Pastor Stephen Dedman

Tag: church

A Good Conscience

Encouragement, Faith

A Good Conscience

Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”
Acts 23:1

A Clean Slate

If you remember the life of Saul before the Lord changed his name to Paul, you will remember how he was persecuting the church and killing Christians.  He was not considered a good person in our perspective.  But here in this verse Paul says to the Sanhedrin council, “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”  How could he say such a profound statement?

Paul knew his past was not good.  But he also knew that he had received God’s forgiveness and grace.   Even though he had previously acted out violent persecutions against Christians, he was a new person in Christ.  He always used his testimony to show people how Jesus changed his life.  So Paul could honestly stand before the council and declare that he had a good and clear conscience before God.  His slate was clean and he was cleared from all unrighteousness.

That is a great way to live.  We should all seek to live before God with a good conscience.  The only way you can effectively do so is to confess your sins and turn from all evil.  A problem occurs when we confess our sin but keep doing the same sinful things.  We are to confess, repent, and turn away from repeating the same sins.  The only way to receive a good conscience before God is to be clean and free from sin.  Paul was able to let the past stay in the past and live in the present for the Lord.  Is there any sin in your life that is troubling your soul and keeping you from having peace with God? Confess and repent today.

Prayer

Pray and ask God to reveal any unconfessed sin and repent from it today.

The Prayer Of Faith

Encouragement, Faith, Trust

The Prayer Of Faith

And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
James 5:15

The Cure For Spiritual Weakness

There are times in our life when we can become spiritually sick.  Just as our physical bodies get sick with a virus or an infection our faith can also become weak and feeble.  We can take an antibiotic for our bodies to help fight infections but what do we do when we are spiritually sick?  Is there a prescription for spiritual weakness?

We must understand that there are seasons in life when we are faithful and strong and then there are times when our faith is weak.  It’s during these times of weak faith when we are most vulnerable.  This is when we quit reading and studying our Bible and we don’t pray as much as we did before.  This is what James is referring to in James 5:13-18.  He is writing to Believers who have been persecuted and are at their point of giving up and giving in.  It takes a lot of strength to stay spiritually strong in our walk with the Lord.  Jesus never promised us that it would be easy. However, James gives great advice for us to get spiritually healed.

The first step of spiritual healing is to recognize that you are sick and weak.  Until you recognize your spiritual condition, nothing will change.  The second step is to surround yourself with strong, spiritual people.  These are the ones whose faith is so strong that it rubs off on others. Everyone needs a strong faithful person in their life.  Third, you need to rely on the Holy Spirit to nourish your mind and soul through the Word of God.  God wants to restore you to be the person He has called you to be.  Stay strong and be encouraged.

Prayer

If you are spiritually weak pray for God to send you someone who can lift you up in faith and encouragement.  If you are spiritually strong, pray for God to help you find someone who is weak and help them get back to where they need to be.

What Does The Lord Require Of You

Salvation, Trust

What Does The Lord Require Of You

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
‭‭Micah‬ ‭6:8‬

It’s More Than Being Good

Some people think all you have to do is live a good and moral life and you will go to Heaven.  That is far from the truth of God’s Word.  That is a lie that Satan wants people to believe.  There will be a lot of good people die and go to Hell because they believed this lie.  Faith and belief in Jesus Christ is how you receive eternal life in Heaven. We live good and moral lives to glorify God for sending us His Son.

The prophet Micah gives us three ways to glorify God in our daily life. First, do justice.  This means we should be fair to all people and don’t judge them.  God is the judge so we must not judge others lest we be judged.  Second, love kindness.  We are not only to be kind to others but we are to love kindness.  We are to show mercy to others even if they have wronged us.  Third, walk humbly.  As Believer’s we are to put others first.  Just as Christ was a humble servant, so we are to be Christ-like.

But are these the only requirements?

When asked what was the greatest commandment of the law, Jesus replied, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:35-39)  We will never fully satisfy the requirements of God but we can be justified through the works of Jesus Christ who did fulfill all His requirements.

Prayer

Thank God for His mercy and grace and then show others how thankful you are.