Partnership with the Holy Spirit Part 4: Matthew 13:15 - Prepare 2020

You're listening to this expedition of the road.

But here's what I'm saying.

If you truly love Jesus, and consider yourself one of his powerers, I want to challenge you as we enter this year.

Are you turning off the world message and focusing on the destiny God is calling you to live out?

Are you tuning all that stuff out and trying to focus on the destiny God's calling you to?

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We hope you are encouraged by today's message.

I want to read Proverbs 129 to 33 and go through this a little bit, and then I want to get into kind of the meat of what I want to share with you.

And I would my assignment tonight is I the Steve has been talking to us about partnering with the Holy Spirit.

And really, what Steve has been talking about, and what you hear a lot from this pulpit, is the importance of our relationship with God, with Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit in order to have the kind of power in our life to be able to live life the way God is calling us to live life, to be the men and women God is calling us to be.

That is really the essential message.

What we're going to talk about tonight is how to apply that power or what are some of the forces that are coming against us, practically speaking, in our culture today, and help reveal the proper approach to that and the proper understanding of that in order to kind of validate the importance of having God in us so that we can respond in the right way.

Proverbs 129 to 33, let's read this and unpack it for just a moment.

Because they hated knowledge, and this is really talking about, I believe, talking about the world we live in today as much as any other verse I've come across.

The world we live in today, the people that are out there today in our culture today, they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord.

And that doesn't mean fear in this context doesn't mean cower in a corner and be afraid of God.

It means revere God, be in awe of God.

We're not in awe of God in our culture today, but because they did not do that, they would have none of my counsel, he says, and despised every rebuke.

Therefore they shall listen, eat the fruit of their own way.

In other words, they're going to bear the consequences of the way that they're going.

And Steve has been talking about bearing fruit, bearing good fruit.

Good fruit comes from the good tree.

In this case, in our culture, there's not a lot of good stuff there, but they're going to bear the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies, for the turning away of the simple will slay them.

And listen, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

But whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear or evil.

Isn't that good?

If we are listening to God, if we have the kind of relationship with God that we're called to have, we have nothing to fear.

And when evil comes, we will recognize it.

However, Mark 13, 22, the Bible warns us that in the end times, even the elect can be fooled and be deceived.

How many of you know there's a tremendous amount of deception in our world today, in our culture today?

And what I'm concerned about is that many of us who call ourselves followers of Christ are being are succumbing to some of the deception.

I'll tell you guys, this is where we are today.

I have never seen so much division in our country, honestly, probably since slavery.

And you all know what happened with slavery.

What did that end up with?

We ended up with a civil war.

It would not surprise me.

I believe in some ways that we're headed in this culture without the intervention of God or something major happening to unite us and bring us together, we could be headed for a civil war in this country.

That's how bad things are getting.

Christian persecution is rampant and it's growing.

Steve talked about it last night, guys.

Persecution is there, it's coming.

We shouldn't fear that.

In fact, in many ways, that's where the church really shines the brightest.

But are we prepared for it?

That's what this whole Prepare 2020 is attempting to do, is to prepare us for this.

Now, how did we get here?

In the article, this is what I wrote.

I believe it's a very calculated process brought about by a few wealthy global elites in order to destroy our nation and the values we have stood upon since our formation.

I believe that's true.

I believe there's a deliberate attempt to destroy everything that we believe in for the sake of the God of globalization.

Okay, today, with the help of deep state-owned and run media and the dumbing down of our entire educational system, we are people who are literally blind to what is really happening.

We're subjecting ourselves, there's a lot of smoke in mirrors, we're being led like sheep down different paths.

There's no such thing as truth anymore.

Certainly they don't want this truth.

Okay, truth is all relative.

Oh, you can have your truth.

I have my truth.

What makes your truth any more truthful than my truth?

Okay, so truth is not there anymore.

And then what happens is we form opinions based on the latest soundbite or the latest fad or the latest uh something I heard from a teacher or wherever it might be, and there's very little critical thought put behind our belief system.

And so when we get to that point, listen, here's what happens, guys.

We only look for evidence that supports my truth.

