this morning i went to a church and the sermon really cheesed me off. 

you know why? you know what it was all about? 

it was an hour and a half of the pastor preaching to the congregation about how they are all sinners.

dirty, rotten, filthy, unclean, unworthy, no good sinners.

it took everything in me to keep from standing up and walking right out of that building the whole time.

because that is bullshit.

it's a lie. 

and to hear a shepherd telling his sheep that just disgusted me.

this post isn't going to be long. 

i don't have a lot to say.

but i want all of you to know one thing.

if you love jesus with all your heart;

if you have given your life to him;

if you are truly following him;

you are no longer a sinner.

jesus calls you a saint.

god didn't send his son to die on a cross for sinners so that they could go on continuing to be sinners.

no.

god sent his one and only perfect, holy, righteous, sinless son to come and die as the sin of all the sinners.

you guys, when jesus said, "it is finished," he meant it, and it was actually finished.

it wasn't just a nice saying or a hopeful thought.

no.

it actually made our sin completely gone in his eyes.

he took care of it. entirely.

so let's stop believing the lie that says we are still sinners;

because believing that lie can only do one thing to us, and that is to make us act more like sinners.

we were sinners.

but when we bought into the reality of what he did for us on the cross,

that identity left us for good.

and we became saints.

therefore, since we are now saints, we act like saints.

and saints change the world.

as saints, we are called to be holy,

we are called to be righteous,

we are called to be pure.

as saints, we are called to walk in authority,

we are called to walk in boldness,

we are called to walk in freedom.

and as saints, we are worthy of all these callings.

would he die for us while we were unworthy to leave us unworthy?

no! 

we are worth all of his love.

we are worth all of his grace.

we are worth being invited into his work.

and we are worth being called righteous saints and friends of god,

so let's start believing it,

so that we can start living like it.

"god made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of god."

-2 corinthians 5:21

"and their sins and iniquities i will remember no more."

-hebrews 10:17