Coming Under Authority and Gaining Freedom

Quite a number of years ago, I shared the story of how I met Caleb, and Caleb came to live with me and Audrey and our family. And during that time, he got hungry for the word, but soon he became disillusioned with the authority of being under our roof. And wherever you live and whatever circumstance you find yourself, you find yourself under an authority, whether it be a husband, because according to the word of God, he becomes your head, whether it be a church and the authority of that church and the leadership there, or whether it be your boss, or whether it be your bank manager, or whether it be your parents, or whether it be some other situation, we all have been given an authority over us that we need to submit to, and God has allowed it, whether it be God's word. If you have no other authority except God's word over your life, we have to come under that authority, otherwise we can never be blessed. And God tests us in many ways, and Caleb was reading the scriptures and becoming very knowledgeable and very strong. You know, it says, young men are strong, the word of God is in you. And Caleb and I were discussing about what Dan was sharing about, about giving to everyone who asks. Give to everyone who asks. And I said, well, we need wisdom in that regard. He said, well, the Bible doesn't say that, it says, if someone asks, give to them. I had someone text me last night, and in my spirit, I sense that every time I've given to them when they've asked, they've used drugs. Every time they've asked, I need a hundred bucks, you know, can you help me, it's going to go for food, or it's going to go for this, they've used, and it's put them in a bad way. So giving to everyone who asks, we need to hear from the Holy Spirit also, according to the scripture. And so we were discussing this, Caleb and I, and I could see his face was strong towards me, and he wasn't receiving what I was sharing. And sometimes we get like that because we have a certain amount of light and we start to resist others because we don't understand or we think they're wrong. And so it was later in the afternoon that the doorbell rang, and I was downstairs and Caleb answered the door, and he was looking for opportunity to give, he wanted to give because it's good for us as Christians to give. And he came back downstairs and I said, well, who was at the door? He said, well, it was Greenpeace at the door. I said, oh, Greenpeace, what did they want? Well, they were coming and they were signing up for donations and for giving, and they asked if I would become a member and support them in their cause. And so I signed up and I gave them automatic withdrawal from my account and I gave them money because the Bible says give to everyone who asks. And I said, Caleb, you know what Greenpeace stands for? I says, random acts of civil disobedience, and it was exactly where Caleb was at in his walk with God. He was in rebellion to the authority. He wouldn't listen to us at work and he would he would do his own thing. He would, he had a better way worked out. He wouldn't come under the authority that God had for him because it's important for us to learn these things. And he got such conviction when I shared that with him, that he ran out of the house as fast as he could down the street trying to cancel his membership, his subscription. But he couldn't find them. They had disappeared. And praise God, God allowed Greenpeace to come to my door that day. I've never heard from them ever before or since. But it served a purpose, a teaching moment from scripture. We need discernment in our giving, because if you give to someone, as Dan shared his own testimony, you can hinder the work of the Holy Spirit. There's a time to give and a time to refrain from giving. There's a time to be born and a time to die. There's a time to plant and there's a time to reap. And so we need an understanding of the spirit, the way of the spirit that leads to life. We want to be generous, ready to give. But we need a release in our spirit, otherwise we're just doing humanitarian work, social work. It's a dead work. We're giving out of guilt and we're not doing the right thing. Quite often people will say, well, I need money for food or I need money for this or that for fuel. But they've used all the money that they had on alcohol, on drugs, on women, on all kinds of other things. And then now they have nothing and they need the money for food. And what you're doing is you're taking the bread off of your children and giving it to dogs. And Jesus said when the centurion woman came and she said, my daughter's in bondage, can you deliver her from from her demon? He says it's not good to take the children's bread and give it to little dogs. But you want to know something? That woman was desperate for a miracle in her life. She was at the at wit's end. And she spoke wisdom that got Jesus's attention. He said, yes, but even the little dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master's table. And he said, for this thing, I'll set your daughter free. And he delivered the girl. And you know what? It's important for us to understand how the spirit's leading so we can discern what the spirit says. I'm not against giving him for it, but we want to make sure that we're not hindering the work of God in our humanitarian efforts to try to save people. I was thinking about some of the things that we've been going through as a family and how God teaches us his ways and shows us his path and guides us in his truth and to show us the hidden things of the heart. You know what? Lately, before the the plague hit us, before financial situations have swamped us and before some food poisoning came and took me down last week. I was seeking God with all my heart and I was taking ground. I was climbing and taking ground and I was encouraged in the Lord and I really was sensing the sweetness in the presence of Jesus. And then something happened