The Plumbline

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15) We might use a phrase such as, "I am dead to this world", at the end of a busy day. We have hurried here and there, stood way longer than we anticipated, waited longer than we wanted, got involved in tasks we did not plan, and we are bordering on sheer exhaustion. To 'be dead to this world' has a different meaning in a spiritual sense, though. It means we actually take on 'new life'. The first way of thinking says we are about to get some rest for our weary bodies, while the second one anticipates a 'rest' of a whole different kind! Paul is speaking with the chur...

Some of the Psalms of David are filled with all kinds of things which seem to be said not once, but multiple times in the same psalm - kind of like a chorus or refrain in a song.  Maybe this is because so many of his psalms were indeed set to music!  As he begins this particular psalm, he lays out the "words of the refrain" - " God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him,   so why not?   He’s solid rock under my feet,      breathing room for my soul, a n impregnable castle:   I’m set for life."  (vs 1-3 MSG)   This refrain, or the crux of it, is repeated not less than three times in as little as twelve total verses!  So, it must be important, right?  Here's what is sandwiched right in the middle of these refrains: My help and glory are in God —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—s o trust him absolutely, people;  lay your lives on the line for him.   God is a safe place to...

  5-6 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit." (John 3:5-6) Yesterday we began to look at the question, "Is a person saved once and then always eternally secure?" (better known as Once Saved, Always Saved).  Today, we will develop a better understanding of what happens once you have accepted the Lord as your personal Savior.  We have a whole lot of terms for this action - inviting Jesus into your heart, making him Lord of your life, being saved, etc.  We looked at the fact that our "salvation experience" is a one-time expe...