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Sermon 136 – CONTRACEPTIVE PILL

In Genesis 3:6, Satan enticed Eve to take the pill. What’s the pill? The pill of “making one wise”. How is this a contraceptive pill? Because once you swallow it you can’t reproduce righteousness; you think you are, but you’re not.

The pill is really … the anti-INFERIORITY pill

The pathway to Plastic Christianity

I recently observed one religious woman convinced that she was anointed by God to bring judgment and God’s wrath on anyone who challenged her thinking and religious dogma. She believed she was the angel of judgment, pure and perfect and cursed anyone who would dare question that.

How does a Christian fall to the lie that they are called to be superior over their neighbour?

The human heart is desperate to be superior in the eyes of one’s neighbours. The hatred of inferiority and the love of superiority lives in the heart of every human. The lust for superiority is simply built on the hatred and fear of inferiority, and if you swallow the pill, you’ll be hooked by it.

The temptation to make one wise

I’ve seen this type of scenario multiple times in my walk with God … the voices of the evil spirit behind a family chain appeal to its wounds of inferiority & rejection and, just like in the Garden, the temptation to make one wise is so convincing and enticing, and the lust of the flesh to believe one is special, they take the bait and then deduce they are spiritually superior over others and misinterpret the use of scripture to convince themselves of their own righteousness, all the time living in fear and blame. They practice good deeds to hide from being exposed, yet make themselves the judge of righteousness, envy others’ superiority, tell everyone what’s right and wrong, and struggle or refuse to concede to anyone else’s opinion, but rather judge any opinion that offends their inferiority, as wrong.

This evil deduction has nothing to do with God. In fact, it’s from the heart of Satan. This is the original strategy in the Garden … the temptation to make one wise. This superiority may act humble, but when it gets challenged or feels threatened or made to feel inferior, its superiority lust lashes out.

Blind though you think you see

Once you take the pill, you will only see what you believe is truth, but the truth is you will be blind. The real purpose of the pill is not to make you wise, but to make you stupid; to put you under a tormenting spirit, and to control you to resist the true elected. When someone righteous challenges your thinking, your tormented fear of inferiority will rise up in self-protection against them.

Blame the righteous

After Adam and Eve had swallowed the pill of self-wisdom they lived in fear of God finding out, then when it all came out, Adam blamed God for making the woman. The pill always blames the righteous. It doesn’t want to get found out. The Word of God declares that if they blamed God, then they’ll also blame you. In other words, if you’re not suffering blame for being Godly, then there’s no God in you.

Separation consequences

Adam and Eve did not repent, so God separated Himself from them. Right back in the beginning, God Himself, set the principle of separation from those who insist on retaining the pill and not spitting it out.

Don’t reconcile with Amalek

In 1 Samuel 15, God instructed King Saul to thoroughly destroy the Amalekites. Why? The Amalekites practiced evil and would never listen to God’s ways. God knew that if the Israelites integrated the Amalekites into their society, that the gods, beliefs and lifestyle of the Amalekites would eventually contaminate their relationship with Him. Everything associated with the Amalekites had to be removed completely and permanently. Even the innocent animals had to suffer the shedding of blood to decontaminate the earth from its contaminated sin.

You can’t reconcile with Amalek. If you make peace with Amalek, the evil spirit behind him will eventually invade your spirit, soften your faith and shatter your belief.

Plastic Christianity

Ezra 9:12 … Now therefore, do not give your daughters unto their sons, neither take your daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever: that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance for your children forever.

The modern Western church no longer adheres to this Godly requirement. The law of separation is never preached or promoted. Rather, the modern philosophy of grace has superseded all the laws and commandments. Easy grace gives permission to the church to comfortably integrate itself into the world. Modern grace gives a plastic Christian the right to touch the unclean and accept the sin. Thus, the church has lost its strength. It’s no longer the salt to the nation.

Grace philosophy vs law of separation

Grace is a modern religious technique of taking half-a-truth and using it to avoid suffering and pretend to serve God at the same time. Modern grace allows the plastic Christian to make one’s own rules and decide what’s right and wrong for itself. It can’t see that it’s simply swallowed the contraceptive pill and promoted itself with its superior wise-thinking.

Grace doesn’t suffer, separation suffers. That’s why separation is no longer part of standard Christian teaching. Stand up and lovingly separate yourself from fornicators, adulterers and covetous as the Word of God decrees (1Corinthians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14; 2Timothy 3:5; Ephesians 5:11) and watch yourself be hated for the Name of Christ.

Fair Go

In Australia, the motto is ‘fair go for all’. Steve Smith and Dave Warner were given a 12-month suspension from international cricket for ball tampering. Israel Folau was given a life ban for tweeting the truth that homosexuals will go to hell. His Christian Prime Minister has stayed silent. The Western world is being ruled by homosexuals with money and threatened by Communism; the Eastern world is being ruled by Islam with oil. They’re both pulling the strings. Morality is on the verge of Sodom and Gomorrah and Christianity is under threat from within and without. Grace has not won the day.

Salvation requires being hated for the Name of Christ

All that live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, 2Timothy 3:12

Although this truth is no longer taught, there’s a price for salvation. If they persecuted Me, they’ll also persecute you. If the world hates you, know they hated Me first, John 15:20. Suffering injustice is the price for salvation.

If anyone hates you because of Christ, they’re of the world. If the world loves you, then you’re of the world, John 15:19. You can’t have it both ways. Plastic Christians don’t believe this is true. They believe they can enjoy the world and love Christ at the same time; but, God calls this spiritual adultery, James 4:4.

Most people try to avoid suffering and fair enough but from a Christ point of view, they’re the called, not the chosen. Only the chosen elect will suffer for the Name of Christ. If you’re not suffering for Christ, you’re not elected, and if you’re not elected then you’re not saved. You can’t be elected if you’re not willing to suffer for His Name.

Plastic Christians may be called, but they are not chosen … Matthew 20:16, 22:14

You can have the same God as Moses and Korah, you can worship the same God as David and King Saul, you can call yourself a Christian, you can act as sweet as you like, you can practice good deeds as much as you like, but the truth is, you’re not saved unless you’re chosen and elected.

There are 2 characteristics necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven

Poor in spirit (ie. faithfully humble evidenced by considering your neighbour more valued than yourself) & persecuted for righteousness, Matthew 5:3,10. If these two characteristics are missing in your heart, you’re not saved. You’re not elected. The contraceptive pill inhibits and blocks the ability to rightly discern and practice these entry requirements.

The plan and purpose of suffering

Our human nature expects and wants justice and fairness, but our spirit can only grow through suffering. Our ego lusts after its selfishness. Suffering breaks this lust; it’s the only thing that can break our lustful pride. It’s the only pathway to true faith and salvation with Christ. No suffering for Christ, no salvation.

Persecution takes many forms

Most of my personal suffering is from the church system and my Christian relatives … false accusations, defamatory remarks, lies against you, and cursing God’s wrath over you. Christians in Eastern countries are often physically persecuted for the Name of Christ. Woe betide the western church if it thinks it’s exempt from persecution.

Blame is the package for the elected

Just like God, Himself was blamed by Adam for making the woman, elected Christians will feel the brunt of blame … and that’s how it’s meant to be, because, copping the blame by turning to God = TRUST, and Trust is necessary for Faith, and Faith is necessary for salvation. Plastic Christians hate being defamed; they always blame, thinking their wisdom is above yours.

Yoke to Christ … Matthew 11:28-30

No one likes injustice against themselves. To cope with the blame, elected Christians must yoke themselves to Christ and share their pain with Him, and trust His pathway. This strengthens their relationship with Christ. The blame is necessary for the growth of the relationship with the Creator. Without the blame you wouldn’t yoke.

Plastic Christians want “no hassles”

Plastic Christians hate the pain of being blamed; rather they defend their position by attacking with blame. They believe in casting all their cares on Him so He can take the hassle, but they refuse to yoke because yoke means hard work pulling a plough, and yoke restricts where I want to go. Plastic Christians like to prove they can do it themselves.

Cast all your cares on Me (1Peter 5:7), does not mean “off-load” your cares. Rather, it means, yoke yourself to Christ and share the burden of your cares and the curse with your Creator (Matthew 11:28-30). Cares are not to escape from, but to plough through by faith in Christ’s strength. Without cares, without suffering, without the curse there’s no such thing as faith.

You don’t go to the Lord to escape your hurt feelings, you go to the Lord to bare it with you. Religious Christians use God to escape the hurt feelings, then blame Him for not resolving them, or when the feelings subside, think they are personally good for sorting it out themselves.

From Abel to John in Revelation, everyone who was godly in Christ, including Noah, Abraham, the prophets, David, Gideon, and of course, Jesus, Mary & Joseph, suffered for their relationship with Christ.

