20190810 | A Streetcar named "Desire" | Pastor John Lomacang (tvsdac)

you might be wondering where that title came from but before I tell you I'd like to invite you to open your Bible to Psalm 37 verse 4 Psalm 37 and verse 4 short powerful passage short but very potent I'd like us to read it together if you'd like to join me psalm 37 verse 4 together delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart loving father this morning speak to your people speak through your servant but may all the glory go to you in Jesus name I pray amen if I could give you a peek into my weekly schedule you will be amazed that no two days are alike that may be true for many of you I know in production that may be true for many of you in teachings that may be true for many of you and because I don't know what's coming every day this passage is very important to me delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart a streetcar named desire was a movie that captured the journey of an affluent southern young woman named Blanche DuBois just for the record I never saw the movie but my interest was kindled after I read about it I studied the topic on desire and when I read about this story I went to a number of pages you know we live in a generation where information is right at our fingertips and I like to take the information when I go to various websites in various places when the information begins to jive when it begins to measure up I say okay the sources are more than just hearsay but are credible when you study Blanche's life after Blanche experienced the death of her husband in a series of personal losses she decided to quit her job as a teacher and leave her affluent lifestyle behind her and then move in with her sister in a dilapidated New Orleans tenement really amazing story after journeying to the town where her sister lives to find the location where her sister's house is specifically she's told by someone nearby to get on a streetcar named desire and then what happened after that catapulted the movie to be one of the most dramatic movies of its time in the early early 1950s but what began in 1947 as a Broadway play that had been seen for more than four hundred and forty nine times in the course of almost four years became a blockbuster movie now that word blockbuster is often used in contemporary settings but back then at the 24th annual Academy Awards a streetcar named desire won four Academy Awards at the end of 1951 by the end of 1951 it was surely a block a box-office hit earning 4.25 million dollars now when we measure that to today's standards we say well that's not a whole lot when you compare to movies today but to give it perspective in 1951 in just one year 15 million tickets were sold to see that movie if you measure that today that would be Wyatt way more than 4.25 million but my focus is not so much on the journey of Blanche DuBois but what was true about Blanche DuBois in the movie the streetcar named desire is also true about every one of us as it is true about her so it is true about us when we climb aboard a streetcar named desire our journey begins desire Joe Rossini in a paper written called desire is a powerful emotion I quote him in the following words he says one of the most powerful human emotions is desire is what church desire since every waking moment and this is an interesting article when I read it I thought I would love the quote the whole thing but you know I can't have a six page sermon on just the quotes of an individual so I had to take from it but I felt was pertinent to the message he says since every waking moment of our lives are spent in either trying to gain pleasure or trying to avoid pain we are constantly acting to fulfill our desires if we are hungry we begin to desire food so we go and eat we desire food so we follow it with an action we go and eat if you're feeling lonely you desire another person so you call up your friend or family member just about every moment of our lives is spent or invested trying to fulfill some desire he continues he says throughout the history of mankind there has always been groups of men who have attempted to enslave other groups or individuals but listen to this but as it is the powerful desire of freedom that has always thrown off the tyrants and defeated them throughout history those who have accomplished rare feats or reach the top of their fields usually do so in spite of others telling them that they cannot or that they're going to fail and he says it is the desire that acts as the fuel to make their dreams come true he goes on to say desires also very personal only you can really know how badly you want something desire can get us to muster up the inner energy to move mountains in our efforts to achieve our desired results he says also desire is a driving force when Michael Jordan as a young man shot baskets as people said it seemed to be day and night it would probably be safe to say that there were those who stood around him and said why does he practice so much does he think he's gonna make it to the NBA or something the fact of the matter is they did not experience the desire he had and as you know the rest of the story Joe Rossini said desires also strategic the advertising agencies on Madison Avenue in New York City are masters at triggering desires to the viewing audience on television infomercials advertising pictures and music are all designed to trigger your deepest desire and when the Superbowl comes around they pay millions and millions of dollars for 30 seconds and they take their time to make sure that when that commercial is done they have accessed your desire the reason why is strategically they know that if you don't react to their immediate pitch they have lost you as a customer because simply they did not trigger or gain access to your say desire he also says desire is a trigger almost anything can trigger desire it's sometimes a matter of timing as much as a matter of preparation it might be a favorite song from your teenage years come on have you been there before you know you hear that song in the car then and then you don't even have to hear the words it could just start out and the moment you hear a few lines am I talking to the crowd the moment you hear just a few lines some of you older focal back there with Elvis in his blue suede shoes it didn't even take a minute some of you are back with the stylistics or or whatever group you listen to and the in the songwriters know songs that have longevity continue to live not necessarily on the radio but they have a secret home in your desires it might be a favorite song from your teenage years that that bring on a desire to call an old friend or perhaps a conversation with a friend or in some cases a confrontation with an enemy that can trigger your desire to act right now and do something bold and positive so today I invite you on a personal journey on your streetcar named desire the power of desire was unveiled in the Garden of Eden as the Nemesis of heaven introduced deceptive advertising against a potential customer named Eve we find the first commercial recorded in the book of Genesis chapter 3 if you have your Bibles open it with me and let's look at the first commercial ever made against the government of God against the truth about