“The Way We Were”
Ephesians 2:1-13 and 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

    I want to begin by asking a rather bold and thought provoking question; Is there anyone in your community who is not good enough to be a part of your church?…If someone popped into your mind - for whatever reason - I want you to jot their name down. Is there someone out there that you just don’t like or can’t get along with for some reason?...Jot their name down. Is there someone you would never think of witnessing to because of their occupation or their lifestyle or their background?…Just jot their name down. Is there a friend or neighbor or co-worker or maybe even a family member that you would like to see come to know the Lord and join a church? Then, jot their name down.

    Now, let me tell you why I have planted these little seed thoughts in your mind; Several studies have pointed to the importance of prayer as the key spiritual factor in the growth of churches. In the forward to “Partners in Prayer” by John Maxwell, Max Lucado says; “When we work, we work, but when we pray God works!” God’s Word says that “there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous who do not need to repent”. It also says in Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto me and I will show you great and mighty things of which thou knowest not!” The Apostle Paul said the “gospel is the power of God unto the salvation of EVERYONE who believes!” It also says; “Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  We are not called to witness to only those people who meet “our” standards We need a fresh wind of the Spirit of God to blow through our midst and clean the chaff out of our minds and our hearts! We need God to restore our compassion for people who are just like we were - before coming to know Jesus.
    First of all they are “LOST.” In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells three parables about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. In the first he says there is rejoicing in heaven when one is found; in the second he says there is rejoicing in the presence of angels; and in the third, there is rejoicing in the house…Do you remember being lost?
    Second, they are “spiritually dead” according to Ephesians 2. When some-one is spiritually dead, they don’t respond to anything spritual. “The things of the Spirit are foolishness to those who are without the Spirit”…The Spirit of God gives “LIFE”…NEW LIFE…to those who are spiritually dead. God’s Word tells us that they are “dead in their trespasses and sin” and they can only be made alive in Christ! Do you remember being “spiritually” dead? A time when the Bible made no sense? A time when the things of God were foolishness?
    Third, they are “blinded.” Not blind…but “blinded” there is a difference. If you had on a blindfold and could not see, what would your need be? (For someone to take the blindfold off.) Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that “the god of this age has blinded the (minds) of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.” Notice that it is their “minds” that are blinded. The gospel isn’t real to them; they don’t believe that it is true; and even if it is, they don’t think they need it. Satan has them believing they can fill their spiritual vacuum with material and physical pleasures. Paul goes on to say that “we all lived among them at one time.” Was there a time when your mind was blinded to the gospel?
    Fourth, they are deceived.  They are socially and emotionally disillusioned. Captured by Satan’s deceptive lies, they have been touched by divorce, abuse, and plagued with emotional and physical problems. Few have any real friendships. Many are addicted to alcohol or drugs because they have been duped into thinking they are having a good time. Some are financially strapped and yet others think their money will buy them happiness. Most are depressed and lonely and would never admit they have a need to anyone!  I can remember well the time in my life when I thought I had it all in control; when I thought I was enjoying life; when I thought I was having fun and Satan had me believing that I would have to give up anything that was “fun” in my life if I became one of those “Christians!” I don’t listen to Satan’s lies anymore…I spend my time listening to God as He fills my life with true joy and simple pleasures that only a real true understanding of life can bring.

“Effective Prayer”
Colossians 4:2-6 and 12

    I think about how the disciples were with Jesus constantly. They followed Him and witnessed the things that He said and did. In 2 Peter 1 we read; “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye witnesses of His majesty” … John writes in 1 John 1; “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched, this we proclaim…”  And, in their being with him and observing him, they began to “connect the dots” and realize the importance of Prayer. They soon said; “Lord, teach us to pray”... Not, teach us how to pray…but teach us to pray.

    When we read the accounts of Jesus, we notice that he finds a quiet place to pray; he finds a quiet time to pray; and he has a quiet heart - in that he truly listens for God’s voice. Jesus knew, as we must come to know, that prayer is a necessity of life.  It is through prayer - talking with and listening to God - that we really come to know Him and create a relationship with Him. It is through prayer that we come to know what God desires for us and from us in this life. Imagine what kind of relationship we would have if I never talked with, or listened to, my wife!
    Now, I also have found that just having a quiet time and a quiet place does not necessarily guarantee effectiveness in prayer. I have searched the scriptures and - although there are verses that say things like; “Call unto me and I will give you the desires of your heart”…and, “Ask, and it shall be given unto you”… Or, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” …. There are also verses like Mark 11:24 - “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him,” which is the rest of that verse. Forgiveness is a two way street, regardless of the hurt. If you don’t give you don’t get. I wonder how many Christians would want God to forgive them in the same way they have forgiven others?
An unforgiving heart will stop our prayers dead in their tracks! Psalm 66:18 is a statement of the obvious; “If I cherish sin in my heart, the Lord will not listen”…If there is active sin, or if we are “continuing in sin” as John calls it, our prayers are not even heard. Proverbs 21:13 says; “If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.” That simply means that a lack of compassion will hinder our prayers. 1 Peter 3:7 says; “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers…For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer”.  A lack of domestic peace, or peace in the family, will affect our prayers. 1 John 5:14 says; “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Our prayers must be in the will of God. Notice that I did not say “if” it’s God’s will, but “in” God’s will. There are times – for instance – when seeking a job position, when we should pray “If it is God’s will”…but most often we already know from His Word if something is God’s will. And finally, Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:24; and Romans 14:23 say that faithless prayers are not answered. “All things are possible to him who believes”! Why ask God to heal sickness if we don’t really believe he can or he will?
    So, we are back to unbelief. Jesus said; “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I put up with you?” Perhaps the right thing to do is to be like the father of the possessed boy in our scripture who cries out; “I do believe, but Lord help me overcome my unbelief!”
    In our scripture today, we have another example we can look at and that is Epaphras. First of all, Paul identifies him as a “servant of Christ”…to be a servant, one must have a master. He had made a choice in life, and Christ was his master!  Second, it says that Epaphras was “always wrestling in prayer” for them. Another translation says that he “labored” in prayer. Epaphras wasn’t a “bless Mary and bless John” kind of person, he was a prayer warrior! He was the type of person described in James 5:16 where it says; “the effect-ual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”! How we need those who would “labor” in prayer today!
    Epaphras was not focused on selfish desires; he was an intercessor, praying for others. As intercessor’s we ought to be always praying for the church and its people as well. We surely ought to have a prayer list for the sick and the needy. But, the most important prayer list should be for those whom we know to be unsaved. In the realm of prayer it ought to take precedent because we already know that “It is God’s will that not one should perish.”
    Salvation, the forgiveness of sin, and the promise of eternal life is given to every person who repents and receives Christ by faith. I think it is the responsibility of every Christian to pray for the lost. However, we won’t pray for the lost unless we have (a.) the right belief and (b.) the right burden.
    Do you believe that Jesus meant what he said that a person “must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven”? We must have the right belief. Do you believe it when Jesus said; “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me”? Your brother, your sister, your Mother, your Father, your neighbor, your daughter, your son…are not good enough to get into heaven! They need Jesus! There are a lot of “good” people headed for Hell! We must have the right belief and the burden or we will not pray!
    I read that W.C. Fields was on his deathbed when a friend dropped in to see him and found him reading the Bible.  A little surprised, he asked what Fields was doing? “Looking for loopholes, my friend, looking for loopholes.”  In order to have the right belief, we need to understand that there are no loopholes! God doesn’t grade on a curve!
    Hopefully, if we have the right belief it will give us the right burden. Many hearts have grown cold concerning the eternal destiny of others. We figure they will hear it sooner or later and make their own decision. Or, we may think they have heard and have already made a decision. Is that good enough for you?  Not for me either. One of Satan’s schemes is to get us to neglect praying for the lost.
     I looked up the word “intercessor” and one of the meanings was “to represent”…When we pray for others, we are representing them before God. That’s what Jesus did on our behalf. He not only came to represent us before God… but to - re-present - God to us!
    Let me close with this scripture from 2 Cor. 5 - “Since then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men…All this is from God, who reconciled himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us.”
It is not only a responsibility to pray…it is our privilege to pray.

