Pete McKenzie 0:19
led to one of the greatest hours of prayer we’ve had in a long time, on Friday mornings, and we’ve been doing that for 28 years, meaning guys meeting together and go into war, go into battle. We fight with spiritual weapons in these battles, we have to learn to do that. And prayer is the best spiritual weapon. It’s the key spiritual weapon. Do you know we see things happening in Afghanistan, and now we know in Mongolia, in India and around the world, God’s working. And he’s working powerfully. And he’s working to do one thing. And that’s the draw man to himself. He’s not trying to save countries, he’s not worried about what’s going on politically. He never bothered himself with that when he became a man and came down and live 33 years, he didn’t get involved in all that. He had bigger fish to fry. He had the gospel. He had died on the cross redeeming new me from one big issue sin. And sin is a reason that all that’s going on in the world is happening, all the hurt, all the atrocities, all the gulags all the killing fields, all the divorces, separations, church splits, all the division, all the hate, all the bitterness, all the revenge. All of this is called the one thing man is a sinner, and all have sinned. It’s not just a few have sinned, we have sinned. You and I have sinned, we could be part of the Taliban, but by God’s grace, we have it within our hearts. And we’re going to talk about that today. But before I do, I want to read something that I received this morning. It’s a word from the underground church in in Afghanistan is a little pause in between each sentence. But there’s a I didn’t have time, I didn’t get it in time to get it to our guys and get it on the screen up here. But there’s a member of the underground church and he shared his heart about what’s going on in Afghanistan. Now read you what he’s saying. Hello, dear sisters and brothers in this. His face is on the screen. But it’s all garbled. So you can’t tell I hope you’re healthy. Today in Afghanistan is the first day of Taliban rule. I don’t know what the future of this country will be.
We’re not able to control her emotions. He’s weeping is he saying these things?
Because we’ve wanted worked so hard for 20 years.
And all our work over the past 20 years has been lost in one night.
Only God understands how much pain we have, and how broken Our hearts are.
We are crying out. We are crying not out of fear. But because our hearts ache for our beautiful country.
It has now been destroyed by this savage and extremist group. Every precious thing of value in our nation is now destroyed. The whole world has abandoned us.
Those who said they support us have now abandoned us to the worst situation imaginable.
Don’t know what’s going to happen to us. Are we supposed to live alongside the Taliban’s rule Friends, we record this video today is a testimony. We want it to remain in history. We want to be remembered by our friends and loved ones that today we have been left in the field by ourselves. But we’re not leaving the field. We will fight harder and we’ll continue in God’s work.
If we are no longer with you remember this. Remember this word from our unbroken hearts.
Please remember us the great difficulties that we now face. If any of us remain if our children remain I have a request. Please do not leave them alone. Please take care of them please do not abandon them. I’m sorry, I cried and became emotional. My heart is hurting send this to all your friends as a remembrance of their brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope this finds you under our Heavenly Father’s shelter. Thank you The supportive underground Christians in Afghan When’s the last time you were underground? How long before Christians in America have to go underground? have our religious services and gather together to pray to meet like we’re meeting today. Two or three years from now this could be an American Christian saying the same things we’ve seen a very country destroyed not before our very eyes and not overnight this has been coming for 70 years and it always get back to the question of God delivering as people not always delivered as people and Wayne quoted Chuck Smith in that regard during our prayer time, he said God always delivers his people some through the fire some in the fire and some by the fire you know always delivers this people
mentioned that this whole thing is because of one three letter word sin. Man’s despicable heart. I quoted to you last week a quote by CS Lewis it is appropriate to be quoted again today. If you’re looking for a religion that really make you comfortable, I don’t suggest Christianity. When you’re looking at guys and if you were to ask, if extremist whatever they might be a motive or eelke they might be was about diverse q2 or qu and you ask them why are you doing this? They would say the same thing that Francis said that the Hindus are saying about Christians. Our Gods quit responding because you guys are worshiping. So we have to get rid of you so our gods can answer our prayers again. That our God is God our God is king. Our God is sovereign and the other gods know what all the demons know it and they shudder. Jeremiah 17 nine says a heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it fully and know its secret motives. Be patient when we we find this devotional by Matthew Henry, when he have some commentary, thoughts on this verse.
