A Great House - Week 5

Amen. Amen.

If you got a Bible, go to Second Timothy chapter two.

We're gonna continue in our series the Great House. Second

Timothy chapter two. We're gonna start in verse twenty again.

Today.

We're gonna read this again, you know, for the next

few weeks. Second Timothy, chapter two, Verse twenty.

Let's start.

But in a great house, they're not only vessels of

gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some

for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses

himself from the latter, he'll be a vessel for honor,

sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

Flee also youthful nus.

But pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call

on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid

foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. Don't worry,

we're gonna get We're gonna get to that one soon.

We're gonna we're gonna get to that scripture soon. H

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but

be gentle to all, able to teach, patient and humility,

correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will

grant them repentance so that they may know the truth

verse twenty.

Six, and that they may come to.

Their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having

been taken captive by him to do his will. Let's pray, Father,

we thank you for your word. It's the only change

agent we have on the face of this planet. And

I pray right now that it takes root deep at

the fabric of our being. And Lord, that it brings

a harvest of life that expands through every area of

our person. Father, that you would allow us to be

transformed today to be more like you when we leave

this place in Jesus' name, Amen, Verse twenty things. Again

it says, and that they may come to their senses

and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken

captive by him to do his will. You know, I

don't think that in this room today anybody wants to

willfully choose to do.

The work of the enemy. I believe that you.

I mean, this is probably not the place you would

have got up and come to on Sunday morning. Amen,

if you were set out today to do the work

of the enemy that you wanted to serve the devil,

you would have went somewhere else today, amen, Or you'd

have probably slept in this morning and rested up. I

don't know what. I don't serve the devil, so I

don't know what people do to serve the devil. But

I don't think you would have made the choice that

you made this morning. But the reality is that he

uses some very some very strong language here in this

passage of scripture. He says, Hey, people just need to

come to their senses. You just need to come to

your senses. We think that it's this supernatural thing that

we need to plead to the Lord for these certain

deep supernatural gifts that we may be able to avoid

the enemy. But listen, it's just common sense. Come on,

there's just some common sense to avoiding the work of

the enemy. Because the enemy has been doing the same

thing he does since the very beginning. Let me say

that again, he's been doing the very same thing that

he does since the beginning. He really doesn't attack humanity

in any other way.

Than he started that same day with Eve.

He appeals to the very same nature, to the very

same things, and he has a very limited strategy. Let's

go to Genesis chapter three, and I want to I

want to just kind of lay out for you the strategy.

Of the enemy.

I want to talk to you, and I want to

show you a weakness that a lot of us as

believers have. Genesis chapter three, starting in verse one, it says,

now the serpent that's talking about the devil. Now the

serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field

which the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman, came out right there.

I'm just gonna be honest with you.

It's pretty much common sense to me that if I'm

walking through the woods and a snake starts talking to me,

he don't even have to talk. If I see him,

I'm I'm probably leaving right. But if he starts talking

to me, I'm not gonna hang around to see what

he says. If you have an experience like that, it's

not common sense to stick around and see what happens next.

That's how every horror movie begins. Nothing supernatural about knowing

something is up, something's going on, something bad is happening.

Let's keep reading.

And he said to the woman, has God indeed said

you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

Now this is the first conversation we have recorded. But yeah,

he already knew what God said. Do you know that

the enemy knows God's word, He knows what God says,

He knows God's intentions, and he mixes enough truth in

with his deception that it feels right.

He knew that God.

Had told them not to eat from the tree, and

he starts the conversation and he says, hey, did God

really say?

Are you sure that's what God said?

And he plants just that little bit, that little seed

of doubt. Verse two, and the woman said to the serpent,

we may not eat of We may not eat the

fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the free.

But of the fruit of the tree which is in

the midst of the garden.

God has said, you.

Shall not eat, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.

For God knows that in the day you eat it,

your eyes will be open, and you'll be like God, knowing.

Good and evil. So when the woman saw.

That the tree was good for food, that it was

pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make

one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She

also gave to her husband with her and he ate.

The enemy said, hey, are you did God really say

you couldn't eat everything? And she's like, yeah, yeah. Now

remember just the little bit of doubt. And this is

her response. She says, hey, yeah, he said that.

We couldn't eat the tree, the fruit from the tree

in the midst of the gardens.

That's what he said, she said. And we can't even

touch it. We can't eat it, we can't even touch it.

But did you know that that's not what God said. See,

the enemy brings a little bit of doubt, and Eve

thought she had to defend God.

So she had to add.

