Stairs to no where

There’s a pile of bricks where Ms Pearl’s house once stood.

I’d put it back together if I could. 

Haven’t seen her since 05, don’t know if she’s alive.

Shame I didn’t visit as often as I should.

Lots of things have changed since then,

Have to drive 30 miles just to see what’s in,

the mailbox or the news.

Surprised to see whose left town,

Though there’s still stubborn one’s around.

We’re getting together at the church tonight to sing the blues.

Katrina   Katrina

I don’t know what to say

So many cry, and just ask why

You came and left

But only said goodbye

Katrina   Katrina

You’ve shown a better way

Chasing wind, and empty wells

Only fills us with bereft

Katrina   Katrina

I’ve just gotta say

After evening prayer

In the open air

You’ve shown me we were climbing stairs to no where

Hard to know who to trust, so many unjust,

Just looking to gain off someone’s  loss.

Why just last week a stranger rolled through

He was down to help build a house or two.

Said he was working for the Boss.

He did some light work for a day or two

Before leaving to get his crew.

If you ask me, I think he made a beeline for the coast.

The church in town has brought some people down.

Honest folk, just trying to lend a helping hand.

We're all getting together to join in with the band.

Katrina   Katrina

I don’t know what to say

So many cry, and just ask why

You came and left

But only said goodbye

Katrina   Katrina

You’ve shown a better way

Chasing wind, and empty wells

Only fills us with bereft

Katrina   Katrina

I’ve just gotta say

After evening prayer

In the open air

You’ve shown me we were climbing stairs to no where

Mike Barry’s got some craw dad’s on

Ole’ Todd’s coming with his fiddle

To play us a song.

Me, I’m just in the middle

Of trying to figure life out now.

See these stairs we was going up

All they got us was this Dixie cup.

And that too is empty but for air.

It’s sad to see so many in misery.

Sadder to see the ones that aren’t. 

Just climbing stairs to nowhere.

Study on freedom from the law

"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






"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Colossians 2:13 - 15






"Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules.’Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!'? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence." Colossians 2:20 - 23






"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we became conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God apart from the law, has been made known to which the law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.....Where then is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law....Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather we uphold the law." Romans 3:19 - 31






"It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression." Romans 4:13 - 15






"It is written:


'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.


All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.'" Romans 3:10 - 12 quoting Psalms 14:1 -3; 53:1 - 3; Ecclesiastes 7:20






"Do you not know, brothers...that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives....So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." Romans 7:4 - 6






"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1 - 4






"Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Romans 8:12 - 14






"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." Romans 9:16






"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:4 - 10






"If anyone else thinks he has reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss [the Greek here is 'shit'] for the sake of Christ Jesus. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:4 - 9






"Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified through faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." Galatians 3:21 - 25











The law was merely a tutor, helping us define what sin is. Paul says that he would not even know sin apart from the law. But following the law leads to slavery, death, a false self-righteousness that is not big enough to save us from the condemnation of God. Therefore, God had to send his own son, who is the exact radiance of his glory, to impart righteousness to those that believe. This is nothing new, Abraham was saved by faith, not by works. He wasn't circumcised when God declared him righteous. Circumcision is of the heart, not of the flesh.



It is in light of all the above verses in which I read Romans 6 with my house church. It is only in light of this freedom that Paul's question in Romans 6:1 would even make sense. "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" If we didn't have the freedom to sin, what is the point of Paul's question? He states it another way in verse 15, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offered yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience , which leads to righteousness? But thanks are to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."



I agree with you that we are called to live holy, righteous lives. Of course we are. But we cannot live that live in our own power. The righteousness to which we have been called does not, cannot be found through the law. It was never intended to. The law merely points us to the righteousness that saves, that is Christ. The truth to which I found myself embracing on Wednesday was that we are free. I will say it again, in Christ we are free. We cannot add to that or take away from that. Christ took the legal code and nailed it to the cross. We have been set free from the law. The law no longer has mastery over us. WE ARE FREE.



With that freedom, we have to acknowledge and understand there comes much responsibility. We have the freedom to abuse grace. Like it or not, that option is there. We do it every time we try to obtain righteousness by our own hands. We do it every time we walk according to our flesh and not according to the spirit. We do it every time we abstain from doing the good that we know we ought to do. Every day we make the choice to pick up the hammer once more and nail Christ to the tree.



But the beauty in what Paul is saying here is that we also have the freedom not to yield to slavery of sin. We HAVE died to sin. It REALLY doesn't control us. We have been united with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. And anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Why would we want to offer ourselves as instruments of wickedness any longer? That is what we just have been set free from. Paul asks us "what benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death."



