Hey there, again to you, this is Pastor Mark of Words of Life, and on this week's episode of the broadcast or the podcast, we're going to close our four-part series, Understanding Affliction, and we're going to talk about how affliction, a lot of times, is not he, is not she, it's nobody's fault. It's because it comes from within us. We're going to talk about that and see what that means for you and for I right here.
But let's pause for this break, and I'll see you right on the other side of it, okay? See you in
a moment. We thank you for joining our Words of Life broadcast, where our mission is persuading the lost, perfecting each believer, and equipping all for service with practical application from God's Word. We now join Pastor Mark for this week's Words of Life.
Hey there again to you. This is Pastor Mark and before we even get started, I like to do this every time that I open our show or podcast or broadcast, speaking God's word to you. I'd like to thank you because the truth of the matter is you could have been doing anything else. You could have been watching anybody else, listening to anybody else, but you have allowed God's spirit to lead you our way to listen to his word through this ministry. And my wife and I, we never take that For granted.
With that being said, I'm going to ask that you turn in your word. I'm going to ad-lib just a little bit like I do every week, just to give us time to get there. We are closing our series in the book of Mark. You got Matthew, you got Mark, the second of the synoptic gospels right there in the New Testament. If you're flipping through your pages, but if you have your phones or whatever, we're coming from Mark 7. I'm going to read about three verses starting at verse 21.
We're going to go ahead and put the font up on the screen. We're going to add a little bit more. Finders up on the screen. Here we go. The gospel of Mark chapter seven, beginning at verse 21. And our reading is as follows. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come. Sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, i.e. pride and folly, foolishness. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.
May the Lord add a blessing to the hearers, the readers, but most importantly, those that intend to do with his help, his holy word. We open with Mark 7, 21 through 23, closing our series, Understanding Affliction. But today's primary point being affliction comes from within. And that's something that requires some humility, some transparency for us to admit and for God to start working in our hearts because he gives grace to the humble, but he opposes the proud.
Jesus was telling the religious community back in the end of the day, look, we can wear all of these phylacteries, these robes and hats and collars. And yeah, you Sadducees and Pharisees and scholars, you can look the part. But the truth of the matter is, it's not how you look. It's not. And they were debating about, well, if I eat that, oh, I'm spiritual. That would defile me. I don't do pork. I don't do... That sound familiar? I don't eat that. I don't do, I don't eat that.
I'm no, no. Jesus basically said, hold on. You're looking at the outside, but what defiles a person is what comes from within. And I would like to offer us that a lot of times if we go through and prepare to close our series, we talked about affliction being laying upon us by God for his purposes, his will. No sin can God do, but he has a purpose in allowing affliction to be laying upon us. We talked secondly about affliction literally coming from our adversary. It's to be expected.
That's what he does. Lies, cheats.
accuses agitate the odds are it's just with somebody that we have to interact with on a daily basis and that took us to point number three or should i say sermon number three in the series where affliction comes through or from people we can't avoid people not if we're doing the work of god because god loves people more than anything we have to interact with people knowing that affliction comes from them and that brings us to our final message within the series We've got to understand today's
focal point, affliction comes from within us. That takes some transparency to admit, okay? The reasons are mine. Kind of just, Jesus, I don't think he missed anything. Let me just go back.
Sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all of these come from within and they come from within a place that only god sees and god truly knows about we can fool everybody we can have it all together on the outside but there's one person we cannot fool it is god almighty he sees where others can't he knows what others don't and that's why we got to keep it real with god and say lord it's me it's me it's me it's not him it's
not her It is me, I'm struggling with this. I did, I said, whatever it is, we gotta be transparent because a lot of our affliction comes from within. We have needs, we have wants, we have desires, we have insecurities, we have struggles, we have doubts, we have unsettled generational curses that sometimes are ignored and not dealt with, and it is still afflicting us today. So we've got to understand before we get to our primary point, we have enough of ourselves to deal with on any given day.
And that's why it's important to understand the direction from which affliction is coming so that we can properly handle it and rely on God for his assistance and his help, whether it's laying upon us by him, Or the devil is just coming against us that day. That's what he does. Or that spirit is coming through a person that we got to interact with every day. Or it's none of the three. Today is just, that's just me. That's coming from in here. Lord, help me.
So here's today's point number one, when we're talking about affliction coming from within. We have to understand that it's impossible to please God without reliance. on His Holy Spirit every day. And here's something we gotta come to grips with. I know it's something that I've had to come to grips with. We can try as we might. You might have 12 step. You might put a rubber band on your wrist to pop yourself to keep from saying or doing.