Mark 9:14-29 and Isaiah 56:1-7

    I would like to re-tell this story in an expository way so we can get a better idea as to what is going on, and perhaps gain a little insight into the real story. A child, possessed by an evil spirit, was brought to the disciples, and they could not cast it out…at which time the teachers of the law seized the moment and began to argue with the disciples. They were probably arguing over the supposed power the disciples, or their leader Jesus, did or did not have. Jesus comes on the scene - probably to the relief of the disciples - and asks what they are arguing about. But, before they can answer, the father of the child comes forward to explain the situation. Notice the words of verse 17 - “Teacher, I brought YOU my son”…(We can assume then that because Jesus wasn’t there at the time, his disciples thought they would just do it!) After all, it says in chapter 6 verse 13 that when Jesus sent them out that “they drove out many demons and healed the sick.”   

    However, the words “O unbelieving generation” in verse 19 give us a bit of a clue as to part of the reason why the disciples could not cast out this spirit; neither the people nor the teachers of the law believed the disciples could do it. I sometimes wonder if anything has changed. Even today we have an easy time believing that God can heal - and Jesus can heal - but we look with unbelief and doubt at someone who has the “gift of healing” as we call it today. “Jesus can heal… Jesus can cast out spirits…but, these disciples are just mere men…”
    The fact that Jesus asks the question; “How long has he been like this?” would seem to shed some light on the subject as well. It would seem that the longer an evil spirit is in control, the harder it is to get it to leave. It has such great power over the person that it takes great power to over-come. The same is true by the way for some habits and sins! The longer we give them control over us, the harder it is to overcome. Just ask an alcoholic, or a drug addict, or even someone who has been a smoker for many years. It requires a greater power working with them on their part, and it requires greater compassion and grace on our part.
    Then the father says; “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “If YOU CAN?” says Jesus. Again with the unbelief thing! Then the man says; “O, I do believe….but help me overcome my unbelief.” He by whom all things were created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, He whose name is Jehovah-Rophi, "The Lord that healeth thee" was standing before him, and yet his faith could reach no higher than "If you can do anything?"  And yet – catch this now, Jesus did not cast the unbelieving man away from Him. Jesus never can deny that word, "He that comes unto me, I will in no wise cast out." He sent him home a happy father with his child made whole.
    I believe these things are written for our admonition, about how unbelief appears in another… and yet how little I perceive the same dishonoring thoughts of Christ when they lurk in my own mind.  I feel as if I never could use such language to Jehovah Jesus - and yet how many times in the day do I doubt both His love and His power?  How often, when guilt is on my conscience, do I doubt whether He will be entirely willing to forgive?  How often, in an hour of temptation, do I doubt he will help me to stand? How often these words are really my words; “If you can do any-thing, have compassion on me, and help me." And yet for all our unbelief, He does not send us away empty. Faith, as a grain of mustard seed, obtains everlasting benefits. Though He had to call His disciples, "Ye of little faith", that did not hinder Him from rebuking the winds and the sea for them! In like manner though we may have “little faith", we can go to Him with such faith as we have, and He will in no wise, no way, no how, cast us out!
    Back to our story - Jesus casts out the evil spirit and the boy looks dead…but he is not…Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up. Now, here’s the disciples - scratching their heads, going  “How come we couldn’t do that?”  And, Jesus gives us another clue when he says; “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
    This can have several meanings; one suggestion is that the disciples were taking for granted all that they were able to do in Jesus name;  Another is similar in that they had forgotten where their power came from, and just assumed the spirit would come out just because they told it to! In the Book of Acts chapter 19 we read a story of some false disciples - “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them – and slapped them silly!  He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding!” You better know what you are doing before you invoke the likes of an evil spirit!
    The third suggestion as to why the disciples couldn’t do it is a lack of prayer.  All of this takes place just prior to Jesus teaching on prayer. In Luke 11:1 we read: “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray”…I would suggest that the reason the disciples could not cast out the evil spirit may be for all three reasons.
    Jesus was an amazement to his own disciples. Life with Jesus was like nothing they had ever experienced before. They were astonished at his wisdom in the face controversy and authority. They watched him walk through life as if he didn’t have a care in the world; yet his compassion showed that he cared more than anyone they had ever met. They watched him day and night, hoping to find the secret to his wisdom and the power behind his actions. They watched him while he prayed; and it seems they finally made the connection; “Lord, teach us to pray”.
    We need to see prayer as the way we come to know God and what He desires to do in and through us; before we can have an effective prayer life at all. God will do some things in spite of us…but, He longs to work with us. That’s why it says “All things are possible WITH God”… So, pray…and if you don’t feel like praying, pray until you do!

Some thoughts on Prayer
1Timothy 2:1-4   - 1 John 5:13-17

    While it is true that change is the result of prayer, the real purpose of prayer is to bring us into a closer relationship with Almighty God. Prayer would be - and is - a wonderful privilege even if nothing changed. We take our relationship with God in the wrong direction if it depends on whether or not He does what we ask of Him. In reality, our relationship with God is based on whether or not we do what He asks of us!

