The Flesh in Conflict with The Spirit of God

The Flesh in Conflict with The Spirit of God    5-22-22       Kelly Durant

Romans 8:5-10 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.

2. There are some new high tech toy devices out that can monitor your heartbeat, body activity and temperature all day long. That would be a cool gift, right?  They seem good for those that need to monitor their health, especially for those that have issues. I was thinking about this, brainwaves have already been read and images printed of thoughts so how amazing it would be in the future if there was a monitor that could take a record of when a person was thinking thoughts of the flesh, or thoughts of the spirit. What would your monitor read throughout the day? What do you think, do, and say all day long that you may not be aware of? Are you more “in the flesh” or “in the spirit”?

We must dig deeper as to what it means to live carnally minded or spiritually minded. To be spiritually minded means to have peace and be full of love with no appetites to sin for the fact that God’s spirit is with you! (Romans 8:10). It means you will not be living with conflict in your head over your personal desires or issues with other people, but rather you live in the spirit praying over everything having the assurance God is in control handling everything! You feel good, you love everyone, and God’s love flows through you like a fountain. But people that are not fountains are drains! People in the flesh are like a dark energy sucking the joy, spirit, and life out of you just by their actions, words, and intentions. 

The people that live only for the flesh, or in the flesh, live restless and without peace.  They are as the living dead even though they are still in their flesh body and they are tortured with pride, appearances, lust, envy, addictions, frustrations, and anger. Let’s examine further what is in the mind of a carnal person and then contrast that to the life of a spiritual person. 

3. Sometimes we forget how mentally tortured others can be! Can you feel or read people’s thoughts or faces, and pick up on the body language which reveals attitudes? Does this awareness of people seem evident to you? Typically there is a reaction from a carnal person when visiting a church, or when near a person of God, that I, or any observer, can see. 

When the carnally minded person steps into the church he automatically gets uncomfortable and on the defensive because he notices that he is not glowing with happiness from the Holy Spirit as the other people.  His carnal mind is in the dark to notice that it is a wonderful day and that it is a great to be with others who praise the Lord; that it is a special time to give and receive love exchanging words of encouragement with others, thanking God to be alive worshiping Him in appreciation. Instead his/her mind is full of frustrations, self-centered emotions and animosities due to the carnal-ness, which is programmed to function only around his pride, jealousy, anger, and envy. He/she is basically like an animal or beast that only seeks to gain something. He/she is unaware how obvious his/her emotions and intentions are to discerning Spirit filled Christians around him/her. 

Th carnal person isn’t touched by the music or preaching either because that is just taking up his time interfering with him being able to mingle and talk to others about the business deals he/she would like to do with the people there.  Do you get the picture of what is in the head of those with carnal mindsets? I know that most of us often forget that not everyone has good intentions. Christians can often be naïve forgetting how others in the flesh are. 

4. It really is a case study to observe the unsaved carnally minded person surrounded by holy loving Christians! You subliminally perceive the confusion on their face as they try to rationally comprehend how a Christian could come week after week to church just for God and not for a personal gain; not for something monetary for himself. What is his conclusion? That the church people are really crazy, ignorant, and manipulated fools! The carnal mind finds no explanation for those who find pleasure in just the simple worship of God, in Bible studies, and fellowship with another spiritual people! They burn a fuse in their minds!

For the spiritual person, you I hope, fellowship, prayer, Bible study, worship, and a Biblical message recharges their spirit battery and energizes their faith! They get empowered and full of the spirit! But for the carnal person visiting these spiritual things just burns their fuses in their carnal minds and bothers their spirit! They are in shock at what they observe, and they fear getting asked to participate in something since they don’t understand how it works or how to control it. Only those living in God’s spirit get energized by the things of God and only by becoming loving in living in God’s spirit will one ever have peace and please Him!

As mentioned in verse 6; the unconverted unspiritual carnally minded people are living in death and to them feeling dead is normal! The outlandish unsaved carnally person has always been very public making a ruckus to try to awaken a feeling of some kind in their bodies with the hope they could get rid of that empty and dead feeling with stimulations. How sad it is to see that people are preprogramed for self-destruction and death without God in their lives! Without God we are dead spiritually and this invokes a premature physical death! Jesus wants to save everyone from what is destroying them, physically and spiritually!

