Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

2 - Seeing the New Creation

The way we see ourselves and the way we see others must change. Even Christians often don't realize how much has changed when they receive Christ. We're not the same anymore. The way we think about things and the way we respond in situations become very different. And the way we see other people changes at least as much as the way we see ourselves. Paul goes so far as to say we are a new creation of God. Our old lives have passed away, and we now live new lives. Jesus didn't come just to help us try harder or patch us up. His Cross has actually destroyed the old things that controlled us, filled us with an enormous  new power, and lifted us to whole new relationships with God, with each other and with those who don't know Jesus yet. Not only is each of us new inside, but we are joined into a new corporate entity, His Church. Old human distinctions have fallen away and we have been made part of a new unified people, with a new mission, a new Leader, a new power at work among us and a new goal.

1 - In Him

While under house arrest in Rome, Paul writes to churches he had pastored in and around Ephesus (a city on the coast of Western Asia Minor). He wants to be sure that with the passing of time this group, made up largely of converted Gentiles, does not lose sight of the wonderful things God has done for them. He wanted them to keep focused on the fact that they were "in Christ." It's easy for Christians to grow discouraged with themselves and to lose the boldness of faith that makes them spiritually effective. The devil tends to chip away atour sense of being acceptable to God, and as that foundation crumbles, we lose confidence that there is any power in our prayers. By the time he is finished with us, any assurance that we are strong soldiers well-equipped to enter the battle has disappeared. Another of his tactics is to divide and scatter us from one another so that we no longer pull together as a fighting unit. So Paul, knowing how the devil will attack, writes this wonderful letter to keep these soldiers sure of who they are and pulling together against their true enemy, the devil.

Step 7 - His Strength in our Weakness

As Christians we aren’t just forgiven of past sins. The Lord has set us free from the control of our flesh and the devil so we can live fruitful lives. So, how’s your freedom? Are there areas where you still feel some bondage to old ways, habits and temptations? If so, you are not alone.

The principles in this series Steps to Freedom are the key to getting free of all sorts of addictions and temptations using God’s resources and power instead of our own so we can obtain the freedom that Christ has won for us through the cross. 

 

Step 6 - Cleanse the Leaven

As Christians we aren’t just forgiven of past sins. The Lord has set us free from the control of our flesh and the devil so we can live fruitful lives. So, how’s your freedom? Are there areas where you still feel some bondage to old ways, habits and temptations? If so, you are not alone.

The principles in this series Steps to Freedom are the key to getting free of all sorts of addictions and temptations using God’s resources and power instead of our own so we can obtain the freedom that Christ has won for us through the cross. 

 

Step 5 - Flee Don't Fight

As Christians we aren’t just forgiven of past sins. The Lord has set us free from the control of our flesh and the devil so we can live fruitful lives. So, how’s your freedom? Are there areas where you still feel some bondage to old ways, habits and temptations? If so, you are not alone.

The principles in this series Steps to Freedom are the key to getting free of all sorts of addictions and temptations using God’s resources and power instead of our own so we can obtain the freedom that Christ has won for us through the cross. 

 

Step 4 - It's an Outside Battle

As Christians we aren’t just forgiven of past sins. The Lord has set us free from the control of our flesh and the devil so we can live fruitful lives. So, how’s your freedom? Are there areas where you still feel some bondage to old ways, habits and temptations? If so, you are not alone.

The principles in this series Steps to Freedom are the key to getting free of all sorts of addictions and temptations using God’s resources and power instead of our own so we can obtain the freedom that Christ has won for us through the cross. 

 

Step 3 - The Power of Vision

As Christians we aren’t just forgiven of past sins. The Lord has set us free from the control of our flesh and the devil so we can live fruitful lives. So, how’s your freedom? Are there areas where you still feel some bondage to old ways, habits and temptations? If so, you are not alone.

The principles in this series Steps to Freedom are the key to getting free of all sorts of addictions and temptations using God’s resources and power instead of our own so we can obtain the freedom that Christ has won for us through the cross. 

 

Step 2 - The Real Question

As Christians we aren’t just forgiven of past sins. The Lord has set us free from the control of our flesh and the devil so we can live fruitful lives. So, how’s your freedom? Are there areas where you still feel some bondage to old ways, habits and temptations? If so, you are not alone.

The principles in this series Steps to Freedom are the key to getting free of all sorts of addictions and temptations using God’s resources and power instead of our own so we can obtain the freedom that Christ has won for us through the cross. 

 

Step 1 - A Changed Heart

As Christians we aren’t just forgiven of past sins. The Lord has set us free from the control of our flesh and the devil so we can live fruitful lives. So, how’s your freedom? Are there areas where you still feel some bondage to old ways, habits and temptations? If so, you are not alone.

The principles in this series Steps to Freedom are the key to getting free of all sorts of addictions and temptations using God’s resources and power instead of our own so we can obtain the freedom that Christ has won for us through the cross. 

 

94 - The Next Chapter

Calling is very different from employment. Calling has to do with the most primal issues in any person’s life. It’s the answer to the questions: Who am I and why am I here? Employment, however, is a practical matter. It’s about doing something to generate the resources I need to live. Since we all need food, shelter and clothing, our employment is very important to us, but unless someone is financially unable to retire, most people set a date to retire from their job. Their productive years have passed, and their time for leisure and rest have come. Many look forward to those years as a reward for all their hard work. But calling, because it’s an assignment from God and because it is ultimately about helping people find eternal life, doesn’t have a date at which it stops. We simply do what we’re called to do until we can’t anymore. Of course, there are different “seasons” in everyone’s life, so our calling will be expressed in a variety of ways appropriate to each new season. But the point we need to see is that calling isn’t like employment. It’s not something from which we can retire; it’s who we’ve been created to be; it’s the way we’ve been designed to serve God. And I don’t think it ends even when we die, because when Jesus returns to this planet each of us will be assigned an area of ministry for at least another thousand years (Rev 20:1-6). So, the ministry skills and godly character that are being developed in this age will almost certainly be used in the next. 

As we try to reconstruct what happened to Paul after the Book of Acts ends, whether or not we believe he was released, his example challenges every one of us. He didn’t stop serving Jesus until they killed him. If they arrested him, he preached to his guards; if they confined him to an apartment, he preached to everyone who came to visit; and by the way, it was during those years of confinement in Rome that he wrote the letters we call the “prison epistles”: Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians.