Archive for the ‘Sin’ Category
How To Quit Sinning For Dummies
How To Quit Sinning For Dummies
- Can I actually stop sinning? YES!
- Don’t I need the Holy Ghost to stop sinning? NO!
Up until the 1980’s, America had spent an astronomical amount of taxpayer’s money trying to discover ways to stop Drug usage in children, all to no avail. They later came up with a plan that was unbelievably simple. The name of the new program was simple too. The Government’s advice was “JUST SAY NO”.
Eventually, this approach was also expanded to deal with violence, premarital sex, and any other vices that young people might try.
The slogan was created and championed by First Lady Nancy Reagan during her husband’s presidency according to Wikipedia.
Imagine the solution was to just say, NO!
There are many examples of the Word of God in the Old Testament telling us not to sin. Even Jesus told people not to sin BEFORE the Holy Ghost was given.
SINNING IS A CHOICE
- No one makes you.
- You do it because you want to.
- The Bible says you can quit.
QUITTING IS EASY
- Even a Dummy can quit.
- No experience required.
- No 12-step program required.
WHAT DO I DO?
- The First thing you must do is Repent. Ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you!
- Then quit sinning.
- Isn’t that overly simplistic? NO! It’s exactly what the Bible says to do.
OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES
1. JUST THROW IT OUT
- Gen. 35:2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
- Josh. 24:23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
2. TURN YOUR BACK ON IT
- 2 Chron 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
3. CEASE AND DESIST
- Psa. 37:8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
- Is. 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLES
4. JUST STOP IT
- John 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
- John 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
- 1Cor. 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
5. DROP IT LIKE A HOT POTATO
- Heb. 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
6. RUN FROM IT
- 1Cor. 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body.
- 2Tim. 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
7. JUST DON’T DO IT
- James 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
TO STOP SINNING IS NOT ENOUGH
- You must be Born Again
- You can’t go to Heaven unless you are.
How Do I Become Born Again? A large crowd of people asked the Apostle Peter that on the Day of Pentecost. His advice was to the point.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
It’s Simple:
- Repent. Tell Jesus you are sorry. That’s your job.
- Get Baptized in Jesus Name. That’s the Preacher’s job.
- Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. That’s God’s job to give it to you. (You will speak in tongues when you receive it.)
NOW, GO DO THE RIGHT THING!
He’s Worse Than A Stalker
He’s Worse Than A Stalker
When I was a kid, this guy I knew kept getting me in trouble. At times we had a lot of fun, but things turned ugly a time or too. My parents talked to me about him. The talks helped, it seemed like they didn’t do much lasting good.
It was like I couldn’t get rid of him. He kept getting all up in my business and everything. He followed me everywhere. He was worse than a stalker.
He went to our church. He would talk to me sometimes during the service. During worship he would occasionally smirk at me with disapproval when I lifted my hands. He would try to intimidate me. In the prayer room he sometimes tried to distract me and shorten my prayer time.
I talked straight to him many times. I told him how I hated what he did to me. I told him how I hated how he got me in trouble all the time. How he let me take the blame for his stupid ideas. I told him I didn’t want him messing up my life anymore.
My Pastor read him the riot act too. My Parents even told him they disapproved of his conduct. My Friends talked about him. It was unbelievable. He still never went away.
He was nice enough and apologetic. But he somehow always slipped back into his old ways as soon as the pressure was off.
We went to the same school together and he got me in trouble there too. I was dumb enough to do most of the things he dared me to do. He would tell me stuff and when I repeated it, it got me into a lot of trouble.
I spent a lot of time in the Principals Office and in Detention because I did what he told me to do. It was like I couldn’t help myself. I was weaker than I thought. He brought me much shame and embarrassment. I paid dearly.
My friends got frustrated and sometimes put some distance between him and them. My family tried to not hurt his feelings, but I can tell, he sometimes maxes them out.
I’ve even taken him over to the Prayer Room several times and told him in no uncertain terms that I wanted to pray him through. And a few times I did.
