We've come here for the Bible, we've come
here for your word, we've come here for
the worship, we've come here for you.
And Father God, we pray in Jesus' name
that you'd anoint now your word to our
hearts.
We ask it in Jesus' name and all
God's people said, Amen.
Well, grab your Bibles tonight and turn, if
you would, to a very, very precious portion
of Scripture, and that is the book of
Nehemiah chapter 6.
Nehemiah chapter 6 this evening, as we are
looking in our series of the Disciplines of
Life series.
And we are now in part 2 of
a 31-week series.
And tonight we're looking at the Disciplines of
Danger.
What does that mean, the Disciplines of Danger?
Nehemiah chapter 6, verse 11.
We'll talk a lot about Nehemiah tonight.
Nehemiah chapter 6, verse 11.
And there Nehemiah says, And I said, quote,
Should such a man as I flee?
And who is there such as I who
would go into the temple to save his
life by hiding?
I will not go in.
The context is this, that Nehemiah was under
attack.
He was commissioned by God.
Church, listen.
He was commissioned by God.
He was empowered by God.
God provided for him all that was needed
for a good work.
Nehemiah was committed to that work.
And as soon as Nehemiah embarked upon that
work, he began to be attacked.
And then as the work advanced, he was
attacked more.
Listen.
And as the walls of Jerusalem were being
strengthened, and not yet though had Nehemiah hung
the doors on the gates, but he was
getting really close, it was evident that God
was doing a work in the rebuilding of
Jerusalem, that the enemy launched the attack even
more.
Church, Christian, listen.
Whenever you as a Christian in the disciplines
of life grow, you get stronger.
You can say right now tonight that you're
one year stronger with Christ than you were
this time last year.
You are growing, as the Bible says, in
the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
You're advancing.
That growth will be challenged by the enemy.
And you just need to put on your
big boy pants or your big girl skirt,
and you need to understand that that's the
way it is in Christianity.
It is absolutely awesome.
And frankly, I wouldn't have it any other
way.
And I'll tell you why in this study
tonight.
The disciplines of danger.
The Bible says we're living in the last
days.
How far along in the last days are
we?
I don't know.
But the Bible says we're living in the
last days.
And so because of that, my Bible gives
me all kinds of warnings about what to
watch for regarding this faith of ours.
There are three practical aspects that I want
you to consider in our study tonight as
we go through this.
And number one, by way of introduction, it
is this.
There is the Logos of God.
L-O-G-O-S.
Logos.
You know what that word means?
It's Greek for the word.
The word of God is called the Logos.
Jesus was the Logos of God.
And the Logos, or the word by which
Christians live, is the Bible.
Number two is the Pathos.
The Pathos is the passion of our lives.
The Logos, that's in us, the word of
God, creates a passion.
A Pathos.
And Pathos is the passion that the Christian
life is lived in this world regarding.
It would look to the world that it
is our fuel.
It's our cause.
And every true Christian has the cause of
Christ in their heart tonight.
It's what concerns you.
You have a Pathos.
And as a Christian, Christ is first.
And then thirdly, it is the Ethos.
Ethos is that word for life or lifestyle.
Ethos.
Logos, the word.
Pathos, the passion, which all generates or creates
within us an Ethos.
And that Ethos is the new lifestyle as
a Christian.
And that lifestyle is a style of living
that we are set upon.
The Bible calls it a pilgrimage in this
life.
Tonight, if you're a Christian, you have a
lifestyle that you are now living to the
glory of God.
In fact, that's what the Bible means when
it says that whether we eat or drink
or all that we do, we do to
the glory of God.
What is that all about?
That is the Ethos of my life.
We can also use the word witness.
It is my testimony.
If I'm a Christian, I have a testimony.
That is, I can tell people how I
was saved, how Christ delivered me from this
world.
That generates a witness.
That is all about my Ethos.
My lifestyle is governed by what Christ has
done in my life.
Mark it down.
1 John 4, 17.
The Bible says, Herein is our love made
complete, our perfect, that we may have boldness
in the day of judgment, because as He
is, so are we in this world.
What a tremendous statement.
We are representatives of Jesus Christ in this
world.
And church, that being true tonight means that
the disciplines of life for us will generate
a danger.
Matthew 16, 24.
Jesus said to the disciples.
We looked at it last week.
We'll probably look at it every week.
If anyone desires to come after me, let
him deny himself, take up his cross and
follow me.
So how do we fight the dangers that
come against us as Christians?
And what are they?
That's the question we're asking tonight.
We are all about on these Wednesday nights
about discipleship being disciplined regarding life.
And this is a very practical study.
Again, I'm inviting you to invite, encouraging you
to encourage others to come with you on
this discipleship Wednesday nights.
Why?
Because in discipleship, we will learn the disciplines
of what it is to be a real
Christian.
