This message was the message by the Pastor of my church this week. It fits right into what we have been talking about here in my blog, so I thought I would make it available to you. You can listen to the full audio here: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus - Pastor Bernie Powell 13OCT13
The main scripture referenced in this weeks sermon is Mark 1: 9-20. I thought it was very interesting how this came together with parts one and two of the blog, I haven't been talking with Bernie about the blog, and to me, this gives an example of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of two believers, or witnesses if you will, to confirm that a message is from God.
In Mark 1:9-20 we are looking at the Baptism and Temptation of Jesus. This is from the NLT:
One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, "You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy." The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him. Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God's Good News. "The time promised by God has come at last!" he announced. "The Kingdom of God is Near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!"
Let's stop there for a moment and break this down a little bit. So, the NLT is a paraphrase, which, I don't generally like to use in my teaching, however, in this instance it seems to be an acceptable tool to use in conjunction with an actual translation. I recommend either KJV or NKJV. The first point that we need to touch on here is:
1) We follow Jesus because, He faced the Same Problems We Have.
One of Jesus favorite names for himself was "Son of Man" The reason, I believe for this, is because He sacrificially became Fully Human to experience humanity, that was how he linked himself forever to us, to cleanse us. What good would a sacrifice have been if Humanity was sentanced to death, and something other than a human died to try to rectify and fulfill that penalty? Hebrews 4:15 (NLT) says it this way: This High Priest of ours (Christ, Jesus) understands our weaknesses, for he faced ALL of the same testing we do, yet HE DID NOT SIN. (emphasis mine)
In Phililppians 2: 6-8 we read about Christ's devotion, and how he really gave up His Godly power: Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine priviliges; He took a humble position of a slave and was born as a human beaing, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. We further read in Luke 2:52: He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. Who is Mary talking about in her song of praise? Who has brought down princes from their thrones? God the Father. Who exalted the humble? God the Father. Who did He exalt? The one who chose to become humbled, humbled anted born in a lowly manger, as a human being, humbled to the point of death, even the death of a Criminal on a Cross. This verse speaks, of course of Jesus the Christ! Hallelujah! One final example which I would offer to you comes from Hebrews 5:8: Even though Jesus was God's Son, He learned obedience from the things he suffered. So we can see that Jesus, just like us, learned from suffering and trials. This should serve as a strength to us. We ARE NOT ALONE in our sufferings....... We ARE NOT ALONE in our struggles. We ARE NOT ALONE in our temptations. See also Isaiah 53:5, John 6 and 1 Corintians 10:13 for further examples of how Christ faced the same temptations that we face every day. Jesus also faced persecution like we do, see 2 Timothy 3:12, Philippians 1:29 says: For you have been given not only the privlege of trusting in Christ, but also the privlige of suffering for Him. Imagine that calling suffering a privilege? What a totally different mindset we must have as followers of Christ. Also see James 1:2-4 for further examples.
2) We follow Jesus because, He used the Same Resources We Have.
Jesus relied on the Word of God as found in 2 Peter 1:19 and Luke 16:31 What does this mean for us? Well a practical application of this weould be Daily scripture readings, how can we rely on the Word of God if we do not know what the Word of God says? Group Bible studies are another practical application of this. Not a book club mind you, it is great to use other resources as long as they are properly vetted through the lens of truth, through the Word of God. Join a Bible Study, where the Bible is studied. As believers, our life's goal should be to be students of the Bible. Another application is to memorize scripture. We saw an example of this when Christ was lead into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, and was tempted, He quoted scripture to Satan to fight off his offers of a shortcut to the rewards that God had already promised him. He memorized scripture......
Jesus also had access to the Holy Spirit, we see examples of this in John 14:15-17 "If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all thruth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and will later be in you." So we see here, that Jesus had access to the third person in the trinity, the Holy Spirit, and He is promising us that we have that same access to the Holy Spirit as He had.
Finally, Jesus had access to Angels. As seen in Ephesians 3:10-11, Revelation 2-3 and Daniel 10, Angels are ministers, servants, who often minister to those who are experiencing trouble. They ministered to Christ in the wilderness. They minister to us, often when we are not even aware of their presence.
3) We follow Jesus because, He took the Same Responsibilites We Have.
Jesus was not passive about living out His faith in God the Father, he followed the guidelines laid out in the Old Testament He was Baptised, He showed obedience to God the Father, and earthly authorities, See John 14:15, 21 and 1 John 2:3-4 for examples of this. He also took very seriously the responsibilites of Evangelizing and Discipiling as see in 2 Timothy 2:2: You have heard me teach the things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. Jesus gave this command in the "Great Commission" in Matthew 28 to Go forth into all nations, proclaiming the gospel. and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Teaching and making disciples.
