Tag: obedience

Do you NOW believe?

May 24th, 2022

John 16:31 – Do you NOW believe?

An hour is coming, and has come when each of you will be scattered. I have told you these things so that IN ME you will have peace. You WILL have suffering in this world. BE COURAGEOUS. I have conquered the world

Jesus said, “Oh NOW you believe.” How often we make little steps out of “belief” and into faith. God shows us the same thing he’s BEEN showing us for months, or years, and we finally GET IT, or at least part of it; our eyes are opened and God says, “now you see.”

“Now You Believe” – so just go on with your revelation? No… this revelation is for the hard stuff still to come. “an hour is coming, and HAS come” You GOT THIS. It is IN the struggle that we are forced into the Master’s presence. At the Master’s feet, or on our backs, knocked down by life, we focus on his voice and his message and v30 says “by THIS we believe”. How many hard things have happened that were the vehicle that moved you OUT of “self-competency” and INTO faith in God? And this new knowledge / revelation, is FOR THIS HOUR

An hour is coming and has come

There is something coming and we are now at the threshold and the increased knowledge and faith you have received is what will get you through the next chapter to come.

You will be scattered i.e. “you ain’t seen nothing yet”.

The enemy is riled up too… you will FEEL alone. But if we are on the obedient, God-honoring, Spirit empowered mission, you are NOT ALONE, never alone, “because the Father is with me”. Jesus understood what we must, that we will never be alone in the plan and purposes of God. So he says, “now that you believe… let me tell you why I revealed this… What’s God saying today? Believe and Go

So that – those are some of my favorite words in scripture – God is always a SO THAT God, not a SO WHAT, God.

So that you may have PEACE – Eirene = welfare, peace, be undisturbed

God’s revelation comes not for your permission, not even for your embrace… but that you might not be disturbed by the struggle, but have PEACE, not in the information, because peace comes not from the information but is a gift of the Holy Spirit
“Let’s Go to Judea Again”- John 11:7

March 30th, 2022

John 11 is famous for the death and resurrection of one of Jesus’ close friends, Lazarus. Jesus gets word that Lazarus is sick and dying. But Jesus, in his Omniscience, knows that Lazarus is already dead. He says “this sickness will not end in death, but is for the glory of God”.

The last time they had been in Judea, they had attempted to stone him to death in John 10. So, when Jesus says, “Let’s go to Judea again”, the disciples aren’t keen on the idea. “uh, Teacher, they tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?” I like that “you’re”, meaning, “we’re”.

Has God ever called you to go back to a place where things were hard the last time? Have you been asked to revisit a place where you were attacked before?

I once got invited to come back to a church shortly after being at a camp with them where a person got angry with me over a minor sporting event and things got out of control. “Well Lord, ok”. Then when I got there, the issue hadn’t blown over. While I was speaking the Lord told me to do something. He told me to give my check to that person. You should know at this moment, coming out of a natural break in my schedule as an evangelist, I hadn’t worked in 6 weeks. This was my first check in 6 weeks. Ultimately, I did what God told me to do. The person didn’t want it, but I gave it anyway, publicly, and told them God told me to, and just to pray and ask God what to do with it. Then I had to go home and explain to my wife what I had just done, which of course she said, “maybe he needed it.”

Well the disciples said, “Jesus is this a good idea?” And Jesus response is a bit cryptic at first, v9 “aren’t there twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the LIGHT OF THE WORLD” (emphasis mine). Later he explains, “Lazarus is dead… let’s go to him” and Thomas replies, “let’s go too so that we may DIE WITH HIM”. Not sure if he was expecting to die with Lazarus or with JESUS. But “let’s go”.

What does it mean to “walk in the day”. I don’t think it means from 06:00 to 18:00. It means to walk in the “light of the world” the “light of God”.

