Two Ways Satan Wins

In 1 Cor. 5, the text reveals that one of the members of the Lord’s church is in a sexual relationship with his father’s wife. He is following his master… Satan. Paul condemns the members in that church for tolerating that sin and urged them to punish this member by casting him out of their Christian community… they were to have nothing to do with him. Satan was winning because he had won the individual who was committing the sin and he had damaged the church because outsiders looking in would ridicule God. Satan wins in this case because of their under-reaction to sin.

I don’t know why the congregation tolerated this overt sinful behavior. Perhaps they thought that listening to a Preacher every Sunday morning might eventually cause him to correct his behavior… I don’t know but it was the wrong approach.

Of course the punishment had a design to it… it was designed to create remorse in the individual so he would realize what he had lost and quit having sex with his father’s wife.

The second way Satan wins is by over-reaction to sin. 2 Cor. 2:7-11, has Paul warning the congregation not to over-do the punishment or the now sorrowful member might be overwhelmed by his sorrow and Satan wins again. The individual is so sorrowful that he becomes spiritually crippled and ineffective in his Christianity. He no longer is guilty of an active sin but is perhaps guilty of an inactive sin.

When a sheep is lost from the flock let’s go find it and when we find it let’s not berate and chastise it but build it up with a spirit of compassion.

Don’t let Satan win.

Humility (23 Sept 2007)

We were studying in 1 Peter this morning and I noticed this... "Yes all of clothe yourselves with humility, to serve one another for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble". 1 Peter 5:5. Sometimes when we think of humility we think of a quiet person who doesn't say very much. This verse defines humility as people serving each other... pride would be the opposite... not caring for the needs of others but serving our own needs. Jesus is our prime example in everything, even humility. And yet at times we see him as a very forceful and dynamic personality, both in his teachings and his actions. Remember in the Temple when Jesus flipped over the tables of the money exchangers and drove their livestock out with a whip? Yet Jesus was humble. "Who existing in the form of God, counted not the being the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself, taking the form of a *servant*, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he *humbled* himself, becoming obedient even unto death." Philippians 2:6-9. Humility is service towards others.

Updated Website

http://www.parkwaychurchofchrist.us/ Thanks to Tim Graf.

Becoming Jesus

2 Corinthians 3:1-18 is a text that recalls when Moses was on Mt Sinai in the presence of God. That nearness had the effect of causing Moses’ face to shine like the sun. In fact when Moses came down off the mountain he had to wear a veil over his face it was so bright. That is compared to what happens is in the presence of Jesus Christ. It is like looking into a spiritual mirror and viewing Jesus Christ. As we gaze into that mirror we are transformed into the same spiritual image. There are at least three things involved in that transformation. 1 John 5:18 states that those begotten of God do not sin, Jesus had no sin in him and we cannot have sin in us. We have to develop such a hatred for sin that it becomes impossible for us to engage in it. Matthew 11:29, states that we are to take the “yoke” of Jesus and “learn” about him. If we’re going to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ we need to have a deep and intimate knowledge of who he is. Philippians 2:1-7, states that Jesus was a servant and we must also become servants to each other… a community of servants. We can be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ by committing ourselves to being free of sin, by learning of Jesus and by living lives of service to others. We are not called upon to evangelize the world. We are called upon to become Jesus Christ. Take care of that and the world will be evangelized.

The Humor of Jesus

In Matthew 23:24 Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders that they “strained out a gnat but swallowed a camel”. In Jesus' native Aramaic language a gnat was a “Galma” and a camel was a “”Gamla”. So Jesus said, “they strained out a Galma but swallowed a Gamla”. Jesus used a little play on words.

Auditorium

Kaleb took this today. it's a little distorted.

Arm Wrestling and Benevolence

I did a little benevolence work tonight. Julie and I were in the Luby’s parking lot after services tonight fixing to go in and get something to eat and a big black guy came up to me a little down on his luck and needing some work and some money. He had to be about 6’3” and pretty stout so I told him if he could beat me arm wrestling I would give him $10. He laughed and I don’t think he thought I was serious but I slapped my arm down on the hood of the car and we arm wrestled. Even though I beat him I still gave him the $10. But then he told me he needed work and he didn’t have the best of records. I gave him my name and phone number and got his name and phone number and I think I may have a job lined up for him. We’ll see. I do feel a special kinship with him though… arm wrestling does that for you. If you need a worker… call me.