The Wisdom of White Cats

The little sisters went into a room to play ball.

 “We must be careful not to wake the white cat,” the tall one spoke softly. 

“Or to spoil the roses,” the fat one whispered, “but throw high dear sister, or we shall never hit the ceiling.” 

“You dear children,” thought the white cat, “why do you come to play here at all?  Only just around the corner are the shady trees and the birds singing on the branches, and the sunshine flecking the pathway.  Who knows but what, out there your ball might touch the sky?  Here you will only disturb me, and perhaps spoil the roses, and at best you can but hit the ceiling!”

I came across this story a while back as I was preparing for my weekly English Free Talk class, and I thought that it spoke a great truth about human potential.  That truth is that we define the limits to our own potential.  Why place all of our energies in an area where we’re limited by our own natural abilities and talents?  We cannot exceed our own limitations on our own.  It is like being in a room and trying to hit the ceiling with the ball rather than changing the circumstances and making it possible to reach for the sky!  There is an aspect of human potential that makes it possible for us to exceed natural limitations; it’s called faith.  Today I want to post on “reaching for the sky.”

Mark 9:21-24 (NKJV)^9:21 So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. ²² And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." ²³ Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

Can You Believe?

I was inspired by the story of these sisters because it speaks about something I talk about frequently; self-limiting behavior.  Look at what our text says, “If you can believe, all things are possible.”  So the question is, “Can you believe?”

For example, do you have the faith to believe that if you tithe that God can help you to do as much with the remaining ninety percent, as you could with one hundred percent that isn’t blessed by God?  That’s a question of faith: With God all things are possible.”

Do you have faith to believe that you can fast for three days?  Can you believe that you can tap into God’s power through fasting?

Mark 9:27-29 (NKJV)^9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸ And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" ²⁹ So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."

Both of these are things that allow you transcend normal human abilities.  This is accessing the supernatural.  It’s what I mean by “Reaching for the sky!”  If the circumstances of your life make you think that what you need from God is impossible, then you are playing ball in a room where you will only reach the ceiling.  There are limits to what you can do.  There are limits to what can happen through your efforts.

If you exercise your faith through prayer and fasting you can remove the limits and the sky becomes something that’s within your reach.  Exercising your faith puts your circumstances in God’s hands:

Matthew 19:26 (NKJV)^19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

What really inspired this post was talking to people in my congregation about a three-day fast that was coming up.  I asked them individually, “Are you going to fast?”  I received a number of different responses, such as the following:

“I’ll fast at breakfast.” 

“I’m only going to fast on Tuesday.” 

“I have to work.” 

“No!”

My wife and I ended up being the only ones who fasted the entire three days.  I had offered options when I announced it, in an effort to encourage people to join with us and stretch the limits of their behavior.  “If you’ve never fasted maybe commit to one day or try to do what you can do!”  My intention was to get people to stretch themselves.  We had never had anyone commit to fasting with us in prior fasts.  The problem was I said “stretch yourself,” but everyone heard “you only have to fast for one day.”  The other thing I said was this: “Do you know what they call fasting without prayer?  Dieting.”  I was encouraging them to join us and pray, but no one did. 

I’m not complaining about it, I’m using this to illustrate how we “build a room” around our faith.  This is self-limiting behavior.  People wanted God to move.  People needed God to move but didn’t create an opportunity where God could move.  A move of God is activated by faith!

Think about this:

A woman comes to Jesus who’d had an issue of blood for twelve years.  She thinks, “If I can only touch His robe, I can be made well!”  She fights her way through the crowd; she reaches Him and touches the hem of his garment.  She’s literally lying on the ground grabbing his cloak.  What does Jesus say to her?  “Your faith has made you well.”

And there’s this:

A woman comes to Jesus; her daughter is demon possessed.  She’s not a Jew, she’s a Syro-phoenician woman; a pagan.  At first, Jesus tries to send her away.  He says, “It’s not right to give the children’s food to dogs.”  He’s saying this isn’t for you, it’s for the Jews.  The woman persists, “Even the little dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master’s table!”  Listen to His response: “Great is your faith – Let it happen as you want!”

Finally, there’s this:

A blind man hears a great commotion.  He finds out that Jesus is coming down the road.  He shouts out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Everybody tells him to be quiet, but he yells it again, even louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Jesus hears him, and asks, “What shall I do for you?”  The blind man asks for his sight.  Jesus says, “Go your way your faith has made you well.”

Faith is what makes the impossible, possible!  Without faith, you are limited to natural laws of physics.  You can only throw as high as your strength allows.  But with faith, you can grab a hold of the supernatural.  That means you can go beyond what is naturally possible.  You can throw as high as your faith allows.  You can even reach the sky!

What Does Your Faith Look Like?

In the biography of Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, there’s a story of Jobs recruiting a man to take the helm of Apple Computer.  He’s the CEO of Pepsico.  At first, the man turns him down.  The man is having a crisis.  He’s not sure he can move to California.  He doesn’t know what’s best for his children.  He’s wondering how taking on this failing company will help his career.  There were so many things to consider.  Finally, Jobs asks him, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?”  After all of this, he agreed to become Jobs’ successor.

All of these questions in his thinking:  All of these circumstances distracted him from his faith in himself.  We, as Christians, allow circumstances and our thinking about them, to distract from, and limit our faith in God.  That’s what the white cat in the opening illustration was talking about.  You have to be careful of waking the cat.  You have to be careful of spoiling the Roses.  It makes it difficult to reach the sky!  We sometimes are so focused on the cats and the roses in our own lives that we can’t break through in our faith.

This man that took over Apple computer almost threw away the opportunity to change the world by worrying about the things that would take care of themselves.

Matthew 6:30-33 (NKJV)^6:30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

When you act in faith then, “all these things shall be added to you!”  Victory comes through faith.  Great victory comes through great faith!

In 1 Samuel, chapters thirteen and fourteen, the Philistines have again attacked Israel.  Saul has taken six hundred men to meet them, but they’re hugely outnumbered and people are deserting.  Saul’s worried about these things:  “What happens if I lose?” “How can I keep things together with all these men leaving?”  So he sits under the pomegranate tree doing nothing.  He’s not moving.  He’s not preparing for the battle.  He’s just sitting there.  He represents the army of God, but he has no faith.  His lack of faith has paralyzed him.  There can be no victory without a fight!

How often are we like Saul?  We have a need but we just sit there doing nothing.  We even call that faith.  We don’t pray, we don’t fast, or we pray our little prayers and complain when it doesn’t happen right away.  There is the possibility that God is ready to move but we haven’t created an opportunity for God to move.  There’s also the possibility that God is moving but it doesn’t look like what we’re expecting, so we wait; just like Saul!

There is another side to this story, though.  Jonathan and his armor bearer are also there.  They’re on another flank.  They’re in a different area.  They are also greatly outnumbered.  There’s a garrison of Philistines.  A garrison is a fort.  This is their home ground.  Jonathan and his armor bearer are only two people, but Jonathan isn’t worried about distractions.  He’s not saying, “Oh dear, there are only two of us, how many can we possibly beat.  What will they do to us if we don’t win the battle?” 

