Speaker: Church Title: Church Sharing Date: 05-03-2015 Our Goal as Christians is this: To be an exact reflection of Jesus, the Son of God (Romans 8:29) We do this individually by growing in purity in our personal lives (1 John 3:2-3) We do this corporately by becoming fully functioning members of a local Church (Ephesians 4:11-16)
Summary
The speaker reflects on how recent physical ailments have led him to study 2 Corinthians 12, focusing on Paul's thorn in the flesh. He emphasizes that God's power is perfected in weakness, meaning our perceived inability drives us to Christ. Furthermore, he advises against trying to
Outline
The message in plain words, in the order it unfolds. Select a time to jump the video to that moment.
Physical struggles and what they teach usExperiencing multiple random physical issues over a few weeks taught the speaker that the Bible considers physical trials to be potentially good for us.
Paul's thorn in the fleshLooking at Paul's physical issue in 2 Corinthians, God's grace is sufficient and His power is perfected in human weakness.
Seeing our absolute incapabilityGod uses physical weakness to show us that we are totally incapable on our own, which drives us to Christ so His power can work in us.
Stopping the attempt to juggle the worldPhysical suffering like severe allergies helps remind us not to try to carry the world on our shoulders, but instead to rest and focus on what is truly necessary.
The conviction about mental sinThe speaker was convicted that he needed to pray against fantasizing about sin in his mind right now, rather than just praying against future actions.
Being enticed by our own lustJames describes how being carried away and enticed in our minds leads to conceived sin and ultimately death if we do not discard the initial small thoughts.James 1:14
Disobeying the command to consider ourselves dead to sinEntertaining thoughts of sin means we are currently disobeying the command to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
Three ways to consider ourselves dead to sinThere are three practical ways to walk out this command: despising the thought of evil, proactively setting the mind on the spirit, and maintaining a slavery mindset toward God.
First: Despising the thought of evilJust as Psalm 36 describes the ungodly allowing transgression to speak in their heart without fearing God, we must hate evil and immediately shut down sinful thoughts.
Second: Proactively setting our minds on the spiritBased on Romans 8, we must make a daily, proactive choice to set our minds on the things of the spirit and test whether our daily activities are truly for God's glory.
Third: Maintaining the mindset of a slave to righteousnessBeing freed from sin does not mean absolute independence; rather, we exchange a cruel master for a loving one by voluntarily yielding ourselves as slaves to God daily.
Ministering to others as showing love to JesusHebrews 6 explains that God will not forget the work and love shown as we help and minister to His people with diligence.
The danger of a dry week through lack of disciplineFailing to intentionally sit at God's feet and study His word leads to spiritual dryness, reminding us that we need self-control.
Self-control as a fruit of the spiritGalatians 5 shows that self-control is a fruit of the spirit, meaning true discipline is achieved through the Holy Spirit rather than living under the law.Galatians 5:18
Revisiting the instructions for communion1 Corinthians 11 calls believers to examine themselves, eat the bread, and drink the cup in a worthy manner to proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.1 Corinthians 11:23
Cleansing ourselves based on God's promises2 Corinthians 7 instructs us to cleanse ourselves from all defilement, with the foundation being the amazing promises that God dwells in us and is a father to us.
Remembering our adoption as children of GodWe take communion and judge ourselves knowing that God loves us as a father and has adopted us into His family, which motivates us to purify ourselves out of love.
