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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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  “I was blind but now I see...” How many times over the span of your life have you sang that line from the song, ‘Amazing Grace’...or at least have heard it sung? Now, imagine adding another stanza to that line that goes something like this... “I was blind but now I see...and yet I still run into trees and walls and trip over things because ‘my spirit sees but my flesh is weak and won’t really see until I get to heaven’. Do what? That...is exactly what a multitude of professing ‘believers’ subscribe to these days to hear them explain their theology. Now don’t get me wrong...I ‘get’ where they are coming from. I too...’used’ to believe that way, basically because that is what I was always taught to believe. We humans have a bad habit of doing lots of things (or believing things) because that’s the way we’ve always done it. I know that the subject of ‘English’ which we all had to take in school was not a favorite for many students, but there really were a lot of important thing...
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  “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” “Everybody sins.” “We are just saints who sin.” Friends...we have normalized this conduct and behavior amongst ourselves (in the ‘church’) for so long now...why would we expect anything different? In fact, we’ve become so adapted to this mindset...that to suggest otherwise will quickly earn you the label of ‘heretic’. Tell you what...while you look up the verses in your Bible for those three statements above, let me offer you these verses real quick – ‘Whoever abides in Him (Jesus) does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him...He who sins is of the devil.” (1 John 3:6-8) “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin...” (1 John 5:18) “He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” (1 Pet. 4:1-2) “Most assuredly, I say to you...whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in t...
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  Sin is our problem, and Jesus is the cure. And let me be perfectly clear- Jesus is not some cheap band-aid either, where you continue to ‘slap one on’ to cover it up every time you do sin. If we truly understood and believed in our hearts what it actually means to be ‘set free from sin’ (Rom. 6:18,22; John 8:34-36), it would change everything about the way you live and walk, day in and day out. It’s amazing how many people tend to read 1 John 2:1 as saying ‘when you sin’, since it actually reads ‘IF’...you sin...and then we are reminded that we have an advocate to whom we can run to 'if' we do. When I say that Jesus is the ‘cure’, I should also point out that it is not some complicated and expensive surgery one has to undergo in order to find this cure or freedom. Well, I suppose the case could be made that it is a bit on the ‘costly’ side, since Jesus does lay out it will cost us our ‘lives’ (Luke 9:23; 14:25-33), but not in the way you might think. There is no getting aro...
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  “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.” I don’t know where you will find in scripture, a more powerful and strategically placed use of that two letter word ‘if’...than right there in Romans 8:11. The word “if” hints at a question, something that is uncertain and not clearly established yet. And are you ready for this? The question of ‘if’ is not directed here at the fact of whether Christ was raised from the dead...or not. What is being called into question...is whether or not that ‘same Spirit’ dwells in us. Take a moment with that one, if you would please. I’m guessing that is why we are encouraged to: “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail the test.” (2 Cor. 13:5) Can I speak some truth here, in love...with you today? ...
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  Jesus said a lot of hard things. In fact, more often than not, He would say things that caused people to take offense, or it would confuse them and yes...even drive ‘many’ away where they no longer walked with Him. (John 6:60,66) And even at the risk of being misunderstood by those who were closest to Him, He still said things that were hard for people to grasp, let alone accept and embrace. Fortunately for some of those followers, who in those moments just didn’t ‘see it’, when asked if they too wanted to walk away, it was Simon Peter who looked at Jesus and replied: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68). So Jesus kept on saying those hard things. And He meant what He said too. I worry that many fail to believe that, that Jesus meant what He said, because if we did believe all those things...we would ‘do’ them. What was it that Paul told Titus, that many would ‘profess to know Jesus, but by their actions ( or inactions) they would deny...
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