who God is this morning go with me on a journey on a streetcar named desire Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 begins to unfold this profound story and we have read this many times before I'm not going to spend all my time and going through every detail of this story in Genesis but I cannot ignore it when we talk about the powerful potency of desire Genesis 3 verse 1 now the serpent was more cunning the King James Version says subtle the servant of Lord Ellen White says Satan's footsteps are noise less earlier this week when we will I don't know what my wife and I were watching we like nature shows and in the middle of whatever I think it was a news broadcast they flashed Discovery Channel the Serengeti in Africa is on now and we immediately we love nature shows anybody else my love shows about nature and mountains and wildlife and so we quickly turned to that show only to have this verse later on in the week really come out to me Ryan when it talks about the artful cunningness and subtlety of Satan in the Garden of Eden I watched as a young lioness had to try to find a way to provide for her young cubs and every attempt she made to catch her prey was one that was stealthily calculated every footstep she would move her feet ever so slowly in a paw even go down so slowly because she knew that if the potential prey heard even the crackling of a leaf their ears are so tuned that they would have lost their meal so when I read this story I think of the cunningness of the serpent as the Bible says he was more cunning than any beast get it of the field which the Lord God had made but then a conversation ensued and I want to make a point here that conversation couldn't happen unless she was where the conversation could occur because God and his love towards us did not allow the devil to come to Eve but Eve had the freedom to choose where her footsteps would take her and she went where the conversation began can you say Amen now before I go any further I want you to let your neighbor know the sermon is about to begin so tap them since they might have gotten some people may have fallen under the stupor of that cunning subtle touch of the enemy and they may have thought that the church has now become Saint matress Cathedral so please you got to get what the Lord is talking about today a conversation ensued and the Bible says and he said to the woman has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden now I've read that story I've read that verse thousands of times I'd need to say but I found something new which I can't contribute to myself and the Lord revealed to me that the corruption of desire listen carefully always begins with a question designed to lead us to ignore what we already know is true the devil designs his questions to lead us to ignore or sidestep what we already know the answer to but he doesn't with such a melodious voice that just the sound of his voice wants to keep us listening did God really say that serpent probably had a baritone voice he was probably like the Barry White of the Garden of Eden hi you do an Eve lovely day to you ooh and she saw this glistening beast in the field wondering who I had never seen anything like this before but Eve's response gave this arch deceiver all that he needed to gain access to her will let me pause right here whenever we are at a crossroads that can take us to success or failure to victory or defeat to the best choice or the worst decision something we do after the question presents itself always gives the enemy or God access to our minds the very thing we do after the proposal gives righteousness or wickedness success or failure access to our minds to determine what the very next action is going to be are you following me so the question comes but the question itself is not where the problem lies but a response gives the enemy the ammo that he needs verse 2 & 3 and the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden she starts to twist God's Word God has said you shall not eat of it he did say that and then she modifies it nor shall you touch it lest you die when you go back to the initial communication of God he never said don't touch it let me use the illustration you could touch a cigarette but don't smoke it you could touch a bottle of alcohol but don't drink it and I even go so far to say there are certain things you shouldn't even touch because like a stove it'll burn you and the results will be irreversible in some cases after she after she modified God's command notice the verse that follows verse 4 and 5 then Satan introduced the line that gets Eve to sign the contract then the serpent said to the woman you will not come on surely die for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil can I pause right here to say something brethren when you wake up in the morning ladies and gentlemen when you wake up in the morning and the day God gives you allows you to breathe and you can think and your limbs are working and you're in your right mind don't ever allow any evil thought or desire make you think that that sin can give you something better than the joy of waking up in the morning I mean it is a joy to wake up in the morning can I get an amen now some of us don't like to especially when you go to bed at the Court of the three my wife woke me up this morning I went to bed a quarter to three do I look awake I hope so but it's sweet to sleep and I need to add that dreams of many of the dreams let me rephrase that all of the dreams we have often happen when we are sleeping in our beds but you got to wake up to make those dreams a reality the enemy inserts into this conversation a potion and inoculation that makes evil Eve that by disobeying God there will be better at Vantage's on the other side but something happens next that catapults the story to the next level the next act reveals something that's true about every one of us look at verse six so when the woman what's the next word saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes a tree look at the next word stay with me desirable to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate she also gave to her husband with her and he ate now if you read that you may think that Adam was standing right by watching his wife in this in this interaction with the devil no no not at all what the Bible's innocence saying is there was only one other person on the earth that she could even communicate with and that was her husband so after she gets caught in into the demise of her own deception she's enjoying whatever food it was and she finds her husband and he sees the impact on her and he entered and she introduces him to the scenario that if he were to pause this question always comes up if he were to pause and see how it affected her he would not have allowed it to affect him but there once again his desire ruled over the truth about God and the Bible said he he ain't he captured the fruit now remember as we break this down Satan's appeal was to Eve's desires then after the fall because of that because her desire was what drove her to ignore what is true about God and what is true about what God says her desire was now taken captive and from that moment on someone more dominant and powerful than her was in control of her desire my evidences