The Way That Seems Right: The Cart
11:16 AM
Proverbs 14:12 NLT
“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”
It seems right…but it isn’t. It seems right but it leads to disobedience. It seems right but it leads to fruitless ministry. It looks, taste, and feels right, but, Church, it’s leading us to death.
There is a problem today in our ministry system that is long overdue in addressing. It goes unnoticed because it appears, on the surface, logical. It goes unseen because, over the last few generations, we’ve never seen anything else. It exposes our lack of Bible knowledge and desire for comfort. It is cloaked in human intelligence and common sense…and is currently considered common practice…because it SEEMS right…
Allow me to explain…
God has a way. His way is not like our way. We are in the bad habit of trying to make it our way…but it doesn’t work that way. God has declared His way upon this earth. God has declared His way upon our hearts as well. Jesus referred to it as the “narrow road”…not many people travel on it…and it isn’t easy…it isn’t popular…but it is HIS way none the less.
2 Samuel 6:1-5 NLT
Then David again gathered all the elite troops in Israel, 30,000 in all. He led them to Baalah of Judah to bring back the Ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s house, which was on a hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, were guiding the cart as it left the house, carrying the Ark of God. Ahio walked in front of the Ark. David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments—lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.
There is a predicament here that we must face. The Ark, representing the very presence of God, is in one place…but David now yearns to bring it back to the Tabernacle where it rightfully belongs. David’s heart is right. This is the right thing to do. It represents restoration and reconciliation.
So David begins to think…How can I get the Ark from Baalah back to Jerusalem? What is the most efficient way? What is the most cost effective way? We are supposed to be good stewards of the resources that God has us, right? So, David’s comes up with the most logical solution he can think of; the cart.
That’s genius, right? The cart, which is nothing more than a couple of oxen and a two wheel wagon, is more than able to handle the job. The cart will allow us to get the Ark back faster. The cart will allow us to better steward our time. The cart will allow us to more safely transport the Ark back.
All of this leads to being a great steward, right?
But then something happens…look back to the story…
2 Samuel 6:6-7 NLT
When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
No one ever thinks that when they are doing something that seems right…that there might be casualties. Uzzah reached up and to steady the Ark…and in doing so, he met his fate. All the singing and praising God that was going on isn’t going to bring Uzzah back now. Good stewardship has now turned into a godly stumbling block…and let me reveal to you why…
The Bible records that the Ark was built in very detailed specifics. One of those specifics is recorded in Exodus 37:3-5, ‘He cast four-gold rings and attached them to its four feet, two rings on each side. Then he made poles from acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He inserted the poles into the rings at the sides of the Ark to CARRY it.’
Did you catch that last part? The Ark was designed to be carried on the shoulders of men…specifically the priest.
Let that sink in a bit…
Today our carts are a little bit different…but they are all designed to do the same thing…and all with the thought that we are only being good stewards of our time, talents, and treasures. All the while we move farther from what God intended.
God intended for us to work. He intended for us to labor. He intended for us to conquer. He intended for us to subdue. He intended for us to carry the weight of the Ark and feel the power of His presence on our shoulders…not outsource it to the cart!
God intended for a man to pray…He intended for a man to seek His face…He intended for a man to simply be obedient and say the words that the Lord would give him…God intended for us to read His word and know His word. God intended for us to overcome fleshly struggles and to strive towards becoming more like Christ! God knew it wasn’t going to be easy…and God has never promised us that it would be.
There is something wrong with our ministries today…we’ve gone the way of the cart!
We have stewarded away our responsibility to memorize God’s Holy Word to Google. We have stewarded away our responsibility to hear God’s word to websites and businesses that will write sermons for you. We have stewarded our faith out by modeling our churches after a business plan rather than a divine revelation from God. And for what, a little comfort, a little easier living?
People are dying!
We’ve taken the easy road…the road everyone travels. We desire God’s presence but we’re afraid of getting our nails dirty and our knees calloused. The Gospel cost the early church their lives. How come we think we are going to escape that same fate and still function in the same presence and power that they functioned in?
This world will be subdued by sweat and labor.
As God told Adam, ‘By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made’ (Genesis 3:19 NLT), so is the same to be true for us today! We can look to the New Testament and we see that Jesus once told a man (Luke 9:62 NLT), ‘Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.’
When we stand before God we are going to have to answer for the lack of sweat on our back and blisters on our hands! The great truth that this generation is running from is this; that the way forward is back…back to God’s way.
