But it feels so good…

I get it, you like your sin. You’re comfortable with it. It’s like that little blanket that you just don’t want to let go of.
It may even make you mad that I would call something so precious and valuable to you “a sin”.

It may offend you that I would be so “judgemental” to speak out against sexual immorality, impurity, fits of anger,  gossip, lying, stealing, drinking, drugs, homosexuality, abortion, pornography, selfish ambition, worldliness, jealousy, envy, hatred, swingling, manipulating, and taking advantage of others.
It may make you mad that I would talk about these things as if they were dirty and you shouldn’t be touching them,  participating in them, choosing them instead of “God’s way”.

You may say things like,  “Well that isn’t very loving or accepting!” Or “You can’t judge me!”

But you see,  I realize that those things (sin) are not you. They may be something that you have participated in. They may even be things that you love and don’t really want to let go of (if we could hear the truth of your heart’s desires).

Or they may even be things that you have grown tired of but you don’t know how to escape,  so you feel insulted when someone reminds you of the mess you find yourself trapped in because you’ve given up on any hope that you could ever lay it down. You might have even decided to “just learn to enjoy it and forget about the consequences” because you’ve tried and couldn’t break free.

See, I realize that you are separate,  different from the trap, the disease,  the poison that you have allowed to grab ahold of your life. And if you don’t believe that you’re poisoned, if you’re still under the spell of your chosen poison, if you’re still asleep in blissful ignorance,  I understand too. I’m not here to drag you unwillingly from the trap. I realize you have little reason to believe the likes of me over that voice that bends your will and leads you to feed your desires once again.
Some will even say,  “You will never lure any proselytes into our religion to fill our offering plates by speaking out against sin!” And I hope they are right,  because I don’t plan to manipulate others into being twice the child of hell as those false teachers who are making merchandise of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those men serve a different master, and they have killed the true prophets time and time again. They serve their own bellies and they have no interest in you being truly free as long as they can talk you into following them and not God.

No, I do not condemn you for your sins,  because I have been caught in those traps myself.
And I’m not here to hand you a membership card and an offering envelope, I’m here to tell you about a different life, a new life, with a new purpose and mission.

I’m here to tell you that it is much, much better than that other life,  and that I know this difference first hand. Yes, I’m actually bringing good news that many are not yet ready to hear and accept.

But watering down the truth isn’t what my team does. I call sin sin – good good – bad bad – and lies lies. I offer it in love even though many will receive it as hate.
There is another team that will pick and choose,  that will add and subtract, that will twist the truth so that it comfortably fits their own will and purposes. They are happy with you getting ahold of a piece of the truth as long as it isn’t the whole truth – because they are liars and they serve that old liar.

You see, I know the power of the One Way, the One Truth, the One Life. His name is Jesus Christ,  and He has a new life for you. He truly does want to free you from that poison. I’m not talking about a powerless life following in the traditions of some religious denomination – I’m talking about the kind of relatons hip with a living God that overflows your cup with the annointing of His Spirit and His nature,  and leads you in the good works that He has planned for your life.
Many are asleep.

Many are dead in their sins.

He draws those who are His, and He only bids me to be faithful in sharing the truth and loving and serving. I am not here to kill you or steal your pleasures. I’m only here to tell you the good news. Freedom can be yours.

If you hear the truth in this message,  if you know that you need to repent of your sins and turn to the Lord today, call out to Him in prayer,  confess your sins, believe Him and His Word, and decide today that you will serve Him. Know the freedom that is yours to be had. Make your decision to follow Him and remain steadfast,  relying on Him as your strength,  seeking Him first and foremost in everything you do. Recognize sin and evil as the enemy that traps and kills many,  and learn to share the Truth through the testimony of your life – that the Blood of the Lamb is sufficient to save,  and that the Holy Spirit is sufficient in power, love, and self control to see the enemy defeated in your life.

Hear

“You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.” – Psalms 97:10 NKJV

A worthless person, a wicked man,
Walks with a perverse mouth;
He winks with his eyes,
He shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
Perversity is in his heart,
He devises evil continually,
He sows discord.
Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.
Proverbs 6:12‭-‬19 NKJV

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13‭-‬14 NKJV

For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil dwell with You.
The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;
In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord , in Your righteousness because of my enemies;
Make Your way straight before my face.
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is destruction;
Their throat is an open tomb;
They flatter with their tongue.
Pronounce them guilty, O God!
Let them fall by their own counsels;
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
For they have rebelled against You.
But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;
Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You.
For You, O Lord , will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
Psalms 5:4‭-‬12 NKJV

Slave?

Slave to many or slave to one?

The humble servant only has one Master.

But the ambitious man has as many masters
as there are persons who might expand his fortunes,
as there are desires that would extend his appetites,
as there are pleasures that would temporarily provide for his comfort.

A man who is slave to the desires of his flesh,
Will find himself caught in the trap of many masters,
many vices – immoral, sinful, depraved and sinful acts.

The good man, even though a slave to God’s will,
is free indeed to live an abundant life.

But the wicked, the rebellious, the proud man,
though he reigns in his own mind,
is ensnared within the unrelenting grip of his vices,
that slowly tear at him as they draw him down to death.

We each choose our master –
And if we proudly believe that we have mastered our own lives,
We might just be bound up within the deepest slavery of all.

But there is a master who is kind and merciful,
Who seeks to teach mercy, love and forgiveness,
That leads to a life of
profitable obedience,
healing restoration,
and faithful grattitude.

Choose Jesus.

He alone is the way.

Turn away from wickedness.
Turn away from lies.
Turn away from your attempts to earn your way.

Realize that He has paid the way with a price that you could never afford.

Come to Him willing to be called Servant,
And find yourself called Follower, Friend, Son,
Free.
Free indeed.

 

“Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” – Romans 6:16(NKJV)