WEEK 4 PART A CHOOSING VICTORY

Scripture

2 Peter 1:2-11 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. 4 By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. 11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.

Isaiah 53:5-6

5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds

6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 18 Run from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.” On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.

From the text:

When you talk to courageous WWII veterans, they say they don’t feel like heroes. They simply had a job to do. When the landing-craft ramps fell open, the swallowed hard and said, It’s time.” It’s time to fight.

In your struggle with sexual impurity, isn’t it time? Sure, fighting back will be hard. But your life and home are under a withering barrage of “machine-gun sexuality that rakes the landscape mercilessly. Right now you’re in a landing craft, inching closer to the shore and a showdown. God has given you the weapons and trained you for battle.

You can’t stay in the landing-craft forever. taken from chapter 8

What makes the WWII vets the remarkable generation that they are? What made their war a war they could recover from and claim victory in? Why are the other wars seeing soldiers coming home so messed up that there are not enough resources or interest to help them recover from rampant PTSD and the like? How can we equate this comparison to our own spiritual battlefield? How can we find, claim, and live out victory? In Christ!

I want you to notice the title to this week’s study: CHOOSING VICTORY. Be perfectly aware that all of what you do is a choice. It is not a “foregone conclusion” or “fate.” Your success hinges on your personal choice to alter your life, and the victory that is in Christ and Christ alone. No one can accomplish any good thing without Jesus … no one.

As the author Leonard Ravenhill suggests, all eyes are on us. As the unthinkable becomes the norm all kinds of sexual distortion will become acceptable and even legalized. However, that does not mean that because it is readily available, or even legal, that we should partake. Stand strong in Christ and defy the norm. Be prepared in this age to be persecuted for your lifestyle.

“This present day is like an arena whose terraces are filled with militant godless, the brilliant and belligerent skeptics, plus the blank-faced heathen millions, all looking into the empty ring to see what the church of the living God can do.” from chapter 5 Praying Revival by Leonard Ravenhill

Questions:

Is it profitable for Christ followers to stop short at the middle ground of excellence where costs are low, balanced somewhere between paganism and obedience?

What are the wrong questions? (example: I can’t possibly do this … and besides, Isn’t holiness a God thing and not a me thing?) Didn’t Paul say that we all fall short of the mark?

How far can we go in our behaviors and still be considered a Christian? Is there a secret dark side to your Christian image?

What is true manhood? What is your definition of being a man and then being a victorious man?

Do you see a difference between victory and conquest? Explain …

How can any person, especially a young person, remain pure in such polluted waters? Is the hope for a turnaround of [the] culture of depravity resting with our youth? Even if we have enough time why will it take generations to create change?

Have you ever known a person who is “a slave to righteousness?” What can we learn from him or her?