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Missing the Mark

Archery

Archery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“…Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?” (1Cor. 5:6)

Today during breakfast, my son asked an interesting question. He asked if he had to confess his sins to his parents, or could he just confess them to God. We explained that he only had to tell God, but our curiosity was peaked so we asked what he did. He proceeded to say that he wasn’t sure if it was a sin but that he ate a piece of food that landed on the floor. He explained that it was on the floor for less than five seconds, so he wasn’t sure if that counted as being too dirty to eat. Well, we laughed and explained that it wasn’t a sin to eat off the floor. It was just gross. Then my husband said…”oh I feel a blog coming on!” So, here I am writing a blog about it. His question actually sparked a great discussion about sin and that it’s not so much the act, but that it keeps us from hitting the mark God has set for us. If we sway to the right or to the left even just a little, we can go off the course God has put us on. It turned out to be a great life lesson.

So, I’ve been thinking about his question. Is it okay to eat off of the floor if the food has only been there for 5 seconds or less? Is it okay to sin if it’s only for a short time? Is there such a thing as a little sin? You know, maybe it is okay for him to eat off the floor just this once. But what if it happens again? I think he will be more likely to eat off the floor more easily the next time. The first time it’s a little gross. But the second time isn’t so gross. The idea of it being gross fades and so he does it again. What if this time the food is there for longer than 5 seconds? Does it taste any different? Is there a new level of grossness that has been reached? I would say probably not. If it’s acceptable to eat under the 5 seconds, then a few more seconds won’t matter. If he continues in this pattern, he will be eating food off the floor that has been allowed to sit longer and longer. He will keep pushing the envelope and before you know it he will want to eat his meals off the floor. That’s how sin is. It starts off small and grows.

Yesterday, while sitting in Starbucks, a friend and I witnessed someone backing up and hitting a car parked on the side of the road. Then the driver drove off. He didn’t leave his phone number with an apology. He just got out of there quickly. I couldn’t believe it. My friend called it. She knew he would just drive away. In attempt to impose justice, I took down his tag number and we left it on the car that was hit. My point is this, just because he didn’t take responsibility doesn’t mean he didn’t hit the car. In the same way, just because no one saw us sin doesn’t mean it isn’t sin. Just because no one can read our thoughts, doesn’t mean that we our thoughts aren’t sinful. We really need to come before the Lord and ask for a sensitive spirit. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us. If we don’t, what seems menial will grow to something out of control. Something that started as a sinful thought will take over our lives if we are not careful. Then we will be sitting on the floor eating dirty food wondering how we ended up there.

This was a great lesson for my whole family this morning. My son, who makes me laugh daily because he is such a kid, reminded me that sin, even in the smallest form is still sin. He reminded me that I am never above the ability to sin. And even when no one is looking, my sin is still seen by the One who matters. He reminded me that sin left unchecked will turn into a more grievous sin, eventually. And that it is not being legalistic to be careful about sin. It is honoring to God to remember that the enemy is always trying to trip me up. It starts in the mind and moves into actions. It was a great reminder to me today that I need to have a healthy respect for God’s commands and keep them. Finally, I have learned that eating food off the floor, even if it has only been there for 5 seconds is still gross!!

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How Can We Escape if We Ignore Such a Great Salvation?

Hebrews 2:2-4: “For since the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. This salvations, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”

You know, today people are looking for an escape. I have no doubt that many are seeking God out of the deepest and darkest pits of their life. And others are looking for something else. They’re turning to idols and those idols will never satisfy them. They’ll never comfort them. 

I have friends of mine that are in this boat that the verses above mention. They want to serve Jesus. I have no doubt about that. The problem is that they are missing, or rather ignoring the escape or the salvation that Jesus is extending to them. It’s frustrating because they want to do what is right. They want to get rid of their idols and follow Jesus with everything they are, but they just can’t seem to. As soon as something comes along they decided to put God on the back burner. It’s grievous to me. How can they escape if they ignore such a great salvation? They can’t. Jesus is the only Way out. God isn’t something we run to when our boyfriend or girlfriend other cheats on us. He isn’t something we run to when things don’t go our way. And He’s not something we run to when tragedy strikes. He should be our life. We shouldn’t be able to function properly without first seeking the Lord. Yeah, you’ll have to dump some things you might enjoy. But it’s so worth it. 

If you find yourself in this situation, I urge you to come to your senses. God is extending his beautiful grace to you. All you have to do is take it. Surrender your life to Christ completely because he bought you with his life. You will either be a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. You pick. 

