Instead of writing on and on about every detail, which would take forever to do and would be too long to read while trying to keep the focus on what God has done, I will simply list the recent evidences of God’s power and grace in my life. So here goes…

- This list has to begin and end with Jesus Christ, as all of God’s blessings flow through our precious Lord and King. God has taken me down a road of seeing Christ’s love in a deeper, more intimate way when He brought me to the books of Hosea and Song of Solomon. He even gave me the privilege of speaking on Hosea 2 to our local church body. In Hosea 1, God tells Hosea to marry a whore because his relationship with this whore is going to symbolize God and Israel, and even Christ and the church. When God attached Himself to Israel, they prostituted themselves by setting up other gods to bow down to and praise. When Christ got off His throne to come to earth, He was going to give Himself to a whore who wanted nothing to do with Him. And so Hosea marries this whore, her name is Gomer and wouldn’t you know it, she goes after other lovers just as Israel did with God and the church did and does with Jesus Christ. It would be great if that wasn’t the case, but in every case, those betrothed to God by His unmerited grace and love, begin to seek other things and give their love, devotion and praise to them instead of God and Christ. God’s love completely overwhelmed me as I reflected on my own prostitution to the world, and how God’s response was not to treat me harshly (which I richly deserved), but to woo me back to Christ and to speak tenderly to me and pour His love and grace upon my life in such an unbelievable fashion. Thank you God for showing me this picture in your Word of your faithful love to me in spite of my constant wanderings and unfaithfulness to you. Keep me at the feet of Jesus, I never want to hurt you that way again.

- God has also shown His grace to us in the way He has taken care of us physically. We were at the bottom of the barrel as far as finances the other week, and we had to purchase materials for Fajita Fest on the campus of EMU so the students could walk by our table and get information about our Bible studies, prayer meetings and events. So Janine and I decided we were going to take some of our soda bottles to the store to get the 10 cents each that they give you when you recycle them; we had about 5 bags worth. We just prayed that it would be enough money to get what we needed for the event on campus. Well, I checked our mail before we left and inside was a check for $100; plenty of money to get all that we needed, including pick up some groceries for our home. I had always heard stories like this, but God is letting us experience His sovereign hand of protection and provision on a daily basis, and it’s truly evidence of His constant grace in our lives; because we deserve only His wrath for our sinfulness. What holiness Christ must have to allow God to treat us so kindly!

- We then have seen some wonderful fruit in the lives of those we minister to. One young man in our group gained victory over a sin that has plagued him for years by simply praying to God night after night, day after day until God released Him of the sin by the holiness of Christ. It was truly a testimony of God’s ongoing power in our lives to those who truly seek Him. Another young man met some homeless people on the street one day and decided to give them a few bucks and share Christ with them. He then was so burdened for them that he decided he was going to let these two people stay with him for a few days and eat his food and sleep in his house until they were able to find a more permanent location to live in. He was compelled by the passage in James that says, “What good is it my brothers if someone sees a person in need and says, “Go, be warmed and filled” without giving them the things needed for the body?” So this young man did just that, and he has only been saved for about a year now. Unbelievable; all glory be to God and His grace!

- God has even let my prayer life to improve over the past several weeks. He has been showing me my need to continually rely and depend on Him in prayer and I have seen some pride in my heart that I hate and I know that it needs to be removed from my life if I want to truly reflect the holiness of my Lord and King. Only through prayer will such victory be seen. Thank you God for constantly bringing me to my knees and before the feet of Christ.

That is just a sampling of God’s recent grace in my life. More to come…

All glory be to our great God and all majesty be to our Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever!

I could get specific and start listing things that God has shown me to start ridding my life of, but I don’t want anyone stumbling upon this and thinking that I think “stuff” is the issue, or that even the ridding of stuff in my life makes me righteous – it certainly does not; but Jesus Christ is my only source of righteousness and I need to be near Him. So this is simply obedience to God and also being able to run after Christ with nothing holding me down.

What is it that gets us moving in life? Think for a moment how many things cause action to take place in your life. Fear – that certainly gets us moving. We fear death, so we run away from bears (wait, how am I Grizzly Adams all of a sudden? I live in SE Michigan). We fear being unsuccessful, so we go to classes. We fear having no money, so we get a job. We fear being alone, so we go after relationships. We fear pain, so we flinch when an attack could be upon us. So fear is a big one. We also have our desires. Oh yeah, those definitely get us moving toward things, even at the cost of some of the those things we’re afraid of. And love, at least our version of it, causes us to act in a way that proves we have a deep affection for something.

