Folks…have fearless trust in God. Be encouraged, not discouraged, especially as we look at the world around us:
• Pretty unstable in many ways
• We have a steady moral decline underway
• The war-torn Middle East remains a threat
• Immigration control is out of control
• Terrorists still exist and are trying to breach our borders
• And on and on

Hmm, do you feel squeezed in all this? Remember though, God is not causing all of this confusion. But because He’s not stopping it, He’s doing something with it…squeezing those grapes! And if you’re squeezed by Him and not by your own stupid mistakes, you can count on some good wine coming forth. Now that I think of it, even in your own mistakes, “All things work for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose”. (Romans 8:28)

Some things are physical “squeezings” and you’re in control of a bit of it…your money, emergency preparations with clothing, water, food at the ready, loss of electric. And even in some of your control, you’ll still be squeezed!

Expect the pressing but look forward to the wine, so to speak. Don’t fear the squeezing or the times we are in:
• You may be the poured-out wine for someone else
• Your suffering may be the can opener God uses to get into someone else’s heart
• Perspective is everything…take a look at Psalm 27

Do not fear…nothing but success is ahead…onward Christian Soldiers!

EPHESIANS 4 - UNITY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST

​Ever notice how God so often talks about “team”, “no man is an island” stuff. He teaches us about the Body of Christ, the Church, the believers (plural), etc. But just a word of caution here…your salvation is not a team sport; you don’t get into the Kingdom of God on the team’s coat tails. Nope, your salvation is your personal and intimate relationship with Jesus. Make sure you are on His team first.

As I speak today on the unity in the body of Christ, it so reminds me of many of the principles in the military. Any of you who have been in the military will know what I mean.

Military leadership means that you:
• Inspire others
• Don’t just bark out commands
• Ensure that justice prevails
• Establish and promote programs that promote health and happiness (the military now calls it Resiliency Training)
• Pursue absolute integrity and honesty in thought, word and deed for yourself and those you lead
• Know your people
• Meet with them frequently and regularly
• Focus on areas that need to be improved
• Are accountable, thoroughly and accurately communicate and live by the Core Values
• Are not a know it all; are open to ideas, corrections and knowledge
• Are decisive and not wishy-washy
• Are consistent, not driven by good and bad hair days
• Are visible, with the people and don’t micromanage them
• Have high expectations and lead by example
• Take responsibility for things that fail and praise others when success prevails

Many of us have lived that, or at least tried our best; very difficult to do with only a broken Adam nature. These higher goals can only be reached by a higher nature inside.  So, ask Jesus inside and go from there!

Let’s take a look at God’s Army:

Ephesians 4:1-16: Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

BUT HOW?
• With all humility, gentleness, patience. Showing forbearance with one another in love (you are NOT the boss, bully or king!)
• Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, for there is one body and one Spirit (inspire others, ensure justice)
• Just as you were called in one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all
• But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift, He gave gifts to men
• He gave some as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers

BUT WHY?
For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ (like Basic Training!)

FOR HOW LONG?
• Until we all attain to the unify of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to the mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ (AIT, Air Staff and Command College, Air War College!)

TO WHAT RESULT?
• That we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming (be decisive and not wishy washy)
• But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ
• Jesus, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies (each and every one of us)
• According to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love

LEADERSHIP MESSAGE … YES, GO TEAM!

God bless you all.

​Your “robe of righteousness” was custom made for YOU…a gift of God. Don’t throw it off and put on the garments of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Isaiah 61:10: “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation; He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.”

• You may get out of trouble by lying
• You may get more money back on your income tax by cheating
• You may feel more loved in an adulterous relationship
• You may feel vindicated and relieved in anger
• You may feel victorious in revenge

But you’re still nowhere! Sort of like “the one who dies with the most toys…is still DEAD!

You may have all those things, but you’re still dead in unrighteousness.

What can you do? Break free and change clothes! Get on your face before God and ask for that “new life” and “new creature” existence with a “new robe of righteousness” that God tells us about.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21: “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Change means…
• NEW command
• NEW Covenant
• NEW and living way
• NEW heart
• NEW way of thinking, feeling and wanting

But what does that kind of change mean? Well, just a physical change – behavior modification, so to speak, is not what God is talking about. It is not about rules and religion – it’s about relationship with God. THAT is the change so many need to make.

Many people have grown up dutifully performing and participating in the religious ceremonies, celebrations and traditions of a “denomination” rather than as a “disciple” of the Lord. A church, a belief system or religious leaders often have had more of a direct influence on people than God Himself!

