I'm looking for a harvest for my God is real. Hello again, welcome everybody to Scrooge, we're in fact, I'm Associate Pastor Steve Rose, I'm here with my pastor, Tim Parton. It's good to be with you again, good to be back. And he's here last week.
Yeah, yeah, it's always good to get the gun beyond the program and we enjoy the opportunity that the station has made available and we appreciate our church and all our other contributors that help it make it possible that we can do this. And we just trust and pray that you're getting a great benefit out of the program because that's what we're here for to hopefully be able to teach you some spiritual lessons that you find in Word of God. And today we're gonna talk about something that maybe a lot of people don't really wanna admit or think about, but the progression of temptation. I'm gonna get it, we're gonna talk about sin.
Yeah, yeah. See that's the thing. I was trying to go easy on it. That's one of the things today though, you know, you bring that up pastor, a lot of things you don't hear about in church that anyone's breached a sin.
No, you hear people don't wanna talk about sin, they don't wanna talk about sin because it disrupts their life. In order to move up closer to God, we're gonna have to lay some things aside. Now that doesn't always mean that things are wrong, but sometimes there's those little weights that hinder us. And we gotta lay those things down in order for God to get us to the next level that he wants us to be in.
But sin is not a very popular subject and really people don't wanna acknowledge it anymore. We live in a world where morality seems to have gone by the wayside in a lot of people. But you know what, that still doesn't change what God calls it. And what God calls sin, back then is still sin today.
And God's word is what we have to gauge everything by. It doesn't matter what our opinions are, it doesn't matter what laws of the land are, if they transgress God's law, God's law supersedes everything. That's right. Everything.
But we've got several scriptures here that we're going to read today, but I'm gonna start here in James 1st chapter, more read verses probably 12 through 15 years ago. Blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved or tried, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away, oh, he's getting good here now.
By his own desires or lust, and then that becomes enticed, pastor state. And then when the desire or lust has been conceived within your heart, it gives birth to sin. And sin when it is vanished or full grown brings forth death. So there's a progression that comes along, you know, sometimes people just do things, they know they're doing wrong and they do it anyway.
And sometimes things suddenly creep on, nobody intended to be as far out and sin as they end up. An alcoholic, the first time an alcoholic ever took a drink of alcohol had no intention on finding himself maybe laying in a street corner somewhere or a drug addict, strung out on drugs or any number of things. And there's, you know, people wanna name, well, they know, well, this is the really bad addictions. But now I may be sitting here and I may be doing some things myself, I say, you know what?
I ain't doing that. But you know what, if we're, you've said it before, if we're guilty at the least, we're guilty of the lot of the whole. So, but sin has a progression in our life. And I believe the first thing it talks about here is when it's conceived.
And how is sin conceived? It's when we are drawn away by our lusts. So God cannot tempt anybody because he cannot be tempted himself. That would go against his very nature.
All good gifts the Bible says appear comes from above. So if there's a temptation, it is there because the enemy has said it there. Sometimes the enemy puts forth traps. Sometimes things can look real pretty to the high pastor's sleeve.
My mom always said it to us when we were growing up. She said, boys, the devil paints a real pretty picture. But he won't ever turn it over and let you see the back side of it because I was in sin. If you ever, you were a, you were a retired police officer and I saw pictures and we'll just use this as an example of how sin eats and the K's away in a life.
Where some, it might be a beautiful young lady or a handsome young man and it gets involved in drugs. And over the process, they're unrecognizable by the enemy. And that's what sin does. Sin is like a cancer that eats away at the very morality of the inside of us.
So when we're drawn away by our own lust, it's conceived within our heart. If we can learn how to walk away, but that lust gets enticed. That's the hard part. You know, when you look at the background of this, when it starts talking about this, it really talks about a fishing lure and how a fish looks that lure.
You know, you go out there and you throw your bait in. The bait's there. The fish comes by and says, oh, that looks good. And then it's tempted by it.
It goes up against a deal with it. And then it takes the bite of it and then it's hooked. And that's the way sin works here too. We're enticed.
But you know, when I look at those verses right there, it's our own fault. There's no way. And God says, you know, when you are tempted in temptation, He says He provides a way that we may be able to bear it, that we may be able to escape. But you know, we have to do it through the Spirit of God.
But again, right here, you can't put sin on anybody but yourself. Where it says we're tempted by our own lust. And how many times have we heard something? Well, you know, I did that because so and so, so and so did this to me.
But you know, right there, scripture says it's because they chose to do that. One of the biggest excuses, and we'll say in the church world or really outside the church as well, is shifting the blame. So it's so, so calls me to get angry. So that's why I punched him in the face or something else.
