Christine's Blog (2,627)

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Mystery, wonder, confusion, and controversy … Why, about what?  The third person of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit.  As we move forward in Romans, Paul is going to reference and discuss the actions of the Spirit, so let’s step back a moment, and refresh our understanding.

One of the last things Jesus said to his followers before he ascended into Heaven was, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit…

Here we go—another ‘tion’ word in Romans. 

Condemnation – the state of being condemned

Justification – the act of being made right with God

Sanctification – the process of the Holy Spirit working in us to make us more like Christ.

We have just gotten 'up close and personal' with Paul as he struggled with his sin condition, and then we turn the page, and he tells us that, in spite of our sin, if we are in Christ, we are not condemned … we are not doomed.  (key…

“There was a time in my life that I built highways to temptation.  Meeting them at the door took too long.  Now I find that there are very few temptations that I am interested in pursuing.  Is that wisdom, depression, boredom or God?” a reader wrote, in response to “Meet them at the door, and don’t let them in,” my last morning briefing.  

Wow!  Now that is such an interesting personal insight, isn’t it?  Where he admits that he formerly entertained temptation, now he seems to have…

Good Morning~

So, we’ve been talking about sin . . . about the struggle that is part of the human condition . . .

about Paul’s admission that ‘while he knows the good he ought to do,

            this is the thing he does not do’!   

Here’s the question—from whence does temptation come? 

   Does God tempt us?

       If not … where does the temptation come from??

Hmmmm … consider this from James:

“No one, when tempted, should say, "I am…

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do,” Paul wrote.  Have you ever considered what sin(s) Paul battled?  I mean, let’s be honest—it is difficult to think of him struggling with temptation and sin, isn’t it?  After all,

Paul was arguably the second best teacher that ever walked this earth,

         the first and most influential missionary,

            taking the Gospel from Jerusalem into Europe and…

“God’s great love and purposes for us are worked out in the messes, storms and sins, blue skies, daily work, and dreams of our common lives, working with us as we are and not as we should be.”2

And yet…he doesn’t want us to be dragged down by sin…Paul finishes out Romans chapter 6--

(You are dead to sin, and alive to God) That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of…

If you were to write a ‘Statement of Purpose’ for your life, what would it look like? Or put another way, ‘What’s your story?’  It would follow that how you choose to order your life would flow from that.

I’ve been thinking about that . . . I believe my life is a gift from God, (especially since my mother had previously had her ‘tubes tied’ and was 45 years old when she had me!)  Life is a gift from God, and what I do with it, is what I give to God.  Oh, I often fall short, but he…

Let’s be honest—there is a lot of confusion about miracles … we’ve heard

~about television preachers rigging their healing services with ‘plants’, about

~big-tent meetings where people are getting healed on a nightly basis, and of

~long-held sacred beliefs on the healing powers at Fatima, Portugal1,  and then

~some of our denominations do not believe in healing prayer for the miraculous..

~or they do, but don’t talk about it much—certainly don’t…

‘Working on our next ‘miracles’ teaching, but in the mean time…

I should like to ask you to ponder a few things:

  What is the difference between answered prayer and miracles?  Is there a difference?

   In times of trial, when you are afraid, do you drop to your knees first?

   How much stock do you put in prayer? 

   Do you place more value on someone else’s prayers than your own?

I am reminded

-that Paul wrote,  ‘Pray without…

Even though I was raised ‘in the church’, I had never before seen or experienced anything like what happened with my Danny, (now 10 years ago; if you haven’t already, please read “God is in the Miracle Business”).  But there are a few key things that must be noted: 

The doctors had been helpless in diagnosing Danny’s condition …      

   UNTIL God’s people started praying.

Danny was no closer to getting well, in fact, he was worse …

   UNTIL God’s people started…

At least once a year, I have to tell this story because it reminds me afresh of God’s grace … poured out on me.  Also, so many folks ‘add in’ over the course of a year to the Morning Briefings distribution, that I want them to know of this miraculous occurrence in my life.  Because here’s the thing~  when you and I come face to face with God’s miraculous power, it changes everything—and I mean, everything.

It was the Fall of…

Yesterday I sent a briefing called “Of Lambs and Knives” which was a lesson on how God-fearing people ‘paid’ for their sins before the birth and crucifixion of Jesus …  but since many were on holiday, I should like to first point you back to that briefing, because in seeking to understand God’s plan for humanity, it is good information.

 Before the cross, what had God-fearing people done about their sin?   

In the Old Testament, when a person sinned, he was required to take the…

We have noted that grace is free to us, but it cost Jesus so very much to bring us forgiveness.    Before the cross, what had God-fearing people done about their sin?   

Check it out:

In the Old Testament, when a person sinned, he was required to take the very best, blue-ribbon lamb he could find, one without any spots or blemishes, to the priest at the temple.  There, in front of the priest, the sinner would grasp the lamb with both hands and confess his sin.  His guilt was…

We know life is futile. A man who considers that his life is of very wonderful importance is awfully close to a padded cell.  --  Clarence Darrow

The Law, grace, sin, justification, sanctification, baptism … why does it all matter?  All of these theological concepts of Paul’s letter to the Romans—do they really matter?  Should we even learn what these words mean?  I guess that depends.  Do you think that you are just a vapor—here today and gone tomorrow, with nothing of your…

So which is right—infant baptism or adult/believer baptism?  I wrote about my experience in “Baptized … have you been?”  Here’s another’s perspective that I thought might be a ‘counter’ to my experience:

“My own spiritual pilgrimage reflects a common pattern in the understanding of baptism.  I was baptized as an infant in the Lutheran church in which I was raised.  My later confirmation class presented the truth of the gospel clearly, but it did not really come home to me.  I was…

A familiar number showed on the screen of my cellphone; I smiled a greeting and heard--‘Hey, we never had Brian baptized – is it too late?  Can you do it?’  And then, ‘And do we need to get some god parents for this?’ 

Funny thing is, Brian, the son – well, he’s 16 years old.  My friend was combining two different kinds of baptism in his question—infant baptism and adult baptism or ‘believer’ baptism.  Our passage today provides a great platform to discuss both.

Before, Paul…

The last couple weeks in Women of Passion, we have done some Bible page turning—sharing meaningful truths and promises from the heart of God.  I am prompted to send out a couple of those right now—not sure exactly for whom they are meant, but confident of that:

         Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified;

         do not be discouraged,

         for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.  Joshua…

Paul’s message has been quite clear:  you are set free from religious law; for it is through God’s grace that you are made right with him.

Now, before I proceed, I wonder how many of us are bound up by ‘the law’…  Oh I am not talking about 613 points of Jewish Law to which Paul was referring, but rather some other construct to which you subject yourself—perhaps unwittingly even. 

The other evening I was getting a pedicure, (not because I needed one, but because the heated…

January was a good month.  I’ve been doing regular quiet times.  I’ve been meeting for breakfast with a good friend I trust.  I finished the first two versions of my next book.  I took my kids on dates and made more time for my wife.  I lost 10 pounds and have been eating healthier.

I was mentally reviewing that list in my head the other night walking out of the office when I bumped into a tragic lie I was unaware I still believed.

As I left work, I thought to myself, “God must…

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,

    Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!

        Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,

            There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.1

Paul writes, ‘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…