Genesis chapter 3 and verse 16 look at it I'm just taking the last part of the verse the Genesis chapter 3 and verse 16 I'm given the ladies a break by ignoring the early part but I'll read it since it's on the screen to the woman he said I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception ladies blame me for all the pain of bringing children into the world and pain you shall bring forth children but look at this the desire that led her to disobey and fall into Satan's web the Lord said your desire shall be for your what husband and he shall what rule over you let me pause and insert something here because we're gonna see a couple of things today we're gonna see desire and there are two other components that are going to be introduced later on because we are not just creatures of desire if we were just creatures of desire nothing would happen did you hear what I just said if all we were were creatures of desire nothing would happen I wrote a story about a guy that said oh I desire to go to Paris and take my lovely wife to the top of the Eiffel Tower and and with the strength of my voice yell I love you and he mentions her name that was his desire but to make it happen he had to buy two tickets pack his luggage go to the airport get on a plane find his way to the Eiffel Tower get up in the Eiffel Tower and then many weeks later yeah what he desired three weeks earlier if all we were were creatures of desire nothing would happen and I don't like calling folk out but I tell you I am glad that creating the Mac computer was not just jobs desire come on you techies give me a hearty amen I'm so glad that the person who created the iPad it wasn't just a desire I'm glad for the medical folk that those who have found antidotes to certain diseases and inoculations to certain ailments it wasn't just a desire something has to follow desire in order for what we desire to happen but make no mistake about it desiring desire while it is described in the Bible as a ruling fact desire is not a controlling factor so while that guy want to take his wife to Paris nobody could force him to do that nobody can say Ryan get two tickets for your wife I'll shoot you now maybe under those situations Ryan may have bought it but I don't think I would even take that scenario any further the point of the matter is you have the dream you got to do something with it you have the desire you got to make something out of it desire is not the end result in and of itself to bring about any kind of desired results desire is powerful but by itself it accomplishes nothing but now let's go to Isaiah 14 because the war that began in heaven began with desire but it did not stop there rosemary let's go to Isaiah 14 verse 12 down to 14 look at it there's another component that comes in the packaging that gives desire the freedom to get legs to get hands to get feet Isaiah 14 we're gonna go to verse 12 how you are fallen from heaven o Lucifer son of the morning how you are cut down to the ground you who weakened the nation's now remember I said the war began with desire but it didn't stop there notice this for you have said where in your heart look at the next words what are they together I will ascend into heaven next again I will exalt my throne above the stars of God again I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north together I will ascend above the heights of the clouds together I will be like the Most High now do I need to ask you what you saw over and over I don't have to ask you but I will because desire by itself can accomplish nothing I remember about oh it was maybe about 20-something years ago anybody heard of Tony Robbins if you haven't you haven't lost anything but he's a motivational speaker I don't I'm not recommending him to you but Tony Robbins is a motivational speaker there a lot of motivational speakers you know Tony Robbins exact Les Brown so many good motivational speakers they kind of they stir up your desires you know you go to these seminars and everybody's jumping up and down and screaming like a walk on fire and do all these crazy things and and then they say don't practice it I don't practice this at home they get you stirred up but then you and you get so fired up your desires are so on fire that you go to the foyer and you buy this 12-step program for five hundred and ninety five dollars and they say in six short weeks you will accomplish everything your heart desires and you go home and sit down on the couch and melt because you need something more than desire am i right you know I I say I I kept trying to ignore this but what if three Abyan was just Danny's desire and he did nothing about it that's why when I travel the world and I hear people criticize him I said show me what you did not to exalt the man but so much could happen if we don't just stop at desire so much could be accomplished and become a reality if we don't just stop at desire but we with with with the scrapping actions of the pushing power that comes from the powerful God who says he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that is at work in us if all we have is desire nothing would ever be accomplished cars planes the internet if it was all just a desire we would still be in the Stone Age but desire by itself has to be connected Lucifer's desire coupled with the wrong action of his will led to his fall that's why revelation says there was war in heaven revelation 12 and verse 7 you see Satan gave way to his own desires but I have to add this for those who may question but he was not created with defects Ezekiel 28 verse 15 speaking about God's handiwork the Bible says you are perfect in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity was found in you summarize you cannot blame anybody for the things you choose to do and the Bible tells us what he desired came from his own resources let's spend a little bit more time on desire go to the book of James you have your Bibles go to the book of James but what did I say James James he's a New Testament book all the way down there go pass Hebrews and you'll find James hiding out right there James hiding out right there this is what happened to Lucifer this is what fell on ease and this is what happened to Adam and this is what happens to us look at James 1 verse 14 look at this what he desired came from his own sources the Bible says but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by what's the next phrase his own desires and enticed you see everything is designed I'll give you an example what what might get my attention might not get your attention what might get your attention might not get my attention that's why we have to be very careful because we have been the subject of Satan's study every day we wake up every day we wake up the devil's studying us he sees how we react when somebody says something that we don't like even if we do something as simple as ah they don't like him he studies us and just like we have good angels evil angels study our Eddy idiosyncrasies do I have to go to church I don't like to go to church remember that nobody there's nobody in the church for me oh so let's send somebody in the world for them listens to our conversations sees what websites we go to ah that's what they like that's what enticed means he sees any any