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Sermon 144 – It all depends what you call it

I’m only helping

I was addressing a young woman who couldn’t believe that she was doing anything wrong. Her defense was … I’m only trying to help. But what if the help is contaminated with selfishness? Her defense challenged the authority of my query about her underlying motive, and actually confirmed my suspicions. Holy Spirit would not have retaliated against my inquiry.

You see, selfishness always calls it something else other than what it really is. Everything we do is either the love of God or it’s selfish. 1 Corinthians 13 states that you can give all your money to the poor, and even your body to be burned, but it will profit nothing if it isn’t for God.

You call it helping. I call it showing-off.

You say “I’m just helping”, but more often than not, it’s a lie. What you’re really doing is showing-off how capable you are, or how clever you are. Your inner spirit is saying … “don’t tell me what to do. Look at me, I already know without you telling me”. This is really having a spirit of self-authority, which means your spirit disrespects authority. When someone questions, either verbally or silently, the correction of an authority, they reveal what spirit they are of. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. The façade image has to be broken if you want to be truly honest about your heart.

You call it helping, but it’s really trying to gain points of favor

I once asked a young man … why are you so willing to help? His reply was more honest than I was expecting. He said … so that when I’m having trouble, you’ll be obligated to help me. This is selfish help. God calls it holding a debt over the person you’ve helped. That’s sin, not love. It gains no heavenly credits.

You call it helping, but it’s really so the person will be obligated to like you or help you back.

You call it charity. I call it control and obligation to get others to do what you want.

You call it helping, but it’s really trying to gain position due to hatred-envy of your more favoured sibling.

You call it helping, but it’s really to make yourself feel worthwhile and look good in the eyes of others.

It’s hard to pin contaminated help. Helping is a tricky way of promoting your pride because no one can say you’re doing something wrong. But, you can smell contaminated help … eventually, it smells ‘off’.

You call it used and then dumped

I call it … asked to leave because you wouldn’t do what you were told

You call it independent thinking

I call it … challenging the thinking of the authority, so you can live in your own self-authority. I call it … no one’s going to tell you what to do.

You call it friendship. I call it servitude.

When you expect a friend to act a certain way towards you so you feel good and valued, that’s not friendship, it’s servitude. On many occasions I’ve asked people … what’s a friend? The common reply is … someone who will listen to me, support me, and be kind to me. Sounds right, but it’s all a lie. God says ‘friendship’ is serving God, not keeping people happy (John 15:14). I’ve discovered that selfishness gathers friends for its own self-value and wants, because that same person that demands friendship will invariably TELL that friend how they’re supposed to behave towards them, expect them to be loyal to them first, and TELL their friend off if they are not being nice to them. That’s usury. There’s no freedom to have a differing opinion, share another friend, or say any truth that might offend their feelings.

You call it sorry. I call it selfish

I queried a young man as to why he felt so sorry for a woman who was having a mood because she was told she was wrong? His response was … so that when I have a mood, others will have to be sorry for me. This is contaminated sorry. It’s not love; it’s fake and selfish.

You call it protecting. I call it possessive, manipulation and control

I once queried a young Christian man as to why he was so protective of his family. He informed me that his domineering father had demanded of him to protect his mother. He complied because it gave him value in his father’s eyes and made him feel good. It fed his self-value. The value of protection became inherent is his spiritual DNA. His own family loved his protection, but they also feared his control. His protection looked good on the outside, but it was contaminated and used to manipulate the family to do exactly what suited his agenda. There was no freedom of opinion or choice. It was all a sham to protect and promote his own personal image. Protection made him feel ‘the man’ and it won his family’s support and value.

I’m good

You can’t correct ‘good’, or ‘help’, or ‘protection’; they look good. But, if they’re contaminated, they’re evil. If I find myself challenging a person’s ‘good’, I’m actually challenging the demonic spirit. It’s easy to forget that Satan comes in sheep’s clothing.

