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April 28, 2018 @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm PDT 

Ricci Wilson, Pastor John Chin, along with our California State Coordinator (SC) Joyce Simley and Assistant SC Laura Kent are hosting our Northern California Joel’s Army Rally! 

Location:

Convergence House of Prayer

220 Hammond Ave 

Fremont, CA 94539

Lunch provided!

Pre-registration Required 

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April 28, 2018 @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm PDT 

Kin and Debbie Clark will join our Michigan State Coordinator Pat Panzer to host our first Michigan, Joel’s Army Rally! 

Location:

Concorde Inn

44315 N Gratiot Ave 

Clinton Township, MI 48036 

Pre-registration Required

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May 5, 2018 @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm PDT 

Ricci Wilson, Pastor John Chin, along with our California State Coordinator (SC) Joyce Simley are hosting our Southern California Joel’s Army Rally! 

Location:

OC Chinese Christian Assembly

9881 Trask Ave 

Garden Grove, CA 92844

Lunch provided!

Pre-registration Required

The reign of sin in our life causes us to do things we do not want to do. In Romans 7:15b Paul says, “For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.” Everyone has a conscience. We know what we should and should not do but it takes the refining work of the Spirit to effect true change within us. The responses that occur as a reflex reveals who we really are.

Consider this: have we allowed God to do a deep enough work that the reign of sin is losing its power over us? Has His work done a deep enough cleansing within us—reforming us, shaping us, and molding us that we are finally stepping into a life that demonstrates the reign of grace? When someone comes in and says that they can sin all they want because it only demonstrates the reign of grace, they are deceived.

When grace is reigning in our lives, our reflexes demonstrate the refining work of our Lord. It can be small or large. If someone pulls out in front of you on the road, do you lay on your horn, ranting how they’ve intentionally ruined your day? The truth is, we can go to the store and observe people in their cars as the anger and bitterness rises in them. It is hard to go down the road without being flipped off and I don’t think I’m a mean or aggressive driver; it is not as though I am earning this response out of people. You do things by accident.

You both come to a stop sign, stop, and perhaps you were there a second before the other driver and when you go to take off, they lay on their horn and flip you off. I look at this and think, this is the reign of sin in action. When someone’s reflex causes them to react that strongly, consider the bitterness in the heart. The anger they live in comes out on the road because our minds are focused on driving, not on suppressing our emotions. So, when road rage begins to happen, we need to take a deeper look at ourselves.

At what point do we move from a life that demonstrates the reign of sin into a life that demonstrates the reign of grace, where our actions reveal the work that grace has done in our hearts—the work the Word has done in our hearts? Paul goes on to tell the people of Rome the absolute necessity of living a holy life. You see, grace and holiness go hand in hand. We are saved by grace, but grace is demonstrated through a life of holiness.

We learn in Philippians that grace and holiness must go hand in hand. The life of a believer demonstrates the work of Christ in us; suffering and persecutions bring forth the character of Christ. We studied the character of Christ and the character of the bond servant. Are we slaves to sin or are we slaves to Christ? Here Paul is talking to the Romans and in essence he’s saying, “Are you living with Christ? Are you dead to sin and living with Christ? Are you demonstrating the life of someone who understands what it means to have Christ reign in their lives, someone submitting to the cross, submitting to the work that He has done, submitting to Him? Are we baptized into Jesus Christ, baptized into His depths?”

In Romans 6: 1-4, Paul says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer, therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? Therefore, we are buried with Him, by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.”

That newness of life literally means “to produce a new state of being, a new state of living.” We are to walk in a newness of life. Christ is the only path. Living a holy life, being sanctified by Christ, is the only true salvation. That is how we demonstrate one who is baptized into Christ. A baptism into His death. That is an immersion, a complete immersion and you come out a new person, demonstrating a newness of life.

When Jesus died on the cross, the other two who were crucified alongside Him were still alive but the guards did not want them to still be hanging on crosses on the Sabbath. So, they were instructed to go and break their legs to expedite the process. What a brutal death! I reflected on this, on what Christ did for us, how He lived His life before the death and then on the death and resurrection and the purity of His life and what it means to walk a life that is Christ-like. It’s what we learn in Philippians—putting off the old and putting on the new.

As I prayed over this lesson I reflected on what Christ did on the cross. When they came to Him and saw that He was dead, a guard took a spear and thrust it up into His side at an upward angle (so it would penetrate the heart), just to be sure He was dead, and what came out was blood and water. This distinction really poured over me because in and of itself, this is a miracle for the two to come out as clearly different streams—blood and water. More than this, the significance of both the blood and the water represent the justification and sanctification the work of the cross accomplished. Blood is for the remission of sins. Water is for the regeneration as a person. Blood is for the atonement. Water is for purification. We also know that water often represents the Holy Spirit.

After Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He spent time with the disciples and other believers. When it was time for Him to go, no one wanted Him to leave. “I have to go,” He said, “so I can send you the Comforter.” It was not until Jesus ascended that the Holy Spirit came and filled up the believers, enabling them to walk a life of Christ-likeness. This ability was imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. Having walked as a man, Jesus knew we could not take this next journey alone and He sent the Helper to guide us along. His Spirit is here to do the purification of our flesh, our mind, our body and our spirit. This purification allows us to live under the reign of grace and paves the path for Him to do such a deep work in us that our lives begin to reflect the reign of grace.

To be continued next week…

Blessings & Love,

Ricci Wilson