any any he and he's able to extract from your from your very being things that radiate in your in your slight nuances in the smallest movement of the eye whatever mm-hmm there he goes again all those little things and he gets an army together but look at how dangerous it is when your desires react to enticement then when desire has conceived it gives birth to what sin and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death can I use a crude illustration thank you for permission if Hitler's mother knew if Hitler's mother just knew the extent at which her son would be remembered I look at some of the parents I feel badly when I look at some of these news what did I hear the news when some crazy mass kill goes out and just start gunning people down they go to the home of the parents and the parents say I didn't know I didn't know that my son was planning that today and I feel so badly because they're now put on the center stage before the media and they're hurting and the people that their son took out they're hurting and you almost say and the public is in such pain at that moment they start saying yeah because you didn't raise him right or let me tell you something you can do all you can do but if the child you're guiding chooses to make decisions outside of the parameters that you have established and the foundation you have laid there is nothing you can do about it not even God Himself can prevent a child from following his or her own desires because he gave you that ability so it's not always the parents fault I was raised by the same people as my sister same to folk yeah but wonder how that is I've got a question this week from pastoral department I appreciate it they said somebody said I I don't believe that Cain was the son of Adam because the Bible says he was a seed of of the enemy well you got to read your Bible Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bore a son and his name was King they conceived a son and the reason why folk can't grasp that is because Abel was so good and Cain was so evil because he followed the dictates of his own mind and it didn't end with desire he didn't like his brother and his desire turned to hate and ended in murder and that's why the Bible says when you when you hate somebody you might as well be guilty of the crime when you lust you might as well be guilty of the crime he's saying because the desire the Lord is seeing us God's got something deeper than MRI and x-ray and all the other stuff he sees his word is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of a heart piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and it's a it's a discerner it goes all the way out down to the joints and marrow x' Hebrews 4:12 God's Word discerns everything about us before it even happens that's why some people don't like to read God's Word it's too straight it tells you like it is this thing called desire starts with our own desires that get entice then we look at and I'd be a be honest with you my own testimony if I could do some things differently since I'm the only one I'll say Amen if I could do some things differently I wouldn't go to I wouldn't go to the gym the night I got elbowed in my throat that took away my my voice my range if I could just take those 10 minutes back I'd still be singing up here somewhere and I don't need to give you any more of my story because you have your own desire is the mind but the will is in the heart the heart and the mind are not always interchangeable I'm going to give you a couple of examples I want you to bring up that first picture and I have a picture I want to illustrate to you if somebody says to you I love you with all my do you do you do you do you receive that as Joel Olsteen would say do you receive that if somebody says I love you with all my heart would you what would you think oh how mine and heart are not always interchangeable but if they said this look at the next picture look at the next picture I love you with all my brain you say something's wrong with them how many young ladies would like a guy that says you know we go like this from a distance how do you feel somebody said I brain you I brain you you say mom keep that guy away from me I brain you but if we say I heart you I love you with all my brain so in the story brain and mind and heart are not always the same because desire is born in the mind but it goes deeper it goes deeper you see desire born in the mind is useless until connected to the heart when I when I discovered this Shelley this really revolutionized something that the Lord revealed to me I had known it before but he gave to me in a more beautiful package desire born in the mind is useless until connected to the heart that's why we don't use phrases like the mind of the matter we say the heart of the matter or the matter of the heart and when we when we are upset with somebody says let's get to the heart of this issue listen we never say let's get to the mind of this issue let's get to the heart of the issue you your hardest messed up and this quotation in one of my favorite books mine character and personality volume 1 page 52 listen to this students this is for you upon the mind of every student should be impressed the thought that education is a failure unless the understanding has learned to grasp the truths of divine revelation and unless the heart accepts the teachings of the gospel of Christ the mind can grasp it but the heart accepts it once embodied man you put your heart and soul and that dinner you don't say you put your mind in that dinner an example look at first samuel 20 and verse 4 desire followed by the will equals results whether good or bad so jonathan said to david whatever you whatever you yourself say it with me desire look at the next two words i will do it for you desire and will go together to produce results one more proverbs 13 and verse 4 here's another powerful example and this is to those folk that trying to get a job but ain't doing nothing to get it look at this proverbs 13 wrote the soul of a lazy man desires and has nothing but the soul of the diligence shall be what shall be made rich the the wise man Solomon also says the lazy man says there's a lion in the streets and if I God will devour me he desires I asked a guy once that I was talking to and you know with a lot of lazy people in the world God always fight against laziness and I asked him I said did you I met I talked to the guy do you have a job yeah yeah I'm fitting to go get one I'm going to get a job did you did you get you look did you look for any jobs as we yeah yeah I checked out the newspaper a couple of times what are you doing I'm I'm just playing ps4 ps3 so did you get a job no I'm checking out see tomorrow see tomorrow at like I got an appointment do they know you coming what's he I didn't call him yet but I'm gonna go like so what kind of job is he I don't know but I'm I'm willing to do anything that's why Tyler Perry I heard the story about Tyler Perry a a man that had lost his job a professional job and he decided my family is my highest priority you know what he did he decided to take a job packing groceries doing whatever he needed you to make ends meet Tyler Perry heard about this out-of-work actor who wasn't getting called for any parts if I mentioned his