1 John 1:7 says, “if we walk in the light we have fellowship… the blood of Jesus cleanses”

Isaiah 2:5 says “come let us walk in the Lord’s light”

Psalm 56:13 “you rescued me to walk before God in the Light”

Psalm 89:15 “happy are the people who know the joyful shout; Lord they walk in the light of your face” – what is the joyful shout? “Jesus Saves”

Isaiah 9:2 “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light“

John 8:12 “I Am the light of the World”

are you with me? Jesus IS the Light. He doesn’t just contain light, give light, he IS Light. If we walk in HIS revelation, we can trust where we are going. But often he doesn’t “shine” light on everything, just the area he wants obedience, “Let’s go to Judea”. That was the only light he was giving them at first. He didn’t tell them the whole situation, or what he was going to do. Yes, an Amazing thing was going to happen. Perhaps the greatest act, before the Cross and Resurrection, was Jesus raising Lazarus. They were going to see the high point. And yet that High Point was also going to bring about renewed effort to KILL him, which was a LOW point for Him and a HIGH Point for all of us who would receive.

They had no idea what he was going to do, what would happen, maybe they will kill us… but if “failure” is the result of OBEDIENCE, then it is never failure, it is following in faithful obedience, and he will say “well done.”

That Wednesday night, I gave some money to a student, and went home with the satisfaction of obedience, and didn’t give it a second thought. Flash Forward 4 years. I was speaking at a Youth Camp. One Evening outside, I heard a voice say, “Pastor Jim can I talk to you.” The person was shadowed in the night. I came over, and stepped into the light and saw the face of that young man from 4 years before. He looked at me and said “I don’t know if you know who I am…” I said, “Yes I know who you are.” And then he said, “The last 4 years have been for this moment… You were right, I was wrong, I’m sorry, but you should know that God has called me into the ministry and I’m in school studying to be a youth minister.”

Yes Lord, where you go, I’ll go

“Let’s go too, so that we may die with him.”
It’s Not the “What”, it’s the “THAT”

February 12th, 2021

I got a text from a friend today. It’s not unusual for us to text each other with a thought or a question as we study the word, or think through the issues we face. The question today was, “Joshua 6 – Jericho, shouts and the walls came down. Scripture just says they shouted. Shouted what? Shouts of praise?”

And I had one of those clarifying moments. Profound? Well you decide. The thought that went through my heart was,

“The Key is never the WHAT but the THAT!”

And I texted that then continued, “It’s about Faith and Obedience. Think about all the things in that incident alone. The marching didn’t do it. The shouting didn’t do it. The walking around the city did not do it. The walls didn’t start to erode or crumble days 1-6. They didn’t shake on revolutions 1-6 on day 7. No, it was THAT they believed and obeyed. And Joshua 6 says, ‘When they heard the rams horns and they troops gave a great shout, the walls collapsed.”

And then my thought continued, “and what was left standing when the dust settled? It was Rahab’s section of the wall, where she was in her ‘apartment’ with her family in obedience to the instruction given. Red cord hanging from her window. Was the red cord magic? No. Oh the red cord is a beautiful picture of salvation, but it was THAT she believed and obeyed.”

And then I texted one other example from that story, from the flip side. “When Achan stole a robe, a little silver, and a little gold; it wasn’t WHAT he took, it was THAT he didn’t trust God and obey. He took God’s part.”

Then the final observation, “It’s always about Faith and Obedience. It’s interesting how many times God did something UNIQUE in the circumstance. Whether Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Daniel, many manifestations of God’s power, but every time the action is unique. The uniqueness was that there wasn’t a ‘magic incantation’ or a ‘rain dance’, it was always about Faith and Obedience.

It’s not about the WHAT, its always about the THAT – Faith and Obedience.
Making the Right Decision

May 25th, 2017

Genesis 13:9 “Is not the whole land before you?”

Decisions and Opportunity

You most likely know the story. Abram had been told to leave his family and family home and go to a new place, a place of promise. Abram made a mistake in choosing to take his nephew, Lot, with him instead of leaving his whole family behind.

But now, in the land of promise, Lot’s people and produce were at odds with Abram’s people and produce. The land could not support them both, so they needed to part ways.

So, Abram says v8, “let’s not have any quarreling between you and me … for we are brothers. v9 … Let’s part company. If you go to the left, i will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

So … it is often true for us … a decision is before us, but what we do will have far reaching consequences for us, as well as those close to us. What did Lot do?

v10 “Lot looked up and saw … the plain of the Jordan was well watered …(like Eden)”

v11 Lot chose for himself … and set out …”

v12 “Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near Sodom”

Have you ever been there?

