20200222 | The Demolition | Pastor John Lomacang (tvsdac)

if you have your bibles i'd like you to open to first corinthians chapter 3 and verse 11. it's a short verse but there's not a verse in the bible without the power and presence of god behind it first corinthians chapter 3 and verse 11. the bible says for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is together jesus christ father now speak to our hearts we ask in your precious and holy name we pray amen almost 19 years ago to the day one of the most traumatic events in the nation's history took place in the city of new york the collapse of the world trade centers as a native new yorker that affected me to the core of my being because i witnessed the buildings going up i remembered the area in downtown manhattan before the buildings even existed there was an area there that was an auctioneer jeff there was a a series of buildings where they had weekly auctions and i would go there was called job lots my what my father and i would go and it was on thursdays every week they would auction different items off and the city of new york decided to purchase that entire area and they dug a hole in the ground so large that as i looked at it standing there with my dad through the chain-link fence it seemed as though the the hole just kept going on and on and on and on laying a foundation for those buildings to be able to stand on amazing sight to see there was more buildings there was more building below the surface than they were from many buildings in manhattan above the surface i remember the plans i had heard in new york city they were talking about the proposed plans for the height of the world trade centers they were estimating 80 to 90 stories but they settled on 112. and i watched as those buildings went up a combination of more than 224 stories of buildings they estimated more than 10 million square feet of office space i worked in the world trade centers when i was in high school the 21st floor and there were days when the wind blew and i could hear the building creaking and i could see it as i went higher there were days when the wind was so great that they would close the floors from about the 70th on up because the wind was so great and we were fortunate as new yorkers not to have an accident because a number of years earlier there was a near miss on a very cloudy day because that is in fact the path if you're landing in laguardia you have to pass the world trade center and loop around to the right to enter into laguardia airport the world trade center was one of the buildings where i dis jockeyed a story i never forget in the back of my mind a friday evening when i was on the 44th floor disjocking in world trade center number two ryan my girlfriend showed up in the middle of the dark room it was angie and her phrase was what are you doing here on friday night and i said get out of here i'll be in church tomorrow and i remember very well i look back as i re-told that story that one of my speakers began to smoke when i chased her away and the lord was saying to me i'll burn this party down but god was good to me and that sabbath morning i was in church i slept very well during the sermon right on the back pew in my green sweater and i had a vivid memory of that occasion my dad as i was being raised he gave me this cologne ryan called paco rabanne and my green sweater always smelled like paco rabanne and i sat in the back of the church during the sermon sleeping because i had just come home five o'clock in the morning from partying in the world trade centers the sad reality it took the demolition of those two buildings on september 11 2001 when we were flying back from london england on flight 955 on american on united airlines the tragedy that shook the world became a homegrown tragedy for many of those that were in the city of new york because those buildings stood for strength and financial security they were the center the world trade centers they were the heart of the financial district in new york and they only had a lifespan of 28 short years before they came crashing down a lot of stories are connected to the building one of those is my sister was an emt for the city of new york working for the fire department at the time and she worked at that building for nine months after the demolition she was there the day it fell and days and weeks and months after that she was picking up body parts fingers and arms it was what quite a sight and breathing in all the toxins and the the pulverized glass and the gasoline and the and the and the the soot and the asbestos all these dangerous chemicals which led to her losing the function of both of her kidneys thank the lord she received one of them back and so many of our friends died i mean and then the and then after that it was given the caption ground zero and from that moment on the phrase ground zero was brought into reality was brought into existence were you at ground zero what was the ground zero of your day after the buildings fell down all the conspiracy theories began to fly i read the articles i looked at the documentaries i listened to the testimonials and i must say i went to youtube and watched the videos and was as we traveled the world we began to hear the stories from other countries about what they were saying about the american tragedy but the fact of the matter is after the dust cleared the twin towers were gone forever after 19 years i've learned something about those buildings that has become the content of my sermon today one very short point that is not the circumference of the messages all the time that we wasted trying to figure out how they came down who brought them down what were the reasons why they fell sometimes we waste time on things that don't give us the equal return in our investment today there is still no definitive reason as to why the buildings came down except you know it was hit by two planes and the stories go on and on and the purpose of my message is not to settle the reason why it came down but the fact that after 19 