"Love me tender, love me true" were the words of one of the ballads sung long ago by Elvis Presley. As I was thinking on the words of that song, I could picture Jesus singing it to us…and hopefully, us singing it to Him! But, in the real world of today, there is an awful lot of hate, murder, and barbarism going on. How can we then love those who are so full of evil; those who are bent on our destruction? Jesus has the answer. He was a “grace dispensing machine”, and that is exactly what we must strive to be. Instead of being like a bug exterminator, spray-stomp-spray-stomp, when it comes to sin, we must be more like perfume in the room and bring the refreshing truth of a life in Jesus Christ. Jesus never condoned evil – He never turned a blind eye to it – but He was always ready to forgive it. As was once said, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love least”. Jesus honored the dignity of every single person, whether He agreed with them or not, and so must we. Do not let the constant struggle of today’s modern world put you into a divisive existence. Let the complete, pure, “agape” love of God rule in all you do. (John 15:12, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8) (Listen to entire sermon below.) If you have never put your complete faith in Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation, why not believe what God's word says and call on Jesus Christ to save you right now? Click here and let us show you how you can KNOW JESUS.
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Temptations, even though a bad thing, can really be a good thing. When you are tempted, it exposes the weaknesses still within you. And, boy, are there a lot of areas of temptations – hatred, anger, disappointment, unkind acts, jealousy, selfishness, etc., as well as the old stand-by, sensual lust. News flash though – the temptation is not the sin, giving in to the temptation is the sin. In our sermon, we will discuss the reasons why God uses temptations:
To further our understanding of temptations, we will also discuss the stages of temptation:
(Hmm—those look mighty familiar, don’t they?) But God never reveals something that He does not show a way of escape. There are steps out of temptation:
Thank You, Lord, for saving our souls. Jesus is truly the only way out of this mess…take it! (Listen to entire sermon below.) If you have never put your complete faith in Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation, why not believe what God's word says and call on Jesus Christ to save you right now? Click here and let us show you how you can KNOW JESUS. I grew up hearing those words…and most of you probably did, too. If you practice being angry, you’ll get really good at being angry. The same goes for selfishness, impatience, judgment, hatred, etc. God tells us to reject those areas and, instead, opt to practice kindness, trust, self-control, etc. But here is where the warning comes…YOU CAN’T MEET GOD’S MEASURE in those areas! Only the Spirit of God can meet the measure of God. So, in order to meet His expectations, you need to have Him inside of you. He tells us that if we walk by the Spirit, we cannot sin. Whew—that’s a relief. But it will take practice letting Him rule and not your broken nature. So start practicing God’s way…you’ll get really good at it! References: Romans 12:9-21, Galatians 5:1, 16-25 (Listen to entire sermon below.) If you have never put your complete faith in Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation, why not believe what God's word says and call on Jesus Christ to save you right now? Click here and let us show you how you can KNOW JESUS. We continue with James 1:13 – here James tells us the sources of temptations. His main message is this: Don’t blame anyone but yourself! “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” (James 1:14) We don’t want to admit it, but we have to face the fact that our Adam nature leans towards sin and the only way out of that is to have the nature of God inside of you. You don’t automatically have that, it’s a gift, you have to humble yourself and ask God to forgive you of your sins and invite Him inside. That’s usually the stopping point for many people…they just don’t see that what they are doing is wrong – hmm…isn’t that the problem with being in the dark – you can’t see! James 2 then gives us the good news that faith removes discrimination. Sweet! God will take you, rich or poor, no matter what color or ethnic group, no matter what belief system you have had jammed down your throat. He will forgive you and take you as His own. You may not stay rich or poor but, for sure, your “belief system” will change to His system. The truth will surely set you free. Not free to sin, but to serve God and each other in holiness. That holiness coming from God will set you up for happiness. It doesn’t work the other way around. You can seek this whole world for happiness and it will never get you holiness…only Jesus Christ can do that. (Listen to entire sermon below.) If you have never put your complete faith in Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation, why not believe what God's word says and call on Jesus Christ to save you right now? Click here and let us show you how you can KNOW JESUS. © www.sharefaith.com We just love it when everything is going well and miracles are happening! How secure it feels when your wallet and your belly are full and no one is accosting you. Oh, but how quick we are to turn on God and shake a fist at Him when our idyllic setting takes a turn for the worse. We aren’t unique in responding this way either…the Old Testament has many accounts of God’s chosen people intensely trusting Him when He was doing outright miracles for them. But it always was only temporary…then the grumbling, complaining and distrust flowed back in them like a river. Are you like that? We don’t have to be. Stay immersed in God’s presence and instead of asking where He was ask yourself…where are YOU when things hurt. Are you right there with God or did you run away on the road of anger and bitterness? Read Psalm 3 when you get a chance…it’ll help. If you have never put your complete faith in Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation, why not believe what God's word says and call on Jesus Christ to save you right now? Click here and let us show you how you can KNOW JESUS. In reading the account of Mary and Martha, we learn a lot from Martha's teachable spirit. I'm afraid I tend to be more like Martha sometimes, thinking I have value because I am productive. But I have learned along the way that I have value simply because I belong to Christ. It's not so much what I do, it's who I am in Him! We also have some choices to make when we are corrected, rebuked, or chastened. We can receive it or we can refuse it. The Scriptures tell us to correct, rebuke and chasten one another - so what's our response to all this? Usually - rebellion ... "Don't tell me what to do!" Even if we don't say it out loud to the person correcting us, it is in our hearts and swimming around in our heads. We practically blow up holding back the anger at being chastened; an anger that is ready to explode out of our mouths (and, sadly, sometimes does). Read the Mary and Martha story in Luke 10:38-42 ... that was some correction Martha received! It doesn't go on to tell us what her response to Jesus was at that time, but we see her transformation into an obedient and worshipful woman in John 11:1-44 and John 12:1-11 ... a transformation we all need. Scriptures for today's lesson: Luke 10:38-42 John 11:1-44 John 12:1-11 2 Chronicles 24:19 Nehemiah 9:30 2 Timothy 3:7 James 1:22 Proverbs 3:12 Psalm 119:67-68 Hebrews 12:11 Psalm 51:1-17 Audio: (Click forward button below to play audio of sermon and/or download mp3 file.)
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