Jonathan Romig's Teaching Archive

In the gospel of Luke, the Christmas story starts before Jesus’ birth. About nine months before Mary gives birth to Jesus, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. Mary is a young godly girl who has never been married or been with a man.  But she’s betrothed, or what we can call engaged, to a carpenter named Joseph. But when this angel shows up, her life changes. The angel Gabriel greets Mary, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Mary of course is troubled by this supernatural visitation. What has she done to deserve God showing up to her? I know I would have felt scared if an angel showed up with a message from God for me. So here we have a young soon-to-be-married woman who has found favor with God. This is the background of the very first Christmas. 

Thanksgiving dinner is a time to reflect on the year and thank God for all the ways He has blessed us. Here are some thoughts on thankfulness from the Bible to help you thank God this year: 1. Being thankful reveals where we are spiritually (Rom 1:21). 2. Being thankful has nothing to do with how much we have or don’t have.  3. Being thankful is very different from being pleased with ourselves and our own accomplishments (Luke 12:16-20). 

What’s the best way to comfort someone in pain? How can we comfort those who are experiencing real hurt? Most of us aren’t born with a skill set for comforting people in pain. In fact, statistics show that we’re actually getting worse at comforting other people. From the year 2000 to 2010 the ability to empathize dropped 40% among college students. That means that a huge segment of our population has gotten worse at showing concern. With the rise of technology and entertainment, we’re forgetting how to be kind. 

What is the gospel? My first semester at seminary I showed up feeling called by God to become a pastor and I couldn't say what the gospel was. Sure I had an idea. Isn't the gospel that we're "saved by faith" or that "Jesus rose again"? The word gospel comes from the Greek word that means "good news." Mark 1:1 tells us the gospel is "the good news about Jesus the Messiah." So what about Jesus' life and ministry is good news for us?

Do you feel hopeless? Do you feel lost? Do you feel like the darkness won’t lift? In the 1500s a priest named John wrote about the darkness. John wrote the famous poem, “Dark Night of the Soul.” John was a man so devoted to God he renamed himself “John of the Cross.” John named himself after the cross because he wanted to crucify his sinful desires. He did this through practicing community, poverty, fasting, silence, enclosure, and prayer. He was what we might call today Pius, ascetic, or intentionally holy.  He was also pretty mystical or what some might now call charismatic. So if John were alive today, he probably wouldn’t attend our church. But there’s s till a lot we can learn from the way John suffered.

My mentor’s name is David. We met at a local pastor’s gathering where he took voluntary interest in me. I needed a mentor and he wanted to make disciples by caring for the next generation of pastors. For the next year and a half I knew him, David poured into me. He taught me the importance of sharing life stories together, hunting each other’s sin, and giving each other grace.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people with no explanation at all. Maybe some of you have heard all the bad things that happened to an orphan from Kansas. This girl had a lot of bad things happened to her. One day a tornado destroyed her home and carried her and her dog away. The storm takes her to enchanted land where she immediately commits accidental homicide. 

This post is a response to an article entitled “ 10 Reasons Why the Crucifixion Story Makes No Sense ” which has been posted on a variety of blogs across the internet. This response is a guest post by Jared, a high school student. If you have not read the original post, I suggest reading the two together so you can better understand Jared’s responses. We hope this sparks a thoughtful discussion about the truth of the scriptures and their account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I recently graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary . A theological seminary is a school where people study God.  Some become pastors, others missionaries, and others teachers. My first semester there I took a very challenging class. Our professor was an interesting teacher but the days were long. One afternoon we all looked extra sleepy and extra bored. So out of nowhere my teacher stops lecturing about God. And he says a single word. This single word got all of our attention. “Sex…”

Have you ever gotten lost? Have you ever gotten so lost you didn’t know where you were? It’s like you’ve stepped into an entirely different space where nothing is familiar. When I lived in Colorado one of my brothers got lost on a mountain. He has since referred to it as being “directionally confused.” Maybe you feel a little lost as you read Revelation chapters 20 and 21. But I think that’s how we’re supposed to feel when we read the great white throne judgment. In 20:11 all of creation fades into a lost space, “From his presence earth and sky fled away.” It’s as if Christ has moved the whole universe into a type of limbo for the judgment.  My professor at Gordon-Conwell called this point in Revelation “no place.” 

Who is Jesus? Our big question for today is “Who is Jesus?” But I can’t just invite Jesus up on stage to ask him. So how can we find out who Jesus is if he’s not here? If you wanted to know me, but I was away, what what would you do? You might go on Facebook and stalk my profile photos. Or you could call my wife Monica and ask her about me. Or you could search any documents that are available about me. You could look up newspaper articles or my writings. Maybe you’d try and find my original birth certificate. 

Stephen Witmer is a humble New England pastor and the coolest seminary professor I ever sat under. He recently published the book Eternity Changes Everything: How to live now in the light of your future. Written for those who believe, his thesis is simple—forever matters for you today. 

