Spirit Man
But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:13-14
We have three primary enemies. The first and probably greatest enemy is our flesh. We spend a lifetime feeding and pampering our flesh. He grows strong! Because he is so strong he rules and dominates our lives. The second enemy is the world. The world influences us in ways we don’t even recognize. It controls our thought patterns in many different ways. The third enemy is the devil himself. He is always looking for a way to enter our lives. He can’t do it without our permission, so he looks for weaknesses and then tempts us to open those doors. We foolishly fall for it many times, often without even recognizing what we have done.
To grow spiritually, we must feed our spirit man and cause him to grow to the point that he stronger than our flesh man. This is a process that takes time. Nobody is born spiritually mature. Nobody becomes spiritually mature overnight. We must start somewhere and build our spirit man brick by brick or step by step. In Genesis Chapter 4 we read the story of Cain and Abel. Abel brings a sacrifice to God and God is pleased. Cain brings a sacrifice to God and God is not pleased. Cain becomes angry and his face is downcast and God approaches Cain and asks why are you downcast? If you do right you will be accepted. But if you don’t do right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. Jesus said if you want to follow me, you must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.
In both cases, we must be willing to crucify our flesh man. We must die to our desires. We must master our sin nature and choose God and His ways. I heard a man say this week that God told him this. Would you rather have an easy road with less fruit or a harder road with more fruit? If we want to live the victorious life that Jesus died for us to have, then we must be willing to crucify our old man and live in the spirit. To live in the spirit we must make some hard choices. While these choices may hurt, the end result will be much more satisfying. Is our vision good enough to see the big picture? Or are we constantly staring just at what is right in front of us?
Consumed by the call,
Pastor Marty
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
The Bait of Satan
The Bait of Satan
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:11
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15
In Luke chapter 17 Jesus says it is impossible but that offenses will come. One thing we are guaranteed by Jesus is that there will always be people who try to offend you. If you want to be offended you will never have to look very far. Flesh & hatred abound everywhere we look. Our closest friends & family will often do things we don’t agree with. They will often do things that are flat out wrong. They will say things that are mean & hurtful. They will disappoint us & sometimes even betray us. How are we to respond?
Well, first let us look at Jesus. Among his very best friends, the ones he had painstakingly invested in for over 3 years, one denies him, one betrays and they all abandon him in his time of need. The Pharisees and they Sadducees lied about him & framed him so he would get the death penalty. The Romans crucified him. And in his dying breath, he said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Wow! That is pretty powerful. Who can do that? Apparently, we can too or else he wouldn’t have told us to do so in His Word. Love your enemies, bless those who persecute you. It seems to be pretty important to Jesus that we love God & people and that we are quick to forgive them. Look closely at the first above. Jesus says, forgive men when they sin against you & your Father will forgive you of your sins. BUT if you don’t forgive men their sins then your Father won’t forgive you of your sins! Wow! It must be important!
Paul said, they we are not to be ignorant of the enemies schemes. Satan is going around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He’s out to steal, kill & destroy. How does he do that? He lays traps for us & tries to get his to fall for them. Now traps can’t be obvious or no one would go for them. So what does he do? He decorates them with just enough truth to make them believable.
As Christians we must not be offended. Jesus said, offenses will come of this you can be sure. But we will never fall for them if we do what Jesus told us to do. When men sin against you & they will. We are to forgive them immediately. When we operate on this principle then according to this Scripture we can be sure God will forgive us our sin and we need this assurance, but if we don’t the opposite is true according to this Scripture. If we refuse to forgive and we take offenses then God will not forgive us our sins! Let’s purpose in our hearts right now that we will not be offended no matter what & we are going to begin to live a life of forgiveness. We will forgive immediately & leave no room for the devil!
Consumed by the call,
Pastor Marty
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:11
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15
In Luke chapter 17 Jesus says it is impossible but that offenses will come. One thing we are guaranteed by Jesus is that there will always be people who try to offend you. If you want to be offended you will never have to look very far. Flesh & hatred abound everywhere we look. Our closest friends & family will often do things we don’t agree with. They will often do things that are flat out wrong. They will say things that are mean & hurtful. They will disappoint us & sometimes even betray us. How are we to respond?
Well, first let us look at Jesus. Among his very best friends, the ones he had painstakingly invested in for over 3 years, one denies him, one betrays and they all abandon him in his time of need. The Pharisees and they Sadducees lied about him & framed him so he would get the death penalty. The Romans crucified him. And in his dying breath, he said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Wow! That is pretty powerful. Who can do that? Apparently, we can too or else he wouldn’t have told us to do so in His Word. Love your enemies, bless those who persecute you. It seems to be pretty important to Jesus that we love God & people and that we are quick to forgive them. Look closely at the first above. Jesus says, forgive men when they sin against you & your Father will forgive you of your sins. BUT if you don’t forgive men their sins then your Father won’t forgive you of your sins! Wow! It must be important!
Paul said, they we are not to be ignorant of the enemies schemes. Satan is going around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He’s out to steal, kill & destroy. How does he do that? He lays traps for us & tries to get his to fall for them. Now traps can’t be obvious or no one would go for them. So what does he do? He decorates them with just enough truth to make them believable.
As Christians we must not be offended. Jesus said, offenses will come of this you can be sure. But we will never fall for them if we do what Jesus told us to do. When men sin against you & they will. We are to forgive them immediately. When we operate on this principle then according to this Scripture we can be sure God will forgive us our sin and we need this assurance, but if we don’t the opposite is true according to this Scripture. If we refuse to forgive and we take offenses then God will not forgive us our sins! Let’s purpose in our hearts right now that we will not be offended no matter what & we are going to begin to live a life of forgiveness. We will forgive immediately & leave no room for the devil!
Consumed by the call,
Pastor Marty