Last week we talked about circumstantial faith where our faith in God often depends on God’s activity or inactivity in our everyday life experiences. Today we are going to look at Biblical faith.
So what is Biblical faith? Is it a force? Is it a power? Is it something we use to get God’s attention? According to Scripture, faith is none of those things. Faith is actually very simple.
What is faith? Is it different than hope? How do you even measure faith? If things are going well with you and God, does that mean you have a lot of faith? If things are not going well in your life, if your prayers are not being answered, does that mean you don't have enough faith? Unfortunately, messages about faith today are very me centered. Do I have enough faith? Am I praying or believing enough? In reality, the object of our faith is much more important than the amount of faith we have. The object of our faith should be Jesus and what He did!
What is faith NOT? Faith is not a power or force. We have a tendency to believe that God is over there and we are over here and if we make a lasso out of faith we can “rope Him”. And because of our great faith, get Him to do things He was never going to do. It is not if we believe, we will receive. Faith is not a formula and once you get it figured out then God will start doing things for you. Prayer, prayer, prayer, go to church, prayer! Nope, not the right combination. Okay. Prayer, go to church, go to church, prayer, fast. Nope that didn’t work! Faith is not a formula.
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. Hebrews 11:1-3 NLT.
We tend to resist the biblical definition of faith because it takes faith out of our hands and puts God back in control. Much too often, we don't want God - we want a genie. But the goal of faith is not to get God to do what we want him to do; the goal of faith is to get us to live in accordance with the character and promises of God. Ultimately, faith comes down to trusting that God knows what he is doing.
Faith is what we hope far, so there is a difference in hope and faith. Faith is the hope taken one step further. Hope is “I think this is going to work out” but faith is being absolutely sure that something is going to work out. The bridge between hope and faith is the Promise of God!
In Hebrews 11:2 we get an illustration. “Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.” This is how the faith of the Old Testament and the New Testament is defined. In verse 13, the writer of Hebrews wrote: “All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it.” Somehow something happened to these ‘saints” of the Old testament that allowed them to not only be hopeful but to have confidence – their hope became faith.
“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8. This is from a story in Genesis, where God told man named Abram (Abraham) to “start walking in that direction and I will tell you when to stop! Just leave your family, your land and go, go, go, until I tell you to stop! I am going to take you somewhere new but I’m not telling you where.” The Bible says BY FAITH, He obeyed God.
God told Noah that “It is going to rain”. Noah said “God, I believe you. Boys, get to building”! God said to Abraham, “Go” and Abraham said “Family pack up. We’re moving.” These are acts of faith.
Let’s look at a story of faith from Luke. “In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. “Lord,” he said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Luke 5:12.
He came to Jesus saying with confidence saying “I don’t know if you are willing, but if you are willing, I know you can make a difference in my circumstances. But I am not presumptuous enough to assume that just because I asked that you have to. Just because I believed don’t mean you are forced to heal me. I believe you can and I hope you are willing. “Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.” (Verse 13). The man came humbly and asked Jesus and didn’t try to talk him into it for whatever reason.
Our relationship with God should be that each day we can wake up and say, "If You never do anything else for me, You are still God. If you don’t answer another prayer, Jesus is still my Savior. If I don’t see you in the everyday circumstances of my life, that doesn’t change anything. My eternity is still secure! I can still worship you, because my faith is not based on the circumstances of life. And the great news is that I can bring everything to you. I can fall humbly on my face before You and say, God, I beg of you, I so badly need a job, I so badly need a friend, I so badly need relief from this ailment, or I so badly need to be free of my sin and my guilt. If you are willing, I have absolute perfect faith that you can do these things, IF you are willing.”
Sometimes God is willing at the moment, and sometimes God is willing later, and sometimes God is not willing at all because of something He knows that we don’t know. And, sometimes He is not willing for reasons we will never know. But, He is still God and we still aren’t! And we are still loved as His children. We are still His children not because He answered a prayer but because back in history, He sent His beloved Son to be our forever Savior. And this is always true whether he says He’s willing. Or He says wait. Or He says nothing and so nothing changes or sometimes things get worse.
This why sometimes we see people that have extraordinary faith and their circumstances are not great but they continue to believe in God. We say, “What’s up with this God? They have all this faith and, hey, they are doing so well!” But they continue to say everyday “if God is willing but so far He’s not willing but He is still God! Jesus is still my Savior, why wouldn’t I worship Him with both hands in the air? Why wouldn’t I sing at the top of my voice? Why wouldn’t I continue to follow Him and follow Him and follow Him? The scriptures say that many of the people who followed Him died without an answer to their prayers. They died before they saw the Promise. At least, we are living on “this side’ of Calvary and other the other side of His promise to send a Messiah. So why wouldn’t I trust Him? Because Biblical faith is not the ability to see God in the circumstances of life. Faith is confidence that He is who He says He is and He will do everything He promised. And if He says “No” to me, that’s His business, He’s God.”
But we want to shrink God down. We want to put Him in our pocket, back pack or purse and carry Him around with us. We want to have Him and pull Him out and say “meet my needs”, but whoa, back up God, I just want you part of the time. I don’t want you to take over until I get things the way I want them. Maybe not now but in a couple of more years I want you to take “control”. I know I need you but not right now!
This sounds all fine until we hit rock bottom and we do hit rock bottom. And then do you know what? We want a big old, created the universe, all powerful, God. One who is bigger than your circumstances! Not one who just has the world in His hands but has the world, like, on His fingernail! And do you know the good news – that is exactly who He is!!!! But He doesn’t do your bidding and He doesn’t do mine. Because He is God! But as big as He is, He knows my name, He says call me Father! And He says come to me with all your “stuff” because you believe I can do something about it. And that is all the faith I am looking for. We say, God, I believe you can if you are willing. And God says, “You know what, some days I am going to be so willing. Other days I am going to say I am not willing right now but will be willing later. And sometimes, I am not going to be willing at all.
But you can get up off your knees and love me and know that I love you because you are beyond circumstantial faith. You are trusting in the God that created the universe. The God that sent His Son to die for you and that loves you with all His heart. AND he has your best interest in mind, when you can see it and when you don’t. He has the ability to do anything He wants to, including the ability to say “no”.
As Christians we can come to God and ask for anything we want and we can believe He “can” answer our prayers and we can hope He will answer our prayers. He can do what you asked Him to do. But Faith is not a power or force. Faith is simply confidence that God is who He claims to be, as revealed in Scripture, and that He will do everything He’s promised to do. Faith is confidence that God loves us based on what Jesus did. Faith is that if God chooses to, He can say yes. Also, the confidence that if God says NO, He is still God!
Above lesson is based on a sermon by Andy Stanley.
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
Sunday, May 2, 2010
What Is Your Faith “Propped Up” On?
How does faith really work? If your prayers aren't answered, is it because you didn't have enough faith? What does it mean to lose faith? Does your faith waver depending on your circumstances? Or is your faith supposed to be in something beyond your control, so that it isn't swayed by the circumstances of your life? Your faith is resting against something. Is it something that changes day to day, or does it endure through time?
Do you believe that most everyone falls out of faith at some point and most people fall out of faith many times in their lives?
Faith often comes and goes as our circumstances change. Sometimes it only takes a bad turn of events to challenge our beliefs.
When someone says they have lost their faith or lost their ‘religion” it usually boils down to one of two things – lifestyle decision or unexplainable circumstances. These two things do more to erode and chip away at our faith foundation, which was probably had weak to begin with, more than anything else.
What do we mean by a lifestyle decision? Let’s say you were raised in a Christian home where you were taught that cheating and being dishonest was a bad thing. You might have cheated and were dishonest but you still believed it was bad thing. This was part of your belief system. This was fine but then you got out of school, went to the “big city”, got a job and became part of a company. At this company cheating and being dishonest was a business practice. It might not have been really overt but this is just how business was done. Now you get this feeling inside. You were raised to believe this was wrong but it didn’t seem to bother anybody else. Now you had a dilemma. You have three choices: work here and feel guilty all the time, I can quit but that’s not a good option, or maybe what I have always believed isn’t true. Maybe in an environment like this being a little bit dishonest and cheating a little is not all that bad! Maybe I am being too hard on myself. Maybe my conscience is to ‘strict”. And over time, and most have experienced this, because of a lifestyle decision we began to change what we believed. You decided to stay in this company and become a part or it. Suddenly your beliefs have shifted. This is a lifestyle decision.