Instead, he calls on God to show him what to do.  When God shows him, he does it!  God gives two men a great victory over the Philistines.  They couldn’t have done that on their own without faith!  With faith comes victory – With great faith comes great victory!

God Moves in the Supernatural!

I want you to see the last moments of the battle against the Philistines:

1 Samuel 14:13-16 (NKJV)^14:13 And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. ¹⁴ That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land. ¹⁵ And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling. ¹⁶ Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and there.

God brought an earthquake and the Philistines melted away!  God moved supernaturally to bring about the victory.  God moved in a way that Jonathan could not!

How many reading this are looking for a victory in some aspect of your life?  How many need a move of God in your finances; your love life; your health or your ___________? (fill in the blank!)  How many need something from God?  How many of you are willing to do what God says to do to get it?  Bring tithes into the storehouse; seek first the kingdom of God; this kind comes out with fasting and prayer;  “Your faith has made you well!” 

Are you throwing a ball and hitting the ceiling, or are you throwing it to reach the sky?  The things you think are impossible, aren’t impossible for God!  “With God all things are possible!”  We know that intellectually.  We can recite that scripture.  It’s easy to say, isn’t it?  We say it all the time, in fact, we have a banner in our church that says it in Chinese, but do we have the courage to live it?  You really can have victory in your life, but you have to have the courage to step out in faith because no faith equals no victory!  Remember the wisdom of the white cat.  Do you want to throw a ball to touch the ceiling or do you want to reach for the sky? 

God's Plan through Prison

We all go through things in life.  We all face difficulties.  Things are not always easy:  There’s persecution, hardships, things happen that are undeserved.  So, where’s God’s purpose in our lives?  Shouldn’t it be easy?  After all, we believe God.  We have faith, so why do bad things happen to us?  We’re good people, right?

God does have a plan for our lives.  So, if God has a plan then why are bad things happening?  In this post, I want to examine that, from this portion of scripture:

Genesis 39:19-20 (NKJV)
^39:19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, "Your servant did to me after this manner," that his anger was aroused. ²⁰ Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.

God’s Plan for Joseph

We know the story of Joseph.  He spent time as a slave.  He spent time in prison.  After that he became the Prime minister of Egypt.  God had a plan for Joseph.  God spoke to him and showed him his destiny.

Genesis 37:5-7 (NKJV)
^37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. ⁶ So he said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: ⁷ There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf."

God is speaking to Joseph, here.  God is revealing something to him.  God is showing him there is a plan and a destiny for his life.  Eventually, it did happen.  He rose to a position of preeminence.  His brothers did bow to him.  It did come out according to God’s plan, but it wasn’t an easy road to destiny. 

Often there are what look like pitfalls on the road to God’s plan.  Sometimes it even looks as if the opposite of God’s plan is happening.  We can’t see how God’s plan could possibly work out.  Have you ever felt that?  You look at your circumstances and you can’t see any possibility.  We need to remember that it’s God’s plan; that God is in charge.

I’ll tell you a story.  In Riverside, we had a neighbor who was a good Christian.  In fact, she was a Christian counselor.  She helped people through their problems, using Biblical tools to bring counsel.  On the day that Barak Obama was elected president of the United States, she told me she couldn’t go to work.  She was too upset; she couldn’t see any possibility for America.  I had to ask her the question, “Is God still on the throne?”

We’re like that lady – We know that God has a plan.  We know that God is in charge of the universe, but in our limited vision, we can’t see how God’s plan could possibly happen.  So what happens?  We get depressed.  We even get angry at God, sometimes we even leave God.

Joseph had a clear vision of God’s plan for his life.  In fact, God showed him more than once.  He had two dreams:  God was going to elevate Joseph above the others in his family.  Joseph was destined to be a leader.

I wonder if God has spoken to you.  Has God begun to reveal his plan for your life?  Are you seeing God’s purposes for your life?  Can you look at your life right now, and see how God’s plan can happen for you, or are you bogged down by your circumstances.

I want you to know that Joseph went through a number of things before he saw God’s promise.  It must have looked impossible for him.  He may have thought that God’s plans might not happen.  In all that, though Joseph had faith – He believed God.

We’re all going to face adversity in life, even though we have God’s promise of destiny.  Look at what Job said to his wife:

Job 2:9-10 (NKJV)
^2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" ¹⁰ But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job and his wife had just lost all of their children, all of their flocks, all of their wealth and Job’s health.  Job knows that adversity also comes in God’s plan.

The Unfolding of God’s Plan

God has spoken to Joseph and laid out the end result of His plan for Joseph’s life, but He didn’t tell Joseph what to expect.  Joseph shares the plan with his brothers.  His brothers are upset – They’re jealous because God has told Joseph that he would be above them.  So, look at what they did:

Genesis 37:25-28 (NKJV)
^37:25 And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. ²⁶ So Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brothers listened. ²⁸ Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

The brothers wanted to kill him.  They plotted against him.  They made a decision to sell him into slavery, but wait a minute, where is God’s plan in this?  This isn’t a blessing, is it?  He’s going to be a slave – This isn’t what God had told him his destiny was.  Is the plan of God derailed in his life? 

God has a plan for us, too, but sometimes it doesn’t seem as if it’s working out.  In fact, it seems as if the exact opposite is happening.  “God has a good plan for me, doesn’t he?  So where’s the blessing?  How come I’m being sold into slavery?  Is this really God’s plan for me?” 

God told Joseph everyone would bow down to him, but right now it doesn’t look as if the brothers are going to be doing that.  It seems like they have the upper hand.

The devil does that to us, too.  Sometimes it seems like the devil is winning.  Sometimes it seems as if the devil has the upper hand – and sometimes it seems like it gets even worse. 

Joseph is serving in Potiphar’s house.  Potiphar’s wife decides that she wants him.  Joseph is serving God, though.  He refuses her and the woman lies.  Potiphar has him put in jail thinking that he raped his wife – and Joseph languishes in prison.  Can you imagine what Joseph is thinking?  How distant the destiny of the dreams must seem to him.  He’s separated from family.  He’s in another country in prison.

Think about this.  How often are prisoners elevated in society?  They’re usually considered to be cast-offs from society.  They hardly ever have people bowing down to them.  They’re hardly ever thought of as leaders of society.

In all of this God’s plan is still working, though.  While he’s a slave the Bible says:

Genesis 39:2 (NKJV)
^39:2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
 Genesis 39:23 (NKJV)
^39:23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

I wonder if the Joseph felt like the Lord was with him, or did he feel more like Job’s wife.

There were some things that happened in prison that seem unrelated.  He meets a butler and a baker that are also in prison.  They’ve somehow made Pharaoh angry, so he’s sent them to prison.  While in prison, each of them had a dream.  Look at what Joseph says to them:

Genesis 40:7-8 (NKJV)
^40:7 So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in the custody of his lord's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?" ⁸ And they said to him, "We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it." So Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please."

We get a little insight into Joseph’s thinking here, “Do not interpretations belong to God?  Tell them to me.”  Joseph is still having faith.  Even in the middle of all of these things, he still believes God.  He’s still praying.  He’s still got a relationship with God.

