It's been awhile since my last posting and there's a very specific reason...I don't want to be regularly posting just for the sake of having regular posts - my prayer and desire is for each one to be from Jesus impressing on my heart what He would have me share, so here I go.

I've seen a number of situations where I see people in my sphere of influence, who claim the name of Jesus, living in a manner that does not reflect the biblical guidelines given to followers of Jesus and the effects it has on their lives and relationship with Jesus. On the outside, they'll say that they're 'in a great place' with God and in the process, are removing themselves from community, the Gospel and from their daily relationship with Jesus. And wouldn't you know, each and every time (to this point), they come back more beat up, more discouraged and depressed, more hurt and beat down and are 'wondering why' and 'what happened ??'. I truly believe that down deep in their hearts, they know what happened and why...and I say this because I have done and said the exact same thing. You see, it all comes down to this one thing - it's a worship/idolatry issue that has taken root in our life, heart and soul and it must be dealt with and removed by the power and shed blood of Jesus. We will only be fooling ourselves to think that we can overcome this ourselves or have it exist inside us and still walk in community with fellow believers and Jesus. Jesus WILL NOT share the throne of our life with anything or anybody else and I firmly believe that He will leave us to our own devices when we willingly choose disobedience. When this occurs, it's a terrifying place to be - when we choose to deny, defy and disobey God, we invite His wrath upon us - all the while, we expect God to 'bless us' because we are being driven and led by our emotions and feelings of self-gratification and entitlement. We may experience a season of so-called blessing and think that God has not only ordained but condoned our choice, but will be sorely disappointed after the thrill is gone and we're worse off than we were before.

The apostle Paul writes in Romans and I paraphrase, 'Should we sin more thinking that God's grace will increase?', meaning as christians we think we have a good understanding of God's Grace and that, like a credit card (that we don't ever have to pay back), we can keep charging our sins and sinful choices against the 'credit card' God gave to us the moment we received Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour. And how cool is it that we never have to deal with a 'monthly payment' of any kind because Jesus 'paid it all on the cross'...Paul says (again paraphrasing), 'No, no, no!! That's sinful, evil thinking!!' And it is!! God's Grace that is available to us through Jesus' saving work on the cross and the empty tomb and is not a celestial credit card to sin and do what ever we want to do, whenever we want to. Jesus was murdered - and it was the most brutal murder that this world has ever and will ever see and He willingly died the death that was meant FOR US...that should eternally change our perspective on our 'right' to sin or choose to live apart from what God's Word would have us live. So, I'll ask the question again,...'do you (proclaimed follower of Christ), think you can deny, defy and disobey God's calling on your life and expect Him to bless you and your decisions?' Your answer will be very telling of not only the condition of your heart, but also if you truly are a follower of Jesus.

Don't get me wrong, we will always struggle with sin and as christians, our goal shouldn't be to sin less...that's a works-based theology which denounces the cross - but rather, our 'goal' should be to confess and repent of our sin more quickly and the result will be a closer walk or relationship with Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 lays it out very plain and simple and the more you see your need for Jesus' saving work on the cross, the more you love Jesus.

As always, if you have any questions, comments about what a personal, saving relationship with Jesus is, please contact us here at Taproot Church - the church office phone number and email address is located on the 'Services' tab in the menu bar above and we look forward to talking with you more. God bless you guys...Dav