years those buildings echo and re-echo a message that i believe every one of us can learn something from so to make it clear tracy my sermon is not about what happened that faithful day my sermon is not based on the specifics and the accounts of what took place in new york city my sermon is more about how we can prevent the demolition of our lives how and what we can do to make sure that we continue to stand tall and strong on the proper foundation today we are going to take a journey from the tower of babel to the twin towers everything that we build can fall when it's not built on the foundation which is christ jesus there's also a book that came out in 2003 at the international society of explosive engineers conference in las vegas and they said and i quote a demolition team named pro-tech implosion world they produced a conference ending video that showed the highlights of what it takes to reduce a structure to rubble and there were more than 70 breathtaking demolitions shown and some concluded that the downing of the world trade centers was really not an accident but something that was intended well just so that you don't think i'm trying to settle the score trying to figure out which camp i'm in let me make it clear as i transition if you've never seen a building demolished it is a thrilling spectacular have anybody have any of you seen a building demolished it is a thrilling spectacular because you stand back and you look at that building as it is systematically and methodically brought to its knees and i always wonder how buildings 30 stories 80 stories 50 stories that are that are built within the confines of a a very busy downtown area can come down so symphonically beautiful it's like a beautifully played symphony they just fall almost to the sound of the notes and they just lay there silently in the rubble of their demolition but i've also come to discover that it doesn't just happen and listen to these points very carefully whenever a building is demolished it is the work of a well organized committed team each project these are powerful points were strategically and methodically mapped out didn't just happen the buildings were chosen and the points of implosion were painstakingly examined the masters of destruction i remember i remember the team because you know there's always a siren have you remember that there's always a siren just before they you know hit the plunger or press the button there's always ah [Music] kind of reminds me ryan of blow the trumpet in zion sound on the alarm of my holy mountain there's always a siren before that tragic moment making sure that everyone is clear of the project before it comes down and i've seen i've seen some that didn't go very well where for whatever reason they missed a particular point and the building came down halfway and just started to lean and they had to go back in and finish the project that's one of the sad commentaries but in most cases there's the the guy that plans it out is called the demolition master what's he called the demolition master he's the guy that puts the blueprint together he's the guy that methodically walks from the top floor to the bottom floor to the basement and outlines every point that he believes is the most vulnerable point in the building where debt charges or explosives need to be put in order for the structure to come down successfully well my brethren let me transition from that team to another team as we sit here today there is a satanic demolition team well organized and committed to one goal they are strategically and methodically mapping out our demise they are painstakingly examining the members of god's remnant church these masters of destruction listen to me today are looking for our most vulnerable points and they are placing explosives at the weak places in our character they are calculating whether to bring us straight down or to make us fall in the direction of our leaning and unless we are awake in this critical hour of the closing moments of earth's history they will reduce us lord have mercy to a pile of rubble now i want to say there have been some close calls in my life where the devil tried to reduce me to a pile of rubble come on somebody say amen have you had any there have been some explosions in our lives and you can go back and think of the dates and how it happened and when it happened but praise god as the as the as the the nursery rhyme goes humpty dumpty lord have mercy sat on a wall humpty dumpty slow down had a great fall all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put humpty together again there's a songwriter that wrote a song talk about humpty dumpty's fall he said why didn't somebody ask the king to put humpty dumpty back together my brothers and my sisters the king's horses couldn't do it all the king's men could not do it but praise the lord there's a king that could put humpty dumpty back together again because many of us have been humpty dumpty's don't look around talking about you we've done some humpty dumpty things in our lives sitting on the top of our own structures the things that we have thought are important failing to realize how fragile we really are only to experience a fall and by god's grace we are still standing today but i want to read a quote to you from the book christian service very sobering quote because when the devil looks at our lives nothing will bring him greater satisfaction than realizing he has been successful in completely demolishing us but praise god every time he hits god and i like this god by his grace has retrofitted his saints i think i didn't get a large amen because you don't know what retrofit means let me explain we live in central we lived in california we traveled across the bay bridge we traveled across to the oakland bridge we traveled across many bridges to get to san francisco and when the earthquake hit when the earthquake hit your californians when the earthquake hit the um the um embarcadero freeway i did the i did the funeral for that that famous man he was famous for one reason he