Shall we turn in our Bibles to 2nd
Corinthians, chapter 9.
Paul has been, in the last couple of
chapters, talking to them about the
collection that he wanted them to take for
the poor in Jerusalem.
The church in Jerusalem had gone through a
lot of problems, severe persecution.
And the Christians in Jerusalem were in great
physical need.
And so Paul is asking the Gentile churches
to show their love in the body of
Christ for their brothers in Jerusalem by sending
an offering by his hand to them.
And in chapter 8, he talks to them
about the gathering together of these funds.
In chapter 9, he continues his appeal to
them to give for the aid of the
church in Jerusalem.
And so, as touching the ministering to the
saints, it's really superfluous for me to write
to you.
Because, he said, I know how willing you
are to do these things.
The forwardness of your mind, for which I
boast of you to them which are in
Macedonia, that Achai was ready a year ago,
and your zeal has provoked very many.
So, Paul is talking to them again about
ministering to the needs of the church in
Jerusalem.
And he said that, I know a year
ago you were ready to do it, and
I shared with others your willingness.
And they became excited over your willingness, and
it was an inspiration to them to give.
Your zeal has been an inspiration, provoked others.
Now I have sent the brethren, lest our
boasting of you should be in vain in
this behalf.
And so, Paul sent Titus and another brother
ahead to receive the collections that they had
taken up to help the church in Jerusalem.
And Paul's a little concerned now.
He's been boasting of how generous and willing
the Corinthians were in supporting.
And now he's hoping that they'll come through
with his boasting of them.
And so, I have sent the brethren, lest
our boasting of you should be in vain
in this behalf, that as I have said,
and as I have declared of you, you
might indeed be ready to give.
Lest, happily, if they of Macedonia come with
me and find you unprepared, we, and we
say not ye, should be ashamed in this
same confident boasting.
So, Paul is sort of trying to cover
his bases in a sense.
He's been bragging all about them.
Told the churches in Macedonia, oh, these guys
are really super givers and all and they're
really ready to aid.
And now if I come and you haven't
done anything, you know, I'll be embarrassed and
you'll be embarrassed and all.
So, it's encouraging them in this giving.
Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the
brethren that they would go before unto you
and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye
had noticed before that the same might be
ready as a matter of bounty and not
as of covetousness.
Now, Paul really didn't want any offerings taken
while he was there.
He wanted it to all be done in
advance.
Paul wanted to preclude any criticism that might
come of his ministry saying, well, Paul's just
in it for the bucks.
And he was extremely careful in this regard,
not wanting to bring a reproach to Jesus
Christ in the matter of giving.
Unfortunately, there are many who do bring a
reproach to Jesus Christ because of the emphasis
that they make upon giving.
And there are all types of ways to
fleece the flock of God.
And believe me, these clever evangelists have discovered
every way and even some that weren't there.
But Paul didn't want any kind of accusation
that he was fleecing the church.
And therefore, he wanted it all to be
taken care of.
He sent a couple of fellows in advance
so that all of the giving would be
over with by the time he got there,
that he could just receive what was given
and take it on to the church in
Jerusalem, but didn't want any collections made while
he was there.
It's, to me, an extremely embarrassing thing to
have your name or whatever used as the
tool for raising funds.
A few years back, I was over in
Hawaii speaking at a Bible conference where I'd
been invited to speak at this Bible conference.
And so the first night, when the fellow
went to take the offering, he took about
10 minutes.
And, you know, we have asked our brother
Chuck to come over here and it cost,
you know, the money and all to get
him here.
And we want to make sure that he's
well taken care of and all.
And so we want you to really give
tonight, you know, to provide for our dear
brother Chuck's needs and all this kind of
stuff.
And I sat there on the platform just
embarrassed, silly.
And so when I finally got a chance
to get up, I said, I appreciate what
this brother said about your poor brother Chuck,
but I want you to know I'm not
going to take one penny for being here.
For I have an extremely wealthy father who
takes care of all of my needs.
And I don't have to depend upon people
to provide for my needs because my father
so adequately takes care of me, gives me
a generous expense account and supplies all of
my needs.
And so if you want to take up
offerings here, that's fine.
If you want to give, that's good, but
don't give for poor brother Chuck because he's
not going to take a cent from you.
I'm here to give and not to receive.
And I was just really embarrassed.
I don't like my name used as the,
you know, the goat or the gimmick or
whatever to give people to give.
I do trust in my father to supply
my needs, and he does.
And he's very good about it.
He's very faithful in that.
And so really I sort of modeled myself
after Paul in this regard.
I have always been disturbed over the emphasis
that churches so often place upon giving.
And that is why I've perhaps gone the
other direction in the pendulum and say so
little about giving.
That is why we never mention to you
any needs that might exist.
Because we're not looking to you, we're looking
to the Lord to supply for the work
of the ministry.
