A DYING CHURCH

Jesus said to the loveless church "I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil, you have even tested those who came and were not apostles; you have done ALL of this without becoming weary nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. -Revelations 2:19

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death."'

Revelation 2:11 NKJV

Doing good deeds but no longer hearing from the Holy Spirit.

Could you imagine going to church having an amazing praise team, the preaching makes you feel so good, you can hashtag posts about it, everyone is well dressed, and you have spent at least 4-5 hrs there but the Holy Spirit was never there. He did not even show up for the intro or mic check lol. That is a problem. Many Christians in hopes to remain popular compromise, being relevant and not losing friends never talk about certain topics, they turn a blind eye to disrespect, and disobedience and no longer get the probing from the Holy Spirit. Do not quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19), rather do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

Can a Christian be a Christian without the Holy Spirit? What causes the Holy Spirit to be grieved and quenched? There are many Christians because of disobedience to an instruction from God, disobedience to the word or doing things according to their own feeling can grieve the Holy Spirit. Our own wants and desires come from the flesh. The flesh is the part of humans that tells us to do and say things that are erratic like eating sweets when we should not, having sex because the person looks good, disobeying authority because plain and simple you do not feel like it. Over and over the Bible reminds us that we need to die to our flesh, which means to deny those desires. Saying no to things that would normally have control over us.

You know the Holy Spirit is in a place based on their fruits. Galatians describes to us what that looks like (love, joy, peace, kindness goodness, faithfulness etc). If we are children of God we are led by the Spirit of God who allows us to perceive, see and hear spiritually. If you go to a home where there are lots of arguments and confusion the Holy Spirit is unable to dwell there. Let me put it this way, the Holy Spirit is not a squatter He does not go where He is unwanted and will feel uncomfortable. Our body is a temple, God's temple. There was a time when people entered a church/temple they would remove their hats, this was a display of reverence, a sign of respect. If the Holy Spirit dwells in us which is the temple respectfully people should not pollute the temple with curse words, thoughts of sex, masturbation, lies, anger and any kind of evil.

Spiritual Death

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13 NKJV

Dying to Self: Sin, pleasure and desires

Ephesians 3:25-32 Lists the many ways we grieve the Holy Spirit. What does grieve mean? The oxford dictionary describes grief as deep sorrow, sadness, suffering, heartache, heartbreak or pain.

Let each one of you speak truth to his neighbour, be angry and sin not, if someone steals let him no longer steal. Let no corrupt word leave the mouth. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander these things grieve the Holy Spirit, but have compassion and kindness and forgive one another. You must no longer live as the Gentiles do (Ephesians 4:18). The Gentiles brought sadness and heartache to the Spirit of God.

What is a Gentile?

To put it simply, the term “gentile” describes any and every person of non-Jewish heritage. The Old Testament describes the gentiles as tribes who worship other gods. Representing other nations, referred to as foreigners.

Do not live as the foreigners do by worshipping idols, turning away from God and His commands. When we sin it brings sorrow and sadness to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not use manipulation to lure us into the kingdom but gives you revelation, understanding and light into a situation for clarity. We've seen in the movies the devil sitting blanketed in red with horns and hooks on one shoulder while the angel in all white with wings and a halo on the other shoulder. This is how the Lord guides us through the Holy Spirit to do what we know is good and the enemy sits there telling us to do what is wrong and the more we listen to the enemy the further away the Holy Spirit will go, to the point where we are no longer able to hear the Holy Spirit at all. This is what is called Spiritual death, the inability to be guided by God (to hear, see or perceive Him), to live according to the flesh.

Sin

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God (that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers) is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 AMP

Sin causes separation from God. Like in the story of Adam and Eve. God provided all that was needed for them to live and survive, just like His word today He clarified what we should and should not do, given that He created it all and because of His love He said you can be part-takers of what is mine, bringing union with God and man. The enemy because he is so cunning went to Eve and talked to her (He knows women love conversation) he enticed her to eat the fruit. It is after listening to the enemy and making mistakes that we look back seeing how God really tries to protect us. And what the enemy does is exploit our flesh, to bring spiritual death and sin into the world. Sin is repeated and exaggerated from generation to generation.

Noah was a good man but during his time on earth, there was so much sin (disobedience and lovers of the flesh) God was grieved. God chose to save only a fraction of the earth's inhabitants to wipe out the sin that was in the world. Throughout Bible history, until today God sends prophets to warn people and nations against the way they are living. Moses spent forty years in a barren land trying to unteach would had already been ingrained into these abused, disobedient and Godless people. The Israelites were spiritually dead and it took another generation to come for them to change.

Pleasures

Pleasure refers to a feeling or sensation that involves enjoyment or gratification.

Let's be clear there are two types of pleasure: one is from the flesh that in the end is harmful while the other is from God and brings peace.

Think about the things that bring you joy. Are they things that are sinful or of God? The pleasure that stems from the flesh brings bitterness, guilt, condemnation, shame, worry and embarrassment that tends to lead to other destructive things (mentally and physically). I remember when I would sin knowingly or unknowingly I would be so afraid and embarrassed to go to church I would sit at the back in hopes that the Pastor and God would not notice me. Sin pulls you away from the right people, filling our heads with lies and manipulated truths.

In my days in the world, I met some unscrupulous people. Initially, I would feel so bad seeing or hearing about the things they did, but over time it became normal (to smoke, to have sex with multiple partners, to harm others, to use profanity-curse, to lie) but in my mind, I was still good, I was not the one doing these things but there was spiritual death. The Holy Spirit did not find it safe to stay with me anymore because I enjoyed harmful and destructive things. These things destroy trust, love, joy, peace and harmony to allow room for pleasure in the world. The enemy is a squatter and takes over where it has not been invited like the story of the unclean spirit going out of a person may be because of revelation which is a means of deliverance. But this squatter could not find another place to dwell and said how about I return 'HOME'. If the person did not fill themselves with the Holy Spirit the squatter comes back not alone but with friends that are prepared to keep you in the dark, to pull you further from Christ.

Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. James 1:15 NKJV

Desires

Desire is a strong feeling of wanting or wishing to have something, it creates a fantasy.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4

There was this lady, she saw a man that she truly desired and believed that because he showed up in her thoughts and dreams he was her husband and sent by God. She was a Christian and even prayed about this relationship. Our desires can be so strong that we overlook scriptural references to these uncanny situations. This guy was already married and let's say he was not strong in his faith. They were first unequally yoked and second of all God would not tell her to break scriptural rules by coveting and committing adultery with a married man. Our desires for the things we want can cause us to distort the word of God to fit into our situation.

The Christian journey is very practical. Accept the Lord as ruler over your temple, stay away from things that would cause the Holy Spirit to pull away from you. Keep your home, your surroundings and your friend's a place God would feel comfortable hanging. Sin and disobedience bring spiritual death which is the inability to connect with God. Spiritual death allows comfort in sin. Sin brings friends that are destructive and harmful; telling lies, bringing guilt, condemnation, pride, worry everything that creates a place of stress and anxiety. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit comes with joy, peace, faithfulness, patience goodness and so much more. We the church and Christians need to be more spiritually aware and allow the Holy Spirit to be the one guiding our daily decisions. Last week we were reminded to do what Jesus did which is the reason we are Christians, to be followers of Christ. Living for Christ is a continual death to self, to the world and its pleasures while gaining spiritual strength (in Christ).

#livingforchrist #adyingchurch #spiritualdeath #sinandpleasures

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