Your Testimony Strengthens Others. Did you know that we get strengthen of of your and other peoples Testimony. Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death Your testimony is about what you have experienced – what you have seen and heard. A real Christian can talk about their experiences with God through Jesus Christ. We as Christians are called to a relationship of real communication with the Son of God. God comes to live inside us. Things change. God deals with every person in a different way.
The more Christians that come forward and talk about how God has intervened in their life, the more people will begin to realize that God is for real, miracles do happen, and prayer works. This will inspire others to seek God and turn from their sins so that they too can know the peace and satisfaction that comes to a person who truly gives their life over to God.
Proverbs 6:23-35 23″For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,”
The law is light. Those who live for the Lord walk in the light as He is in the Light. Godly people love instructions in righteousness.
These all identify the Word of God which provides the wisdom leading to abundant and eternal life.
Proverbs 6:24 “Keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.”
Parental instruction in wisdom is crucial to strengthen a person against the strong attraction of sexual sin. By loving truth and being elevated to wisdom, men are not seduced by lying flattery.
Proverbs 6:25 “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.”
Sexual sin is rooted in lust (imagination of the sinful act), as implied in Exodus 20:17 and addressed by Christ in Matthew.
Matthew 5:28 “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
Fluttering eyelids have been used by sinful women for centuries to draw men to them. Prostitution is as old as the Bible, itself. It has been condemned from Genesis to Revelation. The whole book of Hosea is about a whorish woman. The woman in the instance in Hosea is speaking of Israel being unfaithful to God. Adultery (either spiritual or physical) has always been condemned of God. These few verses here are warning against falling into this type of sin.
Proverbs 6:26 “for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.”
Here the smallest piece of bread demonstrates how the prostitute reduces the life of a man to insignificance, including the loss of his wealth, freedom, family, purity, dignity and even his soul.
Proverbs 6:27 “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Proverbs 6:28 “Can a man walk on hot coasl without his feet being scorched?” Proverbs 6:29 “So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.”
Powerful metaphors are given here to describe the obvious danger and destructive consequences of adultery, showing that punishment is a natural and expected consequence.
We already touched on the dangers of living in sex sin in a previous lesson, but we see here that a man who touches his neighbor’s wife is in serious trouble with God. We spoke on the body being the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Verse 29 refers to a touch intended to inflame sexual passion. Paul uses the same expression with the same meaning in 1 Cor7:1.
Proverbs 6:30 “[Men] do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;” Proverbs 6:31 “But [if] he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.”
In these verses, it is not saying that it is not a sin to steal. It is saying a person has sympathy for someone who is so hungry that he steals to feed himself. If he is caught, the person he stole from will be happy to not prosecute him, if he will pay back what he stole 7 times.
The stealing here is not nearly as serious as the sin of adultery that we read of in the next few verses. Adultery is compared to a starving thief, who, though it may cost all he has, can make restitution and put the crime behind him permanently/
Proverbs 6:32 “But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
But for the adulterer, there is no restitution as there was for the thief, as he destroys his soul.
Proverbs 6:33 “Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away;”
Adultery is a cruel crime. Love for each other is the most precious gift a man and woman have on this earth except for the gifts of God. There is something very special about a man and his wife being one. To invade on this privacy of a man and his wife is without excuse.
Proverbs 6:34 “for jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.”
Jealousy is a very strong emotion, especially when it has to do with infidelity or rape. Song of Solomon has a scripture that might express this better.
Song. 8:6 “Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its frames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame.
Proverbs 6:35 “He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.”
A thief may satisfy his victim with an appropriate payment, but an offended husband cannot be bought off.
There is no money or gift that can repay this type of sinful act. The marriage of a man and his wife is likened unto the marriage of the Lord and His church. Just as anyone coming between the Lord and His church will not be permitted, neither is anyone to come between a man and his wife. It is unforgivable.
James 3:7-12 7People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 12Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you cannot draw fresh water from a salty spring.
If no human being can tame the tongue, why bother trying? Even though we may not achieve perfect control of our tongues, the Holy Spirit will help us learn self-control. Remember that we are not fighting the tongue’s fire in our own strength. The Holy Spirit will give us increasing power to monitor and control what we say, so that when we are offended, the Spirit will remind us of God’s love, and we won’t react in a hateful manner. When we are criticized, the Spirit will heal the hurt and help us to not lash out.
Our contradictory speech often puzzles us. At times, our words are right and pleasing to God, but at other times they are violent and destructive. Which of these speech patterns reflects our true identity? We were made in God’s image, but the tongue gives us a picture of our basic sinful nature. God works to change us from the inside out. When the Holy Spirit purifies a heart, he gives self-control so that the person will speak words that please God.
Let’s Bring it Home: Ask God to stop salty water from coming out of you and to replace it with the refreshing water of the Holy Spirit.
This is for those always talking about how they love God, but can not stand others or even hate them by the actions demonstrated to other people, to include family members. The Bible said that you can tell the condition of a tree by its fruit. The tree is you, and the fruit is your actions towards others. Is your fruit ripe or rotten to the core?
1 John 4:20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
It is easy to say we love God when that love does not cost us anything more than weekly attendance at church services. But the real test of our love for God becomes evident in how we treat the people right in front of us—our family members and fellow believers. We cannot truly love God while neglecting to love those who are created in his image. Jesus’ love reveals itself in our compassion, our generosity, and our ability to listen to and help others. When we fix our relation with God and learn to true love him, everything else will fall into place. If you don’t believe me read
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
We need to stop praying for the relationship between the two to get better, and start praying that they come to know God and either get or fix that relationship. When you fix your relationship with God and truly learn to love him, everyone benefits. It will be impossible to hold on to hate. The Bible said that Love forgives all wrong.
Running for President requires two candidates to tell what they did, what they are going to do by making a bunch of Promises that most of the time they can not keep. There is one more candidate that has done some impossible things in the past that you can read about, makes promises that will never be broken, and will lead you into eternity. Jesus Christ is running for King Ship in your life. He is waiting for you to vote for Him to be the Savior in your life. What he has to offer is far better then what any man can offer as President or any other Political Position. I voted and accepted Him as King in my life, and He is still in Office today, and will be forever.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your Heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
Mathews 6:27-28 You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ 28But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
The Old Testament law said that it is wrong for a person to have sex with someone other than his or her spouse (Exodus 20: 14). But Jesus said that the desire to have sex with someone other than your spouse is mental adultery and thus sin. Jesus emphasized that if the act is wrong, then so is the intention. To be faithful to your spouse with your body but not your mind is to break the trust so vital to a strong marriage. Jesus is not condemning natural interest in the opposite sex or even healthy sexual desire but the deliberate and repeated filling of one’s mind with fantasies that would be evil if acted out.
Some think that if lustful thoughts are sin, why shouldn’t a person go ahead and do the lustful actions, too?
Acting out sinful desires is harmful in several ways: (1) It causes people to excuse sin rather than to stop sinning; (2) it destroys marriages; (3) it is deliberate rebellion against God’s Word; (4) it always hurts someone else in addition to the sinner. Sinful actions are more dangerous than sinful desires, and that is why desires should not be acted out. Nevertheless, sinful desires are just as damaging to obedience. Left unchecked, wrong desires will result in wrong actions and turn people away from God.
The Steve Harvey morning show plays pranks on people in the morning with nephew Tommy portraying a fictitious person. Some of these are Church members that by being prank or lied too, it brings out the worse in them, to find out later it was a joke. As much as we laugh and joke about, it is not of God and He do not like. This goes for social media and anything else that a person uses to have you sinning against God.
Proverbs 26:18-19 Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon 19is someone who lies to a friend and then says, “I was only joking.”
He that sins in prank, must repent in serious, or his sin will be his ruin.
Mark 9:42 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck.
This caution against harming little ones in the faith applies both to what we do individually as teachers and examples and to what we allow to fester in our Christian fellowship. Our thoughts and actions must be motivated by love (1 Corinthians 13), and we must be careful about judging others (Matthew 7: 1-5; Romans 14: 1– 15: 4). However, we also have a responsibility to confront flagrant sin within the church (1 Corinthians 5: 12-13).
If you are not equip with Gods Word, you will not be able to withstand the strategy of the enemy.
Your reputation in the hood will not exempt you from satan’s strategy.
