In the 22^nd message of our "Unveiling Yahweh" series, we will be looking at the Wisdom of God.

Man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom couldn’t be more different from one another. We see wisdom as simply intellect, but God’s wisdom is a life of goodness and righteousness – two things which we, in our sinful state, desperately need. Thankfully, God provided the way to come into this kind of wisdom: through the Cross of Jesus Christ. In today’s sermon, we dive deep into the wisdom of the Cross as revealed in 1 Corinthians 1.

If you search "how to overcome sexual sin," you'll get a lot of different opinions. Some are totally secular while others are taken from Scripture—like being accountable, developing an unselfish lifestyle, or starting a prayer life. In today’s show, we’ll explore another powerful spiritual tool—fasting. We'll dive into why it works, how to approach it with the right heart, and offer practical tips to make it part of your walk.

Resources

• The Crucified Lifestyle (Book) By Dustin Renz

In the 21st message of our "Unveiling Yahweh" series, we look at how God redeems us.

The Bible testifies to the fact that we are all sinners in need of redemption, and it also testifies to how God fulfills that need. But unfortunately there are many attending church today who, while claiming to be redeemed, still live a sinful lifestyle. This is not God’s plan, and there is only one way to come into the true redemption God has for His people.

Accountability is a big buzzword in addiction recovery circles, some even suggesting that it’s the main thing people need to find freedom. But Christians must carefully examine these things in the light of Scripture. In today's episode, we'll give a biblical answer to the question: “What role does accountability play in overcoming sexual sin?"

Resources

• Check Out Our Residential Program

Jesus clearly told us we can do nothing apart from Him. In spite of this, we often try to accomplish things in our own strength. So He lets us experience our weakness to help us truly depend on Him for all things. This is the final part of our short series, "Absolute Surrender."

Host: Kathy, we want to continue in our discussions in Absolute Surrender and the chapter today is entitled, “Ye Are the Branches.” Andrew Murray opened this chapter with John 15 beginning in verse 4. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5, NKJV) He addresses this chapter to Christian workers, but I think you rightfully pointed out as we were talking before this recording that this is just a universal truth to believers.

Kathy: Yeah, it is. What else can be said? What we're talking about is absolute dependence on the root. Jesus is our vine, and if we are connected to Him and dependent upon Him, we will bear much fruit. Not only will we bear much fruit, but we will have a life of peace and rest, It's a joy to depend on the Lord. It takes a long time for some of us to get that, but it is a joy to be dependent upon Jesus Christ.

Host: You know, when we read here that He is the vine and we're branches, our understanding of that or maybe I should say our walking out of that tends to be so superficial. It almost has been dwindled down to nothing more than, “Yeah, I believe Jesus exists,” and then we go on with our life. What does it mean to be absolutely dependent on Him? How has that become real in your life?

Kathy: Jesus said, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5b, NKJV) But “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13, NKJV) Those two verses mean so much to me. And I don't know this fully, but I'm learning that dependence comes from brokenness through failure and through much, much weakness. I'm dependent on the vine to live the Christian life, literally. I can't do this. I don't have what it takes to be a Christian. Obviously, we have our part to play, but I am connected to the vine and that is where my life is coming from.

Host: You know, the problem is that when we hear, “Apart from Me you can do nothing,” we don't believe that.

Kathy: No, we don't believe that because we think we can do plenty. I remember back in the early days of the Residential Program seeing this whole teaching of being weak and humble get some of the men in the program very upset because they felt like, “God doesn't want me to be weak.” That is very much what's in all of us. We don't want to admit we are weak. We don’t want to be humble. We don't want to have to lose ourselves.

Host: Right. Well, there's a reason why the Scripture says, “Crucify yourself daily.” That means that self is utterly destroyed.

Kathy: Yeah, we don't want that. We want Jesus to be for us. We want His seal of approval on everything we put our hand to. But man, you start talking about death to self and yeah, we don't like that.

Host: Yeah, Andrew Murray finished on this point of absolute dependence. He wrote, “If I am something, then God is not everything; but when I become nothing, God can become all.” You know, we sometimes sing the song, “Jesus My All in All.” But man, there really is a lack of that being real for us. And God knows that.
         He wants to be our all in all. He doesn't tell us to crucify the flesh just because He wants us to go through pain and suffering. He really wants to be our all in all, but we can't have that unless we can begin to understand what this first point is, absolute dependence on Him. And you've said it already, it just requires brokenness and humility.

