Taking AIM for a Better Life Part 2
1 Corinthians chapter 9 .......
We’re talking about "Taking AIM for a Better Life"......
We began a few weeks ago Talking about this being the Year of New Beginnings.....
and I believe it is....
In 2007....we passed through some Open Doors.....
.....and So It Is TIME FOR SOME NEW THINGS to Begin IN OUR LIVES.......
You may have known some pretty Good Things in your past....
....You may have known a degree of Victory in your life....
....You may have experienced some Peace, and Joy....and Power......
But I believe that NOTHING in your past can hold a candle to WHAT GOD WANTS to do in your life THIS YEAR......
I’m Looking, in 2008 for the full manifestation of Eph 3:20 .......
......in my life.......and in your life.....and in this church......
,....When El Shaddai God OPENS FULL for us the Windows of Heaven.....
and the EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE All we’ve ask.......
..... and What we’ve been Dreaming of concerning His Power and Glory Displayed IN THIS EARTH....takes place......
And the Abundance of the Anointing Destroys EVERY Yoke.....
....and Removes Every Burden......
And the WHOLE EARTH is Filled with the GLORY of GOD......
I Believe We’re ON OUR WAY.....don’t you?.....
....Turn and say that to your neighbor "I’m On MY way Into the GLORY"
In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 .....the Apostle Paul writes.....
24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Now, before I get done with this Passage of Scripture....I plan to use all of it.....
.....But we’re using verse 26 as our springboard......
....so let’s Look again to verse 26 Paul said.....I therefore so run, not as uncertainly.....
......or ....as the Amplified Translation says.....WITHOUT DEFINATE AIM....
Definate Aim means a DEFINED DESIRE....or an IDENTIFIABLE Goal or Target......
We talked about that Last Week......how that.......
You can’t run effectively toward a Finish Line IF you do not know where and what it is.
and.....Neither can you Believe God for something that is UNDEFINED
I personally believe that this relates to WHY the Words of our mouth are so effective for or against us....
because when we talk,....we try to be more CLEAR and DEFINATE for understandings sake......
So.....One thing we said is that the First Step to a Better Life is to Define your Desire......
.....or Identify your Goal or Target or Destination that you want to Reach.....
You need to know WHERE you want to go....before you can ever get there.....
You have to know WHAT you want ......before you can work toward having it......
HOWEVER....Just knowing WHAT you want IS NOT ENOUGH......
.....you can’t stop there.....
....but you have to take the Necessary Steps to GET TO IT.....
So......Paul went on to say in verse 26 ".....so fight I, not as one that beats the air."
The AMP says "..... I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary.
One translation said "I make Every Hit COUNT"
So, .....Not Only....does Paul have a Definate Aim....but he is also DEFINATE in his ACTIONS
To win the Prize of a Better Life....
....not only do we have to have a target...but we actually have to GO AFTER IT.....
In the rest of this Series.....I want to talk practically about HOW to do that......
......How to TAKE AIM for a Better Life....
Taking AIM is more than just Finding a Target and Pointing toward it......
....that’s PART of it......
But Webster’s Dictionary says that
......Aim is directing a thing TO (not AT but TO) a particular point or object.
And that’s what we want to do.....to direct our lives ALL THE WAY TO our particular goal.
Before we go on into what I really want to talk about......
....let me also mention this as a PREREQUISITE for GOOD AIM.....
Taking Aim often means a CHANGE of DIRECTION for the one doing the AIMING.
To win a race....you have to follow the Race Course or you’ll disqualifiy yourself
To hit a target with a gun or a rock....
......How many of you know it is best to TURN Yourself in the direction of your target.....
......and keep your Eyes on the target ....
Otherwise you’re probably going to HIT something you don’t Want to.....
If any of the Gospel works FOR YOU....it will be because you LET IT TURN YOU in the Right Direction.....
....and you keep your eyes on Jesus and you CONTINUOUSLY FOLLOW HIM
Thousands of people have heard how the Gospel can change their lives....
....and many of them, hundreds of times....
but its not making any difference in their lives.....
....because they refuse to change and go the direction of the Word and Spirit of God
They are like those whom Jesus spoke about in Matthew 7:26
.....Who heard the Word without doing the Word.......
and when the Pressure was on....... THEIR house FELL and was Ruined......
That doesn’t have to be the way YOUR STORY TURNS OUT.....
....If you will Make Yourself a DOER of the Word of God
This only works for DOERS.....
So let’s just set our course right now.....Say "I am a Doer of the Word of God."
