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Tag Archives: self deception

Living Strong Until the End

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by eisakouo in Discipletips, Luke

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Tags

Billy Sunday quote, cost of discipleship, count the cost, cruise control, dog chasing rabbit, fail to finish strong, hot-hearted, love or God, Luke 14:28-30, Noah, old man and younger believer, Philippians 1:6, self deception, Solomon, spiritually coasting, submit to our process, the demands of discipleship, we must see the Lord

 

The demands of discipleship are tough. Jesus demands we prefer Him above all relationships and carry our cross daily. Next, Jesus demands we count the cost of following Him, NOW, to ensure we are able to finish strong. I believe this step is basically ignored by most believers because they each instinctively believe they have what it takes to remain faithful to the end. This is simply self-deception or Jesus wouldn’t mention it. Remember, if Jesus mentions it… it is a problem.

The Bible is chock-full of stories of people who didn’t finish strong. Even though they started great, they finished poorly. Somewhere in the course of their race, they put their spiritual life in cruise control and started coasting. When we coast, we become fodder for the enemy. A quasi-delusion sets in and we believe we can simply rest on old victories, old words… and even the words of other believers.

Who of us could ever compete with Noah? His life story is the stuff of legends. Noah and his family were saved from the flood by God’s word, but poor Noah ended as a drunken man who got naked and cursed his son.

Solomon was the wisest man in all of history, but he didn’t finish well either. He loved women and his many foreign wives turned his heart from God. King David and King Saul before him each had fatal flaws as well.

Jesus presents a story about the importance of “counting the cost” so we each will finish what we started.

28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Luke 14:28-30

 
Now this little parable is about the cost of discipleship, not the cost of salvation. Like salvation, God provides everything we need to finish our race. We simply must submit to the process. The cost is really about submission. It is about valuing what God is doing in your life day in and day out. Like Paul said in Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.”

The key to remaining hot-hearted for God is to stay in love with the Lord. You may stray some but your love for the Lord will ultimately keep you on track! If you count the cost now… you will not be tempted when some cheap substitute for true obedience comes your way. If you count the cost now, you will not sell-out to other loves and idols.  We are to guard our love relationship with Jesus.

So ask yourself… Are you going to finish well? Do you so value what God is doing in your life that you would never drift or coast on your personal process? The good news is your race is not over. You can still finish strong and be more in love with the Lord by the end than when you started. It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past, you still can finish strong. The finish line is still ahead.

 

fail to finish

 

An older Christian was sitting on the porch with his dog stretched out before him taking in a beautiful sunset. The younger believer posed this question:

“Why is it that most Christians zealously chase after God during the first year or two after their conversion, but then fall into a complacent ritual of church twice a week and end up not looking any different from their neighbors who aren’t even Christians? I have heard you are not like that. I’ve been told that you have fervently sought after God throughout your years as a believer. People see something in you that they don’t see in most people who became Christians. What makes you different?”

The old man smiled and replied, “Let me tell you a story: One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog. Suddenly a large white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, and took off after that big rabbit. He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion.

Soon, other dogs joined him, attracted by his barking. What a sight it was, as the pack of dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments and through thickets and thorns! Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit.”

In that story, young man, is the answer to your question.”

The young believer sat in confused silence. Finally, he said, “Brother, I don’t understand. What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for God?”

“You fail to understand,” answered the seasoned old man, “because you failed to ask the obvious question. Why didn’t the other dogs continue on the chase?

And the answer to that question is that they had not seen the rabbit. Unless you see the prey, the chase is just too difficult. You will lack the passion and determination necessary to keep up the chase.”

Listen, how we answer this question reveals whether we will pursue the Lord until the end. Have you seen and met with the Lord lately? Is His presence still burning in your heart? If you’re simply going through the motions because everyone else is and you know it is the right thing to do… you will eventually drop out. You must see Him!

 

Blessings – From God’s Incubator,

Pastor

 

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Free To Be Nothing!

17 Thursday May 2012

Posted by eisakouo in Our Spiritual Process

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

accomplishments, ambitions, being a jerk, career, crawl upon the cross, crucified the flesh, drink offering, Ecuador, embrace the plan of God, emptied of self, facade, forfeited your rights, giving God leftovers, honoring people, II Timothy 4:6, Jesus disrobing Himself, Jim Elliot, no compromise, Only one life, Philippians 2:5-7, poured out wine, Ralph Neighbor, self deception, selfish, selfish nature, spendo, spiritual reputation, the cross, the grave, the Holy Spirit is grieved and quenched, twill soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last

 

Are you free today to be nothing?  Or are you holding on to some items in your life that make you feel like you are a spiritual something?  Are you free to be a nothing?  You can actually live in the anointing of the Spirit or choose to fake it. We pretend to be a spiritual something by maintaining the facade of a “spiritual reputation.”

If I took a poll right now across the internet and asked, “How many people today are selfish?”  Few people would affirmatively agree.  Why… we are all self-deceived to some degree.