This again is from the verse at heart is deceitful above all things in debt. desperately wicked, who can understand it? concerning the sinfulness of man’s heart in the divine inspection, it is always under. It is a folly to trust in man, for he is not only frail, but false and deceitful. We’re apt to think that we trust in God, and are entitled to the blessings here promised to those who do so. But this is a thing about but this is a thing about which our own hearts deceive us as much as anything. We think that we can trust in God when really we don’t, as appears by this, that our hopes and fears rise or fall according to second causes, smiles and frowns. It’s true in general that there’s wickedness in our hearts, which we are sales are not aware of, and don’t suspect to be their minds me when Jesus said, there are many who have come to me and say, Lord, Lord, we cast out demons in your name. We prophesied in your name, we heal people in your name, you also Depart from me, I never knew you. That’s the deceitfulness of a man’s heart. It is a common mistake among the children of men to think themselves, their own hearts at least a great deal better than they really are. The heart the conscience of man in his corrupt and fallen state is deceitful above all things. It’s subtle, and false. It’s apt to supplant or replace. It is that from which Jacob pad is named the Replace, or there’s a planter, because evil good and good evil. Put sports colors upon things. In Christ peace, when there is no peace. Men, when men say in their hearts, that there is no God, or he does not see or he will not require. for they shall have peace, though, though they go on. Now. In these in 1000, similar suggestions, the heart is deceitful. The cheats man into the their own ruin. And this will be the aggravation of it, that they are self deceived yourself, destroy yours. You’re in the hardest, desperately wicked, it is deadly, it is desperate. These are hard words, but they’re necessary words. Because if we don’t get this down, if we don’t understand this, we haven’t missed anything but the boat. The essence of Christianity is it sin is desperate and despicable and evil, is deceitful. And if we don’t understand that, it’s going to have its way with us and we’ll be victims of our own sinful natures. The case is bad indeed, in a manner deplorable and pass relief, if the conscience which should rectify the errors of the other faculties is itself a mother of faults, and a ringleader in the delusion. What will become of a man if that in him which should be the candle of the Lord gives a false light. If God’s deputy in the soul that is interested to support his interests, betrays him, such as the sequence of the heart that we may truly say, who can know it? Who can describe how bad the heart is? I don’t know about you, but it’s that generally my thinking about my heart. I give myself a lot of credit for having a pretty good heart. I even look at you sometimes and think maybe you have a good heart. But how many times a day does our heart betray us? How many times a day that we go back to our vomit? How many times a day do we compromise what we say we believe? How many times a day do we hate when we should be loving and giving mercy? How many times are we patient when we get impatient and say things that we regret later? I mean time so I get mad at my wife and my children, the government people on the freeway and never feel too bad about it because they all are screwed up. They’re messed up they deserve. They deserve my revenge. They deserve not critical spirit. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. But there is an answer and God’s given us an answer in Scripture to this sin problem that we have. Proverbs 2813 warns us so he conceals his transgressions will not prosper. But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion
Charles Spurgeon was making some comments on this and he said the tracks this tracks the way of mercy and compassion for the guilty, repentant sinner, who must cease and desist from the habit of concealing uncovering sin. It’s one thing to be a sinner, even to acknowledge your church center, but it’s another thing to conceal and cover your sin. The business of a center is to confess in PR sake. That’s what we’ve been called to do. So everybody’s sins All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But not everybody confesses. Not everybody says, search me, O God and know my heart, draw me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there’s any hurtful way and me. Not everybody, for sakes. I looked up that word for sake, means to renounce or turn away from entirely, to abandon, to give up control or influence, to give up with the intent of never again claiming a ride or interest in. But he who confesses who brings it out into the light? In a lot of times that I think we talked about this before. A lot of times we think well I confessed it, I brought it out into the light, that’s enough. But this Scripture teaches us that it’s not enough. I don’t only have to confess my sin, I have to forsake it. How many times have we heard testimonies of alcoholics, who that came to Christ, and they got a new life and new desire to be holy and right with God. So they take their alcohol and pour it down the sink, that’s forsaking that doesn’t mean they won’t be tempted to do it again, that shows where their heart is drug addicts who wash all their drugs down and flush it down the toilet. I mean, in terms of we heard that