The message this week was about the
Carnal Mind based off of Romans 13. Talk about the hammer being brought down!
This is a hard topic for both the preacher and the audience, not to mention
rare and probably considered outdated. I don't ever recall hearing a sermon so
painfully true, really something I would rather not think about YET so
incredibly important and necessary for every Christian. I wish I had heard this
sermon when I was 20, it probably would have saved me a ton of life's headaches..maybe.
Carnal nature. I'm still pondering and reflecting. I found these incredible
quotes summing up pretty much a lot of my Christian life...sigh. Talk about a
spiritual spotlight. Thank you God for providing a servant who is willing to
say the unpopular truth.
Carnal believers are moved easily.
On one occasion they may be extremely excited an happy, on another occasion,
very despondent and sad. In the happy moment they judge the world too small to
contain them, and so they soar on wings to the heavens; but in the moment of sadness
they conclude that the world has had enough of them and will be glad to be rid
of them... their lives are susceptible to constant changes for they are
governed by their emotions.-Watchman Nee
Though all Christians possess a
regenerated spirit, not all Christians are spiritual. Many are still fleshly.
Their carnal mind is still full of wandering thoughts, reasons and plans; their
emotion runs wild with many carnal interests, desires and tendencies; and their
will formulates many worldly judgements, arguments and opinions. They are so
occupied in following the flesh that they have neither time nor inclination to
listen to the voice of intuition. Since the voice of the spirit is usually very
soft, it cannot be heard unless it is listened to attentively with everything
else quieted.-Watchman Nee
A real spiritual life is never
dominated by, nor lived in, feeling. Rather does it regulate feeling. Nowadays
Christians mistake a life of feeling for spiritual experience. This is because
many have never entered into genuine spirituality and hence interpret happy
sensation to be spiritual experience.-Watchman Nee
A fleshly/carnal life will
corrupt morals, weaken personal relationships, produce doubt about God and His
Word, destroy prayer life and provide fertile ground for heresy.-John MacArthur
God may allow His servant to
succeed when He has disciplined him to a point where he does not need to
succeed to be happy. The man who is elated by success and is cast down by
failure is still a carnal man. At best his fruit will have a worm in it. A.W. Tozer
Romans 13: 11-14
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.[c]
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