Might want to take your time with this one today given we got the ‘day off’ yesterday. ;- ). I think I was given a chance to catch up on my sleep and ‘reboot’ my body clock after getting back from Alaska :- ) ...

Paul instructs us to  “Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves [not me]! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit? (2 Cor. 13:5-Amp) 

 “You are not [living] in the flesh [controlled by the sinful nature] but in the Spirit, if in fact...the Spirit of God lives in you [directing and guiding you]. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him [and is not a child of God].” (Rom. 8:9-Amp.) 

 But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts]. (Gal. 5:16- Amp.)

 “Those who are Christ’s (who belong to Him) have crucified (put to death) the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:24)

 “Now the works (fruit) of the flesh nature are clearly evident: ....and those who practice such things will NOT inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:19-21) 

 In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, he wasted no time calling out the brethren there for being ‘carnal’. (3:1-4). Three times, he uses the word ‘carnal’ to describe their behavior. He expressed his desire to address them as ‘spiritual people’...wanting to bring them along and feed them ‘spiritual food’. But he lamented that he was unable to do so at that time given their mindset and behavior. He actually is calling them ‘babies’...unable to even receive this spiritual ‘meat’ or ‘solid food’ that he had for them. (Also- Heb. 5:12-14) 

 “Babes in Christ” is the term used there in the first verse of that chapter 3. Sadly, many church teachers and leaders today point to this passage, oddly enough, to excuse, if not to justify the carnal behavior exhibited by many professing believers today. They seem more intent on wanting to affirm a person’s ‘salvation’ as being ‘secure’ since Paul refers to them as being ‘In Christ’ despite being ‘carnal’. 

 If this mindset describes your line of thinking, and you are unwilling to take a step back and re-examine scripture more closely...then...you may as well stop reading now as you will get absolutely nothing more from this post from here on out. We should all be willing to come to the word and examine these things to make sure we are on solid ground. (Acts 17:11). We need to understand that Paul was not addressing this group in the same way you might look through the nursery window of a maternity ward or even a local church nursery and admire lovingly all those cute little, darling babies. 

 Paul was rebuking them for being carnal. He was not pleased at all with the reports he was getting pertaining to their carnal behavior, even citing several examples like the envy and strife and divisions among them. 

 If you care to study this further, allow me to point you to his second letter to them and have you read through chapter 12. He expressed fear there that when he came to visit them later that he ‘might not find them as he wished’, (20) worried there would still be evidence of ‘contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbiting’s, whisperings/gossip, conceit...along with no evidence of repentance from the uncleanness, fornication (sexual immorality), and lewdness which they had been practicing.’ (21) 

 If you are in that ‘camp’ that has been inclined to use the ‘carnal babes in Christ’ passage to coddle and enable professing believers that they not need be overly concerned with their carnal behavior, then I would submit to you that you may be in the same camp of those false prophets that Jeremiah called out in chapter 23 of his book. Do you know what they were guilty of doing? - Telling God’s people that they could continue to ‘walk in peace’ assuring them ‘no evil or bad thing would come upon them even though they continued to walk according to the dictates or their own [sinful] hearts’. (16-17) 

 Reading further on there in Jeremiah 23, the prophet warns that the anger of the Lord is coming and that ‘in the latter days we will understand it perfectly’. (20) 

 God expresses anguish through Jeremiah saying that if these prophets and teachers had only spent time with Him and made sure God’s people had heard His words...that they would have then ‘turned away from their evil ways and doings’. (22) 

 Believe me, I know the pressures one feels to get behind a pulpit and express such warnings to a room full of adoring people who esteem you highly ...as long as you don’t rock boats. And I also am aware of the warnings uttered in Ezekiel 33 that when a “watchman sees the sword coming and they fail to warn the people...that the people’s blood will be on their hands”. (6-7) 

