Dustin Renz (the author), was recently introduced at a speaking engagement as - a graduate of Teen Challenge, Southeastern University and Pure Life Ministries. Both Teen Challenge and Pure Life Ministries are residential Christian programs that assist in setting people free from addictions and bondage. The seasons the author spent in those two programs serve as book - ends for nearly ten years of running from God, much like the biblical prophet, Jonah. But like Jonah, the author too realized the desperate situation he was in and cried out to God for mercy.
The author grew up in a middle - class home. He had parents who loved him and they lived a comfortable life. The greatest attacks came not from inside his home, but outside. They moved to Florida from New York when he was in the second grade. It was that year - at age seven - he was first exposed to pornography. All throughout his childhood, pornography continued to be readily available to him, which became a deeply - rooted stronghold in his life.
He became friends with another young boy and frequently spent time at his house. It was there where he was first exposed to satanic music, Ouija boards, horror movies, violent games, hypnotism and even sexual experimentation.
He went to church as a child. He claimed to be a Christian, but he had not been born again.
When he was eleven years old, his parents announced to his siblings and him that they had decided to get a divorce.
He had always been a deeply emotional person and most of his friends were female. He still attended church, but he despised Christians and hated God.
He discovered that he had the talent to rap and began rapping at parties and writing songs.
He spent all weekend partying and all week getting high or drunk before and after school.
He graduated high school, left home and began living with friends so that he could do as he pleased. It became necessary to live in his car to live in his car after having burned all bridges with family and friends.
His father allowed him to stay with him for a couple of weeks to try to help him get straightened out. After a near overdose, he realized he was out of control, and agreed to go to a program called Teen Challenge.
In July of 2002, he found himself in the intake office of Teen Challenge in Tarpon Springs, Florida. He had told his dad on the way to the program that he was not going to let them "brainwash him with all of that Jesus stuff." It soon became evident that God had a different plan!
He experienced what Scripture promises to those who surrender their lives to the Lord: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" He fell in love with Jesus. For the next year, he could not get enough of the Bible. He spent hours in prayer and worship. There was no doubt he had a real encounter was with Jesus Christ!
After graduating from Teen Challenge, he once again enjoyed freedom to do as he pleased - something he soon discovered he was not prepared for. Before he knew it, an addiction to pornography head once again taken control of his life. It was then that he met a girl named Brittany at the Christian college he was attending, and they fell in love. When he confessed to her about the pornography, she made it clear that unless he got victory over that area, there was no future for them.
They got married in May 2005. He justified his secret life. He cried out to God over and over again: repenting, apologizing and promising to do better. Clearly, he was only giving the Lord lip service and empty promises.
Over the coming months, he fell further from God. Soon, he was drinking liquor and abusing prescription pills whenever he had the chance.
He began to visualize becoming famous in the music industry and he was confident that his career would take off soon.
Brittany and he got involved in youth ministry, and he became the Assistant Pastor of their church. Lust grew in his heart, and whenever he was depressed, he would still go back to satanic music in his head for comfort.
When him and his wife was accepted to go overseas to assist missionaries for two years, everything escalated. They began the process of raising the necessary funds to go. He had definite fears about relocating to a foreign country, but instead of taking those concerns to God, he returned with great fervor to the old empty cisterns of this world.
He persuaded himself that when he got overseas, the struggle would end.
Their first daughter, Abigail, was born in May of 2010. This drastic change in their lives caused him to panic. He knew he was not ready to be a father, and the weight of that responsibility was more than he could take.
His wife began sensing that something was not right in his life. He told her that he had been lying and carrying on a secret life during the entire seven years of their relationship. She was devastated and immediately told their superiors. They were flown back to the U.S. and asked to resign.
You would think this would have been enough to bring him to repentance, but instead he grew bitter. His wife took control of their finances and watched his every moment.
When he arrived at Pure Life Ministries in April of 2011, one of the counselors said he looked like a dead man. He only agreed to enter the program in the hopes of saving his marriage, which at that point was almost certainly going to end in divorce.
There was no network television in any of their homes. They were not consumed with the latest technologies like smart phones and video games.
This was the turning point and the Lord began to restore him.
Dustin now have an abundant life in Christ and he has truly become an overcomer.
But the Lord has opened his eyes to the reality that there is freedom for the addict, purity for the lustful, and righteousness for the wicked.
Adam and Eve's oldest son provides for us the earliest example of hypocrisy.
A lifestyle of hypocrisy was at the root of Jehovah's chosen nation, Israel. This can be seen throughout the Old Testament, from the time Moses led Israel out of Egypt, to the time of the Babylonian and Assyrian captivities. It was the people's unwillingness to be fully devoted to the Lord that resulted in countless trial and judgments.
