The Fight of Faith

Does the fact that we can walk in the freedom of grace mean that our growth as Christians is an effortless walk of faith? Does that mean that there is nothing to work at in our Christian life? Is this biblical? No way.

1 Tim 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

In the letters of Paul we often hear the references to strenuous labor in living our Christian lives. he uses terms like “fight the good fight.” (1 Tim 6:12), “I beat my body and make it my slave” (1 Cor. 9:27), “run the race with perseverance”.(Heb 12:1).

IT TAKES DETERMINED EFFORT ON OUR PART TO GROW IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

Some have taken the great truths of our position in Christ to mean that once we come to faith that there is nothing left to do but “depend on Jesus” to do it through us--that we passively “yield” to Christ, that we don’t need commands in our Christian lives. We just need to abide in Jesus and do whatever we hear in our spirit.

I. THE PASSIVE GOSPEL

The false teaching goes something like this!

Just like you got saved by simple faith in Him, you just took the gift, not by work, it is the same with growing like Christ. Stop striving and trust Christ to do all . Just abide in Him, living by the life energy that flows. Sinful stumbles are a thing of the past.

Let’s look at some of the false premises of this teaching.

A. GALATIANISM?
Galatians 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

In Galatians, we see that Paul was dealing with legalism. A certain group of Jewish Christians were trying to insist on circumcision in order to become a Christian. But some teachers have misinterpreted this by saying that:

ALL self effort is wrong and useless in pursuing holiness!

This is not true! In the fear to avoid the activity or “energy of the flesh”, they have swung to a passive extreme.

But did Paul mean this? NO! He meant you can’t earn your salvation by legalistic rules because salvation is by faith. But by no means was Paul trying to limit the effort in submitting ourselves to the means by which the Holy Spirit can transform us from the inside out!

In fact it is through the spiritual effort of prayer the word, fellowship, witnessing. that the Holy Spirit transforms us

Now these things don’t earn you salvation, but without them, how can you grow in your relationship with Christ and in your maturity?

GOD’S GRACE MOVES THROUGH OUR HEARTS AND MOVES US TO ACT!


B. LAW AND GRACE
Another misunderstanding is the issue of law and grace. Though we are no longer under the law of Moses, we are not law- less. No, we are under the law of Christ.

1 Cor 9:20-22 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.

Jesus said, if you love me you will obey my commands. Now how do we obey His commands, if we don’t know what they are? And how can we know what they are, if we don’t make the effort to get into the Word of God.

You see we still have law. The Law of Jesus. Law and Grace are always in operation!
The Law, or Commands of Christ show us our duty.

C. YIELDING TO CHRIST
“yielding to Christ” is important but it is not passive.

Romans 6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

The Greek “Parastemi” for the word "offer", in these scriptures reveal that this is not a passive waiting, but it is an active presentation for service.

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives within me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

There is nothing passive about this. It is the life “I live”

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

-- “abide” is an active tense. An active expectancy, not a passive will.

There is no growing like Jesus without personal effort. The scriptures teach that faith alone saves. But to become like Jesus we need to have faith plus action!

The Disciplined Life

We've been talking about change in the Christian life. We've seen that God starts with the heart, that we can't say "can't" when God says we can, and that we don't live by feelings but by the Word. Another important thing we must realize is that the Christian Life is disciplined Life. What do I mean by that? God's desire is that more and more of our lives are being ordered by the Word of God. Discipline is very important. Christ lived a disciplined life

Heb 5:7-9 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered

Even Christ had to learn obedience.
Very often we will find that our sin problems affect all of our lives, not just one part. For example.

Jay Adams gives a good example. The alarm goes off at 7:30. Joe picks it up turns it off and throws it across the room. At 7:55 he awakes and realizes what he's done. He realizes he can never get to work by 8:00am. Now he has a choice to make. He can call his boss and confess his sin and make the best of it or he can do what so many do: the irresponsible thing. Instead of calling, he may begin to fret and fume and think about how he is going to lie his way out of the situation. In his rush and anxiety, he cuts his face shaving. Guilt is already mounting because he knows he is going to do something wrong. He eats his breakfast, yells at his wife for burning the toast. stewing inside about what he is going to do. On the way to work , he nearly causes two accidents . He tells his boss a lie at work and wonders if he buys it. Things seem to go wrong all day at work. He's angry and continues the behavior into the home in the evening. So much turmoil and problems have been caused by irresponsible behavior that he must learn to be responsible before God in every area of his life.

Prov 3:11 My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

Heb 12:4-8 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

We see here that God disciplines us so that we will be like His Son. How does he do this? Through the Word. The Bible says that we should not lose heart when the Lord rebukes us. Have you ever been rebuked by the Lord? If we are sons, we will find this happening often. We will find that the Word comes and rebukes us. We should yield to it, knowing that God is shaping us. The rebuke proves that we are sons.

It's time to grow up. The moral life is good. Some people think it is confining, but the train is able to run best when it is confined to the tracks. This is the same kind of life Jesus lived.

Heb 5:12-14 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

They were not acquainted because they had failed to train themselves in holiness. Holiness then involves habit.

Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Q. When is a thief not a thief?
A. When he has become a hard worker who gives.

A simple cessation of theiving is not the answer. God has called us not just to stop sinning! God has called us to live according to the commands of Jesus! Stopping lying is not good enough. We replace it by being a truth teller! Stopping stealing is not good enough, we have to work so that we may have something to give! We must replace the old patterns with the new. God is saying to us like he said to Cain, in essence, stop responding incorrectly, do what is right without waiting on feelings, and regardless of what has happened to you.

We have this incredible capacity called habit. Without habit we would forget how to brush our teeth and tie our shoes. Just as we can develop bad habits. We can develop good habits according to the Word of God.

In scripture we see this putting on and putting off. Getting rid of bad habits is only possible by putting on new habits. New patterns must become domininant.

I just want to encourage you. You have the ability to be trained in righteousnes. You can overcome negative sin patterns in your life.

So it's our choice to live responsibly. The best thing we can do to live well is to live responsibly. What are you being irresponsible in? Are you orderly in your sleeping habits, eating habits, etc. ? God has called us to structured and disciplined living. A life that conforms to the commands of Jesus-- a total restructuring of life according to God's commands.

Look at every are of your life. Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, your relationships, your finainces, your occupation, your family, and begin to ask yourself, how you can apply the Lord's discipline in these areas. Where have I been irresponsible? What habits does the Lord want me to acquire?

Living by The Word, Not Feelings

Genesis reveals two opposing religions. Two opposing ways of life. One says “I will live according to feeling” The other says, “I will live according to what God says.” When Adam sinned, he was abandoning the commandment oriented life, for a life of feeling.

