WisdomForInspiredLiving.com
Have You Been Conned?
~Discovering Truth Within A World of Opinions
What Happens When Someone Points Out Our Sin?
DATE:
PLANTING SEEDS: (Truth) Truth can only be found in God’s word. People can share their opinion on truth, which I am going to do with you in a moment during my “Coffee Cup Counseling” section but I encourage you to personally start getting into the word and studying scripture. It will open up a brand new perspective and new life for those that take the time to begin or rekindle their relationship with God.
COFFEE CUP COUNSELING: (Angela’s Personal Perspective on Interaction with this Truth)
My son sent me a 18 minute long video of an assistant principal at a science school in a rant over a peaceful protest against abortion that took place on a public sidewalk in front of the school. I watched that video and could not help but be able to easily distinguish the difference between the world and God. When approached with the sin of the abortion, he defended it. When approached with sin, he almost hissed and exposed yet a completely different sin in his life and clearly separated himself from the Savior because of his fleshly temptation and his choice to act in his sin rather than seek a Savior. You see, the world chooses to see justification in sin. But God in His Word, clearly defines sin…which are more than just the ones this gentleman mentioned. We all have our own temptations of sin, that if acted upon we instinctively want to hide….It started with Adam and Eve…and it continues to the end of the scripture.
It reminded me of two things. The maniac of Gadara, and us… when someone points out or uncovers our sin. It is really sad that we respond like Spiegel on the Lord of the Rings when we have meditated over or participated in sin for any length of time. No one is void of the temptation to cover sin. I watched a Forensic File show the other day about a Pastor in South Dakota who was having an affair and to cover it up, murdered his wife. We make absolutely horrible decisions when we insist on protecting sin in our lives that call for repentance. Repentance is not just saying your sorry…it’s seeing a sin as God sees it, feeling remorse for those that you’ve hurt, first and foremost God, others, and even yourself, seeing that sin as bondage and turning to Jesus to save you from it. The law points to sin, and the penalties of, but it also points us to the Savior and the way to be freed from it.
So let’s say, you’ve asked Jesus on the scene to come into your life and lead you into a rebirth of your life…now what?
Well let’s just see what happened with Maniac of Gadara when Jesus approached. First, this man was living in a cave…hiding in the dark. Much like Spegiel, he just sat and let un-confessed sin just take a hold of his life and his mind. He meditated over it and he now found comfort in the legion of demons that he allowed to dwell with him. He was so bad, even the world attempted to lock him away in chains, but the demons would set him free from the bondage of those chains…falsely giving him the belief they were his friends so that his loyalty would be towards them. So when everyone forgot about him and an eternal death in hell was certain, Jesus, the Savior, came on the scene. Jesus always calls us and when he does do we answer his knock at our door, or stay hidden in our dark caves? In the case of the maniac of Gadara, was the initial reaction that of the man or of the demonic sin that had over taken his life? Remember the legions of demons had convinced this man they were his defender, his protector, so the man let the demons defend his sin. We do this… you hear it all the time, when you present truth against sin or lies... nearly every time, you will get the same response, the sin is allowed to speak first and defend itself before truth. It has every justification possible… who are you to tell me, I have a right, you can’t judge me, you don’t understand, hiss, hiss, hiss…and usually we run to our dark caves and we begin to justify our responses to our sin, by blaming others for having the audacity to call it out.
I love what Jesus does at this moment. He asks the sin for their name. Jesus used this same principal when he wrested Jacob for his sin….he asked him to call it out, he asked him to see it as God sees it. He asked for repentance. Jacob spoke, my name is Jacob…which the name means (he grasps the heal). Jacob had grabbed the heal of his brother and stole his birthright, which he continued this sin of stealing throughout his life, until this moment. Remember what God told Satan his punishment would be in the garden of Eden…he said, that Satan would grasp the heal of Jesus, by putting his loved ones in freewill bondage. Choice. Our choice. Sin…grabs your heal…to hold you down…in the world. But with Jacob, Jesus says (because of Jacob’s repentance) your name is no longer Jacob, but Israel. And we all know Israel is God’s children, his love. He restored Jacob because of his repentance. So what happened with the Maniac when Jesus asked for their name… immediately after the man answered and confessed their were many….they knew they didn’t stand a chance at remaining. The man was set free instantly and the demons begged Jesus to let them go into a herd of pigs and be drown in the sea. I also ponder this…and why Jesus allowed it…do demons drown? And if so, would they have rather drown then go back to hell? Or was this act for the sight of the people as a witness? Someday that will be revealed to me in it’s time, but for now, what I can say is that the man was freed from his sin.
