godquest.com continued...
Last week we learned that God's will for us is our sanctification. Having been called and declared righteous, God wants us to be holy and walk with him. Today pastor preached on three obstacles that will prevent us from achieving this.
In the parable of the sower in Luke 8:4f, we see three things stand between the sowing of the seed and the harvest of a good crop. The devil (v. 12), the flesh (v. 13), and the world (v. 14). The devil steals the seed before it can sprout. The flesh is our sin nature--the unsanctified desire of our hearts for ease and comfort. Those choked by thorns are the ones who buy into the world's economy of values. Rather than seeing that their value comes from being made in the image of God and through relationship with Him, these become distracted by life's worries, riches, and pleasures.
For all three, pastor said, the solution is the same. "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature..." (I Peter 1:3-4). We need only to join desire for God with the power of God that is already in us. In Isaiah 26:7-9, the psalmist exclaims that God paves the way for the righteous, for the one who longs for God day and night. And we all do. We all long for God The desires of the world and the flesh are natural desires. The longing we feel for food, rest, friendship and intimacy are from the hand of God. The only question is, how do we direct them? For the Christian, they are signposts to turn us to God.
I enjoyed the message very much. It complemented what I've been reading in "The Green Letters" by Miles Stanford. Mr. Stanford points out that sanctification is God's work in us (Philippians 2:13) and he principally achieves his ends through our need, our lack, our failures. Next time you feel the waves of sorrow or loneliness or temptation lap your feet, let these human passions remind you of the God who created you and redeemed you for his good purposes.
In the parable of the sower in Luke 8:4f, we see three things stand between the sowing of the seed and the harvest of a good crop. The devil (v. 12), the flesh (v. 13), and the world (v. 14). The devil steals the seed before it can sprout. The flesh is our sin nature--the unsanctified desire of our hearts for ease and comfort. Those choked by thorns are the ones who buy into the world's economy of values. Rather than seeing that their value comes from being made in the image of God and through relationship with Him, these become distracted by life's worries, riches, and pleasures.
For all three, pastor said, the solution is the same. "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature..." (I Peter 1:3-4). We need only to join desire for God with the power of God that is already in us. In Isaiah 26:7-9, the psalmist exclaims that God paves the way for the righteous, for the one who longs for God day and night. And we all do. We all long for God The desires of the world and the flesh are natural desires. The longing we feel for food, rest, friendship and intimacy are from the hand of God. The only question is, how do we direct them? For the Christian, they are signposts to turn us to God.
I enjoyed the message very much. It complemented what I've been reading in "The Green Letters" by Miles Stanford. Mr. Stanford points out that sanctification is God's work in us (Philippians 2:13) and he principally achieves his ends through our need, our lack, our failures. Next time you feel the waves of sorrow or loneliness or temptation lap your feet, let these human passions remind you of the God who created you and redeemed you for his good purposes.
posted by Motokeb at 10:57 AM
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