On Earth As - Week 3

So I just wanted to give you that little tool,

and right now I want us to continue in our series.

On Earth Asks.

Today I want to talk to you about.

Enemies of the faith and how we deal with those things.

If you've got a Bible, go to Psalm 139. Psalm 139,

and we'll start reading in verse 19.

Psalm 139, verse 19, say, Amen if you're there.

Psalms 139:19

Psalm 139 verse 19, kind of right in the middle

Psalms 139:19

of the book. If you just kind of open the

book to the middle, it's really close right there. Psalm

Psalms 139:19

139 verse 19, let's read. It says, Oh, that you

would slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore,

you bloodthirsty men. For they speak against you wickedly.

Your enemies take your name in vain.

Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you?

And do I.

Not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate

them with perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Search me,

O God, and know my heart. Try me and know

my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way

in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Oh, we don't usually read those from the pulpit, do we?

Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your mercy and

your grace.

I thank you for who you are and all that

we can be in you. And right now, Lord, I

pray that you plant your word at the fabric of

our being and you bring a harvest of life. Lord,

let us leave here differently than we came.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen and amen.

We read this passage of scripture and it's easy to

just say, oh, well, that's in the Old Testament, that's Psalms.

That's not really what it means. I want to tell

you that is what it means. When David is praying this,

he's looking at militant forces that are coming against his

God and God's people.

And he says, hey, I.

I hate them, God. I mean, am I not right

for hating them? How do we marry these scriptures?

Because the Old Testament is full of these scriptures. Amen?

How do we marry scriptures like that?

And then when we get over to the New Testament

where he says, love your neighbor as yourself. Because those

seem like the opposite extremes and.

The opposite ends.

Of ideologies of thought processes and we just most of

the time simply say oh well jesus said it in

the new testament so we just leave all that other

alone but i want you to realize that just because

the old testament said i mean just because the new

testament says something we don't throw the old testament away

just because we have a new testament The Old Testament

is still God's Word. Every word of it is God-breathed

and inspired. Just like the New Testament is. Now, if

there is a direct conflict, if Jesus looks at something

and he says, I'm replacing this, then yeah, he's replacing it.

But until we get to that place, we have to

reconcile these things as believers.

And it's hard to do.

Because a lot of times we look at it.

And we feel persecuted.

So we want to hate the person that's persecuting us.

But I need you to understand that that is not

what it's talking about. It's not talking about my boss

who wants me to be on time.

Amen?

It's not my doctor who charges me a copay and

then sends me that sneaky bill the next week.

Come on, somebody. Not what it's talking about.

It's not talking about the person that engineered the traffic

lights in Oakwood and you get stopped by every one

of them.

That's not.

That's not, it's talking about people who are militant against

God himself. Not against me, but against God himself. And

then I reconcile that somehow with the fact that there

are people who participate in the plan of the enemy.

That there are people who are being used by the enemy.

And I want you to know that there are militant

forces who hate our God. That there are groups and

ideologies who are not just indifferent to our God, but

who are set against our God. Modern day, listen to me,

modern day Philistines who send the champion on the battlefield

and challenge God's people and say.

I defy you and the God that you serve.

That's what Goliath did. Goliath stood on the battlefield and

he defamed the name of Jesus. Let's jump over to

the New Testament, to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John

1 John 2 · chapter mention 1 John 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, starting in verse 20. It says, but you

have an anointing from the Holy One. I want you

to stop right there and put your hand right here

on your chest. Everybody, put your hand on your chest

right here and say, me. Me.

I am anointed.

Calvin, stop repeating me. Because you're going to repeat everything

I say for the next 20 minutes. Oh! But you

have an anointing from the Holy One.

Listen, and you know all things. That's what Scripture says.

I love you, buddy. You know I'm just aggravating you.

You know all I.

Have not written to you because you do not know

the truth. I want you to listen to the seriousness

of the words here.

What he's saying.

He said, listen, you already know these things. And I

didn't write to you because you didn't know these things.

I'm writing to you because you do know these things.

Every person in here realizes that there is hostility towards

the kingdom.

Every one of us.

