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Sermon 148 -You can’t get NEW Nature by fixing your OLD Nature

20 Jun

Most Christians believe that they’re good with a few character flaws. If these character flaws are ever challenged or exposed, they try their best to fix them.  Most often, the motivation for the fix is so one doesn’t look bad or feel bad. Consequently, old nature isn’t changed, just better camouflaged.

Old nature

Everyone is born with a nature that is prone to sin … all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The thing that drives this sinful nature is our pride. Our old nature is really just an expression of our pride. Pride wants to be superior and look cool, but pride is also the mood of inferiority or failure. Ultimately, pride doesn’t like being told what to do, or told it’s wrong, but it likes to tell you that you are wrong.

Every time our pride rises up, our old nature will automatically show itself, and we will have a mood, either silently and internally with a smile, or outwardly with a change of facial expression, and quite often, conveniently ignorant that we are even having a mood. Fixing our old nature is simply just another self-tactic for reinforcing our pride and promoting one’s ability. Trying to get ourselves right by our own will power will never produce new nature … it’s just more pride.

The problem of Pride

The reason God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13) is that it gives Satan licence to dictate over your spirit (2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV). Pride keeps you in old nature and makes you susceptible to operate under Satan’s evil works against the kingdom of God, whilst all the time you believe you are a Christian and a good person. Pride pollutes your heavenly walk and if left to run its course, will block you from heaven.

New Nature

New nature is the nature of God. This nature cannot be produced by our own effort. Rather, it’s a gift from God. The modern church teaches that this gift is free, but that’s not the whole truth. Yes, it cannot be bought with money or earned with effort or good works (Ephesians 2:8,9), but there is a price that you have to pay to receive it.

The price for New nature

The price for new nature is death. The death I’m referring to in this case is … saying NO to yourself. In other words, giving up your want because you trust what God wants is the best. You can’t enter new nature without this trust.

The old nature is quite capable of improving itself and stopping itself from doing wrong. You don’t have to be Christian to achieve that. Old nature can be made to look like new nature, but, it can never become genuine new nature.

The new nature of God is implanted in someone’s spirit when they decide to follow Christ, but this doesn’t mean they are saved for heaven. Judas and King Saul both had the new nature of God but they fell to their old nature, did not repent and return to new nature, and consequently missed out on heaven. You can lose the new nature of God and be cut off the vine, but you can also be grafted back into the nature of God.

How do we make sure we run the race to the end with God’s nature?

Jesus taught that you have to die to yourself, daily. Just about every Christian I’ve counselled believes that if they address a character fault or sin, then they’ve fixed it and it shouldn’t have to be dealt with again. But, that’s just a fallacy of pride. The reality is, that your character fault will live with you forever, and Satan will be forever tempting you to fall to it. Thus, Jesus said it’s a daily battle to say No to yourself, even if the issue is the same as it was yesterday or last month.

Why must I say No to MYSELF?

The only way you can enter new nature and also return to new nature after failing, is, via the cross. The modern church teaches that once you accept Christ as your Saviour, then you are under His grace, you’re a child of God and a son of God and joint heir with Christ, so therefore you should expect His blessing and His favour. This half-truth deceives the average Christian into thinking that Christianity is a casual and comfortable walk to heaven under God’s grace. The modern church doesn’t teach death as the path to heaven, but rather, it promotes only the benefits; namely, the pursuit of happiness and contentment, attached to niceness and helping.

The Cross

The cross is not the path to happy feelings. Rather, it’s a path of pain, and embarrassment, and put down for the name of Christ. It’s the path of being misjudged, of being mocked, of being hated, even by family. It’s having to wait for God’s plan instead of purporting your own. It’s the path of separating from the world even though you live in it. It’s the path of disciplining yourself to say No to yourself, and Yes to Christ. It’s the path of accepting correction, and not necessarily defending your rights.

The cross is serving God, not man, and setting your path to heaven, no matter the cost. The cross is hating your pride (Proverbs 8:13). The cross is trusting God with the unfair deal, and ironically, the peace of God only comes via this pathway of the cross.

The cross is the only way to heaven. You can’t get there by just asking Jesus into your heart. Without the cross, Jesus is just your buddy, but not your Saviour.

The cross is the action of your faith (James 2:17,18), yet, you can’t walk the pathway of the cross by yourself … it requires His faith (Galatians 2:20).