Many times I’ve challenged the evil in people’s spirit, but they invariably discredit my correction by justifying their goodness. All they’re really doing is preserving their image by trying to manipulate me to focus on their goodness, and hide the spirit that dwells within them. From God’s perspective, it’s what’s behind the image that’s important. If I’m correcting, I’m addressing the evil spirit behind the human façade. If you protect your image all you’re doing is reinforcing your pride, hiding the evil in you, and running away from God.

Good and help is not of God until your image has been smashed.

Keys to the Kingdom (Matthew 16:19)

The one key that unlocks the door to the kingdom of heaven, is “the DEATH of IMAGE”. That is, how I look in the eyes of other people. Until you give up the preservation and promotion of your image, you can’t be saved. King Saul talked himself into thinking he was great (1 Samuel 15:17). The fruit of that decision was envy and hatred of David because people sang his praises more than Saul’s. The consequence was hell.

‘Self’ rises up daily, so ‘death-to-self’ needs to be a daily exercise (Luke 9:23-26). You can’t do this in your own strength and you can’t do it without being treated unfairly, and like Christ, you learn to take it for His will.

The Ten Commandments are simply designed to expose my image

Image is another word for idol. Promoting or protecting IMAGE is a contravention of God’s second commandment … ‘do not make a graven image’. It may not be graven in stone or wood, but it’s engraved in your spirit. Protecting or promoting my image is the same as worshiping myself. The reason people lie and pretend to be good is simply to protect their image. It’s either image or it’s God. You can’t have both. Image is seeking the world’s favor. You can’t serve God and the world. Most Christians live in the middle, but that’s really just keeping the world happy so you don’t look bad in the eyes of the world, or get persecuted by the world.

James 4:4 … friend of the world, enemy of God.

Devaluing the Ten Commandments is a satanic plot to con humans to lower their resistance to sin and thus promote their image so they miss out on heaven with God

Satan tricked Eve with the temptation to be her own god (Genesis 3), and the same scam is still working today. It’s a clever GRACE scam, but it’s idol worship without even knowing it. It separates you from God because it’s wilful sin (1 John 3:4). Be as good as you like, it won’t save you. In fact, it conversely promotes evil (Proverbs 28:4 … they that forsake the law, praise the wicked), and that’s why the world is rising up and Christianity is decaying under the world’s intimidation.

The fruit of devaluing God and His commandments is a chaotic world, climate disasters, wars, disease, and a fake church that silently condones the world’s behaviour and undisturbingly watches sin being legalised. The world calls homosexuality, ‘love’. I call it ‘hate’ God. The world’s argument is … if God is irrelevant, then His laws are irrelevant, and thus I can do what pleases my flesh without any conscience. Plus, if a man is allowed to have sexual relations with a woman, who says it’s wrong for a man to have sexual relations with another man as long as they’re both consenting. The world defiantly says … I will do what I like and no God is going to tell me what I can and can’t do!

You can’t REPENT until you let God smash your IMAGE

Gideon smashed the image, then God could use him. Phineas speared the mocking evil that was destroying the Israelites (Numbers 25:8). You can’t escape destruction until you repent of your sin, and you can’t see your sin without letting God smash your image.

There’s a big difference between … I’m sorry for hurting your feelings, or … If I’ve done something wrong, I’m sorry, or … I’m sorry, but you make mistakes too, or … I’ll say sorry if you say sorry, too!

and, … I’m wrong, and I apologise unreservedly, and Lord God, I’m sorry for protecting my image and feelings instead of trusting you. Please forgive me.

The Truth

Why are people trying to be good? The answer is … Fear of looking bad and the pride of looking good. Until you sacrifice the fear and pride of what the world thinks of you, and the need to promote yourself in the eyes of others, and instead, give up your image to the will of God, Jesus will not open the door of heaven to you (Luke 14:33).

May God open the eyes of His remnant.

Pastor Samuel Abbel

Sermon 143 – Which Jesus do you really serve?

09 Jan

Wild Grapes

2 Corinthians 11:4 talks about ‘another Jesus’. Most Christians ignorantly serve the wrong Jesus. They appear to worship the same Jesus, but like King Saul, they’re deceived by their own goodness, they worship the work of their own hands, skills and ability and inwardly think they are great (1 Samuel 15:17), and in the deception of their mind they become their own authority. God calls these people ‘wild grapes’ (Isaiah 5:2).