If you will please join me in praying for those friends I mentioned. I pray that anyone who reads this is just solidified in the faith. I pray that if you are going back and forth with God, you stop and surrender to Him. You’re fighting a losing battle if you don’t 

God bless!

-Austin

P.S. Sorry for not being able to post much lately. School is in the process of rapping up (just six days left!) for the summer and I have been busy with other obligations. I’m so grateful God has given you to me as an audience so that I may bring His Word to you. 

 


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No Turning Back- Full Length Sermon

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday night! Hope you enjoy :)

-Austin


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Why do I keep on sinning??!!!

At the time of our accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour – we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

God replaced our old hearts and our old longings which were always rebelling against Him and put inside of us a new heart and a new longing with new desires which enabled us to follow and obey Him.

Although through all of this amazing new birth there is a BIG question that I would pose and try to answer and that is:-

How can we as believers keep from sinning?

This question has been posed to me a few times by Christians – some who have are brand new in their faith and some surprisingly that have been on the road with Jesus a long time and yet struggle with sin, struggle with the uncertainty of being saved at all and struggle with the fact that no matter how hard they strive they just can’t seem to get away from the sin which so easily invades their lives and in so doing separates them from God.

I have also heard of others wanting to become Christians but questioning their own ability to “hold on” to that faith and not being sure if they can live the Christian life at all.

Well, I certainly don’t pretend to know all the answers but can only go on what I have learnt from this perplexing question from experiences in my own life and of course my personal life walk with Jesus.

The last thing I want to project to anyone is the “Well, we are all going to sin, what of it? Sin, sin sin – go ahead – just confess it and that’s all there is to it”.

In Galatians 5:17 Paul tells us “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want”

So here we have Paul telling us straight out that we as human beings, saved by grace through the sacrifice of Jesus, have this war thing going on inside of us.

All of us have “in-built” sin inside of us – even though we have been washed and God sees us as pure and clean (when he looks at us He sees what Jesus did for us) we still have the residue, if you like, of sin still lurking around inside just waiting for an opportunity to trip us up.

We shouldn’t try to deny the fact that we have this ‘in-dwelling’ sin inside – we shouldn’t try to explain it away or act like it isn’t there – or tell ourselves that we shouldn’t have it. BUT the thing is that we do have the Holy Spirit as well WOOHOO!! and THAT is what makes a huge difference from us to the world at large.

That is the very thing that makes us different to people who are unsaved and are enemies to God

There is this inner-war thing going on inside all believers. The very moment we accepted Jesus and the Holy Spirit moved in, our old sin-life became so angry that the warfare began!

Unbelievers don’t have these feelings of warfare because sin holds no guilt for them – just like we were before the Holy Spirit took up residence and decided to ‘clean-house’ in our souls and gave us a longing and a desire to do Gods will.

BUT, we also have our humanity inside of us as well – and humanity on it’s own is naturally hostile to God and so our human spirit and the Holy Spirit is as it were rivals for 1st place in our lives.

Unfortunately, sometimes, if we don’t keep our eyes on Jesus and we are not walking with him in the Spirit then we can easily fall for Satan’s old tricks and stumble.

That’s why it is so important to ‘walk by the Spirit” with our Lord which literally means we do what we do each day by the Spirit of God – we live each day as it comes with all of it’s details, trials, joys, triumphs and disappointments, always being lead by the Holy Spirit.

Well, that’s fine but how do we “walk by the Spirit?”

What human nature tries to do in our lives is the exact opposite of what the Spirit is doing in our lives. Our human or flesh lives gets it’s satisfaction from our independence, other peoples praise, wealth, power and a host of other things while the Spirit is never ever controlled by any of these things.

That is what Galatians 5:17 means – Our human nature produces desires and the Spirit produces the opposite desires.

So, when we walk by the Spirit we are walking each day with desires that are stronger than those produced by our humanity. And so we are enabled as it were by the Holy Spirit to knock those desires over the head each and every time they try to bubble up the surface.

God’s amazing Holy Spirit is the only one who can produce in us desires for God and His way which are going to be stronger than our human desires

To keep walking by the Spirit – we need to pray – Psalm 51:10 says “Create in me a clean heart O God and put a right spirit within me” and that ‘right’ spirit is the on-going work of the Holy Spirit gifted to us on our conversion.

To keep walking by the Spirit – we need to Trust God – Faith in Him should not depend upon ‘feelings’ or emotion – rather than that, God desires us to simply place our faith in His trustworthiness and above all the Promises of His word.
Faith in God is believing His word over anything we may see, feel, hear or experience!!