And you look back in the garden of Eden, when God came walking and found Adam and Eve, he knew what they had done. Nothing's hid from God. He sees everything. And God began to question, have you either the fruit and Adam said, the woman, he ought to start blaming the woman and then he started blaming God that you gave me God.
And then the one blamed the serpent and the servant didn't have anybody left to blame. You know, you brought that up, it's interesting. That's one of the things I've got right here. When you start talking about that, Genesis chapter 3, it says, and this is right after the serpent was there and the woman started talking.
And it says in verse 4, and it says, and the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die, because God had already told him, you didn't have any tree in here except this one, the day that you should surely die. But the serpent says to the woman, you shall not surely die. For God does know that in the day you eat their oven, your eyes shall be open and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Now that's a half truth, is knew that when they eat that their eyes would be open, they knew that they had sinned.
But again, there's the little white lies, a lie is a lie. And he says right here, he says in verse 6 says, and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that's the flesh. Says in that it was pleasant to the eyes, that's lust. And the tree to be desired to make one wise, that's pride.
She took of the fruit there of and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. It's called the fall of man because he could stop her and he was supposed to and he should have, but he did not. And when you also look at the Word of God and 1 John, it talks about those three things. I think those three things are still the things that are tripping people up today.
1 John 2, 16 says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. You saw all three of those that work right there in that temptation. You know, and you were reading about what the serpent said, Dave, God said, if you'll surely die, the servant said you're not. It's a three letter word that he tried to change.
And I was sitting here and I thought, sin is a three letter word. So the enemy is always seeking, the Bible says he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he made of valor. And see, that's the thing, the enemy can't get in unless we open the door. And you were talking about that earlier, you said, you know, there's schemes.
And the sixth chapter talks about putting on the whole spiritual armor of God. Why? It's just taking up above all the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And it's so that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
What those wiles of the devil means is carefully devised plans. You know, there are warning signs out there and the perfect example is Samson with the lala. How many times did she try to get him to tell her where the source of his power came from? And he'd tell her some other story and she'd scream, Samson, the Philcyn's, he should have realized that, you know, she's up to something here.
But you know what? It goes back to the lust. When we begin to enjoy for taking a sin, we ignore the warning signs. And that happens.
That's how things go from into the addiction aspect. And I'm not just talking about drugs and alcohol. I mean, the list, we could fill out a notebook pad full of things that people get addicted to. But people fail to heed God's warning signs.
And that's a very good point. You brought Samson. When you look at that, Samson was a Nazarite. He had a strict vow.
There's three things he wasn't supposed to do. He wasn't supposed to take alcohol. He wasn't supposed to touch anything to you and wasn't supposed to cut his hair. What did he do?
He'd drink alcohol. He'd sit there, he ate honey from the carcass of the deadline. He grabbed the jawbone of an ass and it killed a thousand Philcyn's with it. But you know, because judgment didn't come quickly.
He kept going. He's thinking, I don't know if at that point he says, what is it truly? And she, what does she do? She plays on his emotions.
If you really love me, you'd tell me what the source of your strength is. And finally, I always wondered that. It may be because he'd done all these things and steal the spirit of God was upon him when he would need the spirit of God. If he says, well, you know, I've done all these other things.
Well, you know, if you cut my hair, then I'll be just as normal as anybody else. You know, it says when they cut his hair, it says, he didn't realize the spirit of God had departed. You said something just to me to go that because judgment didn't come quickly. And I think people get loaded.
They think they get away with things. And you see that happen. People cheat on their taxes. And for a while, they think to get away till the government starts backtracking, figuring up some stuff.
And just other things like people cheat on their spouses and they think they're getting away with it. The Bible says that there's nothing done in secret that won't be brought to life. And then we'll be revealed because darkness cannot hide forever. When the light steps in, anything that's not of God is going to be revealed.
And when people are drawn away by the things and the devil knows what to tempt you with, he's not going to tempt you with something that's not going to get your attention. But a lot of times people are trying to feel voids with something. It's a void that really is reserved for God. But they're trying to use something else to feel that void with.
And when you continually try to do that, you're going to end up getting in trouble. And when Jesus saves us, he can forgive all that. But sometimes there are scars that are left in our life, Steve. You're right.
Think about that. It's perfect how these lines are saying. Samson will go back to Samson. What did they do immediately after he's strength left him?
They put him in chains. He says they put out his eyes. He couldn't see any longer. And then at the end talking about God can forgive us of these things.
