{"id":10049,"date":"2022-02-04T06:37:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T12:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-romans-11\/"},"modified":"2022-01-27T12:49:59","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T18:49:59","slug":"devotional-on-romans-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-romans-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Romans"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_16022\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16022\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/P6309596.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-16022\" src=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/P6309596-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/P6309596-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/P6309596-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/P6309596-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/P6309596-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/P6309596.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16022\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Cape Disappointment Lighthouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You aren\u2019t down for the count<\/p>\n<p>Romans 11: Are they down for the count&#8230;the answer is a clear-cut no.<\/p>\n<p>The people of Israel, Paul says, have, in general, messed up royally. They had an inside track to God but rejected him. Because of their disobedience and unbelief they\u2019ve been cut off and are no longer connected to the \u201croot\u201d of God\u2019s love and faithfulness. The Lord, who specializes in taking bad situations and turning them into good ones, has used their rejection as a way to open the door for all peoples of the world to come in. When an \u201coutsider\u201d believes in Jesus that person is grafted into the \u201cvine\u201d of God\u2019s grace. In this the outsider becomes an insider. Now, what of those people of Israel who became dead to God because of their unbelief? Is it too late for them? Is their permanent loss a sad necessity that the way to God be opened for the non-Jews? Paul answers, \u201cNo way!\u201d He serves a God of Second Chances and even now the Lord\u2019s working out a restoration for those who\u2019ve been cut off. In his plan it\u2019s never been \u201cJews verses Gentiles.\u201d The Lord&#8217;s working right now to bring salvation to all, grafting in all who will come, making them part of his family. Isn\u2019t this good news! The Gentiles have never known God, but now a way has been made for them to connect to him. The people of Israel have a long history with God but blew it. Still, God works to bring them back home. Maybe you were raised in church and knew the Lord as Savior at one time but now all that\u2019s past tense in your life. I have Good News for you. As it was for the people of Israel who messed up royally there remains hope. Right now the Lord invites you to return and be reattached to the vine of his mercy, love, and grace. Even if everyone else has given up on you, God hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Take Away: God is the God of Second Chances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You aren\u2019t down for the count Romans 11: Are they down for the count&#8230;the answer is a clear-cut no. The people of Israel, Paul says, have, in general, messed up royally. They had an inside track to God but rejected him. Because of their disobedience and unbelief they\u2019ve been cut off and are no longer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1529,1428],"tags":[1299,518,564,920,958],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10049"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10049"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16023,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10049\/revisions\/16023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}