The easy path

Obviously, the false church is not going to promote this path. The easy path of happiness and fun and friends and purpose and wealth through giving, is far more favourable and enticing. The church promotes the broad way to heaven, not the narrow way. But God calls His disciples to be soldiers, not comfortable pew sitters and TV watchers. God calls His people to be separate in spirit from the world; not comfortable to mix and mingle with the world.

God calls his disciples to not expect the fair deal. God calls his disciples to object to the world’s moral decline (Proverbs 8:13), generally silently in our hearts, sometimes publicly, but always on alert, and never complacent and tolerant of sin, especially our own pride.

The reason for the problems we face is so we learn to not look to ourselves but turn to Christ and trust His plan. Problems toughen us against Satanic attack. We’re not fighting flesh and blood but demonic principalities and evil powers (Ephesians 6:12). You can’t fight Satan except through the cross. By saying NO to yourself, and instead, trusting God, you walk the path of the cross and inhibit the evil work of Satan.

The Fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Proverbs 8:13)

Who do you fear the most … God or man? God calls His people to fear Him, not man. The fear of God is the fear of missing out on heaven and ending up in hell. If you love the Lord, you must hate your pride; that’s the fear of God. Disciples must walk in the fear of upsetting God, not man; they must object to giving one’s self the right to have a mood, give up the right to expect fairness, give up the ambition of looking good in the eyes of people, and give up worldly position. This is the cross. The cross is God’s training ground for learning how to fear Him, because you have to face the fear of man. It’s a process of being born again and maturing into His faith. It can take years, but, if you don’t walk the way of the cross, you’re simply stating your lack of fear and love of God.

The primary objective of Christ should be the same for every disciple of Christ

Jesus came to earth. From the moment He arrived, He was targeted. He healed the sick and preached the gospel of good news, but, His primary objective was to die on the cross. If He hadn’t, no one would be saved. Despite all your goodness, is the cross your primary objective?

Friend of the world, enemy of God (James 4:4)

If you’re comfortable with the world, if you like the comforts of the world, the Word of God describes you as an adulterer. That is, a fake Christian who says they’re married to Christ but who is actually intercoursing with Satan.

Thy will be done, not mine

This is the prayer of Christ on the cross, this is the commitment of Jesus on earth (John 4:34), this is the Lord’s prayer, and this is the prayer of every genuine soldier of Christ.

 

May the Lord stir His remnant to look beyond the pain, to look beyond the moral demise of society, to say No to one’s self, and be servants to His will only.

 

Pastor Frederick Jamieson

 

 

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Posted by on June 20, 2020 in new nature

 

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Sermon 146 – OBLIGATION

16 Mar

Obligation = because I did this for you, you will do what I want.

It’s holding someone in debt to your goodness. It comes from the Latin word obligare = to bind.

Goodness, with debt attached, is a lie and a manipulative deception of Satan.

Over many years I observed a father destroy his family under the weight of obligation. God used it to show me a hidden spiritual truth.

Power

Every father has immense power over his children; the power to obligate them to be good for him so his image looks good to others; the power to obligate them to serve his agenda because he provides protection, or money, or gifts, or love; the power to obligate you to serve his will by the selfish application of intimidation and fear; the power to obligate you to serve his will by the manipulation of making you feel sad for him if he’s having a selfish mood.

Slavery

In every instance this power is selfish and contaminated unless the chain of obligation to his own father has been broken by being separated to Jesus Christ by faith.

I watched as this man’s children struggled to break free from a bondage they didn’t know had them chained by obligation to their father’s image, because he was chained to the value his own father’s image. Beneath the cover of this fine family lay hate for each other. They silently competed over each other for the father’s favour and thus chained themselves to the obligation of servitude to their father’s will. Eventually, the fake happy family crumbled under its lie of dysfunctionality.

Don’t tell me what to do

Humanity hates being told what to do. Whilst you remain chained to the obligation to keep your parents happy, your inner self will be tormented by having to be obligated to honor your parents, which you want to do and are designed to do, but you crave the freedom to do it without being told you have to. Thus, in your inner hidden confusion, you lie to yourself that you are serving in love, when it’s really chasing favour, and serving your own image, too. You end up being chained to the evil spirit of obligation and trying to make your children do the same for you. Consequently, envy and hate become the roots of your love. You call it love, but it’s really envy and hate masquerading as love, and at a point of correction, you will defy authority with ‘don’t tell me what to do’, and thus your lie will be exposed, and underneath the fakeness will be the envy of anyone who has a higher position of favour.

If you sew it, you will reap it

If you complain about being obligated by others, then you will ignorantly, and automatically, and uncontrollably obligate others to serve your will. The thing that you’re offended by is the thing you blindly practice against others.

That’s exactly what I observed eventually spew out of this fake Christian father. He had a silent mood about being obligated, but couldn’t see that it was him practicing it against others. He obligated others and got offended if they didn’t comply. The pride of his own image blinded him to see himself. He could only see what others weren’t doing for him, and unfortunately it drowned him in his own hatred. He hadn’t separated to God, he had manipulated others to serve him and used Christianity to validate this service so they would serve him, but it was all a lie.

Chained

If you’re chained by obligation to your parent’s will, then you will chain your children under your obligation, too. When you obligate your child to serve your will, you expose your chained servitude to your parents’ will, and at the same time, you ignorantly serve others with the expectation that they will be obligated to serve your will. Thus, when anyone opposes or contradicts your will, especially after you have served them, it causes your selfish spirit to be angry with the injustice, according to your perverted vision. You will either openly rebel against the injustice, or silently surrender to it and exist in a spirit of begrudgingness. Either way, it’s not love, but selfishness parading as love.

Cranky, outwardly or inwardly, about being obligated, just means your serving begrudgingly. It means you’ve never loved God by cutting the chains, and you selfishly obligate others to do your will. You will serve Him on a foundation of envy and hate and label it ‘love’, and create a ‘lie’ to support your fake truth, and no one will be able to tell you otherwise.

Hate

I always wondered why the Word of God uses ‘hate’ in Luke 14:26, to describe separation love. It’s now clear to me.

The greenies hate humanity because it hurts the environment. The vegans hate humanity because it hurts animals. This is the fruit of spite.

But, I hate humanity because it hates my God. It’s not spiteful hatred, but the hatred of their love for evil in spite of my God. I could not have stood at the cross and watched humanity crucify my God just because He wouldn’t comply with their religious dogma. It would have crushed my spirit. Because I love my God, I hate, not spitefully, but painfully, any humanity that hates Him.

Irony

This hate doesn’t stop me loving humanity; it stops me bowing to humanity’s lusts and enticements. God himself hated humanity and destroyed it all with a flood, but loved it so much he sent His Son to die for it.  He even sent his Son to hell to preach to those who hadn’t had a chance to hear about Him before the flood (1 Peter 3:19,20); that’s how much He loved humanity. But, He won’t tolerate humanity’s hate of his Father; especially hate that’s expressed by defaming His Father’s commandments.

Consequences

If you call homosexuality, love; if you legalise abortion, divorce, and defacto, ungodly religions, and if you control people to your will, do you naively think God is going to turn a blind eye and bless your evil. Earthquakes, floods, wars, bushfires, economic chaos, the rise of Communism and Islamic State, domestic violence, drugs, climate change and corona virus are the fruit of man’s selfishness, whether he thinks he’s good or bad. But, no one’s facing the warnings, they just blame God and dig further into their own inner strength.

The hatred of man’s evil is the expression of your love for God

I hate humanity for legalising homosexuality in defiance of my God’s instructions. I hate humanity for legalising the murder of unborn babies in defiance of my God’s instructions. I hate humanity for legalising divorce and adulterous defacto relationships against my God’s instructions. I hate humanity for endorsing and supporting demonic religions in defiance to my God’s instructions, John 14:6 … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me. And, Acts 4:12 … there is no other Name given among men whereby you can be saved.

I hate any humanity that is taught about the true God and then turns their back on Him and goes and serves other gods. But, my hate is driven by my love for Him.

True Serve will always require a price

It’s impossible to serve Jesus Christ whilst you remain obligated to serve your father. You can’t be free to serve God until you break the chains of obligation to your father, and you’ll know it’s chains when you feel the fear of contradicting your father’s selfish will … the fear of what others will think of you; the fear of what the church will say against you; the fear of what your family will say against you; the fear of being wrong; the fear of hurting his feelings; the fear of his aggression. But, fear is just a threat to your image and that’s why it’s also the door to freedom, and until you walk through it you won’t find salvation.

Fear

There is no fear in love, and God is love, so God is on the other side of fear. That’s why fear is a spirit force of Satan to stop you finding God. Bound parents are chained to fear and the spirit behind them will try and chain you to the same fear. They can act like they love God, but if you truly choose Christ, you’ll soon feel the threat of their fear.