Another example of a lifestyle decision is you always said you'd never live with someone to "try it out" before getting married. Then you move to “the big city”, meet someone awesome and she/he wants to "try it out". Well you obviously want to keep this person around because they are so awesome, so you change your belief system and move in together to "try it out". Again you have shifted your beliefs to suit your lifestyle.
Now let’s look at unexplainable circumstances. You were raised in a Christian environment and you were taught that “God would never...” but then it seemed “that God did anyway”! You were raised to believe that “God would always....” but then it seemed that ‘God didn’t”! You were raised to believe that if you did “A, B, and C”, then you could believe or trust God to do “D, E, and F”. So you have done A, B, and C consistently but God didn’t do D, E, or F. And all of a sudden there is a life circumstance that doesn’t line up with your thinking about God and your faith is shattered. This happens all the time.
These two things basically boil down to something we can call "Circumstantial Faith".
This means our faith in God often depends on God’s activity or inactivity in our everyday life experiences. When our prayers are answered our faith in Him soars but when it appears that God is silent, it becomes difficult to have faith in Him. Or our faith may depend on how well it fits in with our lifestyle.
Many of us have this “circumstantial faith”. This kind of faith attempts to see God in the circumstances of our everyday life. Not all bad, because it is not uncommon to have certain events launch a person’s faith but we must not allow these events to be the foundation of our faith.
When God is doing all sorts of cool things in our lives we say: Yea God! Then when things are not quite so good we say “where is God? And when things get really, really bad we think "is there a God"? Our faith kind of goes on our ability to see God in our everyday life circumstances. So the defining factor of our faith depends on God showing up or not showing up on our time table.
So for example let's say you have a friend, family member, etc., who comes down with an illness. The prognosis doesn't look good so you pray for this person’s health. Well lo and behold a few days / weeks / months later they are "miraculously" cured. This of course instills a strong faith in you and God’s power. You spend the next weeks / months / years continuing down this path until one day something happens which causes you to doubt God.
Another ‘circumstance’ occurs in our lives – we lose our job, another friend gets ill or someone has some other issue or problem. We again prayed but God didn’t answer the way we thought he should and “BOOM” our faith in Him plummeted. Because you based your faith on the first event and then had a negative experience with the second event, your faith is now "shaken". This is because our faith was ‘propped up” on our ability to only see God in the everyday circumstances of our life. Circumstantial faith is very “fragile” because sometimes you see Him and sometimes you don’t. You are always trying figure out why circumstances happened because I did this or Momma said ‘so and so” or I didn’t pray hard enough. This is very fragile because things do happen that don’t fit into the framework of our view of God
We are horrible, yes horrible, at interpretation of events and circumstances in our lives. God speaks in many ways to us and we, being the smart humans we are, love to interpret these "signs" or "feelings". The problem is we typically interpret them as a positive thing for us. But when those same "things" go negative either now or later on down the road it causes us to lose our faith. Again because we based our faith on something or some event.
Whenever you adapt a faith foundation to fit your life, it will always end in tragedy.
So what is the foundation of our faith? The foundation of FAITH is a person. It is not an answer to a prayer, not something that happened to us when we were six, the foundation of our faith is a person - Jesus Christ. God sent Him into this world. Jesus walked on this earth; he lived a perfect life, predicted his death and resurrection, was crucified, buried and rose from the dead. He was then seen by hundreds of people who said: “I saw this happen” and they gave their lives to him and told people what they saw. As Christians, if God never answered another prayer, if God never showed up in our circumstances, if God didn’t do anything for us lately or ever again, zilch was quiet from now on, we still should wake up everyday with extraordinary confidence in God because of what he did for us back in history, back at the Cross. Because Jesus came into this world to die for our sins, which is God’s way of saying throughout the ages that “I LOVE YOU”, YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO ME!!!! We can go through each day of our lives with our faith based on what he did for us back in history and not have our faith propped up on circumstantial faith.
So what is your faith built on?
This lesson is based on a sermon by Andy Stanley
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
Do you believe that most everyone falls out of faith at some point and most people fall out of faith many times in their lives?
Faith often comes and goes as our circumstances change. Sometimes it only takes a bad turn of events to challenge our beliefs.
When someone says they have lost their faith or lost their ‘religion” it usually boils down to one of two things – lifestyle decision or unexplainable circumstances. These two things do more to erode and chip away at our faith foundation, which was probably had weak to begin with, more than anything else.
What do we mean by a lifestyle decision? Let’s say you were raised in a Christian home where you were taught that cheating and being dishonest was a bad thing. You might have cheated and were dishonest but you still believed it was bad thing. This was part of your belief system. This was fine but then you got out of school, went to the “big city”, got a job and became part of a company. At this company cheating and being dishonest was a business practice. It might not have been really overt but this is just how business was done. Now you get this feeling inside. You were raised to believe this was wrong but it didn’t seem to bother anybody else. Now you had a dilemma. You have three choices: work here and feel guilty all the time, I can quit but that’s not a good option, or maybe what I have always believed isn’t true. Maybe in an environment like this being a little bit dishonest and cheating a little is not all that bad! Maybe I am being too hard on myself. Maybe my conscience is to ‘strict”. And over time, and most have experienced this, because of a lifestyle decision we began to change what we believed. You decided to stay in this company and become a part or it. Suddenly your beliefs have shifted. This is a lifestyle decision.
Another example of a lifestyle decision is you always said you'd never live with someone to "try it out" before getting married. Then you move to “the big city”, meet someone awesome and she/he wants to "try it out". Well you obviously want to keep this person around because they are so awesome, so you change your belief system and move in together to "try it out". Again you have shifted your beliefs to suit your lifestyle.
Now let’s look at unexplainable circumstances. You were raised in a Christian environment and you were taught that “God would never...” but then it seemed “that God did anyway”! You were raised to believe that “God would always....” but then it seemed that ‘God didn’t”! You were raised to believe that if you did “A, B, and C”, then you could believe or trust God to do “D, E, and F”. So you have done A, B, and C consistently but God didn’t do D, E, or F. And all of a sudden there is a life circumstance that doesn’t line up with your thinking about God and your faith is shattered. This happens all the time.
These two things basically boil down to something we can call "Circumstantial Faith".
This means our faith in God often depends on God’s activity or inactivity in our everyday life experiences. When our prayers are answered our faith in Him soars but when it appears that God is silent, it becomes difficult to have faith in Him. Or our faith may depend on how well it fits in with our lifestyle.
Many of us have this “circumstantial faith”. This kind of faith attempts to see God in the circumstances of our everyday life. Not all bad, because it is not uncommon to have certain events launch a person’s faith but we must not allow these events to be the foundation of our faith.
When God is doing all sorts of cool things in our lives we say: Yea God! Then when things are not quite so good we say “where is God? And when things get really, really bad we think "is there a God"? Our faith kind of goes on our ability to see God in our everyday life circumstances. So the defining factor of our faith depends on God showing up or not showing up on our time table.
So for example let's say you have a friend, family member, etc., who comes down with an illness. The prognosis doesn't look good so you pray for this person’s health. Well lo and behold a few days / weeks / months later they are "miraculously" cured. This of course instills a strong faith in you and God’s power. You spend the next weeks / months / years continuing down this path until one day something happens which causes you to doubt God.
Another ‘circumstance’ occurs in our lives – we lose our job, another friend gets ill or someone has some other issue or problem. We again prayed but God didn’t answer the way we thought he should and “BOOM” our faith in Him plummeted. Because you based your faith on the first event and then had a negative experience with the second event, your faith is now "shaken". This is because our faith was ‘propped up” on our ability to only see God in the everyday circumstances of our life. Circumstantial faith is very “fragile” because sometimes you see Him and sometimes you don’t. You are always trying figure out why circumstances happened because I did this or Momma said ‘so and so” or I didn’t pray hard enough. This is very fragile because things do happen that don’t fit into the framework of our view of God
We are horrible, yes horrible, at interpretation of events and circumstances in our lives. God speaks in many ways to us and we, being the smart humans we are, love to interpret these "signs" or "feelings". The problem is we typically interpret them as a positive thing for us. But when those same "things" go negative either now or later on down the road it causes us to lose our faith. Again because we based our faith on something or some event.
