A New Master (Rom 8) (Apr.13, 2008)
Message Notes: Romans M3
Text: Romans 8:5-13
Title: A New Master
Big Idea: When we are in a relationship with Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but servants of Christ.
How many of you have seen Steven Spielberg’s movie Amistad?
It’s based on actual historic events.
Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling to the East Coast of North America in the 1830s. It is carrying a cargo of once free Africans who have been abducted and sold into slavery. The conditions are absolutely horrible for the slaves and the captain has had 10 to 15 African men thrown overboard to lighten the ships load. Then Cinque, who was a tribal leader in Africa, breaks free of his chains and leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. They continue to sail, hoping to find their way back to Africa. After two months circling at sea, the ship is captured off the East Coast of our continent and the Africans are put trial on for rebelling against the crew.
Show the movie clip:
There’s a deep cry in the human spirit to be set free….
We human beings long to be set free from tyranny outside of ourselves as we saw in Cinque’s plea, but we also long to be free from tyranny within ourselves.
We long to be free from the things that imprison us from within:
Free from the tyranny of temptations that pulls us away God and into the worst parts of ourselves…
Free from tyranny of things that bring short-term pleasures, but leave us feeling emptier than before…
Free from the tyranny of bitterness, guilt, or shame
Free tyranny of fear and insecurity…
In the movie clip we saw Cinque, the slave, browsing a book containing pictures of a holy man who suffered much, was executed, returned from the dead, and showed people who were suffering the way to freedom in the kingdom of God. Without ever having heard a sermon, the slave finds hope in Jesus. Through the film, Cinque notices at various times the cross around him, and it brings him powerful hope.
The cross can bring us hope to.
In a mysterious way we will never fully understand, when Jesus Christ was nailed to that Roman cross we were set free.
How so?
One of things Jesus’ death on the cross sets us free from is our sin nature.
When Jesus died on the cross--our sin nature, our shadow side, was also nailed to that cross with him.
When we will give our lives over to Christ, the Bible tells in places like Romans 6 that our sin nature, our shadow side, is crucified with Jesus Christ.
Part of what this means is that our sin nature, our shadow side, though not dead, like a boxer severely weakened by his opponent’s punch, does not have the same power to be able to dominate us as it did before.
When we give our lives over to Jesus Christ, we are transferred from being part of the family of Adam and Eve, our ancient forbears who sinned in the Garden of Eden and from we inherited the sin virus, to being in the family of God. When we give our lives to Christ, we are move from the position of being under the power of sin to being set free. When we give our lives to Christ, we are taken from a place which the Bible describes as being “in the flesh” (which means vulnerable to all kinds of temptations to sin) to being in the Spirit.
That is why Paul says in Romans 8:1 that “those who are no longer in the realm of Adam, but in the realm of Christ, experience no condemnation” because those who are in Christ have experienced the forgiveness of sins, but the crucifying of their sin nature, and a new life that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit.
(transition) Then as Paul continues through Romans 8, he calls to think and live in way that consistent with our new status in being in Christ and our new nature… and Spirit.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Romans 8:5
In Romans 8:5-13, Paul says:
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind controlled by the sinful nature [a] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The sinful mind [b] is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not controlled by the sinful nature but are in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life [c] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of [d] his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
In verses 5 and 6, the Apostle Paul is contrasting the person who is in the realm of Adam (the person who does not know Christ and under power of sin) to the person who is in Christ.
Paul says the person in Adam lives according to their sinful nature.
The person in Christ, however, lives in a way which is consistent with what the Holy Spirit desires. In verses 9 and 10, Paul makes it very clear that if we are in Christ we are not controlled by our sinful nature, but by the Spirit of God.
Now some of us may object here and say, “But I know some people who are not connected to God, but they are pretty good people.” And some of us might say, “In fact, before I began a journey with God, I too was a pretty good person.”
In the past a couple of weeks ago, I’ve said if we define sin only in dramatic terms such as doing drugs or sleeping around or stealing or murdering people, we may not regard ourselves as sinners. But as Soren Kierkegaard rightly points out in his book, Sickness Unto Death, the essence of sin is to put our identity or security in something or someone other than God. We intuitively know that we are made to put something other than ourselves at the centre of our existence, we know that the centre of our solar system ought to be God or something greater than ourselves. But we tend to build our identity on our achievement—achievements around work, or school, or pleasure, on money, or on a human being, on a family. The essence of sin is to build our lives on something or someone other than God. It’s human nature do that and when we do that we break the first, and most important commandment of having no God, but God…having no idols.