Fake

A genuine Christian parent will give you the freedom to serve God without requiring you to love them as well. A fake Christian parent will give you the right to serve God as long as you don’t stop serving them too. The fake parent will dictate over you with fear, and the fake child will seek the value of their parent to boost their selfishness, and gain points over their siblings, and thus be chained to that fear.

Persecution

Hopefully, now you can see that you can never truly serve God until you break the chains of obligation to serve your parents. In most instances, the parent has never broken their chains of obligation to their parents, and they will thus demand, either openly or silently, your servitude to their wishes. When you face the intimidation to stay under a parent’s will, you will experience the honor of being persecuted for the Name of Christ. The Satan trick is, no child expects a Christian parent to be Satan’s defiant and opposing force. You’ll need the faith of Christ to help you get free.

Even Jesus had to tell His mother to back-off because she was interfering in His commitment to the will of His Father, God. He had to tell Peter to back-off because Satan was working through him to entice Christ to not go to the cross.

How do you break free to serve God?

By faith, you have to face the fear of upsetting your parents and trust God. If you’re seeking to serve Him, the demonic will be seeking to scare you from serving Him. The most powerful weapon Satan has to inhibit your service, is a parent. You actually have to hate the evil of their obligation to hold onto you for their selfish value, and if they won’t let you serve God, then there is only one pathway; the pathway of complete separation.

Samuel was free to serve God because Hannah gave him up to God. Thus, Samuel could stay, not attached to Hannah, but connected with her by the love they both shared for God. If the parent won’t allow this to happen, there has to be a leave and cleave, and that’s the price of salvation.

Separation

The church no longer lives by this principle because it needs numbers and money to run its business. Separation is a price that costs everything to walk with Christ (Luke 14:33). It’s easier to believe in grace, because grace just means to the average Christian that you have the free-will to love Christ and the free-will to tolerate sin in others without the legal obligation to be too intense to faithfully submit to his laws. This is a lie of Satan propagated by the church. Have an honest look at Matthew 5:18,19.

If you’re tolerating sin in others, then it just means you obligate them to tolerate the sin in you.

Many called, few will choose

If you genuinely have a call on your heart to serve the living God, know that you won’t be able to fulfil that call until you love your parents by disobeying them if they are blocking that call. This is what God calls ‘hate’.  If you feel obligated to serve your parents’ will, then know you are being dictated to by a demonic spirit. The Spirit of God in a Christ-like parent will give you freedom to serve God without obligation. That pull to stay chained to your parent is so strong that God said … many are called but few are chosen.

Myway or Yahweh

Jesus doesn’t obligate; it’s your choice. Love Him and do what He wants because you love Him, or serve Him and do what He wants your way. They’re miles apart. One is free, the other is chained.

 

Pastor Jonathan Samuels

 
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Posted by on March 16, 2020 in intimidation

 

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Sermon 122 – Obedient Defiance

14 Apr

One young woman in our fellowship was struggling with her emotions because another young woman was more popular. The popular one was new to the fellowship, so from the first woman’s perspective, it wasn’t fair that she had been usurped.

This scenario happens time and time again amongst all groups of people. The point is, how is a Christian to address these feelings?

Separation is Biblical, 2 Thessalonians 3: 6,14

The problem was, the first woman’s jealousy was disturbing the whole fellowship. Something inside her was reacting to the unfairness and everyone could feel it. If you let envy fester it will turn to hatred. It may be hidden by obedience, but it’s really hatred and defiance under the guise of obedience. Therefore, according to Scripture, I instructed this woman to separate herself from the fellowship until she stopped her attitude, and at the same time, I asked her to answer several questions in the hope it would help her see her inappropriate attitude.

Questions

Do you think you’re special? Is she jealous that the other woman has taken her position? Is she having a mood? Is her attitude Holy Spirit or demonic? Is she doing what’s she’s told by me, without any defiance in her heart? She answered ‘yes’ to every question and even agreed that she was being manipulated by a demon.

The response that got my attention was the lie that she was being obedient to my instructions without any defiance. Now, if you are being demonically manipulated, and then to think you are being obedient, actually confirms that you are under the influence of a demon and lying to yourself. It’s a contradiction to know you are under a demon and to think you are obedient without any defiance.

Non-genuine obedience

All the people that I’ve pastored over the years considered themselves to be obedient to my pastoral instructions. Very few however, served the Lord without some expectation of benefit, meaning that their obedience is not true obedience. Obedience that’s not true always carries with it some form of defiance, and sooner or later, that defiance will expose itself in contradicting the authority.

