...CommentsThe Pastor's Vision
February 06, 2000
Christians With No Power
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 can not die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he l i ves, 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 the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wi ckedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Ro. 6:8-14 (NIV)
The longer I pastor the more it occurs to me that many of our problems are because we will not yield to the work of God in our lives. At first glance one would think that this statement is out of order. Listen to the scriptures; "Quench not the Spirit". (1Thes 5:19 KJ) Christians are individuals who have acknowledge that they are sinners and that Chris's death and resurrection has transformed their lives (salvation). An individual must first deal with the fact of their salvation. T hat being settled, the Christian must then enter into the process of sanctification. Sanctification is the process of yielding ourselves to God. This yielding to the hand of God is both spiritual and practical.
When we do not yield to God there are c onsequences. The consequence is powerlessness. We as Christians are not to offer our bodies up to sin and yet we do so offer. As pastor I want to institute a biblical system of reconciliation. There are so many hurts in the body that we can not do the work of the kingdom. The only real solution is for Antioch is to yield to the Lord. The means to yielding to God is knowing and keeping the Word of God. With these things in mind we must not yield our bodies to sexual immorality, our hearts to emotiona l despair, or our minds to intellectual unfaithfulness. This is not an easy task give that all around us there are those who seek to deny God. Therefore Christians are to band together in order to facilitate our obedience to God and love for one another. We need to operate under the commands of God.
Ask yourself, is there power in my Christian living? Am I teamed up with the righteous? Am I in the process of sanctification? Here Am I!