Jacob The Heel Catcher - Spiritual Adultery

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Sep 3, 2016
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Bread Crumbs “Now I See”

The human race, as a whole, is spiritually blind because of the presence of indwelling sin. The world likes to label the Christian as an out of touch fanatic who believes in archaic principles that no longer matter in our “post-modern” world. The truth is that the world is incapable of consistently grasping right from wrong. They do not have the sensibility to always separate the ethical from the evil. All the while proclaiming and thinking of themselves to be progressive and wise, they have become morally foolish and dull of heart. The evolution of evil in the heart of man is becoming more obvious to those who truly have spiritual sight. Man is not getting better and better but is progressively becoming worse. This is clearly evidenced by the way we treat our fellow man. We are becoming a people where everyone does what is "right" in their own eyes. However, for the truly “born-again” Christian who strives to stay sensitive to the Spirit of God, the ability to discern right from wrong should be increasing not diminishing. I thank God that where I once was blind, by His grace, I am now made to see. “Lord, help me use the ‘spiritual eyes’ you have given me!”

Psalm 146:8 - The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:

Pastor Loren Larson
Loren Larson Ministries
 
Sep 3, 2016
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The Miracle of God’s Word

Proverbs 26:12
Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

A man who thinks he is wise, yet it is only through his conceited view, which literally means the way he sees things, God says he has less hope than a fool. Knowing that the fool says in his heart there is no God (Psalm 53:1), then it seems the man who thinks things are only according to the way he sees them, is doomed unless he dumps his wisdom out at Calvary and accepts Christ as His only wisdom.

There are two different types of wisdom from which man can choose. One is fleshly and devilish (James 3:15-16), and only causes envy, strife, confusion and every evil work to manifest. The other wisdom came from heaven and is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be untreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (James 3:17). His name is Jesus! When our faith is in Christ and His finished work at Calvary, the Holy Spirit can impart to us the wisdom of God’s Word which we desperately need daily! Outside of that faith, we are in God’s eyes conceited.

Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!

Pastor Curtis
 
Sep 3, 2016
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Bread Crumbs “A Changed Life”

The ministry of John the Baptist was a ministry that prepared the hearts of the people for the immediate coming of the Lord. Many were convicted and drawn to the truth of that which John preached. They would travel to the Jordan River, confess their sin, and be baptized as a sign of repentance. But John's message also demanded that repentance be followed by a changed life. It is one thing to go to God and ask for forgiveness. It's a whole other thing to learn how to be delivered from the problems that we are asking forgiveness for. Repentance is not deliverance! Only God's Grace can deliver us from the sin problems we face. Only consistent faith in the Cross can provide the Grace that we need to be changed. If we truly want to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, that is, live a lifestyle that corresponds with our hatred for sin, then we must learn how to receive grace to overcome the sin we repent of. Do not just take the first step which is repentance! Move on to deliverance and clearing yourselves of all things evil through faith in Christ and Him Crucified.

Matthew 3:8 - Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

Pastor Loren Larson
Loren Larson Ministries
 
Sep 3, 2016
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The Miracle of God’s Word

Proverbs 26:13
The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.

Now begins wisdom concerning the slothful so that God’s children will not fall prey to this evil spirit, and that is exactly what it is. The lazy man will make every excuse in the world as to why he will not work, even things as silly as there is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets. The Christian who walks with God will know that even if there was a lion in the streets, we have the greater lion living in us, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Where laziness is tolerated, and allowed to dominate, it will bring with it a consequence which will be greatly unexpected. The area’s in this nation where the numbers climb of the homeless, there will be a great price paid for this tolerance, and not only will the homeless suffer greatly for their choices, but so shall the authorities in those areas suffer greatly for sowing into this. God says that if they do not work, they do not eat. Please do not bring psychology into this situation to make God’s Word powerless. Surely Jesus fed the hungry, but who were they? They were those who were following Him.

The message of the cross of Jesus Christ remains to be the only avenue through which God offers His overcoming power and wisdom.

Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!