Wild grapes look like grapes and act like grapes but they’re deceptive, shrunken in size, thick skinned and taste less sweet or sour, and the vines can be invasive weeds. Wild grapes are the saltless church. Wild grapes are the picture of the church that worships the wrong Jesus and takes advantage of what God offers. The Seed is sown but the lust of the flesh, the cares of the world, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life, chokes it (Mark 4:19).

The problem with the modern church is that the pastors practice the same deception (Jeremiah 12:10 & 50:6), so the people can’t trust the religious authorities and end up only trusting themselves and thus never know the truth about themselves, or God. The fake pastors are destroying the church.

Wise in own eyes

The instruction from the Word of God is … you shall not do whatever is right in your own eyes, Deuteronomy 12:8, Romans 12:16. Once you do that, you’ll interpret the Word of God according to how you see it, and you’ll be deceived. You’ll devalue the laws of God, and use the Word of God to justify your own ends. Contrary to the Word of God, you’ll follow the thinking of the majority and end up believing that homosexuality is normal, that women in leadership is right, that all religions lead to the same heaven, and that the earth is suffering because of climate change, instead of seeing that it’s man’s sin.

Most Christians I have counselled over the last 3 decades, believe they are good people serving a good God who will look after me and protect me and give me good things and meet my needs, and this is why they choose to serve Him. It’s really all for me and not for Him, but the fake Christian must deceive himself with the pretence that it’s not for one’s self. Their IMAGE is everything. They serve Him for reward.

Woe

The Word of God declares … Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight, Isaiah 5:21.

“Woe” is a bad consequence. ‘Woe’ means that if you choose to praise your own goodness and chase your own value and favour, devalue the laws of God, and disregard the warnings from true prophets of God, you will ultimately earn grief, misery and calamity, even though you worship God. Anyone who thinks they’re good and ultimately expects good, will end up in ‘woe’.

Woe means …

‘Woe’ means that eventually, women and children will rule over the men, Isaiah 3:4, 12, 1 Timothy 2:11,12.

‘Woe’ means that children will disrespect their parents and authority, Isaiah 3:5.

“Woe’ means that eventually God will punish a Christian nation that tolerates and begins to worship foreign gods.

‘Woe’ means that God will punish with calamity any nation that calls homosexuality, divorce, abortion or sex-change, or foreign religions, good. It’s blasphemy & defamatory to call evil, ‘good’, when God labels it ‘evil’.

‘Woe’ means that eventually a foreign evil nation will rule over you.

‘Woe’ means that God will remove His hedge of protection and expose you to Satan’s evil, Isaiah 4:5.

‘Woe’ means there are repercussions for calling sin (e.g. adultery, sexual affairs, pornography, abortions, clairvoyants, divorce, homosexuality, hyper-violence, 1 Corinthians 6:9) good by making it legal or TV acceptable, or justify the wicked for reward especially in direct opposition to the righteous, Isaiah 5:23.

‘Woe’ means that God will shake terribly the earth, Isaiah 2:19.

‘Woe’ means there are consequences when you merchandise the Word of God.

‘Woe’ means fires, droughts, storms, earthquakes, climate change, pollution, foreign ownership, foreign dependence, sickness, disease, unemployment, domestic violence, excessive loneliness, homelessness, dysfunctional families, murders, authority disrespect, educational dysfunction, hospital over-crowding, civil war, political dysfunction, piles of excessive waste, excessive alcohol and drug abuse, wars and destruction.

