Living in Liberty

A Ministry of Bryce Lowance

Elder Bryce Lowrance

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No Gray Area

7 October 2014

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" (1st John 1:5-6)

I recall the first year I began teaching in public school. I was teaching choir in my hometown of Plano, Texas. All around the building were posters reminding the students of various test taking strategies and key points for them to remember when they would take upcoming state assessments.

One of the posters caught my eye. It was titled "Fact vs. Opinion." I thought, "well that is a very important thing to teach kids," as I went through the two column list I was quite happy with their approach. That is until I reached the bottom of the "opinion list." Morality was listed as an opinion. I remember thinking that I was going to have a very hard time as a public school teacher if this was part of the state core curriculum.

Nearly twenty years later, I am still teaching public school choir. I haven't been fired yet! But the decay of morals in our society spirals moral and more into the abyss every year. That is because men who reject God as the Sovereign King over His creation tend to make up their own rules and principles of morality. They determine morality based on whatever situation you are in. The line between right and wrong is obscured. Morality is, at best, lost in the fuzzy gray area they have created between right and wrong.

But with God, there is no gray area. Sin is sin, and righteousness is righteousness. What God says is right is right. What God says is wrong is wrong. God does not change so neither does His moral character. What was sin 2,000 years ago is still a sin today.

If we want to conform our lives to the pattern of Jesus Christ, we must have this same view of absolute morality. If we feel that we can sin because we have a good excuse, then we have denied that God has said that sin is darkness. Jesus had the same mind as the Father.therefore, to have the mind of Christ, we must view sin as God view's sin.

We must stop seeking to self-justify our sin and repent of it. We must realize that regardless of circumstance, there are right choices and wrong choices. We should choose the right path even if it means we walk opposite all of the world.

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Tags: 1stjohn, ethics, morality, righteousness, sin

Welcome

Brentwood Hills Primitive Baptist Church is a community of believers working together to transform our lives to the image of Jesus Christ. We believe it is our duty and privilege to live the gospel of the doctrines of grace in such a way as to edify the families within our church and other children of God in our community. Through regular worship based on strong Biblical principles, fellowship, admonishment, and outreach, we glory in the grace of the sovereign God working in our lives thereby showing the Spirit of God in the world.

Brentwood Hills was organized in 1906 in Fort Worth, Texas as Laodicea Primitive Baptist Church. You can find much of the history of the church, as well as other churches here: Primitive Baptist History Database

We identify ourselves as an old-line Primitive Baptist church. If you read our Articles of Faith, you’ll see that we hold to such doctrines as the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. We recognize the King James Version (KJV) as the only English translation worthy of being called the Bible. We believe in salvation solely by the grace of a sovereign God. We believe that Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, came to the earth to do the will of His Father, which was to deliver from the sentence of death all those the Father gave Him before the world began. We believe that Jesus fully satisfied the Father by atoning for all the sins of all His people. In time, we believe the Holy Spirit comes to each person that belongs to Jesus and regenerates them. Then (and only then) can anyone have faith, which is a fruit of the Spirit, by which you are able to believe the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether or not you ever hear the gospel, or believe it if you did hear it, or obey it if you did believe it, rest assured that Jesus will remain forever faithful to you because, if He died for you, He will never deny that you belong to Him.

We believe that everyone for whom Christ died will without fail be raised again from the dead to a glorified life. Even if we are alive when He returns to raise the dead, we shall be changed to a glorified life. All the Redeemed will meet the Lord in the air. Then He will take us to Heaven and there we shall forever be with the Lord. The wicked will be raised at the same time as the righteous, but the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment along with Satan and his angels. Until that glorious day when Christ returns to raise the dead, He has provided a place for His people to find rest for their souls. This place is the Church. Jesus Christ set-up His church on this earth before His death on the Cross. The church is there for those of His people who have come to believe that God saved them by His Son, Jesus Christ. To believe that Christ “paid it all” gives believers the strongest motivation to serve Him. Once enlightened to this glorious truth, then the child of God should feel an obligation to become and remain an active member of the His church. To serve the Lord in His church makes for one of the great blessings to experience this side of Heaven. It fulfills you to serve in His church and it gives your life purpose and meaning.