From the Pastor’s
Heart.... 
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
There is a self-righteous religion. It has all the appearance of godliness. But it is shrouded by a constant search for sin, that when dealt with gives a satisfaction so much so, that it quickly wants to find another. The satisfaction is a self earned euphoria that it is achieving for itself an eternal glory. The only way to eternal life is through Christ Jesus. Now, it doesn't end there. We must live holy lives not being slaves to sin. We also must continually walk and commune with God. We need to search our hearts, repent and purge sin from our lives as we battle against the old nature. But the responses must come from a love for Christ and a hate for sin. The big difference is one is "earning" a salvation, while the other sees himself for who he really is and cries out for mercy that a savior is needed. The first type of thinking usually involves the severely disciplined person who is using a formula or a gauge set in his OWN mind of what he must do to achieve salvation. He also views anything else as totally liberal. We must realize that no matter what we do we are too sinful to achieve salvation. We can follow every law and sin in the slightest and we have disqualified ourselves. We need to hate and loathe sin. We need to see sin as God does. Of ourselves we can achieve nothing; otherwise, we end up boasting and judging others by our own little standards and formulas. The list goes on and on of man-made rules all intended to bridge the gap between God and man. There is only one way to do that and that is through Jesus Christ. Period. Now then, let's get down to serving Christ. Let us live holy lives separate from sin out of love and devotion to God who so graciously set up this beautiful plan. It's all found in God's word, the Bible.
Pastor Tim Kennell
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Thought He who claims to be a self-made man has relieved God of an embarrassing situation. |