Healing Damaged Emotions (Part 1) — Victory Over Anxiety

Posted on April 23, 2012 by admin

By Dr. Charles Stanley

 Key Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7

I. Introduction: Emotions greatly influence how we live our lives. They are a gift from God, provided so we can enjoy life and relate to others, but how we express them determines whether they are beneficial or detrimental. Either we control them, or they control us.

Anxiety is the most prominent emotion people are experiencing today.It’s important to realize that feeling anxious is not a sin, but the Lord doesn’t want us to live in a continual state of dread because of life’s uncertainties. It’s important to understand what we should do with anxiety and how long we let it control us.

II. What is anxiety?

A. In the New Testament, the word anxiety means, “to be distracted or pulled apart.” This is the opposite of peace, which means, “to be bound together.”

B. It can also be defined as “dread, apprehension, and uncertainty” and can be caused by past events, a present situation, or future possibilities.

C. Sometimes, anxiety is a fear of not being in control or of feeling vulnerable.

III. What are the sources of anxiety? First of all, know that God is not the creator of anxiety and that worry doesn’t fit our identity as followers of Christ. Instead, we should trust God (Matt. 6:25-26). It’s important to know there are: 

A. Legitimate causes. Some things are just naturally going to create anxiety. For example, if you didn’t study for an exam, you have reason to be nervous.

B. Inappropriate reasons. At other times, our worries are caused when we feel we might not get what we want. It could be some possession or a relationship we want, even if we know it’s not right.

C. Unacknowledged issues. When we don’t deal with the cause of our anxiety, it takes up long-term residence within us, causing all sorts of emotional and physical problems. This is not the way God wants His children to live.

IV. Why should we avoid anxiety?

A. It isn’t scriptural. In one passage alone, Jesus said, “Do not be anxious” three times (Matt. 6:25-34). He explained that it is unnecessary because the Father will provide what we need. We simply can’t accept a lifestyle of anxiety when Jesus is our Prince of Peace. 

B. Anxiety has a negative effect on every area of our lives because it:

1. Divides our minds. Apprehension pulls us in two different directions, making it hard to focus on important matters.  

2. Slows down our productivity. Because we are distracted with worry, we can’t give anything else our best efforts. 

3. Affects our personal relationships with others. It’s hard to keep our anxieties to ourselves. When we’re filled with fear, we burden those around us.  

4. Leads to unwise decisions. Those who are overly concerned about the future are prone to make hasty decisions to stop feeling uncertain.

5. Steals our joy and peace. It’s impossible for us to be fretful and peaceful at the same time.

6. Proves to be a terrible waste of time and energy. Uncertainty, frustration, and worry are exhausting and achieve nothing and can even have a devastating effect on our health.

V. What is the correct way to deal with anxiety? With so much at stake, it’s foolish to give in to anxiety or seek quick, temporary relief. Instead of worrying, you should:

A. Bring your worries to God. Whatever is troubling you is a matter for prayer. The first step to freedom is confessing your fears to the Lord rather than let them rule you (Acts 18:9-10).

B. Come to the Lord with an attitude of thanksgiving. In the midst of your apprehension, you may not feel grateful, but when you think about God’s loving involvement in your life, you can’t help but praise Him (Phil: 4:6-7).

C. Come with a threefold conviction. Remember the Lord loves you unconditionally and wants the best for you. Also, He has the desire and power to help, so you can expect Him to do just that.

D. Recognize that anxiety is a faith battle.We must believe that God will replace our anxieties. If we surrender our concerns into His hands, we can have His amazing peace—even if all hell breaks loose around us.

VI. Conclusion: As great as all these promises are, they will not be yours if you give Christ your worries with one hand and take them back with the other. True freedom is only possible when we finally admit that a burden is too heavy to carry. Remember, no one has to live in anxiety; it’s a choice. Freedom and peace await those who give their worries to God and leave them in His hands.

Copyright 2011 In Touch Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved. www.intouch.org. In Touch grants permission to print for personal use only.

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ARE YOU LISTENING?

