I am TRIUNE.....

Three parts of me?

Last Thursday, I promised that I would begin to share with you this week in regards to the tri-une or three parts of man..... If you've not read that post you may be saying .. Three parts of man? That's right. I said the three parts of man.

Its not that difficult to get, really. As a matter of fact, understanding how God made us makes incredible sense as you begin to study and understand it. The real cool thing is this. As you begin to really grab hold of this stuff, and study it deeper, you begin to see some clues into why and how you and others act and why you feel like you do! It has been incredible learning about "me". I can't tell you the difference it has made in me spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically.....

Well actually I can tell you the difference it has made, but just not this week.... LOL.... It will make much more sense later.

So, without any further adieu, lets get crackin'!


(If I may indulge to divulge --- A little review from last week)

God is made up of three parts:

God made man in His own image. Actually what was said in Genesis is, 'in our image'. (We will talk more about the triune oneness of God a little further down the line but you can check out the last week's info for more details)

And this is how man then appeared "triune"- just as God is "triune":

Man was formed with three distinct parts: spirit, soul, and flesh (in general - body).

Today we are going to look at each of these three parts in detail. We are going to discuss the function of each. Next week we will see how they interact together. And, maybe next week we will also be able to discuss how the functioning or non-functioning of each part impacts us on a daily basis.

Ready to learn more. Ready to go further in your quest for 'What God has next'?

Here we go........

First: the spirit (pneuma)

Second: the soul (psuchē)

Third: the flesh (sarx) - or body (soma)

It is interesting to note that many people think saying "my spirit" or "my soul" are interchangable terms for each other. As you can see above, the actual words used in the Bible to describe these parts of man are different. The word from the original language, Greek, that was used to describe the spirit is pneuma (pronounced: new-ma). That is a cool word. And the word from Greek that we translate as soul is another cool word - psuchē (pronoumced: psoo-khay')


Why are these words so cool? Well, not only are they fun to say, but we say words all the time in our language that come from these.... Like pneumatic drill, or pneumonia, psychology, or psychotic.

What does pneumatic drill and pneumonia have in common ... air or breath

What does psychology and psychotic have to do with each other .... mind or thoughts or feelings

See. Two totally different things; spirit and soul.... Of course we could see that plainly if we looked at this from the Bible:

'Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.' (taken from the first letter from Paul to the Thessalonians)

See these are three different terms and spirit and soul are listed seperately.

Why is this so important to note? Why do I seem to belabor this point before I actually discuss these two parts? You'll see.....

The spirit of a man is an incredibly special place. In this place, a man can know, really know who he is. In this place, a man can be inspired, really inspired. In this place wisdom from beyond man's own understanding or education can be revealed. In this wonderful place, God can meet us and show us and tell us the mysteries of ourselves, and others, and Him. He'll show us mysteries that keep other men baffled and helpless; mysteries that have baffled men all through the ages as they continue trying to discover their world on their own.

In this place, in his spirit, a man can really begin to discover who he is. In this place God can begin to show a man who He really is. Oh, WOW!

I'm getting ready to lay something powerful before you. It is a lot of Bible (about 4 paragraphs). But don't shut down or you are really gonna miss something.


Check this out.... (Paul of Tarsus is the guy speaking)



And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
(taken from the second part of the first letter written by Paul of Tarsus, to the people of the first church at Corinth)

I wanted to show you all of this for a reason. I mean, I could have cut out the "good" parts and pasted them here, but I really needed us to have a sense of the complete thing Paul was communicating to these guys.

You see Paul was, before he became a believer, one of the most educated men of his time. He was either a lawyer or perhaps even a judge because he was a part of the highest court in the land - the Sanhedrin.


Paul knew pretty much all there was to know in his profession. He also was a foremost "expert" on God. He would have been a great talking-head on CNN or Fox News. But Paul, like me, like you if you have received Christ, realized that all his wisdom and education was nothing compared to God's. And God is relaying to us here a very strong and very crucial piece of information that many of us have never really received. God is showing us here that we were missing "it" before we were in Christ, and how we can now "get-it" if we are in Christ.