And when God guides, God always provides.
And I always look a little askance at
these who have been led by God into
some great program and the whole thing's going
to fail unless you bail God out.
I somehow don't conceive God as being on
the brink of bankruptcy every other week and
ready to fold His whole program because people
don't come through and rescue Him from financial
insolvency.
So, Paul had this same attitude towards giving.
Didn't want any offerings taken while he was
there.
Didn't want any emphasis placed upon money.
Go ahead and get it all in before
I get there so that when I arrive
there will be no collections taken while I
am there.
But in the giving, Paul does mention an
interesting basic law of God.
And that law of God is a spiritual
law and it is interesting because it is
hard at times to understand just how it
can work.
And I don't know the mechanics of how
it works.
All I do know is that it does
work.
Now, there are a lot of physical laws
that I know work.
I don't know how they work.
I understand a little bit about the laws
of magnetism.
The attraction of opposite poles and the repelling
of like poles.
I know that the positive charges repel each
other.
Now, why they repel, I don't know.
Why opposite poles attract, I don't know.
I know they do.
From the time I was a child, I
knew that I could take a magnet and
slowly put it down and finally watch the
nail jump up to the magnet and some
invisible force that was grabbing that nail and
pulling it up to the magnet and holding
it to the magnet.
Later, as I began to study a little
bit of physics, I understood that opposite poles
attract.
Now, I know that.
Why they do, I don't know.
I know a little bit about electricity.
Enough not to put my finger in a
socket.
I know that we can project, and this
I don't know, whether or not the electrical
charges are going in the wire or around
the wire.
That I don't know, but I know that
they can be transmitted along a wire.
And I understand a little bit about alternate
currents and direct currents, but just how it
works, I'm not sure.
I know that the laws are there, and
I learned to use to advantage those laws.
I know that gravity is a natural law,
that it works.
I know not to defy it.
Now, why it is that mass attracts, I
don't know.
But I know it does.
The same with spiritual laws that are also
established by God within the universe.
And though I can't explain how they work,
I know they do.
And so, you learn to live by these
laws, you learn to follow these laws, and
to reap the results.
Now, I know that there is a spiritual
law that declares, Give, and it shall be
given unto you, measured out, pressed down, running
over.
Now, just how it is that the more
you give to God, the more you receive,
I don't know how that operates.
But Paul brings out this spiritual law here.
But this I say, He which sows sparingly
shall reap also sparingly, and he which sows
bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Now, that's the spiritual law.
And when you put it like this, I
can begin to understand it a little bit.
How the more you give, the more you'll
get.
For Paul here puts it in a framework
that I can begin to understand a bit.
If I am sowing wheat in the field,
it stands to reason, the more seed I
sow, the greater harvest I will have.
Now, if I want to be very careful
about how I sow, and just take the
seeds and toss them out here and there,
then I'm only going to have little wheat
shoots here and there.
I'm not going to have much of a
harvest.
But if I go out and sow just
abundantly, then I'm going to reap an abundant
harvest.
So putting it in that kind of a
framework, I can begin to understand a little
bit, how the more you give, the more
you get.
The more God returns, the greater the harvest.
And so Paul brings it over into this
law of giving, saying that if you sow
sparingly, you're going to reap sparingly.
But if you will sow bountifully, then you
will reap bountifully.
That is a law of God.
Interesting, it is the only law that God
challenges you to prove.
A lot of people say, I'm going to
prove God now.
But God has only challenged you to prove
Him in one area.
And that is in this law of giving.
And God said, prove Me now herewith, saith
the Lord, and see if I will not
pour out unto you a blessing that you
cannot contain.
And that proving Him is in the giving
to God of tithes and offerings.
So there is a basic law.
It works.
I can't explain how it works.
All I can do is assure you that
it does work.
God says, prove Me and see if it
does it.
Only in the one area of giving.
Now every man, and here is how we
are to give.
Every man, according as he is purposed in
his heart, so let him give.
Not grudgingly or out of pressure.
For God loves a hilarious giver.
And that is what the Greek word means.
God takes it as a personal affront, and
I would too if I were God.
When someone gives Him something and then gripes
about it.
You ever had someone give you something and
then they go around and complain about what
they gave to you?
Giving grudgingly.
My feeling is always, keep it man, I
don't want it.
I don't like gifts with strings attached.
Many times things are given to the church,
and I really don't like to question motives,
but sometimes people sort of let it slip.
You know, this chair was given to us
by our grandmother and we don't want to
get rid of it.
We don't really have any use for it
and we don't really want it, but we
thought we'd give it to the church, you
know, because we don't want to throw it
away.
And then it becomes our obligation to put
it someplace and to keep it for grandma's
sake, you know.
But God doesn't want you to give anything
to Him begrudgingly.