Posted on April 17, 2012 by admin

by Cornelius R. Stam

The Apostle Paul had much that he yearned to teach the Hebrew believers — wonderful truths that would have thrilled their hearts — but these truths were “hard to be uttered,” or difficult to explain to them, since they were “dull of hearing.” The word “dull” in Heb. 5:11 really means “slothful,” or indifferent (as in Heb. 6:12). They were not merely hard of hearing, as we say, but were too lazy, too indifferent, spiritually, to pay attention. They were not sufficiently interested.

This is always a serious condition in the light of the fact that “God hath spoken,” and that disobedience to His Word will be judged (Heb. 1:1,2; 2:1-3). Yet, alas, this is the condition of the professing Church today. The great majority of religious people are not sufficiently interested in what God has said to engage in diligent, prayerful study and, like those of Paul’s day, still have to be taught “the first principles” of the Bible. They have remained babes, spiritually, unable to digest anything but “milk,” and so remain “unskillful in the Word of righteousness” (Heb. 5:12-14).

What has brought this condition about? Is it because our Bibles are being burned and the Church persecuted for reading it? Is it because God is unwilling to lead us further into His truth? Most assuredly not. It is because so many men of God in high places no longer have the single passion to know God’s Word and to make it known. They could be as greatly used of God in teaching the Scriptures as their predecessors were, but they are “slothful of hearing” and hence can present their hearers with little that is of true value.

This, in turn, is reflected in the religious masses. They “love” their Bibles, but not enough to study them diligently and become workmen whom God can approve. Let us not be numbered among these. Rather, let it be our one great desire to gain a clear understanding of God’s Word, rightly divided — for His sake, for our own sake and for the sake of the needy souls about us.

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HE THAT IS SPIRITUAL

Posted on April 15, 2012 by admin

by Cornelius R. Stam
“He that is spiritual judgeth [discerneth] all things, yet he himself is judged [discerned] of no man” (I Cor. 2:15).

The truly spiritual man is so far above the wisest sages of this world, yes, so far above the mass of Christians with whom he comes into contact, that he can understand them, but they can never quite understand him.

We should all long to be truly spiritual, but what is true spirituality?

In the Pauline Epistles the human race is divided, by the Spirit, into four classes: the natural man, the babe in Christ, the carnal Christian, and the spiritual Christian.

All four of these are referred to in one passage of Scripture (I Cor. 2:14–3:4) and it should be noted that they are classified according to their ability to appreciate and assimilate “the things of God” as revealed in His Word.

Through diligent, prayerful study of the Word, and with a sincere desire to obey it, the spiritual man has come to know God and the Lord Jesus Christ more and more intimately. Babes in Christ and carnal believers about him cannot “discern” him, simply because they have not come to know God as he. But he, having grown to spiritual maturity, quite understands them. He is among those of whom it is written:

“But strong meat [solid food] belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).

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THE NEW CREATION

Posted on April 11, 2012 by admin

by Cornelius R. Stam

In Romans 5:12 God tells us how we are all related to the first man, Adam:

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin… so death passed upon all men…”

This verse clearly indicates that every child born into the world since Adam has partaken of Adam’s sinful nature.

Parents sometimes wonder why their children act as they do. The answer is simple! Every child is related to rebellious Adam by physical birth, and soon rebels like Adam, whose offspring he is.

In Scripture we are told that God “commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

When you are in trouble and someone comes to your aid, are you not automatically drawn to that person? Should we not then be attracted to the One who cared so much for us that He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7,8)?

Through natural birth we partake of the sinful natures of our parents back to Adam, and frequently we even have the same physical features as our parents. How touching, then, to know that the Lord Jesus Christ took on Him “the likeness of men” (apart from sin) and, as the God-man, died for our sins upon the cross, where sinful men (people like us) nailed Him! As we recognize this and place our faith in Him, a spiritual birth takes place and we become the children of God (John 1:12). More than this, we become members of the Body of Christ, God’s new creation, for “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation” (II Cor. 5:17). “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

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EVERLASTING LIFE

Posted on April 8, 2012 by admin


by Cornelius R. Stam

Romans 8:2, when correctly read, is a most blessed passage of Scripture. To get the sense we should place a dash between the words “Spirit” and “of.” Thus it would read: “For the law of the Spirit — of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

When a sinner places his trust in Christ as Savior he is justified before the bar of God, because Christ’s death and righteousness are imputed to him. This is a judicial matter.