Kathy: Yeah. God is always so amazingly patient. He’s always ushering us toward that life with Him and the problem is we're so reluctant and so resistant and don't really believe that God is asking that much of us. So, He just has to keep nudging and wooing and calling and correcting and disciplining.

Host: And He's so faithful to do that.

Kathy: Yeah. I love him for it.

Host: Murray also talks about the life of the branch here. He says, it is a life of deep restfulness. He wrote, “No one who learns to rest upon the living Christ can become slothful, for the closer your contact with Christ the more of the Spirit of His zeal and love will be borne up in you.” When we think of the restfulness of the life of a Christian it is a danger that we can think, “Oh well, now I can be slothful. Now I can lay back. Now I don't have to keep fighting.” But that’s not true. The life of the branches is a life of work. There's stuff that must be going on in the branch for there to be fruit.

Kathy: Well, the restfulness I think comes from knowing that you're connected to the vine and that the vine is feeding you the life, but that life is quickening you. It's putting you to life. It's not putting you to sleep.

Host: Yeah. You and I are both into gardening. As gardeners, we love spring because we watch the rose bushes, we watch the fruit trees and watch the buds start to pop out. Then we really get excited when the leaves start to pop out. They're not being slothful.

Kathy: Yeah, and they're not sleeping either.

Host: Lots of stuff going on there.

Kathy: That's right. Producing fruit.

Host: Yeah. And that's his Third Point. In the life of the branch, if there's life in it, there ought to be much fruitfulness.

Kathy: Yeah. There’s restfulness because you're connected to the vine, but there's also fruitfulness because you're connected to the vine. You can't have fruit apart from Him. That's what Jesus was saying, “Apart from me. You can't do anything.” In other words, He was saying, “What are you doing out there? That's not me working in you.”

Host: Yeah. And He's not talking about work. Talk about that because I know the Lord has really made that real to you over the years. There’s a difference between work and fruitfulness. Most people in ministry in America need to hear this.

Kathy: Let me just say it this way, when I am connected to the vine, I love people. I love laying my life down. I don't see what I'm losing. I don't see any sacrifice. I don't see that something's being taken from me.

Host: It's not a drudgery.

Kathy: No. But when I am working and it's me working, I get burnt out. I'm tired. I want some R&R. Give me a nice long vacation somewhere. That is the mantra going on inside the heart and the mind of somebody who is working in themselves, doing their own thing and separated at some level from that fruitfulness that comes from being connected to the vine.

Host: Yeah. And can I just say that that's what we're prone to do. There is a need for us to constantly be looking at our life and our work and evaluating if it’s us or if it’s the Lord. If it's me, I need to repent of that.

Kathy: Yeah. The other thing is that men and women are different. Men tend to be workaholics, and they derive their fulfillment from their occupation. God created men that way, but that can be really misconstrued and taken to an extreme and an excuse to be ambitious. And it's easy to justify that as, “I'm serving the Lord. This is for God.” Well, I think that the Lord would probably say to us in that case, “Come and be Mary first and then you can go do the Martha thing. But right now, you need to be like Mary.” And men and women alike don’t like being Mary. We don't want to sit at the feet of Jesus. We find it boring.

Host: Well, this really brings us to Andrew Murray's fourth point here, that the life of the believer involves close communion with Jesus. The branch has to be connected to the vine for the sap to be able to run from the vine into the branch with the resulting fruit we talked about. Well, it's the same with our spiritual life.

Kathy: Yeah, nothing of any real value is going to happen apart from that. And before we have the motivation to serve and be fruitful, there has to be a desire and a hunger to be connected to Him. Let Him decide what ministry will be for. Let Him decide what your actual fruitfulness in life will be. Being joined to Christ is more than just a nice Bible verse we read. It is everything and whatever comes out of our lives, it's up to Him. Let Him make the decisions, but nothing is going to happen outside of that connection.

Host: Yeah. Well, his final point in this chapter is in fact the title of the book, Absolute Surrender. And he basically said what you just said. He said, “My relationship is just this: I am utterly given up to the vine, and the vine can give me as much or as little sap as it chooses. Here I am at its disposal and the vine can do with me what it likes.” What a blessed place to be.

Kathy: Amen. It is. That is rest and that is peace.

In the 20th message of our "Unveiling Yahweh" series, we will be looking at how God breaks the power of sin.

Anyone who has given themselves over to sexual sin for any length of time can attest to the strong grip it possesses once given over to. But in today’s sermon, Steve Gallagher shares how the Lord has helped break the power of sin in his life through unexpected means: through trials and challenges and a constant call to submit to God's will.

