Winners & Losers
In the coming weeks, we are going to be studying together about some of the characters from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The series is entitled, “Winners & Losers - Lessons from the lives of those who followed God or ignored Him.” I have been looking forward to this series because I can identify with both the winners and the losers. There have been times when I have listened and followed God and reaped the joys and benefits of doing so. There have also been times when I have ignored Him and attempted to do things my way and have reaped the consequences of those decisions. I am so glad Jesus loves me in spite of myself. In His grace He teaches me both through the following and through the ignoring; through the benefits and through the consequences. He never seems to tire of me, but is always ready to put me on the path and move me forward. I know I’m not alone in this. I have people come and talk to me all the time, about wanting to do right, but really struggling with pulling it off. Paul even talks about this in Romans 7:14-25a (New Living Translation) “14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord…” Verse 25 is the key for all of us - “THE ANSWER IS IN JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!” In Christ - even when we act like a loser - He makes us a winner!
Clark Williman
Interim Lead Pastor