JustJeff

As we allow the Spirit to dictate our behavior we die to sin and the flesh. Since this change occurs over the course of our lives it is diffficult for those who grow with us day by day to notice. The change is highly visible to those who shared our past with us and have not seen us over a period of time. As we walk in the light we are a reflection of the light. Walking in the light is being led by the Holy Spirit. Simply, we turn our lives over to Him and He guides our path. This is putting to death the old person, which is our choice and allowing the new person, led by the Spirit, to manage our heart and mind. That is His choice.

We do not have to sin nor can we be forced to. The choices that we make are free will choices and we should get to the point in our walks where we are able to choose between right and wrong. I have found that I can go for long periods of time without intentionally sinning. The older I am in the Lord the stronger I become. At times though, my flesh will catch me unaware. Scripture teaches us that we are more than conquerors and that we can be victorious. Doubt about victory over sin in our lives comes from a lack of faith, poor teaching, bad preaching and a failure to leave the old man (or woman) under the water.

No. Without the Holy Spirit a person is religous at best. The Spirit indwells us. To be full of the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to guide all aspects of our life by submitting ourselves to His will.

When I freely submit to the will of the Spirit life is sweet. Then my mind is set on things above and I am able to produce fruitfull works that will glorify the Lord. Sometimes though, rather suddenly or unconsciously, I find myself thinking of my fleshly desires, allowing myself to be tempted to sin. I know that I have a tendency to deliberately think of fulfilling my desires but, more often than not, it is the result of living in sin for 40 years before I was saved. It is a habit. The Holy Spirt convicts me when I drift too far or too long and I must then resume the battle which requires that I compel my will to return to right thinking. Breaking a lifelong habit is no easy task and I do have to fight my way through at times.

Our flesh deprives us of the ability to obey the law. So then, we cannot be obedient to it. God's Holy Spirit convicts us and is the vehicle that drives us to salvation.

Paul was a human being, just like the rest of us. While he lived in sin no longer the chances that he did sin occasionally would have to be pretty good. Christ was the only man to live a life totally free of sin. Using myself as an example I still find that I am prone to mistakes, always unintentional, but sin nevertheless. As I grow in the Spirit I am able to identify that which I couldn't see as sin before. This too is true. The more sin that I see in myself, the greater anguish it causes me because it grieves the Holy Spirit and hurts the Lord. I feel like a wretch. Praise Jesus for His amazing grace!

"Total Depravity" is evil to the core. Because of this our sinful nature reigns over God's implantation of good that is in us. When Jesus did good virtue flowed out of Him. He expected nothing in return. With us, there are always strings attached, whether it is to feel good, get name recognition, store up treasures in heaven, etc. Our pride refuses to allow us to see the dark side within us. We think that by helping out at the local soup kitchen once a week or by paying tithes that we are good. Nonsense. These are the types of things that we are bound to do by our faith. God's good is 24/7 and mankind refuses that much committment. We always seem to take time off, knowingly or unknowingly, to sin. We are commanded to walk as Christ walked that is, good all the time, in thought and deed.

The law is good as it tells us what is sin but, it cannot stop us from sinning. We can only be saved by the blood of the Lamb, baptism and recepit of the Holy Spirit which convicts us of our sin, enabling us to have the strength to not do it. Without these, we are left to depend upon our flesh to obey the law. Impossible.

Sin is sin, whether we know it or not. By knowing the law we see that we are not only sinning against God, we are crucifying the Lord of Glory all over again each time we transgress. I would prefer to be aware of this, realizing that I have the ability to love, rather than hurt the Savior. Unfortunately, my flesh doesn't be like to be told what it can and cannot do. When I try to withhold something it craves it drives me nuts until I am able to go through the fire.

The word "flesh" appears 3x in chapter 7 and 13x in chapter 8. My flesh is my human nature, my natural inclination to seek pleasure and fulfillment. The problem is that those things that I seek are most often a violation of what God has told me that I shouldn't do. Thus, they are sin. And, since I can never satisfy my desires, my nature, or flesh, is my greatest enemy.

In 1960 6.2% of single women under age 30 had given birth. In 2006 that number was 50.4% (source: Northeastern University, Kansas City Star). It is the answer to all of the questions. 1. Society is exercising it's free will and rebelling against God and His commandments as He gives no leeway between His demand for complete allegiance to Him. 2. People are determined to choose what they think is the right thing to do, in other words, remain independent. 3. Taking sides requires a commitment, like marriage. It has become a rare bird.

When we apply good doctrine over the course to our lives we will take on the character and nature of Jesus Christ. We are commanded to walk as He did (1 John 2:6) and worthy of our vocation (Eph 4:1) which can only be accomplished if we follow His discipline as He left it to us. Wrong teaching, that is carnal interpretations and minipulations of scripture create religion. If it doesn't line up with the Word, as lead by the Holy Spirit, it needs to be avoided.

