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Sermon 141 – Don’t Tell me I’m the problem

30 Nov

So many people I’ve come across appear to be genuine, willing to help, and agreeable, but everything changes when you suggest they have an issue with their soul.

The average person doesn’t really do anything wrong; they just won’t do exactly what they’re told, and in so doing, they refuse to see that not doing it exactly as told, is wrong.

Modern man hates being told what to do

In 1 Samuel 15, King Saul did what he thought he was told to do, but not exactly as he was told. He did what was right in his own eyes because he couldn’t see that it was wrong, and he couldn’t see it was wrong because he was no longer little in his own eyes (v.17). His pride deduced what was right in his own eyes and he ended up with a stubborn and idolatrous soul (v.23).

This self-rightness spirit can’t be told that it’s wrong. Its pride is offended. Its feelings are hurt and it feels devalued in the eyes of others.

Conceit = fanciful thought about my own self-value

Conceit is the fruit of living in the wounds of, and responding to, my hurt pride.  Your hurt pride becomes your reality and your perspective towards others and the life around you.

The Hebrew interpretation of conceit indicates that it’s … how you see yourself in your own eyes (see Proverbs 28:11). The modern world mollycoddles this hurt pride and promotes its justification; whereas the Word of God confronts it and challenges it as evil.

One definition of Pride = I think I’m a good person. I don’t do anything deliberately wrong.

Whereas, Humility can be defined as = I’m wrong, whether I did it deliberately or not.

If you can’t be told that you’re the problem, then you can’t be told that you’re wrong, and if you can’t be told that you’re wrong, then you can’t be corrected, and if you can’t be corrected then in God’s eyes you’re a bastard and not a son (Hebrews 12:8). That is, despite how good you think you are, you’re not saved, because it’s you who is diagnosing and defining your own goodness; you’re not really open to God’s correction.

Most Christians believe they can be told that they’re wrong, they just hate being told they’re always the problem (pride objects to the ‘always’), but that’s the point; ‘always’ exposes the pride, and the real hidden situation is, that they believe they hold the right to make their own deductions according to how they see it.

The corrector should be the one who diagnoses the true condition of your spirit, not you. If you won’t allow someone else to tell you you’re out of balance, then you simply live in the rightness of your own eyes, and thus lost to heaven.

Pruning for fruit

Every gardener knows that if you want the best results from the tree, the tree must be pruned (John 15:2). If you let a tree grow whatever way it wants, it will not produce the best fruit or flowers, and even produce improperly. Most Christians refuse to be pruned. They want to grow their own way.

The real issue of sin = I don’t want to be told

I don’t want to be told … I’m always the problem

I don’t want to be told … I’m always wrong

I don’t want to be told … what to do all the time. I have the right to prove I can do it myself.

Pride believes it has the right to make its own decisions, and justifies its position with … “all I’m doing is helping”. Humility doesn’t defend that right or justify its position; it trusts God’s rightness and justice.

Any time you allow yourself to believe you’re good, you expose your vanity. Any time you allow yourself to not be told, you expose your conceit. Any time you defend your right, you expose your resistance to authority.

Another Jesus

Most Christians obviously think they know Jesus, but it’s not the true Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4); it’s another Jesus of their own making.  You can’t find the true Jesus Christ if you won’t be told you haven’t found Him.

The modern Christian thinking is “grace”.  To the modern thinker, that means, God’s favour towards ME because I’m good, and because I’m good I believe I can decide what’s right and wrong for me. But they conveniently ignore the Word of God that clearly states that grace is only given to the humble (1 Peter 5:5), and humility is only available to those who respectfully practice His laws (1 John 2:3,4).

And, that’s the point … laws restrict my freedom to do it the way I think is right, therefore, selfishness prefers to believe in grace, not law.

Sadly, the 10 Commandments have been devalued. Every Christian believes they keep them, but refuse to see they don’t exactly. They’re not really in their heart and loved as Christ’s laws, rather they’re observed as a restriction to our freedoms; so, we keep them, but not exactly. Rather we love to ultimately do what we think is right. We love what’s right in our own eyes, and when it comes to the crunch, we won’t be told otherwise, proof that we are really our own judge and therefore our own little god.

Voices

Pride listens to voices that tell you you’re right and good, and that everyone else is misjudging you and wrong. Those voices are the temptation of evil, and when you’re right in your own eyes, you fail to have self-control over them; you fail to rightly interpret the voices as satanic.

Exercise

Write down what someone is silently saying to you, then write down what you are silently saying back.

The laws of God need to be put back in their rightful place

You can never do what’s right in your own eyes and obey the law of God. You have to obey the law of God first and then you will do what’s right in the eyes of God, not you.

How can you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, if you won’t do what’s right in the eyes of the Lord, but rather prefer to rely on your own judgment?

They feared the Lord and served their own gods 2 Kings 17:33

David, and those who followed his philosophy, did what was right in the eyes of God (1 Kings 15:5). King Saul, and those who followed his philosophy, served God and did what was right in their own eyes. The latter were deceived. The latter still appeared to worship the same god as David, but it was another god of their own thinking, not David’s God.

The Curse

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight (Isaiah 5:21).

The counsel of the Word of God is clear … be NOT wise in your own eyes, but fear the Lord and depart from your own evil conceit (Proverbs 3:7); to do otherwise, is stupid (Proverbs 12:15, 26:12).

