It's Funny....

Good Sunday Morning! Today finds me refreshed after a fun day of visiting and shopping in OKC. Bought school clothes for Lorenzo & LaQuetta and 3 boxing t-shirts and a boxing jacket - really cool. Mostly though just clothes for the kids. We ate lunch with great friends in OKC at Louie's, a restaurant on Lake Hefner - great food.

Here is today's sermon title: "It's Funny"

Romans 7:14-8:4 (New Living Translation)
Struggling with Sin
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[b] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Romans 8
Life in the Spirit
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power[c] of the life-giving Spirit has freed you[d] from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.[e] So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Do you struggle with sin? Do you seem to always get stuck in the same rut doing the same things you don't want to do? Do you fail to do the things you want to do? You are NOT alone! This is the classic struggle that we all face. Paul faced it, I face it, everyone who has ever lived or will live that is a follower of Christ has faced it. The classic struggle between our human nature and the Spirit of God working in us.

Have you ever wondered why this is so hard for us? Why we just can't seem to obey Him even though we want to. Sometimes I even wish that God would just smack me over the head and make me obey Him but that is not how God works. He does though sometimes use some interesting things and circumstances to get our attention. Lets look at a few passages in scripture that show God's unique way of getting peoples attention.

It's funny how a big ol' fish can hear Your voice and find one man in the whole ocean and swallow him whole - because You said so. Jonah 1:17
It's funny how a little plant can hear Your voice and grow as big as a tent to give that man a home because You said so. Jonah 4:6

It's funny how the bright ol' sun can hear Your voice along its way and stop in the middle of the sky for an entire day because You said so. Joshua 10:13
It's funny how a donkey can hear Your voice and talk instead of bray to set Your child on his way because You said so. Numbers 22:28-31

And You speak to me all the time and I can't obey You to save my life.
Well, I can but I don't, and I want to but I won't.
I do what I don't mean to and I'm confused.
It's funny how a fish can obey You but I can't.
It's funny how a plant can obey You but I can't.
It's funny how the sun can obey You but I can't.
It's funny how a donkey can obey You but I can't.

He speaks to you and I all the time - we hear His voice - most of us, most of the time, want to obey Him and yet we let things and opportunities slip by without our taking action. We just don't do what we want to do. At times He speaks to us in warning - telling us not to do something, not to say something, not to go somewhere - we want to obey Him but we give in to temptation and do the very thing we don't want to do.

Are we doomed then. Is there not hope for us? Can nothing be done to help us? "Thank God! The answer is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. But, there is therefore no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin." Jesus paid the penalty for all my failures, all my downfalls, all my missed opportunities.

Yet we now have an obligation to fight that sinful nature with His help. Romans 8:12 says, "So, dear brothers and sister, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do." FIGHT IT!

I bought a t-shirt yesterday that says "When things get tough...fight another round." You and I know that we have been given the victory through Christ Jesus therefore we must continue to stand and fight! Yes, we may fail at times but as we mature in Christ and learn to fight sin and temptation with His strength then we will begin to see a change in us. We will see that we are doing the things we want to do and aren't doing the things we don't because His strength gives us the ability to do what He wants us to do.

Stand and fight another round!

May you all be blessed this day and throughout the week. May you see His hand upon you each day, my you cling to that hand and find strength for your journey.

My love to you all, Kari