This dude has interfered into my life more times than I can count. The Police won’t arrest him for stalking. They haven’t been successful with running him off either. He ignores restraining orders. It’s like I can’t get away from him. Every time I look into the mirror, he stares back at me.
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Rom. 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom. 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom. 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom. 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom. 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom. 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom. 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
The Sin Of Finding Fault
The Sin Of Finding Fault
Prov. 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Prov. 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Prov. 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Prov. 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
God hated the first six things mentioned here. The seventh one… He hated it so much, He called it an abomination.
“The sowing of discord among brethren.”
If God calls it an abomination, then it’s a bad sin.
1. ‘The Sanballat Syndrome’. – (He wanted Nehemiah’s work to fail.)
- It hinders growth
- It divides
- It sows discord
- Critics do great damage.
- Do you want your church to fail? Then don’t kill it with criticism.
- Many are destroyed by criticism.
2. What makes people criticize? There is always a motive!
The reason Judas became critical of Mary washing the feet of Jesus and breaking the expensive alabaster box with perfumed ointment, is because he wanted it to be sold so he could get his hands on the money. He was a thief!
John 12:5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
John 12:6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
There is a reason, a good reason why people say what they say.
What makes you criticize? At the very least, it’s a spirit that is using you to bring disruption into the Kingdom. Your actions hinder unity at the very least.
3. Biblical treatment of critics.
Railers are critics or fault finders that make little snippy comments. Sometimes they even make harsh indictments.
Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
2Pet. 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
4. Paul said, don’t even eat with a critic. Don’t sit at the same table. That spirit will get on you.
1Cor. 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
5. Murmuring in the wilderness
It brought the judgment of God.
- The fiery serpents.
- God keeps track of your complaints.
- He reminded them that they had murmured 10 times.
- God said that by murmuring, they had tempted Him to destroy them.
- Complaining is criticism.
- Don’t make God want to get rid of you.
6. Almost every church has at least one critic.
They make comments about:
- The temperature
- The noise level.
- The drums
- The songs
- The sermon
- The sermon length
- What someone wore
- The worshipers
- The youth group
- The youth leader
- Those that pray too loud
- The preacher, his wife, his kids
- The offerings
- The tithes
7. Fault Finders:
- Have a self–righteous attitude.
- They have a sense of superiority.
- They have pride issues.
- Refuse to admit what their doing is wrong.
My father had a sign in his pastoral office that said: “You can’t white wash yourself by blackening others.”
8. Like the Pharisee praying in the Temple with the publican,
They thank God they are not like other men. Yet unknown to them, God is not hearing their prayers.
9. Haman could not see the thousands bowing down before him.
All he could focus on was the one that didn’t. That fault led to his eventual downfall and death. He could not enjoy what he had. He could only see what wasn’t going his way.
10. To those that battle with this problem, there is hope.
- Paul mentioned that he had learned in what so ever state he was in to be content.
- It’s possible to learn to be content.
Contented people do not criticize. They are content.
- May there be peace in our spirits and in our church.
- Contentment is a friend of unity.
- Unity preceded the Holy Ghost outpouring in the book of Acts.
Barnabas was an encourager. He was an edifier.
May God give us more men like Barnabas. We desperately need them.
Sin Hides The Price Tag
Sin Hides The Price Tag
My Father, Carl Ballestero, had a rule of thumb when it came to finding a gas station on the road. If there was no price-per-gallon displayed on the station sign, he wouldn’t stop there for gas. He would mumble, “If they won’t put up the price of their gas, it means they are ashamed it.”
Most of the other stations are quick to display a drop in price to attract customers. Those that don’t display their prices might have a reason. They just might be charging more than they should.
Once in a great while, I stumble into a place of business that has items with no price tags. I hate it when I have to ask, “How much is this?”
I even dislike trying to buy something that says, “make an offer.” I just like to know the asking price.
In my elementary way of thinking, the seller knows how much he needs to sell the item for. Just tell me. If it’s too much, I won’t buy. If the price is acceptable, I’m tempted to buy.
It is a common practice in almost every business to mark all items that are for sale. I like it when they do that.
Have you ever noticed that Sin has a way of hiding it’s price tag? Sin is ashamed to tell you up front what you will have to pay.
When you pay for what Sin sells, you’ll pay more than you thought and you will pay longer than you expected.
Every one of us has either said it, or heard it said… “How long do I have to pay for my mistakes?”
If we would have known the price for our Sins, we wouldn’t have been so interested to start with.
Sin hides always the price tags.
It hides the prices tag of:
Loving pleasures more than loving God (2 Tim 3:4 – Your love for God will grow weak)
Immorality (Prov 6:32 – “he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.”)
Loving the world. (1 John 2:15 – The love of the Father is not in you)
Rebellion (1Sam. 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft”)
Bitterness (Heb 12:15 – “trouble you, and thereby many be defiled”)
Pride (Prov. 16:18 – “destruction”)
Haughty Spirit (Prov. 16:18 – “a fall”)
Envy (James 3:16 “there is confusion and every evil work.”)
Strife (James 3:16 “there is confusion and every evil work.”)
Drunkenness (Gal 5:21 – “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”)
Lusts (1Pet. 2:11- “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul”)
The price tag of Sin is so high that no one in their right mind would ever buy if they looked at the price tag.
Let me turn the tag over and show it to you…
James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
There, can you see it? I sure wouldn’t buy if I were you! The price is too high!
Do You Know What Drowning Looks Like?
Do You Know What Drowning Looks Like?
The Monthly Feature from the Medical News TODAY
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196538.php
If you and your family are planning to spend some of this summer by the sea, by the pool, or perhaps even a river or lake, perhaps you should ask yourself, would you be able to spot someone in trouble in the water, in time to save their life: do you really know what drowning looks like?
Mario Vittone, a writer on maritime safety, tells a story about a former life guard, now a boat captain, who spotted a potentially fatal incident from fifty feet away. The captain jumped off his own boat, and sprinted toward a family swimming between the beach and their anchored boat: he sped past the astonished parents, to save their nine-year old daughter, who had been quietly drowning not ten feet behind her father.
Vittone, whose articles have appeared in many magazines, including Reader’s Digest, said he was not surprised when he heard this story: he knows a thing or two about drowning, having served nineteen years in the US Navy and Coast Guard, and his strongest message is “Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning”.
Furthermore, says the CDC, many parents have watched their child drown without realizing what was happening. They did not know what the captain who saved the little girl in Vittone’s story was trained to notice and her parents were blissfully unaware of: the signs of Instinctive Drowning Response, a term coined by Dr Francesco A. Pia, a water safety expert.
Vittone and Pia wrote about the Instinctive Drowning Response, in the Fall 06 issue of On Scene, the journal of the US Coast Guard Search and Rescue. Pia says it is what people do to avoid suffocating in water: they don’t splash much, they don’t wave, and they don’t yell or call out. Quite different to what many of us might expect.
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When reading this today, all the alarms in my soul went off. How many do we know that have drowned spiritually in front of our eyes and we didn’t see the signs of their unspoken struggles?
I’m not talking about those whose overt actions and speech give away their desire for the world. It’s those that we know whose struggle for survival is inward and their pride keeps them from admitting they need help.
Pastors, evangelists, youth leaders, Sunday school teachers, parents and concerned saints have ALL experienced the horror of losing someone dear to them. Some of us were oblivious to the spiritual drowning.
God help us all to be more aware of the needs of our sisters and brothers.
The Unreasonable Demands Of Sin
The Unreasonable Demands Of Sin
Mark 10:17-27- The Rich Young Ruler felt Christ’s demands were unreasonable!
- So, You think the Church makes unreasonable demands on you?
- Before you get the mindset that God’s is unreasonable, let me tell you about the Unreasonable Demands Of Sin.
There are Unreasonable Demands of Life
Keep up w/Jones’s, Car Model changes,
School Busing,
No Prayer in Schools
The Unreasonable Demands Of Life Are A Given. Let’s Talk About The Unreasonable Demands Of Sin.
