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  On the surface, living a life that is centered around pleasing others might sound like the noble and charitable thing to be doing, perhaps even the ‘Christian’ thing to do. But if pleasing God first and foremost is not your chief aim in life, I have a hunch that at the end of this road we call ‘life’, you might find yourself feeling shallow, empty, and used up. In fact, if you are not careful, you could very well hear those dreaded words that all you did was ‘unprofitable’...and then: ‘depart from Me, I never knew you’. (1 Cor. 13:2-3; Matt. 7:22-23). Yeah...take a moment with that one if you will. As I pointed out in yesterday’s message, striving to please people can be a clever masquerade to cover your true heart’s motive that seeks to please one’s self first and foremost; and trust me...it can be a very fine line there that escapes our notice. Were you aware that living a life that focuses on pleasing other people can actually become a bondage? Yet living a life that is cente...
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  So...are you? Many people are quick to confess that they are indeed ...’people pleasers’. And if you are one of those who do readily admit that you find yourself always wanting to ‘please others’, have you ever stopped to ask yourself why that is the case? Also...do you know the difference between ‘pleasing’ someone...and ‘appeasing’ them? That might be a better place to start before we go any further in this study today. Appeasing someone is not about wanting to bring pleasure to a person, but more about ‘pacifying’ them in order to bring some negative behavior to a standstill, as in getting someone off our back, be it even for a brief moment or two. Think in terms of a whiney child or baby and how you might cave and give in to their wants in order to simply quiet them down. Appeasing someone can also be about giving in to their demands so you can avoid conflict or anger. When we hear the loosely used expression about ‘appeasing the gods’, it can be a tongue and cheek phrase we...
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  “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.” (Gal. 5:24) Should I say it louder for those in the very back? There really are not a whole lot of other ways to express or translate that statement. If there is another scripture found in our beloved Bible that can really ‘throw a wrench’ in our modern day Christian theology, I don’t know what it is... other than maybe John 10:27; and both verses seem to make very clear identifying remarks pertaining to those who belong to Christ. It can be quite easy as you well know, for anyone to ‘profess...they know Christ’ (let alone belong to Him)... but it’s in the actions or ‘fruit’ they produce that they are really known by as to who they belong to, or not. (Titus 1:16; John 12:34-35; Matt. 7:17-20; 1 John 3:10,7) How do we get around those words in Gal. 5:24 to make it say otherwise? If you or I or anyone else truly ‘belong’ to Jesus Christ, what has taken place? And p...
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  When you ‘once walked’...according to the course or ways of this world...you were ‘dead in sin’...(Eph. 2:1-2); emphasis placed here on the past tense of ‘once walked’. This is how you use to walk...meaning you don’t walk this way anymore. These words were addressed to those who have been ‘made alive’ when they repented and turned from darkness and came to the light which is found only in Jesus. Apart from Him we have no life (spiritual) and we must come to Him in order to receive this God giving ‘life’ (John 5:40; 10:10). Friends...not only is it imperative that we come to Him, but we must also ‘remain’ ...in Him, or as John 15:1-8 points out...we must continue to ‘abide’ in Him. How else can one sustain this God kind of life apart from Him? How long can an child in its mother’s womb continue to develop, grow, and thrive without remaining attached to the umbilical cord? If for whatever reason that cord became detached, that growing child within the womb would not survive. Se...
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  If you are among the many throngs of people today who are truly in search of answers, trying to make sense of the chaotic and often ‘dark’ world that we live in, then I don’t know of any better verses to point you to from the Bible than the ones I touched on the other day, 1 John 5:19, Acts 26:18; Rev. 12:9...and the one I have included here below, found in Eph. 2:1-3. “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” I have referenced this passage regularly here over the past few years and want to come back and ‘unpack it’ even more today, because there is so much to be gleaned from it that can bring so much clarity and...
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  It is an age-old question that humanity has wrestled with and sought to answer – ‘What is missing in my life’? Perhaps you have heard it phrased this way: “Who am I ...and why am I here?” It has been described as a ‘gnawing void within’... in which man has pursued multiple paths in order to fill that void. I’ve heard it described as the ‘God hole in our hearts’ that can only be filled by the One who created us. Sadly, so many people tend to pursue every other avenue and exhaust all other options before coming to the conclusion that ‘God’ really is that ‘missing piece’. Needless to say, ‘many’ folks never do arrive at that revelation, according to Jesus (Matt. 7:13-14). What is equally tragic, if not worse... is the number of people who ‘thought they had tried God’, but ended up with a counterfeit version, or misleading ‘gospel’ that only offered up an empty religion which never led to true, abundant ‘life’ (or salvation). So our ongoing struggle to fill that void has usually ...
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  “We know...that whoever is born of God...does not sin...and the ‘wicked one’ does not touch him. We also know...that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:18-19) If I was to 'question' anything there in those two statements, it would be the fact that there seems to be many people today who don’t....’know’ those things John writes about. I also suspect far too many people automatically assume they are in that group described as ‘we’. The first statement seems to be a bigger point of contention for many professing believers today, about ‘no longer sinning’; but it’s the second point of ‘assumed knowledge’ that I want to focus on today; and it’s a piece of important ‘information’ that I find myself circling back to often to address and remind us all - this world is under the sway or influence of a demonic force whom we know as ‘Satan’ or ‘the devil’ (Rev. 12:9). I know Flip Wilson made light of this truth back in the late 60’s wit...
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