There’s nothing wrong with feeling fear when real danger is present. But for some people (especially those who have been hurt) fear becomes a constant factor in their lives. Kathy Gallagher has a passion to help Christian women overcome fear by cultivating a heart of faith. In this episode, we’ll share with you the message she gave to the women at our 2016 Annual Conference called “Faith Over Fear.”

**Get all the details about our Annual Conference at conference.purelifeministries.org**

Life can be really hard and at times it feels like we’re not going to make it. But if we are crying out to God in faith, we must believe that He hears us and will keep us safe in the midst of our troubles.

Host: Kathy, we want to continue our discussions in Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray. The chapter we want to jump into today is called, “Kept by the Power of God,” and he begins this chapter with a passage. Why don't you take us into that?

Kathy: That's 1 Peter 1:3-5. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (NASB 1995) Wow.

Host: Yes. That passage is full of promises and full of hope. As we begin to look at this, Andrew Murray talks about the keeping power of God and he divides it into two ideas. One, that God keeps the inheritance that we have in heaven, but also that He keeps us for our inheritance. He brought out as well that we don't necessarily have so much trouble believing that we have this inheritance; what we struggle with is believing that He's keeping us for our inheritance. Unpack that if you would.

Kathy: He is preserving us not just for an inheritance in Heaven, but on Earth as well. For all the things that we have to go through. Mainly what I'm thinking about right now is the struggles and the failures. Feeling like we've blown it. Feeling like we don't even know who God is at times and feeling like we have failed so miserably that there's nothing left for us and based on our feelings we can think that the Lord has walked out on us. But the truth is, and this is my testimony, God is keeping me. He is a keeping God and He will keep you. He will preserve you if you keep an open and hungry heart.

Host: Now, wait a minute. Isn't that one of the mistakes that we make? To take grace so far that it eliminates any responsibility we have? But I think Andrew Murray talks about the fact that we have to be in the right position with God to be kept.

Kathy: There’s the divine side and there's the human side, but our part is that even through the struggles, even through the failures, even through the chaotic life that so many Christians live, we need to keep the cry in our hearts. Don't let go. All through the Psalms, David's cry was, “Oh, God preserve my life. Oh God, keep me on the path of your righteousness.” If we're hungry and we're asking, God will hear us. But when we quit asking, when we just totally collapse down into our mess, there's not a lot left for us. It's not as though God is going to turn on a spigot and just pour his power into our lives without us yearning for it. It's a relationship.

Host: And there's a meeting place there.

Kathy: Yeah. There is.

Host: One of the things you mentioned was that this keeping in our lives requires power. And one of Andrew Murray’s points was that yes this keeping requires power, but it's God's power.

Kathy: That's right. I think that some may have it in their minds that the keeping power of God means that whatever's happening that seems like evil or just seems like it's destroying their faith, God should take that away. But the power of God I believe is to take us through the trials not out of them. That's why it is so important to keep crying out to Him. That cry is faith. As painful as things may be, that cry is faith and God responds to faith. Don't quit believing that God is able. When everything has come apart at the seams, God is in control.

Host: Yes. He said in his third point that God’s keeping is continuous and that's really what you're talking about. We're going to have times where we feel very close to the Lord, where His presence is very real to us. We're going to have desert times. We’re going to have seasons of every type, but through it all His keeping power is there, and we have to keep sight of it.

Kathy: While Christ is being formed in us, there are going to be all kinds of things we go through. That is how Christ is formed in us. It is through the suffering, the sacrifice and the losses. I was thinking of a lady that I know who has gone through terrific trials where most of us would have withered under what she's going through and what keeps coming from her is faith and trust. That is God’s keeping power in her life taking her through.

Host: Yeah. God gives us people like that as testimonies. But to balance that out, Andrew Murray mentions how sometimes we can have faith that God will help us to fight a really huge battle but not have faith that God's going to keep us in the little things we go through or the “little sins” that we struggle with. No, God wants us to have victory through the little things too. And if we're willing to trust Him, He'll keep us through those too. Sometimes we just tend to think, “Well, God's not interested in these little problems I have.” But oh yes He is.

Kathy: Oh yeah, He is. He's intimately and intricately involved and interested in the struggles we go through.

Host: Yeah. You talked already about the fact that we are kept by faith and that God uses the things we go through to keep us humble and to remind us that we can do nothing without Him. But Andrew Murray ends this chapter on the point that faith is rest. That can very easily be misconstrued. What is he really talking about? What is the rest that he's referring to?