But we choose to live in a culture which has

tolerance and isolates us from certain things so that we

never think about those things and it's a detriment to

our relationship with Jesus. He says, I'm not written to

you because you do not know the truth because you

know it.

And that no lie is of the truth. Who is

a liar? Who is a liar?

But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He

is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever

denies the Son does not have the Father either. He

who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. When we

look around and we see ideologies that deny the Son,

that deny the.

Truth of what we hold.

That set themselves against everything that we know, those are

enemies of the kingdom.

Amen?

And there is one prevailing enemy of the kingdom that

we don't want to talk about because we're kind of

afraid of it. See, we like to make up titles

and we like to make up.

All these labels for things.

Raise your hand if you've ever heard this label recently

in the news. Right-wing conservative Christian nationalist.

Raise your hand.

And we put these titles on everything and that one

is to try to create a.

View of extremism.

Amen? Amen. The reality is, is that, and listen, if

you are not conservative in your moral values, you might

not be Christian. There are some tags that go together, right? Now,

I'm not saying you have to vote Republican. It's not

what I'm saying. As a matter of fact, when it

comes down to it, don't care who you vote for

as long as you lift up Jesus. Amen. Amen. I'm

more concerned with your heart towards Jesus than I am

the ballot box. And I'll say some people, I'll say

some things that might shock you because we're getting close

to election season. Amen? My whole life, most of my

whole life, I have voted Republican. But I don't consider

myself a Republican. I believe that everybody wants government to

be too big. I believe that if you're serving in government,

you want it to be too big. I think we

should reduce.

The size of government. Amen?

I think that if we think the road needs to

be paved out here, me and Larry should get together

and figure out who can come pave the road and

call them and get them to come pave the road.

Amen?

I think that we can probably handle issues like that.

Amen?

Amen? I think that we can take care of some.

Of those issues.

I think that those things are disproportionate, and I think

we get our eyes on those things, and then when

we hear these things like Christian nationalists.

We were oh am I that.

And is that bad is that wrong here's another one

let me um but let me let me throw this

phrase out to you how many of you have ever

heard the phrase radical Islamic terrorist That's another one of

those labels, but let me show you.

This one, even.

Though it sounds the same, works in the opposite direction.

Rather than trying to create a group of people that

look volatile and hostile, this one tries to alleviate that

tension from a larger group of people.

But I want you to understand something. Radical Islam....

It's all Islam. I knew y'all wasn't going to shout

me down today. I knew you weren't, but it's okay.

Because here's the reality. If it's not radical, then it's

a nominal Islamist. Just like the world is full of

nominal Christians. In other words, they are by lip service,

but there's no real ideology that controls my life and

my actions and what I believe. See, there is a

very invasive movement that's happening. And listen, I know some

of y'all not going to come back after today.

It's okay. It's okay. I love y'all anyway.

But there is a militant agenda that is coming into, listen,

close proximity.

Here's the thing.

We used to be able to ignore it because it

lived on different continents and it acted on different continents

and it And it was over there an airplane away.

But now this ideology is moving in because the philosophy

of the classroom in one generation is the philosophy of

government in the next.

And we've allowed all these things to be taught and

lived out.

And now we see it rising into those levels of

decision makers.

And I want to tell you that it's.

Not just about whether somebody's going to have to cover

their head up or not.

It's an agenda against what we believe in the kingdom

of God.

And this, listen to me, not the people, but the

ideology is what David is talking about. There is an

agenda against my God and he calls it the spirit

of antichrist.

Anybody that denies. So I did a little research.

Surah 4, 171 and 573. I know you don't know

what that is unless you've read the Quran, but it's

kind of like our chapters and verses and their....

Deny the Trinity by name. By name. It says, this

is what a lie is.

Anybody who denies. 1, 12, and 3. Denies the Son

of God explicitly. 4, 157. Denies. denies the crucifixion explicitly.

Says it never happened. It was not done. They do

acknowledge Jesus as a good teacher.

But say he never died for your sins.

That is a militant agenda against what we believe.

And here's the thing.

Most people who don't agree with you, they're okay with

you believing what you want to believe.

Let me say that again.

They don't care what you believe either. You just go

on about your business. You may have a conflict. You

may have an argument.

