Hi Passionate Youth Reaching Out, today is Friday July 1, Happy Canada Day!  My name is Grant and this is Start Up, helping you start your day with an upward focus.

 

Romans 5:18–21 (HCSB)

18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God’s law not only gives us insight into his character, it also gives us insight into sin.  Before the law, we knew the pain of sin, we knew the curse of sin, but there was a lot of how sin worked that was beyond understanding.  When God gave the law though, understanding multiplied in regard to sin, now people were able to see on a much more detailed level how sin works.  In that way, the law came along to multiply the trespass, to teach and inform us about how sin works.

Yet where sin was multiplied, grace multiplied even more.  Here is what I mean,because of the law we know the extent of sins consequences, and we see the sever punishment and wrath that God justly has towards sinners.  But that same law has made God’s grace all the more amazing in our understanding.  We see just how kind and loving God is to save us from our sin, we see how powerful he is to be able to overcome sin, and we see just how hard and terrible it was for Jesus to suffer the place of us, the sinners.

Now the righteousness of god rules in grace, and the result is eternal life through Jesus Christ.  The law shows us how bad sin is and how lost we are without God’s help.  And at the same time, God’s law shows us the depths of his love, as he is willing and wanting to forgive us of our wrongs.  Jesus has died so that we can be saved.  All praise and glory belong to God alone.

Questions & Answers

I hope that you are having conversations with your friends and with your family about what does it mean to live a Christian life.  If you ever come across a question in a conversation that you want to get more information on, please send it on to me.  You can ask your questions, or your friends questions, and I will take one of the podcasts to answer it for you, and for anyone else who might have that same question.

Challenge

The Challenge for this week is to be a peacemaker.  We are blessed by God when we make peace in Jesus name.  Look and pray for opportunities where you can show God’s kindness and grace to others, and where peace can grow in that place instead of anger.

Thanks for listening to today’s StartUp, you can find all of the details about our youth group online at hbcyouth.ca.  We are also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, just search for Hawkwood Youth.

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