A lot of times when things go wrong our relationship with God suffers for it.  We feel distant from God.  We back off in our prayer life.  We allow distance to come between us and God; am I right?  It’s almost like we allow ourselves to think that God betrayed us.

This often the way it is with people who profess not to believe in God.  Often, they’re just angry at God for something that’s happened in their lives.  It’s not so much a disbelief in god as it is a feeling of betrayal, followed by a hatred of God; bitterness.

I don’t get that from Joseph, though.  He correctly interprets their dreams and asks the butler to remember him to Pharaoh.  The butler for his part promptly forgets about Joseph and he spends two more years in prison…until Pharaoh has a dream.

Pharaoh is disturbed by the dream and finally, the butler remembers how Joseph correctly interpreted his dream.  He tells Pharaoh and Pharaoh has Joseph brought to him.  Joseph then correctly interprets Pharaoh’s dream.

Destiny is Realized

This is where Joseph begins to see the plan unfolding.  Pharaoh’s dream had to do with prosperity and drought.  There would be seven years of prosperity and then seven years of drought.  Joseph gave a plan to Pharaoh to use the seven prosperous years to provide for the seven drought years, so Pharaoh lifts Joseph up from prison and makes him Prime Minister over all of Egypt.  They destiny of God is playing out in his life.  Now look at this:

Genesis 50:18 (NKJV)
^50:18 Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, "Behold, we are your servants."

His brothers have bowed down before him.  God’s entire plan has played out in his life.  What you should see here, though is that all of the things that took place in Joseph’s life had to take place, for God’s plan to work.

At Potiphar’s house Joseph learned how to manage the house.  He had to be a slave there or he wouldn’t have gone to prison.  In prison he interpreted the dreams – the thing that was needed by Pharaoh.  That had to happen for him to be recommended to Pharaoh to interpret Pharaoh’s dream.  God put all of those things into place.  Joseph tells us something that we need to know:

Genesis 50:20 (NKJV)
^50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

All along it was the plan of God.  It was meant by the brothers for evil, but God had a plan for good. I know that some people are going through things.  I know that some people can’t understand why things are happening the way they are.  I know that some f you can’t see the promise of God in your circumstances, but there is a plan and what you’re going through now might be necessary to make God’s plan play out in your life.  Don’t lose hope – Don’t break faith.

You don’t always know what God is doing.  You can’t always see His strategy, but God knows what He’s doing.  He has a destiny and a plan for you.

The War Within

When I was a kid, like any kid I had rules that I was supposed to follow.  Sometimes, I looked at the rules and, in my judgment, the rules were arbitrary things that were put in place to keep me from doing something I wanted to do.  “The man is just trying to keep me down”:  The “man” being my parents.  Kids think they know so much more than their parents.

Our house was on a lot that was set about 15 feet above the street, so there was this nice hill to roll down on our little soapbox type go-kart that my dad and I built. My mother told us not to do that, because we wouldn’t be able to stop.  The kart didn’t have any brakes and we would roll down the hill into the street, if a car was coming it could be very dangerous.  We tried to obey that rule, but we struggled.  It was a battle to keep from doing what we knew we shouldn’t do.

Many times as adults, we fight these same battles, not with rules that our parents or bosses put on us, but with sin.  We know that sin is wrong; we understand the cost that it has, but sometimes the desire is too strong.

I was thinking about Eve as she faced the serpent in the Garden.  God has told her not to eat the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  She knows that it’s wrong, but when the devil comes in and lays out the lie she goes right ahead and eats it, anyway.  I wonder if his is the first time she’s struggled with temptation over this fruit, or if she was already struggling with the temptation, when she was talking to the serpent.

Satan doesn’t always have to make us sin, sometimes it’s our flesh and our own nature that draws us into sin.  She’s seen the fruit before:  the Bible says that she saw that it was good for food.  Maybe she’s struggling with idea a bit.  Then the serpent comes up and says, “Did God say you’d die if you ate that?  You’re not going to die,” so she ate it.  We don’t see in the Bible that she struggled much with the decision to eat the fruit.  I think that perhaps the struggle had been taking place before the serpent showed up.

Eve had the capacity to sin, already.  The serpent didn’t really tempt her; he just laid out a good justification for her:  “He doesn’t want you to be like him.  The man just wants to keep you down.”  So, she jumped on it.

We fight this battle ourselves, to overcome the flesh; overcome the temptation to do what isn’t right. 

Romans 7:18-25 (NKJV)
^7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

In my Flesh Nothing Good Dwells

When the Bible refers to our flesh, what it’s really referring to is our carnal nature; our physical appetites:  Those things that drive us; the things our bodies crave.  Human beings are set up with survival mechanisms.  Those are things that are a part of us in order that we can preserve ourselves.  We have a sexual drive, because we need that to keep our species alive.  We desire food because we need food to sustain our lives.  Sin is when we allow those drives to control us.  There is nothing wrong with sex in marriage, but fornication is a sin.  There’s nothing wrong with eating, but gluttony is a sin.  The devil doesn’t make us sin, he merely places the opportunity before us.  It’s up to us whether or not we’ll act on it. 

When I first got saved I was really lonely.  I hadn’t had a relationship with anyone in a long time.  Almost as soon as I got saved, there were some women who wanted to be with me.  I had struggled with that for a long time, now the opportunity was right before me. There was a struggle but I won out over my flesh.  That’s the way the devil works, our flesh is looking for gratification, and suddenly that thing, which will provide that gratification is right before us.

You struggle with finances and then you have access to company money.  People steal from their jobs all the time, for exactly this reason.  You and your wife are having problems in your relationship and that single girl at work that you’ve always thought was attractive suddenly comes on to you.  You start to wonder, “Can I get away with this?”  It’s not like that cartoon where the devil is one shoulder saying “do it, do it!” and an angel is sitting on the other shoulder saying, “Don’t do it, don’t do it!” 

You begin to rationalize it to yourself.  “The company doesn’t pay me what I’m really worth.  My wife doesn’t understand me.  I deserve to relax and get drunk; I work too hard.”  That’s not the devil you’re fighting with, it’s your flesh.

It isn’t that we don’t want to do what is right; most of us genuinely desire to be righteous in our decisions and actions.  Even sinners speak of being morally right.    We want to do the right thing, but many times we sin anyway, and we justify it.  Sometimes we even feel compelled to do it; we call it an addiction.  We call sin disease or addiction because that takes away the responsibility to overcome it.  You need to be treated for a disease, right?  It’s beyond your control, right?  It is something that’s outside of you.

When I got saved I was a drunk, but I didn’t need a program to stop drinking, I just began to fight with my desire to drink.  When the urge and the opportunity came up, I used the tools of my salvation – Prayer, the Bible, fellowship and preaching.

It’s a fight; a struggle.  Have you ever watched a WWE wrestling match?  WWE is a perfect example, because each match is a battle between good and evil.  Both wrestlers are fighting for the upper hand.  One will move one way, the other will try to counter it.  Sometimes, we can easily beat the devil, but other times we have to fight it out with him.  That’s exactly how it is when the opportunity to sin is placed before us – It’s a real fight – Sin is aggressive.

Genesis 4:7 (NKJV)
^4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."

