Equipping the Saints for Christ Centered Prayer Counseling Pt 2 - Joe Sweet

we're preparing the saints of god to do the work of the ministry that's what ephesians chapter 4 tells us that god gave apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry until we all come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ so that's what this is about if you missed the last session it was on march 18th you can go to youtube and look it up it's called christ-centered prayer counseling and please hear that i want to pick up where we left off last week in uh in the last week's message we talked about uh the sermon on the mount at the end of the sermon on the mount jesus said whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock and whoever hears them and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand then he said the storms will come the rains the winds and the floods but whoever hears and applies the word of god he said his house will stand so the word of god the sayings he was saying was the sermon on the mount matthew 5 6 and 7. so last week we looked at some of the things that jesus touched on in the sermon on the mount and i we talked about inner vows we talked about judgments and we talked about unforgiveness when we're prayer counseling with people that are having problems or they're stumbling or or they're in bondage nine times out of ten maybe more the issue is connected with an inner vow a judgment or an unforgiveness or a combination of all of those and so we talked about that in the last message and that our goal is to lead people to freedom in christ by submitting to his word we talked about vows judgments and unforgiveness but uh but our goal as a counselor is to help the person discover where we're not doing god's will or where we're not applying god's will and then lead the person in repentance and in agreement with god's will and that brings freedom as we minister to people we want to be led by the holy spirit jesus said when the holy spirit comes he will guide you into all truth so when we're ministering to set someone free from a bitterness uh an inner vow a judgment a demonic bondage we're asking the holy spirit to reveal to us where where the open door is the open door is the area of our life that's not in submission to god and god will reveal that we so we talked about that most sins are connected in one way or another to fear so when we're counseling people or helping people get free one of the questions we can ask is what are you afraid of and the holy spirit will guide us so we talked about that and then we talked about deliverance from evil spirits i want to pick up there a little bit can a christian have a demon and the answer is yes a christian can't be demon possessed because first corinthians chapter 6 verse 17 says whoever's joined to the lord is one spirit with him so when you're born again your spirit is one with the lord a demon cannot inhabit where the lord is but a demon can oppress the mind of a christian and or the body of a christian so yes christians can have demons we call that being demonized in fact in the book of ephesians paul says do not let the sun go down on your anger or your wrath depending on what translation you read neither give place to the devil so christians through ignorance rebellion or disobedience ignorance of the word and not applying it rebellion or disobedience to the word can give place to the devil and then christians get oppressed by demons and so yes christians can be demonized in fact probably in reality every christian at one time at least probably many times has been demon oppressed demonized because if you're in this world and uh and unless you walk perfectly like jesus christ there's times when we've sinned disobeyed god and that gives room for the devil to oppress us and so deliverance from demons is finding the place in our life where we've disobeyed god again out of rebellion or ignorance it doesn't matter if you disobey it still gives room to the devil and then repent of it bring your life into alignment with christ and then getting the devil to go is easy so our focus is never on the devil what's his name who did it how many devils and all that stuff that's in that's going down the wrong track the focus is on submit to god james chapter 4 resist the devil and he'll flee so when there's demonic oppression uh i don't care what the devil's name is i don't care how many there are i'm going to find out from the holy spirit and also sometimes talking with a person from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks so i'll talk with the person what's going on and usually they'll tell you and if you listen carefully you can find out the as they speak you can find out the area of fear doubt unbelief unforgiveness bitterness and when you recognize it you can lead them in repentance and then the devil will just go somebody say amen so um now i did do another message and i want to mention that for those that are watching this it's called setting the captives free it's on youtube we did it may 20th 2019 setting the captives free and in that message i talk about the five primary ways that people get demon possessed that's different than oppressed where a demon enters them and is through drug and alcohol abuse sexual immorality and sexual perversion witchcraft and sorcery idolatry and then hatred and unforgiveness so those are the five primary ways that demons enter into people and take control of their life so when someone is demon-possessed and they're manifesting and they need deliverance what we want to do is identify what what they did the demons cannot just come in we let them in again through ignorance many times some people are are sinned against and uh they don't know the lord and so their reaction is hatred and that hatred opens a door for a demon to come in and uh people don't know the lord and they're trying to cope