Well, whatever gets us moving is a very good indicator of the state of our hearts. And since this is my journal, I will bring this home. I fear things, sure I do. Most of them I don’t want to mention, because it’s like that spider you come across when you’re in your room, and it’s climbing up your shirt, and you shout a little bit and start flailing your hands and arms like you’re trying to put out a fire Yep, embarrassing. So let’s not go there. But, here’s the truth – I need to be moving because of fear. Yes, fear! I need to be fearing God. Oh, you mean like in a reverence sort of way? No, I mean fear! Being afraid of His holiness, His justice, His hatred for sin, and His disgust at unbelief and disobedience. The biggest problem the Israelites had in the wilderness is that they stopped fearing God. And now they really fear Him in the fullness of His wrath. So God has placed His fear in me, so as to say, “Todd, do not take my Sacrifice lightly. If you fear Me, stay in My Kindness. In other words, GET TO JESUS and stay there! Yes, He is driving me to Jesus by fear! What a loving God to scare me to where I will no longer fear Him!

How about my desires? Well my old desires got me to run after schooling, so I could have a chance at “earthly success”. My desires got me to go after jobs, so I could have money to then buy, well, something (school bills – awesome). My desires got me to go after relationships because, well, that’s just the pinnacle of happiness on this earth, right? Then there was a long list of simple earthly comforts that I desired that got me to run after having those things every single day. And so I ran to them thinking true joy and satisfaction was right around the corner. Well, I hate being trendy, but…FAIL! I got many of those things in my life and found only wanting.

But after truly coming to Christ for salvation, God did me a HUGE favor and began changing my desires, and those new desires began doing what the old ones could not – which is satisfy; because the desires He gave me were for Jesus and being like Him. And if I should ever attain the righteousness of Christ by giving my life to Him, God says that the very inheritance of Jesus, that He so richly deserves, will also belong to me someday. WHOA NELSON! Not only that, but if I love Jesus here on earth, God will love me by providing EVERY ONE of my needs, physical and spiritual. Okay, yes, that should get me moving.

Okay, how about love? Love is a good motivator, right? Well, I’m not sure. Which love? The emotional, affectionate, feelings-based thing the world offers? Cause I tried that and it kept getting me into trouble. I’m not very emotional, so that one is out the door. I am a little affectionate, but only when I can’t get anything else. And my feelings? Well, those change like the weather in Michigan – often! So that’s pretty hard to grab onto something when it’s based on a flaky, emotionally based, shifting-sand. Can I get an “Amen” from the divorce rate in America?

Ah, but let me not knock love, because it’s an actual thing; and it’s a VERY powerful force if you can find the true thing. Like when God so LOVED the world, that He GAVE His only Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. Yeah, that’s a little different than the good oldies song, “You’ve lost that love and feeling.” HE GAVE HIS SON! TO BE SLAUGHTERED! What! Please stop using the name of “love” in vain when you’re referring to your sports team or your favorite wing joint. God killed His Son because He loved the world. How do we make sense of that?? And then Jesus loved us so much that He gave up His own life as a ransom for our sin. Okay, one of the those versions of love need to go, and it’s looking like its yours Hollywood. Sorry, it’s been real. No, that’s a lie.

God loved enough to send His Son to die, Jesus loved and give up His life. And now God says in His Word, “We love Him because He first loved us.” Are you kidding me? God wants my flaky, affection and feelings? No, remember, that love is no more. God wants the love He gave me. Whoa! How is that gonna work? Oh wait, I actually do love Jesus. I actually want to please God. I actually want to give up things so I can love and serve Jesus better. Where did this come from? Oh right, it came from His love for me. It’s interesting what happens when you actually find something of value. God’s love is causing me to love Him in return.

And how exactly would I, a sinful human being pull that one off, even if I wanted to? Well, God says, “Remain in the Vine (Jesus). Simply by standing upon Jesus, looking to Jesus, trusting in Jesus, following after Jesus, we can actually love God. Think about that. And here’s the key to the whole thing – it’s because God is crazy about His Son! He loves His Son so much for who He is and what He did that He says if anyone does not serve and love and worship and devote themselves to Jesus, God, Himself will act like a sacrifice never came for the people He loved and will count every one of their sins against them.

NOW THAT IS A MOTIVATOR! Fear! Desire! Love! It’s all given to us to RUN to Jesus Christ and remain as close to Him as we possibly can. Do not look anywhere else Todd! Look unto Jesus and be saved! You know Him, know Him deeper! You love Him, love Him greater! You serve Him, serve Him with every ounce of energy. You follow Him, follow Him to the ends of the earth! You worship Him, then worship Him with every breath of your lungs.

No, I am not there yet, but because of God’s great and awesome love for me, I plan on getting there one day because God is using fear, desire and love to make sure I never have to be outside of HIS love ever again.

