Assessing guilt.........

It's high time I did a guilt assessment in my life. I find every now and again, I need to tackle guilt that has crept in to my life and pin it down permanently. So, I recently decided to re-listen to one of Rob Rufus' classic sermons on being free from guilt. (Thank you Dan for transcribing it! I highly recommend reading this sermon if you have the time, it will empower you to fight for freedom from ANY guilt in your life.) One thing Rob pointed out in this message was how a lot of Christians feel guilty that Jesus died instead of them. Isn't that so true! But NO, Jesus, for the joy set before him endured the cross!! 

Lately, I have been tempted in many areas of my life to feel guilt. Oh I wish I had spent more time with my kids in this way or that way. I wish I had learned to be more independent in this way or that long ago, so I wouldn't be struggling now. I should have done this, I should have done that. "Shoulda, coulda, woulda" - that's what my dear friend Patty says. It's all guilt! Condemnation!! And we know that there is absolutely no possibility for condemnation now that we are in Christ. NONE, ZIP, ZILCH. When we allow guilt and condemnation to enter our hearts and minds, we are rearming a disarmed foe. BUT - just in case, you are tempted to feel guilty for allowing guilt and condemnation in - STOP yourself - there is no condemnation. 

There's a line from a movie I watched as a kid, called the Labyrinth, with David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, that I think sums up our fight against the enemies guilt tactics. Basically, David Bowie plays the evil antagonistic master of the underground and Jennifer Connelly is simply trying to rescue her brother from his clutches. Jennifer is taken through the Labyrinth which she must solve in order to save her brother. So of course she goes through with the quest and is taken on a wild journey full of risk and adventure and much turmoil thrown her way by David Bowie's character.  What I remember most about the movie, is when Jennifer's character finally realized that this evil underworld master truly had no hold over her. She declares, "You have no power over me."  Suddenly, everything returns to normal as it should be, as if it was all just a bad dream. 

I love the picture this movie presents. It's so true if we simply stop and realize that our enemy indeed - HAS NO POWER OVER US.  If he does, it's because we have let him!! 

So today I felt the strong sense I was to bring to attention the truth of Romans 8, and thrust the light on for anyone who may be struggling with guilt - the silent but deadly killer. Let's grab guilt by the throat - so we can instead be clothed by our Father's glory coat!! (as Rob would say)

Not my typical kind of post.......(you have been warned!!)

I have all kinds of thoughts flying around in my head today. I have been reflecting on a certain area of my life and all the baggage I seem to be carrying around with it. I just felt compelled to share some thoughts on here. 

This has to do with sex! Yup, you heard me!! But the heart of the matter really comes from Christ and knowing the truth about who we are in Him. So in that sense, I guess this is a normal post for me. What I was thinking about, was all the bad 'christian' advice I have been given over the years on this subject. I don't even know if those who gave it meant well, I think they thought they meant well, but all they did was turn sex into a law within marriage. I have to say this is extremely damaging, in many ways. Anyway, one of the things that was called to my mind was the counsel a pastor gave me concerning my future marriage. Okay here's where it gets kind of personal, and I apologize in advance for the sheer openness of this part. My husband and I came into marriage having had sex prior to marriage. We also struggled to stay 'pure' before we were married. (I know a lot of you are saying who doesn't have that struggle, right!) Well, let's just say that where I went to church if you struggled and confessed, you were setting yourself up for some serious condemnation!! So, my pastor essentially told me something like this, " since you did not remain pure, you will bring struggle to this area of your marriage." Those were not the exact words, but the heart of his counsel. And what did that wonderful counsel do for me? It made me feel very condemned in this area, it made me begin to resent my husband for not 'leading' me well while dating. It made me think we were both so selfish and it made me view sex in a skewed way. In other words a lot of turmoil for nothing. 

The way I see it, is God is not counting my sins against me. He is not angry with me, nor does He have any punishment for my sins. He also turns all things into good for those who love Him. And He restores the years and makes all things new! So, are my odds at having a good sex life in my marriage reduced because I made poor choices! NO, NO and NO!! What He should have told me was the wonderful truth of who I am in God's eyes and how wonderful the Gospel really is!! That is the only power to turn broken areas of our lives into beautifully restored areas! 

I am honestly angry that there is so much crappy advice out there and so much of it brings condemnation which only defeats people further! I had to bring this up for another reason too, because I think there is teaching out there that is really harmful for married couples. It's the teaching that comes straight from the Bible, but gets turned into a law. The scripture about "do not deprive one another." Now that is simply put, plain old good advice, I won't deny it. However, it's not good advice to just dish out when there are other areas in a marriage that are problematic and need to first be resolved. I think sex is a fruit of a good marriage, not a right or demand within marriage. Nor is it a quick fix to marital problems.  I think at times people need to reknew their minds and get rid of lots of negativity surrounding this area. The enemy will stop at nothing to keep God's people from enjoying this most precious gift. He wants to skew it so far from the beautiful picture that it is and from the power it has to bring together a couple in a profound way. 

I would like to ask Christian counselors and pastors across the world to consider what I am about to share in regards to truly helping couples with sexual struggles, of any form.  Trust the Christ in others!!! 

While I was at the conference in Hong Kong, Josh Mills shared a story about a friend sharing with  him a vision God gave him and something he felt they should do. So Josh said "Okay, let's do it." He proceeded to say, "Isn't it good for us to trust our brothers and sisters in Christ and trust the Christ in them."  I also think Fini brought it up at one point as well as Rob, and not to mention it's something my dear friend Jamie repeatedly shares. We can trust this Divine Life we have been given, (that's quoting my friend Chris Welch). When is the church going to stop distrusting themselves and each other and instead start trusting the Holy Spirit!! I must say when we see our brothers and sisters in this light we have hope for the breakthrough, do we not. Because the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth, will he not!! 