The idea behind the word “lies” in that scripture is that sin is like an animal crouching at the door ready to spring on us, if we open door to it.  We open the door through our flesh.  Paul says, “If I do what I will not to do then it is not me, but the sin that dwells in me.”  It’s that carnal nature; it’s the flesh in which nothing good dwells.

Romans 7:21 (NKJV)
^7:21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

Even though, we desire to do well there is evil present with us.  This is a law.  Scientists understand that there are certain physical laws, and those laws are always true.  For example, there is the law of gravity that states that the attraction between any two bodies is directly proportional to product of their masses and inversely proportional to their distance from each other.  That means that planets are more attracted to each other based on what they both weigh and less attracted based on how far away they are.  The moon orbits the earth, because the earth has a huge mass and the moon is relatively close to it.  This law is ALWAYS true and it is the reason that what goes up must come down.  The lighter body; that which is thrown, is attracted to the heavier body that is the earth, because it never gets very far from the earth.

Paul is telling us that in every one of us there is a will to do what is right but there is also a desire for evil.  Philosophers have said that man is basically good, but Paul tells us that we want to be good but that we’re basically evil.  We can desire to live the will of God:  We can desire to live for Jesus, but that the nature of man, that sin nature, is still present in us.  Nothing I ever easy, is it? 

I wonder how many times a day that we struggle with sin.  How many times a day do we want to leap out in our flesh?  When that idiot cuts us off on the freeway?  When the boss is gone and we can sneak away from work a little early – “Who will know if I put the full number of hours on my time card?”  “I’m alone who’s going to see what I’m looking at on my computer?”  “How’s my wife going to know that I’m flirting with that woman in the cubicle next to mine?”  We struggle with it and sometimes we lose to our flesh.

I Delight in the Law of God but…

Romans 7:22-24 (NKJV)
^7:22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

“I delight in the law of God…”  That word delight literally means that it’s a great pleasure to serve God.  We enjoy doing the right thing.  Paul says, “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.”  That phrase, “according to the inward man” means from the bottom of my heart.”  That is, the thing which he desires most is the joy; the delight of doing the will of God.  But…

He finds there is one thing in his heart, but another in his members, (meaning his body parts).  It’s a joy to live for Jesus but there’s a constant tension with our flesh.  Paul has certain appetites; certain things that must be overcome.  The problem is when those appetites win out over our minds. 

We go on diets and our minds tell us what a great thing it will be to lose weight.  It will be a great joy to come to our target weight; to be healthy and look good.  That’s thing we desire from the bottom of our hearts.  So then why do we, so badly want to grab a dish of ice cream.

It’s because we have developed an appetite for it.  We allow our minds to dwell on it.  “That ice cream looks so good and it’s so sweet.”  This is where we lose the victory a lot of times.  Suddenly, we’re fighting this battle with our flesh with only half of our mind, because the other half is thinking how good the sin will feel.  That’s why Paul asks, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Here’s the concept behind what he’s saying:  One of the ways that the Romans punished lawbreakers was to tie a dead body to the one being punished; face to face, hand to hand, and foot to foot.  They would have to go through life with this dead, putrefying, decaying body tied to them.  Paul is saying that this is a picture of our sin nature; that we are tied together with the sins of the flesh – That eventually, just as the person being punished in this way by the Romans, died.  This sinful flesh will kill us as well.  We need deliverance from it.

We need to be released from the hold of this body of death.  He’s saying that you can struggle against it; you can fight for life, but eventually the flesh will overwhelm you and you’ll be destroyed by it, unless something takes place that releases you from it.  This is the crux of the matter, right here, that we’ll eventually do what our flesh wants, unless we’re delivered from it.

Where does deliverance come from?  It’s not found in our willpower.  It’s not found in our personality.  It’s not found in our physical or mental strength.  It’s outside of us.  Just as those who couldn’t untie the dead body and remove themselves, neither can we loose ourselves from our flesh.  There’s something that must take place outside of us.  Something supernatural must happen in our lives.

Jesus delivers me From This Body of Death

Romans 7:25 (NKJV)
^7:25 I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Jesus Christ is the deliverer.  He does it through the renewal of our minds.

Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
^12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The word renewing speaks of restoring.  The renewing of our minds is the restoration of our minds to the way God intended in the Garden before sin.  If in our minds we delight to live the Law of God, then when we sin or are in our flesh, we are out of our minds.  Salvation restores our minds.  It brings us back to that place of delight in serving God.  Jesus is the one who will deliver you from the body of death.  His grace, his mercy and shed blood is what releases us – It isn’t us, it’s the spiritual transaction that took place when He died on Calvary’s cross.

We still have a responsibility, though:

Titus 3:8 (NKJV)
^3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

If we believe God, then we should live for him.  When we were sinners how many of us lived all the way, one hundred per cent, for the devil.  That struggle is still present with us but we have the tools of our salvation with which to fight the fight.

When we pray, we strengthen our relationship with God.  This is where we begin to have relationship with Him.  Think about this – If we know someone, but never speak to them it isn’t much of a relationship, is it?  But as we talk we get to know them better and a relationship forms.  This is essential to avoiding sin. 

When we read the Bible we gain an understanding of the purposes of God for our lives. 

When we fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ – Don’t run off and isolate yourself – When we have relationships with other saved people it becomes easier for us to stay in the will of God.  We can avoid sin through “peer pressure.”

When we hear the word of God our faith is strengthened.  Faith comes by hearing the word of God.  Where do we hear the word of God?  In Church, that’s where.

These things will allow your mind to be renewed.  It will help you to overcome the flesh and you’ll be more likely to win the battle and serve God throughout your whole life.

Can These Dry Bones Live?

There are highs and lows in life right?  Have you ever experienced a “mountaintop” experience?  The place where it feels as if God is moving powerfully just for you?  That place where all feels right in your life?  That’s a mountaintop experience, but there are also valleys in life.  There are valleys in your walk with God.  There are times when it feels as if you’re alone. It feels as if God has left you for dead.

You become discouraged.  You don’t have the victory.  The valley’s a cold place.  It’s the last place the sun reaches in the morning.  How often in life do we find ourselves in that kind of place?

Today, in our text God speaks to that:

Ezekiel 37:1-10 (NKJV)
^37:1 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. ² Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. ³ And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O Lord God, You know." ⁴ Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. ⁶ I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord." ' " ⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Also He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." ' " ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

  

The Dry Bones

God sets Ezekiel into the valley.  The valley isn't the mountaintop.  It’s a low place.  It can be a difficult place.  There’s no vision in the valley; all you can see are the edges of the valley.

It’s not like the mountaintop.  You can see the power of God on the mountaintop.  You can see the larger vision on the mountaintop.  You can see the work of God.  It isn't hemmed in – vision isn't limited. 

The mountaintop is the place where you meet with God.  Moses met with God on the mountaintop.  Abraham saw God’s provision on the mountaintop.  The mountaintop is the place where you find yourself in the presence of God.  God revealed Himself to Elijah on the mountain top.

The valley is the lowest place.  It’s the place from where we have to climb.  When we’re in the valley we often struggle.  In our text, the valley is the place of the dry bones:  The place of death and failure; the place of discouragement. 

