Study Desk

If those other branches will start having faith, they will be made a part of that tree again. God has the power to put them back.

After all, it wasn't natural for branches to be cut from a wild olive tree and to be made part of a cultivated olive tree. So it is much more likely that God will join the natural branches back to the cultivated olive tree.

The people of Israel are treated as God's enemies, so that the good news can come to you Gentiles. But they are still the chosen ones, and God loves them because of their famous ancestors.

God doesn't take back the gifts he has given or forget about the people he has chosen.

At one time you Gentiles rejected God. But now Israel has rejected God, and you have been shown mercy.

All people have disobeyed God, and that's why he treats them as prisoners. But he does this, so that he can have mercy on all of them.

Who can measure the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God? Who can understand his decisions or explain what he does?

Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God.

Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.

I realize how kind God has been to me, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you.

God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have.

Ask God to bless everyone who mistreats you. Ask him to bless them and not to curse them.

Dear friends, don't try to get even. Let God take revenge. In the Scriptures the Lord says, "I am the one to take revenge and pay them back."

Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power.

People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished.

After all, they are God's servants, and it is their duty to help you. If you do something wrong, you ought to be afraid, because these rulers have the right to punish you. They are God's servants who punish criminals to show how angry God is.

But you should not criticize others for eating or for not eating. After all, God welcomes everyone.

Any followers who count one day more important than another day do it to honor their Lord. And any followers who eat meat give thanks to God, just like the ones who don't eat meat.

Whether we live or die, it must be for God, rather than for ourselves.

Why do you criticize other followers of the Lord? Why do you look down on them? The day is coming when God will judge all of us.