that derailed us. You know, and why did this happen? And I was reading and thinking about Job, and I'm not comparing myself in any way to that man, but he was a man who feared God and he did what was right. And it came about that Satan came before God and God pointed out his servant Job. And Satan says, does Job serve God for nothing? You bless him, you provide for him, everything's going well financially for him. Look at it, he's got 10 children, his life is blessed, you've protected him. You have a hedgerow, does Job serve God for nothing? You take away, you touch him in his finances and see what comes out of his heart. He'll curse you. And so God allowed Satan to inflict pain on Job that I wish on no one. You know, and we got a bad report a couple of weeks back, a financial one that absolutely buckled us at the knees and brought us to our face and overwhelmed us with anxiety that I was trying to get off of us and our family. And I was praying and praying and I know the scriptures and none of them were working because there was unbelief there. There was unbelief there. And, uh, I was looking for a deliverance. I don't know what the deliverance was going to look like. And some of the brothers fasted in the cause and I needed to overcome the anxiety and the fear, because we're not to be crippled by anxiety and fear because of finances. But when it comes upon you, how do you know what's in your heart until these things, until you find yourself waist deep in these things? And, uh, we don't have resolve to the situation as of now, but we've come to peace, but things come out of your heart. You know, I was waiting for a good report that God would deliver us from this massive undertaking of, of things that came over, over our finances. And what I found was that when we got a report that this, this thing is going to come, come over us, like a wave is going to overtake us. I had a thought that welled up from my being to curse God, to say it's useless to serve God. It was a strong thought that came from my heart and I brought the thing captive and I said, I can't go there. I can't allow that thing to come out of my mouth. I can't allow that thing to manifest. And, uh, I repented of it. It was in my heart. You don't know what's in your heart until the day you get a bad report and you've been serving God and you've been doing what you think is right. And you've been really seeking him. You've been doing all the right things, fasting, praying, doing those things and, and really seeking the presence and the spirit of God, even for this little fellowship. And then you get taken off, cut off at the knees. And, and all this guile begins to come out of your heart. And he says of Job, it says, naked I came and naked I go. He said, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Bless the name of the Lord. That was in Job's heart to bless the Lord. He had lost his children and he'd lost all of his finances in one day. And he chose to bless the Lord. It was in his heart to bless the Lord. I can't see the scene, but I'm hoping that one day I'll get there. And then the Satan comes to him and he says, uh, skin for skin, take away the man's health and he will curse you to your face. And he says, you can't take his life, but you can do to him what you please. And his body was covered with boils and his wife said to him, curse God and die. You know, what's God done for you? Look at, he's taken our children. He's crippled us in our finances. And now you're here bedridden and in agony and pain. And recently we got this plague and then this food poisoning and I couldn't even pray myself. I couldn't even pray. And I wanted to come down and have fellowship, even just to sing a little bit. Last Sunday, I could not get here. I was in bed. I heard you worshiping. I watched the service as best I could with tremendous belly, belly pain. I'm like, Lord, what is going on? What are you trying to accomplish in this situation? Cause I see nothing good coming out of it. I was taking ground spiritually. I was desiring to seek the Lord more diligently. And now you cut us off at the knees financially. And now I can't, I don't even have strength to, to get out of bed. And, uh, I see the response of Job. He rebukes his wife and he says, you speak as one of the foolish woman speaks. The Lord has given him the Lord. If he chooses to take away, I'm going to continue to bless the Lord. The song says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be on my lips. And he says that he will offer unto God a sacrifice of praise from the fruit of your lips. It's hard to give God praise when you're going through hard times. It is a sacrifice of praise. Job offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving, a sacrifice of praise to God in the midst of his circumstances. And then after all those things, he had some good brothers come alongside him and remind him that surely he must have sinned because God doesn't inflict willingly. I haven't had that yet, but maybe it's coming, but we have to be able to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. It's not, to be a Christian is not for the faint hearted or it's not for the weak. And it's not for those who ask Jesus to come into their heart for gain, to make their life better, to enhance their life. It's a decision to forsake all that one has and to say, as far as my following Jesus, no turning back, no none go with me, still I'll follow for better or for worse, I'm going to be faithful to the Lord Jesus in sickness and in health. Until death do me part, I'm following Jesus. And we have to be able to come to that. And we can say with our mind and with our, with our mouth, these things, but when you find yourself in travail and in a, in a situation in the crucible, and you find yourself being just broken down, you get to see the hidden things of the heart, which God knows are there so that we confess them, we can repent of them. We can ask God to change us because I can't make