Psalms 42:5 (NKJV)
^42:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?  Why are you discouraged?  The psalmist is discouraged.  His soul is no longer on the mountaintop, it has been cast down into the valley. 

Psalms 23:4a (NKJV)
^23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…

This is the place Ezekiel has come to, the valley of Death:  the place of the dry bones.  God has brought him here to show him something.  “Can these dry bones live?”  Ezekiel says, “I don’t know – You know God.”  How much is he like us?  God is asking him, “Is the impossible, possible?”  Ezekiel doesn't know – He can’t see the possibility. 

It’s easy to believe in God’s power on the mountaintop.  When you’re on the mountaintop you can believe God for anything, but what about when you’re in the valley and you’re up against the facts.  Those bones are dead!  It isn't easy to believe they can live.  It’s hard to see the possibilities when everything that you can see is dead.  When you’re struggling it isn't easy to believe that God can do the impossible for you.  Can these bones live?  God says they can.

Ezekiel is in the valley, he’s looking over the bones:  They’re dead; they’re lifeless.  There’s no movement.  There’s no momentum.  Nothing’s happening.  They’re scattered all over the valley.  They can’t be put back together again.

Ezekiel isn't seeing the power of God at this moment.  He’s seeing only death and failure.  He’s seeing only discouragement, and God asks him, “Can these bones live?”  Can these dry bones live?  God says they can!  God tells him, “Prophesy!”

Prophesy

Prophecy isn't just telling the future.  Prophecy is speaking the Word of God.  God would give the words to the prophets, and they would speak them to the people:  Straight from God’s mouth to the ears of the people.  “Thus says the Lord God to these bones…” God speaks into the problems and disappointments in people’s lives.

Can these bones live?  God says they can!  It’s something He will do.  It’s something that comes through the Word of God.  God will give them life.  God will raise them up.  That’s sounds like preacher talk, but it isn't.  God has the power to raise you up out of the valley of your circumstances.  God can make the dead bones in your life live. 

The failures:  The times when you wanted to live the will of God for your life, but failed.  The disappointment, the betrayals, the hurts:  The times when you thought God wasn't there for you.  When you had needs that seemed to go unmet.  You can stand in the middle of THAT valley in despair; stationary, immobile, paralyzed and you won’t see anything happen.  You can’t get to the mountaintop, if you don’t move forward.  God says “Prophesy!”  Speak the words of God.  God doesn't speak failure; God speaks life. 

John 6:66-68 (NKJV)
^6:66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. ⁶⁷ Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" ⁶⁸ But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Jesus has just come off the mountain.  He’s been on the mountain with His disciples (John 6:3).  While He’s there he feeds five thousand men and their families; a powerful miracle.  They can see the power of God:  They believe Him.  On the mountain you can believe.  Then, He leaves the mountain, crosses the sea.  He’s in a low place now.  He’s in the valley, and the people come to Him again.

He begins to preach.  He speaks to them about the Bread of Life, but they have come for the material bread, and they can’t believe.  “This is a hard saying, who can believe it?”  So, they leave.  He’s in the valley.  It’s a valley of dry bones.  It looks like failure; everybody has left.  So he turns to the disciples, and says what?  Are you leaving, too?  Are you giving up, too?  You can see their response in verse 68:

John 6:68 (NKJV)
^6:68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. (emphasis mine)

“Where would we go, You have the words of Eternal Life.”  God speaks LIFE – Dry bones LIVE in the Word of God.  Prophesy!  Speak life into your circumstances.  Speak life into your failures.  Speak life into your despair and disappointments.  Don’t dwell on what isn't happening.  Speak what CAN happen.  Don’t get stuck on the dry bones.  Speak what God has promised.  God said to the dry bones, live, and they came together.  It was something God did, but Ezekiel had a role to play.  Ezekiel had to speak the words.  Ezekiel had to prophesy.

God did it.  The Word of God touched them.  They moved and rattled and came together.  The Word of God touched them.  The Word of God moved them.  The words spoken by Ezekiel brought them together, but it was the Spirit of God that gave them life.  It was something that God did.

Ezekiel spoke the words that activated a move of God.  Ezekiel spoke the words that activated the Spirit of God and the Spirit gave them life.  God did it; God moved.  It isn't any power in Ezekiel.  Ezekiel didn't do a miracle.  He was only obedient to speak the Word of God and the Spirit of God made them live.

It’s really hard sometimes, isn't it?  We don’t see anything happening.  We’re struggling with the same problems day after day.  We’re stuck; we’re not getting anywhere and we begin to speak out of our bitterness.

“It’s not going to work out.”

“God brought us out here to die.”

We begin to speak words of failure and disappointment.  We begin to speak defeat.  We’re not speaking life into our circumstances.  We’re speaking death.  We’re prophesying failure.  We’re speaking of the dry bones.  God calls us to command life. 

“With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Those dead bones can live.  Prophesy!  Speak life!

An Exceedingly Great Army

Finally, our text tells us that when the bones came alive they were an exceedingly great army.  An army represents a nation’s power.  An army is made up of individuals who become one powerful unit.  An army is the sum total of the strength of individuals.

The dry bones of failure, disappointment, and struggle; while they are still dry bones there’s no power there.  While we’re seeing those things as dry bones they have no power.  They represent only death, but after a move of God they lend their strength to an army.  What you’re struggling with now, what you see as weakness now, can be turned into strength.  As we overcome, as we struggle through things, after we have gone through them we are made stronger.  We become more powerful. Failure can make you stronger if you press through it.  Disappointment can be turned into hope.  Despair can be turned into resolve.

Once those bones came alive they were able to move.  They were no longer stationary; no longer scattered.  They became a powerful army.  Now they have the power to move.  Now they can ascend the mountain.  Now they can rise out of the low place.  Now there's strength and power available.  Can these bones live?  God says they can! 

If you want to see victory, you have to do something.  You can’t sit around and wait for God to move.  You can’t sit around despairing over all the problems.  You have to do something.  It’s up to you to activate a move of God in your life.  It’s up to you to stop dwelling on despair and defeat.  If you prophesy that nothing will happen…then nothing WILL happen. But if you speak the power of God into that despair, then a miraculous change can take place.

Ezekiel was in that valley pondering the future of Israel.  The bones represent the nation of Israel.

Ezekiel 37:11 (NKJV)
^37:11 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!'

Is that you?  Is that what you say?  Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we’re cut off or separated from God?  Are you feeling like you've been left for dead?  Are you feeling like you’re hopeless to overcome the problems and struggles in your life?  Are you wondering where God is?  Has He forsaken you?  Are you feeling like dry bones?

If you do then you’re like Ezekiel.  He doesn't know if they can live again.  He’s not sure if God can do something.  He sees only the bones he doesn't see the possibilities.  He doesn't know if the dry bones can live, but God knows.  God hasn't left them for dead.  He raised them – dry bones CAN live.  The Spirit of God can bring them to life.  Contend for the Spirit of God.  Prophesy – Speak Life!

The Fundamentals of our Faith: Overcoming

Editor’s Note:  This is from a series I have been preaching entitled the “Fundamentals of our Faith.” 