Lot looked … but he didn’t examine, because v13 says “the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.”

You know the old saying “you can’t judge a book …” Well, when we simply go by what we see, we often get in trouble. Sometimes we miss the good, but sometimes we miss the bad and make poor choices.

Lot saw the land, but didn’t pay attention to the environment. He didn’t take into account the spiritual climate. He had a young family, and the choice affected them all.

When Abram left his family to go to a pagan land, he did so FOLLOWING God. He went LISTENING to God’s voice. God said “Go … to a place I will show you.” We don’t always know where God is going when he says “Go”, but if he is leading, then go, eyes on God. But that is not what Lot did … no …

v11 Lot chose for himself … and set out toward the east

again v9 Abram said “is not the whole land before you?”

Oh, we have the world in front of us. We have a world of opportunity, a world of decisions. But, Lot didn’t ask God! Lot CHOSE for himself. He made the decisions that HE wanted. He made the decision that he thought would best serve himself. Oh, but if he had just asked God.

Why did Abram and Lot have to part ways? v6 the land couldn’t support them … for their possessions were so great …” THEIR possessions were so great. Why? It is because God was blessing Abram for his obedience, and Lot was getting the overflow. God blesses obedience.

God doesn’t do as man does. he has wisdom that is beyond ours.

What if Lot had asked God? Do you think God would have told him about the spiritual environment in Sodom? Do you think maybe Lot would have been living in a different place instead of having to flee a place that was going to be wiped off the face of the earth, and erased from the sands of time?

Sodom was wicked, and worse yet, Sodom was on God’s timetable for judgment. I believe that was already set, but Lot, with the whole land before him, didn’t ask, didn’t investigate, didn’t listen, didn’t follow. Instead he looked, saw, and chose for himself.

The only choice for ourselves should be, “God, YOU are my God and earnestly I seek you.”

What might God have done for Lot if he would just ask and obey?

What did God do for Abram? v14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot departed, “… Lift up your eyes from where you are and look, north, south, east, and west … all the land you see I will give you …”

v17 “Go, walk … for I am giving it to you …”

Would God have given all to Lot as he did to Abram? Probably Not. But the best place to be is where God says “Go”. Look up from where you are, and be committed to being where God is. Trust him. Abram didn’t decide to pick first. He was trusting in God, and not in what he could see or decide.

One square meter in the desert, in God’s plan, is better than a vast lush plain outside his plan.

Where you go, I will go
Where you stay, I will stay

For YOU are God.
Practicing Your Faith

January 13th, 2016

Message Delivered for Men of Faith – Breakfast, 9 January, 2016

James 1:22-25; Ezekiel 33:30-32

Practicing Your Faith

Well, men, as is my case, I ask the coordinator of our meetings, now Troy, what God is saying and then I work forward from there.

Well Last week, Troy emailed me this … the topic is:

PRACTICING – God’s man learns how to apply God’s Word to all areas of life. It is essential to allowing room for accountability within the men’s ministry for the purpose of consistency and obedience to God’s Word (James 1:22-25; Ezekiel 33:30-32)

Now we haven’t read the passage yet, you are perhaps familiar with it “be doers of the word, not hearers” is the way you may remember it … … and remember I didn’t pick this topic … TROY DID … Take it up with him, but remember he is a BIG GUY.

But before we break it down a bit … I sent a note to a couple of people yesterday. One a Pastor and One a Doctor. Let’s listen to their responses

First the Pastor … Here is an email response from Pastor Ken Ansell, a friend of mine from High School, a pastor for about 15 years. We regularly talk, email, tweet, iron sharpening iron. His twitter name is … @hearanddo, So, I thought it would be good to ask Ken what he thought since it is his chosen moniker. So I asked him to give me his personal “musts” and personal “pet peeves” regarding James 1:22-25 …

Not sure this helps and all just very, very quick thoughts:

James 1:22 requires intentionality. Love is the foundation: both love of God and therefore love for people.