Overwhelmed….

The semester has ended up at EMU; so early in the year still! Time went by like a rocket! We had out last Bible study this past Tuesday night. It was a very successful year thanks purely to the power and grace of our great God. We met several new students and continued to plug along in the book of Romans, as well as made some key contacts for our future growth. We got some very good news as the semester came to a close. It looks like next school year on campus we will have a regular meeting room for our studies, a different room for a bi-weekly prayer session to pray over the campus, as well as office space at our disposal for our ministry in reaching EMU with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! All glory and credit belongs to God. The way this came to be could only be explained by His sovereignty. We are thrilled at what God is doing on this campus, and both Janine and I cannot wait to start again in the Fall. What a privilege it is to be used for Christ’s Kingdom and God’s glory!

We have seen so many blessings over the course of these weeks and months, it’s truly hard to capture them all in a simple journal entry. God has been focusing me on prayer lately in my personal walk. I have been praying more than I ever have in my life, and yet as maturing in one’s relationship with Christ typically goes, the more you grow in an aspect, the more you seem to be away from where you need to be. However, I am encouraged instead of discouraged due to the fact that God has embraced me with His loving grace over and over and over again. I am not done praying, on the contrary, my prayer life must continue to grow and mature so I can truly see God’s hand on my life, my marriage and my ministry. I am nothing on my own!

On the home side of our ministry, we also have seen some wonderful growth. We’ve had some of the most powerful studies I’ve ever been a part of. We finished the book of James and have begun to study the book of Ephesians. Through these studies, God has revealed many mysteries and treasures; so many in fact that it’d would be a profitable exercise for me to go back and dwell upon our recent studies to further penetrate my mind and heart with God’s Word and will for my life.

The most recent and perhaps the post powerful thing God has revealed to me in quite some time is the power of the love of Christ. In fact, in our most recent study from Ephesians 2, this was the topic at hand. Most are familiar with the section from Ephesians 2:1-10, as Paul reveals to us both our previous state of despair and hopelessness apart from Jesus Christ, as well as the hope we’ve received and will receive from His unfathomable love. Paul tells us that we were dead in our sins, following the course of this world, the devil’s evil plan and the desires of our own wicked flesh. Things couldn’t have been worse or more hopeless. Ah, but then in verses 4-10, Paul reminds us that it was exactly at that time that Jesus Christ condescended and rescued us from our death and depravity. By grace we have been saved! What a drastic turn of events. From death and complete contradiction to God’s will, to eternal life and walking in holiness. If that doesn’t get the blood pumping; nothing will.

So, Paul, in an attempt to bombard us with the knowledge of Christ’s love, explains how not only are we saved from our sin, but we will be raised with Jesus Christ, our King Himself one day and receive the inheritance that is due to Him alone! What! How could this be? I, a once-enemy of God – now His adopted son, will be the beneficiary of all the riches of the King of glory? How do I make sense of this? One glance at my heart would make anyone holy turn away in absolute disgust. Now I have been cleansed head to toe, and more importantly heart to soul, and am treated like the holy King of all creation? What mercy! What grace! What love abounds! Amazing love, how can it be – that thou my God should die for me?

We cross-referenced 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 where Paul states, “For the love of Christ controls you…” Paul gives us the purest definition of true Christianity – love compelling love. Christ’s magnificent, matchless, awesome love controls me to live for Him! Not guilt, not pressure, not a sense of debt, but His Love! We love Him because He first loved us. When Christians struggle to live for Christ, it’s not ignorance to doctrine, it’s ignorance to Christ’s love. Paul says if your heart is enlightened, truly enlightened to the love of Christ, the only natural response of your heart will be, “My life belongs to You. Whatever you will, my Lord!” We don’t need a desire for Christ, we need Christ! A desire for Christ comes from having Christ. A desire for Christ comes from knowing Christ! Paul doesn’t pray that the churches begin to love Christ, but that they KNOW Christ! Knowing Christ always equals loving Christ. Those who don’t truly love Him, don’t truly know Him.

And so, the #1 prayer request for myself, my wife and those I love is that they may know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge! Christian, if you’re reading this, get on your knees as often as you can and cry out for a knowledge and wisdom of Jesus Christ and His love for us; and God promises that your heart will begin to beat in a way it never has before – it will beat for One reason alone – our Lord Jesus Christ.

A brief update and encouragement…to God be the glory!

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Much has happened since my last post, God has done many wonderful things through our ministry that my journaling would fail to capture, yet I hope to journal these things sometime soon to encourage many and bring God glory through it. Yet, through His Holy Spirit, God has revealed one thing to me lately that trumps all other activities – “Todd, you need to run!”

