The sermons below are modified notes of the sermons that Pastor Prentice preaches. They may have some incomplete thoughts or even unfinished sentences but we hope that you will enjoy reading them if you are unable to listen to them on the MP3 format.
Unfeigned Love
December 4, 2011
People are such a fickle lot. We tell people that we love them, we assure them that we love them and then go about doing things that works night and day to aggravate them and drive them away. We promise to never hurt them and never to leave their side and before the sun set, or so it seems, we shove a knife in them and give it a twist. We say that we devote our life to them and then let our eyes and minds wander. We say that they are the most beautiful thing or handsome thing that has ever graced the planet and then let our eyes wander.
If I were to ask if I just described you, you would be forced to agree, that is if you were honest with yourself and God.
When we choose to love someone, we need to do this with no strings attached. Years ago, in order to pick up pay benefits in the army, there was a short lived phase of marriage vows that said, “…until ETS do we part.” That gave them marital pay status and billeting privileges that made military pay more tolerable.
So often we hear the phrase, “I just fell in love with that person.” I have also heard it said, “I fell out of love with that person.” I have often wondered if either of the falls hurt.
Love is not fickle. It never has been and never will be but people are unpredictable. They are the ones who put conditions and fine print in their commitments to love someone. It is interesting, however, that these restrictions and fine print areas are only escape clauses that will salve their conscience when the inevitable happens. The catch word here is ‘inevitable’. When something is inevitable, it is predictable, unavoidable and expected. Man’s definition of love has always been that way.
I have seen men get hurt and lose a physical attribute that was prominent in the initial attraction and all of the sudden; the wife just fell out of love with her husband or vice versa. One man that I knew was seriously wounded in Viet Nam and his wife just couldn’t love a man so hideous to look at. That wasn’t love, it was lust.
When I lost the biggest portion of my right hand, my job came to an end and there wasn’t a job on the horizon in the near future as my hand healed and I tried to find a new normal for me to live in. Regina was there every step of the way and spent many a sleepless night just to make sure that I did sleep. She never once left my side except to go to work when I couldn’t. She spent a few months just staying at home taking care of my hand and our year old baby because I couldn’t. Not once did I ever hear her complain about the situation except for the extreme lack of finances that e needed to make the house payment, utilities, gas for the car and food but I remember God pulling off some amazing feats/ miracles in our daily lives in those days.
I marvel at the love between Mike and Marilyn. I know that there are times that things get rough but I see Mike at Marilyn’s side constantly taking care of her when she cannot do it herself. That is love.
How does Jesus love the Church? We are a people so ridden with lust, hate, jealousy, sin, back stabbing, gossip, murderers, cheaters and who knows what all else, yet He still chooses to love us.
What is it about Jesus’ love for us that He would pay the ultimate price in order to make a way for us to spend the rest of time with Him?
One of the least preached books of the Bible defines Jesus love for us as His Church.
Song of Solomon 4:7, “Thou are all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.”
Each one of us who married a spouse thought these exact words as we stood before the preacher and repeated our vows. For me, there was not a woman on the earth that compared to the woman that I was privileged to marry that day. There was none so beautiful, there was none so kind, and there was none that rated even on the same scale as did Regina that day. As far as I was concerned, there was no spot in her.
Now I am sure that many of you who got married felt the same way… but then a year later or two years later, reality set in. A few spots began to show and some of them were really big spots.
But when Christ says, “Thou art fair, my love; There is no spot in thee.” He meant it and would maintain that attitude of the beauty of His choice.
The Book Song of Solomon is a remarkable love story of God’s love for His people. It speaks of the love for the Church like no other. It represents the love that we should have for each other as Christians.
All that we read that is said about the Church is not flattery. It is a genuine heart felt praise and love that exceeds our comprehension to understand. It is words from the very heart of God directed to His Church, the bride of Christ.
The New Testament as well as the Old Testament is completely inundated with references of God’s and Christ’s authentic and sincere love for the Church.
John 10:17-18, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it up again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received from my Father.”
Man talks so much about love which is a topic that he knows the least about. Man talks about love in a sensual way or in a way that is self-serving. When young couples get married, they are probably infatuated with each other and more in lust than love. They develop that love over years working together, food times and hard times. Many couples after years of marriage even begin to look and act like each other. Just like the children when they look in the mirror suddenly seeing one of their parents looking back at them.
I think it was Stephanie that said when I have kids I’ll never do that to my kids. Though Stephanie has never been able to have children, she caught herself doing what she said she’d never do with her nieces and nephews. As soon as she did it, she realized that she had become her parents and was enjoying it.
True love manifests itself in the form of the one who loves you. That may sound strange, but if you love someone so deeply that you can’t imagine your life without them, you find yourself sacrificing everything for them.
Almost every parent I have ever met would give their life for their children. Almost every child that I have met would give their life for their parents and count it a privilege.
Soldiers, for the most part, will give their life willingly on the battlefield for their country or to save another soldier. But whether it is family or soldier, they all have something in common. There is either a family bond or a military bond. But how about someone that you have no bond with? How about someone you don’t even know? How about someone that is from another country? How about someone that has no emotional, physical or even religious ties with you, would you die for them?
For the most part, I would have to say that the love bond is not there and nobody would put their life on the line for a complete and total stranger.
True love is defined in this next verse.
John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Even as a sinner completely separated from God, Christ still laid His life on the cross for us. While we were unlovable, Christ loved us. While we were not yet even friends with Christ, He called us friends. Even though we hated Him, He loved us.
He didn’t have to love us. He didn’t have to die for us. He didn’t have to come to earth and live among us and teach us and give us His Word, but He did because He chose to love us unconditionally.
Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
There is nothing that we can do or say that will remotely save our souls from Hell other than accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We can’t earn salvation, we can’t speak salvation into our heart and we can’t possibly understand His love for us until we accept that love through God’s forgiveness.
Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
True love is not only given unto us, we are expected to follow suit and live in the love that has been so graciously bestowed upon us. If we live in that love, even though we do not understand it, we will be fulfilling the good works that God intended or ordained for us from the beginning.
1 John 3:16-19, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good and sees his brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in Him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and truth. And hereby we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our hearts before Him.”