There it is!  That’s your life isn't it?  All of these obstacles in front of you, and you have to jump over them to get anything accomplished.  Do you want to raise your children to be productive adults?  You have to jump over hurdles.  Do you want a better job?  You have to jump over hurdles.  Do you want to do something for God?  You have to jump over hurdles.  Life is like an Olympic Event.

Have you ever wondered why nothing is easy?  It’s like one thing after another.  You’re trying to get somewhere in life and it’s one obstacle after another.  It’s one thing after another.  We all have to face obstacles in life.  We all have to face roadblocks in what we want to do. 

Sometimes, it’s the devil.  He hates you and doesn't want you to succeed at your dreams, especially if it involves God’s will for your life.  Other times it’s you and your flesh.  You just want to give up and quit, or you just can’t find the energy to persevere. At still other times it might be God doing a work in you. checking your faith, or teaching you to overcome.

Today, I want to post on being someone who can overcome the obstacles of life.

Romans 8:35-37 (NKJV)
^8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." ³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

When it’s Worthwhile it’s Hard

God’s promises are not always easy to receive.  Very often these things look like struggle, turmoil and adversity taking place in your life.   God promised the people of Israel a “Land flowing with Milk and Honey,” but they were going to have to fight for it.  They were going to have to move out the current inhabitants of the land.  The PROMISE was there…but it was going to be difficult to receive.

Nothing in the world is worth having or doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…I have never, in my life, envied someone with an easy life.  I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well. – Theodore Roosevelt

Let me break this down for you into Christian language. Let me tell you what he’s saying in Christian speak:  Blessing comes through struggle.  It’s a principle of life – The harder it is the more worthwhile it is.

For example, raising kids is hard.  It’s really hard, and the bigger they get the harder it is.  My dad told me when my daughters were babies, “When you have little kids you have little problems, when you have bigger kids, you have bigger problems.”  He’s exactly right.  When your kids get older you don’t have problems like whose toy it is, or a scraped knee, or a wet bed.  You have problems like: Are they going to get pregnant?  Are they going to get killed while driving?  How am I going to pay for college?  Are they dating/marrying the right guy?

It’s not easy.  It’s expensive, you have to discipline, and sometimes you have to remember. “I’m supposed to be the mature one here,” when it would be easier to just kill them.  Is it easy? No, it isn't.  Is it worth it?  Yes, it is.

My daughters are a HUGE blessing, now.  They weren't always.  My mother and sisters always tell me what great kids they are, and they are.  It wasn't easy to get them there, though.  It wasn't easy for me, and it wasn't easy for them, but we all persevered.  I have two grown, beautiful daughters whom I believe will make it in life.

The difficulty and struggle was worth it.  Receiving the promises of God is also worth it, if you can overcome all the obstacles.

There are three places that obstacles come from.  The first is that lying devil.  How many know that the devil’s a liar.  He wants to keep you from God’s plan for your life.  The second is your own flesh.  Your fears, your feelings of inadequacy, laziness, or whatever keeps you from doing what you need to do to see God’s plan work out in your life. The third is God, Himself, checking your faith; whether or not you can believe God for His promises.  I can illustrate this from the Bible.

Taking the Promised Land was no Piece of Cake

There is a story in Numbers Chapter 13:  Israel has left Egypt.  They've finally made it to the Promised Land.  They've arrived at the promise of God to Abraham.  Moses has sent out spies into the the land to check it out and they have come back with their report:

Numbers 13:32-33 (NKJV)
^13:32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

That Lying Devil

So, here’s the devil lying to them.  “There’s too many obstacles…it’s too hard.  You’re weak and puny, like little baby grasshoppers.  What can you do against GIANTS?”

How many times have you heard that voice in your head say, “You can’t do it.”  Or, “You’re not good enough.  You’re not smart enough.  You didn't go to a good enough high school or college”?  Maybe someone even actually spoke those things to you.  That’s the devil trying to work in your mind.  He’s trying to sow unbelief or doubt into your heart.  You can trust God for His promises, but the devil says, “No!”  He’s doing the same thing he did to Eve.  In the Garden of Eden he said, “Did God really say…?”  He cast doubt about the Word of God into Eve's mind.

In our text, when they saw the giants, the devil said, “Look at them, You’re puny little grasshoppers.  These guys will eat you for breakfast.”

Verse 32:  “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours it’s inhabitants.”
Verse 33:  “We were like grasshoppers in our OWN sight and so we were in their sight.”

The spies were just telling the people what the devil told them.  The devil said there are obstacles and you’ll never overcome them or conquer them.  God may have promised it, but there are GIANTS!

Believing the Lie

Let’s continue with the Bible’s narrative:

Numbers 14:1-4 (NKJV)
^14:1 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. ² And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?" ⁴ So they said to one another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt."

None of them is willing to fight for the promise.  God doesn't say it’s going to be easy.  Nowhere in the Bible does he say that.  We have to be willing to fight for His promises, but we get discouraged.  We become defeatist.  Have you ever said this, “Nothing ever works out like I planned.  Why does it always have to be so hard”?  The devil lies to us, but we don’t have to believe him.  In our text the people of Israel believe the lie. 

The devil lies to you and sometimes you listen to him.  You say to yourself, “This is too hard.  Nothing ever works out for me.  I might as well quit!”  Quitting is the easy way every time, but what’s the reward of quitting:  Wasted time, wasted money, shame, guilt, letting yourself down, letting others down?  Those are the rewards of quitting.  Making it through the obstacles will be harder, often much harder, but what are the rewards of succeeding?  Aren't those rewards much easier to live with? 

Israel stands to receive a great inheritance.  God has a covenant with them, to bring them to this place.  It’s called the Promised Land, because it’s promised.  God promised it, but the devil tells them, “You can’t do it,” and the people all say to themselves: “You know he’s right.  We’re not strong enough to defeat giants.  Those cities are fortified; we can’t break in.  Let’s beat up Moses, and find a new leader to take us back to Egypt”  Which one would be a better ending:  Owning a land flowing with milk and honey?  Or going back to a land of slavery and oppression?  Here’s the reward for Israel quitting on the promises:

Numbers 14:34 (NKJV)
^14:34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.

Forty years of wandering in the desert until the whole generation died.  All of the adults died in the desert, never seeing the promise of God play out in their lives.  Let’s go back to the Promised land:

Numbers 14:36-38 (NKJV)
^14:36 Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, ³⁷ those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord. ³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.

Faith Activates God

So, the people of Israel wandered the desert for forty years, because they didn't believe the promises of God.  The whole generation never saw the promise of God except Joshua and Caleb.  They made it into the Promised Land, but why them?  Why did they see God’s promises?    Why weren't they like all the others? 

Numbers 14:6-8 (NKJV)
^14:6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; ⁷ and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, 'a land which flows with milk and honey.'

The entire congregation of Israel, all the people gave up.  They all wanted to quit.  They believed the devil and all of his lies and doubted God.  All of them except Joshua and Caleb.  They wanted to go and take the land.  “God promised it, so let’s go get it.”

The people of Israel made their decision based on their own strengths, but they left out something important:  THE GOD FACTOR.  God can do what we can’t.  God is more powerful than us, AND he’s more powerful than the devil.

