Title: How The Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home

Author: Derek W.H. Thomas

Published By: Reformation Trust, 2011.

Pages: 157

Price: $12.00

 In How The Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home, Dr. Derek W.H. Thomas takes us through what he calls, “the best chapter in the Bible.” Thomas explores the 39 verses in Romans 8 and takes the reader through the core Gospel message. Essentially this book explores the doctrine of sotierology.

 Chapter 1: Grace and Gratitude (Romans 8:1-4)

Thomas challenges Christians to take hold of the “no condemnation” principle. There is always condemnation found in trying to be a law-keeper. However, believers have been set free from condemnation through the Holy Spirit. They operate outside the law. However, Thomas points out that, “Grateful law-keeping is the saved sinners response to received grace.” Believers who are in Christ Jesus are essentially declared not guilty and receive no condemnation from their Savior.

 Chapter 2: The Mind’s Default Setting (Romans 8:5-8)

What thoughts come into your mind is the question being asked in this chapter. Is it worldly or spiritual thoughts? The main message is that an earthly mind only brings about death, but a spiritual mind brings about peace and life. Focusing your mind on Jesus is what all believers must strive for.

 Chapter 3: Spiritually Minded (Romans 8:9-11)

The Holy Spirit that was given to Christ has also been given to us. The same Spirit that was with Christ during His work dwells within us. This is a glorious privilege. If you belong to Jesus, then the Holy Spirit is working within you. The message of the chapter that Thomas strives to get across is that Christians should, “Glorify God in your body” because “your body is the temple of the Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

 Chapter 4: Killing Fields (Romans 8:12-13)

We are to kill sin. Any sin that remains in us, we must kill. Thomas focuses a lot on the word, mortification. This chapter points out the absolute dire necessity of killing sin in your own life or else you might allow sin to kill you. You must not be slave to the flesh, but rather a slave to Christ.

 Chapter 5: Sons Of God (Romans 8:14-17)

“All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” What a beautiful message. We have been adopted by our Father in Heaven and are now called sons. We have been given a Spirit of holiness, freedom, adoption, and assurance. This allows us to cry out, “Abba! Father!” The message is that our Father in Heaven is one that hears the cries of those adopted into His family.

 Chapter 6: Glorious Hope (Romans 8:18-25)

Thomas states that, “afflictions must precede glory.” The suffering that you are struggling with right now is not something to be surprised about. Our hope is found in the fact that one day we will be with Jesus, in glory. Despite the struggles that you may be going through keep your focus on the message of Romans 8:18.

 Chapter 7: Prayer Power (Romans 8:26-27)

We all struggle with having the words to sometime say in our prayers. Jesus had the same struggle. We must believe in our prayers that the Spirit intercedes for us and that He knows the mind of God.

 Chapter 8: A Golden Chain (Romans 8:28-30)

This was my favorite chapter in the book. Thomas begins off by saying, “Nothing can blow you over when you are inside the walls of Romans 8:28.” This is an amazing verse to hold on to throughout your life. God’s providence governs our entire lives. He is sovereign! Thomas speaks on what he calls, “The five golden links of a chain” throughout the rest of this chapter. He speaks on foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. These sections are all rich in information and goes into details on how God re-shapes those in His family.

 Chapter 9: God For Me (Romans 8:31-32)

Christians have a difficult time realizing that God is on their side during times of trial and tribulation. However, the message is that we must always keep our eyes on the cross and realize that God did not spare His own Son. How can believers not see that God is for them when focusing on what was already accomplished on the Cross. 

 Chapter 10: Facing The Accuser (Romans 8:33-34)

Satan tries to get believers to fall flat on their faces. Dr. Thomas goes through “4 fiery darts” that Sinclair Ferguson outlined in his book, By Grace Alone. The central message of the chapter is that we must rely on Jesus Christ’s finished work in our lives. In the end, all we need is Jesus.

 Chapter 11: Union With Christ – Forever (Romans 8:35-39)

We come empty handed before the Father, but we must always remember that, according to Thomas, “if we remain on the narrow gospel way, it brings us all the way home.”

 How The Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home is a must read. From beginning to end the message is simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By outlining Romans 8, the reader is able to understand the simple Gospel message. From “no condemnation” to “no separation”, this book is well worth the read.

Do you know what it is?

