I hope these thoughts are helpful and I look forward to hearing how your groups go this week!

Helping People Pray

Let me guess. You have some people in your group who just will not pray out loud. Am I right?

Well, I have some too. Our young adult group is a mix of new and growing Christians and several people just don’t yet feel comfortable praying out loud. Left unchecked, I may end up with a group where there are only one or two who pray each week. In the end, it can lead to awkward and frustrating moments of silence in your prayer time and even quash the praying spirit of those who will pray!

What can you do?

Thanks be to God that when I was tidying my office this week I found a great article by Carmelina Read on praying out loud in small groups. You will find it here.

The article first provides five reasons why praying out loud is good. It then provides lots of tips on how to help cultivate a praying growth group.

We read it as a group tonight. It was excellent. I would recommend that everyone read the article and perhaps read it with your groups and discuss what would work.

I have two ideas I am going to implement for next week!

I’d love to hear about how you have cultivated prayerfulness in your small group. Please comment below.

Pray well!

Oh no, we studied 3:27-31 last week…!

Hello friends,

A number of people have mentioned to me that they studied both last weeks passage (3:21-26) and this weeks passage (3:27-31) together. If that was you, I have a suggestion for what you could do this week. It comes from Stuart Starr (Church planter at Oran Park) and links in nicely with one of the main application points that have come out of our sermons in the last few weeks.

It is called 316441 and it is a systematic way of praying for people who are not yet Christians using a simple card. Stuart writes…

Please find attached the links to the PDFs for the front and back of the 316441 Cards.

A couple of quick things:

a) 316441 because we’re aiming to pray John 3:16 (that’s the 316) for four people for one year (441)

b) We ask people to put one name in each spot. A friend, A family member and a neighbour. If they don’t know one already they need to go and meet them as a first step. If they have bad relationships with their neighbours present this as a place to start the reconciliation process – just by praying..

c) The “Person I’m yet to meet yet” can’t be filled in yet. It’s about prayerful expectation and changing our outlook. The person you write down is someone that God brings into your life over the course of the year and should be written down when you have your eyes opened.

d) We ask at the start of our Growth Groups each week what’s happening with your 316441 people and what we can pray for to see everyone move just one step further.

Lastly, if you get them printed and use them in your services and then in your churches the only thing I’d ask is that you share stories as the people you pray for come to know Jesus!

Front cover
Back Cover

We have used this in our growth group and it took most of a night for us to share names and stories and where people are up to in Christ and to pray for people. We revisit the names and pray for them regularly.

The other thing I did was to get people to map their 4 people on a line between “determined atheist” and “keen Christian”. This helped them visualize the place their 4 people were and also think about what step could be taken to move them along.

I pray this works in your group as it has in ours. Remember the first task in evangelism is always prayer!

NF