“Why Could We Not
Cast Him Out?” By Chris Ulrich July 8th,
2018
Thank you, you may be seated. It's good to see everybody
here this
morning, and definitely a beautiful summer day. I'm sure that we all
noticed
that. How many were here last week? And, heard our general pastor—how
many was
not here last week? Okay. What I want to do, I want to actually do a
little revisiting
of that. I think it's worth our time. We're just kind of coming down
from the
emotion and enjoyment and the time of our international conference
which we had
down in Virginia, here, a couple of weeks ago. So, Pastor Paine and his
wife,
Debbie, were up here last week, and kind of unexpectedly, but, it was
just a
good time to hear them, to see them, and he gave the sermon last week,
and I
want to touch on just a couple of things. And, I know that we've
actually heard
some of these things talked about this morning, as well. But, one of
the
questions he asked us was, “Have you ever felt or heard God speaking to
you?” And,
it's something we've heard before. I mean, it's not something we've
never heard
in our life, especially if we've been a Christian for any period of
time. But,
it really got us to thinking about how that something that's an ongoing
relationship with God. That's something that keeps us going. That's a
sustaining part of our life. So, he read from Acts chapter ten—I'm not
going to
revisit that entire passage, but, I remember him asking a question
while he was
up here, and as he had mentioned, and his wife had talked about,
they've been
married forty-three years, this year, which, definitely an
accomplishment in
this day and age. All credit to God. But, also to their efforts. But,
one thing
he talked about, one thing he asked, he said, “Have you ever fallen out
of love?”
And, he wasn't necessarily referring that in the context to his wife,
but, he was
talking about that relationship, it could be with his wife, it could be
with
God, it could be with a family member, but, it was a thought-provoking
statement; it was a thought-provoking question. He shared a little bit
about
some of the people that he went to school with, and, he said there was
one guy
in particular that they've been out of school for many years, probably
forty-five
years, I think he is what I recollect, and he asked this guy, about,
“Well, do
you keep in touch with some of our former classmates?” And, the guy was
like, “Yes,
I do. And, it takes a lot of effort, but, it's worth having that
relationship.”
And, one question he asked was, “Do we realize how important our
relationship
with God is?” And, ultimately, when we tie in those things, and we
realize
that, yeah, it's good to have relationships with people, and family,
and everybody
else, but, we need to have that relationship with God, first and
foremost. That
needs to be our top priority. The Bible talks about loving God with all
our
heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). One last statement he
made, among
other things, but, he said, and this ties into today, I know there's
been some
things mentioned about prayer and fasting, but, he said we can't have
our
prayer life be only rare or only occasional. It's not something—and
there was
some correction, and, there was some admonishment, and, there was some
rebuke,
but, it wasn't a blast, it wasn't something where you can't get back
up, or we
can't get this right. Because, there are things in our life where we do
fall
out of love, whether it's with God, or whether it's a family member, or
whatever the case might be. But, I want to ask Jesse Rairdon to come
up. He's
going to read a passage here, which is going to really start off our
message
today. The passage is found from the Book of Mark, chapter nine, verses
seventeen
through twenty-nine. It's a bit of a lengthy passage. This is really
the
highlight Scripture from the message today. But, I'm going to ask Jesse
if he
could read that passage, please. Mark 9:17-29 And one of the multitude
answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath
a dumb
spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth,
and
gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples
that
they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and
saith, O
faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I
suffer
you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw
him,
straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and
wallowed
foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came
unto him?
And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire,
and into
the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have
compassion on
us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things
are
possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child
cried
out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
When Jesus
saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit,
saying
unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him,
and enter
no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out
of him:
and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus
took him
by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into
the
house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him
out? And he
said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and
fasting. Thank you, Jesse. If you could just bow your heads in a word
of prayer,
today. God, we just come to You, and we open up our hearts, and we open
up our
minds, God, we open up our souls to You, Lord. God. And, we ask if You
would
pour out Your blessing, pour out Your spirit, Lord God, upon this time,
Lord
God, and we know that You've already done it, Lord God. We know we've
heard
music, God. We've heard sharing time, Lord God, and God, there's a
sweet spirit
in this place, Lord God. And, it only comes from You, Lord. It's Your
power,
God, it's Your Word, Lord God, that we look too, Lord God, for guidance
and understanding.