 Christians are concerned with the will of God. Our lives are dictated by asking for God’s will in situations or for God to make clear what He wants us to do. This is an interesting concept though because most of the time we are only asking for God’s will when it comes to “BIG” decisions in our lives. Honestly, that just does not make much sense to me and here is why.

 Why do we only ask for what God’s will is when it comes to big decisions and not the every day routine ones? Do we only need to consult asking for God’s will when it is about relationships, what job to take, what school to attend, etc? The honest truth is that most people consult the will of God only for these major things. However, when it comes to getting up every single day, going to class, working, eating, and reading we don’t ask for what God’s will is at all. We just do it. Does that mean that if you operate on this mindset that you technically are not following the will of God in certain actions?

 My point is that it seems really silly to me to be asking for God’s will only when it comes to so called major decisions in life. When you do this you are setting aside what you believe to be most important in your life and nothing else. You decide that you need to basically hear an audible voice from God when it comes to the major decisions. However, you do not even consult God when it comes to your daily routine.

The message is simply that I don’t believe that God is withholding His will from you. I don’t believe that God is a God of confusion. He is a God of complete clarity. Therefore, I believe that as Christians we are able to make decisions in life in every single area. It does not matter if it is the daily routine or the big risk taking decisions. Christians sit around asking for the will of God when Jesus already told you to pray like this,

 Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, -Matthew 6:10

 So when we pray we are asking God for His will to be done in our lives. So why do so many Christians sit around and never ever take any risks? It is not because of God hiding His will from you, but rather timid Christians being afraid of taking a step of faith. When you pray the will of God to be done daily, believe that it actually is going to happen! As a believer in Christ you have the Holy Spirit within you! If you follow the lead of the Spirit then you are not going to go outside of the will of God. Therefore, you are able to make decisions because God is sovereign. Do not view God’s will as this narrow path that if you make ONE bad decision you are out of God’s will and your life is ruined. That is so far from being accurate. Rather God’s will is about making decisions and trusting Him. It is not about questioning where you are at, but trusting in a God who will never leave your or forsake you. It is not about looking back and wondering what if you made the right decision, but believing that God has you right where He wants.

 “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” –Proverbs 3:6

There is freedom to make the decisions in our lives. Acknowledge God in all ways and actually do something. You do not need to pray for whether or not you need to love someone or show Christ when you already have been commissioned to do so. That means that the will of God is for you to love and to show Christ. There is no need to ask.

 The problem with too many people in Christianity is the fact that the phrase, “It’s not God’s will” is basically used as an excuse. It is used an excuse to not take any chances or risks. It is used to not truly love like Christ. I challenge believers to start living in the freedom that is offered within the Holy Spirit guiding you. Jesus said it was better for Him to go so that the Holy Spirit would come. When doubt and uncertainty arise I believe that Satan is present and trying to make you question yourself. When you trust the Holy Spirit you make decisions in the will of God. Therefore, proclaim that you desire for God’s will to be done in your life and actually start living. Pray every day for the will of God to be done and then go and do it.

 Stop viewing God’s will as something so complicated. 

*I would encourage everyone to check out Kevin Deyoung’s book called Just Do Something. This book is about looking at God’s will from a very liberating approach. 

We live in a world where disease and disability can cause so many problems. When adults suffer we tend to handle it almost in a lackadaisical way. However, suffering that occurs in a child is something that just hits on another level. One of the hardest things in life is to see young ones dealing with such tremendous amounts of pain and suffering. As most of us know diseases show no courtesy for the age of a person.

There are issues such as blindness, cancer, autism, and tumors to just name a few of the diseases that can affect a child and cause a massive amount of suffering on their parents.  Sometimes our human nature wants us to ask, “Why would God let this happen?” I mean how could a loving God allow these trials and tribulations to afflict our kids? Why are so many children constantly being afflicted mentally and physically?

Let’s turn to adults for just a second. Why is it that certain adults deal with physical deformities for a majority of their lives? Why does pain and suffering almost seem like a constant in the lives of parents?

Did someone in your family sin too much? Is God just out to get you?

It’s incredible to think about God’s sovereignty. The fact that God holds our entire lives in the palm of his hands is amazing. From conception in your mother’s womb, to the end of your days here on earth, you are constantly held by your Father. It is important to remember and believe in the sovereignty of God when it comes to suffering through disease and disability.