Every person I’ve ever met thinks he/she has sacrificed more than most.  Because of our sacrifices throughout life, we don’t view ourselves as a selfish person. Everyone believes they personally have had to endure more hardships than most of the general population.

The truth is you are selfish and the more you deny this fact, the more selfish you become. Unless you allow the Lord to get to the root of this issue, the self continues to flourish behind the veil of self-deception.  In addition, believers have unwittingly dragged our selfish behaviors into God’s House.  We know Christians are not supposed to be selfish, so we do not call ourselves selfish.

There must be a point-in-time when self is crucified! Has there never been a time in your life (after salvation) when God pulled you aside for a few days, weeks, and months to reveal your selfish nature? If not, then your ugly self is alive and well.

The first time (first of many) God spoke to me about my selfish nature I was about nineteen.  It was only when the Lord took the scales off my eyes that I began to understand what a jerk I was. In the beginning, I thought God hated me because He kept bringing up my selfish ways. I have had to continually go through the process of God revealing my fleshly ways and then choosing to crucify my flesh.  The same has been true of other ugly sins.

I have been in a lot of churches over the years.  I have met 1000’s of Christians.  It only takes a few minutes of talking to people to discover whether they have allowed God to crucify their flesh. You hear it in their words. You see it in their actions.  You notice it in their reactions. A BELIEVER KNOWS WHEN ANOTHER BELIEVER HAS BEEN TO THE CROSS!  Uncrucified flesh stinks to the high heavens. Crucified flesh is dead and the owner is the Lord.

Have you forfeited your rights?

  • You do have the right to think of yourself first before anyone else.
  • You do have the right to provide for your family and accomplish certain things.
  • You do have the right to seek out pleasure and fulfillment.
  • You do have the right to order your life as you please.
  • You do have the right to speak, hear, and involve yourself as you please.

Can you do all those things, be crucified, AND still accomplish what God has planned for you?  When you finally realize YOU CAN”T, you have a responsibility to voluntarily give up your rights, as Jesus did, and embrace the plan of God. Christianity is not about self, but about others.

 

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: Philippians 2:5-7

 

I picture Jesus in heaven “disrobing” Himself of all His glory, authority, rights, and privileges and saying to His father, “I’ll go.”  God in turn says, “Son, in order to accomplish all I have planned you to have to lay aside all privileges and rights.”   Jesus says, “Daddy, I love You and I love them more than I love Myself.  I will be a servant to the point of death.”

This is why the Holy Spirit is grieved and quenched at our pettiness, selfishness,  need for reputations, and need for glorification.  Anytime we actively seek or even entertain in our minds selfish acts, we grieve the Spirit of the Living God out of our midst.  I have given out more plaques, certificates, and pats on the back than you can imagine.  Not once did anyone ever say, “Don’t give me this honor.  I did it only for the glory of the Lord. My reward is in heaven.”  The more we honor people, the more starved they become for fleshly attention.

If you have stuck with me so far, you are a candidate to completely crucify your flesh. Let me give you the biblical definition of being “emptied of self.”

“As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.” II Timothy 4:6

 

Paul is referring to the Old Testament “drink-offering” here, which was an offering in which wine was poured out onto the ground as an offering to God.  This “poured out wine” may seem like a waste, especially to people like us, who are so careful not to waste. But it’s not a waste at all, because it’s an offering to God. Could there be a more noble use for the wine than to be poured out as an offering to God. Even if it was used to quench a thirst, clean a wound, kill bacteria, or any of the other use, it could not have been as glorious than when poured out to the Lord. You must believe this!

And so it is with our lives. There are so many things that we can accomplish with our lives. There are so many levels of “success” we can try to attain. It’s interesting to me that the Greek word for “poured out” used here is “spendo” which is the root of our English word “spent.”

  • What if we became a doctor and found a cure for cancer.
  • What if we became an engineer and solved some great problem.
  • What if we became a real estate broker and owned a hundred properties.

Could that life be as well spent as a life that was lived to glorify God? It may appear to the flesh that the person poured out to God never really accomplished anything. It may seem like a terrible waste.

The point is not that those things are wrong, but that the measure of a life well spent is not what great things you’ve accomplished or how much success you’ve had. What’s important is whether or not your life was spent for yourself or for God and his purposes. Did you pour yourself into your ambitions, or did you use the things like your career and your success to pour yourself into God’s Kingdom?

 

 

The truth is most people want both.  They want the flesh to thrive and they want to “satisfy” the Lord at the same time. We give our tithes and offerings to God, but we ultimately neglect to spend it on Him.  We think we are being thrifty, but in reality we are being stingy.  This is why people would rather “pad pews” than send missionaries. Our spending habits divulge our heart’s motive.

There was a knock at the back door of a certain parsonage.  The pastor answered the door.  A church member was there with a cake in her hand.  She said,  “Here is half a cake.  We have eaten all we wanted and we thought you and your family would want the rest.”   He graciously received the half-eaten cake.  He shouldn’t have, but he did. In other words, the lady was communicating, “We did not think you worthy enough to bake a whole cake and give it to you.  Our leftovers are good enough for you but not our best.”   Listen, we do the same thing to God.  We do not give God our sacrifices of praise.  No, we give God leftovers from our gluttony. When you only give to God because it is a “left over” or “used up”, you haven’t really given anything to Him.  You have only proven how truly selfish you are.  When we allow the Holy Spirit to crucify our flesh, God and the Kingdom come first.  God doesn’t want your leftovers.  He wants your first-overs.  Are you hearing me?

