Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read the Lessons Romans 12:1-2 is one of my life verses. The Lord had me memorize it at a time in my spiritual journey where I was conforming more to the world than to Him. In some ways this verse has everything you need to know about how to lead a life worthy of your calling to follow Christ. It is also the best life you can live where will you will find real fulflilment and joy by doing His will not your own.  A Living Sacrifice to God 12 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. There are several important aspects of this verse I would ...

Click Here To Listen to the Lessons Click Here to Read Lessons In chapter 11 Paul talks about the relationship of Israel and the Gentiles in regard to the offer of salvation God the Father has given us through God the Son. Salvation came from the Jews in the sense of God's original promise was given to Abraham, through whom all people would be blessed. Also, the promised Messiah, Jesus, came through the line of David.  But the plan even in the Old Testament was that the Jews would be a blessing to all nations (i.e. the Gentiles). In Genesis 17 God tells Abraham that they were blessed so they could be a blessing to all nations. Paul uses the analogy of an olive tree. The natural branches he compares to Israel. They were grafted in naturally. But when Israel was disobedient they were broken off, and the Gentiles were grafted in as they came to believe in Jesus not reject him.  Though the opportunity of the gospel came to Gentiles through the rejection of the Jews, God's plan all...

Click Here to Listen to the Audio Readings Click Here to Read the Lessons This is a great story about good leadership and bad leadership. King Ahab the king of the Israel and King Jehoshaphat is the king of Judah. King Ahab a long history with prophets who call out his evil practices starting with Elijah, who predicts a drought for King Ahab's sins. He also worshipped Baal.  Meanwhile King Jehoshaphat was generally a good king, but his alliance with King Ahab distorted his judgment.  Ahab asked him to attack Ramoth-Gilead with him, which was a leftover city from Syria that the king of Syria never gave to Ahab. Jehosphaphat wisely asks,  "Then Jehoshaphat added, “But first let’s find out what the Lord says.” 18:4 So Ahab invites 400 prophets to give him advice. The only problem is they are not prophets of the Lord, or at least they are not true to what the Lord asks them to say. True to form, all of the prophets tell Ahab to go invade and he will be victorious. They were a...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read the Lessons Romans 9:6-9 "6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” In chapters 9-11 Paul  In chapters 1-8, Paul lays the foundation of how both Jews and Gentiles are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and how nothing can separate them from God's love in Christ Jesus.  Now, in Romans 9 through 11, Paul deals with the problem associated with the conditio...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read the Lessons 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  Romans 8:28-30 This verse points to the sovereignty of God, as though God allows bad things to happen to us, He can turn them into good. Of course, the classic example is Jesus being put to death on the cross order to die for the sins of the world and then be raised from the dead. Paul was a persecutor of Christians, and God used his zeal for good, the conversion of many Gentiles. Peter denied three times, but Jesus turned it into good and told him three times to feed his sheep, which he did until his life was taken from him.  This verse applies Christians, who have been called according to God's purpose. And we know this purpose was g...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings Click Here to Read the Lessons At the end of chapter 7, Paul shared is own instense struggle with his sinful nature. He admits he knows the right thing to do, but the problem is that he doesn't have the power to carry it out. In fact, he not only does not do the right thing but often does the very opposite the wrong thing. He concludes saying, " What a wretched man I am! "   How many of us have felt like this. But, in chapter 8, Paul gives the secret to living a Christ-like life and doing the things Jesus would do if he were you. He says it is all about control. Or who or what is controlling you. For a Christian there are really only two options. Are you being controlled by the sinful nature, or by the Holy Spirit?  The sinful nature is hostile to God and rebels against God's laws. But we have the Spirit living in us, which is the Spirit of Christ. God's Spirit leads us to submit to God's will and enjoy the fellowship we sh...

Click Here to Listen to the Readings and Commentary   Click Here to Read the Lessons If you want to really impress your friends at the next cocktail party try to start a conversation about what it means to be an "antinomian". I am sure it will be a barrel of laughs. But it was actually a issue in Martin Luther's day and other times during church history.  If you are really interested you can read more about antinomianism and its history here Basically the term means "against the Law". The Law, also called the Law of Moses, which is summarized by the Ten Commandments, was given by Moses to the Jewish people in the wilderness.   As we have talked about, the role of the Law was a big focus in Paul's letter to the Romans, because he was writing to the Jewish Christians in Rome. They did not know what role the Law should play after they were saved. Many of the Jewish Christians had a hard time being freed from the restrictions of the Law, which could not be kept ...