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Romans 6:1-14
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can download our service on iTunes or tune in for “The Good Word” each day on AM 1230 WSAL or on Hoosier Country 103.7 FM just after 8am. There are 3 truths involved in most relationships with others.
- We choose the people with whom we establish personal relationships;
- we are responsible for maintaining the relationship;
- we determine the quality/level of the relationship. How we interact with the other person determines how strong, intimate, and detailed the relationship becomes, and how long it stays intact.
Establishing, a personal relationship with Almighty God is similar, except
- God chooses with whom He has a personal relationship;
- God is responsible for maintaining the relationship;
- He sets the criteria that determines the quality of the relationship. And there is a 4th truth concerning a personal relationship with God, and that is
- the relationship is eternal. We learn these truths from the Biblical doctrines of election, calling and adoption.
Our response to and cooperation with God in allowing Him to conform us into Christ’s image determines the quality of the fellowship we have with God. Fellowship is the way the relationship expresses itself through the lives of those involved. God has given us very clear criteria we must follow if our fellowship with Him is to be dynamic, thriving, inviting and growing. We learn what that criteria is in the Biblical doctrine of sanctification. As one theologian explains: Sanctification is the progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and more and more like Christ in our actual lives. Another way of saying this that is more practical is to say sanctification is: the gradual and progressive influence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life that causes them to exchange unrighteousness for righteousness in their daily living. You have also heard sanctification defined as “separation” or “setting apart”. It is only to the degree we allow God to be the Sovereign Ruler of all parts of our lives that we become more and more like Christ. The only way to become more like Christ is to allow The Holy Spirit to influence us to obey all of God’s Word. Obedience is simply doing what God says, the way He says, when He says. An unsaved or unredeemed heart can’t submit to God and His Word because it is unable to let anyone else, especially God, be first or be in control. Sin can’t, and won’t allow humility! It is possible for a person to be a true Christian with much evidence of their salvation and love for Christ in their daily living, but have not come to the point in their life where they feel that can trust God to teach them humility. These people are not legalists or hypocrites, they are true men and women of God who, for some reason, have not come to the point in their Christian life where they are able to let others either show or teach them a different way to do something. Normally, such people are not arrogant or rude, they just have to do everything their way. They are telling their brothers and sisters in Christ, please be patient with me; I love my Savior, I am just struggling in this one area of sanctification. You can pray that God will open a door for you, or they will come to you and ask you to pray with/for them as they learn to trust God in that area of their life.
If we can help you with your spiritual questions, call us at 574-643-9419.
