Welcome to Deep in The Week - Week 2 of the Not a Fan Series
Lying in my bed, I feel the damp night air rolling through the
window, falling off the headboard and splashing onto my shoulders. In response, I
breathe in the fresh moist air letting it seep down into my lungs. For it is
not the night air I envision filling me in this moment, it is the very breathe
of God. I've prayed for God to remove this everlasting desire to fill my lungs
with something other than the night air. For years I was wrong, it is not the nicotine or
the THC that will free me from this nightmare of brokenness. I am powerless over my addictions.
No.
It is His LOVE for me that frees me. His ever present and
faithful LOVE. (see Psalm139, click here)
Despite the strength that these addictions used to have
over me, they are but now no more powerful than that “wimpy kid on the beach”. For
now, I know the truth about who I am and I shall kick sand in the face of those
old addictions. As I breathe deep in His Glory and I begin move on down the shore. It is
the very breathe of God that gives me strength to stand in the midst of these
addictions and do something that I, for 10 years, have failed to do on my own.
While I can still feel the weakness of the flesh as it comes under attack I do marvel
at how far my spirit has come. Just four short years ago, it was the flesh who
had the advantage and who was always intimidating the spirit with fear and
lies.
But no more.
Nope. Things are not like they used to be.
Not since I gave it all to Jesus. My life, my mind, my soul.
All of it .
Ha! Since then it has been one crazy ride for sure. Life
with Christ has not been very boring, there aren’t any harps and or clouds for
me, thanks. He is constantly challenging me and working out the kinks in me. I have faced an
entire lifetime of struggle in half of the life I have lived. That's what
living in sin will do to ya. However, He takes those experiences and does
something with them. He teaches me how to use them for strength, for
confidence, and for His Glory. See, these sins, these mistakes, these stains of
my life, that have broken me, these stains in my life that have shattered my
life into pieces........well, they are now, the center piece of a beautiful
mosaic. Something I am now not afraid to share with another. These things, in
the Hands of the Christ are being used to take those broken pieces and
reassemble them into something more beautiful than before.
Whoa. That is just awesome. I shudder at the thought. Thank
you Jesus!
What was meant to harm me and those around me, those in my
circle, is now becoming a tool that will be used to save someone else.
My story. MY STORY!!!!!
What? Me? Nah, I'm not special. I'm just like you. That is
the key thing here. Don't miss the point of this.
You have a story too! God can and will use your story too!
For
all have fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). ALL. You. Me. Yes, even
the Jones’ next door. ALL OF US.
The question is though….Do you want to share your story?
No? It’s too bad? It’s too embarrassing?
Look------------------------------------------------------>
What about the longing you feel? That longing for freedom
that always seems just out of reach.
It is real. It is possible. You can come back from what you have done. You are not your
behavior.
No one, in the family of God will mock you. We all have a story that
is unique to who we are. We are all embarrassed as to what we have done.
Look at the guy who wrote 13 of the 27 books in the New
Testament. He wrote ½ of the new testament! Do you know what he did before
coming to Christ?
He was a murderer. Not just a murder mind you. He targeted
people who believed in Jesus. He murdered Christ followers! His name was
Paul and God overlooked all of that and put on this man the responsibility to
get the story of Jesus out to all the nations. So tell me. Who have you killed?
How bad can it be? Do you seriously thing that God can't use you?
There is a huge release
of knowing that all the junk from the past can actually be of some good. It is
so hard to put into words. The freedom of knowing that you don’t have to live
like that anymore is incredible. Does that interest you? You have a story worth
sharing.
You have value. You have purpose.
How would it make you feel to know that it doesn't ways have
to feel like this? Are you hurting? Maybe your angry? Maybe you have been both
for so long that your just kinda numb? Numb like I just got back from the
dentist and he gave me Novocain numb. Except it is your heart that is numb, not your face.
Do you want to feel joy again? It is a sweet release! Man
there is no better high than to realize that you don't have to live like that
ever again! You can be free. Right here. Right now. You can be free.
All you have to do is believe. Check out these verses.
John 1:12-13 NIV
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children
born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but
born of God.
Acts 16:30-31 NIV
He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and
you will be saved—you and your household.”
Romans 10:9-11
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For
it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your
mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who
believes in him will never be put to shame.
To claim your freedom, to be set free all you must do
is profess your belief in Jesus. Just confess that yes, you have fallen short
of the mark and that you need help. Confess your belief that Jesus came in the
flesh, was crucified for your sins, buried and then raised again. If that is
what you believe then you are ready to pray to God. There are no 'magic words'
to become a Christian. Remember -- praying is simply talking to God, not
just saying words. Also know that simply saying these words does not save
you either. It is through true believing that you are saved. As we are learning
in our current study believing is the first step. Following comes next.