Run? Run to what? What does that even mean? Well, I believe what He means is run to Christ, because one day in eternity, I will wish that I had. Yes, I truly believe that I have placed my faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ for salvation from my sins and complete righteousness, and yet there is a holy paradox that God is making me aware of. “You are saved, but the evidence of your faith is that you’re striving, daily! Don’t stop striving. Don’t look around, don’t slow your pace, don’t recall past successes – quicken your pace and run to Jesus! As often as I give you breath – run! As many days as I sustain you here on earth – run! If you wait, you will regret it. If you look back, sin may catch you. If you loiter around this earth taking part in so many activities and comforts, you will not be anticipating My Son’s return! “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many I tell you will seek enter to and won’t be able to.” – God’s message to me.

And this call to me is so much stronger than the one I felt when I packed up and moved to Michigan in 2008. And that call was strong enough for me to leave all my friends and family members behind to follow God’s will. But this call is unlike any I have experienced. It’s not ending, I feel it every moment. His grasp is so real that I can’t do anything but obey. If anything holds me back from running to Christ in these days, I will stand before God in disobedience. Yes, I fear Him! I fear disobeying Him! I fear trifling with His love and grace. I fear trampling the very death of His  Son – who is my only refuge! My flesh entices me, it laughs at me knowing its very power, it beckons me back to the lairs of death. I must run to Jesus – it’s the only time I feel safe!

And at the same time, I feel peace. Peace that passes all understanding. God, as only my Heavenly Father can, utters to me, through Jesus Christ, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. My sheep listen to My voice, I know them and they follow Me. In the world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world!” Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! My fear of God remains, but my peace through Jesus Christ calms my fear as He calls me unto Himself daily.

And so I pray, and I pray, and I pray. Days go by, this ministry continues to build, and yet the only voice I hear through God’s Word is from Christ, “If you love Me, you will obey My commands. The world and its desires pass away, but He who does the will of God abides forever. Anyone who will not renounce all He has to follow Me cannot be My disciple. If anyone desires to come after Me, he must deny Himself and pick up His cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

So forgive me if I am absent for a while. I have no idea how strong this call will be, all the days of my life, but I feel it ever so strongly now and journaling seems of little importance, as do many things. I am and have nothing apart from my Lord Jesus Christ and my life has never felt more diseased from all my sin that God is revealing to me from His Word. So by His power and to His glory, I will run so quick and so violent that I will simply fall from exhaustion into the arms and refuge of Christ’s righteousness when I stand before Him, and He will say to God, “This one is Mine, I gave My life for Him; all that I have belongs to Him. Enter into My Kingdom My friend.”

To the glory and majesty of our almighty God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

For the bulk of Romans, Paul has been revealing to us that our lives are on a fast track to destruction because of our living contradiction to God’s holiness. We must understand a few things before we move on. 1) We are sinners; not in just a few areas, but our entire lives are against God and His holiness. 2) God is holy and hates sin; He must judge it, pardon is not an option. If He pardoned sin, He would no longer be holy and loving. (As as example – if we say we love babies, then we must hate abortion, if we say we love Jews, then we must hate the holocaust) God is way more just and holy than we can possibly understand. 3) Because of our sin and hatred towards God, eternal damnation and separation from God awaits us. 4) God loves the world and desires to save it, but sin had to be paid for, so He sent His Son to earth, who is the exact representation of His holiness, to become a man, live a perfect, sinless life and then willingly die in our place and take God’s complete wrath upon Himself so that we might find life and pardon through His sacrifice forever.

If we take our sin lightly, God must and will, without hesitation judge us severely in eternity for our lack of holiness. However, Paul says to us in this passage, that if we understand that God is holy and we are sinners and in need of rescue, then rescue is available to us. Jesus Christ came for the specific purpose of doing the will of His Father and dying for the sins of mankind so that salvation would be opened to us. So every person in the world has to understand that they’re in need of Christ’s rescue; no one has met God’s standard of perfection. But if we understand that Christ has met God’s standard of righteousness for us and we repent of our sins and our own attempts at righteousness and place our faith and trust in the refuge of Jesus Christ by calling out to Him for salvation – we will be saved! The Bible says that Jesus Christ will either be our judge or our justifier one day. Hebrews says that Christ will either be our rock that we stand on, or the stone that we stumble upon. Failure to run to the refuge of Jesus Christ will leave us on our own having to pay for our own sinfulness. And God WILL damn us forever; no other salvation will be available. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” – Jesus Christ in John 14:6. Today is the day to trust in Christ!