But the truth is, this is impossible to live or walk out without relying on God's help through His Holy Spirit. And I think that's exactly where he wants us. We try to shoulder all of these burdens, all of these afflictions. Our heart is desperately wicked. It's deceitful. No one is good. We got to get that. And if you're watching this and that's hard to bear and you're kicking against it, beware of pride. God opposes the pride. He gives grace to the humble.
Lord, I don't have a problem like David. I seek to be a man after his own heart because David was quick to confess, Lord, that's me. Don't take your spirit away from me. I'm relying on your mercy and your grace, who you are. We have to rely on God's spirit every day, relying on his mercies that are new every day, relying on the fact that he can't lie. He will not desert me. He always is. I gotta confess the mess, okay?
The relationship can never be severed since I have Jesus, but that fellowship can. Confess it, admit it. Lord, I need you every single day. That's why he's called paraclete, comforter, consoler, helper, advocate. That's the role of Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to learn to lean on him daily. Here's point number two. I've said it a few times. God gives grace to the humble. He opposes the proud. We must admit the condition of our heart on a daily basis.
The word tells us if we confess our sin, God is the faithful one. He's just to forgive us our sin. He'll cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we say that we have no sin, the word says we are liars and the truth is not in us. Just remember, God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Lord, it's me every single day. It's me, my sinful heart. I was born into sin, but by one man, I am now secure. His name is Jesus. It's a daily admittance, a reliance. Lord, that's me. Please help me.
My heart is sick. That's why I come to you, Master Healer. Am I black? Am I white? Am I a dollar? Am I light? Am I a fling? Am I small? Do I sing? Or am I salt? Am I a day? Or am I a play? Or would you say, I am the way? Church, who does the world say that I am because of?
you.
And in our final point of the message, understanding, or should I say the series understanding affliction, the message today is understanding affliction comes from within us, our heart. Our final point of the day is affliction is a requirement for our sanctification. Affliction, sanctification, that's a daily process. Sanctification is not a microwave thing. And I like to say that because our salvation is secure if we've accepted Christ as Savior.
But we gotta confess, we miss the mark every day. And that's a part of sanctification, being made fit for God's presence in eternity. But while we're on earth, we're going to have trouble. We're going to interact with people that are going to be offensive. We're going to miss the mark. Understand that as affliction comes from within us, don't be too hard on yourself. Try not to be too hard on ourselves. It is a sanctification. It is a daily process. It is progressive.
If a good part of our lives were sent and our eyes were blinded by Satan and we were lost in sin, though God can do the impossible, the odds are you're not gonna get saved the next day and everything is wiped away. No, just like there was a process to get to this point and God called us out of darkness, he then starts to process. That's what sanctification is, a progressive process that we don't need to be too hard on ourselves. God has not lost one that has been given to him.
Jesus secured us in him. He's not going to lose us either. When you miss the mark, confess the mess, get back up. It is a process, it being sanctification. And we're going to close our series with today's final message, understanding that affliction comes from within.
We certainly hope that this message message this series blessed you because I can't tell you all enough how it blessed my I needed it and before I ministered it to you I had to eat it first and God really spoke to my heart about it I'm definitely in that word on some things concerning me and my walk with Christ and I challenge you is that you as well I don't want to take for granted as we close that you know Jesus is your personal savior because that is the only reason that God has given us to
preach You will rarely, if ever, I'll never say never, but you'll never hear me on here without giving you an opportunity to get your eternity secure through Jesus. And that can be done by simply saying, Lord, I acknowledge I'm a sinner. My heart is jacked up. I'm full of sin is deceitful. I need you to save me and secure me for eternity because all of this affliction around me, I need you eternally to make sure I'm good from here. When it's time to go, I'm secure with you.
That can only be done through Jesus Christ. And if I accept him, Lord, I believe that he's coming back for me. And now your Holy Spirit will start working in my heart. Sanctification, this progressive work that gets me ready to meet you. If you prayed that short little prayer with me, if you missed it, rewind it and just mean it in your heart.
You have become a part of God's family eternally and there is no better day to celebrate because that's exactly what heaven is doing if you have joined God's family today. We love you. That's all I got to say for this week. My time is up. But same time next week. Same word of God. Same pastor. Hey, thank you so much for joining us. And we hope to see you again soon. Again, same bad time. Let me stop. God bless you. Love you dearly. Bye-bye.
my lord and my god through jesus christ alone i'll praise your name in song and glorify you with thanksgiving i'm not asking you for anything right now i just want to say thank you thank you for all that you are to me
Thank you. don't just wanna say Thank you. safe and