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Date Posted: 08:25:43 02/10/17 Fri
Author: c
Subject: Teachings 5

Teachings 5


intouch.org radio 3/6/15

2:21


(2 Corinthians 5:14,15)

So if you'll notice beginning in verse 14 - we'll read verse 14 and 15, Paul says:

"For the love of Christ constrains or controls us, having concluded this: that One died for all therefore all died. And He died for all. That they who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him Who died and rose again on their behalf."

Now, there are two aspects of our life that I want to look at here and the first one here: the motive of our life....What is it that motivates you to do what you do? ...There is always an underlying motive beneath what we do. Paul is simply saying in this passage that the motive of our life should be love. And then he describes that - listen: "the love of Christ controls, constrains, motivates me, drives me."

Now that could be one of two types of love - it could be: our love for Christ or His love for us. Now I believe primarily what Paul is referring to here is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for him.

In 1 John chapter 4 verse 19 he says: "we love because He first loved us." It is the fact that you and I are aware of Christ's love for us - that's what should motivate us.


4:05

The purpose of our life should be very definite and that the motivation of heading toward that purpose should be our awareness of Christ's love for us.


5:57

Now he says: on the basis of that, this is the manner of life which you and I should live. Based on the fact that He gave Himself for us, He has something to do and something to say about the kind of lifestyle we live. Now it's interesting in this passage Paul says there are only two lifestyles: verse 15: "this death was in order that we should no longer live for ourselves."

There are two lifestyles - one of them is: the self-centered life, and the other one is: the Christ-centered life....a self-centered life, my friend, is one in which the person is dedicated to pleasing themselves.


10:42

Now how does that contrast to the Christ-like life? He says: because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ we should be motivated by His love for us and our love for Him in such a fashion that we should no longer live a self-centered life. But now we start living a Christ-centered life. That's that life He saved us to live. It is a life that revolves itself around the Person and the plans of the Christ. Not what please me. Not what pleasures me - what pleases the Lord. It is a life that revolves around: what does it take to obey the Lord Jesus Christ?

It is a life of obedience - not fretful obedience but glad obedience. Why? Because I'm motivated by the awareness of what Jesus Christ has done in your life and mine. He laid down His life willingly voluntarily - He took all of your sin past, present and future. You've been saved. Your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. You're going to Heaven because He died for you… that should be what motivates us.


12:17

The Christ-centered life says: "how's this going to affect my relationship to Jesus? How's this going to affect my witness for Him? How's this going to affect the work of the Lord? If I do this, will it glorify God? Will this please the Lord Jesus? Will this edify others? Will this strengthen the work of the Kingdom?"


14:05

If you want to change, I'm going to give you four suggestions - they're real simple but they work.

Four suggestions that will help you change the center of your focus:

#1 If you have seen any of those indications of self-centeredness in your life, the first step is to acknowledge the presence of self-centeredness.......

Secondly, Once I've acknowledged it, I must confess it and repent of it. That means: I acknowledge that it's wrong in my life - that it doesn't fit. I ask for God forgive me - thank Him for my forgiveness and I turn from that in those areas that God has shown me are areas full of self-centeredness.

Step #3 Ask yourself this question when you are in the process of making a decision: "Lord, what will You have me to do?" What you do in that is that you acknowledge His Sovereign leadership in your life. You acknowledge that He has the right to manage your life. You acknowledge His Lordship. You acknowledge His guidance and His direction. You are submitting yourself to the will and the good pleasure and the desires of the Lord Jesus Christ.

#4 One of the best ways to begin to overcome self-centered living is the way Paul overcame it. and that is: getting into the Word, reading and meditating on the death of Jesus Christ and what that means for your life personally. If you don't know where to start, start with the first 8 chapters of Romans...Contemplating, meditating upon what did God do when He saved me.


17:15

And, if we are living for Christ, listen, it means our decision making process is geared to pleasing Him. It means our actions and our attitudes, listen, are going to take on the actions and attitudes of Christ because our focus is upon Him: "Lord, what would You have me to do?"

And my friend, we have to work at this. You can't say: "well, I'm just going to live a Christ-centered life from now on." No, there needs to be an acknowledgment of it: "Lord, not only do I acknowledge it today, but I want Spirit of God to convict me at the first sign of any encroaching self-centeredness in my life." Repent of it and then send all questions through the grid: "Lord, what would You have me to do?"