Plastic Christians expect reconciliation

Their deceptive belief is … I’m willing to reconcile with you; you’re not willing to reconcile with me, so you’re the problem. They’re blind to the fact that David didn’t reconcile with King Saul, and Jesus won’t reconcile with Satan. Their underlying real offence is they feel inferior because you separated from them … it’s therefore your fault (blame). You can’t win against someone who thinks they are 100% right and you are wrong and separating from them proves to them that you aren’t nice and therefore, wrong. This is suffering for Christ.

Their intimidating belief is … I’ve forgotten about it, so why haven’t you?

The real truth is … plastic Christianity won’t be told that it’s wrong.

Sorry does not necessarily lead to reconciliation

There’s no such thing as repentance if your ‘sorry’ simultaneously points the finger at my weaknesses to give you an excuse for having done your wrong. If you’re truly repentant you’re not going to defend your sin by telling me that I’ve done things wrong too. You can’t reconcile with someone who demands your repentance too, because that demand confirms they haven’t repented, themselves; they’ve just said sorry for harmony. Reconciliation requires genuine repentance from the sinner, whether that be one or both affected parties.

Plastic Christians expect ‘blessings’

Pentecostalism teaches Christ through prosperity because he’s already suffered for you … that’s convenient to our lust. That’s come to God and get the deal. Then they judge you if you don’t have the deal and often criticise your suffering as sin.

Free from the curse?

Pentecostalism doesn’t believe in suffering because suffering is part of the curse and you’re not under the curse. My question is … so why do you still work to supply your needs when work is part of God’s curse in Gen.3. The truth is … a righteous Christian is free from the penalty of the curse (eternal separation from God), but he is still subject to the curse whilst ever he exists on earth.

The Word of God teaches Christ through sharing His sufferings. You need the curse to differentiate between those who want the pill, and those who will yoke to Christ.

Plastic seems good

Plastic Christians sit in the middle, cool, not cold and not hot, staying comfortable and flexible with the church and the world, not wanting to stir up any trouble and certainly not wanting to attract persecution for standing up for the principles of the Word of God. Being agreeable with the world, loving the safety of the philosophy of grace and hating the righteous for making them feel inferior Christians, blind to the fact that God has separated Himself from them.

Plastic looks clean and is useful in so many ways. It can reshape itself into another worthwhile product, but ultimately, it’s toxic to the environment and under heat, plastic Christians melt away.

How do you break free from being a plastic Christian?

‘Self’ objects to injustice. Suffering injustice is the only way to break self. You have to be prepared to suffer for the name of Christ, not suffering for your sin, like Samson. You can reverse your wrong position with Christ by spitting out the pill; that means, like Peter who denied Christ, repent of your selfishness and take the suffering.

Let’s cut to the quick.

It’s not the rights and wrongs that people do that makes them a Christian, because God is coming back for repentant prostitutes and sinners; neither is it preaching the Gospel of Christ (Phil.1:15,16); rather, it’s the spirit that dwells within us. The conflict that exists between people is really over the spirit that dwells within them … plastic Christians have tormented spirits, and like King Saul who served the same Lord as David, and like Korah who served the same Lord as Moses, plastic Christians will be offended by the Spirit in the chosen. Eventually, a plastic Christian will retaliate with … who says you’re chosen and I’m not?

Like Nebuchadnezzar, who had all the power and money, plastic Christians will demand you submit to their thinking, and thus conflict will arise because the Spirit in a righteous Christian won’t bend the knee to an unclean spirit. Consequently, you end up with two Christians serving the same God but miles apart in different camps with opposing spirits.

You can only get free if you spit out the pill.

The world and the false church will hate you, but Jesus said … Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, John 16:33.

 

Pastor Clive Edgecliffe

 

 

 

 

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Posted by on May 25, 2019 in Separation

 

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Sermon 97 – I don’t want to be a NOBODY

I was talking with a young Christian man about his feelings when all of a sudden he spurted out of his mouth … “I’m sick of being treated like a 3 year old; I want to be a somebody”. These words or similar words are being touted more and more regularly. The humanistic teaching to the younger generation is twisting the minds of the youth to believe they are someone special and thus can achieve anything they set their mind to. Sounds ok, but it’s a satanic trap.