with this nightmare that life can be sometimes they don't know how to cope and they go to drugs or some or witchcraft or sexual perversion and when they do that it opens a door and an evil spirit comes in so they get into bondage so deliverance is not about focusing on the devil and all of that stuff i've seen people do it it's like a show and it's a big distraction and it's not the way it should be done james chapter 4 says submit to god resist the devil and he'll flee when i did part one of this message at the end of the message just as the holy spirit confirmed the word a precious person came up after the message for prayer a person who's been struggling with deliverance and hasn't has got some partial deliverance but for months has not gotten a free and they said to me while i was hearing the message the holy spirit made me realize i had made a vow and so i said what was the vow and they said it i said all right let's repent of that vow and let's say what god's word says this is an example of what we're teaching and so the person said lord i said this and they repented the vow they said i repent of that vow i take it back i cancel those words i should now say the opposite what's the truth of god's word they said lord i say this and they said the truth of god's word as soon as the words got out of their mouth the spirit of god hit him with the power of god hit him they fell to the ground the demon came out and they were free so our focus isn't on what's your name who did this is it witchcraft which is what kind of spirit i don't care about that stuff i'm going to find out how what door was open to let it in and let's shut that door and it has to go amen so uh anyway there's more to deliverance here the message it's called setting the captives free it's on youtube it was done in 2019. so yes christians can be oppressed by demons and need to get set free but the way we get set free is um submit to god resist the devil and he will flee amen so i want to pick up from there this is christ-centered counseling i call it or spirit-led christ-centered counseling part two i'm going to begin by reading again matthew chapter 7 verses 24 to 29. jesus is finishing up what we call the sermon on the mount now the sermon on the mount is matthew chapter 5 6 and 7. i've heard the sermon on the mount referred to as the constitution of the kingdom of god and i believe that's a good name for that it's appropriate so as jesus is finishing the sermon on the mount he says in matthew 7 verse 24 therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine these sayings of mine is in direct reference to chapters 5 6 and 7. and does them i will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat on the house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock so building our life on the word of god hearing the words of jesus in red applying them to our life makes our life storm proof it doesn't mean storms won't come it means they'll come and go and we'll still be standing because jesus said it in the next verse everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall so the storm came to those who heard and obeyed those who heard and didn't obey storms come to everybody but what we want to do is build our life on the word of god on applying the word of god and it makes us storm proof and we're in the season of storms every nation right now is shaking we're in the season of haggai chapter 2 verse 7 god said once again i'll shake the heavens the earth the sea and the dry land i'm going to shake all nations and they will come to the desire of all nations that's jesus that's harvest the reason things are being shaken is to prepare people for receiving jesus and um as our life is built on the on applying the word of god hearing it believing it applying it we become unshakable that's what we're told in hebrews chapter 12 we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken so when the shakings come and they're here there's political economic physical shakings in the heavens in the weather shakings on the earth and to the degree that our life is built on obedience to the word of god we will not shake and the shakings will reveal the areas of our life that are not built on the word so that we can repent and build them on the word amen so uh i want it so when jesus said these sayings of mine he repeated again in matthew 7 27 and so it was when jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teachings so in context these sayings is matthew 5 6 and 7. so what we want to know is this the manual the holy spirit manual for counseling for christian spirit-led christ-centered counseling the manual is found in matthew chapter 5 6 and 7. every issue every problem including oppression depression possession stumbling bondage everyone the answer is addressed in matthew 5 6 and 7. so what i want to say is this to be equipped to counsel other people and set other people free we must apply the word to ourself we must become familiar with matthew chapter 5 chapter 6 and chapter 7 because when you sit down when the harvest comes in new believers come in and they they're stumbling here or they're having an issue there you're going to be able to counsel them and set them free and the the resource is matthew chapter 5 6 and 7. in fact a good way to counsel someone if you feel stuck is tell them i want you to prayerfully read over the next couple of days matthew chapter 5 6 and 7 and ask the holy spirit to show you where your life is not lined up with the word of god and when you're counseling people the more we have matthew 5 6 and 7 which is called the sermon on the mount we should as christians seek to live according to the words of jesus christ these are the words in red jesus said in john chapter 14 verse 21 whoever has my commandments and keeps them whoever has my word and keeps it is the one that loves me and i will love him and i will manifest myself to him in john 14 verse 23 he said the father and i will come and make our dwelling or abode with that person the one who takes my words applies them keeps them i'll manifest to that person i'll make my dwelling with that person amen so the more that we know the sermon on the mount not just in our head it's not the word that i know in my head but it's the word that i'm living that causes me to have light psalm 119 verse 130 says the entrance of his word gives light so the more we live and apply the sermon on the mount to ourselves the more we're able to discern and help other people get free if i'm not living applying the sermon on the mount i'm not going to be able to discern the need or or the answer for the person in front of me but it says in psalm 36 in his light we see so the entrance of his word psalm 119 verse 130 brings light and in his light we see so my first admonition to us today is uh to be equipped to minister to people is become familiar with the sermon on the mount and seek with all of your heart to live it to apply it that's uh that's the answer for every human issue every it's there jesus christ himself said if you hear these sayings and do them storms will come and they'll go and you'll still be standing so that's the word of god jesus said heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away so what i'm going to plan to do this evening is we're going to have a brief overview i'm going to start in matthew chapter 5 verse 1. we're not going to go into depth into all of it but we're sort of going to go through chapters 5 6 and 7 and touch on some of the main points and these are uh this is going to equip us for ministering okay every issue when you're counseling we want to help people get free we want to help people live an abundant christian life we want to help people live above sin we want to help people live in christ where there's joy and peace the kingdom of god is righteousness peace and joy we want to help people live in that and the answers are all in matthew 5 6 and 7 the sermon on the mount so verse 1 seeing the multitudes jesus went up on a mountain and when he was seated his disciples came to him then he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of god there's the starting place for getting god's grace poor in spirit means the opposite of self-reliant the first thing for us to get help from god is remember this god gives grace to the humble and we get in trouble when we're proud because we get outside of god's grace god's nature is to resist the proud by his nature he will resist us when we're in pride so the first thing jesus teaches is the blessedness of the poor in spirit and the poor in spirit is the person that's discovered by the grace of god i cannot do it on my own i need god's help i don't have all the answers i need god to show me what to do maybe i'm not seeing it right i don't have the strength in and of myself it means acknowledging i'm broken i need god i need his help i need his spirit i need his guidance i need the revelation of his word that's the poor in spirit so that's the starting place for getting better jesus said blessed are the are the poor in spirit then he said blessed are those who mourn that in in contexts speaking of grieving over our sin grieving were sorrowful over having disobeyed god jesus said that's a blessed place when you read james chapter 4 and james gives us instruction on how to draw near to god he says humble yourself which is the first thing jesus talked about in the sermon on the mount and then he said weep and mourn he said cleanse your hands purify your heart and let your laughter be turned into mourning and weeping he's talking about where we've disobeyed or rebelled it's a good thing to be grieved over that so jesus said blessed are you in other words when you get convicted and you're counseling someone and they're the conviction of the holy spirit comes and they said oh i've been such a oh lord that jesus said that's a good thing it's a good thing blessed are you when you mourn because the holy spirit will comfort you he's a comforter if if that morning is true repentance then he said the next thing he said this is the constitution of the kingdom blessed are the meek now meek means obedient meek means you step and you start at the commandment of god you don't do anything on your own only what the lord's will is so again almost every human problem that christians can get the answer for it is found in the sermon on the mount so he said blessed are the meek meek means to step and to stop at the order of the lord here's meekness jesus said the son can do nothing on his own of his own that's poverty of spirit that's blessed are the poor spirit jesus said why do you call me good only god is good he emptied himself philippians says and he walked as a man in total reliance upon the father and then jesus said not only do i do nothing on my own that's blessed are the poor in spirit he walked in that humility and lowliness he said learn to me i'm lowly a meek and gentle lowly then he said i only do what i see the father doing so that's meekness he didn't have his his own soul didn't produce imaginations of what the will of god might be but in humility he sought the lord in prayer he rose a great while before day sought the lord he only did the father's will so that's meekness meekness in if you read psalm 37 it says blessed are the meek they shall inherit the earth so there's again uh how do problems come in our christian walk how do we get into bondages from from not obeying not listening to god not waiting on god not really praying it through to find out what his will is so we step and we stop of our own initiative and that's not meekness make this is i'm only going to do what god says no more no less jesus said blessed are the meek they're going to inherit the earth then the next thing he says is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they should be filled and you might be wondering you mean this is counseling equipping yes it is because all of these things the lack of these things is what gets us into all the messes and all the bondage and the more that we practice living this ourself the more we're able to discern and help other people walk in it the only way someone's going to get free is if they know the truth and apply it jesus said in john 8 verse 30 and 31 31-32 he said if you continue in my word that's what these are these are the words of jesus then you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free he said you're my disciples indeed if you continue in my word so he said the next thing is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness they shall be filled this is the opposite of lukewarmness here's where a lot of christians get in their lives messed up they're indifferent and they're casual in their in their walk with god there's not a passion to hunger and thirst for righteousness it's sort of a casual indifference and that's how we can get into problems we could get enticed by materialism enticed by the world enticed by the flesh we shouldn't be drawn away by various lust we should be hungering and thirsting for righteousness then he said aren't these good words then jesus said these are the words of jesus these are the words of the son of god and they're not even his words he said it's the father in me that says and does the works didn't he say that jesus christ is called the word of god so him his whole life his death his resurrection all of his teachings are his life is the communication of god to us so he is the word so jesus says now blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy this is huge we should cultivate an attitude a heart lifestyle of being gracious not wanting vindictiveness not wanting an eye for an eye or a tooth for tooth the bible says in proverbs the merciful man does good to his own soul so again people get into problems and they get into spiritual bondage they don't their walk gets all tangled up because they're not merciful and jesus said the merciful are blessed because they shall obtain mercy in luke chapter 6 jesus said the measure that we give is the measure that we get so the best thing we could do is be very merciful to everybody because that degree of mercy we give is exactly what we get i said this use this illustration before if someone is wronged us and we're holding on to that resentment it puts a block between us and god or if we do forgive them but it's grudgingly you know will you forgive me we get out our eye dropper and we just give him a little bit or we could give him buckets of forgiveness or we could give him a carload of forgiveness complete forgiveness the thing is jesus said the measure that we give to them is the measure we get from god so we say god lord i'm trying to draw near to you god says okay let me get my eye dropper here's some of my presence because the the measure of mercy we give is a measure we get so jesus is saying blessed are the merciful they're going to get mercy almost every issue or problem people have it's all found right here the next thing jesus said is blessed are the pure in heart they shall see god now a pure heart means a pure motive it means uh our hearts been purified from sin and idolatry bitterness judgments unforgiveness and our mo the motive that's driving our heart is love for god love for people the motive in our heart when our heart is pure is to glorify the lord and not lift ourself up so if that's where we're at god says that's a pure heart and uh he said the pure in heart will see god and then he said blessed are the peacemakers they shall be called the sons of god and again when we forget that god has called all of us to be peacemakers that means to forgive to seek to reconcile to seek to make peace and he said so again a people that won't do that sometimes people want to hold on and uh they want to ask to grind they've got a a score to settle jesus said you know that's not the sons and daughters of god the sons and daughters of god are looking for reconciliation they're looking for peace now then he goes on and says blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven this is a big one too because in counseling people over the years especially when someone gets saved this is a common thing someone gets born again and they might be the only one born again in their family how many had that happened to you and then what happens the rest of your family turn against you they start criticizing or you're the only christian at work and they start coming against you or you know there could be a million scenarios and what we have to do here's the counsel from the lord jesus christ i've seen people get all fixated on how unfair the persecution is and then their hearts become bitter or are cold or some other kind of reaction that's not godly and here's what jesus's counsel is for those who've been persecuted he's first he tells us if you're being persecuted for righteousness sake he's saying you are blessed then he tells us what to do he said blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you so we have to do that because what happens is otherwise people have pity parties they get a martyr syndrome and they feel like they need to fix the other person who's persecuting them jesus didn't say that he said rejoice when you're mistreated when you're lied about when you're persecuted anybody have that happen to you yeah he said rejoice you have a great reward in heaven well anyway this is a good start isn't it so this is the grid the sermon on the mount is the grid it's these are the it's the nutrient dense food that's gonna keep the believer walking free and in victory in christ and as as we understand these things we can help set people free and as you're counseling people and