When a person truly gives their life over to Christ, their life become less centered on themselves and more centered on God. If we are in a relationship with Christ, we will also find that the power of sin is broken in our lives, that we are no longer under its power in the same way, but under the power of Christ and led by the Holy Spirit.
What Paul is saying in Romans 8 is this: If Christ is really in you, then your sin nature has dealt a lethal blow and the Holy Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead (vs. 11) is alive in you, giving new life to you. Therefore, he says in verse 12, we have an obligation to live not in compliance with our old sinful nature, if you live according to it, we’ll experience death, but we have a call to live in consistent of the Holy Spirit who lives with in.
A highly respected commentator on the book of Romans, Tom Wright, gives us a concrete image of what it is like to be controlled by Christ, as opposed to by flesh. I am going to paraphrase his illustration.
Imagine that you don’t have a lot of money—you are just barely scraping by financially and you find yourself renting an inexpensive apartment. It is a “hole in the wall,” but the only place you can afford. You discover that your landlord turns out to be a real bully. He barges into your apartment and demands that you pay extra money for heat when it is supposed to be included in the rent money, but he is so hostile and intimidating that you cave in and pay the extra money for the heating even though supposed to be included in the rent cost. And you really can’t afford to do that. Not only does he charge you extra but he also demands that, because you are paying such little rent for the apartment, you need to help him with him with various tasks in the building (doing some of the accounting work, doing some of the gardening). Again, this is not in the contract, but because your landlord is so intimidating, and so prone to violent outbursts, you cave and you do it. But what bothers you most of all is that the landlord has a habit of barging into your apartment while you are taking a shower, and keeps pressuring that you offer some sexual favors because you are getting a good deal for this little studio. You seem to be stuck. You do not have the money to move anywhere else and the only alternative seems to be that you would be sleeping in a park somewhere.
And then to your great relief, a wealthy aunt of yours discovers your plight and transfers several thousand dollars to your account so you can pay off whatever rent remains on your apartment and you find a new place. You pay off your obligation to your landlord…you owe your land lord nothing; you find a new apartment, nicer, cleaner, more spacious than before.
But to your horror, a few days later, the old landlord, shows up at your new apartment and barges in. He is angry and demands that you pay him more money and that you help him with some of the accounting work that he needs to get done. You are strongly tempted to do some of what he demands—to do some of that accounting work, just to get him off your back. But you know that you are not his tenant any more. You have seen the paper work. You have seen the final bill. Nothing more is owed. Perhaps you are trembling, but you get up and tell him to leave…to go home…he has no claim over you.
And what Paul is saying in Romans 6, 7 and 8 is that now you are in Christ, remember that you are no longer under the power of sin, but that you have been set free by Christ. You are no longer in Adam. You are in Christ. You are no longer under the power of the flesh, but under the power of the Holy Spirit within you. You have a new landlord and master—Jesus Christ.
You are free from the domination of sin which is a priceless gift… through the power of cross and the Holy Spirit…
Like actual slave who are set free in history, at first you may not really believe you’re free, but if you are connected to Christ you are free… you under the power Spirit..
You are no longer a slave to (fill in the blank) _________ whatever may have defined you in the past…you are no longer a slave to lust, anger, bitterness and their twins shame, guilt, self-doubt, fear… you are free…
If you belong to Christ, your sin nature, your dark side is not your master, it has been crucified with Christ, severely weakened… they are not your masters… you are filled with the Holy Spirit… When you are tempted to do something… you can say to yourself it is not my nature to do that…
You are no longer a slave to whatever may have defined you from you family tree… some kind of abuse…. Some kind of pathology.
When the governor of New York Eliot Spitzer was busted for his soliciting… high end prostitutes, racking up fees of $80,000, my wife and I talked about it… Could I be tempted to become a client of the Emperor’s Club VIP….? I said if I get an $80,000 invoice you’d better ask me about it… As I look at my family tree, I see powerful and influential men, who thought they were entitled to have extra-martial relationships… I could rationalize this kind of behavior is part of my “family genetic inheritance”, but I am now in Christ, so I say to myself, to myself, that is not who I am… to act that way, would be not consistent with my new nature in Christ… My new nature is to be faithful to God and to one I’ve promised to be faithful to.
We are free…
Let’s a take a moment to pray: Do you need to say to yourself in the presence of God, I am free from __________. It doesn’t mean you’ll never be tempted and that you’ll never struggle and succumb, but perhaps in this holy moment to you to declare are free from _____________.
