From Dan McClain…

James 5:16 (ESV):  Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

There are no perfect people. When someone comes to Jesus to be saved, it means that the person believes in the gospel and receives the truth concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. To believe without receiving is to remain lost and unsaved. So when you are saved, that means all of your sins from the past are dealt with. It also means that your sins of the present are being dealt with as you commit them, and it further means that the sins you will commit in the future will also be dealt with. When Christ died He took all our sins upon His body, and each and all our sins, past, present, and future were individually forgiven. Now, if He didn’t take all our sins, then each time we sin He would have to die all over again.

Hebrews 10:10 (ESV):  And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

In the spirit of authenticity I want you to know that I have struggles. I have pain, scars and hard times that make it difficult to stay focused on remaining in tune to God’s will. This is called being human. In these times I will sometimes find myself trying to manage the situation, issue or problem on my own. I’ve coined a phrase for this. I call it Dan-handleing. Of course, I usually can only call it that after the fact, when I am seeing everything that I have done incorrectly in the rear view mirror. It’s in these times that the enemy tries to whisper lies to me. I hear thoughts like, “you are such a hypocrite; you don’t really believe or you would not have said or done that, or how can you share Jesus when you are such a failure.” These thoughts drive me to isolation, giving the devil a home field advantage. The last thing the enemy wants me to do is share my struggles with others.

Something that is relatively new to my walk with Jesus is the relationships that I have with other believers. I am so thankful to have Bothers in Christ, that surround me, that model authentic community and accountability. God wants His children to be authentic with one another. He wants us to share with each other our victories and our trials. Our joys and our pains. Our wins and our losses. It is with this understanding that I felt blessed recently to share one of my struggles with a friend. I can’t tell you how good it felt just to get that burden off my chest. The act of declaring, sharing or confessing is a huge part of the healing process. Saying what we struggle with out loud to someone we trust lets us no longer hide or ignore something that the Holy Spirit wants us to deal with, in our life. Through this act we let God’s light shine on every part of us. Then after I shared my heart with my friend, it was equally healing to get a loving, truth filled response from a friend that is on the same journey, pursuing a Christ centered life.

You are not alone. “All of us who are in a relationship with God through Jesus are in unbelief rehab.” We need to step into community with one another so that we can help each other stop relapsing. ~Pastor Eric Mason

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (ESV):  9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

If any men are interested in getting connected to a men’s group, I want to invite you to come check out the men’s group that meets at Crosspoint Community Church. We start at 6:30 am on Saturday mornings. This Saturday we are kicking off the fall semester by digging into a video series called Stepping Up. If you need more info or have any questions please contact Micah Williamson, the church office or me.  I hope to see you there.