Do you know what that does? That just builds the most wonderful, warm, indescribable intimacy between you and Him.


19:00

And Paul says when you understand what Jesus Christ did for you at the cross, you too will make a choice to commit yourself to living a Christ-centered life. That's the life that becomes magnetic, and fulfilling, and contenting, and useful, and powerful and effective for the Lord.


----------------------=


Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my Redeemer.

Psalms 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them: let them also that love Thy name be joyful in Thee.


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intouch.org radio 2/3/15

21:43

Jesus Christ is the faithful Guide. You remember what He said – and we quote this verse often – He says: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He is the right way. He’s the best way. He’s the planned way and you can’t beat His way. Now I would ask you to consider that personally at this moment: Who is guiding your life? You say: “Well, I’m a christian so I guess Jesus is.” Not necessarily. Because you’ve been saved doesn’t mean He’s guiding your life. That is a deliberate decision you have to make: that Jesus is going to guide my life and I’m going to submit to His guidance and His direction.

If He’s guiding your life you can just mark this down: It’s the best path you could travel. It’s the best road you could travel. You may say: “well, if it’s all that good why am I going through such difficulty and hardship and pain?” Because often times God knows it takes those difficult hardships – those painful, those trying times to do what? to make of us the person He wants us to be - to build character into our life – to make us an example of what God is able to do in a person’s life who goes through those trying times.

You remember what He says in Romans 8:28. He says: “He causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him.” He didn’t say: “except pain, hardship, suffering, difficulties and disappointments.” All of those things are a part of it. Jesus didn’t escape many of those hardships. His disciples did not. Why should we think we should? And so being our Guide, He’s going to lead us in the right way every single time.


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intouch.org radio 3/6/14 (verbatim, edited)

3:47

It is Christ in you which makes it possible for you to become the person God intended for you to be. That‘s your hope for becoming…..Those of us who are maturing and progressing and learning and applying the truths, we are growing more and more into Christ-likeness but look, here’s what’s happening: it isn’t me adding something to my life that makes us like Christ. It is Christ within us, listen to this, Christ within you, as you keep focusing upon Him, as you keep submitting yourself to Him, it is the Christ within you Who begins to express more of Himself through you.

12:37

Christ living within you - now I said it’s a lifestyle. So here’s what I want to explain. I want you to jot down two words. How does Christ in me become a lifestyle? This inexhaustible, living, divine resource that is now mine, Who is my life - how does it become a lifestyle?….The first word is Commitment.

Now here’s what I mean by that: it is not enough for you to hear this message on Christ is your life. You need to make a commitment. Now here’s the commitment - the commitment is this: that you believe the Bible teaches that Christ is your life, secondly, you believe what the Bible says about Christ being your life, and thirdly, you choose to begin to live on the basis of that truth that Christ is your life…..

you choose by an act of your will: “I choose today to begin to live on the basis that Christ Jesus is living within me and therefore I am sufficient for all things in Him and Christ in me”. The first word is Commitment.

The second word: Confession. Usually when we think about confession, we think about coming to God and confessing sins. That’s not what I’m talking about. The word confession means to agree with. If I confess sin, I agree with God that what He thinks about my sin I agree with Him- that it is wrong. But now confession - confessing that Christ is your life means simply this: if you will make it a habit to daily confess “Christ is my life”.

When you are tempted, you see, confession doesn’t mean something’s wrong, you are reaffirming, you are affirming a truth: “I confess that Jesus Christ is my life. And if He’s my life, He will see me through this difficulty. He will bring me through this temptation. He will grant me wisdom in this decision. Christ is my life”. By a commitment to the truth and secondly a confession - not just daily but many times during the day - whenever you come up against anything - you just: “I want to say, Lord Jesus, I want to thank You that You are my life”. I’m going to tell you, when you start confessing - you say: “suppose I don’t feel like it?” That has nothing to do with it. Not anything at all. Christ is your life. That is a confession of truth….what is the devil saying? “you won’t make it. You can’t do it. God doesn’t love you. Look what you’ve done”. Christ is my life no matter what has happened.