name you might know him but I'm not gonna do that and it made the news that people said people were checking out at the counter ended in the food store and they saw this actor packing a grocery bag used to be on the Cosby's and they said he was the he was the crazy son he always looked discombobulated but he couldn't get called for any parts and but he was willing to do anything he was not lazy he just wanted to make ends meet and they said why would you do that he said Green is green is green I just need some money so if I don't have a job acting I'm a packed groceries I'm gonna work at a car wash I'll work at McDonald's I just need some money and Tyler Perry heard about that and signed him up for the next movie that he released and it was multiple millions of dollars you think one's gonna get for that part you see desire is powerful but disconnected from will it is helpless desire is where you'd like to be will is the action to get their desire is what you'd like to do will is the action to get you moving desire is what you'd like to do and like to be but will is the action plan to make it a reality so is desire enough tell me yes or no no how many of you had desires okay how many of you had a desire to raise your hand see that's what I'm talking about right there he wants me to raise my hand I don't desire to do it had to throw it in there no no it's not in the sermon it just worked but ministry of healing page 176 everything depends on the right action of the will how many things that I say everything desire for goodness and purity all right as far as they go but if they stop there they avail nothing I didn't know my dad I did not know my mother I met my dad at 13 years old I knew him for 30-something years when he died he left me nothing but a bill I had to pay for his funeral I stood at his funeral and listened to people that were in the Jazz community praising him for being there for them people of great influences and affluence in the Jazz world in New York City and around the world I said I stood there in Greenwich Village with the Italian guys so don't worry about we're gonna take here daddy was a staple in our community and they they they roll the carpet out for him Johnny Parker great jazz trumpeter I stood and watched people give testimonies if it wasn't for Johnny Parker I wouldn't invade him when I came to if it wasn't for and I'm listening I'm saying who is this guy cuz all he gave me was $20 in a coat in 37 years but he told me something that I did not let go he said if you ever want to be somewhere find out who is where you wanna be learn what they do and do it better because you'll just be a jelly bean if you do it just like them and I took that and through the years I would watch in Northern California conference I go to the conference office and watch those people that were involved in layout and design of the magazines and I'd look over their shoulders and I said okay that's the program all right that's how did that do how did and I remember very well I I got the program started learning it so well that about two years later the guy that was the layout and design person for the conference came to me and said how do you do a drop shadow and I saw him working on it three years earlier and getting in the Macworld in the PC world and learning about website design and photoshop and video production and musical instruments none of these came to me on a silver platter and every year that I wake up I wake up by the design every year I said I gotta learn something new so I was talking to Samuel Dinsey not too long ago he's like a son to me and I said Samuel what do you recommend and he gave me this recommendation to this particular program to build websites and I said why would you make that recommendation this young man's got Drive that you don't even know about he's young and an entrepreneur at his age and I always tell him I guess mom and dad says you're going well but don't forget God and he's keeping God in the mix so I'm now learning a new thing and here's the point whatever you want to do in life you cannot just allow it to be a desire there are people that are sitting here that have books in their library they got programs that they bought they have things they have written down that you have had a desire to accomplish and what's happening is the clock is ticking on you and I want to tell you you are as old as you have ever been and you are as young as you will ever be and if you ever plan on doing anything the time to do it is when now you are as old as you have ever been and you are as young as you will ever be if you plan on doing anything in life you better do it now everything desire for good and purity all right as far as they go but if they stop there they avail absolutely nothing and after six thousand years it is still true when desire is followed by the will it produces results but now let me add another component if our actions are solely determined by our desires and then our will why are we so naturally drawn to do the wrong thing let's go to proverbs 21 verse 2 consider the third factor consider the third factor why I'm almost done this is scary proverbs 21 but why we why are we so naturally drawn to do the wrong thing remember to remember desire starts in the mind action comes into the heart look at this 21 verse 2 every way of a man is right where in his own eyes about the Lord weighs the what the hearts some things people do the Lord said you know what I'll let you by on that one some things people do the Lord said no you are not getting by on that one let me give you an example it was no big deal for an Egyptian to marry an Egyptian but it was a big deal for an Israelite to marry an Egyptian you know why because they knew better and God deals with some of us more harshly than with others because we know better to him that knoweth to do good and do with it not to him it is what imita said so when you meet folks that are members of other than Mount other denominations that don't know what you know you better be humble about it can I get an amen because God is judging you based on what you know it while you're judging them based on what they don't know there's a higher level of responsibility and they're doing what's right on their own eyes because they have not yet seen what is has been revealed to your so let your light shine don't let it burn and when the heart comes into play Jeremiah 17:9 tells us why we are naturally drawn to do wrong things he says in Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things and what else and desperately wicked who can know it have you ever done something that you said I'd had no idea I would do that because the heart when the desire is not pushed out when the desire stays there it's just a matter of time that the desire finds a partner called the will and the choice is made to connect to that but I want to tell you today every sin that could ever be committed the Bible defines is only in three categories how many categories that I say three because they're folk today that say well how could Jesus be victorious he never he was never tempted by myth he was never tempted by pornography he was never tempted by alcohol he'd never had a cigarette given to him the Bible defines every sin and only three categories and remember