5. Every generation seems to have a portion of rebellious youth that have always craved excitement and had an appetite for death and destruction! This excessiveness may even be from being possessed by a demon or from the influence of demons and from bad friends, or the media/movies.  It reminds me of these verses where a youth had a demon and his parents felt helpless. Mark 9:21-23 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”. Jesus freed him from the demons! Today suicide tendencies are on the rise and this is from people wanting their dead feeling to stop and they wish to feel something, even if it is pain! Only Jesus can stop self-destruction!

We know zombies have been popular in the media. They are meaningless ugly fictional carnivores, mass invasions of the dead, and what a waste of time! Well even from the trash of Hollywood a few good things can be found, this actually portrays an excellent analogy to the condition of people in the world today, insatiable, destructive, carnal, and worthy of being terminated! But despite how horrific people are, God still gives them a chance to have a new spirit! So if Jesus had the patience to be crucified in order to save ‘whosoever’, how much more we all need patience with those who have not come to live in God’s spirit yet!

Many people are dead in the spirit and the fruit of all of what they do is destructive. They live at war with those that are living in the spirit. Those of us who know God and are spiritual try to warn them, stop them, and save them at all cost, but they must choose it. 

6. After having to face the reality that we live in a society surrounded by a vast majority that are carnally minded, how should we respond? Change begins with you and me, you can choose to include Jesus in every thought, in every action, and living in the Spirit! Romans 8:10 makes it clear, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness”.

So how do you know if you have God’s spirit in you? After receiving Jesus, I know most of you pray and have asked the Holy Spirit to be in you but you must repeat that prayer daily! We need renewing! Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (washing and renewing means repeating the process) You and I have to get renewed minute by minute and we have to practice seeing through the eyes of holiness. If we could just learn to practice 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing”, we would have Jesus spirit guiding us in all matters to respond correctly to all situations.

7. At any moment the enemy can temp anyone of us with some random divisive accusatory thought.  For example, you may see your brother or sister in church and the enemy may lie to you, ‘Oh, they act like a saint in church, but I bet they are a devil in their home’! No evidence, no reason, it’s just a bad intrusive thought. So, remember the verse in James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. This formula really does work, just resist the temptation to dwell on things you perceive to be negative taking you to a dead end since the things of negativity are depressing. 

If the devil can’t get you depressed because you are too busy loving and helping people, he’ll get you dirty fighting with the world’s carnal people; he also tempts you to fight with the saints! The flesh and the Spirit are at war all day long!

Don’t you want to see everyone in the world saved by Jesus, blessed and happy? Only you can make the connection with God and have a new glorious fulfilled lifestyle living in the Spirit. You and I can reach this holiness purity by living in the Spirit of God, in wholesomeness and love, working at it daily, dying daily to our sinful nature, filling our hearts and minds with God’s word! The demons and the angels are always speaking, choose the Holy Spirit’s voice and read God’s Word!

8. Ever since I began this life in the spirit, I can personally testify it is the best way to live! I would not trade this life of being blessed with love and peace, life and hope, of being dead to the rule of sin for nothing! Sure, the devil tries to trick me again, as he does you at times, to think that sin is delicious, but since I you and I already have had a taste of that before we know it is not true, and we reject it!

Jesus transforming spirit transformed our lives, we already have learned that sin and carnality is a mental torture and a life of death! A life of death means you feel guilty and ashamed, even suicidal, always fearing the future judgment and condemnation of deserved reattribution for your wrong! That is the flesh, and we don’t want it! So let the light of the Spirit in and the darkness will flee! 

We please God by cultivating our spirit with His Spirit and then escape condemnation and death. Life and death cannot occupy the same time and space! Seek the Spirit of God and unexplained emotions will confirm in your spirit that with Jesus all things will conduct you into His life of love and righteousness! Rom 8: 10 ‘And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.’ This is life! Live it to the full! Pray to be filled with Jesus and the Holy Spirit!

How To Live Unhappy! Or happy!

How To Live Unhappy! Or happy!   Major Kelly Durant  9-1-13, Re: 5-15-22

1.John 10:9-11  I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

2. It may sound crazy to you, but there are people in parts of the world who will argue that giraffes do not exist. Did a grandparent or a friend ever tell you crazy stories about crazy people?  If a person lives geographically landlocked, or in a poor village, they have never seen one and if they have never been to the zoo or if they have no trust in outsiders who speak things contrary to their ideas, then to claim there is an animal like a giraffe is just too crazy for them.