they were moved by the Holy Spirit to clean their lives to get a new life. If any man’s in Christ is a new creature. He’s a different man, as Mary said in the chosen, that was one way. And now I’m different. I’m not the same guy anymore. I’m not the cleaned up guy, the painted guy, the varnished old guy. I’m a brand new guy that never existed before. I’m a new creature in Christ. And as a creature, the best thing about that new creatures he’s forgiven for all his sin that’s driven me my whole Christian life. I was desperate and sins and trespasses as the scripture says, I couldn’t handle it I couldn’t beat it. I couldn’t control it couldn’t defeat it couldn’t work my way out of it. It couldn’t deliver myself or fix myself. Imagine how happy I was a night I came to know Christ and found out I didn’t have to fix myself I know I did. I didn’t have to I couldn’t listen to the poor in spirit. Bless those who are crushed, who are mourning blesses those who acknowledge that they’re centers and that you repent and forsake it. That’s what we’re is required of assess the business of a sinner. We must recite the evil in disown all present and future intent to abide in it. The habit of evil must be broken. Together with all places in companions, pursuits in books, and anything that would lead us astray. don’t suggest Christianity if you’re looking for a comfortable religion. If you’re looking for the Holy Spirit to overlook what’s going on in our hearts, the sin that hides in every crevice and corner of our heart, even though we’re forgiven for every sin, we’re justified. God wants to sanctify us to justified means that I’m forgiven for all my sin. He’s put it behind him as far as the east is from the west, I have the white robe of righteousness own of Christ. The blood of Christ is cleaned me from our sin, I’m justified. It’s just as if I’ve never seen before. I’m right with him in his eyes. And when he looks at me doesn’t see all my sin and all that evil in my heart. He sees the righteousness of Christ and that’s what you’ll see when I come up to the judgment. See, the great white throne. You’ll see the righteousness my heart when I get to the door of the banquet room, and they have checked me to see if I get in or not. When they see the white robes of righteousness, only the blood of Christ is cleanse me from all sin, I’ll be admitted and not only admitted but joyfully admitted. And nobody would be more joyful than me. If that happens, I may be surprised myself. Because I’ve said Lord Lord, I preached him his name I baptized in his name, have encouraged others to follow his name, but Paul said, after enlisting, so Many others to the race I myself
might be disqualified. So we know that you will know a tree by its fruit Jesus. The fruit of righteousness of the fruit of humaneness, the human heart, the sinful heart. If there is division in trouble and critical spirits and hate, revenge, anger, profanity, pornography, drugs, alcohol, jealousy, causing divisions all the time, broken relationships. And I’d say that person probably is questionable whether he really knows Christ and He walked out he got baptized, he prayed the prayer. But where’s the fruit? And the greatest fruit is the fruit of repentance, the fruit of going back and making restitution, the fruit of going to someone and making it right with them. If you come to the altar, and you know someone has something against you, I’m going to make you uncomfortable. I’m going to stir your heart, I’m going to bring you to righteousness, I’m going to bring you to a place of you can’t speak at peace with yourself until you go and do your best to make it right. Maybe you can’t make it right maybe they won’t forgive you. But you can go to them. You know, you’ve sinned, you know, you’ve heard them. And God says, Go and make it right. Go and confess your sin and to do that, to confess your sin, you have to go and acknowledge it, you have to name it. God, forgive me for drinking again, cursing again, go into that pornographic side again, speaking, disrespectfully and ugly to my wife, being angry with my children. doing the things that I do in the flesh, be filled with the Spirit. And we have that opportunity. Don’t be drunk with wine and do all the other stuff we’re talking about. Be feel to the spirit. That’s what God has given us. He’s given his spirit and in His Spirit and in his power, through the Spirit, we can live these lives we can be free, will never get to a place. And we’ve talked about this over and over again. But we need to be reminded over and over again. Least I do I figure maybe you do need to be reminded that I can fall into sin with the best I can justify and rationalize my sin. And that’s what I do. I cover it and conceal it. I don’t bring it out into the light. I don’t want people to know what I’m really like. I don’t want them to know what I think. And it is seen in the lust of my heart. And so I find myself on my knees before the Lord is saying Lord apart from you, all I can do is sin. All I can do is disappoint you and disappoint my friends, my family, my wife, my children. Church. I’m selfish to the point of being sick at my stomach from selfish looking out for myself, as it affect me, so all about me. I get mad because life is hard. It’s not supposed to be hard. Even though Jesus said in this world you will have tribulation. Praise God that He said, But take heart. I have overcome the world. The world I’ve overcome the flesh, I’ve overcome the devil. You can live these