Are You Chasing Your Tail? | Pastor Darren Palmer | Faith Church

If you could turn in your scriptures with me

this morning to Deuteronomy chapter 28. I want

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

to try to communicate something to you that I

believe is going to break some things off of

some people today, that is going to help some

people. You might see some things that you've

never seen before about relationships and about

how they operate, but you and I know That God

wants us to walk in blessing Amen God wants us

to walk in his blessing and Deuteronomy 28 I'm

only gonna pull one verse out of this but Deuteronomy

28 is the chapter of blessing the first 14 verses

and then the larger part of the chapter the curses

for disobedience it's it's not really rocket

science blessing for obedience cursing for disobedience

you know it's just like when you when you were

a kid if if you I guess I can't always say that

a blanket statement if you had a home that was

functioning well then what did you get You got

blessing for obedience and you got and you got

corrected for disobedience. Right. And that's

what God is saying. You're my sons and my daughters.

There is blessing in the place of obedience and

there is trouble in the place of disobedience.

So I just encourage you read that whole entire

chapter on your own. I want to read from verse

13 and it says this and the Lord will make you

the head and not the tail you shall be above

only and not beneath if You heed the command

of the Lord your God Which I commanded you today

and are careful to observe them. Hallelujah.

Father, I just thank you for your word this morning.

And I ask that it would just go down into the

deep places of our hearts in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen. Amen. Praise God. Wasn't the Hayride Saturday

night awesome? If you had an awesome time, just

clap your hands right now. Praise God we want

to thank Dennis and Linda for opening up their

home And it was an awesome awesome time we Had

in August and what made me think of this is Linda

led in this as well, but we had a dog show and

so a guy Sat down in a movie theater and noticed

that the man in front of him brought his dog

and was sitting in the seat next to him. He thought

it was unusual but he liked dogs so he didn't

say anything. And the movie started and pretty

soon there was a funny part and the dog made

some low woofing noises. the man was astonished

because it sounded like laughter and then there

was a sad part and the dog started whimpering

and it continued throughout the film the dog

at all the right places gave all the right emotions

and When the lights came up He tapped the owner

on the shoulder and he said I gotta say this

sounds weird but it seemed like your dog really

enjoyed the movie and The owner looked back at

him and nodded and he said yeah, it is really

weird because he absolutely hated the book Oh,

Dale even liked it. One time I watched my dog,

I had a dog chase her tail for 10 minutes. How

many of you had a dog that chased their tail?

And I thought, what a dumb dog. And then I thought,

well, I just watched that dog for 10 minutes.

I want to answer a question today. I want to

ask you, are you chasing your tail? God has said

that he has called us to be the head and not

the tail. And I want to ask you, are you living

as the head and not the tail? My commentary,

Jameson Fawcett Brown said that this phrase,

the head and not the tail, came from, it was

an oriental form of expression that Moses incorporated,

and it indicated the possession of independent

power and great dignity and acknowledged excellence.

God wants his people to possess independent power

and great dignity and walk with Excellent. Isn't

that good? I like the message in this trans.

It's a transliteration. It says God will make

you the head, not the tail. You'll always be

the top dog. Never the underdog. As you obediently

listen to and diligently keep the command of

God. Amen. You know, the counterpart is found

in verse 44. it's talking in fact if you if you

read verse verse 12 it would it would talk about

lending you will be the one that lends and they

will borrow from you but the counterpart says

that you will always be borrowing that you will

never lend because you're the tail and you're

not the head when you disobey and so in the analogy

Being the head is the blessing for obedience

Being the tail is the curse for disobedience

and I just want to start by saying this if you

have sin in your life that you have not regarded

before God that you know about and You have tolerated

it in your life there is There is grace for a

season for you to repent, but if you refuse,

if you refuse, then the blessing of God will

begin to come off of your life. That's the way

that it works. The Word of God speaks to us.

If you're the head, you're the leader. You are

deciding where to go in life The tail gets dragged

along always unprepared at the mercy of every

situation never in control I Want to give you

some signs that you are chasing your tail? Number

one You fear the opinions of man You fear men

rather than God We live in a culture right now

that calls good evil and evil good and Some of

the things that you stand up for as a believer

you will take ridicule for You post truth on

your Facebook page, and I'm not I'm not telling

anybody here, I don't think anybody here should

be obnoxious and be tearing others down. We can

we can say right. We can say things that are

true and still not be speaking the way Jesus

wants us to be speaking. Do you hear what I'm

saying? But there are truths that if you stand

up for in this culture, you will be shot down.

