Category: Practical

How Do I Know If I Am Envious?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical4 Comments

Marriage Ring

Envy, jealousy, or covetousness can have devastating effects. It is what led Cain to kill Abel. It is what leads to conflict at work. It’s damaging affects should lead us to ask: How do I know if I am envious?

How do we know if we are envious?

We know we are envious when:

  • We can’t experience joy at the success of others.
  • We think of doing something that would hinder another’s success.
  • We think of doing harm to another.
  • We resent the praise they receive because we think we deserve it.

How can we kill the sin of envy?

Pray – Repent and ask God to remove our envious hearts.

Remind – Remind ourselves an envious spirit births from a desire for others to praise and accept us.

Gospel – Remind ourselves we are more accepted than we could ever imagine in Christ. Man’s acceptance pale’s in comparison to the acceptance we receive from God in Christ.

Summary

By praying, reminding, and preaching the gospel to ourselves, our envious hearts can be killed. We must act fast because envy moves to anger to verbal or physical harm quickly.

Question for Reflection

  1. Are you envious of another?

Resource

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Adapted from my sermon The Fate of Those Who Persist in Sin

5 Strategies Satan Uses To Attack Us

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical10 Comments

Attack

What are the strategies Satan uses to attack us? If we are fighting a spiritual war, we need to know his strategies. As Paul says,

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12

5 Strategies of Satan

(1) Temptation – Satan seeks to entice us to sin.

His purpose is to kill or hinder our witness through public scandal. To gain evidence that would allow him to accuse our conscience. To weaken our faith in sanctification in an area of our lives. To cause us to love our sin so we start excusing it or justifying it.

(2) Deception – Satan seeks to blind us to the truth and deceive us into thinking counterfeits are the real thing.

He tells us lies about God, the world, and ourselves, hoping we will believe them. He offers false teachers, promises, peace, joy, and happiness as a way to keep us from the biblical truth.

(3) Accusation – Satan seeks to keep us in conflict with the world and one another, as well as he works to get us to question our standing before God.

He causes unbelievers to accuse us of acts those on the fringes of Christianity do. He incites division among believers so they will accuse each other. As well as he uses our sins against us continually telling us we are not good enough to be a Christian.

(4) Possession – Satan seeks to put humans under the control of demons.

He causes individuals to be overtaken by demonic agents, who control their personality and provide them with supernatural gifts – healing and paranormal knowledge.

(5) Physical Attack – Satan seeks to attack through demonic activity, human agents, or institutions.

He causes demons to attack and oppress. He uses humans to persecute. He uses institutions, such as government to hinder the growth of Christianity.

Conclusion

Knowing the strategies Satan uses to attack us is helpful. Especially, in light of what Peter says,

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. – 1 Peter 5:8-9

In order to be watchful and resist Him, we need to know his strategies.

Questions for Reflection

  1. How do you think Satan attacks?
  2. What would you add to this list?

Resources

Post adapted from Dynamics of Spiritual Life by Richard Lovelace, 137-40.

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What Does It Look Like to Follow Jesus?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn PracticalLeave a comment

Thorns

Matthew 9:1-17 answers the question: Why did Jesus come? As you walk through the narrative, you discover Jesus came to:

Call sinners to Himself, forgive their sin, transform them, and institute a new system centered on Himself.

If Jesus calls us to Himself, forgives our sins, transforms us, and institutes a new system, and if He, as God, has the authority to do this, we must follow Him.

The Problem

Living in the Bible Belt, many claim to be followers of Jesus, but it seems they don’t quite understand what it means to follow Him.

Matthew helps to correct the problem. In the same narrative, we get a picture of what it looks like to follow Jesus. Below are five snap shots of what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Those Who Follow Jesus

(1) Live in obedience to Him

Followers of Jesus recognize His authority points to Him being God.

God has the right to demand our obedience because He is our Creator.

So those who follow Him live in obedience to Him. They submit to His will for their lives, allowing Him to call the shots.

(2) Leave their old life behind

Matthew was a Tax Collector, but after he came to Jesus, he was no longer a Tax Collector. Just as Matthew left his old life behind, we must leave our old life behind. We must make a break with the past.

Leaving our old life behind is possible because when we come to Jesus, we are transformed and freed from the bondage of sin, which frees us to live for God.

When we come to Jesus, our lives should look different than before. Our desires should be different. The things that we want to do and like to do should change. Our actions should be different. Our attitude should be different. How we view God should be different. How we view others should be different. Instead of viewing others as a means to an end, like Matthew did before Christ got a hold of him, we should now love and have a desire to serve them.

All this points to the fact that those who have been transformed by Jesus become a new creation.

Since followers of Jesus are a new creation, if our desires, actions, attitudes, how we view others, and how we view God have not changed, we need to reevaluate whether we are following Jesus or not, because Jesus transforms sinners.

(3) Don’t just perform external religious actions

The Pharisees were masters at performing. God, however, doesn’t want our sacrifices. He doesn’t want our religious show. Instead, He wants our heart. He wants us to be sold out for Him.

If we are going to follow Jesus, we can’t just perform, our heart has to be given fully to Him.