Whenever you adapt a faith foundation to fit your life, it will always end in tragedy.
So what is the foundation of our faith? The foundation of FAITH is a person. It is not an answer to a prayer, not something that happened to us when we were six, the foundation of our faith is a person - Jesus Christ. God sent Him into this world. Jesus walked on this earth; he lived a perfect life, predicted his death and resurrection, was crucified, buried and rose from the dead. He was then seen by hundreds of people who said: “I saw this happen” and they gave their lives to him and told people what they saw. As Christians, if God never answered another prayer, if God never showed up in our circumstances, if God didn’t do anything for us lately or ever again, zilch was quiet from now on, we still should wake up everyday with extraordinary confidence in God because of what he did for us back in history, back at the Cross. Because Jesus came into this world to die for our sins, which is God’s way of saying throughout the ages that “I LOVE YOU”, YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO ME!!!! We can go through each day of our lives with our faith based on what he did for us back in history and not have our faith propped up on circumstantial faith.
So what is your faith built on?
This lesson is based on a sermon by Andy Stanley
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
Monday, April 19, 2010
“Help! I Can’t Forgive Myself”
“Help! I Can’t Forgive Myself”
John 21:9-19
Today we are going to be looking at a person who Jesus had called to be a fisherman of people. He got off track lots of times--he was always blurting out things without thinking, He was always taking some hasty action he regretted later, but the worst thing was when he denied Christ. He said he never would. But he did. He blew it big time. He thought he was disqualified from ever doing the Lord’s work again.
This event is after Jesus’ resurrection. At the beginning of this chapter Peter says, “I’m going fishing.” He was really saying, “What is there left for me but to go back to my old job. I’ve got to do something. I have totally failed the Lord. I feel guilty about it, but I can’t forgive myself.” He goes off with the weight of guilt hanging heavy on his shoulders, back to his old job. He struggles with where do I go from here? What do I do now? I blame myself over and over for what I did. I can’t do anything about it. He probably replayed the tape over and over from the time he denied Christ, but it didn’t do any good. He could not forgive himself and maybe he wasn’t sure if the Lord could even forgive him. It seemed just too difficult.
Does this sound familiar to you when trying to forgive yourself for something? At times there are certain things you look back on in your life that you punish yourself over and over for just like Peter did. It seems impossible to overcome. What can this scripture say to us today that will help us to get past the things that are keeping us chained to the past?
1. Jesus Walked Into Peter’s Life: Jesus wasn’t far from Peter although he thought he was. In fact that day on the beach Jesus invited Peter and the other disciples to breakfast. He said, bring some of the fish you’ve just caught and have some breakfast with me.
Jesus took the initiative to invite Peter to breakfast. Most of the time we do not pick up on the invitation. We don’t hear Jesus say to us, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NLT) because we are so busy struggling and beating ourselves up over the past. We are still stuck in our guilt. Jesus is saying, “Come to breakfast.” Bring some of the fish you’ve caught. You are included.” We all want to be included but we have a hard time breaking through our own barriers. Jesus says, “Come on. Don’t just sit there. Let’s enjoy the morning.” We say, “but Lord, I’m not deserving. I can’t forget what I have done in the past. I can’t get over it.” Jesus is saying, “You’re invited. Come on.”
Should Peter risk it? What if Jesus didn’t REALLY mean it. What if I BLOW IT again? What if I MESS UP and say the wrong things? Peter might have been a little apprehensive about accepting the invitation. He thinks he has been disqualified.
When we are faced with the invitation to come to Jesus we often are afraid to accept it. The biggest obstacle to self-forgiveness may be the tendency to wallow in our own guilt. It’s not that we feel bad because we know we’ve done wrong but we draw those feelings up around us like a blanket and cover our heads. We refuse to push the stop button on our wailing. According to one psychologist when we refuse to forgive ourselves it’s a “crazy form of penance.” Many people decide to punish themselves for the rest of their lives by feeling miserable day after day. The decision to feel miserable for the rest of your life can have tragic consequences because it affects everyone around you.
Peter could have refused the invitation to breakfast. He could have said, “I’m going to stay right here. I’m not going to risk it.” But he didn’t. I think we need to be more like Peter--a risk taker. See what happens. After all Jesus said, “Come on over for breakfast. It was His idea.”
The disciples took the bread and the fish that Jesus gave to them. It was what they all needed that day--not just Peter alone. Jesus offers to us exactly what we need in our current situation just as he did to them that morning, but he had a greater purpose in it for Peter. He had a special job for Peter to do and Peter wasn’t doing it. Peter had to move on. To get unstuck from all of the barriers that were hindering him. We need to deal with our past and experience not only the forgiveness that Jesus brought to us on the cross but to understand that his grace is enough to cover forgiving ourselves as well. It is a part of the package.
2. More Than Breakfast: After breakfast Jesus singled Peter out and asked him a question. “Simon, do you truly love me more than these?” He could have been referring to Peter’s fishing boats, his job as a fisherman, or he could have been referring to the others in the group. Jesus is trying to find out what the depth of His love for was for Him. Was it just a shallow, superficial love or was it rock solid like his name Jesus gave him in John 1:42. Peter in Greek means “rock”.
Peter answers, “Yes, Lord you know that I love you” Jesus presses Peter more in the next question and the next. After each of Peter’s responses, Jesus gave him an assignment. After the first he said. Feed my lambs (vs 15) --the young Christian believers.
Jesus is looking for a total renewal of his loyalty and a reaffirmation of his responsibilities.
Follow me and keep on following me. Jesus knew that if he could get Peter to move away from his guilt over the past and to get him to not only follow him but to keep following him that Peter would become a productive person again. He would find his own healing as he reached out to others. Jesus is telling him “I’ve got work for you to do. If you really love me you are going to feed my lambs. You’re going to help these new Christians. You are going to get the focus off of yourself. You are going to be involved in helping other people.
Peter says, “OK, I’ll do that.”
Jesus asks the second time, “Peter do you truly love me?”
Peter says, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
“Then take care of my sheep”, Jesus said. (vs 16) -- be a shepherd to my sheep. Look after my more mature followers. Keep them safe from harm.
The third time Jesus asks him, “Simon do you love me?” Peter was getting agitated by this same question. He says, “Lord you know all things. You know that I love you.”
Then Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” (vs 17) Take the sheep to pasture where they are fed.
What good did these questions serve? Jesus wanted Peter to really look at his feelings. He wanted him to get over the past and now it was time to experience total forgiveness, to be able to get on with his life and the responsibilities Jesus had called him to. He couldn’t be an effective shepherd to the young Christians or to the established Christians as long as he remained in a state of not forgiving himself for denying Jesus. Jesus parallels Peter’s denial with three questions of restoration. Do you love me--then do this assignment. Do you love me--then feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep. The breakfast had fulfilled its intended purpose for Peter. A restoration and a re-commission.
3. It’s time to push the Stop Button: For Peter this breakfast was the turning point. It was time to push the stop button on the guilt. Self forgiveness is a tool with which we face what we’ve done in the past, acknowledge our mistakes and move on.
This is exactly what Peter had to do when Jesus was questioning him. If he truly loved Jesus he had to realize that the guilt and self punishment had to go. The grace of God covers a multitude of sins. True forgiveness is found in allowing Jesus to do his work in our lives.
Hit the stop button. Replaying over and over again in your head is not going to help you any. Listen to yourself. Every time you catch yourself rehashing your sins, stop and refocus on what Jesus did on the cross for you. His forgiveness covers it all. Let go of it and decide to move on to more productive things. If you need to go back and apologize to someone you’ve hurt, do it.
