So last night was the third to last Fireday of the term! Its gone so quickly, but God's been so good! I thought last night was pretty amazing, some great time in God's presence and the transforming power of the gospel preached by the one and only tech team captain, David Smith!
Those of you who made such a bold move after Dave's word, and made a stand for a better life, know that God sees you, and he loves you and he's proud of you!
But what now?
You are set apart!
I love you guys, and I want all you to be living the best, most fun, most fulfilling life that you can. God wants to set you free completely from everything that's holding you back, so that, washed by the blood of Jesus, you can live everyday in the presence of the glory of the living God! You are set apart! Because:
..you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:9-11Anyone worried that you won't be able to stay holy, that you won't be able to keep up 'abstain(ing) from sinful desires' as Peter calls us to, so that we can have this authority and power and relationship with God?
The Great Exchange
Well if it was up to me, I wouldn't be able to either. But here's the secret. If you can let this simple truth take hold of your life, then you'll be able to live forever in the freedom and joy and glory and authority that God has for you! Martin Luther said:
Learn Christ and him crucified.Learn to sing to him and, despairing of yourself, say, “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, just as I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.” –Martin Luther
We call this the great exchange:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
Allow Jesus to be your strength, and to be your righteousness, just as be has taken our sin upon himself. Allow him to transform you from the inside out so that you don't need to try to live a righteous life, but you'll simply be righteous through the spirit of God that's in you!
I believe in you guys. Go show the world how awesome and glorious our king is!