The bottom line

The bottom line in every person’s heart is the belief that they have the right to their own opinion and no one is ultimately going to tell them what to do. This is the heart of Satan, not God. To them, their obedience is the evidence of their willingness to be told what to do, so no one can say that they are not a good person. Their argument is … ‘surely, I have the right to my own opinion and the right to figure it out myself.’ However, from God’s perspective, it’s not one’s right that’s the issue, it’s the bite of defiance that protects that right.

Example

During a discussion with one Christian young man, I suggested that he may have missed my point about him having a grievance with another man because his inappropriate behaviour resembled that of the man. He retorted … I didn’t miss your point. Now, it’s fine to have a difference of opinion. It’s not the difference of opinion that’s the issue; it’s the bite behind the opinion. It doesn’t matter how obedient you think you are to the authority’s instructions, a bite confirms that your heart is not obedient; on the contrary, it’s defiant.

Defiance is inherent. It has to be broken.

Every person on the planet is born defiant. It’s inherent in our spirit because of our link with Satan through our sin. When one truly surrenders to the will of God, a slow up-hill process begins whereby God changes our inherent defiant character into His self-less character. If you’re truly open to the correction of Christ, you will begin to see your inherent stubbornness and begin to sacrifice it to Him. The problem arises when one refuses to see it and ultimately turns their back on the process.

Every person is a King Saul, until they give up and become a David

In 1 Samuel 15 we read the story of the stubbornness of King Saul. From his perspective, he was doing what he was told, but from God’s perspective, he wasn’t. From God’s perspective, his behaviour was witchcraft and idolatry (v.23). That clearly means his heart was under the control of Satan at the same time as he was worshipping God (v.31) and thought he was being obedient (v.20). Whether you like this point or not, the truth is, everybody acts this way and believes this lie, until they unconditionally surrender to the will of God. Everyone is born under the control of Satan, no matter how obedient they may appear, and this control deepens until they sacrifice their pride to the will of God.

What was missing in King Saul’s obedience?

King Saul had let his humility turn to pride of position. He loved being No.1. From his pride’s perspective, he was doing what he was told, his way. When you’re ready to blame others for your misdeeds, you clearly show you’re being deceptive about your obedience. When your prime concern is what others think of you (v.30), you clearly show that your obedience is a camouflage for your defiance. What you don’t realise is that you are reinforcing Satan’s grip on your spirit. You can act obedient as much as you like, but if the Spirit of God is missing, you’re lying to yourself and others, and you’re under the power of a demon. In 2 Timothy 2: 25,26 God describes this as “opposing yourself” and under the snare of the devil and controlled at the devil’s will.

Which camp?

Now, if Samuel is standing with God and Saul conflicts with his opinion of what’s right and wrong, then clearly Saul is not standing with God. You’re either in God’s camp or you’re in the camp of Satan, and any middle ground is the same as not standing with God. If, by the Spirit of God, you declare that a person is not being obedient, but they contradict and demand they are, then immediately they have exposed their defiance and exposed what spirit they are really of. Defiance is simply contradicting the Spirit of God. Arguing the point against God’s representative, is defiance, and thus, demonic.

The bottom line

What was the underlying problem that stirred Saul to defy Samuel’s opinion? The answer is, he fed his heart with the pride of his position and defended that position when challenged he was wrong. Later on, he reinforced that pride by envying David’s threat to that position. Once he decided to solidify this defence of his pride, he was on his way to hell. There was nothing more Samuel could do to save him from his pride. Once you harden your heart and turn your back at the intersection of the challenge of your pride, it’s virtually impossible to find your way to God.

The real issue is Holy Spirit vs Satan

Beneath all the appearance of goodness, there’s a spiritual war going on (Ephesians 6). You either stand on God’s side or Satan’s. Pretending with niceness or obedience in middle ground is the same as neither hot nor cold, and therefore satanic. Obedience with defiance is actually hatred and demonic. It’s not God’s responsibility to fix this problem, it’s yours. If you refuse to address your pride when it’s exposed and humble yourself to the mind of Christ, don’t blame God when you miss heaven.

May God stir the hearts of his remnant to oppose their pride, not themselves, so that Satan is bound, not them.

