Clean House: Know Messages from New Hope Assembly of God, NuMine, PA
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- Christianity
Today, we’re continuing our new message series entitled, “Clean House.” In it, we’re learning how to do some spiritual spring cleaning in our lives so that we can live them to their fullest without all of the clutter that weighs us down and trips us up.
Last week, we learned a bit about what sin is and just how desperately we need a healthy relationship with the Holy Spirit. It’s only through this active relationship that we can avoid sin and fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. We want to avoid indulging in the flesh. As we learned, this sets up a command center in our lives from which the devil wages war against us. This goes far further than we realize!
This morning, God wants to shift our thinking about sin a bit more. We typically think of sin being to do what God tells us not to do. Therefore, if the Bible does not explicitly tell us not to do something, we’re not sure whether it is right or wrong for us and are more likely to do it. If the Bible doesn’t explicitly call something out as sin, then we use that as justification for His approval to do it.
Our flesh is always looking for loopholes to enable us to do whatever we want and yet also make us feel like we’re still in right standing with God. Our flesh tempts us to find that line between sin and righteousness and dwell there.
The Spirit is always looking to give us a full and abundant life and to lead us far from sin. The Spirit wants us to dwell within His safe refuge.
Going back to what sin is, God doesn’t define for us all of the countless ways that we can miss His target. Instead, He makes clear to us His plans and purposes; that bullseye. When we understand God’s purpose for something, we then are aware that using something for a purpose other than which it was created by God for is sin.
Craftsman designed and created a flat screwdriver for the purpose of tightening and loosing flat head screws. When I use it as a pry bar or chisel, I’m likely to bend or break it. Why? Because it was not created for those purposes. I sin against it. Not only may it be damaged, but I just might damage myself doing it, too! It was uniquely designed and intentionally created for that purpose.
God has a design and purpose for communication.
God has a design and purpose for friendship.
God has a design and purpose for music.
God has a design and purpose for marriage
God has a design and purpose for sex.
God has a design and purpose for work.
God has a design and purpose for education.
God has a design and purpose for everything.
Nothing that God does is accidental or a surprise to Him.
One of the first house cleaning tasks is to recognize what is in need of cleaning. What is dirty? What is out of place? What needs thrown out? What needs to be brought in?
What areas of my life are affected by sin and need to be cleansed or renewed?
When we know and understand God’s design and purpose for our lives, we can quickly identify anything that is not in agreement with them.
To recognize these things, we need to get to know God and His design and purpose for them and where they belong in our lives. A fire is a wonderful thing in our fireplace on a cold winter night. A fire is an unnecessary and irritating thing in our fireplace on a hot summer day. A fire is a horrifying thing in the middle of the living room floor at any time!
For everything, there is a proper time and a season and a purpose. To get things out of order when it comes to times and seasons or to misunderstand the purpose of things is to sin; to miss the mark.
Now is the season for tilling and fertilizing and planting. If you do all of that and then you wake up tomorrow and believe that it’s time to harvest and uproot, well, you’re going to sin by doing it. All of your work will be for nothing. That season will come, but tomorrow is not the time.
How do we recognize what t
Today, we’re continuing our new message series entitled, “Clean House.” In it, we’re learning how to do some spiritual spring cleaning in our lives so that we can live them to their fullest without all of the clutter that weighs us down and trips us up.
Last week, we learned a bit about what sin is and just how desperately we need a healthy relationship with the Holy Spirit. It’s only through this active relationship that we can avoid sin and fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. We want to avoid indulging in the flesh. As we learned, this sets up a command center in our lives from which the devil wages war against us. This goes far further than we realize!
This morning, God wants to shift our thinking about sin a bit more. We typically think of sin being to do what God tells us not to do. Therefore, if the Bible does not explicitly tell us not to do something, we’re not sure whether it is right or wrong for us and are more likely to do it. If the Bible doesn’t explicitly call something out as sin, then we use that as justification for His approval to do it.
Our flesh is always looking for loopholes to enable us to do whatever we want and yet also make us feel like we’re still in right standing with God. Our flesh tempts us to find that line between sin and righteousness and dwell there.
The Spirit is always looking to give us a full and abundant life and to lead us far from sin. The Spirit wants us to dwell within His safe refuge.
Going back to what sin is, God doesn’t define for us all of the countless ways that we can miss His target. Instead, He makes clear to us His plans and purposes; that bullseye. When we understand God’s purpose for something, we then are aware that using something for a purpose other than which it was created by God for is sin.
Craftsman designed and created a flat screwdriver for the purpose of tightening and loosing flat head screws. When I use it as a pry bar or chisel, I’m likely to bend or break it. Why? Because it was not created for those purposes. I sin against it. Not only may it be damaged, but I just might damage myself doing it, too! It was uniquely designed and intentionally created for that purpose.
God has a design and purpose for communication.
God has a design and purpose for friendship.
God has a design and purpose for music.
God has a design and purpose for marriage
God has a design and purpose for sex.
God has a design and purpose for work.
God has a design and purpose for education.
God has a design and purpose for everything.
Nothing that God does is accidental or a surprise to Him.
One of the first house cleaning tasks is to recognize what is in need of cleaning. What is dirty? What is out of place? What needs thrown out? What needs to be brought in?
What areas of my life are affected by sin and need to be cleansed or renewed?
When we know and understand God’s design and purpose for our lives, we can quickly identify anything that is not in agreement with them.
To recognize these things, we need to get to know God and His design and purpose for them and where they belong in our lives. A fire is a wonderful thing in our fireplace on a cold winter night. A fire is an unnecessary and irritating thing in our fireplace on a hot summer day. A fire is a horrifying thing in the middle of the living room floor at any time!
For everything, there is a proper time and a season and a purpose. To get things out of order when it comes to times and seasons or to misunderstand the purpose of things is to sin; to miss the mark.
Now is the season for tilling and fertilizing and planting. If you do all of that and then you wake up tomorrow and believe that it’s time to harvest and uproot, well, you’re going to sin by doing it. All of your work will be for nothing. That season will come, but tomorrow is not the time.
How do we recognize what t