"Get" what ......?

Everything! I don't mean have all knowledge or education, but I mean, have the opportunity for God to show us not only all the why's of our life but also the how's of our life. And also have the opportunity to prepare us for the when's of our life.

Wake up, Dadgummit! That is why most of us are so unsatisified. We either don't know what we have available to us in Christ or we have never received Him so we could know!...... Whew! Ok.... OK!

Plainly stated:

it is in the spirit of a man where a man finally KNOWS his thoughts and plans.... It is in the spirit of a man where God by His Spirit part reveals His greater thoughts and plans to that man.

• The word is pneuma.
• The definition is breath.
• Without breath there is no life.
• Without a spirit, a man is, for all practical purposes, dead to God.
  
  Is this a problem? Watch this:
  
  
  This is God speaking to Adam after Adam has disobeyed him and eaten of the tree of good an evil....
  
  
  
  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
  
  
  Try to get a picture of this in your mind.... Now I am not talking a picture of a mean vengeful person as your picture of God.... I am talking about a loving God that had poured all of his love out upon a man, a disappointed God, a God, though, that had set consequences for disobedience and had to carry these consequences out...... See the picture.... Read the above again then come back to here......

God is telling Adam that he is cursed, the earth is cursed, and that unlike how His plan for man was to be, Adam was going to die. And with Adam's death, the spirit of each man born after him was dead, dormant, lifeless.

And man was left to fend alone, without God, without that incredible place where communion was had. Man was left shattered, broken, each only 2/3 whole.

A Dead spirit, empty soul, and dying flesh

So, every man and woman born after that time has walked around with a dead spirit. Walked around with only two parts of a whole trying to figure out the "hole" that was left.

How could we function?

Part two - Our soul:

Our soul is also a pretty neat place. As a matter of fact, our soul is where the majority, the largest majority of us spend 98-99% of our day.


Remember a few minutes ago I was talking about the word soul and I said that it comes from the Greek word - psuchē --

Each person's soul is made up of three sub-components - our intellect, our emotions, and our will.

One of my favorite teachers, Bill Gilham, describes it in a way that I can better grasp in applying this practically to my life. Bill instead of calling these "pieces of our soul", our intellect (mind), will, and emotions says instead, "your thinker, your feeler, and your chooser." Pretty descriptive way to look at it, huh?

So here are the details I promised .....

And so with our intellect (mind) or thinker, we get:

• deductive reasoning
• data collection
• receiveing of formal and informal learning and education
• processing of formal and informal learning and education
• survival instincts

with our emotions or feeler, we get:

• negative emotions - anger, fear, dread, depression, etc...
• positive emotions - happiness, excitement, passion, courage, etc...
• instinctive emotions - caution, intuitiveness, etc...
• response to physical senses- hunger, pain, amusement, etc...

with our will or chooser, we get:

• planned courses of action
• instinctive responses based on external stimuli
• "knee-jerk" reactions

Now, all of these three sub-components are somewhat dependant upon each other.

But look:

For every choice we make, we are always presented first with some type of information from either the thinker or the feeler or both.

Now, depending on the person and their back-ground, or the situation, one or the other of these two sub-components (thinker or feeler) will be the dominant component in providing the information that the chooser will most likely respond to.

In the course of most human relations, the feeler (or our feelings) screams the loudest, is the most listened to, and most unreliable component in supplying the information that the chooser must have in order to make the best decision. But, thats the punch-line for next time..... (teaser)

Can you begin to see how a person who has not received Christ (see graphic above again), or one who isn't aware of the power of the Spirit received in Christ, could find their soul to be most inefficient in problem solving. Not yet? You'll get it.


**As a lead in for next week, think about this. We were never intended to use the soul, an inferior sub-system, as the main component by which we make life's decisions.**


So, that leaves us to look briefly at the final component of man - our Flesh (or Body):


The body consists of all physical matter that is seen either inside or outside of our physical self.

