Whatever Happened To Sin? Part 3

There are many cultural myths about what God really says and doesn’t say about sin and human nature.

Myth #1 is that most people think they are good. NOT TRUE!

Myth #2 is that all sins are the same. THEY ARE NOT!

The third cultural myth says:

Since I’ve already done it, i might as well keep doing it. OF COURSE NOT! You can’t just say, Well I'm not a virgin anymore so I might as well keep on sleeping around. NO. Or, I cheated and didn't get caught and it seemed to help me so I might as well do it again. NO WAY. Or, I already looked at pornography so might as well do it again. NO WAY JOSE’.

Anyway isn’t God going to forgive me? God’s grace isn’t a loophole for us to wiggle out of so we can keep on sinning. If you believe that then you do not truly understand God’s grace or how serious God is about sin. Sin is serious business.

Evidently, a couple of thousand years ago, that problem was just a real as it is today because the Apostle Paul asked the same pressing and relevant question in Romans 6:1.

…”Should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ² Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

On a cross Jesus died for our sins. That’s how serious God is about sin.

I believe that the most miserable people in the world are not non-Christians, the most miserable people in the world are Christians who continue to live in sin.

Tomorrow we will see that as followers of Him we have died to sin and we’ll learn of the power God gives us to overcome the temptations we have that always precedes our sinful actions.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Whatever Happened To Sin? Part 2

There are many cultural myths about what God really says and doesn’t say about sin and human nature.

Myth #1 is that most people think they are pretty good.

Myth #2 is that all sins are the same.

You hear this all the time; “Who are you to judge me, what I'm doing is no worse than what you're doing. All sin is the same.”

Romans 6:23, "for the wages of sin is death…". Now don't miss this, all unforgiven sin leads to eternal death, period. Any type of sin, any type of unforgiven sin leads to death. What we need to understand is the Bible doesn't teach that all sin is the same.

The Apostle Paul says this about sexual sin. “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body." 1 Corinthians 6:18

He says run from sexual sin. Why, because no other sin so clearly affects the body as this one. In other words, there are different consequences to this sin than there would be to other ones. He says sexual immorality is a sin against your own body and your body was purchased by the shed blood of Jesus, so flee sexual sin.

Don't think it doesn’t matter what you do as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. God never said that.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Whatever Happened To Sin? Part 1

There are many cultural myths about what God really says and doesn’t say about sin and human nature.

Myth #1 is that most people think they are pretty good. We say,” I'm not a bad person; like most people I’m basically good, I may make some mistakes but I'm not a bad person” The only problem with that is in reality is this is simply not true. Here’s what the Bible says:

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8

If we compare ourselves to other people, we may be tempted to say I'm not really bad because we can always find someone much worse." Other people are not the standard to which we are compared. When we compare ourselves to a holy and a perfect God, we fall so far short.

The evangelist Ray Comfort is known for talking to people on the street and asking them these questions. I just want to ask you some questions right now.

Have ever told a lie? If you have then you are a liar.

Have ever stolen something? Then you are a thief.

Have you ever looked lustfully at somebody? Jesus tells us that if we even look at someone lustfully then it’s as if we have already committed adultery.

That makes you a lying, thieving adulterer. Welcome to the club; we are not good people; we are all sinful at our core. In fact scripture teaches us this, …”There is no one righteous, not even one”. Romans 3:10

We are all sinful in the eyes of God and that is why the One without sin, Jesus Christ, came to give his life for us.

Tomorrow we will look at a second myth about sin.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

My Grace Is Sufficient For You

God never said He wouldn’t give you more than you can handle. As a matter of fact He wants us to admit our weakness and rely upon Him.

In the New Testament the apostle Paul was burdened in what he describes as a “thorn in his side”. No one knows exactly if it was a physical, emotional or spiritual ailment but he begged God three different times God to take this affliction away. Paul records the response he received from the Lord in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” …For when I am weak, then I am strong."

The power of God is made perfect when you come to the end of your own strength, admit your weakness and turn to God. Satan wants you to believe that God won’t give you more than you can handle.God never said that! The truth is, God often allows you to have more than you can handle so that you learn to depend on Him. It is in our weakness when we surrender to the all powerful will of God that we are made strong in and through him.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Tonight (Friday) Celebration Community Church presents Grace Unplugged. Grace Unplugged is a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success. Grace Unplugged is being featured as a part of 98.5 The TRUTH’s Free Family Fun Flix offered monthly at Celebration Community Church.

Showtime is 7:05pm and admission, popcorn and pop are free.

TOMORROW (Saturday) 10:30am at the Shooting Range behind the church.

NEXT STEPS THIS WEEKEND following each service.

Come find out what it means to be a member of C3.

RSVP on the C3hays app.