For many people, a person with a new concept or a new discovery is seen as stupid in their view and discredited for claiming something they never heard of as really existing! How many of you here have seen a real live giraffe anyway? If you haven’t, do trust they exist because others have seen them, or because they are in books or in pictures? 

How many of you know people that are not happy in life? Usually they have never seen true happiness, or they refuse to see or admit that happy people exist! These are the non-believers, like people who do not believe in giraffes because they have not seen one for themselves. They are like a blind person leading other blind folks. 

Discontentment, or unhappiness, is a curse on humanity within all cultures and classes of people today! Many people of the world deny that God’s love exists, and that happiness is real! The unbelievers have never experienced the overflowing of the joy of the Holy Spirit! Just because they are miserable doesn’t mean the rest of us are, but they really think that! In their darkened minds they cannot understand joy, so happiness is foolish to them! Everyone is a hypocrite to be happy in their mind because they think others fake their happiness! But that’s not true if they have Jesus! 

3. All people everywhere are always limited to judge others and their selves only by their own experiences and knowledge in life, and most of the time this is very narrow scope! Most people copy others, and if the norm in a culture is always to complain, always to blame others, and always to be unhappy about something, then for them that is just life! And if you are happy with the little that you have and are different, then you are taken as a traitor to the culture, race, or social class where others think you belong! 

Think of it this way, when I say the word light, what comes to mind? The sun, light bulbs, and the colors we see from sight, right?  Actually, this part of light that we see is only a tiny fraction of what light really is! There exists infrared light, x-rays, and a whole spectrum of light that we do not perceive unless we study about it and observe the effects of it. This is the same with our minds and hearts, our fallen human brains exist in a darkened deceived state unless we bring clarity to them with Jesus teachings and way of life about being free from evil deeds and being happy.     

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

4. Today my point is actually how to live happy, not unhappy! To be unhappy just comes by default in our human nature! Jesus came to save us from those who steal and kill and Satan knows how to steal and kill your dreams and happiness in your mind and heart whether it happens in a body experience from outside sources or not. 

Jesus’ solution is to give life abundantly, and how you interpret abundant, or life to the full, determines whether you will experience it or not! What is Jesus’ life to the full?  I cannot explain it but when I take time to pray and read God’s word I feel like I am alive and full of life and I am rejuvenated. Feeling good about life does not come from some momentary stimulation and excitement: life comes from life and the source of that is God’s Holy Spirit though His Word!

John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Basically, people who live in, for, and with Jesus moment by moment are people full of life and happiness and peace despite the conditions around them.

5. If you want to know how people full of life with Jesus can have a supernaturally strange happiness and peace consider the martyrs. It is recorded that while waiting to be fed to the lions or burned at the stake, they would sing hymns. So impacting was their love for each other, and joy to die for God for the Roman audience that these Romans actually lost their appetite to see them be killed in these horrific manners! Remember Rome converted but it took almost 300 years!

In The Salvation Army we don’t drink, but most of you have at some time or another had a few, or you have been around relatives that have had lots to drink, and they are loud and laughing and appear happy, right? That is how the disciples were described to be when they were full of the Holy Spirit!

Acts 2: 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: 15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

I wish all of us could be as carefree as the drunken! Wouldn’t it be great if everyone before coming to church would be all prayed up, full of God’s word, and spirit to the point that each of us would appear happy as if from strong drink? I long for the day that all believers will live happy and shine their smile and laughter to everyone around them instead of the typical serious dry scolding faces that displays they want it known they have an issue and are unhappy over something. Satan’s controlled people are miserable and want you miserable too! We are not cursed with misery and guilt like they are.

6. The formula for unhappiness is the same as it has always been, a focusing on the getting of ones’ own needs met above the priority of taking in and the living of God’s words that give life. James 4:1-3 4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. God answers prayer but not for greedy, only the needy!

Unhappy people are discontent because they want more out of life than what they should have because they compare their lives to the people of the world. They want the pride of having more money or fame or power than others, and they are so selfish, and lust driven that they do any and all business transactions in a self-serving manner trying to fill the void in their empty souls with some momentary gain or stimulation. How conflictive these selfish people are! 

