Are you spiritually well?
John 14:18-21 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live…The one who loves me will be loved by my Father...” NIV
Jesus didn’t die on the cross so God could be your Master. Jesus died on the cross so God could be your Father.
Adam and Eve deceived by the devil, perpetuating this orphan spirit. Lucifer was separated from his original home and is resentful of anyone enjoying intimacy with the Father.
Ezekiel 28:13-17 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. NIV
Isaiah 14:12-15 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. NIV
Genesis 16: Abraham and Sarah are delayed in having a child so Sarah introduces her maid, Hagar, to the picture. Ishmael results before Isaac is finally born. The spirit of Ishmael (heart of an orphan) wars against the spirit of Isaac (heart of a son). This is a spiritual battle that continues to rage even today.
Ruth: – Naomi loses her husband and 2 sons after moving to Moab. Ruth and Orpah, from Moab, had married Naomi’s two sons. In the pain and confusion of the situation Ruth and Orpah have a decision to make. They are drawn into a place of promise. Ruth embraces this becoming part of the lineage of King David and ultimately the Messiah while Orpah turns back to her dysfunction as a way of life.
Ruth’s teachable spirit that was open to learning the ways of God through Naomi’s life repositioned everything about her legacy. Our willingness to be taught by God, as sons and daughters of God, brings such transformation to our lives and to a legacy that will follow.
Proverbs 3:12 For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. NIV
Hebrews 12:6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. NIV
Do you have a teachable spirit? It is easy to read our Bibles through the lens of predetermined conclusions.
Many Christians don’t let the Bible get in the way of what they’ve decided to believe.
Common cultural conclusions must not be allowed cloud our theology. President Obama, while giving a speech once, mocked the idea of looking to the Bible for policy guidance. He referenced Old Testament verses dismissing the Bible as out of touch. This motivated me to study these things out to seek understanding about what was that no longer is and why that would be the case.
We find three kinds of Law in the Bible: civil law, ceremonial law and moral law. Civil laws were in place to maintain civil society and those laws may or may not apply to today’s society. Ceremonial laws dealt with dietary issues of the priesthood, not eating pork, certain clothing requirements, not getting tattoos, etc.
Moral laws never change. Lying in the Old Testament was wrong just like lying in the New Testament is wrong. Sexual sin (adultery, homosexuality, fornication, polygamy, etc) in the Old Testament is sexual sin in the New Testament. Moral laws don’t change.
LYING:
· Leviticus 19:11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.
HOMOSEXUALITY:
· Leviticus 18:22 - "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." (NIV)
· Romans 1:26-27 God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones…men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another... NIV
ADULTERY:
· Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery”
FORNICATION:
· 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
POLYGAMY
· 1 Kings 11:4 “…his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”
There is mass cultural confusion over these issues. The Bible is clear:
· Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Just because a married man has an attraction to another woman doesn’t mean that desire, or attraction, justifies sexual behavior. Unmarried opposite sex attraction is no different than same sex attraction. Because we want to glorify God and honor Jesus, we don’t let urges and desires define us. Our desires must be submitted to God’s truth first.
My identity is rooted in spiritual truth more than human desire.
This is not so for the orphan who lacks a deeper source of identity. Passion runs deep in our God-given design for community. In our highly sexualized culture the deepest form of love is seen as sexual intimacy. When Tracy and I spoke our Valentine’s Day message she said something that really struck me. Rather than merely focusing on sexual intimacy we need to learn to focus on spiritual intimacy. This is the deepest expression of intimacy because we are not human beings having an spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
We can’t chase earthly pleasure and expect eternal treasure to result.
When sons and daughters of God lose their way orphan-minded world, generations are greatly impacted. Decisions you are making today are far reaching.
