Here is about the best way I can describe our relationship to sin after accepting Christ.  

Once we have accepted Christ we are released from the "Penalty" of sin.  Meaning we are forgiven and have been declared Justified before God, by God.  It's more than having the charges dropped against us, but they are wiped from the slate as if they have never happened.

At this time we are also release from the "Power" of sin.  Before Christ, we could help but sin.  We were sinners by nature.  We couldn't help but sin, because we really didn't know what sin was.  We were in the dark.  It takes Light to illuminate the dark.  Without light you cannot see.  Without site, you don't even know you are sinning.  Yes we have a concious, and some would say that is God's way of leading us to Him.  But once we have been saved, we now have the choice not to sin, before ... we didn't have the choice.  Read Romans 6:12 (actually read all of chapter 6 to get a great view on our relationship to sin) ... it says do not "let" sin reign in your body.  What does this imply? .... That we have the power not to.  In Romans 6:6 it says that our body of sin has been done away with.  This does not really describe what the greek work Kataargeao (sp?) really means.  It means more like "disengaged".  Think of it as this ... you are driving your car and it is in first gear.  You do not have the power to change gears.  Then Christ comes over and puts your car in neutral.  That is the spirit of this word.  We are still in the prescence of sin, but he power is not there.  What happens when you give a car gas and it is in neutral?   .... nothing.  That is our state when Christ comes into our heart.  But ... and this is a big but ... we are still in control of our car.  We have every ability to put the gear back into drive.  But who is doing it?   Us!  And this is huge to remember also ... we now have the ability to put it back into neutral.  Before Christ, we didn't have that power.  So ... we have been released from the penalty and the power of sin, but not the precense.  That will come when we get our glorified bodies.

There is one more point I want to make before I leave this subject.  It is also from Romans.  It talks about presenting our bodies to sin or to righteousness.  Let's say you have a car and your pastor comes up and says "I'd like to borrow your car to deliver some food to the homeless."  Then another comes up and says "I'd like to borrow your car to go rob a bank."  Who are you going to give your car keys too.  You have the power!!   You decide.  You decide who to present your car to.  If you haven't figured it out already ... the car is analogeous to your body.  Everday we are presented with choices in how to present our bodies.  It like we have the mental car keys and we decide who will drive out car/body.  The main thing to know is that we know have the power to choose.

To borrow from an old saying ... "Choose wisely"

Grace and Peace to you.

I understand Romans at one time was used as a text in several U.S. law schools...

That is correct

New Blather! I don't think all ministry ideas are from the Lord. Sometimes, they're things we want to do. If you've prayed your brains out, and you're still not sure, how do you know when a ministry idea is from the Lord, you, or it's just a really bad idea?

If you know it is from God, then you do it until God tells you otherwise.  Whether it is successful or not.  Remember ... God does not call us to be successfull, only faithful.

but ....
If are not sure it is from God, then what do you do?  Assuming you have prayed about it ... there is a method named after some famous preacher (I can't remember his name).  This method goes like this, when you just can't be sure, but it still seems good, then go ahead and do it.  If God blesses it, then continue.  If He doesn't, then quit.

Sounds simple, and sometimes the best answers are simple.

Grace and peace to you.

I would settle for us calling it Christmas holidays in schools instead of Winter holidays or some such.  It's like the shools is saying ... "yeah, we'll celebrate Christmas, but let's change the name and tell everyone to now talk about what it really is."  It's all pretty silly.

But for me ...
To see the faces of my son and daughter as they come into the room with the presents will be the best part.  I have been so blessed, that I really, really don't care about 'things'.  I've got what I need and all the rest is gravy.  I want to hear innocent laughter from my kids.  I want to roll around on the floor with them and tickle them.  I want them so happy that my son says "this is the best Christmas ever".  For me ... I want a day of perfect peace and happiness in my family.  I want to capture a moment in time that seems to have no end.  Where I don't have to think about the next day, or the next hour.  But for just a moment, I simply live in a moment in time and become that moment with my family.

Romans changed my life.  This is probably not an original statement.  My life was pretty crappy.  I couldn't understand why wasn't living like I wanted to.  I considered myself a Christian, but I couldn't get over the hump ... to the next level.  I kept doing the things I hated.  I read chapter 6 and learned in 6:12 that I shouldn't "let" sin reign in my body.  What did that imply ... "let"?  That I had the power to not to.  I had stop thinking of myself as a sinner, and to think of myself as a saint who occasionally sins.  If you don't recognize the difference, let me know and we'll start another thread.  It's a huge difference.  Then I get to chapter 7 and it still sends shivers up my back to hear how Paul felt like I did.  He dispised the things he did.  To hear Paul struggle somehow made me feel ok.  Paul cries out "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?"  That was exactly how I felt.  Then we climax to Romans 8.1 "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" and then just takes off from there in some of the prettiest words you will ever hear for the rest of Chapter 8.  We learn that we don't even know to pray.  We learn that there is a pray meeting going on for us right now the Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  We learn that who are we to be afraid of?  Who could possible condemn us?  Don't we know who we are? We are children of God!!!!