It may look impossible to you.  You may think, “I can never do this!  I can never make this happen.  I can never have God’s promises, because I’m not strong enough to do it ”  You may be right.  You probably can’t do it on your own.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that what God has for you is too hard for you to do on your own.  You can’t do it...but God can.  I guarantee it’s not impossible for God. 

Luke 18:27 (NKJV)
^18:27 But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."

So knowing that the question is:  Can you believe God for His promises?  That’s what God is looking for.  He wants to show Himself strong.  He wants to win your faith and trust.  If God wants to show himself strong why would rely on YOUR strength?

If Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to show you how strong he was, he wouldn't tell you to lift up the weights.  He would lift them.

Joshua and Caleb understand that God is a God who cannot lie.  They know His promises are real – They’re promises.  So, they believe God for what he’s promised and because of that they are the only ones to see those promises play out in their lives. God fought with them to take the land.  Their faith activated a move of God and they succeeded and received the promise.

What about you?  Do you want to see God’s promises for your life?  It’s our faith that activates a movement of God.  We need to believe Him; we need to speak like Joshua and Caleb, and live like we believe what we've spoken.  Most of all we need to have faith that the promise IS a promise. 

We are more than Conquerors

Our text promises us that we are more than conquerors:  That we can overcome the lies, and the flesh to see for ourselves the promises of God.  All it takes is faith and a willingness to fight for it.

What is it that God has promised you?  Provision? That’s a promise.  Your family saved?  Salvation is a promise.  A Plan for your life?  It’s a promise.

What is your role in receiving the promises?

1. You're going have to believe God for the promises, and
2. You’re going to have to fight for it.

God has a promise for your church as well.  People get discouraged:  They’ve seen people leave the church.  It seems like no one responds to the outreaches.  It seems as if the church is falling apart.  So, is God mad at us?  Is the devil too strong for us?

Here’s what’s happening, first, the devil is lying.  He says, "People can’t get saved in Taoyuan City.  It’s too hard for them.  They won’t believe Jesus.  They won’t go against their parents.  The traditional religion is a giant, we’re too small and weak to make a difference."

Second, people believe the lies.  Some of the people who've left have left because of that.  They believed the lies.  Some others are discouraged, “Why bother with outreach, it doesn't work here.”  Others even say, “I wanted to do something for God, but I don’t see it happening (in my time-frame).  So, they give up?  That’s happening in the church and it’s happening in people’s lives.

We need to be like Joshua and Caleb, “Hey God promised this… Let’s go and take it.” 

Let’s face it, the devil’s big and bad...and ugly...and mean...and nasty.  He’s a liar and the father of lies.  He WANTS you deceived and discouraged.  He wants to see you give up on the promises of God for your life and for the church.  But look at this promise:

1 John 4:4 (NKJV)
^4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Are you ready to give up?  Well don’t!  Maybe it’s hard right now, but anything worth doing is hard.  It’s life – It’s hard!  That’s the way life is, but if you want to see the promise of God you have to be willing to fight for it.  You have to be willing to have faith.  I’m willing – We can take the Land.  We can also see God’s triumph in YOUR life.  Let’s go get the promise.

A Partnership for Deliverance

Today’s post is something that’s a theme for me as a pastor.  I see my job as a shepherd.  The job of a shepherd is to get the sheep from one place to another.  The job for every pastor is to get his congregation from earth to heaven.  But there are some difficulties and they are that 1) there must be a change that takes place in you, in order for you to get from here to there and 2) that change has to be lasting and permanent.  You have to grow spiritually.  What is growth, it’s overcoming your flesh.  In other words there should be a greater distance between you and the sin you struggled with before.

I was sharing some of what I was going to write with someone and they said, “You have to show them how to change.”  This person was recommending that I deal with specific sin that I see in people’s lives.

I can easily do that, but to me, I think that you probably already know that some of the activities you’re involved are sin and that you know what they are.  You know when you’re sinning.  But if you don’t let me offer this:

If you’re smoking, stop it.  Smoking is sin.  If you’re getting drunk, stop it.  If you’re fornicating, fornicating is sin.  What is fornicating?  It’s sexual intercourse without being married to the person.  If you’re stealing, or you’re selfish, or you’re gambling or you’re cheating, all of these things are sin.  If you’re doing any of them or all of them you need to stop.

But I wonder if that’s helpful.  Because most Christians already understand those things are sin and I believe most Christians are sincere about their salvation.  So, I’m offering this post today as help for you; as one way to find deliverance.  Deliverance, in a purely practical sense, means that God helps you to quit the sin that plagues.  The sin that plagues you is the sin you can’t seem to kick.  I think this is the bigger problem, you know that what you’re doing is sin, but you’re not sure how to get past it.  There are some things that will help you to find deliverance and today I’m going to highlight those things for you.

Romans 8:5-11 (NKJV)
^8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. ¹⁰ And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

You Have a Place in the Move of God

We like to think that when we’re dealing with God that God does things for us.  But in reality God does things through the decisions we make.  He doesn’t pull out a magic wand and just “poof”  our problems and addictions away.  He works through the decisions we make to empower us to change.  If God just changed us without our involvement we wouldn’t need the exhortation of the Bible.  We would just pray a prayer and our sinful nature would automatically just disappear.  If we are honest with ourselves we realize that none of us have stopped thinking about sin completely.

Why didn’t God take away your sinful nature?  Why is it there that are still sins that you can’t shake?  It’s because God doesn’t work like that.  If He did Adam and Eve would never have sinned in the Garden of Eden.  If He did then we wouldn’t ever struggle with sin after we got saved. We do struggle, though, some more than others.  How do I know that?  I know that because I know that I sometimes struggle, too.

So the question becomes, “How can I ever find deliverance?”  First, you will never be completely free from sin this side of Heaven.  The default position for us is to live in our flesh.  We’re carnal beings, carnal means, of meat or flesh.  In other words we have appetites that relate to making ourselves feel good.  We all want to feel good.   The Bible calls it the “pleasures of sin for a season.”  Why drink?  It feels good; it temporarily makes us forget our problems.  Why fornicate?  It feels good; we feel what feels like love.  That’s why we sin because it makes us feel good and we all want to feel good.

I’m sure if you examine whatever sin you are involved in you will see that in some way it makes you feel good and because of that it’s difficult to escape sin.  It goes against our nature.  There is good news, though, and that is that sin can be overcome.  We just have to take action to make it happen.

Romans 6:6 (NKJV)
^6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

So, there it is, we have to crucify the old man.  All that really means is that we put the will of God before our appetites or as our text puts it, be those, “who live according to the spirit.”  Be spiritually minded rather than carnally minded.  If the default position is to be carnally minded, then how do we overcome to be spiritually minded?  We have to make a decision to overcome the flesh and then take the actions necessary to make it happen.  Our desire to live in our flesh is relentless, it’s like a flood, it just comes no matter what.  The Bible tells us the enemy also comes in like a flood.

Isaiah 59:19 (NKJV)
^59:19 So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

He comes in like a flood; he’s relentless in his temptations.  God will lift a banner against him.  Do you know what a banner was used for?  A banner was a call to the battle.  It showed the place where the battle was taking place.  God raises the banner but we have to fight the battle.