 

May God open our eyes to see how we’ve been sucked into fake grace, and then be willing to do whatever the Lord wants, whether we like it or not.

 

Pastor Rick McIntyre

 
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Posted by on November 30, 2019 in Conceit

 

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Sermon 139 – The DICHOTOMY of LOVE & HATE

10 Aug

Is it possible for hate to be built on love, or love to be built on hate?

I asked some Christian folk how they would define HATE. Their responses were along the lines of … detesting someone, or super angry with someone.

I then asked … where does this hate originate from?

They each brought up certain incidences of injustice in their childhood, but it could all be summarised as “they hurt my feelings”.

I then asked … what was your reaction to these hurt feelings?

Their answers included … withdraw, blame, feel bad, switch-off, block-it, and justify why they were wrong, and determine not to be told what to do.

I then asked … how do you cover these hurt feelings?

Assuming that you didn’t retaliate with perverted rebellious behaviour, their common answers were basically … be good, be nice, and be busy.

I then asked … why do you cover these hurt feelings?

I received a range of responses, but they effectively boiled down to … “so my IMAGE isn’t tainted”.

I then asked … how do you propagate this IMAGE and why?

The responses included … increase my knowledge, increase my skills, be nice, popularity, and work harder. We do these things to protect and build our image, and to position myself above my neighbour, so ultimately, I’m the boss and no one can tell me what to do.

I then asked … how would you define LOVE?

The general responses were … caring, warming to someone, no anger, respectful, and wanting to be around someone. That is, practicing these things and expecting them in return.

I then asked … can you live in middle ground between hate and love?

They generally agreed that you could, but, this is the typically wrong perspective of the modern Christian.

God’s perspective

Now, let’s look at it from God’s perspective. God says, middle ground is neither hot nor cold (revelation 3:16), and therefore, cold. So, from God’s perspective, there’s no middle ground, it’s either love or hate. If you don’t operate in love, then you operate in hate, and if you operate in hate then you are not operating in love. It’s either, love or hate.

Middle ground

If you live in middle ground, then you call your hate, ‘good’, and God says that’s evil (Isaiah 5:20,21). And, if you live in middle ground, then you worship your own IMAGE, and God says that’s defying and disrespecting His 2nd commandment. It may not be graven into wood or stone, but you’re still ignorantly bowing down to it and worshiping it.

Middle ground means … I worship ME and pretend to worship God.

Hate is the opposite of love

God defines hate as … the fruit of “I love ME as No.1, so don’t TELL ME what to do”; and God defines love as … God, the Father is No.1, so He TELLS me what to do, and I do what I’m told.

Love is … “ok, God, I don’t like it, but Your will, not mine, be done”. Love is seeing from God’s perspective. God’s insight flows from doing what’s right in His eyes, rather than what’s right in your own eyes.

Hate is just the secret worship of ME, and love is the worship of God, for God.

Hate judges, love evaluates. Hate bosses, love trusts God’s plan.

You can’t make a judgement against someone, unless you live in hate, and you can’t love IMAGE unless you live in hate.

So, in reality, reacting to hurt offences is just loving myself, first, and hate flows from this self-love.

Self- love is focused on the other person’s offence against me. Agape love is focused on God’s will and how I serve it, for God.

You have to be dead first before you can be resurrected

The truth is, if you’re not dead to yourself you can’t properly see God, you will automatically operate in hidden hatred and make your judgments from that foundation, and more importantly, you can never be resurrected into His life. Without death there’s no heaven, no matter how good you think you are.

Good doesn’t cut it

You can’t solve your pride by trying to be more respectful, more good, more committed, or keeping silent with no apparent offensive opinion, or practicing pretense. That’s salvation by works, not by faith. Good will never cancel out hate. The only solution is turning to God to address your hate, and this can’t happen until you agree that you have it. You can’t change your sinful heart. You have to call out to God to change it, and He’ll use hate to do it.

The test

The test will be your reaction to being bossed, corrected, or someone who challenges or mocks your opinion, especially with intimidation. You should take your moody reaction to Christ and ask Him to address your pride.

Ok, we fail, but there’s a big difference between ignorantly and blindly living in hate (like King Saul) and falling into it (like David).

I then asked … how can you reverse self-love into God’s love?

Just as the foundation of hate is self-love (known as ‘pride’), so, the foundation of God’s love is the hate of hate, that is, the hate of sin (Zechariah 8:17, & Revelations 2:6). Consequently, you can hate on the foundation of love, if you hate sin, but you can never love on the foundation of hate.

That’s why, God hated Esau (Romans 9:13), because as much as Esau tried, his heart was focused on himself. That’s why God loved David and hated King Saul. They both sinned, but David repented because his heart was toward God. Saul’s’ heart was towards Saul.

What’s hate got to do with it?

Because, firstly, hate defines your relationship with God (1 John 2:11). If your love is built on the foundation of hate, whether you want to know it or not, then you are not related to God even though you vehemently demand you are.

And, secondly, because, you need hate to find God’s love. Just as hate controls everybody’s moods, so hate is the pill that you must swallow in order to stop hating. This means you have to suffer hate (Matthew 24:9) and the devaluing of your opinion to cure your hatred and high opinion of yourself … that’s the ‘cross’, that’s the place of ‘baptism into His death’ (Romans 6:4), that’s where you deny yourself, daily (Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23). Without hate, you can’t find the cross, you can’t die, and you can’t be resurrected to eternal life (John 12:25).