7. Reserved, or introverted people who seek illusive happiness usually work within systems that permit rewards and promotions but they often are so competitive they become miserable because someone else in that corporation or institution got something that they didn’t.  In the end, it is a lust or greed for the pride of recognition that eats at people’s souls for an authoritative position, be it in a job, sports team, political party, school, or even a church.

Other more extrovert personalities with the adventure gene may revert to illicit sex or illegal drugs to try and stimulate their way to happiness. This path never works as it leads to guilt, depression, and hopelessness. Sad to say, I know this from personal experience! The big lie from all the glamourized life-styles of the rich and famous is that they are happier than the rest of us! But the contrary is reality!

When they asked Howard Hughes (the former billionaire a few decades ago owned American Airlines, Hollywood film companies, and many corporations if he was happy with his millions.  He replied, “Well a million is not worth what it use to be”! In other words, the wealthiest man on the planet who led an extravagant lifestyle like no one had ever done before him was very unhappy because he wanted more! He actually developed an obsessive–compulsive disorder and lived as a recluse suffering in physical pain.

8. So in life everyone pursues happiness, right? It is in fabric of the American expectation. "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence. These are "unalienable rights" that all human beings have been given by their Creator. A true statement, but only walking with Jesus’ gate will get you there!

The problem with the illusion of happiness is so many people commit atrocities seeking it disregarding the damage done to those around them. The imbalance of wealth and poverty today is horrific with multi-billionaires hoarding their money while 1/3 of the people of the world suffer grave hunger.  So many divorces happen because someone demanded the ‘right to be happy’ (but they were the problem!). Sexual freedom for the pursuit of happiness has prompted not just divorces but the spread of HIV and other STDs to the point that 50% of the populous here, in many countries, are affected!  Happiness was the pursuit of power for Hitler, Lenin, Mao, and other dictators who combined killed well over 100 million people in the past 100 years! The pride of power is extremely cruel! 

The personal pursuit of happiness has no limits to its deception and damage so it is inherently Satanic as Jesus points out in the verses of John 10:10. According to the world’s standard, happiness will involve doing something criminal and illicit such as stealing and killing in order to get ahead in wealth or power. 

9. What do people in power do for their happiness?  They mismanage other people’s money for personal gain (corruption), and they eliminate the competition by character assassination, (if not by actual murder). Sound like mafias, dictators, and politicians, right? It is the philosophy of life for those without Jesus and it is spreading misery!

Jesus’ answer is profound and amazing, the anecdote to this destructive behavior is the pursuit of Jesus way of life which brings on real happiness and it involves doing the diametrically opposed action, that of loving God and your neighbor as yourself!

There have been times when I have prayed with someone to accept Jesus and I have felt so happy that I thought I was drugged, and it was like a shot of endorphins to the brain, and I just wanted to explode with good feelings and laughter! The other person felt it as well! Have you ever felt so happy that you have felt your entire body, your chest and brain feel like they going to overflow? That is the Holy Spirit! Some people get the Holy Spirit bumps (chicken skin) too!

10. Let’s review what kills our happiness. How does Satan ensnare with his thievery and murder? 1. Comparing yourself to the wealthy (privileged class) people of the world. (Many of which have gained wealth by illegitimate means and exploitation, so they are guilty of stealing before God and men) 2. Desiring more than what you need (Jealous and greedy people cause others to suffer as they try to get something by abusing you, they are guilty of coveting) 3. Pursuing destructive and addictive passions (this includes the bottomless pit of the consumption of drugs, alcohol, illegitimate sex, etc.) 4. The lust for power (Power usually involves war and maybe murder so the positions in high places can be available for a new group of prideful ambitious ones) 5. Pride: Demanding worship of yourself and demanding your way only (This leads to many sins being committed to protect a person’s image, and the manipulation of others with much abuse, humiliation, and cruelty taking place)

Take note that people who commit grave sins against God and humanity pursuing their own joys and passions suffer from fear and guilt, whether they will admit it or not. To cover up their immature actions they destroy others around them. And they destroy their selves as their guilt leads to paranoia and depression which usually leads to drug addictions, and then physical illness from bodily abuses takes hold. It’s unhappiness!   

11. Don’t let Satan rob your joy! People who live with demons that have moved in while they keep pushing the limit of what they would try to obtain some satisfaction in life are fatally sick and unhappy! Have you ever walked into a room where a sick person is and then you start feeling sick as well? This is how Satan spreads his discontentment, through the deception of others who are overtaken with his devices. We as Christians do not go with the flow, we go against the flow, the current, the culture, and the trend to be full of your own self and self-pity because we have the victory in Jesus! 

