Love And Life In The Spirit Series

Love Worth Finding

Love and life through the Spirit

Romans Chapter 8

Prayer-

Introduction-

Good Morning!

Last week we began a series called “Love worth Finding”

We looked at God’s Love for us and our love for God.

We agreed that this world is messed up and needing God to bring peace and bring order to chaos.

We realized we can do a lot of things but we cannot love others like God without God.

We will not be who we were created to be without being intentional with our relationship with the Lord.

For our churches and families to be all that God created them to be, we need to love others like God loves them.

The church needs to be the place of discipleship, the church needs to be a place that God can change us and use us as He sees fit.

We saw that if we would be the church that we confess to be that we would see people changed by the power of God working in us and through us.

The text this morning cannot be read and lived out without realizing and acting upon God’s love for us and our love back to God.

It is easy to say I love God with all your heart, easy to say with all your soul ,and all your mind, it is much harder to live it out.

Romans chapter 8:1-8:17

If you love God;

Your actions should show it by the things we do and the things we say.

We would allow the Lord to change us, we would want Him to transform us.

We would give Him permission to help us be different than what we were before we came to Christ.

At the time that we accept Christ, the transformation begins, for some we see an instant difference, for others it is a process.

For some it seems easy and for some it is very difficult.

For some it is the journey we have been through, it is harder to release our lives to God because we have been hurt in the past and that is not easy.

For some, it is we don’t really want to release things we know are bad for us.

Paul records in the first verse of our text-

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Now, no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus of our past because we are now a new creation in Christ-

Our past has been bought by Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross.

We are able to not be ashamed of what the past is but redeemed from the past because of what Christ has done for us.

The Spirit of life- the Holy Spirit of God has set you free from sin and death- your past has no hold on you because of the power of Christ to overcome.

Illustration-

How many have seen the movie Tombstone?

Okay I will try to show you by illustration even if maybe some of you have not seen the movie.

The movie takes place in the wild west and a family of lawmen decide to retire from law enforcement and move west to become rich and successful, to find Gold and do it as a family. The famous lawmen Wyatt Erp retires with his brothers in Tombstone Arizona. Tombstone is the place where the great gunfight at the ok corral took place as these same men along with Doc Holiday were trying to better themselves. While they were doing their own thing, they developed a heart for the people in the town. Evil got out of hand in the form of an outlaw gang called the cowboys- they caused others to lose their freedom because they were overpowered by a force stronger than they were. They had the choice of doing what they wanted (Rich and successful) (The flesh) or help the people they come in contact with. (Spirit) Mort, the youngest brother gets shot and is dying, and he looks up at his older brother Wyatt, and says “Don’t let them get you brother.”

He realizes the fight is not about self but what is right and is willing to lay down his life for what He believes in.

The Spirit of God recued us from ourselves and from Sin.

The Spirit of the living God dwells within us to give us the power to overcome forces stronger than you and I.

We have an obligation- (verse12)- “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation- but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if we live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

Because of God’s love for us, our love should come back to God, we have an obligation to live our lives directed by the Spirit of God and we have an obligation to allow the Spirit of God to use us in the places that God puts us. Amen.