“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”

John 14: 6

12 “Look, I AM coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Revelation 22: 12-13

Pastors Noreen & Henry  Kevern


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Grace, Law and True Repentance


Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. Matthew 11:20


Grace and peace unto you and the blessings of our Lord God be upon you. Today I wish to look a little deeper into our lives as Christians. Many people declare themselves Christians, but their actions tell something different. They do not show others proof of their faith in God. God doesn’t demand that we choose Him or obey Him, but He does expect us to once we choose to follow Him. He expects us to learn His ways and to become a new person, shedding the old ways of sin. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans (6:5-7) explains our process of sanctification like this: If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrections. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. This means that our process, our transformation, to the image of Christ, means that we put away sin and put on Christ, His nature, His way, so that we are drawn to seek the way of the Lord.


Our process of learning God’s way continues throughout our entire lives. We come to Him as children, “reborn” in His grace and love. “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it (Luke 18:17). We go back to being a child who needs to learn what he needs to know to live. As parents we teach our children: not to touch hot things, so that they don’t get burned; not to hit; to share; how to tie our shoes so that we don’t trip over our own feet; we watch over them; we teach them right from wrong. As parents, we are to our children, guides to the world. We want our children to be safe and protected; we want the best things for our children, things that will show love, kindness, and our faith in God. We do these things for our children because we love them. And in love, we do the necessary discipline to correct them when they disobey. God does the same with us. He is our Father and loves us, no matter what.


And that’s what a lot of people are counting on: God’s love. They figure if He’s a loving God, why bother to change, why worry about sin. There are two types of sin, intentional and unintentional. If you don’t know what sin is and you commit sin unintentionally then in mercy and grace, by studying God’s Word you can learn what sin is. Paul describes in Romans 7:7: What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have know what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet”. Once we accept the new covenant in Christ, we must repent and change our ways. In Mark 1:15: “The time has come”, He said, “the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News”. How do we show our repentance: by turning away from sin.


Let’s take a look at the Ten Commandments a little differently.


(Daniel I. Black, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 2003)


These are rights in the covenant: God’s rights and community rights. You notice that it doesn’t concern personal rights, but teaches us how to treat God and one another. Just as in the Lord’s Prayer, we are to be concerned about God and each other.


Now the point to becoming a Christian is salvation and to spur ourselves to eliminate sin in our lives. We just don’t say, “I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior”: we prove it. We have to make a moral decision to put sin to death in our lives. We must be willing to allow God to search us until we know what our sins are and what sin is doing to us in our lives. We can’t say we believe and then stick our heads in the sand, never willing to read God’s Word and to not prove ourselves as Christians. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus tells us: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven”. God’s law is not a precondition to salvation, but once we accept salvation, God expects us to respond to His grace and obey. God’s grace prevailed before the law was put into place. He waited to reveal it after the Israelites declared their allegiance to God. So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said (Exodus 19:7,8). Moses had only told them that God wanted them to obey Him fully and to keep the covenant. He had not yet revealed the terms of the covenant. But the people had experienced God’s love and grace as they were freed from Egypt. God held back the Red Sea and allowed the Israelites to cross unharmed. True obedience to God comes from the inside out. Drawing on the Holy Spirit, we grow in wisdom and knowledge of the Lord. I will give them and undivided heart and put a new Spirit in them (Ezekiel 11:19). Our obedience comes from allowing God’s grace to fill us with His strength. We have to learn to do what is right. We must seek justice; encourage one another in our faith in God. We must learn to empty ourselves of self, to be poor in spirit, so that we will receive the kingdom of God. The torah (law) is the way that shows us how God wants us to behave morally and in Jesus, we see the embodiment or visual expression of God’s love.


Our commitment to Jesus is accepting His ways. Our covenant changes through Christ. The old covenant of sacrifices and festivals is replaced with baptism (we are spiritually circumcised replacing the physical) and the Lord’s Supper replaces the Passover. Our new covenant releases us from sin, not by restraining or suppressing sin, but crucifying, just as Jesus died for our sins.  We make the moral decision to put to death sin. Are you willing to admit to your sins that struggle against God’s Spirit in you? Do you accept God’s will or your will? Conversion, accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior is continuous because we have to be on guard against the evil one. Our greatest moment in our lives is when we completely die to sin. The problem is not with the law but with ourselves, because the law of sin lives in us, constantly waging war against the law of God. The law reflects God’s nature and God doesn’t change. The law is God’s moral will, His mission statement, if you prefer to call it that. There are a lot of things that we don’t like about God’s will because it goes against our sinful nature. But we must respond to the grace of God with faith, perseverance, discipline, reverence, and high moral conduct. Our commitment to God is with our whole being, anything short of that is not a loving relationship. Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teachings. My Father will love him and We will come to him and make our home in him. He who does not love Me will not obey My teachings (John 14:23-24).


Let us therefore, fully commit our lives to God. Give evidence of your faith in God in holy living. We are heirs to the covenant God made with Abraham and Israel. We are to respond to God’s grace with unreserved love for Him and self-sacrificing love for others. So as children of God, let us learn to grow in His wisdom and knowledge. Let His love shine through. Build a personal relationship with God, and mature in your faith so that it will go well for you. Don’t be caught unprepared when Jesus returns. He will come when we don’t expect Him. Be prepared to show God proof that you have faith in Him and obey Him. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

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The Way Of The Lord Ministries

1377 E Florence Blvd #151-36  Casa Grande, AZ 85122

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said,

“Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah 6:8



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God Bless

~~~~~Jesus loves you!~~~~