Monday, January 14, 2019

Out of Slavery and Into Freedom – Part 2



2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Pastor Kyle continues: The (AA) Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has twelve steps that are generally helpful in all circumstances which we find ourselves. (1) We admit that we are powerless of the issue at hand – that our lives had become unmanageable. (2) Come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. (3) Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him. (4) Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. (5) Admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. (6) Be entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. (7) Humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings. (8) Make a list of all persons we had harmed and become willing to make amends to them. (9) Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. (10) Continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admit it. (11) Seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. (12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, try to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Thirdly, maintain a state of mental readiness and swift obedience to God and His holy Word. We cannot say, “I am not willing.” We need to have haste in obedience. God put options in front of us and decisions must be made. Fourthly, move in faith and move first. Standing on the promises of God and confident in blessed assurance, walk by the truth in God’s holy Word, being proactive by nature and reactive when necessary. If we are not willing to do what God says, then how can we expect others to do it?

Joshua 24:14-15 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

It boils down to this: Do you have the faith to say “yes” to true freedom?  Romans 1:17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Do we have the faith to take the steps to change from slavery into freedom in Christ?

In Christ, Brian

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