 Wednesday Review - The Sons of God
(Romans 8:12-39)
Who are God’s Children?
It is often said that all of us are God’s children. President Obama recently said as much at a prayer breakfast, and many people say the same: all humanity are children of God. Is this true? Well, in a sense yes: in the sense that God created us in His likeness. Paul says this in Acts 17:28-29 when talking to the Greeks on Mars Hill – he was trying to explain that the true God could not possibly be like their gold, silver and stone idols, if we are in any way like Him. However, the Bible is clear that the only people that can call God Father are those that believe in His Son, Jesus. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name," (John 1:12)
The fact is that there is only one natural-born son of God: Jesus. God was His Father in every sense of the Word: remember that God, not Joseph, was Jesus’ biological Father. "The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
We on the other hand are natural-born enemies of God (5:10; Col 1:21). To become children of God, to be able to call Him “Father”, we must be adopted: "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”" (Romans 8:15)
To read the rest, click here.
Posted 3/9/2010
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FBI Class: Walking & Choosing
Learn about two important topics as you gain new Bible study skills. We will be using two 6 week Precept study guides, “How To Make Choices You Won’t Regret” and “How Do You Walk The Walk You Talk?”
Each pair of workbooks costs NCC $10 and these will belong to the student; we are asking students, where possible, to help with this cost by bringing $5 to class. You are welcome to participate and will get your books with or without the $5.
The young women will be meeting in Classroom F, the young men in Classroom C. The class is for 6th grade through 12th grade.
Updated 3/9/2010
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 Summer Retreat - Save the Date!
Friday – Sunday, June 11-13. This year’s youth ministry retreat will be held over three days right after school gets out. More details to come soon, but this will be an exciting retreat at a new location. Be sure to mark the dates on your calendar.
Posted 2/20/2010
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 The Sword of the Spirit
We recently spent two weeks learning that Christians are in the business of "putting to death the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13.) I'm keeping this posting up for a little while longer as this is the topic we are currently discussing in our small groups.
We need to be killing sin. But how?
- Avoid it!
- Sin is powerful - whenever possible, avoid the battle.
- "If sinners entice you, do not consent... do not walk in the way with them" Prov 1:10,15
- "Do not enter the path of the wicked And do not proceed in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on." (Proverbs 4:14-15)
- "Avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness," (2 Timothy 2:16)
- Sin takes you where you don't want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs more than you want to pay.
- Run!
- Run like Joseph did from Potiphar's wife (Gen 39)
- It is never too late to break away from the sin!
- Flee immorality (1 Cor 6:18), idolatry (1 Cor 10:14), greed (1 Tim 6:11), and lust (2 Tim 2:22)
- Hate it!
- Get mean about sin. It says it is fun, but it eats away at you. It ruins us - a Christian may not lose their salvation, but they will lose everything else through sin: holiness, character, their Christian witness, relationships, peace of mind...
- "Hate evil, you who love the Lord" (Psalm 97:10)
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13)
"Hate evil, love good" (Amos 5:15)
- "If your hand (foot, or eye) causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire." (Mark 9:43-47)
- Fight it!
- "The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another..." (Galatians 5:17)
- What weapon do we have for such all-out war?
- "...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Ephesians 6:17)
- We can only be killing sin "by the Spirit" (Rom 8:13)
- How does the Spirit help? Through the WORD OF GOD! He is the Spirit of truth (
Jn 14, 15,16).
- Too many of us leave our sword in the scabbard: week after week we refuse to draw out the Word of God for ourselves. How can we expect to fight, let alone win, if we don't go to Scripture?
- How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You." (Psalm 119:9-11)
Remember, as John Owen said a long time ago, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you."
Updated 3/9/2010
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