So, I bring this up because it's something I am processing, and an area that I am seeing God is planning to bring full restoration in my life. He wants to see us reign in Life! Whether it takes days, weeks, months or years, there is always hope for every area of our life to improve in Christ. To bloom, and flourish! 

For those of you who may be reading this and are single, well I know this post can benefit you too. I wish I had a better understanding of many things prior to being married, however some things you can only learn by experience. But nonetheless, this can be a beautiful thing in your future to look forward to. If you have already lost your virginity or have made mistakes or have wrong views on sex, you can live in freedom in Christ in this area. Don't feel guilty or condemned for your mistakes.  A friend of mine told me, when she'd find her husband struggling with pornography, she would tell him, "don't be condemned." That is a gift! Jesus never condemned broken sinnners, he always gave them the gift of no condemnation. So I say to anyone who has some area of brokenness sexually, Do not for one second feel one bit of shame or guilt. You are perfect in Him! You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! He is doing a new thing in you even today!!

I won't even try to give advice to fix anyone's problems, because the Holy Spirit is a way better counselor. All I can say is you can be free in any area of struggle in life. I don't know what that will look like practically walked out, but I do know this, when you let the Holy Spirit work in your heart, he will bring about the good fruit that you will soon bear!! I promise!! 

Grace and peace to all who read here today!!

Does the Holy Spirit Convict you of Sin?? Part 2......

Part 2 had to come, it was inevitable after the many debates that rose up out of part 1. This post has been my most popular post in terms of what people are searching for on google and how they land at my blog. (thanks to Google Analytics.) I received several comments both on my blog and through emails with people's thoughts and arguments on why they disagree with me on this. Which is fine with me, because it causes me to go back and study further. And every time I go back and question my view with the thoughts people bring, I still come up with the same conclusion and a little more clarity. 

So, I wanted to go a little deeper in this post, if I can, although I will probably repeat a lot of what I already shared in part 1, on why I don't believe the Holy Spirit convicts me of my sin. You may want to read the original post first. 

Here I will mention some of the arguments I have received in light of this question. One person's thoughts were in light of how Paul brought sharp correction to the churches. They believed that since Paul did this that they believed the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write as an instrument of grace to point out sin and bring restoration. So therefore the Holy Spirit also convicts us of our sin. The two are not the same, which I will address later in this post. 

 Another thought someone had on why the Holy Spirit convicts of us of sin, is the verse in Rev. 3, where is says, "those whom I love I rebuke and discipline", as well as Prov. 3:12, and Heb. 12:6. (Again, not the same as convict.)

Another commenter went so far as to compose his very own parable to help explain why the Holy Spirit convicts believers of sin. His point, I think, was we need the Holy Spirit to show us our sins so we can confess them and then be forgiven. He seems to think we need to be guilty of sin, so we can know we need to be forgiven. Hmm....I guess he doesn't realize he's already forgiven, for all his sins past, present and future. When we realize we are forgiven, we will see there is no need for confession of sins again and again. Since we are new creations and have the very life of Christ dwelling within us, we can walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. When we walk by the flesh we may not see our sin the same way we would if we were walking by the Spirit. It all begins with a mindset and having our minds renewed with the truth of the gospel. So when we do sin or mess up, we may feel a sadness, but not guilt, and say, "Lord, I messed up, I don't want to do that, please help me!"  And help he will! It's when we realize we can't do it apart from him, and thankfully we don't have to, that we will want to live right!! 

Yet another comment came, that I think was close, but no straw, shared this,"the Holy Spirit is Holy God who abides within us as His Holy of Holies", true, but he goes on to say.....just by His very presence we will be "convicted" of the sin in our lives. (I think he meant what I am trying to say, instead of convicted of sin however, it should say he will lead us into all truth. Which means he is the one guiding and transforming us, because He has taken up residence within us and His life will have to flow out....) He also concluded with this statement, "Jesus bore our shame and guilt on Calvary but we do need to pursue righteousness."  There's that phrase, that makes me want to scream,....."we need to pursue righteousness." Doesn't that miss the whole point of the Gospel right there??  As if the cross was not enough! We can't pursue (as in work out), our righteousness, Christ IS our righteousness. What he should have said is,  pursue knowing Jesus (or yield to the Christ life within) and get a revelation of our gift of righteousness!!! 

So, here's a few of my thoughts on this whole thing. First, let me state, I do not believe "correct", "rebuke" or "discipline" are the same as convict. Convict means to prove or declare guilty of an offense, or, to impress with a sense of guilt. Conviction, however, means a fixed or firm belief, or assurance and a synonym for it is belief.

Correcting can be done without shaming someone,  or making them feel guilty. Correcting can simply be showing the truth or what is right, without shaming someone and pointing out their faults.  (It's ashame we are all probably more familiar with bad examples of human correction!)

Discipline, or discipling, is best seen displayed in how Jesus related with his disciples, teaching them, telling them parables and modeling walking in the will of the Father. Many believe discipline is associated with punishment, because many of us were brought up being "disciplined" punitively. (that's a whole different discussion for another time!)

Rebuking, this is where the example of Paul with the church comes in. Yes, it means to reprove, sternly or sharply bringing about conviction. (remember convict and conviction do not have the same meaning.) But, nowhere does it say specifically that any of the above means of correcting, rebuking or disciplining are the same as convicting one of sin.

