HOW CAN A MAN CHANGE HIS LIFE
WHEN HE BECOMES A CHRISTIAN
???
This has got to be One of the Most Important Questions that a New Believer can possibly Ask Himself !!!
Consider Isaiah 55:6-9.
Isa 55:6 ¶ Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The Psalmist Declared:
" Wherewithal shall a Young Man Cleanse His Way ?
by Taking Heed thereto According to Thy Word ."
Psalm 119:9
Jesus said:
" Now Ye are Clean through the Word which I have Spoken unto You ."
John 15:3
Isaiah said:
" But we are All as an Unclean thing ..."
Isaiah 64:6
SO WHAT CAN WE DO ???
GOD'S WORD TEACHES:
1. That we Need to be Transformed and that this transformation takes place by a Renewing of Our Mind
Romans 12:2 & Colossians 3:10
2. That Renewal is a Work of the Holy Spirit through the Ministry of the Word of God
Titus 3:5; II Corinthians 3:17-18; James 1:23; & Psalm 19:7
Therefore : It is Absolutely Necessary that We Spend
Time In the Study of the Word of God, the Bible.
Each Week Contains 168 New Hours.
These are the Number of New Hours Each Week which will Either be Influenced & Controlled By God and His Ways & Thoughts Through the Study of the Bible OR by Your Old Carnal Way of Thinking which is Influenced & Controlled by the World, the Flesh, & the Devil. The Choices You Make from Now On will Determine your Destiny. Most of those New Hours each week are Already Unduly Influenced by Worldly Thought Patterns because of your Job Environment, the Television and Other Media as well as Most of Your Acquaintances. An Hour or Two Each Week of Going to Church and Reading the Bible will Never be Able to Overcome that Influence. You Must Place Yourself Under the Influence of the Word & Stay there Long Enough to Cleanse and Rearrange Your Mental Processes.
REMEMBER ALSO :
3. That we have a Carnal Nature that is Enslaved to Sin and will War
Against what we Know is Right and Bring Us into Captivity to
Sin & Despair
Romans 7:14-24 & Romans 8:6-7
4. That we have a World System that is Operated By & Directly Under
the Influence of the Prince of Darkness, Satan himself, & It will
Always Seek to Pressure Us to Continue to Follow Along in It's
Course ( like we Did Before ) , as It Travels Away From God.
Ephesians 2:1-3
| ONE HOUR | |||||||||
This ONE HOUR Section Represents One Hour of Church a Week.
The White Area Represents the 167 Remaining Hours which are Continually Influenced by Satan.
It is very easy to tell why Most People who Profess to be Christians Don't change very much in the course of their lives. The Week is just Full of all kinds of Other Influences that Ultimately Control Men and Women's Lives by Controlling their Thinking.
The Bible says that we are to be TRANSFORMED BY the RENEWING of Our MINDS in Romans 12:1-2.
The Bible says that GOD'S WAYS & THOUGHTS are HIGHER than Our Ways & Thoughts AND that We are to FORSAKE OUR WAYS & OUR THOUGHTS in Isaiah 55:6-9.
The Question is : How Can We Realistically DO What God has Called Us to Do, If We are Only Giving a Minimal Amount of Time to Our Study of the Bible and Our Learning About God's Ways ?
Can One Hour a Week Even Begin to UNDO a WAY OF THINKING which we have Come to Embrace which has Taken a Lifetime to Develop ?
The World is Filled with Corruption Because of Deceitful Lusts.
II Peter 1:4
Every Day that Corruption is All Around Us, & the Devil Draws Upon It to Inject Our Hearts & Minds with that Worldly Corruption.
The Heart of Man is Filled with Corruption because of Deceitful Lusts. Jeremiah 17:9 ; Ephesians 4:22 ; & Romans 8:6-7
Because Our Heart and Minds are also Corrupted by Nature, we are Often Inclined to Receive the Corrupt Influence that we are being Injected with throughout our Daily Experiences.
