Sin Shall No Longer Be Your Master

Today, we worshiped at Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego with Pastor Mike Macintosh. Mike gave a powerful message on the subject of Christ giving us freedom from sin... with an emphasis on the danger of ignoring God’s gift of love through Jesus Christ.

²⁰For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

²¹But then what benefit (return) did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? [None] for the end of those things is death.

²²But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life.

²³For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:20-23

Mike told a joke about a Baptist man who lived in a Catholic neighborhood. He barbecued venison in his back yard every evening. During lent season, this drove his neighbors crazy because they couldn’t eat meat.

Finally, they called their priest to convert him. After a few days, the man went to the Catholic church where he had his first mass. The priest sprinkled him with holy water and said, “You were born a baptist... you have lived as a baptist... but you are now a catholic.”

Later, on a Friday evening, his neighbors were eating fish when they smelled the BBQ going with venison on it. Upset, they called the priest. The priest grabbed his rosary and went to chastise the man for eating venison on a Friday.

The priest arrived in the man’s backyard and saw him sprinkling holy water on the BBQ, saying “You were born a deer... you have lived as a deer... but today you are a catfish.”

Some people think they can just do a little “sprinkle” and continue to live the way they always lived. But if we will give our lives to Christ and turn away from our sins, we can experience true Freedom.

You can watch video of Pastor Mike’s message here.