Project Change Weekly Messages

WM9 Purity March 4, 2017

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Sorry I'm late! With school, church, family problems, tornadoes and vacations, you could say I was pretty busy!! But here it is!

What Freedom Really Means

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Romans 7:14‭-‬15 KJV

This was not a confession from a lukewarm Christian. Nor was it from an unwashed sinner. This confession was, most chillingly, given to us by the Apostle Paul, who founded the church throughout ancient Rome and is indirectly in one way or another you can hear about the Gospel.
That Apostle Paul.

Sin doesn't magically go away from us when we repent or when we get filled with the Holy Spirit.

Sin isn't immediately eradicated by God's love as soon as we get baptized or when we get an annointing or calling. Lust doesn't disintegrate when you become a pastor. Pride doesn't leave you for good when you surrender your life to Jesus.

Sin stays with us until we die. As long as our souls are strapped to our earthly bodies (our flesh), we will still have those primal desires rage in us. Jesus doesn't deliver us from free choice when we're saved. He rebukes the curse that denies us it.

Paul goes on to say this:

If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Romans 7:16‭-‬19 KJV

Alot of churches would fire their pastor for being this real. Paul is saying that he is a sinner.

But yet, in the same breath he says that it isn't him that does it, but sin in him.

What??

Is he pushing off accountability? Is he saying "Yeah, I still sin, so what? Its not my fault, it's like I get possesed by sin"?
Of course not. What he is saying, instead, is that he always struggles to keep sin out. He doesn't want to sin, but it still happens. And not once in a blue moon, not every time all the planets and their moons in the universe align.

The Apostle Paul fought sin on a daily basis.

As do we.

We can never be too spiritual for our past to slip in behind us. We can never be so far ahead in the race that our evil desires can't catch up to us.

But when they do, will we be strong enough to tell them off? Will we resist the sin that knocks on our door?

It is absolutely necessary to be watchful over our flesh and remember that it will never go away until we die. There is no point at which you are secured in your salvation. So many people that have callings on their lives, burdens in their hearts to serve the Lord still fall from grace and die unsaved, because they weren't watching for the snares that lie around them. The devil is waiting for us.

The Bible says that the devil is like a hungry lion, seeking whom he may devour.

We tell ourselves that the lion can't get us where we are, when the lion is already hiding in the bushes next to us.

We have to be watchful. Sin is waiting on our doorstep. Every time we wake up we need to pray for vigilance. Every morning we need a fresh annointing if we are to escape every trap the devil has for us, both in the world around us and in our own minds.

But while we are to be cautious, we must not be afraid. We must understand that God in His love gives us strength to fight back.

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
1 Corinthians 10:11‭-‬14 KJV

With every temptation, we have two choices. We can follow our bodies urge to run in, or resist it and force our bodies to run away.

That means that you shouldn't expect to be able to resist lust in a club with dancers in it. You can't resist anger if you've been jamming to screamo all day. If you're already in, you can't run out until it's too late.

If you were on a diet, you wouldn't put cakes and chocolates and cookies and hamburgers in your fridge.
You'd clear them out, and replace it with berries and fruits and vegetables. Because you know, if there is junk food that you like in your fridge available to you, you will eat that instead of the fruit, veggies and other healthy choices.

But instead, if you remove chocolate from your fridge and from your mind, you will be able to resist it better when it does come around.

But in order to resist anything at all, you must get closer to the God of free choice. The devil tells you sinning is acting on freedom, but really it's just acting on your impulses, being tugged back and forth by brain chemicals and emotional desires. True freedom is resisting what you want to do in exchange for what is good for you. Freedom does not enslave, punish, or lead to terrible consequences. Sin does.

How do we resist temptation? It isn't rocket surgery. Just realize that the thing youre about to do isn't good or godly, and do the opposite!
The challenge of it instead lies in your spiritual strength. The less we are connected to God and the more spoiled our flesh's are, the less free will we have. So we must weaken our flesh through fasting, prayer and Bible study, and connect to God with the same.

There is a daily war, waging every hour, every minute, every second, from the second our alarm goes off to the time we finally fall asleep, and sometimes even in our dreams. This war is for our souls, the devil still wants to drag each and every one of us to hell. But God will always provide us a way out, if we give Him the sacrifice of ourselves so He can make us strong.

Your Mission: Pray for God to show you all of your sin, as well as everything that displeases Him. Give to Him your will and desire, and He will give you the freedom of choice and wisdom and the strength necessary to escape sin's grasp everyday.

If we set our hearts to knowing God through giving our hearts in prayer, and knowing His word, we can be clean before Him! The Bible has power to change us if we prayerfully read it!

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Psalms 19:7‭-‬8 KJV

And when we do sin, because we will, we must confess every sin that we do, every evil mindset we may have, and ask for forgiveness in the confidence that God will forgive everytime.

You must protect your salvation like it's the most valuable thing you have.. because it is.

And when our hearts, minds bodies and souls are all in line with God's perfect will, then will we be able to change the world.