"I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me."
John  14: 6
The Way Of The Lord Ministries
Reverend Noreen T. Kevern
Mr. Henry A. Kevern
520-237-0329
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And Now I Will Show You The Most Excellent Way…Love

And now I will show you the most excellent way…Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they
will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect
disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways
behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am
fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1, 8-13

Last when we met we talked about what love and sex were in marriage and how it has been reworked by the devil to place lust and pain into love.
This week we are going to look at love and life in the Spirit for our lives, still using 1 Corinthians 13 and adding Galatians 5:16-26 in order to know
what is good for our lives showing what the difference between sin and the fruit of the Spirit. Love is the most important thing in our lives, and the
love of God is the foundation for all things. It was out of love that the Lord God created the heavens and the earth and all the things in it, including
humankind. Love is something that we cannot live without, yet so many do. Love is confused with lust, adultery, so many immoral desires that pure
love has been placed on a shelf and left to collect dust. Our lives are so overwhelmed with things that have no basis for love. We have been purged
of love and are consumed with lust by the devil. For many people the thoughts of the devil drives them from believing that there actually is a devil.
They don’t believe that there is something or someone that is pure evil. But evil the devil is. Throughout the history of the world, Satan has driven
people with lust and in the process has hurt, maimed or killed so many people. Satan is hate and is the opposite of God Who is love. Satan lusts after
the things that are of God, wanting all people to come to him and give him the glory that belongs to God. Satan wants to steal peoples Salvation
through lies. And sadly, so many people are blinded by the devil’s lies that they cannot break through the chains of sin in their lives. Satan has torn
love from their lives and love of themselves so that real, pure and Godly love is something so remote, so foreign for them that they feel no hope or
even a need to connect with their Creator.

So many people don’t know what love is simply because they do not know God’s love. Satan has bound them in the grips of sin that they have lost all
hope for their lives. Satan is the father of lies and he works so hard each day to keep on destroying lives with his lies and to convince people that
they are not worthy of love and that they are unlovable. Satan wants people to live in despair because it gives him such pleasure to see God’s
children in despair. Anything that keeps you away from God is sin and the things of the devil are sin. It rears its ugly head in very many ways. Let’s
take a look at Galatians 5:19-21: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft;
hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before,
that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

So let’s look at each of these obvious things of the devil. For at one time, people who knew the Lord realized that these things were sinful but today,
these things are every day occurrences that we are being forced by a slow fade to accept in our lives. Sexual immorality encompasses many things,
yet to speak of them we are told is to promote hate and judgment on another human. And there is so many instances of sexual immorality in our lives
that occur that we overlook them and in so many cases ignore them. Let’s look at what consists of sexual immorality. As we spoke of last week,
pornography is one form along with sexual love that hurts another human being through bondage or mechanical (non human things that create a
sexual reaction) things. Adultery is another form of sexual immorality. We have seen so much in our country where our leaders have committed
adultery and only when caught they deny or ask forgiveness so that they can continue to be a leader.  We have had presidents, senators and
congressional members, mayors, governors, and council members who have been caught in adultery but have denied it or spun some untruth about
what they did. They have said that they didn’t have sexual intercourse but have lusted and touched or watched. It is still adultery. Jesus said: “You
have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with
her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27) This applies to a woman looking at a man lustfully as well and the way that people dress can cause another to lust. If
our leaders, those we elect are not moral how can we expect them to act morally in their work that they are doing for us? That is why it is so
important that we vote for people who are God fearing people. But we also have to know what God requires of each of us and to follow His ways in
our lives. We have to vote our life in God because we are called to live as the body of Christ. And that is why it is so important to have a personal
relationship with the Lord and to read His Word and not just what you may have heard at a church over the years. Committing adultery is a sin,
whether it be looking at another person with lust or actually committing adultery. It affects not just the person who is committing it, but their families
and their relationship with the Lord. You cannot keep on committing sin and asking God to forgive you each time that you commit it, you have to
change your life and overcome your sin. You have to put in your life things that will not cause you to sin. After Jesus said the above about adultery
He went on to say: “If your right eye cause you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your
whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29). You have to avoid the things that cause sin and gouge them out of your life. It is better to get
rid of things that cause sin and if that means you avoid people that sin or things like pornographic magazines, situations that can put you in danger
of sin, avoid those things! Rip them from your life and flee to God so that you can learn from Him.