Just a little bit to what God said in order

to defend God and keep herself safe. Let's look and

see what God really said. In Genesis chapter two, verse fifteen,

it says, then the Lord God took the man put

him in the garden of Eden to tend and to

keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,

of every tree of the garden you may freely eat,

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and

evil you shall not eat, for in the day that

you eat of it, you shall surely die. And the

Lord God said, it's not good that man should be alone.

I'll make him a helper comparable to him. God never

said don't touch the fruit. He never said don't touch

the fruit in the center of the garden. Eve added

that on her own. And the moment we start adding

things to God's word, come on, somebody, it diminishes the

power of God's word. The moment we bring our own

thoughts and our own insights and our own strength to

try to prop up God, we step in the place

of God. Because God doesn't.

Need to be propped up.

The enemy brought doubt, and Eve added to God's word,

and that is where the unraveling began. Because God's word

is enough to stay and by itself. See, if we're

really going to combat the enemy, if we're really going

to push back against the attacks of the enemy, the

first thing we have to know is God's word. Now,

let me give you a little bit of insight here. Also,

when God told them they couldn't eat of the of

the fruit in the middle of the garden, Eve was

not yet created. He spoke that to Adam before Eve

was created. So God spoke to Adam, and then Adam

spoke to Eve. If we really want to know God's word,

if you really want to know God's word, raise your hand.

If you really want to know God's word, pretty much everybody, Yeah,

I mean that. Then you can't just rely on me

to tell it to you. As a matter of fact,

it's not even really my purpose to bring spiritual enlightenment

to you. It's my job to preach. My job is

to preach the truth. But it's your job to grow spiritually.

And if you want to know God's word, you can't

just trust somebody saying it from a pulpit, or somebody

saying it behind a television camera, or especially somebody saying

it on YouTube.

Amen.

If you want to do something, if you if you

feel like you want to do something and you're looking

for justification and you go to Google and you say,

is it okay for me too? That's not the proper

way to Bible study. That's not the way you do it.

You get along with God and his word, and you

keep a personal devotion time and a quiet time, and

you allow God to speak to you through his word,

and the Holy Spirit brings it into our spirit and

mixes it with who we are, and it becomes part

of us. The problem that even countered was that she

had the word of Adam, not the word of God

in her heart, and she suddenly becomes confused when a

little bit of doubt comes, and she begins to make

up things and add things to God's word. If we

really want to build a foundation and build a great house,

we must build that foundation on the unchanging word of God.

The only absolute truth we have is God's word. It

never changes, it never airs, it's always right, and it's

always on time.

And that is the foundation of our great house. So

once once Eve changed God's.

Word and the enemy knew that she didn't have a

real good, working knowledge of what God's word said, That's

when he began to go down the path that he

has brought every human since this point. He says, oh,

look at the tree, it's good for food. He attacks

those primal desires that were on the inside of Eve,

those things that are wired on the inside of every

single one of us. You know, there are certain things,

there are certain primal urges and desires that are common

to all humanity. It's just the basic physiology of who

we are. None of us want to be hungry.

Amen. If you don't believe me, get around somebody that

has missed a meal.

If somebody misses a meal, they get they I mean,

they get tense, they get snappy, they get angry. The

worst person you want to be around when.

A is going on is because I'm a bear.

I'm telling you now, you can tell I don't miss

a whole lot of meals. I modified some of my meals,

but I don't miss a lot of meals. And you know,

and as a result, when I do miss those meals,

my body doesn't respond well.

And the first thing the enemy.

Does, he says, look at it, look at it. It's

going to taste good. When the enemy attacks you, the

first area of attack is going to be in the

area of those common primal urges and desires that we

all have in common, every single one of us. And

that's layer one. And the reality is, because most of

us fall to the lust of the flesh that we

talked about last week, that's step one is as far

as he ever has to go. But he has a

layered plan that goes a little bit deeper. So if

we can push back against that first attack of the flesh,

that first thing that he puts in front of us,

then he goes to the second one, where we all

struggle with She saw that it was pleasant to the irony.

She said, now that apple is good for food, and oh.

My gosh, look how shiny and red and curvy it is.

Do you know that almost.

One hundred percent of attraction is visual, that even food,

It has been proven through scientific.

Study that food that looks good, we think it tastes better.

And the enemy appeals to our eyes the things we

see because it's the only domain in which he can live,

because what where we should be living and where we

should be focusing is in the invisible.

But that constant struggle we have with the flesh.

Causes us to look at the visible more often than

the invisible. And he attacked what she saw and she said, listen,

that's that's that's a good looking apple.

She said, yeah, she said, I just got my apple.