Begin to repair the damage you may have done in the past by giving out good to others around you. Some things you can’t change. You can’t always make it up to someone in the past, but you can do some helpful things to people now. Peter could not go back and undo a lot of those foot-in-the mouth statements he made or those impulsive actions. But he was facing a new day with new opportunities to help people in the future--the lambs (the new believers--the sheep (the more established believers). There were abundant opportunities before him. Jesus was saying, “Peter, you have been re-commissioned. Don’t spend your time repenting and repenting over and over again. Get with the program. You’ve got lots of work to do.
Don’t beat yourself up over the past. Jesus says to us, “I have forgiven you totally. His forgiveness is all inclusive. That forgiveness includes forgiving yourself.”
Jesus is telling us that although the temptation to stay at the cross is strong, we must move on. Jesus is resurrected. He is alive today. He has re-commissioned each of us to be his disciples. To move toward doing his work of healing in others. As we move away from our past, we also find in it the healing for ourselves. You CAN forgive yourself. Decide to do it today.
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
John 21:9-19
Today we are going to be looking at a person who Jesus had called to be a fisherman of people. He got off track lots of times--he was always blurting out things without thinking, He was always taking some hasty action he regretted later, but the worst thing was when he denied Christ. He said he never would. But he did. He blew it big time. He thought he was disqualified from ever doing the Lord’s work again.
This event is after Jesus’ resurrection. At the beginning of this chapter Peter says, “I’m going fishing.” He was really saying, “What is there left for me but to go back to my old job. I’ve got to do something. I have totally failed the Lord. I feel guilty about it, but I can’t forgive myself.” He goes off with the weight of guilt hanging heavy on his shoulders, back to his old job. He struggles with where do I go from here? What do I do now? I blame myself over and over for what I did. I can’t do anything about it. He probably replayed the tape over and over from the time he denied Christ, but it didn’t do any good. He could not forgive himself and maybe he wasn’t sure if the Lord could even forgive him. It seemed just too difficult.
Does this sound familiar to you when trying to forgive yourself for something? At times there are certain things you look back on in your life that you punish yourself over and over for just like Peter did. It seems impossible to overcome. What can this scripture say to us today that will help us to get past the things that are keeping us chained to the past?
1. Jesus Walked Into Peter’s Life: Jesus wasn’t far from Peter although he thought he was. In fact that day on the beach Jesus invited Peter and the other disciples to breakfast. He said, bring some of the fish you’ve just caught and have some breakfast with me.
Jesus took the initiative to invite Peter to breakfast. Most of the time we do not pick up on the invitation. We don’t hear Jesus say to us, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NLT) because we are so busy struggling and beating ourselves up over the past. We are still stuck in our guilt. Jesus is saying, “Come to breakfast.” Bring some of the fish you’ve caught. You are included.” We all want to be included but we have a hard time breaking through our own barriers. Jesus says, “Come on. Don’t just sit there. Let’s enjoy the morning.” We say, “but Lord, I’m not deserving. I can’t forget what I have done in the past. I can’t get over it.” Jesus is saying, “You’re invited. Come on.”
Should Peter risk it? What if Jesus didn’t REALLY mean it. What if I BLOW IT again? What if I MESS UP and say the wrong things? Peter might have been a little apprehensive about accepting the invitation. He thinks he has been disqualified.
When we are faced with the invitation to come to Jesus we often are afraid to accept it. The biggest obstacle to self-forgiveness may be the tendency to wallow in our own guilt. It’s not that we feel bad because we know we’ve done wrong but we draw those feelings up around us like a blanket and cover our heads. We refuse to push the stop button on our wailing. According to one psychologist when we refuse to forgive ourselves it’s a “crazy form of penance.” Many people decide to punish themselves for the rest of their lives by feeling miserable day after day. The decision to feel miserable for the rest of your life can have tragic consequences because it affects everyone around you.
Peter could have refused the invitation to breakfast. He could have said, “I’m going to stay right here. I’m not going to risk it.” But he didn’t. I think we need to be more like Peter--a risk taker. See what happens. After all Jesus said, “Come on over for breakfast. It was His idea.”
The disciples took the bread and the fish that Jesus gave to them. It was what they all needed that day--not just Peter alone. Jesus offers to us exactly what we need in our current situation just as he did to them that morning, but he had a greater purpose in it for Peter. He had a special job for Peter to do and Peter wasn’t doing it. Peter had to move on. To get unstuck from all of the barriers that were hindering him. We need to deal with our past and experience not only the forgiveness that Jesus brought to us on the cross but to understand that his grace is enough to cover forgiving ourselves as well. It is a part of the package.
2. More Than Breakfast: After breakfast Jesus singled Peter out and asked him a question. “Simon, do you truly love me more than these?” He could have been referring to Peter’s fishing boats, his job as a fisherman, or he could have been referring to the others in the group. Jesus is trying to find out what the depth of His love for was for Him. Was it just a shallow, superficial love or was it rock solid like his name Jesus gave him in John 1:42. Peter in Greek means “rock”.
Peter answers, “Yes, Lord you know that I love you” Jesus presses Peter more in the next question and the next. After each of Peter’s responses, Jesus gave him an assignment. After the first he said. Feed my lambs (vs 15) --the young Christian believers.
Jesus is looking for a total renewal of his loyalty and a reaffirmation of his responsibilities.
Follow me and keep on following me. Jesus knew that if he could get Peter to move away from his guilt over the past and to get him to not only follow him but to keep following him that Peter would become a productive person again. He would find his own healing as he reached out to others. Jesus is telling him “I’ve got work for you to do. If you really love me you are going to feed my lambs. You’re going to help these new Christians. You are going to get the focus off of yourself. You are going to be involved in helping other people.
Peter says, “OK, I’ll do that.”
Jesus asks the second time, “Peter do you truly love me?”
Peter says, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
“Then take care of my sheep”, Jesus said. (vs 16) -- be a shepherd to my sheep. Look after my more mature followers. Keep them safe from harm.
The third time Jesus asks him, “Simon do you love me?” Peter was getting agitated by this same question. He says, “Lord you know all things. You know that I love you.”
Then Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” (vs 17) Take the sheep to pasture where they are fed.
What good did these questions serve? Jesus wanted Peter to really look at his feelings. He wanted him to get over the past and now it was time to experience total forgiveness, to be able to get on with his life and the responsibilities Jesus had called him to. He couldn’t be an effective shepherd to the young Christians or to the established Christians as long as he remained in a state of not forgiving himself for denying Jesus. Jesus parallels Peter’s denial with three questions of restoration. Do you love me--then do this assignment. Do you love me--then feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep. The breakfast had fulfilled its intended purpose for Peter. A restoration and a re-commission.
3. It’s time to push the Stop Button: For Peter this breakfast was the turning point. It was time to push the stop button on the guilt. Self forgiveness is a tool with which we face what we’ve done in the past, acknowledge our mistakes and move on.
This is exactly what Peter had to do when Jesus was questioning him. If he truly loved Jesus he had to realize that the guilt and self punishment had to go. The grace of God covers a multitude of sins. True forgiveness is found in allowing Jesus to do his work in our lives.
Hit the stop button. Replaying over and over again in your head is not going to help you any. Listen to yourself. Every time you catch yourself rehashing your sins, stop and refocus on what Jesus did on the cross for you. His forgiveness covers it all. Let go of it and decide to move on to more productive things. If you need to go back and apologize to someone you’ve hurt, do it.
Begin to repair the damage you may have done in the past by giving out good to others around you. Some things you can’t change. You can’t always make it up to someone in the past, but you can do some helpful things to people now. Peter could not go back and undo a lot of those foot-in-the mouth statements he made or those impulsive actions. But he was facing a new day with new opportunities to help people in the future--the lambs (the new believers--the sheep (the more established believers). There were abundant opportunities before him. Jesus was saying, “Peter, you have been re-commissioned. Don’t spend your time repenting and repenting over and over again. Get with the program. You’ve got lots of work to do.
Don’t beat yourself up over the past. Jesus says to us, “I have forgiven you totally. His forgiveness is all inclusive. That forgiveness includes forgiving yourself.”
Jesus is telling us that although the temptation to stay at the cross is strong, we must move on. Jesus is resurrected. He is alive today. He has re-commissioned each of us to be his disciples. To move toward doing his work of healing in others. As we move away from our past, we also find in it the healing for ourselves. You CAN forgive yourself. Decide to do it today.
