People often talk about faith like it is something you find inside yourself if you look hard enough. Paul reveals just the opposite. Faith comes from outside you––from the Word of Christ spoken into your ears by someone God sent to speak it. That is how it reached you, and that is how it has reached every Christian who has ever lived. Paul traces the chain all the way back from the believer to the preacher to the one who sent the preacher, and it changes how you think about every sermon you have ever heard.

The Rev. James Helms, Jr., pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Greenbelt, MD, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Romans 10:1–21.

To learn more about Holy Cross Lutheran Church, visit myholycross.com.

Why does doing the right thing sometimes feel impossible? Why do feelings of guilt follow us even when we've been forgiven? These aren't new questions. St. Paul wrote his letter to the Romans for a church he had never visited, and yet he addressed the struggles every Christian knows firsthand: the weight of the law, the persistence of sin, the sufficiency of what God has done in Christ. Romans covers enormous ground. Paul moves from the universal problem of sin through justification by faith, the role of baptism, the war between flesh and spirit, God's faithfulness to Israel, and the shape of life together in the body of Christ. There's a reason the Reformation was born in this letter. Join us on Thy Strong Word as we open up Romans, weekdays at 11am or on-demand anytime, at KFUO.org.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.