Purity, what is it really and why should you care? Well that is the question we ask last week and well you had some pretty incredible things to say. Purity is important and we have to fight for it in this world that we live in. There are things everywhere around every corner that will cause us to trip and fall. I think of Bat Man the movie and yes there are many of them but I am think of one of the first ones that came out and got the whole Bat Man thing started again. There is this quote in it after Bruce feel down in the well and broke I think his arm. As his father is carrying him in the house his father asks him this question. “And why do we fall Bruce?” “So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” I love that quote and I love the message that is behind it. We must never quit and we must never give up, even after our biggest failures. We have to fight on. If I was going to create a quote along the lines from the Bat Man movie for people who follow Jesus I would state it this way. “Why do we fall down?” “So we can learn to depend on Jesus to pick us up.” As we go through life their will always be an attack on us to not live with purity in mind. We will get messed up and we will mess up and then we will need to have Jesus clean us up and pick us up. The goal is to live for purity and to strive after it with everything that we have. But there will be those times that we slip and fall, and find ourselves in things that are not pure. I mentioned it last week, and I will mention it again in this article because it is such an awesome verse. I hang out on this verse all the time. Philippians 4:8 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. This verse acts like an anchor for my mind so that I will only run after the things that are pure and right. It helps me check myself when I start talking bad about someone else. It helps me stay the course. I want to be pure but there is such a battle. We have to fight and we have to run to God’s word for encouragement and strength so that we might fight the good fight of pure living. As we continue to look at purity, one thing will stand out. God’s ways are the best. They always lead to good things. The world and the culture that we live in will try to sway us and make us think that it’s ways are best, but it just isn’t true. God’s ways are always the best! Put your life to the purity test compare and hold everything up to God’s word and see what is true, what is noble, what is right, what is pure, what is lovely and then you will learn that God’s way is the best! It’s hard and it is impossible to do without Jesus leading the way. We fall so we can learn to depend on Jesus to pick us up again…
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So what do you think, how important is purity? I mean as soon as you think about purity what comes to your mind? What do you think of? For most of us we think about things that we eat or drink. We think about is that drinking water clean, or is that food good or bad. Purity is well pure. It means that it does not have anything in it that is not supposed to have in it. So what do you think about your drinking water? Is it pure? Can you drink Aspen Tap? Or do your have to drink from bottled water? Purity is defined this way… the condition or quality of being pure; freedom from anything that debases, contaminates, pollutes, etc.: the purity of drinking water. So when you look at the definition of purity what jumps out to me is this that it is free from anything that pollutes it. Now if we were talking about drinking water, we could name off a ton of stuff that pollutes it. There are many things that we would not want to see in our drinking water. Purity is important, we have government agencies that only look at and ensure that things that are around us are pure. From our drinking water, to the air that we breath. This is very comforting to me, I like to know that someone else is keeping an eye on these things. Now I ask the question that you knew was coming, how is your purity? How are you living your life are you seeking to live a life that is pure? God cares about our purity and how we live our lives. Check out this verse. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. So what do you think about? How do you see purity in your life. God knew that purity would be tough for us and knew that there would have to be a sacrifice for us that was completely pure. We need something pure to come between us and God. That person of purity is Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life for us so that we might be able to live out of His life. The Gospel is that story we don’t have purity and Jesus sacrificed Himself for us so we might be able to claim His purity. So think about it this way would you drink contaminated water? Would you? Nay you wouldn’t and neither will God. So think about your life this way you are contaminated and well God will not have anything to do with you unless you are pure and remain in a state of purity. Now you and both know that we can do, it. So that is where Jesus comes in and He purifies us. We have Jesus, and we have control over ourselves, we need to put both things into action and live a life that seeks the pure things. If you were a cup of water would you drink you? Or would you start thinking about all the things in your life that you would rather not want to drink? See you have to believe that God’s way is the best way and when He says that we should seek to be pure, well then we need to seek it out and depend on Him to show us how we can live a life running after purity in a world that seeks to make us contaminated. What do you pray for? Have you ever thought about praying for your school, your teachers, your classmates even the ones that you do not know? That is the challenge that is before us now, we are going to challenge you to pray and pray hard for all the things listed above. When you pray for things God moves, and He moves in the area that you are praying and in you! Prayer is powerful and so awesome! Not only does it effect the area that you are praying for but it also affects you and changes you to have a bigger heart for the things that you are praying for! Check this verse out from Luke 11:9-13 "Here's what I'm saying: Ask and you'll get; Seek and you'll find; Knock and the door will open. 10" Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat- and mouse, hide- and seek game we're in. 11 If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? 12 If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? 13 As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing you're at least decent to your own children. And don't you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him. Wow is that cool, Jesus is telling us that we need to pray with direct and purpose with God. We need to have a conversation with Him letting Him know what we need and when we need it! That is pretty cool! God is so awesome and so great to us. We are His children and when we have a heart for something He has a heart for it as well. So what could happen if you started praying for your school? What could happen in the school? What could happen to you inside you how do you think you would change if you were to pray three times a day and during those prayer times lift up your school? Another powerful verse about prayer is this, check it out! Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. God is telling us that when we talk with Him He will show us things and teach us things. That is so powerful, He will guide our prayers. You could try something like this, “God what should I pray for about my school?” Then see what He says see how he guides you to pray. That is some cool stuff for sure. We are going to start praying and seeking God to change us so that we might change the school and allow all of our friends that we know have a chance to hear about Jesus! But we need to pray, so get ready to go for it and I promise you it will be awesome! |
Cover Articles from Extreme Faith MagazineWritten and Posted by The XGT Experience Team of leaders Archives
October 2015
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