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Sermon 100 – Satan gives men GIFTS

30 Apr

I was counselling 3 young men who each said they wanted to follow Christ but they couldn’t seem to get there. I asked them what the barrier was. They replied they didn’t know. So, I suggested that if your desire to know Christ couldn’t be fulfilled then there was something you didn’t want to give up. After a lengthy discussion, each one began to admit their secret belief. One said, he believed God had given him a ‘superior brain’ so he could think everything out. Another said, God had given him the gift of ‘coolness’ so he didn’t have to worry about anything, and the third said that God had given him the gift of ‘charisma’ so that everyone thought he was a great bloke.

Genesis 3

I opened my Bible to Genesis chapter 3 and showed them that right back in the beginning Satan said to Eve that God hadn’t done the right thing by them because He had withheld a special gift, and if they were to eat the fruit they could compete with Him as a god and also know what was good and evil like God, Himself (v.5). That sounded logical to her so she took the gift. The fact was, it wasn’t Satan’s gift at all, Satan simply gave her God’s gift, and used it to take power over her and power over all of future mankind. He contaminated the gift. In other words he used God’s gift to destroy them and separate them from God. That’s Satan’s secondary objective. His prime objective is to take over Jesus’ position. The secret gift he gave Eve was, envy. He wants the favour of the Father and moodily objects to the fact that Jesus has it. Any time you envy someone else’s higher position or better position, you prove you’re under the influence of Satan.

I pointed out that the gift they thought was from God was obviously from Satan. The evidence was loud and clear. If God gives you a gift it’s for the kingdom, not for you. It’s to help your fellowman find Christ or walk more faithfully with Christ, not to promote you above your fellowman.

The real reason they thought they had a God-gift was so they could believe they had the right to elevate themselves above their fellowman. It made them superior to their fellowman. This actually proved they were lying to themselves and deceiving themselves. Philippians 2:3 says … Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than yourself. They each actually believed they were someone of importance because they had special powers that no one else had. I couldn’t believe the arrogance of what I was hearing!

The test

When I suggested their thinking and attitude was evil, they were shocked. They couldn’t believe it and each started resisting my observations and politely objecting to such suggestions about them. To their mind it didn’t make any sense.

So, I asked them what does ‘correction‘ mean to them. They agreed that it meant … failure, bad, stupid, incapable and other such words of negativity. I suggested that at a very early age they had defied their parents when they were corrected and thus had contravened God’s instructions of respecting authority. They all agreed. So, I pointed out to them that although all correction is uncomfortable (it has to be if it’s God’s medicine), ‘correction’ just means you’re doing something wrong, or there’s something wrong with your thinking or your attitude and you need to stop it and go in a different direction. It doesn’t mean you’re stupid, and if you interpret it that way, you’re just making an excuse to defy the authority and give yourself the right to have a selfish mood because you’re not getting want you want, just like you did when you were a defiant kid. In other words, you’re just acting like a 2 year old and hiding it in an adult’s body. You’ve never grown up, spiritually.

I also asked them if they had ever called anyone an ‘idiot’ because they didn’t think the way they thought or do it the way they thought it should be done. They all agreed they had done that routinely. I showed them that the Word of God says in Matthew 5:22 that they’re on their way to hell unless they address this evil in their hearts and strongly declared to them that these two pieces of fruit (inner defying of correction and ‘idiot’) were all the evidence they needed to see they were in Satan’s camp, and if they wanted to truly walk with Christ they needed to stop listing all their so-called good points, see their pride, accept the Word of God delivered by the messenger, and repent. Thankfully, one did and the other two wanted to but wouldn’t.