One of my favorite children’s books is Saint George and the Dragon . I like the one retold by Margaret Hodges and illustrated by Trina Hyman. I used to go to the library as a kid and look at all the pictures in this book. In fact, I loved the pictures so much I never actually read the words. So two weeks ago I went to the library, got the book, and read it. 

They found the cure quite by accident. The band of island settlers had just recently arrived at the tropical paradise. They brought with them lots of different people—a farmer and his wife, a banker, several school teachers, a general store manager, an officer of the law, and a mayor. They even brought with them a doctor, but when the found the cure they sent him away. 

I’m pleased to share my first self-published ebook entitled  How To Give A Christian Wedding Toast  by  Jonathan M. Romig  ( aff links ). This resource is meant for anyone who would like to give a Biblical wedding toast, but has no idea of where to begin. If you're the best man, maid of honor, father of the bride, friend of the happy couple, or just curious about what goes into a gospel-filled wedding speech, than give this book a try. It is meant to encourage you and help your creativity as you craft and deliver your own unique message. Through this book you will learn how to give a fun, creative, and Christ-centered wedding toast as you grow in your relationship with the Lord. In four easy steps you will learn the “Christian Toast Idea” method of wedding speeches. Your toast will stand out as you give glory to God and share the good news about Jesus Christ with the bride, groom, and wedding guests. I've also made available a list of  resources ...

The following is a list of helpful resources you can use to study your Bible and prepare for Sunday school or small group. We use Bible study software, websites, and apps to help us spend time diving deep into Scripture. These resources are not an end within themselves, but simply tools we can use to get to know God better through his Word. 

I've never been to war, but maybe you have or know someone who has. In the last one-hundred years, the US has experienced a lot of war. We went through WWI and WWII. Then we fought in the Korean War and Vietnam. Maybe some of you remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. More recently we’ve had roles in the Persian Gulf War. In the mid and late 90s there was the Bosnian War and Kosovo. Then everything changed for the United States on September 11th 2001.

My church raised me to love the Bible and all its stories, but didn’t talk much about tradition, or the historic creeds, confessions, and catechisms. I learned the Bible every week but I was missing out on what my spiritual grandparents had to offer me. It wasn’t till seminary that the significance of what came before me began to sink in. That’s when I discovered my need for what I like to call extra-Biblical humility . Extra-Biblical humility is a humble respect and gratitude for all that God has provided for the health and vitality of his Church outside of the Biblical canon. This means respecting and caring about words like dogma, doctrine, and theology. It means cherishing our rich heritage as evangelical Christians by paying attention to more than just our Bibles. It means recognizing that the call for all of this is grounded in Scripture itself, as 2 Corinthians 13:5a says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves…” (ESV). Up till semi...

(Temple of Artemis at Sardis) There was a city in Asia, modern day Turkey, called Sardis. The actual city of Sardis had about 100,000 people and sat below a ridge. In times of conflict, the people of the city fled to that ridge where there was a citadel. A citadel is another name for a fortress that protects the city, but this wasn’t just any fortress. It was thought to be almost impossible to capture because it was located on steep cliffs. So when king Cyrus of Persia came to capture Sardis in 549 BC, the people thought they were safe. The Persian troops saw the citadel and did not know how to get up the cliff or capture the city. But one evening, as the story goes, one of the soldiers dropped his helmet off the side.  And instead of leaving it there, he exited the citadel and walked down a nearly invisible path. He grabbed his helmet and returned to the citadel, thus showing the Persians how to capture it.

In his first book, The Upward Fall: Our Pilgrim Journey through Groaning to Glory , brand-new author Brian Myers writes about a disciple’s ever twisting path of sanctification and the final destination—glory with Christ Jesus. This is not a formal review, but an informal opportunity to share with you a book I enjoyed, and support a new author who used to pastor my home church when I was a kid. Although new to the publishing world, Brian is the son of Ruth Myers, who authored 31 Days of Praise ( aff link ). One look at the richly printed hardcover of this book and it’s clear Brian has a fresh kind of reading experience in mind for his audience. From cover to cover, beginning with Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee , to Caravaggio’s The Conversion of St. Paul , to some family portraits and a CD with a message and music, the book is a rich experience. More than that, Brian is a wordsmith. His writing is more like poetry than prose although the book uses a narrative and explan...

For my last year of high school I commuted to a Community College. Three times a week my brother and I woke up at 7:00am. The commute was about an hour so we left early to get to class by 9:00am. My Dad was gracious enough to get up with us and fix us breakfast. He usually made us eggs and maybe some toast or oatmeal. Before he sent us on our way he often reminded us of something. He prayed for us and reminded us to be a blessing to those around us. He encouraged us to be a blessing to those we came in contact with that day.