Walking in the Freedom of the Light Part 1 By Pastor Dan Kennedy © October 23, 2016 www.pastorkennedy.com This past week we found ourselves helping a sick man in a hospital intensive care unit who was delusional. He was convinced he was in his home, not in the hospital, and that the people sitting “on the couch” [at the nurse’s station…no couch] in the adjacent room had stolen his refrigerator and other things from him. He leaned over to me and asked me confidentially, in a soft voice, to call the police, to keep them from stealing his things. Nothing would change his mind. He was convinced. In thinking through his delusion, I had to ask myself how many in this world may be just as delusional regarding the denial of our Creator God, the “light of Truth”. Agnostics would ridicule an opponent mercilessly who would question their beliefs as they continue walking in the delusion of the light of their own perception, comfortably surrounded by like-minded companions. Let’s take a moment to look at some hard, cold facts clearly avoided by those who refuse to see the Fingerprint of God on all of the universe’s vast creation. Let’s just briefly look at one example today: the earth on which we live. Astronomy has given us many facts about our earth...the place God created for you and I to reside, live and die. The earth is 92.96 million miles from the sun. Its orbit is in the extremely narrow “Goldilocks” zone of being “not too cold and not too hot”. A little closer to the sun and everything on earth would be burnt to a crisp. A little further away and our planet would be an iceberg.  The earth is big. It weighs approximately 5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons [5.972 sextillion (1,000 trillion) metric tons].[1] The surface area of the earth is about 197 million square miles. We live on a perfectly sized planet for life to exist. What formed this huge exquisite place?  To fly around the earth, you would need to travel about 24,874 miles.[2] To go straight through earth, from one side to another is almost 4,000 (3,959) miles.  Comparatively, the Sun is enormous, it weighs about 333,000 times as much as Earth. It is so large that about 1,300,000 planet Earths can fit inside of it. Earth is about the size of an average sunspot![3]  The earth, all the while, is spinning over 1,000 (some 1,040) miles an hour at the equator. It is spinning over 24,901 miles a day, 365 days, while traveling some 584 million miles a year in its orbit. It has been perpetually and precisely spinning for thousands of years, but is so punctual that in a hundred years a solar day is only adjusted in by milliseconds. [4]  o "In the year 1820, a rotation [of the earth] took exactly 24 hours, or 86,400 standard seconds. Since 1820, the mean solar day has increased by about 2.5 milliseconds."[5] o Who holds all Creation together through His powerful Word? (Heb. 1:3) What is gravity?  o What keeps all things gently bonded to earth without inhibiting movement, while preventing everything from floating out into space? o Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and many, many other scientists throughout the world’s history have given us their gravitational theories. More recent theories include graviton particle theory, but no one has given the perfect answer…they are still searching. Seasons occur because of the 23.4% tilt of the earth on its axis. God created the earth tilted just perfectly so we could enjoy seasons!  The earth with its abundance of life is dependent on many, many factors:  o The electromagnetic bands that protect us from harmful particles and rays from the sun. o The atmospheric layers preserving oxygen for us and which, among many other things causes space debris to burn up before hitting the earth. o The vast water cycle, o The production of life-giving oxygen, o etc., etc., etc., etc. The earth is simply one of the multiplied quadrillions of other planetary objects found in the trillions and trillions of galaxies in the vastness of the observable universe.  Without an ultimate Creator the extreme complexity of everything around us that we can see and cannot see would not exist. What makes us so delusional to disbelieve in His existence when everything around us proclaims the reality of His Person, His Power, and His Creation? Two weeks ago we briefly looked at this astounding verse. Jesus aptly summarized the blindness of those who had spiritual delusions. Matthew 6:22–23 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! It seems a vast segment of the modern culture has dismissed the obviousness of God’s Presence, only to live, in one form or another, spiritual delusion and self-absorption. This results, sadly, in walking in the greater darkness of their own light. As those who are following Christ, how should we be walking in Light? The First Aspect of walking in the freedom of non-delusional Light is the acknowledgement and personal belief that: God Is, and He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Christians can find themselves on a collision course with delusion if they choose to keep dabbling in that which is dishonoring and displeasing to God. At one of our recent weekly men’s Bible studies we have been reviewing the book of Galatians and I was