The next part of what happens is equally as powerful. The man wants to just hang out with Jesus, but Jesus says no…Jesus knows his purpose is to be a sacrifice and return to his Father soon, so instead he sends the man off to witness to others. God calls many people to stay where he found them, to be a light in a dark place. But as you see….the people’s response is similar to the maniac when confronted with sin…even though these people have witnessed this miracle, they are “afraid”, they don’t want anything to do with it. Even though they saw the miracles… they insisted on sending Jesus away for messing with their worldly beliefs. Jesus left, but he left a witness.
Are you a witness?
SCRIPTURE (Truth) SAYS:
Mark 5 - Jesus restores a demon-possessed man
Genesis 32:22-32 Jacob Wrestles With God
Genesis 3:14-15 Satan’s punishment purpose and future
Let’s get into God’s word, speak truth and set the captives free.
MEDITATION & DISCUSSION:
Please take this time to share your thoughts on this scripture. Let's get into relationship and community and discuss this together. I encourage you to personally share your insight, testimony, thoughts, or questions on this topic with me below. After all, iron sharpens iron.
PLEASE SHARE:
If you appreciated this message. Please share it. You can text it, post it to Social Media, Discuss it at your Bible Study, you can subscribe to my YouTube Channel at Angela Serocki or print today’s study from my wisdomforinspiredliving.com blog, invite a friend to have coffee and discuss! It’s easy!
PRAYER:
Thank you God for your sovereignty, for your Word which is all truth that we can trust. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our only Savior, who came in love as the only sacrifice you would allow to redeem us from our sins and thank you for the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth and convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement so we can draw nearer to you. In Jesus name. Amen.
Have You Been Conned?
~Discovering Truth Within A World of Opinions
What Happens When Someone Points Out Our Sin?
DATE:
PLANTING SEEDS: (Truth) Truth can only be found in God’s word. People can share their opinion on truth, which I am going to do with you in a moment during my “Coffee Cup Counseling” section but I encourage you to personally start getting into the word and studying scripture. It will open up a brand new perspective and new life for those that take the time to begin or rekindle their relationship with God.
COFFEE CUP COUNSELING: (Angela’s Personal Perspective on Interaction with this Truth)
My son sent me a 18 minute long video of an assistant principal at a science school in a rant over a peaceful protest against abortion that took place on a public sidewalk in front of the school. I watched that video and could not help but be able to easily distinguish the difference between the world and God. When approached with the sin of the abortion, he defended it. When approached with sin, he almost hissed and exposed yet a completely different sin in his life and clearly separated himself from the Savior because of his fleshly temptation and his choice to act in his sin rather than seek a Savior. You see, the world chooses to see justification in sin. But God in His Word, clearly defines sin…which are more than just the ones this gentleman mentioned. We all have our own temptations of sin, that if acted upon we instinctively want to hide….It started with Adam and Eve…and it continues to the end of the scripture.
It reminded me of two things. The maniac of Gadara, and us… when someone points out or uncovers our sin. It is really sad that we respond like Spiegel on the Lord of the Rings when we have meditated over or participated in sin for any length of time. No one is void of the temptation to cover sin. I watched a Forensic File show the other day about a Pastor in South Dakota who was having an affair and to cover it up, murdered his wife. We make absolutely horrible decisions when we insist on protecting sin in our lives that call for repentance. Repentance is not just saying your sorry…it’s seeing a sin as God sees it, feeling remorse for those that you’ve hurt, first and foremost God, others, and even yourself, seeing that sin as bondage and turning to Jesus to save you from it. The law points to sin, and the penalties of, but it also points us to the Savior and the way to be freed from it.
So let’s say, you’ve asked Jesus on the scene to come into your life and lead you into a rebirth of your life…now what?