We Must Fill Our Hearts with the Incorruptible Word of God which Lives and Abides Forever I Peter 1:23 & Ephesians 5:26. We Cannot Overcome the Concerted Efforts of the World, the Flesh, & the Devil to Dominate our Thinking without a Concerted Effort on Our Part to Get Ourselves Under the Spiritual Fountain of the Word of God, so We can Cleanse & Wash Away that Corruption.
The Following Chart Represents what a Week
Might Look Like for the Average Diligent Faithful Church Attender.
Sun. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat.
| Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep |
| Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep |
| Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep |
| Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep |
| Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep |
| Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep |
| Sleep | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Sleep |
| Sleep | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Misc. |
| Misc. | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Devotion |
| Devotion | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Free/HW |
| Church | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Free/HW |
| Church | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Free/HW |
| Misc. | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Misc. |
| Free/HW | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Free/HW |
| Free/HW | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Free/HW |
| Free/HW | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Free/HW |
| Free/HW | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Free/HW |
| Free/HW | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Free/HW |
| Church | Devotion | Devotion | Church | Devotion | Devotion | Free/HW |
| Church | Free/HW | Free/HW | Church | Free/HW | Free/HW | Misc. |
| Misc. | Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW |
| Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW | Free/HW |
| Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Free/HW | Free/HW |
| Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Sleep | Free/HW |
The Gray Sleep Labeled Hours Represent Sleep.
The Yellow Misc. Labeled Hours Represent Preparation for Work, Breakfast, Going to Work, Coming Home, Reading the Paper, Unwinding from Work, Eating Supper Daily, and Lunch as well on Weekends.
The Work Labeled Hours Represent the Average Work Week Hours
Including a One hour Lunch or a half an hour with Extra Drive Time.
The Church Labeled Hours Represents Church with Some Travel.
The White Devotion Labeled Hours Represent Daily Devotions.
The Free/HW Hours Represent Free Hours Watching TV, Relaxing, Doing Home Work Chores Around the House, and etceteras.
CONSIDER THE PARABLE OF THE DIRTY CUP.
Try to Imagine Your Mind & Your Heart as being like a Cup Containing Dirty Water. Then, imagine a Huge Container of the Dirtiest Most Polluted Water You've Ever Seen. Imagine a Large Pitcher - much larger than the Cup that represents your Heart and Mind -, and then picture a Large Hand that never seems to get tired Continually Scooping Out a Pitcher Full of that Filthy Water and Pouring it Into the Cup. The Huge Container Filled with the Dirtiest Water You've Ever Seen Represents the World All Around You. The Large Hand which Tirelessly Scoops and Pours this Filthy Water Into Your Cup is the Devil. One hundred and sixty eight hours a week this Hand is Scooping and Pouring his Sewage Into your Heart and Mind - even to a certain extent when you are sleeping. ( Have you ever had a dream which left you feeling defiled upon your awaking out of sleep ? ) Every week Satan's assault is relentless.
Now imagine a relatively Small Eye-dropper and a Boundless Sea of Water So Clean & Pure that it Literally Brings Life to All who come into contact with it. Now, picture the Eye-dropper in your hand and you reaching into that sea to fill it with the life giving water and then back to the Cup to squirt it's contents therein Once a Week back and forth for an Hour at a time. Then, Ask yourself whether or not the Eye-dropper has a Chance to Ever Overcome the Never Ending Cycle of scooping and pouring, scooping and pouring, and scooping and pouring. That represents what a Short Little Sermon in a One Hour a Week Church Service will Do to Overcome the Pressures and Influence that are Placed Upon Your Heart and Mind by the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.