Tangibility. Our love, the kingdom, as we practice obedience it will be tangible. So often in our heads we are evangelizing, serving, etc. but not in our hearts or with real action.

John (the Baptist) said some good stuff in Luke 3, the biggest one that I drove the stake and “did” was the 2 coat thing,(John says if we want to SHOW we are God’s people, someone with 2 Coats should give to those who have none) Ken says it’s deeper than 2 coats, and my theology on it has evolved, but I had two coats, and gave one away, still just have the one, might seem silly, but that has changed my life. Being obedient is joy. Disobedience robs us, we always focus on the sin of disobedience but some never know the consistent joy from daily obedience.

People are undeserving, love them anyway, give to the one who asks, Matthew 5:42, stop being judge all the time … Give, do it!

This is tricky but in friendships I have to have no real agenda but love. Yes I want to share Jesus or be a catalysts for spiritual growth, but I have decided to just love and be in a permanent relationship with both non and Christian people. My two new gay friends can really make me want to back out on this but I’m hanging in there I’m not giving up when they have no movement if that makes sense.

Eph. 4:1 (“as a prisoner of the Lord … live a life worthy”) following Jesus is our vocation, I just preach to pay the bills. This gives me perspective.

The golden rule compels me, if I would like someone to bring me a Starbucks, or mow my yard, or pray, or send me an encouraging card, guess what? I have to spontaneously do those things for others.

Well, that probably does not help but my thoughts are free … I had to stop being a theorists and start being a practitioner, stop waiting on others to go with me and just go and do.

Love ya brother, hit it out of the park as always!

The Red Letters have made James 1:22,

So what did he say?

Intentionality

Love

Tangible Action

Obedience is Joy

Disobedience robs us

Stop being a Theorist

Start being a Practitioner

Just DO

So I told you I sent a note to a Pastor and a Doctor … Because we all know that Doctors “Practice Medicine” …

So here is the Response from my brother, Dr. Thomas Goforth, D.O. New York City, About “practicing” as a Doctor:

The practice of medicine is an art as well as a science. As a science we are responsible to practice “evidence based medicine,” doing things because they have evidence to support their effectiveness and safety, e.g. Knowing when is appropriate or not appropriate to give antibiotics, knowing which screening tests to recommend, which blood pressure medications are appropriate given unique medical conditions and demographic predispositions… We have to continually read, keep up with latest evidence, replace old practices with new based on current evolving knowledge of disease processes, safety/harm, side effect profiles, etc. if end points are not shown to improve, or harms outweigh the risks, we have to be willing to abandon previous traditional ways of practice. We are held accountable by standards within the medical community. Now, the is a paradigm shift of reimbursement based on outcomes. I am not only reimbursed based on volume, but based on whether or not my diabetic patients have good numbers, hypertension patients have BP controlled, children have vaccines, over 50y have colonoscopies, etc. we have peer chart reviews…

But medicine is also just as much an art. What works for one patient may not work for another, doses are not uniform in effectiveness… If you just shut up and listen to patients you will often find all the answers you need to diagnose and often even to find the solution. Like ministry, people often aren’t impressed with how smart you are if they don’t sense that you care and listen to them. My art of practice is to talk to each patient about “balance.” I call it the 4 legs of our chair. If all four legs of our chair are firmly on the ground, we will generally feel well. When legs are not in place, we don’t feel well. Our legs are: proper diet, daily physical activity (exercise), proper amount and quality of sleep, and the inner spiritual/emotional life. We generally feel well in proportion to how many legs are firmly on the floor…. Yada yada

So what did he say about Practicing?

Art and Science

Responsible to Practice Knowledge Appropriately

Continually Read to continue to Know

Accountable to Accepted Standards and Peer Reviews

Practicing is an Art … not every situation is the same though standards ARE

Listen

Balance

Yada Yada

Hmmm some pretty great advice from a Pastor and a Doctor … well, what does the Word of God say … do we really want to know?

Troy picked two VERY related passages from the Old Testament and the New … because God does not CHANGE … Let’s read them … I’m going to make some application

Ezekiel 33 begins by telling Ezekiel he is a watchman on the wall.