In Revelation 3, which was brought up by one commenter as an argument of why the Holy Spirit must indeed convict us, the words rebuke and discipline are used. First of all, these words do not mean the same thing as convict, and second, does this passage even apply to all those who are in Christ? Let's take a look. Revelation 3. It looks as though this passage is directly  addressed to the church in Laodicea.  The Laodicean church is getting rebuked for being lukewarm, another way to say that would be, to go back under the law and rejecting the finished work of the cross by trying to live through performance. That is another way to say they were in unbelief. God would rather us be under law completely, which obviously would lead us to grace since no one but Jesus can perfectly fulfill the law. Or under his pure grace completely- Jesus plus nothing - only believe. But not a mixture of the two. So, I do not believe that was a good Scripture to use to try and prove that those in Christ, are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit. 

So, you may be wondering why all the clarifications..........well, I think it's very important to be as clear as possible, especially if we are talking about being made to feel guilty or shamed by the Holy Spirit for our sins. Let me ask you this, how do you feel when you are guilty? Or should I use the word shame or ashamed? What is it like to have a sense of guilt or condemnation?

Let's not forget Romans 8!There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ! NONE! If convict, shame, guilt, and condemned are all synonymous, then when we say the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, we are contradicting the truth of God's very Word! Not one speck of condemnation should ever come to a believer! The sad reality is it does come, and it comes due to wrong believing. The church often does not preach a pure gospel. It teaches a mixture, confusion, yin and  yang, yoyo -CONFUSION! We hear preaching that teaches us it is by grace we have been saved, Hallelujah, Praise Jesus, but after we are saved somehow we have to work on ourselves, and pursue our own righteousness. THIS IS NOT THE GOSPEL! Was the work finished or not?! This is a half false gospel, one that Paul rebuked the Galatians for and told them they were under a curse and should be eternally condemned for doing so!!

If God is not counting my sins against me, and He is not a fault finding husband, like the law was when we were under it, then why would He give us the Holy Spirit to then come and find our faults and point out our sins to us? He already removed our sins as far as the east is from the west, right? His word says, "their sins and their lawless acts, I will remember no more." If He is not remembering them, then how can the Holy Spirit be pointing them out to us? The Holy Spirit, in the life of a believer, points us to Jesus, and His perfect righteousness, which we have now been given as a gift. If the Holy Spirit is to point out our sin to us, he would be causing us to shift our focus onto our selves, and away from Jesus, His finished work, and perfect righteousness.

If we are hearing a voice that is convicting us when we sin, or is pointing out our faults, we are hearing the enemy trying to get our eyes off of Jesus and cause us to fall into condemnation. Think about this, when someone is on trial and they are found guilty, they are accused or convicted of the crime. When you sense you are guilty of sin, you are being accused and it is not the Holy Spirit accusing you. It is the accuser of the brethren that brings you those convicting thoughts about your sin. God does not find you guilty, he finds you free and clear of any charge because he has justified you through the blood of Christ. 

I think it is very important to see these distinctions and truths and embrace them. I think it is crucial to clear up the confusion behind this question of, does the Holy Spirit convict us of our sin? Simply because if we can't see the purity of the Holy Spirit, the comfort He brings to us through leading us into all truth, and the truth of how we are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, we will not so quickly long for the Spirit in our lives. And we most certainly do not want to quench or grieve the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Spirit will never condemn us. Rather, He will come to us in gentle love and release a wooing to draw us to turn to Him and accept His correction. He will convince us, and lead us into truth persistently and persuasively, but not with any sense of guilt or shame. Remember God is infinitely patient, and full of loving kindness and will relentlessly pursue us. He is in the business of shaping, molding and perfecting us, but it is always done in love. He is the One who will transform and purify us and we can respond. Apart from His loving pursuit of us, we could never pursue Him or righteousness. It is all His initiative!! 

It is very important when reading the Scriptures, to read with a Gospel focus. If something doesn't line up with the truth of the Gospel, then you must dig deeper than the surface and find out how it fits with the truth of the Gospel. I suppose I could go on, but I hope this speaks to those who are convinced that God wants them to have shame, because in essence that is what you are saying when you argue that the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin!! Kind of takes away from the really good news, don't you think!

False humility = bondage, fear slavery, guilt and condemnation

Slowly but surely I have been transcribing "Victory over condemnation", as I mentioned a few posts back. As I listen to it I reflect back on many many things in my past church experience with regards to how I was under condemnation far more than I ever realized. I wondered as I typed if many Christians even know they are under it! I wondered to myself if they listened to this message would they even realize what guilt really really is like. When I was in the "ministry of death" (sorry, sounds harsh, but it's true!), I thought it was godly to draw out my faults and shortcomings to truly see them and then work on them. Or at least I was told that was godly. I remember a particular time, when I was in a care group meeting and we were required to go through the book, "War of Words." Now, if you haven't read this book, DON'T. It will not lead you into the truth of Jesus. It will only show you how you fall short in your flesh to live up to a standard that you cannot.(guilt, guilt, guilt and more guilt!) So, that said, I remember this particular meeting we were told to split up, men with men, and women with women. We were given an assignment to pick 3 areas in our spouse that needed the most improvement in their words toward us. So, we had to sit there for the duration and focus on our spouse's shortcomings and ponder them. Then we had to submit the list to them, so they could then see where they needed to improve. ( I almost feel like I remember that we had to talk about the lists out loud in the group, can you believe that?) Boy were there a lot of somber souls walking out of that meeting that night. Not to mention, we were not encouraged to share their strengths or how God was transforming our spouse at all!! No one pointed to the finished work of the cross! (You know the work that satisfied God!! - if he's satisfied, why aren't we?)