Ralph Neighbor, the guy wrote the Survival Kit and other materials was speaking in chapel where I went to college.  He shared the most significant spiritual event of his college life.  Like most teenagers, he spent his first years in college messing around with no purpose or direction. He goofed off, made friends, and majored in having a good time.  Even though he attended a Christian College, his knew his devotion to Christ was not as deep as it should have been.  He admitted so.  He spent the first 10-15 minutes confessing how he was the quintessential “good ole boy.”  As his class graduated, they had a party afterward to sign annuals and say good-bye.  One of his friends was a guy named Jim Elliott.  He was leaving for Ecuador with four other friends immediately following graduation.  They traded annuals and Ralph and Jim signed each other’s annual.  Just a few months later he received the news that all five of his college friends had died on the mission field.  What a waste, he first thought.  All of that time training only to die on the first few days in the field.   Immediately, Ralph Neighbor thought about his annual.  He never read what Jim wrote.  He opened it to learn Jim Elliot had written these words.   “Only one life, twill soon be passed.  Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Ralph Neighbor was shocked.  He decided right then to fully dedicate himself for God’s service.  It was a life changing moment.  He knew while he was selfishly living for himself in college, there were other young people giving their all for Christ. From the Lord’s perspective… We are all in or we are all out!  There are no compromises when it comes to the flesh.    By the way, this one event in the early 1950’s caused a mass flood of men and women into missionary work.  They saw how SELFLESSLY these young people had dedicated themselves to Christ and wanted to do the same.

The truth is some die to themselves early in life, some die late… just don’t be one of those believers who never allow the flesh to be crucified at all!  Don’t let the grave be the date when you finally crucify your flesh.  It simply doesn’t work this way.  Let the date you crawled upon the cross of Christ and died be today!

Blessings,

Pastor

 

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We All Struggle With Sin

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by eisakouo in Our Spiritual Process

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

1 John 1:8, Alcoholics Anonymous, all struggles are in the past, authenticity, C.S. Lewis, denial, no sin here, self deception, victorious image

 

 

I don’t know if this statement will help you or not, but all people struggle with sin.  I didn’t say all people “have struggled” with sin, but all people struggle with sin. Notice how the Apostle John says in this verse;

 

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

 

If anyone has the audacity to say there is “no sin here” in my life, then they have lost their truth.  What an indictment.  When we claim that sin is no longer a problem, then we are basically divorcing ourselves from the war in which so many struggle.

We rarely witness a fellow believer testifying that their struggle with sin is finished.  No, it manifests in a different way.  Instead of sharing how difficult our struggle with sin is, we testify about how victorious we are right now.  Others get the impression all of our struggles with sin are in the past.

What develops in Christendom are believers possessing a covering of veneer.  This shell gives the appearance that all is well in our lives.  There is a suggestion that the struggle with sin is now ancient history.  In fact, many like to share about how difficult it used to be in their lives. The key is “used to be.”

Somewhere along the line the temptation arises to abandon our authenticity as believers. It becomes easy to give the impression that we no longer struggle with sin like we once did.  In an attempt to portray a victorious image, many Christians subtly claim the very thing John is condemning. It is one of the church’s greatest deceptions.

 

 

What is really a  greater encouragement to other believers?  Are you more encouraged to hear of someone’s struggles or victories?  The truth is most of us cannot even relate to only hearing about victories.

John tells us this type of claim of “no sin here” is the essence of self-deception. It’s not just a matter of ignorance, but it’s a refusal to face up to the facts.

Denial is not a river in Egypt.  Denial becomes a deliberate refusal to face reality.  Denial chooses to live in an alternative world where we personally want to look better before our peers. When we give the appearance of having no sin, the truth of God can’t live within us.

 

Getting Real With Ourselves Means Knowing Our Personal Struggle With Sin Will Never End

In this verse we can hear God call us to authenticity.  No matter how spiritually mature we become and no matter how far we travel in our spiritual journey, the battle with sin will never cease. This is God’s diagnosis of our hearts.  It’s true for every serious follower of Jesus Christ. The more we put on the image that our battle with sin has ceased, the less God’s truth will abide in us.

Every time a person speaks at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, he or she starts with the statement, “My name is so and so, and I’m a recovering alcoholic.” They don’t say that to wallow in the past, but to acknowledge the reality that they understand they will never be free from the temptation to drink. This is a realistic admission of the fact that no matter how long a person has been sober, they’re still just one choice away from bondage.

Maybe in the church we should force ourselves to say, “My name’s __________, and I’m a recovering sinner,” just to keep this reality before us.

C. S. Lewis once noted that it’s when we notice the moral filth in our lives that God is most present in our lives.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

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