lusts

January 13, 2022

“…And We Hated Each Other.”

3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. — Titus 3:3 NLT

Titus 3:3-7 NLT

We should always remember that all of us were once sinners and slaves to sin.  We lived ungodly lives satisfying the ungodly desires of our flesh.  We wasted our lives chasing after earthly pleasures that fade away with the dark of night. But, Jesus Christ, through His mercy died for us and we have been justified by His grace. We could not and can not do anything to save ourselves. So, we need to keep those thoughts in mind and always live our life remembering that we owe a debt of love that we can never repay.  We need to thank God many times every day for all that He  has done and is doing for each of us.  We can show our gratitude by telling the old, old story that is still true today. We were born in sin and needed a Savior. Jesus is our Savior and our Lord. The story never changes. Tell it to those God puts in your path today. And tell it with love.  Let our thoughts, words and actions lift up Jesus.  We live in a fallen world filled with lost people looking for an answer to their feelings of loneliness and worthlessness. Our lifestyles should show them that there is only one answer and that is Jesus.

John 3:14-17 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Advertisement
January 3, 2022

“For God In All His Fullness…”

19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, — Col. 1:19 NLT

COL. 1:15-22 NLT

What an  amazing God and what amazing grace! He made a creature that He knew He would have to die to redeem from sin.  He gave up all of His glory and chose to live among such lowly, filthy creatures.  Creatures consumed by sin and fleshly lusts.  He suffered persecution, bore our sins in His sinless body and endured beatings so that by His stripes we could be healed.  He could have stopped there but He didn’t.  He died a shameful death on a cross for our sins, was resurrected and lives in heaven interceding for us there at the right hand of God.  He could have stopped there but He didn’t.  He came back as a Spirit to abide inside of us so that we who chose to accept Him as our Savior would never be alone.

27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.— Col. 1:27 NLT

GOD IN CHRIST AND CHRIST IN US!  AMAZING GRACE!

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

November 7, 2019

“Foolish and Disobedient”

3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. — Titus 3:3 NLT

Titus 3:1-7 NLT

Repentance is feeling remorse for our wrong actions, But, in a Biblical sense, it goes much deeper than that. It requires not only feeling remorse and turning away from our old lifestyle but it requires us to turn to something new and different. That something new is a holy lifestyle. We place ourselves under a new authority. We turn from being led by our flesh to being led by God’s Holy Spirit. His leading will cause us to submit to those put in authority over us in the home, the church, the workplace, school. and society. We should no longer use foul language or be quarrelsome. Remember that we were once slaves to all kinds of lust and pleasures. We were mean-spirited and jealous. Lovers of ourselves and haters of everyone else. Sometimes we might think, “Oh, I was never that way”. If we truly believe that then we would also have to believe that Jesus died in vain. But we know that God gave His only Son to save us. Not because we deserve it, but just because He loves us. We walk in the Spirit, but sometimes we need to be reminded of where we once were.

1 “Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance—
    all who seek the Lord!
Consider the rock from which you were cut,
    the quarry from which you were mined. – Isaiah 51:1

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 11-07-2019

July 26, 2017

Dreams or Imaginations?

even-smaller-bug-light1

8 In the same way, these people—who claim authority from their dreams—live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. ​ – Jude 8 NLT

God does use visions and dreams to direct His people, but we have to be very careful when we are determining if a dream or vision is from God. In Joel 2:28, God says that this will happen in the latter days and then it is quoted in Acts 2:15. But if a dream, vision, or prophecy is from God, it will not contradict Scripture in any way. So, if anything the dreamer, visionary or prophet says contradicts the Bible, then we must refute the entire message they are bringing. Any half truth is all lie. The false prophets use dreams and visions to mislead people into all kinds of sin and misconduct. They are deceived by the lusts of their own flesh and they try to lead others astray as well. Their consciences have become “seared over”, so they feel no guilt about anything they say or do. They use this to obtain money, power, and positions. They will perish in their rebellion and so will those who are deceived and follow after this new “religion”. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He said “it is finished”, there won’t be another Messiah coming, so when people say Jesus is here and Jesus is there, don’t follow after them. God has instructed us to add nothing and to take nothing away from the Scriptures that He has breathed into being. So, if their visions, dreams and prophecies can’t be verified by Scripture, then don’t believe them and don’t follow after them.


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 07-26-2017

April 15, 2017

True Repentance

even-smaller-bug-light1

3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. — Titus 3:3


Repentance is feeling remorse for our wrong actions, But, in a Biblical sense, it goes much deeper than that. It requires not only feeling remorse and turning away from our old lifestyle but it requires us to turn to something new and different. That something new is a holy lifestyle. We place ourselves under a new authority. We turn from being led by our flesh to being led by God’s Holy Spirit. His leading will cause us to submit to those put in authority over us in the home, the church, the workplace, school. and society. We should no longer use foul language or be quarrelsome. Remember that we were once slaves to all kinds of lust and pleasures. We were mean-spirited and jealous. Lovers of ourselves and haters of everyone else. Sometimes we might think, “Oh, I was never that way”. If we truly believe that then we would also have to believe that Jesus died in vain. But we know that God gave His only Son to save us. Not because we deserve it, but just because He loves us. We walk in the Spirit, but sometimes we need to be reminded of where we once were.
 
“Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance—
    all who seek the Lord!
Consider the rock from which you were cut,
    the quarry from which you were mined. — Isaiah 51:1 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 04-15-2017

January 11, 2017

Teach With Kindness

even-smaller-bug-light1

 22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. — 2 Timothy 2:22 NASB
2 Timothy 2:22-26 NASB
 
If we worship God with a pure heart, it will cause us to want to pursue faith. love, and peace. One of the quickest ways to turn a non-believer away is to get involved in discussions about doctrines and whether to eat meat, smoke or drink. We must be kind and lead them into a discussion about salvation. Until a person accepts Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior, the rest of the Scripture is and will be a mystery to them. We are to offer them Jesus. Once they have accepted Him, God’s Holy Spirit comes to abide in them. It is His job to lead us and them into all truth. As we listen to His quiet, gentle voice, our hearts will turn to the Lord and we will follow Him because we love Him, not out of an obligation to do so. God’s Holy Spirit will free us from the snares of the devil and teach us God’s will.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 01-11-2017

December 12, 2014

“Give Me Another Drink of That Living Water of Life”

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “If you are thirsty, come to me! 38 If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within.” 39 (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.) 40​ ​When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “This man surely is the Prophet.” 41​ ​Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? —John 7:37-4​1​ (NLT)
Jesus tells the crowd the same thing He had told the Samaritan woman at the well. There is water which we can drink and never be thirsty again. This water is the living water which is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. The One that takes up His abode in us, so that we are always being filled and refilled, so that we could never be thirsty. Just as the woman at the well had accepted this message, so did some of the crowd here in Jerusalem. They said “this man surely is the prophet”. But others said He can’t be, the Messiah will not come from Galilee. There will always be people who refuse to believe regardless of the signs or the situation. But, instead of being puzzled as to why they don’t believe, we should remember our own history before we accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit—Titus ​3​:3-5 (NLT)
​Because we have been redeemed by God’s grace and mercy, we should remember to always be thankful and pray that others will accept this free gift of God’s mercy and grace.​ That is the work that God has given us to do as laborers in His harvest.
Post 12-12-14

September 25, 2014

In The World But Not of The World

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.​ 18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the anti​-christ is coming,​ ​even now many anti​​christs have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.—1 John 2:15-19 (NIV​)
​God is not in competition with anyone or anything in the world. He will not accept the position of the leader in the race, The only position He will accept is being the only One in the race. He is not in some game to be the first on our list, He wants to be the only One on our list. He wants us to love Him so much that there is nothing or no one that we would not give up for Him. After all, that is exactly what He did for us. He gave up His glory and His position in heaven and finally, His very life. Why should He accept anything less in return? The world and satan tempts us with things that please the lusts of the flesh, they tempt us with our desires for beautiful possessions that please the eyes and they tempt us with power and positions that cause pride in our lives. We cannot love both, either we love Jesus or we love mammon. The time for the return of the true Christ is closer now than ever. We see and will continue to see wickedness in the world and more wickedness in high, spiritual places. We see people that we have respected in positions of leadership who have failed and we must arrive at the same conclusion that John did. If they had truly been one of us, they would have remained with us, but their going showed they did not belong with us.
Post 09-25-14

October 22, 2013

What’s the Use?

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.


Malachi 3:13-15 (NLT) 13 “You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’ 14 “You have said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins? 15 From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.’”
Have you ever experienced those feelings? You know, the ones where the devil comes to you and says something like this: “Look at that person over there, they don’t follow God’s commands and look how prosperous they are?” Or perhaps, he said: “Look how much fun they are having, they party all the time and indulge their fleshly lusts and it doesn’t look like God is punishing them? Been there, done that. And when I say “done that”, I mean the “party hardy” life. After committing my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I also know the feeling of watching others prosper while living that old lifestyle. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
But , you know what? I wouldn’t go back to that lifestyle. The view through the bottom of a glass might be great tonight, but what about tomorrow? You are still going to have the same problems plus a hangover. There is no relief in drugs or illicit sex. There is a perceived relief while you are participating in these things, but what about long-term? Aren’t you really looking for a Solid Rock to stand on? Aren’t you tired of walking on the slippery paths of deception? Do you really want to dig your way out of another mire of quicksand? Aren’t you really looking for long-term peace? The kind of peace that, even though you are cold sober, lets you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow every night? The kind of peace that causes you to look forward to tomorrow morning and every day thereafter? Isn’t that what your heart and soul desire?
Then talk with those who fear (have a respectful awe of) the Lord? They can tell you how to find it. If they don’t ask you, then you should ask them about Jesus. They can tell you how to break the chains of bondage and be set free from satan and his insatiable demands. They can tell you about a Savior that satisfies you instead of you having to meet his demands. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. So light, in fact, that most days it won’t even seem like a burden. Take the time to ask Jesus and He will set you free. Those that the Son of God sets free are free indeed!
Post 10/22