    The first thing we need to know is that our prayers should always be positive. We ought to always find something positive to say about the person or the circumstance for which we are praying. And, we should always remember that God is at work in every person’s life in one way or another, and we don’t know what God might be doing in their lives. I have said before that we can easily destroy the work of God in a person’s life with a simple negative word or attitude. That’s why we must take to heart scriptures like “Let your speech be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so you may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:1) Or, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful in building others up according to their needs.” (Ephesians 4:29) We should always be positive, and especially in our prayers.
    Second, our prayers ought to be personal. When interceding for others, we can reflect on how they affect us personally; When praying for the Philippian church, Paul said; “I have you in my heart…and I long to see you” This was a personal prayer. It reflected his attitude concerning this church. Our prayers can do the same. We may reveal attitudes of love, concern, even anger, guilt, or joy. It is good to reflect our personal feelings toward someone or something…They may bring us joy or make us mad. The circumstance may also bring us joy or make us angry. We need to be honest with God. And, by the way, if you don’t know the person or are not personally involved; perhaps you should be! Sometimes just a phone call to let them know you are praying and why… and you wonder if there is anything in particular you should be praying for…will change a life.
    That brings us to the third thing, which is to make it a purposeful prayer. Remember my example of my early attempts at prayer?…”Bless Mary, bless Joe, bless Oscar…”  It was prayer, and you could say it was even “positive” prayer…But, it certainly wasn’t personal or purposeful. The point is, if we don’t know what we ought to pray…maybe it’s an opportunity to find out what to pray for. When I look at the prayers of Paul in his letters, they are always purposeful:
(Romans) – I pray that: you might be saved!
(Ephesians) – God may give you the Spirit of wisdom; that your heart may be enlightened; to know Him better; that you may know the hope, the riches, the inheritance, the incomparable power for those who believe; that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!
(Philippians) – that your love may abound in knowledge and insight; that you may be able to discern what is right; that you may be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ!
(Colossians) – that God would fill you with the knowledge of His will; that you will live a life worthy of the Lord; that you would bear fruit in every good work; that you may have great endurance and patience!
(Thessalonians) – that the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other; that God would sanctify you through and through; that God may count you worthy of his calling, that He may fulfill every good purpose prompted by your faith!
I would like someone to pray these things for me, wouldn’t you?  Do you see the purposefulness in prayer?
    Concerning prayer, A.C. Dixon said; “When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education or technology we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do!”  We don’t pray just because we believe in prayer…We pray because we believe in God!

   

Whispers – Conclusion

    This may sound odd at first glance, but resistance is not the key to resisting. The Bible gives the key to resisting temptation in James 4:6-8  "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

    Many people believe - in error - that if we resist temptation the devil will flee from us, but that is not what this passage is telling us. The focus of this passage is humbling ourselves and submitting to God. When we draw closer to God, He gives us the power, and the devil flees from the power of God, not our resistance.
    Resisting temptation is like pushing a weight off our chest and holding it up. At first, I may be strong and able to resist dropping the weight, but in time I get weaker and more fatigued until in a moment of weakness, I give in… As long as my focus is on resisting, I am standing by my own strength. When my strength fails, I fall.
    God’s way is a complete paradigm shift from the way we think. Instead of facing temptation and trying to push away, we are to turn from temptation and draw near to God. Then we have the absolute promise that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. When I am standing in my own strength, I don’t recognize my need for God. The Bible says, "let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." God does not give grace to those who think they are self-sufficient. God “resists the proud.”
    If our focus is on the world then we will continue to be drawn in that direction. Where your eyes are, your feet will follow. (Take a walk in the snow - if you continually look over your right shoulder, you will continually turn right.)
    We tend to look at the pleasure, not the consequences. On the other hand, God shows us that the end is better than the beginning. It is better to sacrifice now if it means a great inheritance later. The enemy tries to blind us to the future inheritance or consequences of our actions so we only look at the pleasure at hand. What the devil does not reveal is that the illusion is all there is. It is a mirage - something that does not exist. There is never true satisfaction outside of God.
    Sin can gratify, but it cannot satisfy. There is a big difference. Gratification is the ’saturation point’ - the point where we no longer desire and may even have a temporary feeling of satisfaction. But as the feelings fade, emptiness returns.
    All pleasure was created by God and is good- inside His design. Pleasure was never intended to be our focus or the object of our desire. When living for pleasure is our first love, and the moment is gone, our focus and reason for living is gone. We must find another focus or be consumed with emptiness. For this reason, people crowd their lives with materialism and pleasure. They can’t be satisfied for long because there is no real peace unless they are constant-ly in the process of ’getting’.
    Temptation is like a Saturday morning commercial. When I was a child, I saw a commercial for a toy. In the commercial there were smiling, jumping kids surrounding this toy. It brought them excitement, joy and satisfaction. I thought; “If I could just have this toy, I would have the fulfillment they had.” I begged and begged for this toy. It was time for my birthday and I was willing to sacrifice anything to get this wonderful toy. Persistence paid off and I got the toy. I opened the box with great expectation. It was wonderful to have it. I played with it for 5 or 10 minutes, but where was the joy and excitement? It wasn’t there. It went in my closet and was never used again. What happened? It was all a lie. The kids were coached and the advertisers have self-serving motives. Nothing was real. That is exactly what temptation is! Everyone pretends to be fulfilled, yet everyone runs to and fro trying to find the elusive joy.
    We cannot enjoy the good things in life unless God is our reward. Money is not our reward, peace is. Pleasures, possessions, things and activities are not our reward, love is. The greatest pleasure and the greatest reward is our personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ. Anything that falls short of or takes away from that relationship will never satisfy. The first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength…and all these things will be added to that! Everything in this life centers around that love relationship. We are free to not love God, but as Dr. Phil would say; “How’s that working for you?”
    You can’t turn from your sinful habits and create a vacuum. Just saying; "I am not going to do this anymore" is not enough. Something is going to fill the gap left behind. It is our  responsibil-ity to wisely choose what will replace an uprooted habit. Sometimes people exchange one bad habit for another. It is not much of a benefit to turn from sin and toward another destructive refuge. We may even return back to our wallowing in the mire unless God becomes our focus and desire.
    The power to resist does not come from our strengths or abilities, but from submitting to God. He lifts us up, makes us strong and transforms us from the inside out. Changes our thinking; changes the way we feel; which changes our actions. God will never do anything against your will. It is through submission that we become what God wants us to be. As we surrender our lives to Him, He takes what we give Him and transforms it for His glory and our benefit…and Satan can whisper all he wants, but he is powerless against a surrendered life submitted to God’s power!

“Moral Myths” – Part 10
 2 Tim. 3:1-5 and 4:3-4

    Last time we talked about taking a stand for what we believe. This morning I want to expand this a little more to include another problem of sin, and that is what I call a “moral myth.” That myth that the world has come to believe is that we can have morality without God.

    The national leaders that founded this country were convinced that morality was indispensable for democracy, and that God was indispensable for morality. Despite their religious differences, they understood that a free nation is built on the assumption that the greatest majority of the people will keep the law. This was, of course dependent upon morality and values. In a world where God does not exist anything is permissible, and the only motivation in life is personal gain. (Sound familiar?)
    On November 17, 1980, the Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law that required the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. They ruled that having them before the students was a form of state sponsored religious indoctrination. The Supreme Court of our land stated; “The Ten Commandments were plainly religious and may induce children to read, meditate upon, and even obey these commands…” What? That’s a direct quote!
    To believe you can have morality without God is like believing you can have trees without roots. When the Ten Commandments were removed, there was no moral code to replace them. All that was left was a blank wall.
    Something I found interesting was that before this ruling, educators listed talking, chewing gum, running in the halls, cussing, and butting in line as the worst behavioral problems in their schools. Today we have rape, robbery, assault, shootings, drug abuse, gang warfare, and teen pregnancy as the top problems… Is there a direct correlation here?
    How could something written so long ago by the Apostle Paul be so relevant to our world today? Notice that Paul wasn’t talking about the people of his time…he says “in the last days”…. We don’t have to read very far to know that we are in those last days!
    The second myth is - whatever is legal is moral.  What’s wrong with this thinking? (If this is true then, those in power can change the laws to accomplish their owns ends.)   Do you realize that the Supreme Court has influenced the lives of people more than any President or Congress ever has?  When law becomes the basis for morality, the Judicial branch of government comes to the forefront of power…and, Supreme Court Justices become more important than ever in a society!
    However, I have some good news!  God still reigns!  God is not in heaven wringing his hands and wondering what in the world might happen next!  He has not abandoned his position as Sovereign in the universe!  Despite what the media may tell us, the nine justices who make up our highest court are not the “Supreme Court!” To quote the words of Daniel; “The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whom he wishes, and sets over it the lowliest of men.”
    I want you to know that neither America, nor the Devil will take notice until we are ready to draw the line and stand on our convictions, and reach out; speak out; and live out the love of Christ!…We need God back in this nation! 