Gentlemen my job as a Pastor is to be a Watchman on the Wall … What do watchmen do? When they see something wrong, see danger, they SOUND the Alarm. If the people don’t respond, that is on them, but if the Watchmen doesn’t do his job it is on him. So that is what Ezekiel was doing, sounding the Alarm.

Now men, that is MY JOB every week, and people come here because they WANT to hear the message …

Ezekiel 33:30–33 (NIV84) “As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ ³¹ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. ³² Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. ³³ “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

V31 they come … sit … listen …

Then … what does it say? They do not put them into practice

With their mouths they express devotion – is that talking about our worship services?

But their hearts are greedy – is our lack of obedience because it will cost us too much?

One who sings love songs

Then God tells Ezekiel what he feels like … and boy can I relate … he feels like someone who sings love songs or plays great music, everyone claps … but no one leaves CHANGED …

So …

James 1:22–25 (NIV84) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Gentlemen … don’t make me into a Pop singer … Oh I’m a musician and I love singing and playing for an audience, but the difference is that I have always wanted to CHANGE the World NOT Entertain the world …

Do not merely listen … WHY because that is the ULTIMATE Deception …

Do what it says … the only way to be truthful with the messages you hear is to DO it. Sometimes that takes great effort, sometimes it is simple, but it will ALWAYS COST you … that’s where we often stumble in the COST.

When you listen but don’t do you are lying to yourself, you are like the guy looks in the mirror knows he doesn’t look right but goes out confident in how good they look.

I saw a lady in the airport in Houston wearing Hot Pink wind shorts, a t-shirt, and cowboy boots … and I thought “she looked at her self this morning and said ‘This looks good’” … LIE … but she was walking confidently … believing the lie.

So how do we become DOERS?

V25 – looks intently into the perfect law

Doing without hearing, without knowing is selfishness, is arrogance. We MUST come and hear, we must read and study, we must KNOW

We won’t know by accident we won’t know without effort. He says don’t “merely listen” or ONLY listen. That is listening as to the radio but not doing. And that starts by Looking Intently parakupto two words – para meaning – beside and kupto which is – to bend stoop down near. Some of us don’t look at the word intently, come along side it, we just remember our favorite passages, our best times and think “that’s who I am” … it is like replacing your mirror with an Olan Mills Picture of yourself at your best. You walk up first thing in the morning and look at the “Mirror” but all you see is your best picture and you walk away and change nothing … We must STOOP Down Beside the Word, and take it in …

– the perfect law that gives freedom – oh the lie we have believe, that if we follow Jesus, if we obey him, if we are doers it is going to lock me up. I hate hearing the term that married men use when they call their wife an “old ball and chain”. Being in a loving relationship with my wife doesn’t bind me, because she loves me with her whole being, and I love her with my whole being then our relationship gives me the greatest freedom.

So the world is full of lies about what freedom is and where we can get it, but I’m going to look intently at God’s word because that’s where freedom lives.

Then just like Doctor Goforth said

– And continues to do this … this isn’t a one time thing, I was there when my Brother Graduated from Medical School, but he couldn’t stop reading and learning that day or any day.

How do we be people of TRUTH?

People of truth live by truth … By not forgetting what we had heard … but doing

Not DOING is Forgetting … we are called to remember to be DOING – word is poietes – to make. One who makes something, a DOER, a PERFORMER, a POET.

The Poetry, the Performer, the Singer, that we need is NOT the one on the stage, that preacher is only the WARM UP ACT … He is only the Inspiration … What we need is the singer on the street, the doer on the block, the Poet in the Workplace, the one who makes the gospel Real and Relevant in the world … that is YOU.

That’s what our friends have told us ….

Intentionality

Tangible Action not THEORY

Obedience is JOY

Be A Practitioner

Art and Science = that equals Faith, Feeling, and Action

Knowledge

Balance – like Likes on a Chair …

How about Spiritual Legs to Our Chair

leg 1 – Biblical Knowledge

leg 2 – Prayer

leg 3 – Witness

leg 4 – Service

And then

Worship is the chairback we lean on

So how is your Balance?

Did I give you enough answers today? Did I give you a big HOW to?