Hypocrisy is the reason that the Israelites were called to make a decision throughout the Old Testament. Perhaps the most popular Scripture where a line is drawn in the sand occurs in the book of Joshua. At this point in history, the Israelites were just setting foot into the Promised Land, but they had already shown their divided hearts on several occasions.
They had absolutely no faith to believe that the God who rescued them from Egypt could provide for their needs.
Jehovah had been good to them and provided for them the whole way.
The Israelites have the choice to either serve the Lord or to worship other gods. There is no middle ground.
Scripture says in 1 John 4:8 that God is love. Our relationship with Him is born out of a response to His love for us. Continually in Scripture, the relationship of God and man is compared to a marital relationship.
Song of Solomon paints a beautiful picture of the intimacy enjoyed between a husband and wife (and, allegorically, of God and man). We are called the Bride of Christ and Jesus the Bridegroom in several places in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit could have used any metaphor to describe our relationship with Him, but He chose to relate it to a marriage.
Listen to the sound of a heartbroken God calling out to His people through the prophet Micah:
My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery.
Jeremiah 2:19 sums up a truth he had found to be absolutely certain: "Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me ...
When it came to fighting against idolatry and syncretism in the Old Testament, there was one King who stood out above the rest. His name was King Josiah, and he took the throne of Judah when he was eight years old. He lived in a time when the land of Israel was divided into a northern and southern kingdom. The country was in a mess. Jehovah repeatedly sent prophets to the nation to try to get their attention and cause them to repent and turn back to Him. As we have discovered, Israel remained entrenched in idolatry and the worship of false gods.
Josiah became king a few years after Manasseh, who was one of the most wicked kings to ever rule in Israel.
During his reign, many people made idols for a living. There were full-time priests who served at the altars and temples of the false gods. Many in the land were enjoying the 'benefits' afforded to them by sacred prostitution. But Josiah did not fear men, he only feared the Lord and his actions proved it.
Josiah launches an all - out attack on idolatry.
Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did - with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
Pharisaic:
1. adjective. emphasizing or observing the letter but not the spirit of religious law; self-righteous; sanctimonious
2. pretending to be highly moral or virtuous without actually being so; hypocritical
By The Close Of The Lord The Old Testament period, the nation of Israel had returned to their homeland after being held in captivity. Jehovah had allowed northern Israel to be exiled by Assyria in 721 B.C. Eventually, Judah was taken into exile by the Babylonians for 70 years. The period between the Old and New Testaments is a duration of four hundred years of prophetic silence. There was no Word from God to His people during this time.
Then John the Baptist appears on the scene and breaks the silence. Israel was ruled by the Roman Empire at this time and Rome stayed in power throughout the life of Jesus.
The Jewish community that Jesus was born into was not the same Israel He would have encountered had He been born one thousand years earlier. A person could cease visiting temple prostitutes and still be completely driven by lust inside. Remember, hypocrisy is always a heart issue.
The Pharisees were a very influential Jew party during Jesus' time on the Earth.
Historically, the people of Israel had broken even the most basic commandments by serving idols and foreign gods. It is important to understand that the sect of the Pharisees had good intentions. It is not fair to assume that every Pharisee was wicked, despite the descriptions given in the New Testament.
We also need to realize that there were some Pharisees who were on the right track. Some did love the Lord and honored Jesus, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
Hypocrite:
1. noun. a person who pretends to be what he or she is not; one who pretends to be what he or she is not; one who pretends to be better than they really are so; or to be pious, virtuous, etc. without really being so.
We Have Looked In-Depth At Hypocrisy in the lives of the Israelites in the Old Testament, and we have also encountered the double-minded Pharisees of Jesus' time. Neither the Israelites nor the Pharisees were born again believers, or even had a full knowledge of the New Covenant.
John Calvin was a follower of Christ with a great understanding of Scripture. He understood what the Bible teaches about looking for spiritual fruit. What he actually taught was that if you are genuinely converted, there has to be evidence of it in your life. He taught that true conversion was an irreversible decision on the Lord's part. He taught that the moment you are converted, your salvation is eternally secure. There would be no way for a true Christian to ever go back into habitual sin and fall away. That is not an option in Calvin's teaching.
Joseph Arminius was also a godly man who studied the Word of God. He agreed with Calvin that if you were truly saved, your life would have spiritual fruit as evidence. The major point they differed on - in regards to the permanence of salvation - is that Arminius believed that a person could fall so far away from God that they could 'lose' or 'reject' their salvation. He believed that humans had more free will in cooperating with God in salvation than Calvin did.
