A fish out of water!
James 1:12 Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.
James 1:12-15 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (NKJ)
A popular buzz word found in Christian circles today is the word “happy”. All of us want to be happy. And to seek happiness is not a sin or a bad thing. Parents want their children to be happy and God as our Father wants us to be happy. However, we should never trade holiness for happiness, nor righteousness for happiness.
James says that happiness comes by enduring the temptations and trials that come your way. After the test, we receive the crown of life—eternal life as a reward for standing and staying.
I want to encourage you tonight on overcoming temptations… on living a spiritual life…on understanding the realm of godly happiness. I can’t finish tonight so we’ll continue this same subject on Wednesday. No cutesy story tonight only this dead fish because he was removed from his environment! He was not equipped to handle a world without water.
Mt 24:11-13 "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 "But he who endures to the end shall be saved. (NKJ)
I want to walk through some spiritual realities that will help us survive the enemy, even overcome him in the days to come.
2Tim 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: (NKJ)
2 Timothy 3:1 BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].
WE live in the microwave generation and have a hard time with the marathon—the long term—the endurance and yet that is essential to see the end of our faith—our salvation.
Gal 5:16-25 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. …22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (NKJ)
It is clear that sin enters through temptation. Temptation is an enticement to meet an illicit desire or a legitimate desire in an illicit manner. Temptations are not outside of us, but inside. It’s not our circumstances but our heart that is the issue. By heart we mean the inner man, both emotion and intellect directed by our will.
Walking in the Spirit is being led by the Spirit and not our carnal mind—a mind given to making decisions on information gleaned from the world—senses, emotions, opinions, ideas derived from the darkness of this world.
1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (NKJ)
This means walking in spiritual understanding and knowledge! This is opposed to mere physical input.
Col 1:9-10 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (NKJ)
The secret to walking “worthy of the Lord” is being filled with spiritual knowledge and understanding. This is received only by those whose minds have been renewed to the reality of the spiritual world around them. A world that supersedes the physical world of the flesh.
One must be born again to enter this world.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the
John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (NKJ)
Once the new birth takes place we are to renew our mind to the rules, customs, standards, behaviors that are consistent with God’s kingdom not the kingdom of darkness. We are ruined for carnal life because we can’t unlearn what we know to be true.
We either comply or are miserable. We’re like a “fish out of water”. We’re spiritual in nature and will die if we continue to live in the carnal (Rom 8:1-9).
This renewal requires a new way of thinking, speaking, seeing, and living.
Col 3:9-11 “… put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (NKJ)
Ephesians 4:22-24 throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. 23 Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. 24 You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness--righteous, holy, and true.
Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. NLT
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