Pastor Curtis
 
Sep 3, 2016
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Bread Crumbs “Too Busy”

The one thing that never seems to slow down in this life is time. Therefore, what we do with the time we have should be of crucial concern to each of us. Every day we make choices to spend time doing things that we envision are our primary needs and we deal with situations that are of utmost priority to our lives. Most people in the world race here and there; running to work, chasing after the kids, even working overtime to buy and pay for the things they desperately want or need. As well, the believer, who desperately loves Jesus and genuinely loves people, can find themselves overtaken in a whirlwind of ministerial activity. We must understand the spiritual truth that the current condition of our heart is based upon the current care and attention we have given to it on any certain day. It is imperative that we learn to attend to our spiritual condition, and afterwards, from a full and healthy heart, minister to others. A failure to secure ourselves through personal devotion to the scriptures and spending time with God in prayer will ultimately result in spiritual burnout and failure. Have you taken the time to attend to your heart by sitting at the feet of Jesus today?

Luke 10:41-42 - And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: (42) But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Pastor Loren Larson
Loren Larson Ministries
 
Sep 3, 2016
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The Miracle of God’s Word

Proverbs 26:14
As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.

Just as a door constantly moves only upon its hinges, and never leaves its hinges, so is the lazy man upon his bed. He may roll over but his desire is to never leave his bed and go to work. The root of this spirit is pride and an expectation for everyone else to do the work for him. This is becoming more and more common in our nation today because we have sown into this sort of evil for years.

If there is ever going to be a change, it will only be through faith in Christ and His Redeeming sacrifice where all things that hinder us were defeated by Him. Today our faith in Christ and His sacrificial work there on the cross will overcome (1 John 5:4) all things (Colossians 2:14-16).

Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!

Pastor Curtis
 
Sep 3, 2016
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Bread Crumbs “Faith in Self”

Faith in self is exposed when we are fearful of our enemies. It proves that we are looking to our own strength rather than to God’s. It becomes obvious that we are comparing what we are able to do against the onslaught of the difficulty that is coming toward us. Many enemies in this life are certainly too large for us. We have no answer for poverty. We have no answer for sickness. We have no answer for death. The enemies that rise up against us are too mighty to be conquered by our abilities, our prowess, our strength, or our intelligence. So let us stop looking at the impossible and the improbable with eyes that remain focused upon ourselves. Instead, let us look to the hills from whence cometh our help. Look to the God of your salvation! If He was strong enough to save you, He is strong enough to keep you! Look to your past and consider if there was ever one time that God did not come through for you. You are still here! You are still alive! There is still hope. And there is still time for your God to work a miracle on your behalf. You have every reason to trust in Him and no reason to trust in yourself.

Numbers 14:8-9 - If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. (9) Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

Pastor Loren Larson
Loren Larson Ministries
 
Sep 3, 2016
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The Miracle of God’s Word

Proverbs 26:15
The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.

Slothfulness is a lying and perverted spirit that, if given ground, will even deceive us to the point that we will starve our own selves all the way to death, as we can become so slothful that it will grieve us to even lift food to our mouths. We see those types of things more than ever today, and they will only get worse as the days grow darker and darker.

The world will become more evil in the days ahead, and its iniquity will cause many to wax cold from love (Matthew 24:12). When the child of God is found bound and deceived, it will always be because they looked away from the cross of Christ, and in doing so, they GIVE THEMSELVES over to this worldly darkness. Many are there today, all the while claiming Jesus, but the Apostle Paul said there would be other gospel’s, and other Jesus’ preached because of other spirits (2 Corinthians 11:4). You can come back to the place of victory today if you will only place your faith once again in Christ and His finished work on the cross from which comes all the things that you need.

Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!

Pastor Curtis
 
Sep 3, 2016
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Bread Crumbs “A Spiritual Battle”

Spiritual warfare is a fact of life for the Christian. We do not have a choice as to whether or not we participate in this war. There are forces arrayed against us and if we choose to ignore this truth we do so at our own peril. We must learn to face these powers of opposition in the proper way. We need not fear, for God will furnish both the protection and the strength by which this warfare is carried out. He does so when our faith rests securely in the finished work of Christ. As we labor to enter into this rest, God sends supernatural provision. It is the same supply that guided David's selected stone squarely into the forehead of the giant. It Is the same strength that empowered the hand on Gideon’s sword and that of his faithful 300. It is the same grace that made mighty men out of David's ragtag company of dissenters. These all had to learn how to depend on the Lord’s strength and not their own. Learning this truth is the key needed to turn the tide in any spiritual battle. As you rely on Him, He will supply you with what you do not have in and of yourself.