Chapters 7 and 8 are gems and 8.1 is the cornerstone.  I would recommend everyone to read chapters 6,7,8 at least once a month.  It's the best medicine in the world to be reminded what being a Christian is all about.

Grace and Peace to you.

You could start by reading Romans chapter 7 and 8,
Then maybe Phillipians (pay attention to chapter 3)

This is the first I've seen of this thread, so please excuse me if I'm talking out of place ....

One, I would say be careful.  When Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel and face the enemy, how did He do that? .... by 2's.  Why?  You should be able to answer this.  There is a danger of one interacting with the enemy.  As close as we draw to God, or atleast attemp to, there is always the possibility of being deceived.  Some of you may say "but not me, I really love Christ."  Well what about Peter?  He knew God in the flesh, yet satan was able to speak through Peter.  I say this to say be careful.  If you are going to engage the enemy head on like that.  Inform a friend and pray protection.  Then take a friend with you.  The enemy wants to isolate you, get you one on one. But there isn't any precedense for this in the NT.  Paul always took someone with him on his missionary trips.  Jesus sent the disciples out by 2, He sent the 70 out by 2.  There is a reason for a minimum of 2.  If it is completely impossible to take a friend.  Have a friend pray for you while you interact with the enemy.  I'm not talking about simply the lost or unbeliever.  But if he is a satanist, then we are talking about active spiritual warfare.  Do not take this lightly.  Do not confuse an unbeliever with a satanist.  One is passively rejecting God, the other has decided to worship the enemy and pledge to fight God.  There is a huge difference.

How do you know when to call it quits.  There is only one answer to this.  When God tells you to.  Remember, God may use you for a while, then call someone else down the road to pick it up.  Pray to God and ask Him what to next.  Surrendure to God.

Grace and Peace to you.

Sof,

That is longer than a 5 minute convo.  Some of my best friends in the world are recovered drug and alcohol addicts.  It's a tough thing to forgive yourself.  I will attempt to give you a few pieces of advice from personal experience and from what I've learned later.

Assuming you have accepted Christ ...

1) Learn to forgive yourself.  God has forgiven you and you should also.  I've heard it said like this, when you are saved, God takes all the sins of yours that are written on peices of paper and burns them up.  But before He does, the enemy makes a copy so that he can keep showing them to you.  The first thing the enemy wants to do is to keep you from coming to know Christ.  Second to that, he wants to paralyze your walk to keep others from knowing Him.  God asks you to fogive others.  You are included in this.  He never says "forgive everyone but yourself."  You may see yourself as unforivable, but God does not.
2) Learn to love yourself.  Don't confuse humbleness and dying to self with not loving yourself.  What is the second greatest commandment ... Love your neighbor "as yourself".  What does this imply?  That it is ok to love yourself.  Remember God loves you, so why should you hate you.
3) Learn to see yourself as God sees you.  When I see myself as "I" see me, I want to cry or vomit.  I see my frailities.  My failures.  The people I've hurt.  When I see myself as "I" see me, I'm very ugly.  Then I have to remember that God does not see me this way.  If you have children, then you can understand.  In my eyes, my children are perfect.  I love them unconditionally.  They are beautiful and I am so proud of them.  God sees us as "justified".  Imagine God smiling and laughing while thinking of you.  When you beat yourself up, this makes God sad.  It would be like your daughter coming up to you and telling you that she feels she is so ugly that she wants to die and that she is bad and that she hates herself.  How would that make a parent feel.  Learn to see yourself as God sees you.  Remember ... you are a child of God.
4) Forget the past.  I have done stuff so awefull, I feel I should burn forever.  Here is one example (I'm not going to start listing every sin).  I use to do drugs alot.  As a teenager I would get stoned and go to church with my friends sometimes (for social, not for Christ).  Anyways, one time my best friend was going to get baptised and I talked him into getting stoned with me before he got baptised.  When I think of me doing that today, it makes me so depressed I could just kill myself.  I have repented for many things I've done, many times.  Here is the verse that helped free me.  Paul (if you only know half of what he had done) says this in Phillipians 3:13 "Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead".  Paul is saying that you have to recognize that you are a new person now.  Don't let your past paralyze you.  Use the past as a resource to help others (like I'm doing now), but don't live there.  When some of my old friends would bring up some of that stuff from my old days .... I would say "That was a different person.  I'm not that man now".  This doesn't excuse me of responsibility, but I can't fix everything.  If God convicts me to make ammends for something in particular, then I do.  But the key is what does God want me to do "NOW".  I'll give you another example.  God has called me into youth ministry.  I use the resources of what I (and my friends) went through to help other youth today.  I'm not trying to make amends for everything I've done in the past, I simply asked God what does He want me to do today.

Well, this is a start.  I would be happy to discuss other things or answer any questions you may have.  If this gets too personal (I can understand that), feel free to PM me and we can exchange emails or just talk via PM.  If you think others may benefit from this discussion on the board, and you are comfortable with it, we'll discuss it here.  I'll be here to help in any way you wish.

Grace and Peace to you.

