It Wasn't Me (Week 3) - May 29, 2022 - Kelsie Koch

“[The Israelites] were different because of the God they followed… because followers of God follow the authority of God.” “Sin doesn’t just belong in the Old Testament with people like Adam and Eve and Achan… the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God.” “In the Bible, the word sin is an archery word. It means ‘to miss the mark.’ The mark, of course, is perfection because God, being perfect, sets the mark… and we as humans fail miserably to hit that mark day after day.” “We struggle to submit to God and His authority in our day to day lives because we mistakenly buy into the idea that we know better. We have a better plan. We know a better way. But God is our Creator… and he’s the author of life. He’s the only perfect one and the only one with the authority to make the rules, to tell us right from wrong, to tell us good from evil.” “Sometimes we don’t understand the reasons for the guidelines that he gives, and it’s really hard to obey when we don’t understand.” “Followers of God follow the authority of God.” “If you recognize your sin and submit to God, then you can be rescued from your sin. You can be rescued from the penalty of death and live with God forever.” “Every day presents us with a hundred different opportunities to submit to the authority of God in our lives… whether we understand it or not. Whether we agree with it or not. Whether we like it or not. Every day, we are called to die to our old life and to walk with Jesus. That means we say no to our pride. That means we apologize when we’ve done something wrong, even when it hurts or is embarrassing. We forgive others when we’d rather hold on to a grudge. We don’t say that biting remark that’s on our lips when someone makes us mad. We give when we’d rather be selfish. We exercise self-control when we’d rather give in to our passions and pleasures and desires that God says are not right. We let go of our fears and anxieties and instead choose to trust God with the unknown. We stand upon truth and the truth of His word, even when it isn’t the popular thing to believe or live by.” “We have to continually remember who God is and what he’s done, how he’s been faithful in the past and how we can trust him in the future.” “Living under the authority of someone else is hard, but it doesn’t have to be when we know and trust the goodness of the God whose authority we’re under. Then we can be followers of God seeking to follow the authority of God.”