How to walk in a hostile world

All of the following scriptures written below in orange are taken from the KJV Bible.

Today I would like to talk to you about 1 Peter 4:7-11. This is Peters instruction to us as believers our duty in this hostile world. But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. After Jesus was resurrected from the dead before He ascended into Heaven to be with the Father He told his disciples: John 14:26-27 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” The Father sent the Holy Ghost to this earth so that we could invite Him into our hearts to be saved, washed clean by the blood of Jesus. We must remember without Christ we are nothing and that there is nothing that we can do or say without Christ Jesus that will ever save us. It is only through Gods grace through the faith in Jesus Christ that we are washed clean and saved. Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”

Now the first point I would like to talk about is the cost of becoming a Christian. The cost of Christianity is very high. Meaning we must give up all we are and all we have for the cause of Christ. Being an authentic Christian demands a willingness to pay the price. All though being a disciple of Christ may be costly it is not hard. Matthew 11:30 say’s this “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”And John tells us this in 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”  On the other hand rejecting the Holy Spirit and living without Christ is hard. A life of unanswerable questions, depression, guilt, and after all that to spend eternity in hell, that’s hard.  Proverbs 13:15 puts it this way “Good understanding gains favor, But the way of the unfaithful is hard.” You may say okay David I am a Christian but it seems to me that living a Christian life is hard in this world. Yes it can seem hard if you are not truly walking in Christ as He intends you to. The exciting thing is you can make your life easier and as we go deeper in this study God will reveal the steps necessary to achieve such a life. The very first step you must take is personal holiness. In a world that has everything at our fingertips we need to guard our minds and practice self-control. How do we do that? Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Continually pray, study the Word of God and bring yourself under the submission of God so that even your involuntary thoughts are holy. Every day we face trials and temptations so what we need to do is praise and worship God and thank Him for the opportunity to go through these trials. James 1:2-3 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."  Just look at the life of Job in Job 1. The bible calls Job a perfect and upright man that feared God. Satan said to God that he could turn Job against Him, so God said alright you can do anything you want except touch Job. Satan did just that, Jobs animals were taken away, his servants were slain, while eating dinner his sons and daughters were crushed and killed by the very house they were in. After all that had happened to him in verse 20 it says he fell down on the ground and worshipped God. If we constantly are thinking on holy things and meditating in God’s Word even when trials come our way we will want to worship God.

So control your mind, meditate in the Word and the next step will come easily which is love. 1 Peter 4:8 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” The word fervently means: having or showing great warmth or intensity of spirit or feeling. You may ask, well how do I love fervently then? You must love the unlovely or unloving. Love your enemies the people that have wronged you. When you begin to love the way Christ wants us to love, then loving our enemies will be quite easy because there in 1 Peter 4:8 at the end it tells us that “for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

Now, first is personal holiness, secondly is to love fervently and now thirdly is service. Serve through the spiritual gift that God has given you. 1 Peter 4:10-11 “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Every believer has been given a spiritual gift. We are called to use our gifts within the body of Christ, “church”. 1 Corinthians 12:12 “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” See we are called to use our spiritual gifts within a church as a group because we then form a body. On the other hand when a body is missing a part it makes it more difficult for that body to function properly. So if you are not in a church but are truly born again get into a BIBLE believing church and use your spiritual gift whatever it may be.

Now that we have discovered the crucial steps needed to walk in a world that is corrupt, it is time to step up and do it. Through the next several weeks I will break down each step to help us draw even closer to God. Practice personal holiness so that when you are tempted it will be easier to shrug it off, love everyone and last use the gift that God has given you. If you have any questions or comments on this study please feel free to do so by either the comments tab below or by email at wyoboy83@gmail.com