in the Garden of Eden this was revealed let's look at it very quickly first John 2 verse 16 and 17 every sin falls into all three of these categories even failed in all three Adam failed in all three Jesus was tempted in all three and Jesus was victorious in all three look at them every sin is in all three there's only three categories for every sin that could ever be committed on this planet here it is first John 2:16 for all what's that word sitting in for all that is in the world that's where we live one together the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the what else pride of life you know why the word lust is used there because lust is not just a thought lust is a desire that's deeply rooted and the Bible says in these three areas is not of the Father but of the world and the world is passing away and the what else the lusts of it but he who does look at the next word now though will see there it is desire and will in the same passage deeply-rooted desire but he who does the will of God abides forever you see today i'ma read a quotation from you as I'm winding up my message here that's a pretty lengthy quotation and usually I put it in text so you could follow along with me but I thought if I put this in text it'd be about four slides but I'm gonna give you the art of listening today so you could be as quiet as you want to be and if you didn't get it you could get the sermon on CD or dvd but the remedy for what happened when Blanche DuBois got on the streetcar named desire when you look back at the story that I read her life would have been better off had she never got on that streetcar but the moment she got on the streetcar it was going to take her where she wanted to go because she asked the question how do I get to where my sister lives and when somebody said a streetcar named desire she got on board what we have to keep in mind is when you get on board when you get on board you no longer can determine where that car is going you're going where the car is going to take you am i right when you make a decision that is when that desire connects to the will and that will activates the choice you're about to make once that choice is made what happens next is completely out of your control Shelly that's a Romans 6:16 passage do you not know that to whom ye yield yourselves as servants to obey you are that one slave whom you obey whether of sin leading to rot whether of disobedience into death or sin leading to righteousness there's always somebody leading when you get on that streetcar named desire but I'm gonna tell you today instead of getting on the streetcar named desire the remedy for the streetcar named desire is the man Jesus so instead of getting on the streetcar the time has come for us to put on the man Christ Jesus because the lust in the wall are going to bring us down the world has been activated into deeper than just desire the world music and movies and theater and what whether it's on your cell phone or on your television whether it's the friends you hang out with the people you connect to we are no longer living in a world where it's just a desire it's a lust and Paul's Romans chapter 13 verse 14 notice what he said but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts how much provision oh you need divine power to not make that kind of provision you know why because the provision for the flesh is far superseding the provision given and presented to Eve in the Garden of Eden we don't live in the Garden of Eden world any longer but I want to tell you the serpent that began his career in the Garden of Eden is now six thousand years sharper than he was then you know who hasn't changed God hasn't changed he's the same yesterday today and forever now let me ask a question before I read the quotation how many of you would love to experience victory over wrong desires listen carefully from a book called present truth volume 9 page 325 paragraph 14 profound quote we have been trying to mortify that just beat the life out of it and put down our sinful desires in our own strength and as they have been stronger than we we have been defeated every time but here we learn of a spirit that is stronger than the spirit of evil and the promise is if we allow this spirit of God to dwell in us it will mortify every evil desire that shows itself and we shall live and we shall not be overcome but I'm not done because people say praise God but then this is a question that comes up but how are we to get this spirit because if you see if somebody says this works you know what people said how can I get it and that's why Amazon is so wealthy because how could we get it how quickly if the Lord said to you Cindy the the key to victory is 995 for the shipping and handling is it can I get it on FedEx can i download it I want it now listen to this but how are we to get but how are we to get this spirit he tells us in the thirteenth chapter and 14th first we just read it but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof watch this we get the Spirit of Christ by putting on Christ and when we do this we are to make no provision or calculation to give up to the flesh to give up to the lusts of our flesh let me say that one more time I don't want anything to be misconstrued when we get the Spirit of Christ by putting on Christ and when we do this we are to make no provision or calculation to give up to the lust of our flesh why for the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit wars against the flesh and these are contrary to one another have you had that battle during the week Bible what do I do but watch this this is powerful are you ready for it where one is the other one cannot be have you heard of text resist the devil and he will flee from you it begins by saying draw near to God and God will draw near to you the devil doesn't the devil doesn't run away from us he runs away from God but whose side were standing by and watch this again where one is the other cannot remain so young folk everybody here today if you want to find victory over the thing that besets you you got to put yourself in the person of Christ who that sin cannot exist in his presence but let's keep going because it's not done yet when we put on Christ we therefore bid goodbye to our lusts forever and instead of our ways and our desires we choose Christ's ways and his desires and since he furnishes the power by which we can keep these lusts from coming and making their home in our hearts we are stronger than they are as long as we hold on to Jesus oh that was just so weak we are stronger than anything the enemy can throw us as long as we hold on to Jesus I believe that I know that I've been on the streetcar named desire one time too many but somebody came and here's the responsibility here is where this here's where it all comes in you see none of us can become what we can or do or accomplish what we're capable of until we do something how do you put them on where revelation 3:20 behold I stand at the door and Moses Moses Jeff are you in there Donnell behold I stand at the door and knock anybody home I want to have Bible studies with you today when hears my voice oh well I guess I'll go to the next house Brian are you home I hear a television here music I just saw a shadow move Brian are you