Max Lucado - Romans Study Guide: In the Grip of Grace

Welcome to the 40 Days Through the Book study on Romans. During the course of the next six weeks, you and your fellow group members will embark on an in-depth exploration of Pauls message to the church in Rome. During this study, you will learn when Paul wrote the book, the audience for whom it was written, and the background and context in which it was written. But, more importantly, through the teaching by Max Lucado, you will explore the key themes that Paul relates in the bookand how his teachings relate to you today.

The 40 Days Through the Book video and study guide are designed to be experienced in a group setting such as a Bible study, Sunday school class, or small group gathering. Each session begins with an introduction reading and question. You and your group will then watch the video message. There is an outline provided in the guide for you to take notes and gather your reflections as you watch the video. Next, you will engage in a time of directed discussion, review the memory verse for the week, and then close each session with a time of prayer. (Note that if your group is larger, you may wish to watch the videos together and then break into smaller groups of four to six people, to ensure that everyone has time to participate in discussions.)

What is truly unique about this study, and the other studies in the 40 Days Through the Book series, are the daily learning resources that will lead you into a deeper engagement with the text. Each week, you will be given a set of daily readings, with accompanying reflection questions, to help you explore the material that you covered during your group time.

The first days reading will focus on the key verse to memorize for the week. In the other weekly readings, you will be invited to read a passage from the book of Romans, reflect on the text, and then respond with some guided journal questions. On the final day, you will review the key verse again and recite it from memory. As you work through the six weeks worth of material in this section, you will read (and, in some cases, reread) the entire book of Romans.

Now, you may be wondering why you will be doing this over the course of forty days. Certainly, there is nothing special about that number. But there is something biblical about it. In the Bible, the number forty typically designates a time of testing. Noah was in the ark for forty days. Moses lived forty years in Egypt and another forty years in the desert before he led Gods people. He spent forty days on Mount Sinai receiving Gods laws and sent spies, for forty days, to investigate the land of Canaan. Later, God sent the prophet Jonah to warn ancient Nineveh, for forty days, that its destruction would come because of the peoples sins.

Even more critically, in the New Testament we read that Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, fasting and praying. It marked a critical transition point in his ministrythe place where he set about to fulfill the mission that God had intended. During this time Jesus was tested relentlessly by the enemy... and prevailed. When he returned to Galilee, he was a different person than the man who had entered into the wilderness forty days before. The same will be true for you as you commit to this forty-day journey through Romans.

You and your fellow group members should have your own copy of this study guide. Not only will this help you engage when your group is meeting, but it will also allow you to fully enter into the 40 Days learning experience. Keep in mind the video, questions, and activities are simply tools to help you engage with the session. The real power and life-transformation will come as you dig into the Scriptures and seek to live out the truths you learn along the way.

Finally, you will need to appoint a leader or facilitator for the group who is responsible for starting the video teaching and for keeping track of time during discussions and activities. Leaders may also read questions aloud and monitor discussions, prompting participants to respond and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate. For more thorough instructions on this role, see the Leaders Guide included at the back of this guide.