But at the same moment something else happens: the Spirit regenerates and gives new life (Tit. 3:5). This is a law, an inexorable, unchangeable law. The sinner who sincerely places his trust in Christ as Savior is given life by the Holy Spirit. It is always so; it is never otherwise.

I John 5:12 says: “He that hath the Son hath life….” John 3:36 says that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” and Col. 3:3 declares that the believer’s life is “hid with Christ in God.”

Thus the Apostle could say: “The law of the Spirit, [that of] life in Christ, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Adam forfeited his life by sin, but the believer’s new life can never be forfeited, for this life is nothing less than the life of Christ, in whom the sinner has already died and paid for his sins — and in whom he now stands perfect and complete before God.

It is a law, a fixed unchangeable law, that sin brings forth death (Rom. 5:12; 6:23; et al). This is called “the law of sin and death,” but the believer has already died for sin in Christ and has been given new life by the Spirit. Thus “the law of the Spirit,” that of “life in Christ,” has made the simplest believer “free from the law of sin and death.”

Thank God for “the law of the Spirit,” everlasting life through the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.

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Is the Mystery in the Old Testament?

Posted on April 7, 2012 by admin

by Pastor Ricky Kurth
No, of course not! Then why does Paul often quote the Old Testament to substantiate the Mystery (e.g., Rom. 15:9-12)? Let’s start in Acts 26:22, where Paul testifies:

“I continue unto this day… saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.”

This statement seems to believe Paul’s insistence that his message was “hid from ages and from generations” (Col. 1:26). However, he explains himself in the next verse:

“That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:23).

The death and resurrection of Christ was not a mystery, nor was God’s plan to show light unto “the people” (of Israel) and “to the Gentiles.” Thus Paul is saying that while his message did not fulfill the prophets, generally speaking it did not contradict the Old Testament. We see the same in Acts 15, where the leaders in the church met to decide what to make of Paul’s new gospel.James concluded:

“Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets…” (v. 14,15).

James didn’t say that Paul’s new message fulfilled the prophets. Rather he said it agreed with them, i.e., God always intended to visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. Of course, according to Prophecy this was supposed to happen through Israel’s rise (Isa. 60:3), not through her fall (Rom. 11:11). Someday in the kingdom it will. But in the meantime, James could not deny that generally speaking Paul’s new message was in accordwith the Old Testament.

When most New Testament writers quote the Old Testament, it is to show fulfillment of prophecy. However, when Paul quotes the Old Testament, it is to show harmony, not fulfillment.

Let’s close with an example. In Romans 10:19 Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:21, where God vows to provoke Israel to jealousy by “a foolish nation.” This cannot be the Gentiles, for they are “the nations,” plural. Peter rather identifies the believing Jews to whom he wrote as the “holy nation ” that God originally used to provoke the apostate nation of Israel to jealousy (I Pet. 2:9 cf. Matt. 21:43; Luke 12:32) and fulfill Deuteronomy 32:21. But in thenext chapter of Romans, Paul says,

“…I am the apostle of the Gentiles…if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh…” (Rom. 11:13,14).

Here Paul declares that God was now using the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. Not infulfillment of Deuteronomy 32:21, but certainly in harmony with it!

So while the Mystery is not in the Old Testament, Paul can quote it freely to show how his new message was in agreement with it.

More on what is the Mystery Paul Spoke about.

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EVOLUTION AND SIN

Posted on April 2, 2012 by admin

by Cornelius R. Stam
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Rom. 8:22).

Modern evolution, of course, denies the Bible account of the fall and has much to say about “the ascent of man,” but evolution fails to account for, indeed, assiduously evades, that which lies at the very root of all man’s troubles: sin. It fails to explain adequately why man finds himself weak, poor, miserable, distressed, corrupt, perishing, and it fails to explain why he is so utterly helpless to lift himself from this state. It fails to explain his inherent sense of blameworthiness; indeed insists he has no cause for a “guilt complex.”

Every man feels within himself a disorder, a positive dislocation of things, which science — and certainly the theory of evolution — is unable to explain. Only the Bible account of the fall explains it and shows how all man’s trouble and distress arise from his own nature, which is fallen and corrupt.