The devil would have us believe that we must do what we feel like doing and simply cannot help ourselves. For instance, a married couple might say: "There is no feeling left, I guess it's over." But the vow of marriage is not one about feeling. The vow is about commitment of the will. They might protest, "Do you mean we are supposed to love one another contrary to all of our feeling?" Exactly. Let's look at someone else who lived by feeling:

Gen 4:3-7 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."


In this story, we see something interesting. Cain brought a poor offering to God. He suffered the consequences for his bad choice, but then he compounded the problem by choosing to be angry and downcast. He considered himself a victim of the unfairness of God. What should he have done? He should have confessed and repented and been restored.

God confronts him on his feelings. "Why are you downcast and angry?" Then God says a key thing, "If you DO what is right, will you not be accepted?" Then he warned Cain about what failure to repent would bring. Sin is crouching at the door. It wants to master you but you must master it!

God showed him his response-ability. He told him that he was responsible for his choices. He could either choose to do right, be accepted, and master sin, or he could choose to do wrong, choose to wallow in negative feelings, and then make more and more wrong choices until sin becomes his master. Which one is it going to be for you?

We can live a life of feeling and go on the downward cycle of sinful choice-- bad consequence,--give in to bad feelings,--another sinful choice-- bad consequence--give in to bad feelings, ad infinitum, or we can get on the up cycle of confession and repentance-- good choice regardless of feeling-- good consequences and feelings.--etc, etc.

Some of you have made some of these bad choices long ago, but don’t lose hope, today is the day you can get into the life of faith and not feeling, by doing what the Word of God says regardless of your feelings!

God told Cain, that if he did right then he would be accepted. If you do right then you will feel right. The only hope to rule over sin is to break out of the pattern. Cain failed to heed God's warning and fell into deeper depth of sin.

Sin leads to guilt and depression-- sinful handling of guilt and depression leads to more, but we must never look to feelings to change the behavior. We change the behavior and then the feeling comes. We have to get these things in the right order. Many people are waiting to feel a certain way before they make a commitment to change their ways. This is not the life of faith.

Have you been living more by feeling than by faith? Are you doing only the things you feel like doing? We need to get our actions before our feelings, knowing that if we do right, we will feel right.

No Such Thing As "Can't"

Last week we established that the kind of change that God wants to see, is not just a change of outward actions, but a change of heart. The heart is where change that is pleasing to God starts. We saw that if our hearts weren't right, nothing would be right. We also saw that in order to change our hearts, we needed to see that the Word is our standard, and that sin and our wrong responses to sin is our problem. We saw that when David failed to deal with his vertical relationship to God, that he became depressed and wasted away, but when he confessed his sin, he found freedom and forgiveness. Today I want to share about the principle of our ability to change.

Gen 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

The Christian is called to master his environment. According to this Scripture, man was created to master his environment, but because of sin, the job became a whole lot harder. In fact, many times we have allowed the environment to control us. We are called to have dominion--"to occupy until Christ returns", to be overcomers, to be good stewards of the things of the earth.

God's original mandate of dominion still stands--even more so for the church. We are told to resist the devil and he will flee. We are told to put to death the misdeeds of the body.

Unfortunately, many believe that they can't change. We say things like "Oh God is going to have to change my heart about this", "I can't stop myself", "I'm helpless." These are lies. You see here is the devil's plan: He wants to keep you in a sinful patterns to destroy your effectiveness. To destroy your fruitfulness. But we have no right to give in to this lie of inability. We are called to master our environment. By God's grace we can. The Bible says that, in fact, we can break from sin.

Rom 6:17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

This picture of man cowering before his environment, crying out that he is helpless under its pressure, is a lie. We must learn to take the initiative to subdue and rule. To fail to bring biblical solutions to bear upon problems is to allow sinful conditions to continue. We are not called to adapt to sin.

We can take different approaches to problems. We can turn back from our problem. We can avoid our problems by going around them. We can be turned aside from our problems, or we can do what the Bible tells us to do, and that is to take dominion and deal with our problems.

We are problem solvers. Not problem avoiders!

1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Never as a Christian are you to say , " I can't do as God asks me"

There is no test that is common to man that God does not send a way out. We have to understand that this scripture makes no exceptions. You see, many times we are tempted or deceived into thinking that we are some kind of special case. But this scripture gives no room for this. We have to agree that this promise applies to us and that we must stop ducking the responsibility of it.

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

That means there is no challenge, no trial , no test , not temptation that has the ability to destroy you or to stop you.

For instance: a guy goes into a bar with his coworkers and gets drunk and then said " It's like a magnet pulling me in. I can't resist. " Do you have to go inside the bar with your coworkers? No. Then why do you go in? The answer is that he goes in so that he can be drawn in .

See, if you were to really examine it , you can see that the decision to get drunk was the end result of a lot of little decisions that were unwise and even sinful.

If you deny your ability to change, here is the hard reality. You are probably not that sincere or serious about wanting to do God's will.

We can't say "Can't" because God says we can !

We need to realize that we have an awesome Savior who has broken the chains of sin that bound us! We have to live up to what we already are! We can get above sinful habits, sinful bondages because it's power has been broken by Christ. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit! If God is for us who can be against us! I want to encourage you today, you can solve the problems in your life with Christ's help.

Have you been too busy confessing inability or overwhelmed so that you have made excuses to avoid dealing with problems head on? Will you believe what God says about your ability to change?

Changing From The Inside Out

Most of us don't think that we can be anything like Jesus, but in fact, the Lord tells us that it is His desire that we are like Him in all things.

1 John 2: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

1 Cor 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Now when we read about Jesus, we often are so convicted. He turned the cheek to his persecutors, He had compassion on people. He seemed to always say the needful thing.
We look at ourselves, and then Jesus, and we say, "yeah, right". Well it's important that we realize that God actually wants to change us to be more and more like Jesus every day. How can we become more like Jesus? We are going to look at this today, and the first thing I want you to see is that God is looking primarily for a heart of faith.

God is interested in change, but first He is interested in our hearts.

GOD IS AFTER OUR HEARTS
Rom 1:5... we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

Paul describes his gospel as a call to the obedience that comes from faith. In other words, it is not just obedience that God is after, it is an obedience that comes from a right heart of faith. This is so important to realize. God is not just after your obedience but he is after a right heart.

Without a right heart , your obedience does not count for much before God.
That's hard for a lot of us to hear, because we think very highly of our deeds, but we don't think to look at our hearts.

God wants to be first in all things. God never is just concerned with the action, but with the motive behind the action.

If God does not come first, then we can get to the place of "Pharisee's righteousness." What do I mean by that? Well some might say, “listen if I learn how to treat my wife better, control my children better through techniques, why do I have to be a Christian and have my heart right and all that jazz.”? Good question.

Luke 11:39 Now then you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

In the eyes of the world, the Pharisee was a very good person. He kept all the rules. But Jesus was not satisfied with just outward obedience when the heart was wrong. As he went on to point out, the righteousness of the Pharisee was all show and no substance because it was not from the heart. How does that relate to us?