Iron Sharpens Iron

How many of you carry a pocket knife? As you use your knife what begins to happen to it? It becomes dull, and how much good is a dull knife when you need it? Not much at all, so what would we need to do to our knife? We need to sharpen them and keep them sharp. The same goes for us, in Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Personally I think this verse is pretty straight forward. It is comparing the relationship of two pieces of metal to that of a human relationship. A positive relationship can make you stronger and uplift you spiritually, but on the other hand a negative relationship can weigh you down and drive you away from God. So how do we stay sharp in the world we live in? First we need to know the difference between fellowship and a friendship. A friendship is a condition of sharing similar interests or experiences that can bring you somewhat close to one another, but fellowship  is a strong desire to be around a person and share your life with them in and through Christ.  And when we have a loving Christ centered relationship with someone the bible says that people will know we are Gods disciples, just look in John 13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So we need to surround ourselves with positive brothers and sisters in Christ, and while being in each others company we will sharpen one another. I would like to encourage everyone who is here today to strive for an iron like relationship. In doing so, you will be amazed at how much stronger and uplifted your life becomes as a result.

One person

" Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." - Romans 5:12
Can one person make a difference? The answer is yes, one man, woman or child can widely impact the the world through and for the will of God. Don't sit on the sidelines and let life pass you by because it just might be you that could send the world into a widespread revival. Pray and ask God what His will is for your life.

The desires of your heart

Did you know God made you just the way you are for a purpose? Everyone has desires places in them by God. I just think in the world we live in that it is easy to drop our Godly desires for short term pleasures so that we can feel the immediate effects of satisfaction. How much relief do your pleasures bring you really? Does it completely fulfill the desires of your heart or is it just a temporary fix? Psalms 37:4 - 5 reads “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” We must fully give ourselves to God, in everything we do and are. When you submit yourself to Christ the desires of your hear t will be fulfilled because they will be the desires of Gods heart! No worldly please will ever fill you like Christ can. We need to be careful not to mistake worldly pleasures for our Godly desires. So the challenging question we must each answer in our own lives is this, "what are the true desires of my heart?" May we be encouraged that the desires of our heart echo Psalm 27:4 which says, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.”

Self Deception

On February 23 around 9:00 a.m. I became a true born again Christian. For a long long time I thought in my mind that I was already a Christian but I was only deceiving myself. I knew that there was something missing but I just couldn't figure out what it was. When I would study Gods word I would gain a head knowledge of Him but it would not fill the void in my heart. When this was happening I would question myself whether I was truly saved or not but I would let my mind convince my heart that I was. I believe that when I would study the Word of God He was actually prepping my heart to become a true child of God. On that particular morning I was reading a sermon from John MacArthur titled "How Firm Our Foundation" this is a sermon like the Roman Road. One that I have heard a lot but it never truly sunk into my heart until now and when it did it was like God turned a light switch on, it clicked! It hit me like a ton of bricks, I suddenly knew that I was not a Christian. I was gaining some head knowledge but was not growing spiritually and now I knew why. I had to do something about it right then. I got in my car drove down to see my father and told him what happened. From there I turned from my sin and myself and asked God to come into my heart and my life to be my King and my Savior! Let me tell you what a difference it has made in just a couple of days, all I want to do is read the bible or listen to a sermon. I can not get enough. My plea to you today is to do a self check on your heart. Make sure you are saved. Here are two sermons from John MacArthur to help you better understand what I mean.
 http://www.gty.org/MediaPlayer/sermons/2255
http://www.gty.org/MediaPlayer/sermons/2256
I pray that God will use these messages to reveal His truths to you.

Drawn Away By Temptation

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. James 1:14
There are two major roles of sinful temptation that James reveals in the previous verse. First is being drawn away from God, second is being enticed by your very own lust. Anything that draws our hearts and affections away from God is wrong whether it be romance, sports or even a family member. We should not allow anything to draw us away from God. This does not mean that we cease to live our lives and become isolated but we need to seek after things that are grounded in the righteousness of God. When you start to feel temptation coming that means something has drawn you away from God. You must turn away from the lusts of your heart and anchor yourself to God.

Turn Away From Evil

Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22
Sin has a tendency to draw us in like moth's to a flame but a lot of the time we set our selves up for defeat by seeing how close we can get to the flame without getting burnt. Paul tells us right there in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 that is wrong. Our goal every day should not only to keep from committing sins but to abstain from anything that might lead us into sin or cause someone else to stumble.