Living in Victory! - Heb 13:2

Living in Victory

June 24, 2012

Hebrews 13:2

Introduction

-         Last week we started the message we will be continuing today

-         We saw that the process of sin is outlined in James 1:13-15

-         Sin starts as a thought, which we dwell upon and which finally becomes an action

-         So the way to deal with sin, is not in concentrating on not doing certain activities

-         The way to deal with deeply ingrained weaknesses, is to go back to the root of the matter, our mind

-         But how do we do this?

When did the problem start?

-         Let’s take an example

-         John was the nicest guy possible

-         But John had one weakness

-         His weakness was that if he saw money lying around, he would take it for himself

-         John knew he was stealing, and he hated himself for doing it

-         But somehow it seemed so hard to not take the money lying right there in front of him

-         How should John deal with this?

-         In John’s case, the problem started when he was eight

-         John remembered the time

-         He was living in a family where there never seemed to be enough money

-         He did not recognize it at the time, but looking back, he recognized that his family was poor

-         His parents weren’t able to buy the new clothes a growing youngster needed

-         He grew up with the idea that he was less than the kids around him

-         He felt a need to show others he was as good as they were

-         He did notr want to feel poor

Identify the wrong thought

-         The next step John should take is to examine his thoughts

-         Psalm 139:23 – search me and know my thoughts

-         God is able to show us the source of the problem

-         So we test our thoughts, are they according to God’s word?

-         John doesn’t know what is wrong, but God does

-         So John asks God to show him where he is going wrong

-         He recognizes that there is a lie in his thinking

-         I am not good enough

-         I am poor

-         I can’t trust God to take care of me

-         As he asks God to help him see where he is going wrong a verse keeps popping into his mind – “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you as well”

-         He recognizes this verse – Matthew 6:33

-         Then he remembers another verse – “My God will supply all your need” – Phil 4:19

Study what God’s word says

-         As John continues thinking about what God spoke to him, he starts studying the subject of God supplying our needs in the Bible

-         He takes a Bible Concordance and looks up various words related to this

-         He lists these verses, and writes them out

-         He asks someone who knows the Bible well, to help him find these verses, and others

-         Gradually he builds up a considerable list which defined the subject, based on the Bible

Read these verses daily

-         John now writes out these verses, and starts reading them daily

-         Each morning, during his devotional time, he takes those verses, reads them and thinks about them

-         David did this

-         Psalm 118:147-148 – meditate

-         David thinks about what he reads in God’s word

-         As we read these words, they are soaking into our thinking

-         They become part of our memory bank

-         John 14:26 – The Holy Spirit will bring all things to remembrance

These verses tell the truth

-         Jesus tells us in John 17, “Thy Word is truth”

-         The Bible defines truth

-         The verses John has written out are now becoming a part of his thinking

-         He sees that if he puts God first in his life, God will provide for his needs

-         As he is obedient to God’s financial laws, God promises to bless him

-         God promises to supply all his need

-         On top of that, God has made John his child

-         He is no less than the person next to him

-         In fact, one of the verses he wrote out, is that “he would be the head and not the tail” – Deut 28:13

-         He starts to see that he is a person of value to God

The result

-         One day, John sees some cash lying on the counter at work

-         He immediately is reminded of a verse he wrote out – “Steal no longer” – rather have something to share with those in need – Ephesians 4:28

-         Verses start coming back to him

-         “Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” – Romans 12:21

-         John’s heart has changed

-         He doesn’t need that cash on the counter

-         Instead, when he hears of someone in need, he becomes generous and helps them in their time of need!

-         He has moved beyond the tight fisted person he used to be, into someone who is generous and giving, just as God is to him

Summary

-         So the way to deal with these issues is:

-         1. When did the problem start?

-         2. Identify the lie

-         3. Find the truth in God’s Word

-         4. Make the truth a part of your thinking

-         5. Overcome evil with good

Conclusion

-         Each of us can deal with our deep-seated issues in this way

-         It doesn’t matter what the issue, this method of using God’s word will work

-         God’s word will not return to him void – Isaiah 55:11

Next week we will look at the role of the Holy Spirit in our overcoming

Food For Thought - Romans 12:2

Food for thought!
June 17, 2012
Romans 12:2

Father's Day!

• I am sure that all dads sitting here today, woke up this morning feeling special
• Because dads are special
• We leave a lasting imprint on the people we touch, but not just now, but for generations to come!
• Video clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7g0PcT9f7s

Introduction

• As a dad, and as a mom and as a teenager, we don’t always conduct ourselves the way we should
• We do things that don’t match the image that we have of how we should be
• Perhaps yesterday we fell down on the job in some way
• We had to ask our wife or our child to forgive us, because we messed up
• It may have lasting implications
• How do we go about changing our tendency to sin?
• Today we are going to examine how to tackle sin in our lives

The process of sin

• This action did not occur in an instant
• This action was the result of a process
• James 1:13-15
• The process of sin starts in our mind, when our own evil desires tempt us
• Our mind is the battleground where the battle is fought
• Our actions are merely the end result of that process
• So,
• We may want to conquer a particular sin
• Let’s say, we become angry really quickly
• We have a temper
• At what point do we try to overcome this tendency
• If we start at the end of the process, it will be very hard to stop ourselves from seeing red
• That is not going to work
• Yet that is so often how we try to overcome sin