 

Pastor Jonathan Wright

 
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Posted by on April 14, 2018 in defiance

 

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Sermon 89 – The LIE of GRACE

20 Aug

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 79 – SEPARATE or be Demonically controlled

15 Mar

Over the years I’ve asked my congregation what they think is the role of the pastor. The response is invariably …. to listen and understand my needs, to show me the way, help me discern the Word of God, give advice, help me, to stop me from making a mistake, to correct me but only if it’s done softly and painlessly and un-embarrassingly, and some have even said that it’s my role to confirm to them that they’re right.

The question you should ask yourself is … why do I think this?

I’ve discovered that people come to these conclusions because they have a false belief about “friends“. If I ask … “what is a friend?” I get similar answers … to listen to me and be understanding, to be able to share intimately, to be trustworthy, to support me and help me, keep secrets, make me feel good, someone who likes me, be there when I need you, and not to snitch on me.

Diagnosis of a friend

You can always diagnose when someone is a genuine friend by their reaction when they don’t get the response they expect from a friend. A false friend blames a friend for not meeting their standards of friendship. A false friend has a mood when you don’t do it the way they think it should be done. A false friend tells you that you are not doing it the way they think you should.

King Saul was friends with Samuel. Samuel was a true friend. King Saul was a false friend. King Saul was really using Samuel for his own ends, to promote himself in the eyes of the people. King Saul told Samuel how he was supposed to behave towards him. King Saul told Samuel that he hadn’t really done anything wrong. King Saul told Samuel that he was being unreasonable with his correction. Notice all the ‘told’. King Saul pretended to change his attitude, but eventually the friendship fell apart because God instructed Samuel to separate from Saul.

Why did God instruct Samuel to separate from Saul? And why did Nehemiah instruct the Jews to separate from the heathen? And why did God separate Abram from his family?

Because if you don’t you will become demonically controlled instead of Holy Spirit controlled. The issue isn’t right or wrong, it’s demons or Holy Ghost. There’s a warfare over your soul, and the heart choices you make will dictate where you end up. I remind you in Ephesians 6 … we’re not fighting flesh and blood but principalities and powers, and those powers are stronger than you, especially if you arrogantly think you’re up to it (as indoctrinated by the Pentecostal church).

Friend of the world; enemy of God … James 4:4

Modern Christians know they should be sort of separate from the world so they don’t get tripped up and fall, so they keep doing what’s right, but at the same time they still like the world. This is the fruit of soft church teaching. It’s a shallow evaluation of Christ’s principles and it completely misses the real underlying reason for separation, namely, Satanic control.

Modern Christianity thinks with its head, it doesn’t understand the heart of the reasoning

When somebody is truly walking with God they will spiritually sense something is wrong (without necessarily knowing the full story), and if they are in a position of authority (such as a parent or pastor), they will want to warn you of the impending danger and seek to guide you away from it. That’s the intersection of true friendship and genuine pastoring. Up to that point everything is palatable between friends, but this intersection will either establish the friendship or destroy it.

2 common demonic issues

Whenever I sense resistance and I challenge someone’s spirit I invariably find the person wants Jesus and the world too; and I find that they’re having a mood because someone is liked more than they are. In a woman, I call it the Peninnah syndrome ie they feel for Peninnah because Hannah was more loved, but can’t see that God knew Peninnah’s heart and chose Hannah. Like Eve, demonically controlled vision can only see what one is not getting.

Resistance to authority is a sure sign of the demonic

If you respect God you will respect authority, because that’s what God told you to do. If you disrespect the opinion of authority you confirm that your relationship with God is fake, as well as exposing that you’re under the influence of a demonic power, because you’re doing exactly the opposite to what you were told.

But how can you really tell whether you genuinely respect authority or just think you do?

Disrespect is measured by resistance. The authority doesn’t have to be right; it’s the resistance that’s the measurement. It becomes a contest between the demonic in you that won’t bend and the Holy Spirit in the authority, and it’s real and tangible when the authority steps on the demon’s toes. It’s this intersection of correction that brings out this demonic influence. No wonder no one wants to be corrected … like King Saul, it exposes something you don’t want exposed, and you don’t want to be told. Yes, like King Saul you can be influenced by Holy Spirit and demons at the same time (it’s a war), and your heart choices will determine who will ultimately win.

Sadly, underneath the façade of modern western society is the reality that it has been educated to only believe in oneself and only trust in oneself, and to think everything through by yourself, and to live for oneself, and not to be told, so when God directs someone to correct one’s mis-direction, the majority of Christians, like King Saul, get offended and read it as a put-down of their capability to figure it out for themselves.