The devil relentlessly drives us to live in the flesh.  He doesn’t force sin on us he only appeals to that appetite to feel good.  We call it temptation and it’s relentless.  Everywhere we look we see something that is appealing to that desire to feel good.  The only way to overcome sin in your life is to stop the flood of temptation.

Deliverance 101:  Damming the Flood

If this were a college course today we would call it "Deliverance 101:  Damming up the Flood."  Let me start with an illustration:

Say that you live near the beach.  Your House is right on the beach, and every night the tide comes in and destroys it.  You build it as strong as you know how, but every time the tide comes in; it comes in like a flood and destroys your house.  So you decide to build a brick wall to keep the ocean out. 

A wall will keep the water out.  A wall will protect your home from the flood.  So, how you build the wall will depend on how valuable your home is to you.  If you don’t care too much you will just do what’s easy and hope for the best.  If your home is valuable to you, you will do whatever it takes to protect it.  So, how valuable is your home?

Let’s go back to our illustration:  You start to lay the bricks and at first you are very careful to put the bricks in.  But the work is hard and the bricks are heavy, and it stops being fun to think about how well your house will be protected.  So you skip a brick here and there. 

This is how a person who doesn’t place a lot of value of their home will build the wall.  He’s done what’s easy.  He didn’t invest too much into the protection of his home.  There are people in church who think that way about their salvation.  They think, “I’m getting enough of the word of God at one service a week.” They think, “I don’t need to read my Bible.  I don’t really need to pray that much.  I can be late every service and miss out on worship.  I can just attend church once a week…mostly…and it’ll be all right; but do you know what you’re really doing.  You’re leaving bricks put of your wall and every time you leave out a brick it leaves a hole in the wall that the tide can come through.   If you leave out too many bricks when the tide comes in your wall won’t stop it from destroying your home again.  If the wall has too many holes it’s worthless as a protection against the flood. 

Those things I mentioned, church, Bible, praying, worship, those are opportunities to enter into the presence of God.  Every time we’re in the presence of God we strengthen our faith and our resolve to live for Him.  Every time we’re in the presence of God we add another brick in the wall.  If we build a good strong wall, we’ll keep out the flood.  Living in the Spirit is really just living for Jesus.

Secondly, we will never overcome sin through willpower.  We can’t say, “I’m not going to sin,” and keep sin from happening.  Say, for example your sin is drinking.  You can’t keep yourself from drinking just by saying, “I’m not going to drink.  I’m not going to drink.  I’m not going to drink.”  Ask any sobriety counselor.  They will tell you you’re always a recovering alcoholic not an ex-drunk.  Let me illustrate a truth for you.

Don’t think about a pink elephant.  Don’t think about its big floppy ears.  Don’t think about the little purple flowers printed across its back.  Don’t think of the big trunk with all its wrinkles.  Don’t think about it!  What were you thinking about?  You were thinking about a pink elephant.

If you’re using willpower to stop drinking and you say, “I’m not going to drink.”  What are you thinking about?  The answer is obviously drinking.  Now, think about a green giraffe.  Look at the long neck.  Look at how it reaches into the trees to eat leaves.  Look at how it wiggles its ears, the way it chews slowly.  What are you thinking about now?  You’re not thinking about a Pink Elephant.

If we concentrate on not sinning what we’re really concentrating on is the sin.  But if we turn our thoughts toward Jesus and we concentrate on Him we’re not thinking about the sin.  So, how do we focus our thoughts on Jesus?  At church we preach about Him.  In our Bibles we read about Him.  When we pray, we have direct access and conversation with Him.  The more we concentrate on Him the less we think about the sin and how good it feels.

Third, what we receive from our salvation is in direct proportion to what we put into it.  If we put forth a lot of effort we will have a large return. It’s like bank interest.  The bank used to actually give interest that amounted to something.  They don’t anymore, well; they still give interest it just doesn’t amount to much anymore. Your interest was given based on what you put in the bank.  If you wanted more interest you had to deposit more money.  The same is true of Christianity:  if you want more from God you have to put more into receiving from Him. 

We expect God to do for us.  Some of you look at God as someone who exists to meet your needs.  However, what you receive from God in terms of deliverance is in direct proportion to what you do to overcome.

I had a friend who was a heavy smoker.  He smoked more than one pack of cigarettes a day.  He always said, “God is going to deliver me one day,” but do you know what happened?  He died of Lung Cancer.  He expected God to “poof” away the sin, so he never took the step to get rid of his cigarettes.  He never stopped smoking.  He never threw them away and took the steps to build a wall against it.  Had he done those things God could have delivered him. 

If we want deliverance we have to take the steps to get it.  We have to make sure that we keep the holes out of our wall of protection.  We have to learn to focus our minds on Jesus and his plan for our lives, and we have to be willing to take the steps to receive deliverance.  Deliverance is a partnership with God

Deliverance is a Partnership with God

I hear people say, sometimes, “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.”  There’s no rule in the Bible that says, “You will attend church!!!” but did you know that Jesus attended church, regularly? 

Luke 4:16 (NKJV)
^4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

That verse right there tells us that Jesus regularly attended synagogue.  He went to church.  If you are a follower of Christ, that’s what Christian means, are you following Him to church?  Another illustration:

Diets have directions.  They tell you that you can and can’t eat certain foods:  That you have to eat certain amounts and quantities of certain things.  If you follow the instructions you will have success in your diet.  But what if you change the instructions and don’t follow the diet and basically do whatever you want?   Will you lose weight?  Maybe, but it will only be by accident, not because you followed the diet.

There are guidelines to help you find deliverance, but you have to follow them.  I’ve heard the Bible called “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.”  The Bible has instructions that will help you to live out your salvation successfully, In other words to make it to heaven, but you need to read the instructions. 

There are a lot of people these days that are struggling with doubt and confusion.  The problem is that you’re not following the directions.  For example, in our church, I never know if people are coming or not.  I’m usually worried in the moments before Church starts because the place is empty.  Someone who wants to protect their home, because they see it as valuable is going to be there to make sure they get all the bricks they need.

Worship service is a part of the service.  It helps to prepare you to receive the word of God, but some don’t give it any importance and that’s a mistake.  Worship will help you to focus on Jesus and take your mind off the sin. 

Sin is oppression.  It’s a hardship.  Serving God is a blessing.  I have to be honest, as a pastor, I’m concerned, because I see some people beginning to struggle and doubt.  I’m seeing them have less and less interest in their salvation.  I’m seeing them leave more and more bricks out of their walls and I know the outcome of that.

There is a guy who spent four years in my church.  Over the years he gradually started coming less and less.  First, it was a couple of weeks a month.  Then he would come one month on and one month off.  Then he missed five months in a row.  I tried to talk to him about it and he got offended and now he says he won’t come back.  You know that is?  That’s a guy whose wall couldn’t hold back the flood.  In every church there are others who are going in that same direction.  It won’t help for them to get mad at their pastor for telling them the truth.  It will help for them to seek the power of Jesus to change your life and deliver you from sin.  Deliverance comes through Jesus Christ.  It’s about resurrection power.  We’re dead in sin but raised to eternal life through Jesus.  It’s a partnership with God…You have your role to play.