We're not looking at the newspaper, we're not looking at different
books, we're
not turning on the TV, we're not going to the internet for our
guidance, Lord
God. We trust in Your Word; we thank You, God, to know Your Word, but,
we ask
right now to be able to learn more, Lord God. We ask, God, that You
would give
us what we need, God. I ask that You’d pour out Your spirit, Lord God,
and bless
all of us here, and I ask that You bless me, Lord God, as I give this
message,
Lord God. We just want to thank You, God, and we just want to ask that
lives
would be changed for the better, Lord God. We want to ask that there is
something that changes in our life, Lord God. And, that's an ongoing
thing,
that's not just we hear something, and then we just go about our
business. Lord
God. We don't want to be just hearers of Your Word, but, we want to be
doers,
Lord God. Faith without works is dead, Lord, and we know that, and we
want to
continue in that. We want to have a plan to continue in You, Lord God.
We want
to have a plan to stay. We just want to ask all this in Your name,
Jesus. In
Jesus name, amen. So, if you've ever seen someone do something, or you've ever
heard
somebody say something that you couldn't do, and you wondered why you
couldn't,
then this message is for you. I realize that's a pretty broad
statement, and I
suppose our minds could interpret that to mean a lot of different
things, but,
it could mean musicianship, it could mean salesmanship, it could be
tradesman
skills, it could be computer skills, teaching, the medical profession,
or any
number of talents that we see around us. And, sometimes people just
seem to
make it look effortless. It seems like it was just as though they just
had that
natural ability from the get-go. I know I've been in that boat, and I
would
imagine a lot of us have been in that same boat, as well. But, those
statements
are not made to provoke anybody to jealousy, or to be envious of
anybody, or
covetousness, because we're not really talking about possessions right
now.
This is about obtaining gifts from God that are there for the taking,
for
everyone that's willing to do what it takes to get them. And, it's
going to
take an effort. We can't just sit down and expect to be poured out, all
these
different gifts from God, without being receptive, without making an
effort,
without doing something. And, I get that blood was shed, and that was a
priceless thing. Christ died on Calvary for our sins, for our life,
that we
might be able to receive that salvation. But, we also have to look at
it like
what are we doing from that point forward? What are we doing after we
receive that?
And, regardless of how we look at the scriptural account of this demon
possessed young man, and what Jesus declared what we must do in order
to have
the power, prayer is not an option. Can I say that again? Prayer is not
an
option. Prayer is what actually got us to find the truth of God in the
first
place, prayer is what gets us in the faith, and prayer is also what
keeps us in
the faith. It's not an option. But, what I mean by that, in the context
of
prayer and fasting, that's two separate actions, which, they can be,
prayer is
a salvation matter, and it's always going to remain that way. We're not
going
to get saved without it, we won't stay saved without it, and thank God,
God
does hear our prayers. But, fasting is different. Fasting is not
mandatory, and
fasting is not necessarily a salvation issue. Now, it's been talked
about. Pastor
Lee had mentioned it, here, just a little bit ago, about we're going to
take
some time for prayer and fasting over the course of the next six
months. And,
there's some specific things that have been highlighted, as far as what
victories we want to see. So, some might say that what I just said, as
far as
fasting not being an option, as far as a justification and to declare
themselves off the hook, but, before we do that, let me explain a few
things.