However, I realize that it is hard for us to still understand what the point is when we are going through a painful situation. It is very hard to apply 2 Corinthians 4:17, James 1:2, and Romans 8:18 when the fires of this world is hitting us at the core. In the end, what is the purpose of our loved ones going through the constant pain?

I can tell you today that there is hope in the word of Jesus Christ when it comes to disease and disability. I believe that the word of Jesus in the book of John gives us an in depth look at the purpose of suffering. It is amazing at what Jesus points at in this discussion with His disciples. The story begins in verse 1 of John 9.

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

What an incredible answer given. This has got to be the message that we believe and apply to our lives when it comes to handling disability, disease, and suffering of any kind. That the works of God might be displayed in or lives is a truth that we have got to hold on to. The fact is that Jesus is saying that our ways are the not the ways of God. We see pain and suffering just as the disciples did, as a sin that someone in our family committed or something that we have done to reap this punishment of affliction. However, the message of Christ is so much different. He is simply saying “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” He is saying that this man was born blind because God has a huge plan for His life. Disease and disability is not due to sin, but rather the work of God being displayed in your life. We can view disability and disease so much differently when we actually view it from the eyes of Christ knowing that His plan is perfect.

I have to apply this principle when I am working children’s ministry and when I am dealing with family daily. It is something that we must take a hold of and grasp on to the fact that Christ must be glorified and magnified no matter what. There is an eternal life where no pain and suffering exists. Until then, we should voice and express that in the trials and sufferings that the works of God be made manifest in our lives.

I‘ve always enjoyed social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. These are great tools for us to stay connected with one another and with the world. Being a Christian, with many Christian friends, it’s hard not to notice how many verses, quotes, references, and blogs are posted throughout the course of the day. It’s great to post encouraging verses and quotes related to Christ all over the Internet, right?

The Apostle Paul, in the book of Philippians, said, “What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.” So according to Paul it would be a good thing to post tweets, status updates, and blogs all over the Internet that pertain to Christ. In the end, as long as Christ is preached, what does it matter?

Well, I have been convicted that our motives behind posting Biblical or Christian references can be entirely off base. The danger is that social networking can be used more as a tool for self-promotion and self-gratification rather then one served to promote Christ. What’s more, we often speak it, tweet it, post it, or update it rather than live it.  If this is true, then what we are saying is our joy is found more in what others think of us (people re-tweeting or “liking” our status updates) rather than our joy being found in God giving us the ability to influence our surrounding culture for Him.

I have been wrestling with my motives behind posting a Scripture verse or a Christian blog, questioning if it comes from my desire to promote Christ with my life or from receiving affirmation from someone through a re-post of something I wrote. It’s very easy to refrain from testing our motives before we post something about God.

Are we really promoting Christ when our motives, deep within our hearts, are all about receiving glorification for ourselves? Are we truly promoting the Kingdom of God when we are more concerned with how many people “liked” our status rather than how Christ could use what we post to change someone’s life? The fact of the matter is that our motives, when we post something on Facebook or Twitter, are of considerable importance to God.

When I stumbled upon Proverbs 21:2, I was reassured of Christ’s perspective, looking so much deeper than a Christian post on a social network. The Proverb says, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.” As you can see, God is looking at our motive, rather than congratulating you for the 10 re-tweets you received for posting that clever quote from Andy Stanley. Your hearts condition matters so much more to God.  I’m not saying that tweets, status updates, and blogs pertaining to God are wrong; I am simply saying we should seriously take a look at our heart’s desire when posting something we are convinced is for God.

John Piper said it best at Passion 2011, saying, “Do you feel more loved by God because He makes much of you or because He enables you to make much of Him?” He couldn’t be more correct. Our heart’s desire must be centered solely on the joy that we have been enabled to make much of Him.

The most widely read devotional work, next to the Bible, is the book The Imitation of Christ. Interestingly, when it was published, it was done so without noting the author’s name. Although it was later credited to a man named Thomas a’ Kempis, it almost seems ludicrous for someone to compose a writing or book without taking credit for his or her work. However, you discover in reading The Imitation of Christ that the writer suggests we should “love to be unknown” and that we should be more concerned with the love and depth written in the text instead of the author of the work. If Thomas a’ Kempis really did write this book then I think we can safely say that Kempis truly understood what making much of God and making less of oneself truly looks like.