Could it be that we don’t need Answers as much as we need DOING

If we would spend time doing what we KNOW, we would find more answers

The answers are in the DOING …

That’s all gentlemen … that’s my song … are you going to applaud, are you going to throw tomatoes … or are you going to make a change?

I don’t want to be a Rock Star

I want to be a Watchman on the Wall

You are WARRIORS

Literally Warriors

Rise up like Warriors

Rise up

Nuf said … my guess is some we have some work to do …
The Real Struggle

October 6th, 2015

Romans 5:12 (NIV84)
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—

When Adam surrendered to Eve’s suggestion of the forbidden fruit, after Eve surrendered to the suggestion of the serpent … the struggle with sin began.
But what was the “Real Struggle”? I once had a man, well meaning, come into my office in St. Louis and say “Pastor, you don’t preach about ‘sin’ enough.” I looked at him in disbelief and asked what he meant. He repeated his desire again for me to speak more about ‘sin’. Well, I manuscript all of my messages and I was preaching through the book of Romans. So, I pulled out my previous few messages and referred to some things about sin and pointed to a section and said “that’s sin”, and another section and said “that’s sin”. But he said, “no, ‘sin’, like lying and immorality, and murder, and abortion …” and he just had a long list. I redirected and said “Oh, I thought you were talking about sin.” (He looked confused) And I continued, “you are talking about sins”, and he said “yeah, ‘sin’”.
And there is often the problem. We don’t focus on the Real Struggle. When Adam and Eve sinned, they opened the door to sin. The world wasn’t full of all the evil ‘sins’ we know today, nor even the ‘less than evil’ sins. I don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the world before that fateful day, but there was NO sin, and so no sins. So that day when they sinned, the issue was and remains, who will be ‘god’? Oswald Chambers in my utmost for his highest says “the disposition is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the dispostion of self-realization – I am my own god.”
You see before that act, there was only The Lord as God. The very thought that we could even do differently than he had instructed had not entered into our consciousness. But the Serpent planted a seed of doubt and possibility that we could be god. satan always called into question the goodness of God and the Word of God. He said to Eve “Did God say that you couldn’t eat from any tree.” “No just this one tree, if we eat IT we will die” … But satan countered “you won’t die, you will become like god.” And there it was. The ONLY act at his point that was possible to be called sin, was the act of taking up the role of determining right and wrong, taking up the role of lord, and deciding for myself what I will do.
So, both Adam and Eve, instead of putting to death that thought, they gave it life and found “yes, I CAN become my own lord, i can be my own god.” But Oh the consequences when we take that road.
So it is for us the daily struggle, the Real Struggle is not with actions that we call sins, but it is an attitude of rebellion or an attitude that acquiesces, that is accepts, even reluctantly, the rule of Jehovah God as Lord.
It is as I am crucified with Christ that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me … then and only then, I find that the life I live is lived by faith in the goodness of the Song of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
It is in coming after him (Luke 9:23) in denial to self,to the way that I want to go, that I take up the cross and follow him. Taking up the cross is not about suffering and sacrifice, though that often comes with it. No, taking up the cross is about surrendering to HIS will, HIS way, HIS plan, HIS purpose.
The Real Struggle is in putting my hand to the plow and not looking back (Luke 9:62)
Eve and then Adam followed their own desire instead of the will of God and so the Real Struggle allowed every other sinful action to enter the real of possibility in life. Praise Go that He didn’t leave us to the consequence of that one sin though.
Romans 5:18–21 (NIV84)
18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

the Real Struggle, moment by moment is about Lordship, who will be God?
It is about surrender
It is about the salute to the higher rank and authority
It is doing an “about face” to follow the plan of God

When once that decision is made, when that conflict is settled, obedience leads to life and peace with God.
Peace with God over lordship, leads to victory over the sins that so easily entangle us
Casting Down Imaginations

October 14th, 2014

2 Corinthians 10:5 says “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” (NIV84)
(KJV) “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth against the knowledge of God …”

“Lord, help me see the high places in my life, things that seek to exalt themselves in my life as worthy of my worship and obedience, save you alone.”