Kathy: In my life that has meant that I am not clawing my way up Mount Everest without the resources. I'm not clamoring and struggling to find God. It's not like that. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know this because of what the Word of God says, and I know this because He has heard the cry of my heart and answered. And I know this mostly because He has said who He is in His Word.
        Faith believes that. I'm resting in Him. Not in my ability to believe necessarily, but in Him. There's too much evidence. Not just historical evidence, but evidence in my own life and in the lives of so many people. If I really will open my eyes and look, there is too much evidence to deny who He is and what He's done. And I don't think anybody that's listening to this would deny who God is. But in Him, my faith has found a resting place.

Host: Yeah. I guess I want to close on this Kathy, because I know there are people listening who really struggle with, “That's great for you guys, but I don't see God keeping me. All I see is my failing and my stumbling and my going around the same mountain over and over.  Where is God? It doesn't feel like He's keeping me.”

Kathy: Keep asking. That's all I know to say is just keep asking because I know what it feels like to feel completely desolate, empty and hopeless. Keep asking and trusting Him. He is there. Even when my feelings are telling me something else or even my circumstances may be saying something completely different, God is there and He's real. When you pray, ask the Lord to lift the veil from your heart and from your mind, because our mind can become like sludge spiritually and it's terrible. But just ask for God to lift the veil. And if it doesn't happen in your timing just keep asking.

Host: Yeah, that's right. Keep knocking and He will come. But come to Him with a sincere heart and a humble heart. And it goes without saying, but we need to say it, if there are things in your life that you know aren't right, you need to get them right before the Lord.

Kathy: Get rid of the garbage in your life.

Host: Those things will get in the way of you walking and being kept by Him.

Kathy: That's right.

Host: Deal with them. It’s worth it.

In the 19th message of our "Unveiling Yahweh" series, we will be looking at the Purposes of the Lord.

When we ask God what His purpose is for our lives, we’re often thinking of one thing: ourselves. But God’s purposes go far beyond what we can see – they aim at glorifying His name and working good in our lives. In today’s sermon, Nate Danser helps unveil just how glorious God’s plans and purposes are for all of mankind.

As we gear up for our 25th Annual Conference, we wanted to give you a taste of the kind of preaching you’ll enjoy if you join us on April 25th and 26th. In this message from the 2016 Conference, Steve Gallagher describes three primary qualities that every true citizen of God’s kingdom possesses, and urges us to make sure that we can say we have these qualities.

**Get all the details about our Annual Conference at conference.purelifeministries.org**

Repentance is so vital to the Christian life, that there will be catastrophic consequences if we neglect it. Without repentance, there’s no forgiveness, no cleansing, no salvation, and no sanctification. That’s why—for those who need it—repentance must not be put off even one more day.  

In this episode:

- The importance of taking advantage of “Kairos” moments

- Why we cannot simply choose when we will repent

- Why putting off repentance is extremely dangerous

- What a person should do if they are in need of repentance

If genuine Christianity begins by completely relying upon God to save us, then we should never lose that sense of helplessness. That’s one of the secrets to a vibrant walk with God: a lifelong, continual reliance upon the power of the Holy Spirit.

Host: Kathy, we're going to continue our discussions in Andrew Murray’s Book entitled Absolute Surrender, and this chapter is entitled, “Having Begun in the Spirit.” He begins this chapter talking about what the great need of the Church is today. Talk a little bit about what we see in the Church and what he has to say about the need that he sees.

Kathy: I want to open up with this quote and it’s actually sort of a prayer. He says, “Oh, God, our spiritual life is not what it should be!” And then he goes on to talk about how our great need in the body of Christ is to understand our need for the Holy Spirit more than just there being a mental assent to it and that we just really come into the reality that we cannot live the Christian life apart from the Holy Spirit. And I was thinking about a conversation that I had with a pastor and his wife. This pastor has a huge church that is thriving outwardly. That pastor was saying that there's another church down the road and he knows that those people love God. They pray and they have the Holy Spirit, but that church’s congregation is only about two hundred people. And this pastor of the larger church is asking the question, how can that be? He's upset inside, because he knows that something's wrong in his church of thousands and yet, look at the numbers. But the church down the street with 200 people is thriving as far as heaven is concerned.

Host: Yeah, because it is thriving spiritually.