Okay, so what's my point in sharing this tale. Well, this exercise was viewed as godly, and if we were truly humble we would except our spouses critique with openness and "humbly" go and seek the Lord for change. Now this may possibly "sound" godly, but it is the farthest thing from it!! I know when I received my list I wanted to cry. I was horrified that that was how my husband viewed me, and he now was given "permission" to bring it to me and ultimately believe that I should and would want to change in those areas. That is pressure, guilt, and sin focused and it negates what Christ did at the cross! 

So I was left with my failures to stew over. Did this cause me to look at Christ and his finished work? Did this cause me to see myself as God already sees me, as he sees Christ, perfectly righteous? Does this list empower me to be transformed? No, No and No! Even if I did take that list and try and change, would it be done in faith or in fear. Wouldn't I be striving by my own efforts, instead of being transformed by the renewing of my mind?

The Gospel is so simple. It's all been done!! We are winners, not sinners! Freedom in Christ is not us going on and on about how we need to be better in any given area of our life. That is bondage. When we begin to believe the truth about who we are, perfect forever, then we will begin to be transformed. It is by renewing our mind, and by thinking on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely or admirable. Is it admirable to point out each others weaknesses? Are our faults lovely? Are we believing the truth when we feel the need to rip each other to shreds and pick out sin, sin, sin? This is a recipe for some serious condemnation, especially when we can now rest in the truth, that He remembers our sins NO MORE!

What happened in that care group may have been meant to be a good thing (and I do not blame or condemn anyone for it. I am simply pointing out an actual situation to make a point.) But it was far from good, it was demonic, very harmful and very dangerous. God has declared to his people there is therefore now, no condemnation. NONE! It's time for the body of Christ to stop putting condemnation on the body of Christ! And start to rest in the utterly FINISHED, FINISHED work that Jesus did at Calvary!!!!

 

Victory over condemnation.........

It seems as though I may need a refresher in this battle over condemnation. I have found the fight for joy a bit harder lately and can't understand why. My husband too, has been bombarded with it over a struggle to find a sense of self worth in his career and our finances. Even though we know that is not where our confidence lies, we often hear voices telling us otherwise. For him especially it is often very much a battle. I realized recently, like Dan, that I can't allow this issue of condemnation to afflict me or my family. It's amazing how quickly it can seep its way in somewhere you hadn't noticed. I think perhaps I have been dealing with a bit of it, thus my recent post, Grasping for Joy was born. Why else would I not find every second of time I could, to go and bask in my Father's awesome presence? Sometimes I find myself slightly reluctant to be that intimate with Him. There is no reason on earth for that to be so! He absolutely wholly loves me, and will never be displeased with me. 

Often times we slip down into this pit called condemnation and we don't know how it happened. It could be something someone says to trigger an old response. This recently occurred in my life, and I won't go into detail, but someone tried to put the law on me and preached a wrathful angry God over me. Somehow, despite what I know to be true, that God will never be angry with me again, (see Is. 54),  this person's words got in and began to fester. 

I share this as a reminder to myself, firstly, and to others who may need this reminder as well. Do not yield to condemnation!!! Don't give in to it even for a moment!! If you start to lose your joy and feel a bit more low than usual, stop and ask, am I under some kind of condemnation? 

Thankfully, some of my favorite preachers are well aware of this issue in the Body of Christ. Joseph Prince and Rob Rufus, have both done a number of excellent messages on this topic. Today, I want to share, "Victory over condemnation", with you.  I am tackling the massive feat of transcribing this message, but for now I will just include the beginning of my notes and when I finish I will be sure to publish the full message. Hopefully, while I take the time to do this, this message will invade my thought life and the condemnation will flee!!! Much grace to all!!

"God is passionate. Sending His Son to this earth was not something He did kind of halfheartedly. It was something He did with everything that was in His being. The Bible says shout unto God with a voice of triumph. Everything in the Bible speaks of an undivided heart of devotion to God. God is searching to and fro, seeking for those whose hearts are completely devoted to Him. 

So in every church I've started, and it takes me years to do it, I've built a culture of the passion of the Kingdom of Heaven. It's just being watchful and guarding all the time. When we clap, we clap loudly, when we praise or preach we do it with all of our heart.

Heb. 2 - they did not mix the message with faith

Some of you, this is your day. You've been listening to this message of grace and yet you've still got patterns of negativity, lack of confidence before God, you fell fear and uncertainty and insecurities, and a bad self-image, when you are a princess or a prince, by the revelation of grace. This is your day to say, no longer will the enemy hold me back, I'm walking free today!

Isaiah 55:12- you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

You see the trees of the field are part of the creation that are groaning waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God. 

When we get the message of grace, because Isaiah 55 is about the message of grace, when we go out of this building with joy and led forth with peace, the trees of the field start clapping with relief saying, they got it, Jesus is coming back soon!!

Peace, peace be still, peace makes you quiet, it's tranquil, beautiful, serene. But joy, joy is noisy. So we need peace and joy. Peace for quiet still reflection. Joy is like a volcano in a tea cup. Don't tell me the joy of the Lord is in your life and you're just sitting there like a bump on a log. Come on now, when joy comes explosions come, statements come - You release it!

How do you release faith? In the New Testament, how did Jesus release faith, with His words. He said, if you believe in your heart and profess with your mouth, this mountain be removed and cast into the sea, it's not a little mountain, it's a mountain of problems, you believe in your heart and say with your mouth, be cast into the sea - you release faith with words. Your faith doesn't sit stagnant, static in your spirit. There's a doctrine of faith, that's fine, it analyzes what faith is, but there's a spirit of faith that is not interested in intellectually analyzing what faith is, it doesn't bother about defining faith, it leaps into action, it does action things. Stretch out your hand - you do it!!

Best message you have ever heard, because it means you can go free! And I've been free and I've been bound - free is better!! I know what bondage is, I know what it is to be a man pleaser and frightened of people and you can't hear the voice of God, you can't be led by the Spirit because you're bound by fear of man and you're controlled by people's opinions of you. That is called slavery. The fear of man is a snare, the Bible says. And I know what it is like to be bound, and I've found out I can get free, I found out I can stand anywhere now, something broke off me a few years ago and I can't tell you how wonderful it is. 

How many of you think Jesus worried about what people thought of Him? They didn't crucify Him because He fit in. 

Come on now, this message means you can go free, because in this message God has decided to see you, PERFECT FOREVER!! God has decided that He is going to be 100% on your side, He's gonna be for you, He will never accuse you, He will always defend you against your accusers!!

Romans 8:1 - "Therefore, there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

It's not for people outside of Christ, there's lots of condemnation if you're not in Christ. But for those who are in Christ, there is No condemnation. NONE!

Everyone in this room has felt condemnation even this week. Now friends, if the Bible says, there is now NO condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus and you and I feel condemnation, then what is true? The feeling of condemnation or the eternal word of God.

So therefore condemnation is illegitimate!! It's unrighteous, it's not from God. 

"Well Rob, that true there's no condemnation if you don't sin" 

Folks that would be stupid to put that in, if everyone in the world and every Christian never sinned there would not be a need to write, "There is now no condemnation...." It is saying that because condemnation comes to the people of God, because God is not religious, He is real and He knows every Christian messes up, fails and makes a mistake sometimes. It has no little small print in there that says, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, that don't sin."  It's just an unconditional declaration that God is for you, God is on your side and God has taken your position to defend you! 

Romans 8: 31-34, 37-39 - What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am preaching this message today, because I know there are people here who suffer condemnation in the church and you think that is okay. I am going to show you that condemnation is a dark ugly evil force.

Here's where I leave you hanging, until I finish typing the rest out, but go have a listen for yourself........!!

Keys to understanding Romans 5,6,7,8

Last night I listened to Ryan Rufus most recent message, from City Church International. And I must say, I was greatly encouraged. He preached on his favorite four chapters of the Bible, Romans 5,6,7,8. He did not get in depth or into content, but wanted to give the context for these amazing chapters. His goal was to help clarify them further to arm and equip folks to go and study the chapters for themselves. I greatly appreciated this! Romans 5,6,7,8 are the bedrock chapters of truly understanding grace! The theologies and doctrines of grace come from these four chapters, as a package, and it is not a good idea to isolate certain passages and build theologies around them! (that point is so true and hugely helpful to point out!!) So when you are reading a Scripture that gets confusing and doesn't line up with the grace you find in these chapters, you probably are not reading it in it's proper context. I find this helpful advice!!
I wish I had time to transcribe this message on here, but instead I will throw up a few notes and encourage all to go check it out! I really love Ryan's style of preaching, he is so refreshingly straight forward and funny too!!

So, what is Romans 5-8 talking about?

-It's talking about 2 states of being, 2 positions that people can be in, 2 races - those who are in 1st Adam and those in last Adam (or in Christ). The theme is contrasting those 2 states or positions, are you in Adam or are you in Christ?
He also pointed out, that in these chapters when it talks about sin, it's not talking about individual sins, it's talking about a state of sin.

Romans 5 - is all about people's position, in Adam or in Christ. In chapter 5, verse 19 in the KJV, it says; "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Ryan pointed out that it's important to see, the word "made". There is nothing you and I can do to, to become sinners, or to become righteous. Both are imputed, or a gift.

Romans 6- is contrasting a position of sin, or a position of righteousness. People in Adam are in sin, people in Christ are in righteousness

Romans 7 - is contrasting those who are under the law and those who are under grace. People in Adam are in sin and under law, people in Christ are in righteousness and under grace. You can't be both under law and under grace, to go back under law from grace or to fall from grace is spiritual adultery.

Romans 8 - NO CONDEMNATION, for those who are in Christ, who walk after the Spirit. People who are in Adam are in sin under the law and walk in the flesh, people who are in Christ are in righteousness under grace and walk in the Spirit.

That is a very brief summary. I highly recommend checking this message out( the message, in between worship, is only 40 minutes or so). I especially love the part that he discusses on the confusion over the last half of Romans 7, one of the Scriptures I have really wrestled with since coming out of a sin conscious driven church culture. Good stuff!! Check it out!!!

Keys to understanding Romans 5,6,7,8

Last night I listened to Ryan Rufus most recent message, from City Church International. And I must say, I was greatly encouraged. He preached on his favorite four chapters of the Bible, Romans 5,6,7,8. He did not get in depth or into content, but wanted to give the context for these amazing chapters. His goal was to help clarify them further to arm and equip folks to go and study the chapters for themselves. I greatly appreciated this! Romans 5,6,7,8 are the bedrock chapters of truly understanding grace! The theologies and doctrines of grace come from these four chapters, as a package, and it is not a good idea to isolate certain passages and build theologies around them! (that point is so true and hugely helpful to point out!!) So when you are reading a Scripture that gets confusing and doesn't line up with the grace you find in these chapters, you probably are not reading it in it's proper context. I find this helpful advice!!
I wish I had time to transcribe this message on here, but instead I will throw up a few notes and encourage all to go check it out! I really love Ryan's style of preaching, he is so refreshingly straight forward and funny too!!

So, what is Romans 5-8 talking about?

-It's talking about 2 states of being, 2 positions that people can be in, 2 races - those who are in 1st Adam and those in last Adam (or in Christ). The theme is contrasting those 2 states or positions, are you in Adam or are you in Christ?
He also pointed out, that in these chapters when it talks about sin, it's not talking about individual sins, it's talking about a state of sin.

Romans 5 - is all about people's position, in Adam or in Christ. In chapter 5, verse 19 in the KJV, it says; "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Ryan pointed out that it's important to see, the word "made". There is nothing you and I can do to, to become sinners, or to become righteous. Both are imputed, or a gift.

Romans 6- is contrasting a position of sin, or a position of righteousness. People in Adam are in sin, people in Christ are in righteousness

Romans 7 - is contrasting those who are under the law and those who are under grace. People in Adam are in sin and under law, people in Christ are in righteousness and under grace. You can't be both under law and under grace, to go back under law from grace or to fall from grace is spiritual adultery.

Romans 8 - NO CONDEMNATION, for those who are in Christ, who walk after the Spirit. People who are in Adam are in sin under the law and walk in the flesh, people who are in Christ are in righteousness under grace and walk in the Spirit.

That is a very brief summary. I highly recommend checking this message out( the message, in between worship, is only 40 minutes or so). I especially love the part that he discusses on the confusion over the last half of Romans 7, one of the Scriptures I have really wrestled with since coming out of a sin conscious driven church culture. Good stuff!! Check it out!!!

God is in everything......

I am all about looking for God in everything these days. I find it so refreshing to walk through life this way. You could almost go as far as to say that I am addicted to God! I just can't get enough of Him touching my life! Yesterday, I was full of joy and had a chance to chat with a friend on the phone for awhile. It was a very uplifting and encouraging conversation and we both were so blessed to steal away some time to chat. Next thing you know time had flown by so much and I had to bolt out the door without feeding the kids any lunch. I just thought, oh well, we'll just have do fast food. So, I took a survey of where the kids wanted to go, and found out everyone had different preferences. I thought I will just get going and see what comes across our path. Nothing ever did, so I drove a bit further and found a pizza shop. Meanwhile, I had those thoughts creeping in, like if only you were more prepared this wouldn't have happened and other such condemning thoughts, with truth laced in, but I chose to ignore them. After all there is no condemnation right! I just decided my phone call was meaningful enough to have this inconvenience happen. Anyway, back to the pizza. I went in to the shop and placed my order only to dig through my purse and realize Keith had my credit card and the checkbook and I had no cash. Uh oh. I found an old credit card, which I was pretty sure was a dead card but I handed it over anyway, sort of hoping it would work. Nope, declined. I told the woman I was very sorry but I would have to cancel my order. She said, "Don't worry about it, just call me later with your card, I trust you." I stood there momentarily stunned. Was she for real! People are just not that nice these days. She reassured me it was okay and handed me my food and said "Don't worry about it."  I thanked her profusely, and practically ran out the door as tickled as could be. Wow, God you did it again, you met my need. Did I mention how hungry the boys were? And we would be out for hours at a park and would have had to totally mooch off of others. It's not like it was a huge deal or anything, but I still regard this as God looking out for me. I also felt like he was reassuring me that I don't need to worry about things, He WILL take care of me and He certainly does not want me to feel one bit condemned. I just love looking for God in all things. He really is in everything, if we just open our hearts minds and eyes and look, we will surely see Him. Even in the seemingly small ways, He really is there!!

"Ask and it will be given to you,.......how, much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11)

A comment from Pete Day.....

From time to time I often find a good healthy discussion/debate going on over at my friend Dan Bowen's blog, "Life on Wings. A tribute to Ern Baxter." Dan's friend (pastor and blogger) Pete Day, writes a post here and there on the blog, yet he always comments when there seems to be a debate going on. I have found his comments to be very gracious, insightful and confident in the grace of God. I have been blessed time and time again by his words. Today, I decided to put up one of his comments that I believe is worthy of it's own post! His comment was in response to those who seem to think that if we preach grace solely without pursuing holiness we are in danger

So why does grace set us free not to sin? I would suggest several reasons:

1) One of the greatest tools of satan to promote sin is a sense of condemnation. If we sin, we fall under condemnation; condemnation leads to a defeatest attitude like "I can't help sinning", or "I'm such a failure, why bother trying any more". Or more subtly, believers want to stop sinning but guilt keeps them from pressing through into the presence of God and so they don't catch glimpses of His glory and are not transformed.

2) Another power behind sin is pride. Grace destroys pride, because grace says I can contribute nothing to my salvation, my flesh cannot make me holy. Grace says you have a righteousness that is not your own - a free gift which is failure-proof, sin-proof, disappointment-proof, and devil-proof. Grace leads us to magnify the wonder of God's amazing love, to be impressed with Him and His gift of righteousness, to base our relationship totally upon the finished work of Jesus and nothing of our performance. Knowing therefore we can contribute nothing leads to a hunger for Him, a yieldness to Him and practical holiness is a natural side-effect.

3) One of the most powerful motivations to holiness is love (Jesus said - 'If you love Me you will keep My commandments'). Grace releases love rather than terror and condemnation. God is SO SO SO good. I love Him. I don't WANT to sin. Grace release such worship and joy that there is superior pleasure now!

4) Declaring "I am the righteousness of God in Christ" is not positive confession but a declaration of truth. It is faith building. So if I sin, I stand in faith on what Jesus has done in me. That has two effects - I am free from every condemning accusation; and, secondly, I am starting to believe I am righteous, so I start, naturally, living out that righteousness as well. We are NOT justified by grace and sanctified by our efforts. We are justified by grace through faith AND we are sanctified by grace through faith.

5) The teaching of grace does not lead to an attitude of winking at sin. God did not wink at sin, He dealt with it on the cross 100%. There is not one ounce of punishment left, it has all been taken upon the cross. God no longer sees our sin!!! We need to stop living like there is some punishment left, but in the freedom of His resurrection power.

6) We need to move out of an old covenant mindset (if I do these things God will bless me) to a new covenant mindset, which says that every blessing flows to me because Christ has obeyed the law on my behalf. This moves us out of striving in our own fleshly effort in any area of the Christian life - not only holiness, but signs and wonders. These things come, not because we perform for God, but because of Christ's totally perfect performance on our behalf. As we stand in faith on what HE has done, I believe we will know the tangible presence of God and see the manifest power of God more and more.

7) Grace shows that holiness flows not from focussing on my sins, but focussing on Jesus.

In conclusion, I wholeheartedly agree with your comment:

"I am jealous for myself and all my brethren to enter into the fullness in this vital hour."

Amen! But I also need to say - there is no question of tolerating carnality and saying "we are living in grace". No, we have tolerated carnality for too long through trying to overcome it through different disciplines and man-made laws. It is time to walk in the freedom of grace, and to prove the truth of Gal 5v16 "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

A comment from Pete Day.....

From time to time I often find a good healthy discussion/debate going on over at my friend Dan Bowen's blog, "Life on Wings. A tribute to Ern Baxter." Dan's friend (pastor and blogger) Pete Day, writes a post here and there on the blog, yet he always comments when there seems to be a debate going on. I have found his comments to be very gracious, insightful and confident in the grace of God. I have been blessed time and time again by his words. Today, I decided to put up one of his comments that I believe is worthy of it's own post! His comment was in response to those who seem to think that if we preach grace solely without pursuing holiness we are in danger

So why does grace set us free not to sin? I would suggest several reasons:

1) One of the greatest tools of satan to promote sin is a sense of condemnation. If we sin, we fall under condemnation; condemnation leads to a defeatest attitude like "I can't help sinning", or "I'm such a failure, why bother trying any more". Or more subtly, believers want to stop sinning but guilt keeps them from pressing through into the presence of God and so they don't catch glimpses of His glory and are not transformed.

2) Another power behind sin is pride. Grace destroys pride, because grace says I can contribute nothing to my salvation, my flesh cannot make me holy. Grace says you have a righteousness that is not your own - a free gift which is failure-proof, sin-proof, disappointment-proof, and devil-proof. Grace leads us to magnify the wonder of God's amazing love, to be impressed with Him and His gift of righteousness, to base our relationship totally upon the finished work of Jesus and nothing of our performance. Knowing therefore we can contribute nothing leads to a hunger for Him, a yieldness to Him and practical holiness is a natural side-effect.

3) One of the most powerful motivations to holiness is love (Jesus said - 'If you love Me you will keep My commandments'). Grace releases love rather than terror and condemnation. God is SO SO SO good. I love Him. I don't WANT to sin. Grace release such worship and joy that there is superior pleasure now!

4) Declaring "I am the righteousness of God in Christ" is not positive confession but a declaration of truth. It is faith building. So if I sin, I stand in faith on what Jesus has done in me. That has two effects - I am free from every condemning accusation; and, secondly, I am starting to believe I am righteous, so I start, naturally, living out that righteousness as well. We are NOT justified by grace and sanctified by our efforts. We are justified by grace through faith AND we are sanctified by grace through faith.

5) The teaching of grace does not lead to an attitude of winking at sin. God did not wink at sin, He dealt with it on the cross 100%. There is not one ounce of punishment left, it has all been taken upon the cross. God no longer sees our sin!!! We need to stop living like there is some punishment left, but in the freedom of His resurrection power.

6) We need to move out of an old covenant mindset (if I do these things God will bless me) to a new covenant mindset, which says that every blessing flows to me because Christ has obeyed the law on my behalf. This moves us out of striving in our own fleshly effort in any area of the Christian life - not only holiness, but signs and wonders. These things come, not because we perform for God, but because of Christ's totally perfect performance on our behalf. As we stand in faith on what HE has done, I believe we will know the tangible presence of God and see the manifest power of God more and more.

7) Grace shows that holiness flows not from focussing on my sins, but focussing on Jesus.

In conclusion, I wholeheartedly agree with your comment:

"I am jealous for myself and all my brethren to enter into the fullness in this vital hour."

Amen! But I also need to say - there is no question of tolerating carnality and saying "we are living in grace". No, we have tolerated carnality for too long through trying to overcome it through different disciplines and man-made laws. It is time to walk in the freedom of grace, and to prove the truth of Gal 5v16 "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

battling condemnation.....living in grace

Yesterday, I had a hell of a day, yes I said hell....you see I spent the entire day fighting off condemnation, and since no condemnation ever comes from God, it must come from the devil, thereby explaining the hell I went through.....These days whenever condemnation comes at me I immediately get angry.....I am aware there is a battle to thwart all that God is revealing to me....and I am aware that we (Keith and I) are too familiar with legalistic thinking, and trying to measure up to some kind of outward standards(or the law), but let me tell you this is dangerous, it does not bring the life that only the Spirit of God can bring.

"When the law comes to us as believers and presents its perfect demands, our internal response is either rebellion ("I will break that commandment") or self-effort ("I can keep that commandment"). Either way, we are living by the flesh. Certainly His plan is not for us to rebel. But neither does He intend for us on our own ability to try to make life work. He intends for us to live as Jesus did, in a moment-by-moment relationship of total dependence upon the Spirit within us. As Paul explained, only God "give[s] life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you" (Romans 8:11b).