Jesus can set us free from sin. He's the only payment for the sin dead. The only payment for the sin dead. But it says they brought him out and they begin to make fun of him.
But right after he had his hair cut, the word of God says, but his hair began to grow again. And then at the end he says, brought the little boy out and says, can you tell me where the pillars are? I just put my hands against them. And he called on God and he says one more time.
Let me experience the power. And you know his hair began to learn his lesson. But it comes through humbling. But it says that he actually killed more Philistines and his death than he did in his lifetime.
He had some pretty big battles. He had some palsy at one time. But you know when we give away to that temptation through our lust. And that sin, because you know it's in sin, nature is in man.
We were born in an equity in sin because of the fall and we talked about that. But once it's conceived, anything that's conceived is going to have a time of birth. And sometimes be careful because what you produce, what your conception may produce something that you don't want. But then it's too late.
It's already there. And then is that sin matures? And that's when it gets even more and more bound up and the chains of iniquity and the struggles. And you know nobody wants to be bound up by anything.
I can't believe that anybody in the right mind would want to be bound up, whether it be drugs, alcohol, pornography, anything like that. There's so many other things that we could name as well. But to be bound, do not have any control over. You know I've seen on TV people get caught in things and they're so ashamed.
I mean they're covering their face. They're weeping and you know people may interview them and say, you know what I didn't intend for that to happen. Nobody ever did. Yeah there's an old saying you know sin will cost you more than you want to pay.
It will take you know father than you want to go and keep you in long than you want to say. And that's the thing. We don't realize and understand how such an impact it can have on life. It's hard to run a race when you're bound.
It is. And the sad thing is that when sin is finished with you, it's killed you. There's death. And if you don't repent not only can it bring forth to physical death but sadly it will bring forth the spiritual death, eternal separation from God.
But there's hope in Jesus Christ. Amen. And it doesn't matter what the sin is and like we say a lot of people want to characterize it and say well I did this but I never done any of that stuff. Well if we were sinners and that's all of us who were born then we were lost.
And the only hope for us to make it to heaven is to do it by the blood of Jesus Christ. And his, well he did it Calvary. So you know none of us have the right to, we're not, you know we see people that want to judge other people and put other people down and they never want to take ownership for anything they did. And they never want to talk about anything.
I've often said if we go to our churches and say you and I got up Sunday morning and say okay church we're going together back here tonight and we're going to have a confession and everybody's going to empty their claws it's out and we're not saying we got people that are just running rampant. That's all I'm saying. Everybody has things in the past that needs to stay there. Because when God saved us he said he forgot it.
We talked about this on previous programs. We don't need to be bringing that stuff up. Why are we going to the graveyards and with a shovel and digging it back up when God buried it? Yeah.
And it's like the landmarks you know a lot of times when something bad happens you're chained here. When God had him set up the landmarks he never meant for him to be chained to the landmark. He always wanted to look back to the landmark and say this is where he brought me from. And that's the one thing today.
You know people are still and whether you want to admit it or not they struggle with sin. But the word of God says that you know there is no forgiveness for sin without shedding of blood. There's people out there you know they say well if I can do just enough good or my good outweighs and my bad then I'll make it to heaven but you know that's not what the word of God says. Because if we're that way says you'll be weighed in the balance and you'll be found wanting.
Because if you're trying to go on your own good works you can't make it. There's nobody going to make it on their own good works. You've got to go on the blood of Jesus Christ and through what he did at the Cross of Calvary. That's the only way we can make it to heaven today.
You know sin leaves the mark it leaves the scar and another thing sin reveals is the activity of the enemy within a person's life. Because nothing's done in secret. But just it doesn't matter you could be a murderer. But if you truly are repentive God will forgive you.
And God where that death sentence is there God will change it to a life sentence. Because we talked about in a previous program about he is life. And that he breathes and speaks life into us. The thing of it is once we know what we're doing is wrong and shouldn't take us too long to figure that out.
But there are some people in fairness pastors that have never really been told anything. They have been left to themselves and just to kind of fend for themselves. And kids that run the streets until they become adults and they're just living the life they've known until somebody points them to Jesus. And when we look at that that's what the law was designed to do.
And we look at the law and I'm not talking about necessarily the laws of man. And when you talk about that you know you may be a murderer. God can forgive you. You may still suffer the penalty of law of man.
But you know what's the big one. Your eternal destination. That's the big one's going to be the one that you want the salvation for. The one you want to be ready to meet is when Christ saves you.
You want to have that death sentence removed by the blood of the lamb. That's what you want. You know and I was just thinking we stopped by that and people say well I ain't never killing nobody. Well maybe not physically.
