I am a wife, a mother, a singer, a songwriter, and most of all, I am an adopted child of God who wants nothing less than to be His vessel to share His light and His hope, love, and joy!


Thursday, May 14, 2009

No Condemnation in Christ

Hello friends!

I’m sure that you recall in my last blog entry, I challenged myself and all of you to join me in having quiet time with the Lord every day. I am curious how that has gone for you? I am still working on it! I was probably successful two out of every three days, because sometimes I got caught up in other things while Joey (my son) was napping, and his nap/sleep times are usually the only times of the day I can have quiet. Some of you may only have quiet times while you’re driving to work or while you wake up in the middle of the night. Use any opportunity you have to get into God’s presence. I am working on being more disciplined and I am learning that God’s grace and mercy are never ending! We should not live in a state of guilt and condemnation because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, who are filled by His Holy Spirit and set their minds on His guidance (read Romans 8:1-17).

I want to share a new video I made for an original song. It is called Your Sins Are Washed Away, and my primary purpose for writing this song was to help draw the lost/unsaved closer to God and to begin the process of accepting His grace, love, and forgiveness. As Christians, our biggest goal in life, no matter what your occupation or circumstance, should be to shine God’s glory through the fruit of the Spirit. The popular acronym WWJD asks the question “What would Jesus do?” in any given situation. This is a really a great question to ask yourself daily. Jesus lived by the fruits of the Spirit. In Matthew 7:16, Jesus says that you can identify His people by their fruit. There isn’t a much better explanation, in the Word, of the difference between living by the sinful nature versus living by the Holy Spirit than in Galatians 5:16-25. I used Webster to help elaborate some of the words in parenthesis:

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery (extreme indulgence in sensuality); idolatry (the worship of a physical object or something as a god) and witchcraft (the use of sorcery or magic); hatred, discord (promoting quarreling or conflict), jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions (a tendency to quarrels and disputes), factions (cliques) and envy; drunkenness, orgies (many definitions by Webster), and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (being reliable and trustworthy), gentleness (free from harshness, sternness, and violence) and self-control (restraint over one’s impulses, emotions, and desires). Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

I will leave you with my new video.



God bless you!
Love,
Sarah

P.S. On a lighter note, agree with me in prayer that Danny Gokey (from American Idol) will sign a recording contract for a Christian Gospel album! That would be so awesome!

3 comments:

DeBorrah K. Ogans said...

Sarah,

You stated:

"As Christians, our biggest goal in life, no matter what your occupation or circumstance, should be to shine God’s glory through the fruit of the Spirit."

I agree with this totally.

I enjoyed your blog and video

Blessings
DeBorrah

Sarah Von Bergen said...

Thank you sister DeBorrah for stopping by and for the encouraging words!

Note to others, if you click on her name above, you can see the web site to the Alpha 7 Ministries.

God bless!

DeBorrah K Ogans said...

Sarah, Just wanted you to know that you have not been forgotten! Continue to perfect the gifts The Lord has given you! Spend time in HIS WORD each day! Sing and make melody in your heart to HIM! Have a wonderfully blessed weekend! Take care! Grace, Joy, Peace & Blessings! GOD BLESS YOU!

In HIS Love & Service,
DeBorrah