Why won’t so-called Christians listen to this truth?

Pride believes it has.

Pride blames and doesn’t accept responsibility for its sinful reactions.

Pride believes it’s good already.

Pride feeds on the FEAR of looking bad, of losing its IMAGE, and of persecution (Galatians 6:12).

The solution

Nothing of self, all of God.

 

May God open the eyes of His remnant to see their sin and instead be willing to suffer reproach for His Name!

 

Pastor Clive Douglas

 

 

 
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Posted by on August 10, 2019 in hate

 

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Sermon 138 – Don’t build a relationship on the hatred of someone who’s hurt you

14 Jul

Every human being is created with a body, soul and spirit. Our soul and spirit are the elements that allow us to commune with God. The soul consists of the MIND, WILL and EMOTIONS. The most important element of our soul is our ‘WILL’.

Why?

The answer is found in Jesus’ prayer to His Father on the Mount of Olives. What was His prayer? ‘Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done’ (Luke 22:42). Note, there are two parts to this prayer … the first part is a prayer to remove the trouble, the second part is a prayer of ‘will’ and surrender.

Salvation is a decision of our will in the face of distress; in the face of being aware that the decision will cost me distress.

Why does it have to be in the face of distress?

The Bible declares that if you are going to build a tower you should first count the cost (Luke 14:28). In other words, you can make a decision to follow Christ, but that decision isn’t verified unless, or until, circumstances dictate a cost. This is explained in the parable of the sower and the seed (Mark 4).

You see, the problem is, most so-called Christians don’t make a decision of ‘will’, they make a decision of ‘emotion’. That is, most people decide on the basis of their feelings, and usually those feelings are hurt ones. They decide to follow Christ in the hope He will remove the trouble.

You see, whenever you make judgments against someone for offending you or someone else, you effectively initiate retaliation against that person. Once you take the bait of hurt, and retaliate, you are no longer able to have control of your will. Once you lose control of your will you can’t surrender your will to the Father, and your will comes under the power of Satan. Your prayer will be … ‘remove this trouble from me’. If you hold this judgement for some time your heart will begin to harden and you’ll block your salvation. This is proven in 2 Timothy 2:24-26 (KJV).

Once you choose ‘offense’, you unwittingly choose ‘hate’ and automatically lose your ability to surrender your will to His. Your whole focus will be on removing the trouble by striving to win the competition of who is the best. You see, if you continuously allow your hurt emotions to control your judgement, the truth is, your spirit revolves around the lust for IMAGE, not Christ.

Practical observation

I was observing a group of girls in our fellowship. One of the girls decided she was more special and started recruiting a best-friend. The other girl could sense that she was being used and manipulated so she formed a best-friend relationship with someone else. This polite and silent retaliation stirred up more secret hatred in the heart of the first girl so she went about trying to steal the friend from the second girl.

Hypocrisy is judging someone for doing something wrong, then practicing it yourself

Both girls played their parts with seemingly pure goodness. They’d learnt the art of pretense, perfectly. The truth is, God’s not after ‘good’; He’s after ‘will’. If your will isn’t surrendered to Him, then your ‘good’ is not good.

Mood = reacting to wounded emotions

If you allow an offence to hurt your emotions you won’t have power over your will and, sooner or later, spite will flow out of you.

The truth is, if the first girl tries to build her relationships on the foundation of her hurts, it will fail, and If the second girl builds her relationships on the foundation of retaliation and hate, it will fail, too. No wonder most relationships fail; they’re invariably built on spit and spite.

Spitefulness = trying to injure someone

When I finally challenged the original girl about her spitefulness, she couldn’t see that she had done anything wrong. As far as she was concerned, all she was doing was trying to find a friend and the other girl had given her the cold shoulder.

Until you own your sin and repent of it, you can’t free your will. You can decide to not keep doing it, but it’s all a waste of time because your will can’t perform its will whilst your hurt emotions rule your soul. You have to repent to free your will before you can truly see you are wrong. Contrary to the popular belief that ‘I have to see it before I can own it’, the truth is, you won’t see it until you own it, first.

It’s not fair

If you don’t pray the second half of what Christ prayed, you’ll simply be plotting how to escape your hassles on the ground of justified fairness, or if you do decide to pray it, it will be ineffective whilst ever your hurt emotions rule your soul.

The truth is, if you seek fairness in this world without living for the next, then you are not saved. This world is not fair … Jesus was crucified for doing good, Christians are being persecuted for simply loving Christ, people are being unjustly treated and unjustly suffering all over this planet, plus homosexuals demand equal rights, women who hate male authority demand equal rights, aboriginals who worship the serpent god demand equal rights … they’re all into fairness; Jesus wasn’t. Striving for fairness is an argument from Satan to justify that the cup be removed from me. True fairness is only under the Lordship of the Creator judge, Jesus.

Christians are not called to receive fairness; we’re called to serve and suffer for the name of Christ. The reason so few pray the full prayer is simply because we want the cup removed; we want the right to defend injustices against us; we don’t want to suffer for His name.

The healing of the lame man at the gate ‘Beautiful’

In Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested for performing this miracle. The religious tribunal demanded by what authority they had done this. They weren’t inspired by the miracle; they were offended with envy. Peter, under the power of the Holy Spirit stood his ground and preached Christ crucified.