How about with the tongue? How many have killed somebody's influence? By shading gossip and things. There's so much to this.
That's what I'm saying. We focus too much on the things that are obvious sins. And we don't want to look at what the little foxes you talked about are that destroy the vine. That again entangled up within our life and cause us to cool away from God.
Because sin has to separate you. There's no way that you can draw close to God with sin in your life. And when we talked about that law going back the law we're talking about is the 10 commandments. You know a lot of people they want to take them out of court rinses and take them out of this way.
Whether we want to deny them or whether we don't. But let me just we put ourselves to the test. That's the one thing about the law. The law says have you ever told a lie?
Well if you've told a lie then what are you? That says you're a liar. It says if you ever looked upon a man or woman with less than your heart. Well you know what the Bible says if you've done that the Lord himself says if you've done that you've committed adultery in your heart.
So that means you're guilty of adultery. If you ever take the name of the Lord in vain that means you use his name in a cuss word or you said that the Lord told you to do something that he didn't tell you to do. That's blasphemy. So you know when you put yourself and you look at yourself in a lot of the law that means you're a lying adulterous blasphemerate heart.
There's only one cure. Jesus. Jesus. And that's the blood of the Lamb.
That's where we've got to go to receive our forgiveness of sin. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God every day but that's where the blood of Jesus comes in. Amen. I've got a footnote here and we're going to go to the Lord in prayer in just a minute.
This says yielding to temptation is sin. Temptation itself is not a sin. Temptation is also not just a single event but a process involving four stages. Entisement, entrapment, endorsement and enslavement.
If you fit in one of those categories Jesus said I've come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. He's come to set that captive free if you put your trust in him. Maybe you're watching and your life's a total wreck. You know what?
We got the one that knows how to fix it. Jesus is a fixer. Amen. Yes, he is.
Amen. Steve, take us to the Lord in prayer. Father, I'm coming to you Lord right now. Let us join us by the internet and let us join us by TV.
Father, we praise you. We thank you for everything. And then we follow the Massey Lord of the day Lord by the Holy Spirit of God. It says the Spirit draws men, women and children and Jesus as their Savior.
I'm asking Lord begin to draw right now. Father, I'm asking those that their hearts are convicted right now that they know that they're lost in sin, that they pray this prayer. Father, forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me from sin.
Lord, I believe in the blood of the Lamb. I receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Father, I thank you Lord for saving me. And these things I give thanks for in Jesus name.
Amen. Amen. You know, we'll give you some advice here that maybe will help you in your life. If it looks good, but you don't have peace about it, you better leave it alone.
Seek God. God will give you the correct answers. God will let you know. But a lot of times the devil can appear as an angel of light, which means that he can look good to the eye.
But you know what? His end game is destroyed. Everyone that he can. But I'm glad that we can have victory over sin, over death, because Jesus defeated death hell on the grave.
And he's the only one that Pastor Stephen said that can give us the victory over sin. And even though we're not home yet, and we struggle daily, he is there. His grace is sufficient to help us. When we truly, truly want to live for him, and we've made that determination.
And sure, we may struggle. We may, we're going to make some mistakes. You know what? He's always faithful and just.
You hear that prayer of one of his children. And it's been good on the program. And I did miss you last week. I miss you too.
I'm glad to be back. But you know, it's a fun time when we get here and open up the Word of God. And if you've got some subjects and you'd like to email, maybe we can look at some of those and maybe discuss some kind of help you get you pinpointed and some give you some scripts on some things. We don't have all the answers.
And our opinions sometimes make different from yours a little bit. You know what? He said, let every man be a liar. God's word be the truth.
He has not only the A say, he has the only say, and this is the one that's going to stand at the end times. That's right. And you know, except across your Savior, reach out to us. Email us at alwc-severe-ville- at gmail.com.
Let's know about it. But we'd love to see in person come visit us at the Abundant Life Worship Center. We're located at 923, Dolly Parton Parkway in Severeville, Tennessee. Take us home, Mercy.
Brother says it's good to be with you. And I want to see you next time, Spiritually Impact. We love you. And remember above that, God loves you.
Amen. Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Tim Parton of Abundant Life Worship Center. For those of you that live in the Severeville area, or maybe you just visit from time to time, we'd like to take a moment and invite you to come visit us at the church.
We're located at 923, Dolly Parton Parkway, right here in Severeville. Our service times are Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Wednesday evening at 630. We just love sharing the word of God.
We're just a family church. So we invite you to come grow with us. God bless. We're come.
We're just a little faith. We are never alone. So this battle I won't fear. Cause I can hear the sound of it.