The body supplies the frame-work and earthly life-support needed to carry our soul and spirit around. The body also has a processor on which our soul is dependant to be an information and systems "hardware" platform. This hunk of meat is commonly called the brain. The brain, however wonderful and complex an organ it may be, is not the mind, nor is it a component of the soul. The brain is simply one of the pieces or members (organs, limbs, etc...) of a man's body.


The brain, unlike the spirit and soul, can not have eternal life. But, it is an incredible organ within our body and upon it, and within its circuitry, resides a part of us that is most intriguing, and most dreadful at the same time; flesh.


The word body and the word flesh are two distinctive words in the Bible. As well as is the word member. Member being a word that points to "parts" of the body. Body is actually the Greek word sōma, flesh is the Greek word sarx, and members is the Greek word melos.


sōma: is defined as the whole body


sarx: is defined as the nature or, better, engrained patterns of behavior


melos: is defined as seperate organs, limbs, or maybe the skeletal system within the body

So thats the details of our God made construction - spirit, soul, and body.

And, I can't wait until next time. Next week we will talk more about how each of these pieces all work seperately. As well..... we'll begin to talk about how they interact together (big big info).


May God Bless you and keep you until then.

My prayer is that God has begun to give you some real desire to learn more about Him, how He wants to show you more of you, so you can know so much more of Him!


I love you!


~Doug out....

I used to be able to get a "do-over"....

Man, I sure would like to be able to have a "do-over"!

Wouldn't it be great to be able to wake up one day and start all over? I mean, what if I could right all the wrongs in my life, have a "redo" on all of the stuff that I screwed up so badly. Or what about the things I just could have been better at. How different would things be if I could redo them now? How about you? How would you like to do this - have a life "do-over"?


Well, God is all powerful, and I would imagine if He wanted us to have that ability, he could make it available. But, God actually chose a much better plan. God developed a plan which can allow you and I to be able to learn from our experiences, and still have a "do-over" of sorts (well kinda like that but really a "re-start" more than a "do-over").


Its a pretty cool plan. I'd love to share it with you. I've actually got some pictures and charts and stuff. Would you like to see it?


I'm going to need your help though. I mean, if this is your "do-over" you've got to be involved, right? Great!


Ready? I want you to think way back. Think back to your earliest child-hood memory. Well, however wonderful or unpleasant that may have been, it was not far back enough. Actually we are going to have to go way back.... back further than you or I or anyone you know can remember. We are going to have to reach back to the beginning. We're going to reach back to the beginning.... not quite the beginning of time. We are going to go back and look at the beginning of man.


So, here's the deal. If you are a Christian this will make some sense pretty quickly. If you are not you may be tempted to shut down, close-out, or click the back-button....but hang-out just a few more minutes. I think you may see something of value here that could still intrigue you, too. Ok? Cool, cause this is really fun.


So, as the Bible, states, on the sixth day God created man. This is how it says it:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."


And it pretty much nails it. Do you see it? Well, ok, do you at least see the dominion part. Do we or do we not, as humans, have pretty much complete control over every resource here on earth? Well, that my friends is truth. And thats what we really need more doses of, each one of us and...... (Started to go somewhere else. Sorry!)

So, how about the other part? How about the part where it says he created man 'in our image'.

Two pretty intriguing things here, huh? The crazy thing is that it says God, being one entity, said we shall create man in our image. Man math, in English, tells me God=one. Man math, in English, tells me our > one.

Looks like a rabbit trail for me, huh.... Thought we were going to talk about a kinda like-a "do-over"? Its cool, though. I'm getting there.

What I want to talk about has been a question for many believer's and a detour sign for many who are seeking God or who don't know him..... I want to now show you a picture (I promised), exhibit one, if I may, in God getting you ready for what's next.

This is what God was talking about. He said in our image. All the way through the Bible we see references to multiple parts of God. God is one entity, made up of three parts.

Check it out: Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit.

Some places you will see this called 'the Trinity'. That word is not found it the Bible. But it does a pretty good job of describing God... Probably a better description of God is Tri-Unity, though.


God is one entity, made up of three parts that are in unity. Said again, God is triune.

And that is how you get a "do-over", right? Somewhat. We're getting closer, anyway.