“Taking A Stand” - Part 8
Ephesians 6:10-13 and Joshua 24:14-15

    “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power”! … These are great, strong, powerful, and encouraging words from the Apostle Paul. Words that give us a picture of the courageous Christian, standing his ground for the things he truly believes. Standing firm! Taking a stand!

    We need those words to characterize the way we live…Believing, Standing, Uncompromising, Immovable, faith. The truth is that the Christian community has, in many ways, staggered and wavered under social pressures and wimpy political pressures and even Pharisitical legalistic interpretations…that are the ruthless attempt of Satan to get us to fight life battles in our own power and dim the light of the church.
    I for one am tired of a handful of atheistic, anti-everything, unbelieving, ignorant people holding our nation in bondage in their attempts to take God out of everything! It’s time that we take a stand!  Joseph, in our scripture proclaimed; “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”…(end of rant)
    Given the nature of the many battles we face in life, if we are to be strong it must be in His mighty power, not ours. We are engaged in a constant spiritual battle over values, morals, ethics, and beliefs…And, this is on top of all the physical battles, trials, and temptations we face every day.
    The Book of Ephesians begins with all the spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ, and it ends with this passage about the spiritual battle-field we find ourselves in also because we are in Christ.The message we must understand is that God’s grace is adequate in both times of battle and times of blessing! In fact, it’s the time of blessing that prepares us for the time of battle. It is the times of God’s blessing that He works in us to change our thinking, our hearts - the way we feel about life - and to change our character; which equips us to “stand” as it says, during times of spiritual and physical attack…because we will know what it means to “put on the whole armor of God.”
    In this scripture the word “stand” is used four times. Sometimes in a crisis situation we shout; “Don’t just stand there, do something!”…But, in this particular scripture, Paul is saying that if we know and have the whole armor of God, we don’t have to fight…we need to “stand”…in God’s mighty power!
    There once was a mother who came home to find her three children in the back yard playing with a family of baby skunks…She shouted at the top of her lungs, “Quick, Run for the house!” …at which, each child grabbed a skunk, and ran for the house…!”
    The message is “Be strong in the Lord”, “take a stand, stand your ground, stand firm, and after you have done everything, stand!” One of Satan’s schemes is to make a wrong seem right. For our generation, one of those would be “situational ethics”…There are no absolutes, and values are determined by the situation. Our society has somehow come to believe that our time is different from any other time, therefore the rules must be different and somehow changed to fit today’s world…And that includes that somehow God’s expectations are also different for us than they were way back when. Listen, have you ever heard the words “I am the Lord Thy God, who changeth not?”  Paul encourages us in Romans 12:9 to “hate what is evil and cling to that which is good” and more now than ever, we need to take a stand, and establish convictions based on God’s Word and not the world!  It may be trite but it’s true, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything”!  What do you stand for today? 

Satan’s Whispers – Part 7
I want to consider two stories from the Bible this morning, the first is the story of David; found in 2 Samuel 11:1-4…..The second story is that of Joseph; from Genesis 39:5-12….

    In these two stories we have the perfect example of the progression of sin; all of them beginning with the letter “D”-  Distraction; Desire; Decision; and Deed; And, depending on the result of those four “D’s” - the Bible says, it can lead to Death… or Life.

    In both stories the “distraction” is what? ( a beautiful woman.) There are some differences however, in the two; First of all, it says that David was in a place he should not have been; it was at a “time when kings go off to war” but David was home! Joseph, on the other hand, was doing what he was supposed to be doing; it says he was “about his master’s business.”
    In both stories the distraction leads to a desire. That desire always being pleasurable of course.  In David’s case it was a physical, sexual desire. The desire was the same for Potiphar’s wife… and may even have been for Joseph ( I don’t think she was an ugly woman…and Joseph was a man after all!) However, while both were “distracted” and had the “desire” it was in the decision stage that we find the difference.  Satan will use whatever pleasurable thing in our lives - big or simple - to create a desire within us that will lead to a decision….
    Whatever the desire may be, Satan will distract us, increase our desire (Our desire is increased the longer we dwell on something ) and he will force us to make a decision. In David’s case the decision was to send for Bathsheba… In Joseph’s case the decision was to RUN! The sin is not in the distraction; nor is it in the desire; the sin is in making the wrong decision that leads to the deed!
    What was it about the story of David that would cause him to do what he did?  “His desire for pleasure was greater than his desire to please God.”  That is Satan’s tactic; to put our desire, our want, and what we think we need, before God!
    In Joseph’s case we read the words: “How could I do such a thing and sin against God?” Joseph’s desire to please God was greater than his desire to sin.  Joseph recognized that this wouldn’t just be a mistake; this wouldn’t just be wrong; it would be a sin against God.
    What were some of the consequences of David’s decision? ( See 2^nd. Sam. 12:11-18 )
    What were the consequences of Joseph’s decision? (He ended up in prison! Why?.. What may have been the reason? (Protection, test and grow his faith, God had a better plan but the timing was not right…we don’t really know, and neither did Joseph. We are not always rewarded here and now for making the right decision, but we will be rewarded and blessed! Even if that reward is nothing more than a clear conscience.
    What was the “objective” of Satan? – Deceive; Deny: Distort; Discredit!
    Once there was a mother sheep walking through the barnyard with her lamb. It was a particularly hot day, and as they passed the pig pen the lamb said; “Mom, look at those pigs wallowing in the mud. They look so cool and happy…Let’s go over there and get cool! To which the mother replied; “Sheep don’t wallow.”