Impurity is next on the list. How much in our lives is impure? What exactly does impure mean? Contaminated, adulterated, mixed or varied, tainted,
stained, spoiled, ruined, fouled, soiled, corrupted, polluted, dirty, infected, poisoned and unclean. How many of these things describe your life? What
things of the devil have contaminated the way that you look at things? What things that others have done to you in your life that have made you feel
spoiled or ruined? What things have you allowed others to bring into your life that have corrupted or infected you, poisoned your view and have
left a stain on your soul? Do you feel that living with various beliefs is healthy but not see that they taint the things that are of God and foul your
very life? Reading or watching things or being with people who allow these things in their life will replace what is of God with what is of the devil.
Remember that: “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). You can be working out your Salvation in your life, building your life
on God but still hanging around those in your past that continue to allow Satan to use them with drugs or alcohol, sexual immorality, reading a book
or watching TV or a movie that still has all the things that you are trying to change in your life and all your work to let God in your life can be
corrupted and made impure. We have to be careful of whom we surround ourselves with, the company that we keep, yes even those that
we consider friends or those in our own family, so that their unbelief, their immoral behavior, their tainted views on life does not infect us so that we
fall into bad character. But we do have to love those around us, showing our faith in God and being who we are to be in Christ.

Debauchery is wickedness, sin or iniquity which is evil, transgression, failing, wrongdoing, crime, offence, depravity which is vice and wantonness
which is shamelessness, corruption, dissolution which is suspension or ending of something, dishonesty which is lying, untruthfulness, treachery,
duplicity which is betrayal or cheating or trickery, dissipation which is excess pleasure or extravagance, decadence which is self indulgence,
morality which is having ethics, morals and principles. It seems as if most of life as we see it is lived in the condition of debauchery. We can just look
around us and see these things everywhere. Let me address a few of these things. Wantonness is something that we don’t address very often.
Everywhere we look there is no shame for what we do or how we act or dress. Women and men dress to seduce the other. There is no shame in
showing off parts of our bodies that can cause another to commit adultery by looking at our bodies. We see dancing that entices one another in a
sexual way. We speak vulgarly saying things to one another that are shameful and actually degrades another. There is so much untruthfulness
in the world, so much cheating and lying. When I worked at a school while at a meeting about a student, one teacher said that the child’s cheating
off of other students was a coping method that many children use to compensate for their lack of control or their ability to do the work. What?
Instead of teaching children that cheating is okay, the teacher or someone in the school should be teaching that child how to organize their work
and study methods which is too often not taught anymore. It is far easier to categorize children as learning disabled and collect additional money
from the government, than to take the time to teach the children. This is both a failure of the schools and of parents. It is far too easy to give into
failing or excess pleasure than to control and overcome things of our human nature. Many couples are not married and have children and so
children learn that marriage has no relevance and that commitment to another, staying in one marriage and working to make the marriage work,
building that marriage and that family upon love means nothing in life. Far too many men have fathered children out of wedlock and far too many
women have children by different men. There are circumstances in life that cause these things to happen, but far too many children come into life
because their mother and father could not control their sexual urges outside of marriage and sadly while in marriage by committing adultery.
Marriage has lost its meaning and still the devil is trying to destroy marriage completely from what God established into the immoral untruthfulness
that is Satan. God established marriage for a man and a woman, not for a man and man or a woman and woman. But we will discuss this issue
another time. Debauchery also includes any human failing that we may have. Are you addicted to sex, drugs, alcohol, or food; are you co-dependant
upon another person that you have no dependence upon God in your life? Do you steal in order to buy drugs or alcohol; do you sell your children to
indulge in your sexual immorality?

Idolatry and witchcraft are often confusing for people. Idolatry is worship of someone or something other than God. There are various things that this
includes. When we worship (love, adore or have a devotion to) something or someone other than God alone that is idolatry. Let’s look at some of the
things that God has said about Himself and idol worship. In Exodus 20:4-6: “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven
above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand
generations, of those who love me and keep My commandments. In Exodus 34:14—“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, Whose Name is
Jealous, is a jealous God.” And also Deuteronomy 4:23-24: “Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that He made with you; do not
make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” So
when we hero worship an athlete, a movie or TV star, anyone other than God, we are idol worshipping and God is jealous. Anyone or anything that
you have a high regard for, you love or esteem, give approval for someone or something, show reverence or give praise or admire, anything that you
hold in awe, that would cause anxiety or fright fear or apprehension or wonder for other than God is idolatry. Even if the person is of God, we
are only to worship and have high regard, show reverence and give praise to God. In Revelation 19:10 – At this I feel at his feet to worship. But he
said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And in Revelation 22:8-9 – I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them,
I feel down to worship at the feet of he angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and
with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” When we meet someone and it causes anxiety or wonder
or apprehension, we are giving him or her worship that belongs to God.