We have been freed from the old slave master of sin, but not just that, we have been delivered to a new master who purposes for us are good… and enobbling…
In Romans 6:17 Paul says:
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance (cross the Spirit). 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
When our lives are joined to Christ’s our sin nature been crucified are filled with the Holy Spirit and it is our new nature to love and serve this new master, Jesus Christ… we can be made new.
Wayne Codeiro is a pastor who serves in Hawaii and who encouraged me as I was beginning my work here Tenth.
Wayne says “When I was dating my wife, Anna, one thing I admired about her was her love for sports. I love sports too, but there are two sports I don't like. Forgive me if you like these, but I don't.
The first is bowling. I can't understand it. You pick up this cannonball and throw it on this beautiful maple floor that's tilted. And it goes down and disappears, thank goodness. All of a sudden—swbump!—it comes back again. You throw that thing down again, and it goes down and disappears. All of a sudden—swbump!—it comes back. All night you're trying to get rid of it. Finally when you're done and you try to leave, they make you pay for throwing that ball down on the ground. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
The other is roller-skating: four wheels, none of them turn, and they expect you to go around in circles.
This is a true story. On our first date, I knocked on Anna's door. I was so excited. I said, "Where would you like to go tonight?" She said, "Do you like bowling?" And she picked up her own bowling ball. She had her own bag. Now, I was in love, so when she asked if I liked bowling, my answer was, "I love bowling." And we went bowling all night. We had a great time.
The next week I knocked on her door. I said, "Where would you like to go this week?" She picked up her skates. She said, "Do you like skating?" I said, "I've been waiting for months for someone to ask me go skating. I love skating." And we skated all night.
We’ve all been influenced to become new in some way because we’ve loved someone…
Falling in love with Sakiko has instilled a greater love for dogs and art because she loves both dogs and art… When my siblings were meeting Sakiko for the first time, and we were talking about dogs, one of my sisters, said “Ken, your not a dog lover.” I said, “I am now.” I’ve told Sakiko, as a single person, I could not imagine, using our vacation time to visit art galleries. But we did just that a couple of years ago. I enjoyed that.
When we have Christ as our master, we are made us new and we experience a new love for things….
This quote has been attributed to Father Pedro Arrupe…
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.
As become people who not only realize we are set free from sin, but who love Christ we can be made new…
Whether you are female or male…
Single or attached you can become a person whose first love is Jesus Christ…
And a person who is therefore free from sin and new in Christ.
(The seron can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio)
Text: Romans 8:5-13
Title: A New Master
Big Idea: When we are in a relationship with Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but servants of Christ.
How many of you have seen Steven Spielberg’s movie Amistad?
It’s based on actual historic events.
Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling to the East Coast of North America in the 1830s. It is carrying a cargo of once free Africans who have been abducted and sold into slavery. The conditions are absolutely horrible for the slaves and the captain has had 10 to 15 African men thrown overboard to lighten the ships load. Then Cinque, who was a tribal leader in Africa, breaks free of his chains and leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. They continue to sail, hoping to find their way back to Africa. After two months circling at sea, the ship is captured off the East Coast of our continent and the Africans are put trial on for rebelling against the crew.
Show the movie clip:
There’s a deep cry in the human spirit to be set free….
We human beings long to be set free from tyranny outside of ourselves as we saw in Cinque’s plea, but we also long to be free from tyranny within ourselves.
We long to be free from the things that imprison us from within:
Free from the tyranny of temptations that pulls us away God and into the worst parts of ourselves…
Free from tyranny of things that bring short-term pleasures, but leave us feeling emptier than before…
Free from the tyranny of bitterness, guilt, or shame
Free tyranny of fear and insecurity…
In the movie clip we saw Cinque, the slave, browsing a book containing pictures of a holy man who suffered much, was executed, returned from the dead, and showed people who were suffering the way to freedom in the kingdom of God. Without ever having heard a sermon, the slave finds hope in Jesus. Through the film, Cinque notices at various times the cross around him, and it brings him powerful hope.
The cross can bring us hope to.
In a mysterious way we will never fully understand, when Jesus Christ was nailed to that Roman cross we were set free.
How so?
One of things Jesus’ death on the cross sets us free from is our sin nature.
When Jesus died on the cross--our sin nature, our shadow side, was also nailed to that cross with him.
When we will give our lives over to Christ, the Bible tells in places like Romans 6 that our sin nature, our shadow side, is crucified with Jesus Christ.
Part of what this means is that our sin nature, our shadow side, though not dead, like a boxer severely weakened by his opponent’s punch, does not have the same power to be able to dominate us as it did before.