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
Saturday, April 17, 2010
When It's Time for Plan B
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
What Do You Do When God Doesn't Show Up the Way You Thought He Would?
Life rarely works out the way you plan it. Shattered dreams and unmet expectations are all too common in this fallen world, where Jesus warned that everyone would have trouble. When your own plans fall apart and you have to turn to "Plan B," you may wonder why God hasn't shown up the way you thought He would in that situation - and He may not tell you why. But God will always show up somehow. And Jesus promises that He has overcome the world's troubles and will help you do so, too, when you trust Him to guide you through "Plan B."
Here's what you can do when God doesn't show up the way you thought He would:
Run toward God instead of away from Him. Resist the urge to take matters into your own hands; doing so will make the situation worse, not better. You need God more than ever when your life feels like it's falling apart. Don't assume that God thinks and feels the same way as you do about your circumstances. Trust in the truth that He has a greater perspective on them and knows what's best. Run toward God and invite Him to work the situation out for good as only He can.
Give up trying to be in control. Recognize that any sense of you being in control is just an illusion. In reality, only God is in control of what ultimately happens - to you, and everyone else on the planet. Give God room to work in your life, since He knows what He's doing much better than you do. Put it all - including your fear of the unknown - in the hands of God, who knows everything.
Take steps of faith. Don't live in fear. Instead, pray for greater faith and be willing to risk following where God leads you in every part of your life. God's power usually gets released when people trust Him enough to obey Him. So if you want to see God's power at work to the fullest in your life, decide to take the steps of faith He leads you to take. Spend time often with God in prayer, listening for how He guides you. Then always be willing to say "yes" to following Him.
Make God your top priority. Focus on your relationship with God as your top priority above all else in life. When you invest significant time and energy into that, everything else will naturally fall into place at the right time and in the right way. The closer you become to God, the more you'll start to want for yourself what He wants for you, and the better you'll be able to let go of your own plans so you can receive God's plans for you.
Place your faith in God instead of in a certain set of circumstances. While your circumstances will constantly change, God Himself will never change. So your faith must rest on who God is rather than on what God chooses to do or not do at any given time. Keep in mind that God uses your circumstances in a variety of ways to accomplish good purposes, and often what's most important to God is the process of you becoming a strong person rather than just reaching a certain destination. If you hold onto your central purpose for your life and trust God, the details will work out. Respond to your current circumstances as if you're confident that God is there, and then you'll see God in the circumstances.
Trade grabbing for gratitude. God doesn't owe you anything. So give up unrealistic expectations of being entitled to the life you want if you make good moral choices. Stop grabbing for what you think you're owed and instead try to receive each moment God gives you with gratitude. Realize that your challenging circumstances may actually be gifts from God because they're opportunities for you to grow more into the person God created you to be.
Look for God's light in the darkness. When you face a dark situation that's beyond what you can handle, God will provide the light of grace you need to deal with it and the light of power you need to grow from it. Remind yourself of some times in the past when God has come through for you in unexpected ways, and let those memories reassure you that He will do so again. Choose to love God even when you feel abandoned and to worship Him through your tears, trusting that He will continue to be faithful to do what's best for you.
Embrace the gift of community. Don't isolate yourself from other people; doing so will only make your pain worse. Instead, dare to face who you really are and risk opening your life up to others so you can build authentic and meaningful relationships with them. Value the encouragement and support that those relationships can give you.
Love God more than your dreams. If you give more love and devotion to your own dreams for your life than you do to God, you're bound to be disappointed. Choose to love God more than any particular dream so you can receive His best for you.
Find hope. When you feel hopeless, remember that God works powerfully in situations that seem hopeless. He even conquered death on the Cross for the world's sins - the ultimate hopeless situation - to make eternal life possible.
Wait well. It's while you're in the process of waiting for what you're longing for that God often transforms you into a stronger person. So trust God's timing rather than when you wish He would act.
Use your pain to examine your life. Ask God to show you what He wants you to learn from the pain of your own plans falling apart. Don't settle for a mediocre, unexamined life. Let your pain motivate you to grow.
Keep choosing faith. Remember that, eventually, God will bring an end to your suffering - and in the meantime, He wants you to continue to trust Him. Keep choosing to have faith in Him: trusting Him, loving Him, and letting Him change you to become more like Jesus.
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
HOW TO CELEBRATE EASTER WHEN YOU’RE LIVING GOOD FRIDAY
The Bible says that there is “A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance”. Ecclesiastes 3:4
Whether you are Godly or ungodly, you will go through times of weeping and times of laughing. You will have days that you want to mourn and days that you want to dance.
In his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul writes, “Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?....... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” Romans 8:35-37
The Bible also says in Job that -”People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.” Job 5:7.
These two scriptures are not a contradiction, it’s simply a fact of life that God has made us to have incredible victory in spite of our miserable failures.
Our Christian experience, no matter how powerful, is full of good and bad days.Days when the Power of God is obvious and days when the Power of God is not so obvious.
That’s kinda’ the difference between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.
THE POWER OF GOD IS JUST AS REAL ON BOTH DAYS!
Good Friday: a day of betrayal, false accusations, standing alone when he should have been surrounded by friends, beatings, torture, pain, having to keep your mouth shut when you are more than able to defend yourself, the sky grows dark, despair, shame, anguish and eventually, death!
Resurrection Sunday: a day of new beginnings, great Hope great Joy, unexpected surprises, your enemies have been defeated, you get a clear word from the Lord, and doors that you thought would never be opened again have been blown off of the hinges. A day when the Power of God shows up in a mighty way. It’s then that we are blown away at the Power of God. AND Death gets slapped in the face.
BUT ON YOUR GOOD FRIDAYS YOU HAVE TO HANG ON UNTIL SUNDAY
How do you live like he’s risen when you feel dead yourself?
How do you dance for Joy when you’re knocked down to the floor?
How do you celebrate Easter when you’re living Good Friday?
Living in Christ means living beyond your means. The resurrection power that comes from Christ is a “life in spite of death” power. Resurrection power means “life in spite of death” power.
There is no such thing as a testimony with out a test.
There is no such thing a resurrection without a death.
There is no such thing as an Easter without a Good Friday.
Realize where you’re at in your Christian life and know that bad days are part of it. Don’t ever let anybody tell you that you are not supposed to have bad days. No, see you’re supposed to have victory in spite of your bad days. Look at the person next you and tell them “it’s ok to have bad days”.
It’s just like the song Trading My Sorrows says, “We are blessed beyond the curse”. The curse is real but the blessing is greater than the curse. Good Friday is real but Easter outweighs Good Friday. Your problems are real, but the reality that God keeps his promises will out shine your problem. The trouble you face is genuine but the reality that God’s power is going to change everything is greater than your genuine trouble.
When we face these troubles in life, the first thing we need to do is check our life and make sure that we are being obedient to the Lord. Make sure that we are where we are supposed to be and we are doing what we’re supposed to be doing! In other words, we are walking with God in the matter that is plaguing us.
Once you’ve done this, then the next thing you’ve got to do is realize that if you are walking with God, he is leading you to better places. And you’ve got to have hope for that. He is our Shepherd and if you remain walking with God he will lead you to a place that is better than where you currently are. He will take you into a place of victory. You need to review your walk with God in past and ask yourself has there ever been a time when I was really walking with God and he took me to a worse place. Has there ever been a time that I trusted him and he tricked me.
We serve a merciful God. Our Jesus is full of mercy. Our Jesus is full of compassion. We have to believe that he wants better things for us. We have to believe that he is planning on better things for us. We have to believe that if he is leading us as our Shepherd that he is taking us to greener pastures. We have to look at the history of Jesus and ask, “has there ever been a time when he didn’t have mercy. When he didn’t have compassion. When he didn’t want to help us even when no one else wanted to help us”.
We need to understand that there is something better coming and that all we’ve got to do is hold on. Until then there are 4 things that will help us keep our head right on our Good Friday days:
(1) Understand that just because you feel like a failure doesn’t make you one. You are not what you feel you are, you are who God says you are!
