Hi there! We'll conclude 2005 with some classic writing from one of the great cloud of witnesses - Charles Finney. Hopefully, you've got a little time to chew through this one. It's awesome.

Death To Sin Through Christ
By Charles Finney

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:11.

THE connection of this passage will help us to understand its meaning. Near the close of the previous chapter Paul had said, “The law entered that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” He speaks here of sin as being a reigning principle or monarch, and of grace also as reigning. Then, in chapter 6, he proceeds, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
You observe here that Paul speaks of the man, the old sinner, as being crucified with Christ, so destroyed by the moral power of the Cross that he who was once a sinner shall no longer serve sin. As Christ died for sin, so by a general analogy we die to sin; while, on the other hand, as He rose to a new and infinitely glorious life, so the convert rises to a new and blessed life of purity and holiness. He died for the sake of making an atonement for sin and of creating a moral power that should be effective to kill the love of sin in all hearts; but the Christian dies unto sin in the sense of being divorced from all sympathy with sin and emancipated from its control.
But I must proceed to remark upon the text itself, and shall inquire,
I. What it is to be Dead unto Sin in the Sense of the Text
Being dead to sin must obviously be the opposite of being dead in sin. The latter must undeniably be a state of entire sinfulness a state in which the soul is dead to all good through the power of sin over it. But right over against this, to be dead to sin, must be to be indifferent to its attractions beyond the reach of its influence as fully removed from its influences as the dead are from the objects of sense in this world. As he who is dead in the natural sense has nothing more to do with earthly things, so he who is dead to sin has nothing to do any more with sin’s attractions or with sinning itself.
II. What is it to be Alive unto God?
To be full of life for Him to be altogether active and on the alert to do His will; to make our whole lives a perpetual offering to Him, constantly delivering up ourselves to Him and His service that we may glorify His name and subserve His interests.
III. What is it to Reckon Ourselves Dead Indeed unto Him?
The word rendered reckon is sometimes rendered account. Abraham’s faith was accounted unto him for righteousness. So, in this passage, reckon must mean believe, esteem yourselves dead indeed unto sin. Account this to be the case. Regard this as truly your relation to sin; you are entirely dead to it; it shall have no more dominion over you.
A careful examination of the passages where this original word is used will show that this is its usual and natural sense. And this gives us the true idea of Gospel faith embracing personally the salvation which is by faith in Jesus Christ. But more of this hereafter.
IV. What is Meant by Reckoning Yourselves Alive Indeed unto God?
Plainly this: that you are to expect to be saved by Jesus Christ and to calculate on this salvation as your own. You are to esteem yourself as wholly dead to sin and as consequently brought into life and peace in Christ Jesus.
Remarks
This text alone, “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ” most entirely justifies the expectation of living without sin through all-abounding grace. If there were no other passage bearing on this point, this alone is adequate, and for a Christian to offer this only as a reason for such a hope in Him is to offer as good a reason as need be given. There are indeed many others that fully justify this expectation.
“Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”-2 Corinthians 6:11-18, and7:1.
This is a very remarkable passage. Note how precept and promise are intermingled, and how, finally, upon the basis of a most glorious promise, is founded the precept enjoining us to perfect holiness. Now what should we think of Paul and of the Divine Spirit who spake through Paul, if He had immediately subjoined, “Take care lest any of you should be led by these remarks to indulge the very dangerous and erroneous expectation that you can “perfect holiness,” or cleanse yourselves from any sin, either of flesh or spirit, in this world? “Would not this have been trifling with the intelligence and Christian sensibility of every reader of his words throughout all time? Should we not account it as substantially blasphemous?
To teach that such an expectation is dangerous is a great deal worse than no teaching at all. Far better to leave men to their own unaided reading of God’s word, for this could scarcely in any case so sadly mislead them, however inclined they might be to the misapprehension. Dangerous to expect salvation from sin? Dangerous? What does this mean? What! Dangerous to expect victory over any sin? If so, what is the Gospel worth? What Gospel have we that can be deemed good news at all? Many indulge the very opposite expectation. Far from expecting any such thing as the apostle authorizes them to expect, they know they have no such expectation.
Of some yet more than this is true they expect to count themselves always in sin. They depend on reckoning themselves, not dead indeed unto sin, but somewhat alive to it through all their mortal life, and in part alive to God through Jesus Christ. It follows as quite a thing of course that expecting no such thing as complete victory over sin they will use no appropriate means, since faith stands foremost among those means, and faith must include at least a confidence that the thing sought is possible to be attained.
There are two distinct views of salvation entertained among professed Christians, and correspondingly two distinct classes of professors often embraced within the same church. The one class regard the Gospel as a salvation from sin. They think more of this and value it more than the hope of heaven, or of earth either.
The great thing with them is to realize the idea of deliverance from sin. This constitutes the charm and glory of the Gospel. They seek this more than to be saved from hell. They care more by far to be saved from sin itself than from its penal consequences. Of the latter they think and pray but little. It is their glory and their joy that Christ is sent to deliver them from their bondage in iniquity to lift them up from their wretched state and give them the liberty of love. This they labor to realize; this is to them the good news of Gospel salvation.
The other class are mostly anxious to be saved from hell. The punishment due for sin is the thing they chiefly fear. In fact, fear has been mainly the spring of their religious efforts. The Gospel is not thought of as a means of deliverance from sin, but as a great system of indulgences, a vast accommodation to take off the fear and danger of damnation, while yet it leaves them in their sin. Now, here I do not by any means imply that they will call their system of Gospel faith a scheme of indulgences: the name doubtless will be an offence to them. They may not have distinctly considered this point, and may have failed to notice that in fact it is such and nothing better.
They seem not to notice that a scheme of salvation that removes the fear of damnation for sin, and which yet leaves them in their sins to live for themselves, to please themselves, and which holds that Christ will at last bring them to heaven notwithstanding their having lived in sin all their days, must be a vast scheme of indulgences. Indeed, it is a compromise on a most magnificent scale. By virtue of it, the whole Church is expected to wallow on in sin through life, and be none the less sure of heaven at last. He has come to break the power of sin in the heart, and to be the life of the believer, working in him a perpetual salvation from sin, aiming to bring him thus, and only thus, to heaven at last. What is faith? what but the actual giving of yourself up to Christ that He may do this work for you and in you? What are you to believe of Christ if not this, that He is to save His people from their sins? Does the Bible tell you to expect something different and less than this?