If we have done this, we must continue to look to Jesus Christ. A true faith and trust in Jesus Christ will always produce a faithful follower of Him, because God will make it so clear to us that looking to and living for anything else in our lives will not only be foolish, but extremely dangerous. “But now He (God) has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” Colossians 1:23 We cannot merit salvation; it’s the complete understanding that we need the full merit of Jesus Christ; our entire weight must be placed on Him alone.

Then Paul says in Romans 10:14-17 that if we’ve trusted in Christ for salvation, we will desire for all to find this same salvation. Paul asks some great questions in verse 14, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” We have the unique and wonderful privilege of sharing the Name and hope of Jesus Christ with anyone God brings along our path. Paul says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” We have the good news of hope and salvation; we should desire to shout this message to the nations! People are dying in their sins every day being ignorant to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; do whatever you must to share this news! The earth and those in it will dissolve, but those in Jesus Christ will live forever. Paul says the simple, yet profound truth in verse 17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Share the word of Christ with as many as you can. Do you have this truth? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation for your sin? Do you share this wonderful message with others? Are we okay that people will die forever and be ignorant of this message? It’s not our job to save, that’s God’s alone, but it’s our job to get His message of hope and peace to as many as we can. What will you change in light of this?

Even though I’ve slipped into my 30′s now (yikes), I still feel like my young adult days are still upon me. Either way, I know what it’s like to be a professing Christian and yet have no true desire to follow Christ. I was passionate about many things, and they all had to do with serving me. Quite convenient isn’t it? However, as much service and love as I poured out on myself, the more discontent I became.

I didn’t see that as the end result before I made myself my own lord, but if I had taken even a morsel of truth from the Word of God, I should have expected that with absolute certainty. Thanks be to God, that in my mid-twenties, He hit me over the head with His truth like a ton of bricks. “It must be Jesus!” My road to that truth was a painful one, filled with God’s chastening and rebuke. However, today I’m on the path of righteousness running to Jesus Christ for eternal hope, joy and peace; and the entire glory and credit goes to our great and loving God for rescuing me from my sinful flesh.

So, it begs the question, how exactly do you get young adults passionate about Jesus Christ?

Well, I believe you must start from the beginning; assume as if they have no, or an immature relationship with Jesus Christ. It seems harsh doesn’t it? But it’s actually the safest and most loving way you could teach them because those who truly aren’t in the faith will be exposed by the Gospel, and those who are being built up in anything else but Jesus Christ will see the truth from God’s Word on what He expects from His children; devotion to Christ.

How you do that is by prayer and by blanketing all your lessons with the love of Christ. The Apostle Paul often prayed that his readers would grasp the love of Christ in their lives by getting to know Him and dwelling on His love. It seems simple enough, and yet it’s the most profound lesson the world could ever know. Christ’s love is the power, motivation, and fuel for living the way God intends us to live. Apart from the love of Christ, we will choose to waste our lives by living to love and serve only ourselves. As Paul said in Ephesians 3:17-19, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

We also must make sure that we’re teaching Christ and not Christianity. They may seem to be the same from the surface, but One is the Lord and Savior of the world who, when served and followed, our lives can fully please God; and the other can turn into a religious set of rules, codes and mandates. When Christians serve Christ, God is honored and glorified; when Christians serve their religion, God is mocked. We must teach Christ and let His love compel our audience to love and serve Him with their lives. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.” Christ’s love compels!

Have you ever heard the term “Don’t beat a dead horse”? It typically refers to a person who is elaborating on a topic that needs no more elaboration. However, in reference to our great Lord and Savior, that is simply impossible. Christ can never be exaggerated or elaborated enough. The most we could ever do with Christ is scratch the surface of His majesty, power and love. We cannot exhaust the topic of Christ. Therefore, I say confidently, beat a dead horse! Go and try to exhaust the name and love of Jesus Christ. It’s a great exercise for us to do for our own spiritual welfare, and our young adults must grasp the importance of Jesus Christ in our day to day lives.

In our efforts to beat a dead horse, we should teach how Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest from Hebrews chapters 4-5; we should teach how it pleased God to have all the fullness dwell in Christ from Colossians 1; we should teach that to live is Christ and to die is gain from Philippians 1; we should teach how Christ came to fulfill God’s law for us from Matthew 5; we should teach that we should constantly fix our eyes and thoughts on Jesus from Hebrews 3, etc, etc, etc. The topic of Christ is all over the Word of God, and we must focus our eyes on Him and point others to Him until all we have left are devoted disciples of Jesus.

Obviously, this must be taken outside of our lessons and Bible studies; we must practice what we preach and love and follow Christ with our actions. Now be careful about this; it is vastly different than just doing our best to have Christ-like actions in our lives. When we do that, we’re forming our own version of the law. If we simply try to be like Christ in word and deed, we will always fall short. It’s the 10 Commandments all over again. Christ is God, and we are depraved, wretched beings.

