Welcome to our Together on Mission Podcast, when we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, the scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation with him throughout your day. Your hopes to strive as final, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. Hey everyone, welcome to the Together on Mission Podcast. This has been, and I again get the privilege and the joy of hanging out with you all today and just chatting about Jesus and the scriptures and just getting to do this thing together.
So, it's an honor. I love it. I love when we get together and talk about scripture, and I know even though you're not physically here in the room with me that as we talk and think and listen, that we are, we're all shaped by the same Holy Spirit who's moving within us. So, it's just encouraging to think about the unity, even though we are in different locations and even different times.
So, anyways, without getting into a rabbit trail, I wanted to talk about two verses today. As we're finishing up the sermon series, we're finishing up reading through Romans, Chapter 6, two verses kind of stood out or two passages kind of stood out. First it was 6, 18, which says, Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. And the second passage was, but now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God.
Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. And so, as I was praying about what I felt like God wanted to kind of talk about, what do you want to mean to kind of speak on or whatever, I just felt like those two verses stood out and he just put the, you know, the word encouragement on my mind. And so, I just wanted to encourage you. I just wanted to end this kind of not official season of the podcast, but this period of the podcast, and we're closing up the sermon series, we're finishing up Romans, Chapter 6.
I just wanted to kind of end on a note of encouragement, and that's how Paul ends Chapter 6. And so, I think it's fitting. And so, Verse 18, Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. And then 22, but now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God.
Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. So, I just want to encourage you that if you've accepted Christ, like you have the Holy Spirit in you, and you know, it's not always like a super fast and hard change. Sometimes it's a slow Eugene Peterson called it long obedience in the same direction. And you might be feeling like you might be hearing those words or reading those verses, and you're like, no, that's just not me.
Like, I'm stuck in sin right now. Like, I can't get out of this thing. I don't feel like there's any growth, any progress. But I'd encourage you, like, if you're feeling that way, try to try to like get out of those weeds and get a big picture, kind of perspective of the past five, ten years of your life and how you've grown.
And maybe it's not in this specific area, but maybe it's overall, you know, maybe you've seen the Holy Spirit move and transform you in a different area, and you've just forgotten about it. Like, oh, yeah, I used to really struggle with this issue, but I don't anymore. Now it's kind of this issue, but hey, that's growth. You know, it could be both issues.
You know what I mean? So, I would just encourage you, like, if you're feeling stuck, if you're feeling kind of, you know, like you're in the weeds, yes, sit in those weeds with Jesus, right? Sit in those weeds with Jesus and let him be the gardener of your soul. But also let him take you up and see the forest for the trees and let him take you and see the ways in which he's brought you through and the ways in which he's changing you and continuing to change you.
You know, he is the author and the perfecter of our faith, you know, and he's working on us to do his good work to do what he wills and what he desires, and so, and that's a promise, you know. And so I just wanted to end this, you know, series and the podcast. I wanted to end this on a high note, on an encouragement note, or a note of encouragement. You know, if you've accepted Christ, if you're following the way of Jesus, he is moving, and he is forming and transforming, and he is making all things new.
Whether we see it, whether we don't, he is as a promise, and it's not based on our merit, it's not based on things that we've done, it's who he is. Like, he can't, you know, like, he can't, you can't encounter Jesus, you can't encounter the Holy Spirit and not come away changed. That's just a matter of, it's just his goodness, it's his faithfulness, it's his trustworthiness. So yeah, I would encourage you if you're struggling with these verses and feeling like you haven't grown in your faith, you know, I'd encourage you just to sit with them, read them a few times, slowly, you know, read it four or five times slowly, and ask the Holy Spirit, okay, what's, what are you speaking to me?
What am I not believing about these verses? And what are you trying to show me in? And keep your mind and your heart and your thoughts open to what he might be saying. And, you know, if you, if you read these verses, you hear these verses, and you're like, oh yeah, totally like that's awesome.
I'm, I'm in a season of victory right now, like a season of felt and seen and experienced victory, like, you know, I just recently, like I'm no longer struggling with this sin like I used to. That's awesome. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus.
Do something to remember that. So, you know, write it down in a journal, you know, have some sort of milestone that you can, like physical milestone that you can go back to and show yourself, you know, so ten years down the road, you struggle with it again or struggle with something else, something that you can go back to and be like, oh yeah, God was faithful. During this time, remember ten years ago, God was faithful, he brought me through this trial, this, you know, this sin, this struggle. He'll be faithful to bring me through this one as well.
But yeah, so just encourage you, you know, growth is not always upward and right. You know, it's not always a perfect slope going up. Like there's mountains and valleys and there's highs and there's lows. But what's constant is God's goodness and God's love.
And so just rest in that knowing that whether you're at a mountaintop right now or whether you're in a valley, God's there, he's with you, he's not going to leave and you know, you're going to, he's going to bring you out of this, right? He works really good of those who love him. So just, you know, rest in that and repeat that to yourself. And when you have seasons of victory and you have seasons of mountaintop experiences, do something to commemorate that, create a milestone that you can go back to and remind yourself that, yes, God has been faithful in my life.
And so yeah, just to close, let's repeat those verses for us. So now you are free from your slavery to sin and you have become slaves to righteous living. But you're free from the power of sin and have become slaves to God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
So yeah, I hope this whole series and this podcast has blessed you, Romans 6 is such a great chapter and you know, it's so good to remind ourselves of what, you know, the rest of your day, the rest of your day. Alright, bye. Thanks for listening to the Together on Mission podcast. We truly hope that you were blessed and encouraged by you today.
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