The syndrome of superiority vs. inferiority

Why does everyone want to be a somebody? Why can’t people be happy with their lot in life? Why is everyone comparing themselves to their neighbour as to whether they’re above them or below them? Most people might not bring it to their conscious mind, but just below the surface everyone knows within their circle of friends and family, who’s more superior and more liked and more happy, and who’s inferior.

Once Eve disobeyed God and fell to the temptation of being a somebody, every human being thereafter has inherited the same desire in their DNA. Wanting to be a somebody is a temptation that if you fall for, it will put you under the power and control of Satan. It’s a trap designed to ultimately separate you from creator God.

You can’t find God by being a somebody; you have to become a nobody

Philippians 2:7 states that Jesus made Himself of no reputation and took on Himself the form of a servant. To prove this, He was born in a stable and He died a cruel death. The Pentecostal church teaches that because He suffered you don’t have to; He did it all for you. But is that the truth? No it’s not, because v5 states let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus; which means, we are to have the same fixed mind of servanthood as Christ did. He didn’t do it so we wouldn’t have to; He did it to show us how to.

The real reason

The real reason why everyone is competing against each other to be a somebody is because we’re selfish; we want to look good in the eyes of others, we want to be better than the other person, we want to be happy, we want no hassles. This secret attitude just confirms what God already knows, and if we will look, confirms that we haven’t found God at all; we’ve just tacked Him onto our selfishness.

The church says it follows the law of God, but it’s lying. When you want to be a somebody, you’ll keep the laws of God up to a point, but when it comes to the crunch you’ll come up with your own laws and run by them.

If you judge people for not doing it the way you would have, you operate under your own law that says …” if you don’t do it my way, you’re an idiot”.

If, like the man I was counselling, you have a mood because someone bosses you and you don’t like it, you operate under your own law that states … “if you’re not nice to me, then I don’t have to be nice to you”, or “if you hurt my feelings them I have the right to have a mood”, or “if you tell me what to do you make me feel stupid.”

Everyone has hundreds of secret laws which are considered acceptable because everyone has them and they’re regarded as the norm, but the truth is, our personal self-protective laws come from the heart of Satan.

The reason we keep our own secret laws is because we don’t want to be put-down, we don’t want to be told what to do … we want to be our own boss. In other words, without us even waking up to the fact, we are actually the god of our own kingdom and if we run by our own laws we are always right and can’t be wrong and we can blame everyone else for our pain and hurt feelings.

Some of us express this blame as “you don’t understand” (which just simply means if you won’t agree with my opinion, you’re ignorant), or “I will be nice to you so you can’t tell me I’m bad”. They’re simply just techniques we’ve learnt that help us not feel inferior because we don’t want to be told we’re wrong. They have nothing to do with God; it’s just plain selfishness.

The King Saul phenomenon

We analyse and then justify why the person that’s hurt us is wrong, then explain away why they are wrong, then resist being told that we may be the one that’s wrong, and then refuse to see it. The consequence of this selective selfish blindness is demonic possession and ultimately, hell, and all the time we’re the ones who think we’re badly done by.

I felt the temptation but I dealt with it

Most Christians I come across argue that when they were tempted to blame or feel hurt that they dealt with the temptation, but they fail to see that their mood reaction confirms they’re lying to themselves. Why do we have to believe that we’ve dealt with it? Because we’re selfish and we don’t want to feel a failure, nor look bad to others, nor be counselled that we haven’t; we don’t want to be told we’re selfish. We’d rather argue that we have dealt with the temptation. Generally, the real truth is that we live under the fear of being corrected or rejected, which is just the fruit of our selfishness, and we hide behind our self-righteous laws and shift the blame to the other party so we don’t get hurt. Selfishness always surrounds itself with fear and blame so it can’t be told it’s wrong.

God’s counsel = repent first, forgive second

Instead of supporting the man’s feelings by pointing out the wrong of the person who had offended him, I said to this Christian man … did you do anything wrong? Once he admitted that his mood was just a selfish reaction, I told him that God’s law says “repent”. Once he repented, he was able to forgive.

People believe that freedom = no one telling me what to do. But that’s just the deception of my own fake selfish laws. Freedom is obeying God’s laws, because that’s the only way to disconnect yourself from Satan’s power.

If you want to be free you have to look at yourself in the light of God’s laws, not your own selfish laws. Your own laws will always support your case; God’s laws will expose your selfishness.