"Even if it means I HAVE TO CHANGE my Ways....."
"I Want CHANGE for the Better........and SO.....I will be a DOER of the Word of God"
"When I like what it says.....I’ll be a DOER...."
"When I don’t like what it say.....I’ll STILL be a DOER"
"I will Let the Word of God....and the Spirit of God,.....set the Direction for my life."
Now, what the Lord Originally gave me regarding this message is this......
To Take AIM for a Better Life......
....You Take Authority,..... You Take Initiative..... and You Maintain the ground you gain.
When I wrote that down, I capitalized the first letters of the key words......
....and they made an Acrostic for the word AIM.....using the words Authority, Initiative and Maintain....
.....so we’re going with that ...like I got it.
If that kind of thing helps you remember, then Great....
If not....then you can just ignore the acrostic and it won’t bother me one bit.
A is for Taking Authority
Now, I’m not talking about some great Spiritual Authority........
....that involves binding and casting out evil spirits......
.... or Controlling Winds and Waves.....Killing fig trees........and those kinds of things....
There’s something legitamite about those things.....
Jesus said that IN HIS NAME, believers would do the works He did.....and greater works.....
However, Many Believers are trying to exercise spiritual authority.....
..... and control the circumstances around their lives BUT IT’S NOT WORKING....
And it won’t work, at least not consistently,......
...... Until we learn to Exercise Authority OVER Our Own Selves.......
In 1 Cor 9:25 ....Paul said "...every man that strives for...mastery is TEMPERATE in ALL THINGS....
Notice that, Striving for Mastery (contending for victory) and being Temperate go hand in hand......
...but what does it mean to be Temperate?
Temperate is SELF RESTRAINED or CONTROLLED .....
That’s talking about Controlling Yourself Personally.....or Taking Personal Authority
Let’s look on down to verse 27....Paul said in 1 Cor 9:27 "But I KEEP under my body, and bring it into subjection....."
He said "But I keep UNDER...... (under what? His Own Authority)......"
He’s still talking about what he said in verse 27 about Temperance......
......that’s why the verse begins with "But...."
So, he’s saying "I keep under my own authority.....MY BODY."
I do it....., he doesn’t say God keeps me under.....he said I keep under.....I do it....
Now.......The word translated Body is "so-mah"
and in context here, it means THE WHOLE PERSON, spirit, soul and body
We need to know that...... WE Have the Right and Obligation to Control Ourselves.....
....and we can do it.....
WE CAN CONTROL OUR WHOLE SELF......
We have the Authority if we are born again....
....satans controls have been broken off of us and WE ARE FREE......
But with that Freedom comes Responsibility.....
And one thing that is missing in so many Christian lives is them taking RESPONSIBILITY for their own selves.....
We blame the devil for TONS of things that he really doesn’t have anything to do with...
and he will take the credit gladly, because he’s twisted in his thinking......
...and so to him its like a form of worship......
...and so he’ll agree with you and say "yeah, I did that....I’m controlling you...."
But the Real Truth is that We Have AUTHORITY OVER OUR OWN SELVES.....
and he can’t MAKE you do Anything....or Say Anything.....
all he can do is give you suggestions and excuses.......
but.....If you do anything with those...that’s you, not him.....
satan is a defeated foe who has NO AUTHORITY over a child of God.....
....whether you believe it or not.
Another often received lie is that God is in Control and you can’t do anything about that either.
God is not in control of everything in your life...and I can assure you of that....
...because You would be a MUCH BETTER Person if you did Everything HIS WAY,...and you know it.
NO.....Tell your neighbor "It’s what you do that makes the difference."
It’s what you do....You are in control....
and its up to you to BRING YOUR WHOLE PERSON under Your Authority
If you get Any kind of Substantial Improvement in YOUR LIFE......
It will stem from the Things that YOU DO....
.....and How you Control Yourself.....spirit, soul and body.....
Now really, if you’re born again....your spirit will not need MUCH in the way of Controlling....
It may need some from time to time....
Paul talked about the spirit of the prophets being subject to the prophets in 1 Cor 14:32 ...
and so it is POSSIBLE and even Needful in certain Situations to control your spirit.........
but you’ll find that the REAL BORN AGAIN SPIRIT will be the Part of you that MOST Often wants the things of God....
...because that’s what its made for.
Your biggest concern here is that you FEED and NOURISH and do what you have to do to STRENGTHEN your spirit man.....
....so that that part of you becomes the STRONGEST INFLUENCE in your being.....
But your Born Again spirit will be a part of your ANSWER and Not your Problem in life.
