Addicted to Jesus
1Co 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
1Co 16:14 Let all your things be done with charity.
1Co 16:15 I beseech you, brethren, ye (know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)
Always take heed to symptoms of withdrawl from God by responding with more than occasional overdoses of inviting the Holy Spirit’s presence into your daily living.
Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; -Ephesians 5:18
Get addicted to ministry...
1 Corinthians 16:15
I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)
Get addicted to Scripture reading...
Psalm 119:97
O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Get addicted to praising God...
Psalm 145:1
I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
Get addicted to prayer...
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.
Get addicted to fellowship in the assembly...
Acts 2:42
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Get addicted to evangelism...
Acts 5:42
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Get addicted to generous giving for the needs of God’s people...
2 Corinthians 8:2-3
How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
Addiction to Jesus is the solution for you to live a godly and holy life. Don’t go through withdrawl from God, get addicted to Jesus.
Jam 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Jam 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
Jam 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
G2513
καθαρός
katharos pure
Thayer Definition:
1) clean, pure
1a) physically
1a1) purified by fire
1a2) in a similitude, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit
1b) in a levitical sense
1b1) clean, the use of which is not forbidden, imparts no uncleanness
1c) ethically
1c1) free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt
1c2) free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine
1c3) blameless, innocent
1c4) unstained with the guilt of anything
Part of Speech: adjective
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: of uncertain affinity
The tone of verse 13 is like that of a general’s directing the troops. "Stand fast!" Paul, the apostle of faith, exhorts the church to overcome personal temptations.
He knows they can only do that by faith. Faith can perceive moral dangers. Faith can alarm the mind, and keep the believer’s integrity in tact. Keeping yourself unspotted from the world (cp. Ja 1.27) is an integral part of following Jesus, and serving Him.
Faith also helps the church in overcoming evil that plagues our society. Evil influences are those things that seduce, invade, and wreck our witness in the world. Christians have to learn to stand against these things. Faith that is strong will do that which is necessary. Jesus warned the Laodicean church against being lukewarm (Re 3.14-16),
Proverbs 30:15-16 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.
• The leech is the symbol of an insatiable appetite because it sucks blood through its two suckers (here called its “two daughters” who cry “Give, give!”). It is found in stagnant waters everywhere.
• The author of Proverbs 30 is “Agur the son of Jakeh.” He gives several lists, including this in v.16:
FOUR THINGS WHICH ARE NEVER SATISFIED:
1. THE GRAVE
• Proverbs 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
• Hebrew word “Sheol” – translated “grave, hell, pit”
• Greek equivalents are “Hades” and “Gehenna” – translated “hell”
• HELL: Translated from the Greek “Gehenna” which meant “The Valley of Hinnom.” In this valley south of Jerusalem the ancient Canaanites once sacrificed their children to the fire-god Molech. Even Ahaz and Manasseh, kings of Judah, were guilty of this idolatrous practice. King Josiah later defiled this valley, making it the city’s garbage dump so these sacrifices could never happen again. To consume the garbage, fires burned constantly. Maggots worked in the filth, and wild dogs howled and gnashed their teeth as the fought over the garbage every night. When the wind blew from that direction, the stench was unbearable. Jesus said hell was a place where the worm would not die and the fire would not be quenched. He said there would be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. In effect, He was saying, “If you want to know what Hell is like, look at Gehenna!”
• NT has 27 books, 264 chapters. Hell mentioned 234 times. (27 miles, 234 danger signs!)
"When you arrive at church next week there will be 1 million more lost people in the world than when you arrived last Sunday. About 200,000 people will die around the world in the next 24 hours. Most of them will not know Christ as Saviour and Lord. About 200 per minute. A line made up of all the lost people in the world would circle the earth 30 times. This line grows a the rate of 20 miles per day. Every year the world population increases by over 50 miles, and only 2 miles are ever touched by the Gospel. 2 out of every 3 Christians accepted Christ before age of 18, yet 80% of evangelistic resources is targeted to reaching adults. Churches put $4 into real estate for every $1 in evangelism. On the positive side, about 100,000 are finding Christ as Saviour every day. The world is reverting to heathenism 30 times faster than it is being evangelized. Countless millions are still lost without Christ. "While we tarry someone else is reaping". The Enemy is busy reaping. Hundreds of millions have never heard - the responsibility is ours." (Fair Dinkum, Issue 46, Feb. 1998)
2. THE BARREN WOMB
• Genesis 30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
• Barrenness in the East was looked upon as a sign of great reproach and divine punishment
• The reproach attached to barrenness was due to the constant expectation of the Messiah and the hope cherished by every woman that she might be the mother of the promised Seed.
• In order to avoid this disgrace, women even gave their handmaidens to their husbands, regarding the children born as their own. But this still did not satisfy a mother’s heart!
• 1 Samuel 1:13 Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. (UNASHAMED DESIRE)
• Rachael’s cry is the cry of the church!
3. THE PARCHED EARTH
• Psalm 42:1-2 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
• Psalm 63:1-2 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
4. THE RAGING FIRE
• Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
• The Holy Ghost in us never says “IT IS ENOUGH!”
