Even if I could but should I?

That was the sermon from 2 weeks ago that I promised to write about. It was a good one and one that clears up a ton of questions for me personally and it will also help me in answering questions from friends. Again the pastor brought out all of the questions we sometimes ask about our walk with Christ (in no particular order). Can you play playing cards, go to movies, smoke or go to bars with a few friends and still make it to heaven? What if you can? Should you? Maybe there is a gray area on the do's and don'ts of life but when we are faced with the indecision we need to ask ourselves, even if I can, should I? Will this particular act really help glorify God the way that he deserves. The time to make the decisions about which way we want to go has to happen now. No more wavering and no more procrastinating. He used

Luke 9:62 (MSG)
Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day."

and he used

Joshua 24:15 (NLT) But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
or even better...
Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.

He spoke about being santified, set apart, not like everyone else. It is not our job to "blend" in. As it says in 1 Thes. 4:3(a)

It is God's will that you should be sanctified

These last verses sum it all up, it is found in 1 Corinthians 6:12 (MSG)

Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims

Galatians 2:19-21

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

That is my summary. Have a great day!