Why don’t we see miracles in the western world, today?

In the modern Christian church, everyone wants the power of miracles for their own positional image, but to my understanding, God gives the power of His Spirit when you’re facing ‘fire’. Moses didn’t get the power till he faced Pharaoh. Elijah had to face Jezebel. Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego had to face the fiery furnace, for the miracle to be done.

In the same way, Peter and John would have had to weigh up the consequences of healing the lame man. They would have known there would most likely be a reaction against them that would cost them. It’s the cost that confirms where one’s will is placed … under Christ’s, or set doing and seeking what’s best for one’s self.

If you’re here for Christ, people will hate you. If you’re complaining about the hate, then you’re here for image. One has surrendered their will to be hurt by offenses, the other hasn’t. One is saved, the other isn’t.

 

May God open the eyes of His remnant,

 

Pastor Clive Douglas

 
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Posted by on July 14, 2019 in WILL

 

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Sermon 135 – I HURT, I HATE, I WON’T

10 Feb

After 24 years in ministry I’ve concluded that just about every modern Christian has come to Christ because they’re hurting. They’ve come to get God to fix their hurt.

The hurt is pretty-much always some mis-treatment or mis-understanding from a parent. More often than not, the general hurt is the child’s perception, right or wrong, of the father liking a sibling more than themselves.

Once a person takes on the hurt, their spirit will automatically hate the person who hurt them. Everyone will admit they’ve been hurt, but few will admit they hate. Everyone knows hate is wrong so we cover our hate with niceness and politeness, and helps, and call it love. Eventually their fruit verifies their hate. In God’s eyes we’re lying to ourselves.

Everyone I’ve counselled has come to Christ and practiced the love of God on a base of HATE. How can that possibly work and invariably it doesn’t, it’s all built on secret hate. In truth, their love is fake; it’s just a pretense. You can prove it’s fake by their fruit. Sooner or later, their real fruit will ooze out behind the nice façade.

POWER = control over others

It’s not really hurt or hate that’s the real problem. Hurt and hate are just excuses to justify my right for self-power. Satan wants power. Women want power over men. Men demand their power. Humanity is just a competition for power. Everybody lusts for power so no one will tell them what they can or can’t do. Power means you serve me, not me serve you. Power means I control my environment so you serve my wants for ME = no hassles for ME.

Techniques of Evil Power

The lie … if I remain calm and you lose it, I win. The truth … Jesus picked up a whip and went for it in the temple.

The lie … if you hurt me, then I have the right to hurt you. The truth … resist not evil.

The lie … I know, I’m right you’re wrong, so I have the right to intimidate you with fear. Truth … there is no fear in love.

The lie … I’m hurting, you’re responsible to make me happy. Truth … I’m just moody.

BOSS

Everyone under the origin of Satan wants to be their own boss. By hating the hurt from authority, you can justify your want. The problem is, once you set that precedent based on hate, you block God being the boss. I’ve challenged fake Christians about their fake love and in some occasions had the person state … “ok, you’re the boss”. Once somebody declares that, they confirm they’re into ‘position’. You see, a pastor isn’t the boss, he’s a servant, and servants can never be the boss, but a fake Christian evaluates everything through the eyes of who’s the boss, because they envy the boss, because they want to be the boss so they can tell everyone what to do instead of being told. They hate being told what to do. If you won’t be a servant as He instructs, then you won’t be told by God what to do = defiance.

Genesis 3

This all started in the Garden. Satan conned Eve to get smarter by eating the forbidden fruit. She knew it was wrong but what the heck. She shared it with Adam to make sure he was involved in the crime. When God came visiting, they hid. Instead of taking the blame for their actions, they BLAMED the one that made them do it. Adam even blamed God that it was His fault for making the woman.

Multiple times I’ve been thanked for helping people and then been blamed for pointing out that they were not obeying God’s laws. Hate always turns a blind eye to the help it was given and always ends up showing its appreciation with blame.

Selfish humanity always blames God and mother nature when things go wrong; they never blame their own sin, and they certainly never place the blame at Satan’s feet; they always have a go at Jesus first. Hate always lays the blame at Jesus’ feet.

You can’t blame authority and then say you are under authority. Blame is the evidence of your contradiction.

Satanic plot

Satan hates God’s authority. He can’t change that, but what he can change is man’s authority. If he can get a man or woman to hate authority and lift up their own sceptre, then he can control them, and make a mockery of God’s creation and thus question God’s right to rule. That’s exactly what happened in the Garden.

In every single case of hurt-hatred, as in the Garden, Satan uses the woman to defame the man. When the man takes the bait and tries to defend his authority his hatred of authority back-fires against him and he becomes hated by his children. And, so the hatred just keeps flowing. Hate attracts hate.

You HURT me. I HATE you. You WON’T TELL me what I can and can’t do

Once you allow your hurt to turn to hate, you immediately defy the law of God. You’ve just broken the 5th commandment of God to respect your parents. Once you break the law, the consequence is sin and death. Satan’s now got you. You’re his. You can cover your hate with as much good works and niceness as you like but it’s just fake love and false salvation. Jesus came to save the BAD. Fake GOOD covers the BAD, and thus your good blocks your salvation.

