Aaron Proffitt

So this past week, I was at a rural baptist church in Riner, Virginia, about 700 miles from Aletheia, and let me tell you, I missed my home church. But, it is nice when I go away to have a back up that has more teaching experience than I have years. So, with that being said, the sermon from this past Sunday was pretty money. You will definitely want to watch it.

Romans chapter 7 continues to emphasize spiritual maturity (sanctification), as chapter 6 did. But the emphasis is a bit different. In chapter 6, we saw that we have a new identity in Christ because our old self has been crucified with Christ and the result is that sin and death no longer enslave us, rather we are slaves of righteousness, leading to sanctification, and ultimately eternal life. That is our new identification. Chapter 7 emphasizes how the law no longer enslaves us either because once again, we have been crucified with Christ which has released us from the bondage of sin, death, and now, the law. The analogy that Paul uses in the first few verses is marriage. Kind of interesting that he chooses that to explain his point but it makes perfect sense. Because we have now died to the law, we are able to bear true fruit of God. The power that God used to raise himself from the dead is the power that we have to live lives of obedience. The law came to expose our sin, and that it did (in a pretty significant way – just read the 10 commandments and then think about your daily life apart from Jesus). But now, we are freed from that and what we serve now (what we are enslaved to) is something new (the new way as verse 6 tells us), which includes the indwelling Spirit, causing us to bear fruit that leads to life, not death. This is now spiritual growth is accomplished. The same gospel that had the power to save us, is the gospel that will continue to transform our lives…push us towards obedience. And it isn’t done through following rules. it’s done through submitting to a power that is way beyond our imagination or capability.

Watch Pastor Dave’s sermon from this past week and look forward to 2 weeks when I pick back up in Romans. This next week, we will have a special guest speaker, Emilio Marrero. Emilio is my good friend who helped us plant Aletheia Tampa, and who is now in St. Petersburg, Florida, planting the next Aletheia Church. He is a man of God, married to a godly woman, and a servant of Jesus who is super gifted and who I am privileged to serve with. Don’t miss this next Sunday if you are in Tampa.

Romans: Spiritual Maturity – Reducing the Level of Frustration from Aletheia Tampa on Vimeo.