The sad consistent reality

Over my life I’ve met many so-called Christians who appear to be ok on the outside, but when you make a corrective suggestion regarding their character, their demure changes and polite satanism exposes itself. I call it polite because they know that if they show anger it would expose them as the fake they are. The reality is they’ve never been told to stop their moodiness. As children they’ve been given free ‘reign’ to make up their own mind, and when a parent does that you’re just letting your child live for their own selfishness. Humanity always lives for its own selfishness. It’s an automatic reflex. Satan caused it and Jesus came to save us from it. Then as adults we cover this selfishness with niceness so we’re socially acceptable, but still live in the proud and selfish imaginations of our evil heart and are so blinded by the superiority belief of our Satanic giftings that our mind can’t compute there’s anything wrong with us. They’ve actually lost their right mind and don’t know it.

The truth

They couldn’t find Christ because they didn’t want to give up the gift, because giving up the gift meant giving up their position over others.

The one who thought he had a superior brain was really declaring that everyone else was an idiot if they didn’t think the way he thought. He was so bound, he would go away and have to think about everything and make up his own conclusions and always come to a harmonious deduction, because harmony was his favourite characteristic that he was so proud of. The real truth behind all this sham was, he didn’t want to be told. Thus it always comes down to an authority issue; the authority says one thing and your brain says another, and it’s that voice inside you that gives you away. That’s the voice of an anti-Christ spirit that’s dictating your mind.

The one who said he had the gift of ‘cool’ was really saying that he didn’t give ‘a stuff’ about anything. ‘Cool’ meant … my feelings are frozen so I don’t feel any pain, so you can’t touch me. ‘Cool’ was actually a characteristic that stirred his fellowman to envy him and although he hated their envy he gloated on it. It clearly was satanic because you couldn’t tell him otherwise.

The third man used his charisma to win popularity and status. Everything seemed to fall into his lap, so to him it proved his theory that God was his santa because he was such a great guy, and besides, everyone told him so. However, if anyone crossed his thinking he would use his specific knowledge to challenge them and put them in their place below him, and if anyone was positioned above him, he would silently hate them and at the same time pretend to respect them, but it was all a sham. God was on his case though, and when things began to crumble around him he was forced to face the reality of his pride. He admitted he had never seen it. He always thought he was so fantastic. His mind was under a lying spirit.

The measurement

The Word of God declares in James 3:17 that God’s wisdom is easy to be entreated, without partiality and without hypocrisy, and neither of these lads displayed these characteristics when confronted with the truth. The real truth was they lived for envy. Therefore, I knew I was talking to demon spirits because v.14 &15 declare that where envy operates then this sort of wisdom is earthly, sensual and demonic.

The measurement of the true character of a person’s spirit is the Word of God, not what a person thinks they are.

Know this ….

Jesus did the opposite. He was under God’s authority and thus He knew his enemy’s evil trickery. 

Philippians 2:7 … He made Himself of no reputation and took on Him the form of a servant and humbled Himself even to the death of the cross.

If you think you’re a person of some worth because you believe you have a special something then you are the one who is the real ‘fool’ and you are the one who has been duped by Satan to personally and ignorantly be an opponent to the kingdom of God and a means of destruction to your fellow-man.

 

Pastor Craig McWilliam

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Posted by on April 30, 2016 in Correction, Pride, Special

 

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Sermon 85 – I’M SPECIAL

09 Jun

Recently I was counselling a woman who has fallen out with her husband and was struggling to keep a handle on controlling her teenage kids. From the outside the family appeared to be stable, well-adjusted and happy; but the truth was it was all a façade. The façade often cracks when the kids hit the teenage years and start being defiant.

In the course of our discussion she revealed that this was all a bit of a shock because she had always thought that she was someone very special to God and that God would naturally give her the life she deserved. Her childhood was strained by parental control and injustices, and it always seemed that her siblings got the better deal. From her perspective, she was the one that was good, so it wasn’t fair that she always seemed to be left out and mistreated.

I’ve heard this story many times. Certainly there are circumstances where children need to be rescued from evil parents, but why is it that where children have had a reasonable upbringing, they still want a better deal than they got?