Remember God said 'Let us make him in our image.' Now thats a good one! I have heard so many times, "If God looks like, acts like, is like most men I know I don't want to have anything to do with Him!" Hallelujah! (this means I agree). But, see, that is not what happened at all.

If I look in the mirror, do I see an exact replica of me? Will it talk like me, will it think like me, will it be like me. Well, as long as I animate it yes. It will appear to do so. But If I took a picture of me and left it with you, would it talk like me, think like me, act like me. Of course not. That's silly, isn't it. Why? Because it is simply an image.

God did the same thing when he made man. He made an image. He made us a triune creature just like him.

Check out this, Exhibit two:

Man is made up of three distinct parts. We have a spirit, a soul, and our flesh (body in the natural sense). Just like God, but simply an image of God.

Next week I will break down each of these parts so that we may study the function of each.

But for now.... the "do-over"!

And man, Adam, used each part of himself, as he was created.

• With his spirit he communicated with God
  


• With his soul he thought about what God was teaching him, he felt the emotions of his life and of his love for God and for Eve, and he chose the things to do, the ways to lead, and the ways to follow.
  


• With his flesh he learned reflexes, carried out developed instincts, survived the elements, and carried the life God gave him all around creation.
  

Adam had it made. But, just like us, no matter how made we have it, we desire some companionship. So God made for Adam, Eve. This is what the Bible says about that.

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."

And as we already talked about, Adam loved Eve and they made a life together. Eve, just like Adam was made in God's image. Eve as well was made into a triune being. And she was able to talk with God through the spirit, think, feel, and choose with her soul, and act on these things with her flesh.


***When I read more about where these two lived and how they lived with God, the more I would like to have my "do-over" right there***


Anyway, so Adam and Eve lived their lives before God, literally naked and unashamed.... Everything was exposed, inside and out: no hang-ups, no depression, no disappointments.

There was peace and there was joy. And there was no need for hope..... Wow!

But, God gave them a soul and the ability to choose. And, one day Eve chose to do the one thing God had told Adam to never do. What happened? Adam stood right there and let her. Then He did it himself, as well.

Whoa! Now that sounds like my life! Wonder why?

God could not abide this sin. So. God took away this life, and took away the lives of all of their offspring as well.


Adam and Eve were meant to live for an eternity, but when they chose to be separated from God, one of their three parts began to die. This part, was the most precious part - the place where God communicated to them, their spirit. Their spirit became dormant, dead. As well, the soul, was left on its own. It was not intended to be making decisions without hearing God's will through the spirit. The result.... sin became active. That is, those things that were out of God's will became the norm because the part of man that could continually speak and hear from God was dead.

And this is what man has looked like without God since that day. Exhibit three:

Dead spirit, empty soul, and dying flesh.

But God had a greater plan than this. And, He sent himself, the Son part, to live here, to show us Himself, and then to sacrifice himself for us that we may live - that we may have life.

The Son said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. None can come to the Father but through me."

The Son said, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly"

The Son said, " If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

And that is what happened. The Son part of God, took all of our stuff (its called in general, sin) that we continually do that is out of God's will i.e. - lie, cheat, steal, murder, envy, brag, sex outside of marriage, etc.... God took all of these things that create death, steal hope, steal love, bring depression, whatever, and said, "I love my created people so much that if they will believe on my Son, that he died their death for them, pouring out His blood - His life for them. If they will believe in Him I will give them a re-start.... A new beginning. I will give them life"

There it is. History tells us that Jesus was crucified before men and died. History also tells us, with over 500 witnesses to attest to it, that three days later He came back to life.

Get this.

• He died to take on our death.... our forever death. The death our spirit was already in.


• He rose out of the tomb, completely alive three days later, to give us forever life.

So, here it is: the look, the reality, the product of how I look.

Its: how you look if you believe on the Son - how you can look if you will receive him.

I give you exhibit three:

When you believe in Christ everything changes. A supernatural event happens, even if you do not feel it.

Check these statements out from the Bible... and then I'll wrap this up.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (from 2 Corinthians)


You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (from Romans)

Remember what the Son (Jesus) said the Father is going to do? He is going to send a Helper, the Spirit of truth....

