If I'm tempted, is that a sin?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When you face temptation, remember it is not a sin to be tempted. Temptation to sin is not sin.

If temptation were a sin, then Jesus would be a sinner, because Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus was tempted like as we are. Jesus felt what you feel. He was just as much a man as though He were not God at all, and He was as much God as though He were not man at all. He was the God-Man, and praise God, Jesus never sinned, though He knew those temptations. He faced in His manhood and in His humanity the temptations you face. And He is touched. He can sympathize with you, for He knows what you feel. He knows what you face. He knows.

ACTION POINT:

Are you facing a temptation today that you feel no one has ever faced? Turn to Jesus in prayer, and He will meet you there.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The All-Satisfying Object

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

The quest for pleasure is not even optional, but commanded (in the Psalms): “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

The psalmists sought to do just this: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1–2). “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

The motif of thirsting has its satisfying counterpart when the psalmist says that men “drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights” (Psalm 36:8 NASB).

I found that the goodness of God, the very foundation of worship, is not a thing you pay your respects to out of some kind of disinterested reverence. No, it is something to be enjoyed: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8). Taste. Taste! And see.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).

As C.S. Lewis says, God in the Psalms is the “all-satisfying Object.” His people adore him unashamedly for the “exceeding joy” they find in him (Psalm 43:4). He is the source of complete and unending pleasure: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

John Piper 

Can God forget about you?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Comforter.”

Whenever peace enters your heart in the midst of grief...

Whenever joy enters your heart in the midst of a trial...

Whenever you see evidence of His life in yours…

…..you can be sure the Holy Spirit is flowing through your life.

Can He forget you? Never. The seal of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is on your life if you are His child. Whenever you pass through a room or walk through a crowd, His oil of gladness sends a sweet aroma of Christ through the air!

ACTION POINT:

Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-5. How can you show the comfort of Christ to someone who is hurting?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Stopping the Indulgence of the Flesh

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,

19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations-

21 "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"

22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)-according to human precepts and teachings?

23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. - Colossians 2:16-23

13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.

15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. - Titus 1:13-16

4 Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. - 1 John 2:4-6

43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." - John 8:43-47

True Love

How we live out true love!!

Love is patient!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant - 1 Corinthians 13:4

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.

16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.

17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?

20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,

24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,

25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. - 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Why do we need patience?

Man struggles with this.

Everybody is different.

Some are chaotic, some structured, some soft spoken and some loud, some meek and some mild and so on.

Some have a different shape.

We see things differently.

S - spiritual gift

I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. - 1 Corinthians 7:7

H - heart

Your passion.

A - abilities

God given talents working together for God's glory.

P - personality 

Different emotional makeup.

This comes from the way you were raised. 

Values taught by your parents and grandparents.

We express things differently.

E - experiences

They also shape who you are.

Working different jobs, parenting, tragedies, triumphs 

God made you to be unique!

Our difference create misunderstandings.

For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. - 1 Corinthians 2:11

Three false assumptions 

1. Words mean the same thing to everybody.

I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you're aware of what you heard is what I meant!

2. There's only one way to see things.

It's not only black and white.

Some see things half empty while others see things half full.

3. My way is the only correct way.

This is true about there's only one way to salvation and that's Jesus!

We all know that there are many different ways to get to a location. 

How can we be more patient?

1. Remember God's patience with me.

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. - Romans 15:7

2. Learn by listening.

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.  - Proverbs 14:29

Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.  - Proverbs 19:11

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.  - Proverbs 18:13

We always think it's somebody else that has the problem.

3. Treat others the way you desire to be treated.

What ever happened to us applying " the golden rule"?

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. - Matthew 7:12

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.  - Micah 7:19

Thanks Pastor Kevin!!!

The Most Liberating Discovery

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. (Philippians 3:1)

No one had ever taught me that God is glorified by our joy in him — that joy in God is the very thing that makes our praise an honor to God, and not hypocrisy.

But Jonathan Edwards said it so clearly and powerfully:

God glorifies himself towards the creatures also [in] two ways: (1) by appearing to . . . their understanding; (2) in communicating himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying the manifestations which he makes of himself. . . . God is glorified not only by his glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. . . .

[W]hen those that see it delight in it: God is more glorified than if they only see it. . . . He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

This was a stunning discovery for me. I must pursue joy in God if I am to glorify him as the surpassingly valuable Reality in the universe. Joy is not a mere option alongside worship. It is an essential component of worship. Indeed the very essence of worship — being glad in the glories of God.

We have a name for those who speak their praises of God when they have no pleasure in what they praise. We call them hypocrites. Jesus said, “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me’” (Matthew 15:7–8). This fact — that authentic praise means consummate pleasure and that the highest end of man is to drink deeply of this pleasure for God’s glory — was perhaps the most liberating discovery I have ever made.

John Piper 

What is God’s secret motive?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Satan is a clever liar. In fact, many of his lies sound like the truth. Jesus Himself said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).

He plays with our minds to confuse us, lying about the biggest subject of all – God. If he can deceive and distort your idea of God, then he has you in everything else.

Satan doesn’t deny the existence of God; he’s too clever for that. But he wants you to think of God as cruel, harsh and severe, filling your mind with negative thoughts, seeing God as some a cosmic killjoy.

The opposite is true.

Every time God says, 'Thou shalt not,” He's just saying, “Don't hurt yourself.” Every time God says, “Thou shalt,” He's saying, “Help yourself to happiness.”

Poet Ralph W. Seager has written in “The Extravagance of God,”

“More sky than man can see, 

More seas than man can sail, 

More sun than he can bear to watch, 

More stars than he can scale, 

More breath than he can breathe, 

More yield than he can sow, 

More grace than he can comprehend, 

More love than he can know.”

ACTION POINT:

If it will make you healthy, happy, holy, or wholesome, God says, “Help yourself, My child. I love you.” Meditate on these verses today: “The Lord thy God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk up rightly” (Psalm 84:11). “God giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (I Timothy 6:17).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers