Resurrection Day

            Well, Easter is this weekend and it’s been making me think a lot about death and life. Out of all the holidays in the world Easter is my favorite because it is when we celebrate the death and, more importantly, resurrection of our Savior. Christ’s death and resurrection is essential to our Christian faith. Not only is it (The Gospel) the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16) but also it is a beautiful reminder of how as Christians we are united with Him in His death and resurrection. Romans 6:3-5 says,

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” (NASB)

        This is the power of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior! Dying, He destroyed our death. Rising, He restored our life! The beauty of what Jesus did by being crucified, buried, and resurrected on the third day is that by His death we have died, and by His resurrection we can also walk in newness of life! No longer slaves to sin but living now as instruments of righteousness (Romans 6:13).

        Because He died WE died. And because He lives WE live! Remember this truth this weekend as we celebrate Resurrection Day.

Dead to Sin/Alive in Christ

Do you have a bank account? Do you have a debit card linked to that account? With our debit cards we buy groceries, gas, food… ps3’s. You know. The essentials. I believe as Christians we sometimes have the tendency to use a card. But it’s not a debit card. It’s not a MasterCard. And it’s not a Visa Card. It’s a little thing we sometimes carry around in our back pocket. I like to call it the Grace Card.

We have a warped mindset by thinking that we can do whatever we want because our sins are forgiven. When we cheat on a test. Swipe the grace card and all is forgiven. Lie to our parents. Swipe the grace card. Have lustful thoughts. Swipe the grace card. Paul addresses this issue in Romans 6:1 by saying “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” (NASB)

The issue is not “Are we forgiven when we sin?” because we know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). Praise God there IS grace when we stumble and fall! And believe me we WILL stumble. The truth is that grace WILL increase as Paul makes mention of in Rom 6:1. However, the issue really comes down to a simple truth. No one can be both dead and alive at the same time. Of course, we can be and are called to be dead to sin but alive in Christ, but we are fools if we think we can be dead to sin and still be alive and living IN sin.

In verse 1 Paul is asking if we should just continue in sin knowing that we’ll be forgiven. He adamantly responds in verse 2 with “NO WAY!” because he understands and is trying to convey to us the concept of being dead to sin and alive in Christ.

            People who have passed from this life no longer do the things people who are alive do. Likewise, we who are alive in Christ should no longer do the things that those who are still dead in their sins do. We are dead to sin. How can we possibly live in it?

Get the Word in You

         The Lord has been teaching me a lot lately and I wanted to share some thoughts with you. Bible Studies, Pastors, and Youth Pastors are always saying how we, as believers, need to get in the Word of God. Read it daily. While we absolutely must get in the Word in order to grow in our relationship with Christ and grow in our respect to our salvation (1 Peter 2:2), it is also of utmost importance that the Word gets in us. That we meditate on the scriptures and memorize God's Word. I think so many times we neglect this as believers. I teach a guys purity Bible Study every Tuesday night and we've been talking a lot about this concept. We all go through struggles and temptations and we cannot get through them alone. We need each other and, more importantly, we need the Word of God in order to get through life's troubles and to keep us from sin. The Psalmist said "I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You" (Psalm 119:11).
        The guys in my Bible study have been memorizing Psalm 1 and I'd encourage you to do the same. It's only 6 verses and it shows the contrast between the righteous and the wicked so you can break the chapter into two sections to help you memorize it.
       James is my favorite Book in the Bible and I've decided to memorize it. So far, I've memorized the first chapter and I can't begin to tell you the difference it has made in my walk with the Lord! I say this not to get a high five or a pat on the back but to encourage you in that Scripture memory is not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. I have never been diagnosed but I'm SURE if I went to a Doctor he would tell me I have A.D.D, A.D.H.D and all the other D's...And I'm telling you right now that if I can memorize scripture...so can you! After all, we memorize things every day right? Lines from our favorite TV shows, movie quotes, and songs...and the reality is that the more we watch those TV shows or listen to those songs the easier it is to memorize them right? It's the same with scripture. The more we read it the easier it is to memorize it.
       If you're not reading God's Word daily I hope that you will begin today, and if you're not committing His Word to memory I hope this blog encourages you to start.
Remember, it's one thing to get in the Word. It's a whole new level of intimacy with Christ when His Word gets in us.