The final price of “I’m special” is separation from God

The truth is that Eve took the fruit because she was tempted by Satan to get a better deal for herself. She wasn’t satisfied with the deal God had given her. From that point on, everybody is born with the selfish desire to get more for themselves. If we fail to recognise this temptation then we will simply fall to the same trap as Eve and, like Eve, the consequences will be to blame our husband that he didn’t protect me, blame our wife that she made me do it, live in fear, pretend we don’t know what God is talking about, act like everything is fine by being good, and lose our children to envy, just like Cain and Abel.

“I’m special” is just a mood

From the moment we’re born we demand attention. We learn that if we cry loud enough then our parents will give us what we want. We set a pattern of moodiness and we learn techniques that manipulate people to do what we want, and if we don’t get it we have a big mood and huff, and if a sibling seems to be liked more or get a better deal, we let our feelings get hurt and it fuels our envy.

We learn to allow our feelings to dictate our desires, so when we feel bad we have a mood until we get something that makes us feel good again. We live for feeling good, and we’re taught that if you’re good you get good from Santa, but if you’re bad you don’t get it, so we learn to be good so that we get it. We’re not good for God’s sake; we’re good for our sake.

The problem is, that this pattern of goodness doesn’t satisfy us. Somehow we still feel the wounds of rejection, left-out, misjudged, unfairness, cruel words, bullying, and envy. Thus, we either rebel against the authority or strive to be even gooder. But still it doesn’t satisfy, so in order to feel of value, we fantasize that we are special and live in a bubble of false belief about our superior value and purpose in society. We add education and skills to our portfolio so we can promote ourselves above our neighbour and prove we are more special than our neighbour.

We then find out about God and decide that if we follow Christ then He will prosper me, keep me from hassles, protect me and elevate me above those that have hurt me. We now incorporate God into our fantasy, believing that we are very special to Him, and because God is so sweet and kind He will give me whatever I want and do for me whatever I ask, and the Pentecostal church teaches that, so I must be right. We then begin to believe that we are pretty much always right and everyone who disagrees with us is wrong.

We become the person we hate, and dictate our selfishness over those below us

We then intimidate and control people and family with hyper-authoritarianism so that our environment is controlled to our personal liking and well-being with no hassles, and without even seeing what we’re doing, we’ve actually turned into the person we hated for hurting us in the very beginning. But, so we don’t look bad or feel bad we do enough good things to prove to ourselves and others that we are basically good.

We can’t see how arrogant we are

When our heart silently declares … I’m special, how could you correct ME? I’m special, how could you reject ME? I’m special, I deserve the best. I’m special; you can’t tell me what to do. I’m special; you can’t tell me I’m wrong. I’m special, I know more than you … then we’re blindly and arrogantly declaring that I’m the centre of attention, not Christ.

What we fail to see is that we haven’t found God at all. All that’s happened is that Satan has manoeuvred us further away from the truth by feeding us with the thoughts and feelings we want that gets us what we believe is what we deserve. The truth is we’ve fallen for the Santa Claus fantasy. You might think you’re in touch with God, but, like Adam and Eve, if you envy a better deal, you’ll be separated from God until you repent of your selfishness.

God’s into nobody’s

The belief that you’re special isn’t planted there by God; it’s planted there by Satan. Everyone’s born thinking that they are a somebody, but you won’t find the true God until you wake up to the trap and realise you’re a nobody.

God searches the heart. He’s looking for the nobody’s not the somebody’s. That’s why He’s coming back for the prostitutes and sinners, not the self-righteous. That’s why He invited the down and outs to the wedding banquet; the self-righteous were too busy fantasizing in their self-value. That’s why the thief on the cross was saved and not Pilate. They both came face to face with Christ but Pilate was too proud to stop the crucifixion for fear of what the church thought, and the second thief was too full of his own value to humble himself before the Christ.

The Word of God says in Luke 14:26, 27 & 33 that until a man considers himself of zero value before Christ he cannot be a disciple.

What’s really happened?

Our fantasy is simply the fruit of our wounds. It’s not born of God, it’s born of Satan and fed by self.

