Being A Child of God

Lord, thank you for your word and we're grateful for your presence and we ask that you would continue to Speak to us that we might grow in Jesus name. Amen I'll start with that verse in 1st John chapter 3 That you shared Brother Sean In verse 1 behold what manner of love the Father has poured out on us That we should be called the children of God You shared that how you had so much love for people and This is really a genuine characteristic That we are the children of God is the love that we have But the world doesn't understand it. It says the world did not Know us They didn't understand that love Because it did not know him In Revelation chapter 2 and we start in verse 1 we Hear the Holy Spirit speaking To the churches the seven churches And it begins in verse 1 saying to the angel of the church of Ephesus now when he's speaking to angel That can also be translated as messenger to the messenger of the church or to the pastor of the church For a number of years I was confused about it.

I thought always speaking to angels but there's terrestrial and there's celestial there's heavenly Messengers and there are earthly messengers the ones who bring the message of God are messengers, you know when Gabriel brought a message to Mary he brought a message to Mary be of good tidings and of cheer Because the Lord is going to come to you and visit you you'll be with child And we as ministers of the Lord we are messengers and and he refers to us as angels So this from that context we read this passage It says to the angel of the church of Ephesus right these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand he's referring to the seven stars being the seven churches and He Says who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands so every church has a lampstand I Know your works and your labor and your patience that you cannot Hear those who are evil and you have testified of those who say they are apostles and they are not and you found them liars We find that this church that they have a holiness about them They have a desire for the pure things of God They have discernment to discern between people who speak for God and those who are imposters They have perseverance that means they've had walked with love and they have the patience that comes from walking in love You've persevered and you have patience and you've labored for my namesake they have a lot of good works They're doing a lot of church work. They're Helping and the poor and and Bringing food to people there They're ministering and sharing and they're doing their church work diligently and they have not become weary It's not like they're doing it begrudgingly. They're still doing it with what seems to be a good heart Nevertheless, he says I have this against you you have left your first love Left your first love for the Lord and Sean shared about having that first love the reason that we're able to love in any capacity is because The love of God has been poured out in our hearts and and we have a love for God So when there's a love for God to love the Lord with all our hearts soul mind and strength then there is Equally an outflow of love toward our neighbor The two go hand in hand.

You can't have a love for God without having a love for people If you don't love people Then your love for God is religion And there's a remedy There's an antidote There's a penicillin for it. It's called repentance This is how we get it back and it's not that we lost it Something came in our life, maybe it was we got infatuated with making money and Then we left our first love for the Lord for other lovers Maybe we got infatuated. We got a new phone.

We got a phone never had a phone before I know some of my kids they get a new phone and all of a sudden they're Infatuated with all the things that that phone opens up to all the social media and all that The attention and everything and they leave their first love for the Lord and they go after other lovers and You still do your church work. You still read your Bible. You still do a good things for people But the problem is you don't love the Lord and the Lord doesn't share his love some love for him some love for other things he want us to love the Lord your God with all your heart and Getting to that place where we can say I love the Lord more than I did last year Because I've grown spiritually and I understand that love is more than a feeling.

It's a commitment It's involved with discipline and there's a loyalty that's that's in there and whether I feel like loving or don't feel like loving when the kids bang on the door in the morning and they're small and they want breakfast and you're Exhausted and tired because the night before you're up late doing other things You get up not because you want to but because of love you make sacrifice You do it from sacrifice because Sean said greater love has no one than this than to lay his life down for his friends And we know that our children are our number one friends one day they're gonna grow up from being babies to being our our companions our equals and We make those sacrifices from love in the same way We make sacrifices for other people from love because we love the Lord Not because we feel like it love is a lot of feeling Love is a commitment. He says remember From where you have fallen if you left that first love Remember from where you have fallen. Where did you turn away? From him so soon after he called you he says that to the Galatians You ran well who hindered you was it was it a someone Was it a boyfriend or a girlfriend who hindered you? from obeying the truth Was it a thing that came into your life? Was it a sport or an activity? Or a gifting a natural gifting that you have that you worship the and Followed and loved the gift rather than the giver, you know, the Pharisees they had a problem.