Romans, Chapters 6-8 – make sure you read those chapters sometime soon. They are RICH in telling us of: 
• The deliverance from sin
• Leading a balanced life
• The victory we have in the Spirit of God

But I will emphasize Romans 6:6 and 11-14: “…knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin…Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”

In Ephesians 4:22-24, we read, “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

And the “new man” must be put on, like a new set of clothes. 

Now, that takes a SPIRITUAL DECISIVENESS ON YOUR PART!

In finishing, this message of the new nature is not a dark and dire message…it is a message of supreme hope! The Spirit of God can accomplish a life-changing transformation for anyone who comes to Jesus and remains bound to Him.

Ephesians 1:13-14: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

Don’t go out with the old robe of unrighteousness with which you were born…but put on the robe of righteousness that God made for you and stand tall in His beauty. God bless!

God is putting the pieces together. Paul wrote to the church in Rome, "...do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."  (Romans 12:2)

The Greek word for transform is metamorphoo (meta, meaning change and morphe, form). In biology class, we learned that through metamorphosis a caterpillar changes into a butterfly, and a tadpole transforms into a frog. Likewise, when we come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we begin a lifelong journey requiring us to submit daily to the Holy Spirit who teaches us, enables us, and empowers us to be conformed and transformed into the image of Christ. Our mind is actually renewed to prove and know the good, acceptable,and perfect will of God.

Yes, it is a battle, a spiritual warfare to die to self and old habits and to live for Christ in the refreshing newness of the Holy Spirit. Paul's own words cry out in this struggle to put off the old man - "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" He answers his own question, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24, 25) You are like a complex puzzle - are you willing to let go and let God put the perfectly fashioned pieces together to transform you​ in 2018 and beyond?

​The next time you think God doesn’t love you or can’t use you, think on these things:

• Abraham was too old
• Isaac was a daydreamer
• Jacob was a liar
• Joseph was abused
• Rahab was a prostitute
• David had an affair and was a murderer
• Jonah ran from God
• Peter denied Christ
• The disciples fell asleep while praying
• The Samaritan woman was divorced more than once
• Paul was too religious
• And Lazarus was DEAD!!

You see, God IS love.

• 1 Peter 4:8—love covers a multitude of sin
• Galatians 5:13—through love, serve one another
• Hebrews 13:1—let the love of the brethren continue
• 1 John 4:7—love is from God
• Jude 21—keep yourselves in the love of God

But what is this “love” God talks about. It’s not the squishy, emotional feelings we have from the broken Adam nature. No way. The love God talks about is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. 

God’s kind of love:

• Is patient
• Is kind
• Is not jealous
• Does not brag
• Is not arrogant
• Does not act unbecomingly
• Does not seek its own
• Is not provoked
• Does not take into account a wrong suffered
• Rejoices with the truth
• Bears all things
• Hopes all things
• Endures all things
• Never fails

Broken humans can’t love like that. Only by inviting Jesus into your heart and letting HIS love come out through you, can we ever meet that measure. So, go on now…live an awesome life with an awesome God who loves YOU!

We have previously taught on five ways that God uses problems:
• To DIRECT you
• To INSPECT you
• To CORRECT you
• To PROTECT you
• To PERFECT you

So expect problems…just don’t judge others while they are in them…we really stink at it!

Religious people in Jesus’ day often judged Him and His disciples. But look how He answered them in the following scriptures…with wisdom and justice. That is our example…not hatred or demeaning or rejection.

Mt 9: 11-12, "And when the Pharisees saw this they said to His disciples, 'why is your Teacher eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners?' But when He heard this, He said, 'it is not those who are healthy who need a physician but those who are sick.'"

Mt 12:1-8 – "At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grain fields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, 'Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.' But He said to them, Have you not read what David did, when he became hungry, he and his companions; how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent? But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, "I desire compassion and not a sacrifice", you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.'"

Oswald Chambers said, “The Lord said, ‘Come to Me’, not ‘do this or don’t do that…but come to Me’. If you will simply come to Jesus, your real life will be brought into harmony with your real desires. You will actually cease from sin, and will find the song of the Lord beginning in your life. If you really want to experience ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus.

You have to let go of everything and deliberately commit it all to Him… ‘and I will give you rest…that is, I will sustain you.’ He is NOT saying, ‘I will put you to bed, hold your hand and sing you to sleep.’ Rather He is saying He will get us out of bed in our half-dead condition to give us majestic vitality and the power of the Son of God within.”

John 15:11 – "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

It’s NOT about a bunch of rules and legalism…it’s for freedom that He set us free. Freedom, not a free for all though!

So, don’t get caught up in evaluating and judging others…leave that to God.

YOU just come to Jesus and let Him take it from there…He’s REALLY good at what He does…and we’re not!

