THE BATTLE AGAINST SIN

Yesterday we discussed the repentance that John the Baptist was preaching in the Judean desert. The reason we need to repent is sin. It is man’s biggest problem and is the reason Jesus came to this earth. He came to die for our sins, to make atonement for them. However, today our culture does not want to discuss the issue of sin. Rather, we have become a culture of victims. Psychology, beginning with Freud, has told us that we are victims of our upbringing. Our parents have messed us up, our environment has confused us, and our culture’s morals have limited our natural human expression. This therapeutic thinking has opened wide the doors for men and women to feel O.K. about sinning because they just cannot help themselves.
The Bible tells us something much differently about ourselves and about sin. It tells us that we are dead in our sins and trespasses and that we stand guilty before God. This is not because of something someone else did or did not do to us, but because we ourselves have sinned and are guilty, responsible, and have to face the sentence due our sin: death. But that is exactly what Jesus came to redeem us from - the consequences of sin. Jesus came to forgive us our sins and give us new life and eternal life with Him.
Our problem as believers, however, remains to be sin that so easily entangles us and prevents us from taking hold of that abundant life Jesus offers us. So how do we tackle sin? C.J. Mahaney, in the book How Can I Change?, offers two steps we must take in order to battle sin. First, he says, we must attack sin. Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” When we are battling against sin we must be aggressive in our attack against sin and we must be on the offensive. We must go on the attack because if we wait, we will be in the defensive position very quickly.
The second point Mahaney makes is that we must avoid sin. Novel idea - avoid the sin you are attacking, putting to death. We far too often do not avoid it, but rather see how close we can get to the edge before we fall. If we are going to be serious about putting to death the sin that remains in us, we must learn to avoid it and avoid the things that make it easy for us to slip into the sins that so easily entangle us.
With you in the fight against sin,
Pastor Corey

The Heavens declare the Glory of God

Yesterday we covered Matthew chapter 2 in the Sunday morning sermon. I did however; leave out the first half of the chapter that gives us the story of the wise men who have come in search of the new born king. Notice I did not say the three wise men. The reality is we do not know how many men there were we only assume there were three based on the number of gifts presented. But that is not my point this morning. As I was thinking about these wise men that have come from the east following a star in the sky I was reminded of Psalm 19:1, which says, “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” What an amazing event. Here we have these scholars from the east, most-likely pagans looking into the sky and reading the ancient writings and there in the sky the glory of God is revealed, a star shining bright over the little town of Bethlehem. While the religious leaders were becoming more self-righteous in Jerusalem, pagans were looking into the sky and see the glory of God and come and worship Jesus Christ. These gentiles coming to Jesus as a little baby foreshadow the future ministry of Jesus who will send his disciples out into all the world to make disciples. As the first advent of our Lord is in the past, we do await his second advent, his second coming, and I hope we who profess the name of Christ will be watching and ready like those wise men from the east. Have a great week.

Mercy in a culture of entitlement

Why Memorize Scripture?

Why Memorize Scripture?
Some of you may be asking on Sunday mornings, “Why is Pastor Corey making a big deal about memorizing Scripture?” When it comes to Scripture memorization, I have heard all the excuses: I’m not good at memorizing; I can’t remember the reference; I don’t know which translation to use; and the excuses go on.
There are two main passages of Scripture for me that tell us we need to memorize Scripture no matter how hard it is for us to do. Psalm 119:9-11 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” As we saw also from our study of Ephesians last fall, it says in 4:12, “to equip the saints for works of ministry.” The works of ministry are primarily the ministry of the Word. That is, giving nuggets of truth, or at times even applying Scripture to one another’s life situations, that it may bring grace to the hearer.
We are memorizing Scripture corporately so that we can encourage one another to press on in the faith, and be prepared to minister the Word to one another and to ourselves, so that we might not sin against God. Have a great week and begin to memorize the sweet honey of the Word of God.

The Sanctity of Human Life

The sanctity of human life is a foundational belief for those of us who hold to the authority of the Bible. On Sunday afternoon, I decided to watch the movie Amazing Grace, the story of the life of William Wilberforce. His life is a testimony to upholding the sanctity of human life. He did not give up his fight against the cruel business of the slave trade and he made it his life’s ambition to end that business in the British Empire. Oh to be a people who have strong Biblical convictions and to act upon them to change the world; to be salt and light in the darkest places.
When God created man in His own image and likeness He forever linked Himself to humanity. In doing so He made us more than the rest of creation, He made us unique. We are created beings that need God in order to live and breathe and move, but we are also persons who move and make decisions. It is those decisions that will either show forth the beauty and grace of the image we bear or deface it. The doctrine of the image of God lays a foundation for many other doctrines and helps give them greater meaning. It shines light upon our greatest problem of not living up to the very image we bear, and our need for redemption and restoration. What will you now do with your belief in the sanctity of human life? I hope we will all begin by treating our fellow man and woman with dignity, but also stand against the evil practices of our day that treat human life with disrespect.

Pastor Corey Mitchell

Birthdays and Waiting

Birthdays and waiting
My birthday is this week and as I think about my birthdays in the past my minds is drawn to those birthdays that I waited to arrive. For me as a young boy, I couldn’t wait until I turned 12 so I could go to the hunting camp and go hunting. We can’t wait until we turn 16 so we can have the freedom of driving. As we grow older we are just happy birthdays come and go. But the two ideas of both birthdays and waiting can have a spiritual side to them. Our birthday is a great time for us to reflect about our lives, how am I doing spiritually or do I have any goal I should set for the next year? But even more than that it is a great time to remember where God has taken you and how God has brought you to this present place in life. And as we do that I am sure we will be reminded of something for which we are still waiting.
Yesterday we discussed in the sermon our church’s mission statement: Exalt Jesus Christ, Evangelize the Lost, and Edify the Believers. I spent some time on the 2nd point because it is where we are in most need of improvement and encouragement. And I wonder: are you still waiting for the Lord to work in the life of someone special to you? Have you been sharing and praying for someone for a long time and it just seems that they are no closer to the kingdom of God than when you first prayed? Don’t give up! Keep praying, keep sharing the gospel, keep loving the person. In the evening service we looked at the story of Joseph who finally gets to see all of his brothers after 20 some years. Can you image 20 years of your life waiting for God to restore your family. But he waited faithfully and God in His timing answered his prayer. Have a great week and remember God is at work!

Being Prepared and Being Holy

Well, Happy Monday to you all. Sorry for the delay in getting this out to you. Yesterday we discussed 1 Peter 1:13-16, Be Prepared and Be Holy. As we begin a new year together here are some questions for you to think about as you decide what you need to prepare to do and in what areas you need to work on with regards to holiness:
1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?2. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?3. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?4. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?5. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?6. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?7. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?8. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?9. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?
(these questions were taken from www.BiblicalSpirituality.org)