Cast ALL Your Cares On Him

Well intentioned people may when trying to comfort you when you are feeling overwhelmed, “God will never give you any more than you can handle”. The problem with that statement is that it isn’t true. This week so far we have learned that God will often give us more than we can handle to teach us to put something down, to encourage us to hand something off, and trust that we are to give everything to Him. How do you do that? Psalm 55:22 tells us that we are to “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you” …

The Hebrew word translated as cast, is a word that means to cast like a fishing line. It means to hurl. It means to throw as far away from us as possible. We are not to carry our cares and burdens, we are to hurl them to the feet of the cross of Christ. So, if you are carrying a burden, if you have more than you can handle, then take this Godly advice. Put something down… Give something away…and Cast ALL your cares on God.

Let God take it, because He wants to. Cast your cares on Him, because He cares for you. Cast your cares upon Him because He cares so much that He died on a cross for you and He will carry you through when you’ve got more than you can handle.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

This Friday night Celebration Community Church presents Grace Unplugged. Grace Unplugged is a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success. Grace Unplugged is being featured as a part of 98.5 The TRUTH’s Free Family Fun Flix offered monthly at Celebration Community Church.

Showtime is 7:05pm and admission, popcorn and pop are free.

SATURDAY 10:30am at the Shooting Range behind the church

NEXT STEPS THIS WEEKEND following each service.

Come find out what it means to be a member of C3.

RSVP on the C3hays app.

Overworked & Overwhelmed

After leading as many as 2 million people out of slavery in Egypt Moses became overwhelmed from seeing the people from morning until evening wanting advice, settling their arguments, giving them counsel and direction, and his life was falling apart because he believed he could do it all.

I am sure others told him, “Moses, God has called you to do this" and… “God will never give you more than you can handle.” That’s just not true. Jethro, his father-in-law, spoke truth to him by saying:

"What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone." Exodus 18:17-18

So Jethro gave him some good advice. He said, “Go find some Godly men, some people whose word is good that they can’t be bought. They are people of integrity, and have some oversee thousands of people, and have another group under them oversee hundreds, another group oversee fifties, another group oversee ten." In other words hand some things off, because God did not design you to do it all.

God often gives you too much to teach you to put something down and to hand something off.

The problem is many of us are too full of pride to actually do that. We don’t want to give the appearance that we can’t handle it. Sometimes we say, “It’s just easier to do it myself than to teach someone else to help me.”

It’s time to put something down. It’s time to hand something off. This is what Moses did. He delegated a lot by handing some things off and Jethro said of this:

"That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you…you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." Exodus 18:22-23

Let us learn from Moses. Put something down, hand something off, and tomorrow we will look at a third way to lighten your load because God never said he would not give you any more than you can handle.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

This Friday night Celebration Community Church presents Grace Unplugged. It’s the story of a talented young singer/songwriter's Christian faith and family ties that are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom. Grace Unplugged is a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success. Grace Unplugged is being featured as a part of 98.5 The TRUTH’s Free Family Fun Flix offered monthly at Celebration Community Church.

Showtime is 7:05pm and admission, popcorn and pop are free.

SATURDAY 10:30 at the Shooting Range behind the church

THIS WEEKEND following each service.

Come find out what it means to be a member of C3.

RSVP on the C3hays app.

Don’t Say AND --- Say OR

Scripture NEVER SAYS that God will never give us more than we can handle. God will often give us too much to handle. Why? Because He wants to teach us to depend on something besides ourselves.

Three things God’s word teaches us to put something down.

There is a classic story in the New Testament, when Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha. Martha thought that she could do it all. She thought she could have cook the meal, clean the house, put out all of the niceties and then later on she could spend time with Jesus. “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" Luke 10:40

Like so many of us, Martha was overwhelmed, trying to do it all.

Jesus responded to her by saying "Martha, Martha,you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42

When you are feeling overwhelmed and you are facing more than you can handle you need to earn to say one of two things. You have to learn to say “OR” instead of “AND”.

Most people today say, “Well, I can do this, AND this, AND this, AND this,” I can be a super wife AND mom AND a working professional AND a soccer mom AND a church leader AND a volunteer in the community AND this, AND that AND this AND that.

When you are facing more than you can handle don’t say AND, say “OR”. I can do this OR that, this OR that.

Just because you think you could do it all does not mean God has called you to do it all. Instead of adding to your “to do” list, most people think that highly productive people do more. Instead of adding more to your “to do” list, maybe you should add some things to your “to don’t” list.

Tomorrow we will look at being able to handle more by delegating things to others.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

This Friday night Celebration Community Church presents Grace Unplugged. It’s the story of a talented young singer/songwriter's Christian faith and family ties that are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom. Grace Unplugged is a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success. Grace Unplugged is being featured as a part of 98.5 The TRUTH’s Free Family Fun Flix offered monthly at Celebration Community Church.

Showtime is 7:05pm and admission, popcorn and pop are free. Grace Unplugged this Friday at Celebration Community Church.

SATURDAY 10:30 at the Shooting Range behind the church

THIS WEEKEND following each service.

Come find out what it means to be a member of C3.

RSVP on the C3hays app.