Power

Dear CBC Family,

I have many things to make you aware of this week, so please read this email carefully.

Remember that this Saturday night we turn the clock ahead an hour. If you forget to do that, you will arrive Sunday morning and we will be wrapping up.

Secondly, if you have children in the junior high or senior high age group, please know that we will be kicking off our new youth ministry on Thursday, April 21st at 7:00 PM. We will be providing pizza and drinks. Randy and Elizabeth Kucera will be facilitating this ministry going forward. If you have any questions about it, please contact me directly. If you want to serve in this ministry, please let us know.

Thirdly, we are having Taco Sunday on April 3 right after the morning service. The church will provide the tacos and we are asking people to bring a side dish or dessert to share. The men will be cooking and serving. We will have our third annual salsa and guacamole contests at this event. A great time will be had by all. Please sign up so we know how much food to buy.

In Acts 2:38, Peter said to all the Jews who had gathered for Pentecost, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Whenever we try to fix something in our lives that’s broken, we usually only get so far. It seems like our efforts stall and there’s a point at which we come to the stark realization that something is missing.  

I’m sure you’ve had that experience. In theory, we should be able to overcome that one nagging sin that comes back to bite us again and again. But theory isn’t enough. Something’s missing. And that something is power. Real power. Power that overcomes. Power that puts to death our sin. Power that sets us free to walk in newness of life, which is, after all, the whole point of Jesus dying and rising again (Romans 6:4).

Have you ever wondered why it is that after Jesus rose, appeared to His disciples and ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in each believer? There are two main reasons. One reason for that gift is that it’s God’s Spirit who makes us holy: pure, clean, set apart from the junk of this world to do God’s will. And it’s that Holy Spirit power that you and I need, day by day, if we’re to overcome our sin, in our own living experience.

John Owen in his 17th Century classic “Of the Mortification of Sin” writes this: “A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit.” The Bible says it is for freedom that Christ has set us free and not to use that freedom to indulge the sinful nature. By the Spirit, His power is unleashed so that you can live in your new-found freedom. Holy Spirit power. It’s the gift of God. That’s the first reason. The second we will discuss this weekend in our text from Romans 12.

Do you experience that power? If not, come and find out why.

Blessings to you,

Pastor Scott