According to Calvin's interpretation of Scripture, the lack of fruit is in itself proof that the person was never truly converted. The Arminians would say to the same person that the lack of fruit is evidence that they either were never saved in the first place, or they are backslidden and in danger of losing (or rejecting) their salvation. Either that person needs to repent (and either return to Christ or be saved) or they are in danger of Hell.
The kind of fruit that we should be looking for is in our character and walk with the Lord.
Hypocrites need to examine whether or not their beliefs actually line up with the whole teaching of the Bible.
In the Kingdom, we humble ourselves and the Lord gives promotion to us. When Jesus gave the parable of the feast in Luke 14, He said:
But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, "Friend, move up to a better place." Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Dustin Renz is a minister with a passion to see the Body of Christ become all that God has created it to be. He is the founder of Make Way Ministries, which exists to see the Body of Christ awaken, mature and arise to its responsibility in these last days.
Showing posts with label Repent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Repent. Show all posts
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
The Master's Mind - Book Review
The Master's Mind: The Art of Reshaping Your Thoughts
In fact, the Master has a whole different list of attributes in mind for us: hope, strength, beauty, joy, love, creativity, freedom, power, peace, patience, goodness, laughter, organization, effectiveness, and purpose.
Between the flesh, the world, and the Devil, we don't know what to think, and, therefore, our lives are filled with hurt, pain, and regret.
Jesus died to save us from our sins and set us free. He made a way for our souls to be rescued from our enemies.
It's time to return to the Master's Mind.
In approximately AD 31, Jesus Christ of Nazareth was asked the seemingly impossible question: "What is the greatest commandment of God?" Jesus simply replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength."
If we can master our minds and bring our thoughts into alignment with the Lord's will and perspective, the rest of our lives will follow suit.
Praise the Lord that He has told us who He is, who we are in the light of Him, and what we have been placed on this earth to do.
God does the rescuing and the saving. Our job is to steward what He has given us.
What we think determines our action. Martin Luther King Jr. determined that he would not rest until all people were viewed as God intended - equal. Mother Teresa determined that the poor would not be forgotten. Our Lord Jesus Christ walked His entire life on earth with a focus on completely obeying His heavenly Father, including the determination to end up on the cross to save us from our sins, as we see in this passage from Luke: "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).
The Bible tells us of an ancient high-ranking official who made a personal choice that would dictate the rest of his life and effectiveness. His name was Naaman, and he was a Syrian army commander who had leprosy, a terrible skin disease. Knowing that he was desperate for healing, his little servant girl told him of a prophet in Israel who could heal him by God's power. Figuring that it was worth a shot, Naaman went to see the prophet Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to tell Naaman that he would be healed if he washed seven times in the Jordan River.
Naaman was furious. He believed that the prophet was simply going to "call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure" him (2 Kings 5:11). When things didn't go the way he thought they should, he stormed off in a rage.
His attendant hurried after him and convinced him to reconsider. Sure, washing seven times was unorthodox, but what if it could heal him?
He relented - and came out healed from leprosy.
Naaman's false assumptions, ignorant thoughts, and prideful heart almost cost him his healing. What are we believing today that is keeping us from God's best?
It's true of God: Isaiah 14:24 tells us, "The LORD of hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand."
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. (Acts 17:26)
Before the New York firefighters and police officers ran into the collapsing Twin Towers on the fateful day of 9/11, they thought about it. Their heroic choice to risk their lives to protect others from a burning building was the result of truly stunning thoughts: Their job is to rescue others and put them before themselves. They would not let fear dictate their response.
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasures produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who was explaining that our characters and beliefs determine the lives we live. Doing one thing on the outside doesn't make up for thinking another on the inside.
And when it comes to matters of faith, we spend the majority of our energy on sin management, completely avoiding the core issues. We'll never experience transformation until we address the thoughts at the root of our problems.
Bad thinking is dangerous. Wrong thinking can keeps us ineffective, wasting time on things that aren't important instead of living the lives God has for us.
Paul wrote in Romans about the distorted thinking common to humans and the consequences it brings. Since our sin nature is rooted in how we think our thoughts continue to be the primary block between us and God.
Jesus spoke about lust being equated with adultery.
Adam and Eve were the best of us: unadulterated humanity, good, pure, and perfect. But the day they ate the fruit that God told them not to eat, all of that changed. With their rebellion, sin entered the world and chaos was unleashed.
If you do not know the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love He demonstrated on the cross by dying for your sins, now is the time to engage with that truth.
