Celebrating and Claiming Continuous Victory in Christ– Purity 643
Purity
643 02/01/2022 Purity 643 POdcast
Good
morning,
I’m not fooling myself of course today is February
1st and I know that our winter seasons are often defined by what
happens in the next 28 days, but I have lived long enough to know that everyday
we go through in the next two months is another day closer to the return of
spring and although I can appreciate winter for what it is, I consider every
passing day in the days ahead as a victory of sorts.
Through the many years of my life, I have walked
through many trials and tribulations and thankfully I have had a close
relationship with the Lord to help me walk through most of the hardest ones in
the past 11, going on 12 years. Our
walk with the Lord is progressive walk through time and space and will
ultimately culminate in our being in His presence and His kingdom as He will
eventually reclaim all of existence for His purposes and glory.
So just like our slow walk through the season of
winter, every day behind us is another day closer to the return of the Lord and
thus our progressing lives should not be viewed with fear or trepidation as we
contemplate seeing the end times unfold before us or as we see ourselves age. Instead we should have immense hope and joy
over the fact that we are moving closer to the days where we will see our Lord
face to face. We should view every day
as a mini-victory because we are moving closer to Him and because we are being
faithful to follow Him through all the “mini-dramas” of our lives.
I know that focusing on the return of the Lord
and the coming of His kingdom may be a tall order for our imaginations and may
seem to be as cold a comfort as the winter’s crisp temperatures outside, but
our Christian walk also focuses on the here and now and the hope we have for
today can be increased by our reflection on the Lord’s interactions in our
lives and from the testimonies of others.
The word of God is filled with statements that
tell us that because of our faith in Christ we already have “the victory” that
we seek.
1 Corinthians 15:57 (NKJV)
57 But thanks be to
God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Christ we are victorious, over sin and death. So yes, we can
celebrate our “future homecoming” in heaven! In,
John 14:2-3 (NKJV), Christ told his disciples
2 In
My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to
Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Christ was talking about the life after death in heaven. Hey, the
assurance that we need not fear death is something that should liberate you
from fear! So meditate on that! Or the other option is that we will be living
on the earth when Christ comes to take us home while we still live!
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NKJV) says:
16 For the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the
trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one
another with these words.
I’m just trying to be obedient and comfort you
with these words. Talk about good news!
But beyond these awesome pictures, of heaven or
the rapture of the saints, we can enjoy
the progressive victory of being faithful to the call of Christ on our lives by
living everyday in His presence and enjoying the peace that comes from walking
in the Spirit.
Our daily lives as Christian disciples are lives
that are filled with the worship of the Lord and the contemplation of who we are in Christ and the abundant joy that
comes from progressive growth and maturity that we experience the more that we
walk with the Lord.
So keep walking and talking with God and experience
your life as a victorious celebration of your Christian faith, that recognizes
the things you have gone through, the things you are doing now, and looks
forward to what the Lord will be doing next on this journey called life where
the God who created the universe has personally called your name and asked you
to be with Him for all eternity and who wants you to see the fruit of the Spirit manifest in your life when
you draw close to Him and follow where He leads.
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Psalm 116:15 (NLT2)
15 The LORD cares deeply when his loved ones
die.
Today’s verse speaks of the Lord’s great care for our lives and of our passing.
The Lord loves all of His creation. So in a way all those living are His loved ones. However, His redemptive plan, the reason Jesus lived and died for the atonement of our sins, offers mankind the choice to accept or reject His love.
The Lord loves us so much that He wants us to be free to choose to love Him in return. The word tells us that God doesn’t anyone to perish and that He wishes that all would come to have faith in Jesus, but He doesn’t force us to.
So He deeply cares about when His loved ones die because some of those loved ones will choose to reject Him and face His wrath rather than accept His love.
But this verse also can refer to those who accept His love and are given eternal life because of their faith in Jesus.
You might think that God wouldn’t care about the deaths of those who will be in His eternal kingdom and who will be victorious over death, but He does care.
The shortest verse in the Bible:
John 11:35
(NKJV)
35 Jesus wept.
Refers to Jesus’ response to the death of Lazarus. Even though Jesus knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead He still cried. Why? Because death, for the believer or the unbeliever is wrong. Death is the result of sin as scripture tells us the wages of sin is death. God warned Adam of the consequences of sin, but he ignored it and every descendant of Adam therefore sins and dies.