Kathy: Yes, because they're full of the Holy Spirit. But they're not attracting crowds because, to be honest, the majority of people are not interested in that. What the pastor with the thousands in his congregation has is a very seeker-friendly message. So, he has outward success he can point to. But where is the power of the Holy Spirit? And I think that you can use the same kind of analogy in our own lives.

Host: Yeah, the great danger is that we try to do the right thing, but we try to do it in the flesh instead of doing it through the Holy Spirit. And we ask ourselves, “Why do I get so worn out? Why do I get frustrated? Why do we have strivings between each of us as individuals?” And what Andrew Murray brings out in this chapter that really jumped out to me is that when we find ourselves experiencing those things, it's evidence that we're doing things in the flesh, even though we're trying to do the right thing. There are many people of course in the church who have never been converted, so they don't have the Holy Spirit. But there are also a lot of people in the church that have been converted and have the Holy Spirit, but they're not walking in the Spirit.

Kathy: Right. So many of us lose sight of our servant-ness. I know I did when I was in the thick of things here at Pure Life, and it's very difficult to remember that you are supposed to be living and abiding in the power of the Holy Spirit, otherwise the day just kind of overtakes you. Andrew Murray said in this chapter, “Nothing will help you unless you come to understand that you must live every day under the power of the Holy Spirit.” And that is so true. So, the question is, “how do you do that?” That's what a devotional life is. And when I say devotional life, I don't mean necessarily opening your Bible and praying. I’m talking about being devoted to Christ and at the same time realizing your utter dependence on Him.

Host: Yeah one of the things Murray brings out is that, quite frankly, the way that God has always worked in people to accomplish that is by allowing them to fail.

Kathy: Right. I remember the day that I realized I could not serve God in the flesh. It's impossible. I threw my hands up in such frustration and such anguish of soul. I just felt like I was spiritually losing it. But that was actually probably the moment when I started to begin to get it.

Host: And wasn't that the beginning of glorious freedom?

Kathy: It has taken and is taking time, but yeah, I'm starting to really embrace and love the Lord for His immense patience with me. But also, how gentle and how kind He is to reveal Himself to me. I'm a vessel of His mercy. That's all I am and that's all I'm ever going to be. I'm never going to grow up into being this spiritual anything. I have nothing. I am nothing and I can do nothing, and I say it gladly now. And I think that is the freedom that comes from living in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Host: Yeah, Paul said, “I glory in my weaknesses.” Because really, we have no strength in the Lord until we understand our weaknesses. You described how we can get busy in ministry and the day overtakes us and usually we don't realize we've even got out of walking in the power of the Holy Spirit until maybe we run into the end of the track or we realize all of a sudden we're on the wrong track and we’re not where we were set out to go.

Kathy: Yeah, and there's a brick wall there and we wonder, how did that get there?

Host: Yeah, but man, I just want to repeat what you said earlier about how faithful God is to get our attention and say, “Hey, open your eyes and look around and see where you are.” And then what does He say? Does He say, “Well, here's 22 things you've got to do in order to get back to where you're supposed to be on the right track?” No, He says, “You just need to turn and ask for my Holy Spirit and I'll put you back on track.” He is faithful to do that too.

Kathy: Yeah, He so is. The amazing thing is that God is always calling. You have to really listen and when you cultivate that listening ear, you are just waiting before Him. That is very hard for Americans to do.

Host: You bet. We’re doers and producers.

Kathy: Yeah, and where we get off track is we think that doing means more to God than being. He’s not a production miser. He's not looking for you to make something. He wants you to become like Him.

Host: Yeah. And that's what's happening in so many of our churches. They've become producers and doers. That smaller church you mentioned, although I don't know them, if the power of God is there, I will just assume they spend more time sitting at the feet of Jesus. And that's where their power and strength is coming from.

Kathy: That's right. They understand their need and they know they need God's Holy Spirit. They’re not making programs. That's not what we need to be doing. We need to be becoming conformed to the image of Christ.

Host: Yeah. I read an article where they were asking why are the young people leaving the church? Is it because the church isn't cool enough? And of course, we see all the things going on in the church to make it cool for young people, and a young person responded, “We're not leaving the church because the church isn't cool. We're leaving the church because Jesus isn't there.”

Kathy: Yeah. They're not seeing the power of God.

Host: They need something real. They want something real.

Kathy: Yeah. If you're not seeking after a continual filling of His Holy Spirit and His power, you’ll end up defaulting to doing things in the flesh. There's no power there.

Host: There's no spiritual fruit.

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All quotations taken from Absolute Surrender By Andrew Murray, Public Domain