When God revealed His law and His commandments to us (Old and New Testament), it was always meant to reveal our sin to us. By revealing that sin to us, His will for us was always to go to Christ for complete righteousness. We tend to understand that for salvation from our sins, but somewhere along the path of serving God, we fall away from Christ and attempt to bring God our own sin-stained sacrifices. As Isaiah 64 tells us, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”; we need Christ! I need Him the first day I recognize my sin, and I need Him every day following where I recognize my sin.

We must serve Jesus, and not the commands of God. God wants it that way! By serving Jesus in focus, love, devotion and service, His righteousness will be seen in us in God’s eyes and we’ll bear fruit that God will consider beautiful, acceptable and sweet-smelling. The sooner people grab onto this truth, the better, and the less time we waste trying to serve God with our own futility. By the time kids become young adults, it may seem like it’s too late in the game to start over at the beginning. However, if we don’t start with Christ, we will never understand what it takes to live profitable lives for God.

The last method I’ll give you is actually the most powerful one; and it’s prayer. Prayer must be utilized if we ever desire to truly follow Christ with our lives. If you desire to see your group of young adults go on for Christ, if you desire that for yourself, then we must get alone with God and cry out to Him for power from above. If we don’t, we’re relying on our own focus, our own love, our own strength and our own abilities. And if you know anything about yourself like I know about myself; I am capable of a lot on my own power, but none of it is good.

I’ll leave you with my life verse which God has revealed to me over and over again so as to focus me on the truth from His Word. It’s from the Apostle Paul once again in Colossians 2:6-7, and it states this, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” May we receive grace from God to trust Christ more!

A little while ago, God led me to a sermon by Brother Paul Washer on, “The Centrality of Christ”. I listened to it, and although it’s very hard to make me cry (I’m just not a crier), my eyes filled up with water. Why? I know the gospel of Jesus Christ, don’t I? It’s been beat into my head for over 25 years now. It would be that movie or episode of your favorite TV show that you can quote all the lines from. And yet, as I listened to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by Paul Washer, I realized something I’ve never realized before; I only know a fraction of the Gospel.

Have you ever been humbled by the fact that you’re not very good at something when you thought you were very good at it for a long time? That’s how it felt for me. Brother Washer didn’t exaggerate the gospel, he didn’t add anything to it, and he didn’t highlight anything but Jesus Christ, and yet it felt brand new to me. And I felt very overwhelmed; in both a good and bad way. I felt great because of the love that was poured out on me for no apparent reason than God’s love for me. I felt bad because I have trampled on that love many, many times.

To go along with that, our Bible study at EMU has been in the middle of Romans the past few weeks; and that book is kicking my rear! I echo Paul’s words, “Oh wretched man that I am! Who will be able to rescue me from this body of sin? Thanks be to Jesus Christ!” And the more I think, the more I dwell on it, the more I pray, the more I can’t do normal life anymore because my mind is focused on this one thought….I NEED JESUS! God is revealing my sin to me in a brand new way. I sin and I sin and I sin, and I know the truth, yet I sin anyways. Why? What causes me to love the thing that was sending me to a Godless Hell? What causes me to crave the thing that crucified my Lord? What causes me to play around with sin as if it’s nothing but a toy? I don’t have an answer for this; all I know is I NEED JESUS!

I’ve been saved, why do I still need Jesus? Because I have the power to defeat sin, and yet I choose to sin anyways. THAT is why I have been overwhelmed. The more God’s Word penetrates my mind and heart, the more sin I notice. The more I look at the holy, righteous law of God, the more of my sin floats to the surface. I don’t hate my sin like I should, and I know why that is; two reasons actually. I don’t truly understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I don’t fully grasp His love for me. And after thinking and dwelling and diving into the depths of my mind and my heart; God has, through His Spirit and His Word, revealed to me what I need to do; I need to pray!

I need to pray that God grants me wisdom to grasp the love of Christ. I need to pray that God grants me the power to wrap my mind and heart around the Gospel. I had faith to come to Christ for salvation from my sins, but I need more faith to hate sin to such a degree that I flee from it like a wild animal is chasing me. And the only way that is going to happen is through the power of the Almighty God. I realize now, I cannot do it. I will always play around with sin unless God shows me how detestable it is, and how much it holds me back from pursuing Christ like I desire to. And even then, I need God’s power to run from it, and instead run after Christ.