Well let’s just see what happened with Maniac of Gadara when Jesus approached. First, this man was living in a cave…hiding in the dark. Much like Spegiel, he just sat and let un-confessed sin just take a hold of his life and his mind. He meditated over it and he now found comfort in the legion of demons that he allowed to dwell with him. He was so bad, even the world attempted to lock him away in chains, but the demons would set him free from the bondage of those chains…falsely giving him the belief they were his friends so that his loyalty would be towards them. So when everyone forgot about him and an eternal death in hell was certain, Jesus, the Savior, came on the scene. Jesus always calls us and when he does do we answer his knock at our door, or stay hidden in our dark caves? In the case of the maniac of Gadara, was the initial reaction that of the man or of the demonic sin that had over taken his life? Remember the legions of demons had convinced this man they were his defender, his protector, so the man let the demons defend his sin. We do this… you hear it all the time, when you present truth against sin or lies... nearly every time, you will get the same response, the sin is allowed to speak first and defend itself before truth. It has every justification possible… who are you to tell me, I have a right, you can’t judge me, you don’t understand, hiss, hiss, hiss…and usually we run to our dark caves and we begin to justify our responses to our sin, by blaming others for having the audacity to call it out.
I love what Jesus does at this moment. He asks the sin for their name. Jesus used this same principal when he wrested Jacob for his sin….he asked him to call it out, he asked him to see it as God sees it. He asked for repentance. Jacob spoke, my name is Jacob…which the name means (he grasps the heal). Jacob had grabbed the heal of his brother and stole his birthright, which he continued this sin of stealing throughout his life, until this moment. Remember what God told Satan his punishment would be in the garden of Eden…he said, that Satan would grasp the heal of Jesus, by putting his loved ones in freewill bondage. Choice. Our choice. Sin…grabs your heal…to hold you down…in the world. But with Jacob, Jesus says (because of Jacob’s repentance) your name is no longer Jacob, but Israel. And we all know Israel is God’s children, his love. He restored Jacob because of his repentance. So what happened with the Maniac when Jesus asked for their name… immediately after the man answered and confessed their were many….they knew they didn’t stand a chance at remaining. The man was set free instantly and the demons begged Jesus to let them go into a herd of pigs and be drown in the sea. I also ponder this…and why Jesus allowed it…do demons drown? And if so, would they have rather drown then go back to hell? Or was this act for the sight of the people as a witness? Someday that will be revealed to me in it’s time, but for now, what I can say is that the man was freed from his sin.
The next part of what happens is equally as powerful. The man wants to just hang out with Jesus, but Jesus says no…Jesus knows his purpose is to be a sacrifice and return to his Father soon, so instead he sends the man off to witness to others. God calls many people to stay where he found them, to be a light in a dark place. But as you see….the people’s response is similar to the maniac when confronted with sin…even though these people have witnessed this miracle, they are “afraid”, they don’t want anything to do with it. Even though they saw the miracles… they insisted on sending Jesus away for messing with their worldly beliefs. Jesus left, but he left a witness.
Are you a witness?
SCRIPTURE (Truth) SAYS:
Mark 5 - Jesus restores a demon-possessed man
Genesis 32:22-32 Jacob Wrestles With God
Genesis 3:14-15 Satan’s punishment purpose and future
Let’s get into God’s word, speak truth and set the captives free.
MEDITATION & DISCUSSION:
Please take this time to share your thoughts on this scripture. Let's get into relationship and community and discuss this together. I encourage you to personally share your insight, testimony, thoughts, or questions on this topic with me below. After all, iron sharpens iron.
PLEASE SHARE:
If you appreciated this message. Please share it. You can text it, post it to Social Media, Discuss it at your Bible Study, you can subscribe to my YouTube Channel at Angela Serocki or print today’s study from my wisdomforinspiredliving.com blog, invite a friend to have coffee and discuss! It’s easy!
PRAYER:
Thank you God for your sovereignty, for your Word which is all truth that we can trust. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our only Savior, who came in love as the only sacrifice you would allow to redeem us from our sins and thank you for the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth and convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement so we can draw nearer to you. In Jesus name. Amen.
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