Genesis 19:1-28
Isiah 1:
The powerlessness in the church today comes from carnality and compromise. Why are we so ineffective as a church? In the USA. there is a serious problem among believers. And you might ask what is that it is the unwillingness to be obedient to the word of God. People don't want to obey the truth so they make it fit their sin. Romans 1 in your face.
Pastors are looking to fill pews, they don't want to lose tithing and offering so the word has gone out to the church.
Here in chapter 19 of Genisis, we have an illustration of compromise. The man is Lot, Abraham's nephew. And in his life, we are shown how carnality and compromise affected him. Actually, it is a test for us to examine our own lives. 1 Corinthians 11 tells us to.
The question is how have we been impacted by our culture, our parents, and our community.
I talk to a pastor in Nigeria Africa and he told me he is going to have to leave his wife if she does not bear him a child. In that culture, they either take additional wives or get divorced and marry another woman. So I asked him after he said in our culture several times. What does the bible say, do you teach culture from the pule pit or the bible?
We live in a fallen world.
You might ask what is carnality, It is a common term in churches. Carnality is defined in websters dictionary as bodily, sensual not spiritual. If you have gone to the grocery store and picked up a can of chili and then you look at all the different types there are you will also see Chili con Carne which means with meat. It refers to the flesh. We in California, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic love Carne Asada. Oh, I love it with lemon, onions, cilantro, and peppers. I can eat fajitas 7 days a week. But it refers to meat, In the bible, it refers to the flesh.
The word carnal occurs 7 times in 6 verses in the NKJV.
The one that sticks out to me is 1Co 3:3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
Carnality the flesh is always a contradiction to the spirit they war against each other the bible says.
What about this one Carnage or Carnival Cruises it all refers to the flesh. Ever been on a cruise, my wife and I love them. All you can eat and everything else. I have learned to go on the short ones and never go somewhere and stay at a resort dedicated to young people. Because it is like a floating Vegas or all of Las Vegas in one resort.
Carnality in the believer is when we start to move toward a more fleshly behavior. A lifestyle driven rather by the physical rather than the spiritual.
Now carnality just does not happen without compromise. Compromise is defined as an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions: "an ability to listen to two sides in a dispute, and devise a compromise acceptable to both"
Giving in, no longer taking a stand. Not continuing with a routine, if you get up and pray and then at some point you stop praying because you want to sleep in longer.
Now I am not talking about compromise in marriage but I am referring to worldliness.
If you are a believer today then Jesus is Lord and compromise should not even be in your vocabulary. Our job is to submit to His authority.
Lot was a man who compromised a lot right up to the end when Sodom was destroyed. From the time he was told by Abraham to choose what grass he wanted and he chose the plain toward Sodom.
Isaia 1:18-02 says
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
20 But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
We are all convicted of sin but we do not all submit and reason with the word of God. God is gracious and loving and He is waiting for you to turn to Him.
Lets Pray.
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Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
1Co 3:3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
1Co 3:4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
2Co 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
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