"Mr. and Mrs. Natural", by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Are you truly Mr. or Mrs. Natural? I'm not speaking in terms of using health products or eating natural foods. I'm speaking of your spiritual life.

The natural man or woman according to Paul, doesn't entertain or welcome the gifts and teachings of the Holy Spirit of God. That is because they are supernatural by nature. Those who reject those teachings in effect remain living in the "natural".

1 Corinthians 2:14 (Amplified Bible) - "But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated."

The natural style of life is living by ones five natural senses. Sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Most of what you have learned in your life has come through those natural or carnal senses. They are good enough to safely get you from birth to old age. They are good enough because they are God's creation.

However, they are not good enough on their own for the return trip back to God.

For that you need the Spirit of God. To get that you must be born again.

Without the born again experience man remains dead in his own ways, means, and intellect.

Think of it as man being a naturalized citizen of planet earth. We have come from God and need to return back to Him. However, the return trip has been spoiled and interrupted by Adam and his sin against God and the human race. Man has since adopted the ways of a sinful planet and has become a comfortable part of its citizenry. Man must renounce that citizenship in order to gain back his standing in Heaven.

We are aliens, immigrants so to speak, just passing through here. Our true home is heaven, and as long as we remain comfortable with the ways of this world, and become absorbed into its culture and sinfulness, we will remain estranged from our true citizenship and home.

It happened to the Israelites when they were taken into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity. They went in and never came out. The people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God's chosen people, became fully immersed into the culture of their captives and became so diluted in their spirituality that the tribes simply faded away.

So it is with humanity. Jesus has completed all that is necessary for man to make the journey back to the Father. He has reconciled us by His Cross. By accepting Christ as Lord and Savior we renounce this sinful world and re-establish ourselves in the citizenry of Heaven and the Family of God.

Is the bible nonsense to you? Foolishness? Boring? Unnecessary? Then I suggest you think seriously about the supernatural aspect of your life.

If you (or a loved one) have slipped back into representing more of this society than the family of God, then I want you to know there is hope. The hope is in Christ and His work upon the Cross. Turn to Him and to Him fully.

As the father of the prodigal eagerly awaited his son's return, so does God wait for you (Luke 15:11-32).

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><