(2) Learn what God’s Word says. Learn those specific scriptures concerning your specific area of attack and fight back with the Word.
(3) Share your hurt and your conflict with Godly friends and ask for their prayers. “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results”. James 5:16
(4) Make a list (mental or physical) of the areas where you are walking in victory and of the things you have to be thankful for. One of the things we find out is that we devote 95% of our heart and our mind to less than 1% of our life and when the other 99% is completely blessed. This is a big sign of spiritual immaturity.
Your devotion to a particular subject should be proportionate to the importance that thing has in your life. If its not, then you are letting one little thing affect all the rest of your life. This means something is bad out of order.
If you can do those four things on Good Friday you can make it until Easter Sunday.
He is risen!
Whether you are Godly or ungodly, you will go through times of weeping and times of laughing. You will have days that you want to mourn and days that you want to dance.
In his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul writes, “Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?....... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” Romans 8:35-37
The Bible also says in Job that -”People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.” Job 5:7.
These two scriptures are not a contradiction, it’s simply a fact of life that God has made us to have incredible victory in spite of our miserable failures.
Our Christian experience, no matter how powerful, is full of good and bad days.Days when the Power of God is obvious and days when the Power of God is not so obvious.
That’s kinda’ the difference between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.
THE POWER OF GOD IS JUST AS REAL ON BOTH DAYS!
Good Friday: a day of betrayal, false accusations, standing alone when he should have been surrounded by friends, beatings, torture, pain, having to keep your mouth shut when you are more than able to defend yourself, the sky grows dark, despair, shame, anguish and eventually, death!
Resurrection Sunday: a day of new beginnings, great Hope great Joy, unexpected surprises, your enemies have been defeated, you get a clear word from the Lord, and doors that you thought would never be opened again have been blown off of the hinges. A day when the Power of God shows up in a mighty way. It’s then that we are blown away at the Power of God. AND Death gets slapped in the face.
BUT ON YOUR GOOD FRIDAYS YOU HAVE TO HANG ON UNTIL SUNDAY
How do you live like he’s risen when you feel dead yourself?
How do you dance for Joy when you’re knocked down to the floor?
How do you celebrate Easter when you’re living Good Friday?
Living in Christ means living beyond your means. The resurrection power that comes from Christ is a “life in spite of death” power. Resurrection power means “life in spite of death” power.
There is no such thing as a testimony with out a test.
There is no such thing a resurrection without a death.
There is no such thing as an Easter without a Good Friday.
Realize where you’re at in your Christian life and know that bad days are part of it. Don’t ever let anybody tell you that you are not supposed to have bad days. No, see you’re supposed to have victory in spite of your bad days. Look at the person next you and tell them “it’s ok to have bad days”.
It’s just like the song Trading My Sorrows says, “We are blessed beyond the curse”. The curse is real but the blessing is greater than the curse. Good Friday is real but Easter outweighs Good Friday. Your problems are real, but the reality that God keeps his promises will out shine your problem. The trouble you face is genuine but the reality that God’s power is going to change everything is greater than your genuine trouble.
When we face these troubles in life, the first thing we need to do is check our life and make sure that we are being obedient to the Lord. Make sure that we are where we are supposed to be and we are doing what we’re supposed to be doing! In other words, we are walking with God in the matter that is plaguing us.
Once you’ve done this, then the next thing you’ve got to do is realize that if you are walking with God, he is leading you to better places. And you’ve got to have hope for that. He is our Shepherd and if you remain walking with God he will lead you to a place that is better than where you currently are. He will take you into a place of victory. You need to review your walk with God in past and ask yourself has there ever been a time when I was really walking with God and he took me to a worse place. Has there ever been a time that I trusted him and he tricked me.
We serve a merciful God. Our Jesus is full of mercy. Our Jesus is full of compassion. We have to believe that he wants better things for us. We have to believe that he is planning on better things for us. We have to believe that if he is leading us as our Shepherd that he is taking us to greener pastures. We have to look at the history of Jesus and ask, “has there ever been a time when he didn’t have mercy. When he didn’t have compassion. When he didn’t want to help us even when no one else wanted to help us”.
We need to understand that there is something better coming and that all we’ve got to do is hold on. Until then there are 4 things that will help us keep our head right on our Good Friday days:
(1) Understand that just because you feel like a failure doesn’t make you one. You are not what you feel you are, you are who God says you are!
(2) Learn what God’s Word says. Learn those specific scriptures concerning your specific area of attack and fight back with the Word.
(3) Share your hurt and your conflict with Godly friends and ask for their prayers. “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results”. James 5:16
(4) Make a list (mental or physical) of the areas where you are walking in victory and of the things you have to be thankful for. One of the things we find out is that we devote 95% of our heart and our mind to less than 1% of our life and when the other 99% is completely blessed. This is a big sign of spiritual immaturity.
Your devotion to a particular subject should be proportionate to the importance that thing has in your life. If its not, then you are letting one little thing affect all the rest of your life. This means something is bad out of order.
If you can do those four things on Good Friday you can make it until Easter Sunday.
He is risen!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Not Guilty
Not Guilty by Mandisa
Song & video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7fokl9riJ0
I stand accused
There’s a list a mile long of all my sins
Of everything that I’ve done wrong
I’m so ashamed
There’s nowhere left for me to hide
This is the day I must answer for my life
My fate is in the judge’s hands
But then he turns to me and says
I know you I love youI gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not Guilty!
How can it be?
I can’t begin to comprehend
What kind of grace would take the place for all my sin?
I stand in awe now that I’ve been set free
And the tears well up
As I look at that cross
‘Cause it should’ve been me
My fate was in the nail scarred hands
He stretched them out for me and said
I know you I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not Guilty!
I’m falling on my knees to thank You
With everything I am I’ll praise You
So grateful for the words I heard You say
I know you. I love you. I gave My life
I know you, I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not guilty Not guilty Not guilty
Week before last the lesson was It’s No Mistake, It’s the “S” Word (Sin) and then last week we discussed the Forgotten Word (Repentance). This week let’s look at being declared “Not Guilty”.
God’s Word says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23). All of us sin and we sin on a daily basis. Although we do sin, God still loves us and when we repent of our sins, he forgives us of our sins. “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:24).
I like how The Message translates this verse: “He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.”
This means that we are declared “not guilty” for our sins. That does not mean that we have a license to continue sinning. Human-beings will make wrong choices leading to sin, but God does not want us to live apart from him, so that is why Jesus shed his blood for us. God’s Word says, “For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). God did not want us to spend eternity separated from him so he gave us the gift of eternal life in his Son. The gift is ready for us to accept and it is free because Jesus already paid the price.
He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. (Romans 8:3b-4)
Paul writes in his letter to the Romans “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 8:1, 2).
God has given us the gift of freedom. He has declared us “not guilty”. We are not living under the Law, but we are living under the grace of God through the shed blood of Jesus and under the power of the Holy Spirit. No one could keep the all the Law therefore no one could be saved By the Law.
Paul goes on to say, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5).
In other words, there are people today who are living the ways of the world. These people believe they are in control of their lives and they are entitled to anything they want. They are focused on the material possessions of this earthly life. They are not concerned about their sinful nature because they are living for themselves. These people will do whatever it takes to reach whatever worldly goal they have in mind. The sins of greed, anger, hatred, jealously, etc, are not in their vocabulary. They live for today.
We cannot have our cake and eat it too. Listen to the words of Jesus to the church at Laodicea: ““I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!” (Revelation 3:15-16).We cannot take a stand for Jesus in one breath and then change our minds the next.
We cannot take the middle of the road. We cannot bounce back and forth between good and bad. We cannot live worldly and project a Christian image. There is no middle-of-the-road when it comes to Jesus. Either we have the Spirit of Christ in us or we do not.
But the Good News is that when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our own personal Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven and we are guaranteed that we will spend eternity with Him in Heaven. We are living under the grace of the One who took our place on Calvary. “God did not sent His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).
He went to the Cross for us. When Jesus was nailed to the Cross, his words were: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
When one the thieves said to him, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1 NKJV
He has stamped us: “Not Guilty!”