You will be crucified. on social media Because

it isn't politically correct But you have a decision

to make Am I gonna fear God or am I going to

fear man? Jesus said do not fear the one that

can only hurt your body He said I'll tell you

whom you should fear and that means have great

respect for even tremble for You should fear

the one that when it's all said and done can

cast you into hell That's the one you should

fear and tremble before But when you fear man,

you are chasing your tail You are not leading

the way You are responding to what everybody

else thinks. Some of you, when you're in a room

before you decide what to say, you stick your

finger up in the air and see which direction

the wind is blowing. How do the people in this

room talk? Well, then you become a chameleon

and you begin to talk like everybody else in

the room. You come to church and you stick your

finger up in the air. How do the people at church

talk? and you can fit in wherever you go. But

the truth is, you are living the life of a hypocrite.

Because in one crowd, you are saying all the

right things, and in the other crowd, you're

saying all the things they want you to hear to

be accepted. God wants us to stand up for Him.

Amen? He wants us to not cave to the fear of

man, he wants us to live in the fear of God.

Hallelujah. To not fear the opinions of man.

This is where peer pressure comes in. Some of

you young people, you're tempted to engage in

life in ways that you never would have thought

you would, but you're hanging with people that

do those things. And the funny thing is, those

people probably never would have done those things,

but peer pressure works together to move the

entire crowd where you never thought you would

once go. I wanna call you back to standing up

for Jesus. Hallelujah. Young people, take a stand.

It is good to say, no, I'm not gonna go there.

I'm not going to speak like that. I'm not going

to talk like that. I'm not going to engage with

the world like that. Fear God. Number two, you

are comfortable in chaos. In fact, chaos is swirling

around you. Why? because you never draw a line

in the sand. You'd rather have the moment and

the situation make the decision for you because

you're not comfortable making decisions. And

so you are led by every whim and fancy that comes

along and life is always swirling around you

in a chaotic mess. Because you never draw a line

in the sand But first Corinthians 14 33 says

this God is not the author of confusion He is

the author of peace Isn't that good now Paul

was specifically addressing how Gathering should

flow when he said that But it is true nonetheless

for your own life that God is not the author

of confusion when everything in your life is

chaos when everything in your life feels feels

like it is just controlling you and pulling you

here and there it is time to stop and It is time

to to lift up your eyes above the situation and

say Jesus This situation, these situations in

my life, they are not from you. They are confusion

and they are a wind that is blowing. But just

as Jesus spoke to the wind, you can speak to

the confusion and you can say, peace, be still.

And why can you do that? Because you are the

head and you are not the tail. You are in control

as the Holy Spirit is in control of you. Praise

God. Is this speaking to where anybody is at?

When your finances get pulled every direction,

you just need to stop a moment. And you need

to say, God, I just thank you that you are in

control of my finances. I have given you my tithe.

I have paid. I have worshipped you with my financial

life. I have put you first. And so God, I speak

peace to my finances in the name of Jesus. And

I thank you that you are in control in the name

of the Lord. Oh, hallelujah. God is not the author

of confusion. He is the author of peace. Glory

to God. Do you know that word for confusion could

be translated instability? God is not the author

of instability. He is the author of peace. I'm

not preaching on finances this morning. but there

is a prescription in the Word of God to bring

peace to your finances and when we Obey the Lord

in that prescription for our lives Then peace

comes in his peace comes in to our finances.

Hallelujah. I want to say praise God for that

glory to God number three You are prone to deception

You are prone to deception you are chasing your

tail if you are prone to deception in Luke chapter

Luke 21 · chapter mention

21 in verse 8 Jesus said take heed that you are

not deceived deceived In fact, there are seven

or eight times in the New Testament alone where

the Bible says, do not be deceived. And one of

the primary tools of darkness of the enemy is

to deceive God's people. When we're prone to

deception, it veers us away from the Word of

God. Now, the enemy doesn't come in, you know,

dressed up Dressed up with horns and a tail and

say here. I am I'm trying to deceive you It doesn't

work that way the enemy masquerades the Bible

says as an angel of light and he will speak something

to you that is partially true and partial truths

can lead you in the wrong direction and it's

why You and I need to know the word of God. Amen.

Somebody shared with me last week that said,

you're not supposed to seek gifts from God. You're

only supposed to seek the giver. How many of

you have heard that? Did you know it's not true?

It sounds good, but it is not true. I am seeking

the giver. I'm in love with Jesus. But he came

to give us gifts. And he wants his sons and daughters

to ask him for gifts. Every good and perfect

gift comes from the Father of heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows. Your

children don't come to you and say, I don't want

anything from you, I just want you. No, they

don't do that. I'm hungry, Mom. I'm hungry, Dad.

