Pastor's Message - April 2013

Dear Church Family,

Another Easter, or might I say, Resurrection Sunday has come and gone, another season of Lent that has quickly passed. I hope that you have been encouraged and that you have grown closer to our Lord. I also hope that this will keep us focused on what Jesus did for us on the cross and that we will appreciate it more and more.

Because of the cross, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20 NIV) "Paul speaks out of the depth of his personal experience. For him to re-erect the whole fabric of the law would have been spiritual suicide. He says that through the law he died to the law that he might live to God. What he means is this: he had tried the way of the law; he had tried with all the terrible intensity of his hot heart to put himself right with God by a life that sought to obey every single item of the law. He had found that such an attempt produced nothing but a deeper and deeper sense that all he could do could never put him right with God.  All the law had done was to show him his helplessness. Where upon he had quite suddenly abandoned that way and had cast himself, sinner as he was, on the mercy of God. It was the law that had driven him to God. To go back to the law would simply have entangled him all over again in the sense of estrangement from God. So great was the change that the only way he could describe it was to say that he had been crucified with Christ so that the man he used to be was dead and the living power within him now was Christ himself." (Barclay Commentary on Galatians pg. 22). Paul was sharing the change in his life from another tradition. A change from what he was taught, and the way he was raised.

Because of the cross: I am crucified with Christ. That means that we can participate by faith and identify with Christ’s death and resurrection. Think about the words to the song "Watch the Lamb," describe the blood from Jesus flowing as he was trying to carry the cross to Golgotha. Also "Via Delarosa," lyrics say that, “He was bleeding from a beating; there were thorns upon His head.”

If we are crucified with Christ that means there are things in our lives that need put to death; self, self-will, and pleasing self so that we can live a life of sacrifice, and look to what pleases God. "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- {7} because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." (Rom 6:6-7 NIV) and also "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; {23} to be made new in the attitude of your minds; {24} and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." (Eph 4:22-24 NIV) 

Our life should be lived with eternity's values in mind. Too many people too often wait until they get to the end of the road of life before they start to get concerned about eternity and pleasing God. None of us can please God just being a good person. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- {9} not by works, so that no one can boast." (Eph 2:8-9 NIV) 

Spirit. “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. {17} For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do        not do what you want. {18} But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” (Gal 5:16-18 NIV) 

When we live according to the Spirit of God, we are no longer in the bondage of sin and the Law, the Law only points out our sin. When we live according to the Spirit of God, it is no longer a struggle to live for the Lord.

Because of the grace of God, and His redemption power, we have life (spiritual) instead of death; we have victory instead of defeat and beauty instead of ashes. Christ died and rose again to provide these spiritual blessings!

Because of the cross, Christ lives in me. Jesus promised that He would never leave us or forsake us. He occupies our heart, takes up residence. We need to take advantage of the power in living a positive life because of Christ in us, the Holy Spirit. We need to be obedient to God's Word, we need to be willing to pay the price to be a Christian and we need to surrender fully to God and allow Him to have first place in our lives.

I hope that God fill you with His Spirit and that you will have life and have it to the full! (John 10:10).

We have lots of activities going on in the life of the Liberty Street Church of God and there are many of our church family that are working hard to provide those opportunities for you and me to take part in and so we can help one another along on our spiritual journey. I hope that you will do your best to participate as much as you can. It is often times easy for us to neglect the life of the church and the opportunities that have been made available for us to participate in.

Also I want to mention to you that we want to encourage you to keep inviting your unchurched friends and relatives to worship. Also, please keep in mind our Saturday Evening Service. That is a great time to have folks come that might not want to be in a crowded room and have a time of intimate worship. We want to see that service grow and it will only happen if you participate in inviting those you know that need the Lord.

You may also, of course, invite folks to participate in our Sunday Morning Services, we just want to keep focused on those that do not have a church home, and there are many in our community, and you all are the best PR people for God and the work of the Kingdom.

I shared a quote with you recently from C.S. Lewis; “You’ve never met a mere mortal!” In the sermon he preached, “Weight of Glory” he ends with this sober reminder that every single person you encounter on the street, in the classroom, at the workplace, in the home or lying next to you in bed is immortal, in a very real sense. Knowing (and believing) this truth will

transform how you and I value and treat one another, and more so, it will generate a greater desire to offer the perishing the hope of eternal glory in the gospel of Christ.

This is a special time in the life of our Church Family, and I want to see God continue to do His mighty work through us. We need to keep Him in His rightful place and keep on following His lead. “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.” (Rom 15:5 NIV)

 I want to also encourage you to be praying diligently for the Trinity Point Project. We, as your leaders, believe that the project needs to keep moving forward and your leaders are doing their due diligence to put together a plan for continuing  construction this year. Please pray that God will open our hearts and the doors to finance the rest of this project. We have a long way to go and we need all of the power of God we can get to see this through.

God bless you all as we labor on!

Pastor Bruce