Outward change may appear good to us and to others but it is not good in God's sight if it does not come from a right heart. That's a very sobering thought.

For instance, you are a thief and you stop robbing people. Very good. People are not getting ripped off. You are not going to jail. Sounds good, but if there is not a change from the heart, it will probably lead to self righteousness. You might say “see I was able to stop this stealing thing. I didn't need God.” Your apparent success has actually moved you away from God. Then if you fail, you despair because it was all about you anyway.

If we are going to change, it is an absolute must that we change with a change that is pleasing to God and not just ourselves. Otherwise we are just making Pharisees. That is the result of every religious attitude in the world, self righteousness or despair. But that is not Christianity. Christianity is a third way.

Matt 5:19-20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Unless we deal with our relationship with God, we are only dealing superficially with the problem. No matter what the problem, for the Christian, there is no change that is acceptable unless there is a change of heart towards God. Are you willing to deal with your hearts before God?

ONLY THE RIGHT HEART CAN BE TAUGHT
Somebody shows up with a struggling marriage. Someone is unable to keep a job. Someone is afraid to leave his bedroom. Most would rather just deal with the specific horizontal problem at hand, but we must see that these problems are reflective of the deeper vertical relationship problem with God.

Matt 22:36-40 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

By linking these two together, Jesus made it clear that we have to consider both love of God and love of man. The Apostle John shows that we can't have one without the other.

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar.

You cannot really give biblical advice to somebody who is a non believer. That may shock you, but if you do, you are just hardening him in his rebellion to God. First, he must attend to his heart with God, only then, will he be receptive to the commands of God. So the first thing is dealing with his rebellion seriously before God.

First Evangelism then Edification

If someone's heart isn't right, it might lead them to changing a behavior just for the effect, but it would not last long, because they did it just to fix the temporary problem and not to please God.

1 Thess 4:1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living.

But God has not called us to just obey from the outside but to please Him. Devoted faith is the source of our change. If we really believe that Jesus died for us and showed us grace by snatching us from the pit, then our response should be devotion. We love because He first loved us. Jesus said that when he came to his people, and told them that they visited him in prison, and fed him, and clothed him, that the people’s response was, "When did we do those things?" People who are in love, are not thinking about themselves, but serve without fanfare or recognition. Love is not sentimentality but a heart devotion to the Lord.

God cannot be ignored in the process of fixing relational problems.
We need to change in ways that please God not just change for the sake of change. It is one thing to stop evil behavior, but another thing to change our hearts before God.

Have you been more concerned with a "problem" on the horizontal more than your relationship with God on the vertical. Do you see how they are related?

GOOD NEWS!: SIN IS THE PROBLEM
Why do I say good news? It’s good news because if the core of our living problem are sinful responses, then we know what to do with it.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

The answer to sin is confession and repentance. We can be restored. It’s hopeful .
But if our problem is basically genetic, what can we do? If we are just mentally diseased, then we are at the mercy of the doctors and their theories, with no promise of recovery.

You see folks, we need to realize that at the core of much of our problems in life: Emotional problems, behavioral problems, failure problems, is usually sinful responses to a bad situation. Sin is what separated us from God, brought the curse on the earth, brought death into the world. Sin, damages our conscience.

Conscience literally means “with knowledge” “To understand with” Understand with who? With God. Our conscience is a function of our spirit that tells us when we are out of God’s will.
Our conscience agrees with God when we are wrong. When our conscience bothers us, we have two choices. We can either get right with God through confession or repentance or we can do everything else. What is it that many times we do? We cover our conscience by self justification, stewing in our feelings, avoiding, focusing on ourselves, trying to fix our own mess. What does the Bible say about this?

Prov 28:13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Ps 32:1-4 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

According to David in Psalm 32, when David kept silent, his bones literally wasted away. He literally was De-pressed. The hand of the Lord was heavy upon him. He even attributed his depression to the hand of God. You see something very interesting: When David did not deal with his sins properly and kept silent, it literally began to have physical effects. His body was affected. A defiled conscience can lead to depression, ulcers, heart attacks, anxiety attacks, racing heartbeat, sleeplessness. Did you know that even some of our physical problems might be traced to sinful responses to bad circumstances? But David had the power to choose his response! The next verse says

Ps 32:5-6 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"--and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found;

David chose the better way. He confessed His sin and repented and received forgiveness, and lived in healing. This is something that we live in. Thank God that we can bring our hearts to Jesus, the one that died for all of our sins. Thank God that we can receive freedom and forgiveness at the cross and continue to walk with a right heart towards God! As we do we will really be changed!

Blessings!

Overcoming Intimidation by the Spirit of a Sound Mind

We have been looking at how to overcome intimidation. Our scripture:

2 Tim 1:6-7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

The Sound Mind Principle: Understanding the direction and will of God, and obeying , no matter the outside pressure.

1 Sam 15:1-3 Samuel said to Saul, "I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the LORD. 2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'"

1 Sam 15:9-11
9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed. 10 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions." Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.

Saul was commanded to destroy everything completely, but we see that Saul did not obey the command of the Lord, and it grieved the Lord.

1 Sam 15:13-14
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's instructions." 14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?

1 Sam 15:20-23
20 "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal." 22 But Samuel replied:

"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has rejected you as king."

1 Sam 15:24-25
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I violated the LORD's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.

Here is the key: Saul feared the people more than he feared the Lord. He allowed himself to be intimidated by the people. Saul was full of intimidation. Intimidation compromised his decisions and quenched his gifts and authority. A few verses later his motives are exposed.


1 Sam 15:30 Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God."

You see, Saul was more interested in how he looked before men, than in how he looked before God.

Fear of Man vs. Fear of God
The Fear of God will keep us from the Fear of Man!

You see the tendency is to be harsh on Saul. Why didn’t he obey the Lord completely? But we know that it is easy to be obedient in the Sunday church service, but when we are under extreme pressure, how tempting it is to do it our way--to take matters into our own hands. Saul bowed to the pressure of the people. This had been a pattern for him and it finally caused him to lose the kingdom. It’s very hard sometimes to wait on God, especially when things get tough.

Now in contrast to Saul's example we see David.
During the last year of Saul’s reign. David and his men returned from a failed attempt at a battle. But if that wasn’t bad enough. Look what he faced when he returned to camp.

1 Sam 30:1-8
30:1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

3 When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David's two wives had been captured-Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel

Can you believe the immensity of the pain that they were going through? Here David was on the run from Saul, like a man without a country. Now they come back and find everything that was important to them gone. Their families kidnapped, and their possessions raided and burned. Now look what happened:

v6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters..

