Genuine Leather Bible

I am often amazed at how God works in the lives of some people. They may have been heavily involved in certain sins before their salvation. But the day they got saved God took that sin out of their lives and they had victory over it immediately. When talking with them they say that they are no longer tempted by that old habit. It is amazing to see God’s power in their lives over sin.

However, we know that God does not always work that way. In fact, many of us struggle constantly with besetting sins. It seems like if we could just get victory over that sin then we would never have any problems.

Why doesn’t God work the same way in everyone’s life? When talking to those who do get immediate victory it seems like they think everyone gets the same type of victory “if they are truly saved.” Do they think I am not saved because God didn’t work the same way in my life as He did in theirs? While they would probably say “no” to that question, I have seen some who act as if that is the way they believe. God’s great grace can become a source of pride in their Christian walk.

Certainly not everyone who has had immediate victory over a sin act this way. Many give great praise and honor to God because they know God has worked in a special way in their life.

[pullquote]Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

—1 Corinthians 10:12, 13[/pullquote]

This morning the pastor in church was dealing with 1 Corinthians 10:1-14. He pointed out three great truths that we can draw from verse 13.

Common

First is that temptation is common. Your case is not unique. While we may not all be tempted in the exact same way, we all endure temptation. We must fight the sinful thought of, “God, I know what Your Word says, but my situation is special.” No, we need to simply trust God and obey Him. This great truth helps erase self-pity. God doesn’t hate you. God is not putting you through something you cannot overcome with His help. He is there right beside you.

Controlled

The second truth is that temptation is controlled. God is faithful. He will be with you through the temptation. He knows what you are going through and His goal is to bring you through it in holiness. The Bible says multiple times to be holy because God is holy. He wants us to become more like Him. He is with us each step of the way to bring out holiness in us. This truth erases our fears. Temptation itself can inspire fear, but we don’t have to be afraid because a faithful God is with us according to this verse.

Conquerable

Finally, temptation is conquerable. By His grace we have the power to overcome the temptation. Not in our own power, but through the power of Christ (Philippians 4:13). He has provided a way of escape. We don’t always see that way of escape. We begin to feel hopeless. However, when we remember a faithful God has promised to provide a way out of the temptation and testing, then this truth erases our doubts.

We should be grateful to God for the way He has worked in our lives. Whether that is an immediate conquering of sin, or a slow process of sanctification we should be thankful. Don’t take pride in the grace God has given you. Nor should you feel defeated if you don’t get that immediate victory. Remember that a faithful God knows everything that is going on in your life today.

[Adapted from a message by David Cross at Faith Baptist Church in Jefferson City, TN.]

[pullquote]And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

—Acts 14:27[/pullquote]

At the end of Acts 14 Barnabas and Paul gave an account of their first missionary journey. While I am sure they shared much from their trip the thing the Bible emphasizes is that they praised God for what He had done in opening opportunities to share the Gospel.

It must have been an easy trip. Surely they didn’t have any problems and were blessed to preach and see hundreds saved. It was an ideal mission trip. Right?

Well, no.

At the beginning of Acts 13 they were sent out by the Holy Spirit from Antioch to start their first journey. It was during this trip that John Mark left them. They did see many Jews begin to follow them in Antioch in Pisidia (Turkey) after preaching in a synagogue. However, the next week when the Gentiles gathered to hear what Paul and Barnabas had to say the formerly friendly Jews became angry. They didn’t think the Gospel should have been preached to the Gentiles. They kicked them out of their city.

The team packed up and moved on to Iconium. The Bible says many Jews and Greeks believed on the Lord. Not all believed however. The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and planned to stone the missionaries. They moved on to Lystra. Though worshiped a short time as gods, they were eventually stoned in that city.

Yes many were saved, but there were hardships as well. They retraced their steps encouraging the ones who were saved in their first visit. They returned to the church in Antioch in Syria from which they were sent.

Verse 27 is essentially their prayer letter/mission trip report. Did they focus on the problems they had? The Bible says they told what had happened, but then it finishes the verse with them telling “how He [God] opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.”

In their missionary prayer letter they focused on praise to God, not on the problems which came their way. As we share with our friends about the ministry opportunities God gives us we should focus on the praise and not the problems. Yes, there will be problems, but we should view them in light of God advancing His ministry through them.

A lady in our community is from Thailand. She recently got saved and visited our church today. She has been hungry for the Word of God, but does not read English very well. She had wondered if there was a Thai translation of the Bible.

We had another visitor in our church this morning too. It was Rene Freret the director of BEAMS (Bible Education And Missionary Service). BEAMS works to distribute Bibles through missionaries into over 100 countries. They distribute more than 10,000 Bibles each month. Bro. Freret did not have a meeting this morning and was traveling from Pennsylvania to Mississippi. He dropped by the church just to spend the morning with us.

Someone sensitive to God’s leading realized that Bro. Freret and this lady from Thailand visiting on the same day might not be a coincidence and decided to put the two together. As only God could have planned, Bro. Freret was carrying one Thai Bible in his truck. He gladly went and got it so that this young Christian lady could have a Bible in her own language.

What a blessing to see God’s providential hand working in our service this morning.

How do you approach prayer? Is it a time where you go to the Lord and tell Him to listen to everything you have to say and then walk away unwilling to hear what He has to say to you?