Evidence

If you really stop and think about it …

  • A person who wallows in their wounds is just being selfish.
  • A person that believes they’re the special one is just wallowing in their wounds and looking for something to make themselves feel good and to give themselves self-value.
  • A person that holds onto a prophecy to build their self-worth is a liar, not a Christian.
  • “I’m special” becomes a competition against your neighbour as to who is the most special. This proves it’s not of God.
  • The average Christian can’t handle the criticism. They want the truth but not the truth about themselves; it’s too much of a put-down and it hurts their feelings. This proves their fakeness.
  • “I’m special” is just a selfish way of blocking your hurt feelings.
  • “I’m special” is just a selfish way of saying “I’m No.1”. The bible says the first will be last, Mark 10:31. This proves it’s not of God.
  • A person who thinks that you’re the problem if you make them feel bad is living in the lie of their goodness and is under the influence of a demonic spirit, not Christ.
  • A person who thinks that you’re wrong if you have a problem with them, is obviously puffed up with their own rightness and can’t be told they’re the one that’s wrong.
  • “I’m special” eventually exposes itself by TELLING people what’s right and wrong. It doesn’t like to be told; it loves to tell.

Biblical Picture

God can use any vessel for His sovereign purpose, but if you’re going to be used of God and survive for heaven without being puffed-up in your own self-righteousness, you first of all have to be broken. This was the pathway for Moses, Noah, Abram, Joseph, David and even Jesus. There’s no other pathway. Samson learnt it the hard way, but King Saul was too stubborn to learn it.

If you truly are special to Christ, then you won’t think you are. If you truly do have a purpose for Christ then you’ll only find it via the pathway of put-downs, separation and persecution. Like Christ before us, this is the only pathway that makes you worthy.

‘All that want to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution’ 2 Timothy 3:12

Conclusion

  • If you think you are special, then you’re under the influence of a demon, not God
  • If you think you’re better than your neighbour, then you’re into satanic envy, not good
  • If you think you deserve to get the best deal; you’re selfish, not godly
  • If you believe that God will punish people that hurt your feelings then you’re under the influence of the spirit of anti-christ, not God
  • If you believe that you have the right to hurt back those that have hurt you, then you’re not a Christian; full-stop. The Word of God says ‘treat others as you would like to be treated’, Matthew 7:12.
  • If you think you’re worth more to God than your neighbour, you’re contradicting the 2nd great commandment, and therefore living in your own deception.

“I’m special” is just plain vanity and the fruit of a wounded spirit which vows justice for its pain.

Thankfully, the woman I was counselling was willing to be told that the pattern of her life was selfish. Enough had gone wrong for her to see that she had used God to feed her selfish specialness.

God uses dead people, not people who think they’re special

A true Christian doesn’t fall for the selfish trick that they’re special. It’s not relevant; they’re dead to themselves. It was the woman that put in the two mites that God valued, not the self-righteous wealthy. It was the centurion that said “I am not worthy” that impressed Jesus, not the Pharisees.

If any man desires to be first, the same must be last of all and servant of all, Mark 9:35. Any other means of thinking you’re first and special is from Satan, not God.

Pastor Jim Desmond

 
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Posted by on June 9, 2015 in Special

 

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Sermon 82 – WHICH GROUP?

16 May

We recognise that David was on the side of the Israelites and that his enemy were the Philistines, but we fail to see that David’s group was also divided into two groups … those that were with him and those that envied and hated him.

The Israelites represent God’s people, the Church; yet we fail to see that the church has always been divided into two groups. The church at Corinth and the church at Laodicea and Pergamos are just three examples. Even Christ’s own disciples were divided and Judas exposed himself as a traitor.

Group 1 … The TELL group

The largest group of people in the church are those that see God as their Father and thus believe that God is responsible to protect them and supply all their needs and perform for them what they need from Him. This group believes they are a child of God and thus have the right to TELL the Father how He is supposed to perform towards them. This group murmurs when God doesn’t do it according to their expectations. They murmur if God takes longer than they expect.

