ROM-109-150607 - length: 62:20 - taught on Jun, 7 2015
Class Outline:
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.
Why do we come together to study the Word of God? So that we can grow up! Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 14 to 16…
…we believers in Christ are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, being carried about by the trickery of men (false teachers), being carried about by (the) craftiness (of false teachers) in (their) deceitful scheming…
As believers in Christ, when we have the Word of God implanted, we are not easily confused by liars...by false teachers…we use the Word of God to illuminate their lies…
…but speaking the truth in unconditional love, we believers in Christ are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ…
As believers in Christ, He is our head…we take our instructions from Him and no one else…and He is the one who causes us to grow up…we don’t do it ourselves…nor can false teachers cause us to grow up…so be careful whom you take on as a teacher…
…(the Christ) from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in unconditional love.
Christ is the cause of our growth…we are at the effect of Him…when we get confused about who is the head, there is big trouble in the Christian life. The believers in Corinth refused to grow up, so Paul had a talk with them in his first letter to them…First Corinthians, Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 3…
And I (Paul), brethren (believers in Christ), could not speak to you as (if I were speaking) to spiritual men, but (I have to speak to you) as (if I am speaking) to men of flesh, as (if I were speaking) to infants in union with Christ.
Infant believers can’t understand mature spiritual things…
I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it (solid food…advanced teaching). Indeed, even now you are not yet able (to receive solid food)…
Unfortunately, infants don’t like listening to their mature teachers…they often think they know it all, just as the Corinthians believers did…Paul continues…
…for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
Paul is distinguishing between infant believers and mature believers in this passage. When Christians are dominated by THE FLESH…when Christians are new to the study of the Word of God, they act like unbelievers…they live like unbelievers…even though THEY ARE NOT unbelievers…they are easily influenced by THE FLESH. God the Holy Spirit is the One who is responsible for shaping our advance to “spiritual”…our advance to maturity…yet often we get in His way.
When we as believers in Christ engage in a struggle with SIN and the LAW and THE FLESH, Paul would describe us as carnal and not spiritual. That’s the time when we need to consider “growing up!” We study the Word of God so that we can learn who we really are as Christians, and so we can be who we were created to be, instead of living a counterfeit lifestyle that could never work for us. Welcome to a place where you can learn about the authentic lifestyle God the Father prepared for you in eternity past so that you could walk in its works.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
JESUS THE ONE AND ONLY
Babbie Mason
The opening song is JESUS THE ONE AND ONLY by Babbie Mason.
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Thank you for giving us a destiny thorough Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ…thank you for helping us to grow up…thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to make us mature and to lead us into all the truth…
Help us to accept the teaching of the Spirit…help us to get to know Him…free us from the life you did not intend for us…help us to become who you meant us to be…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s
name...Amen.
TODAY’S STUDY
Are You Trying to be Something You Are Not?
“The Ugly Duckling” is a fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. In it, the “duckling” was trying to be something he was not. Maybe we, as Christians, can learn a few lessons from him. First a few announcements…
BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS
A Few Changes to the Service
Until further notice…there will be a musical break during the service…but we don’t want you to leave in the middle of the service…words to the songs will be displayed…we’ll be adding more songs to sing along with…feel free to do so…June will sing the last song of each lesson…announcements are moved to the first lesson…an offering will be requested in each lesson…
Happy Birthday!
Tony LoGrasso
June 1
His wife Jennifer had a birthday on the 2nd…so Happy Birthday to Jenn as well.
Happy Birthday!
Norbert Baird
June 5
Happy Birthday!
Monica Miller
June 7
The BIG 5-0!
Happy Birthday!
Dave Hall
June 15
REMINDER
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Barah Ministries
Back on the Radio!
KXEG - 1280 AM
9:30 AM on Sundays
Thanks for your financial support of the radio ministry. You can hear the broadcasts live, or on our website, or at 1280KXEG.com in the Broadcast Library.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Next Deacon’s Meeting
June 13
7:30AM MST
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
The Next Lord’s Supper Celebration
June 14, 2015
VISIT THE VETS
June 21
1:45PM
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Planning Begins
New Church Facility
Join us on June 14, 2015
Nick Tsontakis, Architect
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
No Face-to-Face Teaching
July 5, 2015
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Barah Ministries
Coeur d’Alene Conference
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
August 7-8, 2015
TODAY’S STUDY
Are You Trying to be Something You Are Not?
“The Ugly Duckling” is a fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen.
When the tale begins, a mother duck’s eggs hatch. One of the little birds is perceived by the other birds and animals on the farm as a homely little creature, and he suffers much verbal and physical abuse from them. He wanders sadly from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks.
He finds a home with an old woman but her cat and hen tease him mercilessly and again he sets off on his own. He sees a flock of migrating wild swans; he is delighted and excited but he cannot join them for he is too young and cannot fly.
Winter arrives. A farmer finds and carries the freezing little bird home, but “The Ugly Duckling” is frightened by the farmer’s noisy children and flees the house. He spends a miserable winter alone in the outdoors, mostly hiding in a cave on the partially frozen lake.
When spring arrives a flock of swans descends on the now thawing lake. “The Ugly Duckling,” now having fully grown and matured, is unable to endure a continued life of solitude, and decides to throw himself into the flock of swans, deciding that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness and misery. He is shocked when the swans welcome him and fully accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he has grown into one of them.