How do we know when that happens?

We know our heart is given to God when we, in mercy and love, reach out to those around us.

(4) Have a burden for the lost and broken

Jesus did. His burden led Him to take on the flesh of man. To call sinners to Himself. To eat with Tax Collectors and Sinners. Those who are true followers of Christ, will also have a heart and a burden for the lost and the broken.

True followers of Jesus desire for others to be saved.

They desire for others to experience the same joy they do. Their hearts are burdened for the lost around them. Their burden results in them reaching out getting to know the lost and speak the gospel into their lives. Jesus did, and so do those who follow Him.

(5) Look forward to His return

The Bridge Groom was taken and nailed to the cross for the sins of mankind. Even though He was put to death. He rose on the third day, defeating death. 40 days later, He ascended into Heaven where He sits on His throne. One day, He is going to return. When He does, He will usher in the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Followers of Jesus long for and eagerly anticipate His return.

They can’t wait until He brings the New Heavens andNew Earth. They desire to sit under His reign and rule. To live for all eternity with Him as their King.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you live in obedience to Him?
  2. Have you left your old life behind?
  3. Have you given Jesus your heart or are you still performing?
  4. Do you have a burden for the lost?
  5. Do you long for Jesus’ second coming?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon Why did Jesus come?

Why Should We Follow Jesus? | Part 2

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical12 Comments

Why Should We Follow Jesus Part 2

In my last post in this series, I answered the first of three questions: Why should we follow Jesus? Today, we move on to the last two.

WHAT GETS IN THE WAY OF US FOLLOWING JESUS?

Even though Jesus’ authority points to Him as being God, we are not willing to follow Him. There are several things that get in the way. Things we are not willing to give up. Matthew highlights a few in his narrative.

  • Possessions
  • Family approval
  • Acceptance from friends
  • Our life

These all can keep us from following Jesus, surrendering all to Him, and worshipping Him.

WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO TO REMOVE THE HINDRANCE FROM FOLLOWING JESUS?

(1) We have to count the cost.

I believe people put more consideration into buying a house than to coming to Christ. You would never go to the realtors office, ask for a house, and buy the first one they present to you without checking it out.

Instead, you inspect the house yourself. Drive around the neighborhood. Check out the school district. Make sure the price is fair and the inspection checks out. You bring your friends and family over to get their opinion. You do all those things because buying a house is a 15 to 30 year investment. As well as you want to be sure it is going to serve your family well.

Jesus is relaying the same message to us. He is saying, “Don’t be too quick to follow me. Count the cost. Realize for what you are signing up. If you are truly my disciple, there is a hard road ahead of you.”

(2) We can’t trust in something other than Jesus.

In our narrative the disciples trusted in a boat. Some of you may trust in your bank account or intellectual abilities. Whatever it is, we fail to trust in Jesus because we are trusting in something else. As this story proves, however, a boat will only carry us so far. A bank account will only sustain us for so long. Our intellect can only help us as long as our mind remains intact. Inevitably, these things will fail us.

You see, it is foolishness to put our trust in anything but Jesus. He is the only one who can save us.

Like these men in our narrative, once we realize trusting in anything else will fail us, we must turn to the only one who can save, Jesus Christ. After turning to Him, we must worship Him because Jesus isn’t just a life boat to save us when we are drowning. He is the almighty God who deserves our daily worship.

(3) Jesus is God not just another man.

In our narrative, Jesus proves that He is God. Disciples follow Him at His request. He calms a storm. He heals two demon possessed men with just a word. The demons submit to Him and call Him the Son of God. These things point to His authority and the fact that He is God. God deserves our worship, so we must give that to Him.

We don’t, however, just worship Him when we come together on Sunday. We also worship Him by:

  • Recognizing His authority over our lives.
  • Putting Him first
  • Submitting to Him
  • Obeying Him

In other words, we worship Him with our whole lives.

(4) We can’t value anything above Him.

The people of the city valued their possessions over Jesus, allowing their loss to blind them. When we value something more than God, we are in violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The first commandment tells us not to put any other gods before the One True God. When we do, we have made that thing into an idol – a god.

In order to rid ourselves of these idols, we have to realize they are not going to last. They are man made. They are temporary. Temporary things break down. They fail us. They disappoint us.

So then, we can’t hold our possessions in greater value than God. We have to be willing to give those up for God. We have to see them for what they are. We can’t allow them to blind us.

(5) Our heart has to be pierced by the gospel.

Only a heart that has been regenerated will submit to God and give Him the worship that is due Him. So we must believe in the gospel.

We must believe that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Jesus is that Savior. He is because He lived a perfect life, and died the death we deserved. He went to the cross to pay the price for our sins. He faced the wrath of God that we deserve. When we believe that, we are saved. Our heart is pierced by the gospel.

Our heart must be regenerated before we can follow Jesus, surrender all to Him, and truly worship Him. You can’t do these things without a changed heart. To try to do so is futile.

Conclusion

Once we come to Christ, count the cost, recognize Jesus is God, and realize we can’t trust in and value anything more than Him. Once we have done those things, we will be in a place where we will be able to follow Jesus, surrender all to Him, and worship Him.

