Over the past several months, the NHYG has been walking through the book of Romans, and let me just say it has been a great study. I don’t think I could ever get tired of this book or spend too much time in it. We’ve been diving into what it means to truly follow Jesus, understanding God’s grace, and seeing how our faith changes the way we live. Here’s a few things our NHYG has been learning on Sunday mornings: *

  1. We Are All in Need of Jesus (Romans 1-3). Paul begins by showing us that everyone, no matter who we are needs Jesus. The truth is, sin has broken our world, and none of us can earn our way to God by being “good enough. But the good news, the gospel is… God’s righteousness is a gift, not something we earn.
  2. We Are Made Righteous by Faith, Not Works (Romans 4-5). We saw the example of Abraham and how he wasn’t saved because he was perfect. He made his own mistakes. But he was saved because he trusted God. The same is true for us! We don’t earn salvation by what we do; we receive it through faith in Jesus. And because of that, we now have peace with God, hope in our struggles, and confidence in His love!
  3. Grace Changes Everything, So We Should Live Differently (Romans 6). Just because we’re saved by grace doesn’t mean we should keep sinning. That’s not how that works! When we put our faith in Jesus, we have made the decision to die to sin and raise up in a new life. In other words we should be different now! Instead of letting sin control us, we offer our lives to God and live for something greater.

So, here’s the big question: What do we do with all of this? Paul isn’t just throwing out a bunch of deep theology for no reason. He’s calls us to live differently. If we know that Jesus has set us free, do we actually live like it? Do we try to earn God’s love, or do we trust in His grace? Do we let sin call the shots in our lives, or do we choose to follow Jesus with everything we’ve got?

Romans is all about real faith that transforms us, not just on Sundays, but every single day. And the best part is that God isn’t asking for perfection, He’s asking for hearts that are transformed to be His.

Just so that you will know… Our NHYG does is not getting shallow bible classes. We are not afraid to dig deep and challenge ourselves to learn and grow in exceptional ways. The book of Romans is for teens as much as it is for anyone else. What a blessing!

In Christ alone,

Alex Mills

* So far we have covered Romans 1-6. I’ll give another update at the end of May as we plan to have finished our study by then.