I pray we become a people that praise God rather than ourselves. One way of doing this is to let others tell our story. Have you ever wondered why Jesus never wrote a book of the Bible? Well, my guess is that He wanted to let others tell His story. Anyone can write something about themselves, but it truly takes a special person or situation to have someone else write about them. Isn’t our God special? Let us live remarkable lives for Him, by boasting of the works He is doing in others, rather than in ourselves.

John 3:30 – “He must become greater, I must become less.”

God is the source of an unconditional, unmerited, and undeserved love. For anyone admitting they are a sinner, you will come to realize you don’t deserve the kind of love you have received from God. We constantly fall back on the love of God because we are flawed individuals. It has been that way since the beginning of time. Sin made its way into the world and separated us from God and the love that is God. However, the most famous verse in the Bible is able to give us a small glimpse of the love of God.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The only reason you and I have a chance of inheriting God’s Kingdom and eternal life is made possible by love. In the book of Romans, Paul notes that, through the love of God, we have been given the power of reconciliation with God, through Jesus Christ. In Romans 5:8 he says,

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I know a lot of you recognize God is love. It is who God is. A.W. Tozer talks about this in his books The Knowledge Of The Holy. He writes, “Love for instance, is not something God has and which may grow or diminish or cease to be. His love is the way God is, and when He loves He is simply being Himself.” Knowing God is knowing love because God is love. This is very important to grasp. If you attended church at a very young age, one of the first things you would have been taught is God’s love. You learn a few of the most well known verses in the Bible and you see demonstrations of God’s love towards us. It seems to me this would be engrained in most believers by now.

However, the sad truth is not everyone lives in the freedom of God’s love. Some of us don’t even recognize God’s love. Countless numbers of believers today question whether or not God loves them. Many people going through trials and tribulations in life resort to doubting God truly loves them. I mean, why would a loving God allow so much heartache, struggle, and pain to reoccur on an everyday basis? That question seems to be asked a lot nowadays. In a world where so much hurt and unexplainable catastrophes occur, many can’t help but ask themselves where is God’s love?

If you have ever thought this way, don’t be ashamed. I want to look at a story in the Bible where the disciples were also trying to figure out where God’s love was. You will note that in this story Jesus Christ was actually present in a physical form when these doubts of love were fleshing themselves out in the disciple’s lives. Also, note that even though Jesus Christ came in the flesh, being fully man, He was also, at that same time, fully God.

Mark 4:35-40 –

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 

You see, the disciples, just like you and I, sometimes also have a skewed view of God’s love. The disciples are so afraid they are going to drown they resort to asking Jesus “Don’t you care if we drown?” Of course Jesus cared. He rebukes the seas and everything goes back to normal, while the disciples are standing there speechless.

For many of you today, you live with that same mindset the disciples had. I mean, how could Jesus love us if He is going to let us drown? How does God love me if He is going to let _____________ occur in my life? We often view situations with the mentality of: how can God love me if He is going to let me go through these trials and tribulations? The thing about it is we don’t understand God’s love and neither did the disciples. We don’t understand that God might be testing us in some form or fashion when the waves of difficult times come crashing around us. I don’t think the disciples understood this could be a test of their faith. Of course, after awhile Jesus rebukes the waves and asks them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

We serve an infinite God whose ways we do not understand. Our human mind and way of thinking has produced in our minds what love should consist of and what true love really is. However, an all-knowing God knows something you and I certainly don’t know. It’s the simple fact that trials, tribulations, tragedy, prosperity, health, cancer, and sickness do not determine the love of God. How do we know what good or bad times really are? Don’t most of our interpretations of good and bad come from an idea or paradigm that we created? Could it be possible that all the trials and heartache are just a demonstration of God’s love? I think so. The fact of the matter is that God has a master plan and who am I to question it.

We don’t understand God’s love because we can’t think on the same level as God.

Some people would tell you they experience more of God’s love by going through some of the worst times of their lives. Some would say it was through a revelation they were able to truly experience God. You might have experienced God’s love in a totally different way, but realize that His love is always there and He always wants you to embrace His love in the good and bad times.

It is the only unconditional and true love available today. Believe it and embrace it!

*I must give credit to Mr. Zach Rodgers for his amazing help and wisdom on this blog post*

Earlier in Acts 4 we read of Peter and John standing before the Sanhedrin as well. They were seized up the night before for proclaiming that Christ had risen from the dead and were thrown into jail. As they stand before the judges the next day, after being questioned, Peter begins to speak. In chapter 4 verse 12 Peter says,

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Realize now that Peter and John were standing before what would equate in today’s society as the Supreme Court. How was Peter able to speak so courageously before them? As we see in verse 13 it baffled everyone there.