When we give our lives over to Jesus Christ, we are transferred from being part of the family of Adam and Eve, our ancient forbears who sinned in the Garden of Eden and from we inherited the sin virus, to being in the family of God. When we give our lives to Christ, we are move from the position of being under the power of sin to being set free. When we give our lives to Christ, we are taken from a place which the Bible describes as being “in the flesh” (which means vulnerable to all kinds of temptations to sin) to being in the Spirit.
That is why Paul says in Romans 8:1 that “those who are no longer in the realm of Adam, but in the realm of Christ, experience no condemnation” because those who are in Christ have experienced the forgiveness of sins, but the crucifying of their sin nature, and a new life that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit.
(transition) Then as Paul continues through Romans 8, he calls to think and live in way that consistent with our new status in being in Christ and our new nature… and Spirit.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Romans 8:5
In Romans 8:5-13, Paul says:
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind controlled by the sinful nature [a] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The sinful mind [b] is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not controlled by the sinful nature but are in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life [c] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of [d] his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
In verses 5 and 6, the Apostle Paul is contrasting the person who is in the realm of Adam (the person who does not know Christ and under power of sin) to the person who is in Christ.
Paul says the person in Adam lives according to their sinful nature.
The person in Christ, however, lives in a way which is consistent with what the Holy Spirit desires. In verses 9 and 10, Paul makes it very clear that if we are in Christ we are not controlled by our sinful nature, but by the Spirit of God.
Now some of us may object here and say, “But I know some people who are not connected to God, but they are pretty good people.” And some of us might say, “In fact, before I began a journey with God, I too was a pretty good person.”
In the past a couple of weeks ago, I’ve said if we define sin only in dramatic terms such as doing drugs or sleeping around or stealing or murdering people, we may not regard ourselves as sinners. But as Soren Kierkegaard rightly points out in his book, Sickness Unto Death, the essence of sin is to put our identity or security in something or someone other than God. We intuitively know that we are made to put something other than ourselves at the centre of our existence, we know that the centre of our solar system ought to be God or something greater than ourselves. But we tend to build our identity on our achievement—achievements around work, or school, or pleasure, on money, or on a human being, on a family. The essence of sin is to build our lives on something or someone other than God. It’s human nature do that and when we do that we break the first, and most important commandment of having no God, but God…having no idols.
When a person truly gives their life over to Christ, their life become less centered on themselves and more centered on God. If we are in a relationship with Christ, we will also find that the power of sin is broken in our lives, that we are no longer under its power in the same way, but under the power of Christ and led by the Holy Spirit.
What Paul is saying in Romans 8 is this: If Christ is really in you, then your sin nature has dealt a lethal blow and the Holy Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead (vs. 11) is alive in you, giving new life to you. Therefore, he says in verse 12, we have an obligation to live not in compliance with our old sinful nature, if you live according to it, we’ll experience death, but we have a call to live in consistent of the Holy Spirit who lives with in.
A highly respected commentator on the book of Romans, Tom Wright, gives us a concrete image of what it is like to be controlled by Christ, as opposed to by flesh. I am going to paraphrase his illustration.
Imagine that you don’t have a lot of money—you are just barely scraping by financially and you find yourself renting an inexpensive apartment. It is a “hole in the wall,” but the only place you can afford. You discover that your landlord turns out to be a real bully. He barges into your apartment and demands that you pay extra money for heat when it is supposed to be included in the rent money, but he is so hostile and intimidating that you cave in and pay the extra money for the heating even though supposed to be included in the rent cost. And you really can’t afford to do that. Not only does he charge you extra but he also demands that, because you are paying such little rent for the apartment, you need to help him with him with various tasks in the building (doing some of the accounting work, doing some of the gardening). Again, this is not in the contract, but because your landlord is so intimidating, and so prone to violent outbursts, you cave and you do it. But what bothers you most of all is that the landlord has a habit of barging into your apartment while you are taking a shower, and keeps pressuring that you offer some sexual favors because you are getting a good deal for this little studio. You seem to be stuck. You do not have the money to move anywhere else and the only alternative seems to be that you would be sleeping in a park somewhere.
And then to your great relief, a wealthy aunt of yours discovers your plight and transfers several thousand dollars to your account so you can pay off whatever rent remains on your apartment and you find a new place. You pay off your obligation to your landlord…you owe your land lord nothing; you find a new apartment, nicer, cleaner, more spacious than before.
But to your horror, a few days later, the old landlord, shows up at your new apartment and barges in. He is angry and demands that you pay him more money and that you help him with some of the accounting work that he needs to get done. You are strongly tempted to do some of what he demands—to do some of that accounting work, just to get him off your back. But you know that you are not his tenant any more. You have seen the paper work. You have seen the final bill. Nothing more is owed. Perhaps you are trembling, but you get up and tell him to leave…to go home…he has no claim over you.