Every day, we need to be the epitome or personification of God’s love through Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter if we differ in opinion of not. At one time in my life, my opinion was totally against God’s opinion and His will, yet He loved me and Jesus still died for me because He loved me.
Every day, we should represent our Lord and Savior as an Ambassador of Christ and that is exactly what we are.
Ephesians 6:19-20, “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may speak boldly, to make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Unfeigned/heartfelt love was bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ. As an ambassador of Christ, we have the responsibility to extend that same love to others in the Truth of the Gospel, not as a threatening demand but a loving invitation jut as Christ invited us.
ALTAR CALL
People of Vision
November 27, 2011
Throughout life, man is faced with a multitude of decisions that he must make. Some of his own will and direction and some of God’s. There is a real struggle at times to decipher which decision is of God’s direction or our personal desires and lusts. We all want to think that we can surmise that the final decision that we make is God’s will but how many times does our wants and lusts override God’s will?
Quite often when the obvious deduction is that it is of God, we do all that we can to argue that it is not God’s will for our lives, especially when it is requiring us to do something that we do not want to do or just plain isn’t fun. Now I know that none of you suffer this particular dilemma, which is something that only I have had to experience.
Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
For as long as I have been a Christian and as often as I have heard this verse preached, I have never heard it preached in the context that it was written. It can be applied accurately out of context but this morning, I want to apply it in the context that it was written.
When it says, “Where there is no vision…” it is referring to prophetic word or expository direction given by a minister of God. No priest or prophet was around that would tell the people anything concerning the Truth of the Word of God.
In the religious organizations of today, there are hundreds of thousands of men and women who stand in the pulpit that are totally clueless concerning the Word of God. There are thousands who have either been ordered by the ruling parties of the organization to preach a socialized gospel and just as many who have fallen asleep at the wheel and began to teach a socialized gospel or have retreated from the Truth totally.
Some do this because they want to save their job as pastor and others have done this to promote the doctrines of the organizations that they belong to in order to impress the hierarchy and prosper themselves in the organization. But the saddest of them all are the ones who know the Truth, have taught the Truth and have left the Truth in order to grow the “church” in numbers because the whole Truth was causing a decline in attendance.
When there is no Truth being proclaimed in the pulpit, the vision of the Church becomes clouded and Holy Spirit is stifled from operation. When Holy Spirit is restricted, the Church is blinded with the cares and lusts of the world and eminent death is at hand.
When there is no Truth being proclaimed from the pulpit, the Guiding Light has been extinguished and all of the people are wandering in darkness.
1 Samuel 3:1, “And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.”
This was truly a sad day for the people. No open vision means that God had stopped talking to the priests because they had quit talking and listening to Him. The written Word of God was precious and treasured because that was the only Word of God the people could get because the pulpit had stopped proclaiming the Truth. The pulpit had stopped seeking God for anything. Fulfilling the office of priest had become a profitable vocation and investing in the true duties of the priesthood was certain to take away from the prosperity of the ministry. There wasn’t time to go hunting and fishing. Golf had to be grossly restricted and working out at the local gym just couldn’t take place in order to create the desired six-pack abs and rippling muscles to show off at the city park.
Graduating “cemetery” gave you all of the Bible knowledge that you needed, so your free time was greatly extended so that you could pursue your own personal agenda.
When there is no open vision or no vision, the people rebel against God and the Church suffers greatly. When there is no vision, the people become idle. Idle hands and idle minds are Satan’s playground.
When there is no vision, the people begin to scatter in all directions and none of those directions are toward God or a relationship with Jesus Christ.
When there is no vision, the people are stripped or robbed of their covering and are left to their own devises for protection and without the priest/pastor or prophet, they have no way to hear from God because the one that is supposed to be leading them has gone astray himself. The eminent result is death and destruction of the Church.
The only thing that we can depend on is the Word of God and the only One we can depend on is God as the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
When it comes to vision and that vision being direction in the Word of God, then there is a need that we secure ourselves in the Word of God, seeking God’s divine direction in what we do and say. How can we know what we are to do and say if we have no working knowledge of God’s Word? How can we have knowledge in God’s divine direction except we submit ourselves to the most stringent application of His Word?
I can hear people say now that sounds a little fanatical doesn’t it? Yes it does. When it violates the ‘norm’ for what the church has become today, anything resembling absolute is fanatical. Absolute does not have room for compromise or acceptable sin. If you are keeping the Law of God and living within the freedom of His Word, you are happy according to Proverbs 29:18. So let’s go about our daily lives happy in His Word, not looking for a way to make something that is deplorable and offensive, acceptable to God.
Before I get on the soapbox acceptable sin, I want to get back on track of the vision.
When we have vision, we have an objective. Any objective or goal will require us to move toward that goal. Now we need to know what God’s objective is. First and foremost, God’s objective of purpose for us is to have an intimate relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus. From there, we are to develop our relationship by allowing our will, our actions and our words to be led of God’s Holy Spirit.
Without being led by the Spirit of God we can only, at best, stumble like a drunken bum, hoping that we make the right decisions and say the right thing. We can only at best pray like we are at Wal-Mart looking over our Christmas shopping list and blindly set out in hopes that something might accidentally happen that might be God’s will. Without vision or open vision you are destined to derail and crash somewhere along the line. That makes it imperative that you stay plugged into His Word for the right direction.
Now, having looked at Proverbs 29:18 in proper context, let’s take a look at it in the perspective of how most interpretations present this verse.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish...” As a Church, we need to make sure that all that we do aligns itself with the Word of God. If we are going to make a move, which we are and did, Wednesday evening, Bible Study will be at the new place, we need to make sure that we did this according to God’s will, not our wants.
If we are going to purchase a property, we need to be absolutely certain that we purchase what God has for us, not what seems convenient for us at the moment.
Concerning the purchase of property, we establish that the property is a vision that we as a Church have agreed upon to pursue. When we as a Church have a vision, we strive to achieve that vision. When we agree upon that vision, we work together more unified as a body because we have the same purpose. In order for us to accomplish our goal, we need to be sure that we are in the Word, that God’s Word directs our path to achieve our goal. If we are not led by Holy Spirit then we are attempting to do this in our own knowledge and our own strength and I will promise you that it is sure to fail if God is not involved in the decision making process.