Now even his own men were ready to stone him because of their bitterness about their families being kidnapped. That is a heavy situation. Imagine the opportunity to be intimidated at that point. Your families are kidnapped, your own men are hating you and talking about killing you. What would you do? What did David do?

But David found strength in the LORD his God 7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?"

"Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."


Isn’t that unbelievable? First of all, we see that David encouraged himself in the Lord. This was David’s trademark. He always was encouraging himself in the Lord . He knew His God. But even more impressive, he asks God if he should rescue them or not? I don’t know about you, but to me that would not have been a matter for prayer. But this shows you how committed to God he was. He didn’t think the answer to that question was a slam dunk or a certainty. He feared God enough to get an answer about that. David feared God more than he feared his men. I don’t know about you, but that really convicts me to the core.

David would not move unless he had the sound Mind. Unless he had the word of the Lord.
The Sound Mind Principle: Understanding the direction and will of God, and obeying , no matter the outside pressure.

Many times God permits the pressure in our situations to increase to see what is really in our hearts. Do we step out on our own under pressure or are we careful to get the counsel and stay in obedience to God? This is the sound mind that helps us to overcome intimidation. If you don’t have a word , don’t move. When you get confirmation, move! What does this do? This gives great boldness because we know that we know that we are in the will of God.

When we have that we can tell the circumstances, the world and hedevil thatwe refuse to be intimidated and moved by what we see. We will stand in faith on what we know is God's will. That is having the Spirit of a sound mind that overcomes intimidaiton.

Overcoming Intimidation by the Spirit of Love

2 Tim 1:6-7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Last time we began discovering how to overcome a spirit of intimidation. We saw how David's confidence in the God's power enabled him to overcome the intimidation of his brothers, Saul and finally, Goliath.

Let's look at another aspect of the Holy Spirit that helps us. We hae received, not only a spirit of power, but of love and of a sound mind. How does this love help us overcome intimidation?

What is the Spirit of Love? The word in the Greek in "Agape". Agape is the God-like kind of love in distinction from Eros, the romantic kind of love, or Filios, the brotherly kind of love. Agape is the self less kind of love. That's the kind of Spirit we have received. Now how can a Spirit of Agape help us to overcome intimidation?


Luke 22:33-34 But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." 34 Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."

Peter was an outwardly bold man. He was the first to confess that Jesus was the Son of God, the Christ. He was the one who walked on water. He was the one who cut off the servants ear. But what was really on the inside of Him? When Jesus predicted Peter's betrayal, he brashly insisted that he would never deny Jesus. Yet, we know that he did deny Jesus three times that very evening--even to a little girl.

You see, just because you have a strong personality and seem to be very bold, does not mean that you don't suffer from a spirit of intimidation. I've known men with bold personalities-- big men, who still suffered from intimidation.

Why? Why did Peter fall? Why did the rest of the disciples abandon Jesus? We get a clue if we look at what did the disciples did just after Jesus predicted his betrayal.

Luke 22:22-24 The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." 23 They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. 24 Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.

Here Jesus said that one of them was going to betray Jesus and then they begin discussing who is going to be the greatest! I mean, this should have led to sadness and introspection and humility. Talk about self centered! Talk about their hearts being exposed!

Luke 22:45-46 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

Now the disciples had not yet learned to deny self in prayer. They loved the flesh too much to deny themselves. But Jesus said

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

So were the disciples acting in a selfless love or a selfish love? We know what happened to them. Indeed, Peter did deny Christ three times, and all the disciples abandoned Jesus in his hour of need.

They all fell to intimidation because they were spiritually unprepared to die to self and to live for God. Only if you have a greater love for God and for His ways, over your own ways, will you be able to be self-less enough to overcome a spirit of intimidation.

Imagine a woman whose children are in a raging fire. Does she give in to intimidation? No, her love swallows up her fear and she dashes into the house to save them.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

If you love Jesus more than your own life, you can laugh at hardships and persecutions. You are not intimidated Because you are a "Dead Man Walking". Now this isn't easy. In fact, it is a daily thing. Jesus said to pick up our cross (that instrment of death) daily.

Phil 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

Paul didn't care about life or death but about magnifying Christ. Let me tell you something, when you are in that place, you are mighty dangerous to the devil because you are loving him more than life. Some little demon of intimidation will be no match for you here.

Rev 12:11
1 They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
NIV

Have you died unto yourself, or is intimidation getting a stranglehold on you because you are so aware of Your Needs, Your relationships, Your this, Your That. This is not Christianity. Christianity is loving him, serving him, not making demands of things that we are going to get before we serve him. Like I said before, this is not easy. But Jesus never said it would be easy but that He would be with us.

According to Foxes Book of Martyrs, Peter was eventually crucified. But he requested to be crucified upside down, because he considered himself unworthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus. That's boldness that swallows up intimidation.

Overcoming Intimidation

2 Tim 1:6-7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Paul imparted some spiritual gift through the laying on of hands. What was this gift? Most probably it was the gift of leadership or apostleship which Timothy was carrying out in Ephesus

God has given each one of us gifts.
1 Peter 4:10-11 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

Each Christian has received gifts of the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul tells us to eagerly seek spiritual gifts. Why? For the building up of the body, and for the extension of the kingdom of God! Each one of us are simply to be faithful stewards of our gifts!

Now, Paul tells Timothy to fan the gift of God into flame! Why would Paul need to tell him that? What could cause a gift to be quenched within us? What could cause us to quench the gift? The answer is found in the next verse.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity! A spirit of timidity can cause your gift to be quenched. My friends, that spirit of timidity is at work keeping many from the fullness of effectiveness in the body of Christ.

Now, the devil has been completely defeated on the cross. Jesus said, "all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore Go!" As we advance the kingdom, we recognize that this is a divine mandate- an authorized commission. Now the Devil knows he can’t attack Jesus anymore. He can’t question the fact that he is under his feet. His only recourse is to try stop the church! One of the ways he does that is through INTMIDATION! He wants to intimidate you, to keep quenched the Spirit of God in your life, because he knows it is the Spirit of God in you, and in me, that moves, and that through us builds up the kingdom of God!

The gifts that we have can be quenched, become at low ebb, become dormant--but God hasn’t given us gifts to fall into disuse or dormancy. God wants us to stir the gift into flame.
Now what is timidity and intimidation?

The word translated "timidity" in the passage is "deilia" which means dread, or fear. But the passage doesn’t just speak of an emotion. It speaks of a "pneuma" of deilia or a spirit of fear. So it is a spirit that causes us to be fearful. It is a spirit of intimidation.

The dictionary definition of intimidation

1. persuade or dissuade by frightening: to persuade somebody to do something or dissuade somebody from doing something by frightening him or her

2. daunt: to create a feeling of fear, awe, or inadequacy in somebody

Now isn’t that just like the devil. The devil loves to send a spirit of intimidation to
persuade you to do something, or keep you from doing something by creating a feeling of fear.

