Sept 30 - Don't Be a Spiritual Masochist!

This morning's messages. Don't be a spiritual mascis. Hope for present life and eternal life. You don't know what sort of pleasure out of hurting themselves or others is the easiest way to explain that this passage. This morning is focused on 1st Timothy 4 1 through 16 don't start with this. There's like seven on biblical statements that Christians. I can't believe this is just a list of them. That's a personal list as night. And you know, like we believe in a lot of stuff that they that the Bible doesn't actually teach we actually say these things to ourselves commonly in our family and some of them have very deep deaths increased Christian teaching for some. Of of Christianity, especially here in the United States. First one is God helps those who help themselves is a very big one right now in our culture. God wants us to be happy. God wants us to feel good about everything We're All God's Children. Patrick cleanliness is Next to Godliness. You will not find this in the Bible. God won't give you more than you can handle it's not true. I'll show you why bad things happen to good people bad things happen to all people when you dying. God games another angel. Maybe they're all coming things in their completely untrue the first one and God helps those who help themselves. Actually. Jesus says take up your cross and deny yourself entirely at the Matthew 16-24. And the second one is God wants us to be happy. Good. God wants us to be good. God wants everything to come out for a good and they will come out for our good as long as we trust and love him and that's Romans. 8:28 good does not equal happy 3 and We're All God's Children Well know the Bible never says we can all of the human race are God's children. The Bible says those who believe in trust in the Lord are entered into adoption in the kingdom of God and therefore become children of God. Therefore is cleanliness is Next to Godliness. No way Jesus hates legalism. It's not about me getting your your hands clean then and then publishing yourself to the nth degree to come in here in a Sunday morning. That's not what this is about that the legalism and Jesus often talked against it to the Pharisees. Number 5 God won't give you more than you can handle by.

Everything is more than you can handle. Everything is more than you can handle but when we trust in God and when we believe in God and he wants it all things for our good he will transform even those bad and terrible and top places and things that we can't handle in the good things for us so we can handle it with his help. So everything is beyond what we can handle every 6 bad things happen to good people now bad things happened to all people not just a good thing is not just a bad things but it's about you know, that none of us are right is not a single one of us are righteous. So technically Are we are we are bad people things are going to happen to us bad things ain't good things. So when we trust in God and things turn out of Entry are transformed for a good number 7 when you die God games another April know they are humans are humans right angles are angles angels serve God and Humanity as long as we're trusting in God as long as we're in the proper place of being under the authority of Christ angels are under our Authority. And demons serve Satan they only Thursday in his purposes is playing the negative things bad things of the world and in all these places. If you like to have like a copy of how to address these particular things I can print that out for you. There's an article actually drew some of these from

Let me go back to the scripture this morning that there's a lot of things that would that we believe like I said, this is only a list of like seven things that that we commonly believed that we say things all the time like everyday. I hear some of these things called like God doesn't you know bad things happen to good people for cleanliness is Next to Godliness just to throw that out there to sort of like trying to teach your kids just to wash their hands but in saying that repetitively to your kids, you're actually teaching your kids theology here at your teaching them something about God when you say these things until I actually mean something it's not just something that we throw around. so in this scripture and verse 1 How tall is talking specifically to Timothy about deceiving spirits?

and in doing so

abandon abandoning people in the Church of banding their faith

And in faith is some is evidence of Things Not Seen which is scriptural right? It's something that we believe we believe solidly and it will we see it in scripture, you know, when when somebody comes and prays for us when and when God is entering Our Lives the holy spirit is Upon Our Lives to change and renew things. It's evidence of things to come. Text evidence that God exists is the reason why we bear witness to what God does it's a reason why I stand up here and talk is because I have seen God be at evidence in my life changing me at specific points and that's why I'm up here. I'm not up here because somebody taught me something from a book or something to somebody taught me something as a kid and I have to you know, just keep repeating what they taught me and what I learned as not that if it was that I'd be somewhere totally somewhere else crying because the actions of adults that I've seen is taking me away from what I meant. The actual word of God has said to the evidence that I have is opposite of what I was taught. So the evidence I would have would leave me out of my faith abandoning my faith abandoning God but I've seen God actively working my life in this is evidence of God's work to Faith is evidence and if faith is the evidence that we have to take a risk to believe belief faith is rest. Safe is risk. You have to risk something quick some skin in the game somewhere give up something because you believe in God before because I mean really think about it. If you really believe in something if you were really breathe and believe in a product. Are you believe in a company you risk something you give up your money for that thing. You give up your time and you use those things I believe in using a computer because this is a digital age and it helps me to save a lot of money and I need to save a lot of time and so we use a computer instead of writing things down all the time that I had to leave in places. So I take it with me, I believe in that thing. So I invest in it. I believe in God and so therefore in Destin I know things a guy if we don't take a rest then how can we call it? Faith faith is taking a risk.