You know, with an, alright, I'll give it
to you, you know, kind of an attitude.
And God as much as says, hey, keep
it, I don't want it, I don't need
it.
Nor does God want your gift to be
by pressure.
Someone really putting the pressure on you, you
know.
Everybody's looking now to see what you're going
to give.
God doesn't want the gift to come by
necessity, by constraint, by pressure.
But what you give to God, which God
receives and accepts, is that which you give
with just a cheerful heart, giving hilariously.
Lord, you know, here, I love it.
To give to God, just, it's a joy
to be able to give.
And only that should you really give to
God.
That which is given hilariously, because it is
only that which God really respects and honors.
So you're better off to keep it than
to give under pressure, constraint, or grudgingly.
You're better really off to keep it.
And you would be better off if you'll
just keep it.
And only give what you can give with
a hilarious heart.
Because of your love for Him.
So every man is his purpose in his
own heart.
So let him give.
And God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that you always having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every
good work.
That is God's return now to you.
You have given to God hilariously.
God will never be a debtor to you.
Remember that.
God will never be a debtor to man.
As the Scripture said, Who hath given, and
it has not been recompensed unto him again.
And as Jesus said, Give and it shall
be given.
Measure it out, press down, running over.
Because God's not going to be your debtor.
So God is able to make all grace
abound toward you.
Taking care of all of your needs.
Every good work.
As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad.
He has given to the poor.
His righteousness remaineth forever.
And so He puts together here, actually some
of the Psalms.
In this verse, has dispersed abroad, given to
the poor.
His righteousness remains.
Now he that ministereth seed to the sower,
or God, both minister bread for your food,
and multiply your seed sown, and increase the
fruits of your righteousness.
And so God who gives the seed to
the sower, gives us the bread, may He
multiply the seed that you have sown, and
just increase your fruits.
Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which
causeth through us thanksgiving unto God.
And so may God just return to you
riches untold.
For the administration of this service not only
supplies the want of the saints, but is
abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God.
So it doesn't just, it has a two
-fold purpose.
It takes care of their need, but it
also creates a praise in their hearts to
God.
And so the people who are receiving, as
they receive the gifts that you have given,
they're going to be giving God thanks.
And so through your giving, actually you are
provoking a lot of thanksgiving to be directed
unto God.
As people go away and say, oh thank
you God, oh praise the Lord, Lord you've
taken care of our needs.
And these praises are going to God, and
they are actually praises that have resulted from
your giving.
I think that's really a beautiful way to
look at the giving.
In the fact that it is going to
bring blessing to other people who in turn
will give thanks to God for those blessings.
And so your giving is not only just
taking care of their needs, but it's being
the cause for bringing praise and rejoicing unto
the Father.
While by the experiment of this ministry they
glorify God for your professed subjection unto the
gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution
unto them and unto all men.
And by their prayer for you, and of
course they in turn having received will pray
for you, which long after you for the
exceeding grace of God that is in you.
Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gifts.
So we talk about giving to God, but
yet, you know, you think of what God
has given unto us, that unspeakable gift of
Jesus Christ.
And what was the motive behind it?
God so loved the world that He gave.
And so the motive behind our giving must
be love, our love for God.
And any other motive is not really valid.
Give because you love the Lord.
Give what you've purposed in your heart.
What you can give hilariously, that give unto
God and God will bless you abundantly for
it.
So the rule is really about giving.
And I want that those rules should apply
here.
Really, I don't want you to give unless
you are motivated by the love of the
Lord within your hearts.
And give only as you've purposed in your
own heart to give.
Never feel pressured.
Never feel constrained.
We'll never come to you pleading for funds
for God's work.
We'll close the doors before we do that.
If things should get bad financially and all
and we start really going down the tubes,
we'll just close the doors.
We won't come up and send you letters
and say, well, you know, we're really in
desperate straits and all that.
We'll just close the doors and I'll head
for Hawaii or something.
Don't feel sorry for us.
Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
Oh, God is so good to us.
And in His love, He has given us
so much.
Not only Christ, but that gift that is
through Christ of the hope for the eternal
kingdom and those riches in glory that are
ours through Christ Jesus.
You know, Christ is just sort of, in
a sense, the obvious, but with Christ there
comes so much.
You know, the fringe benefits never quit.
They go on and on and on and
on and on.
But they all come to us through Christ.
Grace and peace.
Oh, these glorious gifts of God.
How do I receive them?
Through Christ.
Be multiplied to you through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
So He is the gift that really opens
the door for all of these gifts that
God bestows upon us.
Now, Paul has finished his section upon the
giving for the poor saints in Jerusalem and
he goes on to other things.
And these other things are very sober and
serious things.
Again, he deals with the challenge of his
apostleship that was made by those in Corinth.
There was a faction in Corinth that were
against Paul.
And this factuous group tried to turn other
people against Paul.
