Rev Friedel Stegen related how the Lord
worked in Europe, "not by power nor by might but by My Spirit says the Lord".
As we sat under the word of God we experienced the working of His
Holy Spirit in each one of us. It is only the Holy Spirit and His working that can draw
people to Jesus.
The Lord worked in many lives during the services and convicted
many of things that need to be put right. Without invitation or people being told to
confess their sin, people came to make peace with God. There were many new converts. We
also experienced the Lord purifying His church, and working in our hearts, cleansing and
purifying us.
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1John 2:15-17, "15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the
worldthe lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of lifeis not
of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it;
but he who does the will of God abides forever."
What is the world? Where is the world?
Satan tempted Eve with these things. Satan first appealed to Eve's
flesh to desire the fruit. Then he showed her the fruit and lastly he appealed to her
pride to be like God.
Satan tempted Jesus with these things too. He appealed to the
needs of His flesh for bread, the desire for the riches of the world and lastly to glorify
Himself by jumping from the temple without getting hurt.
In Matt 15:18, 19 we read, "those things which proceed
out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands
does not defile a man.
and in Gal 5:19, "Now the works of the flesh are
evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery,
hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you
beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will
not inherit the kingdom of God."
The Bible says that those who do these evil things will not go to
heaven. It doesn't matter that you're given the last rites by a priest or even if all the
ministers in the world are gathered to pray for you.
A certain man continually got irritated with his wife and
children. So he sought a place to be alone where he won't be disturbed. He found such a
place but after two or three hours he suddenly realised that the things which really
troubled him were within him.
You can wash and perfume a pig, but the moment it's left alone, it
will go and wallow in the mud. Why? Because it's a pig. So too, if you love the world, you
might be in church physically, but the moment the protection is removed, you will wallow
in the world, because the world is in your heart.
1Thes 4:3, "this is the will of God, your
sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should
know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust,
like the Gentiles who do not know God."
Martin Luther said that an adulterer carried a worse stench than
any other sinner. All sorts of sexual immorality, fornication and uncleanness is rife in
our societies today. People do perverted things, defiling themselves even alone with their
hands or the things sold in sex shops.
You might be blessed of God in so many other things, but you
trample it underfoot by your sexual promiscuity. Some ignore God's commands completely and
simply divorce and marry again. Why? Because they're of the world and does as the world
does.
We should heed what Jesus said - rather gouge out your eye than
that your eye causes you to offend and you end in hell. Or rather cut off your hand or
foot, than sinning and ending in hell.
In Job 31:1 we read of the drastic step Job took to remain pure,
"I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young
woman?"
Sexual sin is just one of the lusts of the flesh that causes many
people to fall.
The story is told of a church organist who was trying to practice
a piece of music by Felix Mendelssohn, but he struggled. While he tried, a stranger sat
and listened silently at the back. Eventually the organist gave up and wanted to leave.
The stranger walked up to him and asked to be allowed to play on the organ. At first the
frustrated organist refused, but after the third request he allowed him. The stranger sat
down and filled the sanctuary with beautiful, flawless music. When he finished, the
organist asked, "Who are you?" The man replied, "I am Felix
Mendelssohn." The organist had almost prevented the song's creator from playing his
own music!
Allow the Lord Jesus to take control of your life after you've
given up, and He who has created you and been your originator will change you and live His
life in you that the world will marvel at what Jesus can do.