Say What?

 

 QUOTATION

 

“First of all, I do not believe the thought initiating lust is a sin until acted upon.”

 

 

Barry Denzil Haney

 

SCRIPTURE

 

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

 

James 1:14-15

 

 

REFLECTION

 

Say what! I can think deplorable things and I have not sinned? 

 

Not exactly true. A fine line exists between thoughts and actual sin. A thought about lust is a temptation by Satan to follow him, to fall prey to his trap to drag you to hell with him. We will all have temptation. Remember, even Jesus was tempted during his time here on Earth. However, Jesus rebuked Satan’s temptation.

 

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 this:

 

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

 

I believe the Holy Spirit is telling me, although the initial thought or temptation to do something displeasing to God is not a sin, it does become a sin when acted upon or when we dwell on the thought or temptation.

 

Look at Jesus’ teaching concerning the matter of lust, found in Matthew5:27-28:

 

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

 

The Greek word for “looketh” in this passage is a present particle verb, which refers to continuous action. Therefore, it appears Jesus was describing a situation where a man repeatedly looks at a woman, lusting or thinking about having a sexual relationship with her.

 

 The bottom line is we should do as James 4:7 tells us to do, submit ourselves to the Lord and flee from Satan, when temptation first rears its ugly head!

 

 

PRAYER

 

Our Heavenly Father,

 

Thanks you for not allowing me to be tempted above 

what I am able to handle! Thanks you for providing me 

a way to escape the temptation Satan throws my way! 

Thank you for the full Armor of God you give me to 

protect me as I navigate my rocky journey to salvation!

 

During the coming day, help me to remain focused on 

Jesus! Help me become a beacon of light to the unsaved, 

providing a chink in Satan’s deception, the deception preventing

the unsaved from spending an eternity with You in Heaven!

 

We ask all this in the glorious name of Jesus,

 

Amen!

 

SONG OF WORSHIP

 

Redeemed – Big Daddy Weave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGAYNKDyIU

 

God Bless You,

Barry

 

Kentucky Is A State Known For Horses!

QUOTATIONS

For you see, because God loves us so much, He wants us to willingly have faith in Jesus. He gave us free will and places the responsibility on us, to make the choice, whether we want to spend eternity with Him in the place He has prepared for us in Heaven, or to make the only other choice, to be eternally separated from Him, in a place called Hell.

Barry Denzil Haney

SCRIPTURE

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?

Jeremiah 12:5

DEEP REFLECTIONS

Kentucky is a state known for horses! Since the early frontier days, when settlers travelled through the Cumberland Gap on horseback, horses have been important in the state of Kentucky. The grassy farms overlying limestone deposits are thought by many to be the best place to raise and breed thoroughbred horses.

In a sermon entitled “How to Run With Horses”, Pastor Andrew Glenn, Central Church, tells us God is telling Jeremiah in verse 12:5, “if you think what he is facing is bad, you haven’t seen nothing yet”. He further told the congregation, …(god) I want to talk to you how you are handling things down here, I want to talk to you about your injustices…if we are going to live for what we haven’t seen yet, we’ve got to remember, when it comes to sufferings and hardships, and training, we ain’t seen nothing yet…you see when God was telling Jeremiah he needs to learn how to run with horses, He was telling him…he was talking about great suffering”.

God is telling us to stop whining! He is telling us to make changes in our lives to prepare for the challenges we will face daily in our walk with Jesus. Through daily prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit, we will be equipped to withstand the temptations thrown at us by Satan!

PRAYERS

Our Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the daily guidance, instruction and

protection by the Holy Spirit! We know, as James tells

us in James 4:7, if we submit ourselves to God,

Satan will flee from us!

Help us to stop complaining, but instead, through the Holy

Spirit, empower us to work on doing something to correct

What is bothering us. Help us prepare to deal with daily

Challenges, by placing Jesus as the focus!

In the precious name of Jesus our Lord and Savior,

Amen!

SONG OF WORSHIP

Because He Lives...

God Bless You,

Barry

"For"

 

Because we were created by God to have a relationship with him, sin has created a separation from God which we experience as a void in our heart. We spend most of our lives trying to fill this void, this emptiness in our heart, with earthly pleasures.

