“Un-Distract” or Self-Destruct?

Part 1

Message continued…

Notes provided below!

Mission/Vision Statement

The Mission of the No Substitute Ministries Bible study group is to bring clarity and understanding to God’s Word so that we can apply it to our lives in a practical and effective manner, enabling us to impact the lives of others and bring change to our world through our application of the Gospel.

Bible Study Agenda

• Prayer
• Song
• Bible Study/Topic Discussion
• Questions/Answers/open discussion
• Close with prayer

Study Focus for Saturday, December 8, 2012 

Life in the Spirit (Pt. 2): Un-Distract or Self-Destruct? – The Bible explicitly states that we should “walk in the spirit” in order to have the life God wants for us. But what does that mean and how exactly do we do it?  A crucial facet of life in the spirit is to learn to recognize and mitigate distractions and then counter them with continuous, purposeful focus on the things of God

Key Points of Discussion:

• Review
  • Renewing the Mind/Soul
  • Tri-part nature of Man
  • The Gospel of Grace
  • Life In the Spirit
• “Un-Distract” or Self Destruct

Review

1. Change begins with renewing your mind and it is a process, not a one time event, and it involves both the addition of “Good” and subtraction of “Bad” from your life.
   1. In order for change to take place around you, it must begin with you. Change begins with renewing your mind and altering the way you think to line up with God’s Word (Romans 12:1, 2).
   2. 
2. Man is a tri-part being—spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
   1. We ARE spirit beings, created in the image and likeness of God.  We POSESS a soul – our mind, will and emotions.  We LIVE INSIDE of a body.
   2. The spirit was never designed to be led by the Body, or by the worldly, sense-knowledge of the mind, but by the Word of God.  We are spirits and must keep our bodies and minds in subjection to the Word of God.
3. Grace is the power that we have through Jesus not only saves and restores us to right standing with God, but also helps us live victoriously.
   1. When we become born again, God not only gives us the grace to receive salvation, He also gives us the grace to live our lives in a way that pleases Him. There is grace available for everything we will ever need in life; however, we must remember that we access grace through faith in God’s Word (Ephesians 2:4-10, Romans 3:21-31, 5:1-5).
   2. We are the righteousness of God through grace (2 Corinthians 5:21).  God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) increase in our lives (2 Corinthians 9:6-8, AMP).
4. To “walk in the Spirit” is to be led constantly, through any and all situations by the Spirit of God.  As Christians, we are instructed to live EVERYDAY of our lives in this manner.
   1. Come to understand, accept, and grow in the knowledge of Grace.  Understanding grace is the doorway to being filled with the Spirit. Under the grace of God, we are dead to the law, and birthed into a life in The Spirit (Romans 7:4, Galatians 2:19).
   2. Be FILLED with the Spirit of God and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Ephesians 5:15-19, Acts 2:1-4).
   3. Praying in the Spirit (aka. Praying in tongues) is a powerful tool that is available to EVERY BELIEVER that allows us to pray using the spirit of God to pray for whatever is necessary.  (Romans 8:26-27, 1 Corinthians 12:7, Corinthians 14:4,5,2,14-15, 38-39)
   4. The Bible EXHORTS us to be filled with the spirit and pray IN TONGUES.  The “new tongues” of our Spirit language enables us to live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and be led of the Spirit, have the fruit of the Spirit, manifest the gifts of the Spirit and go from Glory to Glory until we are transformed in into HIS image BY the SPIRIT (Mark 16:14-18, Galatians 5:25, Romans 8:14, Acts 19:2-6)

Summary 

We are tri-part spirit beings – we are spirits, we possess our souls, we live inside our bodies.  We have discussed how the Spirit (now one with God by grace through faith) should be the sole leader of this team.  We recently used the analogy of a car and driver to illustrate the gravity of this concept.  What happens when the driver of a vehicle allows the car to “drive itself”, taking his or her hands off of the wheel while the vehicle is in motion?  More than likely unwelcome to disastrous results could occur – Just as it is when a person allows the body and soul to direct life, rather than being led of the spirit.

Continuing with the car and driver analogy, In everyday life, many drivers do not reach their destinations.  Some experience mildly unpleasant to disastrous results by becoming involved in accidents or crashes.  Most do not achieve this undesirable result by simply “taking their hands off the wheel.”  The number one cause of all major automobile calamity is distraction.

“The research tells us that somewhere between 25-50 percent of all motor vehicle crashes in this country really have driver distraction as their root cause.” – Mark Edwards, Director of Traffic Safety, American Automobile Association.

Distraction is the divided attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction. Distraction is caused by the lack of ability to pay attention, lack of interest in the object of attention, or great intensity, novelty or attractiveness of something other than the object of attention. Distractions come from both external sources, and internal sources.

1. Distraction is a tactic of the enemy, Satan.
   1. As Christians, we must remember that we have an enemy whose plan is to undermine the will of God.  (Matt 13:24-28, 39)
   2. Know and understand that whatever the enemy uses, we have the grace (power) to overcome (Luke 10:19) Under the grace of God, we are dead to the law, and birthed into a life in The Spirit (Rom 7:4, Gal 2:19).
   3. God is not the author of confusion – Which means the devil is all for it! Satan knows that if we are confused and oblivious (synonyms of being distracted), that we will not be able to receive what God has for us (1 Cor 14:33, Matt 6:23, Jam 1:6-8, 1 John 4:1).
2. Distraction must be directly countered by focus in order to mitigate and/or eliminate its effects.
   1. Just as Jesus did, when Satan attempted to deceive Him through distraction, we must counter with focus on the Word of God (Luke 4:1-14, Matt  4:1-11, Luke 11:17-36, Colossians 3:1-2, 1 Tim 4:16, 1 Pet 1:13-16).
3. Actively align your words AND actions with Jesus through prayer, confessions, reading the Word of God (The Bible), and service (actively helping others through the sacrifice of your time, talents, energy, and/or resources) in order to cultivate an environment that is focused on the advancement of the Kingdom of God (Psalm 86:11, Acts 17:28, Eph 5:3, James 4:7-8, Hebrews 12:1-2).

Throughout the Bible there are many of examples that show us how Satan uses distractions and what WE should do about it!