Church of the Nazarene - East Rockingham Campus

We are starting a new 4-part teaching series called “Hurdles”.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to face some of the key obstacles or hurdles that keep us from a full and abundant life in Christ.

Today we are talking about the hurdle of having things out of order in our approach to relationship with Jesus.

This can happen when we commit to trying to be a better person, to attending church, to doing all those good things, without ever first committing ourselves to Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior.

Certainly the bible teaches that we need to live a good and moral life, but that commitment to good works is not what saves us.

The life and salvation that Jesus came to offer, does not come by our efforts, our attempts to be a good person and help other people or any other good work.

It comes by grace, through faith, believing in the person of Jesus Christ.

When we believe good works are what saves us, we are trusting in what we can do.

Whereas when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are trusting what he has done.

When we believe in Him, in his life, death, and resurrection, we are what the bible calls justified. That means that every sin, every wrong thing we have ever done, said, or thought, is wiped clean.

When we place our faith in Jesus, turn away from our sin and place our faith in him. We are made new. The life of Christ is birthed within us by the Holy Spirit.

We are justified, regenerated, and adopted into the family of God, all by grace through faith. Those are things that our good works simply can not earn us.

So let me ask you, is this what you are experiencing?

Can you identify a time and place in your life where something so dramatic changed that you would have to use words like “Born again” or “new creation” or “adoption into a new family” to describe it?

This is way beyond a question of do you go to church? Are you a nice person? Do you help other people? Or even if you pray and read the bible sometimes. All of those are great and even necessary things, in the right order.

But if we get the cart before the horse in thinking those things come first, or even if we think that’s all there is to being a Christian. We are going to live a pretty frustrating and unfulfilling life.

Today is the day of your salvation. Today is the day to get your spiritual life in order, to know that it is by faith in the person of Jesus that you are saved.

Today is the day to repent, to have a distinct and definite change in your life in regard to sin.

Today is the day to be made new!