Here is the danger that Timothy was facing. Timothy was a young apostle. Paul had to encourage him not to give in to intimidation. At one point, Paul tells him not to let himself be despised because of his youth. In other words, Timothy was in danger of becoming intimidated by the older people of the church and therefore having his gift of apostleship and leadership quenched. So Paul tells Timothy, that God did not give that spirit. That spirit is of the devil and you must overcome it.

Now one thing we need to see is that it is a spirit of intimidation. A spirit cannot be dealt with by positive thinking. A spirit cannot be reeducated. A spirit cannot be reasoned with. A spirit cannot be physically beaten up. In order to deal with a spirit we must use spiritual means!


Now what is the antidote to this intimidation?
Paul goes on to say in light of the spirit of intimidation, that we have received a different Spirit? If you are a Christian you have received a Spirit. What kind of Spirit is He? He is the Holy Spirit. And what are some of his attributes? Well Paul says He is a Spirit of Power, love and of a Sound Mind. So Paul is saying if you want to defeat intimidation, you must receive in, and walk in, the Holy Spirit’s attributes of Power, Love and of a Sound Mind.

The Spirit of Power- David And Goliath
In the story of David and Goliath, David had to deal with intimidation.

1 Sam 17:28-30 When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle." 29 "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?"

David’s brother belittled him because he was intimidated and did not want to be exposed. He accused David of being conceited. His brother was the one who was jealous that God had chosen David. Surely Eliab must have remembered David’s anointing by Samuel. But David refused to be intimidated.
ThenDavid goes to Saul...

1 Sam 17:32-37 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him." 33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."


Saul at first says to David, "come on, your only a young kid! How could you possibly be victorious over Goliath?" But look at David’s response to this bit of intimidation. He remembers and recalls the delivering power of God in his past.

Are you the kind of person when faced with intimidation that your first response is . "God is able!" and then you start recounting how God has delivered you?


Now it was Goliath.
1 Sam 17:42-46 He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"
45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head.

Now Goliath now tries to intimidate David as he had the whole Israelite army. David was so confident of God’s power.

Three times David faced intimidation. From His brothers, from the King and from Goliath himself. But David saw through all that. He refused to be intimidated and was so trusting in the power and purpose of God that he was confident enough to risk his own life. He was willing to put his own life on the line! And he was victorious!!!

Heb 13:5-6
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 6 So we may boldly say:

"The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?"
NKJV


Luke 10:19
19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

No man or devil has the right to intimidate a true believer. God has given his people power over all the enemy powers. Intimidation as we saw before is a spirit. Intimidation speaks. It says "I am stronger than you I have more power. You better listen to me." If we listen to his lies, the gift of God will go rusty. We will be oppressed.

Folks. we gotta believe what God says is true! The enemy has no business messing with you. Friends, you have to take your stand. You have to exercise your authority. True Boldness doesn’t say "me me me". True boldness says "He , He , He." We have to believe that God is able to give us victory over every circumstances. We have to believe that God has given us authority over every spirit and that includes a spirit of intimidation.

Do you believe that God today is the same God that gave David victory? Do you believe that he is the same God that parted the red sea? Do you believe that has given you power and authority over all the power of the enemy? If you would only believe in the Spirit of POWER, you will overcome intimidation.

God's Army of Compassion and Faithfulness

Yesterday we looked at aspects of the army God is raising up as we looked at the story of Saul and King Nahash who threatened the people of Jabesh Gilead.

God is raising up an Army of Compassion.
Will we have a culture on indifference or of compassion?
Let’s go back to our story.

1 Samuel V4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. 5 Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, "What is wrong with the people? Why are they weeping?

You see the people were weeping because they had compassion on the brethren of Jabesh Gilead who had been threatened. The people of Gibeah cried for the people of Jabesh Gilead because they believed in the threat of judgment that was coming upon their brothers! They believed that their brothers were going to be blinded!

My question is, do you weep at the judgment that the lost are under? Do you weep at the judgment that they must suffer?

We need to see the true need of man in the light of the realities of heaven, hell and salvation in Christ. All men are eternal creatures. They will all live eternally. The question is where? In each 24 hr. period 175,000 people die, many without Christ; the matter is settled for them and they are going to hell, not a Christ less eternity. Forgive me for being so plain with you, but I think we need a bit more plainness nowadays.

John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

Rev 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Many of us have fallen victim to the spirit of indifference. Live and let live. Don’t stress yourself. Why aren’t we taking every possible step to provide for the sharing of the gospel with every person possible as soon as possible. Maybe we don’t have compassion. Maybe we don’t see the wrath of God on the ungodly.

Rev 6:15-17 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

In Acts 18:6 when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

You see Paul considered that had he not preached the gospel, that he would have been guilty of their blood. But when they rejected him, he said he was clear of his responsibility.

2 Cor 5:10-11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

Therefore knowing the fear (terror) of the Lord we persuade men. This fear is a deep understanding of the justice of God, his judgment and wrath.

Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world that men might receive mercy instead of wrath. Paul had received and understood the greatness of what Christ had done for him. To live for himself in light of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross would be unthinkable. Thus evangelism is love. It is the supreme act of love. Love is action. Love is acting on another's behalf to meet his need. Who is the great need meeter? Jesus.


God is Raising an Army of Faithfulness

Will we have a Culture of Convenience or Culture of Sacrifice?
Back to our story
V7 Then the terror of the LORD fell on the people, and they turned out as one man. 8 When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

You see the terror of the Lord moved the people and they came out as one man under their commander Saul. Saul at this time had been proclaimed King but he had not really moved into the role of King. This was his first kingly assignment!

Similarly, the army that God is raising up, is persuaded of the terror of the Lord to turn out as one man under the Kingship of Jesus, Our commander and Chief. And as we turn out as one man under our King. Guess what? God gives the victory and the spoils of war.


But Pastor Dan I am afraid of what people will say about me

You see if you truly see the sacrifice that Jesus has made for souls. If you truly understand the awesome sacrifice of Jesus. If you truly understand the predicament of those without Christ, you will let your compassion swallow your fears. Love consumes fear.

Courage is not the absence of fear but it is acting in spite of it.

2 Cor 5:14-15 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

You know every time we go out to witness there is some level of fear that we encounter. But we have been bought with a price. We are committed to this cause and we will let our compassion overcome our fears. God is raising up an army of faithful warriors willing to sacrifice for the cause.

God's Army of Urgency and Purpose

1 Samuel 11About a month later,King Nahash of Ammon led his army against the Israelite city of Jabesh-gilead. But the citizens of Jabesh asked for peace. "Make a treaty with us, and we will be your servants," they pleaded."All right," Nahash said, "but only on one condition. I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you as a disgrace to all Israel!"

