Today, as is the case on many Sundays, I had the blessing of listening to messages by two Spirit-led preachers.
The first was by a well-educated and extremely intelligent man of God who, in addition to his being a lifelong preacher, has been a lifelong EMT and firefighter. He has also become a good friend and a wise spiritual mentor.
His sermon today was a preface to a series of sermons which will be given each Sunday between Lent and Easter about the “I AM”s of Jesus. Today he spoke of the “I AM” encountered by Moses at the burning bush.
He stated that people are attracted to fire.
Fire is fascinating.
Beautiful and destructive.
Refining and consuming.
Pastor Dave brought out the fact that Moses was not attracted to the bush; he was attracted to the fire and then to the fact that the bush within the fire was not consumed.
While Pastor Dave was speaking, it occurred to me perhaps this a reason people are attracted to sin. When they are attracted to it, they are in reality being drawn to the fires of hell.
This was the destination of Adam and Eve after they sinned and suffered spiritual death.
This was my destination.
This was your destination.
But God. . .
Loved us so much He had already prepared a way out. This way was prepared before the foundation of the world. This way was a narrow way, but it is the only way, the only escape route for us.
The second sermon I heard was also preached by a well-educated and extremely intelligent man of God. His sermon brought out the sinful will of man and both the permissive and perfect will of God. He mentioned, as I’ve learned so much about recently, that perfect means complete. He used Romans 12:1-2 as his text. Are we presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice? Are we casting down all our idols to make them so?
The cross of Jesus was the only way by which we could once again enjoy the Presence of God. Once we are walking in the Presence of God, it also becomes possible for us to find the “perfect will of God.” Possible, but I’m not sure any human being (outside of Jesus in His human form) has ever completely achieved this.
Only Jesus lived that “Perfect Will of God” life. He was God.
My life might look more like this (red line indicating my life):
At the very top of this picture, you will see two pathways. I wish I could say that I am in the perfect will of God pathway. Finally.
But, knowing there is one (at least) area of my life that is not completely yielded to him, I don’t think I can in all honesty make this claim.
How can you make sure you are staying in the perfect will of God?
Previous blog posts have described in varying details “my own efforts” to accomplish this and the varying levels of success of those endeavors. You will note I placed “my own efforts” in quotes because therein lies my biggest fallacy.
Walking in the light, being led by Holy Spirit, consistently is the only way to stay in the Perfect Will of God.
You might also have noticed my overuse of the word “only.” If you’ve read any of my writing, you will know my intense dislike of overuse of any word. So why did I use this word 6 times (counting this one)?
That is one benefit to my being a Christian Aspie. Sometimes black and white thinking can be a good thing. If you are an Aspie, go back and count the “only”s—you know you want to!—and let me know if I made a mistake
Here’s another one: Jesus is the ONLY way.
So that just about covers my thoughts (for now) on the two sermons I was blessed to hear today.
But it was the sermon in the middle. . .
Still working on my writing for that one. Come back soon. . .
JLM in Euroclydon 