Dealing With Our Persistent Sins

All of us sin as Christians. This doesn't make light of sin or excuse it. It just states the truth. If we've been born again and are children of God, then we should have a true hatred of sin. We hate sin because we know it's not just breaking a law, but it is a direct, personal offence against God. It is a rejection of his authority and wisdom.
But because all Christians still have a powerful, sin nature which resides within them, they still sin (1 John 1:8). We must deal with our sin by confessing it and repenting of it. Most of us struggle with persistent sins - things like gossip, irritability impatience, lack of love, lust, etc. Our persistent sins differ because our personalities and upbrings differ. Sins that are particularly troublesome to me may not be troublesome for you at all.
All too often, we can excuse these persistent sins, saying things like, "The reason I react poorly in traffic is because I'm an impatient person. That's just the way I am." However, we need to deal seriously with our persistent sins by making them a matter of urgent prayer each day, trusting that God will transform us and change us by his grace. As we pray, we must cry out for grace asking God to enable us to deal with them. We are the ones who must deal with our persistent sins, but it is the Holy Spirit who must enable us to do it.
The late theologian John Murray (Westminister Seminary) had an interesting and helpful insight on this. He said, "The believer is not endowed with a reservoir of strength from which he draws. It is always 'by the Spirit' that each sanctified and sanctifying activity is exercised."
Since we do not have a "reservoir of strength", we need to pray daily for the Spirit's enabling work within us to help us "put off" our persistent sins.
Don't tolerate persistent sin in your life! Why not write down (for your eyes only) in your journal the persistent sins that you struggle with? Make these things a matter of earnest prayer, seeking the Spirit's enabling power. Paul assures us that our persistent sins can be put to death by the Spirit (Romans 8:13).

A Passion for Christ's Lordship

In simple terms, the apostle Paul told us why Christ died and was raised: "He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him, who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Corinthians 5:15).
All too often, we as Christians want Christ to serve us in our little kingdoms. But our little kingdoms are too small and too suffocating to bring deep, lasting purpose to our lives. It is only as we surrender to our risen Lord to be used as his servants for his kingdom purposes that we find true meaning and joy and rest.
Cry out for grace to get a true passion for His Lordship. It's the "narrow road" to true blessing!
Happy Easter!

Pastor Jerry

The Spark of Temptation

Imagine for a moment that your body was made of gunpowder rather than flesh. I would bet that you would be very, very watchful to not go anywhere near a spark or fire. Any lack of vigilance could prove to be fatal!
But consider how careless we often are spiritually. We have a highly explosive sin nature that resides within is and yet we are amazingly careless at times of avoiding the spark or fire of temptation. Now, I recognize that many times temptation suddenly confronts us. We don't go looking for it; it comes looking for us. But when the temptation appears, we don't always immediately flee from it (1 Timothy 6:11, 2 Timothy 2:22). We actually attracted to the fire and move closer and the results are disastrous. The resulting explosion is hurtful to us and others, and certainly not God-glorifying. This is why Jesus told the disciples, "Watch and pray that you might not enter into temptation" (Matthew 26:41). Let's cry out for grace to be more watchful and careful when we encounter temptation.