You see, HATE YOU simply means, I LOVE ME. That’s ANTI-CHRIST! So, love built on hate is the love of you, not the love of God. That’s Satan, not Holy Spirit.

Human love = love ME = hate anyone that loves someone else more than ME.

God love = love God = hate ME (Luke 14:26) = regard your neighbour more important than you.

Everyone gets married on the presumption that it’s your role to make me happy. How selfish we are! Marrying Jesus is exactly the opposite … it’s how can I serve Jesus for His happiness? Marriage isn’t to make you happy; it’s to address your will through the clash of two wills.

The LOVE of God

What’s the difference between a genuine Christian and a fake Christian when it comes to hurt?

  1. A fake Christian hates the person who hurt them. A genuine Christian hates the evil behind the person. There’s a massive difference between hating the evil and hating the person who’s done the evil. Hating the person will increase the love of yourself; hating the evil will increase your love of God, and it’s impossible to find this love unless you willing cop the hate for Him.

Unlike the 1st Adam, a genuine Christian will feel the hurt and recognise Satan behind the hurt and leave the person to God. They don’t take the bait, they take the blame. That’s dying to self and trusting God. That’s the pathway set by the 2nd Adam. This is impossible for anyone, fake Christian or non-Christian, who retains hate against an authority. Hate will always blame and retaliate, love will cop the hurt and trust the Creator and stay free from Satan.

  1. A genuine Christian knows that God has called us to be hated (Matthew 10:22). A fake Christian can’t hack that; they reserve the right to hate back.

A fake Christian will take the hurter on and resist them. A true Christian will take the hate on by copping it and Christ will be his strength.

  1. A fake Christian uses the hurt as an excuse to hate, but the real agenda is so they can be the BOSS of themselves. A genuine Christian is a servant, not a boss.

Love is not doing good deeds or being nice (1 Corinthians 13). Love is doing what God wants, not what you or others want = dying to self. Good deeds are only good if they flow from love. Good doesn’t cut it; only love does.

The FRUIT of hating an authority is always …

  1. ELEVATION … I’m special, I’m important
  2. ENVY … I hate you because you like them more than me (James 3:14,15).
  3. STUBBORNNESS … You’re not going to tell me that I’m wrong. I’ll wait till you understand my point of view.
  4. BLAME … If you’ve got a problem with me, then it’s your fault; and, if I’ve got a problem with you, then it’s your fault. You won’t listen to ME. You don’t understand ME.
  5. TELL … You can correct me, but don’t TELL me what to do; I’ll TELL you whether you’re right or wrong. I’m the BOSS of my life, not you. You won’t tell me I’m stupid!
  6. FEAR … eg. being left out, being put-down, being found-out
  7. LIE … to protect not being exposed as a fraud.
  8. MOOD … hate is always offended at correction or any suggestion they may be wrong (Hebrews 12:8). Moodiness is a craft to manipulate you to do my will.

I’ve observed this fruit in every single case of a fake Christian.

Dysfunctional Family … man vs. woman boss

Ever since the Garden, every woman is under the influence of Satan for the purpose of defaming the man. If the man resists the woman through hurt-hate-blame she will take him to hell. If he humbles himself by turning to the Lord, he can save the woman from hell. It’s the man’s responsibility to humble himself by trusting the Lord’s will. Society is failing simply because men won’t humble themselves to the Lord. Most men either resist a woman’s control, or withdraw for peace and harmony and surrender their authority to the woman’s control, never realising that they actually surrendered to Satan’s control.

The transferal of hate

  1. Intimidating fathers will drive boys to hate their father and thus to seek comfort and understanding from their mothers.
  2. Wives that hate men will drive their sons against their father by stirring the father to retaliate against the wife’s disrespect and the sons will automatically support the mother and hate the father.
  3. Boys hate BOSSY mothers and run the risk of loving men instead of a woman, and girls will hate intimidating fathers and fathers that favour other siblings over them and run the risk of loving women instead of a man.

The objective of Satan is to make sure that women hate men and men hate men, and men hate women and woman hate woman, and thus to make everyone their own boss, and thus dismantle the God-given authority of man over woman (Genesis 3:16) and thus destroy God’s plan. Just have a look at both modern Western and Eastern society and you’ll see that Satan is winning.

The family only changes when the father lets go his hate and submits to the will of the Father.

I have observed either the hatred of women or the hatred of men in every single case of a fake Christian.

The real issue

Humanity doesn’t like to be TOLD; it likes to TELL. Everybody is vying for a higher position so I can TELL you what to do instead of you TELLING me.

Consequently, the real issue is WILL. My will vs. your will and ultimately, God’s will. Everybody is willing to give up their will where they’re willing. That counts for little. What God wants is what you won’t give up. Humanity uses the hurt as an excuse to retain one’s will, then protects its will by blaming, mocking and intimidation, education, money and popularity all for the purpose of being its own BOSS, so your hurt can’t touch me. It then runs to its DRUG to appease its hurt. Humanity loves its sin.

As a consequence, I’ve discovered that the modern church is saltless and selfish, seeking prosperity rather than death. Its love is fake, simply covering its evil with good works, social fun and emotional worship.