 

Barry Denzil Haney

 

 

SCRIPTURE

 

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

 

1 John 3:8

 

REFLECTION

 

This past Sunday, Pastor Scott Nickel, Southland Christian Church, began a series of sermons entitled “For”. In the first sermon in the series, he discussed the concept “knowing who you are for defines who you are against”. He shared with the congregation the divine appointment Zacchaeus, chief tax collector in Jericho, had with Jesus. Although Zacchaeus was thought to be the greatest sinner in Jericho by many Jews, because of the wealth he had accumulated at their expense, Jesus climbed up into the fig tree to meet with Zacchaeus when Zacchaeus reached out to Him. He then went to Zacchaeus’ house to dine with him, something the inhabitants could not understand – why would Jesus meet with such a sinner as Zacchaeus. They were so willing to condemn Zacchaeus as a terrible sinner, ignoring the fact they were sinners as well. They did not understand we are all sinners and not one human ever born deserves to spend an eternity with God in Heaven because of sin, the thing that separates us from a relationship with God! They did not understand, we are only saved by grace through faith!

 

 PRAYER

 

Our Heavenly Father,

 

Help me to place You as the focus of my attention this day.

Help me not to be like the Pharisees and many of the Jews in Jericho,

Who were ready to condemn Zacchaeus for his sins,

But did not recognize they were sinners as well!

 

During the coming week may the Holy Spirit guide and direct me,

So my week will be filled with Godly wisdom.

Help me remember to love others as You have loved me!

I ask all of this in the glorious name of Jesus,

 

Amen!

 

 

SONG OF WORSHIP

Amazing Grace

God Bless You,

Barry

 

 

The Lord Your God Is With You, The Mighty Warrior Who Saves!

Barry’s Corner

 Quotation

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Are you worried because you find it so hard to believe? Don’t be surprised at the difficulty of faith, if there is some part of your life where you are consciously resisting or disobeying the commandment of Jesus. Is there some part of your life which you are refusing to surrender at his behest, some sinful passion, maybe, or some animosity, some hope, perhaps your ambition or your reason? If so, you must not be surprised that you have not received the Holy Spirit, that prayer is difficult, or that your request for faith remains unanswered....The person who disobeys cannot believe. Only if you obey can you believe.

Source: The Cost of Discipleship

Daily Devotion

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17, NIV

 The next best thing to do

Ask if you have not Received. For everyone that asketh receiveth. Luke 11:10.

There is nothing more difficult than to ask. We will long and desire and crave and suffer, but not until we are at the extreme limit will we ask. A sense of unreality makes us ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of moral poverty? “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God …” but be sure that you do lack wisdom. You cannot bring yourself up against Reality when you like. The next best thing to do if you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit on the word of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the One Who makes real in you all that Jesus did for you.

“For every one that asketh receiveth.” This does not mean you will not get if you do not ask (cf. Mat. 5:45), but until you get to the point of asking you won’t receive from God. To receive means you have come into the relationship of a child of God, and now you perceive with intelligent and moral appreciation and spiritual understanding that these things come from God.

“If any of you lack wisdom …” If you realize you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality; do not put your reasonable blinkers on again. People say—Preach us the simple gospel: don’t tell us we have to be holy, because that produces a sense of abject poverty, and it is not nice to feel abjectly poor. “Ask” means beg. Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are like that spiritually. We will never receive if we ask with an end in view; if we ask, not out of our poverty but out of our lust. A pauper does not ask from any other reason than the abject panging condition of his poverty, he is not ashamed to beg. Blessed are the paupers in spirit.[1]

Prayer

Lord our Savior, you are our Lord and our Helper. Show yourself again and again in our hearts as the Savior who is strong to help us even in difficult times. Remember the many people who sigh to you. Guide them into the protection of the almighty God. Even if they suffer pain and distress and have to go through fear and anxiety, even if they die, Lord Jesus, you are comfort and help. In everything life brings us you will show yourself as the One who does the will of God and who carries it out for us on earth. Amen.  Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

Daily Song of Worship

More and More of You

 

God Bless You!

Barry

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[1] Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986. Print.