I need some money. I need the car. When they

get older, I need the car. You're like, get your

own car. What do they do they ask you for things

and did you know that that is not wrong? In Ephesians

4 the Bible says that Jesus descended Specifically

to give gifts to the church Gifts in first Corinthians

in first Corinthians 12 it ends and it says it

says covet that you should prophesy. That means

you should want the gift of prophecy. Praise

God. Now, he goes on and he says, now I will

show you a more excellent way. How many of you

appreciated the message Pastor Ben preached a

couple of weeks ago? Wasn't that awesome on love?

If you are not here, you need to go and you need

to listen to it on our YouTube channel on the

love of God. But how many of you would say, I

don't need your love, Lord. I just need you.

That is ridiculous. We need the love of the Father.

It is a gift from Him. We need everything that

He has. We need the giver. We need the gift.

When we don't know the Word of God, we're prone

to deception. And we get on the wrong track.

Oh, I'm not supposed to ask for healing. I'm

just supposed to seek God. Well, you are supposed

to seek God, but it is okay to ask Him for healing.

It is okay to ask Him. In fact, He said that

one of the gifts is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus said that we should ask Him for the

Holy Spirit. And He will give it to us. Praise

God. Don't be deceived. Deception can happen

when some things are wrong in our life. Deception

can happen when we're in love with the spirit

of the world. Deception can happen when we put

our feelings above the Word of God. Our generation

right now in America is proclaiming certain things

to be good or evil based upon how they feel about

them. When feelings are your basis, you are prone

to deception. We need to learn the Word of God

because morality is never dictated by the feelings

of a culture. Morality is dictated by what the

Word of God says. And His morality through the

Old and New Testament is consistent. He never

changes. And so, friend, while I thank God for

feelings, I love feelings. I love to feel His

presence. I love to, you know what I love? I

love... See, I leave here sometimes, and I like

to watch movies where they shoot people. I'm

sorry, it's just true. I like to watch movies

where things blow up. Where people punch each

other. Is that terrible for a pastor to admit?

I'm just being honest with you. Why? Because

I like how it makes me feel. I like it how it

makes me feel when the Cubs win. I don't like

how I feel when the Cubs lose. But I thank God

for feelings. God has feelings. We have feelings

because God has feelings and we're made in His

image. But we are not led by our feelings. We

are led by the eternal Word of God. And if you

want to be blown about by every wind of doctrine

and every internet teacher that comes along,

you will be prone to deception. In the end times,

Jesus said that many teachers will come and they

will preach things that are not of God. They

will get you majoring on things that God does

not major on. They will get your life in the

wrong direction and it will steal from your calling.

The enemy really doesn't care if you're deceived

or not. Do you know what the enemy cares about?

whether you are effective or not and He wants

to deceive you so that you're no longer effective

in your calling Get you focused on the wrong

things If you're deceived you're chasing your

tail You find yourself trying to convince people

of things that don't even matter Ephesians 4

Right after he talks about the fivefold ministry

apostle prophet pastor teacher evangelist He

says that the church should be trained up no

longer children tossed to and fro and carried

about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery

of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful

plotting. But speaking the truth in love may

grow up in all things into him who is the head,

Christ. from whom the whole body joined and knit

together by what every joint supplies according

to the effective working by which every part

does its share causes growth of the body for

the edifying of itself in love. Hallelujah. Isn't

that a good word? And so he wants you to grow

up in Christ. Amen. How many of you have got

growing up to do in Christ? My hand is up. I'm

going to grow up in Christ. I'm going to learn.

I'm going to give myself to the Word of God.

I'm going to become what God wants me to be.

You need to know the truth, not because the pastor

said it, not because somebody on Facebook said

it. You need to know the truth because God said

it and His Word said it. Amen? Number four, this

is the one. This is my last point on chasing

your tail, and then I've got a few remarks to

conclude with. You're chasing your tail when

you subject yourself to the control of others.

The spirit of manipulation. Manipulation is a

demonic tool to get others to do your will. It

is power hungry. It's rooted in deception, often

fear -based. Manipulation manifests relationships

of all kinds. God has not called us to be manipulated.