First of all, fasting might not be something God is laying on the heart
of
everyone. Now, some might say, “Well, that's me! That's me. God's not
laying it
on my heart. I'm not going to do it.” Okay, but, I will give a couple
of
examples here, because, now we're talking about real specifics, and
where we
live. So, God might not be laying that on the heart of a seven-year-old
child;
I'm not saying he won't. But, when you really think about it, logically
speaking—or, somebody who's ninety-five years old, or, somebody that's
basically taking medication—I know that, personally, there was a time
that, I
broke my wrist back in 2004, and, so, now I had to have surgery,
there's
different medications you have to take, in order to stave off any kind
of
infection, so, I had to weigh that up. And, it was one of those things
where
you're supposed to have some sort of something to eat while you're
taking the
medication for whatever duration of time that that's the case. So, then
you
think about these examples that I gave, most people don't fall into
those
categories, realistically speaking. But, again, there are times and
circumstances
that, that that is the case, but, I will say that God will still bless
us. But,
then it's a matter of, okay, when we’re off the medication, when we
start the
healing process, or when we get older, and we're in, as they say, like,
“I’m in
my fighting shape,” or in the prime of our life, because that's where
most
people really live. And, then, it's a matter of looking at it like,
“Okay, well
what is expected of me?” So, this sermon today is not just about
fasting. But,
it's been talked about. But, I would still strongly suggest looking at
it, as
far as biblical examples, as far as what people did, as far as what it
entails,
how God blessed those people, how long they did it, what the results
were… Part one of the sermon today is what we willing to do. Part 1:
What
Are We Willing to Do? I'm going to read from the book of Isaiah, fifty-eight,
versus five through
eight. And, it is an account of fasting, not necessarily an example of
someone,
or a length of time that they did it, but, I believe it's worth our
time. So,
from the Book of Isaiah, fifty-eight, verses five through eight: Isaiah 58:5-8 Is it such a fast that I have
chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head
as a
bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call
this a
fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I
have
chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,
and to let
the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal
thy
bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to
thy
house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou
hide not
thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the
morning,
and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness
shall go
before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. So, these are, kind of, some Old Testament references, as
far as, and it
could be a little bit—not, as they say in today's terminology, as much,
but, the
effect is still the same. And, the effort is still the same. Because,
then,
it's not a matter of saying, "Oh, well, I don't understand, so I'm not
going to do it, because I'm off the hook, because I fall into those
other
categories that he just mentioned.” Well, okay, then it's a matter of
going
back and saying, “What are we willing to do? How much effort are we
trying to
put forth into this?” I'm going to—you don't have to turn to it, but,
it's a
very short passage, because I want to tie in prayer to this as well. In
First Thessalonians,
five, seventeen, it's probably one of the shortest passages in the
Bible, but, it
makes sense. It says: 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without
ceasing. So, I want to tie that back to the fasting, because, think
about this:
it doesn't say fast without ceasing. Thank God it doesn't, because we'd
probably all be gone after whatever length of time you think you could
actually
handle it. But, again, this is not a competition; it's not to try to
break
records, or “Well, okay, these people fasted forty days; I think I can
go forty-one.”
if you want to try that, be my guest. But, I don't think that, really,
that's
the goal here. The goal isn't to try to break records, or get our name
in lights.
The goal is to be blessed of God. And, I know that what I just shared,
as far
as, part one being, “What Is It We're Willing to Do?” I want that to
kind of
sink in, because it really has to come back to is: this life I have in
God. We
pray to find the truth. We pray to stay in the truth. Well, what's it
going to
take, then, as far as, to maintain that, as far as to be blessed of God
mightily, to have a strong, ongoing relationship with God that lasts a
lifetime? Pastor Ulysse was up here, about a month and a half ago, and
one
statement he made that stood out a lot to me was, “I remember when I
first got
baptized,” this is his statement, “I knew that the plan was for life.”
This is
a plan to stay in the faith. This isn't something where, something
better is
going to come along. You search, and search, and search and you find
it, and it's
the pearl of great value (Matthew 13:45-46), and, then, suddenly, it's
not
worth that much. How did that happen? This persuasion comes not from
God that
calls us (Galatians 5:8); that is a passage. So then it's a matter of,
going
back, examining ourselves in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5),
reevaluating it,
looking at it, “Well, what do I have to gain? What's at stake here?
