Greetings my Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Lately, the accuser has been reminding me of who I used to be and how I used to live. It is amazing, really, how the enemy uses friends and family to do this: the people who were with us before we gave our lives to Christ and who remember what we looked like or how we talked when we lived in depravity or debauchery in rebellion to God. It also takes me by surprise, although it should not, that these people who have not yet found Christ still try to keep me in the perception of who I was. Maybe you, my brothers and sisters, face this yourselves, having loved ones wanting you to be the you they knew before you were crucified with Christ and were made new in Him. I have faced this a lot lately with my family hearing statements such as: "I don't want Pastor Dakota, I just want my brother." or "I just want things to go back to the way they used to be." In these moments, I am so grateful for my wife as she loving states: "I don't know how they expect to get you without Christ because Christ is part of Who you are." Also, in these moments when I have been reminded who I was, these scriptures have flooded my mind and I would like to share with you.
If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:18-20 NIV
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NIV
I want to bring special attention to verse 11:
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV
In short brothers and sisters, the next time you are reminded by the enemy of who you were you can say, "That may be who I was but that's no longer who I am! Glory be to God the most high I have been washed clean by the blood of my Savior Jesus Christ!"
May you walk in boldness and confidence knowing that you have been washed by the blood of Christ and it is no longer you that live but Christ that lives in you!
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.
Blessings,
Pastor Dakota