We have a very interesting story here. We have here the story of the enemy of Israel, Nahash the Ammonite, who decided that he was going to bring disgrace on Israel by taking out the right eye of the people. Now the right eye at that time was known as "the fighting eye". For the fighting men would hold their shield with the left hand and a spear with the right hand. The left eye was blocked by the shield. So if the right eye was gouged out, it would make the people effectively blind and useless in battle.

The name Nahash means serpent. So here is a clear type of the Devil and a revelation of his strategy against the people of God. The devil would love to take the fight out of the church. He would love to take out our fighting eye. He doesn’t care how spiritual you are, as long as you don’t do anything for Jesus, as long as you don’t pick up your weapon of prayer and of evangelism.

The devil would love to take the fight out of the church. But we see that God’s will is to raise up a militant army to win souls. God is raising up an army.

GOD IS RAISING UP A MILITANT ARMY FOR THE END TIME HARVEST. WILL YOU BE A PART OF IT?

What are some of the characteristics of this army? First of all It is .....

AN ARMY THAT”S PASSIONATE FOR SOULS- URGENCY!
In the church are we developing a culture of apathy or a culture of zeal?

Let's continue the story:

1 Samuel 11: 3"Give us seven days to send messengers throughout Israel!" replied the leaders of Jabesh. "If none of our relatives will come to save us, we will agree to your terms."4When the messengers came to Gibeah, Saul's hometown, and told the people about their plight, everyone broke into tears. 5Saul was plowing in the field, and when he returned to town, he asked, "What's the matter? Why is everyone crying?" So they told him about the message from Jabesh.6Then the Spirit of God came mightily upon Saul, and he became very angry

It says that when Saul heard of Nahash’s scheme, he burned with anger. And it was the Spirit of God that made him angry. We don't ususally speak of the Holy Spirit causing us to be angry, but He can, because this was a righteous indignation. There was something in Saul that said, "No way this is going to stand. My people are a people of destiny and no punk named "serpent" is going to take away our fighting eye."

Saul took immediate action because he had a passion for the kingdom of God. That’s the kind of army that God is raising up--an army of zeal, passionate for the extension of the kingdom of God. Passionate for the mission!

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19

The first thing Jesus said that he had in mind for his followers, was that he was going to make them fishers of men. God has called you to be a fisher of men. It was not an accident that Jesus picked men who were acquainted with the hard labor of fishing to be a part of his twelve.

Matt 9:35-38 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Jesus led a lifestyle of preaching the good news and healing, but even he acknowledged that alone he could not meet the need. He told his disciples to pray for workers.
Surely the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, even today!

Why? I’ve come to the conclusion that, bottom line, it just isn’t that important to the church to win souls! There is no other way to look at it. I know that sounds harsh. But the facts speak for themselves! And to a large degree we have lost our passion for souls.

In 1992, 3000 churches from a mainline denomination didn’t report even one soul saved in that year. Christianity Today magazine did a poll and found that only 1 percent of the readers had any zeal for the lost.

Surely the church needs to recover its sense of urgency in reaching out for lost souls. Surely the church needs to get its fighting eye in place.

Ray Comfort has said True Christianity is not a pleasure cruise to heaven but a battle ship stationed at the very gates of hell

Jesus was urgent about his work.

Jesus said, John 9:4-5 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

Many of us have given in to the spirit of non urgency of our culture. The spirit that says Jesus is nice but not necessary. There is no hurry. We see Jesus as a nice alternative instead of as the only way. But we need to catch the heartbeat of God.

2 Peter 3:9 He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Will we get angry at the devil who is trying to break our Father’s heart? God so loves the world that he gave his only begotten son. Isaiah says that Jesus was marred beyond recognition on the cross so that none should perish.

We need to be an army of urgency!

We also need to be AN ARMY OF FOCUSED PURPOSE!
In the church, do we have a culture of Individualism or a culture of Focused Purpose?
Let’s go back to our story:

1 Samuel 11: V7. He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, "This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel."And the LORD made the people afraid of Saul's anger, and all of them came out together as one. 8When Saul mobilized them at Bezek, he found that there were 300,000 men of Israel, in addition to 30,000 from Judah.

Saul cut up a pair of oxen and then sent pieces of it all over Israel threatening to do the same to their oxen. You see, the oxen was their livelihood. Oxen was their means of income. The story says that the fear of the Lord came upon them and they turned out as one man. Does God have to threaten our livelihood before we will make his battle a priority?

What will it take before the testimony of the gospel becomes our first priority? What do you think, when you hear of disaster in this city? The people we saw falling from the Twin Towers or how about the ferry accident recently? Do you look at these things and say “ Oh look at these people stepping into eternity. Oh God, that they know you Lord, Oh God that they are with you and not in Hell."

Let’s look at Paul’s priorities.

1 Cor 9:19-23 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Paul' great object in life was “ To save some”. This should be every believers great object but is it? Have some become confused or forgotten this point.? Our Goal is to glorify God. How is he most glorified? When souls are turned from the power of Satan to God.

2 Tim 2:3-5 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs-he wants to please his commanding officer.

The apostle Paul talked about not getting involved in civilian affairs. It’s easy for us as people to become distracted. You know, when new recruits first come into the army, they have their heads shaved. Why? They don’t want anybody preening in the mirror. They are set to a task. They have a focused purpose.

Here is our focused purpose.

Matt 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

The Great Commission is not just for leaders and evangelists.

If a boss tells his company the mission statement, does he expect his employees to disregard it? to say “Oh, that’s only for management.” Or does he expect and seek all to embrace it and align themselves with it. Obviously the latter.

To go is to obey. To stay is to disobey. Look, not everyone is an evangelist and not everyone is an apostle, but that in no way excuses a believer in Jesus Christ from the Great Commission. You cannot be a Christian and ignore the Great Commission.

Eph 4:11 says that the main role of evangelists is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Evangelists are not the only ones that are supposed to do the soul winning.

Will we give up our individualism and come out as one man to please our commander in Chief? Will we embrace the going? When you look at your life right now? Let me ask you something. Is there something of a "going and making disciples" in it? I have found God’s will for your life. I have found God’s plan for your life and it is aligning it with the Great Commission.

Jehovah Jireh Part 2

Yesterday we looked at Jehovah Jireh the God that provides, let's continue. You know, many have this idea that God will only meet your needs but not your wants? We tend to have so many religious ideas that keep us from believing God.

Eph 3;20 Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. 21May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us ALL things." (Rom. 8:32)

God wants to give us all things. There is no limit to the storehouse of his bounty.

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the DESIRES of thine heart." (Ps. 37:4)

OF COURSE THESE PROMISES ARE CONDITIONAL UPON US DELIGHTING OURSELVES IN THE LORD.