Stubbornness is just self-worship

The truth is, if you choose to focus on the injustice of the hurt instead of focusing on God and trust His plan, you’re simply using the hurt to hide the fact that YOU are the centre of You and that you are too stubborn to bend your will. God calls stubbornness, “idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:23), the worship of yourself … “No one’s going to TELL me what I can and can’t do!” If you’ve ever said those words in your heart, then you’re into idolatry … the worship of yourself. There’s no way you’re a Christian until you repent.

Repent

Repent = I give up my hate; I acknowledge that I’m the one who’s evil; I give up my will to Christ. I’m willing to be hurt for Christ’s sake. I’m willing to take the blame for Christ’s sake.

“Not my will but thine be done”

Like Christian in Pilgrims Progress, you can walk along the Christian walk from the wicker gate to the cross, but you can never cross-over to the celestial city until you lay your hate at the cross, until you sacrifice the drug that’s sustaining your hate, and fully surrender your will to His. There has to be PAIN for GAIN. The cross is painful. The cross is fearful. There’s no POSITION at the cross.

If you were sucked in by the half-truth that you are saved by inviting Jesus into your heart, then know that you’ve been conned. True salvation is on the other side of your greatest fear. By faith, that fear has to be sacrificed to the will of God, before you are saved. Jesus faced this dilemma. Abraham faced this dilemma, and Jesus said you cannot be His disciple until you pick up your cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). He also stated that as they hated Him, they will also hate you (Luke 10:22-25).

Copping the blame, right or wrong, is a sign of Christ. Blaming someone else is a sign of Satan.

If you’re going to serve Christ, then like Christ, you have to cop the blame. If you decline to cop the blame then you are not saved, no matter how good you declare yourself to be. It’s not based on fairness, it’s based on God’s love that keeps you free from Satan.

When the prodigal son came to his senses and returned, he didn’t say to his father “you’re the boss”; he said “I have sinned against heaven and you and am not worthy to be called your servant.” To be a nothing for Christ was his whole objective; not to negotiate to get back the boss position of sonship.

The DRUG

What’s the drug you run to, to pacify your hurt or pain when it all gets too much?

Many Christians I have counselled confirmed that they run to things like … surfing, animals, women, money, helps, drugs, alcohol, business, pornography.

In every person’s heart who’s taken the bait of hating authority, there will be a drug that you use to pacify your hurt, and protect your hate, camouflage your fears and elevate your position over others. At the cross, you’ll have to give it up. The drug is your idol. If the sacrifice is not painful or fearful, then you haven’t picked the right drug. You can’t love God and keep your drug of self-glorification.

The IRONY

Adam wouldn’t take the blame. Eve wouldn’t take the blame. Satan wouldn’t take the blame. So, Jesus took the blame, and God exalted Him above every creature in heaven, on earth and under the earth (Philippians 2:7-11).

When you finally submit to the will of God and stop defending your own, the irony is, love knows it has the freedom to hate, the freedom to retaliate, the freedom to run, the freedom to fight back, and the power of position through Christ (Ecclesiastes 3). Love never loses, only hate loses.

Solution

Stop trying to be important, by letting others be important. Transfer your trust from yourself to the Creator and cop the hate. Sacrifice what you won’t, and sacrifice your drug.

“Ah Lord God, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Your great power. Nothing is too hard for Thee.”  Jeremiah 32:17

 

Pastor Frank Whistler

 

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2019 in Authority, Blame

 

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Sermon 118 – I’m Sorry

17 Feb

Proverbs 20:6 … most men will proclaim their own goodness, but a faithful man is hard to find.

In Australia, the deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, has been exposed for adultery. He’s been challenged about promoting the woman, with whom he’s had an affair, into a higher job position. His family is struggling with being dumped and publicly embarrassed. As a consequence, the Prime Minister has publicly suggested that Mr. Joyce’s behaviour is unacceptable and included a ‘no sex with staff’ in the code of conduct agreement. Mr. Joyce says he’s sorry, but at the same time he’s challenged the Prime Minister’s reaction. As far as he’s concerned it’s his own private business and no one has the right to judge him or tell him what to do. His sorry is mixed with arrogance and blame.

Fake sorry = don’t tell me what to do

Recently, I corrected a young man in our fellowship for his selfish attitude of envy and pride. He said sorry, then went about defending himself with his good deeds and ended up blaming me for the correction. In other words, he was telling me how he should have been corrected. From his perspective I was over-the-top. The truth is, he wouldn’t be put in his place.

Responsibility vs. Blame

I always find it fascinating how when someone sins they blame the authority for correcting them instead of taking responsibility for their sin and whole-heartedly accepting the correction. As far as they’re concerned, they’re a good person so sorry should see the end of it. Like king Saul, a selfish proud spirit won’t accept they’re wrong, even though they’ll often agree they are. These people will always ultimately look for excuses to defend their selfishness.

God doesn’t accept sorry

God only accepts repentance; He doesn’t accept sorry. God didn’t accept Judas’ sorry, but He did Peter’s. One sorry was an apology because he was exposed and embarrassed & probably blamed Jesus for putting him in that position by making him the treasurer. The other sorry was an acceptance of responsibility with sincere remorse resulting in repentance. One sorry re-evaluates that it’s not as bad as was first portrayed, the other sorry knows it was wrong and humbles itself to the punishment. One is too proud to bend, the other bends and repents.