And, what
do I stand to lose?” So, I want to give the title of the sermon now,
after just
having mentioned what part one is. The title of the sermon is a simple
one, it
comes right from that passage, it says, “Why Could We Not Cast Him
Out?”. So,
what are we willing to do when it comes to those components of
self-affliction,
because that's what they really are. Prayer and fasting are a form of
self-affliction, and they're not—neither is easy to do, but, there's no
big
mystery about doing it. And, those of you that know me, know I like to
have
good, clean, wholesome fun, but, I'll tell you this much, prayer and
fasting is
not fun. It is not fun at all. It's hard to do, it takes an effort, I
mean
there's times where you feel like—I remember going through boot camp,
for you guys
who are there on the military base, and, I remember, I felt like I was
absolutely stripped down to my absolute soul. Standing there, and I'm
like, “Oh
my God.” Because, you can't sit there and say, "Oh, I want to go to
this
right now. I want to go read the paper. I want to go watch TV.” It’s
like, “No,
you get in line, you stay in line, you do what you're told.” It's that
kind of
discipline. And, it's—but, yet, you look at the reward for it. You look
at the
reward for putting up for it for whatever the period of time is, and
you see
how your life gets better and better as a result of it. And, that's the
same
way in God. We have that discipline, we do these things, God asked us
to do these
things, and I'll just say this much: God is expecting us to do these
things
regularly, and, again, you look back at that passage, “Pray without
ceasing.”
So, how's that for encouragement? I know it doesn't really sound like
it's all
that much encouragement, but, it's because we're enduring things, we're
doing
the things that God called us to do to get us, to get our mind away
from the
way that the things world are. It's a matter of looking at it like,
“Okay,
well, why is God doing this?” I'm not going to turn to it, but, I'm
going to
ask you to think about, in Isaiah fifty-three, it's a prophecy about
the life
of Christ. Now, the prophet Isaiah preceded the life of Christ by
probably 700
years—I think historians have proven that that's approximately the time
frame—so,
there's a passage, and I hate this verse, I say that tongue and cheek,
but, it
says, “But, it has pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” (Isaiah 53:10)
Because, I
thought it times, that can't be for me. That can't be for us. It's only
Christ.
He only wants to bruise Christ. And, God says, “Oh, is that what you
really
think?” because there are times that we are going to be bruised. There
are
times that it is difficult, but, it's for a good cause. So, here's the
reward
of our sacrifice. The results are some of the greatest spiritual and
physical
blessings that we could ever possibly imagine. We have a clean mind. We
have a
single mind, power over temptation, power over the problems and the
confusion
in this world. Manifestation of the fruit of the spirit, which, by the
way, is
going to be our theme for July. I know we're in July, but, anyway, just
think
about that as we continue in the month. And, the manifestation of the
presence
of God. It gives us an ability to do our jobs better. I've seen this
work. It
gives us more creativity. I've seen that work. It gives us more
strength to
endure and give us a realization of victory, real victory in Jesus
Christ in
this present world. I'm absolutely 100% convinced that the power of
prayer and
fasting works. And, it also gives us the power to cast out demons.
Because, if
you think about what we just read earlier, you rewind the tape a little
bit,
and you think, okay, well, what was it, because I have to say, I feel
like one
of the disciples. How come I couldn't do it? How come I couldn't cast
out this
demon? And, then He says, “Oh, faithless generation, bring him to Me,”
goes
through what He says. And, then He shows it to them, and then He tells
them
what it takes to actually do it. And, so, I'm sure some of them were
thinking,
“I can do it.” But, there may have been some that were thinking, “I'm
not going
to do that. I'm not willing to do that.” Then, it comes down to, “Okay,
what
are we willing to do to save our soul? What are we doing, what are we
willing
to do to have the power of God in this life, over the nonsense, the
confusion,
the ridiculousness, how many other adjectives can you use to describe
the
course of this—even in this country, this state, the world, whatever it
comes
down to, every time you hear something on the news, or you read
something on
the internet, or some other flare up of some nonsense, or some mass
shooting,
some terrorist attack, or some clash between protesters, and, this,
that, or the
other? And, after a while, it's like, “Where do I fit in? Where do we
as
individuals fit into this equation?” It's the power of God. It's only
the power
of God. I remember Pastor Lee shared a couple of months ago, he said,
he named
off of whole bunch of things happening in the news, and things
happening, and it's
not like it's all of a sudden happening, all of the sudden. A lot of it
has to
do with immediate access to the new cycle, they call it. Like, the
twenty-four-hour
news cycle. So we're exposed to it immediately, as soon as we can get a
message
up on your phone, “Oh, well, well, this is happening here,” or whatever
the
case might be. But, he talked about, he said, “What's causing all of
it?” sin.”