“Satan’s Whispers” – Part 6
Ephesians 6:10-18

    Last time I was talking about the ways that the world tries to defeat the forces of evil. The first of which is by law or legislation. We make laws that have consequences if you disobey, and that will combat the forces of evil… While this may keep honest people honest, it does nothing to reform the sinful nature of man. Laws may help to control the out-ward man, but does nothing to change the inward man.
    The second was education. Education or knowledge can change a man in certain ways…it provides us with the ability to change…but, it still does nothing to change the inward man.
    Then there was an improved environment. You can change a man’s environment, but if you do nothing to change the man, the new environment will soon be just like the old one.
    While all three of these have certain value, they do not come to grips with the basic problem of man. Because Satan’s strategy is to distort, deceive, and lie and deny, our greatest weapon against the forces of evil in our world is TRUTH. “Put on the belt of truth” our scripture tells us. When Jesus was confronted with the lies of Satan in the wilderness, his defense against defeat was the truth of God’s Word! We are bombarded every day with illusion and error, and it’s easy to fall back into the wrong thinking of the world. That’s why we need a daily refreshment of God’s truth from His Word. We need to be reminded that we must be alert for deception and the whispers of Satan.
    In verse 11 and 13 Paul tells us to “put on the full armor of God, so we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes”. But, at the end of verse 13 he says “when the day of evil comes”…which may be a reference to the tribulation but I don’t believe we will be here for the tribulation. I think he is implying that not all days are evil. Some days are worst than others. There are seasons in our lives when pressures are more intense; problems are greater, temptations are frequent. It may be a day, it may be a week or even months, but not every day is like that. We are not always under that kind of pressure, or a full frontal attack by Satan. We are fighting a battle, but the times we are the most vulnerable is when Satan whispers…
    Paul tells us that this is not a conflict or a battle between “flesh and blood”… meaning it is not a human struggle of man against man… it may be a struggle within man, but it is a spiritual battle with the forces of evil. That’s not an isolated passage of scripture, that is the teaching of the Bible from beginning to end…and especially in Genesis and Revelation.
    O.K., so Paul gives us this list of weapons that are available to us as part of the armor of God; the belt of truth; the breastplate of righteousness; feet ready with the shoes of the gospel; the shield of faith; the helmet of salvation; the sword of the Spirit; and the power of prayer.
    While the armor is all symbolic, I think the order in which these are given is important… and, I also believe that all of the armor is important. It does us no good to go into battle with only a few pieces of armor, because Satan will attack those areas that are not protected. It must always start with truth…the truth of God’s Word. We must absolutely, without a doubt, believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of Almighty God from the first word in Genesis to the last word in Revelation!  If we don’t believe that “in the beginning God”…and “in the end God”, then Satan already has us! I have quoted this one before – “If you don’t get the first button in the right button hole, everything else is crooked!”
It is the belt of truth that carries the sword of the Spirit. It is the belt of truth that ties all the other pieces together.
    I can’t use this message to give an exhaustive explanation of what all the pieces of armor symbolize, for each one – each piece – is a message in itself. But, allow me to just comment on each one this morning;
    Once we are deeply rooted in the truth of God’s Word, we have the “breastplate of righteousness”. The breast-plate covers all the vital organs, and especially the heart. This is not our righteousness or anything that we can do or have done to earn righteousness from God…this is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is attributed to us. It is His righteousness that we put on to protect a heart that is right with God and gives life to the body.
    We are to have “feet that are fitted with the readiness of the gospel”. The gospel is our banner! We ought always be ready to share the gospel with those in need. As a Christian, the gospel message goes wherever we go. The Bible calls it the “gospel of peace” because to those who accept it, it brings peace with God; peace within ourselves – or the peace of God; and, it brings peace with one another.
    Then there is the shield of faith…with which we can pro-tect ourselves from the flaming arrows or “fiery darts” of the evil one” as it says in some translations. It is by faith we live says Gal. 2:20 – The Word also says we are saved by faith; we are sanctified by faith; we are justified by faith; we stand by faith; we walk by faith; Christ dwells in us by faith; and without faith, we cannot please God! Everything about the Christian life is appropriated by faith. The shield of faith speaks of the ability to meet the attack regardless of which direction it comes…the shield is mobile…we can position our faith wherever it is needed.
    The figure of the helmet of salvation suggests that this would be something that protects our mind and the ability to think and make decisions. Unless we are saved – born again – washed and covered by the blood of Jesus – or however you want to describe salvation – unless we have the helmet of salvation, we walk in confusion and darkness.
    Then we come to the “sword of the Spirit” which is the Word of God”. It’s like we have come full circle. We started with the truth of God’s Word, and now we have the sword of God’s Word. It’s kind of the “same thing only different”!
    There are two words used for the “Word” of God; one is “logos” which we are most familiar with, which means the “complete revelation of God”. So, the Bible is the complete revelation of God, or “Logos”.  In the Book of John where John calls Jesus the “Word” or “Logos”…he means that Jesus was the complete revelation of God. However, here in this scripture, the “sword of the Spirit which is the word of God” the word “rhema” is used. Rhema means – not the whole word or Bible, but – a “specific passage, word, or verse” that has a special application to the immediate situation… This would be – as an example – Jesus using a particular scripture to counter what Satan was tempting him with.
    The sword is used both offensively and defensively. It not only protects and defends us, but it also pierces and convicts the hearts of others…and it destroys the whispers of Satan. Obviously, the greater the exposure to scripture, the more the Spirit can use this mighty sword in our life.
    I have so much to say about the last piece of armor – the power of prayer – that I am going to do that one by itself.

Satan’s Whispers - Part 5
2 Cor 10:3-4 And, Eph. 6:10-18

    I want to start by reviewing some things we discussed earlier. It is important that we understand this because of the nature of our study on Satan’s whispers and the spiritual battle we are engaged in….First of all, we need to remember that “Despite all its obvious flaws, weaknesses, hypocrisies, sins, and excesses--the church has been the most powerful force for good on the face of the earth, century after century. But most Christians do not know that the churches’ ministry is not only to the world; In Eph. 3:9 Paul gives another purpose of the church when he says; “that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers In the heavenly places"  It is absolutely mind boggling to think that we have a dual responsibility in the church; To carry the gospel, the “good news”, concerning God’s plan of salvation through Jesus His Son to the world. And, at the same time, through us, the manifold wisdom of God would be shown, and made known, to “principalities and powers in the heavenly realm”.

