Jesus, cast a look on me. Give me sweet simplicity. Make me poor and keep me low. Seeking only Thee to know.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Holy Spirit

Wow-what a great sermon from Jim this morning. If you are looking for a church home you have to come check out The Pointe! The Holy Spirit is truly alive in this congregation and its leaders. The Holy Spirit is what Jim spoke about this morning and I have been retelling bits and pieces (poorly, I'm sure!) throughout the day to family and friends. I have attended many churches and few, if any, ever talked a/b the Holy Spirit aside from reading from scripture. And, yet, the Holy Spirit is the key factor in living a christian life! As Jim said, the christian life is a/b so much more than "resolving to do better" b/c our human nature will cause us to fail every time. He reminded us that the 12 disciples, shortly before Christ's crucifixion, were cowering in the upper room, afraid of what may come to them. And, yet, they went forth and spread the Good News and preached the gospel-not by their own will but after Christ was resurrected and they received the Holy Spirit. As Jim put it-the Holy Spirit can turn "wimps into warriors"!
And in reading my bible tonight, God revealed more to me...
Romans 8
"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, b/c 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 its sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin ofering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met inus, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."
Keep reading...this is good stuff!!...
"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 the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit, who lives in you."
Sweet.

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