The grace lie

The reason the modern church says we’re under grace and people who respect God’s laws are legalistic is really so we can be free to operate under our own legal system and thus retain one’s selfishness. Why do I know this? Because His grace in only given to the humble; He resists the proud, and you’re definitely not humble if you think you’re a somebody. The evidence that we’re outside His grace is the decay of the land and the decay of the morals of society. The church is meant to be the salt but it’s lost its saltiness.

God’s grace is not there so you can be safe from the consequences of your sin; it’s in place to delay addressing your sin whilst He waits to see if you will own your sin and repent. If you fail to see your selfishness and repent, eventually He will punish your selfishness.

You have to be bitten to learn not to bite

If you want to face your selfishness, you can’t face it by everything working out to your own satisfaction. Things have to go wrong to expose your moodiness. If you open your eyes to your moodiness you will see your selfishness and if you repent you will be saved for heaven. Therefore, it’s God’s grace that you be bitten.

Motivation

If your motivation is for God, living under God’s laws is simple. If your motivation is for yourself, it’s impossible.

Pastor Jim Desmond

 
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Posted by on March 28, 2016 in Elevation, Pride

 

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Sermon 90 – What Demons don’t want you to Know

Recently, a young man asked my opinion regarding the set-out of an accounting spreadsheet that he had done. As I was making several suggestions that he needed to fix, I began to sense that I had offended him. After I had finished with my suggestions, I decided to face the uncomfortable atmosphere and ask him what the issue was. Both he and I knew that something wasn’t right. Even though nothing was being said with our mouths, it was certainly being said with his spirit. I could feel the blame and guilt. When I feel that, I go to God and ask Him what just went down, check my spirit that I haven’t been proud myself, and from that position I realise that I’m up against a demonic spirit.

On the outside, this young man presents as courteous, helpful, respectful, sporty and well-balanced in his character. However, I discovered in the course of the conversation that he has developed these qualities for the specific purpose of being liked and well thought of by his fellow humans. These outside characteristics are learned behaviour for selfish reasons. His true inner character is hidden until you bring a correction or an opinion that opposes his, and all of a sudden he feels inferior or stupid, and starts blaming the other person for upsetting his feelings.

Value and favour

Over the years I’ve learnt that behind everyone’s façade is a striving for personal value and favour so that they feel worthwhile amongst their peers and other humans around them. Value is defined as worth and importance, and favour means ‘luck falling my way’. From favour we get the word favourite and favouritism. In our human makeup, everyone wants to be the favourite and feel valued, and everyone dislikes and envies anyone who is more favoured than themselves. This is the pride of our inner hearts that was inherited from the Garden of Eden, and along with that inheritance is the automatic blame we shift onto anyone that hurts our feelings or makes us feel bad.

We strive for this value and favour by being more educated, more successful, more sporty and whatever we can do that will put us higher up the totem pole than our competitors. Sadly, what pride doesn’t realise is that personal value is actually valueless, and what pride doesn’t realise is that pride is a serious fracture of the heart; it just regards it as a minor issue that everyone suffers and it’s not that significant if you’re good.

In reality, this young man had really come to me to present his spreadsheet for the purpose of being accoladed for his work. He had presented it expecting to be told he was clever and when it became clear that his work had several flaws, his spirit began to argue with me and declare that “you don’t understand”. Instead of being able to appreciate my suggestions, he became defensive with explanations as to why he had done it a certain way.

His defensiveness was really just bossing and telling me how I was supposed to behave in order to make him feel valued, and that’s also what everyone will ignorantly and blindly do to God if they approach His throne of Grace without their pride exposed.

Coupled with this defensiveness will be their argument for fairness (‘you’re not being fair to me’) followed by reactionary moodiness, and thus will be exposed the real motive of a person’s spirit.

What was really happening?

The real spiritual thing that was taking place was that God was giving this young man an opportunity to see his pride and the demon that was occupying him because of it. When you’re super good and defensive of your feelings, and you’re too proud to feel silly, you can’t find God until you see your pride, and what you fail to appreciate is that pride is the channel that gives demons licence over you. Be as good as you like, it won’t solve the demonic occupation.

That’s why God instructs us to forgive and repent. It’s o so we feel better with ourselves; it to break the stronghold of demons over us, Matthew 18:21-35.

Dumped on

I asked him how was he dealing with the bad feelings he was having? He said he put them under the carpet and pretended they weren’t there, but I informed him that what he was really doing was dumping his emotions on me. If you let your feelings get hurt you’ll always blame the person who hurt you, and you’ll dump these feelings on the person you’re blaming, so you don’t feel bad.