Question for Reflection

  1. What do you allow to get in the way of you following Jesus?

Resource

This series is adapted from my recent sermon: Why Should We Follow Jesus?

Why Should We Follow Jesus? | Part 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical1 Comment

Follow Me Part 1

When I was growing up, my dad always told me, “Be a leader, not a follower.” If you think about it, for someone to follow you, they need a reason. My Dad’s advice then meant, I needed to be someone worth following. So when Jesus comes to us and asks us to follow Him. We need a reason to follow Him. The Bible provides us with those reasons.

With that in mind, over the next two posts, I will answer the following questions:

  • Why should we follow Jesus?
  • What gets in the way of following Jesus?
  • What do we need to do to remove the hindrance from follow Jesus?

Let’s start with the first question:

WHY SHOULD WE FOLLOW JESUS?

In Matthew 8, several scenes attest to the power and authority of Jesus.

Jesus Heals Many

In 8:1-15, Jesus heals a Leper, a Centurion’s servant, and Peter’s Mother-in-Law. All three healings take place immediately, and with just a word. As soon as Jesus spoke, the leprosy was gone and the man was clean, the Centurion’s servant was healed before he returned home, and Peter’s Mother-in-Law was able to serve them moments after Jesus healed her.

Not only did Jesus heal these three people, but many more. Matthew continues:

“That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.” (Mt 8:16)

Jesus shows not only His power over sickness, but the spiritual world as well.

The Turbulent Sea

As we continue on in the narrative, Jesus commands His disciples to follow Him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Several men pile in a boat, but soon a great storm arises. Fearful for their lives, they wake Jesus, who is sleeping, and the men say,

“Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” (Mt 8:25)

Jesus does what only God can do, He calms the sea and rebukes the wind, so that a sea threatening to swallow the boat and the men into a watery grave turns into a sheet of glass, allowing the men safe passage to the other side.

Two Demon Possessed Men

Once they reached the other side, two demon-possessed men who had been tormenting the region come out to meet Him. The men, controlled by demons, say,

“What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Mt 8:29)

The Demons explicitly say what the other scenes had been pointing to – Jesus is the Son of God. Not only did they recognize Him as God, but they also recognized His authority and right to judge and punish them.

What does Matthew 8 reveal?

Matthew reveals Jesus’ authority over all things. Which leads to the idea:

If Jesus has full authority over all things, and His authority points to Him being God, we must Follow Him, Surrender all to Him, and Worship Him.

So the answer to our first question reveals we should follow Jesus because of who He is –  God.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you believe Jesus being God is a reason to follow Him?

Looking Forward

In the next post in this series, we will answer the questions: What gets in the way of us following Jesus? What do we need to do to remove the hindrance from follow Jesus?

Resource

This series is adapted from my recent sermon: Why Should We Follow Jesus?

What Does Our Mission Involve?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Evangelism, Practical1 Comment

On Mission

To understand what our mission as Jesus’ disciples involves, we must look to Jesus’ mission. As His disciples, His mission is our mission. In other words, those Jesus reached out to are the same ones we are to reach out to.

After Jesus finishes preaching His Sermon on the Mount, He comes down and heals several different groups of people. The miracles He performs not only informs us of Jesus’ authority, but also His mission.

Who Does Jesus Heal?

In Matthew 8:1-17, Jesus healed a leper, the Centurion’s servant, a woman, those possessed by demons, and those who had all kinds of sicknesses.

Lepers were outcasts, Centurions were Gentiles, and woman were considered second-class citizen’s. Jesus miracles then tell us we are to go to the outcasts, the nations, and those society considers unworthy. Not only are we to reach out to these groups, but we are to go to the spiritually oppressed. In other words, we are to go to all people’s.

What Are We To Proclaim?

Matthew quotes Isaiah in verse 17:

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

In order to understand Matthew’s use of Isaiah, we must realize disease, sickness, and spiritual oppression plagues us because of The Fall.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they plunged the entire human race into a corrupt world. Jesus’ death on the cross not only pays the penalty for our individual sins, but His sacrifice reconciles the world and brings about the restoration of all things.

Jesus’ death on the cross absorbed the sin bound up with our suffering.

If this is true, why do we still have sin and sickness?

It’s because we live in the already/not yet. Jesus’ earthly ministry and death inaugurates the kingdom, but sin will not be completely killed until He comes again.

Even though we still face the effects of sin, because Jesus took our illnesses and bore our diseases on the cross, we look forward to a time of perfection.

Conclusion

Since Jesus’ mission includes the restoration of all people’s, our mission as Jesus disciples should as well. We are to go to the outcasts, the nations, the second-class citizens, the spiritual oppressed, we are to go to all people’s.

We are to care for and share the gospel with them. We are to point all to the hope that is to come. The restoration of all things in Jesus Christ.

Questions for Reflection

  1. How are you reaching out to those Jesus calls us to be on mission to?
  2. What are some practical ways you would suggest to reach all kinds of people?

Resources

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Post adapted from my recent sermon, Jesus’ Mission in His Miracles.