Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

mckaycaston.com

Living All of Life in View of the Cross

Filed under: romans

"Encountering Glory" • Romans 11:33-36 (audio and notes)

This is the Creekstone Sunday message from May 27, 2012.

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Romans_11.33-36.resrouce_pages.pdf (50 KB)
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"Lessons from a No Wake Zone" • Romans 11:25-32 (Audio and Notes)

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Romans_11.25-32.resrouce_pages.pdf (49 KB)
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"Staying Connected: How to Make Spiritual Progress" • Romans 11:13-24 (Audio)

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Below are the Sermon Resource Pages that contain the outline, discussion questions and bonus notes.

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Romans_11.13-24.resource_pages.pdf (66 KB)
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A Life Lived in View of His Mercies

To "contine in God's kindness" (Romans 11:22) does not call me to prove my devotion to serve God; God calls me to rest in his devotion to save me. The focus is not on my doing to please him, but on his doing to pardon me. It is not on my commitment to stand for him, but his commitment to die for me. My relationship to God is not based on the progress of my kindness and goodness, but on the perfection of his kindness and goodness expressed in the cross.

When those truths begin to sink into my heart... I begin to change... big time. My devotion to Jesus grows and my doing has a vastly different motive.

Sermon Audio (4.22.12): "No More Sandcastles" • Romans 10:1-21

We are all in a struggle for righteousness, whether as parents, students, professors, engineers or preachers. We all have an impulse in us that wants to "make a name for ourselves." What we discover in Romans 10 is that Jesus is the end of the struggle. Since he has built a righteousness for me, I have no need to build a "sandcastle righteousness" for myself.

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The Promises of Forgiveness

In Ken Sande's book, The Peacemaker, he outlines the four promises of forgiveness. In other words, this is what I am saying to someone when I say, "I forgive you."

  1. “I will not bring this incident up against (ie, to use against) you again.” (Of course, if someone is struggling with an ongoing pattern of sin, such as an addiction or abusive temper, it is okay to bring it up in order to help them get them counseling, but not as a means of condemnation.)
  2. “I will not dwell on this incident.”
  3. “I will not talk to others about this incident.”
  4. “I will not let this incident create tension and distance in our relationship.”
This is not only what I am to say to someone when I forgive, but also it is what God says to me in the gospel when he forgives. Unreal. 

For some Scripture references, check out Jeremiah 31:34b, Psalm 103:12, 1 Corinthians 13:5, and Romans 8:1, Colossians 3:13.

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