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

The story continues as Peter and John return back to their own people after being released. All of the people there begin to lift their voices in prayer to God and in the middle of verse 29 they ask for something that we should be asking for on a daily basis.

“Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”

You might be wondering how Stephen spoke so boldly, or how Peter and John were deemed as men of courage by the people accusing them. We often like to view people in the Bible as legends, rather as examples of God’s proficient power in the lives of ordinary men. These men are no different from you and me. As you read these stories you realize that all of them are very profoundly similar. How Stephen, Peter, John, Billy Graham, John Piper, believers back then and believers right now speak the word courageously and boldly still comes from the exact same source.

Acts 7:55 –But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Acts 4:8a –Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them:

Acts 4:31 –After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Speaking boldly and courageously for Christ simply comes from the Holy Spirit. You might not be feeling very bold or courageous in your life or in your walk with Christ. However, there is great hope revealed to us in Acts 2, Peter points out an amazing truth, and it is simply that the Holy Spirit is available to anyone who believes. So if you are a believer, then that means you have a divine God living inside of you. Do you believe it though? If you do, do you live like it? Do you remember what Jesus said to his disciples in John 16:7?

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

It is better that Jesus goes, so that we can have the Holy Spirit? It might be difficult to believe, but if you desire to live a life of courage and boldness for Christ then acknowledge and believe the truth that you have the Holy Spirit living within you. Stephen, Peter, and John did. Countless numbers of believers who have spoken out courageously for Christ in the tribes of Africa and in the slums of India believed that the Holy Spirit would give them the words to say in their time of need. (Luke 12:12)

I am convinced that the Holy Spirit has a distinct plan for our lives. (I Corinthians 12:11) There is a supernatural power that we can obtain through the Holy Spirit. A generation of believers is rising up to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. The most important thing that we can do is to acknowledge the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives and to not put limits on what He can do within and through each and every one of us. If we quench the Spirit of God and if we do not recognize our desperate need for the Holy Spirit living within us we will never be able to reach the full potential of how God desires us to truly live. Nobody puts it better than Francis Chan in his book Forgotten God, where he comments on how he desires to live his life through the Holy Spirit:

“I don’t want to keep crawling when I have the ability to fly”

Stephen, Peter, John, and believers all over the world were flying. You have that ability today to break out of your shell of doubt and insecurity and spread your wings and acknowledge the power of the Holy Spirit within you and fly to greater heights then you ever could have imagined. Do not fear death or anyone on this earth because of the amazing fact that the Holy Spirit is with you and He will guide you and lead you down the path towards God. Let’s become a generation of courageous and bold believers. The time to start is today!

*Francis Chan’s book Forgotten God talks about the neglect of the Holy Spirit and I would definitely recommend reading it if you have any questions at all about the Holy Spirit*

Do you live in sin on a daily basis?

Yes I do realize that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. (Romans 3:23)  However, I do not want to continue to live in a society where the thinking is that sin doesn’t carry that much of a weight. It carried such a tremendous weight that God had to send His only Son to die for our sins. It carries such a tremendous weight that the only thing that you and I deserve is death. (Romans 6:23) Will you just think about that for a second? Sin matters so much that it caused us to be separated from the God of the Universe. Heavy price you think? You better believe it.

I hope that you do realize that sin matters. I mean it really matters. However, the main issue I wanted to address is that I believe that God and the people of this world have two totally different views on the subject of sin. You probably would agree with that statement. I’m sure that you are concerned about your sins, but are you as concerned about them as God is? Of course you’re not. We are more concerned about getting that great job, that nice car, that relationship with that man or woman, that 3 bedroom house, or that new outfit. We are more concerned about getting healed from cancer or that brain tumor, receiving healing of that ailment or struggle that you have been dealing with your entire life, and receiving blessings from God because we believe that we deserve them.

News Flash: Christ Is More Concerned With Your Sin. Here’s why I believe this.

Here are two sections of Scriptures that we are going to look at: Luke 5:17-26 and Luke 7:36-50

These are the small parts that I am going to focus on –

Luke 5:17-20 –One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

Luke 7:44-48 –Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

These are two different occasions when Jesus was showing what He was more concerned about. Was Jesus concerned about the paralytic man and the sinful woman at all? Of course He was. However, He is trying to make a few points. Besides the fact that He is making the claim that He has the authority to forgive sins in the first place, He is trying to tell us what He considers to be of upmost importance.

Think about what you are struggling with right now? Does it consume your thoughts sometimes? Don’t you just want Christ to just heal you? Don’t you just desire for Christ to provide for you? Now put yourselves in the shoes of the paralytic man. This guy has probably been paralyzed his entire life and has been consumed with the thought of just being able to walk. He desires to just be healed. Some of his buddies take him to Jesus because they believe that this miracle worker can heal their friend. The paralyzed man is thinking to himself that his dream is going to come true and that he is about to be made whole. He is lying down before Jesus eagerly waiting for those healing words to come out of his mouth. However, Jesus says something that astonished him and everyone there. He said that your sins are forgiven. The paralytic man think in his head, “Um say what? I came to be healed!”Now the sinful woman who is anointing and loving Jesus is expecting to hear Jesus say, “Well done” or “You are so kind”. Instead, Jesus says, your sins are forgiven.

Apply this to your life today. What is it that you desire? What is it that might be consuming you? What is it that you need healing from?

Jesus Christ can heal anyone and perform anything in your life. However, He desires for you to realize that your sin is way more important than you receiving that healing, blessing, or life that you always wanted. Christ desires for us to be concerned with our sins. He desires for us to ask for forgiveness constantly and to confess our sins. He wants us to ask for the blood that was shed on the cross to cover our sins continuously. Jesus wants us to be troubled with the thoughts of how our sin warrants death instead of looking away and continuously asking for God to bless me before any thoughts of asking for forgiveness pops into our minds.

If we confess our sins Jesus will forgive us. (I John 1:9)So become aware today of the sin in your life and ask Christ to forgive you. Once forgiven who knows what will happen. We see in both stories in Luke how Christ healed the paralytic man and also credited the sinful woman as being faithful.

The same healing can occur in your life today. The same miracles can occur in your life today.

But Jesus wants you and me to be more concerned about our sins. When we do that who knows, maybe Christ will tell you to get up, take your mat, go home and heal you. Maybe He will reward your faithfulness and say that your faith has saved you, go in peace. Maybe He will give you that innermost heart’s desire of yours. Who knows? Ask for forgiveness of your sins, strive for righteousness and believe this verse we end with in Psalms today!

Psalms 5:12 — For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

*By age 19, seven in ten teens of both sexes have had intercourse.*

*Daily pornographic search engine requests = 68 million (25% of total search engine requests)*

*In America, 80,000 citizens are arrested a year for soliciting sex.*

You are living in a sex world. Every single day the people of this planet become more and more consumed with sex. Sex has contaminated the thoughts and minds of people everywhere and is leading to the downfall of the human race. We have let the sin of sexual immorality become the normal and the accepted. It controls the minds of teenagers and it dictates the lives of adults. Prostitution, pornography, and sex trafficking statistics will astound you.

How did this happen? How did we enter into this sex world? The main reason obviously is because sex sells. It is everywhere you look. It is impossible to look through any magazine now a day without seeing a man or woman with basically no clothes on. Watch any sporting event and you have the deal with cheerleaders who are scantily dressed. A majority of TV shows and movies have either sexual innuendos or content in them. Television advertisements have become another avenue for sex to be promoted. Whether it is a beer or go-daddy commercial you can hardly watch anything during a commercial break. Social media websites like Facebook and MySpace are not excluded when it comes to sex. Advertisements are not the only thing laced with sexual content on these sites, but also people’s profiles. On Facebook and MySpace there are pictures of girls in bathing suits, low cut clothing, and groups dedicated strictly to sexual play. The only thing that does is contaminate the minds of men and women even more. Pictures of sexual suggestive men and women on Facebook or MySpace that are even a little provocative only promote lusting. I don’t even want to talk about the clothing trends that only promote lust and sex, but I’m pretty sure it’s self explanatory.

Pornography is taking over lives and destroying more and more people daily. Here are a few statistics that I found that will alarm you.

• The porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises.
• U.S. porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC. (6.2 billion)
• Child pornography generates $3 billion annually.

Prostitution and sex trafficking is only growing worldwide. These stats are incredible as well.

What is going on?

