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Thursday, September 20, 2012
Mums at the Village Farm Market
Listen to this message on your
audio player.
"Kill The Spider!"
"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5).
Yesterday I attended a CBMC meeting,
a Christian business group I have been a part of since moving to
Lancaster County in 2001. Three other men sat at my table whom I met
for the first time. We shared a little about ourselves, our families
and
what we do for a living. Phil Lapp, a sales manager for
Auntie Anne's Pretzels, shared about his background. As his last name
suggests
(to locals) he has an Amish heritage but is not in that particular
faith group. He shared several ministries he is involved with including
the Gideons, a ministry group of professional laypersons, that
distributes Bibles.
The Gideons I have met for the most part tend to be older and Phil acknowledged that was the case with his Gideon Camp. He proceeded to tell an experience he had when he joined. He has an outgoing personality and shared that in expressing a desire to provide some youthful input to a group of older men he suggested to them, "I would like to youthanize you." Of course that sounds like "euthanize" and that sure brought a laugh among the men. Of course euthanize means "to kill (a person or animal) painlessly, especially to relieve suffering from an incurable illness."
Is there a spiritual lesson here? Euthanize is the attitude we must have toward sin although in this form it certainly may not be painless and we must heed the apostle Paul's forthright words in our daily text: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5).
I consider today a friend who "played around" with a certain matter in his life. Initially it seemed harmless with few consequences. (Satan's devices are always portrayed as "harmless" and he's a master at masquerading or completely obscuring the consequences). But in time the matter grew until it became more and more gripping and eventually it captivated him and became a very destructive force in his life.
I enjoy this illustration I read in an online commentary: "Have you heard about the man whose bad habit was hindering his fellowship with God and hurting his Christian testimony? He said he prayed that God would forgive him for his addiction—but he didn't stop!
He is like the man who often went forward at the end of church services to kneel and pray, 'Lord, take the cobwebs out of my life.' One Sunday morning his pastor, tired of hearing the same old prayer, knelt beside him and cried out, 'Lord, kill the spider!'
Yes, sometimes it takes radical action to break a sinful habit. We need to do more than ask God for cleansing each time we succumb to temptation. We must take whatever steps are needed to get the cobwebs out of our life. We must confess our sin and determine to be done with it. Then we must feed our mind with God's Word and do all we can to stay away from the people and places that tempt us to sin. That's what Christ meant when He said, 'If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out' (Matthew 5:29). Kill the spider and you'll get rid of the cobwebs. Remember that admitting sin is no substitute for quitting sin."
We do well to seriously heed the words of the Holy Scripture. What unwholesome or harmful matter(s) are you playing around with? I appeal to you, take decisive action and put it to death. Kill the spider!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer: Father,
I ask you to help me to be serious about dealing with everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles me. Help me not to play
around with these matters that hold me captive and bring
destruction. Put to death any desire or behavior which resurrects my
earthly nature. I want to be separated from that which is evil and
wholly consecrated to You. It is in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
<Previous Message Next Message>
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Mums at the Village Farm Market
Listen to this message on your
audio player."Kill The Spider!"
"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5).
Yesterday I attended a CBMC meeting,
a Christian business group I have been a part of since moving to
Lancaster County in 2001. Three other men sat at my table whom I met
for the first time. We shared a little about ourselves, our families
and
what we do for a living. Phil Lapp, a sales manager for
Auntie Anne's Pretzels, shared about his background. As his last name
suggests
(to locals) he has an Amish heritage but is not in that particular
faith group. He shared several ministries he is involved with including
the Gideons, a ministry group of professional laypersons, that
distributes Bibles.The Gideons I have met for the most part tend to be older and Phil acknowledged that was the case with his Gideon Camp. He proceeded to tell an experience he had when he joined. He has an outgoing personality and shared that in expressing a desire to provide some youthful input to a group of older men he suggested to them, "I would like to youthanize you." Of course that sounds like "euthanize" and that sure brought a laugh among the men. Of course euthanize means "to kill (a person or animal) painlessly, especially to relieve suffering from an incurable illness."
Is there a spiritual lesson here? Euthanize is the attitude we must have toward sin although in this form it certainly may not be painless and we must heed the apostle Paul's forthright words in our daily text: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5).
I consider today a friend who "played around" with a certain matter in his life. Initially it seemed harmless with few consequences. (Satan's devices are always portrayed as "harmless" and he's a master at masquerading or completely obscuring the consequences). But in time the matter grew until it became more and more gripping and eventually it captivated him and became a very destructive force in his life.
I enjoy this illustration I read in an online commentary: "Have you heard about the man whose bad habit was hindering his fellowship with God and hurting his Christian testimony? He said he prayed that God would forgive him for his addiction—but he didn't stop!
He is like the man who often went forward at the end of church services to kneel and pray, 'Lord, take the cobwebs out of my life.' One Sunday morning his pastor, tired of hearing the same old prayer, knelt beside him and cried out, 'Lord, kill the spider!'
Yes, sometimes it takes radical action to break a sinful habit. We need to do more than ask God for cleansing each time we succumb to temptation. We must take whatever steps are needed to get the cobwebs out of our life. We must confess our sin and determine to be done with it. Then we must feed our mind with God's Word and do all we can to stay away from the people and places that tempt us to sin. That's what Christ meant when He said, 'If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out' (Matthew 5:29). Kill the spider and you'll get rid of the cobwebs. Remember that admitting sin is no substitute for quitting sin."
We do well to seriously heed the words of the Holy Scripture. What unwholesome or harmful matter(s) are you playing around with? I appeal to you, take decisive action and put it to death. Kill the spider!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer: Father,
I ask you to help me to be serious about dealing with everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles me. Help me not to play
around with these matters that hold me captive and bring
destruction. Put to death any desire or behavior which resurrects my
earthly nature. I want to be separated from that which is evil and
wholly consecrated to You. It is in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.Our speaker at CBMC yesterday was Josh Enck who is the CCO and Co-President of Sight and Sound Theaters.
He shared his testimony and how the Lord was working through the Sight
and Sound theaters. These shows give a clear gospel presentation. They
have been presenting Bible character-based dramas since 1977 and this
has been the best year yet for attendance with 1.3 million attending
shows here in Lancaster County and in Branson Missouri so far this
year. He shared about a new show being planned for 2014 on a Bible
character Sight and Sound has so far never dealt with.
Apples at the Village Farm Market
Apples at the Village Farm Market
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
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