We won't they we won't accept anybody else's evidence.

There's no dialogue anymore.

You're obviously wrong, and I'm obviously right.

And so we've lost all ability to apply critical thought.

And what that leads to is everybody lining up in their own camp.

And so they have everybody has their own worldview and their own ideology, and if you don't agree with me, then there's something wrong with you.

And that's what gets us to where we are today.

How many of you know that today character assassination, going after people, is like commonplace anymore?

But do you really know what's happening?

You know the reason why we attack people?

Let me tell you something, guys.

This is not about Donald Trump or Nancy Pelosi.

That's a smokescreen.

What you've got to look for is everybody wants you to focus on the person.

Because if I can get you to somehow uh downgrade what you think about that person, you will not look at what they stand for and the ideologies that are behind them.

And what happens is we end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

We buy into the lie that because that person did this or said that, wow, we should get rid of it.

Look, we just had a major national magazine publication calling for the removal of our president, knowing, listen, this is an evangelical publication.

You guys know who I'm talking about.

Knowing full well that if that were to happen, the party on the and the ideology on the uh other side, which is, and make no mistake about it, anti-God, will probably assume power.

Knowing that that's going to happen, they're calling for the that's not spiritual blindness, that's spiritual stupidity.

I'm sorry.

Okay?

Because we're not thinking big picture, we're not looking beyond the people, and we're focusing on the person.

So I don't know about you, but I am tired of listening and watching all the stuff that's happening on television and on the news.

Three years ago, I decided to turn all news off.

I haven't watched news in three years.

And the way I get my information is on the internet, I'll I'll I'll maybe bring up a Fox News app or some other news app, and I'll look at maybe a headline.

And if I think it's appropriate, I might look at what what they're trying to communicate, but I won't get sucked into the what we call the 24-hour news cycle.

You guys know what I'm talking about.

You get addicted to it, you start watching it, and I'm Italian, so I yell at the screen, you know, and I get really upset and my blood pressure goes up.

And I thought, and I have never felt so free, guys, in that I don't do that.

I just I refuse.

And some of you may have to do that.

Steve talked a little bit about that.

You were you were a news junkie too.

I mean, I was I was really into it, man.

And I just I said, no more.

And as a follower of Christ, I began to be become ashamed because I wasn't uh paying enough attention to really the the source of the real truth, which is right here.

This is what I this is what I should be looking at, what I should be reading, but I'm I'm consuming all this nonsense.

Okay?

Now, let me let me just say this to you, and I'm gonna cover some things very quickly, but here's what I'm saying: if you truly love Jesus and consider yourself one of his followers, I want to challenge you as we enter this year.

Are you turning off the world's message and focusing on the destiny God is calling you to live out?

Are you tuning all that stuff out and trying to focus on the destiny God's calling you to?

Here are some important ideas that I want you to consider.

Number one, as a follower of Christ, begin asking this question.

Is it possible that I may be being deceived?

Just ask yourself that question.

Is it possible that all of the stuff that you're consuming and all of these things that are extra-biblical that are coming at you, is it possible that there could be some deception there?

Okay, and if so, then pray, God, whatever deception may be coming my way, I pray, Lord, that you give me discernment, supernatural discernment.

That's why a partnership with the Holy Spirit is so desperately important, guys.

In Psalm 146.8, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

He does.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.

As we bow down to him and we submit to him and humble ourselves and call out to him, Lord, don't let me be deceived.

He will open your eyes.

You just have to ask him to do it.

Don't be deceived.

Understand, there are no more gray areas in our culture, guys.

Our nation is divided, and good and evil have never been, listen, never been so clearly defined as they are today.

And I'm sorry, listen, if if you think, if you look at the ideologies that are out there today, the two major ideologies, if you go over on one side and and you line up all of the things that this ideology stands for, okay, and you go right down the list of all the things that they stand for, okay, and some of it is really anti-God.

And and someone said uh to me the other day, they said, you know what, uh, we gotta be careful not to.

Sometimes we talk about uh political stuff too much in the church.

You know what I say to that?

That's stupid.

Okay?

Uh I tell them where to go.

You need to go straight to, you know, the H-word, heaven.

Go straight to heaven.

And then you go tell God, God, you know, I'm sick and tired of all your people getting involved in politics.

You you know, you know what God would say to you?

Let me tell you what God would say to you.

He'd say, uh, excuse me, could you name one thing that you define as political, that at its core is not moral and biblical.

Just one.

Name one.

You can't.

But we've allowed the world to intimidate us to where we can't talk about that because it's political.

I'm sorry, guys, that's a bunch of nonsense.

Now, how we approach the world with what we believe is really important, critically important.

The last time I spoke here or the time before, I brought a message called A Real Christianity in an unreal world.

If you want to know how you should respond as a lover of Jesus in a culture gone mad, you can go back into the archive and watch that message.

How we respond is important.

It's really more important than that we respond, because sometimes the way we respond does more damage than it does good.

But at the end of the day, we've got a whole firm, guys.

These are not political issues.

So if you line all these all these things here on this side of the of the ideology up, and then you go over here to the other side, and this is the other side's not perfect either, but you line them all up and you just do an inventory of all of these different things.

If you can't discern the difference between good and evil, then I question whether you're truly a follower of Christ.

I know that may rock some of your world, but seriously, guys, look at the substance behind the messenger.

Look at what they stand for.

Because at the end of the day, here's what we are, here's the question.

As a voter, here's the qu here's the question you have to ask yourself.

Is what I am voting for or allowing to take root in our culture and to take leadership under that rubric, under that ideology, here's the question.

What are we here for?

As a body, as a as a as a as a church.

We're here to what?

Advance the kingdom of God.

Are we not?

Four of you think we are.

Are we not?

Yes.

So here's the question.

Under which ideology will it be easier for me to advance God's kingdom?

It's that simple, guys.

And if you can't tell uh which one, then you've got a serious problem.

Because one ideology, one way that we go, takes God out of everything.

How many of you know that's what the attempt is right now?

Taking God out of everything.

Okay?

There are no more gray areas.

Isaiah 5, 20, 21, woe to those who call evil good and good evil.

Is that where we are?

God never seen anything like it, guys.

I mean, stuff that I used to think common sense evil, man, people are calling good.

It's unbelievable.

Who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

Wow, this is where we are.

We need to take our eyes off of people.

It is about what they stand for.

Ask yourself the question, which ideology?

I've already covered that.

If you make, I think I've already covered some of these notes.

And here's the other thing.

Uh, quit falling for the lie.

I'm sorry for the PowerPoint, guys.

I'm ahead of myself, but quit falling for the lie that everything is about politics.

I covered that.

Prepare yourself for the battles to come by being in the Word, praying, and worshiping God.

Listen, guys, every day.

How many times did Pastor Steve have to say that?

I mean, he said it over and over and over again.

Guys, this is not rocket science.

This is where our life comes from.

I read this the other day, and I forget, I think this was Oswald Chambers.

Listen to this.

The title of it is Worship.

And in Genesis 12, 8, it says this.

He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.

There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

The commentary he writes about that is this Bethel, listen, is a symbol of fellowship with God.

Ai is a symbol of the world.

Okay?

Abram, at this point, pitched his tent between the two, which is where we are.

The lasting value, listen, of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with him.

Let me repeat that.

The lasting value of your and my public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with him.

Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time.

There is always plenty of time to worship God.

Days set apart for quiet can be a trap.

Distracting, uh detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God.

I I fall into that trap.

I fall in that trap.

Here's the trap.

Well, you know, I came to I came to the to the Prepare 2020 tonight, so I don't have to read my Bible today.

I'm gonna, tonight I'm, or I'm going to church on Sunday.

I've done my God thing for today.

I'm sorry, guys.

That's not your God thing.

God desires private alone time with him, crawling up in his lack, being intimate with him.

This is what he wants from us.

Don't get distracted.

This is why we must pitch our tents where we will always have quiet times with him.

However noisy our times with the world may be.

There are not three levels of spiritual life: worship, waiting, and work.

Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting and then from waiting to work.

God's idea is that the three should be together as one.

They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony.

It is a discipline that must be developed, but it will not happen overnight.