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. 0
Song & video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7fokl9riJ0
I stand accused
There’s a list a mile long of all my sins
Of everything that I’ve done wrong
I’m so ashamed
There’s nowhere left for me to hide
This is the day I must answer for my life
My fate is in the judge’s hands
But then he turns to me and says
I know you I love youI gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not Guilty!
How can it be?
I can’t begin to comprehend
What kind of grace would take the place for all my sin?
I stand in awe now that I’ve been set free
And the tears well up
As I look at that cross
‘Cause it should’ve been me
My fate was in the nail scarred hands
He stretched them out for me and said
I know you I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not Guilty!
I’m falling on my knees to thank You
With everything I am I’ll praise You
So grateful for the words I heard You say
I know you. I love you. I gave My life
I know you, I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not guilty Not guilty Not guilty
Week before last the lesson was It’s No Mistake, It’s the “S” Word (Sin) and then last week we discussed the Forgotten Word (Repentance). This week let’s look at being declared “Not Guilty”.
God’s Word says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23). All of us sin and we sin on a daily basis. Although we do sin, God still loves us and when we repent of our sins, he forgives us of our sins. “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:24).
I like how The Message translates this verse: “He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.”
This means that we are declared “not guilty” for our sins. That does not mean that we have a license to continue sinning. Human-beings will make wrong choices leading to sin, but God does not want us to live apart from him, so that is why Jesus shed his blood for us. God’s Word says, “For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). God did not want us to spend eternity separated from him so he gave us the gift of eternal life in his Son. The gift is ready for us to accept and it is free because Jesus already paid the price.
He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. (Romans 8:3b-4)
Paul writes in his letter to the Romans “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 8:1, 2).
God has given us the gift of freedom. He has declared us “not guilty”. We are not living under the Law, but we are living under the grace of God through the shed blood of Jesus and under the power of the Holy Spirit. No one could keep the all the Law therefore no one could be saved By the Law.
Paul goes on to say, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5).
In other words, there are people today who are living the ways of the world. These people believe they are in control of their lives and they are entitled to anything they want. They are focused on the material possessions of this earthly life. They are not concerned about their sinful nature because they are living for themselves. These people will do whatever it takes to reach whatever worldly goal they have in mind. The sins of greed, anger, hatred, jealously, etc, are not in their vocabulary. They live for today.
We cannot have our cake and eat it too. Listen to the words of Jesus to the church at Laodicea: ““I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!” (Revelation 3:15-16).We cannot take a stand for Jesus in one breath and then change our minds the next.
We cannot take the middle of the road. We cannot bounce back and forth between good and bad. We cannot live worldly and project a Christian image. There is no middle-of-the-road when it comes to Jesus. Either we have the Spirit of Christ in us or we do not.
But the Good News is that when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our own personal Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven and we are guaranteed that we will spend eternity with Him in Heaven. We are living under the grace of the One who took our place on Calvary. “God did not sent His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).
He went to the Cross for us. When Jesus was nailed to the Cross, his words were: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
When one the thieves said to him, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1 NKJV
He has stamped us: “Not Guilty!”
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. 0
The Forgotten Word
The Forgotten Word
The word repentance is not a popular word in today’s society. It is not popular because if we call people to repentance then we are admitting that people are doing something wrong. People don’t like to be told that they are wrong or have been living the wrong way. And you may be accused of “judging” and that is not the ‘political correct’ thing to do.
When you think of repentance, what do you think of?
Quite often repentance is one of those Bible words that we just throw around sometimes and we do not fully understand what it means to truly repent of sin. Bible repentance means more than just saying you are sorry. It is a change of mind, prompted by a change of heart, resulting in a change of life. There are some things or stumbling blocks that get in the way of sincere repentance.
Stumbling blocks to Repentance…1) Pride or ArroganceMost people do not like to admit that they are wrong. That is called, pride. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God said not to eat and ‘got caught”, they were not necessarily repentant over their sin. They knew they had sinned and even tried to hide from God. They both got into the ‘it’s not my fault” mode. Adam – She made me do it! Eve – the serpent made me do it. Not once was there a, “You know what, I messed up” moment with them. Their pride kept them from admitting their sin.
2) Hardened HeartsSometimes people are hindered from repenting because their hearts are hard. It can be easy for someone to shut themselves off from hearing or receiving God’s Word when they realize their own faults or mistakes. They just don’t want to “hear it”. There are many that are so hard hearted towards their actions that repentance does not come easy. Because of their constant sin, they have justified it in their minds, to the point where there are many who do not even see their sin as sin or as a big deal at all.
3) Enjoyment of SinSometimes others will not repent of sin because they just like it to much. True repentance comes down to a choice between stopping sin or continuing sin. Many people will just flat out tell you that they cannot truly repent of their sin because they like and enjoy the practice of their sin too much. We cannot love both God and the sinful things of this world. The necessary outcome of repentance is to change and abandon those sinful desires, and some just don’t want to give them up! This keeps many folks from being saved!
4) Not yet Many people don’t repent because they just keep putting it “on the back burner”. Maybe tomorrow! This is one area of life which we should not put off until tomorrow! Many people may be convicted of their sins and they assure you that one day they plan on changing. One day they plan on making it right, but they continue to say “Not yet”. So why is it necessary to repent of our sins?Repentance is so important that it is a major theme throughout the Bible. John the Baptist preached a message calling the people to repentance. Jesus began His ministry preaching “Repent of your sins and turn to God.” (Matthew 4:17) And He made clear to his disciples that “repentance and the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name beginning is Jerusalem”. (Luke 24:47 NIV)” When Jesus addressed the seven churches is the book of Revelation eight times he challenged them to “repent”. The most important thing that we can learn is that there is an absolute necessity for repentance. And repentance is not just a one-time event that we do, but it is something we do on a regular basis. There is a need for repentance because we all have sinned and are in need of forgiveness. There is a need for repentance because there is an alternative to repentance that we want no part of.Jesus was asked by some Jews if some people who were murdered by Pilate and some who died when a tower fell on them, were “worse sinners than others’, He answered “Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.” And then said again, “No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”” (See Luke 13:1-5) Peter told the people at Pentecost “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God......” (Acts 2:38) Sounds like repentance may be kinda’ important!We are sinners in need of forgiveness, and that forgiveness can only be obtained through our willingness to come before God and repent of our sins. It is important for us to realize that repentance is an individual thing that is necessary for everyone. We could have the tendency to think that “repentance isn’t for me” or “my sin is not as bad as their sin”, but regardless as to what we perceive the level of our sin, repentance is necessary for every individual. More On The Meaning of Repentance Repentance is not…1. Just Being Sorry or Feeling GuiltyThis situation with Judas is interesting. Matthew wrote, “When Judas, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse.” Judas tried to give back the money he was paid for betraying Jesus and even said, “I have sinned,” (Matthew 27:3-4) Now, many times this type of feeling of remorse can lead to true repentance, but for Judas it remained just a feeling of guilt and sorrow over wrongdoings. If Judas had been truly repentant he would have gone back to Jesus and would have asked forgiveness rather than committing suicide. He was sorry, but not sincerely repentant. Sorrow can be good but it is not the same as repentance.
There are people filled with guilt and sorrow, but then when they learn that some sort of change is expected in response, they don’t like it too much. Of course they may have been sincere in their sorrow, but there was absolutely no repentance. Often times they are not repentant and sorry that they did what they did, but they are sorry that they got caught. Now sometimes it does take our sin being exposed before we come to conviction over sin, but that doesn’t equal repentance. 2. Done to Escape Consequences Sometimes we show remorse and offer change because we feel we have no other choice. Repentance is a choice we make, but we do it because we want to get right with God not because we don’t want to be in trouble or face consequences. Many times people say they are repentant over their sin because they hope that simply saying they are sorry will remove the earthly consequences for their sin, but that is not real repentance.3. Admitting You Are WrongFrom time to time all of us have been known to be wrong on something. Often times that wrongdoing requires repentance. But admitting wrong, though noble, is not the same as repenting of the wrong. Just because you admit it does not mean any repentance took place. A “good old boy” (or girl) may say, “I said I was wrong, what more do you want?” Well…the answer is we want a sincere repentance. B. Repentance is…As mentioned earlier in the lesson, is a change of the mind, a change of the heart, and a change of the will that leads to a change in action. 1. A Change of the MindRepentance begins with a change of your mind or how you think. Along with repentance, your mind should change about God, who He is and what place He will have in your life. It should change how you view other people. It should change how we regard sin. Repentance should bring about a change to where you do not want to live a lifestyle of sin because you see the consequences of sin and no longer want to displease God. 2. A Change of the Will or what you “want” to doRepentance should also involve a change of the will. What you want to do should change with real repentance. No longer do you want to please your sinful desires, but instead you want to submit to God’s will.