Men have no excuses at all. Most sexual failure in this world is due to our lack of incorporating Christ in that area in our life. It is the one door that we do not like to give Christ an all access card. We accept lusting in our minds and we forget about being transformed by the renewal of our minds. (Rom. 12:2) We do not lead out in this area and do not strive for sexual purity. Are we forgetting what Scripture says though?

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body – I Corinthians 6:18

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. – Matthew 5:28

In Matthew 5 we see where Jesus was focusing in on men. He was saying that lusting of the mind is just as bad as committing the act. There needs to be an awakening that occurs within men when it comes to sexual morality. If we realized now how detrimental it is to bring sexual addictions into a relationship or a marriage then maybe that would start to open some of our eyes to the sin that we are engulfed in.

I would challenge women to be more aware of how they present themselves not only in person, but on the internet as well. 17% of all women also struggle with pornography addiction. Crazy.

This needs to be a generation of Christians that strive towards Christ when it comes to our sexual purity.

Christian men and women rise up everywhere. We can and will overcome this.

If you need some more accountability when it comes to pornography check out – http://x3watch.com/

Also, check out this quick word from Piper –

We have the ability to tap into this kind of God and really be able to know Him more. Umm….Yes Please.

Why don’t we do this?

The Tip Of The Iceberg – Most of us know God.  We have some form of a relationship with Him.We know Him pretty well in our own mind and some might be willing to settle for that. Most of us haven’t seen an iceberg. We only really know about icebergs because of the Titanic. Most of us know that icebergs are very large. I mean they must be big to sink a ship that was almost 3 football fields in length!! Let’s take a look at an iceberg.

I now can see how this could sink a ship. Well now that we have seen an iceberg I guess that’s it. We understand them. Case closed. The End. We are all fine with accepting that this is truly all we need to know about icebergs right? We have seen it and now we know about it right?  That has gotta be it…….right?

Look deeper…..Is that really the big picture?

THIS IS THE BIG PICTURE! I’m sure that there were some of you that probably knew that there was more to an iceberg. However, at some point you had to search deeper. You couldn’t just settle for looking at the tip of the iceberg, but instead you had to go below surface level and search for more.

Here we go. Isn’t this the same way that most of us settle with God? We see God. We know God. We hear God. We got God. But, do we really know Him that well?? Aren’t we just settling for just a small, minuscule segment of God?  I admit it is very easy to look at the tip of the iceberg and say, “That is big” and ” Look at that ice” and convince ourselves that we really don’t need to know more about icebergs because most of us are satisfied with just knowing a part about the iceberg. I mean why would you want to know more right? Sadly, this is the same way that most people view a relationship with Jesus Christ. We settle for just knowing a piece of God. We become OK with a sub-par mediocre relationship with God. We tap into a small portion of God, the tip of the iceberg of God in all honesty. We are able to see parts of God and are able to see Him working in certain areas in our lives, but no more than that. Most of us are fine with this or we just aren’t willing to seek something more.  We become so content in this praying before I go to bed and reading my Bible for 15 minutes mentality that we settle on knowing only a TIP of God.

However, we have been given the opportunity to truly know God more. It is not this one sided research paper that you have to study for and search for all the answers yourself. 11 words sum it up

James 4:8a – “Come near to God and He will come near to you“.

All we have to do is……..DO IT. This is not rocket science people. It is as simple as striving to know God more daily. It is pushing yourself and your friends to be more like Christ in everything. It is adding more weight to the barbell and lifting heavier in your spiritual life. It is praying constantly, being in the word daily, fasting, and forsaking yourself on an everyday basis. It is never settling for this second rate relationship. God has much He wants to say and reveal to us, but are we ready?

John 16:12 – Jesus says this to His disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can bear now“.

There is so much that God wants to reveal to us! Jesus couldn’t reveal all to the disciples because these guys weren’t ready!  He wants to show you more! He desires to know you more! He wants you to go through the process of becoming more spiritually mature to be able to to handle certain things that He has to say. What does that mean?

It means that we have got to continuously strive to know Christ more.It has got to be something that is so ingrained in each of us. It has got to be Christ. In. Everything.

Do you want to look back on your life in 5 , 10, 20, or 50 years down the road and still be saying, “I don’t know God anymore today then I did years ago”. It doesn’t matter if you are 16 years old or 99 years old. The ability to know Christ more goes back to just doing it. You have the ability. I have the ability. We have the ability.

Don’t settle for just the tip of the iceberg with Christ. Be Doers.