June

At first I believe-- Paul was talking about himself. Then soon realized that others were in the same position of wanting to do good but not able to because of the flesh and Satan. Because of the mind games it is hard to always keep the body for Christ if not under the law. You can not serve (2) two masters--- so Christ is the only choice to make.

It means we are a mixture of good & evil. Even the good is corrupted and can't be trusted. The mouth speaks evil from the heart and out of the heart comes more evil making the human unclean. Every aspect of man is flawed. We are blinded to the degradation of sin we tolerate in our lives. We can not allow any sin to invade our lives and be oblivious to it 'cause any sin will fester and cause us to fall.

The law shows us our sins and makes us aware of what is right and wrong. However the law does not take away the desire to have more or to have what we can not. It doesn't keep us from sinning. Only a life filled with Jesus can do that. We can not save ourselves. We must surrender all to Jesus. He is the only way to salvation.

We wouldn't know it was sin without the law. It was an unkind act but after the law it was considered a sin against God. The flesh & tthe spirit are at war constantly. The flesh is the enemy of our souls, thus always at war with each other. We must let the spirit control our thoughts, deeds, and words. The flesh likes to control, so we must die out to sin.The human is rebellious against God. We still have a sinful nature, and being told not to do something we do all the more. We struggle with the flesh daily. We can not do what only God and The Holy Spirit can do, so we need to pray for intervention and allow Them to work in us and through us. Die out to sin and be grateful for what we have. Greed is a sin also.

Doing what we desire and in rebellion against God. Not in compliance with The Holy Spirit. The whole human body not in line with Christ, having a desire to sin and not under the Blood, but dominated by sin.

There is no middle ground. You choose to sin or choose to do good deeds. It is a way of life. You have your mind set on doing good deeds and have no desire to fall from grace. If you are following Christ, your desire is always to do the right thing and following the lead of the Holy Spirit. You will be in obedience with Christ. You won't have to think twice if you are in line with Biblical teaching, you will automatically do what Christ would do. We hesitate because we let our pride take over. We don't want to hurt any feelings or we want to keep the peace rather than have turmoil. We need to stand up and be counted for what we believe no matter who doesn't like it.

We follow a pattern or a teaching of the way Christians should live. Live as the Bible teaches not as others may live. They may have interpreted it differently. We need to pass on what we know about sound doctrine without making any changes to it. Tell it like it is as it never changes Biblically. Be accurate and faithful to pass on the Word even when it is uncomfortable for non-Christians to hear as you will be planting a seed and later someone will water it and it will gradually grow. We should avoid the defeatist attitude. We do not have to sin. Again that is a matter of choice.

If you keep doing the same sin you are enslaved. If you keep doing good things whish please God you become righteous. You are slaves to whom you obey. Breaking the pattern of sin & by making the right decision, you can break the bondage that it has on you. When you make a heart decision it is usually from God. Follow your heart not your mind.

By watching T.V. or by reading the Bible. When our eyes look upon things that are not from God or we listen to tainted things.We can turn off the television-open the Word and study God's Word. Serve one another with Godly Love, give praise instead of ridicule, look only on good things, and put yourself in places/situations that are not of the enemy. Stay away from places that are of the enemy. Set your mind on things of the Lord. Resist the urges to turn on T.V. Pray for strength to overcome bad habits. Always put God First.

Before we knew Christ, the enemy reigned in our lives, ans we were part of his dominion. We were slaves to sin. Now that Christ rules our lives we are no longer slaves to sin. Sin no longer has dominion. We are slaves to righteousness, obedient to God's Word and serving in God's Kingdom.

Christ died once for all and we just need to have the faith to consider it done. We can not die over & over to sin. Death is once. Whatever is Christ's is mine also. With faith I have the same power if I only believe. We will live a more sinless life if we simply accept the truth of Christ's death and realize that every sin was nailed to the Cross with Christ for our sake. He did it for us so we wouldn't have to go through the torment that He did. We just have to call on Him and be forgiven not nailed. He has transferred power to us, so we only need the faith to believe and tap into it and make it work. Alive in Christ Jesus!!

ONCE FOR ALL!! When Christ lives in you your old self is gone by God's power. We can't do what Christ doesn't represent once we are crucified in Christ. I no longer live but Christ lives in me so the Holy Spirit does the work through me. Christ caused the sin to evaporate. I say evaporate because it was a process of work over time. We no longer have to follow our fleshly nature, we need only to rely on Jesus to fulfill all our desires. The power & bondage of sin is broken through our crucifixion in Christ. Oh yes, we will be tempted, but we don't have to give in to it, Christ is right there to help so we don't/won't be slaves to sin any longer.

Paul is talking about the actual death of Christ. When we get baptized we are saying that we accept Christ and His ways for our lives. We unite as one in Him, both in death & resurrection. It is reality and without the faith our spiritual being is deprived. We must put on our spiritual being rather than physical being and unite to see Christin the spiritual realm.What a glorious reunion that will be when we meet Jesus face to face! The only way for that to happen is to believe & accept Christ as the ONLY way.

In total immersion we are buried when we go under and when we come up out we are resurrected with Christ. We were buried with Christ through baptism, therefore we will be resurrected like Christ. Being our representative, Christ died for us, so when He died we died also. Coming up out of the immersion is symbolic of the resurrection, rising from the grave to the New Life in Christ.

When we die to sin and live for Christ our desire is to please only Him. One with Christ. Grafted in truth. We can not live worldly any longer-- put aside things of old and desire Christlike things. Unite with Christ. Burying our sins. Not thinking of the past life and forging ahead. Sinning no more. By immersion, we will be resurrected on the Last Day and be united with Christ.