God knows our plight. He knows we are hopelessly lost. When Adam and Eve threw away our birth right, He launched a redemption plan. The plan came to fruition approximately two thousand years ago, when God entered humanity and joined us where we were, in all our messiness. Doing all that we could not do, the God-man, Jesus Christ, offered up His perfect life - not only to satisfy our debt sin, but also to trade with us, the lost, so that we might be found and set free. We acknowledge that He is the King and His way is right. We offer open rights in which He can dwell by the power of His Holy Spirit so that we are never alone - not now, not ever.
"The most important thing about us is not what we do, but who and whose we are in Christ."
All He asks is that we stop fighting and let Him do what He does best - be our Savior and King. Paul the apostle wrote, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God" ((Romans 5:1-2).
By definition, grace is "undeserved favor." Grace isn't earned; rather, it's given out of the goodness of someone else's heart.
Grace even cuts at the heart of the oldest and greatest of sin: pride. The same sin that caused the fall of Lucifer stirs in our souls. Once grace takes hold again, we experience peace.
God is working in us, and we can have faith in that process. But we also need to be aware of the biggest enemy of them all: the Devil.
The Devil is real, and he's a bad guy. He introduced the sin that brought down our world, he's a bully who picks on us every day, and he doesn't fight fair.
Listen to the apostle Peter: "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith" (1 Peter 5:8-9).
Sin takes us from where we should be to where we should not be. Sin ruins our thoughts and poisons our hearts.
Sin is godlessness.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Therefore, God will never lead someone to sin; doing so goes against His very nature. He will test believers by putting them through difficult training that will strengthen them and reveal their current conditions (like a refiner's fire).
Satan seeks to harm.
God's intention is always for believers to emerge from a trial better than when they started, either in strength or in knowledge. He promises that every situation will have a way out - an escape hatch that can be utilized through obedience.
As we've seen, the Bible says that Jesus was tempted, yet was without sin. It also says, "In your anger do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26 NIV).
Acting on sin is temptation.
Praise the Lord that He is with us and that the Holy Spirit is helping us navigate all of this!
Nebuchadnezzar made a name for himself as a warrior king. He won the famous battle of Carchemish against the Egyptians the year he was called to throne. He fused his alliance with the Medes by marriage and expanded his territory by military force until he controlled much of the Middle East and all the trade routes across Mesopotamia.
He was so impressive that Saddam Hussein sought to claim his reincarnated personality. Hussein named one of his guard divisions after the ancient king and began rebuilding ancient Babylon in his honor, inscribing on the bricks, "To king Nebuchadnezzar in the reign of Hussein."
This great and powerful king lost his mind.
God leveled Nebuchadnezzar for pride and arrogance, and once that was done, he lifted his hand immediately and miraculously. Nevertheless, his story reminds us that even the might fall sometimes, and no mind is invulnerable.
Everybody remembers Mister Rogers' Neighbor right? But did you know that it aired from 1968 to 2001, produced 895 episodes, and earned four Emmy awards?
There's a reason that a Presbyterian reverend from Pennsylvania received the coveted Peabody Award, the Ralph Lowell Award, more than forty honorary degrees, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He wanted to use children's imaginations as God intended them - to think through new perspectives.
You and I are precious - and so is every human on earth.
On the day Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they sold their souls to the Enemy.
Jesus Christ needed to come to set us free. We are free to become what He created us to be and not be forced into the mold of our enemies.
Our Master paid for us.
Even if we are free, we still need a Savior. We are still designed for relationship with God as our Father. We are still built for His glory. We are not our own.
We long to worship.
Christianity needs to be a thriving relationship with God filled with the Holy Spirit and all the incredible blessings He has given us. We need to be so filled up that the Holy Spirit forces out evil.
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit gives us "living water."
Paul says that we have been raised with Christ, which means we are a new creation, born again with all the sin of our lives dead and gone.
Transformation always begins in our thoughts.
When Jesus told His listeners to "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2), He did not simply mean "feel terrible for your wickedness now that I'm here." Repent doesn't only mean to turn away but to change one's mind and start agreeing with God.
Jesus Christ is the One who can set us free, not just when we get to heaven, but increasingly so right here on earth.
God will hold us accountable for how we manage our minds and handle our hearts.
One of the precious tools God has provided is supernatural protection for His children. The apostle Paul called it the armor of God in Ephesians 6:11-18.
Lance Hahn is the senior pastor of Bridgeway Christian Church in Rocklin, California. His first book, How to live in fear mastering the Art of Freaking Out, Chronicles his personal struggles with panic disorders and offers tools for thriving through fear. A popular speaker who enjoys writing, Lance is a husband to Suzi and father to two daughters.
