Baptized Into His Death! You have been set Free!

Good morning to all on this last Monday in October. Waine and I spent the weekend in Orlando with Freddie, Tracy, Kai and Hailie for Freddie's birthday. It is always GREAT to visit with our oldest son and his family. Kai and Hailie always lift up our spirits. Although it is Monday, I needed to get connected with God this morning. Satan is always on the prowl, seeking to kill and destroy everyone in his path. Thank God through Christ, that we have been bought and paid for. I am thanking God for His strength and that His strength is made perfect in our weakness!

I am continuing my journey in Romans 6 verses 1 - 23, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Amen and may God add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

This chapter struck a cord with me this morning. As a Christian I have been set free by the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ--so why do I feel less than a conqueror? I know beyond any doubt that if I died today, I would awake in the presence of God. I know that ALL the mysteries of the ages will be revealed to me. I don't fear death. Neither do I fear life however life is burdensome. There are so many variables that come into play that can bring you down. You become burdened. That is when you know that you are not living life with God; you are living life according to your own plans. Life with God is burden free. Christ carried all of our burdens, past present and future and took them to the Cross where He paid the ultimate price to set us free. So why do I feel burdened?  There is this thought that we pick up our burdens back at the Cross when we take our eyes off Jesus. When we allow ourselves to be yoked to sin then we are burdened. You may ask how this is possible for a Christian. How can a Christian become yoked to sin? Very easy. We de-throne Christ from the center of our lives and begin to believe that we can live this life ourselves.

God gives us a formula for successful living as Christians. He tells us to keep our mind FIXED on Him.  He tells us to deliver our cares to Him daily. He tells us to ever lean on Him. He tells us to guard our minds with the water of the WORD. He tells us these things because He knows that satan is on the prowl to try and get us to look away from the Cross. Christ calls out to us daily. Like Peter we obey His voice and begin to walk on the water to meet Him. Like Peter we can become distracted with the winds and the waves.  That's satan. Satan distracts us and we look away from the Cross and become afraid and the perfect love of God cannot be manifest when we are afraid. Remember that there is no fear in the perfect love of God.

If there are areas of your life which lead to fear, then you have to take those areas to God through prayer. As Christians, our life will be peeled like an onion. God will continue to peel away those areas of our life which we still want to control. During those "peeling" away periods, we will have to face ourselves and then give up those familiar ways of thinking and behaving. Some of us may have to work on anger, others greed, others lack of self control. These old habits BLOCK our vision of the Cross and have to be put away.  As Christians we should be at PEACE no matter what circumstances we confront. We have been set free and therefore should not act as slaves. We are to embrace the ZOe of God--Life as God intends. It is there and God will not force it on us. We have to be in a posture to accept His gift of Life daily.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

We are no longer God's enemy!

Good morning to all on this wonderful fall morning. Waine and I were sitting out having coffee this morning on our veranda and it was just wonderful. We returned from the Great Northwest last week and the weather was perfect. No rain and day time temps above 60. It could be my imagination but the air seemed more pure. Melanie and Don and their brood are doing fine. Melanie is in her element being the CEO of her business, Play Connections and the best find of all was that Vincent is no longer shy. He is quite the communicator and very sociable. Earl and Carol have a wonderful home with fresh berries and canned jams. The son Devon and his wife are quite accomplished and hosted a wonderful dinner for us on their new deck. We felt quite welcomed by our northwest clan and enjoyed our visit.

I am continuing my journey in  Romans 5 verses 1 - 21, " Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^] boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we^] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!  Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received reconciliation. 

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.  To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.  Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One Man the many will be made righteous.  The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen and may God add a blessing to reading hearing of His Word.

