Holiness, Godliness, Usefulness
09/30/2013, by John Kincaid
Lesson 52: Learning to Recognize Bait
We are tempted when we are dragged away and enticed (caught by bait). James 1:14 The flesh hooks our affections, but first the hook has to be disguised with something attractive. The bait has to be desirable, seductive, hard to resist.
When Jesus called His first disciples, He said “I will make you fishers of men”. Mark 1:17 James warned us that our flesh is a fisher of men. The flesh dangles the pleasures of sin in front of us, hoping to trick us into biting.
Heb.11:25 Moses chose to be mistreated with God’s people, rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. The bait is designed to capture our imagination, so that our affections get tangled up in it.
The imagination is the eye of our mind; we use it to paint pictures of how the future might be. We can imagine ourselves in situations, or doing things, that are not real – yet. Our imagination doesn't have to be sinful.
About This Series
The goal of this series is to become more useful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, as an instrument in the Redeemer's hand. The theme verses for the series are Ephesians 4:22-24, Philemon 11, 2 Timothy 2:21
- to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
- and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
- Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