We call it stepping out in faith and in confidence, we believe so taking a step of faith and confidence not taking a step of faith and fear. Because taking a step of faith and fear. Is kind of like a 1/2 a stuff right? We trip over our own feet because we taking a half a step in state instead of taking a full step and knowing that we'll have something to stop on. Is believing in something and have a confidence in that particular thing. So when we take a step without faith, it's just called taking your stuff and just taking the difference between taking a step with safe and having confidence and not having confidence.

Savannah Paul goes on his foot and starts to talk about the spirit of deception and hear some of the ways that the that the enemy likes to deceive his ways that he likes to see this in movies from God of the truth not staying. Don varnish truth The truth will set you free. Okay, so the truth set you free. Why do we have a problem saying? Why are we afraid of saying why do we want to keep it from other people?

Exaggeration AKA hyperbole example of that the greatest ever whatever it is is the greatest ever. It's never happened this way before it's only happening this way and it's the greatest things he had to get on it, right? The greatest favor is hyperbole at the entrance and exaggeration is not based on any evidence. There's no evidence there to take his stuff on it's just a exaggeration hyping people up so that they take a dump. About hiking hiking people up. But telling the truth.

Revelant taking Revelation over God's word taking you. Somebody's somebody saying something over what the Bible says the Bible says to test everything by itself by the Bible if it's not raining there if it's not in the word of God, if it isn't said by Jesus don't trust it don't believe it. Don't take it as truth ever do not pee test everything that comes to you every single thing because when we start believing in Revelation, then we're done. We're talking about somebody giving a word somebody saying something is not backed up by scripture that's called a cult of personality. It's based on following a person other than Christ. Person who develop a cult of personality. It wasn't because of his personality that people followed Christ. It was because Christ bore evidence of God in this world to change it to renew it and transform lives. That's why people follow Christ.

Self-promotion has asked you this who is going to sit at your right hand. I mean literally like Jesus just got done talking about the ghetto being humble and talking about, you know, following God and things of God and all the sudden his disciples are like all the arguing off to the side and they asked Jesus to sit by your right hand. Is it me is it is a Peter is it like who is it? So then Jesus rebukes, you don't know what you're asking for is this is literally talking about you're going to have to give up your itself entirely possibly in death and most of these do guys end up being persecuted.

So you will have to give up their life. That's not self-promotion.

Hero worship. This is the opposite of self promoting or someone else. Right? It's not part of this cult of personality. I can't get enough of them baby when you get lost in a cult of personality and that person is been removed from your life. Then you have nothing the person's going for one reason either either they have moved on me about because this is life made things happen in time. They've either moved on or they have died and then you're left with nothing. There's no grounding under.

I said when we don't have those things they just they just fall out from underneath our feet. They don't give us at Faith to stand on. They don't give evidence of God working in our lives. There is no transformation because we have bought and other things we have sought those shallow baseless things in her eyes, and we've admitted the truth. Hawaiian when we have met the truth there is nothing for us to pain on I don't know how you build hope and not telling people truth. I just doesn't work. So and then Paul goes on and talks about these people wear Timothy is that try to get other people to reject the good things of God. So is that it is a way of belief that forbids people to marry to abstain from certain foods to go out live in the desert without anything from minimum amount of clothing and I'm not exaggerating. This is not an exaggeration people. Do these things. There are groups of people that went out as soon as as soon as Constantine in the 380 around that area where he was trying to establish the the Roman Church and at the same time a lot of people were not liking that idea and she shouldn't like that idea necessarily. It was fine for establishing the church in history. Yes. And by the way, they went about doing it was not the way that the early church work. There are a lot of things wrong. So a lot of people went out into the desert they went to go find a place by themselves in order to hear from God themselves. So that wasn't a good thing. That was the good part of it to hear from God themselves, is it did things like not doing good things that God told him to do. How God promotes marriage why because God promotes family right producing of children to be fruitful and multiply is all apart of scripture. And so to tell people not to marry is actually going again scripture. Abstain from certain foods by this time. God had already shown the disciples, you know Envision that they could eat any food because God has blessed the food, but he also told him to bless the food as they're eating it now, so they're certain conditions there. But so this is a general way of punishing the body physically. By refusing to listen to his needs especially the ones that needs the most so yeah, we're literally talking about food and like taking yourself away from those things your body needs to be healthy to be strong even even in things like taking a rest. All right, it can be one of those things anything that you find pleasure ruler good attitude that is good for your body and some way they say not to do so, then you can start building a list of things not to do and you think that is you think that is godliness. NF1 is Senator services in Belize and rejection of things in order to tell themselves a lie that says that this is God. That's what I ultimately comes down to when you stay in his asceticism long enough. Sexy getting a party to hear from God is not the issue getting apart to find rest is not the issue. But going against the good things of God, like my pulse has that had them Blast by guy that's been given to him by God is the problem.

