Stonybank Community Church with Pastor James Carroll

Another voice of Stonybank reading a favorite passage of scripture...

Church family reading scripture and sharing their greeting.  Want to read your favorite scripture?  Call me on church or cell phone and we'll set up a time for you to call and record.

Faith is the glove that fits the hand of obedience.  A glove with no hand may look good and even make you feel better that you have in your tool box.  However, without the hand of obedience it is lifeless, dead and vain.  "Faith is not so much belief in spite of evidence as it is obedience in spite of consequence."  The whole city of Jericho believed and trembled at the God of Israel but only Rahab was justified and that, in the same way as Abraham... by a belief evident in behavior.

Mary, the mother of Jesus said, "whatever He saith unto you, do it."  We need mothers today who will simply say to their children, whatever Jesus says, do it, obey it, follow Him.

The blessed or happy person is revealed not by what they say but what they don't say.  Their faith is defined not by what they don't do but what they do.  And what they do is always in defense of the most vulnerable among us.  You will never find satisfaction by speaking your mind, shaming the ungodly or defending yourself and you certainly won't win hearts for Jesus.

How can we rise above the circumstances that often hold others down.  How to count it all joy; know the purpose; let God have His way; and ask for the wisdom in the moment?  Without God's word as the measure of my circumstance "having a good day" is dependent upon things turning in my favor.  All the devil need have you do is doubt His destructive intent and he will soon have you right where he wants and you'll never know the good that God intended.

The only reason we have church and the only appeal we have is foolishness to the world but which Paul calls "the power of God unto salvation."  That God is love most accept but that He love so much to send His son to die for our sins seems absurd.  This love explained by a theologian is like a flower explained by a botanist.  However, this love explained so simply is like a child giving a flower to her mother in ways that reach her heart.  That's what we must do with the gospel - present it in simple ways that reaches the heart.  Times of crisis are no different.

The resurrection demands a body and cannot be just spiritual.  Heaven is not just spiritual but physical beauty as God originally intended and wildly beyond our imagination.  Settle this resurrection fact in your heart and then let your imagination run wild with the things that God has prepared for those who love Him (1Cor.2:9).

Paul takes the pen in his own hand and writes this final paragraph.  He wants to mark the danger of legalism one final time.  Its not just another way of doing the same thing, its a complete contradiction to the grace of God.  He makes it very personal and direct, even calling into question their motive of wanting to claim Paul's converts for their own.  The cross is central to Paul's conversation and he draws our attention back to this place of death: dead to the law, dead to the world and dead to self.  The "rule" of the cross is peace in our heart, mercy toward Israel and untroubled by the world.

Perhaps the greatest phrase in the vocabulary of Christian living... "one another."  Most often used as in loving one another but here it is a guiding principle in Christian liberty, to "bear one another's burdens."  In chapter 6 the rubber meets the road with a simple principle to help us fulfill the law of Christ: Bear Burdens and Share Blessings.  Or in the words of Mr. Bigweld (Robots), "see a need, fill a need."