You spoke of obligation. Paul also spoke of obligation in the above verses. He spoke of upholding the law. But he also spoke of Christ freeing us from the law. He spoke of a righteousness that comes apart from the law. You said that many have an obligation to follow the law, and that if they are Christians that they have an obligation to follow the 10 commandments. Some may. The Pharisees of Jesus day sure did. I follow what Christ said that to be saved; you need to have a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees. We can see from what Paul wrote that that righteousness comes from God. It doesn't come from following a bunch of rules, but through knowing and following after Christ.



A thin line, I know. But one that has huge consequences. Paul said that if we trust in the righteousness that comes from the law, what use is faith. Christ came in vain and died in vain. But if Christ came to save us from the system of the law, then we can have trust in victory over death through the resurrection. Those of us that are in Christ have vicariously been resurrected through Christ. We are dead and therefore are dead to the law.



If we are still under the law, then we are still stand condemned for no one can follow the law perfectly. If we lie, it is the same as killing someone. If we dishonor our parents, it is the same as stealing. Anger is the same as worshiping other gods. The laws are all the same for they all boil down to one law, "loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself."



This freedom that Christ brings doesn't give us an excuse to sin. By no means! Though in their sinful selfishness, many, including me, have used it as such. As I said before, we have the freedom to run with confidence to a gracious and loving father that no longer sees our sin, but sees the righteousness of Christ. We are new creatures, the old has passed away, the new has come! Praise be to God!

Free Bird

My theology is in the middle of another paradigm shift. I am not sure how many more of these I can take within a few short years. Read Romans 6 in house church on Wednesday night and had an epiphony of sorts over how I view freedom, the law, sin, and death. Heavy stuff for St. Patty's day. Glad I got to chill with some green beer and good friends.

I have an unformulated idea of freedom. Complete and utter freedom. A freedom in which we are free from not only the consewuences of the law, but free from the law itself. I have to apologize for not having my Bible in front of me. And I know I could easily look up verses with the click of the mouse, but being pressed for time, I will just write from the cuff (Lord forgive me). But I after studying through Romans, I am trying to wrap my mind around what Paul is saying in Romans 6. "Continue sinning so that grace my increase...Are you crazy, man?!" I could see that line of reasoning making sense from a position of grace being poured out every time we confess and recieve God's forgiveness. But through the cross, grace can not increase. It already had it's fulfillment in the cross. We can never experience more grace than we already have and are. Because of that, I see Paul arguing for us to offer our whole being as tools of righteousness.

Paul asks us a probing question, "What benefit did you recieve when you walked in darkness?" In asking he is getting us to see the benefit in walking in the Spirit instead of walking in sin. He recognizes that we still have a choice. Even though we have now been dead, barried, and raised with Christ, we sill have a choice to walk in sin or in righteousness. But we are dead to sin? How can this be?

I am picturing a complete freedom in Christ, not merely from sin, but from the law. Forgive me for saying this, but if I follow Paul in his arguement here, we are free to sin. Sin no longer has the death grip it once did, we are free in every sense of the word.

Therefore, Paul pleads with us in light of this freedom to not use it as a means to gratify our sinful desires, but to use to run as fast as can into the glorious arms of the one that saved us.

"Won't you fly high free bird yea."

seeing the world a little differtly

I stumbled on this a few months ago and was utterly in awe.  I love the way this guys views the world. 

love

The spelling of love starts with a love feast on an empty stomach, followed by learning and partaking in the tradition of Benedictine monks.  The next letter isn't so much a letter as punctuation; a question mark that invites, woos, entices you to inch ever closer…closer to death.  Before you step and expose your inner nakedness, love makes you laugh the laugh of a thousands children; children playing to the rhythm of innocent beauty, wakening to the wonder called spring.  Once you are comfortable in your own inner skin called self, the last letter of love calls you to share that self with others.  The darkness of love pours out sweetly, like chocolate wine over your tongue, soothing the pain that was once there, as is still to come.  Authenticity and genuineness are the clothes love wears as she flirts with you, dazzling you with her lack of pretension, her spontaneity.  As her clothes fall to the hardened earth that was once your heart, you see a veracity that runs deeper than the skin.  This is love.  May I forever kiss it with a thousand kisses. 

Judas

Thoughts swirling in funnel cloud.
Voices growing ever loud.
Will I ever find rest?
Is there hope from this test?
Coins clanging in a cocaphony of madness
Is there ever escape from this confusion of
deep, deep anguish.
Or am I forever plagued with sorrow,
Multiplied by a sea of tommorow.
The only hope for I see
Is solace under that tree.
Will there be comfort there for me?
Or was my betrayal in vain?
Oh the torture of the insane!
Death! Only death offers freedom!
Lord forgive.........

Of course I will my son.
Your freedom I have won.
Take my hand,
I will help you stand
As you celebrate my kingdom.
Shhhhh.  Don't say a word.
Your heart I have heard.
I have come to bring you home