It’s My Wonderful Life

At Journey Church, we began our Life Essentials back.  We study this on Sunday morning and then we elaborate more on these in our small groups on Sunday night.   Today’s lesson was on Believing in Satan and sin.

Jeff did an excellent job on explaining sin and Satan.  The sermon this morning came from Genesis 3:1-7.  He only discussed the conversation between the serpent (Satan) and Adam and Eve.   This very conversation is what brought sin into the world. Below is the conversation between the serpent and Adam and Eve.

NOW THE serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?  And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden,  Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.  But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.  And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.  Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apronlike girdles. –Genesis 3:1-7–

This single conversation allowed sin to enter the world.   Millions of years later, we are still a sin filled world.   During this conversation, Satan questions God’s character and makes Eve question God’s motive.  Satan casted doubt into Eve’s mind and she began to believe that things can be questioned and challenged.

Temptation of Satan clouded Eve’s judgment just like today temptation clouds ours.  Eve could not keep Satan’s conversation out of her head.  She constantly loooked at the tree and the fruit it produce.  She finally acted on her thoughts.   This sounds like what we do today.  We just keep looking at something and dwell on it day after day.  Guess what?  We later act on our thoughts, we go out an sin.   So often this happens.   If we could just forget about it and move on, we would be less eager to sin.

Many different observations can be found about Satan in Genesis 3:1-7.

1. Satan is a personal being. He is not a force.
2. Satan acts in opposition to God’s authority and intentions.
3. Satan is crafty.  He doesn’t just drift around.  Satan strategizes by using truth and twisting it so that it sounds good.
4. Satan seeks to tear down and destroy God’s creation. From this very conversation in Genesis, humans today are affected by Satan.   He will destroy everything that is like God.  We are made in the image of God.
5. Satan communicates and seeks to manipulate. He is the master manipulator.
6. Satan has a team. His followers were cast down with him to the Earth from Heaven.

During Jeff’s sermon, he also spoke of six very interesting points about sin.

1. We are born broken. We come to and age where we make willful decisions against our parents (well before we are one).
2. Sin is very damaging. It affects your internal decisions and damages all relationships in its path.
3. Sin shrivels our spirits. It corrupts our consciousness.
4. Sin provokes temptation. Being tempted does not mean that you are conquered.   You can move beyond your temptations and not act on it.
5. Sin is sustain by our thoughts. If we change our thoughts, the patterns of sin will leave.
6. Sin destroys what we prize more and leaves our character looking like road kill.

We were left with several questions to ponder throughout the week.

Why is it important to know Satan is real?

I think that it is very important to know this.   One of the observations from the passage shows us that Satan is a personal being.  He is not just a force or just a thought in our head.   He was kicked out of heaven with several of his angels.   So Satan and his followers are living right amongst us.   They could be standing beside us in the checkout line waiting to buy their groceries.  This is why we must know that he is real.  When we realize that he is real, we can begin to strategize ourselves and win the battle against him.   Believing Satan is real is the first step to winning to world over to Christ.

Why must I know that sin destroys?

How else could I understand the problems in the world?  With my personal life, I can see how my sinful life destroyed awesome friendships and how it has broken up my family.   By living for Christ now, I can see how my life and relationships are stronger than ever.  Yes, I still have problems but it stems make to those temptations that I acted on.   By knowing sin destroys can change your life forever.  Once you realize this, you can see that Christ is the only way to have a life that is not destroyed.

What does this message say about Jesus who became our sin?

I don’t know about you but it brings tears to my eyes.   Jesus stepped in front of me and took a bullet that was intended to kill me.   It shows me how much he truly loves me and God’s people.  To me, Jesus is my hero.   He paid the ultimate price for me.   Jesus is the way, the ONLY WAY.

I heard an awesome sermon on Sunday by Tracy Reed.  I have had the opportunity to hear him speak twice and both times I have been challenge when I left the church.  The title of his sermon was “Are You Good Ground?”

The sermon was taken from the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-20. Most of us have heard this message a dozen times and we know we must be fruitful.   It is amazing how the same section of the Bible can be taught by someone different and you get something totally different out of it.  It wasn’t even boring.  God works in mysterious ways.

