Old Testament Scripture Reading: (Jeremiah 17:5 – 10 KJV)
Jer 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jer 17:6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Jer 17:8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
New Testament Scripture Reading: ( Colossians 3:1 – 10 KJV)
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
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Transforming Power Statements:
1) The fallen human emotional system is a difficult thing to understand, and has a great negative resistance to the things of God, and is naturally prone to self-seeking fulfillment and pleasure rather than being concerned about the needs and conditions of others, which puts up a tremendous resistance to acting as God commands toward God and others, especially when it requires sacrifice.
2) One of the greatest tasks we have as followers of Jesus Christ is learning to set aside our innate emotions which are largely self-centered for the sake of God to obey His Word and to seek the welfare of others as Jesus modeled for us by having been equal to His Father yet choosing to become a man for the purpose of curing the vast deficit required for the salvation of fallen humanity.
3) The Apostle Paul admonishes us to make a decision to re-focus our mindset from a merely earthly fleshly one, into a new way of living with a “heavenly mindset” which requires us to mortify (put to death) our old natural way of thinking and therefore, disregard our fallen emotions and earthly desires for the sake of true spiritual progress.