THE BLOG
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How Does a Christian View Sin?
After Romans 5, Paul asks a pivotal question of those who do believe in 6:1, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase?” This is an important question for those of us who believe, and I hope, the majority of us who are receiving this weekly CCFW email. How do we view sin once we are saved? We know that it is not a master enslaving us, that we no longer have imputed sin, and that God has created us anew through His Spirit (2 Cor 5:17). But we still struggle with sin, don’t we? Here are a few points that I hope will encourage us to have a proper view of sin now that we are in Christ:
Our Best C.E.O.
This past Sunday we highlighted two overarching ministries of the Holy Spirit in our study on Sound Doctrine. He is the Chief Executive and Chief Enabler of our Christian life. One of the points we stressed is making sure we do not over-emphasize the Holy Spirit (as our charismatic brothers and sisters tend to do) nor under-emphasize His ministry (as cessationists can tend to do). We are totally dependent in every way upon the Presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
As we continue to grow in our understanding and application of the Spirit’s ministry, we want to make sure we are responsive to the eight commands given about how we relate to the Holy Spirit:
Enticing Questions
Summertime always seems to be a greater opportunity to interact with people and engage in gospel conversations.
There’s more light.
There are more people out and about
Environments are more relaxed.
People seem happier and more relational.
That's My King! Do You Know Him?
Probably the greatest, most moving, and inspiring presentation of Jesus Christ I’ve ever heard was by Shadrach Meshack Lockridge, former Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego (1953–1993, now at home with the Lord). We have shared this presentation a number of times with our church family and it always elicits a fresh reminder of how unique, amazing, and praiseworthy our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is. It never gets old.
Why We Are Pro-Life
It is not because of the existence of life-killing organizations like Planned Parenthood who claim that abortion is only a tiny part of what they do when the facts clearly say otherwise (latest annual report states: adoption referrals–2,667; abortions–354,871).
It is not because of the life-denying statements that many of our public leaders have made this past week:
Knowing God?
The prophet Jeremiah quoted the Lord’s desire that we know Him: “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 9:23–24 The Legacy Standard Bible Translation)
S.U.M.M.E.R.T.I.M.E. Tips
We are all hoping (at least I am) for the beautiful sun to break out soon and give us some consecutive days to enjoy the summer together with our families, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ. As you think about your summer plans, I’d like to share a few summertime tips.
Solomon tells us “there is an appointed time for everything…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and we all enjoy the summertime to get some extra time to relax, refresh, and enjoy an outdoor season of life.
Here are a few S.U.M.M.E.R.T.I.M.E. tips:
Use Your God Given Noggin'
Here’s your brain's memory capacity according to Paul Reber, professor of psychology at Northwestern University (What is the Memory Capacity of the Human Brain):
“The human brain consists of about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. If each neuron could only help store a single memory, running out of space would be a problem. You might have only a few gigabytes of storage space, similar to the space in an iPod or a USB flash drive. Yet neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.
The Beefy Benefits Package of Psalm 119
Psalm 119 stands as one of the giants in Scripture about the priority and power of God’s Word. This song is written as an acrostic or alphabetic psalm based upon each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. There are eight couplets (or verses) for each Hebrew letter and each couplet begins with the corresponding Hebrew letter. Only three of the verses (couplets) do not mention a direct reference to God’s Word (v. 84, 121, 122). It is the A to Z of God’s Word.