We have looked at several properties and some of them are higher in cost than what we have raised. So we need absolute direction from an absolute Word from an absolute God to insure that we are acting in His Word according to His will. That may be a lot of absolutes but my God is absolute/supreme and perfect.
When we as a Church attempt to operate without a goal or purpose then we will perish, no matter how lofty our plans, dreams, hopes and wishes are. In order to fulfill God’s vision for us, we need to latch onto His goal and pursue. Let’s make for sure that we are searching God’s Word and seeking His face to insure that we make the right decisions.
We are a people of vision. We are a people of His Word and we are a people that has a relationship with their God.
Your Testimony Screams the Truth
November 20, 2011
I want to thank people this morning for all of the hard work that was put forth for Friday Night’s event. Imogene got a ball rolling that as of last night was a great success and has set the stage for even greater events in the future. I know that her intentions were not to fall from her deck and get laid up and then to find out she had cancer and get laid up with that due to the physical stress of cancer and chemotherapy.
I thank all of you who worked so diligently not only Friday night but throughout the whole process that made Friday night a success. But I want to thank Angel. She picked up the ball and worked so hard to make Friday night happen. I know that there were times when she not only wanted to throw in the towel and quit but she wanted to burn the towel and throw in the ashes. Thank you so much for your valiant and dedicated work.
It took all of us to make this work and the reports that are coming in, everybody appreciated and enjoyed the evening and again, I thank all of you.
As we enter into the Thanksgiving holiday, people get all excited about the dinner that they are going to have, they get stressed and worry about having the meal just perfect and the house clean and all of the friends and family that will be showing up. They work and worry so much about impressing others that they forget to consider who should really be invited and how things are supposed to work.
From the beginning, Thanksgiving has been about sharing with others of the bounty of your year and expressing your thankfulness and appreciation for the ones who helped you through the tough year you just made it through. What has changed so much from then to now is that then, they weren’t trying to impress anybody and now they are.
Thanksgiving is as much about our testimony than any other holiday that we have. Thanksgiving is all about letting others know how much we appreciate them, not how much they should appreciate us. It is not how much food we can stuff our face with but rather how much we can bless others that have struggled with us and helped us along the way.
Throughout the entire Bible, we read of thousands of times people have been there to help others. Sometimes it is appreciated and sometimes it isn’t. Even today, we forget to show how much we appreciate others for what they have done or said that was a blessing to us as individuals or as a family or Church. Shame on us for forgetting to do this.
The early colonists prepared a feast for the Native Americans of the bounty of their crops. Had it not been for the Native Americans, the colonists would have starved out and died or been forced to leave America and head back to England and quite possibly die of starvation on the voyage. There was much to be thankful for and many that were responsible for the colonist’s survival.
Quite often, people struggle not only knowing God but with, “God where might I find You?”
Job 23:3, “O that I knew where I might find Him.” In all that Job had been through, he posed this thought. He wasn’t using this in the form of a question but rather a factual statement. He didn’t moan and groan about the trials and physical failings that he was suffering and request healing but rather boldly state that he knew where he could find his God. He says, “O that I knew where I could find help when I needed it. O that I knew where I could find relief when I needed it. O that I knew where I could find strength when I was completely spent.”
Imagine having such a relationship with God that you could say the same thing when everything on you and around you starts falling apart, including your health. I’ve heard it said, as long as you have your health not much else matters.
I have thought about that several times throughout the last several years and had somewhat agreed with it, until I came across this verse the other day. As I looked at this verse, I began to see that even though Job was suffering more than most of us could possibly imagine, he was absolutely thrilled that he KNEW where he could find God. Job’s testimony was solid as a rock and it screamed from the mountain top, “I know where I can find my God.”
Do you remember when you were a child when you got scared of something? It was dark, you were outside and you just knew that the Indians were just behind that bush ready to capture you and scalp you. Where did you run?
I remember one evening, it was dark outside, and there was no moon and not many stars shining. We lived 25 miles from the closest town so there were no street lights to light the sky either. Because it was such a small town, the lights didn’t glow in the sky like San Antonio’s lights do here in Lakekhills.
As my little brother and I were walking down the road, we heard the beating of tom toms and then heard the coyotes howl. Because of the constant drumming of the tom toms, we just knew that the Indians were just over the hill and was about to attack. The coyote howl was just a signal from one of the Indians to alert the others that we were ripe for the capture.
With our hearts in our throat and the adrenaline surging through our bodies, we high-tailed it for the house, knowing that Dad was at the house and we knew he could protect us. Whew, that was a close call.
When we rushed into the house, we saw Mom and Dad watching a Cowboy and Indian show on TV and those pesky Indians were still pounding on their tom toms.
Job knew his God and he knew that he was in God’s care, no mater what this world threw against him.
Mark 16:9-20, “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. 10. And she went and told them that she had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11. And they, when they had heard that He was alive and had been seen of her, believed not. 12. After that He appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked and went into the country. 13. And they went and told it unto the residue; neither believed they them. 14. Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardnes of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen. 15. And He said unto them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and in they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God. 20. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs and wonders following. Amen.
The eleven disciples who had walked with Jesus and heard His teachings for 3 years or so were so taken shaken in their faith OR so sure that Jesus would only present Himself alive to them and them first that they refused to believe or accept any testimony from someone else. Even though they knew Mary Magdalene, they refused to accept her witness. The two men that walked along the
Let me ask you this, was there something wrong with the testimony of the ones that saw Jesus or was there something wrong with the ears and hearts of the disciples?
When my little brother and charged into the house for safety from the Indians, Mom and Dad knew for a fact that we truly believed that there were Indians after us. They also knew for a fact that the Indians were NOT after us. BUT they did realize that because of our level of excitement or terror in this case, we believed our own story…
When I titled this message, “Your Testimony Screams the Truth,” in the case of your faith in Christ, it really does scream the truth. When you are so convinced that Jesus delivered you right out of Hell, it is easy to get excited and even stay that way. When you accept Christ as Lord of your life or when you are miraculously delivered from death or physical or emotional bondage, we should be ecstatic, overwhelmed with joy to the point of being overly enthusiastic.
When you hear someone tell of their experience with the Lord in a REAL DULL TONE or just doesn’t feel like doing so at all, do you take much stock in what they say?