To keep walking by the Spirit – We need to honour God by our lives – simply doing!! Doing things out of a grateful and thankful heart – things which probably you never thought you would ever do before you became a Christian.
Jesus Himself not only acted but lived by “Walking by the Spirit” – everything He did was done through the Holy Spirit.

Yes, because we live in this world and we still have our basic humanity – we will still sin! – That is a given. But we no longer have to be ruled by that sin.

Jesus came to earth, died and rose again to smash the chains of sin in our lives – we are free from the shackles we no longer have to dwell in the past.

We desperately need to walk by the Spirit – the very Spirit of God! We need to surrender our will to the Holy Spirit and trust that still small voice that directs our wills and our motives.

Simply put, we are to to walk in total submission to the Holy Spirit just like Jesus did while He was here.

So, we will sin while we are here – but to keep on sinning and feeling no shame, no guilt is impossible!

Come to Jesus when we do make mistakes and we will! – He is so ready to forgive – then rest on His amazing and awesome promises that our sins are far removed and that they have no real hold on us anymore.

Friends, like Jesus we can walk by the Spirit – we can act by the Spirit, we can LIVE by the Spirit. We need, like it says in Col. 3 & 2 Cor. 12 – “I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me; for He is both my life and my strength.”

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Depart From Me. I Never Knew You.

Matthew 7:21-23:    “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

This passage tells us that not everyone who claims to be a Christian will go to Heaven. Jesus says many times that obeying the will of God is a condition for entering Heaven. It doesn’t save us, but it should be a response to our salvation. It is by God’s power and grace that we are able to live according to God’s will. That means we need to pray for that power and put it into action.

Jesus states that “not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.” There will be people who truly believe they are serving Him, but they really don’t truly know Jesus. They don’t have that relationship. It is important that you strive to know Him more everyday. Your salvation has everything to do with your relationship with Christ. If you don’t have that true relationship, you aren’t saved. No relationship=Unsaved. But when you accept Christ as your Savior (come into a relationship with Him) you get your salvation. Jesus is salvation.

Jesus told the people who “ministered” to people that he never knew them. There it is again. That relationship I’ve been talking about in recent posts. These people are involved in powerful, supernatural activity, but they didn’t have a true relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul says that what appears to be powerful ministry can actually be the “work of Satan.”

So listen to this warning. Be careful of false teachers! When you hear a message, look into the Word. If the message doesn’t line up with what the Bible says, then throw the message out! Always go back to the Word.

I would want someone to do that for me. If something I say or write doesn’t line up with God’s Word, confront me about it so I can go back to the Word myself and correct my message. I never want to be a false teacher!

God bless! And remember (no matter who the preacher is) check a message with God’s Word.

-Austin

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Permission

If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission

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Lord, I want to be a writer. I want to reach out to your people, I want to give them hope, I want to show them your mercy and your goodness. Father, please – I want to be a writer.

Child, You can do all things through my Son who has promised you strength. I applaud your desire to share My love and grace with the world. Of course you can be a writer. (Phil 4:13)

Lord, I am scared. I fear that I don’t have the right words, the best education, and the right contacts to be a writer. Show me the way to obtain these things. God, I want to be a writer.

Child, if I am for you, who can be against you? I will bring you everything you need. I will provide the people and the skills, as you require them. Trust me. You can still be a writer.(Rom 8:31)

Father, I cannot find the time to be a writer. Clear my schedule; give me supportive family and friends to fuel my desires. If I have these things, I know I can be a writer. Lord, please… I want to be a writer.

Beloved, take the first step in faith and I will make a way. I have given you loved ones to cheer you on; I have placed your desires close to their hearts so that you might be a writer. Believe not in yourself, but in My love for you. You will be a writer. (Prov 3:5)

God, I am not worthy of sharing your message. I have sinned and I am broken. I am not perfect or deserving to be your vessel. I cannot be your writer.

Precious one, all have fallen short of my glory. None can deserve grace. It is a free gift for all to have. You cannot earn it or buy it because I give it without condition. You are my writer. (Eph 2:8-9)

God, I want to be a writer.

 Then Child, WRITE!

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A Call To Anguish- Full David Wilkerson Sermon

This is a sermon by David Wilkerson. Very powerful. Take a listen!

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Forcing My Beliefs on Others? (Video Journal)

Just thought I’d post a video journal today. This is a story from school today. Sorry if the video lags a little. I recorded it straight onto YouTube for time sake.