"And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask and ye shall receive THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL." (John 16:23-24)

Jesus gives us a guarantee of receiving because He wants our JOY to be full. Doesn't it make you happy when your children are happy? Doesn't it bring you joy to see your children's smiling faces when you bless them with that thing that they have always wanted? Doesn't it delight you to hear them say, "You're great Mom/Dad. Thanks!"?

Just like we want our children to enjoy life, God wants you and I to enjoy life also. That does not mean that we will never suffer. It means that god's general will is for us to overcome all things. The Christian life should not be one of drudgery and constantly "wishing I might have, but I dare not ask." God gives us ALL things to enjoy. Isn't it about time that through prayer we partake of some of them?


We serve an awesome God. When Israel was in Egypt they were slaves. They were in a bad way. They were in the worst of poverty. But when God delivered them, He brought them out with silver and with gold and there was not one feeble one among them. Now these were meant to instruct us. He brings them from, not having enough, to the wilderness, where they had just enough everyday. There was no abundance, but they just had enough to get by. He that had gathered much had nothing left over. They didn't have any lack but they didn't have any left over. That's where much of us are right now. But that's still not the promised land. That's wilderness living. Promised land living is living in surplus and abundance.

Where are you now?
Faith begins when the will of God is known. Resist the lies of the enemy.
God wants to do more in you and through you. Will you believe that we have an awesome provider. The Bible says he Lord is my shepherd I shall not lack! Oh the great things that God gives those who believe.

HOW DO WE RECEIVE THE BLESSINGS OF GOD?

A. BY FAITH
In ORDER TO receive the blessings from heaven we need to exercise faith. Faith receives from God. We need to claim the promises to us and act. So when we see that we have been given "spiritual blessings" in heavenly places we must recognize the fact that heaven is the source or the storehouse where all our blessings are. But they were not meant to stay there. You and I must claim these blessings and get them from the spirit realm into the physical realm.

Faith is Believing, Declaring and Acting on the Word of God.

B. BY ASKING
Now most of the good things we receive from God without even asking. He is always doing good for us. But sometimes, and for some things, the Lord wants us to ask him.
We participate in receiving from God.

James 4:2 say you have not because you ask not.
That means that there is a whole sphere of his activity that he limits to our prayers and request.
Even Jesus taught us to pray to ask for our daily bread.

"After this manner pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread....." (Matt. 6:9-11)

C. OBEDIENCE
In Deuteronomy chapter 28, God promises blessings to the obedient:

"And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God." (Deut. 28:2)

I like that. If you and I are obedient to God we do not even need to run after the blessings. They will come on us and they will overtake us. God does abundantly above anything you and I could ever ask or think.

If we are going to breakthrough we have to stop the limiting thoughts we have of God and his plan for us. We have to begin to dream again. I don't know what all of your backgrounds are but we need to leave the past in the past and determine that our past is not going to define our future. We have got to raise our level of expectation as we continue to pray and fix our eyes upon our awesome God.

This whole thing is by faith. But if we think of God as a cosmic kill joy. We will never press in by faith. If we get fatalistic and cease cooperating with God, we will never sEe the breakthrough. No, we must be a people who are determined to touch heaven and receive aLl that God has for us on a continual basis. God must cease to be a theological topic for us, but must be recognized as a loving provider in all of our lives.

God is a Good God! He wants us to believe him for the abundant life. Will we believe, pray and obey and let God bring us to a more abundant life? Raise your expectation of good things and believe God!

Jehovah Jireh - our Provider

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly

It is the thief that comes to steal , kill and destroy, not God. We need to get this clear. But Jesus has come. The good news is that Jesus has come that we might life and have it more abundantly. He came that we may have life. This life is not just eternal life because we all are going to exist forever. No he is talking about "Zoe", God's quality of life, life more abundantly.

Thayer's dictionary says that the word translated, “More abundantly” means exceeding number, rank, more than is necessary , super added. Strong's defines it as a surplus, super abundance, exceedingly, super in quality, quantity, excessive. Abundance is more than enough. Jesus said he came to give us super abundant life.

So much of our problem is bad teaching. People have low expectations of life. Until we get to the abundance, we are not where the Lord intended us to be. But our God is Jehovah Jireh our provider. The God of more than enough. The God of superabundance.

I. BREAK THE POVERTY MENTALITY!
Asceticism is the prohibition of material things. It is outwardly despising anything of a material nature and denying the flesh any of its material desires. You may eat enough food or drink enough water to stay alive but nothing too much.

Unfortunately, much of the church began to imbibe this teaching which actually came from a group called the Gnostics. They taught that material things were evil and that only the spirit was good. This crept into the church and that is why you have monks, priests and others who take a “vow of poverty” as if poverty were going to help you to be more spiritual. Poverty most of the time is a temptation to evil just like great riches can be as well.

Many people have a problem with talking like this because they are afraid of so called “health and wealth teaching, " or they characterize that doctrine of the provision of God as if some kind of "get rich quick" scheme. Now maybe some of us have focused too much on the material side, but I don't know about you, I like have having a bed, an apartment, furniture. God gives us all these things. I'm not talking about God giving us Cadillacs on a whim which is how maybe some have been heard. I'm talking about God being a good provider for his children.

But to the ascetic, to ask God for any material thing is a SIN. They base this on the scripture in Eph 3:1 which says.

Eph 3:1Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all SPIRITUAL blessings in heavenly places in Christ."

These "ascetics" will tell you, "God will bless you spiritually. These blessings are better than anything material." Yet, most of the time they fail to tell you what these spiritual blessings are.

Satan has been able to use this doctrine to destroy faith in the goodness of God, by getting people to believe that God is not concerned with your physical well being, only your spiritual.

There is a rule of Biblical interpretation that says that you must interpret one scripture by the other scriptures. You must interpret the Bible as a whole, because you can take any scripture out of context and make it say anything.

Let's look at some other scriptures.
Psalm 31:19 "Oh, how great is your goodness to those who publicly declare that you will rescue them. For you have stored up great BLESSINGS for those who trust and reverence you."

If we take this along with Eph 1:3 we understand that the blessings on earth or the physical blessings, are stored up in the spiritual realm. In other words Eph 1:3 is not saying that the only blessings we have our spiritual blessings alone. How do we know that? Let's look at James...

"Every good and every perfect gift is FROM ABOVE, and COMETH DOWN from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17).

Every thing good, spiritual and physical, has its origin in heavenlies or the spiritual realm.

"The Lord will open the heavens, THE STOREHOUSE OF HIS BOUNTY, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none." (Deut. 28:12; NIV)

Here God has these things stored up for us, but yet it breaks the heart of God to watch his loving and faithful children suffer needlessly because they are denied all that has been made available in this life. They suffer because they do not expect, and even believe that it is a sin, to expect any reward upon the earth.

The "sweet by and by" error teaches that we will either receive all blessings such as healing, prosperity, and complete victory when we either get to heaven, or during the millennium when Jesus is physically ruling and reigning upon the earth for a thousand years.