struck again with the gravity and profoundness of Galatians 5:24. Galatians 5:24 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Why is it essential that Christians die to (crucify) the “sinful nature”? If we keep feeding and fulfilling the baser passions and desires of our old nature, we will once again be deluded with some of the perceptions so prevalent in the carnal world. It may also reveal that maybe we are not truly “born again”. Christians battle three primary enemies in their spiritual life: The world, the flesh and the devil. (1 John 2:16; Eph. 6:12) · The “world” and its compelling power, pride and assets. · The “flesh” and its seductive persuasiveness. · The “devil” and his profound spiritual deceptions. Each of these powerful carnal magnets can pull us away from a deeper relationship with God. How can we effectively grow in our faith in a Living God when we are being continually crowded into a corner by these three powerful enemies? In Galatians 5, Paul doesn’t mince words. He gives us both an itemization of the works of the carnal flesh, and later, the consistent evidences of one who is living out a Godly spiritual life, with fruit borne by the Holy Spirit. These lists are diametrically opposed to each other, and both have outcomes consistent with their actions. Galatians 5:19–21 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: o sexual immorality, o impurity and o debauchery; o 20 idolatry and o witchcraft; o hatred, o discord, o jealousy, o fits of rage, o selfish ambition, o dissensions, o factions 21 and o envy; o drunkenness, o orgies, o and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:24 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Conversely, the Fruit of the Spirit exemplifies the finest qualities in a God-filled life. Galatians 5:22–23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is · love, · joy, · peace, · patience, · kindness, · goodness, · faithfulness, · 23 gentleness and · self-control. Against such things there is no law. Then Paul concludes the listing of these attributes, both carnal, and then Spiritual with the statement: Galatians 5:24 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. To walk in the freedom of the Light – and not live in deception and delusion, a key in the life of the believer in Christ is to live a life which is exemplified by crucifying and dying to the old nature and cultivating and building the Spiritual life, from which Spiritual fruit is evident. There are some basics on which the life of one seeking to follow Jesus Christ is built. 1. Belief in God, the Creator. 2. Personal repentance from sin and acceptance of Jesus Christ as the only One who can save us from our sin, causing New Birth and transformation by the Holy Spirit, to be a Child of God. 3. Reliance on the Bible, the Word of God, through which God gives us His instructions on how to live. 4. Living a life sensitive to the Leading of the Holy Spirit. 5. Actively choosing to “die”, to be “crucified”, to “say no”, to the yearnings of our flesh, to resist the devil, and not be “of the world” while still living in it; and instead, to live for God, whether or not others are watching! Could a “professing Christian” be living a carnal life on the inside, while trying to display to everyone else a spiritual life on the outside? If he or she continues to choose to live carnally, what do you think will be the outcome of their life? “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21b Galatians 5:24–26 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. God has not chosen us to be Children who follow hard after the world; who satisfy the lusts of our flesh; and, who listen to the lies and delusions of the devil. God has chosen us to follow Jesus Christ. To resist the devil and draw close to God. To follow the prompting and be empowered by His Holy Spirit. To choose to die to our carnal self and live unto God. ENDNOTES on “Crucifying” the works of the flesh – our Old Nature Galatians 5:13 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. Romans 6:6 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— Romans 7:5 5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. Romans 7:15–25 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. 8: 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:3–5 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. 5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:8–14 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. 12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 13:14 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Galatians 6:8 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 1 Peter 2:16 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Galatians 2:20 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [1] www.ecology.com/2008/09/08/how-much-does-earth-weigh/ [2] www.space.com/17638-how-big-is-earth.html [3] http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/5-How-large-is-the-Sun-compared-to-Earth- [4] Wikipedia: Earth’s Orbit. “A complete orbit occurs every 365.256 days (1 sidereal year), during which time Earth travels 940 million kilometers (584 million miles).” [5] http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/extra-second.html