3. A Change of the ActionsThe most important aspect of repentance for us to grasp is that true repentance involves a life change or a change of lifestyle. Remember the story of the “prodigal son” from last week’s lesson? Throughout the Scriptures we read of people’s sins and mistakes, but along with that we also see many instances of a true and sincere repentance. There is a VERY positive effect of sincere repentance of sin. There is joy in knowing our sins have been forgiven. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!”(Psalm 32:1) “... if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness”. (1 John 1:9) And I really like this scripture, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12). And this is really big since this was written by David who had broken just about all of God’s commandments. Just a note here to mention that David still had to suffer some serious earthly consequences of his sins!
We need to understand that we, on our own, are not capable of the kind of repentance discussed in this lesson. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us how to achieve this! But when we allow the Spirit to lead us to repentance, He will begin to produce in us a new understanding of the glory of Christ. And he'll make it known to everyone around us!
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
The word repentance is not a popular word in today’s society. It is not popular because if we call people to repentance then we are admitting that people are doing something wrong. People don’t like to be told that they are wrong or have been living the wrong way. And you may be accused of “judging” and that is not the ‘political correct’ thing to do.
When you think of repentance, what do you think of?
Quite often repentance is one of those Bible words that we just throw around sometimes and we do not fully understand what it means to truly repent of sin. Bible repentance means more than just saying you are sorry. It is a change of mind, prompted by a change of heart, resulting in a change of life. There are some things or stumbling blocks that get in the way of sincere repentance.
Stumbling blocks to Repentance…1) Pride or ArroganceMost people do not like to admit that they are wrong. That is called, pride. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God said not to eat and ‘got caught”, they were not necessarily repentant over their sin. They knew they had sinned and even tried to hide from God. They both got into the ‘it’s not my fault” mode. Adam – She made me do it! Eve – the serpent made me do it. Not once was there a, “You know what, I messed up” moment with them. Their pride kept them from admitting their sin.
2) Hardened HeartsSometimes people are hindered from repenting because their hearts are hard. It can be easy for someone to shut themselves off from hearing or receiving God’s Word when they realize their own faults or mistakes. They just don’t want to “hear it”. There are many that are so hard hearted towards their actions that repentance does not come easy. Because of their constant sin, they have justified it in their minds, to the point where there are many who do not even see their sin as sin or as a big deal at all.
3) Enjoyment of SinSometimes others will not repent of sin because they just like it to much. True repentance comes down to a choice between stopping sin or continuing sin. Many people will just flat out tell you that they cannot truly repent of their sin because they like and enjoy the practice of their sin too much. We cannot love both God and the sinful things of this world. The necessary outcome of repentance is to change and abandon those sinful desires, and some just don’t want to give them up! This keeps many folks from being saved!
4) Not yet Many people don’t repent because they just keep putting it “on the back burner”. Maybe tomorrow! This is one area of life which we should not put off until tomorrow! Many people may be convicted of their sins and they assure you that one day they plan on changing. One day they plan on making it right, but they continue to say “Not yet”. So why is it necessary to repent of our sins?Repentance is so important that it is a major theme throughout the Bible. John the Baptist preached a message calling the people to repentance. Jesus began His ministry preaching “Repent of your sins and turn to God.” (Matthew 4:17) And He made clear to his disciples that “repentance and the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name beginning is Jerusalem”. (Luke 24:47 NIV)” When Jesus addressed the seven churches is the book of Revelation eight times he challenged them to “repent”. The most important thing that we can learn is that there is an absolute necessity for repentance. And repentance is not just a one-time event that we do, but it is something we do on a regular basis. There is a need for repentance because we all have sinned and are in need of forgiveness. There is a need for repentance because there is an alternative to repentance that we want no part of.Jesus was asked by some Jews if some people who were murdered by Pilate and some who died when a tower fell on them, were “worse sinners than others’, He answered “Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.” And then said again, “No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”” (See Luke 13:1-5) Peter told the people at Pentecost “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God......” (Acts 2:38) Sounds like repentance may be kinda’ important!We are sinners in need of forgiveness, and that forgiveness can only be obtained through our willingness to come before God and repent of our sins. It is important for us to realize that repentance is an individual thing that is necessary for everyone. We could have the tendency to think that “repentance isn’t for me” or “my sin is not as bad as their sin”, but regardless as to what we perceive the level of our sin, repentance is necessary for every individual. More On The Meaning of Repentance Repentance is not…1. Just Being Sorry or Feeling GuiltyThis situation with Judas is interesting. Matthew wrote, “When Judas, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse.” Judas tried to give back the money he was paid for betraying Jesus and even said, “I have sinned,” (Matthew 27:3-4) Now, many times this type of feeling of remorse can lead to true repentance, but for Judas it remained just a feeling of guilt and sorrow over wrongdoings. If Judas had been truly repentant he would have gone back to Jesus and would have asked forgiveness rather than committing suicide. He was sorry, but not sincerely repentant. Sorrow can be good but it is not the same as repentance.
There are people filled with guilt and sorrow, but then when they learn that some sort of change is expected in response, they don’t like it too much. Of course they may have been sincere in their sorrow, but there was absolutely no repentance. Often times they are not repentant and sorry that they did what they did, but they are sorry that they got caught. Now sometimes it does take our sin being exposed before we come to conviction over sin, but that doesn’t equal repentance. 2. Done to Escape Consequences Sometimes we show remorse and offer change because we feel we have no other choice. Repentance is a choice we make, but we do it because we want to get right with God not because we don’t want to be in trouble or face consequences. Many times people say they are repentant over their sin because they hope that simply saying they are sorry will remove the earthly consequences for their sin, but that is not real repentance.3. Admitting You Are WrongFrom time to time all of us have been known to be wrong on something. Often times that wrongdoing requires repentance. But admitting wrong, though noble, is not the same as repenting of the wrong. Just because you admit it does not mean any repentance took place. A “good old boy” (or girl) may say, “I said I was wrong, what more do you want?” Well…the answer is we want a sincere repentance. B. Repentance is…As mentioned earlier in the lesson, is a change of the mind, a change of the heart, and a change of the will that leads to a change in action. 1. A Change of the MindRepentance begins with a change of your mind or how you think. Along with repentance, your mind should change about God, who He is and what place He will have in your life. It should change how you view other people. It should change how we regard sin. Repentance should bring about a change to where you do not want to live a lifestyle of sin because you see the consequences of sin and no longer want to displease God. 2. A Change of the Will or what you “want” to doRepentance should also involve a change of the will. What you want to do should change with real repentance. No longer do you want to please your sinful desires, but instead you want to submit to God’s will.
3. A Change of the ActionsThe most important aspect of repentance for us to grasp is that true repentance involves a life change or a change of lifestyle. Remember the story of the “prodigal son” from last week’s lesson? Throughout the Scriptures we read of people’s sins and mistakes, but along with that we also see many instances of a true and sincere repentance. There is a VERY positive effect of sincere repentance of sin. There is joy in knowing our sins have been forgiven. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!”(Psalm 32:1) “... if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness”. (1 John 1:9) And I really like this scripture, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12). And this is really big since this was written by David who had broken just about all of God’s commandments. Just a note here to mention that David still had to suffer some serious earthly consequences of his sins!
We need to understand that we, on our own, are not capable of the kind of repentance discussed in this lesson. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us how to achieve this! But when we allow the Spirit to lead us to repentance, He will begin to produce in us a new understanding of the glory of Christ. And he'll make it known to everyone around us!
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
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