Los Cuatro Terroristas!!

Los Cuatro Terroristas!! 

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Ephesians 4:17-19 (ESV) 

Sometimes you get a new catch phrase during a Sunday morning sermon. After delivering a total of four messages/lessons over the most recent F.F.C weekend, Pastor John Hibbard showed up on Sunday morning in the Colony Chapel and he had brought his A-game to the pulpit. Pastor John had spent time in the latter part in chapter three of the Book of Ephesians but it was when he got beyond Ephesians 4:17 that the catch phrase hits. He tells us that we need to make Jesus the Lord of our internals, emotions, wills and then warns us of the “Four Terrorists” that can come in there and mess things up. It got me thinking of an uprising or of a rebellion that the six o’clock news has no problem showing us these days. 

First thing we have to contend with is a rebel who I will call “Little Red Falsehood.” This terrorist would have you speak flattery or deceit into the ears of your neighbor rather than the truth and this speaking truth stuff really applies when it just happens to be a fellow believer. We are now supposed to be grafted into each other so that we can, with an absolute obligation, serve each other. Yeah, I know this doesn’t always happen but it is what the Lord wants of us…deal with it! If saying this has gotten you a little miff please be mindful of the next rebel on the terrorist list. That would be “Chief Good-n-Mad” 

This terrorist and I have been doing battle for quite some time now. He keeps making forget that I am allowed be angry but not to let the sun go down on my wrath. My boy Matt Henry put’s it like this, “If there is just occasion to express displeasure at what is wrong, and to reprove, see that it be without sin. We give place to the devil, when the first motions of sin are not grievous to our souls; when we consent to them; and when we repeat an evil deed. This teaches that as sin, if yielded unto, lets in the devil upon us, we are to resist it, keeping from all appearance of evil.” Yeah, I know this doesn’t always happen but it is what the Lord wants of us…deal with it! Onward to the next rebel on the list, shall we? 

This terrorist just wants your stuff and he ain’t asking you for it, as a matter of fact he ain’t telling you he is taking your stuff. We can call him Mister McPilfer and he just might be a lazy bum in the light but in the dark he puts away his idleness to plunder through your pockets. Justifying the action with the phrase “everybody does it” this terrorist doesn’t understand that a good day of labor is honoring to God and beneficial to the community as a whole. I also think this terrorist teams up with the last on the list and he would be King Talketh-smack! We are told that as the new man our speech should be seasoned with salt and that our words need to encourage and edify. Yeah, I know this doesn’t always happen but it is what the Lord wants of us, once again…deal with it! 

Once we have received the Gospel message of Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit takes place and we should not grieve in it. We are told to walk in newness no matter what firestorm falls upon us. We need to rest in these finals words of chapter four in the Book of Ephesians. “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Yeah, I know this doesn’t always happen but THIS is what the Lord wants of us. So in conclusion I will take heed to this as much as I am telling you to…Deal With It!! Wish me luck. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter contributor 

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Ezekiel 13-15; Psalm 46; Proverbs 20

Compass Pointers: The actions of men form an infallible index of their own character. Geoffrey Wilson

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: John 4:13-14; Level 2: John 4:34-38

Anchored to the Rock: No man is greater than his prayer life. Leonard Ravenhill