That is where the "do-over" the "re-start" happens.

When you believe in the Son - that simple - believe in Him.... Then, God the Father part, sends God the Holy Spirit part, to make alive your dead spirit. BAM! Right then! Your soul is then filled with the awareness and presence of God. And, your flesh, even still dying, is under new management...

You are now a new creation. You are brand-new. You can be as Adam and Eve were designed. It can be for you now, as it was for them then:

• with your spirit you can now communicate with God, walk and talk with Him daily


• with your soul you can think about and learn from what God is teaching you , feel the emotions of your life but still be lead instead by God through his love for you, and you can chose well the things to do, the ways to love, and how to lead and to follow


• with your flesh, even though it is still dying, you can relearn the right reflexes, instincts, and carry this brand-new life all around God's creation.
  

And really, now you can wake up.... Brand new, each day a complete re-start.... Just as God intended it.

As a Christian this may not be news to you. But for most Christians it gives them a perspective on what they truly have in Christ. Not some religion. Not some man-made tradition. But, new, brand new life.

If this is all new to you, but you would like to have all God intended for you..... If you need hope... If you have no idea where you are going or what is next.... God wants to put the foundation in and around you to get you there.... That foundation is Him and it comes through the Son.

Below is a prayer that can be prayed by you to help get you there:

Jesus, I'm sorry for the ways I have lived without you. Please forgive me. I believe you are the Son of God who came to this earth to save me from a life that I have lived apart from You. Please save me from this "sinner" identity and give me a new identity that is holy, acceptable, and (as unbelievable as it may seem) in your likeness. I believe that I am now in You, and You are now in me. Change me from the inside out. I mean this. Though I will surely fail at some point, I believe that You will never fail in me. Thank you. Amen.

Time and again God has changed lives and He has just changed yours. If you didn't feel it or see fireworks or hear heavenly choirs like in the movies... remember God doesn't work like we do. But nothing any more real has ever happened than what was just described. You are new, saved. Your "re-start" has begun!

I'll talk next week about this "re-start" and how God designed us to be new in our spirit, soul, and body.

I love you!

Doug out....

Planning for the Future?

In Christ I have an everlasting Foundation!


Proverbs 10:25 says

25 When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting foundation

I want you to not only have this foundation, I also want you to know what this foundation is so that you will rest upon it, strap yourself to it, and depend upon its strength when your challenges come.

What does this foundation look like? How does it satisfy? I'll tell you.

It looks like acceptance. It feels like security. It produces significance.

As an introduction to God’s love for us, it is worth looking at two people who lived in contrast to God’s foundation. This is a very interesting story from the Bible.

Check out this link to begin:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2021%20;&version=65

We have just read about Ahab, Jezebel, and their own self-indulgence, their own plans to get at something they thought they must have! We have seen that by their “needs” they were completely undone, with no hope of redemption.

What would it have looked like if Ahab and Jezebel had received and understood an everlasting foundation in God? Well, we don't know that for sure but we do know what it actually did look like for them without this foundation.

Let’s look at our relationship to God through Christ in contrast to Ahab’s relationship to God based on his own desires.

In Christ:

We are 100% accepted – To contrast, Ahab’s offer was rejected by Naboth. Ahab could not deal with this rejection. What came out of Ahab when he was rejected? Was it grace? Far from it. Ahab's result: anger, defeat, depression, and finally murder.

In Christ, we can learn that no matter what our plans are, even if they are not supported by God’s will, we are still not rejected. God still accepts us and will lead us from our inferior plan to His greater plan.

We are 100% secure. Naboth not only declined the offer to sell his land but his decline shook Ahab’s already shaky confidence in himself as King of Israel. His security in his position as the king was shattered.

He felt slighted – no matter Naboth’s reasons
He felt disrespected – no matter how humbly Naboth declined his offer.

What was the result of Ahab feeling disrespected, rejected, and slighted? Did he respond with kingly grace? No, not in the least. Ahab's response was to turn these feelings inwardly and to respond with anger and then, depression...

