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I hate flesh - 9/6/2008 6:36:44 PM
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PopsiLufsJesus
Posts: 5074
Joined: 5/6/2008
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I hate flesh
Change has been on my mind for the last few days. What's awesome is that I went in to listen to one of my Pastor's previous sermons and I selected the one entitled "Conform." I don't really know what I was expecting it to be about, but I know that I wasn't expecting it to be about change. Must of been a God-thing. I LOVE God-moments!
I think the first reason it has been on my mind is all the religious propaganda that I see here in North Carolina. At least half of the bumpers in my county alone have to have some sort of Jesus propaganda on them. There is nothing wrong with most of this propaganda, but it makes me wonder how many people with this type of propaganda are actually living their lives for Jesus Christ. It reminds me of this Steven Curtis Chapman song...
Well I got myself a T-shirt that says what I believe
I got letters on my bracelet to serve as my ID
I got the necklace and the key chain
And almost everything a good Christian needs, yeah
I got the little Bible magnets on my refrigerator door
And a welcome mat to bless you before you walk across my floor
I got a Jesus bumper sticker
And the outline of a fish stuck on my car
And even though this stuff's all well and good, yeah
I cannot help but ask myself ...
you can find the rest of that song by google: The Change, SSC
What about the change? Romans 8:29 says this:
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethern."
Conform in the Hebrew Greek means to joinly form or to be fashioned like unto. God wants to be joined together with Jesus Christ. You know how if you spend ample amounts of time around certain people you begin to "look" like them. That is what needs to happen with us and Jesus. We need to assume the qualities and the characteristics of Christ. I know that sometimes that is difficult, but He has given us a Helper. The Spirit is our Helper.
Romans 6:26-27:
"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that can not be uttered. Now He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the Will of God."
Our flesh is naturally weak, but the Spirit helps us deal with the weaknesses of the flesh. The Spirit personally makes intercession for us. He makes intercession with things that we don't know about. He KNOWS us!
As read previously. It is the Will of God that we transform into the image of His Son. That we become like Jesus. This change and this conforming happens through the renewing of our minds.
Romans 12:2 says this, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." The Will of God being that we be transformed into the image of Jesus.
I believe we need to actively renew our minds with the Word of God. We need to be open to what the Holy Spirit has to teach because without His help their will be no conformation. When we came to Jesus Christ He began making ALL things new, but MAKING is the key. It is a process. Transformation to the image of Jesus Christ is a process. If we read the Word and we spend time with Jesus Christ and listen to His Spirit inside of us we will become more and more like Him.
This is good news. To me anyways. There are things in my life that I know need changed. I'm learning these last few days and few weeks about how when I get closer to Him. As John 3:30 says, when He increases and I decrease...that that is where changes happens, that that is where opportunity opens for growth, that that is where healing happens, and that that is when I begin to look more like Jesus.
Sorry if this is somewhat confusing. Sometimes I have a difficult time getting my thoughts organized...
Take Care,
Pops
_____________________________
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” ~Matthew 9:37-38 
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/6/2008 10:39:04 PM
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AboundinginHisGrace
Posts: 403
Joined: 4/28/2008
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I heard a preacher say one time referring to the verse about making us fisher of men, that we have all the equipment: Fishing pole, lures, shirt, boots, vest, hat, etc but we never go fishing, we never cast our lures into the water.....
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Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/6/2008 10:46:12 PM
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colliefan
Posts: 2785
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Raleigh, NC
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Pospsi,
Welcome to what it means to be a follower of Christ, The closer we get to God, the more we see the flesh in ourselves. While NC is in the Bible Belt, the more I see the church it is a part of culture rather than a transforming agent in the world.
My church's bible study at Women's Prison is on Monday nights and it is difficult to get individuals to come with us b/c BSF and other womens bible
studies fall on that night. Despite the fact on of BSF's goals is to train individuals to lead a bible study.
