I will spare you the details of the horrific abductions and beatings and tortures that every black person in this country knows about. Many things have changed, but some deep things haven't changed. I am aware that the issue of race relations is bigger than black and white relations in this country. What I have to say applies more broadly, but on this weekend, I am glad to be heard as addressing that issue primarily, if not only. Death Let's go back to the issue of conversion and Paul's devastating attack on a superficial grasp of the power of grace.
Conversion means death.
If you don't die with Christ, you don't believe on Christ. That is the meaning of becoming a Christian. It is a profound spiritual event that involves death to sin. Short of that, we are playing religious games. This takes us to our text in Colossians 3.