By Lillian Kwon

Christian Post Reporter

Wed, Jan. 24 2007 11:37 AM ET

More than a month ago, atheists began to blaspheme the existence of God on the popular YouTube network. Today, Christians are turning the tables and taking up the challenge to stand up to their faith in Jesus Christ publicly.

“I’d like to personally praise the Lord for all He does for me,” said one young participant in the newly launched “Praise the Lord Challenge” on YouTube. “He’s done so much for me and I’ve only known him a few years.”

The Praise the Lord Challenge counters a $25,000 campaign launched before Christmas where atheists, many of whom are young students, videotape their blasphemy, denying the existence of the trinity. “The Blasphemy Challenge” is giving away 1,001 DVDs of the documentary “The God Who Wasn’t There” to participants. The only price, the campaign states, is “your soul.”

One respondent departed from religion six years ago, he said in his YouTube taping. His grandfather is a preacher and everyone he is related to is “very Christian.” Yet ever since his “freedom from religion,” he has not looked back, he said as he renounced his belief in God.

With YouTube drawing millions of teens and young adults, the Blasphemy Challenge – launched initially as part of the Rational Response Squad’s war on Christmas – is aimed at young people. The main target audience is the same for the campaign’s opposing side.

Mid-January, Michael Mickey launched his own war against the blasphemy challenge on YouTube. Mickey’s campaign is appropriately called “The Challenge Blasphemy Project” and under it, the “Praise the Lord Challenge.”

“What happens when we take a stand for the Lord?” Mickey said on YouTube, encouraging believers to videotape their love for Christ. “The word of God will bring people to faith in Jesus Christ.”

“When we fail to stand,” he added, “no good thing comes.”

Mickey called Christians to take a stand for the Word of God.

Only a week has passed since the launch of the Praise the Lord Challenge and several Christians have already posted their testimonies, most of them young students.

“I believe every word that’s in [the Bible],” said one young respondent as she held the Bible up close to the camera. “Praise God.”

“Blasphemy Challenge has seemed to reach a lot of young people, so our hope is we can get youth leaders and pastors … to try to get young people [particularly] to reach out to that young audience that visits YouTube and demonstrate their faith in the Lord Jesus,” said Mickey, according to One News Now.

And the young Christians say they want to make an impact with their message.

“My purpose is to spread the Word and worship Him with every part of me,” said one Praise the Lord Challenge respondent. “I’ve given Him my life, my heart, my very soul. I will never deny my Lord, my Father, my very reason to live.”

This article was originally posted on www.christianpost.com

Today I was looking through my personal blog and came across a past post I thought I would share with you.  It inspired me once again and made me think through what I had studied during my devotions today.  I was reading about Joseph and his time of mourning after his father died.  I will share more about that with you later, but first I wanted to share this post and what God had done in my heart. 

(October 16, 2006)  Yeah!! Today we had the first real snow here in Denver.  It is beautiful!  At times when I looked out the window it looked like I was inside a snow globe.  You have no idea, unless you are a Colorado native, what the first real snow of the season does to you.  The last several years, we have not had much measurable snow in the metro area.  It was such a treat.  It was even more of a treat because I am blessed to have a warm, comfortable house to snuggle up in during a snowstorm.  I don’t need to worry about where I am going to sleep tonight.  I don’t need to put on four or five layers of clothing just to keep out the chill.  I know I will have a warm meal on the table for dinner tonight.  Thank you Lord.

I mentioned in the title of this entry “Whispers from Above.”  I have always loved to sit in a window and watch the snowflakes fall.  It has an automatic calming effect upon my spirit.   Don’t whispers calm a troubled spirit?  Their connotation is one of trust, one of intimacy.  I sat in a window and listened to the water running down the drainpipe.  During a turbulent period in my life, it was just what I needed.  It quieted my spirit and brought my mind back to God.  I watched several birds fly through the air, and I was reminded that God takes care of the sparrows.  They have no need to fear.  I looked at the green blades of grass peeking through the white blanket and was reminded that God allows beauty even in the most severe of situations.  I felt the breeze of warm air waft up from the heating vent and mix with the chill from the window and was reminded of how God provides for His own.  God is good.  Everything that comes from God is good.  I have no cause to doubt. 

