The Sin Struggle

A Daily Walk:    To Sin Or Not To Sin

What happens to the individual who becomes a Christian? Is there an instant cessation of sinning? Is there mastery of addictions? What of the effects of sin – are they erased? John Frame in his excellent presentation on Presuppositional Apologetics (213) provides us with an excellent insight on the issue at hand. He says “No. Becoming a Christian does not immediately erase all sin and its effects”. You see, God forgives our sins, but we will not be perfect till we get to heaven. Christians will sin. But we can choose not to:

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  (1 John 1:8-9)

The journey is a lifetime of pursuing Christ and His righteousness. We still struggle to overcome temptations and we still commit sin, both with the mind and the body. It is God who deals with all sin as He “forgives our noetic sins in Christ” (the nature of unbelief that affects our reasoning and knowledge, disobedience to God’s words). Frame describes the Christian as “regenerate, born again and a new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). So how is the believer different from the unbeliever? 

The Bible as an historical document

Can we trust the Bible?

The foundation of the Christian faith is belief in Jesus Christ – His birth, life, death and resurrection. The Christian believes in obtaining righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ; that he or she is sanctified in Christ Jesus by His calling (1 Corinthians 1:2). Therefore, the words of Christ upon which this faith relies must be trustworthy, and Christ has made it so. The words of the Bible are supported by eyewitness testimonies (first hand, recognized by scholars) and the revelation of His deity and resurrection; by manuscripts attesting to the Bible’s claims; by historical sources (confirmed by credible historians), not the least of which are historians from the first and second century. Christ ensured His claims are never left without a witness.

We also see throughout the Scriptures God making the claim that the words thereof are “inspired or God breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16-17) and that He is speaking (Gen. 1:3; Lev. 26:2b). Not to mention the fact that He supports His own existence through miracles. Surely such a God would make provisions for claims and attacks against His word. Jesus told His disciples His words are life (John 6:63) and Paul affirmed that the mysteries of God were not left up to chance but carefully given to Apostles and Prophets to record for the benefit of all (Eph. 3:1-5). The words of God are trustworthy, it is men that reject it.

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Common Issue Faced by Youth Leaders

I recently conducted interviews with 3 seasoned Youth leaders in two countries - The Bahamas and The United States. By far, the most common issue faced by all three Youth leaders is that of Team Motivation or a lack thereof. In the next few paragraphs I will attempt to provide encouragement for ministry leaders on the subject of Team Motivation and setting some boundaries to prevent burnout and loss of integrity.  Life in ministry can get difficult at times. It gets even more difficult when we do not have the right support system in place. Ministry was not designed to be a one man show. Take a page out of Pastor Moses’ book. He got to a place of frustration where the next thing to do besides blame God was to quit the job:

¹¹ So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? ¹² Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’?¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!’ ¹⁴ I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me.¹⁵ So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”  (Numbers 11:11-15)

It does not have to get this way for any ministry leader. God in his wisdom provided Pastor Moses with a solution:

¹⁶ The Lord therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. ¹⁷ Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone”. (Numbers 11:16-17)

God provided Pastor Moses with a team. We need people to be successful at ministry. In fact, “People are the Plan” (Robbins, 526). If we are to be successful at building a team, consider these seven competencies a leader should have:

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