died he was the first casualty when the embarcadero freeway collapsed his name was forgot his name but i did his funeral and it was on the news he was the first casualty his life was a testament and i say this was a testament that sometimes it pays to drive fast because he and his friend left work together and his friend was known as a fast driver his friend there was two there were two levels it was the upper level going one direction and the lower level going the other direction and his friend sped past him because his friend told the testimony of how he had sped past his friend and in the background in his rearview mirror he saw the freeway coming down and he knew that his friend did not make it he was one of the first casualties that was taken out from under the building so so it does pay some times to drive fast but i can imagine you i could imagine how difficult it is to drive fast when the freeway is vibrating but as i did that as i did that funeral i remembered very well that when they rebuilt that freeway they retrofitted it they built the column and then they put a sleeve four sleeves of metal one on either side and then they then they wrapped it together with steel bands so that if the concrete fails the metal stands sure here's my application when our concrete fails the metal of god's grace stands sure because many times in our lives when tragedy hits sometimes we aren't we don't underst we don't understand how vulnerable we really are until we have to deal with the tragedies of our own lives with the tragedies in our home with the difficulties of experiences we face that want to rock our foundation but the servant of the lord ellen white brings out this quotation that is quite indicative of the fact that satan is looking for the weak points in our lives to reduce us to nothing but rubble before jesus comes here it is christian service page 154 as the people of god the people of who the people of god approach the perils of the last days here's the demolition team introduced satan holds earnest consultation with his angels as to the most successful plan to overthrow their faith he sees that the popular churches are already lulled to sleep that's why you shouldn't sleep by his deceptive power by pleasing sophistry that means cute words and sayings that keep people in an atmosphere of unreadiness by pleasing sophistries and lying wonders he can continue to hold them under his control therefore now that he sees he has them therefore he lays he directs his angels here are the depth charges to lay their snares what word did i just use snares you know what a sneer is to be candid the bible says like a fish caught in a net so is man in an evil time when he is suddenly taken a fish comes out on in the morning time he just wants to swim around and before he knows that he's in a net or a bird is caught on a spider web or fly is caught in a spider web that's what a snare is a snare is something that you don't easily see but it is awfully and strategically developed to catch whatever prey it's intended to catch he directs his angels to lay their snares especially for those who are looking for the second advent of christ and endeavoring to keep all the commandments of god so the question i enter into today is what can we do to eliminate our vulnerabilities let's go to first corinthians sorry let's go to second corinthians open your bibles second corinthians chapter 13 verse 5. second corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5. what's the first thing that we can do now why is this text so vitally important is because either we are examine ourself examining ourselves or the enemy is examining us but look at this let's say the first two words together are you ready here we go what is it examine yourself examine who say that word again examine who how hard is that especially when somebody else does something wrong did you hear i sure did yeah i can't imagine let's say those two words again examine who yourself as to whether you are in the faith what are the next two words together test to yourself the two hardest things to do is examine yourself and to test yourself do you not know yourselves that christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified or as the king james version says or are you indeed reprobate that means you are disqualified you have nothing to stand on if we don't examine ourselves and here's what god does god allows us sometimes to fall into our own trap so that when we come out we we have to ask ourselves the question how did we get into the circumstances that we find ourselves and we must always conclude that many of the times the things that we fall into are the results of our own choices in our own creation the story is told of a man that created chains and all the prisons and the jailers purchased his chains because he discovered that one of the arts of of welding chains is that many prisoners were breaking free because they said there's always a weak point in a chain the point of welding well one day he got arrested he got put in jail and he became the victim of his own chains and when he was in jail he looked down at the chains and he saw his initials stamped in the chains and he decided not even to try to break free because he became a victim of his own chains and he knew that there was no way of breaking free from his own chains but praise the lord i say thank god that sometimes when we are bound by our own chains he who the son sets free is free indeed the bible says let a man examine himself you see the the challenge comes and this is where this is where the human nature side of us come in sometimes i might be i might be able to tell you what my problems are you might be able to tell me what your problems are but the real issue well let me refer that i might be able to tell you what your problem is you might be able to tell me what my problem is but if i don't know what my problem is i don't know what my need is and if you study the lives of the israelites if you study the lives of the 12 sons of jacob there's one called dan