“If you recall, back in the days when the Jewish people lived under the law of sin and death, they would commit a sin and lived as a sinner until a blood sacrifice was performed. This shedding of blood allowed them to regain righteousness in the eyes of the Lord until they committed their next sin. Unfortunately this was usually a very brief amount of time. Quite often, the same day they had been forgiven for their sins, they committed their next sin. And it may be a full year before they performed another animal sacrifice. Therefore, they lived as a sinner for that entire year before regaining righteousness in the eyes of God. They fluctuated between living most of their life as a sinner while enjoying only brief moments of righteousness. But belief in Jesus changed all of that. His sacrifice on the cross provided a cleansing blood for all the sins that you have committed or ever WILL commit! He is way ahead of you on this one. Although you may transgress the line of God’s new law of the Spirit of life, you must understand that because of Christ’s preordained forgiveness, there is no time that you actually live as a sinner. You have been forgiven for your sins before you ever commit them! This is why God’s new law does not mention sin or death. Through his Spirit he has already given you an eternally righteous life both here on Earth and in Heaven!”
“Wow...” My thoughts drifted out as a single word.
Joshua smiled at my understanding. “This is not to say that you should ignore this incredible gift and commit acts of defiance with disregard for their consequences. But rather recognize that your sins have been forgiven and forgotten by the Lord most High, and you are not to dwell on their inherent nature. In the Lord’s prayer you ask that God’s will be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven. It is God’s will that you are perfect in Heaven, therefore it must also be his will that you believe in your perfection through Christ here on Earth.
“When you continually claim that you ARE a sinner, you are focusing your belief on the sinful nature that dwells in your body and disregarding the gift of Christ on the cross. But when you state that you WERE a sinner, you are no longer allowing your faith to be consumed by what you see in your fleshly actions. You are expressing the unimaginable gift of grace from Jesus and the perfection he has brought to your spirit and soul. You must look beyond what you see in the flesh and believe in the gift of the sinless Divine Nature of the Holy Spirit that lives within you. All of this can only occur because of your faith in Christ. In order for you to mature in your faith, you need to think, believe, and live in the Spirit and not in the flesh on the issue of sin.”
He took a final sip from his glass before we shared the last cookie.
“John, God has established a new covenant with you and it states that he remembers your sins no more. You should do the same. It is of utmost importance to believe in this covenant and what the Spirit of God has provided for your soul. There is no doubt that you WERE a sinner. But through God’s grace, you must believe that your soul has now gained the perfection of Christ and his righteousness, just as you choose to believe that it has gained eternal life.
“Remember, believing comes before actions. You must believe in the promises of God, before he can take all of the Divine Nature that is living in his Spirit and place it in your soul. You believed in Jesus and his inherent eternal life with one hundred percent of your heart and God gave you eternal life. Now, you must do the same to gain the rest of his Divine Nature and its inherent Spiritual Fruit for your soul.
“Your job is to believe!”
I leaned back in my chair and stared into his flourishing backyard. These teachings were a lot to absorb. I smiled for a moment in consideration of how I was going to explain all of this to my wife.
CHAPTER 6
We Can Do This
It was Monday afternoon and I was finishing my last surgical case for the day. I sat in the O.R. completing the paperwork when my phone rang.
“John, it’s Mickey. Do you have time this afternoon to come by the shop?”
“Sure, Mick, I can be there in about thirty minutes. Will that work?”
“Yes, see you then.” The phone line went dead.
He was a man of few words, but I could tell he had something on his mind.
I talked with the family of my patient as they sat quietly in the waiting room. Things had gone well and I confirmed the follow-up appointment for the next day. When I walked into the shop, both Richard and Raymond were sitting on stools in front of the whiteboard. Mickey was drawing a diagram and explaining his work.
“He made it!” Richard stated with a smile and immediately stood up to get me a stool. He loved serving others and never grew tired of the joy it brought to his soul. Raymond patted me on the back and said, “Wait till you see what he’s got up his sleeve.”
Mickey’s smile led his agenda, “Hey, John! Guess what?” He was grinning from ear to ear. Previous experience told me this question meant a great deal of work was in our future. I sat down on the stool Richard had provided and joined the crew.
“Hey, Mickey! Do I really have to guess? It means a lot of work doesn’t it?”
He was deliberate with his response, “If you’re not moving forward, you’re backing up!”
Mickey was referring to the fact that in order to be at the front of the pack, we needed to constantly improve our car, motor, driver, and total racing program. All this was necessary because our competition was continually improving theirs. Without advancement during the season, we were relatively backing up on the grid.
“I understand, Mick. What do you have in mind?”
He turned to the board and began to explain, “I have an idea, but you’ll need to spend some money.”
“Boy, that’s a big surprise!” I laughed with my answer.
“We need Penske shock absorbers if we are going to take a shot at the National Championship, and we need them now.” Mickey was serious with his statement.
I leaned back on my stool before I asked, “Really? How soon?”
“Yesterday.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Tell me more, Mick.”
I went to the old red refrigerator and grabbed drinks for the team. I offered a package of cheese crackers to our group, but no one was interested. I returned to my seat and watched Mickey complete his drawing.
In his younger days, Mickey had taken a few drafting classes which made his artwork better than expected. I was staring at a redesign of the Midget’s suspension system. There were lowering brackets for the attachment of the trailing arms on the rear-end housing and metal towers designed to hold the longer Penske shocks at all four corners of the car. His overall plan was to lower the car. It was a brilliant design and would be easy to work on in the future, but it was definitely going to take a lot of effort to get there.
Mickey said, “Do you see what I have done here, guys?”
Raymond’s mind raced to keep up. He wanted to know everything.
Richard nodded in agreement. He didn’t need the details but rather only his part in the plan’s execution. I recognized that Mickey’s concept would require a few mathematical calculations before moving forward.
“You are creating a way to lower the car, am I right?” I asked, while popping the top on my Dr. Pepper.
“Exactly!” He pointed at me with his marker in hand. “If we drop the car down closer to the road, we will also drop….”
“The center of gravity,” I interrupted. “And dropping the center of gravity will induce less weight transfer to the outside tires of the car with cornering, which will effectively decrease stress on the tires. In essence, the flatter the car stays with cornering, the