God’s way isn’t going to be an easy way. God’s way isn’t always going to seem like the most intelligent way. However, God’s way is a RIGHT way…His way is a HOLY way…His way is a way that will lead us to VICTORY, PEACE, HOPE, and SALVATION.
God’s way isn’t the way of COMFORT…His way leads to the CROSS!
We don’t like that kind of talk. We want the cross AND comfort. We want the cross because we know we need it to be saved…but our flesh is constantly working in secret to obtain comfort from the pain that bearing our cross brings. So our deprived brain has gone to work…it is constantly seeking alternatives.
Today, ministries strive to give you an “experience” rather than an “encounter”. State of the art worship music partnered with intelligent preaching leaves you feeling good…but never changed. Today we come to church, sit down, stand up, listen, and then leave…and what scares me the most is; we’re satisfied!
This isn’t a popular message to preach…but it’s the truth! The proof is everywhere!
I read a letter not too long ago that stated that in 1960 there were 560 churches planted in the North Texas of the Assembly of God. In that same letter it revealed that today there are around 533 churches. Let me reveal what that means; the last couple of generations are living on the shoulders of the former generations. The generation that built those churches worked hard…the subdued the ground…they weren’t known for great music and clever persuasive preaching…but they we’re known in POWER!
That generation moved as the Holy Ghost moved. They were prayer warriors. They were watchmen. They were men of other denominations and faiths that were pursuing God in a way that few understand. They were open to the supernatural…they had yet to determine what God can’t do…because they believed what their Bible had told them, that ‘God is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish more than we might ask or think!’ (Ephesians 3:20) They didn’t need to read the latest “how to grow a church” book…they had the Holy Spirit to guide them. When their hands were bleeding and their backs were hurting from the laboring fields, they had the Great Comforter to comfort them!
Who were these men? They were ordinary people like you and I. They were Baptist, Methodist, and other denominations that had and ENCOUNTER with the Living God! Aren’t you happy that they didn’t have an experience?
I recently had a conversation with a man who has been ministering in the Baptist denomination while going to school at Dallas Theological Seminary…which isn’t known for its abundance of being Pentecostal. This man, after much studying, has come under the conclusion that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and waiting to be encountered. He has had encounter that he can’t explain…a sudden burst of freedom that he has never known. The Holy Spirit has changed his life!
A great sadness comes over me every time I see a Pentecostal church no longer living in Pentecost. But there is hope! Let me remind you of a great truth in our history…the last time Baptist pastors started to awaken and encounter the Holy Spirit a new denomination was born; the Assemblies of God!
What is it going to take to wake us up?
Let’s finish the story…
2 Samuel 6:12-14 NLT
Then King David was told, “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s household and everything he has because of the Ark of God.” So David went there and brought the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with great celebration. After the men who were CARRYING the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment.
They carried the Ark. They picked it up…put in on their shoulders… and felt the weight pressing upon them. They bared its holy burden. They returned to God’s way…it wasn’t the easiest way…but it was the right way.
We must return, Church. We must return the Lord…to His ways. God is pleading that we simply go to Him and seek His face…seek His will…seek His favor. However, to do so is going to be work…we’re going to have pray…we’re going to have to be steady and faithful.
The Way That Seems Right: Sleepwalkers
11:03 AM
Proverbs 14:12 NLT
“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”
I am perplexed today at the many things I see in the church…and in the ministry. I see a people lost in the wilderness…they are wandering like sleepwalkers stuck in a dream. I see a people that have lost their way…or rather they have chosen a way that seems right…but it’s leading them to death.
Something is wrong in the hearts of men and women today…we’ve taken the bribe…and have fallen the way of Esau…forfeiting a future that is rightfully ours in exchange for “the good life”. In doing so, we cut short the promises of God.
Where are the men of God today?
In the church today you will find many good men…but we are in short supply of Godly men! There is a great divide in the church today, of which my generation will have to answer for; the older generation doesn’t trust us and the younger generation isn’t fooled by us. We are a powerless generation and the whole world is suffering because of it.
Where are the watchmen of this hour? Who will sound the alarm that the enemy is within the camp…forget the walls…he is here…devouring our indigenous relational fellowship with organized systematic religion. No longer does the Holy Spirit control our services, rather we have decided that God isn’t seeker sensitive enough to be allowed control, so we’ve replaced Him with a safe worship experience that allows you to feel better about yourselves and challenges you just enough to make you feel like you’re doing good…And it is “good”…but it’s far from “godly”…
There is a way that seems right…
The way of the pulpit has been left to “good” men, because godly men have become priceless antiques; they still exist but they are few and far between. Today, we manufacture preachers and teachers on an assembly line. Like clones, they look the same, talk the same, and preach the same. They’ve learned how to put an intelligent sermon together. They’ve learned how to run a church financially, numerically, and efficiently. They’ve learned how to do everything without God and in doing so have created churches where God is exalted but is also non-existent. These modern day preachers are the thorn in Elijah’s side. They are men who’ve destroyed the altars of God because the cross is too bloody and the Gospel is too offensive.
Where are the Godly men?
The Bible declares, “Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17 NLT) Where are the young men, who have prayed and sought the Lord, and have God’s vision in their eyes? Where are the old men…the dreamers? Where are those that will dream the Lord’s dream over this generation?
This epic shortage for Godly men lays at the feet of men who traded today over tomorrow. They failed because the enemy is slick and sly. He has granted, to the man who has tirelessly worked his blistered hands at the plow, a retiring spirit. It’s this spirit that has snuck in the church today and allowed a preacher to believe that His calling is nothing more than a profession that entitles him to certain luxuries. It’s this comforting spirit that makes man forfeit his birthright of blessing.
Have I told you that there is a way that seems right?
Many of these men have fallen under the spirit of Eli; they are performing the duties of a pastor but they have long since forgotten what it is to be a man of God!
These men have lost their prayer life with God!
1 Samuel 1:14 records the words of a man ignorant to soul travail. We see Eli exposed before us as his lips speak these words; ‘Must you come here drunk?’ Can I tell you, it’s hard to understand soul agonizing prayer if you don’t pray.
These men, with little to no prayer life, are failing to reach the next generation!
1 Samuel 2:12 shows what happens to the household where there is a lack of spiritual leadership; it read’s, ‘Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord.’ Respect is a learned attribute. I can’t help but think that the reason this generation lacks respect for God is because they are simply reflecting what they’ve learned! What are we teaching our children when they aren’t seeing us pray, when they aren’t seeing us go to church, and when they aren’t seeing us do what is right?
These men have become deaf to the Holy Spirit!
1 Samuel, chapter 3, opens up with the voice of God calling out to Samuel…a boy...the representation of the next generation of spiritual leadership…because the former generation has become deaf to the voice of the Lord.
The conclusion to this line of thinking is that, God is looking for men in a world full of boys! It’s time to grow up…the great epidemic that now exist in the House of God is “perpetual immaturity”. To quote, Rick Warren, ‘people are growing old, but they aren’t growing up!”
Let me say it again…where are the MEN of God today?
These men have traded luxury and comfort for prayer and fasting!
Look back at how Eli died; 1 Samuel 4:18 states that Eli ‘broke his neck and died, for he was old and overweight’. He was fat; he was fat because of his lack of fasting and praying and he was fat off the offering. What’s upsetting about all of this is that it’s familiar…too familiar!
Is what I’m saying that we should be poor, broke, and miserable? No! Is there such a thing to be in Christ and be poor, broke, and miserable? Of course not! What I’m saying is that God is trying to expose some things privately…before He is forced to expose us publicly.
We are guilty. All of us! We are all in this together. We have created a system that has enabled men to be boys…all the while the enemy is devouring! Our men in the pulpits are failing. The call is going out but no one wants to pay the price. In the meantime we create programs to deal with our spiritual deficit. We have programs to teach men how to pray again. We have programs to teach men how to evangelize the gospel again. We’ve got ministries set up to write sermons for you. We’ve got Google so we never have to memorize God’s word.
Is it any wonder why the world is laughing at us? Is any wonder that a generation is dying? We’ve forsaken our first love and exchanged it for a nice house off the golf course and a couple of German made cars in the driveway.
Have I said that there is a way that seems right?
The church is sleeping while people are dying…all the while the Lord is pleading, ‘Turn back and live!’
The person who thinks they will simply slip through and go unnoticed, I am here to put you on notice. God is coming back! Jesus will return. Even now, God is stirring in the heart of the next generation something deeper than our shallow churches can handle. This “Josiah” generation will humble the former generation, for in them they will find their way back to the cross of Christ and the power of the Gospel!
Where are the men of God? Not the good men…but God’s men?
Where are the men of this hour that have been branded with the title, “man of God”? Where are the men, who like John the Baptist, (to quote Leonard Ravenhill) are voices among echoes? Where are the men, who like Ezekiel, who are shut up and shut in with God waiting and watching? Where are the prophets who will herald what is right, just, and holy (in other words “godly”), over the sickness that is plaguing the church?
The world is lost because the Church is lost.
We have entered the “Bronze Age” of the church today…let me explain.
We know something is wrong…we even have different opinions as to what it is…still we can’t place our fingers on it…it eludes us. This is why our struggle is so futile and so meaningless…because the answer lies in plain sight…and the only reason we struggle to understand it is…we’ve stared at it our whole life…
2 Chronicles 12:9-10 NLT
“So King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. He ransacked the treasures of the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace; he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace.”
Solomon, through power of the Lord, won victory after victory…Solomon took the gold from each conquered nation…the spoils of the promises of God…and made gold shields to remind the people who God is…and what God has done for them…
But the enemy came in…and stole their identity…he stole their victory…
And what do we do…we have placed up bronze shields…we now imitate the former generation in appearance…but not in power…
Where are the men of God, in this hour? Who will rise up and reclaim the ground that the enemy has taken?
Can I tell you where they are? They are here sitting amongst us. They are like Ezekiel, bound and tied, and waiting on the Lord to release them. Even as I speak these words their Spirit is moved and shaken. They are men in pursuit of the heart of God. They are a Josiah generation of believers come to restore the House of God back to the Lord. They will be more interested in what the Bible says…then this generation of preachers might think. They will come in the Spirit of the Lord and return the churches to their true calling – a House of Prayer!
Ephesians 5:14 NLT
“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Even now the sleepwalkers are waking up…they have come to return us to our rightful calling…they have come to return us to the way that is right…the narrow way…God’s way. They are coming to return us BACK to our first love.
On that day…the dead will rise and come to life according to the words of Christ…
John 5:25 NLT
“And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice-the voice of the Son of God. And those who will listen will live.”
These sleepwalkers will arise in power and bare the same claim as Paul…
1 Corinthians 2:4 NLT
“My message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Church, there is a way that seems right…but it’s leading us to death…
We must wake up…we must be prepare ourselves for battle…we must prepare hearts to leave it all behind…give everything away…and follow after Jesus…we must repent and return to God’s way!
Subdue The Earth
10:51 AM
We are here, today/tonight, because of those before us that have sacrificed and paved the way for the name of Jesus to be exalted. They were men and women from every different sort of background, ethnicity, and creed. They were sinners in the hands of a merciful God. They were instruments in the hands of the Great Physician.
The Church, including my church, was built on the backs of men as appointed by the Holy Spirit. I once heard it expressed this way that “we are here today because of the twelve who were obedient”. With twelve men the church was started and through the power of Jesus Christ it is sustained. This is His Church…and we do well to remember where its authority comes from as well as how it was built.
The Book of Genesis reminds us that, ‘in the beginning God’…and the Gospel of John follows this line of thinking with, ‘God created everything’. All of this points to ownership of the Church and the source of her power, beauty, and resilience. However, Jesus left His church in the hands of men, twelve men, and he told them to ‘go’ and continue to build…continue to overcome…continue to work diligently in making disciples by the telling of Gospel. This is how the church continues to grow…continues to make its way.
Jesus said this process wasn’t going to be easy. Jesus said that we would have to bear the burden of our own cross…where we die to our selfish wants and desires…and we take upon us His cause…being obedient to His call…preaching the Good News of salvation to the world. He told His disciples about a coming day that would hold persecution, hatred, and even death to those that follow Jesus…but He also told them they would overcome.
Overcome…now that is a word! We like that word…it’s a word that signifies that hard times will pass and that we will win the fight. The very word “overcome” means to defeat or to prevail. It is easy to like this word…but this word also signifies and I would even say it prophesies to us. You see, for us to “overcome” something we must first face something…fight something…battle something.
However, this also, has been a hidden truth for life since the beginning…
Genesis 1:28
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The definition of subdue, according to Webster’s, is to overcome or to bring under control, possibly by force. God says we are to “subdue” the earth…we are to overcome the earth…we are to bring the earth under control…we are to conquer it…this is the mandate that God gave to Adam…and from the beginning until now it still stands as to how life is supposed to be lived.
How do we subdue the earth? By hard work and sweat! We subdue this world by placing our desires upon the cross, bearing the pain of our own selfish wants and desires, and submitting them to the will of the Lord. From the fall of Adam the easy road was taken away…and now the road less traveled is presented before us…it is less traveled because it is a road that has to be overtaken. It is the road less traveled because it will have to be conquered. It’s going to be a fight…it isn’t going to be given to you…you’re going to have to subdue it. You’re going to have to take it by force.
The greatest enemy that keeps you from subduing the earth isn’t the Devil…its laziness…and I can assure you that laziness will not be rewarded in this life or the next! Jesus warned about such things…
Luke 9:62
But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus describes, in this scripture, the Kingdom of God as a field that is in constant need of work. In this field there are workers…these workers must work the field. This is God’s will…this is God’s plan. This is how to subdue the earth…by hard work and determination. It means getting up in the morning and giving everything you got…every hour and every minute. And Jesus is serious about those to whom He calls to this labor…He isn’t looking for those that have their mind in other things…He is looking for those that are willing to work…and in His grace, He is looking for those He can mold into workers.
What Jesus is telling us in this scripture, more than anything else, is that the Kingdom of God will be built with blistered hands and a sweaty back! The Kingdom of God is built upon those that determine themselves to overcome this world…it is built on those that are ready to lay everything down and follow Him…to the end…
The biggest lie that this world has to offer is that there is an “easy way”. That is a bold faced lie. There is no such thing. Everything worth anything requires hard work, time, and energy. There is only one way…and that way requires that you overcome…that you subdue…and that you conquer.
The first step in subduing the earth is realizing that you can’t do it alone…as a matter of fact you can’t do it at all. What? I know right? God gives you this command that you can’t do…and you can’t…because you were never meant to. You were meant to do it working with God…alongside Him…through Him…and as Jesus would say IN Him. God NEVER intended for you to ever be alone. God has always been there…with Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and the Apostles…even now God said He would leave us with the Holy Spirit to comfort us in decisions, choices, and actions. We are in Him and He is in us. This co-laboring partnership is unstoppable…and it’s the key to subduing this life on earth…
Galatians 2:2
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Philippians 4:13
For I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength…
We will subdue this earth only one way…IN Christ! He alone is our strength…He alone is our wisdom…He alone is our power. Without Him nothing can be done of any progress…
How does this translate into your life?
It looks like this…what do you want to do in your life? Whatever that is…do it in Christ! That means serving others in love and compassion. It means loving others as Christ loves them. It means fellowshipping with others that believe like you. It means living your life in a way that leads others to Christ. It doesn’t matter what you do in life…go chase your goals…but chase them in Christ. Chase your dreams in a way that showcases your faithfulness to the God who has saved you!
There is a great misconception here, I believe, in the church in the way of our mandate of the Great Commission…we have bought the lie that the Great Commission of “go and make disciples” was meant only for preachers and pastors...but that simply isn’t the case. While God intended and calls out some to teach, preach, and pastor…the Great Commission is a mandate for ALL believers. We are to go and make disciples in our homes…in our work places…in our schools. This is our calling…This isn’t an OPTION!
In our efforts to subdue this life…this must be part of our daily lives. Subduing the earth won’t come by sitting down…it will only happen by “going”. We must move out…we must spread out…we must subdue and conquer.
I recently heard it expressed like this, “We are not an invading army…we are an occupying army! This is why Jesus said in Luke’s parables, “Occupy till I come”…
We are an occupying force…each field is different just as each person is different…Your field might not be like mine…but there is one thing that is certain for every field…that we are to subdue the ground…and overtake it…we are to occupy it, under the command of “go and make disciples”…
This is what we’ve been entrusted with…and this is our responsibility…but we can do it. We can overcome!
Deuteronomy 1:21
See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
Luke 10:19
I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
That last one sounds just like the Hill Country doesn’t it…snakes and scorpions?
In Deuteronomy, God says to “go up and take possession”…there is a big difference between getting something and taking something! Taking something is going to require work…it’s going to require effort…it’s going to be hard…possibly even violent…you might get hurt…but God is quick to remind you that He is FOR YOU…He is IN YOU…He says to “not be afraid…and to not be discouraged”!
Jesus just flat out tells you that He has given you “authority” to subdue…He has given you “authority” to conquer and overcome…and closes by saying “NOTHING can harm you!”
Paul concludes this from the words of Jesus and also in living a life of subduing the earth…
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.
So when times get hard…when there are blisters on your hands from holding on…and the sweat is dripping from your face…you can remember and lean on this truth…that the work your doing is not in vain. That, though there will be times were it will feel like you are being defeated…you are still moving forward…you are subduing…you are overcoming…even your defeats are working on your behalf.
Did you hear that? Even your defeats are working on your behalf!
How can you lose then? If it’s all working for your good, how can you lose? The truth is…is that you can’t lose. So it’s time to buckle down…it’s time to recognize your season…and it’s time to be obedient. Go and subdue!
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