I recall a young lady in our fellowship who was exposed as lying about a certain issue. On the surface she was very helpful, hard-working and polite; but when she got found out, her outward personality changed. She apologised, but I could sense that it was out of convenience of avoiding getting into trouble and not genuine. I challenged her that she was resisting my correction and she got the huffs, defied her father’s authority because she told him that he didn’t protect her from the correction, and left the fellowship. The question is … did she leave the fellowship by faith or by defiance, because whatever is not of faith is sin?

If you judge someone to promote your own selfishness, your character will change into the demonic and you will resist correction … Matthew 7:1

This is what happened both to King Saul and Adam, and this is what happened to this young lady, and it happens to everyone who judges others to promote themselves.

Sometime later I heard that she had started a friendship with a heathen lad, was attending worldly parties, and was clearly moving in the direction of hell. Recently she contacted her father and he asked her where she stood with Jesus. Her response was “that it was too hard” and she was no longer interested. The same words had come out of the mouth of a woman I was pastoring some 10 years previously and who had resisted my authority and refused to give up her worldly passions. This girl had never spoken those words before and I sensed that they were actually the words of this woman. When I enquired further I learnt that the young lady had gotten in touch with the woman’s granddaughter and started an internet friendship. The granddaughter had followed the path of defiance of her grandmother and was now spiritually influencing the path of this young lady.

In the course of time it became apparent that a second young lady in our fellowship was behaving like the first. She had judged the original girl for deserting their friendship and had come under the influence of the demon that was directing the soul of the first girl.

What’s the point I am trying to make?

Listening to the voice of Satan will take you further into the web of Satan, and his only plan is to kill you, change your character into his, destroy you and separate you from God, and thus mock God.

Authority and the laws of God are not set up to bind you and make it hard for you; they’re put in place to save you from getting trapped in Satan’s web and ultimately hell. A true friend doesn’t use you; they tell you the truth so you don’t go the wrong way, and a true friend doesn’t have a mood if you won’t listen to them; they serve God, not themselves. The converse is also true … if you have a mood when your friend doesn’t do it right by you, then you yourself are not a genuine friend, but a user, just like the friend who’s hurt your feelings.

Holy Spirit doesn’t have a mood; Satan does

A genuine pastor doesn’t correct you just to embarrass you; they tell you the truth about yourself so you don’t go to hell. Blocking your ears to this truth is fatal. If you have a mood because someone tells you the truth about you then you confirm that you are under the influence of a demonic spirit, and you’d better stop it pronto or it will take you to hell.

It is hard to not get what you want, but if you harden your heart and choose to disrespect the boundaries then you will unawares come under the influence of the devil’s power, and it’s no laughing matter; it’ll take you to hell.

Won’t be told what to do

Satan and his demons chose not to be told by God what to do. When you listen to the voice of Satan, his objective is to get you to be not told what to do.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam walked and talked with God. They were friends. Satan whispered in Eve’s ear that God wasn’t telling her everything and that if she ate the fruit she would get a better deal for herself. She got Adam to listen to her and consequently Adam also came under the influence of Satan’s power. Under this power he changed his character into Satan’s character, and did the exact opposite of what he has always done … he lied, he feared, he blamed, and he even blamed God for creating the woman, and he foolishly hid from his true friend. How insane! These are the characteristics of Satan, not Holy Spirit. He didn’t repent and he wouldn’t listen to God’s correction. He had elevated himself to be equal with God in his right to make his own decisions, and after all, he had only eaten a piece of fruit, so what’s the big deal.

What was the consequence?

He was separated from God

If one doesn’t find true repentance for one’s defiance and resistance to the spirit of God, then the ultimate consequence is hell. You won’t recognise defiance in your heart until you come face to face with an authority’s correction of your spirit. That’s the intersection that will determine your final destiny.

Most people won’t agree with an authority until they see what the authority is saying, and right there is the problem. Logic says … surely I need to see what you’re saying before I can agree with you (this is the deduction of pride), but faith says … I know something’s wrong so by faith in God I’ll trust your judgment of me. If you’re genuine about trusting, then you’ll see what the authority is warning you about. In other words, it’s always faith first before you’ll see, because Satan blinds.

The principle …

If, in your heart, you live by your own judgments and won’t separate from the world, eventually God will separate from you. The call of God is to come out and be separate from the world so you don’t fall fowl of demonic powers.