So that in a deliberate willful commitment, number one, and secondly through daily confession many times during the day - no matter what’s going on….We need to get out of this idea that I’ve got to work at the christian life. Listen, we work in the Name of Jesus Christ to the glory of God not to be a christian, not to be a better christian, but the key word I want you to see here is this: once you make a commitment, and once you begin to confess Jesus Christ is your life, and that Jesus Christ is living within you, here’s what happens: you will one day become aware that things have begun to sort of flow instead of pump.

Here’s what happened: you started living out what you believe. If Christ is my life and Christ is living within me, and all the riches that I’ll ever need He already has, then I know at the right time He’s going to release them through me.

Here’s what I want you to see: it isn’t adding to, it is released from within. He and all that He is is there. And the way that all that He is within me surfaces and becomes a part of my life is simply by living by faith on the basis of what He said. That He is living within you and that He has become your life - that makes you adequate for everything.


-------------------------=


intouch.org TV Broadcast 5/27/16 “Your personal convictions”


Your convictions define who you are.

Your convictions reveal who you are - the way you think, the choices you make, decisions you make.

Having a conviction: being so thoroughly convinced that something is absolutely true that you take a stand for it regardless of the consequences

Ask yourself the question: “do I live by preference or do I live by basic convictions in my life that define who I am?”

A person with a sense of conviction has a sense of purpose – certain things fit my life and certain things do not.

A person with a sense of conviction has faith in God, faith in the Word of God and conviction that Jesus will help us live out those convictions – we will live out those convictions by faith.

A person with a sense of conviction keeps the big picture in mind – consequences.


-------------------------=


intouch Daily devotion Feb 13, 2015

Developing a Tender Heart


Read | Ezekiel 36:25-28


The Lord wants to give each of us a “heart of flesh” so that we will be pliable and responsive to Him. When touched by the finger of God, a tender heart yields to the pressure and assumes the form He desires, much like a lump of clay that allows the potter to determine the shape of the vessel.

To aid in this process, God has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell each believer and awaken responsiveness in him or her. By yielding to the Spirit’s promptings with ready obedience, the heart becomes increasingly tender and sensitive to His leading. The Lord is able to impart greater understanding of His Word to a soft heart because it has faithfully accepted and obeyed previous teachings.

Any resistance to God will result in hardening. But those who are accustomed to intimacy with Christ—which is the result of submission to Him—will be quick to deal with sin and return to the place of obedience and blessing.

People with tender hearts stay closely connected to the body of Christ, seeking to build up and encourage others in their walk of faith. Such individuals are not only receptive to what God wants to tell them; they are also teachable, in that they are willing to listen and are open to being corrected by others.

This week when you read your Bible and pray, let your heart be soft toward the words of God. As He pokes His finger into each hard area, listen to His instructions, and rely on the Spirit’s power to help you yield and obey. Let Him shape you into a beautiful and useful vessel.


----------------------------------=


intouch Daily devotion Feb 12, 2015

The Danger of a Hardening Heart


Read | Hebrews 3:7-9

God repeatedly calls to His children, but the condition of each heart determines the result. Those with soft and tender hearts hear His voice and yield to Him in obedience, but those with hard hearts resist His warnings and instructions.

Surprisingly, upon hearing the same voice, believers will have different reactions.

Since hardening is a slow process that is often accompanied by excuses and rationalizations, the danger signs may not be readily recognized. How do you respond when the Lord speaks to you through His Word, your conscience, or messages based on Scripture? Carefully consider the following characteristics of a hardening heart:


• Insensitivity or resistance to what the Lord says

• Refusal to put yourself under His authority

• Disobedience to what you know God is instructing you to do

• Justification of sinful conduct

• Resistance to the reproof of others

• Preoccupation with the things of this world (career, relationships, possessions)

• Little interest in spiritual matters

• Absence of private devotion (Bible reading and prayer)

• Avoidance of corporate worship (gathering with other believers)


A hard heart does not have to remain brittle. If you've discovered any of the above traits in your life, begin today to return to the Lord. Ask Him to give you a new heart and the desire to know Him (Jer. 24:7). Remember, He specializes in making all things new (2 Cor. 5:17).