I mean it was perfectly designed for me. You know,

you go through scripture and you see the visual attacks

that the enemy persists. We see David in Bathsheba that

he saw that she was beautiful. We go even further

and we look at Samson and Delilah. It says Delilah

was beautiful. See, it's those things of beauty that derail us.

And cause us to not use our senses because attraction,

that primal attraction, will will dismantle all of the tring

and all of the learning, and all.

Of the discipline that we have in our lives.

How many marriages, how many families have unraveled with someone

sitting behind the keyboard of a computer in the middle

of the night, looking at images on a screen that

they can't touch, that they can't feel, that they can't

experience any other way than visual, because the visual appeal

has power. So what we must learn to do is

that we must learn to have attraction the way the

Lord teaches attraction, and that is in the heart and

not through the eyes. Attraction must come from our hearts

and not from the visual senses, because the enemy is

good at building and designing things that will cause our

flesh to fall one hundred percent of the time. And

when we feel that urge, we must create in ourselves

a spiritual reflex that reverts back to the heart and

not to the flesh. If we can revert back to

our even our mind, our will, and our emotions, if

we can just come to our senses and think about

it for a minute, think about what it will cost

you think about the repercussions. You know, I used to

coach with a guy and he used to say, listen,

you can choose.

The choice you make.

You can choose your decisions, but you don't get to

choose the repercussion. And I used to think that was

the wisest thing you ever said. I thought, I mean,

I thought, wow, that makes a lot of sense. Other

things don't make sense that you say, but that makes

a lot of sense. And he would reinforce that every

single practice to these girls, and hey, listen, you get

to decide, you get to choose your choice, but you

don't get to choose the repercussion. You can choose not

to come to practice, but you don't get to choose

whether you run or not. You get to choose whether

you swing at that pitch, but you don't get to

choose whether he calls it.

A strike or not.

You get to choose whether you give in to the

attraction of the eye, but you don't get to choose

what it costs you. You don't get to choose the repercussions.

And the enemy exploits our areas of weakness. And then

he said, oh, yeah, but not only is it good

for food. Not only is it pretty, not only does.

It look good, but it's gonna make you wise.

I guarantee you that if I brought in a big

bottle of capsules and I put them here and I said, listen,

I have scientifically studied and I have patented this pill,

and this pill in this bottle, if you take it,

it's going to make you why it is, it's going

to unlock the secrets of the universe. You just take

one every morning. I'm running a discount. You can get

two bottles for the price of one. That there's people

here that would buy my bottles of wisdom pills, because

we all want wisdom without the sacrifice. See, wisdom is

the application of knowledge. And we spend our lives learning,

but we don't always spend our lives putting into practice

what we learned, because that's the hard work. That's where

we roll up our sleeves and we have to get

a little bit dirty, because to put those things into

practice and to trust God at what he says and

actually step out there in faith and see if it works.

Come on, somebody to learn those hard life lessons that

our parents used to tell us about. But we don't

really believe them until we learn them. See, wisdom is

gained through doing. Wisdom is gained through the lessons we

learn when things don't go right. Wisdom is what we

learn when we see a situation and a circumstance, and

everything in our flesh says go, but the things in

our spirits say stay away.

And he promised her wisdom that she would be like God.

Now isn't that the purpose of discipleship. Don't we stand

up here every week and say our goal is to

be a little more like God?

And she mixed. He mixed enough of the truth.

And he said, hey, once you eat this fruit, it's

gonna make you wise and you're going to be like God.

But being wise is not being like God.

Just shortcutting and knowing the experience of evil doesn't make

us like God. Choosing holiness through the application of wisdom

is what makes us like God. Holiness leads us to transformation.

But he said, listen, you're just gonna know right from wrong.

And she was like, I'm sold. I'll take two apples please.

You know I believe at that point, if the enemy said,

you know, this is gonna cost you everything, she was

already sold.

This is gonna change everything sold.

You know, I have a conversation with every single person

that that that comes into a paid staff position, or

really even a captain's position. I like to have these

conversations and I look and I say, hey, I want

you to understand that that this is going to change

the relationship that we have, that when you move from

there to there, it changes.

And I'm more boss than I am pastor. But people just.

See that, oh, now I'm going to get paid to

be a Christian.

I'm gonna get if they only knew right, pastor if

they only knew i'man Now I'm gonna get paid. I'm

all I'm gonna have.

To do is show up to the church and pray

all day. And I try to explain that it changes

the relationship. And some people can't live through the.

Change of that relationship.

