Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
For over twenty years, we’ve had a wood cookstove in our kitchen that has been used practically every day to prepare meals. It’s been a good little stove, but normally each fall I need to change out the stove pipes and put in new dampers. A lot of people will run a single damper on their stove pipe, but I’ve always run two, spaced roughly a foot and a half apart from each other. This is for redundancy, just in case the bottom one was to fail during the middle of the night. If it did, the upper damper would still remain tightly closed. But with age and heat, dampers can get loose and occasionally swivel open, allowing the fire to get extremely hot. That is something that you don’t want to happen when you are fast asleep in your bed. If you are going to burn wood in your home, you have to exercise extreme caution. One thing that you must do is slow down the flow of air through the stove as much as possible. Wood can burn very hot, but once air starts to be forced through it, it can create extremely high temperatures. Blacksmiths’ fires have been known to get over 3,000° when they start pumping air from the bellows, and the higher the stove pipe, the greater the draft that you will create. When burning wood, you must keep the fire under control, and this is done by shutting down what it needs to survive; oxygen.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Likewise, to overcome the things of this world we must completely shut down sin in our lives. Like closing off the dampers in a wood stove, we must close off our hearts to the things of the flesh, and not allow them to ignite the temporal passions of human nature.
Romans 8 ⁵ For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ⁸ So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
⁹ But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ¹⁰ And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. ¹² Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. ¹³ For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. ¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
First of all, whatever you place your mind on, is right where it’s going to be, whether it’s on Spiritual things or carnal things. People can become preoccupied with all types of things in this world which can become a quick obsession if they are not reigned in fast enough. The key to keeping focused on Spiritual things, is being able to say “no” to the things of this world, and focusing on things that are beneficial to our relationship with God. The Apostle teaches that in order to live eternally, we must mortify the things of the flesh. Mortification means to deaden bodily appetites, insomuch that they no longer have any control or effect in your life. It also means to punish or to control one’s physical desires and passions through self-denial, fasting or other means of discipline. Just as an athlete would trains their muscles, a Christian must train their mind to resist the works of the flesh.
Titus 2 ¹¹ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, ¹² Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Scriptures warn about the punishment for those whose minds are preoccupied on Earthly things.
Philippians 3 ¹⁸ (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: ¹⁹ Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
As the Apostle John warns, when people’s hearts become focused on worldly things, they are obviously not focused on God.
1 John 2 ¹⁵ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Sometimes people can develop an obsession, which is to have a persistent impulse towards someone or something that constantly finds its way into their mind. It is to have an intense preoccupation or fixation on something, which can distract you from many other aspects of your life. Many times people can become engrossed in thoughts or activities that do nothing to benefit themselves, or others around them. When this happens, they can become distracted from a close relationship with God and the things that need to be done in order to lovingly serve Him. Jesus warned about this in the parable of the sower.
Mark 4 ¹⁸ And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, ¹⁹ And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Remember that the first and Great Commandment is to love God more than anything else in this world. This love must be greater than a wife, your children, your neighbor, or any other desires that you may have. He must be our great obsession, above all things. But many people place the things of this world or Earthly relationships above their service and obedience to Christ Jesus. When your mind becomes preoccupied with worldly concerns, it only pulls you further away from God. People begin to show excessive or compulsive concerns with the things of the flesh rather than things of the Spirit. Those who choose to fulfill the desires of the flesh are referred to as the children of wrath.
“Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:3
In order to please God, the mind must go through a complete transformation, from the lusts of the flesh, to a desire to serve and obey the will of God.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2
So if you want to enter into eternal life, you must learn to deny the things of the carnal nature. Like closing off the air flow through a wood stove, we must learn to shut down all of the sinful desires of the flesh, even if it requires using…..
……Double Dampers
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 