Are you a sinner of the worst kind? Do you think that there is no way that someone like you can ever be washed clean, and forgiven? Well, if so, you are not the first to have felt this way, and as a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul felt just as you do. To say that you are too far gone to be saved is to deny the saving grace of God in His Son Jesus Christ. So, listen to me today…
How is your faith? Are you strong in it, or is it lacking in some regard? Can you move a mountain, or do you think your faith is too small to move even a grain of sand? The disciples were chastised by Jesus on more than one occasion for their lack of faith, so do not lose heart, but ask Him why you can’t do a thing, or why you don’t receive the ability to perform a miracle. You may find that in some cases it has less to do with faith than you think.
Jesus is like a fountain, or a spring, out of which forgiveness flows. He is not like a spigot from which life is turned off and on when we need to wash the scent of death from ourselves or draw a drink. Do we only approach Him when we think we need cleansing or to receive refreshment for our spirit, and faith? Or is He the source of life that we have built our lives and families around… the well, spring, and fountain that our existence depends upon as we quinch our spiritual thirst, and for every cool compress that relieves the fever of our sin?
Are we servants to all those surrounding us? Have we humbled ourselves sufficiently in order to put our own desires behind us, so that we can be obedient to the example that Jesus has placed before us? If so then God will bless us, but if not then we need to take a long look at who we truly are. Do we see much difference in the person we once were and the one we are now that we have accepted Jesus as our Lord?
More likely than not, if you are reading this, you know Jesus; who He is, and about His life. If you are reading this you may have asked Him to come into your life, confessed Him to be your Savior, and gone down in the waters of baptism. But my question to you this morning is twofold... how deep has your relationship with Him become, and have you asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Listen... do you hear the voice of Jesus? Are you hearing Him calling you to “come” or is He asking for you to “come back!”? When Jesus first calls us He gives us incredible peace, rest, and spiritual lives, but over time we might feel that those things have subsided in us; why is that? Why do we lose the intensity of joy and faith that our initial answer to His call brought us?
Are we waiting on the Lord today? Is there a challenge or need in our lives that we are nearly overwhelmed by, and have brought before God in prayer? Are we about to give up on His provision or rescue because we can’t see Him moving? Well take heart, because our God is good and He has never abandoned us.
Who taught us how to pray? Did we learn Who Taught You to Pray?so long ago that we can’t remember any longer? Did you learn to pray by reciting common prayer in Sunday School or church? Perhaps your mother and father taught you as a child by praying over your meals or at bedtime. For something so crucial and basic to our faith and relationship with Jesus and God, we certainly appear to approach it in an often unthinking or haphazard manner. So how should we pray?
Do we hear the Gospel of Jesus and worship God as we should? We might go to church and sing songs, even pray together, chant, and recite creeds, but these are all simply physical manifestations of faith that any unbeliever can imitate. What I am asking is this... Do we allow our bodies and spirits to join as one as we worship with the Holy Spirit by praising God and give Him all the glory and honor for the things we do in obedience to His will? Can we honestly say that we worship Him as scripture tells us to… by loving Him, entering into relationship with Him, and in spirit and truth?
Do we think that just because our children are born into a Christian household that they are guaranteed to follow Christ? Sadly, that is not true. Becoming a Christian, or a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, requires us to make a personal choice. We like to look at the Old Testament Covenant that God made with Abraham and likewise claim Jesus Christ for ourselves and our children, but just as with Abraham’s seed, whose covenant required that they not only believe, but that they live a lifetime of action, we Christians must too.
Being Holy is more than a distant aspiration or some lofty goal that only the most pious of Saints can ever hope to reach. We are all called to be Holy. So, what is holiness, and how can we reach a state of Holiness in this fallen world? Well, we can study becoming holy at-nauseam but let’s boil it down to its simplest and most basic form. Let’s let Jesus gather us up in His arms and carry us with Him into holiness.
Where do we go when we need help? Do we go there for our own needs, or in intercession for others? And, are we persistently pleading for assistance? These three questions determine who we perceive as having strength, whether we are in need or empathetic, and how great our love or desire is that has brought us there. Have you ever applied these three simple little questions to your prayers, and if so, what did they reveal to you about Jesus, and your faith?
Where do we receive our sustenance from? What type of food do we depend on most for our nourishment? As humans we are omnivorous which means we eat a variety of foods. Some of us like salads and vegetables, some like chicken, beef, or grain, and others prefer a mixture, but as we grow more mature in our spiritual selves our diet undergoes a dramatic change. We see this in the preferred diet of Jesus Himself… He longs to dine on God’s will and Word.
How do we begin our days? Do we begin them by reading the Bible? Do we pray for forgiveness, and for all the active prayer requests on our list of wants? Do we read a morning devotional? Maybe we write one or add an entry in our prayer journal? All these things are good, but do we take the time to secretly have an intimate conversation with our Heavenly Father? My friends, God wants to hear more than our personal wants and of the needs of others... He desires to be in a personal relationship with us that is both intimate and which deeply reveals us spiritually.
Jesus suffered and died to redeem us from sin, but what is sin really? Is it a rule that we break or more than that? Certainly, it is bad that a rule has been broken, but at its core there is something more, we are rebelling against God by so doing; we are separating ourselves from His will. Sometimes we sin knowingly, but quite often we do so without really understanding what we are doing, and occasionally we do so by simply turning away from doing what is right. So, is there a way to “sin no more?” Let’s consider these questions today.