I think we're going to have fun.
So Nehemiah chapter six, verse nine says this.
For they all were trying to make us
afraid, said Nehemiah.
Their hands will be weakened in the work
and it will not be done, they said.
Now, therefore, O God, strengthen my hands, was
Nehemiah's prayer.
He goes on.
And Nehemiah's friend, Shemiah, the men who are
said to him, the men who are trying
to kill you are coming out after you.
You must hide in the house of the
Lord.
Verse 11.
Then Nehemiah said, should such a man as
I flee?
And I love that.
That's the spirit that I want all of
us to be baptized into tonight.
Are you a Christian tonight?
I'm going to ask you again, pretend you
are and say yes.
Are you a Christian tonight?
Then listen, that is an awesome thing.
And I'm very emboldened by your witness tonight
and your testimony.
Shall such a man as I or you
flee when we're brought under attack?
If people are going to come against us
as they came against Nehemiah.
If the government or if the society is
going to say, boo, I am not going
to go into the temple of God and
hide.
That is, I'm not going to run to
the church and close the door and hide.
Nehemiah's is no way.
Nehemiah says, I'm called by God.
Nehemiah says, my God sits on the throne.
Nehemiah says, I am not going to turn
and tuck tail and run.
No way.
The life of the believer should be a
bold life because God has called you.
Listen, those of us who shouted a moment
ago that we're Christians understand this.
Until you get to heaven, God wants to
use you and I to bring as many
men and women, boys and girls with us
as possible.
It's not just to have a ski boat
or to pay your bills or to climb
Mount Everest or whatever you want to do.
It's to take others with you.
If you're going to climb Mount Everest, take
a nonbeliever with you and pray with them.
Take the first spiritual laws.
Give them a Bible.
If you're going to go do whatever you
do, remember Jesus is with you.
Take a nonbeliever with you.
Somebody asked me today about a certain person.
Are they a Christian or not?
I said, I don't know.
But I'm treating him like he is one.
I'll say, hey, let's pray.
I'll say praying for you.
I'll say God bless you.
I'll say this or that.
You know what?
I don't know if the guy is a
believer or not.
It doesn't matter to me.
I'm going to treat him like one.
See what happens.
Maybe he'll catch it.
Because Christianity, I think in this day and
age, Christianity needs to be caught rather than
sometimes blabbed.
I can't even say the word.
Blabbed about.
Let them catch it by our lifestyle.
Nehemiah says, I'm not going to hide.
Nehemiah was a man just like you and
I, the Bible teaches us.
But the difference was that he knew his
purpose.
A disciplined life knows that that life has
been given to us to live for God.
His calling was for his life to be
an honoring thing to God.
And that he had no doubts about what
he was supposed to do.
Imagine for a moment right now, if every
one of us tonight had no doubts about
what God wanted us to do.
Guess what?
That's the way it should be.
God has given us enough for us to
be busy about our father's business without any
doubt whatsoever.
He's given us enough.
Church, listen.
Life is full of dangers.
Can we just agree to that?
Life is full of dangers.
There's no doubt about it.
There's physical dangers.
There's emotional dangers.
There's dangers at home.
There's dangers on the road.
I don't need to remind you of that.
There's dangers at work.
There's dangers at play.
Life is full of dangers.
The fear that creeps in because of the
possibility of danger has wrapped people up and
sequestered them.
It's called phobia in Greek.
You ever heard that word before?
Phobia.
It strangles people.
Can we be Christians and be wrapped in
phobias?
The Bible says no way.
The Bible says perfect love casts out all
fear.
Do you have any phobias?
Listen.
Understand that the love of God conquers all
that stuff.
Now, I'm not talking about phobias like you
don't like to get too close to the
edge of the Grand Canyon or stuff like
that.
I mean, I love that feeling.
You know that feeling where it's like, yeah.
Some of you go, I can't do that.
That's not what I'm talking about.
But there are some people who they love
Jesus, but the enemy has bound them.
They don't want to go outside.
They can't talk to anybody about God.
They're terrified.
They're timid.
Did you know that when you study the
word timidity in the Bible that it's a
sin?
It's not a virtue.
Look, he's so timid and shy.
Yeah, he needs to repent.
We can be, listen, introverts, which I'm not.
But you could be where you just want
to.
OK, you're like this.
But let me tell you something.
That's a big difference than being timid.
Timid is fearful of everything.
What are they going to think about me?
What are they going to do if I
say this or that?
We need to be bold in the Lord.
Dangerous.
They cannot be avoided.
But here's the cool thing about dangers.
Being a Christian, they can be prepared for.
They can be prepared for.
Are you prepared for the battles?
Nehemiah and his struggles are a perfect example
of the dangers that come against the people
of God.