What a powerful sermon Paul was giving. He truly understood the power of sin and the greater power in the redemption from sin through the obedience and sacrifice of Christ. I had never dwelled on the concept of being the enemy of God. When you stop and think about that it really humbles you. Who would want to be the enemy of God. He is so good and kind. He is the Father of all blessings; the thought that I, in my sin, was the enemy of God really saddens me. However, when you stop to think of what sin is--our ability to be our own god, you begin to put things into perspective. When we believe that we can lead our own lives, that we are good people, that we are moral people, we in essence are saying we can handle our own lives and how our life impacts others. We don't need God. How short sighted that is! Man has no concept of eternity. We are eternal beings but the vision and reality of eternity is withheld from us by God. Adam was an eternal being as was Eve. They understood what eternity was just like we know and have experienced what day is and what evening is. They got it! When they sinned and were cut off from eternity, they got that too! We have been so removed in time from that knowledge we now have folk who don't think there is an eternity. Sin has hardened our hearts so much we can't fathom an eternity. Eternity is real to Christians. We look forward to it. We know that we will cross that Great Divide one day and we will step off into the Garden just as God intended. We will not find any of God's enemies there.

The Great Question to all is whether you are God's enemy or not. Real simple and yet so hard but that is the crux of the whole equation. My hope is that as Christians our lives reflect the love of God and that this questioned can be shared with all that you meet.

To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to serve Him. To serve Him is to love you. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May  the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

Do Not Wavier Because of Circumsances!

Good morning to all on this 1st Sunday in October. Waine and I have just returned from Great Northwest visiting Earl Kong, Waine's brother, and his wife Carol and Melanie and her family. It was long trip but well worth it. The grandchildren, Audry and Vincent, are growing up to be wonderful people. Vincent is a laugh a minute and no longer shy. Audry is tall and beautiful. Melanie's business, Play Connections, is up to 27 staff with a waiting list of 20 children. She will undergo her 3rd expansion in 5 years. We are very proud of them.

I am continuing my journey in Romans, chapter 4, verses 1-25 " What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter?  If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!  And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.  And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 

It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.  For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.  Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.  As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”  The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone,  but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."   Amen! Hallelujah and may God add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word!!!

Christ was delivered unto death for our sins and THEN raised to life for our JUSTIFICATION!  Hallelujah! Justification means to set something right, or to declare righteous. Adam's Sin and Disobedience condemned mankind from walking with God and Christ's sacrifice and obedience unto death allows us to walk with God again but this time through our FAITH and Not by Our Works. This is what this chapter is talking about. Paul is talking with the Roman Jews that it will not be by their "works" that they will see God and "walk" with God. It is not through keeping the 10 commandments that they become justified; it is not because they are circumcised that they are justified. It will be through their faith--just as Abraham had faith that God's promise would be fulfilled and he (Abram) would have a child who would then become the father of many nations!

It is not enough to be a good person--whatever that means. It is not enough to be a kind and considerate person, what ever that means. We come to God through the death and RESURRECTION of Jesus the Christ. All other acts are meaningless. If Paul is telling the Jews that their "ACTS" are not enough, he, Paul, is also telling us that our acts are not enough. We can live a moral life and still spend eternity in hell. That's the bottom line. We were not created to spend time on this earth only. We were created to spend eternity with God. He wants all of us to live with Him now and in eternity through FAITH in the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus, the Christ. We can also live a life of abundance here on earth through our faith. We need only to remain steadfast in our faith in God's promises. I have been struggling with a few of His promises lately. I have become mired in "waiting" on God for an answer. He has taken my faith to another level. I am at the point of professing my faith to all who will hear HOWEVER then my patience has to keep up with my professions. I, like Paul, am strong in the Lord and weak in of MYSELF but this chapter gave me renewed determination to work God's plan for the promises I am waiting on. When He gives me the desires of my heart in these areas it will be signed, sealed and delivered! I have to remain faithful and remain expectant as He works out His perfect timing. Hallelujah!

If you are struggling with anything today, this chapter in Romans is for you! To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to serve Him. To serve Him is to love you! Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn is face toward you and give you peace.


Stephanie