The Well Church OKC

Voluntary servitude. Intentional slavery - the law of choices and their consequences. Sowing and reaping. Choosing what’s behind door number two. Picking the red pill or the blue pill. The road more, (or less), traveled by. Chapter six is a rich and beautifully organized essay on the struggle that all Christ-followers encounter as they work to sort their lives out, post-acceptance of Jesus as Savior.

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Taking a pause in the study of Paul’s writing to the Romans for this week. In the past days, weeks and months, the truth is that my people have been (and are,) hurting. In some cases it seems that that lives of relative peace and thriving have gradually been replaced by existences that move from one hurt to another, from one crisis to another. While lives all and always have ups, downs and everything in between, it seems that things are more consistently painful and challenging than not for several in our community. I want to speak into that suffering a bit today, hopefully offering some perspective, some understanding and, ultimately, real hope.

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The law should make us run, as hard as we can, from the horror of our sin and into the grace and love of Jesus.

Continuing through chapter 4 of Paul’s letter to the Romans.

A head start, a preview, an advanced copy. First in line. Inside track. Knows somebody. The Jews were, and are still, the chosen people of God. From an obscure nomadic tribe in the vast region of the middle east, God selected, in his infinite and unknowable wisdom, from the Hebrew people, a man named Abraham. From this line has progressed the history of the people chosen by God for the revelation of His Word, the concepts of His heart and the inevitable coming of the Messiah.

Chris continues through Romans 2 with more bad news about the human condition.

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(1) to teach the fundamental doctrine of salvation to fortify believers against their enemies; (2) to explain the unbelief of Israel and vindicate the faithfulness of God in his dealings with Israel; and (3) to give practical instruction concerning Christian living in the society of his day.

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Many times we struggle to reconcile the two ideas which are central to both our new identity in Christ, if we are saved, and the ongoing struggles we face with our carnality. Why does my “new creature” still want to act like my old, dead-to-sin self?

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From what I can tell, life is a constant progression of decisions. We wake up each morning and we can plan on facing any number of decisions. Sometimes we might want to have others just make the decisions for us. That’s why an all inclusive vacation is so attractive. All the hard decisions are done for us for a little while. Deep down, though, we are by nature creatures who desire choice and the gift of self-determination is one we seek at almost all costs.

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What an incredible tragedy. What an overwhelming thing, to realize that most people are not saved from their sins and even many who say that they follow the One, true God, are not likely to actually be redeemed, if the what they say they believe is an actual indication of their salvation. We realize that what we believe is at the absolute core of whether or not we will be salvaged from the sin in our lives.