Ephesians 6:10 - Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

Pastor Loren Larson
Loren Larson Ministries
 
Sep 3, 2016
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The Miracle of God’s Word

Proverbs 26:16
The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.

Those who are slothful are being controlled by a lying and perverted spirit, as they are living according to their own wisdom, and though seven men show up to give them good reason as to why they need to change, there will be no change. As long as we live according to our own conceit, which is what we think, we are exalting our vain thoughts above the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5)

There is only one avenue through which the Lord has provided for deliverance, not only from an eternal separation from Him in an eternal lake of fire, but can also be delivered from our own selves and our own destructive thoughts. When our faith is in Christ and His obedience at the cross, we begin to walk in His victory as we begin to trust God’s thoughts toward us, which He has given us in His Word.

Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!

Pastor Curtis
 
Sep 3, 2016
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Bread Crumbs “Simple Faith”

The moment the believing sinner accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit baptizes that individual into the person of Christ. This is a position that is granted to every believer, bar none. Paul would write in Colossians that we are complete or made whole as a result of being in Him. In Christ, what wonderful words! What a wonderful truth! I am complete in Him! My sins have been forgiven. I am a part of God's family. All of this is obtained through simple childlike faith. Simple faith does not stop there. It is also the key to living the Christian life. Paul teaches the church that as we have received Christ so should we live out our daily lives. So simple faith, which is similar to the faith of a small child, is the faith one needs to continue growing in Christ. I can rest assured that God's grace will continue to produce spiritual growth and depth, all by means of simple faith. All He asks of me is that my faith remains constant in who He is and what He has done. Simple faith will place you in Christ and simple faith will keep you in Christ.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Pastor Loren Larson
Loren Larson Ministries
 
Sep 3, 2016
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The Miracle of God’s Word

Proverbs 26:17
He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.

You know those folks who can’t stay out of everything going on. I would say they live to be in everybody else’s business and all the strife that goes on in town, and the church. These folks, the Lord says are like the not so smart individual that grabs a dog by the ears. Typically you will get bit when you do something of that nature.

Let us always remember that envy and strife ALWAYS opens the door for confusion and EVERY evil work (James 3:16). These folks always think they are helping others, but in all reality they are only destroying their own lives, and their families always end up in a mess. Of course everyone else is to blame for all of their problems. I lived that life for many years, but thanks be to God, Jesus has saved me and set me free through faith in His victorious work on the cross. Only that work of Christ can set anyone free from anything! Only believe and watch the Lord change your life and work it all out!

Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!

Pastor Curtis
 

Mii

Well-known member
Mar 23, 2019
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Do you have a condensed version? All this bold is hurting my eyes a bit.
 
Sep 3, 2016
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Bread Crumbs “Freed From Sin’s Dominion”

I am a new creation in Christ Jesus! Of this there is no doubt. However, the lingering effects of the fall remain in my innermost being. It is this ugliness that the Lord is working to remove from my person day by day. The removal of that which is ungodly or sinful from the heart of the believer is referred to as progressive sanctification. The Bible teaches us that our union with Christ brings us freedom from the d...ominion of the sin nature. However, even though this freedom is a reality, we must learn to apply it to the areas of our life yet unchanged. We do not apply Christ’s victory in our lives through a process of works. Our victory over sin is achieved by faith. Faith must be placed in the appropriate object which is Christ and His finished work on Calvary. Proper faith brings the grace of God, the work of the Holy Spirit. He is in the world today to superintend the benefits that Christ won for us through death. I thank God that His Grace is sufficient to free me from both the penalty of sin and the power of sin. Today, sin shall not have dominion over me for I am not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Pastor Loren Larson
Loren Larson Ministries