Our Purchased Lives
Whenever a person makes a decision to follow Christ there is a transfer of property so to speak. Colossians 1:13-14 tell us of this spiritual transaction. Verse 13 says, “(God) Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has TRANSLATED US into the kingdom of His dear Son.” Salvation is more than an opportunity to go to Heaven instead of Hell. It is a removal from the grasp of darkness. It is an employment into the realm of God’s Will on Earth. It is the termination from the grip of wrong vices, depression, and lack. The human mind cannot consider anything but fear until the human spirit is reborn. The Born Again Christian has been given the invitation to transform their thinking and conform to a life of victory.
Verse 14 goes on to provide a startling revelation. It says, “In whom (in Christ) we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” We have, in the present time, this thing called REDEMPTION. Have we stopped to consider what this means? Redemption means to recover proper ownership by paying a price. When we were reconciled back to God through Christ’s suffering, everything that was once stolen from us was redeemed back to proper ownership. What was humanity originally granted? Perfect righteousness, perfect health, perfect provision, perfect peace, and perfect authority for starters. Our lives are to be as victorious as was Adam’s and Eve’s in the Garden of Eden. That really upsets some folks when I write things like that. They get offended because they think that God would prefer us to be broken down, depressed, and sick. People that think this way have been religiously brainwashed and not New Testament taught. People also think that I blame someone or question a person’s faith who would go through a trial of sickness or depression. That is not how I feel. My goal is to teach people how to OVERCOME these trials through God’s Word so that He gets all the glory.
Psalm 91:9-10 give us an amazing promise, “Because you have made the Lord…your habitation, there shall NO EVIL BEFALL YOU NEITHER ANY PLAGUE COME NEAR YOUR DWELLING.” Imagine a life with no evil or no plagues. We need to teach people how to make the Lord their habitation. God wants to make good this promise in our lives.
What does it mean to make the Lord your habitation? It means to give Him due ownership of your life. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…and you are NOT YOUR OWN? For you are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and spirit which are God’s.” When we remove God’s property from His beck and call things become difficult. We are His property. If you leave a tool outside the protection of the shed it will rust and be destroyed. We cannot deny God’s rights in our marriage, friendships, job, and finances. If we do, we have moved outside His habitation.
Pastor Tim
Family Church Jamestown is a non-denominational church located in Chautauqua County in Jamestown between Lakewood and Busti NY. The senior pastor of Family Church is Pastor Tim Stahlman a native to the Jamestown, NY area.