what was his name dan that's the one tribe that does not reappear in the book of revelation let's go to genesis very quickly this is an addition to the sermon go to genesis chapter 49 open your bibles genesis chapter 49 i'll tell you where it is and you can turn there with me this is a vitally this is a message that has a significant implication to it genesis chapter 49 beginning with verse 16 talks about dan genesis chapter 49 beginning with verse 16. now praise the lord he has it notice what notice dan dan shall do what judge his people that's where the phrase came from don't judge somebody else because dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of israel look at verse 17. dan shall be a what serpent by the way a viper in the path that bites the horse's heels so that its rider shall do what fall backward this is dan somebody did something that they should not have done dan finds out about it and and as they're getting back up on their horse to continue their journey after they have already fallen dan marks out the path of their journey he's a snake in the path he's a viper in their way so when the horse of their progress they're going back now moving in the right direction dan bites their heel he's a serpent that bites the horse's heel so what happens naturally the horse does what he rears up and what happens to the rider the writer falls back dan is the one that magnifies everybody's faults but his own and that's why when you get down to the book of revelation dan is not there he's the serpent here's the point examine yourself say it again with me examine yourself but for the grace of god every one of us can be the victim of someone else if we spend all of our time talking about the weakness in others rather than the weakness in our own lives look at first corinthians chapter 10 and verse 12. first corinthians chapter 10 and verse 12. here's another counsel another part first corinthians chapter 10 and verse 12. hmm therefore and it lays out the wherefores before that therefore let him who does what thinks he stands take he lest what happens lest he falls now by the way when paul wrote this paul was writing this to the corinthian believers and in the corinthian church there were people of varying ethnic backgrounds they had various beliefs in their system but what was happening is that in these various groups there were senses of security in the traditions that they brought into this cosmopolitan church it was a cosmopolitan church located in a cosmopolitan city and there were many different denominations there this is the same church that paul talks about in first corinthians chapter 13 about we could have all the gifts in the world all the abilities in the world but if we don't have love it doesn't bring us any benefit at all he was saying you're well qualified you have within you all the gifts that god has given to the church but what you're lacking is love you can have all those qualifications so he was in essence sent to them he was laying the foundation of the examples of the israel of old then the next chapter he brought out the gifts that god has given to them then in first corinthians chapter 13 he said now all those gifts are good but if you don't have love what are you you're nothing you're sounding brass you're a tinkling symbol you've lost your relevance and then there were those that were so excited about all their great abilities and their superiorities and all the things that they focused on and that's what first corinthians chapter 14 was about he said you could have the ability to speak in all the languages of the world but your confusion is not from god god is not the author of confusion but he was centering in on it saying let everyone examine him or herself because when we think that we are unable to fall that's the moment that we are most likely to fall meaning if we base our confidence on just our beliefs and not on our christ we are vulnerable can i be more clear you could have the best diet you'll be no more holy than a good atheist yeah you go down to carbondale they have a vegetarian store witches are vegetarians warlocks are vegetarians oh yeah because they believe in preserving all this natural stuff they have some of the best diets i used to go to that restaurant but ever since i had a running with the occult oto down there i don't go there anymore they invited me to have lunch i think i was on the menu they said we'd like to meet with you and talk about your your unclean spirit series and they picked that restaurant witches and warlocks you go out there you see all the paraphernalia in those natural stores so don't think that by being really natural and being vegan and having a clear colon that means you're not vulnerable don't put your foundation on just your diet and secondly don't put your foundation just on the idea that you honor the sabbath it's got to be deeper than that don't put your foundation on the idea that you understand the 2 300 days and you know what the mark of the beast is and you understand daniel in revelation paul said whether there are prophecies they will fail our foundation has to be on christ can someone say amen years ago how many of you remember i don't like to ask questions but this fits today how many of you remember the program years ago the weakest link okay either you didn't watch television or you just don't remember but anyway since you don't watch television you know the phrase is you are only as strong as your weakest link well that is in fact true but here's the beauty of christ terry let's go to second corinthians 12 and verse 9. you are only as strong as your weakest link and the reason i want to go to these before i bring out the five categories is because the beauty of it is god knows jesus knows our every weakness come on somebody he knows us better than we know ourselves he knows our weaknesses that's why the apostle paul wrote these encouraging words in second corinthians 12 and verse 9 notice these words and he said to me that is to the apostle paul my grace let's read this together