Messages with tag - Sin

Any way you spell it in the Greek, God's Word is clear we have peace with Him.

All believers are engaged in a cosmic spiritual battle. The conflict may not be within the obvious spheres of personal or physical enemies. Satan is our arch-enemy and inculcates his false system of thinking on the human race in various guises. At the core of Satan-promoted thinking is an assault on God’s authority. However, Satan is the master counterfeiter and disguises his false religions and philosophies with the robes of righteousness and light. This makes these systems attractive to our sin nature. Learn in this lesson the commonalities and dangers of Satan’s worldly thought systems that sabotage our reliance on the all-sufficiency of Christ and our spiritual growth.

Romans 5 is a transition from the foundation of justification to the working out of our salvation which Paul is using more in terms of spiritual growth. The barriers between God and man are legal (a penalty required), spiritual death as the consequence of that legal condemnation and man’s works of unrighteousness. How has this legal problem been solved? Is personal sin an issue in our salvation? What is the issue in our salvation? How did sin and death spread to the entire world? What is personal sin? If it doesn’t figure into salvation, how is it dealt with it in our lifetime? If we mistreat someone, why is confession directed to our legal authority and not all about that person we mistreated?

Like relationships within the Godhead, the divine institution of marriage is defined through roles, with equality in person and distinctness in role. Authority and submission are foundational. Without authority we are left on our own, doomed to failure in our relationship with God and every relationship that flows from that pattern. If the idea of submission makes you want to fight for control, look carefully at the submission of our Savior. Successful marriages function through roles God has prescribed. Circumstances, feelings and cultural trends don’t alter Truth. See the effective analogy of dance and marriage; success in marriage is a function of the correct application of authority and submission carried out within marriage’s unique framework of intimacy, love and respect.

The family is where the next generation is trained. Its health is related to the health of a society. Honoring parents shows humility and respect which is the essential response to authority. A leader must first learn to follow. Observe a child’s response to the parent of the opposite sex as an indicator of the way he will relate to his spouse. In Proverbs, verses concerning how to train children are practical guides of implementation. See the nature of Proverbs as wisdom sayings, not promises. Understand what it means to “train up a child” and when that begins. When is the “rod of correction” appropriate? What is the common starting point of every baby? Is discipline always negative? What is the direction of our culture regarding child rearing? How does discipline relate to God’s love for us? What was God’s ultimate expression of judicial punishment?