Happy Tuesday. I would like to say a big thank you to our community of believers here in Northwest Houston. Your friendship is a great source of encouragement to Rhonda and I. We’ve finished one year on our blog and want to thank you for your participation with us in this ministry. Our ministry goal is a balance between investigating the theology behind our New Covenant experience and searching the Scripture to find what this experience looks like in practice. I believe a great need in today’s church is to understand the incredible resources and provisions that are ours through the New Covenant; the new arrangement between God and man brought by Jesus Christ.
Just this past week, a speaker referred to Jeremiah 17:10, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds,” and warned us that the thought of God rewarding us according to our deeds should give us some fear and trepidation. I believe the New Testament shows us another way. A way set free from the consequence model of the Old Testament to experience a life of love, acceptance, and forgiveness; a life set free from sin’s power by the finished work of Christ on the cross.
Does the idea of a “life set free” imply we should continue in sin? Of course not! The apostle Paul answered this exact question in Romans 6 with a NO, NO, NO, and NO. He then goes on to explain the provisions of the New Covenant to live a life set free from the power of sin. As we continue in this blog, we will be addressing point 5 – lifestyle issues – in our series about walking away from faith. What we will find is that New Covenant living is a high calling to a holy life, not some lazy approach to the rules or a distorted freedom to live as we please.
Again, thank you for your interest and participation as we move forward. We are always interested in your thoughts. We will be taking a short break and return in a week or two with “lifestyle issues”. See you then.