I see no problem with it.  Each generation has developed their own language.  It's part of who we are.  We enter that stage where we want to differentiate ourselves and show our independence.  This is just part of that.  How our youth interact with each other and the language they use in no way takes away from their intellect.  I know many youth that talk that way among themselves, yet interact vocally with adults in their language also when they have to.  You can almost think of it as being bilingual.  If you was to ask the parents of kids in the 60's what they thought, it'd be similar to what those kids are now saying about their kids.  Each generation thinks the next is worse.  You can think of this as a sign as one is getting older.  The music is getting louder, harder, and the youth's language skills are going downhill.  These kids are very smart and are growing up faster than we had to.  Do not underestimate them.

Grace and peace to you.

Favorite Books
1) Romans
2) Phillipians (just to think he wrote this in prison!!)

Favorite Chapters
1) Romans 8 (could there be a greater gem in the Bible?  )
2) Phillipians 3 (my thoughts exactly)

Favorite Verses
1) Hmmm ... maybe Romans 8 vs 1  
2) Joshua 24 v 15 (last part)  "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"

1=5.5
2=7
3=7
4=6
5=define many - we have 4000 members.
   if many is >75 then the answer is 3
   if the answer is < 75 then the answer is 6
   if the answer is < 50 then the answer is 7
6=7 - I attend a men's group each Tuesday
7=6
8=5
9=7
10=7

I haven’t seen it. A few of my friends are boycotting it for it “sacrilegious nature.” Of course, these guys never even saw the show, but it is there convections, not mine.

Are the Portraying God as the Christian God, or a Syncretist God, or a Agnostic God, or what?

They are portraying Him kind of like God in the movie "Oh God".  I don't find it sacrilegious at all.  I think it is very tastefully done.  He is "suppose" to be the God of the Jews/Christians/Muslims.  Joan made a little joke about is God going to have her burst into flames and "He" ask "Where do you guys get this stuff."  then "He" makes a reference to coming off a little nicer in the Christian Bible and the Koran.  They have (for obvious reasons) stayed away from any one denomination or religion.  I doubt very seriously we will get into any Christian doctrines here with Jesus, but there have been some great questions tackled by this show so far.  And, I think they have been pretty well answered.  Is it perfect for us ... no.  But, if you watch it and give them a certain amount of leeway, you will enjoy it I think.  I can't remember the name of that show with Micheal Landon where he played an angel, but we all enjoyed that.  That wasn't necessarily a show explaining Christian doctrines.  But shows like this give us an opportunity to discuss God with people in a very unobtrusive kind of way.  like "Hey, did you see this new show.  What did you think of God's answer to the question of why doesn't He answer everyone's prayer they way they wanted Him to?  What'd you think of that answer?"  If give us great opportunities to casually talk about God to people that might be skiddish otherwise.  In my opinion, anything that gets people to think about God, is a good thing.

It was so awesome!!

Towards the end they showed a pretty raw preview to "Passion".  All I can say is ... WOW!!!!!  It brought tears to my eyes and a few times I had to look away.  It is pretty graphic.  To see our Savior go throught that (even for a few minutes) almost made me loose it.  I have a feeling I will be crying like a baby at the theatres when it comes out.  Let me warn everyone out there ... do not take young children to see this movie.  I would hesitate to take young teenagers.  Your best bet is to see it first, and then decide if your child is old enough.  You won't believe how graphic it is.  This is not your watered down version you see on TV.  The purpose is to give an accurate dipiction of what He actually went through.  I don't think many of us really think about how bad it was.  I am happy someone made this to remind us, and I will cry as I see what He went through.  Just from watching the preview has made me appreciate my Salvation even that much more.

Did any other churches out there see the simulcast of 3rd Day and Max Lucado Last night (10-5-03)?  Our church did.  we had a few hundred people there.  It was pretty cool.  I was just wondering if anyone else saw it.

I agree that this show cannot be held up to a Christian standard or doctrine.  But it does address some very intersting questions with some pretty interesting answers.  I loved the one where "God" tell Joan to make something of herself and quit squandering her potiential.  Joan comes back with "What about that part about being humble and all" and "God" (I love this part) says "it's only humble if you're good at something."  

Humbleness is being good at something and not bragging about it because you know it is God doing it through you.  I know many Christians think that we shouldn't strive for greatness.  I see nothing wrong with striving for greatness if it is from the gift that God gives us.  We should whatever gift God has given us to the maximum potential.  As we do that be humble about it becuase we know the gift is from God.  I see it as this .... Be great and be humble.  Strive for the glory of God.

Yeah, this show doesn't talk about Jesus.  Yeah, it portrays a all religion in one "God" type of person.  But it addresses some very interesting points.  And ... if it can get people to "think" about God in knew ways, or in any way at all.  I think God can use this show, and "us" to use this as a vehicle to talk about God.  If you're talking to some friends and you wanted to very unabtrusively talk about God ... you could say "Hey, did you see that show 'Joan of Arcadia'?  What you think about 'God' when he said ....?"  My opinion is this show can be used as a tool to open discussions about God with unbelievers.