Judas sorry

Most people say sorry to get out of trouble. They don’t really mean it. Why? The pride of humanity doesn’t like being told it’s wrong. Most people believe they have the right to diagnose and surgically remove anything that’s bad, themselves. They don’t like other people telling them they’re wrong. Their pride can’t handle it.

Blame attached to sorry means you’re not sorry

You can’t say sorry and blame at the same time; it’s a contradiction. Saying sorry with an excuse, is not sorry; it’s selfish. Blame attached to sorry is the same as saying … “sorry for upsetting you but you’re wrong for correcting or punishing me the way you did. I’m willing to be told I’m wrong but I don’t like you telling me I’m wrong (which obviously doesn’t make sense); and you made me do it anyway”.

What the person is really saying is … I think I’m good. You shouldn’t tell me I’m bad! I have the right to decide whether I’ve done wrong, you don’t. In other words, they won’t be told, or they’ll pretend to be, but in their heart, they don’t like being put in their place.

Being put in your place

Being put in your place, is generally read as being put-down, when in fact, it may be a beneficial correction to your pride of position. Pride won’t interpret the difference but rather objects to the correction, in which case it clearly does need to be put in its place.

I’m right because you are wrong

Ask yourself … do you deduce you are right when someone who’s offended you is corrected?

The truth is, only pride makes the deduction … I’m right because you’re wrong, or I’m good because you are corrected. Just because someone is corrected doesn’t necessarily mean that you are right, and someone’s wrongness doesn’t prove you are good. You can’t conclude rightness based on someone else’s wrong. You may both be wrong. In fact, if this is your common deduction, then you, yourself, are full of your own pride.

Humanity makes its deductions based on its feelings

Most people believe that what they feel is the truth. Their deductions are based on how they feel. If you hurt my feelings then you’re not nice and you deserve to pay for it. This is the thinking of the anti-Christ, not Jesus. A genuine Christian makes his deductions by faith. Faith is the engine of his spirit, not feelings. If you’re running on feelings you’d better submit to correction to restore yourself to faith or you’ll eventually derail.

A faithful Christian accepts his feelings (whether it be heaviness, loneliness, failure, hurts, purposeless) as the burden of life that he shares with Christ. The feelings drive him to Christ … cast your cares on Him because he cares for you … as his strength and source.

The world is chasing happy feelings

The human spirit doesn’t like feeling bad, which is why if it gets caught, it says sorry, so it can get back to its good feelings. As far as the world is concerned, if I say sorry, that should be the end of it, and if it isn’t then you’ve got the problem. It’s a convenient way of ignoring one’s own sin and casting the blame onto someone else.

The world wants happy feelings all the time. It chases after it through … success, money, friends, marriage, travel, sex, fun, drugs, alcohol, & super challenges.  The fake church sells happiness so it can take advantage of what the world is looking for, so it can increase its numbers and money and look good to the world so it’s not persecuted.  Thus, the fake church is just like the world.

If you’re chasing happy feelings, then you’re of the world, not of Christ

Christ doesn’t offer happiness; He offers blessedness, and that’s a completely different product …  blessed are you when you are persecuted, merciful, meek, mourn & poor … Matthew 5.

Happiness is transient and temporary; it’s based on luck. It never permanently fulfils; it always has to be chased for more, and it always produces envy against those who seem to have it.

Blessedness is based on faith. It’s a commitment to Christ, based on a relationship of love. It doesn’t seek happy feelings. It simply serves Him and trusts Him whatever the feelings and outcome.

It’s never really a ‘happy’ issue

On the surface humanity says it’s chasing happiness, but that’s just a cover for the real hidden agenda of … I can do what I want; no one’s going to tell me what I can and can’t do. If you don’t want to be told, you’ll chase what you want. Thus, Barnaby Joyce is now exposed for his real agenda and Satan wins and secretly controls another lost spirit.

Freedom strategy

The whole purpose of blame and hurt is to get you to retaliate against a demonic spirit so you come under its power. Satan argues ‘feelings’ through blame and guilt to trap you in His power. It’s the tickling of your feelings that is the temptation. Sin is acting on the temptations.

Conversely, God argues sin. This puts the argument on the spirit level, rather than the feeling level.

A remnant Christian goes to God’s Word for the truth of a person’s attack against them and either repents for being wrong, or righteously refuses to accept the blame and puts the responsibility for the sin back onto the shoulders of the blamer. They still may suffer the feelings of blame but they’re free from the power of the blame; they’ve shared it with the Lord. Elijah stood up to Ahab, David stood up to King Saul, Shadrach stood up to Nebuchadnezzar, and Jesus stood up to the Pharisees.

The remnant needs to learn the righteous path to Godly aggressive humility to stand up against the sinner, rather than being sucked into the satanic trick to react to hurt feelings.

 

Pastor Nick Clarence

 

 

 
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Posted by on February 17, 2018 in Blame, Correction

 

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Sermon 111 – the Blame Game

10 Apr

Blame can be defined as … making some else responsible for my hassles.

Blame originated in the garden of Eden. Humanity can’t stop the thought of blame. It’s inherent in everyone’s spirit. We often practice it subconsciously with the voices we hear against others and the hassles of our circumstances.

The first thing a human does when they think they’re in trouble is look for an escape route of blame.