If someone would come to you and say, “I have found a million dollars that the local police and the county judge, the district judge and the federal judge all agree and say I can have if I share at least one dollar with someone else,” and there is absolutely no emotion in their voice at all, how many of you would believe the story to be true?
Now if the same situation was repeated only with excitement equivalent to the prize at hand, how many of you would sit up and takes notice then?
When you know your God so well that you can say like Job, “I knew where I might find Him,” with a sense of legitimacy and intensity in our voice, people will begin to take your testimony seriously because it will literally scream of the integrity and intensity of your faith in God.
If the Christian as excited about their God and Savior as they were about their denomination, there would be a complete change in the way denominations are run today. There would be a vastly different set of laws in the United States today. Instead of writing denominational changes to make the rules contrary to the Word of God and re-writing the Constitution of the United Sates to favor the vile instead of the righteous, we would find ourselves in a spiritual boom like never before.
Let’s leave here this morning, not only knowing without doubt our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let’s leave here knowing where we might find Him.
I have one last question to ask. Where might you find your Lord and Savior? If you have to scratch your head and wonder what I am talking about or have to wonder where He might be, consider where you last left Him. Then go there and see if He is still there.
When our relationship with our Lord and Savior is so close that we can say as a matter of fact, I know where I might find Him, we need to let our testimony prove daily our testimony.
Spiritual Maturity
November 13, 2011
The growth progression of people today is an absolute wonder. Some grow like weeds. They just start out so small and almost instantly they are tall. Some start out big and seem to almost not grow at all for months. Others grow on what we might call a normal way. Whatever normal means, that is. Some start out skinnier than a bed rail and end up plump. Others start out plump and wind up skinnier than a bed rail. Some start our normal as can be and never change from that, whatever normal is. This is the physical side of things.
The emotional areas are no different. Some start out with an emotional status somewhere between teenager and adult, grossly advanced for their few years of life. Others advance emotionally somewhat normally and others advance years later than what is considered normal and then there are those who never advance.
Spiritually, we encounter a whole new sort of people. All Christians, no matter how old or young they might be, they begin their life as Christians as babies. The interesting part of this emotional, physical and spiritual growth process is that how you grow depends entirely on each individual.
Some choose to never grow at all. Some choose to grow to about the crawling stage. Some choose to make it to walking and running and yet others stop as a teenager. Highly active and missing the maturity of the adult by miles but yet think that they have all of the answers and that they are the only ones who could possible be right. No matter what the Scriptures says, even thought they do not know it or understand it, whatever they want it to say is what it means.
But that’s not spiritual maturity. Have you ever sat down and talked to or rather listened to an elderly person that has come out of the depression or even lived during the Wild West days? The tell stories of how hard things were and how great of a time they had even though they didn’t have TV, cell phones, A/C, three cars in the driveway and designer clothes to wear. The tales that they told kept you spellbound for hours. What they had lived through and what they had learned led up to some really great opportunities to glean volumes of knowledge from the mind of that mature person.
Why doesn’t that take place today as often as it used to? Could it be that because of TV, cell phones, cars, texting, internet and a host of other distractions to life that true maturity has been dwarfed into nothing more than a video game or the old black and white TV shoo tem’ up bang bang? With out all of the bloody graphics and horrid language, it is not entertaining enough to hold anybodies attention.
Since when did maturity gain its standard from computer abilities and video game graphics? Since when does relationships broaden themselves with texting and internet chatting?
This may sound like last night on the computer with a man and woman that I was talking to (chatting/texting or whatever you call what you do on Face Book).
This may sound like I am way off base concerning the title of the message this morning but I really am not off topic at all.
Spiritual maturity does not happen just because you are 50+ years old and know how to chat in a chat room. Spiritual maturity does not mean that because you are 30 years old and know how to read your Bible, whether you do or not, I don’t know. Just because you are old enough to vote and go fight in a war or you have done the work to become a member of the church, does not mean you have any spiritual maturity.
Job 17:9, “The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”
Job had to consider the ones that called themselves friends. These friends are the very ones that rebuked him because of his unrelenting stand for God and God’s holy righteousness. These same friends rejected him because they couldn’t understand why he would stay true to a God that would do this to anybody. His wife also told him to , “Curse God and die.” These were supposedly Godly friends. The next verse is such an insult to the ones who claim to be spiritually mature.
10, “But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.”
Job could not find a righteous or spiritually mature person among all of those who claimed to be his friend. They proved to be a bigger enemy than friend.
Spiritual maturity tends to grow stronger and stronger as times get harder and harder. Spiritual maturity reveals itself in the Word of God that dwells within us. If you want some wise advice, go to a person that you know is full of the Word of God and has walked in the shoes of a Christian for a while and demonstrates maturity because of what they radiate in their walk and in their speech.
Psalm 84:1-12, “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. 4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. 6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. 8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.”
Did you see the spiritual maturity of the Psalmist here? Notice how he loved God’s tabernacles. His heart desired to be in the inner courts where he could be in the very presence of the Lord.
Just as a sparrow has found a home for herself to raise up her young, so the Psalmist sees God’s altars a place of refuge and refreshing, just being near the presence of the Almighty God brought about a peace and desire that exceeded anything else that the world had to offer. The Psalmist was blessed that he could dwell in God’s holy house and found himself unable to stop praising God.
Isn’t it funny (weird not ha ha funny) that people want to praise God for a moment or two then let’s get on with something else. People pray the same way. Three or four good sentences and then off to sleep or to daydreaming they go.
One of these days, we are going to have a prayer bench right here in the front of the church and I hope to see people staining it with tears or joy and sorrow as they pour their hearts out to God before and after the services.
When people first realize that their strength comes when they truly begin to search for the face of the Anointed One or Christ, what seems like only a few minutes will actually become possibly hours of devoted time before God at the Altar of Prayer.
A day, according to verse 10, in the God’s courts is better than a thousand days when spent in prayer and growing in God’s grace, mercy and knowledge. When a day in prayer and fellowship is more desired than the hours of watching the Cowboys lose or watch Jimmie Johnson win the Sprint Cup or whatever your TV favorite is, then you will only be starting to understand what spiritual maturity is.