God spoke to the young boy Samuel in 1 Samuel 3. After being instructed by Eli to listen to God’s voice and respond to him, Samuel said, “Speak; for thy servant heareth.” Samuel was intent on listening to God.

How often do we turn that around though? We tend to go to God and say, “Hear Lord, for Thy servant speaketh.” We aren’t willing to take the time to listen to what He has to say to us through His Word and the Holy Spirit.

We know that God wants us to take our burdens to Him in prayer (1 Peter 5:7). There is nothing wrong with taking a list to God of needs and requests. But our prayers should not stop there. Does He know you love Him too? Have you praised Him for His wonderful watch-care in your life?

There are many other examples besides Samuel we could look to for someone listening to God. The Old and New Testaments are full of stories. John 10:27 says that God’s sheep hear His voice. You may be thinking, “I am one of His sheep, but I don’t hear His voice.” The problem is not that He wants to keep you clueless and unsure of His will. The problem is often that we are too busy talking, entertaining ourselves, worrying or a host of other things that we haven’t even taken the time to listen to His voice.

I am not talking about an audible voice. God clearly spoke that way in the Bible at times. What I am talking about is that you are in tune with God, His Word and the Holy Spirit to know that He is leading you in a certain way. You don’t need an audible voice when you have the Holy Spirit of God living within you. Allow Him to guide your life and help you make decisions. But He can’t lead if you aren’t listening to His Word or focusing on His will for your life.

Take time to pray. God wants to hear from you. But don’t forget to listen too.

When talking with unbelievers about your faith in Christ you should try to avoid words and phrases that are confusing or easily misunderstood. This often happens when we are sharing our Christian testimony. We say the right words, but they are defined differently by the world or they mean nothing to people who have not spent much time in church.

Here are some words that can be misunderstood that might need a little bit of explaining to help your non-Christian friend understand what you mean.

Sin

Sin is disobedience to God, or not following God’s plan. It is breaking God’s law in some way. Often we define sin as doing something wrong or bad. The only problem with that simplistic definition of sin is that it does not explain who is the one who makes the rules. Many people in the world believe that right and wrong are defined by individual opinions and that there are no absolute rules. However, when we talk about sin, we are talking about God’s definition of right and wrong. A person should understand that their sin is a matter of breaking God’s law, not some man’s opinion.

Saved

When a Christian talks about being saved they mean that they are saved from punishment in hell, and separated for a reward in heaven. Obviously the world has a definition for the word saved that could mean rescued from any danger (big or small) or set apart for some type of special use. The definition is right, but we should define the specific danger and the specific special purpose.

Lost

The obvious confusion is that being lost in the Christian sense is much more than being misplaced, missing or not knowing where you are. When we say someone is lost we mean that a person is separated from God (because of their sin) and following a path that leads them away from Him.

Repent

Many people excuse their sin by saying, “I’m only human,” “everyone is doing it,” or “the devil made me do it.” Yet a better way to explain it is that you tell God you are sorry for breaking His laws which has led you away from Him and that you choose to turn away from a sinful life towards God and His ways.

Believe

Believing is having absolute assurance. It means you know and accept that something is true. We often use the word believe so casually that it has come to mean that one simply thinks or guesses that something is true with no strong conviction.

Ask Jesus to come into your heart

Can Jesus crawl up into your heart? Does He even indwell your life as a believer? We know that the Holy Spirit indwells believers (John 14:17, Acts 1 and 2, 1 Corinthians 6:19, etc.), but saying that you are accepting Jesus into your heart is confusing and doctrinally questionable. You accept Jesus as your savior, or ask Him to lead and guide your life, but you don’t take Jesus and shove Him into your heart.

Give your heart to Jesus

To an unsaved person, and especially a child, this can sound pretty morbid. You take the muscle out of your chest and give it to Jesus? That is pretty confusing. It is best to avoid this phrase completely. Or substitute something like, “give your life over to Jesus’ control.”

Trust Jesus to forgive you

This can be misunderstood to mean that you hope Jesus will forgive your mistake. There is no assurance that He will nor an acknowledgement that you have broken God’s laws. The phrase is not necessarily a bad one, but you must explain clearly what you mean instead of just using the phrase with an unbeliever.

Make a profession of faith

Is that like making a profession of being a plumber or a doctor? Obviously you are not talking about a career path, but it can easily be misunderstood in that way. This is another phrase that should probably be avoided around unsaved people you are trying to witness to.

Be born again

I know what you are thinking, “but Jesus used this phrase in John 3.” That is true. It certainly isn’t a bad phrase, but think about how that sounds to someone unfamiliar with its meaning. They could interpret that as “you believe you were reincarnated and came back to earth again in a second birth.” The phrase is very descriptive and appropriate. When Jesus used it He took the time to explain it. Don’t just use a good term like born again without taking the time to explain what you mean.

Each of these terms are fine to use in appropriate places (well, maybe not ‘ask Jesus into your heart’). But knowing when and where that appropriate place is can sometimes be difficult. If you are in a church, bible study or prayer group where everyone is already saved and familiar with the terminology, then these words are not at all confusing. However, to an unsaved person we can often make them even more confused by using Christian jargon and not explaining what we mean by the words we say.

When preparing your testimony, take the time to pick words and phrases that are clear and mean what you intend them to mean—even to the unbeliever.