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intouch.org radio 2/29/16

"How to get your needs met the Lord's way"


1:15

The bottom line of all sin is: trying to get my needs met independently of God's way and God's timing. All sin in essence is trying to get my needs met independently of God's way, God's method and God's timing.


5:05

God knows every single thing there is to know about us. He knows every emotion that you have. He knows those emotional needs you have. He knows the physical needs - the material needs. He knows the financial needs. He knows every single need we have because He says: everything is laid bare to Him - He's omniscient. That is there's not anything God doesn't know past present and future.

You say: "well, but I have needs that are coming." God knows all about the future because the future is always in the presence with God. Now remember that. That no matter how long or how far in the future you and I are concerned about, that's always in the presence with God. He's already provided for every single need we'll ever have for the future - it's already been provided for. And so therefore we don't have to be concerned about that.

And what is happening is that you and I are doubting God instead of expressing faith in Him, we're troubled by being focused on the circumstances and the needs rather than on the source of those needs.


6:30

If you will look at Psalm 33...in verse 13: "The Lord looks from Heaven. He sees all the sons of men. From His dwellingplace, He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth. He Who fashions the hearts of them all - He understands all their works."

That is, God is looking and seeing intently into our heart - knowing our emotional needs, knowing our spiritual needs, our physical needs, our material needs - there's not a single thing that He's overlooked - He knows them all.


9:28

Why is it that you and I are willing to rebel against God, disobey God, choose deliberately to get into sin to get our needs met - needs we think that have to be met right now - and we disobey and rebel against God when we know that God has already said: "blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has already blessed you with all with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1:3) - that is He has already provided for every single need I already have now, will have in the future and He knows them every single one.


11:05

He said here's the way you get your needs met. And He says this is the way you do it....look in verse 33 (Matthew 6:33) He says: "but seek first" - put the priority on your interest - "in seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" and then what? He says if I put my priorities where they belong, God - listen to what He's saying - God assumes full responsibility for adding to me all of my needs and God is never late and He's never in too big of a hurry.

Now what is His Kingdom? The Kingdom of God is not necessarily a location. The Kingdom of God according to the Scripture is the rule of God. So when He says "the Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21) that is the rule and the reign of Christ is within us. That is, when Jesus Christ's Kingdom is active within my heart, that is, when I am living in His Kingdom according to His authority, I am living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

What He's saying in this passage is this: seek to know the rule of Christ in your heart. That is: seek to know the will of God and to follow it - walking in His Spirit, obeying God. The Kingdom of God is the rule of God in our heart. So what He's saying is this: if I want to get my needs met, what am I to do? Am I to major on getting them met or am I to major on my relationship to Jesus Christ?

13:40

Now He said you want to get your needs met? Don't major on getting your needs met - don't focus on your needs, focus on what? focus on living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life. Focus on what? Focus on walking in His will, obediently to Him.

14:12

I am to major and to seek and to pursue and I am to work at, if necessary, being obedient to God. How am I going to be obedient to God? I have to find out what God wants me to do. How am I going to find out what God wants me to do? Get into God's Word and see what God says. When I get into God's Word and see what God says, then I know what God wants me to do. When I know what God wants me to do then I can follow Him. You say: "well, I don't know what God wants." Then it's your responsibility to get into the Word and find out the will of God for your life.

But the first step in getting my needs met is not working at getting them met but doing what? focusing my attention upon God's rule in my life - walking obediently before Him. Because what's going to happen? If you walk obediently before God, God's going to guide you every step of the way.


17:11

If I'm out here trying to get my needs met, I'm probably going to do some things that are out of character with Christ. But if I focus on who I am in Him, and Who He is in me, and what He's doing in my life, and what He desires to do in my life, He says: I'm going to take care of those things.


22:46

Here's the problem: we listen to the devil. We listen to satan say: "you better get it now - you're not going to have this opportunity forever - you better get it now. You better get into this right now..."


23:06

And a lot of folks who think when they reach 25 or 30 years of age - it's a hopeless situation. Nothing is ever hopeless for one who walks in the will of God - and that is hopelessness from our point of view, looking at circumstance, not, listen, not looking at this omnipotent, omniscient, loving God Who says: I have given you My best and given you My Son Jesus Christ. If I've given you Him, on what basis do you think I'll keep anything from you?

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