In fact, the Master has a whole different list of attributes in mind for us: hope, strength, beauty, joy, love, creativity, freedom, power, peace, patience, goodness, laughter, organization, effectiveness, and purpose.
Between the flesh, the world, and the Devil, we don't know what to think, and, therefore, our lives are filled with hurt, pain, and regret.
Jesus died to save us from our sins and set us free. He made a way for our souls to be rescued from our enemies.
It's time to return to the Master's Mind.
In approximately AD 31, Jesus Christ of Nazareth was asked the seemingly impossible question: "What is the greatest commandment of God?" Jesus simply replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength."
If we can master our minds and bring our thoughts into alignment with the Lord's will and perspective, the rest of our lives will follow suit.
Praise the Lord that He has told us who He is, who we are in the light of Him, and what we have been placed on this earth to do.
God does the rescuing and the saving. Our job is to steward what He has given us.
What we think determines our action. Martin Luther King Jr. determined that he would not rest until all people were viewed as God intended - equal. Mother Teresa determined that the poor would not be forgotten. Our Lord Jesus Christ walked His entire life on earth with a focus on completely obeying His heavenly Father, including the determination to end up on the cross to save us from our sins, as we see in this passage from Luke: "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).
The Bible tells us of an ancient high-ranking official who made a personal choice that would dictate the rest of his life and effectiveness. His name was Naaman, and he was a Syrian army commander who had leprosy, a terrible skin disease. Knowing that he was desperate for healing, his little servant girl told him of a prophet in Israel who could heal him by God's power. Figuring that it was worth a shot, Naaman went to see the prophet Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to tell Naaman that he would be healed if he washed seven times in the Jordan River.
Naaman was furious. He believed that the prophet was simply going to "call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure" him (2 Kings 5:11). When things didn't go the way he thought they should, he stormed off in a rage.
His attendant hurried after him and convinced him to reconsider. Sure, washing seven times was unorthodox, but what if it could heal him?
He relented - and came out healed from leprosy.
Naaman's false assumptions, ignorant thoughts, and prideful heart almost cost him his healing. What are we believing today that is keeping us from God's best?
It's true of God: Isaiah 14:24 tells us, "The LORD of hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand."
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. (Acts 17:26)
Before the New York firefighters and police officers ran into the collapsing Twin Towers on the fateful day of 9/11, they thought about it. Their heroic choice to risk their lives to protect others from a burning building was the result of truly stunning thoughts: Their job is to rescue others and put them before themselves. They would not let fear dictate their response.
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasures produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who was explaining that our characters and beliefs determine the lives we live. Doing one thing on the outside doesn't make up for thinking another on the inside.
And when it comes to matters of faith, we spend the majority of our energy on sin management, completely avoiding the core issues. We'll never experience transformation until we address the thoughts at the root of our problems.
Bad thinking is dangerous. Wrong thinking can keeps us ineffective, wasting time on things that aren't important instead of living the lives God has for us.
Paul wrote in Romans about the distorted thinking common to humans and the consequences it brings. Since our sin nature is rooted in how we think our thoughts continue to be the primary block between us and God.
Jesus spoke about lust being equated with adultery.
Adam and Eve were the best of us: unadulterated humanity, good, pure, and perfect. But the day they ate the fruit that God told them not to eat, all of that changed. With their rebellion, sin entered the world and chaos was unleashed.
If you do not know the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love He demonstrated on the cross by dying for your sins, now is the time to engage with that truth.
God knows our plight. He knows we are hopelessly lost. When Adam and Eve threw away our birth right, He launched a redemption plan. The plan came to fruition approximately two thousand years ago, when God entered humanity and joined us where we were, in all our messiness. Doing all that we could not do, the God-man, Jesus Christ, offered up His perfect life - not only to satisfy our debt sin, but also to trade with us, the lost, so that we might be found and set free. We acknowledge that He is the King and His way is right. We offer open rights in which He can dwell by the power of His Holy Spirit so that we are never alone - not now, not ever.
"The most important thing about us is not what we do, but who and whose we are in Christ."
All He asks is that we stop fighting and let Him do what He does best - be our Savior and King. Paul the apostle wrote, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God" ((Romans 5:1-2).
By definition, grace is "undeserved favor." Grace isn't earned; rather, it's given out of the goodness of someone else's heart.
Grace even cuts at the heart of the oldest and greatest of sin: pride. The same sin that caused the fall of Lucifer stirs in our souls. Once grace takes hold again, we experience peace.