When you can lay down the cell phone and stop texting for a while and not be dying to feel the vibrate in your pocket to find out what tidbit of useless information somebody had to send you instead of waiting on God to see what He might want to say, you will only be in the infancy of understanding what spiritual maturity is.
Ps 92: 1-15, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: 2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, 3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. 4 For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. 5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. 6 A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever: 8 But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore. 9 For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. 11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. 12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 15 To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”
We sing the chorus, “Thy Loving Kindness” two or three times and find that that is all of Thy Loving kindness that we can stand at one time. We sing the chorus, “They That Wait Upon the Lord” and after two or three times feel that we have waited long enough. If waiting on the Lord renews our strength, doesn’t it make sense to wait until He strengthens us? How many of you want the strength of Barney Fife? How many of you want the strength of Charles Atlas or Arnold Swartzenegger? Who do you think worked the hardest to acquire that strength?
Spiritually, we are no different than Barney Fife or Charles Atlas. We either desire to grow spiritually or we are content with being a VIP (very insignificant pipsqueak).
Our enemies work tirelessly to destroy us. They study our words, our actions, our beliefs and our lack of beliefs. They study our very mindset in order to destroy us. They do not take a day off and find that a day of fishing would be very relaxing and serve as a welcome break from the arduous or grueling task that is before them.
As we looked at Psalm 92, we see how this song of the Sabbath radiated the true love for God in praise and expectation of His appearance. It radiated expectation of God’s very own deliverance for them and they were willing to put forth some effort to see the desired results.
1 Tim 4:12-16, “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”
You may be completely new as a newborn baby in your walk in Christ or you might be a seasoned, well read and experienced Warrior of the Cross. Or you might be one who has warmed the seats of a church for years and yet still struggle and fall when the slightest trial or temptation comes your way. You know better than anybody except God. But just because you have warmed the bench in a church building for 150 years does not make you spiritually mature. Spiritual maturity comes when you are on the same playing field with God, not dancing around in this field and then that one and then the next one, never knowing where you really are but you want God to follow you in your escapades. Sometimes and most of the times, God has a lot for us to do in the town or community that we now stand in or live in. Stop running all over and say that you are where God wants you when you really don’t know yourself.
When you learn to fall on your face before Him and say, “Daddy (Abba) I need to hear from You. I need to hear from You soon because I have really made a mess and I don’t know how to fix it. I see that I am to wait for You and praise You. Now, help me to seek Your face and Your will. Help me to grow up spiritually. I am tired of being a spiritual baby or a spiritual teenager. Teach me with Your divine Wisdom that I might learn to strengthen my faith and my testimony. Help me to grow in Your Word, that I might hunger and thirst for Your Word. Guide my thoughts, words and my texting little fingers that all is done to Your Glory.”
Folks, instead of looking for ways to streamline your time with God, start trying to find it harder to leave His presence. I long for the day that we can start the services with people at the altar’s prayer benches seeking God’s message for the day. I long for the day when praise and worship doesn’t have to have music behind it and there isn’t a team leading the way but rather we are corporately ushering in God’s presence with beautiful praise. But it takes spiritually mature believers to make this happen. Praise and worship is not a performance but rather a joyful sacrifice.
Christlikeness of the Believer
November 6, 2011
As the world continues on, the Christian has a greater role to play. It is the responsibility of the Christian to keep themselves spotless from the world. We have had the opportunity to consider the Walk of the Believer, Consistency of the Believer and this morning, we are going to look at the Christlikeness of the Believer.
Christians are, too often, oblivious or unconscious to how the world is watching them and evaluating them in their walk as a Christian, which also relates to the consistency of the Christian.
But what is the world really looking for? Some might think that it is looking for a way to trip up the believer or a way to attack their character or Christian traits. Some might think that the world is searching for dents and gaps in the armor to find the weak spot in which to find fault. But I have a real surprise for you this morning. What the world is truly looking for is the Christlikeness of the Believer.
1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Walking in the light is far more enjoyable than walking in darkness. How many of you walk around outside at night without a flashlight or turn on the light in the room that is completely dark? How many of you have tried to do these things and broken a toe on a chair or skinned up your hands, elbows and nose tripping on a rock? How many of you learned to turn on the lights or use a flashlight after that?
In the spiritual realm, it is no different and even more important than in the physical. To launch out in the blackness of spiritual darkness is suicide but people are professionals at that and I don’t understand why. Even though I have done that, it does not compute. Common sense tells us that we are destined to fail and yet we push on in an attempt to prove to God that we do not need Him or the He might take lessons from us on how things ought to work.
If as Christians, we are followers of Christ then if Christ is the Light of the world, then doesn’t it make good sense that we should walk in His light? Doesn’t it make good sense that we walk in the fellowship with each other and in the fellowship of Christ?
How many armies consist of only one person? The US Army ran and ad campaign that we should join the Army of one. I don’t want to join that army. You show me an army of one and I’ll show you a defeated and dead army.
As we look at this verse again, we see that Christ, through His Blood has cleansed us from all sin, yet still we see people wanting to cling to sin and demand that the church and even God accept it.
Light and dark cannot exist in the same place at any time. It is a physical impossibility. The Light of the world drives away the darkness of the world but if you shut off the Light, darkness will again prevail.
When sin is practiced, darkness is drawn in and the Light is forced out. When the darkness is drawn in, the Light has to leave. In fact, it is actually the opposite. When the Light is put out, the darkness floods the entire place.
As a photographer, I learned a lot about light. There was always a joke about whether there were particles of darkness or particles of light. In a dark room, it is imperative that light is eliminated and darkness is prevalent. If light comes into the room, the photos are ruined.
To answer this, how many of you have ever suffered sunburn? How many of you have ever suffered night burn? As silly as this may sound, the lack of light or any spectrum of light is total darkness of blackness. You have to turn off the light to make it dark. Light particles have to be stopped in order for darkness to fill the void.
Spiritually, it is no different. If you start shutting off the Light (Jesus), darkness (Satan) will fill the void.
The Christlikeness of the Believer is walking and living in the Light and avoiding any element that might move to put the Light out. If we have been cleansed from all sin, then doesn’t it make sense to stay in the Light?
Allowing or participating is sin is nothing more than running to the light switch to shut off the light so that you can stub and break another toe or skin up your nose again.