Sin is what's causing it all. And, I remember hearing that and I
thought, “Absolutely,
positively, 100% right.” So, having said that, they are challenging
times that
we live in, but, I would also have to say that there's been challenging
times
that happened before. This isn't something out of the blue, that all of
a
sudden we’re all just sitting around peacefully, and then the next
thing you
know, some guy’s shooting 59 people in Las Vegas, or somebody's running
over
people in France with a truck, and killing 80 people. Stuff like that
that's,
that affects us. We hear about those kind of things, or, like, you have
drug
cartels all over, but, you know, sending every drug under the sun,
because
basically that's what they do. That's how they found themselves. That's
how
they keep the power. That's how they keep instill people, instill,
instill
entire communities and countries with fear, so, then, you think, “Okay,
where
do I fit in with this?” again, “Where do I fit into this equation?”
it's the
power of God. But, if we know our history; we look at like some of the
things
that have happened in the past, and we think about they've been harder.
You read
about the great depression, or you look at, like, the things that
happened in World
War I or World War II, and, I know, brother Alex and his mom are here
from what
used to be the former Soviet Union, and this is a historical fact about
the
number of people that were killed in the Soviet Union in World War II.
It's twenty
million! This country lost five hundred-thousand, which, that's a lot,
but, then
you think about how that country was just absolutely devastated.
Absolutely
devastated. Then, the guy who was in power at the time, he takes all
the
military, and he starts putting them in prisons up in Siberia. And,
it’s the
things like that where it's like it makes you think, “Oh, there is evil
in the
world.” There is evil in the world, and it's still there, and it was
there
before, and it will be there until Christ comes back. So, it's not a
new thing.
But, then, you go even further back. You go back to the time, if you
ever read
about the bubonic plague. So, you hear about those things, or you read
about
them, and, it makes us think, or some of these other diseases—and, this
isn't
all about all the diseases, or anything, the smallpox, or scarlet
fever, or
yellow fever, or things that—thank God for the medicine that's
eradicated a lot
of these things. Because, I would have to say those are medical
breakthroughs
that God's given us to be able to overcome those things, but, then, the
next
thing you know, you have an AIDS crisis, you have an Ebola crisis, and,
yet, it
goes back to where are we at in that equation? It goes back to the
power of
God. I'm going to ask brother Cedric Christian, who, Malcolm had spoken
about
him, he said, “There's a guy from Jacksonville!” He's up here for the
week, and,
so, Cedric, welcome, glad you're up here from Jacksonville, Florida. He
and Pat
Taylor head up our fellowship down there. So, if you could read from
the Book of
John, chapter one, verses six through thirteen, please. John 1:6-13 There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of
the Light,
that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was
sent to
bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth
every man
that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made
by him,
and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received
him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God,
even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood,
nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Thank you. So, how do we know when we have the power of God?
Don't
answer me, just yet. What is the indicator? Don't answer me, just yet.
We will
get to that participation point, here in a moment. But, I'll say this,
and we've
already talked about it a little bit, is, without the power of God,
we're not
going to last very long in Christianity. And, I firmly believe, in this
world,
without getting swallowed up by the ways, without allowing those things
to
infiltrate our heart, infiltrate our life, cause us to love the world,
love the
ways of the world, and, like it talks about in First John, about, love
not the
world, neither things that are in the world. All that is in the world,
the lust
of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, it’s not of the
Father,
but, it’s of the world (1 John 2:15-16). But, if we don't have the
power of
God, it won't be long. And, I say that, not as a condemnation
statement, but, more
because I’ve felt it. I felt, when I got in a little bit weaker, and I
start to
get a little bit worldly. And, I'm not talking about sin the sin which
is unto
death, I'm talking about sinning but, then, repenting and realizing,
“What am I
doing? Why am I allowing the ways of the world and the things in the
world to
influence me in ways that now it reflects in our life?” The Bible says
from the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). Well, once you
have
these ungodly influences, the next thing you know, things come out.
They
manifest themselves because that lack of prayer and fasting, has
manifested
itself. But, I want to now take a few minutes, and ask everyone here,
now that
I've mentioned that about what are these indicators, what are ways that
we can prove
that we have the power of God. Because, to say, “I have the power of
Christ,” it's
not just some cute expression. “I have the power of God;” prove it. We
have to
prove it. We have to prove it to others, we have to prove it to
ourself.