Satan knows my weaknesses and lines me up square in his sights.  I too often allow my eyes to be turned away from God and His mercy, even when I don’t understand and cannot see two inches in front of me.  I was reminded of my weakness in a very painful way yesterday.  A dear friend of mine sent me a gift.  It was just what I needed.  Hmm. O.k. Transparency alert.  I had, have lost my hope.  I could not find the good in anything.  There was too much to handle, and I just shut down.  I stopped trying to deal with the physical and emotional pain in my life.  I know I am not the only one to ever do this.  How do I know this?  Because of the entry in the daily calendar which my friend gave me.  “Lord, in times of grief, suffering, or trial, I pray for an added sense of Your presence.  I want to grow stronger in these times and not weaker.  I want to increase in faith and not be overcome with doubt.  I want to have hope in the midst of it and not surrender to hopelessness.  I want to stand strong in Your truth and not be swept away by my emotions.”  (Stormie Ormartian)

What a conviction of my sin.  I had turned from God.  I had shut down my heart to His comfort, His grace and His working in my heart. I doubted His intentions for me.  I turned from intimate fellowship with Him.  I saw my failure as clear as day.  It was a rude awakening, but it had to be done.  Just like the roses in my mothers garden, when it grows cold, growth ceases and sometimes death ensues.  That process had to be stopped in my heart.  Therefore some pruning had to take place.  Pruning is a painful but very necessary part of any Christian’s life.  Don’t run from it.  No matter how painful it is, don’t run.  Trust me.  It only makes it worse.  Fortunately this time God did not have to use a boulder upside the head to get my attention.  (Please, don’t get me wrong here; I am not trying to be disrespectful.  Sometimes it truly does take a boulder-sized moment to get my attention.  Doesn’t it you?)  This time He used a whisper.  The whisper of the first snow.

I pray this will be an encouragement to whomever reads this.  I have a long way to go, but I am glad I have the Almighty holding me in His ever-capable hands.  Listen.  Listen carefully for His whisper.  It could save you a boulder.

Marissa

Have a great week!

Armando and Jen Castaneda have welcomed their newest addition! 

Anotonio Castaneda came into this world at 8lbs. and 19 1/2″ long.  Both mom and Baby Antonio are doing well.  All of us at Pathfinders offer our most heartfelt congratulations on their newest blessing.

If you would like to be a blessing to the family, they have asked for diapers in lieu of meals.  Sizes One and Two would be the best right now.  You can bring them to church on Sunday and give them to Alyssa Kilian, and she will deliver them.  Otherwise, you may contact Alyssa at 303-564-6381 for information on Autumn’s shower or diapers for the Castaneda’s.

Feeling a little full? A little heavier than you were a couple weeks ago? I know I am! I love the five weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years, not only because of the actual reasons for the celebrations, but because of several underlying themes which run throughout the season. God and His Son, family, love, giving, fresh beginnings, and of course food! This post really has nothing to do with spiritual growth or deep theological study, but I thought it would be fun to share.

Food is such a great communicator. It can say I love you, I feel your pain, I am celebrating with you, I mourn with you, etc. I don’t really remember a time when I didn’t love food. My mom may differ as I have been known to be a picky eater. I think I am mostly past that phase of my culinary life, but there are a few things I refuse to eat. Mushrooms top that list. I can’t stand mushrooms. I can appreciate the depth of flavor they give to a dish, but I just can’t put it in my mouth and chew. Ick! Any internal organ and beets round out the foods that I just can’t or won’t eat. I love to make complicated recipes with exotic ingredients, but I am also a sucker for down-home simple comfort food. Sometimes when I am sick, I want just a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy, or pasta tossed with a little butter, lemon and herbs.

After all the parties and extravagant meals we eat during the holidays, sometimes in January I begin to long for just simple, fresh food. So, I thought I would share with you one of my own recipes for something simple and tasty. If you feel like something healthy to help meet that resolution, this will work for you too.

In the bottom of a medium size salad bowl, whisk together 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely minced, 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper. Slowly stream in 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil ( you can adjust the amount depending on how strong you like your dressing and how much dressing you need) while whisking vigorously. If you like a more sweet and sour balance, you can add 1-1 1/2 tsp. sugar, honey or sugar substitute.