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Well, since it's almost Christmas Eve (a couple of hours to go), I thought I'd drop in and leave a quick note to wish everyone well and to give a brief update. As you can tell, I haven't posted an entry since my victory became complete in NaNoWriMo. I've kind of taken a breather from being in front of a computer. Can you blame me? Goodness...

I've been busy in the meantime. I'm about halfway into my first class through Berean - Intro to Pentecostal Doctrine. The actual lessons have been interesting and the supplemental reading on the Holy Spirit has been a challenge. I have to admit, I've been a typical American Christian most of my walk with God. What that means is that I think I know the Bible. But when it comes right down to it, my doctrine is a bit sloppy. If not non-existent. But this course has given me a new perspective on doctrine. Usually, pentecostals are not big lovers of deep doctrine. It's all about grace and love, man! But if you don't have sound doctrine, you're going to be blown about. Paul many times discussed how Timothy and other leaders need to lock into the truth and never compromise. Oh, how the church compromises.

I'm going to dig into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit tomorrow morning. Sure, I believe in it. It's an unleashing of the Spirit in the believer for service and strength. I'm starting to see an addition to my desire to see people walk in their calling. You need to experience God through the Spirit before you're going to have the courage to face the onslaught of the enemy and meet your destiny head-on. God needs to unlock your heart to follow Him. That happens as Jesus pours Himself out on the believer.

I think. Like I said, I'm reading it tomorrow.

Anyhow, Tricia and I are going to wrap presents now. Then I'm going to bed. I'm going to get up to study, but I don't have to set the alarm. First time in weeks for that. Yahoo! Maybe a real night of sleep.

Merry Christmas to all who happen by here. May the little baby in the manger be the triumphant King, reigning forever in your heart.

Walk with God...

Thoughts on NaNoWriMo

Wow. November was a crazy month. Hold on a second...

There...that's better. I felt like I was screaming.

It's December 1 and I'm taking a little time out of my busy day to jot down some thoughts on my novel writing experience from the last thirty days. Actually, it was only about 28 days. As is my usual style, I finished my project three days early. All in all, I'd say it's pretty good for a first draft. If you read the opening parts, you know the content is a little tough. I didn't pull any punches with it. It probably will be considered too racy by Christians who read it. But tough. I can't tell the story and talk about the issue without diving straight into the reality of the evil. I did realize that having it flying around the internet like I was defeated the purpose and could provide some who are still tied up in sexual addiction to be even more lost. So I pulled the first half. The second half, complete with my character's epiphany and restoration, is on this site, in the November page.

It defitnitely needs a few re-writes. It's rough. There are sections that don't fit. Characters that are in the story, then disappear. I have to decide where they are going to go. The beauty of the creative process.

I was profoundly impacted by NaNoWriMo. The guy who heads it up, Chris Baty, isn't a Christian to my knowledge. But he's very motivational. I realized a number of things about myself -

1. I am infinitely lazy. I talk like I'm organized and disciplined, but it's a smoke screen.

2. I can write. And now that I've written the equivilant of a 176 page book, I'm an author! And as I wrote in a message on a forum at the NaNoWriMo website, "Anyone who thinks differently can just sit still while I cram the first draft of my book up a small oriface while I laugh". OK, a little rude. Sorry...

3. I enjoy the creative process. I've written on this before. That is a part of me that needs to come alive more. Hopefulyl, this will be the nucleus for that.

There's much more for me to speak on, but it'll come out as it's developed. hopefuly, one day "On the Fritz" will be available in your local bookstore. Or the movie will be in your mall cineplex.

On a separate note, I spoke to Pastor Noel and Lorenzo. I am signed up for a trip to Malawi that Noel is taking June-July of 2006. I mentioned to P Lo that I wanted to find out more about that trip. He e-mailed me back and said they had been praying for someone to step forward to help out. Hmmm...

Well, I'm off to work. All God's best to you. Talk to you again soon.

Walk with God...