What stirs you?
Temptation –> Lust, giving in –> Sin –> Death.
Trials of faith –> Endurance –> Perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Guest speaker, Ben Stuart from Breakaway Ministries, has been a refreshing voice at church recently. One thing I enjoy about The Village is that even when Matt isn’t speaking, you can always count on the guest speaker to be passionate about Christ and passionate about Scripture.
I missed his second sermon (although I listened to half today, good stuff!) his third and final installment was chock full of goodness. As much I tend to cringe when pastors speak on “quiet times” and good ol’ fashion spiritual disciplines, I know they are necessary. After all, my favorite part of his sermons is when he discussed how we are wired. And how Satan knows how we are wired. Tricky.
Mind –> Affections –> Will.
What we put in our heads, what we keep in our heads, what floods our thoughts… stirs up emotions, our affections, awakens and fills the heart… then it fuels the wheels, gets the body in motion, moves the arms and legs.
So what do I think about? What do I dwell on? What fuels me? Ben’s words reminded me of Jesus’s half-brother James and his first words in his book. I summed a few of them up at the begining of this post. Do I think about my trials, do I suffer with joy and endure through them, am I willingly being sanctified? Or do I bury myself in temptations, do I want something I can’t have, shouldn’t have, do I go for it anyway knowing it will not only bite me in the end, but result in death?