    Secondly, we must remember that Satan’s tactics – his “battle plan” – is to #1 - Distort or Deny the truth of God’s Word…#2 – Do whatever he can to discredit the testimony of God’s people.… #3 – Satan will do his best to depress or destroy our enthusiasm for God’s work… and #4 – All of these and more will work together to dilute the effective-ness of God’s church.
    In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus uses a series of parables to describe conditions in the world during the time between His first coming and His second coming. That interval is called the “church age” and it’s the age in which we now live. He said that there would be false churches and false Christians…those who profess to follow Christ and believe God’s Word, but in the end there is no fruit, and what they really are is weeds!
    He said there would be false teachers and false preachers and prophets…Some of which are blatant and open and easy to recognize. People who are being influenced by the Moonies, under Sun Myung Moon, the Korean "messiah." Or, the Mormons who go about trying to convince people that the Book of Mormon is authentic history…Or, the Jehovah’s going door to door…
    They teach strange doctrines that have no correspondence with Biblical Scripture, and yet they try to hide under the general guise of being evangelical Christians. Then there is the Hare Krishna group. They meet you in the airport, pin a nice flower in your buttonhole, and seek to engage you in conversation on spiritual matters to set forth their teaching. There are the Scientologists, and so many others…
    Some are more subtle. They are within the church itself, such as those who espouse transcendental meditation and various “self-improvement” movements. Then there are many who are, perhaps, without question evangelical, and yet they are teaching legalism, spiritual elitism, or pushing some special experience as a shortcut to spiritual power.
    Now all these groups and all these individuals have one thing in common. Whether they know it or not, they are being used as a tool of Satan to derail the church, and to oppose and defeat the gospel of Christ. What can Christians use to counteract the cults and false teaching all around us? What weapons can we employ?"
    Well, first, we ought to look at what the world will use to try to solve the problems it recognizes in society…(Coercion, manipulation, pressure groups, compromise, demonstrations that ultimately result in raised voices, in clenched fists and outbreaks of conflict, boycotts, pickets and strikes, in attempts to pressure people into doing what others want. These are the weapons of the world. Do they work? (If they did, why do we have the same problems today?)
    What about the usual methods of human reform? Every problem we face is usually approached by using one or a combination of these three:
1^st. Legislation – that is, law. The law is used to merely control of the outward man. It has nothing to do with and cannot do anything to the in-ward man. It does not change the basic nature of man, but merely restricts him so that he does not manifest certain qualities under certain conditions and the threat of consequences.
2^nd. Education – Education does change man in certain ways, but it still does not change him inside. Education provides us with the ability to change. But ultimately, we still make our own choices. Someone has once said that education just makes for smarter criminals.
3^rd. Improved environment… Changing a man’s environment does not necessarily change him, either. I don’t know how long is going to take human society to learn that when you take a man and lift him out of the slums and put him into a nicer environment you do absolutely nothing to the man himself. And, unless you do something to change the man, in a little while, if given time, he will make that new environment a slum as well.
    These are the usual approaches to reform. I do not mean to suggest we scuttle them. They all have certain value when it comes to change, but they don’t come to grips with the basic problem within man. This is why, after a lifetime of trying to change man with these methods, it has gotten us nowhere.
    We have other weapons, says Paul. They are mighty, they are powerful, and they accomplish something. They will "destroy strongholds" of evil, he says. As he put it in Ephesians, "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood,"…our problem is not people…but rather, "principalities, powers and wicked spirits in high places, the world rulers of this present darkness." There is a spiritual realm, a spiritual battlefield, and we are right in the midst of it.
    Because Satan’s greatest strategies are to distort, deceive, lie and deny, our greatest weapon against him is “Truth.”  “Put on the belt of truth” Paul says.  Truth is realism. The wonderful thing about the Word of God is that, when you understand the world as the Bible sees it, you are looking at life the way it really is. That is why it is so important that we understand the Scriptures and that we refresh our minds with them all the time. For, in this constant bombardment with illusion and error that we face every day, it is easy to drift back into thinking the way everybody around us thinks. Unless we are finding our minds renewed by the Spirit with God’s Word, and refreshed by the reminder of what life is really like and what it is we are really up against, we will find ourselves acting and thinking like the world. (hello!)
    So, the first and greatest weapon of all is truth: If we know truth, and understand truth, we will recognize our real enemy, and what is really happening in our lives and in the church, as well as in the world. If we know truth, we will recognize the counterfeit, and the false, we won’t be swayed by Satan’s whispers.

Satan’s Whispers - Part 4
Matthew 13:36-39

    The church, as God designed it, and as the Bible describes it, is an amazing, dynamic, world-changing force. It is, in fact, a kind of invisible government that is influencing the visible things of this earth. Because of the powerful influence of the church – God’s Holy Spirit working in and through kingdom people – we are able to experience the benefits of social stability; law and order; justice and peace. Now, some may say; “I don’t think he is living in the same world I am”…and, yes, this world is troubled and sinful, and violent and in turmoil, but we haven’t seen even a fraction of the tribulation that would take place if – and when – the church is taken out of this world.

    When it comes to Satan’s whispers of deception and delusion, chapter 13 of Matthew helps us to know that much of Satan’s work is in the church…right in the midst of the kingdom. He works in the attitudes and deeds of kingdom people. Jesus calls them the “sons of the kingdom.” But, in speaking of the weeds or tares, He says they are “sons of the evil one.” In the first part of Matthew 13 – just previous to our scripture for today - we find the parable of the Sower; in that parable the “farmer” who sows the seed represents Jesus and those called to preach and teach God’s Word which is of course, the seed. In this parable of the weeds however, the man who sows is Jesus, and “born-again” - fruitful Christians are the seed.
    I should also point out that in His explanation of this parable,  Jesus says that the “field is the world”…but, in verse 41 He says “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” His kingdom is the church! I would take that to mean that there is true and false in the world…and there is true and false in the church as well.
    The weed which is called the darnel, is a weed that looks like the real thing, it has some of the character-istic of the real thing, but it is not the real thing. This darnel, like the wheat has also been planted by a sower …but the sower is Satan. It grows in the same field as the wheat does; it receives the same water; it receives the same sunshine; but it never produces any fruit, and that’s what gives it away in the end. While we may not be able to tell the difference between the true and the false, you can be sure that Jesus knows!
    The weeds being sown by Satan many times will be the cause of much of the trouble in the church. The weed is often the one who would rather spread gossip in the church rather than spread the good news of what God is doing in the church! The weed is the one who would rather cause trouble, dissention, and division, rather than do what it takes to bring unity! The weed is the one who would rather maintain the status-quo, even if it is not working and hasn’t worked for ten or twenty years, in order to maintain control. The weed is one that can go without reading the Word of God – even though he carries a Bible - for he does not think he needs spiritual nourishment. The weed is one that can miss church for no good reason, and it really doesn’t bother them. The weed does not have much of a prayer life except when seen of men. The weed is one that has no real hunger for the things of god. The weed is in the world and the weed is in the church…professing to be a Christian, but in effect is false, counterfeit wheat.
    Outwardly they look like the genuine thing, just like the darnel looks like wheat, and it’s hard to distinguish one from the other. The darnel is among the wheat, but not of the wheat.
    Satan does not sow thorns and thistles he sows imitation wheat! If he did sow thorns and thistles it would have been easily detected, and there would be no difficulty in distinguishing the false from the true. But, Jesus says he sowed "weeds," or "darnel." Darnel cannot be distinguished from the wheat until the wheat begins to bear fruit. You will only recognize the counterfeit - not by what they say - but by the fruit they bear, or don’t bear.  Jesus also said in another scripture “by their fruit you will know them”…the fruit he speaks of is the fruit of the Spirit; “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” good fruit! A good tree will produce good fruit, but a bad tree will produce bad fruit; “impurity, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy”…you can read all about it in Galatians chapter 5!
    When the "servants" of the Sower discovered what the enemy had done, they wanted to root out the darnel (v. 28). He told them not to. If they root out the darnel they will uproot the wheat (v. 29). It is only when the wheat is harvested can the wheat and darnel be safely separated.
    The gathering of the wheat corresponds with 1Thessalonians 4:16, 17…“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the arch-angel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” I believe it is the rapture that is the great harvest where the wheat and the weeds are separated. That revelation day will unveil the truth about those who have professed Jesus Christ, yet they have never possessed him! Or perhaps I could say He never possessed them. “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven…I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21)
    This parable exposes Satan’s method of operation. He seeks to destroy God’s testimony on earth by introducing a false Christianity, a clever imitation of the real thing. And this parable reveals that he works from within: he sowed the "tares" among the wheat.
    This is clearly implied in the solemn warning given in 2nd Corinthians 11, where we are told "Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. It is not surprising then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.” 
    Now, our goal as Christians is not to go on a “seek and destroy” mission against those we may think are weeds… but rather, we are to do everything we can to make the true wheat in the church so strong and healthy that the weeds are powerless to damage it! And, the wheat in the church need to rise above the subtle lies, and whispers, and confusion - and weeds - that Satan may try to plant.
     I know this is a real downer of a teaching…but, it is not meant to condemn nor to point any fingers, nor to bring conviction or guilt, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. It is only meant to awaken us to Satan’s schemes and tactics that can destroy the work of the church.
    One thing I know about weeds is that weeds will always produce more weeds…but wheat produces fruit that will feed the world.  In the end, we are told that Satan will be permitted to bring forth an imitation Christ. This will be his crowning masterpiece. Much is said in Scripture concerning the Antichrist. It says multitudes will be deceived by him so that the entire world will follow after him. That’s Satan’s way… Church, let’s not be deceived.

