Made To Shine 💡: Diving Deeper
See Jesus
Family,
On a scale of 1-10, how righteous are you?
Webster defines righteousness this way:
Righteousness means purity of heart and correctness of life. It is conformity of heart and life to the divine law.
Sinless.
The Bible says righteousness is required for anyone to have friendship with Holy God.
(Please note, God loves the unrighteous! While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. But righteousness is required for restored relationship with God.)
Our Lord Jesus was and is perfectly righteous. Born of a virgin, he had no sin nature. During his life and ministry he knew no sin.
What could you do to make yourself "more" righteous?
What could you do to make yourself "more" unrighteous?
Let's dive deeper and see what the Bible has to say about our righteousness!
2 Corinthians 5:21 says,
"For He (God) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus Christ)."
Beloved, here is a trustworthy saying,
"We are not righteous because we do right.
We became righteous because of what Jesus did for us at the cross." (1)
Whose "doing" makes us righteous? Not our own! It is Jesus' doing which makes us righteous.
Our Christian walk is not about our right doing, it is about our right believing!
"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." John 1:12
When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ's work is credited to our account!
Our sin is cleansed off our sin record and across our ledger is written,
"RIGHTEOUS BY FAITH IN CHRIST"!
At that point, our spirits, the source of our lives, are made righteous through faith in Christ.
Beloved, when you believed in the Lord Jesus and confessed Him as Lord, you were more than forgiven.
You were given Christ's righteousness as if it were your very own!!
You have been irrevocably transferred out of unrighteousness and into righteousness!
We don't go by sight or feelings or current behaviours. We don't trust whether we "feel" righteous or not.
We go by faith in the Word of God!
The word of God tells us,
"we become the righteousness of God in Him".
This is the beautiful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Because we ARE righteous through faith in the Lord Jesus, we are Children of God.
We can approach our Heavenly Father confidently and loved even when we 'feel' unrighteous; even when we "do" wrong.
You can anticipate that God's unmerited, undeserved favour is on your side today!
You can listen to Pastor Kevin's message and learn more about this wonderful gift of righteousness!
With Love,
Pastor Merodee
(1) - a quote from Joseph Prince, "The Right Definition of Righteousness", josephprince.com
Know Jesus
This week, you can dive deeper into the message through one or all of the following:
Listen to Pastor Kevin’s message by visiting the Podcast page.
Write "I (your name) am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. As Jesus is, so am I in this world." Now go and look in a mirror and read that to yourself.
Do a DBS on 2 Corinthians 5:21 & 1 John 4:17
Listen to Sunday's Podcast.
Pray to the Father and ask for the Holy Spirit to teach you about your righteousness which is by grace THROUGH faith.
Discovery Bible Study
TO BEGIN
Pray and ask Holy Spirit to teach you about God from His word.
Next, read the verse a couple of times.
Now, ask these questions:
What does this tell me about God/Jesus?
What does this tell me about people?
How can I respond to what I just read?
When you’re done asking these questions, it’s a great idea to pray and thank God for teaching you more about who He is and who you are!
Discovery Bible Study (DBS) is a way for anyone, anywhere to read God's word! You can dive deeper into this week's message by doing a DBS one any one or all of these scriptures. DBS is a great tool to use for your own devotions, as a bible study with friends, or as an evangelism tool!
"For God made him (Jesus) who had now sin to be sin for us, so that in him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21
"...because as he (Jesus) is so also are we in this world." 1 John 4:17b
Prayer Prompts
Pray for the Lord to open up doors of opportunity for us all to share the Good News of Jesus with those around us.
Pray for those who grieve to be able to grieve with hope.
Pray for the influx of souls into the Kingdom!
Share Jesus
You can share this week's podcast, email, or blog post. Check out volunteer opportunities to get involved in the work of sharing Jesus in our church family and community.