They they said when someone swears by you know the the gift on the altar That's when it really counts kind of like saying something having your fingers crossed and your words don't really count No, he says isn't it the altar that sanctifies the gift? In other words, we worship the gifts. We enjoy gifts children love gifts But they don't really Understand the love that comes along with the one who gives the gifts It's great to love a gift but to remember where the gift came from Every good and perfect gift comes from above from the father of lights and so if he gives us a gift whether it be to preach or to play an instrument or a sport or some other thing to be good in in in certain activities or It's your job Remember that God gives us the ability to do these things Every good and perfect gift comes from above from the father of lights in whom is no variation or shadow of turning He is constant. He does not change He is good and he is a consuming fire all at the same time Repent and do the first works if you've experienced that first love that brother Sean shared we can repent And we can do the first words we go back to where we took a wrong turn we can get that first love back or else he will come to us quickly and will remove Your lampstand from its place unless you repent to remove your lampstand What does that look like to remove your lampstand Luke in chapter 11 in verse 33 Says no one when he has lit a lamp Puts it in a secret place or under a basket Jesus said I am the light of the world No one when he has lit a lamp Carter No one when he has lit a lamp Puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but he puts it on a lampstand That those who come in may see the light So every one of these churches is to have a lampstand On which we put the light so the light can be shed abroad If we lose our first love For the Lord, we're gonna lose our love for people and he's gonna remove the lampstand from our fellowship And we are no longer going to be a witness People are not going to see Jesus when they come here They might see some of our religious activity, but they're not going to see Jesus Jesus is is the light and He said thy word is a lamp unto my feet So the Holy Spirit illuminating his word in a living way Not in a low-cost way according to the written words But according to the Rhema word the living Word of God which comes forth from the Holy Spirit We're not going to have that witness and people are not going to know that we're Christians because we're not going to have love for One another it's going to be evident.

There's not love in this place for one another It's a very dangerous thing So scripture help us to understand scripture and Interpreting the two the parables and the teachings no one when he has lit a lamp Puts it in a secret place or under a bed or under a basket, but on a lampstand That those who come in may see the light Now, how do the people see the light in us? He says this the lamp of the body is the eye So the body being the church is the lampstand He's gonna take away the body. He's gonna break down the body They're gonna be church splits and stuff happening when we lose or rather leave our first love Now we have a natural body, but we there's a corporate body But the eye Being the discernment The seers the prophets he's gonna remove the prophets from the church and the eye of the body shows The light He said if your eye is good your whole body will be full of light The eye is the window of the soul It also confirms this in Matthew But if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness There has to be a prophetic voice in the church The prophetic voice declares the light of the gospel of the glory of God and represents the face of Jesus If there isn't a prophetic voice in the pulpit Then be sure the lampstand is gone therefore 35 take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness You can have darkness inside your body And it can be portrayed as light I've often seen times where I've gone into places and there is a gift of discernment Where I can see the soul in the inside of the soul of a person whether they're born again whether their light is dim like like the virgins whose whose lamps were going dim or If someone's light is burning bright and fervent for the Lord But Satan also masquerades as an angel of light You've heard of black lights. And so at first glance, it looks as someone is full of the Holy Spirit But then you can see the rapid eye movement.

It's demonic It's if there's evil spirits in there because when the light and the darkness clash They can't hide like a rattlesnake. They move rapidly and then you can realize the light that is in them. It is in fact darkness And it says if the light that is in you is darkness How great is that darkness That's what it says in another passage If then your whole body is full of light having no part dark See, this is where it comes down to your personal relationship with Jesus.

I Don't know what you do in secret but Jesus does and You do and this is where our love for God really gets Tested If you love the Lord then the things that you do in secret And you know that he sees doesn't matter what other people see what he sees. That's what matters Because you're only gonna grow To the extent that you're honest with him To loving the Lord it's all about being honest with him because he already knows but if you confess your sin to him and to one another for accountability and and humility and Then the blood of Jesus his son will cleanse us from that sin and give us a victory over sin Sean shared about getting victory over drugs and over sexual stuff and all these things. It's coming to the light Having no part dark.