I always cringe when I... See certain people

receive the offering because I believe in generosity

and I believe in tithing and I believe in giving

But sometimes the people taking the offering

are operating in a spirit of manipulation Trying

to manipulate people into giving Does anybody

here appreciate being manipulated? No If you

give, you wanna give because you're a cheerful

giver. And it is out of the abundance of your

own heart and generosity, amen? Because nobody

likes being manipulated. If you are the tail

and not the head, you will open yourself up to

being manipulated. Romans chapter 12. Verse 9

Romans 12 · chapter mention

says let love be without hypocrisy Let love be

without hypocrisy some translations say let it

be genuine Marriage is often a breeding ground

for manipulation Am I telling the truth? But

God wants love that we have for one another to

be genuine, to be sincere, to be open. My wife

and I joke about each other a lot from the pulpit.

I hope that you don't take that as if we despise

each other. It's our it is actually a form of

wonderful affection Love is genuine and honest

and that's what marriage should be free communication

Perhaps you are in a situation where you feel

like you are always walking on eggshells and

I cannot communicate in my own marriage. It might

be because of a spirit of manipulation. You are

afraid that you are going to offend your partner.

God wants us to have open and honest sharing.

I am not afraid to say anything to my wife. She

is not afraid to say anything to me The peanut

gallery speaks again Love is to be without hypocrisy

First John 418 says there is no fear in love

I Want to say that again there is no fear love.

I want to call the husbands in the room to foster

an atmosphere where your wife never is afraid

to speak. Somebody say amen. Foster an atmosphere

in your home where there is a freedom of expression.

Hallelujah. In fact it goes on and says perfect

love casts out fear. Because fear involves torment

He who fears has not been made perfect in love

if you operate in a spirit of manipulation You

are operating in the spirit of fear and the enemy

is actually using you He who fears has not been

made perfect in love I Read a children's track

Actually, my wife read it to me. She said, this

is a children's track. It said this, if you haven't

prayed the prayer to receive Jesus Christ, you're

going to burn in hell forever. It said that on

the children's track. Remember when I said you

can say true things? But not be sharing the heart

of God Jesus doesn't want us to serve him because

we're afraid He has went to the cross inviting

us to come to deliver us We cannot manipulate

people into the kingdom of God Well, how does

manipulation what does it look like what does

manipulation look like guilt -tripping Now I

know none of you have ever been guilty of this

Guilt -tripping putting a guilt trip on people

for not doing what you want them to do Silent

treatment That is the spirit of manipulation.

Silent treatment. Some of you are laughing. Some

of you are squirming. Belittling. Constantly

tearing down. The withholding of affection. It's

the spirit of manipulation The withholding of

affection Talking about your spouse with your

friends So that you can have more ammunition

Am I telling the truth this is the spirit of

manipulation. Blame shifting and never taking

personal responsibility. It is all manipulation.

Now, if you have ever been used in manipulation,

then I call you to come under the conviction

of the Holy Spirit and repent in Jesus' name.

Honey, I am sorry for the way. I treated you

isn't that an awesome thing to say Okay, everybody

repeat after me honey. I am sorry for the way.

I treated you That is an awesome thing to say

You know what we need we need marriages that

have freedom and open communication Do you know

that my wife does not believe everything that

I believe? I know it's hard for you to believe

that, but it is true. There are things that we

can have very nice discussions about that we

don't see eye to eye on. And do you know what?

She is free to believe differently than me about

some things. We're not talking about major things

our people is you know our people saved through

the name of Jesus Of course she believes that

do people need to be filled with the Holy Spirit

of course she believes that but there there are

some things That that I consider to be important

that she does not consider to be important imagine

that Do you know what we are still in love with

each other? and it's good. I've only had one

person ever come to me and say, pastor, thank

you for preaching on manipulation. Do you know

the master manipulator in the Old Testament was

Jezebel? She controlled her husband Ahab. He

had no spine. He was he was in stable insecure

and She is the queen manipulator of the Old Testament

and Only one time in my whole ministry of 30

years has anybody ever come up to me and say

Thank you pastor for preaching on that because

I have been a manipulator Would you pray for

me? That I would be free manipulation. Normally,

when we hear this kind of a message, we're thinking

of somebody else. But who in here will say, God

search my heart. God deliver me. God have your

way in me. Want to go to one verse It's not in

my notes That I believe the Lord has dropped

in my heart in first Corinthians chapter 7 Would

1 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

you go there with me and I'm gonna close with

this this is an awesome passage for married couples

Not just married couples, this is Paul talking

about marriage Commandments that he gives to

single people, to married people. But let's look

at verse 10. Now to the married I command, yet

not I but the Lord, a wife is not to depart from

her husband. But even if she does depart let

her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her

husband The husband is not to divorce his wife

But to the rest I not the Lord say now listen

to this It's in the Word of God. I believe it's

very important even though Paul Paul is saying

this is more my feeling but listen to this If

any brother has a wife who does not believe and

She is willing to live with him let him not divorce

her and so Men if your wife is not a believer

and she's willing that the the Gist of what Paul

is saying is she is willing to allow you to live

the lifestyle of a believer without contingencies.

