NextGenKent

My daughter worked on her graduation display after I went to bed at 10:30pm. At 12:15am, she spoke into my bedroom, "Dad, I need your help with something. I spilled some paint on the carpet." My grogginess soon dissipated when I walked into the living room and saw an eight-inch circle of deep black. She had reached for something and turned over a pint full of tempera paint and had already attempted cleaning it up. "This happened in your bedroom once before ... and why we told you to have plenty of newspaper down..." No speech would help her (or the carpet) at this point, so I stopped, turned and headed for the Oxi-clean.  It was my problem now.  I could stop there because that is the crux of the theological moment for a life lesson that happened that night. At least the summary of what God spoke to my heart as I headed back up the stairs to go to bed.  We are going into the Pentecost season starting Sunday, and I am filling in the pulpit at a ch...

Romans 8:1-17 starts with the words, "there is now no condemnation." That sounds like good news. This passage tells me that it is not God's plan to condemn me. If I feel condemned, it is not because of God. Instead, God made a way for me to be out from under the law of sin and death that brings fear (of the unknown).  It is God's plan for me to know He does not condemn me, and that He has set me free from sin/death/fear/the unknown. How? He has a plan. God's plan is to help me to fulfill another law He has in mind: the law of righteousness. God will enable me (through the Spirit) to walk in this new way--a way by the Spirit--a way of life and peace, the way of righteousness. It is the only way to please Him and He actively guides me on this way to do so. God's plan is that He wants: -me to know that the Spirit of God dwells in me and I belong to Him! -to reanimate my body by the Holy Spirit to live before others to show them what living...