God bless!

-Austin

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Why Does the Church “OK” Sins Such as Homosexuality and Pornography?

Romans 1:32: “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

I think most (if not all) Christians agree that sin is serious. However, the church, for some reason is starting to approve of some sins. I’m not saying all churches do, I’m just saying a lot of them are. In this blog I will point out a couple of the “approved sins.” It really does disturb me.

A big topic  of debate is the topic of homosexuality. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, how can you say that homosexuality is ok? The Bible clearly says it is a sin! That’s not only established in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament.

Leviticus 18:22: “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Romans 1:26-27: Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

The actor and evangelist, Kirk Cameron, said this in an interview with Piers Morgan: “Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don’t think anyone else should either. So do I support the idea of gay marriage? No, I don’t.” He also said this about homosexuality, “I think that it’s – it’s – it’s unnatural. I think that it’s – it’s detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”

I couldn’t agree more with that statement. Homosexuality is one of the greatest evidences of human rebellion towards God. In no way is homosexuality natural! You can not reproduce homosexually. That is impossible. It’s not natural. Period. It is utterly detestable and clearly a sin, yet churches are ordaining gay ministers and saying it’s ok. Something has to change!

Approving of sin not only includes participating in the act, but it also includes supporting the act. You could, for instance, support the act by watching something you shouldn’t. Something that contains that sin. I’ll use the movie, “The Hangover” as an example. That movie is filthy and really is nothing short of pornography. Watching it puts your faith in danger because you purposely put yourself in a position to be tempted. That’s a sin. The Greek word for approve in Romans 1:32 is suneudokeo. It literally means to “agree with,” “consent to,” or “sympathize with.” It points to a casual enjoyment of the sins of someone else. That makes you just as guilty. Sin literally become entertainment. What is wrong with the church today? Watch what you watch. Watch what you do.

I know this is pretty heavy stuff, but I felt it was what I was supposed to write about today. We have to stop or the church won’t grow. It really can’t be called “The Church” anymore if we devote our lives to sin rather than Christ. Sin hinders the flow of the Spirit. Even sympathizing sin is wrong and we need to stop. It grieves the heart of God.

“I’m in no position to condemn anyone, but I won’t condone the actions of everyone.”- Lecrae

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Exchanging the Truth of God for a Lie

Romans 1:25: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”

My first question when I used to read this passage of Scripture is “Why would anyone ever exchange God for anything less? It doesn’t make sense!” Then my attention was turned to Israel. Israel seemed to be in a constant stage of rebellion against God throughout the entire Old Testament. At one point, they even wanted to return back to Egypt (read Exodus for more on that). I remember thinking, “Good grief! Why would you continually do things that grieved God? Why didn’t you learn?” Then one day, God told me this in my heart: “Austin, you do the same thing.” That was it. Not anything profound at all. However, I was completely humbled. I realized that so many times I choose worldly things, worthless things over God. The Lord also laid on my heart that often Christians want to return to what I call their “Spiritual Egypt.” We think it was better where we were before we accepted Christ. That’s just our flesh deceiving us though. That’s when I finally realized that God’s grace is so much greater than I had ever imagined. We, as Christians, often rebel against Him and yet He still chooses to love us and take us back when we repent of our trespasses. Our idolatry. Colossians 3:5 says this about our sin:

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

Paul calls our sin or our rebellion towards God “idolatry.” And it really is. Whenever you put anything before God, that’s idolatry. You’re worshipping something else. As Jefferson Bethke puts it, “What defines you, what do you give ultimate worth, and what, if taken, would bring ultimate hurt.  Now see, that is your god.” We often think of idolatry as literally bowing down to something else. That’s not necessarily true. You can worship money, drugs, your boyfriend or girlfriend, you popularity, etc. Anything you put in place of God is idolatry. Jefferson Bethke also said, “Where we exchanged ourselves for God thinking we could be Him, He exchanged Himself for us, absorbing all our sin.”

That’s grace. Even when we are in rebellion against the Creator, God still calls us our of the darkness. He doesn’t care where you’ve been. He wants you now. When Jesus was on the cross, He was dying for each and every individual that ever was and ever would be. His love will never fail you! Call out to Him in repentance and accept Jesus as your Savior! Only then will you be satisfied.

“Counterfeit gods, if you fail them, will never forgive you and if you get them, they’ll never satisfy you. This is the only God who will- Jesus and His resurrection.”- Tim Keller

God bless!

-Austin

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