Walking in the Freedom of the Light

Part 1

By Pastor Dan Kennedy

www.pastorkennedy.com

This past week we found ourselves helping a sick man in a hospital intensive care unit who was delusional. He was convinced he was in his home, not in the hospital, and that the people sitting “on the couch” [at the nurse’s station…no couch] in the adjacent room had stolen his refrigerator and other things from him. He leaned over to me and asked me confidentially, in a soft voice, to call the police, to keep them from stealing his things. Nothing would change his mind. He was convinced.

In thinking through his delusion, I had to ask myself how many in this world may be just as delusional regarding the denial of our Creator God, the “light of Truth”. Agnostics would ridicule an opponent mercilessly who would question their beliefs as they continue walking in the delusion of the light of their own perception, comfortably surrounded by like-minded companions.

Let’s take a moment to look at some hard, cold facts clearly avoided by those who refuse to see the Fingerprint of God on all of the universe’s vast creation. Let’s just briefly look at one example today: the earth on which we live.

Astronomy has given us many facts about our earth...the place God created for you and I to reside, live and die.

•The earth is 92.96 million miles from the sun. Its orbit is in the extremely narrow “Goldilocks” zone of being “not too cold and not too hot”. A little closer to the sun and everything on earth would be burnt to a crisp. A little further away and our planet would be an iceberg.
•The earth is big. It weighs approximately 5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons [5.972 sextillion (1,000 trillion) metric tons].[1] The surface area of the earth is about 197 million square miles. We live on a perfectly sized planet for life to exist. What formed this huge exquisite place?
•To fly around the earth, you would need to travel about 24,874 miles.[2] To go straight through earth, from one side to another is almost 4,000 (3,959) miles.
•Comparatively, the Sun is enormous, it weighs about 333,000 times as much as Earth. It is so large that about 1,300,000 planet Earths can fit inside of it. Earth is about the size of an average sunspot![3]
•The earth, all the while, is spinning over 1,000 (some 1,040) miles an hour at the equator. It is spinning over 24,901 miles a day, 365 days, while traveling some 584 million miles a year in its orbit. It has been perpetually and precisely spinning for thousands of years, but is so punctual that in a hundred years a solar day is only adjusted in by milliseconds. [4]

o "In the year 1820, a rotation [of the earth] took exactly 24 hours, or 86,400 standard seconds. Since 1820, the mean solar day has increased by about 2.5 milliseconds."[5]

o Who holds all Creation together through His powerful Word? (Heb. 1:3)

•What is gravity?

o What keeps all things gently bonded to earth without inhibiting movement, while preventing everything from floating out into space?

o Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and many, many other scientists throughout the world’s history have given us their gravitational theories. More recent theories include graviton particle theory, but no one has given the perfect answer…they are still searching.

•Seasons occur because of the 23.4% tilt of the earth on its axis. God created the earth tilted just perfectly so we could enjoy seasons!
•The earth with its abundance of life is dependent on many, many factors:

o The electromagnetic bands that protect us from harmful particles and rays from the sun.

o The atmospheric layers preserving oxygen for us and which, among many other things causes space debris to burn up before hitting the earth.

o The vast water cycle,

o The production of life-giving oxygen,

o etc., etc., etc., etc.

•The earth is simply one of the multiplied quadrillions of other planetary objects found in the trillions and trillions of galaxies in the vastness of the observable universe.

Without an ultimate Creator the extreme complexity of everything around us that we can see and cannot see would not exist. What makes us so delusional to disbelieve in His existence when everything around us proclaims the reality of His Person, His Power, and His Creation?

Two weeks ago we briefly looked at this astounding verse.

Jesus aptly summarized the blindness of those who had spiritual delusions.

Matthew 6:22–23

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

It seems a vast segment of the modern culture has dismissed the obviousness of God’s Presence, only to live, in one form or another, spiritual delusion and self-absorption. This results, sadly, in walking in the greater darkness of their own light.

As those who are following Christ, how should we be walking in Light?

The First Aspect of walking in the freedom of non-delusional Light is the acknowledgement and personal belief that:

God Is, and He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6

6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Christians can find themselves on a collision course with delusion if they choose to keep dabbling in that which is dishonoring and displeasing to God.

