The Spiritual TugofWar Part I

1
The SpiritualTug-of-War Part I

• Destruction or Destiny
• Santosh David Poonen

Fulfilling Gods Purpose Session II(River of
Life Bible School 2007)
2
Phobias

• claustrophobia confined spaces
• hydrophobia - water
• arachnophobia - spiders
• acrophobia - heights
• aviophobia - flying
• nyctophobia - darkness
• osmophobia - smells
• clinophobia going to bed / falling asleep

3
Phobias

• ergasiophobia - work
• bathophobia - depth
• coulrophobia - clowns
• triskaidekaphobia - number 13
• paraskavedekatriaphobia - Friday the13th
• phobophobia - phobias
• aibohphobia - palindromes
• glossophobia - speaking in public
• necrophobia - death

4
Mans ultimate fear
5
Has anyone managed to conquer death?

• Enoch? (Genesis 524)
• Elijah? (II Kings 211)
• Lazarus? (John 1144)
• Jesus! (Acts 224)

6
The Secret of Jesus Life

• I John 215-17
• if you love the world
• the love of the Father is not in you
• you will pass away with the world
• if you do the will of God
• the love of the Father is in you
• you will live forever

7
Tug-of-War!

8
Tug-of-War!

9
Tug-of-War!

10
Tug-of-War!

• The Will of God vs The World
• Also called The Spirit vs The Flesh
  (Galatians 516-17)
• Battle is for the greatest prize of all the soul
  (Matthew 1626)
• Battle is primarily inner, so only you truly know
  which side youre on

11
Destruction or Destiny

• God created us with the supreme purpose of
  becoming like Jesus (Romans 829) - DESTINY
• The Devils goal is at all cost to prevent us
  from attaining that destiny - DESTRUCTION

12
Destruction or Destiny

Destiny
Santosh
Destruction
13
The Tendency to Decay

• a bleak outlook each new day is one day closer
  to death for all of creation
• 2 directions
• alive, moving forward, constant revival
• dying, pulled downward
• an airplane needs to be moving forward in order
  to stay airborne
• It takes a live fish to swim against the
  current!

14
The World

• not the physical earth
• but, the world system, and the powers that
  control it
• defined in I John 215-17 as
• the lust of the flesh
• the lust of the eyes
• the boastful pride of life

15
Six Examples in the Bible

• lust of the flesh category
• 1 bad example
• 1 good example
• lust of the eyes category
• 1 bad example
• 1 good example
• boastful pride of life category
• 1 bad example
• 1 good example

16
The Lust of the Flesh

• things that please our selfish greedy instincts
• I, Me, Myself!
• to love the world in this area, is to buy into
  this system of selfishness and self-centeredness

17
The Lust of the Flesh

• Genesis 25
• Esau
• complete (v25)
• born ready (v25)
• miracle birth (v21)
• grew up favored (v28)
• passionate outdoorsman (v27)
• chose instant gratification at the risk of
  eternal destruction (v32)
• famous and wealthy on earth (Genesis 323,339),
  probably lost for eternity

• Matthew 4
• Jesus
• save others (121)
• born lowly (Luke 27)
• miracle birth (Matthew 118)
• grew up ridiculed (Mark 63)
• loved the outdoors, but kept it in perspective
  (Luke 323)
• chose eternal destiny over instant gratification
  (Matthew 42-4)
• died shameful death, but is seated at the
  right-hand of God (Colossians 31)
• BONUS Acts 1038

18
F for Flesh

• Financial status the love of money
• Fashion especially immodesty
• Food expensive tastes
• Fun self-centered interests at the expense of
  the Law of God

19
Satans Mission

• You-th!
• are vibrant, and full of zest and potential
• if trapped early, future more easily destroyed
• The Devils agenda (John 1010)
• Steal your time, your gifts, your youth
• Kill your joy, your peace, your testimony
• Destroy your soul