“Victorious Over Sin”

John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.”

When you prayed and asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, and you meant it sincerely from your heart, a miracle happened. Jesus washed away your sins, cleansed you from all unrighteousness (the stain of sin that keeps us from God,) and He clothed you with a robe of righteousness that is pristine white representing how God has chosen to see you – spotless and without sin because of what Jesus did. Isaiah 1:18 says it like this: “… “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.” What glorious news this is to us. We are washed and made righteous in God’s eyes, not because of our own doing but because of Jesus’ love and our acceptance of Him as our Savior. 2 Cor. 5:21 confirms this saying, “God made Jesus who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God didn’t stop there. He made you something more. Before I tell you what that is, let me tell you what you were before you accepted Jesus. You were a slave. You were a slave to Satan. He had you under his control and power and that is the truth. Galatians 4:8 says, “Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.” God frees you from this slavery but Satan doesn’t want you to know that. If you find out, He doesn’t want you to believe it. So, he’ll lie till he can get you to doubt it. He wants to keep you ignorant thinking you are still a slave to sin – that he still has power over you – that sin still has power over you. It’s a lie. He does not have power over you. Sin does not have power over you. Many Christians don’t know this truth and still think they are slaves to sin.

In John 8:34-35 Jesus taught, “I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family…” Jesus is talking about being in bondage to sin. He is saying that if you are still controlled by sin, then you still belong to Satan. This is where Satan comes in and says, “See, you aren’t saved because you still sin. You can’t stop. You aren’t in God’s family. You are my slave to sin.” You have to learn to rebuke this lying devil and learn to stand on God’s truth!

Do you know what the truth is? When you gave your life to Jesus, He set you free. Let me complete the rest of the verses we just read. John 8:34-35 “…A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.” Did you catch that? He said “a son is a part of the family forever.” Jesus is talking about being in His family. And He is talking about being a son or daughter – not a slave. Jesus goes on to say, “So if the Son (Jesus) sets you free, you will indeed be free!” (John 8:36) What should you catch and learn that Jesus just told you? That you are free from sin – no longer a slave to it, and that you are a child of God.

Okay, get ready to take hold of some of the most mind blowing and powerful verses in the Bible. Ready? Galatians 4:3-7 says, “And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world. But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law (to sin,) so that He could adopt us as His very own children. And because you Gentiles have become His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are His child, everything He has belongs to you.”

You may be battling some area of sin in your life. Satan has tried to facilitate that sin and then turn around and accuse you of it. He has lied to you and told you that it will disqualify you from Heaven, God’s love, and Jesus’ forgiveness. He has also told you that you will never overcome it. He does all this to keep you as his slave. This is a lie. You are not a slave! Today’s Fresh Manna verse says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.”

You have read that your aren’t a slave to sin. You are the son or daughter of God and free from sin. You have read that Jesus placed His Holy Spirit within you – the same Spirit that had the power to raise Christ from the dead! That’s power and that is what you have within you as God’s child. You are not condemned! You are not a slave! You are washed. You are empowered! You are free!

Learn to say these things as you smoke that cigarette. Say, “Satan, you are a liar. I am not in slavery to this cigarette. You are. Misery loves company and you want my company but you don’t have it. I am a child of God. I am free. I have the Spirit of God in me. Nothing has power over me. Jesus has set me free. You’ll spend eternity in the lake of fire, but I will spend eternity with Jesus. I rebuke and reject you in Jesus name.”

Whether it’s cigarettes, or alcohol, or sexual vices or whatever – you are a son or daughter of God. You are washed of your sins. You are free! Say it! Proclaim it! Let the devil know it. You’ll soon sense God’s power and strength building in you. It won’t be long till you see God’s strength lead you to one victory over sin after another. Freedom will prevail in your life!

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2008 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.

Relationships: Your Infusion or Poison

Psalm 119:63 “Anyone who fears You is my friend– anyone who obeys your commandments”

Is your life a product of “well everyone else is doing it, why can’t I?” Any parent of a teen has heard this justification of reasoning. To what degree have we unknowingly become its victim? Peer pressure is real and surrounds each and every one of our lives in more ways than we care to admit.

