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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
NO ONE IS WITHOUT SIN
Wouldn't it be so nice that once a person got saved by trusting and believing
in Jesus Christ and surrendering to His will with total repentance, that we would no longer sin? Never again to break
God's commandments and always do what is right no matter what the circumstances or sacrifices demanded. Sadly though
that is not the case. We Christians should be the happiest people on the face of the Earth, but I can tell from the
somber, long faces in church and those I see on TV church programs, that it is not the case for most Christians. I have
heard more pick-me-up sermons than any other sermons out there. Why do the Pastors feel they need to preach on pick-me-up
sermons so much? I believe the answer to that is sin in our lives. When we come to Christ the sin in our lives
is magnified. The closer we get to the Lord, the more apparent is the sin. The Holy Spirit convicting us of the
dirty secrets we keep in our heart that we know needs to be confessed and forgiven. We may even repeatedly keep confessing
and asking for forgiveness for that same sin over and over again. Because like a dog going back to his vomit, we keep
going back to the sin we have confessed and asked forgiveness for. We know we should not do it, but we do it anyway.
We struggle with the desire to commit the sin and our desire to obey God. I say the desire to commit the sin because
we know we shouldn't do it, but do it anyway. Sin is defined as trangression against God's law, but the Bible
also says to know to do right and not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:17). That pretty much just about covers everything,
meaning we can fall into sin at just about every turn. Worse yet, we can start doubting our salvation because of the
sin in our lives. If we weren't depressed already, doubting our salvation surely gets us to that point. It really
sucks being a natural born sinner! This is where the beauty of God's plan of salvation comes in. We know that
no matter how hard we try to do what is right and on top of that obey God's law, we will fail miserably every time!
So why bother you say? Because we love the Lord and desperately desire his acceptance of us because he first loved us
while we were and still are sinners. Jesus said be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. What exactly does
that mean? It means he did what you and I could never do no matter how hard we tried. He always did what was right
and obeyed God's laws. It made Jesus the unblemished sacrifice that was needed to satisfy God's punishment for sin,
which is death. By putting our trust and faith in Jesus we are justified by His rightousness not our own since ours
was marred by sin. Sanctification comes next with our daily struggle to get control of sin in our lives with the aid
of the Holy Spirit showing the sin in our lives. Remember temptation is NOT sin. Only when we give into temptation
and follow through do we sin. We are not a fully redeemed creature yet. Our newly revived spirit in Christ is
struggling against fleshly desires and evil powers in high places. The closer we get to the Lord the more of an attack
we can expect. We have to fight the good fight until our bodies are finally redeemed. If we fall into sin again,
we cannot let it keep us down no matter how many times we fall into the same ditch! Get up! Confess your sin and
pray for more strength have others pray for you as well, keep on keeping on until the Lord comes and he will reward you with
a crown of life!
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1 Samuel 16:7 The Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks
at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
COAT DRIVE - We want to bless people
this winter by providing them with a coat, hat, scarf or gloves. If you have any of these items in storage, in closets or
simply laying around in the way and you KNOW you will most likely never wear these items again, please bring them in to the
church so that they can be bundled up and given to someone who could really use them now. God bless you as you give.
FAMILY BIBLE STUDY - We want to invite you to come to our Family Bible study. You will get sound Biblical
teaching and great fellowship. It begins at 10am and we have a class just for you.
SPECIAL MUSIC - We are in need of singers and musicians for our special music for Sunday morning. If
you would like to help, please let Shirley King know or call (269) 303-0330.
JUST ASK SOMEONE - This week will you ask someone to come to church? It is easy to do. Just try and
see what happens.
REMINDER: We have a Prayer dish and Praise dish in
the foyer. All are welcome to put your requests in and we will pray over these and add them to the next bulletin for prayer.
You can also go to the prayer section of this website to submit prayer requests online.
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