The flock takes to the air and “The Ugly Duckling” spreads his beautiful large wings and takes flight with the rest of his new family. “The Ugly Duckling” wasn’t a duckling at all…he was a beautiful swan trying to fit in with ducks. He would never fit. He was trying to be something he was not.
So it is with believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. On planet earth, in Satan’s kingdom, we are “The Ugly Ducklings.” We just don’t fit in here. As Christians, we are teased mercilessly and treated poorly. We should expect no less, because we just aren’t from here…Philippians, Chapter 3, Verse 20…
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which heaven also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…
When the Lord returns for us, we will no longer be “The Ugly Ducklings” … Philippians, Chapter 3, Verse 21…
…(the Lord Jesus Christ) who will transform the body of our humble state (this earthly “duck like” body) into conformity with the body of His glory (a “swan like” resurrection body), by the exertion of the power that He has (divine omnipotence) even (the power) to subject all things to Himself.
Learning to live our new life in union with Christ is quite a challenge when we are trying to live it under the influence of Satan’s kingdom, and all the devices he uses to distract us…like SIN, and the LAW, and THE FLESH.
Let’s take a music break…staying in your places…let’s listen to an exciting and uplifting song from Chris Tomlin…HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD.
MUSIC BREAK
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
Chris Tomlin
TODAY’S STUDY
Are You Trying to be Something You Are Not?
Let’s move to the third passage in Romans, Chapter 7…the first passage is Romans, Chapter 7, Verses 1 to 6…the second passage is Romans, Chapter 7, Verses 7 to 13…the third passage is Romans, Chapter 7, Verses 14 to 24…here’s what it says…
For we know that the Mosaic Law is spiritual, but I (Paul) am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Mosaic Law, confessing that the Mosaic Law is good.
So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
For the good that I want, I do not do, but I PRACTICE the very evil that I do not want.
But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man…
…but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Paul is trying to be something he is not. So are you. Paul is a believer in Christ. So are you. Paul is trying to keep the law. So are you. Both Paul and you are trying to be something you are not. Lawkeepers. That’s the backdrop for our look at this passage…it’s the struggle of a man who is trying to do something he just can’t do…he’s trying to keep the LAW…he’s trying to make the FLESH obedient to the LAW…and in this passage he gains the insight and the revelation that he will never be able to successfully live the life he is trying to live. Have you figured that out yet Christians? Do you realize that the perfection you seek is just not available? Do you realize who you really are is who you are in Christ and not who you are in the flesh?
In the first three verses of this passage, Paul says, “I do what I hate. I can’t overcome evil on my own by using human power, which is really no power”
Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 14…
For we now know that the Mosaic Law is spiritual, but I (Paul) am of flesh (I am carnal…I am in a body with indwelling sin and I am not spiritual…I am not mature), (I am) sold into bondage to sin.
Paul is a believer in Christ. He is not referring to himself as a natural man (psuchikos)…he is referring to himself as carnal…the word carnal is a reference to believers in Christ in this context, and it has the same meaning in the context of First Corinthians Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 3 which we cited in today’s introduction. In other words…even though “the flesh” has been crucified and is dead… God did not remove “the flesh,” and it is still rearing its ugly head, asserting its desire to control the believer in Christ. “The flesh” considers believers in Christ to be “property.” “The flesh” stalks us…and because it is still there, we will still die physically, even though we have the resurrection life…the eternal life…it’s the penalty for having indwelling sin in the body. Jeremiah, Chapter 17, Verse 9…
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
The heart is part of our “inner game” and it is filled with deceit. Jeremiah wondered, “Who can understand the heart?” The Lord Jesus Christ understands the heart. God the Holy Spirit searches the heart. Our God knows our inner game. Now, Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 15…
For what I am doing (my outer game), I do not understand; for I am not practicing (in my outer game) what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate (to do…I am not living the REAL inner game…the spiritual inner game that I want to live).
In this context, as believers in Christ we are carnal when we are not counting on the proper spiritual strength…the strength that comes from the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit…letting Him counteract the flesh. When we want to counteract the flesh in our human power, we are acting like babies.
Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 16…
But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Mosaic Law, confessing that the Mosaic Law is good (that it is holy, it is righteous, and it is from God).
Paul is saying, “If the law says don’t covet…and if I don’t want to covet…then I agree with the law that coveting is not good. Then I covet…I am doing the very thing that I don’t want to do…coveting. But I still have a part of me that says the law, which asks me not to covet, is correct. What’s going on here?” What’s going on here is Paul is finding out who he really is. He is not the dead Old Man. He needs to live his New Self. Paul is not a duck. He’s a swan. Swans are under grace…not the law.
When the Lord Jesus Christ
Promises Salvation, It’s a Guarantee!
…as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one”
But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward all mankind, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
For God the Father did not send the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) into the world to condemn the world, but the Father sent His Son into the world that the world might be saved through believing in Him.
But as many as received the Lord (taking advantage of the free gift of salvation), to them He gave the right (once and for all time) to become children of God…to those who believe in Christ’s name…
CLOSING SONG
WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION
And we pray that You continue to shape messages from this pulpit that accurately reflect Your unconditional love, Your glorious Person, Your lucid thinking, Your impeccable work, and Your magnificent essence...we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.
Thanks for coming!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for listening!
www.barahministries.com
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1220 S. Alma School Rd. Suite 201 Mesa, AZ 85210 |
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