Ultimately, we have to prove it to God, because God's going to be the
judge. And part two of the sermon today is, “Power to Become the
Sons and
Daughters of God.” Part 2:
The
Power to Become Sons and Daughters of God So, now I'm going to ask for participation. I'm going to ask
if you
could stand up and share—I mean, you know, nothing lengthy, I'm not
looking for
a testimony, but, I want to hear some things; it could be a one-word
statement,
it could be a statement, it could be just sharing a few things that
prove that
the power of God is in your life. So, I'm going to ask, right now, if
anybody
would like to stand up, and, raise your hand: Ed Howes: Say no
to the power of temptation Alex: Say no to
addictions. That's a big one in this day and age. I already talked about
the drug
cartels that are just funneling tons, and tons, and tons, and tons of
illegal
substances in this country. And, it's happening in other countries,
too; it's
not like the United States is the only problem with a drug addiction
epidemic.
Anybody else? Jason: Say yes to
God and surrender. Sister Lena: Being
able to forgive. Amen. Amen. Mary Ogden:
Standing in the gap. Amen. Beverly Hutchinson:
Shining your light for God. Cedric: Make peace
in certain situations. Phil Russell:
Knowing the Word of God. Amen. Steve Nelson: Love
one another. Rebecca: Letting
things go, let God. Pastor Lee:
Learning to love. Sonia: Spirit of
conviction. Mike: Being led of
God. Corrine: Giving us
the strength. Amen. Okay, I'm going to—I want to read a few passages.
While
preparing, I firmly believe that these things will tie into what
everyone once
responses were, but, I wanted to read these after hearing from
everyone. The
first one is going to be from the Book of Second Corinthians, two,
verses eight
to eleven. And, I'm going to read a couple of things. I'm going to ask
Rob
Severance if he could come up here in a moment. 2 Corinthians 2:9-11
For to this end
also did I
write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in
all
things. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave
any
thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person
of
Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not
ignorant of
his devices. So, some temptations and sinful lifestyles are pretty
obvious to
observe, but, that's always the case. Verse eleven is a key verse here,
because
it's critical, very critical that we understand what Satan's devices
are, and aren't
just walking around with any degree of discernment or an ability to
recognize,
because Satan is subtle. You look in the Book of Genesis it says that
the
serpent was very subtle (Genesis 3:1), and then you had the deception
of Adam
and Eve, and that's where they fell out of the garden of Eden. So, it
was from
the very beginning, the subtleties that we see. From the Book of
Hebrews,
chapter five, verse thirteen and fourteen: Hebrews 5:13-14
For every one
that useth milk
is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong
meat
belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use
have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So, I get that everybody has a starting point in
Christianity. I had a
starting point, you had a starting point, and not everybody's been
around for
years to be able to use meat, as they say, the meat of the Word. And,
we still
need the milk of the Word for spiritual nourishment. But, God's going
to give
everybody a level of understanding, and more so, if we're serious about
it, and
more so if we do fast and pray and seek God. Rob, I'm going to ask if
you could
come. This is going to be our last passage from the message this
morning; it's
going to be from the Book of Luke, twenty-one, verses twenty-two
through
twenty-six, if you want to follow along: Luke 21:22-26 For these be the days of
vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe
unto
them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days!
for there
shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And
they shall
fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all
nations:
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of
the
Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the
moon,
and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; the
sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for
looking
after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of
heaven
shall be shaken. Thanks, Rob. I want to focus on the last verse, but, I
wanted to have
the entire passage read so that the full effect of the end times could
be understood.
This isn't the only Gospel passage which talks about the end times.
There is
one in Matthew that goes, probably more extensively, but, this
particular verse,
twenty-six, stands out a lot. Because, we've heard a lot about living
on the
last days, and all the turmoil and everything else associated with it.