kinds of lives man. God has called us to live these lives to live in the light. To live in the light means that we first confess and we forsake when we need to. Not just going and making it right or make restitution with that person we’ve heard or sinned. But when they heard us and they sinned against us, and they let us down and betrayed us and criticized us and lied about us and called her eat good evil. That’s where I have to show my fruit of the Spirit. That’s where I get a chance to give grace and forgive even as I’ve been forgiven. That’s where I get a chance to be Christ like you’re never more like Christ. And when you forgive and give grace. They don’t deserve it. They will never ask you for forgiveness. They will never admit their sin against you. But you forgive them in your heart. One to set him free but to set him free from yourself your own heart. You always wander into sin. When you’re feeling bitterness and anger and resentment and revenge toward another to get even with them. And you always know you’re not right with them. When you see him in the grocery store or church and you avoid him. You don’t want to come face to face with him. But if you forgive him in your heart
If you’ve let them go, if you’ve turned them over to the Lord to deal with, so that you could keep your heart pure and clean, you could walk up and hug them. You can be comfortable when you see him. But you don’t want to do that. And you won’t do that. If you’re concealing and covering bitterness and sin in your heart. God wants you to be free, you’re never going to be the man of God that you could be and that God’s called you to be. And I’ll never will. If we were concealing sin and rationalizing and justifying and won’t bring it into the light, will always have broken relationships. First john one seven. If you walk in the light, as he is in the line, you will have fellowship with one another, you won’t fellowship with your wife within walk in the light. Do what God nudges you to do what God pushes you to do the little things, compliment her. She may never encourage you, she might never compliment you. That doesn’t keep you from doing the right thing. You compliment her you do little gifts for her. You do things that make her feel special that you wouldn’t do to any other woman. Because she’s your wife. You ask her forgiveness, you try to make things right. When you need to, and we need to all the time. Amen. That was a week. Amen on that. like you mean it. That’s what God wants to hear. God wants to hear we agree with him, that we are sinners, we have no hope. We have a great God who’s worthy to be worshipped, who is worthy of our very lives is worth worthy, given our utmost for his highest Do you want this is the one is best. And this is how you get it. You live in the light. The light came into the world and the world rejected the light that we don’t, we did. But now we don’t. I was that way I was rejecting him, but now receive Him and honor Him. And how do I do that? By living a life that reflects him to have a strong family resemblance to my father and him to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. there’s work to be done, man, their sin rampid in the world. The Afghans, you know, the Taliban and ISIS and the mob in America. Everybody that we see working evil, they’re just useful idiots. So the devil. We fight not against flesh and blood, but against spirits and powers and authorities and the air is that that we fight. So if you understand that you’re not going to hate these people that are enslaved to the devil. And that’s what Paul told Timothy, Timothy, you’re going to, you’re going to, I’m turning you over to a church full of troublemakers. They don’t get along. They think about themselves. They’re young. There’s dumb sucking Christians if Christians at all. And now I’m turning them over to you Now don’t be refused to take their foolish and ignorant speculations, their shenanigans, all the things they do. You can’t take it to heart. refuse it for the Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome. And that’s all that leads to is quarrels. But I’m not calling you to be quarrelsome. I’m calling you to be a peacemaker. So you must be instead of taking it to heart and letting it pull you down. I’m telling you to be kind to them. Teach them by your spirit and heart and attitude the way you live. You gently correct them if you ever get an opportunity to do that. And many times we don’t. And this is why, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, perhaps it may not do it. It may not happen. You may you may do everything you’re supposed to do and they still will never repent. That maybe they will and if they are ever do this is because you responded like this if perhaps God may grant them repentance, it’s a gift to repentance is God’s calling you to repent and in verse sake, don’t pass it by. Don’t cover it over. Don’t walk away. You may or may never have the chance again, it’s a gift of God to repent. And God moves in our heart to bring us to repentance. And if we say no, we harden our heart to God. And it’s a lot easier the next time to harden our heart and the next time to harden our heart to that we get to the point where we’re used with swear salt, it’s lost its flavor. We may not be Christian at all. Perhaps God may grant in repentance. Why leave To the knowledge of the truth,