together my grace is what sufficient for you why for my strength is made what perfect retrofitted in weakness but here's the part this is the acknowledgement of where you are therefore most gladly i will rather what boast in my infirmities that the power of christ may do what rest upon me i gotta know and you know what as i get older i recognize i used to be when i was younger you know young folk are unrealistic parents don't say amen i know you're thinking it but don't say it young folk are unrealistic as some one writer said youth is wasted on the young and that was the case when i was young youth is often wasted on the young because young folk think they could handle anything as my niece once told me she said because i think that way doesn't mean that's who i am well that's what the bible says as we think what so are we whatever we practice we become that whatever we indulge in it affects us whatever we follow that thing becomes our leader we cannot participate in something and not allow it to become a part of our demographic our mindset our habits our lifestyle but when we fail to realize that that is the thing that is the that is the composite of our weakness then this text could not apply to us we've got to understand as i get older as i get older i'm coming to the realization ramona i know where i'm not strong i can't handle that lord that's for you in my weakness what is his strength hello in my weakness what is his strength say it what kind of strength is his say it perfect what do we need other than perfect strength in but if you don't realize your weakness then you will never benefit from his perfect strength now before i give you the last three three points jill the three the last three notes i have five quick short ones because some of us are some of us are our own demolition team and we are the victims of our own demolition project five very quick ones and i've and i've changed this around somewhat in my sermon script so just follow along there are those of us that demolish ourselves by negative talk by what kind of talk negative talk hard to hear them say anything positive my brother-in-law my brother-in-law down in miami florida uh angie's brother cliff the family clown he gets older but he never grows up we love him when we get around him we're gonna laugh from the time we get into his house to the time we leave you have anybody like that in your family anyway so he's the one he's not the negative one he's the one that makes everybody laugh all the time so we were talking about something in and um he talked about this person i had not heard about this individual until he brought her name up he said you're just like debbie downer and i said who is debbie downer he said well she's a fictitious character on one of these programs on television people can be so positive for example they'll say let's go to the amusement park let's go ride the roller coaster and debbie down would say four people died last week on the roller coaster and then they said let's go swimming do you realize there's sharks in the ocean can never find anything positive to say debbie downer some people are their own debbie downer you can't hear them say anything to encourage themselves that's why you find in the word of god john 6 63 the words that i speak to you they are spirit and they are life we've got to adopt the words of god's word that are words of encouragement so that we don't become the victims of our own demolition somebody say amen sometimes you don't have people around you and you can't always rely on folk to encourage you sometimes you have to say lord it's just you and me and who else do you need in your space than the lord and you just you well i had those days i had those days where i remember when i got injured a number of years ago i got into my little pity party and it taught me something about how important it is that when we don't see members we ought to visit them when i got my throat injury i was sitting i was upset i was saying nobody's calling me ain't nobody sending me no emails nobody i got so upset ryan i i sent an e a text to one of my elders i'm here well we intended to visit you and i thought man is this how people feel i feel horrible and then the doctor told me not to talk and they came over what do you think they want to do talk so i started writing things down but i got together at home and about two days into my pity party of my injury i decided you know i can't sing i can't i can't say anything i can't even whisper but i could play music and some of you wouldn't like it because that week you could hear my music at the beginning of the driveway i turn up my praise music i sat at my keyboard i had my bass around my shoulder and i was my own choir and nobody was telling me turn it down when andrew came in i didn't even hear her until i saw her silhouette and she turned i said what did i said sometimes you got to find ways of recognizing that when it's raining open your own umbrella which is the promises of god's word amen negative talk there are those of us that the the second part of their demolition is they choose the wrong course unsatisfied with the direction that god has laid out so they choose another direction and think that by going in the wrong direction they'll have positive results let me make a point you can't go in the wrong direction and have good results there are young people that's that's the mindset of the young people nowadays we met a young man on the plane on the way coming home from california a young man who's definitely on the cutting edge he sat next to us and i have my cap and my glasses on and he looked over at us he's born in the middle east he said oh my goodness you're john llama mccain my parents watched 3abn all the time oh you're angela whoa wow oh we got to send my appearance a video so we took his phone out we did a little video to i said i look horrible he said that's okay they've seen you before and i have my cap on i look like you know you know when you're sitting at the airplane window this side is real bright this side is real dark and you can't get any balanced light you know those who are in lighting and but he sat then he talked to me about i said let me ask you a question and this guy was on the cutting edge of technology on his board he has a ministry name i won't mention that for the purpose of not advertising freely for him but on his board is the head engineer of advertising for amazon i said how did you get him on your team he said he heard about my concept he also teaches at university level about advertising and technology and how to make your company visible in a generation and how to think like this new generation and he said to me he said for generation z facebook is old we don't they don't even go to facebook in generation z so they're so far ahead of that he mentioned platforms and so i asked him this question i said how do i access the minds of those whose minds are already occupied with everything but god and as a professor he said you know that's a i've never been i've never been asked that question that's a really good question i said you answer that question for me and then i'll begin to design and develop a whole series of ways of reaching a mindset whose mind has already captured and has no room for god in that mindset because he talked about all kinds of things altruistic societies and reaching out and being philanthropic and he talked about well i already have a tesla a model 80 and i'm buying me another tesla and i'm thinking you must be in the money and he's in the money but he didn't talk much about god choosing the wrong course the other the the third part of the demolition team is some people are willing prisoners of their past still playing their childhood songs that keep telling them that they'll never amount to anything i had to learn to get past that you know what let me make a point when things happen to you when you're young we've got to take these things to the foot of the cross if we need to find help to be freed from our past get help but there's nothing that could be more self-defeating than staying by your pool of bethsaida waiting for the water to move and failing to realize that the jesus is right there trying to help set you free then there are those that lack personal improvement they hate where they are but they don't do anything to change their direction self-demolition they fail to realize jesus came to give them life and to give it to them how more abundantly that's why i declared this year the year of purposeful balance we've got to find ways of getting out of these places that we are negative choosing the wrong course still prisoners of our past lacking personal improvement and thinking somehow when we say happy new year that everything is new and finally there are those the absence of accountability they're so used to doing things their way that advice applies to everyone but themselves they don't acknowledge that somebody else needs to give them some wisdom so here are my three points jill of how to avoid being demolished the first one are you ready for it it's called righteousness by comparison righteousness by comparison here's the don't don't compare your righteousness to anybody else's righteousness in the church only compare it to the righteousness of jesus amen somebody righteousness by comparison this is an easy one many christians after they're born again they have not laid everything down and they still because it's easy to feel good spending time pointing out everybody else's weakness and it makes you look good but look at isaiah 64. let's go there isaiah 64. don't compare yourself to others because you'll always be more righteous than somebody but the reality is somebody will always be more righteous than you okay isaiah 64 and look at verse six look at verse 6. this is a humbling passage isaiah 64 verse 6 verse 6 that's verse 4. but we are all isaiah 64 6 but we are all like what how many of us how many of us isn't that sad that's who we are and all our what righteousnesses are like what filthy rags that's without jesus we all fade as a what leaf and our iniquities like the wind have what taken us away that's the sum total of who we are without christ so when you claim to be a christian one of the one of the most basic principles of christianity is this we all need christ who do we all need we all need christ who who do we all need and you know what happens if you don't spend time with christ during the week you can come to church on sabbath morning it could be the most boring most uninterested most unengaging i just want to have this time end in a hurry i just need to do something different it's so unengaging so boring so meaningless so lifeless because during the week you spent time with everything but christ everybody but christ that's why daily reading of your bible there's nothing more beneficial than daily reading of your bible to remind you of your need of jesus my wife and i just were reading in job we're up to job chapter 37 now but job got beside himself and he said i've done nothing wrong i am without iniquity and elihu his friend said you speak like a foolish man he said there's only one person that doesn't have any sin and that's god amen but job and his pity party and going through and i'm and i and we are you know i know the bible says and all this job did not charge god foolishly but let me tell you my brethren he got real close you ought to read that story said jaw he said god has turned his back on me he doesn't hear my prayers he's punishing me needlessly he got really close we know what that says to me watch this i want you to listen you know what that says to me god understands human frailty he knows that there are times when things are so bad that we are starting to question his legitimacy his sovereignty his love his compassion and we get real close he's not listening to my prayer he doesn't love me he doesn't look towards me he's the one bringing this affliction on me job got real close but here's the beauty he didn't cross the line so what is that saying when we complain and feel alone does god understand