This was raw, open country, rugged country, and it bred a different kind of man…. Just so it bred the kind of man with guts and toughness no eastern man could use.”
–Louis L’Amour (The Daybreakers)
“For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.”
“For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.”
–Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)
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How to Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World
Key Verse: “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” –1 John 5:19 (NASB)
Right off I want us to look at several verses from 1 John 5. They come right to the point of our life.
1 — Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
2 — By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.
3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
4 — For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. (NASB)
John states, what he has already written about in the Gospel of John, that there is a new birth. He doesn’t try to prove it, but simply assumes the doctrine of the new birth that results in salvation. Far too many people have the notion that being a Christian is simply living a good life. No, it means that a person is now “born of God”–they are a new creation. That individual is different from those who are not Christian; they see the world differently.
Paul writes the same thing in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him.” Why do we then wonder that we have so little in common with those around us? They walk to the sound of the world, not the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our whole faith must be focused on the Lord Jesus Christ; it is what we believe about Him that makes us Christian.
“If I believe, I commit my whole life to Him. If I believe, I know that I am delivered because Christ has done that for me. I see that apart from Him I am lost and undone and doomed. This is a profound action; it is a commitment; it is a banking of one’s everything upon that fact.”
–D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Here are some questions that you need to ask yourself. The answer to these might give an indication of whether or not you have commited your whole life to Him.
1) Is my Christian living a task?
2) Is it something that I resent and object to?
3) Do I spend my time trying to get out of it?
4) Am I trying to compromise with the life of the world?
5) Am I just living on the edge of the Christian life, or do I want to get right into the center and live the life of God and be perfect even as my Father in heaven is perfect?
Where do you stand in your relationship to God? Do not be among those who think that it is just another term, another religion. Jesus is the only way, there is no other way to the Father except through the blood of Jesus Christ. It should be part of our daily prayer that we hunger and thirst after righteousness instead of seeking the things of the world.
———————————–
How to Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World
Key Verse: “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” –1 John 5:19 (NASB)
Right off I want us to look at several verses from 1 John 5. They come right to the point of our life.
1 — Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
2 — By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.
3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
4 — For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. (NASB)
John states, what he has already written about in the Gospel of John, that there is a new birth. He doesn’t try to prove it, but simply assumes the doctrine of the new birth that results in salvation. Far too many people have the notion that being a Christian is simply living a good life. No, it means that a person is now “born of God”–they are a new creation. That individual is different from those who are not Christian; they see the world differently.
Paul writes the same thing in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him.” Why do we then wonder that we have so little in common with those around us? They walk to the sound of the world, not the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our whole faith must be focused on the Lord Jesus Christ; it is what we believe about Him that makes us Christian.
“If I believe, I commit my whole life to Him. If I believe, I know that I am delivered because Christ has done that for me. I see that apart from Him I am lost and undone and doomed. This is a profound action; it is a commitment; it is a banking of one’s everything upon that fact.”
–D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Here are some questions that you need to ask yourself. The answer to these might give an indication of whether or not you have commited your whole life to Him.
1) Is my Christian living a task?
2) Is it something that I resent and object to?
3) Do I spend my time trying to get out of it?
4) Am I trying to compromise with the life of the world?
5) Am I just living on the edge of the Christian life, or do I want to get right into the center and live the life of God and be perfect even as my Father in heaven is perfect?
Where do you stand in your relationship to God? Do not be among those who think that it is just another term, another religion. Jesus is the only way, there is no other way to the Father except through the blood of Jesus Christ. It should be part of our daily prayer that we hunger and thirst after righteousness instead of seeking the things of the world.