This is all summed up in Just ONE Subject: The Lord Jesus, who is our life. See Colossians 3. Jesus is our life. He needs to be our life, for in Him we live and move and have our being. If you do not know Christ as your Lord and Saviour, why not turn to Him right now and trust Him with your life? It is simple to do, and it is the first step that you need to take in your path to recovery. Jesus will help you tap into the Power of God to fight addictions. Simply pray: Father God, I know that I am a sinner. I believe that you sent your son Jesus to die for my sin. I ask you to forgive me my sins, and count me as your child, I put my faith and trust in Jesus and make Him Lord of my life. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Fighting Addictions with the Power of God: Part 2
He Said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am Strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
I have decided to make this theme, Fighting Addictions with the Power of God. The first installment which was last week's blog should be considered part 1. This is part two. I do not know how many parts there will be as I try to be open to the power of the Holy Spirit. Generally the Holy Spirit shows me a need, I pray and meditate on it, and then I begin to work on a message or blog. I have gotten away from doing this, which is, in part, why I haven't spent much time blogging. I certainly welcome any and all questions and comments here, provided that they are not attacks on my Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ. If you would like to debate with me the finer points of doctrine and theology, I gladly welcome those inquiries as well, I would just prefer that you email me personally about them so that we can lay ground-rules.
It should be noted here that ALL scripture in the remainder of this series SHALL be from the New International Version, taken in Context from the Celebrate Recovery Bible. I thought since this is a series about Fighting Addictions with the power of God that this would be appropriate. As time goes on you will notice that I change Versions of the scripture based on the ability for different versions to be more effective based on the vernacular used, the theme of the series, etc.
Last week we began a series on Fighting Addictions with the power of God. I close friend and brother in Christ asked me in the comments about scriptures that I would use in support of this series. Knowing that the Bible addresses addictions and overcoming them through God's power, but not having ever been through any kind of addiction recovery group, I was unsure of specific verses that would address this topic, so I turned to an Elder, Associate Pastor, and Counselor in our church, and he directed me to the Celebrate Recovery Bible. So that being said, We will Jump into the first study on fighting addiction with the Power of God.
The Celebrate Recovery Bible is based on 8 principles, which are found in the Beatitudes. They are as follows:
Principle One: Realize I'm not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable (Step One).
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." (Matthew 5:3)
Jesus had just finidhed is first stint of ministry. This takes place just after His Baptism in Matthew 4, His temptation for 40 days in the wilderness, the calling of His first disciples, and healing the sick. At this point in His early ministry, He had begun to attract large crowds that were following Him from city to city. Let's look at Chapter 5 in it's entirety.
5:1 Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sad down. His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who morn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are pursecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you falsely and say all kinds of evil against you because of me. REJOICE and be GLAD, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
It is important here to note some words, for example Beatitudes. Beatitude meanes supreme blessedness. Persecute. Persecute means subject (someone) to hostility and ill-treatment, esp. because of their race or political or religious beliefs.
Principle Two: Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him and that He has the power to help me recover. (Step Two).
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5:4)
This is where many people have difficulty based on their own life experiences. We all have our own pre-concieved notions on how life should be. We have our own biased opinions on how things should work. It is easy to believe that we are alone in the universe when we are living in the dark. It makes it hard to see except immediately in front of us. What happens when you turn on a light? You can see further. So if we have this limited view, that we are all that there is, we are just schelpping our way through life, and one day we will die, and everything will have been in vain, it is easy to get depressed and down-trodden. Once you get into this mindset, it is very hard to get out. Human beings have an inherrant desire for companionship, We have a God-shaped hole in our Heart, our Soul, our Being. Remember the story from Genesis, in the Garden of Eden? Let's look at Genesis 2:18 "The Lord God said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." And he caused the man to fall into a deep, coma-like sleep. Then He took a rib from the man, and out of that, and the dust, He formed a mate for man, Woman. Let's jump back into Chapter 2:23 The man said, " This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman' for she was taken out of man."
So we have an intrinsic need for companionship. A God-sized and shaped hole in our being, our soul. As humans we look to fill that up with anything that we can try to fill it with. It usually starts out being something good. Something that makes us feel good or limits our inhibitions. This can be anything. For some of us it is Sex, Pornography, Alcohol, Drugs, Food, Stealing, Online Gaming, any number of things. We initially do these things because they seem to help us to not feel alone. Not feel so helpless. But they quickly turn into habits, and then as time wears on, and our resistance to doing them is weakend. Time continues, and We are now numbed to the effects, the feelings that these used to satisfy us. So we do more, bigger, badder things. At this point, I think you must admit, it is easy to see that these things have become an addiction. Addiction An addiction is the fact, or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing or activity.
I have decided to make this theme, Fighting Addictions with the Power of God. The first installment which was last week's blog should be considered part 1. This is part two. I do not know how many parts there will be as I try to be open to the power of the Holy Spirit. Generally the Holy Spirit shows me a need, I pray and meditate on it, and then I begin to work on a message or blog. I have gotten away from doing this, which is, in part, why I haven't spent much time blogging. I certainly welcome any and all questions and comments here, provided that they are not attacks on my Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ. If you would like to debate with me the finer points of doctrine and theology, I gladly welcome those inquiries as well, I would just prefer that you email me personally about them so that we can lay ground-rules.