The Pentecostal Church has flourished on the back of this group’s selfish expectation, to the point where it preaches that if you don’t get what you want from God then you don’t have faith. Like a bacterial infection, this belief has spread like wild-fire through fake churches that promote the worldly lie that you can be whatever you want and have whatever you want, just believe. This group simply expect God to perform their wishes and have a MOOD when He doesn’t. Like a two-year old child, the purpose of a mood is to get the authority to change their mind and give you what you want; and that’s the underlying behaviour of this group. This group is envious of what someone else is achieving or has a better deal.

Example

I was counselling a young so-called Christian who admitted he was wrong but that the punishment he received of being grounded was over-the-top. He was defending that he hadn’t done anything that bad, but was blinded to the real issue that he couldn’t be told. He couldn’t see that it was the resistance that was being addressed, not the act.

If you stop and look at that reaction, what does it tell you? Clearly, it’s telling you that the young man is TELLING the authority what’s right and wrong. He’s more interested in not looking bad than in being corrected. It’s revealing to you that the young man is questioning the authority, and really declaring that he is not that wrong, but that the authority is the one that’s wrong. This is an incorrectable, unrepentant spirit, and as such is really a spirit of anti-christ. Holy Spirit would not react this way! A genuine Christian would admit that he was wrong, full-stop, no BUT.

The angel of light

This group is often perfectly good, not because it flows from God, but because if you’re good you can’t get told you’re bad, and if you’re good you get rewards. Thus goodness is simply a tool to get. In fact, this artificial goodness flows from Satan. Anyone who thinks they’re good is actually declaring that they are not of God. Jesus Himself said in Luke 18:19 that there is no one good except God; so if you think you are good then you’ve been deceived by Satan into being your own god, and thus see yourself as above others. If you think you are good then you are contradicting the Word of God that says you’re not. This is the spirit of anti-christ, and definitely not the Holy Spirit.

We fail to comprehend that Satan can come as an angel of light. Right from the beginning Satan has employed two key tactics … attack and destroy, and infiltrate and soften. He uses these in the church because he has the power over the church. Contrary to Pentecostal mis-conception, Satan’s power has not been diminished and won’t be until he is cast into the bottomless pit. He’s just as powerful now as he’s ever been. Only God is more powerful. But the church tells you that you can put Satan in his place because you’re a child of God and heir to the throne. It’s blind to its arrogance. Like the fake church in Communist China, it’s simply the world camouflaged as the church.

Good + TELL

Goodness and Tell are key signs of the spirit of the anti-christ. Despite its apparent goodness, eventually this spirit will expose itself by TELLing the authority what is right and wrong. Eventually this group will display its control with superiority, intimidation, and obligation. It will use the scriptures to try and control you especially by using the 5th commandment to respect their authority, whilst all the time blindly mis-using the 7th, 9th and 10th commandments.

This group won’t be told even though they act like they will; in their heart they resist instruction as a put-down. They simply have a mood till they get what they want, even a silent mood of goodness (like the rich young ruler); yet they can’t see that they’re being defiant and simply refusing to repent because they believe that they’re not bad and that if you are saying they are, then you’ve got the problem, not them.

Hatred of men is a sign of anti-christ

Embedded in this group are many women who have a hidden hatred of men. They hate the fact that men have authority over them. They secretively don’t like being under authority and being told what to do. They think they’re better than men. They TELL men how they’re supposed to behave towards them. This is the spirit of anti-christ. You can clearly see this spirit flooding the world today, and this worldly spirit is clearly in the church. God decreed in Genesis 3:16 that man would have authority over the woman and anyone who objects to that is clearly against God.

