Treasured Truth

Today, we’ll begin a new study and deal with an elephant in the room—domestic violence.  October is domestic violence awareness month and Pastor Ford will help us look at this important topic and become more aware of how to deal with it.  He’ll urge us to quit turning a blind eye to those who need help, and to expose sin and seek recovery for those involved in these tragic situations.

There are several things that Pastor Ford wants to encourage us not to forget.  He says don’t forget about the goodness of God, the glory of God, or the grace of God.  Because if we do forget these things, then our forgetfulness leads us directly to our sinful tendencies.

According to Pastor Ford, the importance that someone places on worship is also an indicator of how they deal with sin in their life.  Christians who have the right response to worship will be the same ones whose sinfulness has dealt with itself.

We should never blame God when we fall into temptation.  As a matter of fact, according to Pastor Ford, we shouldn’t blame the Devil or even blame the world.  Because our greatest enemy is not our external enemy, the world, and it’s not our infernal enemy, the Devil.  The greatest enemy is our internal enemy, the flesh.

Often people will say that they just have to make a way for themselves to accomplish or overcome something.  But Pastor Ford wants to remind us that Jesus has a plan for each of us, and He’s going to make sure we fail as we try to make our own way.  We’re going to fail every time, because He’s got a prescribed course that He wants us to follow.

What is the solution to the natural inclinations that are a part of our sin nature?  What can we do to fight our proclivities toward sin? How in the world do we fight what we like?  These are just a few of the questions that Pastor Ford will help us answer today.

In John 8:12, Jesus is called the Light of the World.  And because of that, we can deal with our sin appropriately with one broad stroke.  We can come out of the darkness of our sin, simply by coming into fellowship with the Jesus, the Light.  

Pastor Ford will explain that our struggle is greater with God than it is with the Devil.  Why?  Because it’s a lot easier to give into temptation than to resist it.  But our biggest problem is not with the Devil and it’s not with God.  Our biggest problem is with ourselves. Hear more about the “inner-me enemy” on today’s Treasured Truth.

Pastor Ford will remind us today that God won’t make us do anything, but He can put us in situations that will make us do what is best for us.  For instance, God has a better opportunity for you, but you won’t leave your job because of security.  So, He lets you get fired, in order for you to eventually get hired into a better situation.

Sometimes we don’t listen to God and what His Word tells us to do and we get ourselves into trouble.  But the good news is that He loves us so much that He gets us out of the trouble we’ve caused ourselves, even though we didn’t listen to what He told us to do.