However, God made a way for us to live, and Revelation tells us that in the coming kingdom of the Lord that there will be no more death.
Revelation
21:4 (NKJV)
4 And God will wipe away
every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor
crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed
away."
God doesn’t want any of us to die. He cares deeply when His loved ones die, and He has made a way through Jesus Christ where we can overcome death and He will one day close the books on death and sin as He establishes the new heaven and new earth where He will reign forever.
So it’s okay to
grieve the dead, God cares when His loved ones die so we should care too, and
we should be very vocal when our friends and family suffer a loss to speak the truth
in love and to let them know that God calls us to life through faith in Jesus Christ
and that some day death will be not more for those who answer His call.
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue to share from Dr. Neil Anderson’s . “Restored: Experience Life with Jesus”. Today, we begin sharing from Chapter 7.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Neil Anderson’s books for your own private
study and to support his work.
CHAPTER SEVEN
- OVERCOMING HABITUAL SIN
Suppose you could see the reality of the spiritual world as God
does and knew what people were thinking. You observed a dark brooding angelic
figure lurking outside the door of a young Christian named Danny.
Disguised as an angel of light, this demon subtly suggests that
Danny open the door to sin: Why don’t you take a peek at that pornography? You
know you want to. You will get away with it. Who would know? Everybody else
does it.
The Holy Spirit within Danny brings immediate conviction and
offers a way of escape. Danny also has a physical appetite for food and sex, as
well as old flesh patterns that operate independently of God. The old nature
wants to be satisfied and argues against the Spirit of God: What’s wrong with
looking at pornography anyway? After all, who created me to have all these
desires? Wasn’t it God? How could He create me a certain way and then condemn
me for it?
The battle in the mind is intense, “For the flesh sets its desire
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in
opposition to one another.”136 God offered Danny a way of escape,
but he failed to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.137
At first the pictures are a delight to the eyes, and the body responds with a
euphoric explosion of feelings. But the pleasure is only for a moment, because
“each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then
when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished,
it brings forth death.”138
CONSEQUENCES TO WRONG CHOICES
The brooding figure takes advantage of the open door, because
Danny acted independently of God by choosing to sin. Satan’s role as the
tempter changes immediately to the role of the accuser: “You will never get
away with this. How can you call yourself a Christian and do what you do?
You’re pathetic!”
Overcome by guilt, Danny cries out to God, “Lord, forgive me; I’ll
never do it again.” Two days later, Danny sins again, which precipitates
another cry for forgiveness. As the downward spiral of sin, confess, sin,
confess, and sin again continues, another event takes place. Danny is caught in
his sin by another “Christian,” who knows nothing of compassion.
Instead of responding as a minister of grace and reconciliation,
he joins with the brooding figure in a “ministry” of condemnation.
“You’re a pathetic example of what a real Christian is supposed to
be!” he says to Danny. “How can you do that and call yourself a Christian?
You’re an embarrassment to the Church. You better confess it and beg God’s
forgiveness.” Legalistic controlling “Christians” are in league with the
accuser of the brethren, and they don’t even know it.
This “Christian” accuser doesn’t seem to know that Danny is
already forgiven by God and that he has probably confessed his sin a hundred
times before. His merciless and insensitive response will only drive Danny to
greater depths of despair. Adding guilt and shame does not enhance mental
health. The world, the flesh, and the devil have brought another saint to his
knees. How does one break this cycle of defeat? Is confession enough?
To confess means to agree with God or to walk in the light as He
is in the light.139 It is the critical first step in repentance, but
it is not complete repentance and won’t be until there is a demonstrated
change. We must agree with God and face the truth, but that alone will not deal
with sin’s entrapment. You have submitted to God, if the confession was genuine
and accompanied by a commitment to do His will, but you haven’t yet resisted
the devil.140
Complete repentance means to submit to God, resist the devil, and
close the door to future temptations. That means getting rid of the pornography
in your home, and on your computer. It means staying away from bars, drug
dealers, and inappropriate relationships. It means that you “abstain from every
form of evil.”141 It may mean that you change your phone number, so
drug dealers and other undesirables can’t contact you. The door will be
completely closed when all the bondages have been broken and all the mental
strongholds have been torn down. The latter includes renouncing the lies you
have believed that contributed to the sinful behavior, and then choosing the
truth. This Step is intended to break the bondages and tear down the mental
strongholds. You will be transformed when you renew your mind to the truth of
God’s Word.142
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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