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Posts Tagged ‘sin’

Promise of Hope-Eternal Relationship With God

August 11th, 2017 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Promise of Hope is based on First John 4:15.

“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.”

Jesus is the way to a lasting relationship with God, the Father. Faith in Jesus opens the door into that relationship where we have opportunity to walk and talk with God every day. He will lead us with Divine wisdom and save us with His Divine grace. Our life will have meaningful purpose under God’s direction. Our soul will be secure under God’s protection.

With this promise in view, we can rely on the love God has for us.

An eternal relationship with God is a promise of hope for those who follow Jesus in the Year of Trust.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

Lesson of Faith-There Is A Cure For Heart Disease

October 17th, 2013 No comments

JOHN SHIRK-One of the foundational teachings of the Christian faith is the moral depravity of humanity. Apart from Christ’s influence, we are lost in sinful and selfish ways. Sin is at the heart of our problem.

Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

The heart is so deceptive that it is possible for us to deceive ourselves into thinking we are in a better condition than we really are.

The good news about Jesus is that He is our remedy of hope. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. We can be set free from guilt and experience forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus for us on the cross. What is incurable for man is possible with God.

Jesus says in Luke 5:31, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  For the sickness of our sin, there is a cure, and his name is Jesus.

The heart of our problem and our remedy of hope is a lesson of faith worth remembering.

Lesson Of Faith-The Common Thread

September 24th, 2013 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – Today, WJTL remembers the thread that we all have in common.

Romans 3:23 reminds us that “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”

No one has lived up to God’s perfect moral standard, except for Jesus Christ. He is the only One who got it right 100% of the time.

We might consider ourselves to be good people with the choices we make and the way we live our lives. Yet, all it takes for us to be considered guilty in God’s eyes is to disobey His law one time. James 2:10 says, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”  The wages of sin is death. This is what we deserve because of our sin. Without understanding the bad news about ourselves, we will not fully appreciate the good news of what Jesus has done for us.

Our sinful condition points to the fact that we all are in the same boat. We have all sinned against God. We all need a Savior. His name is Jesus.

The common thread of our sinful condition is a lesson of faith worth remembering.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

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Lesson Of Faith-Remembering The Fall

January 24th, 2013 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – Adam and Eve were free to eat the fruit of any tree except from the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil.

But Satan tried to portray God as a naysayer when he approached Eve. He said, “Did God really say, ‘you must not eat from any tree in the garden?’

Eve corrected him, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”

Satan’s next tactic was to portray God as a rival. He said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” With these words, he persuaded Eve to disobey God and take a bite.

Sin is the great tragedy of humanity. Paradise was lost through sin. The good news is that paradise is restored through Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Salvation through Jesus Christ overcomes the tragedy of sin and is a lesson of faith worth remembering.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

LIFE APPLICATION TRUTH-WHY JESUS CAME

December 19th, 2012 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – From First Timothy 1:15.

Words from the Apostle Paul, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst.”

There are times in the New Testament when Paul gives us a window into his tainted past. His conversion to Christ was a dramatic transformation of character in a short time. In reflecting on his life, Paul realized that there were many sins of his that Jesus had forgiven.

In this verse, we can put our personal name in place of the word “sinners”.  Christ Jesus came into the world to save….me. His grace is a gift for me to receive. There is nothing I can do to earn it, but I can receive His forgiveness by trusting in the name of Jesus and what He did for me at the cross.

When we experience His forgiveness, our burden of guilt is removed and we can truly appreciate and celebrate what Jesus has done for us.

Recognizing Jesus as our Savior from sin is a vital sign of a changed life in the Year of Transformation.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

LIFE APPLICATION TRUTH-STEP INTO THE LIGHT

November 28th, 2012 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – From First John 1:6 and 7.

“If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

One of Steve Taylor’s classics is “Sin For A Season.” In that song, he exposed the faulty thinking of those who used God’s grace as a license for sin. One of the lines describes their motivation:  “Gonna get the Lord to forgive a little sin. Get the slate cleaned so he can dirty it again. And no one else will ever know. But he reaps his harvest as his heart grows hard. No man’s gonna make a mockery of God.” These are the schemes of a deliberate sinner who abuses the grace of God.

God’s grace is amazing, but it is not a license for sin. Instead, it is a pardon for sin and an incentive for change. In Romans 6:1, Paul the Apostle asked, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

God’s grace enables us to come out of darkness and into the light. As we follow Jesus with sincere devotion, we experience the freedom of forgiveness and the fulfillment of joyful Christian fellowship.

Walking in the light of God’s grace and truth is a vital sign of a changed life in the Year of Transformation.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

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