At one of our recent weekly men’s Bible studies we have been reviewing the book of Galatians and I was struck again with the gravity and profoundness of Galatians 5:24.

Galatians 5:24

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Why is it essential that Christians die to (crucify) the “sinful nature”?

If we keep feeding and fulfilling the baser passions and desires of our old nature, we will once again be deluded with some of the perceptions so prevalent in the carnal world.

It may also reveal that maybe we are not truly “born again”.

Christians battle three primary enemies in their spiritual life:

The world, the flesh and the devil. (1 John 2:16; Eph. 6:12)

· The “world” and its compelling power, pride and assets.

· The “flesh” and its seductive persuasiveness.

· The “devil” and his profound spiritual deceptions.

Each of these powerful carnal magnets can pull us away from a deeper relationship with God.

How can we effectively grow in our faith in a Living God when we are being continually crowded into a corner by these three powerful enemies?

In Galatians 5, Paul doesn’t mince words. He gives us both an itemization of the works of the carnal flesh, and later, the consistent evidences of one who is living out a Godly spiritual life, with fruit borne by the Holy Spirit.

These lists are diametrically opposed to each other, and both have outcomes consistent with their actions.

Galatians 5:19–21

19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:

o sexual immorality,

o impurity and

o debauchery;

o 20 idolatry and

o witchcraft;

o hatred,

o discord,

o jealousy,

o fits of rage,

o selfish ambition,

o dissensions,

o factions 21 and

o envy;

o drunkenness,

o orgies,

o and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:24

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Conversely, the Fruit of the Spirit exemplifies the finest qualities in a God-filled life.

Galatians 5:22–23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is

· love,

· joy,

· peace,

· patience,

· kindness,

· goodness,

· faithfulness,

· 23 gentleness and

· self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Then Paul concludes the listing of these attributes, both carnal, and then Spiritual with the statement:

Galatians 5:24

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

To walk in the freedom of the Light – and not live in deception and delusion, a key in the life of the believer in Christ is to live a life which is exemplified by crucifying and dying to the old nature and cultivating and building the Spiritual life, from which Spiritual fruit is evident.

There are some basics on which the life of one seeking to follow Jesus Christ is built.

1. Belief in God, the Creator.

2. Personal repentance from sin and acceptance of Jesus Christ as the only One who can save us from our sin, causing New Birth and transformation by the Holy Spirit, to be a Child of God.

3. Reliance on the Bible, the Word of God, through which God gives us His instructions on how to live.

4. Living a life sensitive to the Leading of the Holy Spirit.

5. Actively choosing to “die”, to be “crucified”, to “say no”, to the yearnings of our flesh, to resist the devil, and not be “of the world” while still living in it; and instead, to live for God, whether or not others are watching!

Could a “professing Christian” be living a carnal life on the inside, while trying to display to everyone else a spiritual life on the outside?

If he or she continues to choose to live carnally, what do you think will be the outcome of their life?

“I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21b

Galatians 5:24–26

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

God has not chosen us to be Children who follow hard after the world; who satisfy the lusts of our flesh; and, who listen to the lies and delusions of the devil.

God has chosen us to follow Jesus Christ. To resist the devil and draw close to God. To follow the prompting and be empowered by His Holy Spirit. To choose to die to our carnal self and live unto God.

ENDNOTES on “Crucifying” the works of the flesh – our Old Nature

Galatians 5:13

13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

Romans 6:6

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

Romans 7:5

5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Romans 7:15–25

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

8: 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:3–5

3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

Romans 8:8–14

8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Romans 13:14

14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Galatians 6:8

8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

1 Peter 2:16

16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

Galatians 2:20

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

[1] www.ecology.com/2008/09/08/how-much-does-earth-weigh/

[2] www.space.com/17638-how-big-is-earth.html

[3] http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/5-How-large-is-the-Sun-compared-to-Earth-

[4] Wikipedia: Earth’s Orbit. “A complete orbit occurs every 365.256 days (1 sidereal year), during which time Earth travels 940 million kilometers (584 million miles).”

[5] http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/extra-second.html