God is working in us, and we can have faith in that process. But we also need to be aware of the biggest enemy of them all: the Devil.
The Devil is real, and he's a bad guy. He introduced the sin that brought down our world, he's a bully who picks on us every day, and he doesn't fight fair.
Listen to the apostle Peter: "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith" (1 Peter 5:8-9).
Sin takes us from where we should be to where we should not be. Sin ruins our thoughts and poisons our hearts.
Sin is godlessness.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Therefore, God will never lead someone to sin; doing so goes against His very nature. He will test believers by putting them through difficult training that will strengthen them and reveal their current conditions (like a refiner's fire).
Satan seeks to harm.
God's intention is always for believers to emerge from a trial better than when they started, either in strength or in knowledge. He promises that every situation will have a way out - an escape hatch that can be utilized through obedience.
As we've seen, the Bible says that Jesus was tempted, yet was without sin. It also says, "In your anger do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26 NIV).
Acting on sin is temptation.
Praise the Lord that He is with us and that the Holy Spirit is helping us navigate all of this!
Nebuchadnezzar made a name for himself as a warrior king. He won the famous battle of Carchemish against the Egyptians the year he was called to throne. He fused his alliance with the Medes by marriage and expanded his territory by military force until he controlled much of the Middle East and all the trade routes across Mesopotamia.
He was so impressive that Saddam Hussein sought to claim his reincarnated personality. Hussein named one of his guard divisions after the ancient king and began rebuilding ancient Babylon in his honor, inscribing on the bricks, "To king Nebuchadnezzar in the reign of Hussein."
This great and powerful king lost his mind.
God leveled Nebuchadnezzar for pride and arrogance, and once that was done, he lifted his hand immediately and miraculously. Nevertheless, his story reminds us that even the might fall sometimes, and no mind is invulnerable.
Everybody remembers Mister Rogers' Neighbor right? But did you know that it aired from 1968 to 2001, produced 895 episodes, and earned four Emmy awards?
There's a reason that a Presbyterian reverend from Pennsylvania received the coveted Peabody Award, the Ralph Lowell Award, more than forty honorary degrees, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He wanted to use children's imaginations as God intended them - to think through new perspectives.
You and I are precious - and so is every human on earth.
On the day Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they sold their souls to the Enemy.
Jesus Christ needed to come to set us free. We are free to become what He created us to be and not be forced into the mold of our enemies.
Our Master paid for us.
Even if we are free, we still need a Savior. We are still designed for relationship with God as our Father. We are still built for His glory. We are not our own.
We long to worship.
Christianity needs to be a thriving relationship with God filled with the Holy Spirit and all the incredible blessings He has given us. We need to be so filled up that the Holy Spirit forces out evil.
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit gives us "living water."
Paul says that we have been raised with Christ, which means we are a new creation, born again with all the sin of our lives dead and gone.
Transformation always begins in our thoughts.
When Jesus told His listeners to "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2), He did not simply mean "feel terrible for your wickedness now that I'm here." Repent doesn't only mean to turn away but to change one's mind and start agreeing with God.
Jesus Christ is the One who can set us free, not just when we get to heaven, but increasingly so right here on earth.
God will hold us accountable for how we manage our minds and handle our hearts.
One of the precious tools God has provided is supernatural protection for His children. The apostle Paul called it the armor of God in Ephesians 6:11-18.
Lance Hahn is the senior pastor of Bridgeway Christian Church in Rocklin, California. His first book, How to live in fear mastering the Art of Freaking Out, Chronicles his personal struggles with panic disorders and offers tools for thriving through fear. A popular speaker who enjoys writing, Lance is a husband to Suzi and father to two daughters.
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Stand - Book Review
Staying Balanced with Answers for Real Teen Life
The advice offered herein does not constitute a substitute for professional treatment, therapy, or other types of professional advice & intervention. The author nor publisher does not assume any responsibility for use of these materials & information.
Stand:
a. An attitude toward a particular issue, a position taken in an argument
b. Have or maintain an upright position, supported by one's feet
c. Withstand an experience or test without being damaged
When a guy is controlling, checks your phone, manipulative or a cheater, he is not Christ-like & he is not for you. We are reminded in 2 Corinthians 6:14 that we are not to be "yoked together" with unbelievers. In biblical times, a yoke was used to keep oxen together when they would plow the fields.
Cute guys don't always have cute character. Proverbs 27:19 says, "As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart." We know a person's heart by the way they live. You may be dating a cute guy, but does he treat you one way in private & another way in public?
When a guy truly cares about you, he will treat you with the same respect & adoration in public that he does in private.