1 John 2:6, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
This is a no brainer. If we claim to abide or dwell in the Light or in Christ, then we should walk as Christ walked. We should look so much like Christ that Satan would have to personally ask if we are or not. We should talk so much like Christ that Satan would be afraid to even approach us to ask us a question.
It isn’t really difficult to see why we should be this way. It really strikes me, though, when people claim to be Christians and yet do their best to live in complete denial of Christ.
Everything that He taught was for our benefit that we might escape the final judgment of sin, yet people want to drag sin along with them because they know more than Christ. They can handle it! Yeah right, and pigs fly south for the winter and cats wallow in the mud.
Satan delights in the people that are so religious that they don’t need a relationship with Jesus or even Christians because they are greater than that.
1 John 1:8-9, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
John gets really bold here. He tells it just like it really is. If we are going to be Christians, we are expected to be Christ-like. To deny the Truth is to deceive yourself and deny Christ. If we deceive ourselves then Christ is not Lord and Savior of your life.
God’s forgiveness is complete and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness but if you go back to the quagmire of sin that you were just delivered from then we make God a liar and His Word, Jesus is not in us.
1 John 2:1-5, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation (atonement) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
You have an Advocate or Supporter even a Lawyer if you will, in Christ pleading your case to the Father. He is saying, “I paid the price for their salvation. Your forgiveness is my request to You because they have accepted Me.”
Here is where the Christlikeness of the Believer really comes in. If you say that you know Him and do not keep His commandments, you are a liar and the Truth/Christ is not in you.
If you claim to be a Christian, then we prove it by following and keeping the commandments of God. If you would do this, then God’s love would be made very evident in your life. In fact, the Word says that God’s love is perfected in you and you prove that you know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
So when the world is looking at you, it is looking for something that they can believe in. They are looking for the Christlikeness of the Believer.
If we would see more Christlikeness if believers today, we would not see as much sin flaunting itself within the Church like it does.
If you are guilty of saying you are a Christian and yet you have refused to live by the Word of God, you have only deceived yourself and the Truth is not in you.
If you have claimed to be a Christian and yet in your heart you have never made an honest commitment to Jesus, you have deceived yourself and the Truth/Christ is not in you.
Repent and accept Christ today as Lord and Savior.
If you are struggling with your walk in Christ, you are not alone. Satan never said he would leave you alone after accepting Jesus. But Jesus said that He would never leave you or forsake you. In fact, after accepting Jesus and devoting your life to Him, Satan tried even harder to discredit you and destroy you BUT if you walk every moment of every day in Christlikeness, Satan will quake in his boots at even your presence. Darkness has to fell when Light is present.
Make your way to the Altar right now if you need to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Make your way to the Altar if you need to re-establish your relationship with Jesus. Over and over, we see in the Word of God that if we repent, God is faithful and just to forgive us. Don’t let pride deny you from what God has for you. Don’t let your ego prevent Jesus from becoming Lord of your life. Let’s pray that all that are here and all that are listening to this on the internet and those who hear it on CD’s will choose a Christ-like walk. For some it will be the very first time and for others it will be a returning to that walk of Christlikeness.
Consistency of the Believer
October 30, 2011
As we left off last Sunday, we were looking at the Walk of Believers. Believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have a unique lot in life that is vastly differently than that of the lost and dying world. Our walk in faith demands us to represent Jesus Christ with every breath that we take, every word that proceeds from our mouth and every action that we do.
The world does not have these restrictions on them. The world can look like a Christian one minute and lie like the devil the next. They can live a life in public that would exemplify Christ in every way and live a life in private that would make sailors blush. The world can put on a lifestyle that makes them appear to be righteous and Christian. They might be in the church services every time the doors are open yet go about their life in private completely oblivious to true righteousness and holiness, having never asked God to forgive them and never accepting Jesus as personal Lord and Savior. They might be in the pew every service and yet deny Christ as the only way of salvation. They might sing all the right songs and join the church and be baptized yet prefer sin over sinless.
The world can claim to believe in the Word of God yet take it out of context so badly as to accept homosexuality, abortion, anti-Semitism, drunkenness, disobedience, shacking up and other ungodly perversions of the Truth and it doesn’t matter. Without God at the helm of your life, Christ as your Savior and Holy Ghost as your comforter, you can write any rule that you want and Satan will be thrilled with it and make you feel good about it.
The Church, on the other hand is obligated to maintain a standard of holiness and righteousness public and private, which brings us to the topic of the morning, Consistency of the Believer.
Eph 4:1-3, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
As we see here, we are not called to walk in arrogance, impatience, in tolerant of one another, unsupportive of one another, and striving with one another. I realize that impatience and arrogance are a natural negative attribute that everybody has and because of that we are intolerant and unsupportive of anyone that disagrees with us and do not support those who disagree with us and then we take pride in our ability to start a fight and cause dissention among others. I could ask if I just described you at sometime in your life but that would be a ridiculous question to ask because I know that every one of us have either been that way in the past or still are today way more often than we should be.
What we do see here is that we are to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. The vocation means the name in which you are called.
As Christians, we are named after Christ. When I was growing up, I was asked many questions about car repairs that would only be known of a mechanic. I was not necessarily a mechanic but my dad was. He was a good mechanic and because of that, I was asked these questions because of my name and relationship with my dad. I was also asked questions about farming, again, because of my relationship with a great farmer, my dad. My dad had impeccable integrity and expected his children to have that same integrity because that was the way of the Prentice name.
As Christians, we carry the name of Christ just as you carry your family name and reputation. As a Christian, we have the responsibility to uphold the reputation of Christ and conduct ourselves as you would expect anybody to best represent you yourself.
As a Christian, we have the responsibility to go about doing all that we can to promote unity within the body of Christ, whether they are of this particular body of believers or the neighboring Bible believing Church. We as Christians are to be about the business of our Father and Lord and Savior, in the bonds of peace, which means the uniting principle of prosperity and quietness.
That may sound a bit overwhelming but it is just common sense. Let’s look at it like this. Everyone say your last name. How many of you want Charles Manson to start saying he is now the official representative of your family? How many of you want Obama to say he is part of your close family? How many of you want to hear that Nancy Pelosi is now the trusted spokesman for your family? These all bring shame to their own family, why would you want them to represent or be part of your own family?
