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“Now if Christ does live WITHIN YOU his presence means that your sinful nature is dead, but YOUR SPIRIT becomes alive because of the righteousness he brings with him. I said that our nature is 'dead' in the presence of Christ, and so it is, because of its sin. Nevertheless once the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives WITHIN YOU he will, by that same Spirit, bring to your whole being new strength and vitality.
“So then, my brothers, you can see that we have no particular reason to feel grateful to our sensual nature, or to live life on the level of the instincts. Indeed that way of living leads to certain spiritual death. But if on the other hand you cut the nerve of your instinctive actions by obeying THE SPIRIT, you are on the way to real living. “All who follow the leading of God’s Spirit are God’s own sons. Nor are you meant to relapse into the old slavish attitude of fear—you have been adopted into the very family circle of God and you can say with A FULL HEART, 'Father, my Father.' The Spirit himself endorses our INWARD conviction that we really are the children of God. Think what that means. If we are his children we share his treasures, and all that Christ claims as his will belong to all of us as well! Yes, if we share in his suffering we shall certainly share in his glory.” (Romans 8:10-17, Phillips) Remember, as you encounter this week: Jesus lives WITHIN YOU. He has already made YOUR SPIRIT alive. The power of the Resurrection is likewise WITHIN YOU. THE SPIRIT of Jesus is your ever-available Guide through life. By the Lord's work, you, right now, may enjoy A FULL HEART. For your INWARD sense, of His perfect love, is perfectly correct!
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“Jesus Christ signifies God, not without man or—which would be even worse—against him, but God with man, and indeed for him, as his Friend and Helper and Saviour and Guarantor. Jesus Christ signifies God Himself becomes man’s Neighbour and Brother, akin and alongside in order in his stead to redeem his ruined cause. Jesus Christ is in person the faithfulness of God which draws near the unfaithfulness of man and overpowers it as God Himself not only confirms and maintains His covenant with His creature but once and for all leads it to its goal and secures it against every threat. He is the reconciliation of the world to God which does not merely look and go beyond the sin of man but sets it aside. He is the effective justification and sanctification of sinful man, and indeed his honorable vocation to the service of God. He is the kingdom of God which with its comfort and healing has approached and invaded torn humanity suffering from a thousand wounds, and put an end to its misery. He is in the deepest sense the reformation, i.e., not merely the restoration but the disclosure or manifestation of the purpose and glory of all creation. He is the gift of what it has not merited, its liberation by the free love, the free grace and the free mercy of God in the purity of His will and with the superiority of His power. In a word, He is the goodness of God…” Karl Barth
Church Dogmatics IV.3.2 The key to the “Great Commission” (Mt. 28:18-20) is imagining that you’re the only person to whom He spoke it: that its fulfillment is entirely contingent upon your obedience. All at once, then, all of life becomes the most marvelous adventure alongside Him: He daily hands you His authority, sending you places for His purposes, calls up your courage, allows you to be the hands and feet and lips of His glorious Gospel.
The Holy Spirit--His own Spirit—will empower everything you do! And He Himself will be with you; beside you; within you! Never forget: Your witness for Him lacks for nothing. |
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