A person not protected by God’s word who idolizes a star with fame and wealth who goes in and out of rehab centers, and in and out of prisons, could get the idea that to be cool on their level, one has to imitate their depression as well! Like with the music industry, you’re cool if you self-destruct!  Absurd right, but people worship it and imitate it! Corruption of the soul is a disease that rapidly spreads, just look at most singers and movie stars who degenerate into pathetic hedonism in just a few years! So many cases we have seen like this! What unhappiness, look and learn how not to be happy!

Don’t let anyone in your family, in your job, or in your world steal the joy of the Holy Spirit that God wants to give you day by day! You will have happiness if you live in God’s Word and obey his words knowing that your reward is in heaven for resisting temptations and living totally free from the snares and chains of our miserable unhappy enemy! A Holy life lived within the Holy Spirit is a life vibrating with the joy of the Lord and that is a strength that can even face death and die happy! Life is in Jesus! The more of Him, the more life and happiness you will find! Let’s pray…

Feel Weak? You Are Useful to God!

Feel Weak?  You Are Useful to God!                                               By Kelly Durant   5-19-13

1 Corinthians 1:26-28

²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

2. How many of you have known of disabled people serving in The Salvation Army? I have! All people in life need to be used by God, we are inherently born this way! Everyone wants God to work through them! And He will if we step out by faith!

You have seen this video of the man with no arms and legs, Nick Vujicic, right? Imagine, with his condition, he does great things and is an inspirational speaker! Most people imagine that someone in his condition would never leave home! But he is full of life and inspired, happy and used by God, speaking in public places and travelling. What an amazing man of God used by God despite no arms and legs!

3. One of the first things I noticed and liked about The Salvation Army when I first got involved was that they had a variety of strange characters (even bearded ones, elderly ones) serving in disasters. Then, after visiting their churches, I saw many characters on fire for God out of rehab. No matter the age or health problems, people were serving others and each one was happy to help. I love seeing others get a second chance, how about you?

For example, with Hurricane Rita while in Lake Charles, right after serving in Katrina, I met a man that had metal rods in his entire back because all of the cartilage of his spine had degenerated. He walked rather straight like this (rigid). He had been through a rehab for heavily using cocaine and he said to not be depressed he would find ways to volunteer his time. In disaster service you can find people with all kinds of personal problems, but they are made happy while serving others, making new friends, and hearing about the gospel. God will use anyone willing, no impediments matter!

4. The way to be happy is to make someone else happy! You have heard that simple formula, right? But do you know what makes people happiest? It is to find out that no matter how ugly they may look, no matter how bad their physical problems, weaknesses, or handicaps, there is a God of love that loves them and can still use them despite their conditions and faults! No one wants to feel like life is over, that brings on mortal depression! 

I have always believed that God is a God who cares for the weakest of the weak, and in the world there are a lot of hurting and weak people! We are here as representatives of Jesus to help heal and give meaning and purpose to the lives of everyone we meet. That is what the kingdom of God is about! In the Salvation Army we, and it should be this way with any Christian, carry out activities in which everyone is valued and included with no discrimination of any kind. We must fight to maintain this standard!

5. But for work in society, you are discriminated against considering your past training, capacity, and education amongst other factors. We are an Army but of volunteers and we are made up of wounded healers; But the military Armies of the world, only accept young fit men and women to serve. These requirements exclude about 80% of the population! However, God’s word makes it clear He rejects no one, rather he specializes in the rejects!

When you look at the population at large in the U.S., the majority of the people are either weak, older, or disabled. Even worse they are often depressed and spiritually incapable, or unwilling to do anything for anyone else due to embarrassment, or impediments, from allergies or whatever, not to mention laziness or selfishness. In this country currently about 50% of the people get government support for being either retired or incapacitated somehow. That is a lot when you think about it!

So when we read… 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;…what can we conclude? 

6. That God needs on this earth a people group, an organization, a movement, (or a kingdom of God as Jesus frames it) that is made up of anyone who (whosoever will theology) will …may serve! And if you are not in such good shape mentally or physically, be happy and encouraged! God specifically wants you to serve and be of value! God loves and uses misfits!

