Romans 170: Romans 6 - Is Sin More Powerful than Your Will?Welcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.
We worship a God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is amazing in His very essence. And JR SOOO LIVE will help us remember the parts of His magnificent essence.
The Essence of God
JR SOOO LIVE
JUSTICE Our God is always fair, and there never was, nor will there ever be a time when He is unfair.
DEU 32:4a
“The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just...a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.” RIGHTEOUSNESS Our God is completely free from sin.
HEB 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Our God is the Supreme Being of the Universe…no one has higher rank than He…no one can boss Him around. He has ultimate say…the last word in all matters.
PSA 103:19
The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. Our God has all the power…there is no one more powerful than He.
JOB 42:2
“I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” Our God knows all that is knowable, both the possible and the actual.
1JO 3:20b
…God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Our God is everywhere simultaneously. He is not bound by time or space or limitations.
PSA 33:13-14
The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men; from His dwelling place He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth… Our God is unconditional love in His very Person.
1JO 4:8
The one who does not love unconditionally does not know God the Father, for God the Father is unconditional love. Our God never changes…He is definite…He never changes His mind or His policies about anything.
JAM 1:17
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from God the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Our God tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If He says it in His Word, you can count on it.
JOH 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through believing in Me.” Our God has no beginning and no ending. He has always existed, and there never will be a time when He does not exist.
PSA 90:2 Before the mountains were born or before You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are, O God.
Welcome to the place where you can worship the One and Only God, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
When I Say I Love You
God loves you, and this song is sung to you from His perspective. The opening song for this lesson is WHEN I SAY I LOVE YOU.
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute truth...the Word of God…
Help us to understand where real power comes from…help us to pay attention to You…help us to ignore the powerful and lying suggestions of our enemy… We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name... Amen.
TODAY’S STUDY Is Sin More Powerful than Your Will?
Yes. Let’s kill the suspense. Yes.
Maybe it is something you never wanted to think about. But there is ABSOLUTELY no doubt that you KNOW that sin is more powerful than your will. You’d like to believe you have self-discipline. You’d like to believe you have the willpower to do what you want or to resist the things you don’t want to do. But your life choices have proved otherwise. Sin is more powerful than your will. In this lesson we’ll take a brief look at this phenomenon…perhaps it will help us understand why the things the kingdom of death tells us are so much more real to us than the things our God tells us…things like this…
We Died to Sin
First, a few announcements.
BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The Next Lord’s Supper Celebration March 15, 2015
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! No Face-to-Face Teaching March 8, 2015
The congregation is invited to view the services live on March 6, beginning at 7:00PM MST. Otherwise they will be on the website for your viewing and listening pleasure on March 8.
REMINDER Check In on Facebook Before Church Service
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There are nearly 2700 people that have signed up to be a part of our online community. Get your friends to join our on line community today.
FACEBOOK LESSONS Recording Begins February 23 7:00P-8:00P
The lessons will be up and running in March.
VISIT THE VETS THIS WEEK! February 15 1:45P-3:00P
TEENS LESSONS Begin February 22 11:30A-1:00P In Preparation Read John Chapter 1
NEXT DEACON’S MEETING February 21 7:30AM MST
THE OFFERING Deacon Denny Goodall
Let’s take the offering. This is the time when you get to make a sacrifice on behalf of all the people around the world that can’t afford to pay to study the Word of God. Your generous contributions make it possible for them to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ free of charge by means of internet teaching or by means of face-to-face teaching.
Let’s remember to give with the motivation suggested in Scripture
2CO 9:7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful (grace oriented) giver.
Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall.
THE OFFERING Deacon Denny Goodall
Barah Ministries Financial Policy
Even though we are sanctioned by God to charge for the many things we provide so you can worship God, we choose not to exercise our right. Therefore no price appears on any material from Barah Ministries so that anyone who desires biblical teaching may have it free of charge.
Barah Ministries Financial Policy
Even though the materials we provide are free of charge, they are not free of cost. We appreciate it when the Word of God motivates you to give financial support so as to provide biblical teaching, both for yourself and for others. Please be generous in your support of God’s work through this ministry.
OFFERING VERSE
GAL 6:9-10 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
OFFERING Love Heals the Heart
TODAY’S STUDY Is Sin More Powerful than Your Will?
Marketing is the customer attraction discipline. People who engage in the practice of marketing, whose job it is to get you to want to buy the things they are selling, will tell you, when they are being honest, that YOU are their secret weapon. They tell you what you want to hear and you willingly believe it.
One of my favorite candies is called “Chuckles.” These irresistible jelly candies are coated with a light layer of sugar and come in cherry, lemon, lime, orange and licorice. Yummy! Why do I buy so many of them? Because right there, on the label on the Chuckles package, it says exactly what I want to hear…FAT FREE. You can laugh at me if you want to, but don’t you do the same thing every time you go shopping? Don’t you look for the things that are FARM FRESH? Don’t you buy the things that are 100% NATURAL? What do those expressions even mean?