Blame is of Satan

Blame is a quality of Satan. It is not a characteristic of the Holy Spirit. The voice of the temptation to blame comes directly from Satan, not from God. Satan won this right when he tricked Eve with the carrot of elevation. He sold her the lie that God was holding something back from her and that she could be her own god and know good and evil. She took the bait and became Satan’s slave to sin. The good and evil she now knew was only seen from her selfish perspective. What she thought was good was only what felt good to her own thinking, and everything else was bad to her as far as she could see.

Feelings, not faith

Humanity makes its judgments on how it feels. A Christian talks to God to get His perspective; he doesn’t rely on his feelings; they more often trick you into Satan’s web. Once you’re in a web the more you try and fight it the more entangled you become. There’s only one way out of a web… you need someone greater than yourself to break off the web. Through acknowledgement of your sin, Jesus can free you from Satan’s web. There’s no other way.

Self-protection

When you protect your selfishness, blame will follow. Blame flows from selfishness and selfishness is simply me first. So when you practice blame you are practicing Satanism. You are simply worshipping yourself without even knowing it. The carrot of elevation has blinded your eyes to the truth and your feelings become your justice system. You’ve ignorantly become the judge and set yourself up as your own god. It’s anti-christ behaviour; it’s elevation and it’s selfish. It’s opposite to dying to yourself by trusting God and waiting on Him for his justice.

You can only blame others for your circumstances when you are selfish. It doesn’t feel selfish, it feels fair and just. But that’s the point; you’re analysing the truth based on your feelings, and when you practice that you confirm you’re not in the kingdom of heaven, because Jesus doesn’t practice that, only Satan does.

Cop the cross

When Jesus allowed Himself to be sacrificed on the cross He was allowing humanity to throw their blame on Him. It was totally unjust and unfair, but He did it because the Father willed it, and because he did it, humanity can be saved from its sin. The problem is, humanity can’t see its sin that it needs to be saved from. It prefers to live in the injustice of its hurts and cast blame. Whilst it does this it can never be free; it will always be under the power of Satan, no matter how much it tries or pretends otherwise; no matter how much good it thinks it does. You can be as good as you like, but eventually you will be exposed as selfish through the sin of blame.

Blasphemy

Collins dictionary defines blame as casting fault and even blaspheming. Blaspheming and blame come from the same French root. So often we automatically blame God for not coming through for us the way we want. It’s telling God how He’s supposed to behave towards us. It’s casting dispersions on the Spirit that dwells in us and if we’re not careful, it’s blasphemy. Blasphemy is the degrading of the Spirit of God by putting the blame on God instead of Satan. It’s calling the Holy Spirit, unholy.

Climate change

We look at the world’s chaos and blame God for not fixing the problems. We’re good so He should be good to us. We fail to stop and remind ourselves that the sickness of the world is the fruit of sin. Climate change is not due to climate, it’s due to sin. The Bible tells us that we come from dust and return to dust. That is, our spirit and body are directly connected to the earth we dwell on. Consequently, when we sin we pollute the land we live on. If our country endorses homosexuality, free sex, and abortion, don’t blame God for the decay of the earth; stop sinning and obey His ten commandments.

Money

Our country loves money. Our economy is the people’s prime concern. We trade with China and ignore its human rights record against fellow Christians because we love money more. We’re more interested in money than the poor, and money gives you position over people, and we falsely believe that money is a measurement of how much God loves you. Don’t blame God for the mess when He taught that the love of money is the root of all evil.

You hurt my feelings

King Saul is a prime example of how when you forget where you’ve come from and allow elevated position to rise up in you, you start envying your neighbour. You get hurt by what people say and do and hold grievances against them. From there you do what you’re told your way, and when you’re confronted that it isn’t God’s way you defend your position with blame (1 Samuel 15). The consequences of these actions results in rebellion, can’t be told, superstition and witchcraft, and eventually demonic possession.

David

On the other hand, a David cops the unjust blame and turns to the Lord for His justice and protection. A genuine Christian behaves like David and thus, Christ; he cops the blame and never blames. He ducks the javelins and He turns to the Lord and waits on His justice, not expecting any justice for himself. He’s only interest is serving Jesus Christ. A fake Christian acts good like King Saul, but their heart has elevated itself with its own importance. It thinks it’s the king and won’t listen to the prophet. It’s caught in the web of Satan.

Faith or family-blame

King Saul was David’s father-in-law. If anyone should have understood him, you would think that his wife’s family would be there to support him. But that’s not how it was and David had to run and trust God at the same time, and that’s the walk of a faithful Christian. If you waste your life blaming your parents or sister for your hurts, then you are not in Christ. A faithful Christian takes responsibility for blaming and repents and trusts the Lord’s plan with the hurts.

Suffer to reign

If you want to reign with Christ you have to suffer with Christ (2 Timothy 2:11,12); it’s not a free ride like the modern church teaches. Jesus is not Santa Claus, but most people join the church so they can get the goodies for being good and then blame God for not delivering, or get trapped into the fake worship God because they do get what they prayed for.

The Bible teaches that all that live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12), and blame is part of that package. If you’re not interested in copping it then you’re not really interested in Christ; you’re only using Him and telling Him how He is to behave for you.

If you truly want to walk with Christ, then like Christ and David, expect to be blamed and when it hurts turn to the Lord and not to yourself. If you don’t do this, you will end up like King Saul and miss the kingdom.

 

Pastor Clive Fadden

 
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Posted by on April 10, 2017 in Blame

 

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