How to defeat sin

• A better place to start would be in dealing with the temptation
• If we deal with the temptation, we automatically deal with the sin
• For example, if I have a problem dealing with pornography, the answer is not in putting a reporting program on my computer, though that would be a good additional deterrent
• A better way to deal with pornography is to get to the temptation itself, by finding ways to avoid porn sites
• 1 Cor 6:18
• We could make our spouse the administrator on our computer, and she could then set the settings to the safest possible level.
• If we now enter the computer as a guest, not as an administrator, we would be limited as to the sites we could visit
• But even then, I am still trying to deal with sin on a surface level
• I have not really changed inside

What we need is to change inside

• Romans 12:1-2
• God has called us to be a living sacrifice
• A sacrifice is complete, we do not sacrifice half a sheep, bull or goat
• So God’s intention for us is that we be wholeheartedly surrendered to Him
• This means that we deal with sin at its deepest level, in our minds.
• But how do we do that, you may ask
• How can I transform my mind?
• My mind is evil from the get-go
• Jer 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” – NIV
• “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? – KJV
• So what hope have I got?

The solution

• The solution is to be transformed in our mind
• This is no easy process, no quick fix
• But it is something that is part of the transforming work that happens in our mind
• Jesus is the one who changes us
• But we can sit back and just wait for it to happen.
• Do you think that is what God intends?
• No, he works in partnership with us
• What we are seeking is to think the way he does
• He has expressed this in his word, the Bible
• Each word written in this book is there to show us how to think like he does
• The bad examples were for our learning and the good examples show us how He thinks
• So the way to conquer sin, is to go right to the root of the matter

Conclusion

• Next week we will take a look at how to work our way through the process of defeating temptations
• It is possible to put down sin
• We do not have to be a helpless victim, time after time
• There is a way to cut right to the heart of the tree
• Next week, we will go deeper into this subject, and see how we can do this, in practical steps

Baptism in Water - Acts 8:38

Baptism in water!

June 3, 2012

Acts 8:38

Introduction

-        Some weeks ago we started a series about drawing closer to God

-        We started a journey pictured in the structure of the tabernacle

-        Paul tells us in Heb 8:5 that the physical tabernacle is a copy and a foreshadowing of God’s residence in heaven

-        So we enter the tabernacle through the gate of grace

-        We are then cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, offered on the altar

-        Today we will look at the symbolism attached to the next aspect of the tabernacle, as we continue our journey

-        This implement in the tablernacle, is the laver

What is a laver?

-        A laver is a place where you lave yourself, a place where you wash yourself clean

-        Why would priests need a place to wash themselves clean?

-        Because priests sinned just like the rest of the people

-        All men have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God – Rom 3:23

-        If we want to experience the glory of God, we will need to remove the problem of sin

-        The problem of sin started the day that Adam and Eve took for themselves from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

-        They set in motion a curse on mankind, which is our human carnal nature

-        Romans 8:7 – The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so

-        This is what we call the Depravity of man

-        This sin is atoned for by the blood of the lamb, which was offered on the altar

-        The priest would offer up a sin offering for his sins, and he would be forgiven

-        When we accept Jesus, he forgives our sins. 

-        All our sins

-        We may have killed someone.  That is now under the blood of Jesus. 

-        We may have been unfaithful.  That has now been covered.

-        We may have lied or stolen or sold drugs to teenagers or committed all kinds of sexual sin

-        We may have fantasized about all kinds of things.  But what is forgiven, is forgiven.  It is past.

-        It is as far from us now, as the east is from the west

-        Ps 103:8-14

-        We are clean

So why is the priest washed?

-        He is washed as a physical representation of forgiveness

-         The past sin has been washed away

-        Rev 1:5 - Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (KJV)

-        Hebrews 10:22 – bodies washed with pure water

-         1Corinthians 6:9-11 – washed, sanctified, justified

-        The physical ritual of washing was a picture of the cleansing received through Jesus’ forgiveness

What about baptism?

-        Just like the priest, when we come to God’s throne of grace and ask for forgiveness, it is granted, immediately

-        No need for penance, we are saved by grace alone

-        Eph 2:8-9

-        1 Jn 1:9 – if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness

-        When we accept Jesus, having repented and asked for forgiveness, all sin has been forgiven

-        But Jesus set us an example of being baptized

Jesus example – Matt 3:13-17

-        The Jews would baptize a person, when they wanted to leave their past religion and follow the God of Israel

-        They would take them to a body of water, in the presence of witnesses, and totally immerse them

-        As they came out of the water, they would declare that the person was now born again

-        Jesus did not need to be told he was now born again, because he was the son of the Father, and had never sinned

-        This is what John the Baptist meant when he tried to stop Jesus being baptized

-        But Jesus’ response was that they needed to do this to fulfil all righteousness, in other words, for the sake of those who would follow

The Picture of baptism

-        Rom 6:3-7

-        When we go down into the water, it pictures us burying our old sins, the past we would rather forget

-        Asw we come out of the water, it pictures us rising to new life!  A new life has begun

-        We are born again.  This is why we usually baptize as soon as possible after a person receives Jesus

-        The baptism and what happens in the person’s heart, are part of the same experience

-        Just like the priest, forgiven by the sin offering and then cleansed in the water of the laver

Sometimes we accepted Jesus and then fell away for a time

-        We come back to Jesus, and ask for forgiveness and rededicate our lives to him

-        He forgives us, no sin is too big to be forgiven.

-        The unpardonable sin is when a person totally rejects God and no longer wants forgiveness

-        If you want to be forgiven, grace is ready to be applied to your life!

-        If it is appropriate to be forgiven and cleansed, it would also be appropriate for you to be baptized as an expression of your rededication to God

-        So if you have taken the step of rededicating your life to God, you are welcome to be baptized with us today