Divisions within the church are always an ugly
thing.
When people begin to align themselves with man
or with some system of teaching rather than
with Jesus Christ.
And so often, when people create these divisions,
rather than just saying, well, let's start something
new, they have to somehow give a rationale
for starting something new by tearing down the
old.
And by finding fault and by saying things
against Paul.
And so these factions were at work.
Always an ugly thing in the body of
Christ.
And so Paul now is writing to these
factuous groups.
Addressing himself to the criticism that was made
of him by these who sort of set
themselves up as spiritual authorities.
And there's always those around, you know, who
pretend to have a greater spiritual insight and
a greater spiritual understanding.
They go around with sort of a putting
off this aura of, well, brother, when you
really arrive at, you know, the degree that
I am.
You'll understand these things.
I can understand now.
You just are not ready for these things,
you know.
But as you mature and grow, then you
can understand these deeper things of God and
this malarkey that they come off with, you
know.
And so, as though they are more spiritual,
have greater insight, and you poor paeans, you
know, someday maybe you'll arrive.
But in the meantime, we feel sorry for
you.
Trying to bolster their own cause by tearing
down others.
There is, you know, they used to have
the Confucius say.
I don't know if Confucius said all the
things he's attributed to having said.
But I can remember one of the Confucius
says when I was a kid.
And it used to be, you know, one
of the popular things, Confucius say, you know,
Many men smoke, but Fu Meng Chew.
One of the things that they used to
say.
But there is another saying attributed to Confucius
and probably more accurate.
And it was, Confucius say, Man who throws
mud loses ground.
I like that.
You see, you can't really throw mud without
getting your hands dirty and losing ground.
They were throwing mud at Paul.
Paul seeks now in the next few chapters
to defend himself.
As though he needed to defend himself.
It's tragic that Paul was put in this
posture.
And Paul is embarrassed by it.
He's more or less forced now to say
things he really doesn't want to say.
These are things that were between he and
the Lord.
These are things that he endured for Christ's
sake.
Willingly, gladly.
Things that he didn't go around, you know,
trumpeting all over the land.
But now he's more or less forced because
of his position being challenged by these evil
people in Corinth to reveal some of the
things whereby his apostleship is really proved.
Now, I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the
meekness and the gentleness of Christ, who in
presence am base among you, but being absent
I am bold toward you.
This is one of the charges that he
made.
Hey, when he gets away he can write
these terrifying letters, but when he's here he's
just, you know, so meek and, you know,
just so mild-mannered and all, but he
gets away and then he writes these terrifying
letters to you.
But when he's around, he's an ugly little
runt.
And they were making fun of his appearance
and according to one of the early books
of the Apographer written about the year 200,
the Acts of Paul, it's called, in Teculum,
I think it is, it does describe Paul,
and it said he was, you know, a
short little fellow, heavy eyebrows that came together,
a hooked nose, and sort of bantied bull
legs, you know, bull-legged, and sort of
bantied little, knobby knees and, you know, just
not much to look at.
And that's what they were saying in Corinth,
hey, this guy's got not much to look
at, you know, but he gets away, and
man, he becomes dynamic and powerful, you know,
he's the, with us he's the 97-pound
weakling, he gets away, you know, and he's
an atlas, and so they were making these
kind of accusations against Paul.
And so he says, I beseech you by
the gentleness and the meekness of Christ, who
in presence I am base among you, but
being absent, I am bold toward you.
I beseech you, twice now, the beseeching, not
demanding, but just appealing to them, that I
may not be bold when I am present
with that confidence wherewith I think to be
bold against some which think of us as
though we walked according to the flesh.
They were accusing Paul of walking according to
the flesh.
They were making all kinds of bitter accusations
against him, and he's warning that when he
comes, he doesn't want to really come down
heavy on them.
However, if the necessity is there, he will.
For though he said we walk in the
flesh, we do not war after the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but they are mighty through God to
the pulling down of the strongholds, casting down
the imaginations and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ.
So we walk in the flesh.
That is, we are in a body of
flesh.
However, our real warfares are not fleshly warfares.
Though we walk in the flesh, we do
not war after the flesh.
Paul writing to the Ephesians said, for we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities and powers and spiritual entities and high
places.
Our real battles, our real warfare are not
physical battles.
They are spiritual battles with these spirit entities
that surround us and there is spiritual warfare
constantly going on.
We do not and cannot imagine the extent
to which this spiritual warfare is being waged
in the universe around us.
You remember when Daniel set his heart to
seek the Lord in fasting and in prayer.
And after 21 days, the angel came to
Daniel and said, from the day you first
called unto God, I was dispatched to bring
you the answer.
Below the prince of Persia captured me and
held me until finally Michael, that great prince,
came and set me free.
And now I've come to reveal unto you
those things that you desire to know of
God.
This great spiritual warfare that was going on,
hindering the answer to Daniel's prayer for 21
days, as this angel dispatched from God was
held and captured by the prince of Persia,
by the powers and the spirit forces of
darkness, and held until Michael came and delivered
him.
We are not really cognizant of the spiritual
warfare that does go on in the universe
around us.
It would be well if we would be
more sensitive to the fact that there is
a spiritual warfare going on, and many times
we get the flack of that spiritual warfare.
The byproduct of it oftentimes are feelings that
we really don't understand and can't really define.
A feeling of heaviness, a feeling of depression,
a feeling of discouragement, or a feeling of
despair, despondency, a feeling of restlessness, just
a feeling of agitation.
These feelings can often result from the byproduct
really of the spiritual warfare that is going
on around us.
There is a tremendous battle over the souls
of men being waged by the Spirit of
God and by Satan.
That desire to control the mind and the
soul of man.
And many a time, a person is in
the midst of that conflict as it is
their soul that is in the balance.
God's Spirit tugging, Satan holding on.
Tremendous spiritual battles.
And to be aware of them is vital
for us as Christians if we're going to
maintain a life of victory.
One of our problems is that we do
not always recognize when Satan is attacking.
And quite often, we're prone to just pass
it off on just our own nature or
our own just feelings.
Or, I just woke up this morning feeling
horrible.
I just get in these cranky moods sometimes.
You're just going to have to forgive me.
And we're not aware of the fact that
we are under a spiritual attack.
And because we're not aware of the fact
that it is a spiritual attack against us,
we just go on.
Rather than standing against it and resisting it.
For the Bible tells us if we resist
the devil, he'll flee from us.
But I've got to recognize that it is
Satan's attack before I resist it.
So there are really the three R's I
call the spiritual victory.
And the one is to recognize the source
of the attack.
This is the enemy at work.
He's attacking me.
Having recognized it, then I can deal with
it by resisting it in the name of
Jesus.
Resist the devil and he will flee from
you.
And then the third key to victory is
to rejoice in the victory of the Lord
over the powers and the forces of darkness.
And as you rejoice, you find the depression
goes.
You find that the irritation leaves and you
begin to really feel victory in Christ and
what a difference the day becomes because you
have taken that victory that is yours through
Christ over this attack of the enemy against
you.
But too many times we just bow our
head and we, you know, go on being
battered and beaten.
Feeling lousy and don't know why.
Complaining to God because things are going so
horribly.
Failing to recognize that it's actually a spiritual
attack of Satan against you, against your home,
against the family.
And they can be manifested in so many
ways.
So we walk in the flesh, but we
really don't war after the flesh.
The warfare is a spiritual warfare and for
this spiritual warfare it takes spiritual weapons and
God has provided us those spiritual weapons.
And in Ephesians chapter 6, Paul said, Therefore,
recognizing that we're wrestling against these spirit forces
and powers, put on the whole armor of
God that you might be able to withstand
the works of the evil one.
That you might stand against them.
And he talks about the helmet of salvation.
He talks about the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God.
The shield of faith, whereby we quench the
fiery darts of the wicked one.
And then having armed you completely, he then
concludes by saying, Praying with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, let your requests be
made known unto God.
So the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal.
The weapons of the spiritual warfare are spiritual
weapons.
The Word of God, faith, prayer.
And by these we come against the attacks
of the enemy.
And by these we can defeat the enemy.
None of you as a child of God
need to go on being harassed by Satan.
You have the authority and the power through
Jesus Christ to put the enemy to flight.
And when you come against him in that
victory of Christ that was wrought at Calvary,
Satan must yield.
Resist the devil and he shall flee from
you.
Draw nigh unto God and he will draw
nigh unto you.
Our problem is that so often rather than
coming against the enemy with spiritual weapons, we
come against him with the weapons of the
flesh.
You know, I'm going to conquer over this.
I'm going to, you know, lift myself out
of this depression.
I'm going to...
And we come with our own fleshly devices
and schemes rather than with the spiritual weapons
that God has placed at our disposal.
And so the fight goes on and on
and on and on.
And I live in a quasi-world constantly
battling, constantly being harassed and attacked by the
enemy because I'm trying in my flesh to
ward off his power and his attacks against
me.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
They are mighty through God pulling down the
strongholds.
And that's exactly what we can do through
prayer is pull down the strongholds of the
enemy.
Now the area of the battlefield is in
the imagination of man and in his thoughts.
Satan battles you in your mind.
The spiritual battles are waged in your mind.
That's where Satan challenges God.
Hath God said?
Does God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?
Does God see?
And quite often we are deceived by Satan
thinking that we are getting by.
God doesn't see.
If God sees, then why didn't He do
something about it?
And because God doesn't instantly strike, we think,
well, we're getting by with it.
And we've deceived ourselves into thinking that we
are somehow getting by with our evil.
It's going unnoticed by God.
We seem to be prospering in our wickedness.
But as the old adage goes, the wheels
of justice grind slowly, but exceedingly fine.
And it will come out.
But in our minds, Satan will plant thoughts,
ideas, fantasies.
What do I do with them?
Do I say, oh, I like that.
And I begin to fantasize and see myself
in this experience.
And I begin to go on in my
mind and play with it.
And oh, you know, it would be so
good and I could be so happy.
And oh, it's so ideal.
And you continue to fantasize.
And Satan takes that imagination, that fantasy, and
he uses it to trip you up.
The law of metaphysics.
The visualization.
What do you desire?
Put it in your mind.
Put it before your mind.
Write your goal on a piece of paper.
Put it on your mirror.
And when you shave in the morning, look
at it.
And just see yourself now in this position
of power.
See yourself in this position of authority.
See yourself sitting behind the desk, president.
And as you are visualizing, your subconscious will
take over and will begin to devise the
methods and the means whereby your visualization can
become an actualization.
And so Satan works.
You begin to visualize yourself in these things,
doing these things.
And your subconscious begins to develop the schemes
and the methods whereby it becomes a reality.
And suddenly you find yourself caught up in
that which you really thought I would never
do.
But you see, you first of all did
it in your mind.
That's what Jesus was talking about when He
said, you've heard that it hath been said
thou shalt not commit adultery, but I say
unto you, whoever lusts after a woman in
his heart.
You see, there is where it starts.
In the mind.
In the fantasizing.
You're already guilty.
You're on the road.
You're on the way.
You've already in your mind done the act.
And so that's where it has to be
checked.
That's where we need the spiritual weapons to
check those imaginations and casting down every imagination
and anything that would exalt itself against the
law of God that would put me in
opposition to what God hath said.
Bringing every thought into captivity unto the obedience
of Jesus Christ.
If that thought that you have doesn't measure
up and match what Jesus would have you
to be or to do, then get rid
of it.
Don't play with it.
Don't flirt with it.
Because it can bring you into damnation.
So, the weapons of our warfare.
We need the spiritual weapons to fight the
spiritual warfare.
We may walk in the flesh, but that
isn't where the real war takes place.
It takes place in my mind.
The spiritual battle for the control of my
mind.
And if I have the mind of the
flesh, then I'm going to reap corruption.
But if I have the mind of the
Spirit, then I'm going to reap life and
joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.
But the battle is for the mind.
And Satan is trying to captivate your mind.
And look at the tools that he has
today to captivate your mind and to plant
things into your mind that would take you
away from the Lord.
Look at the abundance and the availability of
pornography today.
Satan is working overtime to bring out things
to capture your mind and to cause these
fantasies to start going.
And you've got to stand in the strength
and in the power of the Holy Spirit
against these onslaughts of the enemy, or else
you will find yourself brought into captivity and
into the bondage of your flesh.
My heart goes out to you.
It's not easy to live the right kind
of life today because every ungodly pressure in
the world is against you.
And you cannot in your flesh maintain a
spiritual experience.
You must take and use everything God has
made available for you if you're going to
stand in these days.
And that's how Paul concludes this little talk
to the Ephesians on the same subject.
He said, And having done all, stand.
And God knows, sometimes that's about all we
can do.
I mean, after Satan has been through and
the battering and the blasting, just the fact
that I'm still standing, man, that's all right.
Thank God.
It's only by the grace of God that
I'm standing.
Because surely Satan is out to destroy you
and to pull you down.
And having then in a readiness to revenge
all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Paul is again referring to those in Ephesus
whom he plans to, if they do not
change, bring revenge upon their disobedience.
Now, do you look on things after the
outward appearance?
And this is where they were making fun
of Paul's outward appearance.
You know, he's weak and contemptible in his
presence.
His speech is contemptible.
Paul said, Do you look on the outward
appearance?
If any man trusts to himself that he
is Christ, let him of himself think this
again, that as he is Christ, even so
are we Christ.
So, these people who were saying, well, we're
really of the Lord.
Paul says, wait a minute.
I'm also of the Lord.
Oh, we have the mind of Christ.
Paul said, we also have the mind of
Christ.
We have received a revelation.
Paul said, I've received a revelation.
So, these people, they say they're of Christ,
but just put this down.
We also are of Christ.
For though I should boast somewhat more of
our authority, which the Lord has given to
us for edification and not for your destruction,
I should not be ashamed.
Now, Paul's authority was given to him of
the Lord to build up the body of
Christ.
And so, be careful.
You see, when a person is speaking authoritatively
and he is using that to tear down
the body of Christ, then that's a dangerous
thing to destroy.
Paul said, my gift wasn't given to me
to destroy, but to build up.
If I have the anointing of God's Spirit
and the word of the Lord in my
heart, that word was given to me to
build up the body of Christ.
These people are going around trying to destroy
or to tear down the body of Christ.
Then I may not seem as if I
would terrify you by the letters.
For his letters, they say, are weighty and
powerful, but his bodily presence is weak.
Spinly little guy.
And his speech is contemptible.
Now, let such a one think this, that
such as we are in word by letters
when we are absent, such will we be
also in deeds when we are present.
Hey, when I come in the deeds, I
will be powerful and weighty.
Paul wasn't really one to be messed with.
When Paul was on a particular island, and
it's in the book of Acts and it
doesn't come clearly, you can go and get
the details.
But there was this governor of the island,
Sergius Publius, and Paul was sharing with him
the things of Jesus Christ.
And there was this certain sorcerer, I think
it was Elymas the sorcerer, who was speaking
against the things that Paul was saying.
And Paul turned to Elymas and said, God
smite you with blindness, brother.
And the guy went blind.
So that Sergius and all of them were
really amazed at the power demonstrated through this
man Paul.
Paul says, hey, as I am in my
letters, powerful, weighty, that's the way I'm going
to be in my deeds when I deal
with these guys when I get there.
Man, if I were one of those speaking
against Paul, I think I'd take a leave
of absence and leave town for a while.
For we dare not make ourselves of the
number of those who are guilty of the
mistake of comparing themselves with others.
For by measuring themselves by themselves and comparing
themselves among themselves, they are not wise.
Now, this is often a mistake that people
make.
You see, we look around and say, hey,
I'm not too bad because I'm comparing myself
with you.
And as we use each other as our
standard for comparison, we can sometimes feel very
heady, very proud, you know, because I'm using
another man as my standard for comparison.
But Paul said, that isn't wise.
Why?
Because no man is my standard.
Jesus Christ is my standard.
God doesn't call me to be like any
man.
He calls me to be like Jesus Christ.
And though I may look at some man
and say, well, you know, I'm not too
bad, when I look at Jesus Christ, I
say, woe is me, I'm a sinful man.
God help me.
So, here in Corinth, there was this little
group puffed up because they were comparing themselves
with each other.
Using each other as the standard for comparison
and thus being puffed up by that.
But that's a mistake.
That's not wise.
God help us that we don't fall in
that trap.
That we don't measure ourselves by others, but
let's look at Christ as the standard.
For an interesting Scripture in John 16, where
Jesus said when the Holy Spirit has come,
He's going to reprove the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment.
Of sin, He said, because they don't believe
in Me.
Interesting statement, because we would think of sin,
because they're liars, and cheaters, and adulterers, and
fornicators, and murderers, and thieves.
But not that.
A sin because they don't believe in Me.
Why?
Because Jesus through His death paid the price
for every sin.
There's only one sin that can condemn a
man now, and that is the rejection of
Jesus Christ.
He didn't come to condemn the world, but
to save the world.
For the world was already condemned, and this
is the condemnation.
Light came into the world, but men wouldn't
come to the light.
That's the condemnation.
Sin, because they don't believe in Me.
But then He said of righteousness, because I
ascended to My Father.
Now that again is an interesting statement.
Why would He equate righteousness to His ascension
into Heaven?
The ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven in
the sight of the disciples was God's statement
to mankind, this is the righteousness that can
be received into Heaven.
Nothing less.
If you want to be accepted into Heaven,
then that is the righteousness that God accepts
into Heaven.
You say, woe is me, I'm out.
No.
For by faith in Jesus Christ, God imputes
to us that righteousness which is of Christ
through faith.
But it does immediately eliminate any work that
I might be seeking to do to be
accepted by God.
It does eliminate works as a method to
gain entrance into Heaven completely.
The ascension of Jesus Christ puts the standard
of righteousness so high that I cannot attain
it by my own effort.
I must accept it as the gift of
God through His grace.
Of righteousness because I ascend into Heaven.
God's declaration.
This is the standard.
So He is the standard by which we
must measure ourselves.
Not each other.
But Paul said, We will not boast of
those things without our measure, but according to
the measure of the rule which God hath
distributed to us, a measure to reach even
unto you.
For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure
as though we reach not unto you.
For we are come as far as to
you also in preaching the gospel of Christ.
Not boasting of the things without our measure,
that is, of other men's labors, but having
hope when your faith is increased that when
we shall be enlarged by you according to
our rule abundantly.
And so Paul says, I'm not going to
measure myself by other standards.
The work that I did is sufficient.
The labor that I had among you, that's
the measure.
Your faith in Christ, your following after Him,
that's the testimony, that's the witness to the
authenticity of my ministry.
You yourselves, the fruit of my ministry, attest
to the fact that my ministry is valid.
And Paul said, to preach the gospel in
the regions beyond you and not to boast
in another man's line of things made ready
to our hand.