Must be careful listening to logic. It might sound good, but not biblical and if it is not biblical it is a trap.
The Word of God reveals the intent of the enemy. Not only does it reveal the devil’s intent, but it also gives us a way out.
Satan is not looking for if we fall, but when we fall. The devil strategies is to get us to fall into his trap.
The devil has strategically place people, places, and things to trap you. He uses the already trap to trap you.
This journey of life requires a map to avoid pit falls. We hit pit falls because we do not want to use the Map provided by God which is Gods Word.
You will not be able to use what you do not use. The devil knows who uses and do not uses their map. He is seeking those that do not use their map, or just uses their map once a week.
Satan will use good to bring forth bad. You must be prepared to identify his strategy. Satan will plant his thoughts in your thoughts until they become your thoughts. The only way to identify it if you have a personal relationship with God.
Pastor Stan said satan wants to get us out of relationship but keep us in religion. He does not mind us quoting scripture, going to church on Sunday. He does not mind us singing and serving. That is all religion. He does not want you to have a relationship with God. Religion will have you speaking logical. Relationship will have you saying what the word says.
Genesis 1:3-11,14,16-17,20-22,24-25 NASB
[3] Then God said,
“Let there be light”; and there was light.
[4] God saw
that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
[5] God called
the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. [6] Then God said,
“Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
[7] God made
the expansion and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
[8] God called
the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
[9] Then God said,
“Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
[10] God called
the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
[11] Then God said,
“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
[14] Then God said,
“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;
[16] God made
the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
[17] God placed
them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, [20] Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” [21] God created
the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
[22] God blessed
them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
[24] Then God said,
“Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
[25] God made
the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Here we have the Creator saying the God Made, God Set, God Created, God Blessed, God Saw, and God Called.
Genesis 2:7 NASB
[7] Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
So, when man came into the earth, God was no longer the creator, He became Lord God.
Do not forget, we are talking identifying the strategies of satan.
Genesis 3:1-5 NASB
[1] Now the serpent was craftier than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” [2] The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; [3] but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” [4] The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! [5] For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Now remember, they were already like God. Disobedience took her out of who she was already was.
Identifying Satan Strategies
Genesis 1:25 NASB
[25] God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. (So, the Serpent was not bad)
So, it is not the person, it is what the devil uses to influence them. You are going to have to know who you are talking too. So, it is not the person, it is whats influencing them. You must identify who your talking to and his strategies.
How do you identify him? By listening, satan will use people to twist God word to trap you.
Genesis 3:1 NASB
[1] Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Remember, Pastor Stan explained God the Creator, God said, God Place and more. We were talking about God the Creator, but when man was Created, God became Lord God. satan tried to twist up Gods word by reducing Gods Command and making it into a question.
You can recognize satan by affiliating with someone who will reduce Gods Command and make it into a question. Anyone who discourages and reduce Gods Command to a question, you can identify satans strategy. They are people who remind you of you what you cannot do. The serpent just reminded of them what they could not eat. Never told them of what they can do. He did not bring up all the trees that they could have ate from.
Gods No is always so you can enjoy his yes.
The devil is a liar. John 8:44 NASB
[44] You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The Bible identifies satan as the father of lies. So, if you are a father you have some children. We need to be careful who we are listening too.
His desire is to speak false and hide the truth. We all understand the truth will set you free.
Mark 4:15-20 NASB
[15] These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. [16] In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; [17] and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. [18] And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, [19] but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. [20] And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
Once that word is sown, the enemy comes immediately to snatch it up. So, you got to hold on to truth so you can expose the strategies of the enemy.
We got to get into Gods word and get it deep down into our heart. So, when the enemy makes his approach. If you are in Gods word, you will understand what is not in his word. Enemy cannot put the what ant in your life, because we know the what is. Identify satan, and then you will be able to identify his strategies. You got to use your map which is Gods word. If you do not use the ma, you will fall every time.
The wonderful thing about the upright is that every thing they do builds and does not destroy. They pray for the city; they do only good and not evil. Anyone would be happy to have them as a member. The wicked always speak evil and tear down. Their mission is to destroy.
Social influence for good or bad is in view here (and in verse 10).
Under Gods Command 