People need the LORD! I need the LORD! I need Him every single day! If I had faith in Him yesterday, but no faith in Him today, I am in danger of being separated from God forever. I need Jesus every single day of my life. I must constantly have faith in Him. I must continually run to Christ. Is salvation a one time event? Yes, the criminal hanging on the cross next to Christ proved that; he was instantaneously saved from his sin. But the Apostle Paul also told us again and again, if you come to Christ for salvation, you will spend the rest of your life coming to Him. You will spend the rest of your life trusting in His blood. You will spend the rest of your life running to Him like your sin is chasing you. We need Jesus as much today as we needed Him the day we came to Him for salvation. I must run, not walk to Jesus; and if I’m not, I can have no reassurance of my salvation. Is by works or my effort? Absolutely not! It is by grace and the power of God alone. But when God starts a work in someone’s heart, He always finishes it. (Philippians 2:12) If we’re not being perfected and being matured in our love for Christ, we have need to worry. We certainly can’t lose our salvation, but it’s possible that we never had it. The Apostle Peter says, “Make your calling and election sure!” If I spend one more day on this earth, I had better spend it seeking Jesus.

I’ll leave with two thoughts that have been in my head this past week…

“The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the ABC’s of Christianity, and from there you go on to deeper things, there is nothing more important than Jesus Christ.” – Paul Washer

“ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” – Colossians 2:6-7

Think about it, have you ever seen a “Do not walk on the grass” sign, or a “Do not touch – wet paint” sign? What’s the first thing your mind tells you? Hmm, I think I need to walk on that grass and touch that paint. Now, that’s a comical and lighthearted illustration of what Paul is saying here, but when we do that with God’s holy law, we have a major problem. Paul understood this, and he wanted the Romans and us to understand this as well. Breaking God’s law condemns us to an eternal separation with God; not good news.

Paul, himself, reveals to us his own depravity when he states in verses 15 and 19, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” This isn’t a reference to “past-tense Paul” as some claim, but Paul is being very candid about his inner spiritual warfare, AFTER coming to Christ for salvation. So, are we to assume then that Jesus Christ isn’t truly powerful enough to save us from our sins? By no means! Jesus Christ is our redeemer; His blood atones for all sin, past, present and future! So then where was Paul and where are we falling off the track? Paul doesn’t leave us hanging. The climax of his depravity is immediately followed by His rescue from that same depravity when he states in verses 24-25, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul knew that his inner sin was great, the more God’s law was revealed to him, the more sin he saw.

Have you ever gone throughout a day, and after coming home and looking in a mirror, you notice something in your teeth, and you wonder, “Was that there all day long? Man, I wish I had known!” Right? There’s no way we would have let that green thing remain in our teeth if we knew it was there. However, only when the mirror revealed it to us were we then grossed out and irritated by it; enough to want it removed. Paul saw that same thing in his life. Therefore, he appreciated the ministry of the law in his life; even though it’s hard to hear and to notice that sin to that degree exists in his heart. Just as we would be if a friend of ours would have pointed out to us the green thing in our teeth during the day. We’d be embarrassed at first, but we’d appreciate them telling us so that we could remove it and not look ridiculous all day long. So for that reason alone, Paul appreciated the law in his life. But, that’s all the law could do, he needed Christ! The great remover of sin! Unlike the green thing in our teeth that we can just remove with a toothbrush, sin remains and destroys until we seek Jesus Christ. Therefore, the more law Paul understood, the more sin he saw, and the more Christ he needed.

What a gift we have in Jesus Christ! Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more! (Romans 5:20) Every solution to every sin problem is the same; Jesus Christ. I used to teach Sunday school to 1st and 2nd graders a few years ago, and it was humorous that no matter what question I asked them, they’d always answer with Jesus. My response would always be, “Okay, yes, in a sense, but I’m looking for something a little bit deeper or more specific.” Ah, how much the simple faith of a child can teach us. Jesus is indeed the answer for all our questions, and our our problems, and all our sin. We must fix our eyes on Him, we must pursue Him, we must love Him, we must be devoted to Him, we must serve Him, we must long for more Jesus! The more sin the law reveals to us, the more Jesus we should desire.

Can we defeat sin? Yes, indeed. Can we live a life that is pleasing to God? Without argument. Can grace truly cover the multitude of sin in my life? Christ wouldn’t have died otherwise. But, we mustn’t go back to the bondage of the law! We must serve Jesus Christ alone!

There are so many ways we can err in this; Satan makes them all readily available to us. But there’s only One who can offer us a joyful, hopeful, peaceful, satisfying, God-honoring life – our Great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I must love Him deeper and pursue Him with a greater sense of urgency. My faith in Christ right now is sufficient to save me from an eternity apart from God, but my faith in Christ must grow if I expect to defeat this overwhelmingly depraved sinful nature of mine and bring a sacrifice to God that He would deem acceptable and sweet-smelling. More sin? More Christ!