What You and I NEED is an IRRIGATION Project which will Enable Us to Tap Into the Boundless Sea of the Word of God and Keep the Waters Flowing Perpetually Into Our Hearts and Minds. This is just what BIBLICAL DISCIPLESHIP was Ordained By God to Provide. God says to Joshua : " This Book of the Law shall Not Depart Out of thy Mouth ; but Thou shalt Meditate therein Day and Night , that thou Mayest Observe to Do According to All that is Written therein : For Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous , and then thou shalt have good success " in Joshua 1:8. Listen to the Lord : " Thou shalt Meditate therein Day and Night ..." . Jesus, Who is Identified in John 1:14 as the Word of God , said in John 7:38-39 : " If Any Man Thirst Let him Come Unto Me and Drink He that Believeth on Me , As the Scriptures hath said , Out of his Belly ( innermost being ) shall Flow Rivers of Living Water. But this spake He of the Spirit which they that Believe on Him should Receive. " We Need a Constant Flowing of these Inner Rivers From Within , and It Comes to Us Through the Continuing Twofold Ministry of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit in our Lives.
How Much Church Attendance & Bible Reading Is ENOUGH ??? Well, that's Not Really the Right Question to Ask. The Real Question is How Can we Overcome the Tireless Efforts of the Devil to Keep Our Lives From Growing Spiritually ??? In a sense We Don't have Enough Time in the Day to Wash Out what he is Constantly Pouring Into Our Hearts and Lives. All of Our Human Efforts Alone just Won't Overcome his Supernatural Powers of Persuasion and Persistence. However, the Lord has given Us what the Old Time Preachers Used to Call a "Means of Grace," and what they meant by that is that God has Given Us a Way that we Can Enter Into a Spiritually Empow- ered State BY FAITH AS WE FOLLOW HIS PRESCRIBED PLAN as Revealed In the Scriptures.
The Earliest Converts to Christianity in the New Testament "Continued Steadfastly in the Apostles Doctrine" according to Acts 2:41-47. They Were "Daily in the Temple" Teaching and Preaching Jesus Christ according to Acts 5:42. They were Constantly in an Active State of Thinking about the Word of God - both as they were being taught and as they were teaching others. They were Assembling Together Every Day and Going Out "From House to House" in the Desire to Live Out their Faith in "Shoe Leather." TODAY , however , Christianity has become more of a HOBBY than a WAY OF LIFE. Following Jesus is more like a fairy tale ideal than something which people actually take Seriously. People ask : "How Little do I Have to Do" and still want to call themselves Followers or Disciples of the Lord. When a Preacher says that Someone who has newly Promised to Follow Jesus should Come to Church Sunday Morning, Sunday Evening, and Wednesday Evening he is looked at as though he is Out of his Mind. When the Preacher says that a True Believer is Supposed to Read his Bible Every Day and Meditate on what he has read in between his daily readings, he is thought to be too Demanding. However, It's the Bible that says : "As Newborn Babes Desire the Sincere Milk of the Word that Ye May Grow thereby" in I Peter 2:2. Joshua 1:8 says to "Meditate therein Day and Night." Hebrews 10:25 says : "Not Forsaking the Assembling of Yourselves Together as the Manner of Some Is." The Church's Work - according to Matthew 28:20 - is to Teach Believers to Observe to DO "All Things Whatsoever I Have Commanded You." The Individual Believer is to DO WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO DO. Believers are to Both Minister TO the Body of Believers in the Local Church and Be Ministered to BY the Body of Believers in the Church Until they ALL Grow Up Together in the Knowledge of Jesus Unto the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ - according to Ephesians 4:11-16.
How can these things be Accomplished with the Kind of Eye-dropper Approach that Most People who PROFESS to be Believers Use to Address
It ? It CAN'T !!! So We Must Decide as Individuals what We are Going to DO about it.
We Recommend that You Faithfully Attend All of the Services of a Good Solid Bible Preaching Church and that You set aside Time Each Day for Personal Study of the Bible and Prayer. Then, You should spend as much time throughout the day as is logically feasible to meditate on what you are learning from the Word, so you can Apply it to your Life. And last - but certainly not least - Look for Ways that You can Serve the Lord in the Cause of Furthering His Blessed Gospel Through the Ministry of Your Local Church.
We - Of Course - Recommend Ours: the
New Life Baptist Church
2676 N. FM 2980
Yorktown, TX 78164
Dr. Gary D. Hall - Pastor
For Information Call : (361) 564-3845
" MY CUP RUNNETH OVER "
Psalm 23:5