Pastor Jim continues his series on Sanctification and the four ingredients to spiritual growth: (2 Chronicles 7:14)
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
– 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
Living to Please God
As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.
– 1 Thessalonians 4:1 (NIV)
- Josiah
- Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
- Jehoiakim
- The son of Josiah king of Judah. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and is known for burning Jeremiah’s scroll which contained the word of God. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.
Instructions for Christian Living
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
– Ephesians 4:17-27 (NIV)
Who is the Devil?
- Diabolos (dee-ab’-ol-os) – Adjective
- 1. prone to slander, slanderous, accusing falsely, a calumniator, false accuser, slanderer,
- 2. metaph. applied to a man who, by opposing the cause of God, may be said to act the part of the devil or to side with him
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
– Revelation 12:10 (NIV)
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
– 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
– 2 Timothy 2:25-26 (NIV)
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
– Psalms 66:16-18 (NIV)
If we harbor sin in our hearts, willful sin, and say I don’t believe something is a sin after the Lord has already stated it to be a sin, then He will no longer listen to our prayers according to the scriptures.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
– 1 John 3:6-8 (NIV)
26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
– 2 Timothy 2:26 (NIV)
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
– John 6:38 (NIV)
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
– Romans 12:2 (NIV)
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
– Revelation 12:10 (NIV)
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
– 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NIV)
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
– 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
– John 10:10 (NIV)
Things to Remember:
- When we become Christians we no longer get to live our lives the way we are used to living our lives, There should be a difference, and we should be changing for the better on a day to day basis.
- We should have a repentant heart after we sin.
- We are called to be different. We are called to be sanctified. We are called to live a life that reflects that of our heavenly father. We are called NOT to be conformed any longer to this world, but to be transformed.
- Would you rather be right, or reconciled.