It means she's not going to put pressure on you

when you go to church, when you put God first.

If she's willing to live with you, as you follow

Christ, even though she doesn't, then the two

of you are to walk together through life. And

then vice versa. If a woman has a husband who

does not follow Christ, if he is willing to live

with her Let her not divorce him Now I ask you

who in this situation is the head The believer

is the head The believer is the one that sets

the tone Honey, I gave my life to Christ last

night. I know you're not ready to follow Jesus

yet But I want you to know that Jesus is now

first in my life I'm gonna be gathering with

God's people. You're gonna have to be okay with

that I'm gonna lay my life down for Jesus. He's

first When he speaks to me, I'm gonna follow

him You have to be okay with that. Are you okay

with that? And if your spouse says no, are you

supposed to just do what the spouse says? No,

you are supposed to follow Jesus with your whole

heart. Your spouse is free to go. It's difficult.

It's tough. But you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

You are the head and you are not the tail. Married

couple. If your spouse backslides, it is not

permission for you to backslide with her, with

him. You keep pressing into God. Why? Because

you are the tail. Do you know how many husbands

and wives I've seen backslide together? They

move away from God together. They influence each

other. But I guarantee you this, if I backslide,

my wife will not. If I backslide, she will keep

serving God. I guarantee you this, if she backslides,

I will keep serving God. I will keep going after

God with my whole heart because Jesus is first

in my life. I'm not going to become the tail

and chase everything around. God has made me

the head because I'm following Him. You are the

head and not the tail. I'm sorry that serving

Jesus upsets you, honey. But you're gonna have

to find a way to deal with it because I'm gonna

keep serving Jesus. Come on, somebody give God

praise. I'm going to keep putting Him first.

Now does this mean there's never any reasonable

compromise? I'm not saying that. But in general,

you go after God. Is this okay this morning?

How many of you want to be the head and not the

tail? We've got to embrace it. We've got to start

rising up in who's God called us to be. We've

got to become the men and women of God. He's

giving us that opportunity. To follow Jesus I

have decided To follow Jesus I have decided To

follow Jesus No turning back Though none go with

me Still I will follow Though none go with me

Still I will follow Though none go with me Still

I will follow turning back the cross before me

the world beyond me the cross before me the world

behind me the cross before me the world Now if

you want to be the head and not the tail, it

starts with obedience. It doesn't mean you're

perfect. It doesn't mean that you will never

fail. It just means that with everything in me,

I'm gonna be a follower of Christ. I want you

to just stand up, join these that are standing

all over this place. And just say, God, that's

my desire. Lord, all over this place, as people

are standing before you, they're wanting to step

into the call. call of God in their lives to

please Jesus. Lord, deliver us from the fear

of man. If you've been under the fear of man,

just repent of that right now in the name of

Jesus. If you've been under the fear of your

friend, you've been under the fear of your spouse,

you've been under the fear of anybody, just repent

of that in the name of Jesus. God, you're the

one that I should fear. I'm gonna live for you.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God, just put your hand

over your heart right now. Lord, I am asking

that you would keep us from deception. You said

for us to pray, deliver us from the evil one.

And he speaks the language of deception. We don't

have to be afraid that somehow we're gonna be

deceived. We just have to keep our eyes on Jesus,

keep our heart in the word of God, and keep our

lives. Moving your direction God and so I pray

that you would deliver us from deception and

keep our hearts clean and pure God in this world

where everybody is so hardened by the deceitfulness

of sin Keep our hearts pliable and moldable in

the name of Jesus and soft before you God keep

us tender hearted toward you in Jesus name God,

I ask right now that you would set this church

free from manipulation Hallelujah. Oh my god.

I pray that you would set homes free in Jesus

name I pray that you would set marriages free

in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah God, I thank

you that we are that we are free as sons and

daughters We don't use our freedom as an opportunity

to indulge in the flesh, but we use it to to

choose to serve one another God I thank you for

freedom in conversation and how we feel God I

thank you for atmospheres of freedom in our homes

God I pray in Jesus name That the spirit of manipulation

will come off of your church Hallelujah God you've

called your people to be the head and not the

tail engaging in triumphal procession Going about

from victory to victory In Jesus name we give

ourselves to you And everybody said, Amen. Friends,

the work of God is happening in hearts around

this room right now. Embrace His Word. Let His

Word get inside of you and set you free. In Jesus'

name.