Galatians 5:16 ....Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Romans 8:6 .....to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
You’ll also notice....... really,.... if you pay attention to what’s going on.....
.... your body doesn’t give you THAT MUCH trouble.....
People are down on their bodies for various reasons.....
....but you should be good to your body.....and you should take care of your body.....
....because it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost....
And besides that, it really doesn’t have much of a mind of its own.
That’s why it takes Multiple Repetitions to create even most Bad Habits....
You don’t usually get a body addicted to Alcohol with one or two drinks.....
No, it takes some doing to get most bodies ADDICTED to that stuff.....
And its the same way with a lot of other things that our bodies become accustomed to.......
It takes exposure to a thing,...usually....to get your body into a routine.....
It’s not your body that messes with you so much.....
That’s one reason Paul could say in Eph 6:12 ....that we Wrestle Not with Flesh and Blood.....
The REAL trouble that MOST PEOPLE have is not their Body, or their spirit....but it’s their MIND
In Rom 12:1 It says to "Present your bodies unto God.....but in Verse 2 it says to "RENEW your MIND"
Rom 6:13 tells us to "Yield our bodies to God"
...but Eph 4:23 says to "...be renewed in the spirit of your mind;"
Col 1:21 says we were "...alienated and enemies in your mind....."
Week before last...many of you Kept your FLESHLY Body under your Authority by Fasting Bread, Sugar and Caffeine......
...so you could FEED your spirit man.....
....but could you tell that.... it was IN YOUR MIND that the Hardest Battle was Fought?
And how about this past week....Fasting TV and Internet.....
....Was it your Body or your MIND that gave you the Hardest time?....it was our MINDS
Really....life’s Battles are Won and Lost IN OUR MINDS
And if we would LEARN to Take Control of what goes on in there.....the Rest would come MUCH EASIER.....
Let’s turn over to 2 Cor 10 .....and we’ll finish here this morning.....
This really helps us know how to deal with our most troublesome area of Personal Control and Authority....
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
The Biggest Area of Battle you have to overcome on a personal level comes from your thought life.
And really before you will be able to control much of anything else in your life....
....you will have to control your mind......and what thoughts you allow to exist there.....
What’s in your mind tends to Eventually Settle in your heart.....
and then it will come out your mouth....and become REAL in you life....
And the trouble is that You Can’t control what thoughts COME INTO your mind.
They come from so many different areas.....TV, Radio...billboards....and what you read...
...and they also come from satans realm
But even though you can’t control what comes in all the time....
...you can ALWAYS CONTROL what happens to them.
And the Bible tells us that We Have the Necessary Weapons to CAST DOWN imaginations and thoughts that we don’t want....
and to bring them into Captivity...which renders them harmless and ineffective against us.
And the Way you do that is by Using the Word of God in your Mind AND in your MOUTH.....
You talk to those thoughts.....In fact, you should talk to your whole person.
Learn to Tell yourself what God Says ESPECIALLY in times when THOUGHTS are telling you something else....
and it doesn’t matter where those thoughts are coming from....
If they’re from your Body....You talk to it and Tell it What God says....
If they’re just in your mind and you don’t know why they’re there....or where they come from...........
...Tell them What God’s Word Says and Take them Captive.
Rev 12:11 (AMP) And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony,....
If you will Learn to take Authority over Your Mind by SPEAKING the Word.....Your Body won’t be hard to Control
You can Control your Mind....It’s Your Mind...and you have the Right to Control it.....
You can CHOOSE the thoughts that rule......
...the Bible says so.....Phil 4:8 says...."....Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
David prayed in Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
We need to learn to Control our Whole Person......,....to Take Authority over ourselves.....
To Control the Way the ACT on the Outside.....AND the way we feel on the INSIDE......
Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
You may be thinking "well, I can’t make myself be WILLING"......
Oh Yes you can....If you want to Please God MORE than you want to have your OWN way YOU CAN
If you’re Serious about what you Say you want to Change for the Better.....You’ll do it.....
"but I can’t help what I feel...."
No, not at first, but you can change how you RESPOND to what you feel....
and if you’ll do that Enough.....Your FEELINGS will Change.
If you’ll lay claim to your Authority in Christ Jesus...and RULE over yourself....
...and Make yourself ACCOUNTABLE to the Word of God.....
...and you may have to go as far as to find you somebody and make yourself Accountable to them as well.....
But You Can Control Your Feelings.....and IF You don’t...They WILL CONTROL YOU.....
You can Control Your Thoughts......and Your Emotions.....
Jesus said in John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