Next, slice a small red onion into rings and add to salad bowl. If you don’t like red onion, a medium shallot will work nicely too and give a more mild onion component. Slice half a cucumber into 1/4 in. slices. Chop six to eight baby carrots or one large carrot into bite-size chunks, and chop one to two stalks of celery. I like using the leafy parts of the inside of the celery bundle as there is lots of flavor in those leaves as well. Pit and slice your favorite olive, using about 1/4 c. once they are sliced. I like Kalamata’s which are Greek, Nicoise’s or Picholine’s which are French. Add all the veggies to your salad bowl.

Wash thoroughly your choice of fresh, dark leafy greens. I usually prefer baby spinach and or arugula, but any green you like will work fine. You could use large leaf spinach, red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce or Romaine. Watercress would also be a nice add-in as it has a nice spicy bite to it. If you have a salad spinner, use that to remove any extra water or you can use a couple paper towels to gently blot away extra liquid. Add the greens to your salad bowl and toss all your ingredients gently with the dressing.

Once the salad is tossed, I like to add 1/4 – 1/3 c. of crumbled feta cheese and the same amount of dried cranberries. If you have some on hand, you could add some chicken which has been shredded or diced into bite-size pieces. I also like to slice up leftover steak and add that to the salad. One last addition which I like is toasted walnuts or pecans. This gives your salad another level of texture with their crunch and they add good nutrition with Amino Acids, Folate, Vitamin A, Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium.

You can adjust all the amounts of the ingredients to suit your taste or how much you need for the number of people you are serving.

Bon Appétit! Marissa

Hello all, well it has bee some time since I have grace the site.  I trust all is well and Christmas shopping is being completed.  I really have not started, but I like to wait till the end, that mad dash and mighty rush to get it done is quiet the feeling.  These days are filled with some much stuff and often times Christmas comes and goes and we are left with wrapping paper in our hands and a long list of stuff we did not complete.  During this season of holiday parties and giving of gifts and fruit cake, I often times think we, and we I mean us “good Christian people”, seem to run through the holiday forgetting the deep meaning of season.  I find myself doing this all the time, I get so busy visiting at parties and eating food and buy gifts that Christmas often rushes right by before I know it.  Yet the other day I was able to watch something which made me stop for the season.  Yesterday I was out doing some running around and in my rush to get my stuff done that I nearly passed over a small boy staring at a manger set in a local store, his eyes were fixed only upon the Christ child.  He was not dresses poorly, no holes in his shoe no ripped up coat, he actually looked like a child who had a good home and a good family that was taking care of him, but he was alone and just standing and watching the baby Jesus.  As I watch him for some time I noticed that his gaze was fixed on Christ, as if he was studying the baby, his eyes would simply move up and down and around just looking at the baby in the manger.  As I stood there and watch the boy I heard him say some words under his breath, those words were simply but powerful.  They were words which we often forget to say at Christmas time and many other times during the year.  The words that boy said were simply “Thank you, Jesus, for coming”.       A few moments later his mother called him away and they both, hand in hand, went on there way.  I stood there unable to leave, just watching the same manger set that the boy was watching.  I found myself intently gazing at the Christ child and found my self saying those same words.  This boy reminded me of that great gift of which was wrapped in the papers of Grace and delivered via Love when it was given to me.  As I rush around this season I trust as I pass by many manger sets that I remember to say “Thank you, Jesus, for coming.”  Bobby    

This is my first post. I was supposed to have posted a few times before but I was neglectful, and so I would first like to thank those who have committed to writing already. I have been reading what you write and I appreciate everything you have had to say. It is refreshing to me to hear the spiritual thoughts of brothers and sisters with whom I should so closely be engaged. These discussions are perhaps all too of a rarity when we are physically gathered. Not that this format should be a replacement for the interpersonal discussion of our faith, but it is an insightful and encouraging thing to me. I suppose it is my hope that how we talk here might be the way we talk with each other when we meet because seeing Christ in others fills my soul with joy and confidence in our Savior. For this my friends, I thank you and praise Christ for His grace in you.

And now for what I would say today. Around two months ago I took a second job working part time at Starbucks. I had lost a few hours from my regular job at the bike shop and I needed to pay for a new bike that I decided to buy. From the beginning they had be scheduled for nearly twenty hours a week. Combined with the 30-35 hours I was working at the bike shop, I was working quite a bit. At the first I determined to just get through it for a little while and quit Starbucks after a few months or so. Due to my other work schedule I found myself opening at Starbucks several times a week; opening at this store means being there at 4:00 in the morning. The whole matter began to wear on me. I began to hate not being home for very long in the evening because I had to go to bed. I began to hate telling friends that I could not do anything with them because I had to work. I began to hate Starbucks for various reasons, many of which made me feel rather high-minded in myself. My attitude toward work and even my day became rather sour and I grew highly apathetic about my work at Starbucks. I found myself incapable of finding joy in my day. For several weeks I endured this and many evenings, in the middle of my frustration, I would tell myself that I knew God would be with me in this if only I allowed myself to recognize His presence. Yet in my mind and my will, I refused to do this; I chose to yield myself to unrighteousness. I chose to overlook the reality of His presence in my life here, and I decided that it was up to me to get through this.

All too often for me, theology never grips the heart. In my mind and on paper I could affirm that God is with us in everything, and He works all things in our lives according to His own pleasure and for our existence with Him. A reality difficult to understand and challenging to accept is sin’s ability to turn small things into trials, because our sin is powerless to enable us to handle the life God has set before us. At one point I actually convinced myself that this was a trial, and I hated it. At the beginning of this week, however, the Word of God accosted my heart. When the Father who gave His Son for me promises that He will lead me, and while leading me, He will hold me up with His right hand, He does not do so with flippancy. The eternality of His existence backs up that promise. As if in a moment, I was reminded of what I already knew: the full capacity to handle anything in life is given to me. This is not a trial; it is God’s goodness to bring me closer into His heart. He has not brought me to this point to frustrate me, but to grace me. When James wrote his letter to the twelve tribes, he instructed them to be joyous in trial. I would in no way compare my frustration to the persecution of Christ’s church but if they should rejoice then, should I not rejoice when my comfort is unsettled? It is not our lot to simply survive the seemingly unpleasant matters of life, but rather to delight in them as they are wrought by the supreme Lover of our souls to bring us into an interactive reliance on Him. This my friends is the paradox of grace, that a sinner might find joy in what reason considers a distasteful thing; that the active presence of God can presently activate righteousness in the life of the one who is born of Christ.

The essence of my sin was not so much in my attitude and in my actions but in my rejection of God’s work in my life. In yielding to my flesh I refused the tools necessary to handle this life, and I missed out on the pleasurable goodness offered to me. In hating the circumstance I was placed in, I was hating the One who place me there, but, true to His promises and unchanging character, He continued to pour of His love and has brought me back to the house of joy. At the risk of sounding cliché, when He promises to hold us up, He’s already doing it. I have gone through this week with a new heart. It is still difficult to tell Autumn that I’ll only be home for two hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it is thrilling to know that Christ will grace us both to enable us to rejoice in the matters we are given. Our joy and peace cannot be found in the ease of our circumstances nor even in the presence of those we love, but rather in the incessant recognition of the One who loved us first.

Jason

Are You READY to P-A-R-T-Y? 

When: Dec. 31

What Time: 6:30-12:00am

Where: John and Marlaina Birds Home the address is 6436 Wolff St. Arvada, CO 80003  (303)-428-7070

Childcare: Will be provided by Ashley & Caitlynn Hellwig and Christina McCrorie.  The girls are not giving me a price for the night so I will be asking for donations to pay them for thier kind services.  

Why: To celebrate the new year with your friends in Chist (and to eat…eat good food…eat lots of food…did I mention eat?)

I hope you can join us this wonderful night!

I will be posting a “what do you bring” list soon so check back.

Love Ya,

 Marly

It’s Wednesday, only two more days of work after this.  Unless you are a stay at home mom in which you get NO day off (bummer huh?). 

Gonna make this short and sweet today.   Thought I would write about encouraging words.  This time of year can be really stressful and a little “Hang In There, or I’m praying for you, or I love you” can make all the difference in someones life. 

 I know that when somebody gives me a quick little hug and mentions that they were thinking about me I really feel special.  I want to encourage you to make somebody feel special today!

 That’s it…God Bless you all!

Marly

I got an e-mail from a friend of mine today who is tired.  Parenting has hit a rough patch and they are struggling during what I am sure every parent goes through when trying to rear their children in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord.  Frustration, doubt, sadness, etc.  I cannot give advice from firsthand experience, so I won’t attempt to.  But, what I can give is encouragement to stay the course.  I look back at how my parents reared me, and I have much to thank them for because of their commitment to God’s ways.  I am where I am today because they didn’t give up.  There are times you may be frustated and feel like giving up, but must stay committed in your couse of training and discipline.  So to my friend, and all those endeavoring to rear children in God’s path, don’t give up.  Take a deep breath, tie a knot and hang on!  God will give you the answers you seek when you seek it from His Word.  God will give you the strength when you depend upon Him.  He will give you the results you seek when you follow His instructions.  He will do the hardest parts of it through you.  Stay faithful.  The outcome is too important to risk shortchanging your precious children. 

“Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.”    Prov. 29:17

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning:  great is thy faithfulness.  The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.  The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”  Lamentations 3:22-25

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”  Romans 15:13

“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”          Psalm 37:5

“Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:  and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee:  he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”  Psalm 55:22

“And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Exodus 33:14

I hope the Lord will use these verses to encourage your spirit.  Even if parenting is not your struggle currently, these verses can apply to your situation.  My hats off to you.  To be an effective, godly parent takes so much dedication, so much love, so much patience and a good sense of humor!  Take heart, it will be worth it.

Marissa

I must apologize for not getting a post up first thing Monday morning.  I am sorry.  To be honest, I didn’t know exactly what to write.  Have you ever had so much going through your heart and or head that you when you tried to sort it all out it all came out in one big gobbledy gook of a mess?  Or when you tried to write a post for your class’ blog the faucet that is your brain just dries up?  O.k. so maybe that was me.  In some ways this is a problem because I have a responsibilty to fulfill, but that is not my biggest problem.  Mostly because I consider this a privilege, not just a responsibility.  Really the reason this is a problem is because I am pretty sure I have been avoiding dealing with some things in my spiritual life lately.  Am I making sense yet?  Bear with me.

The last three services of this revival week have been excellent.  I hope you did not miss them.  God has been working in lives.  There have been people who have seen their need for Christ and come to accept Him as Savior!  Praise God!  There have been Christians who have confessed sin.  I am one of them.  There have been Christians who have decided to take the next step in their walk with the Lord.  I am one of them.  Where are you?  What is the next step God is prompting you to take?  I told the Lord tonight I had sinned against Him.  I had stopped trying.  I had stopped hoping in Him.  I had stopped looking to Him for my daily sustenance.  I told Him I knew I had turned away from Him to avoid dealing with more painful or difficult situations in my life.  It was all just too much!  God, I can’t handle anymore! 

My life has had some significant health challenges over the last two years.  There have been some very high spiritual peaks for me, but lately it has been a dark valley.  It has been a desert of discouragement, and the saddest part is it is most of my own making.  So, I made a choice.  I shut down.  Now, there have been some good days.  I have tried to share with you some of those in my past posts, but tonight after Mr. Pettit’s sermon, I had to admit “out loud” what I have known in my heart for sometime now.  I knelt before the Lord and confessed my self-reliance.  I confessed that I had stopped working on my spiritual life.  Praise God for forgiveness.  O.k., stick with me, the faucet is starting to flow a bit more. 

Where did all this realization come from?  It has been building through lots of occurrences,  but it culminated tonight.  Let me share with you just a few points from the sermon tonight.  I pray it will be speak to you as it did to many others tonight.  First we go to Romans 7, “Paul’s Autobiography” as Mr. Pettit titled it.  Starting in verses 14 & 15 we see Paul say, “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.  I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  Does this mean Paul is unsaved when he wrote this?  Backslidden?  A carnal Christian?  No.  Look at what he says in v.22, “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;”.  A sinner does not delight in God’s law.  A backslidden Christian does not care what God’s law is.  Paul is a mature Christian when he penned this passage.  The more spiritual you become, the closer to God you grow, the more you see your sinfulness.  Have you experienced that?  I know I have.  You come to a point where you cannot ignore what you are on the inside and you can no longer be indifferent.

So, you do what you don’t want to do, and you don’t do what you want to do.  Now what?  Paul says this is classic in the life of a Christian.  He is sharing, in Romans 7:14-25, with us two unchanging principles he has observed in the life of a Christian and a plan to deal with them.  Put very simply, good and evil.  Good is delighting in God and His Word.  Evil is the law of sin which wages wars within us.  There is a civil war in each of us.  So what is Paul’s conclusion about this situation?  Look in v. 24a, “O wretched man that I am!…” (KJV)  This is the cry of a man who recognizes the truth of the law of sin which operates within him,  within each of us.  He knows he cannot change by self-effort.  “…who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (v. 24b/KJV)

Who indeed?  Hopefully this is an obvious answer to each of us who call Christ our Savior.  Paul points us to Christ.  “Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!…” (v. 25)  Christ not only died on the cross to save us from the penalty of sin, separation from God for eternity, but He also conquered the power of sin over us in our life!  Have you ever thought of this in those terms?  I am not sure I had until tonight.  That was a comfort to me.  How many times have you tried to change a habit or a sinful pattern in your life?  It works for about two days, huh?  This is because we are depending upon our own power to bring about the change.  We will never succeed this way.  We don’t have the power to save ourselves from sin, what makes us think we have what it takes to conquer something as sinister as sin?  Real, lasting, true change does not come until I am desperate to change and I turn my heart to God, cry out for His forgiveness and beg Him to change me.  I must ask Him continually for the strength to carry out the change.  But beyond Paul’s desperation to change this pattern in His life, he was desperate to avoid the result if he did not!  In the end of v. 24 in the KJV he uses the terminology “…this body of death.”  Mr. Pettit gave us some insight into what this meant in Paul’s day.  (Beware, this is graphically icky, but it does show what sin really does to a person.)  The Romans were quite barbaric in some of their punishments for crimes.  If you have ever read the entire account of the crucifixion, or seen the images portraying it in The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson, you know what torment and torture those people went through.  Well, if a man murdered someone, the Romans would bind the murderer to his victim.  Face to face, chest to chest, leg to leg.  Then they would throw them into the heat of the Mediterranean desert heat.  As the victim’s body would start to decompose in the heat, the decomposition would begin to eat into the body of the murderer.  I don’t share this with you for shock value, but to get across a point of how dangerous uncontrolled, unconfessed, continual sin is in a person’s life.  It is a powerful enemy.  We need a more powerful Ally in our battle against it.

So, since these verses are the end of Chapter 7, does that mean Paul just leaves us hanging?  NO!  He leaves us with a battle plan.  But first he makes it clear to us that total deliverance from this battle will not happen until we see Christ.  Don’t be discouraged.  God is the God of hope!  He never leaves us without the weapons to fight.  Go to Chapter 8.  “Therefore is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death, For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” (vs. 1-4)  So here is our weapon!  If the law of sin is our enemy, the law of the Spirit is our weapon, our shield, our ammunition.  We do not have to be held captive by the law of sin!  If we operate under the power of the Holy Spirit, we will have what we need to effectively fight temptation and sinful habits. 

So let me conclude with the three points Mr. Pettit summed up this plan with.

1.  8:14 – You must come to the place where you want/desire His help.  You must choose to obey God.  “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (KJV)

2.  8:5 – You have to change your thinking/feelings/disposition/attitude.  This comes through the Spirit and the Spirit works through the Word of God.  Therefore we must consistently, continually be in Scripture, studying, memorizing and applying. (Our inconsistencies in the Christian life come mostly during our day-to-day where we are not thinking Biblically.)  We must literally change our brain processes!  “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what he Spirit desires.”

3.  8:13 – “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:  but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”  To mortify means to put to death, and deeds of the body means our choices.  So we must put to death our sinful choices.  We must make choices to avoid things we know will cause us temptation.  People, places, events, etc.

So to sum up, in short, we do not have to be slaves to the law of sin!  We must depend upon the power offered us by the Holy Spirit, we must be in His Word to learn His ways, and we must daily ask Him to change us.  We do not have to be prisoners of war to the tyrranical dictator of sin!  God gives us the tools, He gives us the strength, He gives us the desire and He will give you the victory!

Hope to see you during the rest of the services this week!! It is worth making the time!  I hope the Lord will use this in your heart as He did in mine.  Have a great week!

Marissa 

(Unless otherwise noted, Scripture verses were quoted from the NIV.)