And, I'm
not here to add anything or give us another reminder from the
standpoint that I
have anything new to add. It's the reality of those of us who believe
the
Bible, that know it's coming. But, the Bible does say this, it says no
man
knows the date nor the hour we're in the Son of Man shall return
Matthew
24:36/Matthew 25:13). So, if anybody ever tells you, and I'm probably
talking
more to those who, maybe, are a little bit less familiar with the
Bible, if any
man ever tells you that they say they know when the day is coming, tell
them
that's not true. Because, the Bible says no man knows the day or the
hour, wherein
the Son of Man shall return. But, I want to highlight that last verse,
again, because
men's hearts failing them for fear, and that's not gender specific,
it's men
and women. And, how it affects us. Because, it can affect us if we're
not
careful. It can affect us if we're not studying the Bible. It can
reflect us if
we fail to watch and pray. And, that does include fasting. If we're not
diligent about our Father's business, if we're not—as Christ said,
watch and pray,
for you know not the day or the hour wherein the Son of Man shall
return. We're
not impervious to the problems of this world, just because we're
born-again
believers. In fact, we're the ones who are seeing the decline of
society more
clearly. And, I want to say that again, we are the ones that are seeing
the
decline and the decadence and the perverseness and whatever else, other
way you
want to describe the decline in morality. We're the ones that are
seeing this.
We're seeing the hatred brewing, the buildup in—there's no civil
conversation
or discussion anymore, as people on different ends of the political
fence, I
mean, it's out the door, at least that's the way the media portrays it.
Now,
I'm not saying you can't have a civil discussion with somebody, but,
I've seen,
at times, where it just seems like it's reaching boiling points, but,
again,
this isn't like this is never happened before. Some of us are old
enough to
remember, this is the year I was born, but, there was a democratic
national
convention in Chicago in 1968, where, it was absolute mayhem! But, you
know,
that was the same year Martin Luther King was killed in April, Bobby
Kennedy
was killed in June, so now you've got a boiling over in that summer, of
just,
you had two pretty well-known and respected leaders in this country,
that were
assassinated, just a couple of months before. So it turned into a
bloodbath down
there. So, again, it's not as though something like this has never
happened,
were you’ve seen protesters, or fights in the street, and will it get
worse?
The Bible says, "Because of iniquity shall abound, the love of many
shall wax
cold.” (Matthew 24:12) When you take that love of God out of the
equation,
there's no standard left. There's nothing to—it's like, you sit there,
and you
say, “Okay, every law that exists,” I'm talking about moral laws, “Are
from the
Ten Commandments.” I'm not talking about business law, I'm not talking
about
financial law, necessarily, I'm talking about thou shalt not kill. That
shall
not steal. Armed robbery, murder, thou shall not commit adultery. I
mean, you
know, all these things are tied to that is what it was based on,
initially, but,
then when we as a nation get further, and further, and further, and
further
away, everything gets watered down, you start bringing in all these
different
laws. I'm not here to talk about that, but, it's the power of God,
that's the
only thing that's going to keep us. That's the only thing that's going
to give
us the power to have the sanity to be able to make it through another
day. But,
I wanted to share just one last thing as I close here in a moment:
We're the
ones that God is counting on to be the light of the world. That was the
theme
of our conference, "You Are the Light of the World.” And, I heard some
different
things shared—and, actually, one thing one guy shared with me, and I
believe
this is true, I don't think he just randomly saw this, but, if you're
in a
pitch black area, like, let's just say, there's a place in Germany,
it's called
the Black Forest, so, it's extremely dark, because of the colors of the
pines,
I believe, I'm not absolutely sure, but, let's just say, at night time.
So,
this brother had told me, he said, “If you light a match and there's no
other
light, no moon, no stars, no spotlights, no houses, you can see a match
from
twenty miles away.” And, I believe that. Now, let's just say it's only
ten miles,
and I'm not here to argue about, like, the validity, or lack of it for
that
particular statement, but, I believe that there is some, there's got to
be some
truth to that, but, here's what it comes down to: The take away from me
from
that conference was, God is counting on us. We are the light of the
world, and it
is an extremely dark place, and it is worsening. I hate to say it, I'd
like to
say, “No it's getting better, everything's fine. You know, everybody's
going to
get along. You know, we have nothing but great hopes and things to look
forward
to.” I'm not saying the end is coming tomorrow; it might. It might be
one
hundred years; it might be two hundred years. That's not for us to
know, except
God alone. God alone. And, ultimately, to have that power of God, to be
able to
shine that light, and to be able to overcome that darkness, it's going
to take,
what is it we're willing to do? It's going to take fasting and prayer,
and what
are we willing to do about it? God bless you, and thank you for your
time.
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