This is where our spiritual growth becomes evident and our love for God grows and our love for others Starts to manifest you see when we were in that hotel room what Sean didn't say is that I had seen that Sean had a bondage in his life and He had had dreams about it that there was a rotten stump inside There was a green tree coming out of a rotten stump And I perceived that there were evil spirits there and it was a rude hit He prayed for forgiveness for a certain person in his life that he had he had unforgiveness toward but he was trying to deal with it But you see it's not a pack of cigarettes you can throw away It's not an app you can delete It's something that has to happen through the power of the Holy Spirit in the inward man And when you come to the zero denominator the common denominator of death to self that is when God can do something and as Sean Had blamed certain person for certain things From his past and how he lost his children He took ownership and said even if that person had confronted me I would have not changed It's on me and he owned his own sin rather than blaming someone else for the consequences And it was at that moment I felt something and he experienced something come from the pit of his stomach and that rottenness Began to come out and as we began to pray We prayed for the Holy Spirit to fill him and when we came out of that hotel room It wasn't the next day Sean. It was the same hour that the love of God flowed from your heart I want to read something from the Old Testament from 1st Samuel. You see? Well, I'm a Christian.

I've always been a Christian I grew up in the church Going to church doesn't make you a Christian personal relationship with Jesus and Having a born-again experience makes you Christian. You have to have your own encounter with Jesus You can't rely on the coattails of mommy and daddy Some people are 30 and 40 and 50 years old and they say well, I've always been a Christian You've been religious You have a knowledge of God But you don't know him. We read that from 1st John in chapter 3 the world did not know us because it Did not know him and I guess the question is are you of the world? Or are you of him this passage here in 1st Samuel in? Chapter 2 in verse 12 speaks of a time in Israel when the priests were compromisers and The priests sons who were also priests were evil and the first thing it says about Eli who was a priest in Israel It says in verse 12 now the sons of Eli were corrupt and They did not know the Lord Because they were worldly they were ungodly They had not had a genuine encounter with the Lord That's why they were still corrupt That's why they were still practicing evil because they did not know the Lord yet.

They were ministering as priests before the Lord Let me say this that even today there are some people who go into the ministry Because you know what you can make a good salary and it's a good career Maybe they have a desire to help people So they take some psychology some sociology some philosophy They go to Bible school. They mix that together with some of the Word of God They get taught in certain doctrines that they're taught and they become very good People with a lot of ability and tools from the world to help But they don't know God They are not full of the love of God They may have some human compassion, but that is not the love of God Just because you go into the ministry it does not mean God has called you to minister Just because Eli's two sons Hophnius and Phineas and Hophnius are in the ministry It doesn't mean God called them to minister They went into the ministry because their dad was in the ministry and I believe at one time Eli was a sincere priest But what happened is he began to compromise And his sons were corrupt and wicked and He never dealt with the wickedness in his house. He never took a stand between loving God and loving his sons You can't love God and Your sons equally the same If your sons are doing evil and you love God Then you have to decide between God or your sons when you take a stand against wickedness Now Eli did rebuke his sons he said sons what you're doing is not good you sleeping around You sleeping around in sexual immorality and you're taking the meat and and you're not supposed to be taking it But you're taking the meat, but it says that Eli loved the meat He wasn't taking the meat, but he enjoyed the meat his sons were taking and it says that Eli became fat He was a compromiser But his sons were wicked, but the end result was the same because they all perished in one day And God raised up Samuel in his place I want to read something There's something I wanted to read here Verse 22 of Samuel chapter 2 now Eli was very old and He heard everything his sons did to all of Israel and how they lay with the women Who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting and so he said to them? Why do you do such things you would say well? He's rebuking his sons Why do you do such things for I hear of your evil dealings from all the people? No, my sons.