home okay I'll go to the next house Ozzy Ozzy I know you're home cuz you know that work you see I've read that Scripture but if you put that into practicality it's like ups they put a package on your front door and it sits there so long they send it back how many blessings God would have loved to have given to us but he's banging on the door he's puttin the packages in front of our house the package home victory the package of salvation the package of a new walk the package of a brand-new life the package of deliverance the package of something you have never tasted and seen and if you grasp it your life will come alive like a firework show he's banging on the door and he says if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him and he will eat with me when human desire replaces is replaced with the reverence for God this is where the passage delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart I read a story about a young man young Spanish man named Darwin Casey Diaz that's why when i read the story i thank god for our prison ministry Darwin Casey Diaz was once one of California's most violent criminals brought to the United States as a toddler by his Salvadorian parents he became a gang member at age 13 and LA at age 16 he was sentenced to almost 13 years in prison for second-degree murder and 57 counts of robbery and Folsom state prison his behavior earned him more than three years in solitary confinement that means he nobody in there but you for three years but but before he got put into solitary confinement somebody came to the prison and gave him a Bible so for three years but nobody to talk to no television to watch no internet to access nobody to argue with nobody to fight nobody to rob nobody to pillage he had to make a choice I'm a dying here I'm fine life in here and this is not irreverent but it was Darwin and his bible darwin quesadillas known as the brother you do not mess with chicken no it's not in here my brother and for days he'd tell the story he walked around that Bible angry he walked around that Bible I don't need that Bible why would somebody give me by one magnitude with the Bible in here but one day in the course of a week and a half he decided to pick it up and a Spirit of God got ahold of that young man's life at age 24 when he was him when he was released from prison when they took him out of solitary confinement his fellow inmates story is in detail I wish I could tell you his whole story it just fascinated me that's why I was up so late his story is phenomenal I wish I could show you his picture what a young man this is him pastor pastor Cameron Diaz pastor his life story was so fascinating his transformation was so stark from the worst one of the most violent criminals brought to the United States as a toddler every desire in him was there as a young man and it began to manifest itself on the streets of LA 16 years old 11 years old crime violence as a born-again Christian Diaz was 24 years old when he emerged from prison with a story of how faith in the Bible changed his life and he's been invited nationwide to share his story to audiences packed audiences everywhere he goes talking to children mentoring children and the reason why he got this story Center page the audiences says pastor Diaz put your story in a book and there's a book today called a shot-caller because when when he was a criminal he called a shot and his gang means his gang friends would take the shot and bring people down he went from the shot-caller to the one who calls on Jesus my brother and my sister his book became a journey the book title refers to a gang culture and the one who commanded respect and decided who lives and who dies is now the one who's offering life as a young pastor traveling all over the world pastor Darwin Casey Diaz now you think about who you are where you've been what you want to be what your desire is but you can never be anything other than what you desire and what your will is that's why the text is so vitally important my brothers and sisters delight yourself and the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart and I gotta end with a question is there any body here today that desires to be like Jesus I'm an invite my praise team up I'm gonna bite my pianist to come up I'm gonna make an appeal this morning come on up brother Ryan coming up ladies come on up gentlemen because God wants to change somebody's life here today if I met this guy in prison ministry as I've been to some of the I told you my life began to transform I will go to church I understand what Bob is doing I understand what Eric Duran is doing I understand because I will go to church and after Sabbath school I'd leave and go to prisons that's where my ministry began in prisons and detention houses in Brooklyn in juvenile facilities in Florida and one of the most ruthless jails in the state of California in central California I went to the Brooklyn House of Detention the Miami house a detention woman with Clifton Davis we traveled together and Ron Halverson and I did prison ministry and criminal ridden jails that's where I began to sing I was afraid to sing in church so I sang to criminals who had a captive audience they wouldn't go anywhere I found my joy talking to people that needed Christ and I came to church and I found people that didn't think they need Christ but today I'm gonna ask the question is there somebody here today that once the life that's on the other side that Christ wants to give you today he wants to launch you into a life that will make people sit back and say as they do when I go to brothers that John say you John that's the one I used to gamble with no that's not the one you gamble with remember us no that's the same one see God can take anybody and make them into anything now keep going keep going Pharaoh now my appeal is simple my first appeal is to those who believe that there's still more room in their lives to be greater in the hand of God and better in the hand of God then they have yet experienced if that's if there's somebody in that category you believe that God can take you greater and higher and stronger and more victorious than you have ever experienced if there's someone here today stand if you believe that's you [Music] now you know him he's your Savior you eat his word you understand his doctrines that's you but you want to go you believe that there's some desires that keep on pulling at me and I want to be pure and I want to be knowable and I want to be undefiled but I want to make another appeal today if there's somebody here today that says I want to I want to say Pastor John I want you to pray for me because I heard about his story but my story is yet to be written and I want to give my life to the Lord who can change me and mold me and take my desire and make it his desire take my will and as Jesus said not my will but thine be done if there's someone today that wants to take that step and say I want that I want that kind of walk with Christ I want to begin my journey with him I want to get on his streetcar I want to follow his desire but there's someone here today that when I make that decision I know you're all standing but this is a special call today for somebody that want to take that step father if you already gave your life to