"And Jesus answered and said, verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come, eternal life." (Mark 10:29-30)

Jesus said that not all the rewards we would receive would be in the "sweet by and by" but in this life. He also added that it would come with persecutions. Not to say that we wont be persecuted in this life just because we are blessed. Let's look at another one.

"Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him into the hands of his enemies." (Psalm 41:1-2)

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (Psalm 27:13)

It was not in the afterlife that David was looking to see the goodness of God It was in the land of the living. You and I need to believe for the same results.

God wants to do more in you and through you.
You see putting off healing, salvation, deliverance and blessings into the afterlife keeps us from believing and receiving now. But God does not want us walking around in a spirit of poverty. But to know that...

GOD IS A GOOD FATHER
As we pray and stand on God's words he sends these things down to us.
Everything that is on earth has been created by God. In fact in creation this is what God says :

Gen 1: 31Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way.

Therefore all of the material things we would deny ourselves have their origin in God. To call what God created as "evil", is to say that God gives evil things when He has just told us that His gifts are GOOD and PERFECT.

We have to break out of this religious mindset that material things are evil in and of themselves. You see it is so important to recognize the goodness of God. Then we will be bold enough to ask him. We need to continually meditate on his goodness

Matt 7:9-12 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

God is a good Father. He tells us to ask for good things and that He will give us good things. We just need to believe Him. He knows our needs before we ask. That's why He tells us not to worry about anything.

We need to break off the limited thinking. We can't do what God wants us to do is if all we are looking for just enough. But God wants us to be in a position to bless others, and we are going to have to have too much. He is the God that does over and above.

Matt 6:31"So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. 32Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, 33and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.

God already knows your needs. The ascetics will tell you "oh you don't have need of these things. You must deny the material things." But God said he would provide all of our needs is we were careful to put him first in all things.

He wants to take care or us body, soul, and spirit.

Thanksgiving Releases God!

Matt 11:24-27 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." 25 At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 26 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.

Here is an amazing story, Jesus was doing all his miracles and his preaching. People were being healed, delivered, set free, but yet in spite of all this, many cities didn't believe . Then he goes on to say woe to those cities who did not believe. It would be worse for them than for Sodom in the day of judgment.

As sobering as that prophetic word was. What does Jesus do?

He immediately turns to God and gives thanks for what he can thank God for, and that was namely, that God reveals himself to the humble and not to the so called "wise men" of the age.

Jesus had a real opportunity here to get upset, and to grumble. Jesus refused to do that, You never see Jesus complaining about anything. He never said "Why me?" He simply chooses to turn to God and give thanks for what God has been doing.

What did he do to stay connected to the Father? Right in the middle of everything, He stopped to give thanks. See, Jesus was not going by feeling . He just said some very hard things that were not very conducive to thanksgiving, yet he chooses to give thanks anyway.

Here is such a great example for all of us. It is always so easy to look at the glass as half empty, but God wants us to look at the glass as half full. Stop looking at the glass as half empty. When you get into Thanksgiving mode, it keeps you from unbelief mode. Jesus then begins to thank God for what he did know, not what he didn't know. I tell you, if many of us would spend more time thanking God for what we do understand, and less time talking about what we don't understand, our faith would be in a much better place.

When do We Give Thanks?

John 11:41-44 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

When did Jesus give thanks? Before or after the miracle? Before not after! Jesus gave thanks before the miracle, not after. Why? Because it is a demonstration of faith. Thanksgiving immediately brings you into faith. Thanksgiving is a powerful weapon in the hands of God. Thanksgiving releases faith in a powerful way.

Phil 4:5-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The problem with us is that sometimes we are waiting to see the results before we begin to thank God for it. But that's not what Jesus did at the tomb of Lazarus. That's not what is says to do here in Phil 4. No, it says when you pray, give the thanks then, because thanks giving releases your faith and shows that you are really trusting Him to do it.

You don't wait till you receive. When you pray you thank God, just like Jesus did.

Sometimes, what happened to us is that we prayed and thanked, and then the next day, all hell broke loose, and it seemed even more impossible to see God come through. The temptation in times like this is to doubt God.

Mark 11:24-25 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

See we have to stop going back and digging up the seed. When we pray again about the same thing as if God did not hear us the first time. It's like a farmer who planted the seed and then the next day when he doesn't' see a plant. He digs up the seed and says , "What's wrong with this seed?" and starts all over again. You know we shouldn't' keep starting all over again, but we need to say, "Thank you God that you have heard my prayer. Thank you God that the answer is on the way." That's faith.

Col 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
The Amplified reads as such:
2Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life], being [both] alert and intent in [your praying] with thanksgiving.

Continue in prayer and watch. You are on guard . You are taking care of what you prayed for. Continue and watch with thanksgiving. Watch and guard the seed that you planted.

Lord we thank you that you are at work in our thanks giving.

Attitude of Gratitude

You notice that some people always seem to be at peace and are always able to give God praise and thanks, no matter what seems to be happening in their lives? This is not an accident. They have developed an Attitude of Gratitude. What is an attitude of gratitude? It is an attitude that is always giving thanks, no matter what the situation.

Of all people, those that KNOW God should be the most thankful. We have a good God who loves us. We have a faithful God who takes care of us. We have a good God who has given us eternal life, forgiven us of our sins, and put His Holy Spirit in us. We should be of the kind that always have a grateful heart, no matter what the circumstances.


THANKSGIVING TRANSFORMS US - COMPLAINING BINDS US
1 Thess 5:16-18 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Here is an interesting scripture because we see here that God commands thanks giving. Here is a command of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians. He says to give thanks in all circumstances.

Now when God gives you a command, that implies the ability to perform it. Otherwise, it would be an unjust command.

People will say "oh my bills are piling up, why should I be thankful?" Believe it or not, you have a lot of things to thank God for.

The Bible says "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." The only scriptural excuse you have for not giving thanks is being out of breath. He woke you up again this morning. Most of us have a home, when there are multitudes that are going to sleep outside. Many of us have a jobs. It may not be your favorite job, but many people don't even have a job.

The very fact that you are reading this shows that you have something to be thankful for.

Nothing in your life will ever change until you become thankful for what he already has given you .


Going by feeling
Now let's be honest, many of us in certain circumstances don't feel like giving thanks.
I don't know about you, but when I get a parking ticket, the last thing on my mind in that circumstance is to give thanks. I have had to force myself to say "Lord I don't thank you for the parking ticket but I do thank you that you are the supplier of all of my needs."

But we have to learn not to go by feeling. You see, going by feeling is the very opposite of going by faith. If we keep operating out of feeling, we will short circuit faith. The Bible says that everything we receive is by faith. Jesus says "your faith has healed you." We need to learn to give thanks by faith.

Sometimes it is a sacrifice of praise that we give. In the Old Testam