Spiritual Warfare

Selfishness, self-centeredness, and self-pity lie at the root of most mental and emotional issues, as well as all bitterness, anger, and wrath. The depth of our selfishness is revealed by our attitudes and priorities. When we prioritize ourselves—our problems, possessions, or pride over the needs of others, we show that we have no charity. Following Christ requires the denial of self, which is difficult, but essential. Christ's life on earth was marked by compassion and concern for others, and believers are called to "...let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." True service to God is not in religious appearance or competition, but in genuine acts of love and care for others. This matter is the heart of the Gospel: Jesus gave Himself for us, and we are to do the same for others. The path to joy, soundness of mind, and eternal life is summed up in this simple truth: "Jesus first, others second, self last."

The Christian life includes a great conflict against the forces of sin and evil. This "race" we are running is not a competition between believers to find out who is the greatest, but a warfare that we all fight together. If we expect to be crowned when it is over we must enter the race, then run lawfully, and finish our course. In order to do that we are going to have to lay aside some things and put first in our lives the things that God has said must come first. We have too many cares that God did not give us to carry, and we waste too much time, knowing our time is limited. To be a good soldier of Christ takes more than a passive attitude toward his church and his cause.

The idea of duplicity in people is spoken of throughout the Bible and is always condemned. Jesus spoke of hypocrites at least 23 times in the Gospels. We are talking about people having two different personalities, changing into another person and acting completely different, moods, fits of anger, fits of melancholy and depression. Singleness of heart, simplicity, and sincerity are always spoken of as right in the sight of God, and the only way to have stability in life. The word "double-minded" actually means, "two-spirited," or vacillating. Doublemindedness is a spiritual issue, and the only cure is the new birth. Ephesians 2:15 "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;"

The first two verses of Romans 12 make it very clear that how we present our bodies in this world is a very important matter. So It is NOT only what is on the inside that counts. How we present our bodies has to do with our appearance, the clothes we wear, hygiene, the words we speak with our tongue, the things we use our body to do, and so much more. We are not to be conformed to this world (v. 2) that is, identified by our appearance as ungodly, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Now it is very obvious that most people are very much into "presenting their bodies" to the world around them, but God's people are to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God. And we are to prove what is that good, and perfect, and acceptable will of God. There are many things that are popular and accepted by the world, and the churches, that are not acceptable to God. We talk about some of them in this message.

As an illustration of what this message is about AI wrote this summary of the sermon and did it better than I could: The sermon explores the impending arrival of a deceptive era, drawing parallels to the days before the flood and emphasizing the allure of artificial intelligence as a sophisticated snare. It cautions against complacency and encourages discernment, highlighting the potential for even the faithful to be deceived by seemingly utopian advancements. The message underscores the importance of clinging to biblical truth and resisting the temptation to surrender critical thinking and personal agency to increasingly persuasive technologies, ultimately urging listeners to remain vigilant and anchored in God's word amidst a world poised for profound and potentially perilous transformation.

Do you ever wonder why some people who profess to be Christians are so different from others? Some live holy, clean, dedicated lives from the day they are saved until they die, while it is hard to tell others from the common sinners of the world. The answer to that question is that one is real and the other is not. They are either deceived or they are just plain hypocrites. The difference is one has been regenerated by the Spirit of God and the other has not. Those who are not regenerated are not saved, and have no hope whatsoever of heaven as long as they remain in that state.

There is a fatal error in modern Christianity and it is the teaching a person that salvation is a get-out-of-hell-free card, and a free ticket to heaven, while leaving him in the bondage of sin while he lives on earth. Jesus did more for us than that! "Ye shall not surely die" when you disregard God and his Word has been the lie of the devil since the beginning. If the salvation that Jesus provided does not deliver us from living in continual, habitual sin, then we have no real hope for eternity, and nothing to offer the hopeless.

Am I really saved? Am I really a child of God? What am I basing my assurance on? We must make sure that we are not just living on imagination. Men and women are very prone to fall in love with the fictions of their imaginations and stumble right off into hell over them. Your trust in God, and what you expect Him to do for you, must be based on truth and not on imagination. And the only reliable and infallible source of truth is the written Word of God.

What a calamity it will be when all but a few of the people who have ever lived on earth face God and find themselves condemned and told to "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity, for I never knew you!" Multitudes go to church and have convinced themselves that their religion, or their empty profession of faith is their free pass into heaven, but they have never sought the face of God. It is a very personal responsibility and the most important matter of life. "Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found. Call upon him while He is near." If you miss God and end up in hell it will be because you did not seek him. You didn't try with an honest heart to find him out. James 4:8 "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you… "

Paul and Silas had a woman following them who was telling everyone that they were the servants of the most high God, and that they were showing the way of salvation. She would have been appreciated in about any church now, but she was possessed with a devil. Paul was grieved and put a stop to her talking on his behalf. It was damaging to the work of God and the souls of the people who heard her. We need Paul's discernment now, because the same kinds of things are going on everywhere. Not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord" is going to heaven, and so sometimes they should be stopped instead of encouraged. Jesus gave us some pretty clear instructions on how to recognize these kinds of people.