God calls this bearing your cross. If you genuinely follow Christ, you’ll suffer like Christ; obviously not to the same extent but certainly in the same manner. Jesus was crucified and everybody dumped all their guff on Him. He was totally innocent and by God’s will and plan, got the sin of everyone dumped on Him. This is what Paul means when he says, I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me, Galatians 2:20. Importantly, it’s not faith in; it’s faith “of“.

The favour chase

I find it no coincidence that the modern church is also chasing and promoting God’s favour; it’s made up of people who believe in value and favour. The modern church system has decided to call this period in history the age of grace. Grace means unmerited and unearned favour from God. The modern Christian expects God to pour out His blessings on me because I’m special and He loves me and will give me what I need and want.

No one’s calling out for His mercy; everyone simply believes they’re good and deserving of His favour. The problem is you can’t get His favour without first getting His mercy and you can’t get His mercy without first seeing your pride.

The Pharisee and the tax-collector

In Luke 18:9, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector. The Pharisee is just like this young man. Doing everything right and thinks he’s a Christian, but can’t see that he’s full of himself and actually just praying to himself and desperately in need of God’s mercy. On the other hand, the publican can see it and cries out for it and consequently, comes under God’s grace.

What’s the difference between Mercy and Grace?

Mercy is different to grace. Mercy means diminished punishment. It means God won’t punish me as much as I deserve. Mercy refers to punishment, grace refers to blessings. This young man couldn’t see that he deserved any punishment; he could only see that his goodness warranted God’s blessings. So many Christians today are in the same boat. Adam and Eve didn’t cry out to God for His mercy, they’d got used to His favour, were too afraid to expose their pride; in fact, too proud to say they were wrong, and consequently, missed the boat.

The bottom line

This young man secretly lived to be his brother. From his selfish point of view, his brother was more favoured, more liked and had it all. The foundation for his whole life was covetousness and until he comes face-to-face with his pride of covetousness and his fracture of the 10th commandment and sees his real inner sin like the tax-collector, he’ll continue to use his goodness to protect his pride. I suggested to him that God can’t find you if you are your brother; He’s looking for you.

This man desperately needs God’s mercy, but he’s solely focussed on chasing His grace. He wants the favour to prove he’s better than his brother. This is the Cain syndrome.

The Cain syndrome

Cain hated his brother, Abel, because God favoured him more. I suspect he felt that Adam favoured Abel more, too. He didn’t seek mercy for his sin; rather, he told God that he needed more protection and favour. His pride caused him to miss the boat even though he talked with God. He was focussed on favour and missed the mercy, because the underlying reason was covetousness.

The two thieves on the cross are clear examples of mercy and grace. One thief challenged Christ and told Him what He should do to solve his problem. He was demanding Jesus’ favour and missed the boat even though he was face-to-face with Christ. The other thief simply said ‘remember me when you come into Your kingdom’. He saw his sin and sought God’s mercy and thus accessed the heavenly kingdom.

If you’re serious above God then He will remove anything that is propping up your pride so you get every chance to find Him. If you really want to find God eventually you’ll have to sacrifice anything that props up your pride; whether that be your career, money, or worldly position. There’s a price for salvation, and although it’s free because you can’t earn it or deserve it, it’s not free.


 Pastor Greg Hayworth

 
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Posted by on September 13, 2015 in Pride

 

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Sermon 89 – The LIE of GRACE

I was recently talking with a Christian couple about many issues that are affecting the world … from climate change, war, ISIS, migration crisis, homosexuality, to the Greek debt crisis. Their final conclusion to it all was … it doesn’t matter, we’re under grace.

I stepped away from the conversation disturbed in my spirit, and asked myself the question … who started this cop-out that we’re under grace. Grace has become the catch-cry of the modern church. We no longer call anything sin, but believe we should approach everything with an understanding of each individual’s weaknesses and express God’s love by accepting their weaknesses.

How dare the church get comfortable with Islam!

Because of this false belief, we now join hands with the Moslem religion that believes that there is only one God and his name is Allah. Because of the convenience of grace, the church turns a blind eye to the Word of God which declares “Thou shalt have no other gods but Me”. The church simply uses grace to avoid confrontation with the world. Islam is not pro-Christ it is anti-Christ; a comfortable friendly relationship between the two beliefs is incongruous.

How dare the church say that divorce and re-marriage is grace!