And so, Paul talks about his ministry.
He wasn't really interested in going around and
building on another man's foundations.
He wasn't really interested in going where the
gospel had already been declared.
He was interested in going to regions beyond.
And when they had come to Corinth, they
had never heard before.
Now that they had heard and believed, there
were always those fellows ready to move in
and to put Paul down and try to
build their own little popular followings.
And that is always the case.
You know, when people see a marvelous work
like God has done here at Calvary Chapel,
there's always a thousand and ten ministers around
the country that suddenly feel called.
Orange County.
You know, maybe we can catch some fallout.
Or maybe we can pull some out.
Whereas, it is interesting that every week we
get calls and letters from all over the
country of people pleading to have a Calvary
Chapel type ministry in their area.
Hundreds of requests every year come in where
they say, there is nothing like Calvary here
where we can go and just be taught
the Word of God.
But yet, why doesn't God call people to
those places where there hasn't been already a
work established?
Why are they called to come five blocks
away or nearby and establish a work and
then come in and say, folks, why don't
you come over?
You know, we've got a little fuller.
Calvary's good, but you know, they're just lacking
a little bit.
And so God's called us to complete the
work.
You know, they're just a little...
It's a shame really when there are thousands
of areas around the country pleading for someone
to come and teach them the Word that
these people don't hear a call of God
to go there.
And so Paul is faced with this in
Corinth.
All of these guys moved in.
They weren't going to unreached regions.
They were going in and trying to build
on the foundation that he established.
Why is it that they go into the
church and try and take away from the
church rather than going down to the beach
or going to the public marketplaces?
Amazing how many times while we're sitting here
saying the Word of God, people are out
there plastering your cars with invitations to some
event in their church that's going to be
happening.
We have a crew that's out there every
service to take the things off of the
windshields that are put on by these people
that come around when the cars are parked
there.
You'll never know what you've been invited to.
But we will call these people and we'll
say, why would you come to our parking
lot to pass out your literature?
Why don't you go over to the South
Coast Plaza Mall?
Why don't you go down to the beach?
Why are you trying to take away from
the body of Christ?
You know, if you're really valid, why aren't
you going out and winning the lost?
And Paul says that's the validity of my
ministry is to go to regions beyond where
the gospel hasn't been heard.
Call of God upon Paul's heart.
Go out where the need is.
Don't go and build another church and duplicate
another ministry.
But go out where the need is to
preach the gospel in the regions beyond and
not to boast in another man's line of
things made ready to our hand.
Not to come in and try and just
take off from someone else's work.
But he that glorieth, let him glory in
the Lord.
For not he that commendeth himself is approved,
but whom the Lord commended.
It's not what I think about myself that
counts.
It's what God thinks about me.
It's not what I say about myself that
really matters.
It's what is God saying about me.
So with you, it's not what you have
to say about yourself that is really important.
It's what does God have to say about
you.
Not what you have to say about your
calling or your ministry or whatever.
What is God saying about it?
It isn't He who commends Himself.
That isn't where it's at.
But the commendation of God, that's the thing
we need to seek.
If we want a glory, let's not glory
in our works or in our efforts, but
let's glory in what the Lord has done.
I feel so embarrassed many times because as
I meet people from around the country, ministers
and all, and they'll say, you're sure doing
a great work there in Costa Mesa.
And I always correct them.
I say, the Lord is indeed doing a
fabulous work and I have the privilege of
watching what He's doing.
I don't look at this as my work.
God knows what I can do.
I can make a mess out of anything.
Like we used to say, our kids could
get juice out of anything when they ate,
you know, little kids.
Eat dry crackers, but they could get juice
out of them.
And even as they could get juice out
of anything, I can make a mess out
of anything.
This is the work of the Lord.
It's marvelous in our eyes.
We have the joy and the blessing of
seeing God work.
And He that glorieth, let Him glory in
the Lord for what God has done.
And let us not seek man's commendations, man's
approvals.
Let's seek the Lord's approval.
What does God think of me and of
my service?
Men might be hailing me, saying how wonderful
I am.
Hey, that doesn't matter.
They could be wrong.
What is God saying?
That's what I'm concerned with.
What's God's opinion?
That has me deeply concerned.
God help us.
Father, we thank You again for Your Word.
Standard for life.
The light for our path.
May we walk in Your truth.
And oh God, may we live after the
Spirit and after the things of the Spirit.
A life that is pleasing and acceptable, Lord,
unto Thee.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
May the Lord be with you and may
He bless you through the week as God
ministers unto you those infinite riches of His
love and grace wherewith He loved you before
the world ever existed.
And may you come to have a fresh
insight of God's love and concern for you.
That you in turn might have a new
depth of love and relationship with Him.
May this be a blessed week.
Blessed of God in every way.