Paul warns about this way of thinking it says we must deny deny that all the good things has God that he is ordained to be good is in fact the bad things that the good things of God are The Godly things. So what is the meaning of the word that he uses nustevia which means piety or acts of faith who sell acts performed and faith Acts performed by you risking something because of your faith in God. This is what godliness means. Having to the faith to put some skin in the game and knowing that God is going to take care of a guy's going to handle it to in Becky and I committed to me and I'll doing pastoral Ministry. We knew we would be coming into an itinerant system. And for ice that means denying the option of taking on a house taking on a home for ourselves because itinerant system moves year-round frequently enough that you cannot take on a mortgage and so we had to deny ourselves the option of having that home and taking out a mortgage because God has called us to a different purpose in life. I said we had to risk putting some skin in the game losing the option of having our own home in order to follow the things of God. Put it. What are you willing to risk for God and that's Safe physical endurance training. Like these guys are trying to be a guest eating good good things of food night night eating and I can stream down your waiter whatever, you know, and maybe as some people called navel gazing, you know, I always looking down and praying to God and never doing anything else beyond that not helping people but actually focusing just on yourself. That's not what this is about. What faith is it down? Verse 4 and 5 for the dishes to accept the good things of God in our if we receive it with thankfulness. And we and it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer the word of God says it's okay and we we prayed over it. That's what consecrated to God and we give and we receiving and thankfulness. Do we we do we take on a lot of things? 100 really think I'm a lot of things but how often are we received receiving those things and thankfulness?

Purchase 7 and 8 says telling the truth of the good things of God shows you that that you value godliness. And what do we say to Godliness was acts of faith. And have hope for now in eternal life. It's not just one of the other is not just that things are going to change in this world and that will bring us to Perfection and then and then God will receive us and it's also you just waiting for the future hope for us to be transformed at the end. The kingdom of God is both. The kingdom of God is both it is here now transforming lives to the work of the holy spirit in faith and knowing that we have a hope now that things can change because of this and hope for the future and whatever that's going to be. Why because we we interpret internal life differently. The Bible the word of God says that both the Earth and Heaven will be made new. We don't really know what that means and can mean a lot of different things and some people see you like I will come to Perfection and there will be made new and we stay here and we do kind of some of the sword the same things and but we do them with our worship worship Aladdin tickets for eternity and there's other people who only focus on us being received in heaven being removed from her. But what's the point of having a new Earth if we're not here to do anything with it? So the where did I'd actually says that the Earth and Heavens are made new. So what is it mean for you? Yeah acting in faith gives us help cuz really what this amounts to Godliness is acting in faith. And every time we activate there somebody ask in faith for us here something for us and does something for us out of godliness and knowing what is true knowing what is good and doing those things. U-verse help

give this hope he's as hope for now and in the future. So acting in faith is Faith is shown in how you act? And how we Act is in speech conduct love Faith and Purity and this isn't me saying that again. That's that's Paul saying that that is only instructing Timothy. This is how Faith Works and I have to work through all these things if it works through none of these things, you can't just go around talking about Christian things and then don't act And godliness you can't just like around saying you love and not act in love. I can't just go around talking about safe. But you actually have to have faith. You have to step out and risk something. You have to take a step into something that you have confidence in.

and purity purity of heart soul and mind and its Purity should affect our totality of being not just one place or one for more than one action over another action. You cannot pick and choose this thing. This is not what Christian faith is about. You can't pick one thing and leave another one behind. Cuz that's not giving your whole self and fainting on tonight.

But God gives you great gifts. God gives you spiritual gifts and gives us a gift to be able to pray and Faith to act in faith. He gives us a gift to be able to teach and to preach and discern the things of God. He gives us a gift to be able to heal. in faith He gives us the ability to talk to people about a hope A Renewed hope and love to people so that they know what God is about. Cancel God isn't about just you.

If you don't know what those gifts are come and see me. If you haven't used your spiritual gifts, and you know what they are come and see me. funny day If you don't think that you possibly could have a gift definitely come and see me. Jesus has a gift for you.

Penny has more than one kiss for most of us to be honest. Like these gifts. Don't just come like one at a time. God loves us. Jesus loves us enough to to make sure that we have the things that we need in order to make sure that his mission comes about to be able to love God and love others flee to be available to act in faith fully 15 and 16 follows up with be diligent in these matters giving your self. Holy the entirety of your being to them so that everyone may see your progress watch your life and your Doctrine closely persevere in them because if you do, Sure, save yourself and you save your hairs.

People will come to Faith because of what you said to them people will come to Faith for what you do for them.

So this is never been about being a spiritual mask just a false piety. It's never been about navel-gazing in the desert. I'm not giving up all these things.

But it should be about being a receiver of the gifts of God than the things that he brings you. The love in the hope that God gives to you so that you can give those things back to people were lost and hurting that's the reason why they give you these gifts because he loves you so much that he even wants you to be transformed so that you can be have a sense of renewal and in show love to other people. because when we're not loving Or dying.

for not giving hope We're giving a spirit of depression and anxiety and fear. The opposite of love is not hate the opposite of Love is fear. Fear, so if we're afraid we cannot bring love. Sad about you. It's about them. Jesus is here for every lost and hurting so she when we go in We Make Disciples, we do it by loving loving God and loving our neighbors. Be diligent about these things have faith and stuff out knowing that God has your gifts. There for you so that you can love others.