What is Consuming You?

Thank you King, Joel, and Renee our student body officers for all that you have done in leading us, and thank you for this opportunity to preach.

I give honor to our Campus Pastor Bro. Turner and Executive-Vice President Bro. Gallion.

Thank you to all of the staff for all the time you spend pouring into me and all of us students.

Scripture

King James Version (Chapter 2)

3. The shield of his mighty men is made red, The valiant men are in scarlet: The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, And the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.

4.  The chariots shall rage in the streets, They shall justle one against another in the broad ways: They shall seem like torches, They shall run like the lightnings.

5.  He shall recount his worthies: They shall stumble in their walk; They shall make haste to the wall thereof, And the defence shall be prepared.

6.  The gates of the rivers shall be opened, And the palace shall be dissolved.

King James Version (Chapter 3)

13. ...The gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: The fire shall devour thy bars.

15. There shall the fire devour thee;

Prayer

Nahum Prophecy’s over Nineveh

(Needs to be more clear and tie better with my topic)

Nahum is known as one of the few Prophets of Israel to prophecy over another nation besides Israel, the capital of Assyria, Nineveh.

His predecessor was the prophet Jonah.

God called Jonah to preach a message of repentance to the Ninevites. The Assyrians repented of their sin and turned towards God. Yet, in the book of Nahum we see that Nineveh has returned to their wicked ways.

One hundred years later, Nahum would refer to Nineveh as the “Bloody City” (3:1). It is full of lies and robbery, there is a multitude of dead carcases. There is no end to their corpses; they even stumble over them in the streets.

Jonah warned the Ninevites of the coming Judgement and they repented. They didn’t know that they needed mercy until they saw Judgement was coming, but if they reject the mercy that is offered to them, Judgement has to step in. Because regardless of the people or nation, sin leads to death. But in the midst of our sin God offers a way of escape if we humble ourselves and repent.

Nineveh’s Fall

Nahum’s description of Nineveh’s fall is just as brutal compared to their own acts of violence.

He prophesies, “With an overrunning flood he (the LORD) will make an utter end of the place thereof...” This is exactly what happens, if you look at the maps in the back of your Bibles you will see that Nineveh is located right beside the Tigris river. The city was surrounded by 100 foot tall walls and was wide enough for three chariots to ride along side each other. The wall seemed impenetrable, but the Lord caused the Tigris River to flood which weakened the walls structure (2:6 ; 3:13). This left the Assyrians completely open to attack. The Babylonians stormed the city, dressed in scarlet, through the fractured walls catching the Assyrians completely by surprise as they scramble to defend the wall. The Babylonian chariots race through the streets as they loot and pillage the city, destroying everything and everyone. Finally they set the city on fire from within as Nineveh burns to the ground.

Why should we care about the destruction of this ancient city?

The Ninevites took what they saw in their own eyes as being good. In this case it was the destruction of anything or anyone that sought to keep them from what they wanted. The Ninevites were accused of being liers and robbers, violent killers, and what do the Babylonians do when they invaded the city? They rob them of their gold and silver and kill their families.

What the Assyrians had in their city, made them vulnerable to whatever they allowed in.

What is in the Heart?

You can tell at IBC that towards the end of the semester, after thirteen weeks of school people don’t care what they wear. Every day is, what can I wear today that is comfortable but still in dress code. Tuesday, I wore a Navy suit that I haven’t worn since my freshmen year! and I hate that suit.

But truly in the Kingdom of God it doesn’t matter how you look on the outside. As Apostolic’s we are more concerned about what is going on in the heart, and what you allow into your heart will be produced on the outside. That means when I focus my time and attention on the things of the world, my life will start reflecting those things.

I Love Funyuns, I don’t know what it is about them but any chip I can eat and get full. But give me a bag of funyuns and I will not stop eating. I just keep reaching into the bag to pull more out. This is not healthy and if I keep eating funyuns at an alarming rate you’re going to be able to tell.

If you want to compare yourself to other people you will start imitating what that person does. Telling that inappropriate joke may get you a laugh in the moment, but now we know who and what you really spend your time with. As human beings we see things that are entertaining or bring us enjoyment and think it is good for us, but we don’t know what the lasting effect it brings on us really is.

