Dear BPCWA worshipper, We will conclude the recap of our camp thematic messages with the “S” and “T” of walking IN CHRIST.

Sanctification. God tells us that as His sons (1Jn 3:1), we know that we will eventually be perfect because “we shall be like him” (1Jn 3:2). This knowledge ought to do something since “every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1Jn 3:3). Purification is about sanctification. In sanctification is how Christians must walk, even as Christ walked. Christ is the perfect model of sanctification and how every Christian ought to walk in this world (Jn 17:19). Sanctification means being dedicated and set apart to God for sacred duty. So, sanctification must control every aspect of our lives. We must follow Christ’s standard to set ourselves apart for God for every thing, and not just in some things. We must be dedicated to His standard of purity to God. There must be an intense and consistently strong desire to obey the Father. Christ was devoted to obedience, keeping Himself totally from sin. Sanctification must be an obsession to be set apart for God, being influenced and controlled by this powerful desire to be set apart for the Father. If we question and struggle with “Why must we be sanctified?”, it reveals that we do not have this obsession with sanctification. We are not walking as Christ walked. An obsession with sanctification will and must overwhelm us and be something we look forward to. It begins with a mental attitude toward holiness. With this, everything else is of a lower priority and subjected to holiness. You will not want any sin at all to begin with. You won’t stop at a certain point, saying “This is good enough!” We will want to make sure that no corner escapes the pursuit of holiness because we don’t even want a speck of impurity in our lives. Our high calling is to “be like him” (1Jn 3:2), which we must realise is the endpoint God has for us. Hence, we must personally want to keep getting closer to perfection, instead of sanctification being just dad’s, mum’s, or Pastor’s aspiration for me. Sanctification must be my personal ownership, not something others must convince me to desire. Let us be aware that Satan will seduce us (1Jn 2:26) to think that there are other better pursuits. It may be the love of this world or “the things that are in the world” (1Jn 2:15). It may also be false doctrines and false teachers (1Jn 2:18). When these present themselves, we must think like Christ and be seduced by the love of the Father instead!  Christ was the purest example of sanctification, without a single sin. He controlled all His desires. Only doing the Father’s will satisfied His hunger. How can we have this obsession? Well, it must be a conscious choice. This obsession can be built up and driven by the love of God if you set your heart on it and pursue it ardently. Satan’s seduction is for you to say, “I cannot” when the truth is “I will not”. Don’t fool yourself into thinking, “I am waiting for something to happen within me for me to be sanctified”. When you are not obsessed with sanctification, you will inevitably say “I don’t care” or “I don’t want to”. You must simply decide. Obsession is not allowing sin in your life. And, you must be sensitive to sin, notice it, and look out for any sin, not merely particular sins. Remember that just one sin consigns a person to hell. Start with this mental attitude about sin. Be obsessed with “I don’t want to be dirtied at all”. Then, you will have heightened sensitivity to sin. Then you will always seek to avoid sin.

Temptations. As we close off the series of walking as Christ walked, the final aspect to consider is overcoming temptations. When we became Christians, God made us overcomers (1Jn 2:13, 14; 5:4, 5). Instead of living as overcomers, Satan seeks to overcome us with various seductions, including the world and false doctrines. In 1 John 5:4, the word for “overcome” is from the Greek nikao, and “victory” is “nike”. Christ faced every temptation with only winning in mind. This was Christ’s mindset when He was tempted in the wilderness. When we face temptations or trials we must do what Christ would do – fight to win – “just do it”. I fight because I’m already a winner, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” (1Jn 5:4).  There was no thought of losing. Instead, He fought to destroy Satan. Our mindset too must be, “I don’t intend to lose because I’ve already won”. We are soldiers who fight to win and know that “I have already won and will surely win. Any support that I need is behind me and I don’t come with fear because I will not fail unless I choose to fail. I am fighting just to vanquish you.” If we go into a battle thinking that we might fall, it is because we don’t fight to win. It is because we subconsciously entertain the possibility of enjoying the sin. We must be honest with ourselves that we love that sin and want to taste it instead of completely vanquishing it. When sin presents itself, I do not click on the website, or listen to something, to do something that leads us to sin. We complicate obedience because we want to think that we’re weak. By thinking so, we excuse ourselves when we fall. We are already victors. How can we fall unless we choose to? When tempted, Christ didn’t consider losing to Satan. We lose because we are unwilling to be fully consecrated, which we saw as the prerequisite to walking as Christ walked. We think it is an option for us to lose. Our flesh will deceive us that we will never be able to overcome our besetting master sin. Yes, there is no sinless perfection in this life. But we are also told that we are no longer under the bondage of sin. God tells us that the victory is already won for us. Hence, we are overcomers. So, we can overcome only if we fight to win and not give in. Have the mindset that “Whatever can cause me to fall, I’ll overcome it by Christ’s power.” Otherwise, you will always think that falling is an option.  There will be fighting involved, and it is not going to be easy. But it is a victorious fight. For example, don’t even consider “Don’t attend Bible studies, and don’t go to church” as an option. When you fight, you “just do it”. You know what Christ would do in that situation, so you just go. If you need to make a change, even if it is a big change in life so that you will walk as Christ walked, just do it. Don’t entertain the words of the enemy – you don’t even want to listen to him. Christ knows God’s will and didn’t give a thought to what Satan proposed. If you fight to win, you won’t even consider alternatives. Parents will fight anything and do everything if they think their children will die, to bring a successful cure. Similarly, if you are obsessed with something, you don’t accept any other possibility except to gain success.  At times, we may fall, even if we went in fighting but we succumb to our flesh. When this happens, confess, because “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn 1:9). Don’t throw in the towel and think “I am a loser and too weak” because you fell and just continue in sin and backsliding. God promises “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1Jn 5:4). We will keep overcoming even the world (which is mentioned twice in the verse). Remember, faith is the victory (1Jn 5:4). We know much about how the world tempts us from 1Jn 2:15,16. The flesh will want to feel sin. The eye will want to lust. The pride of life will make us desire admiration and praise, give up our fight to walk as Christ, and stop us from denying ourselves. Pride will make us insubmissive and fight to retain self as the authority in our lives. We see this in our forefather’s first sin in Gen 3:1-6. Instead, we should “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas 4:7). Satan flees when we resist (i.e. fight to win) because he knows we will overcome him in Christ. God allows temptations, tests, and trials, but it is not to fall. God wants to use it to strengthen you, just as a gym instructor increases the load to build strength. The very same thing that God uses to strengthen you, Satan will use to cause you to fall. Increased trial is the next phase of growth that God has ordained for you. We fall when we look at the trial negatively instead of thinking that this is what will help us to grow. Satan turns God’s good things into “evil things” in our minds. A “double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (Jas 1:8) because he doesn’t fight to win. Don’t leave an open door as the “easy way out” instead of fighting.  Consecration means being single minded in being totally devoted to obedience. When you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit will tell you if a choice is not excellent (1Jo 2:27). He speaks to you through your conscience. If it isn’t the best thing, just don’t do it. Don’t refuse to be consecrated because of pride. We must have complete purity and fight to retain our purity. Be honest if we have deviated from the walk we should have walked. Confess and be on the path to victory again to fight to win. Live a life choosing everything to be about faith in Christ to enable us to walk as He walked. Have you chosen to live the victorious Christian life?

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor