Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning, I bring Greetings from the Yankee states of Illinois & Indiana, and my Pastor Wanda Boose of Ecclesia Church in Merrillville, IN.

This is my second convention and I am honored to be a part of the 25th Anniversary Convention of the Faith in Action Fellowship.

I would like to first thank Bro. Charles and Sis.

Janet for allowing me the privilege of speaking from their pulpit this morning.

When Sis.

Mary Lou called and asked me to speak this morning, I was a bit overwhelmed.

What could I, a relatively new minister share with Pastors, Apostles and Prophets who have been ministering for 30, 40, or 50 years?

But before I could give it a second thought, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Proverbs 27:17

17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

I am a teacher.

I write curriculum, I teach Sunday School, I edit manuscripts.

I don’t preach, I teach-preach.

So you will forgive me this morning for not being what you expected.

This message is not a just a word of encouragement, but a lesson you can take back to your churches staffs, your Sunday School classes teachers, your prayer partners, and maybe even onto the Mission field.

My family and I are blessed to attend a Holy Spirit church – a place where the Holy Spirit is welcome.

He often enters during our worship, during teaching, during prayer and during revival.

We have seen his hand at work as people are healed, set free, and delivered.

He shows up on Wednesday nights before prayer in testimony times, during prayer in thanksgiving, during confession and supplication.

While this is wonderful to experience, I have wondered why he doesn’t stay?

Why does he show up for short periods of time?

Why does he leave?

How do we move from a place of visitation to a place of habitation of the Holy Spirit?

In this lesson we will examine nine ways the enemy attempts to prevent not only revival but habitation of the Holy Spirit.

Nine tools the enemy uses to rob and destroy God’s people.

Nine ways he hampers or even prevents the habitation of the Holy Spirit.

It is my prayer that by the time you have shared this lesson your hearers they will be able to readily identify nine tricks that the enemy uses to keep them from growing a more intimate relationship with God.

 

1.

I believe the oldest trick the enemy uses is /deception/.

We know that the serpent deceived Eve in the garden.

He misquoted God, and deceived Eve into throwing away the life of habitation with God for a taste of forbidden fruit.

We know the Enemy uses the same tricks over and over and over again.

He figures if it worked before, it will work again.

Let’s look at another time he used deception to lead his children away from fellowship with God.

Turn with me to Exodus 32

We’re in the desert with the children of Israel.

Moses has gone up Mt Sinai to meet with God.

We all have that image in our mind of Charlton Heston shielding his eyes as fires moves across the sky and burns the Ten Commandments into rock.

Now imagine halfway through the writing that God stops.

Can you picture Moses scratching his head?

“But lord, you told me there were Ten Commandments and yet you only written five?

Why did you stop?” Now that might sound impertinent to us, but remember Moses was God’s friend.

What could be so distracting, that God would stop doing what he was doing?

Exodus 32:7

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.

8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf.

They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your Gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Where’s the deception?

Jump up to verse 1

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us Gods who will go before us.

As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

These are the same people who crossed the Red Sea, the same people who can see a cloud atop the mountain, the same people who had heard the voice of God, and being so frightened by it that they send Moses up to represent them.

What would lead them to believe that God wasn’t there or that Moses wasn’t coming back?

Deception.

Notice it says, “They saw”, and “ they gathered”, “let us”.

The enemy used the same trick he used against Eve.

He whispered the same deception into the ears of a number of people which led them to question whether God would do what he said.

The enemy uses the same trick today.

He whispers into our ears, or the ears of people around us.

He deceives us into questioning whether God will do what he says he will do!

Did the prophet really hear from God?  Or was he making up that prophecy?

Did he just tell me what I wanted to hear so I would open up my checkbook?

Scripture tells us, let God be true and everyman a liar.

Scripture also tells us (Num 23:17)

19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.

2.  /Deception/ leads to /rebellion/.

First the Israelites were deceived and then they coerced Aaron into building them a golden calf.

But rebellion is more than an action.

Rebellion is a spirit.

Rebellion can even enter during a move of God.

God said that he would take care of his children in the wilderness.

How did he provide for them every morning?

It rained manna, thin Honey tasting wafer appeared every morning as the dew dried.

How much did God provide every morning?

Enough for each person’s daily needs, and twice as much on the day before Sabbath so that the Israelites would not have to work on that day.

Not too much, not too little, but just enough.

After a number of days of this new breakfast treat, the Israelites became bored with manna.

This boredom leads to murmuring and complaining which angered God.

They didn’t ask God for meat, they demanded meat.

Rebellion is so insidious that even during a miraculous outpouring of God’s provision the enemy was able to incite people to rebel against God.

God is good.

He’s a loving father who wants to take care of his children.

So he sent them quail.

Rebellion is a strong spirit.

The children of Israel did not receive their quail with gratitude.

In fact the murmuring in complaining escalated to the point that the people began to question Moses leadership.

How did God deal with Korah’s rebellion?

Three families were permanently removed from Israel when the ground opened up and swallowed them whole.

God he had no choice.

He had to deal with the rebellion of these families so that it would not pollute the entire camp.

The warning we should take from this example is that ungratefulness and rebellion go hand in hand.

When you recognize one, look for the other.

Now we know that we cannot control another person’s actions – that would be witchcraft –but we do have authority over the spirit that prompts them to act in rebellion.

3.

/Rebellion/ leads to /evil speaking/.

After the Israelites rebelled against God they began to speak bad things about Moses.

I hate to say this, but this is one of those things that has plagued the church for years and years and years.

This is probably why we have so many denominations.

The pastor says something, or does something, or doesn't do something and someone takes offense.

This becomes an open door for the enemy to pounce onto the scene.

He plants rebellion in the heart of the offended, and they begin to talk down the pastor.

They will do it among their families and friends, inside the church, and /outside/ the church.

People who have never paid any attention to the church will suddenly have opinions about the pastor, the membership, the ministries and programs.