He seemed to take a stand against the wickedness No, my sons for it is not good the report that I hear you make the Lord's people sin Then he says if one man sins against another God will judge him But if a man sins against the Lord who will intercede for him nevertheless They did not listen to the voice of their father because the Lord desired to kill his sons And the other thing it does not say here He did not remove his sons from leadership He left them in leadership He rebuked him, but nothing changed his loyalty was to his sons There's a scripture that says if you love father and mother More than me you're not worthy If you love son or daughter more than me you're not worthy of me If you love your own life More than the Lord you're not worthy of him If we seek to save our life in this world, we'll lose it you I sought to save his life to make a small change But we have to deal with sin in the house When Israel had sin in the camp after they defeated Jericho and they went to take on a small city at AI there were men who died because there was sin in the camp a man had taken of the accursed things which the Lord said no man should take from Jericho he hid it in his tent and it affected the people of God and So it happened that when the Philistines began to fight with Israel as we keep going That four thousand men died in the battle and This happened because of Eli and his sons. That's why it happened 4,000 men died that means women and children without their their dads without the husbands Because the sin wasn't dealt with at the top So then what they did is rather than inquire the Lord and find out why these men fell what do they do they Conspire together to take the Ark of the Covenant out from the house of God to bring it into the camp They make a great cheer. They have a big celebration as though somehow God is gonna back them up even though their sin in the camp and They wheeled that Ark out there and they go into the battle and next thing that happens is 30,000 more people die including Eli's sons Eli's sons died when Eli gets the report and finds out not just that his sons were dead because it was foretold him that was Gonna happen, but that the Ark of the presence of God Has left Israel the Ark of God represents the presence of God.

It represents the lampstand Is taken away from Israel. It says even in those days the Word of the Lord was already rare No Inspired word anymore and Then what happened is one of the brother's wives She was with child. She went into labor It says in Samuel chapter 4 verse 19 now his daughter-in-law Phineas his wife was with child Due to be delivered when she heard the news that the Ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead She bowed herself gave birth For her labor pains came upon her and about the time of her death because she died also in the labor The woman who stood by her said to her Do not fear for you have born a son, but she did not answer him because she had already passed I believe and then This lady named the child Ichabod Which means the glory has departed from Israel because the Ark of God has been captured Ichabod the church can become a place of Ichabod because of sin and compromise Should we continue in sin that grace may abound from Romans 6 may it never be how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it When we come together and we have a communion is it for judgment we come If we have secret stuff going on May it never be That says that's why in the New Testament some are weak and sick and some have died Because you come together for judgment and not for good The presence of God in our life, it's a fearful sobering thing, but it's to be a blessing But when David out years later came to cart that that Ark back They they brought it back the way the Philistines sent it back after curses broke out on them The Philistines captured the Ark of God and they brought it to this city and when it was in the city They they they rolled up They brought that Ark into the temple of Dagon and the morning they went to Dagon was on his face in front of the Ark their God So they stood up Dagon this idol and the next day they went there and Dagon was on his face only problem this time his neck was head was broke off and his palms of his hands were broke off only the torso was left and Then the plague broke out on the city tumors and rats They filled the place and they came to those smart guys with their psychology sociology and philosophy degrees realized There's a problem here.

We think it has to do with the Ark of God So they said let's get it out of here they got the leaders together they sent it to gas When they sent that thing to gas tumors and rats broke out in gas And they said we've got to get rid of this thing. Let's send this thing back to Israel It says the presence of God was in the land of his enemies seven months In the presence of God when he was in Obed Edom's house that it was a blessing For three months a blessing broke out on him because the man was set apart and holy He was walking in righteousness But the enemies of God they took the Ark of God which God allowed to deal with with the enemies of Israel on his own They said let's get it out of here They put these this chest there with five golden rats and five golden tumors as a gift and they put it on milk cows and they sent the thing went back to Israel and Years later when David came to bring the Ark back to it to Jerusalem to restore the glory Of the presence of God they they didn't inquire of The Lord they didn't inquire of how the Ark was to be carried. They didn't inquire of these things They brought it back on a cart The same way the Philistines sent it on a cart they brought it back on a cart and one of the oxen stumbled and it was the Ark was going to fall and tip and Uzzah stuck out his hand to try to steady the Ark and he died there and David was a fearful of God and Upset with the Lord and he left that Ark at Obed Edom's house there I think for three months and that's when he got severely blessed Incredibly blessed With the presence of God and then they inquired and realized they've done it all wrong The Ark was to be carried on poles They were supposed to do things in a very particular in a certain way Not the way the Philistines had brought it back.

They learned the way of the Philistines Somehow this worldly culture this worldly thinking the law had been lost They'd not understood the Lord's ways and a lot of times we wonder what's going on in my life And why are things not working out? Why are things going this way? I'm going that way. It's time to come to know God To know his word and to understand his ways And we blame God well, why why are these things happening about you're supposed to be good Why am I miscarrying why are these things happening we begin to realize when we look into Deuteronomy 28 the curse of disobedience There are consequences because of things that we did in our youth It says remember not the sins of my youth nor my rebellious ways God is not mocked There's forgiveness with the Lord but consequences result because we were careless If Hophnius and Phineas did sexual sin before God and they were killed and the Lord doesn't kill us But rather our son or our daughter perishes as what happened to David David said the man who did this thing should die because David later on did sexual sin and Nathan says the Lord showed me you surely shall not die. But the son that your wife is carrying he will die and When he was born he got sick or he was already born.

He got sick and he passed There's mercy with God, but there are consequences to our actions and this is where we need to have a healthy fear of God Because not only is he holy But he is a can and a consuming fire But he's gracious and compassionate If you take one side of the coin without the other side of the coin you get a wrong Understanding of God if you read only the Old Testament, you'll be terrified of him. You'll never come near to God But if you read only the New Testament of his mercy and grace You will not understand the holiness of God. You might miss that in the New Testament, even though it's there And you'll think somehow he's okay with me sinning as though somehow when I sin, I'm getting away with something like that song Grace got me seems like I'm getting away with something.

Let me tell you you're not getting away with anything God is not mocked what a man sows that he shall reap if you sowed who sin you will reap corruption But if you sow to to to life to the Spirit you will reap life Hoffman and Phineas were priests of God and did not know God The world does not know God That's why it does not know us If we go back to 1 John chapter 3 it has not yet been revealed what we shall be we're in progress We're on the journey But as much as it depends on you Do you want to keep going with God or have you come so far and you're gonna camp there now? You're at Elam now. You come out of Egypt You've you sang salvation song you've experienced some of the Lord's dealings and you've come to a place of 70 palms and and some pools And you say you know what? This is a fantastic place I'm just gonna stay here now and grow my business and make it happen raise my family here No, we have to follow the cloud Because there's times of refreshing that come from the Lord, but yet we have to keep going with God Have we gotten somehow stuck Thinking we've come far enough and now and now we've got religion and we've left our first love And we're camping there thinking we can hang on to what we had But meanwhile, we're not willing to walk and be led by the Spirit of God It's a deception You'll be with those who wandered the wilderness for 40 years Who die in the wilderness when there is a land to possess? If Joshua would have spoken of another day, he's not talking about the natural Israel. He said today if you hear his voice Don't harden your heart because as I'm preaching the Holy Spirit's convicting you of something you're going I got a deal with that thing when I get home Got a deal with that thing.

I gotta finally let this thing go. Maybe it's an idol Maybe it's a secret sin You gotta let something go and the devil's gonna tell you on the ride home. Yeah, maybe tomorrow it's not that big a deal Oh, it's just a guilt trip By faith if you put to death the deeds of the body you'll live If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you'll live From Romans 8 12 13 as many as are led by the Spirit of God.

These are the sons of God They put to death the deeds of the flesh and they live by the Spirit. This is how you keep going with God you get stuck and Many of us end up in a spiritual blindness Like the lukewarm church in the last church where it says you say you're rich increasing goods of need of nothing But you do not know You do not know your condition because you do not know God You become complacent wretched miserable poor blind and naked We become like blind Bartimaeus sitting on the side of the road think we're camping at Elam and summer We've got it all figured out until all the pieces start falling apart and we realize we have become spiritual cripples and Then like this morning, the Holy Spirit is passing you by Jesus is passing by Two choices Stay quiet in that condition Or call on the name of the Lord The Word of God says whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved if you're stuck with something I remember a time when I I was stuck on something I could not do what the Holy Spirit was asking me to do And my brother said to me, have you asked the Lord to help you with that? And I was honest. I said no I haven't and the reason I hadn't is because I didn't actually want To overcome in that I Did not want to let some a grudge go against someone But then I humbled myself and I said, okay, I will ask and I asked the Lord to change my heart And when I woke up the next day my heart had changed towards that individual and I called them and I was able to keep going with God We have to be obedient to the Holy Spirit's convictions and leading Otherwise, there's no spiritual growth and when Jesus is passing by and we have those moments in our life Where we've been stuck and we've been managing.

Okay, but we are not walking in the fullness We're not being led by the Spirit anymore the love and the passion for Jesus has waxed cold Says in the last days the love of most will wax cold We deceive ourselves Call on the name of the Lord as he's passing by blind Bartimaeus started calling on the name of Jesus and the people Surrounding and said be quiet. Don't be so noisy but he got even louder and Jesus stopped and Bartimaeus throws off his garment Symbolizing exposing the fact that he was naked That he had need of being clothed Went to Jesus and Jesus asked him a simple question knowing he was blind. What do you want me to do for you? What do you want me to do for you, are you slave of sexual sin, are you stuck in the pornography? Are you a lover of money? Do you have idols that you love more than me? Are you a lover of self? What do you what do you have that you treasure more than me? Where did this blindness come from I Want to see I need a miracle.

I once maybe could see but now I don't see anymore and Jesus Laid hands on him. He prayed for him and he healed him There has to be a humbling of oneself Jesus have mercy on me That's what blind Bartimaeus did It doesn't have to be publicly. It can be right where you are.

It can be in at home It can be with a brother. It can't be publicly. It can be however when we humble ourselves he lifts us up God is opposed to the proud but he gives his grace to the humble Every time Jesus did a miracle there was someone who had a need there was a cripple and he had his buddies and they brought Him to Jesus and they lowered him down from the roof and Jesus forgives his sins What Who is this who forgives sins the guy didn't come here for sins forgiven the guy came here to walk He said which is easier to do forgive sins or say pick up your mat and walk which is easier I Remember for years I was compromising in my Christian walk and I prayed Jesus forgive me my sins and my prayers hit the roof and fell to the floor Because I wasn't prepared to change.

I Wanted forgiveness of sins you can pray a thousand times But if you don't prayer pray from the heart and you don't not prepared to deal with the sin Then no change The Lord says this he says call to me And I will answer you And I will show you great and awesome things that you don't yet know We we know in part We preach a little bit in part but Jesus Knows all things and he wants to reveal himself to us and He will be found by those who seek him Originally, he found me when I wasn't seeking him because I didn't believe that I could change But then if we seek him with all our heart will be found by him and He'll show us his ways and he'll teach us to walk in his paths The path that leads to life is narrow the way that leads to life is difficult There are a few who find it but some will enter Some will enter we have that sign on our on our fireplace for the gate is small and the way is narrow That leads to life and there are a few who find it the man who made that sign And no longer with us Went back to his old life May the Lord help him and then may the Lord help us That he who has begun a good work and you will complete it He's able to complete it We have a stewardship to work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it's God working in us Both to will and to do for his good pleasure. The Holy Spirit will help us To do what is necessary and putting to death the deeds of the flesh so that we can live without a cross No penny cost You never any penny cost people jumping around and singing with the organ going and all the hallelujah While everybody's watching the pornography at home. It's a deception That fire comes from beneath and it's not coming from about This is a false fire first the cross and Then the penny cost first the death to the self and then raised with Christ the resurrection from the dead Raised with him in the power of his resurrection No longer slaves of sin Sean shared about being a slave of fear.

No longer slaves of fear No longer crippled by these things This is a journey and we just keep coming to him as we're on the journey and you see the Giants and it's impossible And then you cower and you say, okay, I've come far enough now because I don't know what's gonna happen. No Go through with God Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit. They said they're Giants.

They're huge and the land is awesome, but with God Let's keep going Let's go through with God It has to always be a miracle. It's not what he can do and what you can do The victory is the Lord's the battle is the Lord's but you have to engage in the fight Going with God Go through with God Do business with the Lord and emerge on the other side victorious in Jesus name