have a look at this license plate on youtube.http:...
have a look at this license plate on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-An8jzBWNI
G rated
PlanetWisdom Student Conference
Instant Message
“In [Christ Jesus our Lord] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” (Ephesians 3:12)
You can’t just walk right up to the king. In many nations throughout history, to approach the king without being invited resulted in a quick and painful death. Only a few select people could come to the King without first being asked, maybe some family members and few trusted servants. Everyone else had to make an official request through someone else.
That’s how it used to be with God, too. When He set up His official relationship with Israel, only representatives were allowed to come into His presence at a very specific time and place — and very carefully — to ask His forgiveness for Israel’s sins.
Jesus changed all that. He paid for the sin that stood between us and the Father. Those who trust in Christ have our sins forgiven completely. The result? No need for a middleman and the exact right words in the right order on the right day. Jesus gave us a pass to walk right into God’s throne room to talk to Him at any time and for any reason. That’s real freedom. Are you using yours?
Think: How would your relationship with God be different if you could not talk to Him directly? Would it be less personal? Less meaningful?
Pray: Thank God for the freedom and confidence to talk directly to Him at any time without fear.
Do: Use your freedom to approach God with confidence today.
PlanetWisdom Student Conference
Wasted Freedom
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
” ‘Everything is permissible’—but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” (1 Corinthians 10:23-24)
Happy 4th of July! Hope you’re planning to do something special to celebrate your freedom today. We’re borrowing the theme of this weekend to talk about spiritual freedom. Yesterday, we saw that Jesus died to free us from the power of sin. He also freed us from having to follow every rule and regulation of God’s Old Testament Law by keeping it all perfectly Himself before He died.
Today’s two verses point out two ways to waste our freedom in Christ. First, we can refuse to accept our freedom from the Law. We can refuse to see ourselves as forgiven people, loved by our Father, with no risk of losing His acceptance. We can live with endless guilt for every misstep. We can believe that our salvation still depends on our obedience to the rules list and not our faith in Jesus. That’s not freedom.
Or we can waste our freedom in the opposite direction. How? By using it as an excuse to live the most selfish lives possible, doing only what we want when we want to do it with whom we want to get whatever rush or satisfaction we crave. We can forget we have been freed from having to serve ourselves and ignore that we now have the power to do real selfless good to each other.
Everything on the menu is available, but not everything on the menu is worth eating.
Think: If you think of freedom as a road, are you more likely to slide into the ditch of legalism or selfishness? What can you do about that?
Pray: Ask God to give you the courage and boldness to live with real freedom from both legalism and selfish indulgence.
Do: Watch something go boom.
PlanetWisdom Student Conference
Forever Freedom
“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:20-21)
This weekend seems like the perfect time to talk about freedom. On July 4th, Americans celebrate our political freedom and honor the men and women who have fought and are fighting now to defend it. Freedom is also huge deal to God. According to the Bible, every single one of us is born a spiritual slave. We belong to sin, and we obey it every time it calls. We are not free.
Sin brings death, and all living things on the planet carry a countdown clock around our necks, ticking away the moments until we’re physically dead. All of creation, Paul wrote, is in a constant state of inescapable decay. It’s ugly and it hurts.
Jesus changed all of that. He died the death our sin had earned us. For those who trust in Him, in His substitution in our place on the cross, He gives an amazing gift: freedom from the power of sin, freedom to be part of God’s family. Now all of creation waits for the completion of our adoption for the ultimate freedom from the burden of sin forever. It is coming.
Think: If you’re a Christian, do you ever think of yourself as a former slave to sin? Do you ever long to be fully free from the consequences of living on a sin-drenched planet? Why or why not?
Pray: Thank God for your freedom from the power of sin through Jesus? Ask Him to help you to appreciate and use that freedom every day.
Do: Try to think about your spiritual freedom this weekend during your Independence Day celebrations.