Every time I say “but Lord …” I have exalted myself above the Sovereign Lord of all Creation. No other part of God’s creation says “But Lord”, none say “no, Lord.” Every part of creation just obeys, except man.
The BLUF (bottom line up front) is take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ … but how does that play out in actuality?
We live in a world that is at war with the holiness of God, a world led by a prince who would usurp Christ if given a chance and he seeks to lead us to do the same. We have a false perception that we have “rights” to do as we please, to make our own way. We say things like “it’s MY body”, or “I deserve this”, or “God wants me to be happy”, really? Who defines these things? Who is Lord? Since the carnal part of my nature remains, I must take active part in not allowing it to rule in my life.

I am no longer bound to carnality, but it will rule when I allow it. Paul says in verse 4 that “strongholds” rise up. The carnality gains footing in my life, a place to attack. So, we have to “cast down” or “demolish” those strongholds.

“demolish” = kathaireo = to take down, tear down, destroy, do away with.
That is action. I must not ignore these things. I must not say “well, that’s just the way I am.” or “We all have our faults.” No, I must see the strongholds being fortified, know that they are there and take action to tear them down.

Then Paul tells us the root of these stronghold
#1 – KJV calls “Imaginations” NIV “Arguments”
the word is loismos = false reasoning, conclusions, plans, life not reckoned as life
One of the roots of the strongholds of carnality in our life is logismos, false conclusions, reasoning that causes us to believe things that are not true

How do we come to “arguments” or “imaginations”?
1) not Knowing the Word of God
2) Not Believing the Word of God
3) Not believing it Applies to me

#2 “Pretensions” KJV “High Things”
the word is hypsoma = world above, arrogance –
We pretend that we are above the Word, we are above the command, we are above the revealed will and plan of God. I can play, I can pretend, that I am superman, but I cannot fly. I am not faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, nor am I able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, because I Am NOT Superman. It is arrogant for me to assume that position. In like manner, I cannot take the place of Christ to Rule and Be Worshiped.
“High places” were placed throughout Canaan in ancient days where people worshiped false gods. It goes back to Babel, when they tried to “reach” God. Why did they try to reach God? It was to try and “bring him down” but you can’t
High Places in our lives are
1) anything that pretends to be equal with God
2) anything that we worship (objects of affection)
3) things that cause us to take our gaze away from Christ

He is the only one given a name above every name, to whom every knee bows and tongue confesses.
When we say “I would do this for God, but my kids need …” That is Pretense, it is a High Place
When we say “I would worship him with my resources, but I want … I need …” that is Pretense, a High Place
Instead I should take those things to the Lord and say “God, what do you want me to do, and how do I need to prioritize my resources, my family, my schedule?”
How can we easily tell if something is a “High Place”?
1) Does it set itself against the Word of God?
2) Does it cause a conflict of obedience to the revelation of God in Christ Jesus, in his living word or written word?
Those things have then “set themselves up against the knowledge of God”. They are pretend sovereigns in our lives, they are falsely exalted idols in our lives. I cannot ignore them, I cannot pretend they do not exist. They will not go away. They will not leave me alone if I pretend they are not there … No … I must DEMOLISH or CAST them DOWN
Whey they found high places of idol worship in the Old Testament, they destroyed them …

So, How?

“Take Captive” … Lay your hands on offender. Speak to it, speak about it, admit it, that is what it means for a Christian to Confess our sins. YES, all of our sins are covered in the Cross of Christ, but in the daily living of our salvation, they are set up as strongholds. When we don’t admit the struggle and that it is sin we are missing the teaching of 1 John 1:9. 1 John 1:9 is John speaking to the CHURCH, to Christians. Count how many times he says “we”. Read 1 John 1:9 in context, “if WE confess our sins”. In other scripture he tells us to confess our sins to each other”? Why? It is so we don’t let them run loose, exalted in our lives.

We are not to let them be strongholds, no, we are to take hold of them. Them them to the word of God. Speak it. Does it sound contrary to the Word? Then make it obedient say “no” to pretenders. Say, “no” to false reasoning, and say “yes” to Christ.
Worship Him with Obedience
Worship the only wise God, our Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ

Take Captive Every Thought and Make it Obedient to Christ