what did jesus say the evidence that he understands as he even said my god my god why hast thou forsaken me he understands that but when we realize how much we need jesus it humbles us to the point where we can say these words in psalms 19 verse 14 look at them look at them with me these beautiful words let's read this together are you ready here it is let the words of my mouth and the what meditation of my heart be what acceptable in your sight before we finish it the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart we've got to realize what is in our heart is going to be the words of our mouth what is in here is going to be the words of our mouth now sometimes we might say this is what i'm thinking but this is not what i'm saying the lord is saying what you're thinking is what i'm hearing the words of your mouth the lord says are the meditations of your hearts and that's why the bible says in hebrews 4 12 the word of god is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart not just what you say not just what you do that's why he says let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart that means during the week if you are meditating on youtube on movies if you spend most of your time searching social media or netflix or whatever you're watching or whatever your mind is engaged in whatever your mind is focused on if the meditations of your hearts is continually things that are corrupt and non-godly and non-strengthening and non-spiritual there is no way that the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart are going to change the moment you walk through the church's doors right what you feed is what gets strong what you focus on is how you're going to think and you can't change that by location that has to be a day by day how often day by day and you got to fight against your natural tendency because our natural tendency is to leave god until we are really really tired and then we say i'm too tired to read tonight sometimes you got to read your devotions you got to read your bible right after dinner or maybe before dinner or when you have full strength don't give god the last can you say amen that's why he says oh lord my strength and my what else redeemer so the first one is don't compare yourself to others second one is i call this righteousness by deception first of all righteousness by comparison then secondly righteousness by deception look at what the bible says let's go to luke 18 verse 11 luke 18 verse 11. if i could give you a don't it is don't deny your condition if anybody knows who we are who knows who knows we know we know we know who we are if anybody knows who you are you know this is an amazing one luke 18 verse 11 the pharisees stood and prayed thus with himself here's what he said this is righteousness by deception god i thank you that i am not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this tax collector righteousness by deception some people i've heard say you better be glad i'm not as bad as i used to be so since i'm not as bad as i used to be my present bad is not that bad i'm not as bad as i used to be you should have seen me when i was in the world you've heard that phrase before you should have seen me when i was in the world well how bad were you well i was i knew i was a sinner but now i'm a righteous sinner i'm a better sinner than i used to be this is acceptable sin righteous is by deception this class spend time telling people and this is a caution and i have one more this class spends time telling people what they overcame they paint such a terrible picture of who they used to be that you are convinced that they must now really be righteous let me make a very important point even if we overcome everything that we have ever faced and everything we have ever struggled with we still are only righteous by the righteousness of christ that's why that term i am saved kind of irritates me save from what say from yourself no you're not every place you go you're there the apostle paul holds it up high for by grace for by what for by grace we have been saved through faith and that none of ourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any one of us should do what boast when we see a brother or a sister taken in a fault that's not the best time to decide that you must be better than they are but for the grace of god paul says there's none that's righteous no not one and when we realize the only reason why we will be saved we will humble ourselves under the almighty hand of god and he will exalt us in due season the last one the third one which i invite the praise team to come up the last one the third one and there's a particular passage i'm going to read toward the latter part this is one this is one this one is first of all righteousness by comparison righteousness by deception and this one is kind of a a stickler a kind of sneaky one righteous by admission righteous by admission i know i'm a sinner but so is everyone else righteous by admission i know i'm a sinner but so is everyone else almost as though to whitewash they qualify their sin with the cliche and that's why this song after many many years i've sang it in heritage singers but one day i i listen to the lyrics i'm only human i'm just a man and you know what i realize that that's not true because when we accept christ we become partakers of a divine nature having escaped the world amen somebody so we're not only human after we accept christ we become partakers of a divine nature having having escaped he changes we were only human when he was not in our lives but we become partakers of a divine nature having escaped by his grace so when we say we're only human it's almost like righteous by admission this class makes you feel that as sinful as they are they discourage you and say you know don't act like you're any better than i am righteous by admission and jesus has these words john 9 verse 41 listen to what he says if you were blind you would have no sin but now you say what we see therefore your sins remain and i close with these two very