Saturday, July 11, 2015

Survive or Thrive

“Survivor”: It is the theme and title of one of the most popular television series of all time.  Survival is our most natural human instinct, and it is our strongest fleshly driven desire.  When all is said and done there is something in us that makes us want to be, “The last man standing.”  But as Christians we are supposed to die to ourselves, we are to have “taken up our crosses” and followed Jesus, and we should have been “crucified with Christ,” and should no longer live for ourselves, but for the one who died for us.  Yet, this seems to be a conflict for a lot of believers, much of the time.
The desire to survive, and keep “self” alive, keeps us from experiencing the power of God in our lives that He intended for us to walk in because:
·         It keeps us at a mediocre level.
·         It eats away at our convictions until we are willing to compromise.
·         It leads us to make decisions that will please people rather than God.
·         It drives us to excuse our ineffectiveness and lack of fruit.
·         It robs us of the freedom and joy that are in Christ.
·         It hinders us from complete obedience to God.
Luke 9:23-24
23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
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.
Are you a survivor or a dead man? 
Survivors look after themselves, dead men trust God.
Some examples of people who looked after themselves rather than trusting God:
·         Genesis 25:29-34 – Esau sold his birthright to satisfy his belly
·         Genesis 13:8-18 – Lot chose to live among wicked men for the sake of wealth and lost it all
·         1 Samuel 13: 11-14 – Saul violated the Lord’s commands for his own purposes and the anointing was taken from his life
·         Matthew 19:20-23 – the rich ruler opted for wealth over eternal life
·         Acts 5 – Ananias and his wife chose the honor of men over the honor of God and forfeited their lives
What all of these have in common is that they lost the very thing they were trying to keep.  Survivors take on a philosophy of life that says, “I want to stay alive at any cost,” even if it means they must deny God.  Are there areas of your life where you are looking out for number one and compromising the principles of God rather than trusting Him?  Let go and trust God!
Survivors follow the crowd, but dead men follow God.
The survivor is always seeking the path of least resistance, the wide road, the easy way.
·         Are you a survivor at work?
·         Does anyone know you have taken a stand for righteousness?
·         How about at school young people?
·         Do you bow to the crowd when the heat is on?
Matthew 10:32-38
32"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 34"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn " ’a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- 36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Daniel 3:10-12
10 You have issued a decree, O king, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, 11 and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12 But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon-Shadrach; Meshach and Abednego-who pay no attention to you, O king. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up."
A young man applied for a job as a farm hand. When asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows."
This confused the farmer, but he immediately liked the young man and so he hired him.  A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The farm implements had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The tractor had been moved into the garage. The barn had been properly locked. All was well. Even the animals were calm.  It was then that the farmer grasped the meaning of the young man’s words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farm hand had performed his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. Consequently, when the wind blew, he had no fear. He was able to sleep in peace.
If you follow God you can sleep when the wind blows!  Are you going with the flow and following the crowd on issues that you believe God has instructed you differently about?  Forget the crowd and follow Jesus.
Survivors run and hide; dead men stand to fight.
When you don’t have to survive you can stand and fight and even endure a losing season because you have no place else to go, you don’t have a plan “B”, there is no safety net, and no hiding place.
2 Corinthians 11:23-29
23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.  24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.  25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;  26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;  27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness—  28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.  29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?  30 If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.  31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.  32 In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.
West Point’s "Harder Right" This quotation is from the "Cadet Prayer." It is repeated every Sunday in chapel services at West Point: "Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be contented with half-truth when whole truth can be won. Endow us with courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth are in jeopardy."
Are you a quitter just because the path God leads you on is difficult? Do you envy the idle masses that seem to have an easy life?  Come out of hiding and face the challenge of real Christian living!
Survivors all eventually die; dead men find eternal life in Christ.
Philippians 2:5-11
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,  6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,  7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Revelation 12:10-12
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!
In the first part of the fifteenth century a French peasant by the name of Joan of Arc was called to save her country from its enemies. On one occasion she said to one of her generals, “I will lead the men over the wall.” The general said, “Not a man will follow you.” Joan of Arc replied, “I won’t be looking back to see if they are following me.”
Are you clinging to a life that does not satisfy you for fear of failure or ultimately death?
Let go of your life, release it to God and find what living really is.
A life filled with power, is a life lived in the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Every professing Christian should be experiencing the Spirit filled Life.  Jesus didn’t shed his blood just to save you from your sins. That blood is the introduction into the life of the Spirit.  How it must grieve Jesus, for us to stop short of what He paid so high a price for us to have.  To be filled with the Spirit was not a mere suggestion, but rather a command to His disciples, which we are if we continue in his word.
Luke 24:49
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Ephesians 5:17-20
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,  19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,  20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The will of God is that you be filled with the Spirit.  The will of God is actually that we become the channels through which his spirit flows through, that we become ministers of that anointing.
2 Corinthians 3:5-6
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
John 7:37-38
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Ezekiel 37:7-10
Here we find the picture of the New Testament believer, the power filled Christian life.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.  8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
Notice how everything from a natural standpoint may look perfect, but from God’s perspective it is dead until the Spirit has come upon and into. It is the Spirit that turns these bones into an army.
Too many people sit in the pews of churches week after week who are dead in the spiritual sense.  Everything looks great on the outside, everything appears to be in order, and it seems as though they have it all together.  But they are dead because the Holy Spirit cannot blow upon their lives because they refuse to die to “self.”
They have some kind of beef with someone that they just can’t seem to let go of.  Some man or woman in the church has hurt them, someone has stepped on their feelings and they just can’t seem to get over it. 

My grandfather wouldn’t go to church because when he was a child the pastor of his parent’s church blamed him for something he hadn’t done and he got a whipping for it.  He never got over it.  He used it as an excuse to stay out of church for the rest of his life.  He detested men of God and spoke ill of them whenever given the opportunity.  And eventually at the age of 100, he died without Christ.
Has someone hurt you?  Do you have an issue with your brother or sister in the Lord?  Maybe you have a problem with your pastor, whatever it is you need to get over it and die to yourself if you want to experience the power of a Holy Spirit filled life.  God cannot pour His Spirit into vessels that are already filled with envy, strife, slander, gossip, or greed. 

Empty yourself of “self” today and be filled with the Holy Ghost.  Then where now flows poison that drives men from God, He will cause streams of living water to flow that will draw men unto Him. 
Christ’s life, His blood, is the only life and blood that has room to flow in the life of a true follower of Jesus.

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