“…BY ONE MAN SIN ENTERED INTO THE WORLD, AND DEATH BY SIN; AND SO DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN, FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED” (Rom. 5:12).

It is most important for the unsaved to learn this lesson; to learn that it is not merely our sins, but our sin that makes us unfit for the presence of God; not merely our deeds but our nature; not merely what we have done, but what we would do because we are essentially sinful as the children of Adam.

How profoundly grateful we should be, then, that God loves us despite our sins and our sinful natures, and that… “…God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

“In whom we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

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Led by the Spirit

Posted on March 31, 2012 by admin

It’s time for honesty; are you led by the spirit of God (Holy Spirit).

Gal 5:18 says that if you are led by the spirit then you are not under the law.

What is the comparison between led and being under the Law?   When we think of the Law (Moses); we are to follow some rules or regulations that govern the way we conduct our lives.  If God leads (led) us then we will do what is right.  We will please God rather then our flesh.

Galatians 5:16-18 (NKJV) 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

This verse says that if we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  When we hear the term flesh we think lust and doing things that God would not be please with.  Well there are two natures that mankind has today; one from Adam (First Adam) and the other by Jesus (last Adam).  When you hear the term walk in the spirit, be led by the spirit and walk by faith; what does it mean?  Is it a new kind of faith or a different type of Church; is it a charismatic type Church.

No it is simply following God by his spirit (Holy Spirit) that he gave us when we believed.  (1 Cor. 15:1-4)   Let us go back to the beginning.  The following verse sums up everything about sin.

Romans 5:12-15 (GW) 12 Sin came into the world through one person, and death came through sin. So death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned. 13 Sin was in the world before there were any laws. But no record of sin can be kept when there are no laws. 14 Yet, death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. Adam is an image of the one who would come. 15There is no comparison between {God’s} gift and {Adam’s} failure.

If humanity died as the result of one person’s failure, it is certainly true that God’s kindness and the gift given through the kindness of one person, Jesus Christ, have been showered on humanity.Sin entered the world through one person (Adam) who disobeyed God.  You have to remember that no one kept record of sin, not even God.  Disobedience brought with it the penalty of death.  Now this death is some place without God.  I suppose that for the unbeliever they have walked in this world without God; they will not know the difference until the end.  Sin was not accounted for until the law was given to Israel.  But remember God wanted to recognize sin that already existed in the world.

If no record of sin was kept before the law and Jesus has forgiven and forgotten our sin; then why do we care about sin today?   Sin has kept us busy with ourselves and not God. When we have believed God and it is accounted as righteousness then we can have a relationship with God.  The old nature would not know or care about a relationship with God.  If sin was to separate us from God and because of what Jesus did on the cross; we should then move on with our new relationship with God not worrying about sin..

Let’s take a look at the law; the law was a school master or a learning tool for man to see the error of Adam and the death he brought.  Over a period of time mankind separated themselves from any relationship with God.  God had a plan from the beginning with Jesus being our savior.  Now we are saved from death and can start a new relationship with God; then we have no need for the law or knowledge of sin.  If you have faith (in Jesus) then you have no need of the law.

Galatians 3:24-25 (KJV) 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Now we walk in the newness of life by obeying the Holy Spirit.

Now today people try to work for their justification with God.  They come up with all kinds of doctrine.  Rather than just reading the Bible and believing what it says in the Bible, they find some spiritual meaning and today we have a lot of make believe Christians that are led by their own corrupt nature (Adams nature) and have not been born again.   Let’s be real; there are only two natures.

1.  Adams sin which caused death in mankind which we inherited.

2.    Last Adam (Jesus) that bought Salvation through dying on the cross for us and by His Grace;

  God has make us in right standing without any works.

Actually we need to be born again and have Gods spirit; the power that raised Jesus from the dead, living inside us.  So what does that mean?  It means that we have help in overcoming the nature we received from Adam.

1 Peter 1:23 (NKJV) 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.

Why then is it so difficult to understand that with newness of life; we have a relationship with GOD, something we never had before.  We also do not pray enough to God and we think that there is another way to receive things from God.

