First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL

1 Samuel 3:1-10 1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!" 5 and ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called again, "Samuel!" Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli,...

Session 2 Romans 1:14- 3:20 Bob mentioned last night that since there are so many churches where people give their lives to Christ, there ought to be “The Church of the Renegeth,” people who take back their lives from Christ” I assured him that though there is no denominational structure, that “church” has a huge membership and a large number of people attending it every Sunday. Or, as a fellow told me a while back, an awful lot of people are “home-churched.” Paul’s opening chapters in the Epistle to the Romans set the stage for him to address the condition of those who live under the illusion that they are in control of their own world. He addresses the practice of idolatry, the worship of self in place of God; and the exchange of the glory of God for the dehumanizing life of sin. In Chapter 2, he dissects the role of the law as it relates to God’s righteousness. (I am indebted to the work of Paul Achtemeier in his commentary on Romans in the Interpretation series for much of...

Week 1: Introduction This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth a Christian's while not only to memorize it word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul. It is impossible to read or to meditate on this letter too much or too well. The more one deals with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes. … We find in this letter, then, the richest possible teaching about what a Christian should know: the meaning of law, Gospel, sin, punishment, grace, faith, justice, Christ, God, good works, love, hope and the cross. We learn how we are to act toward everyone, toward the virtuous and sinful, toward the strong and the weak, friend and foe, and toward ourselves. Paul bases everything firmly on Scripture and proves his points with examples from his own experience and from the Prophets, so that nothing more could be desired. Therefore it seems that St...