Come on, somebody. Y'all don't argue. A debate.

You may have a debate with someone who identifies as

atheist or whatever. They go on about their way. But

let me tell you something.

Islam at its core ideology....

Cannot accept that you believe the way you believe because

it makes you their enemy. You know, I learned something

in this study that I didn't know. Did you know

the very first military action that the United States of

America ever partook in outside of North America was against

a Muslim regime in the Barbary States? This is what

Thomas Jefferson said after a meeting. He said, those Muslims

can't be trusted. Because they, listen, they cited religious, a

religious right.

To attack people that have done nothing to them.

Now listen, I ain't about to make a call for war.

That's not what I'm doing, okay? So some of y'all

are like getting ready. I can feel some of y'all

reaching down, checking the slide on your gun. That's not

what I'm doing. We're going to get to the end

of the.

Message soon, okay?

So don't be war crying and, you know, thinking about

how many rounds you got at home.

That's not what I'm talking about.

But there is a militant agenda that's coming after what

you believe and what you want your kids to believe

and what you want your grandkids to believe and what

you want your great-great-grandkids to believe. There's an agenda that

wants to steal that and hold it back. And if

we don't point in the other direction and understand who

God has called us to be, we will give ground

just like.

We've done in every other place.

That the enemy's tried to take ground because we have

become a powerless, passive people.

And God wants more for you than that.

God wants you to operate in his authority and his power.

You know, here's the thing about it is that most people,

when they begin to talk about Islam, everybody's hanging with me?

When most people talk about Islam, they'll say, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Those scriptures, no, no, no. See, that's not really it.

Because what about this and this and this? And here's

the thing. I will be honest. After doing the deep dive,

Surah 9, which is towards the end of their book,

is where most of those hostile texts indicate.

It's where most of them live. But here is a.

There's this concept in their scriptural analysis, and there's a

rule that they live by, just like there's rules to

biblical interpretation that we live by. Amen? And listen, if

you really want to know how to look at Scripture

the way that we're designed to look at Scripture, Pastor

Clay has got a great midweek group on biblical interpretation.

I don't think there's room for you in it right now,

but next term you might.

Need to get in. Listen, you can't get a tic-tac in.

His room with all the people that are in there.

That excites me because people want to learn about the Bible.

Amen. Amen.

It's the concept of abrogation, which means a latter revelation

trumps a previous revelation. So if all of those hostile

texts are at the end, that means all of those

revelations trump the other revelations that come earlier.

That's just the reality. They have a holy.

Texts just like we have a holy text.

But I want you to understand that it is a

false religion that is antichrist. It is a false religion

that is antichrist and we do not serve the same God.

Allah is not the same God as Jehovah. Not, not, not, not, not.

In Muhammad's journey, in his pilgrimage to find enlightenment, he

came across.

An idol that he identified with.

And he named that Allah. And he began to take

a militant evangelistic approach where people were forced to convert.

And then he became a very good statesman. Listen, he

became a very good salesman Very good salesman for his religion.

And he would go into places and this is what

he would say. Hey, no, you don't have to believe.

Into villages with an army, you don't have to believe.

But if you don't, there's consequences. And I want you

to know that the same mentality is still alive in

that agenda today. And we are called to be the

voice of God today. And to establish his kingdom right

here as a growing, living, expansive place that brings the

love of God and the inclusiveness to God to every

single person that we see. in second corinthians chapter 10

2 Corinthians 10:2

verse 2 it says but i beg you that when

i'm present i may not be bold with that confidence

by which i intend to be bold against some who

think of us as we walked according to the flesh

for though we walk in the flesh listen We do not.

War according to the flesh. Here's the thing.

The Bible says don't fear Him who can only kill

your body. Fear Him who controls your soul. The only

fear we live in is of God Almighty who holds

our souls in His hand.

But we live in fear of everything.

Everything.

We're afraid the thunderstorm is going to blow our chimney over.

I am sometimes.

We live in fear of this and that. But he says, listen,

don't fear any of those things. I'm calling you.

And I've equipped you and I've empowered you.

