Sunday Sermon : He wants to rule 16-10-2011

    A lot of people have a form of religion, going to church, fulfilling church duties, perhaps even being in church leadership, but the life never changes. Others have a religion that is based on emotions and when their emotions are down they feel that God has forsaken them. God wants our whole mind. Our will, our emotions, a contrite heart. We should make a specific decision to be obedient as a love response from a grateful heart for what our Lord and Saviour has done for us at Calvary.
    Our will helps determine our character. The decisions we make will chart the directions of our life so naturally satan wants to take charge of that will and so control the decisions we make and the direction of our lives. In Isaiah ch14 v12-14 satan says five times "I will". This is just what he wants us to do as well. To make our own plans!! To set our own goals!! To try to take charge!! To try to take control!! It is easy to see the close similarity between taking control and witchcraft where spells and other methods are used to affect and control other peoples’ lives. Consider Philippians ch2 and the total example of humility our Lord set before us. When you consider that we are only here in this world as servants of the most high God in satan’s territory, we are targets for satan to try influence us to come under his will instead of God’s.
    Satan used the victories of war to inflate David’s ego and to entice him to rebel against God. The sin of the flesh with Bathsheba was serious and hurt some people but the sin of pride when he counted Israel was far more serious killing 70.000 people. Today we have this great danger within our churches. If satan gets a pastor proud of his preaching or counselling, perhaps a Sunday school teacher proud of his Sunday school, perhaps a church leader proud of the increase of numbers in the church, begins to take control to the restriction of any body else’s ideas, or an operator proud of the number of hits the website is getting. Yes we are all vulnerable and we need to be so careful to give all the Glory to God and be a true christian. CHRIST I Am Nothing
    Man is a dependant creature. Acts ch17 v28 The essence of sin is to try to be independent from God. It is to take control of our own lives. To try to take God’s place in our own life and those of others. Satan’s lie remember was "you will be as Gods". If we behave and think independently of God’s instruction then satan has a loophole to take over your mind and will. Then we are acting according to the ruler of this world. 2 Chronicles ch26 v15-16 Deuteronomy ch6 v10-12 2 Corinthians ch12 v10 1 John ch2 v15-17
    Mankind needs God’s provision to sustain him physically, and he needs God’s holy Spirit and God’s word to sustain him spiritually. Success, the praise of men, and even the blessing of God can so inflate the ego that we think we can get along without God at all. We must always always always give God the glory
    Pride is such a strong weapon used against us that only a power much stronger than us can give us victory. That power is from the Holy Spirit. In Philippians ch2 v12-13 we are told to work out our own salvation. It does not mean that we ought to work for our salvation, that is an impossible task. Salvation is a free gift and is wholly credited to the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. To work out means to accomplish and complete what God has planned for us.
    We must acknowledge that God gave us salvation as a free gift Hebrews ch10 v12. John ch17 v4. John ch19 v30 Salvation is just the beginning and it is permanent, but it must be followed by spiritual growth and development 11Peter Ch3 v18 Then there is a word called service. This word today has all sorts of connotations, but when associated with the one and only Holy God, it is nothing more or less than a privilege to be used. When we consider this, and the magnitude of our shepherd it is important that we ensure that we don’t run ahead and don’t lag behind but allow the Lord to take us by the hand and walk side by side with Him. He has a perfect plan for our lives and some very special works that He wants us to fulfil for His glory. After we have given our Lord our bodies and our minds we must also give Him our wills and our time. To be able to do this we need to spend lots of time in prayer and the Word. One without the other is unbalanced Romans ch10 v2. If we surrender ourselves totally in prayer and have the knowledge gained through the study of God’s Word, the spirit of God will then be able to work in us and give us victory. When God’s Spirit works in us He produces humility, not pride. Humility is simply not thinking of oneself at all Romans ch12 v3 When Moses was called to go to Egypt and deliver Israel, he complained, argued and protested that he was slow of speech and could not do the job. Was this humility? No!! It was false humility, the worst pride. A truly humble person knows himself, accepts himself, yields himself to God and seeks to better himself to be able to serve God better. A truly humble man realises that all he has comes from God and must be given back to God