The insanity of non-separation

The truth is, that by de-valuing the laws of God and de-valuing authority, and indoctrinating the church into the comfortable belief that we are safe under grace without the responsibility for our sin, we’ve opened our western societies to Pandora’s box of demonic powers that’s changing the face of western society, promoting multiple demonic religions and endorsing the freedom of right to worship false gods, dissolving the family unit, tattooing our whole body and sticking pins in our faces and calling it beauty, chasing cosmetic surgery, and promoting alternative sexual preferences to do whatever you want. The church is clearly no longer the salt for society; the bacteria of Satan is flourishing everywhere.

Satan has got God’s creation in a strangle hold and demonically convinced everyone to believe in their right to not be told what to do.

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them … Ephesians 5:11

People no longer separate from the Christian sinner who won’t be told; they comfort and support them in their sin in the false belief that you can love them through their sin and get them to see their sin. But this philosophy is a lie of Satan, because God’s instructions are to separate the sinner from you until, like the prodigal, they may awake to their sin, 1 Corinthians 5:11. But the church has gone soft on sin and it’s not cool to be harsh. It’s afraid of what the world thinks of it, because it is the world. In its ignorance it is supporting the demonic in the sinner against God’s Spirit. The truth is, the church is disobedient and arrogant and interprets scripture to its own self-advantage. Like Laodicea, it’s under the influence of Satan, not Holy Spirit.

The rubber meets the road when this principle is challenged by a son or daughter or wife and you have to choose between what God says in Luke 14:26-33 or by what the church teaches. The demonic influence of sin is greater than your ability to resist, so ignoring the leaven will cause it to spread, not wither, and it will take you with it.

Faith or sin

Faith is the evidence of Holy Spirit. The opposite to faith, is sin (Romans 14:23). Faith is blocked by pride, and pride is generally extrapolated by judgement against someone. If you can’t get back to faith, then God’s Spirit in you is either silent or gone, and the human spirit in you is objecting to being blamed or being left-out, or thinks it’s above your neighbour. You can only get back to faith by de-elevating yourself (like David, and Ahab 1 Kings 21:29), not by doing good works or justifying your rightness (like King Saul). That’s why God uses correction; it’s His tool to put you back in your place.

The enemy’s objective is to make sure you sin by only thinking about yourself even though on the surface you act as if you care for others or act as if you are not hurting; that way he can block your faith.

The true shepherd’s goal is to expose the demonic, not to silently co-exist with it, so that your eyes will be enlightened to your true hidden motive of selfishness.

When Christ comes, will He find faith? I righteously fear the path that the Christian world has chosen.

Pastor Mike Stanford

 
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Posted by on March 15, 2015 in Separation

 

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Sermon 64 – I’M GOOD

16 Nov

Q. What is good?

Q. Do you think of yourself as good?

Q. What % of good are you?

Q. What % of good confirms you are a Christian?

Q. What % do you place on your fellowman thinking that you are good?

Q. Why are you trying to be good?

Q. Is good a measurement of salvation?
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Posted by on November 16, 2013 in Elevation, Pride

 

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Sermon 61 – RESPONSIBILITY is a DIRTY WORD

28 Sep

When I was a young boy my older brother used to tease me incessantly. He’d run away from me on the way to school and leave me sitting in the gutter crying. He’d never let me play with his friends and he’d wrestle with me and pin my arms to the ground with his knees until I cried for mercy. He’d go out of his way to make sure
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Posted by on September 28, 2013 in Pride

 

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Sermon 36 – It’s JESUS or the WORLD; You CAN’T have BOTH

02 Oct

Most Christians are happy to follow Christ as long as they can still enjoy the world’s goodies and lifestyles. Christians believe they are fine to enjoy the fun, movies, music, dress and houses just like the world does as long as they are good citizens. The modern thinking is …
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Posted by on October 2, 2012 in WORLDLINESS

 

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Sermon 20 – IT ALL DEPENDS WHERE YOU STAND

20 Dec

 … and having done all, stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt with truth … Ephesians 6:13,14

Q. What’s it mean ‘to stand’?

Most people stand against a hurtful spirit in defiance. Defiance is the opposite to standing.  Defiance = you’re never going to put me down again / you’re not going to tell me / I’ll prove to you I’m good / I’ll prove to you I’m right and you’re wrong. Defiance is standing up for your rights or trying to prove to God you are of value, whereas, standing is standing up for God’s rights. Standing = Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on December 20, 2011 in Stand

 

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