reflections on the love that changes everything
Living according to the Spirit means turning away from our sinful desires and focusing instead on Jesus, the new life He gives us, and the guidance that He gives us through His Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to focus on Jesus and His many blessings and gifts to us.
Your war with God is over because God has reconciled you, and me, and everyone else who believes in Jesus, to Himself—and He did that by paying the full cost of our forgiveness and giving us His righteousness.
Jesus more than paid for all the sins of all the people in the whole world. By doing so, He opened the gates of heaven for God’s righteousness to come pouring down upon you and upon me. We are now flooded… with the purity, holiness, and uprightness of God.
Because the infinite worth of Jesus’ suffering and death on our behalf vastly exceeds the debt we owe for our sin, God the Father looks at us and makes the only just decision he could. He declares that we are righteous, in other words, that we are completely and totally innocent of all our sin, and he sets us free. God no longer holds anything against us.
If you have ever gone through an extremely difficult season in life—perhaps harder than you expected—or if you are experiencing one now, this sermon is for you. God, in His wisdom, gave us the book of Revelation to prepare us for life’s hardships.
The whole idea of the book of Revelation—the whole purpose—is that God wants you to know, in a general sense, what is going to happen in the future so that you can have resilient faith as that future unfolds.
Jesus will help you to live a life that inspires and encourages others. He will help you to persevere through all the dangers and trials you will face. And Jesus will be with you to give you the power, love and self-discipline you need to think clearly, love dearly, and endure hardship.
As we live our lives focused on Jesus, he will work in our lives and weave them into the grand story he is writing and make it part of the beautiful tapestry of renewal and hope that he is creating.
Training in godliness helps us to discern truth from lies and create habits of holiness that help us stay on track as we follow Jesus into forever. As we grow in godliness, then we can help others train in godliness. This helps them to become more like Jesus, and then they can help others, and so on, and so on. And that’s how the Kingdom of God grows.
…our faith does not depend at all on us. Our faith depends totally on Jesus. He is the One who makes our faith amazing. For faith which amazes God is simply trust that God will do amazing things in our life.
Farewell to Shadowlands 