And what Paul is saying in Romans 6, 7 and 8 is that now you are in Christ, remember that you are no longer under the power of sin, but that you have been set free by Christ. You are no longer in Adam. You are in Christ. You are no longer under the power of the flesh, but under the power of the Holy Spirit within you. You have a new landlord and master—Jesus Christ.
You are free from the domination of sin which is a priceless gift… through the power of cross and the Holy Spirit…
Like actual slave who are set free in history, at first you may not really believe you’re free, but if you are connected to Christ you are free… you under the power Spirit..
You are no longer a slave to (fill in the blank) _________ whatever may have defined you in the past…you are no longer a slave to lust, anger, bitterness and their twins shame, guilt, self-doubt, fear… you are free…
If you belong to Christ, your sin nature, your dark side is not your master, it has been crucified with Christ, severely weakened… they are not your masters… you are filled with the Holy Spirit… When you are tempted to do something… you can say to yourself it is not my nature to do that…
You are no longer a slave to whatever may have defined you from you family tree… some kind of abuse…. Some kind of pathology.
When the governor of New York Eliot Spitzer was busted for his soliciting… high end prostitutes, racking up fees of $80,000, my wife and I talked about it… Could I be tempted to become a client of the Emperor’s Club VIP….? I said if I get an $80,000 invoice you’d better ask me about it… As I look at my family tree, I see powerful and influential men, who thought they were entitled to have extra-martial relationships… I could rationalize this kind of behavior is part of my “family genetic inheritance”, but I am now in Christ, so I say to myself, to myself, that is not who I am… to act that way, would be not consistent with my new nature in Christ… My new nature is to be faithful to God and to one I’ve promised to be faithful to.
We are free…
Let’s a take a moment to pray: Do you need to say to yourself in the presence of God, I am free from __________. It doesn’t mean you’ll never be tempted and that you’ll never struggle and succumb, but perhaps in this holy moment to you to declare are free from _____________.
We have been freed from the old slave master of sin, but not just that, we have been delivered to a new master who purposes for us are good… and enobbling…
In Romans 6:17 Paul says:
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance (cross the Spirit). 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
When our lives are joined to Christ’s our sin nature been crucified are filled with the Holy Spirit and it is our new nature to love and serve this new master, Jesus Christ… we can be made new.
Wayne Codeiro is a pastor who serves in Hawaii and who encouraged me as I was beginning my work here Tenth.
Wayne says “When I was dating my wife, Anna, one thing I admired about her was her love for sports. I love sports too, but there are two sports I don't like. Forgive me if you like these, but I don't.
The first is bowling. I can't understand it. You pick up this cannonball and throw it on this beautiful maple floor that's tilted. And it goes down and disappears, thank goodness. All of a sudden—swbump!—it comes back again. You throw that thing down again, and it goes down and disappears. All of a sudden—swbump!—it comes back. All night you're trying to get rid of it. Finally when you're done and you try to leave, they make you pay for throwing that ball down on the ground. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
The other is roller-skating: four wheels, none of them turn, and they expect you to go around in circles.
This is a true story. On our first date, I knocked on Anna's door. I was so excited. I said, "Where would you like to go tonight?" She said, "Do you like bowling?" And she picked up her own bowling ball. She had her own bag. Now, I was in love, so when she asked if I liked bowling, my answer was, "I love bowling." And we went bowling all night. We had a great time.
The next week I knocked on her door. I said, "Where would you like to go this week?" She picked up her skates. She said, "Do you like skating?" I said, "I've been waiting for months for someone to ask me go skating. I love skating." And we skated all night.
We’ve all been influenced to become new in some way because we’ve loved someone…
Falling in love with Sakiko has instilled a greater love for dogs and art because she loves both dogs and art… When my siblings were meeting Sakiko for the first time, and we were talking about dogs, one of my sisters, said “Ken, your not a dog lover.” I said, “I am now.” I’ve told Sakiko, as a single person, I could not imagine, using our vacation time to visit art galleries. But we did just that a couple of years ago. I enjoyed that.
When we have Christ as our master, we are made us new and we experience a new love for things….
This quote has been attributed to Father Pedro Arrupe…
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.
As become people who not only realize we are set free from sin, but who love Christ we can be made new…
Whether you are female or male…
Single or attached you can become a person whose first love is Jesus Christ…
And a person who is therefore free from sin and new in Christ.
(The seron can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio)
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