To be a kingdom citizen, an ambassador for Christ, the

representative with the authority to speak on the government's behalf,

on heaven's government's behalf, that's what an ambassador does. He says,

for though we walk in the flesh, we do not

war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our

warfare are not carnal. See, we missed this little shift

right here too.

Are not carnal, but.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but... Now,

the next word is mighty. Now watch this. He says,

if your weapons are carnal, they're not mighty. Oh, somebody

should be shouting me down. If your weapon is carnal,

it's not mighty. You got to see what it says

to know what it says. He says, but our weapons

of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God

for pulling down strongholds. for casting down arguments and every

high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,

bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ

and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience

is fulfilled. He says, I have equipped you and I

have empowered you and you do have weapons to fight

against this ideology that's pressing in against us and they're

not carnal.

They're spiritual and they're.

Mighty because when God is for you, no one can

stand against you. And he has given you the anointing

of God, the ministry of reconciliation to call people into

the kingdom. I know I'm more excited than normal, but

sometimes you just are. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, starting

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

in verse 1, it says, I charge you therefore before God.

And the Lord Jesus Christ. Who will be the judge

of the living and the dead. At his appearing in

his kingdom. Preach the word. Now I want you to understand.

He's not writing this to Pastor Steve. He's writing this

to everybody. He's writing that to us.

Say us.

That includes me. Yeah, I didn't mean me, I meant you. Yeah,

that includes you. Not as a whole, you as individuals.

He says, preach the word. Be ready in season and

out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure

sound doctrines.

I want to give you a statistic. And listen, I

want to let you in.

We changed the preaching calendar a little bit. In November,

we've got a sermon series coming up that I'm excited about.

It's called, can I tell them, Pastor Clay?

It's called AI and the End of the World. Come

on now. Amen. That sounds like y'all want to hear that.

So bring somebody with you. AI and the end of

the world.

Listen.

God is calling you to make a difference.

Says convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. Give

you another little thing here. Did you know the statistics

say 38% of all regular church attenders That means people

that regularly come to church, 38% get the majority of

their spiritual answers from AI.

So I want y'all to just look around.

To figure out which 4 out of 10 of y'all

are doing that. And y'all are laughing, but it says

that the numbers are the numbers, guys. I mean... Shepherd

Jones batted about 315, 320. So if he went 0

for 20, he was about to go on a tear

because the numbers are the numbers. They're statistics because they

lead to the whole. We're not exclusive in that. Because

we are shying away from sound doctrine because sound doctrine makes.

Us uncomfortable in the world in which we live.

It made people uncomfortable in the generation before us. It

made people uncomfortable in the generation before that because.

The gospel is offensive.

It offends the core humanity that we have. It offends

those things that we believe but are not true.

It is offensive. But it is freeing. But according to.

Their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will

heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their

ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables,

stories like a made-up God. But you be watchful in

all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist.

And this is the way he says this. Everybody look

at me.

I don't want to scare you. Fulfill your ministry. He

wasn't right.

Listen, he wasn't saying, hey, buddy Tim. Hey, my little

buddy Tim, my son in the Lord. If you can

get around to it, if you can work it in.

He said, let me tell you something, buddy. I'm coming

down there. Do not make me come down there. If

I have to come down there.

It's not going to be good. Do your job. Now

look at me.

Do your job. Your job. Stand against the encroaching... enemies

of our faith so that our children and our grandchildren

and their children have a place where they can still

gather and believe and know the name of Jesus. Because

it's not enough for us to kick this can down

the road. Now watch. The band can come and get ready.

Let's go back to Psalm chapter 139 just real quick.

Psalms 139 · chapter mention

Some of y'all look really and nervous.

I used to have this cat.

It got a really long tail. It would walk by

the rocker and you'd rock back on it and squeeze

its tail. And that thing, every time somebody would sit

in the rocker, it would just get this terrified and

it would shake all over. Y'all look like a long-tailed

cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

That's what y'all look like. Psalm chapter 139. This is

Psalms 139 · chapter mention

what he says after he says, listen, don't.

You know that I'm mad at those who hate you?

Don't you know that I'm furious? God, why aren't you

doing anything about it? And then he prefaces it with this,

which is what we all should do. Psalm 139, 23 says,

search me, oh God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my anxieties.