Don't "sugar coat" how you feel & state upfront that you are only interested in being friends.
When your friends motives are pure, he can see things in other guys that you may not see & help protect you from making a mistake.
It is okay to say, "NO!"
Taking Out the Trash: "A woman is not written in braille. You don't have to touch her to know her." - Unknown
Why is it so important that we keep our morals? Our study group would like to assure you EVERYONE IS DOING IT. The girls in our study group have made a commitment to save themselves for their husbands.
You must be the one that is worthy of the chase.
In case you're still tempted to experiment with sex outside of marriage, knowing that approximately 750,000 teenagers get pregnant every year may help yu reconsider ("Teen Pregnancy Facts"). If you fantasize about quitting EVERYTHING in your life to take care of someone else for the next 18 years, you are definitely in the minority. I have never spoken to an unmarried teen who said, "I'm so glad I got pregnant." Their friends eventually went off to college & they were left alone. Contrary to what "Hollywood" promotes, most guys do NOT stay with or marry the teen mother of their child.
God loves you & you will never find a love greater than His.
Compromising your morals & your values is going too far.
So what if we've already messed up. I've got good news! Jesus Christ gave His life so that we can be healed from past mistakes. He can forgive you & give you a new start TODAY when you ask HIM for one. This is what His grace is all about. We've all messed up, & we all need forgiveness. Don't allow shame to tell you it's too late to start over. THAT IS A LIE. God wants to walk with you into every situation in your life. I John 1:9 say's, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful & just to forgive us & PURIFY us." He can restore the purity you have lost & make you a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). He loves you & has great plans just for you when you turn away from making your own decisions & allow Him to help you make the right ones.
Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times." Friendship is an "equal opportunity" relationship, & both friends must take responsibility for the friendship to work.
Communication is crucial in friendship because when we stop talking, problems arise.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. I Peter 4:8
Trust is a key characteristic in friendship.
God NEVER Changes!
ask God to till the hole that is there with the "high" only He can give.
Choices are life-changing.
It's our job to share the truth. It's God job to do the changing.
Beating the Bullies: Your values doesn't decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth. Idiot. Ugly. Fat. Loser. For most of us, nothing is more painful than rejection. Bullies feed on their victims reactions such as hurt, fear, insecurity, & weakness. God did not design us to be mistreated or bullied. Bullies do not get to defines us, GOD does.
The most important thing you must DO is to notify your parents & health officials immediately after the rape occurs, whether it is by a boyfriend, family member or a stranger.
Shannon Perry is an author, conference speaker, recording artist & TV host. She worked in the public school system for over fourteen years as a school teacher & counselor before entering full-time ministry. She helped create an Anti-bullying program which is still used by one of the largest school systems in America. She has one son who is a Captain in the U.S. Air Force.
She is the creator of the "In Her Shoes" Conference written especially for Moms & their teen daughters.
The advice offered herein does not constitute a substitute for professional treatment, therapy, or other types of professional advice & intervention. The author nor publisher does not assume any responsibility for use of these materials & information.
Stand:
a. An attitude toward a particular issue, a position taken in an argument
b. Have or maintain an upright position, supported by one's feet
c. Withstand an experience or test without being damaged
When a guy is controlling, checks your phone, manipulative or a cheater, he is not Christ-like & he is not for you. We are reminded in 2 Corinthians 6:14 that we are not to be "yoked together" with unbelievers. In biblical times, a yoke was used to keep oxen together when they would plow the fields.
Cute guys don't always have cute character. Proverbs 27:19 says, "As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart." We know a person's heart by the way they live. You may be dating a cute guy, but does he treat you one way in private & another way in public?
When a guy truly cares about you, he will treat you with the same respect & adoration in public that he does in private.
Don't "sugar coat" how you feel & state upfront that you are only interested in being friends.
When your friends motives are pure, he can see things in other guys that you may not see & help protect you from making a mistake.
It is okay to say, "NO!"
Taking Out the Trash: "A woman is not written in braille. You don't have to touch her to know her." - Unknown
Why is it so important that we keep our morals? Our study group would like to assure you EVERYONE IS DOING IT. The girls in our study group have made a commitment to save themselves for their husbands.
You must be the one that is worthy of the chase.
In case you're still tempted to experiment with sex outside of marriage, knowing that approximately 750,000 teenagers get pregnant every year may help yu reconsider ("Teen Pregnancy Facts"). If you fantasize about quitting EVERYTHING in your life to take care of someone else for the next 18 years, you are definitely in the minority. I have never spoken to an unmarried teen who said, "I'm so glad I got pregnant." Their friends eventually went off to college & they were left alone. Contrary to what "Hollywood" promotes, most guys do NOT stay with or marry the teen mother of their child.