That's why, guys, we're we're calling all of us to make commitments this year, uh, especially in this area, to really get our act together.

Here's the the last one I have here.

If you are a man, take the responsibility for being the spiritual head of your family seriously.

That was one of my last points.

And another thing that I read kind of, remember what happened with Noah and the building of the Ark?

I read this again.

This is another devotional I read.

It's kind of funny that I'm putting this message together and I had these two devotionals back to back, which were really kind of cool.

Uh for us men, if we take the responsibility of being spiritual heads of our families seriously, listen to what this illustration of what happened with Noah.

The children of Noah faced a significant decision.

They lived in a world where everyone blatantly disregarded God.

If you remember what the world was like when Noah built the Ark, it was pretty bad.

It was really, really pretty bad.

Uh wickedness was the norm.

No one would have condemned Noah's sons for living evil lives like the rest of society.

No one except their father, the man, the head of the family, in a world rampant with ungodly attitudes and every form of wicked behavior, they were fortunate to be Noah's sons.

Wouldn't it be great if our families were to say of us as men, we're fortunate to be that for him to be my dad or for to be my granddad or my uncle or whatever it might be.

Okay?

When their father invited them to spend the next hundred years building an ark in obedience to the word of God, Noah's sons had to choose whether to believe those around them or to trust their father.

They chose to join their father.

What a wonderful testimony of Noah's godly influence in his home.

How fortunate for Shem, Ham, and Japheth that their father refused to compromise his integrity, even though everyone else in his society had done so.

What is the most importance here is not the circumstances that existed around them when they were building the ark.

Rather, it is Noah's response.

It's our response to these things as spiritual heads of our homes that are important.

In the midst of evil and tragic circumstances, he maintained his intimacy with God.

Okay, that was his greatest testimony, which enabled him to become the sound voice or calming influence to the family God had entrusted to him.

And guys, I'm talking to you now.

And this is true for women as well.

You, and there are a lot of women here that you're not married, or maybe you're a single mom.

It's just as important for all of us who are in this position of leadership to bring that calming influence.

Here's what's not a calming influence.

Oh, man, did you hear what they said?

Did you hear that?

I can't believe that they're doing that sort of thing.

I can't believe that they're what do you think our kids are getting from stuff like that?

They're getting anxiety, they're they're picking up our fear.

We should have a calming influence.

We should be reminding people of how important it is for us to focus and gaze upon the face of God, not the world and what the world is doing.

And we don't have a lot of that today, guys.

As a man, we should become a Jeremiah man, I call it.

Jeremiah, you remember, you know, you know, in Lamentations 3.22, Jeremiah is standing on the rubble of a on a hill looking over the rubble of a destroyed city.

It looks pretty gloomy, okay?

The place is completely destroyed, but what does Jeremiah say?

He says, Because of the Lord's great love, what we're not what consumed.

We're not consumed.

For his compassions never fail.

They are new, how often?

Come on, guys, how often?

Every morning.

Great is your faithfulness.

That's the kind of man I want to be with my family.

But I I admit I fall into the trap.

Of looking at stuff, looking at circumstances and going, man, I can't believe that.

And what do you think our kids do when we do that?

They go out and do the same thing?

You know, that's really stupid.

That's really dumb.

We need to be a calming influence.

Stay focused on Jesus and remember this is his battle, not yours.

It's his battle.

It is a spiritual one that requires spiritual preparedness if we are to be victorious warriors for him.

And then finally, as we go into 2020 with a renewed sense of boldness, commit to leave the baggage behind.

You've been hearing that through Steve.

You've been hearing that from this platform when it comes to our worship times over and over and again, the songs that we've been singing about leaving the baggage and the mistakes and disappointments behind.

Isaiah 43, 18 and 19 is uh we've you've heard it here before, one of my favorite verses in all the Bible.

It simply is a command to forget the former things.

Forget them.

Do not dwell on the past.

See, he says, I'm doing a new thing.

Now it springs up.

Do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

And there are many of you here tonight, and you've got wilderness places in your life, desert places in your life.

And God is saying in his word that he's going to make a way.

God will make a way.

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