Serving a False Jesus

One or more signs of serving a false Jesus …

Doesn’t like being corrected, but rather defends their reputation.
Worry about my image. Worry about what people think of me.
Measures success by ability or wealth, education or talent, and position.
Judges people from their own higher position.
Envies those who are higher up the totem pole.
Does what authority says as long as it’s what I think is right.
Likes to tell you what’s right because it knows.
Do good deeds to feel worthwhile and elevate my image, but believe I’m doing it because I care.
Think they’re good, and thinks that good works will get them to heaven.
Friends are those who listen and are empathetic to my hurts, agree with my opinion, and make me feel good and valued.
Expect God to bless me because I’m good.
Expects you to say sorry, too.
Believes that grace supersedes God’s Ten commandments.
Believes the blood of Christ saves us from the curse, and therefore, no bad should happen to us, and if it does happen to you, then you are in sin [John 9 contradicts this lie], but conveniently ignores the fact that the sweat of ‘work’ is part of the curse.
Believes that faith is evidenced by good things happening for me.
Believes that if something bad happens to you, then it’s evidence that God is punishing you for offending or challenging me.
Gets threatened, or offended, if you question their thinking.
Gets threatened, or offended, or mocks if you have sabbath on the seventh day (Saturday), even though God Himself did, and Jesus Himself did. [Genesis 2:2, Matthew 5:17-19)
Lives in fear, expressed by either cooperative submission, or on the other hand, intimidation.

Serving the True Jesus

Signs of serving the True Jesus …

Making myself of no reputation (Philippians 2:7). Defending God’s reputation.
Leaves God to be the judge by confidence in His judgment.
Knows that grace is the fruit of Faith, and the backbone to faith is God’s Ten commandments, Matthew 5:17-19 &.
Expect only God’s perfect plan and perfect will for my life, whether that be good or evil (like Job), blessing or suffering (like Jeremiah), for the glory of God (Habakkuk 3: 17,18).
Lives under the constant persecution of misjudgement and mocking by the world and fake Christians. The fake church brands those who value, respect and seek to live by the Ten Commandments as legalistic. A true Christian is a threat to the kingdom of Satan and is thus constantly under attack physically or emotionally for the Name of Christ, Revelation 12:17.
Has given up family and friends for the will of God first (Luke 14:26-33).
Correctable through respect of authority without a ‘but’, because it trusts God’s ultimate justice.

Marriage

When you marry, you make an oath to God … better or worse, rich or poor, in sickness or health, till death. How come when you marry Christ, you expect Him to only give you good? Only pride expects good because it thinks it’s good. Humility serves the will of God by faith in His “I AM”.

Examples of the True Jesus

Love is doing the will of the Father; not being nice to people, John 5:30
Saved Jacob and hated Esau, Romans 9:18
Gave a demonic spirit to King Saul
Destroyed the whole Egyptian army at the Red Sea
Enabled Judas to have the powers of the Holy Spirit
Called the Syrophoenician woman, a ‘dog’
Criticised Peter for not walking on water
Didn’t go to Lazarus’ funeral
Couldn’t do any mighty works in Nazareth
Destroyed the whole of humanity with a flood
Killed Ananias and Sapphira simply for lying
Made Rahab, the harlot, one of Joseph’s ancestors
Criticised and mocked the pharisees
Offended His followers by saying eat My body and drink My blood
Expects His disciples to be persecuted for his Name, 2 Timothy 3:12
Challenged a fake religious system

Who says God should do it the way I think is right?

Only those who are wise in their own eyes expect God to do it the way they see it. God doesn’t do things the way we think. He’s above our thinking and understanding. Diminishing the living eternal Creator to conform to my friendship rules and doing it the way I think is right, is arrogance and sheer pompousness.

Only pride expects good because it thinks it’s good. Humility serves the will of God by faith in Him, for better or worse.

The Truth, even though it’s not nice

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach, Proverbs 14:34, and brings woe.

They that forsake the law, praise the wicked: but those that keep the law contend with the wicked, Proverbs 28:4

The true church is called to separate from the false, 2 Timothy 3:5

May God open the eyes of his remnant to suffer for His Name and to conform only to His will for His kingdom.

Pastor Daniel Smithson

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 2^nd 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

www.e-preacher.org

Tag Archives: image

Sermon 144 – It all depends what you call it

Sermon 143 – Which Jesus do you really serve?

Sermon 139 – The DICHOTOMY of LOVE & HATE

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