If the church was genuine it would be declaring that what’s happening in the world is a result of sin. The problem is that this increase in sin is really because the church has compromised the principles of God’s commandments and thus lost its saltiness. The church is the sinner! It no longer challenges sin, it turns a blind eye to it and calls it grace. The moment the church turned against the Word of God in Matthew 19:9 and softened its stance on divorce and re-marriage it started its downward cycle and thus now compromises the Biblical position on all sin issues by closing its eyes to sin preferring to live under grace.

Grace is the easy way out; confrontation of sin is the hard way

What the church fails to understand is that when you turn a blind eye to sin, you give licence to the demonic to increase its power and territory.

How dare the church say that homosexuality is an aberrant gene!

Romans chapter 1 makes God’s position on homosexuality loud and clear, and Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed as a warning, just like Pompeii, but the modern church is using grace to conveniently forget and ignore God’s warning in 1 Corinthians 10:5-12.

Recently, on Australian television, the ABC produced a documentary on ‘Australian Story’ about a young woman from a Pentecostal church family who decided she wanted to marry another woman. At first the family was shocked and embarrassed, but with time, they did what everyone else is doing and not only consented to the marriage but fully endorsed it. When it comes to the crunch, the church doesn’t stand on the principles of God’s Word, it compromises under the lie of grace and love. That’s not the end of the story. The young woman has now had hormone therapy and transformed herself into a man with a beard and at the same time given birth to a child. The other woman has given birth to a child as well. The church is not only saying nothing it’s accepting it as normal, believing that love allows every individual the right to their own personality and differences and the right to everyone’s own personal opinion.

That’s insanity

The church is insane for endorsing it, and the medical profession is insane for performing sex changes. Can’t you see that Satan has transferred what God created into the reverse of God’s creation? Satan’s just mocking us and we’re letting him. The fault lies at the feet of a sinful church and thus it has allowed demons to occupy its children. It’s demons that are turning the minds of our children to insanity.

The principle of Separation

The letter to the church at Corinth outlines the principle of separation until the sinner repents. Under grace, this principle is no longer respected. No one separates from sin, they just keep the sinner happy, and comfort and support them in their sin, and call it compassion and love. But it’s not love; it’s fear of being not liked. Love stands up for God’s principles because God is 1st. When you put the sinner’s feelings first, you prove that God isn’t first. Of course there’s a time to help the sinner, but everyone’s ignoring the fact that there’s a time to separate from the sinner. Has the sinner genuinely repented of their sin or are they using you to make their life easier by appealing to your feelings, and is the helper stirred by God to help or just applying “good works” to prove they themselves are good? If separation is not one of your Godly options then you’re a fake and just playing into the hands of demonic spirits.

Samuel separated from King Saul because rebellion and stubbornness expose a person to demonic possession (1 Samuel 15:23) and if you don’t separate it will suck you into it. A modern day example of separation is the Underground Chinese Church. It righteously refuses to be aligned with the Communist manipulated Three Self Movement Church, and thus has experienced the flames of persecution but with it the establishment of God’s genuine church.

The church is a lie

When it comes to the crunch, the church chooses family 1st instead of God 1st. Thus, the church is not made up of true disciples, for anyone who puts family or friends or self before God’s principles is not genuine, Luke 14:26, and demons are taking the advantage.

God is angry

When more than 50% of the population are practicing homosexuals and the general community are atheists, the reality is that the church has failed and we’re living in the days of Sodom. There will be consequences.

Why are so many young men and women joining ISIS?

Why would you give up the benefits of western society to sacrifice yourself for a terrorist organisation that hates Christians?

When the people of Israel turned their back on the principles of the Word of God, God raised up Nebuchadnezzar (a brutal and evil one world ruler like Hitler) to destroy them and teach them the consequences of their evil choices. Clearly, ISIS is an anti-christ regime that God is allowing to rise up to challenge and threaten the fake Christianity of the western world. The irony is that just like Jihad, if you are a fair-dinkum Christian you should be prepared to lay down your life for Christ, just like they’re prepared to lay down their life for a false god. Genuine Christianity is a commitment to death, not to gifts and benefits and position. Clearly, Satan’s power is rising up as the church’s power is crushed under its comfortable lie of grace.

Are we so blind that we can’t see the mess we’ve created as a result of compromising God’s Ten Commandments?

We’ve taken the wrong course of action? Every church family has now been hit with divorce, abortion or sexual perversion of some kind.