Although the law itself is holy, God had to kill us off to it. Because as long as we were alive to the law, we had no choice but to try to keep it. And to try to keep the law is to live by the flesh, not the Spirit. That is what Jesus came to save us from:

"I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly." (John l0:l0b)

For the letter [the Law] kills, but the Spirit gives life. (II Corinthians 3:6b)

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing . . ." (John 6:63a)

What is grace living? It is living in dependence on the Spirit, not in dependence upon our own resources to make life work.

Grace does not simply mean that God has forgiven us of our sins. It does not mean that God steps in to help out when we mess up trying to live the Christian life. Grace means that God has Himself done everything necessary to enable us to receive, experience, and manifest Life – His Life. That includes forgiveness, but encompasses so much more.

The entire gospel of Christ is a gospel of grace, from first to last. It is not a gospel of us doing our best on our own, and God's grace filling in when we fall short. Grace means that we live in total dependence on God, moment by moment. That is how God designed us to live. It is not God's contingency plan because man sinned. Man was always designed to live in dependence on God. His sin was trying to live independently. The gospel is the good news of God's restoration of our lives to God's original design: dependence upon Him. God's grace is not something that we will only experience on earth while we still live in sin-prone bodies. We will live in God's grace throughout eternity:

God . . . made us alive together with Christ . . . and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4,6,7)
I have come to appreciate the following comparison of law and grace. To me, it wonderfully summarizes the relationships among law, grace, the flesh, and the Spirit. And it makes it so obvious to me that, despite the vestiges of law-living that remain within me, I want to learn to live fully in grace." (excerpt from article, "Living from a new source"

Anyway, I am so eager to move away from all forms of legalistic thinking, it is not productive at all.....and though I may fail in this, as well as give in to operating "in the flesh" or try to do things in my own strength and not depend on the Spirit to flow through me....God will never condemn me for failing, he's always ready to pour out his grace and to have His grace flow through me,....I can rest assured that nothing will seperate me from the love of Christ, NOTHING! Knowing this and clinging to this helps me to move out of condemnation much more quickly and back into His loving arms!!

.....time is on my side, yes it is

So, I spent most of yesterday, just chillin' out on my couch watching my kids play with a cup of tea in hand....been fightin' a nasty head cold,....I noticed on my tea bag a little quote..."When God made time, He made enough of it." And that struck me! There I was relaxing out of necessity tempted to complain because I was forced to slow down and only take it easy.....I thought how cool, God gives us so many opportunites to take time to just be... and I have found that this year, as crazy as my circumstances have been, and believe me they have been strange and intense, God has made the time for all of it and it hasn't been unbearable or overwhelming, just sort of slow and steady.....(let me clarify, in the midst of feeling my world emotionally crash in on me, not knowing what would come next, he poured out so much grace and kindly let things fall into place smoothly -things that seemed impossible to me, and to others, he just took care of it....)

Most of our world doesn't have enough time, most people I know are always pressed for time and stressed out to the max because they don't have enough time to do everything they think they should. I don't believe that is the heart of God for us. God made the world and that's no small task, but then he saw that it was good and rested!! Even God chills out!! And if you read about the life of Jesus, it seems as though he was always teaching and healing and walking from town to town, yet he always had time to spend with his Father, and lots of it, he always took time to pull away from the crowds who wanted to see and hear Him, to rest and sit with his disciples. It just seems to me there was an easy flow of life, I mean they got a ton accomplished but was it bam bam bam, go here do this do that, I gotta get more done, or I'm not doing enough......No!

I love the story of the time Jesus was hanging out with Mary and Martha, and I can picture Jesus sitting down talking to the people in the room, eventually everyone would have a meal together, so of course someone had to prepare it (and in those days there was more cultural importance on meals and honored guests and all that I don't really know much about) anyway, it was the ladies home so naturally they needed to get dinner ready or beds made or whatever..... but Mary was just sitting, doing nothing but listening to Jesus - Martha was overly occupied and too busy, distracted with much serving, getting kind of ticked off that Mary left all the work to her, so she presents her case to Jesus, "tell her to help me!" But the wise, patient Jesus says " Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary, Mary has chosen the good portion, that which is to her advantage, which shall not be taken away from her." She was putting the tasks aside to "be with Jesus" and sit at His feet. I just love this story! Anyway, it goes to show God doesn't need our service over our time spent with Him!

I am more and more inclined these days to just be still and not get overwhelmed with all that I think I have to do or that others may seem to demand of me. When I feel guilt or pressure creep in I have to talk myself out of it because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, none, no guilt, no pressure to perform, none!! I know God will give me grace to accomplish all he has for me to accomplish in his timing.

Anyway, this has been somewhat of a strange babbly post, but these are my spontaneous thoughts, just spurting out of my brain.............

"Victory over Condemnation"

This is one of my favorite messages by Rob Rufus that I have listened to recently, several times, just to let the truth of it really sink in. I will just include of few of my notes and the link so you can listen to it for yourself.

"No condemnation ever comes from God, God is for you, he has taken your side" (those who are in Christ) Romans 8:1

In Isaiah 54:9 God takes an oath never to be angry with us again.

God expressed all the fullness of his anger at Jesus

There is never any condition God will be angry at me (in Christ)

Don't let an unclear scripture rob you of the joy of a clear scripture

Right living has been preached for the last hundreds of years, this is not the gospel. Trying to live right does not produce freedom.
Right believing is the power of God, Romans 1:16, and it produces right results.

Check out this message some time if you can, it has been extremely helpful to me!