Pastor Sabrina Slimmer
Keymar Evangelical Wesleyan Church
(7/1) Life is precious. God has created everyone for a purpose, and He has made no mistakes. Yes, I agree with that statement. I 100% agree, But the life you live, the life I live is worthless; It means nothing. We were not created to live our lives for ourselves, so if you are trying to figure out what you should do, where you should go, or how to live your best life? Then, it’s simple you must die.
God has created us for a purpose. His word tells us that He makes no mistakes, and yet many of us today and this past week feel so lost and un-assured of what to do or where to go next. Through the Holy Spirit, God has promised to help us understand His word and what He means when He says we must die to live.
Remember Jesus told them, "If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it." - Luke 17:33
How do you gain anything by letting go?
Don’t you keep something by holding on to it? Common sense tells us that if I don’t want to lose my glasses, I must hold on to them and wear them.
I will help you understand what I mean, and what Jesus asked you to do.
See some of those who grew up in church think they know, but they don’t live as if they know, and others have absolutely no idea what I am talking about right now, and that’s ok.
For those of you who think you know what I am talking about, I want you to think back with me for a moment, back to the time you first heard of Jesus. For those of you who were raised in the church and have heard the name Jesus from the moment you can remember, think back to the moment when the name Jesus stirred something in you, the moment you were completely sold out to following Him and doing and going wherever He asked you to go and do. What were you feeling at the time? For others who accepted Christ later that’s fine too, think back to that same time, and for those who are new and confused; hold on.
Memory may have you thinking thoughts of excitement, joy, love, etc. You were on fire, ready to go, wanting to tell everyone what had just happened to you, and wanted others to have that same experience.
I remember mine; I was 23 years old at a Women of Faith event and very new to the whole church thing. I wanted to be baptized, I wanted to serve, I wanted to tell everyone and serve only Him. I was so excited.
Now what do you think a new believer "all in" would have done if someone then told them great, so happy you want to follow Jesus, all you need to do now is let go of your life and die.
I think back then I would turn and run far away and probably start calling Christianity a cult. I would have and might add in there don’t "drink the juice".
But this is exactly what Jesus calls us to do; He says "I love you, and I want you to die so you can finally live." What?
Galatians 2:20 - says "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."
In Galatians 2:19 - The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Galatian believers; he is writing to encourage them to leave behind and reject the legalistic demands of the Jewish Christians called the Judaizers and to embrace the gospel of freedom in the Spirit, he tells them "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live."
If you let go of your own life; what you want, what you desire, what you believe you deserve – Jesus promises that you will have a life worthy and desirable of having. When Jesus died on the cross, He took away the laws of performance – It all died on the cross with Him.
The problem is we give it up for a while. In the beginning, we are all in "Yes, God Whatever You Want Me To Do!" but after a while, we begin to miss what was familiar to us, "Our old way of life" and we slip back into the old ways we used to live.
Jesus applied His death and resurrection to our lives. Through His death, we gained forgiveness, justification, and redemption. And He applied it to every single person who said forgive me Lord I want to live for you!
We don’t ask God to forgive us and then continue to live for ourselves "live our Best lives yet" No, we turn our lives over and live for Him!
When we turn our lives over to Jesus, we ask Him to come and live within us. Why? Because we want to live for Him, become more like Him, and love who He loves.
John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
Our lives are starving to find purpose, we want our lives to count for something, we want purpose and a legacy.
We get that when we accept Jesus. His sacrifice brings us that fulfillment we are looking for and He gives us so much of that fulfillment that it overflows out of us and into the lives we come in contact with.
Galatians 2:20 "And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…"
There are 2 Greek words Paul could have used for living in you. en – which means to rest and settle down Or eis – which means to move into.
Paul chose the word "en" – Therefore the Spirit has come to rest in you, and He has settled in you! God Himself lives in you. Since Jesus is in us, we can say no to sin; sin becomes temporary. Sin is no longer who we are, and We no longer belong to sin. The Bible tells us that before we accepted Christ, we were slaves to sin – meaning sin was too hard to overcome. We do not belong to sin anymore. When I say we need to die to follow Jesus I mean We have died to sin, and now are alive in Christ because He is in us.
And now since Jesus lives His life through us, our lives do matter, and have a purpose, and a legacy.
I died. Jesus lives in me. I now am participating in His life and have eternal intimacy with God here on earth, I will never be alone, and I will always be able because He lives in me.
Have you let go of your own life? What you want, desire, and believe you deserve? Jesus is asking us to let go of, to drop, to die to a life that is defined by self. He is telling us there is another way, a better way.
To learn more about Keymar Wesleyan Chuch visit them at www.keymarwesleyan.org or better yet, join them for Sunday service at 1011 Francis Scott Key Hwy, Keymar