We can put on a charade that we’ve got everything under control, but what we do in our private time alone is who we really are.

We need the Spirit

The most dangerous thing in Ministry is standing behind a pulpit, singing into a microphone, playing an instrument, or whatever the call of God may be on your life without being in right relationship with Him.

The charade is up, you cannot be who God has called you to be in the spotlight, and be who your flesh wants to be while your alone. Sometimes the person your flesh wants to be comes out when you are around those certain people too.

II Corinthians 9:6 “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

We’re going to have to get on our knees and get alone with God, and not give in to what we want to do, if we are to produce a bountiful fruit. I know everyone here wants to do something for the Kingdom of God. We wouldn’t be here at Indiana Bible College if that wasn’t the case, but we’re going to have to examine our hearts to know what type of fruit we are producing.

Whatever you fill yourself with that is the very thing that you will produce.

If we want to produce this bountiful fruit. We have to be taking in spiritual things to produce spiritual fruit. That goes beyond just signing into the beacon for church and chapel. You have to walk in relationship with God and devotion to this truth.

We have to get it Out

Here is the Truth, Faithfulness is hard. Denying your flesh and picking up a cross is not an easy task.

King James Version (Chapter 6)

15  Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

16  What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

17  But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

We cannot play charades with the things of this world. It says right here that if you, being a member of the body of Christ, join yourself with the world. Then you are one with the World, but if you attach yourself to the Spirit you will be one with Christ.

18  Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Fornication in this case would be anything outside of the covenant or Will of God. When you allow the things of this world into your life you are hurting your own body.

We are to be the temple of the Holy Ghost, but we’ve treated our bodies like the money changers in the temple found in Matthew 21. We cannot distort what God has called us to be with what we want in a moment. We are His, and He paid the price so that His Spirit could dwell in us, but instead we allow the things that please our flesh to dwell in us.

Surrender

My first semester here I was hanging out with some friends. King was actually there. We were sitting outside of starbucks, playing that game where you are given an object and you have to come up with a sermon based on that object.

One of the objects was an umbrella, and I was like that’s so easy. An umbrella protects you from the rain just like God will be a protective covering over us. A lot of you don’t know her, but Cynthia West interrupted me and said, “No, its not so simple. If you cover a flower with an umbrella it will not be able to get the sustenance that it needs to grow, water!”

I thought, that is absolutely ridiculous the whole purpose of an umbrella is to protect yourself, why would you choose to take it off of you?

When I got back to my dorm last night it finally hit me. I found myself on my hands and knees surrendered to God with this prayer. “God, whatever you want to put me through while at IBC. I’m taking off all of the things that I use to protect myself so that you can form me and mold me into who you have called me to be.”

Not my Will

Truthfully, the movies and entertainment I watched back home, I knew it wasn’t Godly entertainment it was the opposite. And when I got to IBC I began listening to music that I never used to listen to back home. My private life began to make me vulnerable to things in my public life.

There was an inner battle in me between the things of this world, and the new things, the positive things, that I was learning at IBC.

I was being formed, but still, what I had on the inside was not producing what God needed me to produce.

It wasn’t until I went on a trip to South Dakota with 10 other IBC students and Bro. Sleeva. That I found myself laying on a blow up mattress in the sanctuary not just praying this prayer but acting on it. “Not my Will, but Your Will!” That night I deleted all of the secular music off my phone, and began to take out what those things produced in me.

I not only needed to get rid of some things, but I had to sacrifice my Will to His.

Closing

My question to you this afternoon is this, “What is consuming you?”

God wants to form us and mold us in this place, but when you hold onto the things that are not of the spirit. You are producing consuming fruit. The very thing that you hold on to will consume you.

My challenge to you today is this. Don’t walk in the things that bring pleasure or enjoyment for a season. They will only end up consuming you. He made you and paid the price to dwell in us, don’t dirty your temple with the things of this world. Be joined with the Spirit in your relationship with God.

Taking that cover off isn’t easy

But if you want to be who God has called you to be you have to surrender all of your will to Him.