It should be noted here that ALL scripture in the remainder of this series SHALL be from the New International Version, taken in Context from the Celebrate Recovery Bible. I thought since this is a series about Fighting Addictions with the power of God that this would be appropriate. As time goes on you will notice that I change Versions of the scripture based on the ability for different versions to be more effective based on the vernacular used, the theme of the series, etc.
Last week we began a series on Fighting Addictions with the power of God. I close friend and brother in Christ asked me in the comments about scriptures that I would use in support of this series. Knowing that the Bible addresses addictions and overcoming them through God's power, but not having ever been through any kind of addiction recovery group, I was unsure of specific verses that would address this topic, so I turned to an Elder, Associate Pastor, and Counselor in our church, and he directed me to the Celebrate Recovery Bible. So that being said, We will Jump into the first study on fighting addiction with the Power of God.
The Celebrate Recovery Bible is based on 8 principles, which are found in the Beatitudes. They are as follows:
Principle One: Realize I'm not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable (Step One).
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." (Matthew 5:3)
Jesus had just finidhed is first stint of ministry. This takes place just after His Baptism in Matthew 4, His temptation for 40 days in the wilderness, the calling of His first disciples, and healing the sick. At this point in His early ministry, He had begun to attract large crowds that were following Him from city to city. Let's look at Chapter 5 in it's entirety.
5:1 Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sad down. His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who morn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are pursecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you falsely and say all kinds of evil against you because of me. REJOICE and be GLAD, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
It is important here to note some words, for example Beatitudes. Beatitude meanes supreme blessedness. Persecute. Persecute means subject (someone) to hostility and ill-treatment, esp. because of their race or political or religious beliefs.
Principle Two: Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him and that He has the power to help me recover. (Step Two).
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5:4)
This is where many people have difficulty based on their own life experiences. We all have our own pre-concieved notions on how life should be. We have our own biased opinions on how things should work. It is easy to believe that we are alone in the universe when we are living in the dark. It makes it hard to see except immediately in front of us. What happens when you turn on a light? You can see further. So if we have this limited view, that we are all that there is, we are just schelpping our way through life, and one day we will die, and everything will have been in vain, it is easy to get depressed and down-trodden. Once you get into this mindset, it is very hard to get out. Human beings have an inherrant desire for companionship, We have a God-shaped hole in our Heart, our Soul, our Being. Remember the story from Genesis, in the Garden of Eden? Let's look at Genesis 2:18 "The Lord God said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." And he caused the man to fall into a deep, coma-like sleep. Then He took a rib from the man, and out of that, and the dust, He formed a mate for man, Woman. Let's jump back into Chapter 2:23 The man said, " This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman' for she was taken out of man."
So we have an intrinsic need for companionship. A God-sized and shaped hole in our being, our soul. As humans we look to fill that up with anything that we can try to fill it with. It usually starts out being something good. Something that makes us feel good or limits our inhibitions. This can be anything. For some of us it is Sex, Pornography, Alcohol, Drugs, Food, Stealing, Online Gaming, any number of things. We initially do these things because they seem to help us to not feel alone. Not feel so helpless. But they quickly turn into habits, and then as time wears on, and our resistance to doing them is weakend. Time continues, and We are now numbed to the effects, the feelings that these used to satisfy us. So we do more, bigger, badder things. At this point, I think you must admit, it is easy to see that these things have become an addiction. Addiction An addiction is the fact, or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing or activity.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Fighting Addictions with the Power of God: Part 1
I have been thinking a lot lately about addictions that we face in this life. I am thankful that through the power of God, and a desire that has been placed in me by the conviction of the Hole Spirit I have recently begun to kick and fight off an addiction that I have been dealing with for the last 4-5 years. I speak, of course to myself mainly, to myself, and then to those who know me of my addiction to World of Warcraft. This game started out harmlessly enough, but I quickly noticed that it was becoming something that I would turn to instead of my God, instead of my family, instead of my friends and loved ones. I put this game above all else in my life, even my own health.
I know that as humans we all have things that we struggle with, things that if we are not careful, can become addictions, and then idols. As followers of Christ we must guard ourselves against these things as Satan uses them to exploit us, and make us less effective in our relationships with God and each other. The scriptures warn us in the book of James of how to deal with these temptations.
As followers of Christ, we will be tempted in these areas of weakness, whether they be sex, alcohol, drugs, business, money, etc. Whatever thing that Satan knows you are struggling with. Jesus was tempted just after his Baptism, before he began his earthly ministry. We should also expect to be tested. Jesus was lead into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Who led Jesus into the wilderness? it was God.
In Matthew 3 :16 after Jesus was baptized and a dove fell on him. God said this is my son in who I am very well pleased.
Then in chapter 4 , Jesus is being tempted by the devil.
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Why the temptation? you must know without a shadow of a doubt that God is pleased with you. You must know that you have been chosen. You must know that you are a royal priesthood a holy nation. You must know that you are the light that shines in darkness.
Why the assurance? the Lord will send you places. You will be lied on. You will be rejected. you will be talked about. In some of these places you will past and you will fail the test. God does not want you to give up in the tempting period. He want you to know that you belong to him.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)