Christ and you already baptized this call is not for you but if there's somebody here today that wants to go all the way with Jesus I tell you Darwyn quesadillas could be an unknown today his story could have ended on a bloody street somewhere in South in South Calvin California but his story didn't end there because God found him it's just somebody to today that want to be found by the Lord do I have anybody here that wants to be found by the Lord why don't you come forward my brother I want to pray for you just come on down yes man of God right here God's found you that's God's gonna do it not you know you know where you are but you're not a failure in Christ is anybody else today that want to come on down with this young man my deacons get me a card on the back there somebody else want to come on down today and join this young man God can't do anything with you until you know where you are guy yes yes my brother do we have enough our young people that face struggles and a young folk that face struggles that you want those struggles to be laid in the dust that's right good a same I'm not gonna I'm not gonna drag this out does anybody else want to join these two men here these two mighty men of valor they want to be what God wants them to be now let me modify this a little bit some of our young folk need to say it father I need you to make me wiser than I am some of you not as wise as you could be because your desires ruling you if you want today for God to give you that wisdom as a young lady as a young man that you need I want you to come on down here come on down here don't be afraid God wants to revolutionize your life [Music] and you might get this mixed up with saying well I'm in an Adventist family while I was raised in Navitus home you got it all messed up I'm not talking about where you are I'm talking about where God wants to take you but you got to lay down to see how powerful desire is see if you desire to move then the Lord will give you the strength to do it but desire is saying don't do it don't do it don't do it don't do it and your I could just hold on til that appeal is done I'll make it no you wont you'll go home this week and fail again you go home this week and fall on your face again you get a text and you'll be down that road again you'll be on the internet you'll be falling all over the place you'll be ashamed of your own decisions I'm saying is this some young person today that wants to grab hold of that power young folk am I am I speaking a foreign language he came down here at cities of failure you're on your way to success he not pretending he's not pretending he's not pretending somebody else young people I know some of y'all y'all know you hide it from me and you ain't hiding from the Lord but you got to make a decision coming down father I want to go home and Beast victorious this week and now you see why I made that statement in the sermon when desire is followed by will not even God Himself can prevent you from doing what you want to do that's why calls like this fall on ears and hearts that are imprisoned to their own desires you just proved my plea so I'm going to close with prayer and when the week comes [Music] and the sermons over and you hear the devil say how was closed and this week comes with another failure you'll say they were knocking on the Ark but it was too late so today I'm gonna just ask one more time just some young folk here today some of our young people some of our young people God's talking to you don't hate praise God yes yes god yes when you know you need he will more than supply it he wants folk that want to be open and honest with him yes God wants to change your life he's sitting down writing your future devil saying no don't give him your life give it to me he'll take your life and stamp it in the dust and laugh you to scorn as you suffer with him in the fires of God's wrath but on the other side of that wall are gonna be those that remembered when the call was made his sheep heard his voice somebody asked one last time father I'm doing this for you I'm not doing this for me there's some other young person today young lady young man is somebody else want to come down yes you don't have to be a teenager you could just be a person that wants your life to be where God wants it to be yes yes Trent yes young lady god bless you today God wants to snatch you out of the enemy's grass yes yes I'm gonna close my eyes and pray and you could slip on down here while everybody else's eyes are closed father there's a streetcar named desire that so many of us are on that we don't want to be on it's taken us to the dilapidated tenements of our own habits and desires it's lowering our worth in your sight it's taken us to the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life in the world is calling us by name and we're responding so easily because we have trained our ears to hear the wrong voice but father today I'm praying that your children that have come your children that are standing those that have known you as their Savior and their lord I pray that Lord they will examine their hearts as we all must do and find out if any of our desires are against you and lay them down at the foot of the cross and find in you a power that will hold us that sin will never have dominance over us I thank you for those that have come forward today Lord these are not trophies of mine but these are trophies of yours your blood was shed not mine your price you paid the price with your life that each of these can have eternal life I pray for our young people here today those that are standing and I'm praying that somebody else's just slide forward just come on out as a Spirit of God speaks to you just come on down and slide into this crowd I tell you that be the best decision you can make in your life that's the best decision you can make today so Lord forgive each one who have come forward today forgive them where they have failed Lord you know each of their desires you know it holds them you know what grabs them you know what trains them you know what pulls them you know the voice that calls their hearts and you've seen them fail over and over but today they've gotten off of the streetcar named desire but they've joined the Christ who wants to give them the righteous desires of their hearts Thank You precious father may not a soul standing here today be lost but the bell of eternity Tolls May when the Ark's doors have closed and mercy no longer pleads for the guilty inhabitants of this earth may not a soul in this sanctuary today be left on the outside but father I do pray one last prayer that for those who have refused to hear and respond to the voice of God Oh Lord what a day of regret that will be and it didn't have to be that way if there's such a one in here today may they walk out of this place uneasy uncomfortable unfulfilled until they find in Christ the life worth living thank you for your forgiveness for every one of us may be glory in the cross that Christ and him alone may be the power that operates in our desires and in our will in Jesus name I pray and all of God's people said amen

Channel: Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Id: YfyH1p6kr9Y

Length: 81min 14sec (4874 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 10 2019