Eph 5:1-7, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.”
The Church needs to quit re-writing the Bible to satisfy their lusts and start walking a consistent life as a Christian. We need to be followers of God as a dear child. Think about how cute it is when a small child follows after mom or dad and they walk down the aisle if the store in the same fashion as their parent. Isn’t it fun to watch children try to emulate their parents in some fashion or another, whether it is their laugh, their walk, their dress or even actions?
A church in Indianapolis has a pastor named John. John’s son is named John and his grandson is named John. Pastor John is a great preacher. Son John is a very good preacher and grandson John at two years old was standing on the roof of a car in the back yard, holding dad’s Bible in one hand and babbling as 2 year olds do in a loud voice as he wandered all over the roof of the old car. How many of you can imagine that picture and think, “How cool is that?”
I remember trying to get as greasy as my dad did as I helped him work on a car, truck, farm tractor or combine. If I was helping him as he was painting the crude pine pole fence around the yard, I would drip paint on my shoes and pants ion order to look just like I was actually helping. Granted, at the age I was, I was more in the way than I was helping but it didn’t matter to me, I wanted to be just like my dad. Other than the fact my dad was never a pastor or even a preacher, I think I turned out quite a bit like him in many ways.
With God as our Father, we should be doing all that we can to be just like Him. We should walk in love as He walked in love. We should be prepared to die for Him just like He died for us.
Christ did not live one moment of His life in unrighteousness of any form or fashion. He did not covet anything here on this earth because there was nothing on this dirt ball we call earth that He wanted other than you and I and He died to pay the price for us.
He was never caught in any filthy act nor did a filthy word proceed from His mouth. He had a sense of humor but His humor was never off color and His conversation was never foolish and not convenient for the situation of righteous living. He always gave thanks for what He had and how God always looked out for Him. He wasn’t an idolater, a whoremonger or a drunkard and still He cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
We read in Verse 3, “…let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints…” Does anybody here struggle understanding this? As a Christian, we never be found with these valueless morals in our character. We should not even be party with those who actively practice these traits. Don’t read into this that we should not be out there in the midst of the world. We need to be out there in order to show them the love, mercy and grace of God by the very things that we do and say. What I mean here is that we should not be making a practice of joining them in their disobedience and sin. That discredits our testimony and tells the world that our Lord and Savior is less than what we try to tell everybody He is.
Imagine trying to tell somebody how great of a man Charles Manson is. Nobody is going to believe you. The same goes for trying to tell someone that Jesus is the greatest when you won’t honestly live for Him according to His Word.
The consistency of the believer is made evident every day as we walk out there in the world.
Eph 5:14-17, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
Here is a caution given to us as Christians. We are to wake up. Get out of the grave of the world and start living for Christ. As long as we are wandering around with blinders on, we cannot see the Light and that Light is Jesus. He is the Light of the world.
Our walk as a consistent Christian is summed up in verse 15 and further explained in 16 and 17.
Walking circumspectly means to walk cautiously or vigilantly. Fools walk carelessly, not discerning whether there is danger or not.
Imagine again, you are in an active mine field. Do you stroll on like it doesn’t exist or do you kneel down and start probing to find where the next mine might be? To stroll on like there is no tomorrow might just introduce you to eternity, so common sense says to be cautious and proceed with great caution as a wise soldier.
We live in evil days. Evil in the fact that man is hard at work to discredit the Word of God, hard at work to serve his own lusts and hard at work to destroy righteousness, holiness, Godly morals and Godly values. These days are not unique to today, Sodom and Gomorrah lived in the same evil. The Word of God also says as in the days of Noah, Jesus shall return. The earth had gotten so evil in the days of Noah that God decided to wipe out all mankind who refused to get on board of the ark that Noah had built. That is pretty evil. And now I see that day of evil right smack dab upon us again.
Church, let’s start being wise in our walk as Christians. We need to understand the will of God and walk in it. It really isn’t as complicated as so many people try to make it. Simply put, we need to walk in the consistency of the faith in Christ that we proclaim we are united with because of His salvation. Our testimony as a Christian should be unswerving left or right. We need to be steadfast in His love, in faith and in His Word. After that, we will understand His will very plainly.
Let’s leave here this morning with a newfound determination that none of these things will be name among us as Christians.
If you are part of the world, this does not apply to you. You have the right to live anyway you want to live in any form of sin that you want, however, eternal life with God does not apply to you. You will have eternal living but it sure won’t be with God, Christ or Holy Spirit. You really can have the Burger King life. You can have it your way but God won’t have you in His presence if your way is not His way.
Accept Christ and live or reject Him and suffer the consequences. The choice is yours alone.
The Walk of Believers
October 23, 2011
Believers in Christ have unique character traits. Some are somewhat vague at first (sometimes VERY VAGUE). But as they grow in the Lord, they begin to change. These changes are quite often radical to what the world knows as the Christian. This is good. No, in fact, this is great, because if there is no change in the character traits of the person, you have to wonder whether Christ is Lord of their life or not.
I am not talking about smoking, drinking, unsavory attire, language or other things that people like to throw at new Christians. I could use a lot of Scripture to support all of these different pitfalls of the new Christian but there are just as many that we could use against so-called seasoned Christians as well.
Will smoking condemn you to Hell? Probably not but it sure makes you smell like that is where you have been. Will questionable attire send you to Hell? No but it sure tends to take away a favorable witness for Christ.
For the seasoned Christian, will gossip send you to Hell? Maybe not, but a lot more likely than smoking for the new believer. Will slander and a contentious spirit send you to Hell? For the seasoned Christian, more likely than all of the so-called sins of the new believer would send them to Hell.
So let’s get beyond throwing stones and accusations and the faults and problems of others and focus on how a Christian should be seen in their walk of faith.
Rom 6:1-4, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
As a Christian, whether new or old, we should walk in the newness of life. That unexpected feeling of that newness of life is the most exciting moment of anybody’s life. So soon we seem to forget the thrill of that complete forgiveness and release of that old man that we received. So soon we grow accustomed to what becomes hum-drum life as usual and start finding fault with everything and everybody just like we did when we were in the world.
Continuing in sin does not give us the satisfaction of grace over and over again. Continuing in sin does not grant us more and more of the grace of God. We can get baptized every day and still not receive more of Christ or more salvation. We do not get more of the revelation of God’s glory but what we do get is to enjoy anew every moment of every day, the newness of life.
Rom 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
The movie we watched Friday night was an excellent example of this. There is so much baggage that we carry around and beat ourselves up with. There is so much condemnation aimed at others and even ourselves that we soon lose the joy of serving a Savior that paid the ultimate price for our salvation.
That newness of life that we looked at in Romans 6 is found in living a life after the Spirit of God and not after the flesh. The flesh is corruptible and quite persuasive in drawing you away from the exhilaration and pleasure of living in the newness of life found in Christ Jesus.
Now why is it that people find that so hard to grasp? Why do people shy away from the peace of mind and the thrill of lining in the newness of life that we have just looked at? These questions are not as tough to answer as you would think.
2 Cor 5:7, “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”
If we would just start practicing what we read here and stop doing the exact opposite, we would find things much easier as we walk as a believer.
You see, we are taught from the earliest of age that if we do not see it, if we do not feel it, if we do not taste it or smell it then it probably do3esn’t exist and we shouldn’t accept it into any form of reality.
Quick case and point. How many of you believe that you are a millionaire? Why not? Could it be that you don’t have a million dollars?
How many of you believe that you in life are exactly where God wants you at this very moment? Some could and probably think, if they were exactly where God wanted them, they would be out of debt, out of trouble, have no health problems, have no enemies, have no leaks in the roof or be standing before thousands of people instilling your great wisdom in them.
Some may even be thinking if they were exactly where God wanted them, they wouldn’t hurt in every joint in their body or that their families were all in order (children, brothers and sisters, grandchildren or even parents) and your friends were just bursting at the seams to be in your presence. But that isn’t happening is it?
How many of you truly believed that the fire in Bastrop County was real? How many of you considered the fate of Lakehills if the fire that burned at Camp Bullis got out of control and spread down here to Lakehills? How many of you smelled the smoke of that fire and got a little anxious?
How many of you have noticed the difference in the taste of the water that comes from your well because of the dropping water table?
This may be a bit of an exaggeration but how many of you viewed each of these situations in the flesh and not in the spirit? You see, the flesh experiences each of these as a physical manifestation of some sort or another. Each of these expresses themselves to one of our senses. Our senses then tell us that it is real and that we should react to it. Then we start the thought processes as to what we should do next.
That is walking by sight. Walking by faith is something totally different.
We have all heard different comparisons to faith, such as, switching on the lights. How many of you can see the electricity in the wires and know that when you flip the switch, the lights will come on.
In the darkest of nights, how many of you truly believe that the sun will come up ion the morning even if the sky is covered with clouds and you won’t be able to see it, after all, somebody could be flying around up there in a hot air balloon with a flashlight making the morning brighter when the sun doesn’t come up on a cloudy day. I know that you don’t believe that.
You have faith in what you experience day after day after day. Even if you can’t see it, you believe that each of these will make your day or bight better. Not because you can see the electricity or the sun but you know of the positive effect it will have in your day.
For those of you who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, you experienced a moment in a day of your life that was like no other moment you have ever experienced before. Once you were convinced you were completely separated from God and were going to Hell and had no hope. Then suddenly, as you accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, the painful burdens that were dragging you down and causing you so much agony was released and immediately you felt a freedom like never before. Suddenly a newness of life came over you and you felt as light as a feather and there was a thrill within your spirit that words cannot describe.
By faith, you grasped a truth that had been withheld from you. You didn’t do it by sight and it wasn’t the flesh that convinced you to make that move in your life. It was a move of faith by your spirit. Neither of these can you touch, taste, hear, smell or see but you can accept them by faith.
Gal 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
The walk believers cannot be a walk of sight. Walking by sight is to fulfill the demands of the body and the lusts thereof. The walk believers are so contrary to a walk by sight.
Sight tells us that there is imminent danger in the darkness. Faith tells us that we are more than conquerors. Sight tells us that Jesus cannot possibly have risen from the dead but faith confirms it in the newness of life that we receive and experience as soon as we truly accept Him into our lives and hearts as Lord and Savior.
Where the believers fail most often in their testimony is the excitement of the life they now live. Where believers fail so often today is that they have taken their eyes off of faith and back on sight where they stumble and fall repeatedly trying to express faith by sight. It cannot happen that way. It might not be against the common sense of the flesh but it sure contradicts faith.
Take a moment to think about the day you first accepted Jesus. Do you remember the thrill of the victory of that moment? Do you remember the moment that you said, God forgive me and Jesus came into my heart as Lord and Savior? Do you remember how you wanted to go tell the whole world about what you had just done by faith? Do you remember the total peace that came over you?
I could ask you many more questions that would illustrate what you felt that wonderful day but what I want to ask you right now is what happened?
What happened to the newness of life that set you on the path of righteousness? What happened to the absolute joy and the rest in your soul? Let’s restore that part of your life. Jesus is in the soul restoration business of the new and the old.
If you want that first love joy to be restored, stand to your feet and come up front. If you want that joy and deliverance for the very first time, stand to your feet and come to the front. Jesus is in the soul restoring business and the joy renovating business.
If you have never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, Jesus is still in the salvation industry. All you have to do is open your heart and ask Him to come in.
Pray this prayer with me. Father, I have really messed up in my attempt to live my life. I have taken my eyes off of You and started to walk by sight. Forgive me and help me to again set my eyes and heart on You. Restore to me the joy of my salvation and the peace of heart that I have been missing. Thank you for Your promise to hear my prayer of faith and setting me free once again. Now help me to show this newness of life on my face and in my heart. Let this newness of life be expressed in my speech and my very actions.
If you have never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and want to do so, pray this prayer with me.
Heavenly Father forgive me. I have sinned against You and have not lived a life pleasing to You. Jesus, I believe that You paid the price for my salvation on the cross of Calvary. I believe that You raised from the dead and have purchased my salvation. By faith, I receive you into my heart and ask that You help me to get the victory on the things that I have failed so miserably. Thank you for coming into my heart and setting me free from the sins of the world and delivering me out of the bondage of Hell itself. By faith, I receive You Jesus and I praise You. Now help me walk as a believer in the newness of life. AMEN!