Basically Tracy’s sermon was about the four kinds of grounds or hearts (in human cases).   The four kinds of hearts are hard, shallow, crowded, and fruitful.  He took each heart one by one and explained in full detail the characteristics of each.

The first heart was the hard heart.  This heart is mentioned in Mark 4:13-15.

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? (14) The farmer sows the word. (15) Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

This type of heart goes to church every Sunday, but that is about it.   The Word of God makes no impression on them and they have no guilt of sin.   This results in these types of people feeling they have no need for forgiveness.   Satan loves this type of person.   In fact, he wants all churches to be filled with them because they ignore God’s attempt to work with them.

The second heart was the shallow heart.  This heart is mentioned in Mark 4:16-17

(16) Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. (17) But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away..

A shallow heart person receives the word with gladness, yet they stumble with every tribulation.  The word they receive did not have long roots.   Basically this person hears the word, receives the word, but fails to commit on the word.   They do not move past the profession of faith.     During tough times, they are blown away.  They are very unprepared and they will die.

The third heart was the crowded heart.  This heart is mentioned in Mark 4:18-19.

(18) Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; (19) but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

The crowded heart accepts the Word and grows but soon the world takes over.  They lust for things and want to walk the broad way instead of the narrow way.  Basically, the want the easy way out.  They straddle the fence because they have no room for Jesus to be fully in their life.

The fourth heart was the fruitful heart.  This heart is mentioned in Mark 4:20.

(20) Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

A fruitful person in on good ground.  They want to become what God wants them to be.   Living in the word and keeping it is the utmost importance to them.    They are true disciple that allow God to make a difference in their life.  The apply God’s word and spread it.

Which kind of heart are you?   What type of heart should you be?

God has a purpose.  That purpose is to share God’s word to the lost world.  Be a fruitful heart.  Reap what has been sown.   Make sure you bear fruit in your life as well as others.

3 Steps to Being Fruitful

1. Hear the word.
2. Accept the word.
3. Live the word.

Tracy ended his sermon with a very powerful thought.

You can’t live the word unless you plant the Word.  You can’t plant the word unless you put your hands in the Word.

If you get your hands dirty, you be fruitful.

He looks like the normal happy go lucky boy on the outside but inside he is steaming with anger. What has caused my child to be the way he is? A lot of it is genetics and a lot is material things. Ashton is into hitting. When he gets mad he hits anything and everything. It used to be the couch or wall. Well, yesterday it moved to me. I proceeded to tell him something, of which he did not like and he balled his fist up, lucky for him I caught it as it was coming to me.

What causes kids to be this way? The answer is they watch you. Yes, I am sure Ashton got this from me. I am the one with the serious problem that is slowly becoming my four year olds problem. When I get mad or depressed, I just have to hit something. I usually just hit the counter and not people. Children don’t see it that way. They see you get mad then they think it is appropriate to react in the same way that you do. It is not until you see your child do it that you realize that you are reacting in the totally wrong way.

I came across this site today about children learning your anger management from you. It was really good. Basically you have to identify your anger and control your emotions before they arise. If you do act out, you must sit your child down and explain to him that this was a bad choice to react this way.

I think this is good, but I also think my anger management goes back to something even greater. My relationship with Jesus. Yes, I think Ashton’s anger stems directly from my relationship with my Jesus. My relationship with him has not been very great lately. It was great before school was out and things were wonderful. When I got up early in the morning to read God’s word, I was happy even about the horrible things that would happen that day. Honestly, now I don’t want to get up, I want to sleep in. Why? I think it feels good, until I get up and realize that I am behind on house work.

After Ashton’s episode yesterday, I am going to get back into the word. I want to also do it with Ashton and show him that there is alternatives to being angry. When the sitting down and counting to ten doesn’t work, something will. Anger is something I struggle with and now my son does too. It is time to get this anger under control and there is only one way to do this GOD.

I am thankful for….

1. keeping my first appointment with God (at 5 am). This took a lot to do. I loved it and am now refreshed.
2. spending time with the family yesterday by our swimming pool
3. awesome sermon on physical, emotional, and spiritual rest
4. being able to talk to my 92 year old grandma everyday on the phone
5. a small group at church that I can actually experience growth in