Satan’s Whispers – Part 3
John  17:20-26

    This morning we continue our series on Satan’s Whispers and how Satan tries to destroy, distort, discredit, and dilute, the effectiveness of God’s church. He will allow us to profess our faith all we want, while using whatever deceptive means possible to keep us from practicing our faith.

I want to give you four ways that God’s Word describes the church… And, three purposes or reasons that the church exists.
    First of all, the church is described as a “body”… Romans 12:4 says; “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others”. 1^st Corinthians 12:12-27 speaks also of the “body” as a unit made up of many parts that work together – “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”. Ephesians 4:20 says that “we are all members of one body”… In Colossians 1:24 Paul says that he does what he does and suffers what he suffers in regard to Christ, “for the sake of His body, which is the church”…And, finally, in Ephesians 1:22 it tells us that the church is a “body with Christ as the head”.
    How can you tell if a body is healthy? We would say it is healthy when everything is doing or functioning the way it is supposed to. Or, you could say “Nothin’ hurts!” It’s when something in the body hurts that we know there is some-thing wrong. It is tragic and heartbreaking to see a person who is bound to a wheelchair or a hospital bed, unable to control the functions of the body… But, a church that seems to be disconnected or unresponsive to the head is every bit as tragic. What would you say then is Satan’s role? I would think that he will do whatever he can to get the church to function without listening to the head.
    Second, Eph. 2:10 tells us that the church is “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. We certainly are not saved by works…salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, God’s Son, but good works are a result of or the fruit of our salvation. In other words, God’s church is made up of those who have accepted the finished work of Christ on the Cross of Calvary…and God prepared – in advance – things that He wants the church to do while we are here… “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry”. The work of ministry is not about growing the individual church, but about reaching the community for Christ and growing the kingdom of God. What does Satan do? He lies to us and convinces us that just coming to church on Sunday is all you have to do. That way the work of ministry will never get done.
    Third, in Eph. 2:19-22 the church is pictured as God’s household; a building; a holy temple; a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. The thing that makes a church a church is the presence of God. It’s the presence of God’s Holy Spirit convicting; helping; healing; leading; transforming; teaching; filling; and enabling us to do the work of the ministry. Satan however, will consistently try to get us to do “church” in our own power, in our own way. And get us to grieve the Holy Spirit and put His fire out.
   Fourth, the church is pictured in God’s Word as an army. Eph. 6 tells us to “put on the whole armor of God” because our fight is not “against flesh and blood” our fight is not against one another; it is against the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”… The scripture lists seven things we need in order to stand against the attacks of the enemy. There are people in our churches today that only have three out of the seven… and some that only have one – the “helmet of salvation”… and we wonder why the church is not standing in our world today.  The ability to follow marching orders; to obey commands; and teamwork are what makes an army great… So, what is Satan’s role?
   Well, all of these things have a part to play in the three purposes of the church; the first of which is:
 “To reflect God’s righteousness and holiness”. Let’s be clear about this; God is not as concerned with what the church does…as much as He is concerned with what the church is…and, the church is to be a reflection of God to the world! So, what kind of reflection does the world see? Being must always precede doing….for what we are determines what we do.
    The church is to reflect God to the world like a mirror reflects our image when we look into it. When people look at the church they ought to see the moral and holy character of a loving God. Eph. 1:4 says “He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in His sight”. Spiritual growth and Christ-likeness does not happen in a “one hour on Sunday” setting.
    The second purpose of the church is to “Bring glory to God”. All that we are and all that we do ought to bring glory to God. 1^st Peter 2:12 says “Live such good lives among the pagans that…they may see your good deeds and glorify God”. Everything in the church points toward God… All things ought to glorify God… It’s not about me...it’s all about Him!... From beginning to end.
    The third purpose of the church is to declare the “good news”…To make visible the invisible Christ. 1^st Peter 2:9 says “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you”. “You are” that “you might declare”… That’s our primary purpose in Christ…“that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known” – not only to the world – but, “to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places”. Not only is the world watching the church, angels as well as Satan and his fallen angels are watching the church…And, I wonder what they might think?
    The church cannot save the world…but it is called to point the way to and glorify the one who can!  It is Satan’s work to thwart the church from fulfilling any or all of these purposes – in any way, by any means he can.
    The church that is the “body of Christ” can be strong and healthy when all the members work together in love under one head which is Christ… The church can accomplish the works of ministry that God prepared in advance for it to do if it is prepared, trained or discipled, and spiritually healthy.   
    The church that is God’s household will come together to worship and reflect the presence and power of God giving Him the thanks and praise and glory He deserves. The church that is a part of the army of God will do all that it takes to make sure they have all the armor of God in place and are standing together in unity against a common enemy. The church will then be what Rick Warren describes as “Purpose Driven.”
    In other words, if the church is being the church, the people will reflect the image, character, and righteousness of God… All that the people say and do will bring glory to God… and, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be lifted up and will draw others toward salvation.

Satan’s Whispers - Part 2
2 Thessalonians 2:3-12

    When it comes to being deceived, it is not the outright obvious things of evil that get us, it’s the whispers! It’s the whispers of Satan that can destroy individuals, families, and churches. There are four subtle ways that he does that:

    One is by trying to destroy, deny, or distort the truth of God’s Word. He will cause us to dwell and focus on the grey areas of life, and divide us as too our interpretation of what we think is right. He will divide God’s people over minor things that don’t mean squat in the end…and take our focus off of the major things that God desires for our lives.
    He will also tries to discredit the testimony of God’s people. That’s you and I. He will trap us into a false sense of security, watching for our weaknesses, then causing us to act differently than what we profess to be; and thereby destroying the effectiveness of our witness. His greatest tactic is allowing us to profess our faith while using every scheme possible to prevent us from practicing our faith. Or, he will try to trip us up and cause us to do something stupid to discredit our testimony.
    Through envy and jealousy and greed and selfishness, he will depress or even destroy our enthusiasm for God’s work. Christians are like autos--when they begin to knock, there is something wrong inside… And, of course, through all these and more, he can and does dilute the effectiveness of the church.
    What are the Devil’s schemes? Well, we can always expect him to feature areas of “forbidden fruit.” These are things that God says “Don’t” and Satan knows that the flesh always wants what it can’t have! So he works on the lust of the flesh; the lust of the eyes; and the pride of the heart; to sway us into the path of temptation.
    S.M.I.C.E. is an acrostic I like to use for this. These are the five most vulnerable areas in life that Satan uses to deceive and destroy; (And, remember, we are not just talking about the world but those in the church as well.)
S = (sex) We are living in a society where sex and sexual imagery is rampant. You can’t turn anywhere without being faced with it. I picked up a PG13 movie the other day and it said “some” language and sexual imagery”…and, don’t even get me started on the sitcoms that flood our T.V. screens every night…or the statistics on how many people – including pastors in our churches – are getting hooked by on-line pornography.
M. = (money) What are Satan’s tactics? To appeal to man’s covetousness, his desire for more, for bigger and better... He wants us to be discontent with what we have.
Question – Does Satan want you rich or poor? The answer is both. He can get to us from either direction. But, listen to what God says about money or wealth – from Prov. 30:8-9  “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches… but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say “Who is the Lord”? Or, I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” These two areas of life – Sex and Money - are #1 and #2 on Satan’s list of tactics!
I. = (image) 1 John 2:15-16 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, ( which I mentioned earlier ) is not of the Father, but is of the world."  Why do we have these lusts? Because Satan tries to tell us that we have a “worldly” image to keep up. I mean, “What will people think?”  Satan seeks to distract us by getting us to focus our attention on the material instead of the spiritual. He wants us to focus on what the world thinks rather than what God thinks; especially when it comes to image.
C. = (compromise) Compromising with worldliness can destroy a person. Compromise can put us in jeopardy and endanger us. Compromise can discredit us and put us under suspicion. Compromise can ruin, weaken, and des-troy us. Compromise will always lead to disloyalty and half-hearted commitments. Satan would have us compromise our faith, compromise the Word of God, compromise our loyalty to the church, to compromise means settling for less than the best!... Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego had uncompromising faith…and it kept them from getting burnt!
E. = (ego) Whenever we live as if the world can’t get along without us, and we make ourselves to be more than what we are, it is like living in a glass house just waiting for someone to throw a stone, which will cause our house to tumble down around us. Ego - that thing that inflates our attitudes, disrupts our altitude, and hinders our aptitude! It is a major stumbling block in this world in which we live. There are many who live as if the job just can’t function without them, or unless they are in charge. There are those who egotistically feel as if everything in the church centers around them. It’s ego that makes us angry and upset, and blind to the truth. Satan wants us to think “It’s all about ME!”  Forget about what is best for the church, or best for the future, or bring glory to God…It’s all about ME!
    While S.M.I.C.E. may not be a word, it is a list of strategies Satan uses on us every day. Maybe we need to look at these areas of temptation and discover where our weakness may be.
    If we understand how Satan works, we can be on our guard when situations arise that could lead us to sin. We will be tempted, but we read in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” One of the “ways out” is to be aware of Satan’s schemes; Satan’s tactics; and Satan’s whispers.
    This is warfare...and the battle is raging. God has given the church – in His Word – three main purposes… which will be the subject of our message next time.
    If the Holy Spirit has spoken to you today, and you recognize an area of your life where Satan has been deceiving, please take a moment at the altar to confess it before God. Whether it be Sexuality; or Money issues; or an Image problem; or an area of Compromise; or an Ego trip… God will help you to change that area of your life, and He will do it in a way that will not bring you guilt and embarrassment; but that will bring Him glory!  James chapter 4 says “Come near to God and He will come near to you. Submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you;… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up!” 
    Satan is whispering in some of your ears right now…
    Don’t listen to him…listen to the Spirit of God within.   

“Satan’s Whispers” - Part 1
1^st. Peter 5:8

    I want to begin by letting you know that this evolved out of the reading of several books on the subject, but mainly a book by the Title “Satan’s Whispers” by Robert Don Hughes; and the book “Unmasking Satan” by Richard Mayhue. It began as a series of study lessons that I have used in Sunday School and Small Groups, and I decided to post it here.

    Let me start out by quoting a few scriptures so we can get a proper picture in our minds as to who Satan really is, and I will emphasize the appropriate words;
2 Corinthians 2:11(1) “I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not out-wit us. For we are not unaware of his (schemes).”
2 Cor. 11:13  “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself (masquerades) as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
2 Thes. 2:7  “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of (counterfeit miracles), signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that (deceives) those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love (not refused to believe, but refuse to love) the truth and so be saved.”
Matthew 24:21 “At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to (deceive) even the elect--if that were possible.”
Rev. 20:7 “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to (deceive) the nations in the four corners of the earth—“
    When it comes to being deceived, it’s not the outright, obvious things of evil that get us, it’s the “whispers.” It’s the subtle ways Satan gets us to carry out his plan and in the process destroy individuals, and to destroy families, and of course, destroy the church. He will distort or deny the truth of God’s Word; he will discredit the testimony of God’s people; he will depress our enthusiasm for God’s work; and, he will dilute the effectiveness of the church. Think about people, and families, and churches, and even nations that have fallen because of one or more of these tactics by Satan in our world.
    We read words in the scriptures such as “lies”; “false” “schemes”; “deceitful”; “counterfeit”… “looking for someone he can devour!” One thing I have learned is that Satan does not lose interest or give up on us just because we decide to live for God… In fact, one of Satan’s greatest tactics is to allow us to profess our faith while using every means possible to prevent us from practicing our faith!
    Yet, despite all of its obvious flaws, weaknesses, hypocrisies, sins, and excesses, the church has been the most powerful force for good on the face of the earth. Not because of the people in the church, but because of the one who is the head of the church…Jesus Christ, God’s only Son! “Upon this rock” said Jesus, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it!”
    However, most Christians don’t know, understand, or realize that the churches’ ministry is not only to the world …In Ephesians 3:10 Paul gives us a glimpse of another purpose; “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known (listen) to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”…That is mind boggling to think that we in the church have a dual responsibility; To carry the Gospel, the “good news” of God’s plan of salvation to the world; and that through us and our obedience, to show the “manifold wisdom of God” in His plan and purpose for mankind, to powers and authorities in the heavenly realms! Satan’s plan is to stop that from happening! And, he does it by way of his “battle plan”  - the four ways we have listed.
    In this series we are going to learn about the “Strategies of Satan”; We will learn about the “Three Purposes of The Church” and the reality of a true church and a false church; We will hear what the scriptures say concerning the church described as a “Body”; a “Temple”; as “God’s workmanship”; and as an “Army.” We will learn about the “Secret Weapons of The Church” and our “Defense Against Defeat” and finally “The Posture of a Christian.”
    Paul was chosen as apostle to the Gentiles and, in that dramatic conversion experience on the Damascus road, he said to the Lord whom he saw in the glory, "What will you have me to do?"  Jesus replied, "Stand upon your feet, for I will send you far hence unto the Gentiles, to open their eyes and to turn men from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God"…Satan’s power is but a subtle “whisper”…
    I read through the prayers of Paul, and I find that he deals with many matters in his prayers. But, primarily, and repeatedly, one request comes out again and again: He prays for other Christians, that their spiritual understanding might be enlightened. He asks that the eyes of their mind, their intelligence, might be opened, unveiled… This repetition in the apostle's prayers indicates the importance of understanding intelligently what life is about, what is true and what is false, what is real and what is phony. It also illustrates the power of the devil to blind and confuse, and deceive…and to make things look one way when they are quite another.
    It is one thing to listen to that “still small voice of God’s Holy Spirit within… It is another to listen to Satan’s whispers.