Some people can't make it through those hard conversations that

have to be had, those times where you don't live

up to the expectation of the job, not as a believer,

but the job, and the enemy will offer you something

and then tell you it's going to be different, and

you choose it anyway because you ignore the different for

the new.

Aneve found herself in this place, and she.

Bit into that forbidden fruit. Clay, you guys can come

and get ready. She bit into that forbidden fruit, and

in that moment, I would like to know if that

happened instantly for her or if she had to wait

for Adam also, and they had this experience to get

the other. But everything that we see the moment Sin

entered the world, and the moment her teeth broke the

flesh of that fruit, Sin entered the world, and she

had this experience, and then she turned.

And she offered it to her husband and he ate also,

and that they may come to their senses and escape

the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by

him to do his will.

The moment she lost her senses, she started doing his will,

and she brought HadAM into the fall as well. And

the moment we lose our senses, we start bringing other

people into our downward spiral. Also in John chapter fourteen,

verse twenty six, Jesus gives us a promise. It's hard

to stand against the attacks of the enemy on our own.

It's hard to wake up every single day and push

away the bad and embrace the good. It's a difficult thing,

but the Lord didn't leave us alone. In John chapter fourteen,

verse twenty six, it says, but the helper, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name, He will

teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all.

Things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you.

My peace.

I give to you not as the world gives. But

do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled.

Let it not be afraid before Jesus send it into heaven.

He looked at his closest friends, those ministry partners, and

he said, Hey, when I go h the Father is

gonna send a helper. He's gonna send Holy Spirit to

come along beside you. And he's gonna be that little

voice in the back of your head. He's gonna be

that uneasiness in your stomach. He's gonna he's gonna be

your constant friend, your faithful partner.

He's gonna be your.

Guide, he's gonna he's gonna live in you, and he's

going to to speak those words and bring to remembrance

the things I've taught you.

He's he's always going to be there. But we have

to invite him. We have to invite him into our lives.

We have to invite him to have.

Control and the freedom to speak and to guide, and

we have to learn to be sensitive to the power

and the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

HM.

He is a free gift given to every believer. But

you have to desire to be led by the Holy Spirit.

You have to desire to have that fullness of the

Spirit in your life. When we're saved, the Holy Spirit

enters our life. But when we receive the baptism of

the Holy Spirit, he continues to pour into our lives,

and that which is in us spills out and covers us.

That's the experience that I want for you as a believer,

that extra little bit of help that when the enemy says, hey,

it's good for food, it's pretty.

It'll make you wise.

The Holy Spirit's there, and he said, no, no, don't

do that. Don't it's a trap. Use your brain, use

your senses, don't.

Just say no.

You know, if I had if I had a partner

that was right one hundred percent of the time that

wanted my best man, I wouldn't go anywhere without him.

I'd make sure he was in the car every time

I left. If he was gonna lead me towards prosperity,

if he was gonna lead me towards peace, he was

gonna lead me towards strength, I would treasure that relationship.

H Today I'm offer you that relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Everybody's staying with me all over the room. If you're

here today and you want that guidance in your life,

in just a moment, I'm going to count to three.

I don't want you to step out and make your

way down and listen. We're gonna pray for you that

you would receive the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit in.

Your life to guide you, to lead you.

But you know you can't take that step until you

take the initial step. We can't have the guidance and

the leading of the Holy Spirit until we know Jesus

as our Lord and savior. So if you're here today

and you I never ask Jesus to forgive you of

your sins, You've never asked him to be the lord

of your life. But today you want to do that,

I want to give you that opportunity. Every head bowed

and every eye closed. If you're here today, you say, Pastor,

I want to ask Jesus to cleanse me of my sins,

to make me a brand new creation. I want to

give my life to the Lord this morning. If that's you,

just slip up your hand and say that's me, Pastor,

pray for me. I want to give my life to

Jesus this morning. I want to trust him as my

savior this morning. Just put your hand up. You can

put it right back down.

Amen. Amen, Now every eye open and every head looking around.

If you're here and you just raise your hand and

said I want to trust Jesus as my savior. Or

if you're here and you say, hey, I want to

invite the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. I want

him to guide me, to lead me. I want to

be more sensitive. If I want to hear him speak,

steer me out of try out of trouble. If that's you,

either one of those things. I'm gonna count to three,

and when I get to three, i want you to

step out, and I want you to make you way

to the front. One, two, three, step out and move

right now, come on, come on, come on. I want

the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. The

altars open, the band's gonna begin to play and you

can come. For those of you that raise your hand,

I want you to make your way out and ask

somebody to pray for you down here in the altar

Pastor clay Let's worship eight