Sin Wanted:
- Eve to Question and Disobey God. = (The Loss of God’s Fellowship)
- Noah’s Gen. to Ignore Only Saving message = (The loss of your life.)
- Naboth to sell his vineyard = (Lose your heritage)
- Daniel to stop praying = (Lose your consecration
- 3 Hebrew Children to bow down = (Lose your worship)
- That was a long time ago.
- Let’s Talk About The Unreasonable Demands of Sin Today.
Sin Demands:
- Your Innocence
- The Early Loss of Your Virginity to be accepted by the world, the in-crowd.
- Sin wishes to devalue you in your own eyes and the eyes of others.
Style Demands:
- You dress a certain way ——- even if you look stupid.
- Wear expensive clothes ——- even if you can’t afford to.
- That Holiness be ignored.
- That you wear things that God calls an abomination. (Everyone’s doing it)
- That clothes be designed without the church in mind.
Drugs Demand:
- You support an expensive habit, even if you don’t want to.
- You do whatever you have to do to get the money
- Sell your body for more drugs.
- Steal
- Get a criminal record
- Become HIV positive (dirty needles)
- Live a lie
- Change into a crazed animal at times
- Be abusive to others
- Birth children with serious birth defects
- Risk losing the ones that love you
- Warp your personality
- Damage your ability to think clearly
- Fry your brains for life.
Alcohol Demands:
- You destroy your family
- Your marriage go on the rocks
- You choose the Bottle over your family
- You miss work,
- Lose your Job
- Lose your career
- Consider homelessness an option
- Damage your vital organs
- Destroy your liver
- You Lose your Driver’s license and possibly your freedom
Smoking Demands:
- You knowingly kill yourself
- You jeopardize your health and those around you
- You breath stink
- Your teeth to turn yellow
- Your fingers to stain
- Your Hair, clothes, car, house, smell like an ash tray
- You turn your lungs into cancer containers.
- That kissing you is like licking an ashtray.
Your Temper Demands:
- You always have to get your way to be happy.
- That you become physical in your anger.
- That your family fear you and your violent nature.
- That your friends fear you too.
- You get offended easily and say things that you’ll regret.
- That submission becomes a constant issue.
Your Lust Demands:
- Gratification, regardless of the cost.
- You risk your health
- You risk your reputation
- You risk your soul
- You disregard risk of embarrassment or injury to your friends, church, family
Your Perversion Demands:
- That you become without natural affection
- That you live in a closet of deception all your life.
- That you continually risk your health
- That you continually risk HIV infection
- That you continually risk the violent reactions of others
- That you live in fear of being outed
- That you live a lifestyle that God hates
- That you live in fear of rejection by your family and others.
- That not only are your desires perverted, your mind is too.
- That you get in conflict with the laws of Man and the laws of God.
Your Rebellion Demands
- That Pride becomes your motivation
- That you ignore God’s Word and God’s Man.
- That your spirit be used of the Devil to hinder Revival in the Church
- That you feel more comfortable with Self Will than God’s Will
- That you bring the Judgment of God on yourself
- That Godly people discern your spirit and distance themselves from you.
- That you fall into the category of “a worker of iniquity”
- That you tempt the Lord every time you open your mouth
Hollywood Demands:
- You accept it’s morality
- Your senses become hardened by:
- Murder
- Violence
- Vulgarity
- Nudity
- Pre-marital Sex
- Infidelity
- Perversion
- Humanistic values
- It Demands Christians be portrayed as:
- Nerds
- Wicked and Hypocritical people
- Churches be put in a bad light
- Preachers are always bad people
Sin Demands that you:
- Doubt God, but trust your sinner friends.
- Disobey God
- Not Fear God
- Not Love God with all your heart
- Accept what God rejects.
- Ignore God
- Make light of God’s Word
- Ignore God’s Call
- You reject God
Sin Demands you:
- That you miss church
- That you get a job that helps you miss church
- That you justify worldly friends
- That you feel like God doesn’t love you
- That you feel like The Church doesn’t love you
- That you feel like the Pastor doesn’t love you
- That you believe sinful living is really freedom.