 Going back to Paul’s first letter there to the Corinthians, it is not long before he then takes on a significant sin issue that was known to be taking place in their local assembly (Chpt. 5). Just a point to ponder here, but how often do we ever see that happen anymore in the modern church today...where ‘sin in the camp’ is addressed openly? Back then, it was a serious deal. You might ask the family of Ananias and Saphira about that. (Acts 5:1-11) But I just want to point out one significant item here regarding Paul’s advice on what needed to be done. The one who was guilty of this immoral activity was instructed to be ‘handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus’. (1 Cor. 5:5) 

 Do you recall the word of warning Jesus cautioned that man whose physical body had been healed there in John 5 when Jesus told him to ‘go and sin no more’? You might go read vs. 14 and underline it if you have not done so already. 

 So where am I going with all this today? How about we jump to Acts 10:38 and read what God had anointed Jesus to do. I might also add that Jesus commissioned the church saying: “As the Father has sent Me, so send I you.” (John 20:21) 

 Whup...whup...wait there...go back and read that again. Jesus is telling the church that they are to continue on doing...the very same thing that God had sent Him to do. That might even shed some more light on John 14:12 if you care to look that one up. ;- ). But back to Acts 10:38: 

 “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him.” 

 Before I address the main point here that I feel inclined to explore, I should also add that one reason the church today lacks the true power of God to set people free is because of the unwillingness to follow Jesus in the same manner in which He had to go through to receive power...and that was in the wilderness to be tested and examined to insure His heart was completely yielded to God so He could be anointed with this power. And I only point you to Luke 4:1-14. We read of no instance or example of Jesus performing any displays of power or miracles prior to this time of testing. It was only after that period...where we read how He ‘returned in the ‘power of the Spirit’ and then the news of Him began to spread (14) and He began to ‘set the captives free’. (18) 

 Now regarding Acts 10:38, I have three questions for you. You might call these ‘rhetorical’ questions but still, I want to ask them. 

 Do you believe Jesus has ever stopped healing people who were/are oppressed by the devil? 

 Do you believe the devil has ceased...from oppressing people today? 

 And probably even more importantly...do you have any idea as to just how or why...the devil is able to continue oppressing people? Hopefully you answered ‘No’ to those first two questions so now we can address this third done. But first allow me to connect the two dots or themes of this post here today. Going back to this subject of being ‘carnal’. I would like to assume we are all on the same page here with understanding what that word means. To be ‘carnal’ is to be ‘earthly, or fleshly’ minded. It has to do with the appetite and desires of the body and flesh nature. 

 I might also add here that while the body has need of food, and God also created us to have sexual desires in order for procreation, He also set some pretty clear boundaries for us, especially for the latter there. We can address those two particular ones later. But you might review both Galatians 5:19-21 and Romans 1:29-32 for a more exhaustive list of what is evident in this ‘flesh nature’. A nature, I remind you, that is to be put entirely to death; as opposed to being ‘dialed down, put on a leash, or in a cage’. Those who truly belong to Christ have done just that, because...that is what those who are following Jesus do. (Gal. 5:24; Rom. 8:13-14) 

 Do you recall what our condition was prior to coming to Christ? Eph. 2:1-3 explains it rather well - we were spiritually dead...and it was the spirit of the devil that was working IN us, operating through that sinful flesh nature. Hence, our ‘oppressed condition’ that Jesus came to heal us of and set us free from. Care to guess how this all came about? I’ve touched on this before and will do so again. It goes back to the ‘Fall’ and the ‘curse’ that was placed on the serpent. We are usually more familiar with the curse placed on both the man and the woman’ but along with the serpent being relegated to crawling on its belly (Gen. 3:14) he was also told: “you shall eat dust all the days of your life”. 

 What is man’s ‘flesh’ made from? (Gen. 3:19). Now, please refer to Eph. 4:27 and Romans 13:13. 

 I will now step aside and pray the Holy Spirit will speak to you as the ‘eyes of your understanding might be opened’. (Eph. 1:18).