Posts Tagged ‘law’

Virus

Dec
29

What could be worse than a virus that destroys your organs and causes you to bleed from your eyes and ears and other openings and eventually killing you in extreme physical agony?

How about something that causes you to be in agony without the possibility of finding relief through physical death?

And how many people will wash their hands multiple times a day to keep from getting sick, but won’t think twice about sinning against God and dooming themselves to an eternity in Hell?

Find Freedom and Break Bondage

Dec
23

One of the things Americans value (or at least claim to value) is freedom.  We’re so glad for our freedom and the people who defend our freedom and our ability to say what we want and worship how we choose and travel from state to state without restriction, etc.  But how much do people really value freedom?

How many people aren’t involved at all in the election and supervision of our political leaders?  If you don’t care about politics, you don’t care about freedom because you allow those who are elected to make decisions about your life without your consent.

How many people live on welfare for months and even years sometimes?  If you are happy to live as a baby sucking on the breast of government instead of working for a living, you don’t care about freedom because you are trading your own independence to live as a dependent of taxpayers.

Those who value freedom are willing to work to keep it and maintain it.

In the same way, if you want spiritual freedom, you have to live a life that values that freedom and maintains that freedom.  Want to find freedom today?  Turn to the leader who can set you free from your sinful past, and then stop living for self indulgence and start working to be the best you can be.

Freedom and Bondage

Dec
22

I’m sure you’ve heard before the line from the Declaration of Independence that lists 3 of the freedoms that are inseparable from us as human beings because we are created by God with such freedoms being part of who we are…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

It goes on to say that the purpose of government is to protect such rights.  Did you ever stop to think about what the pursuit of happiness is?  We don’t have a right to happiness.  We only have the right to pursue it.  Interesting…don’t you think?

Some interpret that right of pursuit as “property.”  In other words we own our own body and our own ability to work and to build and to trade our labor for property.  So the money/property we trade our work for is our right–and therefore shouldn’t be taxed (as with the income tax).  So it’s everybody’s God-given right to trade skills and labor for money or goods in order to better our own lives.  Or you could say that “work” is pursuing happiness because it’s your means to improving your life.  Anyway, that’s the political definition.

From a spiritual perspective it’s slightly different.  Happiness comes to a person who obeys God’s law.  When you break that law, you enslave yourself to sin and death.  But real freedom comes from living a moral life.  If you avoid all those things that hurt you and hurt other people (lying, stealing, lusting, etc.) then you never become a slave of sin or death.  So you have the God-given right (and obligation) to pursue happiness by living the way God wants you to live.  And the natural result of living that kind of life is better than happiness–it’s joy, which is a deep seated glad contentedness that comes from having a relationship with Jesus–who, by the way, is the only one who can equip you to live a life of purity and total morality.

And if you have already made yourself a slave to sin and death because of your selfish and evil choices, your one hope for freedom is Jesus.  Wanna know more?  Listen to the podcast…

I Once was Blind…

Jun
19

Here’s a question to get you thinking: Why should God forgive you for anything?

Think about it.  When God created the universe and world it was good.  He looked at everything and was pleased with his creation.  There was no death, no pain, no suffering.  But Adam and Eve messed that all up.  They had a relationship with God, but they threw it all away out of their selfishness.  And ever since then people have been turning their backs on God.  The world is full of people who have chosen to lie and cheat and steal and murder and hate and abuse one another and live immoral and sexually perverted lives.  People ignore God’s commands all the time and choose instead to gossip and let their lusts control them.  And it has destroyed our world.  What used to be a perfect place of peace and blessings is now a world of death and pain.  We can still see semblances of beauty behind the mess we’ve made, but it’s often a reminder of how much human beings have destroyed.  So why should God bother with such wicked and evil people who have been so destructive and hateful towards him?

The obvious answer is love.  But here’s another question to think about: If God is willing to save you because of his great love–if the love of Jesus was enough to hold him to the cross instead of damning every person who has ever sinned directly to Hell’s fires–if he was willing to go through such pain to be a sacrifice for us, how are you going to respond to that love.  Because a relationship only works if the love goes both ways.  If you are unwilling to obey God, it proves you don’t love him.  Jesus said “Those who love me obey my commandments.”

Here’s my answer to the first question: God forgives us so that we can love him.  He wipes our sins away to give us the opportunity to return his love.  He cleans up our lives so that we can live clean lives.  To many people think God forgives them so that they can have a free ticket to Heaven and be just as self  centered as they have always been.  So they might say they love Jesus, but their lives show otherwise, because they continue with the destructive sin that proves a lack of love for God.  But God saves people so that they can e brand new and live for him instead of themselves.  God wants the very best for us, and selfishness and sin are not the best for us.  Living in harmony with God and following his commandments is what’s best for everybody.  Salvation is not about getting into Heaven.  It’s about becoming God’s children and living as family and experiencing his love without measure and sharing that love with the world.  But it means cutting the sin out.  It means trading our old evil life for a new pure life.  And God promises to help us live right every step of the way.

So who do you love?

Here are the verses that you can’t hear in the message:

Romans 5:15-21 (somebody read) And what a difference between our sin and God’s generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s bountiful gift.  And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins.  The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness makes all people right in God’s sight and gives them life.  Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God’s sight.

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant.  So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:1-11 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness?  Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?  Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him?  For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.  Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.  For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.  And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life.  We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.  He died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God.  So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.