Ephesians 6:18 (GW) 18 Pray in the Spirit in every situation. Use every kind of prayer and request there is. For the same reason be alert. Use every kind of effort and make every kind of request for all of God’s people.

Sometimes it is hard to remember that we have replaced that old nature (Adam) with the new nature (Jesus) and actually have a new relationship with GOD.   You and I cannot go around saying we are Christians when we do not talk to God or Pray.  If we do not believe he has saved us or has given us a new nature; one that God has promised thru the death of Jesus, the burial and that God has raised Jesus from the grave.  We must believe in the power of God and that we can talk to him.

We must come to realize that we need to constantly improve our relationship with God.  We seek signs and wonders, we seek gifts and special powers but first we must seek God and his relationship.  Everything else will follow.  He will not hold anything back from us.

The Body of Christ (Believers) should be a body dedicated to talking to the head of the body; Jesus. Each of us should be responsible for our own behavior.  It simply means talking to God; who care for us and want to help us.  His new nature in us needs to take over our old nature. It is time to recognize that if we are not led of the spirit, walking in the spirit we have not believed 1 Cor, 15:1-14

The prove of you relationship is the fruit of spirit

Galatians 5:22-26 (Wesley NT) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, 23 Meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. 24And they that are Christ’s, have crucified the flesh with its affections and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Be not desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

 God Bless you ….. 

Remember to think on these things and may God have the Glory in you! 

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DON’T DOTE ON PERSONALITIES

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin

by Cornelius R. Stam

When Paul instructs Timothy to charge his followers not to “give heed” to “endless genealogies” (I Tim. 1:4), he refers to the status symbol of the personality of his day.

Recently this writer was informed by a correspondent from an eastern state that it appeared that he might be related to a Revolutionary general named Stam — and, did we wish him to investigate further! We replied that we were far too excited about where we were going to care much about where we had come from!

While there are some in our day who are very proud of their ancestry and have coats of arms displayed in their homes, the average Christian probably, has never had his family tree traced back very far. But in Paul’s day genealogies were very important, even among believers. One’s family relationships meant a great deal. If you were a second cousin to Christ or even a third cousin to Peter you “had it made.” You might be crude, or stupid, or even wicked, but all this was overlooked: you were closely related to Christ Himself or to the Apostle Peter and all were ready to give you audience.

Actually, the personality cult is still with us in the Church today though it manifests itself in different ways. We live in a day of mass communications, when the faces of prominent men and women are seen again and again in newspapers and magazines and even their personalities come through to us over radio and television. Thus it is the prominent “Christian” politician, athlete, actor, beauty queen, or even former gangster who commands the attention today. Those who arrange evangelistic campaigns often seek to engage such personalities to attract crowds. Such prominent figures, though perhaps actually saved, may be very much “of the world,” dishonoring their Christian calling every day, but their presence draws crowds and their shallow testimonies are used to justify their public participation in the work of the Lord.

The new evangelicalism has borrowed many prominent personalities from the world to help swell its audiences, while the old prayer that the witness may be hid behind the cross is to all intents and purposes considered passe.

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THE WORD OF TRUTH

Posted on March 18, 2012 by admin


by Cornelius R. Stam

In (Eph. 1:13) the Apostle Paul declares that men are saved and sealed by hearing and believing “the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” This declaration is substantiated by many other passages of Scripture. Our Lord said: “He that heareth… and believeth… hath everlasting life” (John 5:24). This at a time when sacrifices and baptism were still required for the remission of sins. Even then men had to hear and believe to be saved, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

Now, however, salvation is received by hearing and believing alone. Works for salvation are not merely unnecessary; they are forbidden. Today salvation is “to him that worketh not, butbelieveth” (Rom. 4:5). “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).

God has changed His dealings with men from time to time down through the ages, teaching one lesson at a time. This is why it is so important to note the dispensational distinctions in Scripture, “rightly dividing the Word of truth.”

Once the works of the Law were required for salvation: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested” (Rom. 3:21) and men are saved solely by faith in Christ, “being justified freely by [God's] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). We are saved, then, as we hear and believe what Paul calls, “the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13), and we are established in the faith as we obey (II Tim. 2:15): “rightly dividing the Word of truth.”


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