But consider Paul's struggles
Rom 7:13 - 25 (HCSB) 13Therefore, did what is good cause my death?£ Absolutely not!£ On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure. 14For we know that the law is spiritual;£ but I am made out of flesh,£ sold£ into sin’s power.£
15For I do not understand what I am doing,£ because I do not practice what I want to do,£ but I do what I hate. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.£ For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
19For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21So I discover this principle:£ £ when I want to do good, evil is with me. 22For in my inner self£ I joyfully agree with God’s law.£ 23But I see a different law in the parts of my body,£ £ waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.£ 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body£ of death?£ 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!£ £ So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.
and then comes Romans Chapter 8
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/6/2008 10:49:10 PM
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PopsiLufsJesus
Posts: 5074
Joined: 5/6/2008
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Yep Abounding!
Thanks Collie!
_____________________________
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” ~Matthew 9:37-38
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/8/2008 6:19:42 PM
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PureLight
Posts: 195
Joined: 4/30/2008
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Certainly not, I thought you were like, younger than I was from that picture. I'm 19.
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/9/2008 1:50:10 PM
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jesuschick247
Posts: 2405
Status: offline
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quote:
Well I got myself a T-shirt that says what I believe
I got letters on my bracelet to serve as my ID
I got the necklace and the key chain
And almost everything a good Christian needs, yeah
I got the little Bible magnets on my refrigerator door
And a welcome mat to bless you before you walk across my floor
I got a Jesus bumper sticker
And the outline of a fish stuck on my car
And even though this stuff's all well and good, yeah
I cannot help but ask myself ...
you can find the rest of that song by google: The Change, SSC
What about the change? Romans 8:29 says this:
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethern."
This is one of my favorite songs and also a subject that rolls around in my life often, we say love Jesus, but when the rubber hits the road, do we really?
My true character was tested a few months back when a boy who was really messed up on drugs and other bad stuff started going to our youth group. I am one of those people who can strike up a conversation with just about anyone so my youth pastor asked me to go talk to him. I did, but very reluctantly! He kind of scared me, he was Emo so he had the black fingernails, chains, eyeliner, the works! But, I did it and I continued to walk up to him every single wednesday night and one week when I invited him to go eat with the rest of us after service, he actually went! That has been about three months ago now, he got saved at church camp(I got to be one of the people who prayed with him, SO AWESOME!) and he has become a completely different person inside and out! He has a joy and awe to him that he never had before. Anyway, back on subject, he was talking to me the other day and he said the best way for christians to witness or what caught his attention, was when they did it without saying a word.
So, are we really showing people our change or are we just following the trends of what is cool in the church? I think this is a question that deserves some thought!
_____________________________
I Think I'm Outta Control!
Love is not a fight...but it's worth fighting for!
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/9/2008 6:14:16 PM
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sparkleingsnow
Posts: 3777
Joined: 1/9/2007
Status: offline
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I would have guessed 16, too. But thats a good thing. :)
As a grandmother who is 60, 21 is still very young. lol
God Bless.
_____________________________
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is
within me, bless his holy name.
Psalm 103:1
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/9/2008 10:24:47 PM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 715
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
Status: online
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quote:
I hate flesh
If God meanta for us to be vegetarians, then why did He make animals out of tasty meat?
_____________________________
The future has never been shaped by majorities but rather by dedicated minorities. And free men do not wait for the future; they create it. RJR
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/9/2008 10:28:22 PM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 715
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
Status: online
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quote:
I believe we need to actively renew our minds with the Word of God. We need to be open to what the Holy Spirit has to teach because without His help their will be no conformation.
The next generation of leaders in this country will, I believe, emerge from Christian home schooling families that have said a polite "no, thank you" to the Ultimate Conformity Machine, the system designed to transform small people made in God's image into docile factory hands and cannon fodder. Kids raised by their parents, rather than agents of the self-deifying State, have a much better chance of experiencing transformation, rather than external crushing into pre-designed molds.
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The future has never been shaped by majorities but rather by dedicated minorities. And free men do not wait for the future; they create it. RJR
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RE: I hate flesh - 9/12/2008 5:06:48 AM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 715
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
Status: online
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quote:
You are confusing me!
Why do American Christians preach the crazy doctrine of "missing heaven by 18 inches" and create the notion that "head" and "heart" are different entities? What (or who) has made their minds the perceived enemies of their faith?
_____________________________
The future has never been shaped by majorities but rather by dedicated minorities. And free men do not wait for the future; they create it. RJR
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