Ted and Susie are in love. Their best friends Jack and Mary are in love, engaged, and planning their wedding. It has influenced Ted and Susie to think harder about getting married. No one is putting pressure on them, yet just the events leading up to Jack and Mary’s wedding is making them think more about it.

Bill and Sandy spend a great deal of time with their best friends Perry and Angela. Perry and Angela’s new little baby girl Kristine now goes everywhere with the foursome. In some ways, Bill and Sandy fill like an aunt and uncle. Just being around this new beautiful little girl has begun to influence their thoughts toward having a baby.

We all know of peer pressures by association. It affects how we think and what we do. Many of us have seen children who were once focused and on a good path, become distracted and headed for trouble simply by a new friend or friends they’ve begun to associate with. As parents, there were times when it was appropriate for Renee and I to discourage or stop the development of a relationship in one of our children’s lives if their new friend clearly displayed an ongoing pattern of poor behavior and or attitude. We encouraged godly influences but discouraged the development of negative close relationships.

When what others do begins to lead us outside of God’s ways or water down our standard for godliness and integrity, it’s time to take a look at the relationship and decide if that is a relationship ordained by God. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NLT) speaks with great authority to us, “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the Devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? …For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

As an adult, you may believe you can manage the ungodly behavior of someone you have befriended. If relationships begin to negatively affect your thinking, perspectives, or your behavior and you don’t deal with it, you are absolutely wrong and in denial. You have put your confidence – false confidence – in thinking that you are stronger than the forces of evil that God warns us be flee or stay away from.

God paints us a picture in Haggai 2:12-14(Amplified Bible.) “If one carries in the skirt of his garment, flesh that is holy… and with his skirt or the flaps of his garment he touches bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does what he touches become holy…? And the priests answered, No! [Holiness is not infectious.] Then said Haggai, If one who is [ceremonially] unclean because he has come in contact with a dead body should touch any of these articles of food, shall it be [ceremonially] unclean? And the priests answered, It shall be unclean. [Unholiness is infectious.]

If we are living for God and work to influence others toward His love, that is our directive. At the same time we need to understand that our right living is not infectious – it’s not just going to automatically cause someone else to live for God just by our association. If we hang around and/or take in ungodly influences, it will automatically dilute and negatively affect us and our influence. Unholiness is infectious!

It isn’t just people that we associate with that can drag us down and away from God. It’s what ever we let in our sense gates – primarily our hearing and seeing. The filth the media surrounds us with – the large majority being immorally sexual – is now the humor and focal point of most things produced by Hollywood. Without developing a standard against it, you will become the victim of it. It will drag you down and away from God.

Until you yield to God’s exhortation and step away from relationships that are unequally yoked, you won’t be able to see your deception and how it’s influenced you.

I’ve seen far too many Christian men and women think they can convert the unbelieving person they have allowed themselves to fall in love with only to later be disappointed and heartbroken. That will always be the result of disregarding God’s instructions.

Kind David was one who from a boy realized the power of association and guarded his heart carefully. He esteemed God’s heart, His standard, His laws, and all His ways, as more critical to his life than any other thing. David said in Psalm 119:72 (NLT) “Your law is more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver!” He went on to say how the standard of God’s Word determined who he’d develop relationships with. We see this in Psalm 119:59-61 (NLT) “I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your statutes. I will hurry, without lingering, to obey your commands. Evil people try to drag me into sin, but I am firmly anchored to your law… v.63 “Anyone who fears you is my friend– anyone who obeys your commandments…”

When it comes to ungodly influences, whether its people or what we take in, there is pressure that comes from those associations. Jesus said we don’t hide from the world. We live in it. We work to influence it. But, when it comes to the relationships that we become close friends in, follow David’s example – today’s Fresh Manna verse – “Anyone who fears you is my friend– anyone who obeys your commandments…”

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2008 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.