When you yield your members, mind, body and soul, to whatever or whomever you are obedient. So, when you live in sin you are obedient to or a slave to sin. Ditto righteousness. Living a righteous life demonstrates our slavery to God. It is sad to see a drunk on the street. This is an open demonstration of a slave to sin. The only way out is through Jesus Christ by dieing in baptism with Him and arising a new creation by Him, living a righteous a victorious life through Him. As I examine myself daily I am led by the Spirit to constant renewal. God always humbles me to obedience as I can plainly see that by nature I'm a rebel.

I see my day as an opportunity. That is, I can do good and submit entirely to Jesus or, I can do evil and give myself over to sin. Sadly, I am weak and though I try to stay with the good, my nature will have me to sin at some point in time each day, mostly unknowingly. In my members, mind, body and soul, are locked my human nature. Thoughts and actions often come automatically, without contemplation. As I grow in the Lord, thankfully now more often than not, I fight the good fight by recognizing my errors. Sometimes though, I do not recognize a sin, perhaps a slip of the tongue or some thoughless deed. Now I understand the need to pray without ceasing, to sing pslams and hymns, to do the work of the saints, to meditate on the Word. When I am fully able to discipline myself in this arena is when I fully give myself over to God. In addition, I recognize the need to ask for forgiveness and revelation of my hidden sins each time I pray for I will not go before our Lord with dirt on my hands. The blessing here is that our heavenly Father is patient and forgiving. His love is a compassionate love.

When I lived in sin, sin tossed me about at it's whim. I was at sin's beck and call. When sin demanded of me I did obeisance. When sin kept me from fulfilling my lusts, I cried and shivered. When sin offered me my lusts, I gave up everything in my life to gather them. Sin, my then god, was my master. I allowed sin to reign in my mortal body. Now, as I have presented myself (my body) to Christ it is He that I respond to, it is He to whom I bow down to, it is He to whom I serve and it is He who never withholds any good thing from me but who gives me all my needful things. It is Jesus Christ who reigns over me.

Reckon in verse 11 is simply acting by faith and take as truth the fact that we died with Christ and are really, really dead to sin. This is a life changing action meaning that we acknowledge that we cannot and will not live in sin any longer seeing that we have been made free from those shackles. Hallelujah!

The Lord's death on Calvary destroyed the death of sin. Being united with Him, His death has detroyed our desire to sin. Living in sin is living in slavery or, bondage, as we are very much the slave of the sin we so crave. By the Holy Spirit we are always reminded of our past transgressions which, through the strength of the Word, quickly reveals temptations to us. It is up to each believer to hear the still small voice of God and resist the temptation when He is warning us. By this understanding we live victoriously. Working with the homeless is a constant reminder of what I have been set free from. It is so sad to see these men and women controlled by their addictions. Day in and day out they are as puppets on a string, the devil being the puppeteer. And, when they cannot afford to use, they coming running to the Lord for help only to dry out, return to work and repeat the cycle. Few make it. Most stay in bondage.

Jesus' crucifixion is a historical fact as is His death and resurrection. When we are baptised we are done so to His death which then becomes our own, killing the old creation and raising up a new one. This transformation is as real a life itself as those of us who have be regenerated will attest.

As we are not literally dieing in baptism when we go under the water we are illustrating our death, as did Christ lay His life down for us on the cross. Coming up out of the water is as we are being raised up from the dead like unto the Lord when He came up out of the tomb.

In that Christ died for us we, in turn, die into Him by laying down the old person in baptism. The act of being immersed symbolizes dieing by going under the water and raising up a "new" creation. See it! http://www.peoplethatlove.com/contactus.html

When we surrender to the Lord's pleas and willing allow ourselves to be baptised we begin our new life journey. Adam is dead and we arise with our Lord. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit (given as the baptism of fire) we are changed over the course of our lifetime. Of ourselves we can do nothing. Once risen with Christ we are His and no longer belong to ourselves. He is the Master and we the obedient servants, forever.

By his birthright as the first born of humankind Adam has the right to represent us as our image and nature are the same. Jesus, by His death and resurrection has the same right as first born of the dead and the Head of all disciples. It is He whom we must pattern our lives after. God forbid that anyone but Christ represent us! If we give Him a back seat to any person then we are discarding our redemption by putting a mortal, Adamic person in His place. We are following a sinful representative making His bloody sacrifice null and void. Our relationship with Him and the Father becomes dead.

Even without the Law to specify sin, sin is present. The Law identifies sin and sin increases by the nature of man to transgress the Law.

There are enumerable examples of circumstances where a single person acts for an entire group but closest to me is the church. A pastor is supposed to be representative of Christ as a shepherd as the congregation is to a flock. It is therefore the pastor who is the voice of the flock and directs the flock to the Chief Shepherd. This relationship is deeply spiritual and of great consequence to each member of the church. It effects not only on how we are to grow in the Lord but as to how we should conduct our lives both intimately and in the world. The pastor is then a lifeline to God and we are joined together in the spirit.

We were enemies to God when we lived in sin. By is death on the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sin and thus ended our hosility with the Father. We wre reconciled. As we live daily in His word we are being sanctified and gliding toward our blessed hope. In reality, we are dieing each day as we are being molded after the Lord's image. The Father tenderly works His children moment by moment so, we are being saved as we journey on.