If I expect to reach the pursuit of Christ that I need to fully please God with my life, then I must in complete humility, fall down before God and ask Him to grant me power to pursue Christ with a greater focus, strength, zeal and perseverance. If I don’t, I won’t deepen my pursuit of Jesus and sin will indeed weigh me down from running for the prize.

Thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for every spiritual blessing we’ve received in Christ! (Ephesians 1:3-14)

“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” Romans 7:4

We were brought to Romans 7 where Paul uses a marriage analogy to set the stage for what he’s about to say. “Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.”

Now contrary to what some think, Paul’s topic isn’t marriage here. He’s writing to the Romans, and he clearly states that he understands that his audience knows the law of God. But then he uses a marriage illustration to set the basis for his argument. He basically says that just as a married woman is free from her husband after he dies, so a believer is free from the law when he is baptized into Christ’s death. And just as the woman is then free to marry another man after her first husband dies, so the believer is free to completely belong to Jesus Christ and no longer the law. In fact, Paul says, “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”

The law of God is holy, perfect and eternal, but unfortunately, even on our best days, sinners are not. Therefore, God had to send us something (namely Someone) who could fulfill His mandate for the law – insert Jesus Christ. It’s not that the law died once we came to Christ, but that we died to it. Therefore, since we’ve also been raised with Christ in newness of life, we are free from obedience to the law and free to completely serve Jesus Christ. Yes, free from obedience to the law. Well, aren’t they the same thing?  Both the law and Jesus Christ came from God right? Of course, but one works against us, and One works for us. The law could only condemn us by revealing our sin; and Jesus could only save us by redeeming us from our sin.

So just like the woman whose husband dies and is free to marry another and love that new man with no hesitations or remorse, so we are to serve Jesus Christ and not the law of God. That almost seems contrary to what I’ve been brought up on. But, the more I study scripture, the more this truth is revealed to me. The cross reference we used for this passage was in Colossians 2:6-3:4. That entire chapter talks about how we’ve been set free from the law so that we might completely serve Christ. Paul goes on in Romans 7, “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”

When we attempted to live by God’s moral law, it only proved what wretched sinners we are. It could only produce evidence that proved we deserved God’s eternal wrath. As holy as God’s law is, it offered us only a mirror into our filthy souls. Again, we needed Christ! And God, in His divine love and sovereignty knew this full-well before time began. So as John 3:16 so eloquently states, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” He did this so that we might be able to receive perfect righteousness; which is God’s demand to avoid eternal judgment and separation from Him, and entrance into His eternal Kingdom.

So back to Romans 7, we no longer obey the law. I’ll say it again, we no longer obey the law. We serve Jesus Christ. Let’s make this distinction very clear. Trusting Jesus Christ for salvation and being born again and given newness of life demands that we no longer go back to obeying the law. It would be as silly and creepy as the woman whose husband dies and then remarries, for her to keep pictures up of her dead husband and call her new husband by her deceased husband’s name; still loving and serving her dead husband when she has been released from him and now belongs to another.

So it’s not only foolish to keep making futile attempts at serving God’s law after coming to Christ for salvation, but it’s a mockery to both God and Christ. It’s a mockery to Christ because He obviously died to set us free from the futile system of the law, and it’s a mockery to God because He is the one who sent Christ to die for us so that we might have life and belong to Christ alone. Yet it seems that I try to do this many times. I make my own list of 10 commandments, or I adhere to a list of “Christian” do’s and don’ts and neglect to make all of my motives and service around loving Jesus Christ. May it never be! I belong to another! I belong to Jesus Christ! He is my life! He is my hope! He is my joy! I will love and serve Him with all my days. He must have the preeminence as Colossians 1 tells us.

How do I do this? I must blanket myself in the love of Christ. Just as in the winter when you’re cold and you wrap yourself in a warm blanket, you make sure to cover as much of your body as you can in that blanket so that you don’t get cold. In the same manner, we must cover ourselves in Christ’s love so that we also don’t get cold to serving God. And attempting to obey His moral law will indeed leave us cold and empty. Trust me, I tried it for years. Therefore, from now on, I will focus my eyes, my thoughts and my mind completely on Christ and run to Him every moment of every day. Satan wants nothing more than for me to obey the law, because he knows that it will only leave me joyless and also bring to God a stinky sacrifice that He certainly will not accept.

May I always devote myself fully to following Jesus Christ, by denying myself, and picking up my cross daily and following Him; to the glory of God, the Father.

“For it pleased God to have all the fullness dwell in Christ.” – Colossians 1:19

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” -Colossians 2:6-7

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” – Colossians 3:1-4

“ So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” – Romans 7:4

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:21

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.” – 2 Corinthians 5:14-15