The truth about grace

To the modern church, grace = I’m a good person so God will look after me and if I make a mistake it’s ok, He won’t mind. This is ice-cream Christianity; no responsibility for my sin; just a belief that I’m special, so of course I’m under His favour.

“By grace are you saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it’s the gift of God; not by works lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9

You’re not under God’s grace unless you walk by faith. The issue is faith, not grace. Without faith it’s impossible to please Him, and whatever is not of faith is sin, Romans 14:23. You can’t condone sin by turning a blind eye to it and say you’re under grace; it’s a contradiction to the Word of God. God resists the proud; He only gives grace to the humble, James 4:6. If you don’t have His faith, you don’t have His grace.

But the church has been sold the lie that humility is being graceful and understanding of each person’s individual personality traits. That’s not humility. Rather, humility is bending to the will of God and giving up your own self-will and self-rights and self-defence. In other words, instead of going with the flow, a humble Christian conforms to the will of God and cops the flack from the majority that are offended by your biblical position.

Humility is standing up for God, not for yourself or anyone that compromises the Word of God. Humility is God’s principles first, not family, not position, not me thinking I’m special, but rather recognising that I’m nothing before Him. If God isn’t first in everything then you’re not under grace; you’re lying to yourself.

Faith is a gift

The problem is that faith is a gift; you can’t generate it or earn it you can only exercise it; and faith is only exercised through trials, a fact that the church refuses to face, preferring the comfortable non-conflicting path of grace. It appears to me that God is withdrawing His faith because of the sin of the church. When He comes will He find faith? “As in the days of Noah so shall the coming of the Son of Man be”, Matthew 24:37. Only eight went into the ark, the rest were pre-occupied by their selfishness.

If you’re fair-dinkum for Christ you’ll offend the church and be hated by the church

Although salvation is free because it can’t be earned, there’s also a price for being genuine. It’s the price of separation. This was the pathway for Christ and this is the pathway for all genuine Christians. If you read the scriptures you’ll discover that from the very beginning of the church in Acts and ever since as confirmed in Jude, the church has been in decay and infiltrated by evil. Satan’s objective is to destroy it and the modern church is letting him. If someone is offended by your position on the Word of God, then know that you’ve trodden on the toes of the demonic.

The boundaries of God’s Ten Commandments that were keeping back the demonic are no longer in place

Most Christians think they keep the law, but they’re deceived. The reality is that most Christians are really nice people under the influence of demons because they won’t honour God’s Ten Commandments of life (not legalism but respect by faith) as evidenced by divorce and re-marriage, sexual perversions and the tolerance of them, adultery and the love of the world, murder by abortion, murder by envy, family first instead of God first, lying with pretence, disrespect of authority and answering back, and dishonouring of God’s Sabbath rest with shopping, work and sport; and it can be tested by their reaction against you whenever you stand up for God’s word instead of compromising under grace.

Grace teaching says that we are free from the law so we’re not accountable to them, but that’s a 1/2 truth and therefore a lie because Matthew 5:17-19 says otherwise.

Grace teaching says that the law is in our hearts so we automatically keep them. But that’s a 1/2 truth and a deception to keep you from Christ. If the law is in your heart you’ll love to honour them, and if you’re not honouring the commandments them they’re not in your heart and you’re not saved.

Like Jihad, the life of a genuine Christian is warfare, not peace and rest. Satan hates you, so how could you have peace, except by God’s peace in the middle of a war. Stand up, stand up for Jesus ye soldiers of the cross.

Pastor Greg Hayworth

 
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Posted by on August 20, 2015 in Faith, Grace

 

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Sermon 69 – NOBODY KNOWS WHO THEY REALLY ARE

Nobody knows they’re proud, and until you see it you can’t repent of your pride. And if you can’t repent of your pride, you can’t be saved. The journey of life and the interaction with people, especially with one’s spouse and children and in-laws, is simply a journey of self-exposure, yet few ever see themselves. They live in the hurt of their feelings and analyse right and wrong from their hurt feelings and blame everyone else for their problems. Very few people ever stop to see that their reaction to their feelings is an exposure of their own pride. All they can see is the injustice done to them.

The pride of human nature inherently prefers to blame others instead of taking the blame. Jesus took the blame and until you do, you can’t walk the same walk.

Let’s look at this from a different direction …
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Posted by on April 15, 2014 in Repentance, Uncategorized

 

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