The comparison of two men who lived in the same era of time has always fascinated me. Jonathan Edwards and Max Jukes had two very different lifestyles. Jukes lived a life of sacrificing for self-indulgences drinking too much, disappearing for weeks at a time and having very little concern for his family. Edwards was a Christian man who devoted himself to his relationship with God and his relationship with his wife and kids making sacrifices to further the cause of Christ in his home and for his world. The comparison of their legacies is astonishing.
Of Jonathan Edwards’ 1,394 known descendants there were:
13 college presidents
65 college professors
30 judges
100 lawyers
60 physicians
100 pastors
75 army/Navy Officers
60 prominent authors
3 U.S. Senators
80 public servants in various offices
and 1 Vice President
Of Max Jukes’ 1,020 known descendants there were:
310 who died as paupers
150 were known criminals, 7 of whom were murderers
100 were known as drunks
190 prostitutes.
Our actions do affect generations of people. May we learn to make sacrifices and give into avenues that further the cause of Christ to our world?
Selfish desires exist within us all. This drives us to various self-serving conclusions which produces a self-serving version of Christianity. This never leads to anything good and in fact quite the contrary.
Ruth, gave up the worldly culture of her past and in doing so her descendants would include King David and Jesus Himself! Orpah went back to her sexualized dysfunction in Moab.
The Talmud, an ancient Jewish commentary, tells us as soon as Orpah parted company with Naomi and Ruth, she went to the absolute opposite extreme. Naomi refers to her as having returned to "her people and her gods" (1:15). Ruth chose to remain with Naomi. In going back to Moab, place of sexual sin, Orpah became a prostitute. In an interesting turn of events David, a descendant of Ruth would later fight Goliath, a descendant of Orpah.
Your decisions affect more than just you.
Are you teachable?
GP2RL: Spend time in God’s Word this week asking Him to help you get past predetermined conclusions.
SPIRITUAL WELLNESS: TEACHABLE SONS & DAUGHTERS
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
When the sons and daughters of God possess a healthy perspective fruitfulness results and the world becomes a better place.
The spirit of Ishmael (heart of an orphan) wars against the spirit of Isaac (heart of a son). This seems to be the dominating spiritual battle on the earth.
John 14:18-21 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live…The one who loves me will be loved by my Father...” NIV
Jesus didn’t die on the cross so God could be your Master. Jesus died on the cross so God could be your Father.
God’s plan is for us to hear his voice together as a family. This is why we start each group with the first question:
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
2. Share a time when an attitude you held kept you from seeing something correctly?
It is easy to read our Bibles through the lens of predetermined conclusions. In doing so we hinder God’s influence to transform our lives. Clearly the Bible says God will correct, instruct and discipline his sons and daughters.
Proverbs 3:12 For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. NIV
Hebrews 12:6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. NIV
God’s Kingdom is counter cultural. Common cultural conclusions must not be allowed to cloud our theology.
We can’t chase earthly pleasure and expect eternal treasure to result.
Our desires must be submitted to God’s truth continually. The orphan mindset lacks this deeper sense of identity and is easily swayed by passion, desire, distraction, etc
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
3. Share a far-reaching decision you made at some point in your life and how you have seen long term effects as a result?
Selfish desires exist within all of us. This drives us to various self-serving conclusions which produces self-
serving version of Christianity. This never leads to anything good and in fact quite the contrary.
When the sons and daughters of God lose their way the world is greatly impacted.
In the book of Ruth we read about Ruth, who gave up the worldly culture of her past. She moved into a greater place of releasing God’s promise of sonship into the earth with King David and ultimately Jesus as descendants. Orpah went back to her sexualized dysfunction and in doing so she perpetuated chaos to her world with Goliath as one of her descendants. David, a descendant of Ruth, fought Goliath, a descendant of Orpah in an epic battle to preserve the lineage of the Messiah.
We are all fighting for more than we realize.
Are you teachable?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Take some time to take spiritual inventory in your own heart before the Lord this week. Evaluate cultural
conclusions that may be warring against God’s promises in your life.