important scriptures when we finally see the magnitude of our sin we won't be like that pharisee that looked up and said thank god i'm not like other men but we will be like that tax collector that beats our chest and say god have mercy on me a sinner i found myself at that intersection several times god have mercy on me a sinner you see christianity that doesn't function for you won't function for anybody else if they don't see it working in your life then they won't expect it to work in their lives that's why the devil tries so hard he's looking at the weak places in your life to set the debt charges to debt set the demolition dynamite to bring us down that's why this is the prayer that we must pray psalm 139 verse 23 and 24. look at psalm 139 verse 23 and verse 24 the prayer that we should pray as often as we can let's read this together what's the first two words search me o god and what know my heart what else try me and what else know my anxieties that's my thoughts and see if there is what any wicked way in me and then what else lead me in the way everlasting isn't that a wonderful prayer because you know what i'm getting to the place where you know i'm listening to all this stuff and i got a call from a good friend of ours lady that's nearby i won't mention the name we're going to go see her tomorrow i thought she moved out of the area but she called me yesterday she said i'm in terrible shape everything's falling apart okay i don't want to i want to i don't want to immortalize it here but so i said she said i haven't left my legs don't work my diabetes is high can't hardly function but i got a good heart she said my doctor told me that my heart is in great shape my arteries are clear and she said and he told me i think you could live to be a hundred she said i'm only 85 but i'll be around for 15 more years i said do you have that in writing she said come see me i'm home my doors are never locked just walk right in my husband can hardly hear i can't walk but i'm gonna be around for 15 more years and i'll tell you why she called me but here's what she said to me she said you know if it hadn't been for jesus i would have no hope i'm bound in this wheelchair but i said one day you'll walk and not be weary one day you'll run and not be weary you'll walk and you will not faint so brethren when we understand what's going on in our day and age the demolition of the ages is underway satan is seeking to bring us completely down but if we don't understand who we are what kind of life what kind of practices occupy our day what kind of focus we have what and where our affections lie the most we will fail to realize the severity of the condition that we're in and how vulnerable we really are that's why the apostle paul i end with the words that i began with the beautiful scripture in first corinthians 3 and verse 11. here it is if you want to have strength during the week here is the foundation on which you must build your life for no other foundation together with me for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is who jesus christ you want to lay your foundation on christ you got to do it intentionally you can't do it by osmosis you can't do it by family member you can't do it by committee you can't even do it in prayer meeting it has to be a day by day one to one you and the lord you have to be intentional because you'll never know how vulnerable you are until you hear the blasts of the enemy exploding at the weak places in your life and find yourself imploding in your walk with christ today let us stand together and sing this song as a testament that we will not allow our lives to implode because we're not sitting on the premises sleeping on the premises i'll on the premises but we're standing on the promises let's sing the song with fervor today this is our conviction we're standing on the promises here we go our father in heaven there's no other foundation on which to stand your word your promises your righteousness if we stand on anything other than that we are waiting to be demolished the weak places in our lives are unprotected we are not retrofitted by your righteousness we have no guarantee that when the enemy comes that he will not be successful in our lives father who we are on a moment by moment day by day basis describes the frailty or the integrity of our relationship with you we pray that we will not be sidetracked by this distracted generation that we will not become the victims of the things that seek to draw us in and cause us to applaud the next great invention but that we will focus on the foundation of your promises your word for you said the winds and the waves will come and beat with vehement strength against your foundation but if you're built on the rock you will survive so father help us purposefully to establish in our lives a cadence of bible study to set times as husbands and wives as families to sit down and not only read your word but then begin to live and apply it for reading it is just an act of of hearing and saying what is already there but may we pray for it to be stamped upon our hearts and in our minds so that when the enemy comes examining he will notice that what was weak before has now been retrofitted by christ and in his strength our weakness is no longer a vulnerability we pray that you'll take away the things that are the weak points in our lives that we will be willing to surrender them to give them to you and to know that we can walk by faith and build the world around us the society around us the nation around us the things around us though they are falling we will stand thank you lord for that foundation may we do our part by examining and testing ourselves that we may know that we are a part of the unshakeable faith in your word in jesus name i pray and all of god's people said amen

Channel: Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church

Views: 6,240

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Id: 0fpvXqPpeEo

Length: 62min 47sec (3767 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 22 2020