And see if there is any wicked way.

Now he just said. Punish those. Who hate you.

I hate them because they hate you and then he

catches himself mid writing and he says but wait wait

wait wait look at my heart look at my heart

and see if there's any wicked way in me and

lead me in the way everlasting.

Now let me show you something. Some of you get

really excited.

Because I have targeted this ideology today.

Talked about Islam.

But I want to tell you with about 95% assurance

that most of you were not excited that this is

what I was preaching about. You weren't excited because it's

an enemy of our faith. It's because you have made

them an enemy of the United States of America. And

there's a difference between being mad about somebody because they

don't look like you, talk like you, believe like you,

smell like, come on somebody. There's a difference between that

and being upset and motivated by someone who is set

against your God.

That's why he said, hey, check my heart, God.

Check my heart and just make sure that it's just

not me that hates the Philistines, but that you're upset

with them too.

God, check my heart. God, is it you that's motivating me?

This disdain I have for this ideology that's pressing in

against the fundamental beliefs.

That we're all called to because I want my.

Righteous anger to come from the right place. I don't

want to slip over into the flesh. You can't slip

over into the flesh. when it comes to this, because

the love of Jesus still has to come out, even

though we're fighting a very violent and militant agenda that's

set against us. The love of Jesus has to preface

everything we do, because it's not the Muslim that's your enemy,

it's the ideology of Islam that's your enemy. They are

still souls who God is calling.

Into the kingdom.

And you may be the difference. You may be standing

between them and hell. And God has anointed you for

such a time as this. Listen, y'all don't know it,

but Coach Ted Deppie back there, he's a.

Celebrity. He just passed 600, right?

He just passed 600 total wins in his career in volleyball.

That's a big deal. Puts you in the top 10, right?

In the top 10 wins all time in the state

of Georgia.

Let me tell you something.

God didn't put Ted Deppie here right now for such

a time as this so he could win 600 volleyball games.

He put him here so he could make a difference in.

A student's life, that they would come to a saving

knowledge of Jesus and revolutionize their destination because he cared

and he made time and he poured into their life.

You were called for such a time as this because

you're anointed with a specific individual anointing to shake the

kingdom of darkness and say, listen, You got to stop

right where you are. And this aggressive encroachment can no

longer come to our house where we live in our community.

Because as for me and my house, we're going to

serve the Lord.

So listen, I'm going to be honest with you.

If I made an altar call right now, Pastor Clay,

and I said, if you hate Islam, come to the altar.

You'd knock me down trying to get down there, wouldn't you?

Y'all probably be shooting up in the air, shooting holes

in the ceiling.

That's not what I want. I want you to love

the Muslim so much.

That you're irate at the ideology that they've adopted and

what it's done to them. Because whether we believe it

or not, whether you want to accept it or not,

there's only one way to heaven.

That's Jesus.

Jesus told Nicodemus, if you're not born again, you can't even.

See the kingdom of heaven. You can't even see it,

much less go. And he's called you to stand in

the gap. Every head bowed, every eye closed.

If you're here today, you say, Pastor, I want to

be awakened on the inside. I don't want to live

in the slumber and the stupor that I've been in,

but I want to be vigilant. I want to, as

the Scripture just told us, to know all things so

I am keenly aware the spiritual climate I'm in so

that I can change it. God anoint me to be

a difference maker. That's you slip up your hands and say, Pastor,

I want to be a difference maker. I want to

change the climate of the world around me.

Put your hands up. Come on. Come on.

When nobody's even looking at you, your eyes are closed.

I want to be a difference maker. I want to

make a change.

I want to be used in the hands of God

as a vessel. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Put

your hands down.

Father, I pray right now for every man, every woman,

every boy, every girl. I pray for that anointing to

be stirred.

On the inside.

For the gifts that you've placed in each one of

us individually to be fanned into flame. That we would

go and do our jobs and promote the kingdom of heaven. Lord,

we give you glory and honor and praise. In Jesus' name, amen, amen,

and amen. Everybody stand with me all over the building.

Pastor Clay, let's worship.