Marketers will tell you, when they are being honest, that their job is to lie to you, and they’ll tell you that YOU are their secret weapon. Marketers know what you know as well, but will probably not admit…not even to yourself… that the marketer’s secret weapon is the POWER OF YOUR WILLFUL IGNORANCE.
The Marketer’s Secret Weapon
THE POWER OF YOUR WILLFUL IGNORANCE
Let me repeat that…the marketer’s secret weapon is the POWER OF YOUR WILLFUL IGNORANCE. Marketers know that you are willing to ignore the truth and to believe their lie. Let me let you in on a little secret. You see, I know that Chuckles are only fat free until they get in my body. Then they turn immediately to fat. You and I know that the expression “anything in moderation” is a crock of baloney. Is adultery in moderation okay? Is crack cocaine in moderation okay? Of course not! But we sure do love saying it when we’re talking about something we want to do, which we know is not good to do, so that we can justify it in our minds. We have many expressions to dismiss the truth. “It’s all good!” “It’s all good!” Is it really? Is everything good? Hardly. But marketers hope you keep believing everything is good. I’d love to see the world, for a day, stand up against the lies we put up with every day. Now that would be a great movie or television show. After a break, we’ll connect this look at the willful ignorance phenomenon in our current study.
BREAK When I Think About Home
Welcome back…
We Died to Sin
Romans, Chapter 6, Verses 1 and 2…
ROM 6:1 What shall we believers in Christ say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
ROM 6:2 May it never be! How shall we believers in Christ (such ones as we…royalty…the children of a King), who died to sin (as an established fact at the moment of our salvation), still live in sin (as if sin is still our master)?
We died to sin. Sin is no longer our master. This is an established and irrevocable fact, and has been from the moment we were saved. Yet we keep on sinning after our salvation. You’ve got to ask yourself, “Why do I keep sinning after salvation?” That’s the question that Pastors obsess over. Why do we…why do you…continue sinning…why do we…why do you…find it so much easier to believe the lies than to believe the truth? The sad conclusion is that sin is more powerful than our will.
Maybe we need to hang out with more recovering alcoholics. They know sin is more powerful than their will. It’s all of us “good people” that are deceived. Remember Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 1?
GAL 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
It’s a simple idea…
SLAVE FREE
You were under the law You are under grace
You were in prison You are “redeemed” from prison
Sin was your sovereign Sin is no longer your sovereign
You were “In Adam” You are “in Christ”
Here’s what the bible says about you believers in Christ in Colossians, Chapter 1, Verse 13…
COL 1:13 For God the Father rescued us believers in Christ from the domain of darkness, and He transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ…
Said a different way…you believers in Christ are no longer slaves…you are sons.
SLAVE SON
In the domain of darkness In the kingdom of the beloved Son
Do you believe it? The marketer’s secret weapon is the POWER OF YOUR WILLFUL IGNORANCE. That explains why the chairs in Barah Ministries are often empty. If we want to pack this place, I have ALWAYS known that all I have to do is start lying…all I have to do is start imposing rules…all I have to do is burden you with guilt! These things are much more appealing than the truth. We want to be lied to…we want to be told what we want to hear…not what we need to hear. Well, at least most people do, not you. Not always. Repeat after me…
I want to be told…what I need to hear…not what I want to hear.
We Died to Sin
That is cause for celebration! We can look sin squarely in the eye and say to it, “Sin you may be more powerful than my will, but you are NOT my boss!” You can say that because at the moment of salvation you were permanently transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light. Sin is no longer a master over you. So why do you bother listening to its lies? The marketer’s secret weapon is the POWER OF YOUR WILLFUL IGNORANCE. We Died to Sin
Our old relationship with sin has been broken, once, and for all time. John, Chapter 8, Verse 31 and following…
JOH 8:31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine…
JOH 8:32 …and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
JOH 8:33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free?’”
JOH 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
JOH 8:35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain in the house forever.
JOH 8:36 So if the Son makes you free, and He does, you will be free indeed.
Except when you prove the marketer right. The marketer’s secret weapon is the POWER OF YOUR WILLFUL IGNORANCE. Sin is more powerful than your will…so now that you realize this, when you’re weak, who you gonna call?
The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ
When God makes a promise… it’s a guarantee!
ACT 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
JOH 14:6 Jesus said to doubting Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through believing in Me.
JOH 3:36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life (the ZOE life); but he who does not obey the (command to believe in the) Son will not see (the Zoe) life, but instead the wrath of God the Father abides on him.”
CLOSING SONG Demonstrated Love
CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...
THANKS INTERCESSION PETITION
And we pray that You continue to shape the messages from this pulpit that are an accurate reflection of Your unconditional love, Your person, Your thinking, Your work, and Your essence...we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.
Thanks for coming! Thanks for watching! Thanks for listening!
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