Let Go. Let God. Live. Love. The Way to Go!

     Hello, from up in the country.  Yesterday I washed my truck and worked outside because the temperature was a spring-like beautiful 71 degrees with those clear blue Arkansas skies.  Today, the temperature is a brisk 35.  Earlier this morning the temperature was 26, a 45 degrees drop in less than 24 hours.  Someone told me that if you don’t like the weather in Arkansas, just wait a few minutes.  No problem.  We’ll just bundle up and keep on keeping on.

     Remember our thoughts from last week?  If we are ever to live on the pathway to peace we must let go of some things:  sin, fear, regret, and worry.  If we will let these things go from our lives, God will take them and wash them away by grace through faith.  We can do this.  Of course letting go is only part of the battle.  What do we do now?  Well, now that we have let go, we must LET GOD.

     When we let go of sin, we must let God fill us with His Son.  When we let go of fear, we must let God fill us with faith.  When we let go of regret, we must let God fill us with hope.  When we let go of worry, we must let God fill us with His love and His blessings.  In Matthew 12:38 the religious leaders of Jesus’ day asked Him for a sign that He was who He said He was, the Christ.  He told them that the people of Ninevah and the queen of Sheba would rise up in the judgment to condemn them and their generation because they refused to believe the truth.  In verses 43-45 Jesus tells about a man with an unclean or evil spirit inside him.  This text will help us to see more clearly what I would like for us to see in this series of lessons.  Read these verses below or take your Bible and read.

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.  Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’  And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.  Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state is worse than the first.  So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

     Another example of my point in this lesson can be established by reading a passage in Luke, chapter 6, verses 47-48a.  Jesus tells us that in order to build a house, we must first DIG DEEP and find the FOUNDATION, which is Christ.

“Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like; He is like a man building a house, WHO DUG DEEP and LAID THE FOUNDATION on the Rock.”

     In both these texts we find the same principle, that of letting go or getting those unclean spirits out of us or digging deep.  The next step toward the pathway to peace is to LET GOD FILL US with His Son, that is salvation, faith, hope, and love.  We need to find the foundation and build.

     Take a look again at Jesus’ words about the man who had the unclean or evil spirit go out of him.  Jesus didn’t tell us how this took place.  Can you think of anything more unclean or evil than sin, fear, regret, or worry?  It could be that the man who had the unclean spirit just got tired of dealing with him and told him to get out.  It could be that the man possessed had help from Jesus Himself to get this unclean spirit out.  It could be that the man’s friends helped him.  It might have been a natural event or a supernatural event.  Jesus didn’t tell us.  The most important point in Jesus’ teaching is this:  After the unclean spirit left the man, he made a grave mistake.  He didn’t fill his mind, his heart, his conscience, his life with THE CLEAN SPIRIT, the Holy Spirit of God. 

     What about you?  Are you ready to let go?  Are you tired of dealing with the unclean evil spirits of sin, fear, regret, and worry?  If you are, you can be free.  Put your faith and your life in Jesus Christ.  His invitation is found in Matthew 11:28-30 and boy, is it beautiful.  Repentance is a qualifying decision for salvation.  Peter and the apostles preached repentance in Acts 2:37-38.  Confess Jesus.  He is the Son of God and Savior of all who are saved (Acts 8:34-39 – This is the account of Philip, a preacher and a nobleman from Africa).  Be baptized by the authority of Jesus Christ.  When I baptize a person, I always follow the example in Matthew 28:18-20.  Upon our baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The unclean is gone.  The clean fills our minds, our hearts, our consciences, and ourselves, our lives.  Let go and let God fill you with His Son in salvation.  Let God fill you with faith, hope, and love.

     Know that if you let go and then fail to let God, those unclean spirits of sin, fear, regret, and worry will return too soon to check to see if they can come back home to you.  If they find your mind, your heart, your conscience, your life empty, look out.  Look back and see what Jesus said about the last state and the beginning.

     I’m still preaching this series.  This Sunday morning we will focus on LIVING.  Let go.  Let God. Live.  You know, when we let go and let God, we need to live like we have let go and let God.  More next week.  Have a good week, my friends.