they’re in their sin because they believe lies. Life is supposed to be easy. It’s not supposed to be hard, it’s all about me. I need to be in control. And I’m not going to make peace reality that I’m going to die, I’m going to live forever. That they will call about your actions and attitude, that they may come to their senses. They may come to the knowledge of the truth and come to their senses. And that’s what God has called us to these scholars to a ministry of helping people come to their senses. Helping people come to that place where they understand that they need Christ in their life, they will never have peace without the Prince of Peace. They’ll never find forgiveness, in anyone that’s puts it behind them as far as the east in the West and gives them grace. You’ll never find that anywhere, but in Christ, and then his true people. Perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. Why they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who holds them captive to do His will, if you looked at everybody in the world today is slaves of the captors of the devil who holds them captive to do His will. And they looked at the Pharisees, your of your father, the devil, and your desires to do His will. See, you need to understand that when you’re seeing these people, the Taliban and ISIS in all the centers in the world and all the sinful groups in the world, and warring factions, and murderers and killers and to bring in doom and gloom and that’s all it can do. When they’re slaves of the devil. Break up, churches break up, families, break up, marriages break up business. That’s all they can do. They’re slaves to the devil. And we should look at them with pity and mercy and grace, not with our and bitterness. We hate the evil, but love the sinner. And we kind of make fun of that sometimes. Because who can do that? Who can truly hate evil, but love that center who’s evil, seeing them as slaves of the devil, that’s what you are. That’s what I am. We hope they’ll love us that way. Don’t count on it. Even in the church. That’s what God has called us to be. He’s called us to be different and new and to live the life that he gave us a Holy Spirit and forgave our sin to give us to go out there and give them heaven. And that’s why we say that. That’s why I said every week I need to be reminded, I need to go give them heaven. What’s that mean? Give them grace. Forgive them, serve them, wash their feet. But to do that, we have to be done with ourselves, our right to ourselves, I’m crucified with Christ. I no longer live, praise God. I no longer live. but Christ lives in me. And now the life that I live, I live by faith. In the Son of God, Faith has to have an object and don’t just live by any faith, it’s faith in the Son of God. Why? Because he loved me and gave himself up for me. I’ll never be able to repay that. But I’m going to try. I’ll never be able to pay what I’ve been forgiven and getting to go to heaven and spend eternity instead of hell. The alternative to Heaven is not good. It’s a small gate in a narrow way and few that it’s going to go in because many are on the wide gate going through the wide gate in the broad way that leads to prediction. And I learned what prediction means it means how destruction in many go there in our job is to keep as many on get them to the small gate and the narrow way as we possibly can. If in fact we’re have done it ourselves. That’s your mission in life. That’s your calling. That’s why you’ve been gifted. That’s why you’ve been set aside. That’s why God has given you grace and mercy so you can give it away and give him heaven. So I guess he wants to know, you’re in or out. I believe that and he believes that. That’s the reason you’re here today. Get around men, like you’re sitting next to the guy in front of you and beside you and behind you. These are the kind of man we need to be with. If we’re going to get the job done. In a log, that by itself is not going to burn. You have to throw it on the fire and many logs burning together will draw crowds. They’ll gather around if you give your heart to Christ and pour it out for Christ. They’re gathered around just to watch you burn. That’s what we want. That’s what God’s calling us to be. That’s what the Beatitudes all about. Next time we’ll get down to bless it or the merciful
for they shall be shall. I shall mercy. Have you been shown mercy? Has God given you His grace? This I like it today, okay. Let’s spread it around the start in your home and then let it go from there. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for reminding us of these things that the heart is deceitful above all things that’s our hearts. We can deceive our various selves. If we live in the light, though, you’ll show us our sin. We can repent, we can walk in newness of life, we can walk forgiven Your grace and we can give it away. We can give him heaven. But to do that, we have to die. It’s uncomfortable. To do that we have to give up our right to ourself. Give us a grace to do that. Give us a desire to do that. Help us mourn over our sin. Help us be meek. And then Lord, we’re gonna learn what it means to be merciful as you have shown us mercy and we’ll give you all the credit and the glory for our God is God. They want to get rid of us because our God’s greater than their God, but they’ll never be able to do that. It’ll never happen. praise you. A bunch of thankful man here this morning. We’re grateful in our hearts for our salvation in Christ. And we want to go out there and act like it in Jesus name And all God’s men said guys
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