God loves you & you will never find a love greater than His.
Compromising your morals & your values is going too far.
So what if we've already messed up. I've got good news! Jesus Christ gave His life so that we can be healed from past mistakes. He can forgive you & give you a new start TODAY when you ask HIM for one. This is what His grace is all about. We've all messed up, & we all need forgiveness. Don't allow shame to tell you it's too late to start over. THAT IS A LIE. God wants to walk with you into every situation in your life. I John 1:9 say's, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful & just to forgive us & PURIFY us." He can restore the purity you have lost & make you a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). He loves you & has great plans just for you when you turn away from making your own decisions & allow Him to help you make the right ones.
Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times." Friendship is an "equal opportunity" relationship, & both friends must take responsibility for the friendship to work.
Communication is crucial in friendship because when we stop talking, problems arise.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. I Peter 4:8
Trust is a key characteristic in friendship.
God NEVER Changes!
ask God to till the hole that is there with the "high" only He can give.
Choices are life-changing.
It's our job to share the truth. It's God job to do the changing.
Beating the Bullies: Your values doesn't decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth. Idiot. Ugly. Fat. Loser. For most of us, nothing is more painful than rejection. Bullies feed on their victims reactions such as hurt, fear, insecurity, & weakness. God did not design us to be mistreated or bullied. Bullies do not get to defines us, GOD does.
The most important thing you must DO is to notify your parents & health officials immediately after the rape occurs, whether it is by a boyfriend, family member or a stranger.
Shannon Perry is an author, conference speaker, recording artist & TV host. She worked in the public school system for over fourteen years as a school teacher & counselor before entering full-time ministry. She helped create an Anti-bullying program which is still used by one of the largest school systems in America. She has one son who is a Captain in the U.S. Air Force.
She is the creator of the "In Her Shoes" Conference written especially for Moms & their teen daughters.
Monday, May 13, 2013
We Will Have Consequences of Our Sin/Wrong Doing ... 8/9/2007
Psalm 18 . King David. Sin . El Elyon . Pray . Tragedy . Sunday School Lesson . Book of Job . Ezekiel 18 . Suffering . Storms . Jesus . Lord . Repent . Ezekiel/Yehezkel
The below is not a new article, but an article I shared at a website 8/9/2007.
I pray that we have been seriously in prayer for all the Tragedy that have taken placed. Is The Most High God - El Elyon Sleep? No HE is not. Genesis 14:18 - 20, Isaiah 14:14b.
And yes my heart has been heavy this week from all that I could see going on but I know that angels are holding back the 4 winds of heaven (Revelation 7:1). Keep praying and look up. (My newsletters will not be this lengthy every week)
My Sunday School lesson notes is coming first in this newsletter and I do pray that someone is encouraged, helped in their christian walk, their personal walk, their job, their career and their business walk.
I am still looking at the Book of Job. As Job we are to trust God through the storms/the things we do not understand.
All suffering/storms do not mean that someone has done something wrong it can be "tests." Do we have the patience of Job? Matthew 8:23-27 Tells me about the Disciples and Jesus in the storm. Jesus does have the power to speak and yes even the wind/storm/sea will obey HIM.
Angela's Sunday School Lesson Notes for 8-12-07
Devotional Reading - Psalm 18:20 - 24
Background Scripture - Ezekiel 18
We Will Have Consequences of Our Sin/Wrong Doing
Psalm 18: 20 - 24
A Psalm of David, who spoke unto the LORD, that the LORD would deliver him from the hand of all his enemies
verse 20 - Obeying God, Rewards of Obedience
verse 21, 22, 23 - Obeying God, Examples of Obedience
verse 24 - Works of God, Their Prosperity
Ezekiel 18:4, 20 - 23, 30 - 32
Ezekiel/Yehezkel (name meaning strengthen by God) He was a prophet, and his wife took sick and she died. His message was twofold (1) coming destruction (2) comfort and looking for the Kingdom of God.
verse 4 - Behold, """all"""" souls are mine; - God the absolute owner of man
verse 20 - Other sins not to be suffered for
verse 21, 22 - Repentance, Encouragement to repentance, promises to the penitent(those who repent from sin/wrong doing)
verse 23, 31, 32 - The Purposes of God, Has no pleasure in their death
verse 30 - Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the LORD God.
"Repent," and "turn" yourselves all your transgressions (sins/wrong doing); - Repentance, Repentance a Duty
Scripture reference taken from Crusade Publishers, Inc. Mt. Juliet, Tn
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