Sin Demands Your:
- Involvement
- Your participation, physically/emotionally
- That you recruit others
- That you not go to hell alone
- That when you did go to church to had no desire to recruit others.
- Time
- Finances – That you throw money to the devil, but have a problem with tithes
- Acceptance – Become addicted
- Life
- Future
Sin Demands that You Live In:
- Bondage
- Condemnation
- Shame
- Guilt
- Regret
- Reproach
- In Fear of Dying
Sin Demands You:
- Reject God’s Love
- It’s wages
- Go to Hell
- Feel Uncomfortable in Church
- Feel Uncomfortable in the presence of God
- Become hardened in your heart
- Believe a lie and be damned
- You backslide
- Get rebellious
- Lose your testimony
- If your Boss was Unreasonable, you’d quit
- If your Neighbors were Unreasonable, you’d move
- If the Gas Station’s prices were Unreasonable, you’d go elsewhere
- If the Restaurant’s prices were Unreasonable, you’d go elsewhere
- Sin is Unreasonable, You NEED to go Elsewhere
Sin Demands You consider Heaven’s Demands Unreasonable!
The Reasonableness of Serving God
- Yoke is easy
- Burden light
- Heaven is better than Hell
- God blesses you daily
- Great is your reward in Heaven
- Here is as bad as it gets
- God fights your battles
- God supplies your needs
- God directs your steps
- God gives you peace
- Guilt is gone
- Your sins are forgiven
Rom. 12:1-2 Holiness is reasonable
- Obeying God is reasonable
- Faith is reasonable
- Worship is reasonable
- Tithing is reasonable
- The New Birth Message is reasonable
- Witnessing is reasonable
- Fearing God is reasonable ……(the beginning of wisdom)
Sin’s demands at best, can only bring temporary pleasure
What’s Unreasonable about:
- God’s Love
- God’s Mercy
- God’s Protection
- Forgiveness
- Having your sins washed away in Jesus Name
- Being filled with the Spirit
- Heaven
- Letting God Guide you
- Letting God comfort you
- Say Good-bye to the Sinning Business
- Say Hello to the Reasonableness of living for God
What’s Reasonable About:
- Resisting God?
- Neglecting your Soul?
- Refusing Divine Help?
- Running from God?
- Ignoring God’s Love?
- Living in fear of the Judgment
- Living in fear of the Rapture
- Living without peace in your soul
- Being lost in eternity
- Saying goodbye to Salvation
Get Your eyes open to the fact that God loves you,
That the Devil doesn’t love you, he desires you.
- It’s Reasonable to respond to the love of God.
- It’s Reasonable to Give Him your heart.
- It’s Reasonable to Surrender your will to Him
- It’s Reasonable to Obey His Word.
- It’s Reasonable to Live for God.
- It’s Reasonable to Live Holy
- It’s Reasonable to Dress Holy
- It’s Reasonable to show the World, by how we act and dress, that we belong to God.
- When we were in Sin, we showed God who we belonged to, by how we acted and dressed.)
God hasn’t asked you to do some hard thing.
Here is what he’s asked you to do, it’s found in ACTS 2:38
- Repent
- Get Baptized
- Receive The Gift of the Holy Ghost…Speaking with other tongues
Let Him fill you today.
Live For Him! It’s Not Hard!
Apostolic Expository Series
Christy Ballestero (My Beautiful DIL)
http://marciaballestero.com/
Pastor Anthony & Kim Ballestero, New Destiny Worship Center, Clearwater, FL (My Son)
Pastor Bryan & Christy Ballestero, Temple Of Pentecost, Raleigh, NC (My Son)
James Groce Blog – "Toward The Mark"
Kenneth Bow Blog
Kingdom Speak Podcast
Philip Harrelson – "The Barnabas Blog"
Verbal Bean Ministries
Holy Ghost Radio
The Ballestero Blog 