12 Dec Free means FREE!
Happy Tuesday again y’all!
Well…we’re in the short run toward Christmas and I hope you’ve got all your plans in place! I’m not sure I do yet…
In the meantime…let’s get to our end-of-year advent-ure in earnest!
- Zoom Bible Study Catch-up
Friday – 15th December 2023 @ 1:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83586782734 — Meeting ID: 835 8678 2734
This will be the last chance for 2023…so jump in now if you haven’t yet…We’ll recommence in February 2024.
- Sunday is a Morning Tea Sunday…We had such a great Christmas Morning Tea 2 weeks ago…this one’s a regular hang around & chat for a while & have a nibble or three.
- Christmas Worship (we’ll have some flyers this week for you to share with family & neighbours)
Sunday, 24th December – Christmas Eve Worship with Communion – 7:00 p.m. (we’re planning for this to be our regular outside worship so come comfortably dressed)
Monday, 25th December – Christmas Day Worship with Communion – 9:00 a.m.
Sunday, 31st December (yes that’s still technically the Christmas season…12 days and all that) – 10:00 a.m. as usual AND TWO Baptisms!
What a joyous way to finish 2023 & move toward 2024!
- Sunday, 7th January opens not just a New Year, but a new worship & teaching series: New Chapter – Jesus invites us to write a new chapter…to allow the Holy Spirit to write a new chapter in the story of our lives and embark on a new call & carry out the new work of sharing his love & living his life every day.
The Guilfoyles will also have a few days holidays here & there interspersed among all that great stuff but the Steering Team has matters well in hand. So please stay well y’all. I don’t want any emergency phone calls while I’m somewhere else.
I ran across something stunning again while I was reading in Romans over the weekend. Let me plop the verses in here & then think through it some…It’s Romans 8 so you can grab your Bible & catch the whole context if you’d like…in fact you really should…I’ll wait for you…
Paul opens this part of his letter like this: So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
There is no condemnation for all who live “in Christ,” literally baptized into his death & resurrection…that’s us. There is no sword dangling over our throats in case we step out of line, or some unpaid debt of sin we need to pay off before (or after) we die. We are free because of Christ & our being united with Him (literally becoming one with him) by our baptism into his death & resurrection. That’s all already ours in Christ!
Then to take that good news to its logical next step, we jump to verses 12-13: Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.
This is where freedom in Christ takes shape in our lives. Where the New Living translation reads “sinful nature,” Paul uses the Greek word, “flesh.” It’s the part of us Christ died to put to death. Our old selves, our flesh, our sinful nature, our sin-damaged self…However you want to picture it, what is dead in us is the broken part of human existence…the sin-wrecked hard-selfish-heartedness that is our human condition. Yes, we are at the same time “saint & sinner,” as Luther noted, we still wrestle with that part of us that’s supposed to be dead…but look what Paul says…We have “no obligation” to that dead part of us. We owe it nothing but to leave it buried in baptism. I don’t have to revisit it any longer or allow it to dictate any facet of my daily living. Let that just set your heart on fire for a minute…My sinful nature does not have any claim on me any longer.
The broken parts of me do not dictate my identity, they have no power over my destiny & they cannot determine how I live in between now & then. I do not have to live from those broken places…they’re dead to me. We do not have to live out of our brokenness any longer because we are raised to new life in Christ & his Spirit lives in us. This IS the freedom for which Christ set us free. Addiction is dead. Trauma or tragedy that I’ve experienced…dead. Old habits…dead. Family history that used to haunt…dead. Peer pressure…dead. The lies of social media & our corrupt cultural landscape…dead. My desires & wants that are clearly contrary to the Bible’s description of what the Father wants for me…dead. Whatever else besides the risen Jesus that pretends to decide how you live right now can be put to death by the power of the Spirit that now lives in you. We have “no obligation” to that dead part of us. We owe it nothing but to leave it buried in baptism. To do anything else is to actively live in death. Christ died & was risen for you so that death would no longer have that power over you, but that you would live his abundant life every day.
My experience tells me far too many followers of Jesus would rather live from the broken places…because they do. They live dead lives…replaying old hurts, living again & again unhealthy ways, & degrading habits, rehashing old wounds & old betrayals & pursuing desires that are anything but godly & God-pleasing. Oh…they’re still upright & taking nourishment, but you can smell the death all over them. It’s on us to continue to live from the new abundant life Christ offers & to invite those around us to join us…not just in worship, but in Christ…that person who grants freedom & vibrant abundant love & life, joy & peace, hope & bold assurance.
What a Christmas gift that is for someone you know or love…the invitation that can literally change their life in an instant and forever.
See y’all somewhere along the way this week
John
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