When we consider the foolish things or people of the world, not many people here are scholars that can discuss the pious platitudes of philosophy or theology, so it is a comfort that God is not concerned about our education level, or even our physical condition, he just loves us and wants us to be useful and active for Him. In the end we are taking in breath from day to day to serve in the mission to win souls to Jesus, otherwise our lives are just wasted by not preparing for eternity. 

7. How can we not be proud of the Salvation Army for being willing to work with the lowest of the low, the homeless, the addicts, and the ones with HIV? In other countries our line of service includes taking into refuge homes orphans and prostitutes. Your upper class suburban churches do not make these types of people their specialty! But Christians should focus on the despised and the weak, which is where God’s blessings are at!

My wife and I visited several of the rich mega churches in Atlanta and some boldly proclaim they are called to reach the rich middle upper class baby boomers. Hispanics, blacks, and poor (sinners) seemed to not even be in their radar! What a poor and ignorant vision! Ultra-rich churches intimidate the weak and poor! When something is so big you lose the sense of family, I think it is time to break it down into more manageable groups as Moses did in Joshua 14:4-6. Delegation and division allows more attention to each one.

So when we read in 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: Can we not conclude that some Christians do not have the right focus since they are targeting the opposite people of the verses we are studying today? Is the exclusivity to one group the non-discriminatory attitude a Christian should have?  Obviously not! Too many people live in a comfort zone that has them stagnant being ineffective!

8. There is a serious problem within Christianity, too few Christians are actually reading the Bible and obeying what it says, to seek out the low base things of the world and then empowering them to serve in God’s Kingdom.

Three out of every four Americans see poverty as a big issue but Christians interviewed only showed 1 out of 2 believing it concerned them. However, about 83% of evangelical Christians claimed to be involved in helping the poor. What is wrong is that 2 in 3 Christians believe the government should take care of the poor, not them! (See Barna Research Group) But God called us to care for the widows & poor, and even give them a place to serve: The low are the despised, the rejected, the weak, these are the ones God can use! 

For the most part we can be proud of our churches as everyone who comes here regularly does what they are capable of doing, here or in the community, teaching, cooking, and sorting donated food for the poor, visiting the rest homes as well. But we have a long way to go yet to get the local community to do that as well! This community is a challenge, what can we do to get them more involved? Volunteers are always too few! 

I have often wondered; what do disabled or retired people do all day? Wal-Mart’s are full night and day, but in the daytime most beaches or parks are only full of tourists, so what is going on with people everywhere? Where are they all day?

9. You may know a few people who have government support, so tell me what do they do all day? God wants to use them for something good but I have a feeling many people are just deaf to this calling. They have ‘ears to hear’ but they do not hear how God loves them and wants them busy with things that make their lives and the world better. Those indifferent are wasting their time giving them a meaningless life. We must invite them to serve for the fact that God uses the weak. 

We should warn those who waste their time all day. Our society and Christian heritage was built with an attitude and spirit of great sacrifice but more and more people are failing to maintain the volunteer spirit of sacrifice and pureness having a love for God and a love for their neighbor in the community as they should. Being unproductive in the work of God is a sin, especially when you know you should be doing good, and you are not doing it.

Consider these verses that are basic warnings to the people (even Christians) that are excusing their selves for not giving their time in something for God because they think they are too busy or too old, too sick or too handicapped, or living in denial that they are just plain rebellious, selfish, and lazy. Not even pandemics should stop our service to God!

1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. I Tim 5: 12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. 13. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.  Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

10. Never think there is nothing for you to do for God! Invite your friends! Do you realize how many people have started coming to church because they first volunteered? I think I told you I came to know the Salvation Army by volunteering for disaster service. 

But people in these past few decades have become self-complacent, people with nothing to do are not giving their time for something noble. This is a sad new cultural trend! It is up to us to be salt and light and to teach others to serve God, and God wants those who are weak to serve despite anything.

Here is a truth: you cannot make yourself any better without first investing in someone else.   

In the end, everyone you know that is weak, everyone that seems not-so-pretty, to be of the nature most people would think they are nobodies, these are the very people God wants and uses! God specializes in using the low, the base, the ugly, the despised, and the not-so-bright. So, if you think you are not worth much, cheer up, you are very wrong, you are one of God’s chosen! Pray now to ask God how to serve Him. Then speak up and let’s get started!