When Paul journeyed to Athens, he observed a city of Greeks who were religious and lost in idolatry. (Acts 17:16-34) "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever." It was "normal" to them. (See Romans 1:25)

In like manner, this godless and idolatrous mentality is upon us in our world today. Children are being born (multitudes out of wedlock and commitment to God) into a family/home environment where dysfunction, chaos, rebellion, and disobedience seem to be the "new normal" – that is all they know.

God's plan for a future of hope, peace, and eternal life through Jesus His Son are being mocked and discarded for temporary pleasures, lusts and selfish ambitions in serving the god of this world. It all seems so "normal." This mentality puts the child first, mother second, father (if in the home at all) third, and then last and least, the living God – the perfect equation for failure and despair.

​THERE IS HOPE, but only on God's terms. Paul made it clear to those in Athens that all everywhere should repent, for God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world THROUGH JESUS His Son, whom He raised from the dead.

God directed His prophet Ezekiel to speak these words o the rebellious house of Israel, "None of My words will be delayed any longer. Whatever word I speak will be performed, declares the Lord God." (Ezekiel 12:28)

God has made it clear that He alone is in control and has sovereign dominion and authority over time and space. His promises will not be delayed nor subverted by scorners who attempt to do so.

We are living in a time when lawlessness abounds, and the love of many is growing colder toward God and one another. "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ," and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved." (Matthew 24:4-13) The rebellious are deceived enough to think that God's promises "ain't gonna happen."

Peter addressed this maligned attitude. "Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.'"  (2 Peter 3:3,4)

Wake up doubters while there is still time, "For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay." (Habakkuk 2:3)

​Things have certainly changed since I was growing up in the 1950s-60s. The moral decline in this country is quite evident…at least to those who are looking!
 
What causes a nation to decline? Some steps that lead to that decline are:

• The people turn to blatant immorality and forget God
• Ungodly leaders arise
• Apathetic, uncommitted by-standers look on in silence

 
Wow! That certainly describes the last 30 years it seems. But I don’t want us to think that the sky is falling. God has given us instructions on how to live in this world and not do the lesser things of the world. And the more of us who live like that, the more likely we can make America Godly again.
 
If you read 1 Thessalonians 4:3-12, you’ll find eight steps on how to please God and turn a nation around.

1. Vs 1 – abstain from sexual immorality…what a novel idea!
2. Vs 4-5 – know how to possess your own vessel in sanctification and honor…work on yourself, not others
3. Vs 6 – don’t cheat on your fellow man
4. Vs 7-8 – no impurity…strive rather for integrity, truth, sobriety etc.
5. Vs 9-10 – love one another…forgive, forget, move on
6. Vs 11  - lead a quiet life…slow down
7. Vs 11b – not attend to your own business…don’t be a rescuer, learn to say “no”
8. Vs 11c – work with your hands (mow a lawn, cut a shrub, wash a car)…be a worker not a shirker

 
Summary:
 
Serve God — Serve Each Other — SAVE THE NATION!

​Why is the term used, “die to sin”? Well, just like physical diseases, we all were born with a “spiritual disease”, the Adam nature. God did not invent this broken nature. What God gave Adam and Eve was perfect and in alignment in all its ways. But what God did give was free will. You get to choose!

Adam chose all right…chose to listen to the deception from Satan and not the truth from God. God told them not to eat the fruit of a certain tree (the one of knowledge of good and evil) but only to eat of the tree of life. Once convinced by Satan’s deception that God would like it if they ate of the forbidden fruit…the deal went south and we have a broken nature passed on down and not the one God intended.

God never worries though when we fail Him. He had a plan from the start. Jesus came, sacrificed His life as ransom payment to God. You, accepting that new, free gift of salvation in Christ, will now be able to be restored to God. Bingo – God wins again!

But you say it’s too hard to follow what God says. No kidding, Sherlock! Your broken Adam nature will never be able to fully accomplish what has set out for you to do. You need the Jesus nature, the Spirit of God within. Once you ask Jesus to forgive you and actually give Him permission to reside in you, then you must go one step further and ask Him to reign in you.

Jesus is the example…you must do the same:
• He died and rose again…you must die to the broken nature and rise with the new nature of Christ
• He was insulted and belittled for righteousness and obedience…you must bear the same
• He endured unfair accusations…you must do the same
• He forgave those who wronged Him…you must do the same to those who have wronged you
• He sacrificed for others…so must you

You CAN do this because of what God tells us in Ezekiel 11:19: "And I shall give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh."

He died for you, now you die for Him so you can rise up a new creature.

Read over 2 Peter 1:5-11 for the true formula for success. God is with us.