To accept Jesus Christ as your Savior say this
simple prayer to Him:
Lord Jesus,
I am a sinner. But I believe that you
died upon the cross for me. That you shed your precious blood, for the
forgiveness of my sin. And I believe that on the third day you rose into heaven
to
prepare a place for me. I accept you now as my
Savior, my Lord, my God, my friend. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and set me
free from my sin. And, because you are my Savior, Jesus, I “shall not die, but
have everlasting life”.
Thank you Jesus!
If you just prayed
that prayer, I want to be the first to welcome YOU to the family! You are now a
son or daughter of Christ and YOU now have an extended family who loves you for
who you are! If you prayed that prayer let us know so we can support you in
your next steps. Click here to contact us
God loves you. He is so patient and affirming in that
love too. You no longer have to be bound by the sin that entangled you once
before. Like me, you can now stand against those forces, those addictions,
those things in your life that have held you back.
The first step is believing the next step is being a
follower: here is a recap of week two in the “Not a Fan” series in case you
missed it.
Read Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23-25
Then he said to them all:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross
daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but
whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to
gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
We
have to move now. We have to die. We all know that believing in Christ means
that when we die we will go to Heaven but I need you to know now. It is time to
die now.
Paul says this in Ephesians 2:1-5 NIV
As for you, you
were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived
among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its
desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with
Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been
saved.
Notice how Paul is referring to us. It is all in past
tense. We, 1) were dead 2) used to live 3) lived among them 4) we were deserving
wrath and again 5) were dead. When you accepted Christ into your life you did
gain eternal life, it is nothing that you had to earn. Salvation is a gift from
God. It is free. All we have to do is accept it. The problem is that we have
forces working against us who want us to not claim our new life in our newly found freedom. You
must work in your faith and in your salvation daily. Christ says we have to
take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23 NIV). This isn’t a one and done decision folks. Here are a few
words from James.
James 1:22 NIV - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do
what it says.
James 2:26 NIV - As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is
dead.
Whoever you were before Christ, how you viewed the world,
how you lived in the world should now be changing as you accept Christ more and more into your
life. The old ways should be replaced by the new ways. We were once slaves to
sins (and death and destruction) but now, through our own choice, we have become salves to Christ (life and healing). This is
a good trade.
But here is the thing, your path, your journey, will
progress only as far as you let it. Jesus wants you to follow him but He won’t
make you do it. Jesus wants to change you from the inside out but He wants you
to be involved and do the heavy lifting.
In week two Kyle talked about two Greek words, Greek being
one of the original languages which the Bible was written. Those two words are:
kurios: lord, master
Original Word: κύριος, ου, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: kurios
Phonetic Spelling: (koo'-ree-os)
Short Definition: lord, Lord, master, sir
Definition: lord, master, sir; the Lord.
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: kurios
Phonetic Spelling: (koo'-ree-os)
Short Definition: lord, Lord, master, sir
Definition: lord, master, sir; the Lord.
doulos: a slave
Original Word: δοῦλος, ου, ὁ
Part of Speech: Adjective; Noun, Feminine; Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: doulos
Phonetic Spelling: (doo'-los)
Short Definition: a male slave
Definition: (a) (as adj.) enslaved, (b) (as noun) a (male) slave.
Part of Speech: Adjective; Noun, Feminine; Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: doulos
Phonetic Spelling: (doo'-los)
Short Definition: a male slave
Definition: (a) (as adj.) enslaved, (b) (as noun) a (male) slave.
Jesus wants us to be all in. He wants us to give up
everything we used to believe in and be a committed follower of Him. There are
examples of those who didn’t decide to follow. We have talked about them in previous
occasions. What I think is important here is this:
You cannot refer to Jesus as Lord without inferring
that you are His Slave. In the our bible’s when it talks about Lords and Servants they are translating them
from the two words above. Kurios and Duolos.
It is just like a child. When a little boy or little
girl calls out to her Father she/he is then also making claim that they are the
child of that person. This is the same when we call Jesus Lord.
The only
question……do you really live that in your life? Are you willing to start now?
When you submit to my master, your burden will light, your wounds will be
healed, and you will then be offered into a family as His son or daughter. My
master loves you. He wants to heal you and make you whole again.
Are there things in your past that you simply have
not given up on that you should have? For me it was smoking. I struggle with it.
Yes, at times I do fail. However, with Christ’s guidance I will one day be free
from that addiction. Nevertheless, I had to invite Him into that area in order
to gain healing. He had to be invited. What areas in your life are you keeping
Him out of?
Let my Father be your Father and together we will call Him Abba!