myself righteous in my seeking to draw near to God. I don't know the things that are in my heart until God reveals them unto me. And when these things are revealed, then I have a choice. I can humble myself and I can come under God's dealings. And I can say with David, it's good that I was afflicted before I was afflicted. I went astray, but now I keep your word. God's word is unto us a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. And the spirit illuminates that word. In other words, it's like a light shining on the word in the darkness so that we can understand what God is saying. I think of times in my life when God was working a change in my life. I didn't understand the word. Chad and I were chatting a couple of days ago. I didn't understand much. I understood a little bit, but one thing I did understand is when I got conviction in my heart about something, I began to learn quickly that I needed to act upon those convictions quickly or those convictions would go away. And I began to see that as I began to act upon those convictions, God began to open his scriptures to me and I began to see that it was written all along. I began to be obedient to convictions of the spirit, and then I would find out it was written. I would never read it was written, and then I would go do it, because the man who does these things shall live by them, but the just shall live by their faith. And then I began to preach and I said, you know what? God caused me to cut my cable off at one point. And so other guys would go and cut their cable off and it would produce death in them. You know, but if you don't do it from your heart, if you don't take a decision from your heart, it's not a faith, it's a works and then it produces death in you. But if the Holy Spirit gives you a conviction and you're obedient to it, it'll bring forth life that after you suffer for a while, I'm not saying there's no suffering, but he's going to strengthen and establish you, perfect you and settle you in Christ. I thought of times when before I was serving Christ, it was all about me and mine. And the goal of the matter was to win. And I was good financially at winning. You know, this Donald Trump says that he likes winning. Well, you know what? I also liked winning. And so when I'd go in a business deal, if it was the last five cents we would fight about, I wanted to make sure that it ended up in my pocket because I like to win. And that was all about who I was and what I aspired to become, a winner. And when I became a Christian, God taught me something about losing. If you don't forsake all that you have, you can't be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And it was hard for me to come under that, to let that five cents go, to allow myself to be cheated and to rather accept wrong, because I've cheated others in my, in my life and in business so that I could win. And now God was taking me through a season and a life of giving my back, of letting myself be cheated, of rather accepting wrong. And it was not easy. It was like pulling teeth without anesthetic. It was painful, but God wanted to deal with my pride because it was a pride and a rebellion issue. And so it's important for us that we allow ourselves to come under God's authority. If God says that the weak can become strong, that the poor can be rich. Then we have to trust what God says. Not how many dollars are in the bank account is what makes you happy. When you're obedient to what God says in the end, that brings true joy. I think of a time in my life when God called me to make amends. That took me about a year to make amends. There were so many amends to make. Why did God ask me to make amends? Was it that I was going to become more righteous in my amend making? Or was it that I would learn humility, that I would let myself be cheated and that I would humble myself and come under what God was saying? And that's what the Spirit led for me to do in my life is to begin to come under what God said. I would be at a place and God would remind me of some evil that I did or something that I said or how I cheated someone to make those amends. And my flesh was fighting against what the Spirit was saying. But I was obedient to that and that led to a life of brokenness, that led to a life of being born again, that led to a life, a spirit led life. To hear from the Spirit, I could justify every single one of the dollars that I took from the people that deserved it. They never finished the job. They were late in what they signed to, all these different things. They did a terrible job. The cement job they did was absolutely terrible. Some of those jobs had to be jackhammered out. They did not deserve to be paid. Every one of them could be justified. But that's not the way the Spirit works, because the Spirit is interested in people and he's interested in us coming under God's authority. I ran into a cement finisher. He did, I won't use his name, but he did some patio jobs for me on houses we used to build. He did the worst job. And I told him the job was worth zero and I gave him zero. And I was not, it was not my houses. I was a contractor for another builder. And I met him in a subdivision. I knew that he hated me and I had become born again in the Holy Spirit. And I saw him, at first I gave him the back. He was across the street. I don't think he recognized me. The Holy Spirit said, I want you to go over there and I want you to make amends with him. I said, well, that wasn't my job. That was, I was working for another company. I was doing my job and the job was worth zero. That's not what the Holy Spirit said. The Holy Spirit said, you go there and make restitution with that man. I walked across the street and I said to the man, hi, my name is Randy, says, I know exactly who you are. I said, you know, regarding the way I dealt with things, I said, I recently became a Christian. I got born again. And I want to make, I want to make amends with you. And I want you to tell me how much I owe you for that job that you did that I never paid you for. And he looked at me. And he said, what's in your pocket? And I pulled out whatever I had in my pocket, it was $80. And I think the job was in the thousands. And I gave him the $80 and he stuck out his hand and shook my hand. And he said, we're even. Thank you for coming. Now, it doesn't always work that way. But we have to be willing to humble ourselves in order to make reconciliation with people that we've wronged, whether we can justify our wrongdoing with the Holy Spirit puts his finger on you and he says that you need to humble yourself and make something right. Go while it is still day, because when the night comes, the conviction will soon wane and you will soon begin to justify and your heart will not soften. I remember a time when I was at the city hall in the district of Mission. And the city hall in the district of Mission would very often fail me. I was a builder, a young builder, and I was proud and I resisted their authority. They would fail me. They were hard on me and I would rebel against their authority. And this one time they were supposed to come for an inspection. And we poured cement, they were supposed to inspect the plastic. And they never came. And I said, well, the cement is on route and the cement came and we poured those basements. Well, they came the next day and they made me jackhammer holes in all those basements to check for the plastic. And I was so angry and bitter that we spray painted that municipal hall. I had people and I sought vengeance for myself in those days. And years later, they never caught me. Years later, I was applying for a permit after I was born again. And the Holy Spirit said, I want you to confess to what you've done. I thought the logic of that is a criminal record or jail, thousands of dollars we did damage on that building. But I wanted them to know it was me and they knew it was me. I put the reinspection fee right on the building all over the place because I wanted to get justice for myself as a young, rebellious man. And now God says, you know what? Now it's time for me to get justice because of the things you've done. And I was there at the front counter and I said, can I speak to the chief building inspector before any common wisdom or rationale would come in my mind? I had the conviction of the Holy Spirit on me. The man who came out from the back was no longer the chief building inspector at that time. It was a man that I liked. There was one inspector that I like and I took him to some hockey game and we had some good time together, actually, you know, and and he was now the building inspector, the head guy. And he took me into his office and I said, you know, his name was Dan McNabb. And I said, Dan, I says, I'm here to this is going to be weird, but I said, I'm here to confess that I was the one behind the spray painting of the city hall. It was me. It was my people. And I said, I'm here to make restitution for the damage that I've done. And I started weeping, I says, you know, recently, about in the past year, I got born again and the Holy Spirit has convicted me that I need to to confess to this. And I confess to this thing. And he said, I'll get back to you on what the cost would be. God's ways are not our ways. And I didn't know that Dan McNabb was a church going man, that he was going to Seven Oaks Alliance Church. I didn't know these things. He got back to me and he said that they told the city hall council and they weren't sure exactly what to do. So it had been paid through insurance. And so they sent me the deductible of five hundred dollars for the insurance that they paid. I thought, wow, that's cheap. And I paid the deductible and I sent it to them about a month later, I got a letter back. The city hall said we didn't know what to do with the money. So we donated it to a charity. And I said, praise God. Thank you, Lord. Now this skeleton in my closet will no longer haunt me while I'm preaching. This thing will no longer torment me and say, you know what, you're a liar. You never dealt with your stuff. You can't preach on restitution because you never dealt with the things in your life, in your own life. And years later, a man came to our fellowship and he said, I heard a story about you from a man called Dan McNabb. I said, oh, you know him? He says, yes. He says he goes to a certain church. I ran into him and he says he told me a story about what you did at the city hall. And I says, yeah, I'm ashamed to say it was me before I got born again. But you know what? He says, you don't know the testimony that came out of that. So what came out of that? He says immediately after you left the office, he sent an all email to everybody who works in the city hall, from the mayor down to the people who work and putting pipes in the ground and cut the lawn. Everyone got an email and says, Randy Crone just came into the office and my office and confessed that he was the one, the whole city knew this thing had been done and open, was the one who was behind the spray painting of the city hall. Randy Crone recently got born again. This is what born again Christians do. They make restitution. He has to pay the damage. Randy Crone is a Christian now. He confessed to what he'd done. You know what? I could have had a meeting and all those people from city hall could have come and I could have preached up a storm. But no greater testimony is there for the Lord Jesus than what a what a God can do with a proud, hard hearted man who humbles himself and submits to what the Holy Spirit says. And comes under authority, submits to the dealings of the Holy Spirit and the word. And does what is right and takes responsibility for his sin so that God can receive the glory. You know, Aline shared that God don't share his glory with another. It was very humbling for me, that whole thing. But you know what? There's one who got glory and it was Jesus. His ways are way higher than my ways. My ways are not his ways. As the heavens are above the earth, so my ways are not his ways. I don't understand his ways many times, like the things that we go through from day to day. I don't understand them, the hard things, but I have to trust him. Scripture says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Jesus and he will direct your steps. There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is destruction. The way of humility, the way of meekness, the way of the fear of the Lord, that's the way that leads to life. And there's very few who find it. The inscription on our fireplace says, for the gate is small and the way narrow that leads to life. There's few who find it. Jesus is the door to the sheepfold. He is the gate and we have to come through according to his way. Otherwise, we can never be true born again Christians. If we don't come under the authority of the Spirit's leading and we don't submit ourselves to what his word speaks to us, then we deceive ourselves. We can call ourselves whatever we want. You can be a man and call yourself a king. I don't make you a king, but if God calls you a king, if he says he's made you a kingdom of priests unto his God, then that's who you are in Jesus' name. It matters what God says. It doesn't matter what we think of ourselves or what others call us. Let God be true in every man a liar. I want to encourage you. It matters not the things that you've done. What matters is in your response to how the Spirit leads you moving forward. He's able to take the vile and he's able to make him clean. He's able to take that which is nothing and seat him with princes. He's able to take that which is not and call it as though it is. Don't be defined by what you've done. We are defined by who God says we are. You know that thing about the AA which I really despise. Now, I'm going to say this once. If God sets you free from alcohol, you're no longer an alcoholic. Otherwise, you're saying God's a liar. Because the Bible says whom the Son sets free is free indeed. And he calls those things that are not as though they are. And if you've not touched alcohol in 20 or 30 or 40 years, and you say, hi, my name's Bob and I'm an alcoholic, you call God a liar. Because that's not who you are. In Jesus' name, whom the Son sets free is free indeed. You're a child of God. Don't confess things that aren't true. There's a principle there. The principle is that you confess your sin, that you make acknowledgement that apart from Christ, this is who you are. But that's not who you remain. He conveyed us out of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. He called us to become children of God. It hasn't yet been revealed what we shall be. But when He is manifested, we shall be like Him. We're not going to be drunks anymore. We shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. Now, if we continue to walk in sin and practice darkness, we lie and the truth's not in us. We can call ourselves children of God. But if we practice sin, we've neither seen Him nor known Him. That's what it says in 1 John. And in this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. He who does what is right, this one is a child of God. The just shall live by faith, my friends. If the Holy Spirit speaks to you by faith, and you take an action, a response to that conviction, and it'll go on your account for righteousness. Abraham believed God and it went on his account for righteousness. But if we seek to be justified by works, if we seek to be justified by doing all kinds of doings, thinking that we're commending ourselves to God, it just produces pride and self-righteousness in us. There's no life there. You know where the life is? The life is in the Son. And when we're led by the Spirit, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. And the sons of God, by faith, put to death the deeds of the flesh and live. When they get conviction, they put them to death. They say, Lord, I can't do this. And they ask for the grace and they get power to overcome. We're more than conquerors through Christ who gives us strength. Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made you free. And don't get entangled again with don't taste, don't touch, don't handle. Look up to Him and be saved. Jesus is the one who saves and delivers. He's able to save to the uttermost those who are being set apart. May the Lord help us to walk in that freedom. Don't hang on to bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness. Those things will take you down. Let them go and allow God to give you the ability to forgive, the ability to bless. And it says also this. I heard a message the other day. A fellow said, God doesn't expect us to be holy. Maybe we don't start holy, but you know what? Our holiness is in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And if we're walking in right relationship with him, he sees us as clean. And the scripture also calls us to holiness. For he says, be holy for I am holy. Our aspiration isn't to become a little better than the best brother in the church. Our aspiration is to become like Jesus. That's how high the bar is set. And so with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are able to be conformed. It sounds like a heresy into Jesus's image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. God is able to cause you to become like Jesus. If you continue to follow him. And let him do his work. Let the Holy Spirit do his work. Call on the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you completely and walk not after the lusts of the flesh. Put off the old man with his lusts. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask him to open up the scriptures to you. You might understand his will and his ways. And get a hold of his power. Without the power of the Spirit, you cannot do the things that the Spirit is asking of you. Just humble yourself and ask him and he'll fill you. In Jesus's name, amen.