Now I copied this information about witchcraft from Wikipedia. The web pages where you can find this information follows. Witchcraft is the use of
certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers. Witchcraft can refer to the use of such powers in order to inflict harm or damage upon members of
a community or their property. Other uses of the term distinguish between bad witchcraft and good witchcraft, the latter involving the use of these
powers to heal someone from bad witchcraft. Present-day beliefs about the witches of history attribute to them elements of the folklore witch, the
charmer, the cunning man or wise woman, the diviner and the astrologer. The King James Bible uses the words "witch", "witchcraft", and
"witchcrafts",[38] wherever the masoretic text, from which it is translated, has כשף (kashaph or kesheph) and קסם (qesem), and the Septuagint has
φαρμακεια (pharmakeia); similarly in the New Testament it uses 'witch', 'witchcraft', and 'witchcrafts' to translate the φαρμακεια (pharmakeia) of the
underlying Greek text. However, Kashaph more literally means either mutterer (from a single root) or herb user (as a compound word formed
from the roots kash, meaning herb, and hapaleh, meaning using); the equivalent pharmakeia of the Septuagint means poison. As such a closer
translation would be potion user (additionally, pharmakeia implies further malevolent intent), or more generally one who uses magic to harm others,
rather than a very general term like witch. Jewish law views the practice of witchcraft as being laden with idolatry and/or necromancy (Necromancy
(pronounced /ˈnɛkrɵmænsi/; Greek νεκρομαντεία nekromantía) is a form of magic in which the practitioner seeks to summon "operative spirits" or
"spirits of divination", for multiple reasons, from spiritual protection to wisdom. Necromancy is extensively practiced in Quimbanda and is sometimes
seen in other African traditions such as voodoo and in Santería. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necromancy ); both being serious theological and
practical offenses in Judaism. According to Traditional Judaism, it is acknowledged that while magic exists, it is forbidden to practice it on the basis
that it usually involves the worship of other gods. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches for more information about witches. Witchcraft has much
evil involved in it and there is a long history. That is the reason that I looked to Wikipedia for information on it. This would be a whole lesson on its
own, so that is why I touched upon it here. But as you can see, it involves many different years and places and practices. Needless to say, witchcraft
is not something that brings you into a relationship with God and is not of God.

Now let’s look at hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy. Hatred is severe dislike, coldness, bitterness,
aversion, contept, disgust, loathing, prejudice, malice or scorn for another. Discord is quarrelsome, cantankerous, cold hearted, disagreeing, hostile,
estranged, mismatched, unpeaceable and and unsuited for anyone who is of Christ. Jealousy is envy, resentful, backbitting, spite, jealousy is a
reflection of our emotion feelings toward another. Fits of rage is the loss of control over ourself in certain situations. Selfish ambition is thinking only
of self, out for number one and egotistical  and self indulgent having a strong desire for or craving; to strive for, to have passion for. Dissension is
conflict, dispute, fiction, bad vibes, or to argue with another. Faction is a group sharing a belief or a cause that is usually contensious from a larger
group and it divides loyality. Envy is back-biting, coveting, lusting after someone or something.

Drunkenness, orgies and the like are the last things we will cover this week. Drunkenness is a state of intoxication and we will liken it to addiction to
drugs as well because one can be intoxicated by drugs. Orgies are when people get together and have sexual encounters with others other than
their spouse or because of drunkenness or drugs, they just have a big party for sex with others.

Now these things are the things of the devil and he will try and fill your life with all of these. None of these things are love and they cause so much
pain and anguish in peoples lives. These are not the most excellent way because they are not of God. Love is of God and when we accept Jesus as
our Lord and Savior, we accept His most excellent way. We come to God as a child, and we think like a child. But just as children grow and learn, we
too must grow and learn from God. We have to put away our childish ways and go on in Christ, becoming more and more of the love of God. We have
to be willing to love others who are different than us and to keep on praying for those who are in sin. We have to keep on doing all that the Lord God
has given to us to be His love to the world around us.
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