This group is full of their own importance … “I think I’m special or have a special call”

Many men, both in the church and in the world, are under this female spirit. Self-decoration of ear-rings and tattoos, and homosexuality and cross-dressing are just signs of feminism. Many men have been told by their mothers that they can do anything or be anything. Like Eve vs Adam, their mothers have been used of Satan to fill their sons with their own importance. This is the spirit of ant-christ and its purpose is to subtly destroy. Christ said in Luke 14:26 that unless you hate yourself you cannot be my disciple; the opposite to what the world and the church teaches.

Over the years, I’ve become aware that most people think they’re special, to the point that they sincerely believe that if you have a problem with them then you are the problem, and if they have a problem with you then you are still the problem. They sincerely believe that they have a special call on their life and that God values them higher than others. The simple truth is that they feel so inferior and wounded they have to live in the fantasy of their own puffed-up self-importance. Sadly, the church is just copying the world by indoctrinating people with this false positive thinking instead of teaching the flock to die to self so that God reigns in you. The spirit of anti-christ is alive and well convincing people of their self-importance in direct contradiction to the Word of God which declares that God loves a contrite heart.

A spirit of FEAR

This group is like King Saul. It is occupied by a spirit of fear and thus uses intimidation to try and control people to do its will and put you under its fear.

Ezekiel 33:31 … they come unto you and sit before you as my people and hear your words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness.

Group 2 … The ‘willing to be told’ group

The second group are like David. They don’t think they are good; it doesn’t enter their thinking. They don’t think they deserve anything from God. They serve God because they appreciate His love for them. They don’t serve to get a reward. They don’t serve Him to get to heaven, but like Moses who was willing to go to hell for the people of Israel, they serve God with a grateful heart. This group doesn’t expect anything from God, they’re just grateful for being considered His child.

This group doesn’t TELL God what He’s to do for them; they ask Him what He wants them to do for Him. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they ask Him for His protection but leave the outcome to His discretion. This group doesn’t envy what they’re neighbour has, but rather they’re grateful that God has blessed them. This group doesn’t think it’s special, but rather is amazed that God might consider them worthy to serve Him. Moses’ response to God was “who am I?” David’s response to Saul re marrying his daughter was, “who am I?”

This group makes judgments based on their heart relationship with God (it talks it over with God and waits on Him), and not just on whether a person has done good or bad.

FEAR

This group has to face fear from the first group. Like the Pharisees who intimidated the parents of the man born blind in John 9, the first group uses its power to keep you in its group, and if you want to be in the second group you will have to face the fear of what the 1st group thinks.

This second group takes correction when it’s wrong, and doesn’t stand defiantly when it’s mis-judged for doing wrong when it didn’t. It takes its concerns to God; it doesn’t react with a mood.

Conclusion

  • If you love God you serve Him. If you love yourself you get God to serve you by being good.
  • If you love being important then you’re in the first group.
  • If you judge people based on right or wrong/ good & bad, you’re in the 1st group.
  • If you worry whether someone is doing it right or wrong, then you’re under the influence of the spirit of anti-christ.
  • If you disrespect or question your husband, father or pastor then you’re in the first group.
  • If you think you are good, then you are god, and you’ve taken the bait of self-importance from the spirit of anti-christ.
  • If you think you are special, then you’ve taken the bait of the spirit of anti-christ.
  • If you have a mood because it’s not working out the way you want then you are under the influence of the spirit of Satan. Holy Spirit does NOT react that way.
  • The real reason you’re in the first group is that you’re too arrogant/stubborn and too fearful to change.
  • Everyone’s born to be a somebody, but you won’t find God till you’re a nobody. 

You can change groups. In fact, it’s essential that you do. The first group will never find salvation no matter how much they learn about Christ; they’re the tares. Everyone is born in love with themselves; that’s the influence of Satan, but you have to wake up to yourself if you want to change groups. It just takes a revelation that you are the one who is acting and trapped in group one, and the courage to face your fears of what people might think, and swap groups.

May God open the eyes of His remnant.

Pastor Jim Desmond

 
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Posted by on May 16, 2015 in Special

 

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