It's Been A While

It's been a while since I posted, but I'm back. We have had some technical issues. Our internet host went away, so we had to scramble a bit. Now we're hosting our own site, and that makes the geek in me proud. I also changed the blog hosting to Blogger so that we could take advantage of the cool templates. I know that this has been an inconvenience to some (thanks for the phone calls), but I hope that's behind us and now we're off to the races.

OK, the picture. I bought a bike. I'm pumped! I haven't had a motorcycle since...well along time ago...so I'm getting back to it. Yesterday I rode with Caleb (my motorcycle pal he says) for about 2 hours. Then I rode with Alissa for just under 2 hours. I won't always have that kind of time, but it was nice for today.

Also on yesterday, I baptized Curtis and Tonia. They were nervous and excited. I know I baptized Curtis, but I'm pretty sure Tonia baptized herself. We had a house full even with several families out, and heard a wonderful message from Mark Keaton on Propitiation - It is finished. The message, the baptism, and the Lord's supper made the day one of the highlights of my life (yes, my life). I'd love to do that every Sunday.

Mark's message was a great reminder that God hates sin. We tend to forget that. We'd like to make a god in our own image - one who gives a disappointed look at sin, but then overlooks it. May we never forget that God's anger (wrath) burns toward sinners. Scripture is full of examples of this. And I looked for the verse that said, "God changed his policy." But it does not exist. God Still Hates Sin.

We also saw in the message that God's wrath was poured out at Calvary on Jesus Christ. The anger that burned against sin was poured out on Christ in my place and in place of everyone who believes and receives Jesus as Savior and Lord. Praise be to God that "whosoever believeth in Him" will never know the wrath of God because Jesus Christ absorbed that for us on the cross.

That brings me to a question that I received last week. Carlene asked about IITim 2:15. Specifically "not needing to be ashamed". Sometimes we feel ashamed, but does that verse tell us that we should never be ashamed? Well, that verse is not speaking to the shame we may feel over sin, but rather how we handle God's word. But I'd like to address the shame we feel over sin.

I have heard so many say, "Pastor, you don't know what I've done." They feel that thier particular sins from their BC days (before Christ) make them a second-class Christian. Or that God will forgive them, but He will never allow them to forget the aweful life they used to live. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Coming to Christ in Salvation does require repentance (turning from a life of sin to Jesus Christ), and repentance is a regular and normal practice throughout life for the Christian. So let's understand that we should understand God and His Holiness better and better, which will give us an increasing disgust for our own sin. We should repent of that sin and turn away from it. This will not always be seen by others, but each Christian should see a marked difference in the kind of sin, the amount of sin, the frequency of sin, and the ability to live comfortably with sin.
Once we turn from sin, we confess (1 John 1:9 involves repentance, and if you're leaving out that aspect of "confession" then there's no promise in the verse for you), God forgives our sin (He's faithful and just). Then we can leave that sin with Christ - It's over. The wrath of God for that event in our life was poured out on Calvary - Jesus paid it all. So is it over?

more to come...