And yet without the attacks, listen, without the
attacks, our faith and our ministry would have
no effect.
Think about it.
The enemy will attack those who are advancing.
Think about it.
So here we go.
Point number one.
The disciplines of danger.
Number one is this.
The dangers of deception.
Now, I'm only going to give you four
of them.
There's an infinite number of them.
But we'll go with four tonight.
The disciplines of danger.
This way.
Dangers of deception.
They're huge and they're in our culture today.
Mark down this verse.
Galatians chapter 6 verse 7.
Paul the Apostle told the church in Galatia.
Do not be deceived.
You've got to circle that word in your
Bible.
Deceived.
Don't be tricked.
Do not be, in Greek, says stop being
deceived.
The Bible says that we have a propensity
to be tricked, to be fooled.
The Bible says stop being deceived.
God is not mocked.
Even when somebody's making fun of God, that's
one thing of mockery.
But when someone's living a life that is
not right according to Scripture, the Bible says
God's not going to be mocked.
That witness may be bad, but God will
not be mocked.
Follow along with me.
For whatever a man sows, throws out by
seed, as it were, into the soil.
Think about it.
That's a lot of seed going out.
If you decide to recall those seeds, are
you going to get them all?
No.
You'll miss one.
That he also will reap.
For he who sows to his flesh will
of the flesh reap corruption.
But he who sows to the Spirit, capital
S, the things of God, will of the
Spirit reap everlasting life.
Man, let me tell you, this is cool
stuff.
Because if you obey this right here, God
will bless your life.
Man, if you're out goofing around and doing
the things of the world, number one, and
you call yourself a Christian, you've deceived yourself.
You've tricked your mind into thinking you're OK
with God when you're not.
God says, no, listen.
If you're sown to the flesh and then
show up on Sunday or Wednesday and say,
I'm good, I'm good, and you have no
intention to change your life or to have
God, I should say, change your life, then
you've been deceived.
Deception.
It's coming against all of us.
All the time.
Deceptions in thoughts, deceptions in what we see,
feel or hear.
Deceptions bombarding us.
That's why we need the Bible.
Romans 7, verse 11 says, Paul said it
regarding sin, that sin is a deceiver.
He says, For sin, having taken occasion by
the commandment, deceived me.
Did you know that sin will deceive you?
God commended Moses because Moses did not butter
up to the pleasures of Egypt for a
season, but forsook them and walked with God.
The Bible says sin is pleasurable for a
season, but it's going to come home.
It's going to sprout roots.
It's going to sprout a stem.
It's going to grow up.
And then it's a weed that will strangle
out the word of God in your life.
Paul says that sin deceived him.
And we don't often think about the dangers
of being a disciple of Jesus Christ regarding
all manner of sin.
It's a dangerous move when we begin to
see some sin is bad and some sin
is not so bad.
It's like you have a little cobra.
My daughter was showing me pictures of snakes
yesterday.
I hate snakes.
And she goes, look how beautiful they are.
I said, they're not beautiful.
They all should just die and be dead.
If they were real, I'd kill them right
now.
And she goes, well, look how pretty they
are.
Well, snakes are funny because when they're little,
she goes, oh, look.
You know how things like when they're puppies,
they're cute.
Even like a pit bull is cute when
it's a little puppy.
Look at them.
Even a Sharpay.
You know those wrinkly dogs?
They're cute when they're little.
Everything's cute when it's a little duck, a
little kitty, okay, a little puppy.
And then it grows up.
A snake.
Have you ever seen one?
Look at the little snake.
Isn't it cute?
Did you know if you had a little
baby rattlesnake, it'd kill you dead?
It doesn't know how to regulate its venom,
so it releases everything when it gets you,
and it will kill you more than an
adult.
Oh, but it's so cute.
Look how cute the little snake is.
It'd kill you.
Oh, it's just a little sin.
Nobody knows.
Just a little thing.
It'd kill you.
It'd come after you.
The dangers of deception are very real.
And behind every deception, there's a deceiver.
Think of that.
Revelation 12, verse 9.
Listen to this.
This is an amazing verse because it gives
you four names, four titles for Satan.
So the great dragon was cast out, that
serpent of old called the devil, and Satan
who, what?
Deceives the whole world.
Wow.
That's tremendous.
2 John, chapter 7 says, For many deceivers
have gone out into the world who do
not confess Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh.
That's an awesome statement, by the way.
Jesus, the Christ Messiah, according to the Scripture,
has come in the flesh.
That means you've got to confess and believe
that Jesus is the Jesus of the Bible
as revealed in the word or you are
a deceiver.
It says this is a deceiver and an
antichrist.
Yikes.
2 Corinthians 11, 13.
You guys okay?
You're awful quiet.
You all right?
2 Corinthians 11, 13 says, For such are
false apostles.
That cracks me up.
Apostles.
Where do you think you're going to find
an apostle?
In the church.
In a religious setting.
The Bible says, watch out.
They'll be false apostles.
Deceitful workers.
Transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself
into an angel of light.
Therefore, it is no great thing if his
ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness,
whose end will be according to their works.
Woo.
Dangerous thing.
Spiritual matters are exposing spiritual deception.
I wrote down just a few things.
Number one, deception knows how to talk.
It can talk really nice.
Deception knows how to flatter.
Anybody flattering you?
Get away from them.
I'm serious.
That's a scary moment.
Deception knows how to entice.
It can look really good to my senses.
Think about that.
What are you attracted to?
Pastor, what?
Every one of us are attracted to a
flavor.
Either something that you want.
It could be sexual.
It could be power.
It could be money.
What is it?
Whatever that thing is, you better market.
Somebody might say, well, I'm attracted to short,
bald men.
Well, then stay away from those short, bald
men.
You might say, well, I'm attracted to tall
blondes.
Then stay away from tall blondes.
You say, Jack, are you serious?
I'm serious.
Be careful.
Now, if you're attracted to tall blondes and
you're married to one, then fantastic.
But that's the only one you're allowed to
be attracted to.
Did you know that?
What else?
Deception knows how to be religious.
That's the scariest type of deception.
Most dangerous.
It can seem spiritual.
Deception knows how to create a false faith.
It can make promises.
Deception.
Trust in me.
Follow me.
Watch out.
Just like this government currently right now wants
us literally to trust them without knowing what
the bill says.
They won't let us read it yet.
But trust us.
We have no idea where we're going, but
follow us.
That's scary enough in government.
Think about things regarding God or gods.
Follow us.
Where are we going?
We don't know.
We'll tell you when we get there, but
watch out.
Deception knows how to flatter.
It can sound encouraging.
Watch out.
2 Corinthians 10 verse 4 says, For the
weapons of our warfare are not of this
earth.
Not meaty.
Or I should say, they are meaty.
Carnal.
They're mighty in God for the pulling down
of strongholds.
Casting down arguments.
Listen to this.
And every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God and bringing every thought
into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
That verse alone.
I tell you what.
That verse alone, back in my early Christian
days, saved my life.
I had this on my car.
I had it in my bathroom.
I had it in my living room of
my apartment.
That verse right there.
Bring every thought under the captivity of Christ.
Do you ever have weird thoughts?
Four of you guys do.
You and us four.
We all have bizarre thoughts.
What do you do with them?
You arrest them.
And bring them under the captivity of Jesus.
When that picture flies up in your head.
Lord, take it out now in Jesus name.
Lord God, take it out.
You fight it.
You say, Pastor, how many times in a
day do I do that?
How many times does that thing flash up
in your mind?
What do you do?
Do you give up after the third time?
Well, you know.
No.
You fight, fight, fight.
Listen, being a real Christian is really something.
Man, if you're here tonight.
You know, Christianity is easy for me.
It's easy.
There's no problem.
I don't even think about it.
Man, I tell you.
We need to get together.
Come with us when we go to a
house and someone's head's spinning around and green
soup's flying out of their face.
It's like, easy.
Come on.
Or somebody says, I'm dying and I don't
believe in God.
What are you going to tell them?
I tell you what, it's amazing.
The dangers of deception are real.
And deception has as its goal compromise.
Compromise is fine in politics and sales, but
it can never be allowed in spiritual matters.
Compromise is killing Christians today.
And it constantly comes against all of us.
I fight it all the time, I'll be
honest with you.
In the pulpit, counseling with people, in sermons,
in messages, it's easy to be bold when
you're studying for a message and you write
it down.
Oh man, you know what, and you read
that or you pray, God, what do you
want me to say here?
Wow, and you write that down.
And then when I come up here, it's
like, what?
I can't say that.
Somebody might get offended.
You can't do that.
It's a very dangerous thing.
What about dealing with deception then?
Stay focused, Christian, on what's true.
Know the Bible.
Know your Bible.
You hear that every week here.
For example, what does the Bible say about
my situation?
What situation are you currently in?
Every Christian is in a situation right now.
Here's the cool thing.
I thank God for them.
Why?
It makes you go to the Bible.
It makes you get the answer.
The Christian will be driven to the Word
of God.
What?
The situation?
Are you in one?
Then ask God, Lord, what is it that
you'd have me to learn from this situation?
And that very thing is going to result
in you knowing what to do.
1 John 2.27, one of the most
comforting verses in all of the Bible.
1 John 2.27, know it.
It's a great one.
But the anointing, it's a reference to the
work of the Holy Spirit, which you have
received from Him who abides in you, and
you do not need that anyone teach you.
But as the same anointing teaches you, that's
a reference to the Holy Spirit again, concerning
all things, and is true, and is not
a lie, and just as it has taught
you, you will abide in Him.
Every Christian, that's a great verse.
You know what's so cool about that verse?
I can see somebody who comes, accepts Jesus
Christ right here, and in 10 minutes they'll
say something like this.
Yeah, you know what?
It's awesome.
I just accepted Christ a moment ago, and
I gotta tell you, these people have been
knocking on my door for weeks, and they
started talking to me about God, and it
was just really odd, and then now I
know the truth, and that what they were
saying was wrong.
Happens in a second.
You wanna know why?
The moment a baby's born, that baby is
not only that birth mom baby right there,
she witnessed the birth of it, but there's
a cord attached.
The moment you're born again, the Holy Spirit
attaches you to the things of God, and
the brand new believer has an instant wisdom
from Heaven.
I've seen it a thousand times.
It's glorious, the work of God.
He doesn't abort any of His kids, and
He doesn't leave any of His kids off
to the side of the room.
He's there, and the Bible calls that an
anointing.
Stay focused on what your calling is.
Christian, please, if you don't know what your
ministry is to the body of Christ, you've
got to find that out.
Right now you're shooting blanks, or you're wandering
in the wilderness, or you're driving without a
steering wheel.
You're sailing without a rudder.
Yes, you're a Christian.
Yes, you're going to Heaven, but no one
depends on your life spiritually.
And you're not making a difference spiritually, and
God is saying, come on.
More on that in a moment.
Philippians chapter 1, verse 27 says, let your
conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ,
listen disciples, so that whether I come and
see you, or I'm absent, I may hear
of your affairs, that you stand fast in
one spirit, and in one mind, striving together,
that's church, for the faith of the gospel,
and not in any way are you terrified
by your adversaries, which is to them, watch
this, which is to them a proof of
perdition, but to you, it is the proof
of your salvation.
Isn't that awesome?
Wow!
Man, when you stand up, and you're the
only one standing, and you say, this is
what the Bible says, and so that's what
I'm going to say.
This is it.
And everybody comes against you, know this, your
stance, are you listening?
Your stance, though you may not know someone
personally, they've listened to you, they've heard you
make that comment, they know what you believe,
and what you believe is Biblical, so you
don't have to defend it.
The Holy Spirit will defend you if you're
Biblical.
That's cool.
So you stand there, and you say it.
Proclaim it.
He'll back you up, and guess what happens?
People will either come against you, and condemn
you, and contradict you, and by doing so,
they are proving the fact that they don't
know God.
Or if they do agree with you, then
it causes those covert undercover believers to step
up.
Think about that.
I once had a high school kid tell
me years ago, Pastor Jack, I wish somebody
on my high school campus would have announced
that they were a Christian, because I felt
like I was the only Christian on campus.
I didn't know any other believers.
What if there's 20 believers in your high
school class, and you guys are all covert
undercovers?
There's a real story.
I don't want to go too far off
of this thing, but it's the band Kansas.
Remember the band Kansas?
Is it Cary Ludgrew, or whatever his name
was?
Dust in the Wind?
Are We Ours, Dust in the Wind?
He wrote that song after he got saved.
And then he wound up leaving the band
after a year and a half.
After he got saved, he wound up leaving
the band a year and a half later.
And when it was all done, the drummer
said, what are you leaving for?
He goes, I can't live this lifestyle anymore.
It's been killing me.
I'm a Christian.
And the drummer goes, are you kidding me?
I'm a Christian, too?
I've been a Christian.
How come you didn't tell me you were
a Christian?
Two guys in the same band, world famous
band, Kansas.
Two Christians that never shared with each other.
Isn't that funny?
I thought it was funny.
Tragically funny, I guess.
Number two, the disciplines of danger, danger of
perception.
Number two, dangers of perception.
Nehemiah chapter 6, verse 5.
Then Samballot, he was a goofball, bad guy,
sent his servant to me, as before, the
fifth time with an open letter in his
hand.
And it was written, it is reported among
the people.
And it goes on slandering Nehemiah.
This knucklehead's walking around town.
Gonna take this letter to Nehemiah.
It's for his eyes only.
He said, I don't understand an open letter.
Blogs.
That's the new open letters.
Any form of public communication.
You can say anything.
It doesn't have to be true.
It was not true against Nehemiah.
Samballot made up this story, began to publish
it all around the place, trying to stop
the work of God.
Nehemiah.
Oh, read the book of Nehemiah.
It's awesome.
There's a point where all the guys love
it.
There's a point where Nehemiah shows up, grabs
the guy by his beard, throws him out
in the street, takes his furniture and throws
it all over out in the street and
on top of the guy and everything else.
He's like, yes!
Perception.
The danger of perception is this.
It tries to breed intimidation.
And intimidation leads to control.
And if you are under the control of
somebody.
It leads to falsehood.
The Christian has been found.
Listen, the Christian has been found, delivered by
God.
But the world would try to have you
have the wrong perceptions.
And sequester your heart, your mind, your faith,
your voice.
Nehemiah would not be silent.
Nehemiah was attacked by his enemies with an
open letter.
That's the epitome in that day of gossip.
Huge!
There's a great danger in inciting emotions.
The emotions of others.
J.C. Riles speaks of in his book.
There's a great danger to inciting the imagination
of others.
Think about that.
Quote for a moment.
Things like this.
Well, you know, I can't tell you everything
about Suzy right now.
But I'll just say you really need to
pray for her.
Did you know that if that is done
by someone, that that is a sin so
huge, God will so judge that person.
It is gigantic to say such a thing.
It's draped in religiosity as you begin to
put into the mind of the innocent an
insinuation or a picture to cause that person
to be viewed in a bad light.
God says, I'm going after that person who
does that.
He hates that.
Read the book of Proverbs.
He says, I hate that.
False witness.
Wow!
Be careful.
Why?
Because perception is what we would call today
also peer pressure.
The danger of peer pressure is killing people.
Throughout the ages, God's people have always been
under attack.
It's always going to be.
And listen, if you're doing a work for
God, you're going to be attacked.
But we're in good company.
I'll just name a few people who were
attacked by their peers.
Joseph, Daniel, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, on it goes.
Matthew 5 verse 10 says, Blessed are those
who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
are the kingdom of heaven.
And blessed are you when they revile you
and persecute you and say all kinds of
evil against you.
Here it is, falsely for my sake.
Wow!
It's like Jesus knew all about the web.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is
your reward in heaven.
For so they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.
It's amazing to realize there are people deployed
among God's people, says the Bible, so as
to cause harm and destruction.
Why?
Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 10,
The thief does not come except to steal,
to kill and to destroy.
But I have come to give you life
and that more abundantly.
John 8 verse 44, You are of your
father, the devil Jesus told the scribes and
Pharisees and the desires of your father you
want to do.
Listen to this.
He was, that is Satan, a murder from
the beginning and does not stand in the
truth because there is no truth in him
and when he speaks he speaks a lie
from his own resources for he is a
liar and the father of lies says the
Bible.
Wow!
Avoid the dangers of perception by identifying yourself
with Jesus Christ.
Number three, the dangers of approval.
Mark it down.
The disciplines of danger would mark this one.
The dangers of approval.
Approval, I mean that by people.
Jesus Christ himself never pursued the approval of
people.
Have you noticed that when you read the
Bible?
It is awesome.
Are you guys with me?
We are almost done.
Are you here?
He never asked anybody, what do you think?
Do you think I am doing okay?
Was I a little harsh on that one
thing to the Pharisees?
He knew his calling.
You say, well, come on.
He was God in flesh.
Of course he did.
Well, the Bible also says he learned his
obedience to the father just like you and
I do.
But look at the life of Peter.
Look at the life of James.
Look at the life of the believers throughout
history.
When they knew and had confidence in the
Lord, they didn't look for the approval of
others.
And I need to be careful about what
I say here.
Let me be clear on this.
We have been designed by God to be
encouraged.
I am not knocking that.
Church, we need to be encouraged and we
need to encourage one another.
It is biblical.
But there is a way to be encouraged.
Pull your toes in, because you're going to
get stepped on here in a second.
There's no such thing as you've heard me
say before, spectator Christianity.
But then why is there?
Because beautiful, wonderful Christians are fearful and they
recoil from going out to the edge and
taking it on for Jesus, okay?
Why?
Because somebody might criticize them.
For some of you in here tonight, maybe
this matters to you.
But it's only after I came to Jesus
could I look back at my discombobulated past
and say, I thank God for the way
I was brought up.
I thank God about this area of neglect
in my life.
I thank God that this happened when I
was young.
I thank God.
And only in Jesus can you look back
at all of those things.
I've got to tell you something.
Not much of my life that was really
pleasurable and easy has translated into spiritual character.
Are you listening?
It's those things that I thought would kill
me when I was before I became a
Christian.
It's those things that build spiritual character.
When people mocked and made fun of me
and had me stand up in front of
class on the desk and read because I
stuttered.
The whole class busted up laughing.
Now I don't care who laughs.
I don't care who's listening.
I've already gone through all that stuff.
It's as though I'm a dead man.
You can't kill a dead man.
He's already dead.
Well, I don't like what you said.
I love you as long as I'm getting
my orders from God.
That's the way it's got to be.
And here's the cool thing about it.
Whatever hardship you've had in your life, were
you abused?
Were you beaten?
Were you neglected?
Were you ridiculed?
Only in Jesus can those things become incredible
badges of honor.
I'm getting goosebumps talking about it.
I wouldn't change a thing.
Will Jack, your mother, try to abort you
on December 15th?
Yes, I know that.
And I survived to January 15th.
I wanted to hear right then.
I wanted to hear the theme to Rocky.
I don't sit around and cry about that.
I thank God.
Oh my goodness, Lord.
Wow, your Bible says that Paul and Jeremiah,
they were ordained from their mother's womb.
Me too?
Well, my dad didn't talk to me much
when I was little.
Well, guess what?
You've got a Heavenly Father now that won't
be quiet.
He's talking to you now.
When we operate in fear, we deny the
Lord Jesus Christ, His Word, and His ability
to provide for us.
Why are we fearful?
The danger of this will destroy us.
We have His approval, church.
Andrew Bonnard, great Puritan preacher, was rejected from
his pastorate position.
Applied and rejected.
Applied, rejected.
And he wrote to his father and he
said, after all my learning, after all my
study up there, all my disciplines, after all
my life lived to be ordained minister of
Jesus Christ, I've been rejected!
And his father wrote him back this short
line.
Rejected on earth, but approved in heaven.
Isn't that a great statement?
I love that.
Proverbs 29, 25 says, The fear of man
brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the
Lord shall be safe.
Isn't that a great word?
Proverbs 28, 1 says, The wicked flee when
no one's pursuing them.
I love that.
They're always, they're living in wickedness.
They're always like, oh what?
Somebody after me?
What, are you guilty about something?
Yes!
But then the verse goes on to say,
Proverbs 28, 1, But the righteous are as
bold as a lion.
It's wonderful.
Very quickly.
1 Thessalonians 3, verse 2 Paul says, He
sent Timothy our brother and minister of God
and our fellow laborer in the gospel of
Christ to establish you and strengthen you concerning
your faith.
That, my friend, is an awesome thing regarding
this issue of approval.
We are to encourage one another in the
Lord.
There's a way to be encouraged.
And there's a way, when you have your
understanding that God approves of you, He loves
you.
Listen, He died for your sins, not your
personality.
It's very important.
I wouldn't abuse somebody else.
Tough.
God made you for a glorious reason.
I wish I was taller.
I wish I was...
Listen, He died for your sins and mine.
He loves your personality.
To encourage one another, we are to encourage
each other in the Lord.
Now here, I don't want to be...
I don't want to upset you on this
one.
It doesn't necessarily mean that you...
Oh, that's a nice shirt.
That's a nice dress.
Oh, you look so nice today.
Those are niceties.
They may or may not be true.
But when it comes to encouraging one another
in the Lord, no one can take that
away.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
This is important.
Is there anybody in this church you don't
know?
What?
Well, then you've got a lot of work
to do because you need to encourage those
that are around you.
Encourage them.
Dealing with the fear of man.
Listen to this.
A.W. Tozer.
Look at this quote.
In fact, I think we have it on
the screen tonight.
One of the deepest testing of a true
child of God is for him to stick
to his divinely appointed duty when all the
while there is a barrage of letters about
him.
Is that cool?
Wow.
I like that.
Are you advancing in the cause of Christ?
Then you're going to get attacked.
Cheer up.
It's okay.
Listen to this.
Another quote.
Put it on the screen, you guys.
Danger feared is folly.
Danger faced is victory.
And you think about that.
Okay, men, we're going to go into battle.
Let's go.
Can you imagine?
I can't go.
What do you mean you can't go?
You've got bullets in your gun.
You've got bombs.
I'll hand grenades.
Let's go.
You've been trained.
Let's go.
I can't go.
Oh, no, but listen.
Danger faced is victory.
Number four, and I've got to hurry on
this one.
The dangers of possessions.
Now, it's great.
We live in a culture where the dollar
is completely collapsing and our economy is crashing
and people's possessions are evaporating.
So God's doing this in everybody's life right
now.
But you can still long for possessions.
Dangers of possessions.
Materialism is always a difficult thing to manage.
And not many people can be rich in
this world.
Very few, sad to say, Christians can handle
money.
Isn't that a sad thing?
Look, you know me.
I am not a blab it and grab
it, word faith preacher kind of guy.
You know, God wants you rich and I
don't believe in that stuff.
But let me tell you something.
I bet you, if Christians decided to really
be a disciplined believer in this life, I'm
wondering if they, and obey the word of
God.
Think about it.
For example, tithing.
I'm not going to tithe.
Well, the Bible says in Malachi, if you
don't tithe, God will curse you with a
curse.
What's the curse?
Will I get a wart on my forehead?
No, you'll never be able to financially get
out of the hole.
It'll pull you down.
The more money you make, the more you'll
go down.
Until you start giving to God and then
he picks you up.
It's a miracle.
I don't know how it works.
He just does it.
So check this out.
God wants to bless.
I think if Christians put God first, I'm
wondering if a lot more Christians wouldn't be
more blessed in this world to do the
work of God and to help the work
of God expand.
But I don't think you can do that
because Christians want to just sit on it.
It's mine.
Don't touch it.
Give it up, will you?
Possessions.
I'm going to show you what happened today.
This is a true story.
I'm going to give you...
Put the first face on the screen and
then listen to what I have to say.
This has really happened today.
Now hang on.
It's not what you think.
That's my dog today.
Watch this.
I'm going to read a verse.
Keep looking at the screen.
Do not love the world or the things
in the world.
Look at...
what's at the bottom of her feet.
If anyone loves the world, the love of
the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes and the pride of life is not
of the Father, but it is of the
world.
And the world's passing away in the lust
of it.
But he who does the will of God
abides forever.
Okay?
Listen to this.
That's a real hard bone and I gave
it to her today.
This morning.
And she ran over with it, turned around,
set it down and looked right at me.
Now this is five pounds of white hot
canine terror.
Look at the next picture.
Notice the legs, the stance.
She, if I walked forward today, she went
She was completely normal until she got the
biggest bone on the block.
Next picture.
Look, I tried to get closer.
She moves over by the couch.
She won't let me near her.
Completely whacked out.
Notice the right leg.
Even now more.
Next photo.
Look at the teeth down at the bottom
of the bone all day long.
This is what she did all day.
Why?
Because she could not handle her possessions.
The danger of possessions causes you to act
weird.
It begins to be an idol in your
life.
It will control you.
It will.
The very hand that feeds her.
She was turning on the very one who
blesses you with stuff.
You wind up turning on him.
The dangers in this day and age as
a Christian.
Can we even handle stuff?
Or do we think, oh, it's mine.
It's mine.
It's God's.
Be blessed that he's given you the opportunity
to manage it for his glory.
It's my house.
It's my thing.
It's his.
He can remind you of that in a
second.
You grab your God says, just checking, just
making sure you remember.
It's all mine, says God.
Very, very, very serious stuff in the church
suffers possessions church.
Very, very much listen, and we'll wrap this
up in Acts chapter two, verse 41.
Last portion of scripture.
We'll share tonight.
Then those who gladly received his word were
baptized.
They got saved.
Then they got baptized.
And about that day, 3,000 souls were
added to them.
That's a fast-growing church and they continued
steadfast in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and
the breaking of bread and in prayers.
Then fear came upon every soul.
That's all, by the way, they weren't walking
around biting their nails.
They were in absolute awe of God and
many wonders and signs were done through the
apostles.
Now all who believe were together and they
had all things common and sold their possessions
and goods and divided them among all as
everyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the
temple and breaking bread from house to house.
They ate their food with gladness and simplicity.
Isn't that interesting?
Gladness and simplicity is what everybody wants.
And they think by possessing their possessions and
having their possessions dictate their identity that they're
going to have peace and simplicity.
And the exact opposite is true.
You and I live in an age and
I don't need to tell you, every October,
November, December before the Christmas sale we are
bombarded with how incredibly stupid we are for
not owning this thing and how empty our
lives are if we don't have an Audi
or whatever the car is.
And if we don't get these pants for
Christmas, we are losers.
And the whole system of the world breeds
into us a discontented heart, an unthankful soul.
The disciplines of danger are more than we
can talk about tonight.
Christian, please, get your Bible and read it
and watch what happens.
It is a light and a lamp to
our feet and to the path in which
we go.
Oh my, we need more than ever the
foundation of God's word.
Will we have a constitution next week?
Will we have a government that our founding
fathers gave us evaporate before our eyes?
I don't know.
According to Bible prophecy, it seems to me
America's got to be destroyed.
Is this the step?
I don't know.
But this I know.
The throne of God will never be destroyed.
This word will never be destroyed.
I am going to make sure that I'm
founded on this.
Though the mountains and the hills be thrown
into the sea and the grounds shake, we'll
trust in the Lord because this word will
never fail.
Father, we pray right now tonight.
We ask you, Lord, in Jesus' name that
even now as we worship you in our
giving and in our song, Father, we ask
of you that if there's someone in this
room tonight, in this sanctuary tonight that is
not enjoying that personal relationship with Jesus Christ
that that would change right now.
Lord, let us worship you now in spirit
and in truth.
And we pray, Lord God, that in a
moment there would be that person tonight that
is saying I need to rededicate my life
to Jesus.
I need to give my heart to Christ
and be saved.
Let's worship him now and in a moment
I'll give you a chance to accept Christ.
Let's worship him in our giving and in
our song.