From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>

To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"

Cc:

Sent: Thu, Apr 27, 2023 at 6:08 AM

Subject: 4-27-23 THOUGHTS

4-27-23   THOUGHTS

We read this morning one of the most powerful passage sections in the Word.  Because we are flesh, we will always struggle with the flesh-Spirit discussions.  We are all too familiar with the wrong side of this discussion.  But God is the author of the spiritual side!  It’s the Victory side. It’s the eternal side.  7:24 states the question, while 8:1-2 gives us the answer!  Verses 9-16 perfect the discussion.  Thank you for Your Spirit dwelling in us, O God.  I am so grateful for Romans chapter 8.   It is powerful in its assurance!  I need that in my weakness.

Rom 7:22-8:16    For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,  23  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24  Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?  25  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.  
Rom 8:1   Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3  For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4  so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5  For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6  For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7  because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  9  However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10   If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.  11  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  12  So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —  13  for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14  For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  15  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"  16  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

My Prayer:
Thank you, thank you, O God, for the spirit of adoption that brings us close to You.  Thank you for your Spirit in us Who gives us life.  May Christ continually give us life.  Help us to walk according to the Spirit.  Open our hearts to the possibilities of serving You in the Spirit, of truly being alive.     In Jesus name,      Amen.