Having the grace of God gives me power to live, power to press on in Him. This same grace also gives me the confidence that no matter where I find myself - in the good or bad graces of others - I am more willing to give grace because my security is found in God, not people or things.

In Christ:

We are 100% significant. It would appear that Ahab needed more than just being King of all Israel to be satisfied that he was actually significant. It is interesting to note isn’t it? All of his power as ruler still did not bring him true significance.

Ahab, to fulfill his need for something greater, needed possession of things that others thought valuable, things he did not have.

Therefore, we see his inexplicable need for acquiring another vineyard.... Another vineyard?

Had Ahab secured this vineyard do you think he would have been satisfied - fulfilled?

Now I am assured that there is not one individual reading these words that has not had

· some type of need
· some type of desire
· some type of want

Whether this “requirement for our life” was physical, mental, emotional or material, we have all had some of these needs, desires, and wants rejected, defeated, or unfulfilled.

What I have, what you have as a Christian is something Ahab did not have.

I have the grace of God to still have these issues, wants, needs, and desires that I have deemed as important not come to pass in my life. I have the stregth, then to still have hope; still have peace; still have joy.

I have, you have:

The grace of Jesus
The power of Jesus
The presence of Jesus in our lives ---

all combined to overcome these rejections and defeats.

We can live in an awareness of a relationship with Christ and experience God’s love, peace, and joy no matter the situation.

So, no matter what whirlwind blows our way, we have a strong Foundation! Our Foundation in our identity is not based upon what we see in the mirror, hear from others, nor is it dependant on our circumstances or feelings. But, the identity of who we are in Christ grounds us and then strengthens us through every heartache or storm.

So, we can see that Ahab desperately needed a foundation, too, don’t we? We see that Ahab needed a relationship with God and an understanding of what that relationship meant for his life.

Ahab desperately needed to know the love of God, no matter his position and no matter his crime.

Wouldn't you like to realize for yourself what Ahab never truly received for himself?

The purpose God has given for this ministry is simply:

"Getting you ready for what God has next..."

You see the fact of knowing who we are in Christ is the foundation of getting folks ready for what God has next.

As we help each other to get this down, we also will see that during the process of learning of our identity we also need balance.

Just because we are 100% Accepted, 100% Secure, 100% Significant, God does not necessarily approve of everything we do.

God can not approve of what we do outside of His will. Why? God knows that the wage of our sin is death, an eternal seperation from God and His love. You can see that in the lives of Ahab and Jezebel.... having no relationship and no foundation gave them no hope but themselves.

How about you and I as Christians .... Does that apply to us?

Well, we will not experience eternal death: Once again, we are completely and eternally accepted, secure, and significant in Christ.

Consider this, though. Sin can either be something we do or something we should have done but didn’t do. And, sin's wages, or payment, brings death. If not eternal death for the Christian, what types of death in this life can it bring?

There are many different kinds of death –

- Death of a dream
- Death of a marriage
- Death of a job
- Death of a friendship
- Death of a strong witness of God’s love.

And these emotional and spiritual deaths linger longer, sting deeper, and may bring even greater mourning than those deaths that come from physical death.

That weighs out the question, "The wages of sin coming out of not surrendering to

-our identity in Christ

-to the reality of Christ
-to the power of Christ
-and the presence of Christ ----

what are the wages of this sin here and now?"

The wages of this sin will be

• staying where you are
• never moving forward
• never getting into God’s will

Never getting to what God has planned next in your life.

So, what will we do? Where can we start today?

Lets take an inventory.... an inventory of one or two things that have continued to reflect the death of a life without Christ, even though you may be "in Christ."

Thinking on these things, pray with me, asking God for the faith you need to surrender these things to him and to stand on the Foundation He has given us as His children in Christ.


Father,

I know that sin in my life has cheated me of everything that you wanted for me.
I know that when knowing your will but still wanting mine, I have denied myself all of you and your abundance and denied you of having pleasure in me seeing your love and plans fulfilled. I ask you to bring to my remembrance, daily, who Christ is for me and who He wants to be through me. I know that I shall at some point surely fail you. But I thank you in knowing that you will never fail in me. Amen