you're taught if you're seeking to live this you're going to be able to discern where they're not you can discern if there there's pride or there's unforgiveness or there's a pity party because i'm being persecuted at work listen i'm not going to sympathize with somebody and have a pity party with them i'm going to encourage them to obey jesus i'm going to say okay i know what it's like i feel for you i've been there but listen let's not have a pity party or get sideways about it let's rejoice great is your reward let's do what jesus said he said if we do what he says our house will stand all right is this all right this is counseling training these are the answers now this is a manual we're not going to get it all in one night but we're going to just go over some of it now in the next section verses 13 to 16 jesus said you are the salt of the earth but if the salt loses its flavor how shall it be seasoned it's then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men now there's a whole lot in that verse if the church in a nation becomes lukewarm and is no longer the salt to that nation no longer the voice no longer the light it will be trampled by men that's persecution then he says you are the light of the world a city that said on the hill cannot be hidden nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lamp stand it gives light to all who are in the house now here's the counsel of jesus let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven now when you're counseling people this comes up often too especially when someone's a new believer and their spouse is not saved or their children aren't saved or their parents aren't saved and they're trying to get them saved and what happens is sometimes when we try to tell them and tell them all it does is make them resist us more and more and jesus said let your light shine so they may see your good works there's the counsel of the lord you're going to have someone come to you and say i'm having a hard time you know i'm i'm saved and my wife won't come to the i'm telling her why don't you go to church or my husband vice versa you know here's what happens when a spouse gets saved and the other one spouse is not saved if the other one says are you going to go to church today why don't will you read your bible or why do you have to cuss what they hear they're not saved they're lost they don't get where you're at they don't get it so when we try to with our words to bring them along what they hear is you don't love me like i am why are you harping on me i don't like this change in you before you came to christ you didn't harp on me that's what people that's their perception so jesus says let them see by your good works your light that's why in first peter chapter three it says if a wife and the principle applies the same to husbands if a wife has a husband who doesn't obey the word he said without a word from you by your chaste godly behavior he may be converted that's what jesus is saying so what happens is someone's saved in the house someone's not and then there's friction of course if you're born again you're going to start getting persecuted you're going to start being persecuted by the people in your home that don't walk with god so here's the counsel of god he said rejoice and be exceedingly glad and let them see your good works come on somebody this is good counseling from the lord the lord is counseling us let him see someone once said this saying has been attributed to francis of assisi he said by all means preach the gospel and if you must use words isn't that great we should remind ourselves of that so that's this is the next council so you see how the more familiar we become with the sermon on the mount the more equipped we are to help people and again it's not how much i know in my head it's how much i'm walking out because only the word that i walk out illuminates me his word is a light to my path into my feet so if my feet aren't on the path of obedience it's not a light so the word that we're walking out illuminates us so in the next verse 17 jesus said don't think i came to destroy the law or the prophets i did not come to destroy but to fulfill assuredly i say to you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven for i say to you now here's the emphasis i underlined unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven and then he's going to in the next paragraphs the next few paragraphs expound on that jesus's counsel is this it's not by external conformity but it's by inward submission to god so the pharisees had external conformity they said well the word says don't work on the sabbath we're not doing any work the word says this and that but they had no heart for god their heart was not submitted to god jesus said how well did isaiah prophesy of you you honor me with your lips but your heart is far from me so what jesus's counsel is this our righteousness as believers has to exceed external conformity it has to come from the heart come on somebody so i can't say fine i'll obey i'm not saying we would say that outwardly but we can't have that attitude in our heart and then jesus clarifies it and he talks about in the name in verse 21 he said you've heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment but i say to you whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment whoever says to his brother raqqa shall be in danger of the counsel whoever says you fool shall be in danger of hell fire so what jesus is saying is and john the beloved says it in his epistles he said whoever hates his brother is a murderer and no murderer has eternal life so jesus is saying oh yeah you can not murder somebody but you're carrying around bitterness and hatred in your heart so you're still in bondage he said your your righteousness has to exceed not doing the action it has to be the purity of your heart so he said therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother is something against you leave your gift there before the altar go your way first be reconciled your brother then come and offer your gift now it doesn't mean everybody that's offended against you multitudes were offended at jesus he didn't chase him down and try to iron it out with them so what it means is if you really did wrong against someone and you really owe them an apology and restoration he said don't come to god and worship go fix that first and then worship god so what he's saying is be aware of what is in your heart and this again you're going to help people we're going to help people and they can say i'm you know i'm having a problem with so and so hold on hold on you know you can hear the anger coming out of there you can hear the resentment and the judgment coming out we've got to deal with what's in your heart and get your heart free your righteousness has to exceed the fact that you didn't slit their tires or or you didn't hit them with a board on the head so okay good great you're not doing that but it's in your heart come on somebody then then jesus said agree with your adversary quickly while you're on the way with him he's talking about someone that you have wronged you're really wrong to someone not someone that's offended because people can get offended whether you've wronged them or not but if you have wronged someone and the holy spirit shows you that he said go and agree means make it right until you're at peace do that quickly lest he deliver you to the judge and the judge to the officer and you'll be thrown into prison assuredly i say to you by no means get out of there till you've paid the last penny there are people who can't go forward in their walk with god they're in bondage because they've done wrong things and they've never gone back and tried to make it right and so when people are in bondage i'm not i can't feel the lord i can't feel his presence i'm having a hard time it's one of the things you need to pray is there somebody that you've wronged is there somebody let's pray is there someone that you need to go make things right with now when he says uh lest you get he said turned over to the judge james chapter 5 verse 4. here's what james says the wages of laborers who mowed your fields which you kept back by fraud cry out and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the lord there's an example of what jesus is talking about so these field owners were cheating the laborers and the cries of the laborers they don't even have to literally go and pray to god the groaning in their heart of being cheated rises to god and that's what happened when god came down to moses when the israelites were being oppressed by pharaoh god came down he said moses i've heard the groanings see the unspoken cry the groaning the unspoken pain in people's heart goes up to god and god hears it so he said if you have wronged someone do your best to go to them and make it right lest you be turned over to the officer to the judge and you get thrown in a place of bondage he said you won't come out to the last pennies paid in other words you're not going to come out of that place of spiritual bondage till you go make it right amen so that's what jesus said the kingdom of god is in the heart and and he expounds on it he said our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the pharisees which is what's external righteousness it has has to be righteousness of the heart and then he talked about that concerning adultery in the heart verse 27. he said you've heard that it was said of those of old you shall not commit adultery but i say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart now what jesus is saying here is that sins of the imagination are as real as acting it out before god he's not talking about a temptation that we can't help if a temptation comes we can brush it away he's talking about allowing imaginations and indulging in them jesus is saying that before god a sin with our heart inwardly in our heart is the same as acting it out before god didn't he say that he said you've heard him he said don't commit adultery but i say don't look at a woman to lust in other words it's looking with the intention of sinning in your imagination he said if you do that you've already committed adultery and then now here's more counsel oh you this is such good counsel isn't this good counsel i'm telling you this is such good counsel that the purity has to be on a heart level in luke 17 jesus said the kingdom of god does not come with observation they won't say look it's over there look it's over there he said the kingdom of god is within you now he's going to give us even more counsel if we discover there is hatred in our heart or we are indulging sins fantasizing sinning in our fantasy and our imaginations these things are destructive to your walk with god don't allow them don't allow sinful fantasies and imaginations they're destructive and so jesus said our attitude toward them must be violent he said if your right eye causes you to sin pluck it out and cast it from you see people need to read this because there's people that have no fear of god he said why he said for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perished then for your whole body to be cast in hell what he's saying is jesus just said this that if you have a problem with pornography you're not going into the kingdom of god you're sinning in your heart jesus said you're going to hell if you indulge that kind of sin and he said how serious should you be about it he said if you have to pluck your eye out so what jesus is saying is get serious about overcoming sin this is the counsel people need they don't need us to hold their hand and go i'm sorry that you've had a problem with pornography for five years i know it must be a struggle don't ever counsel someone like that tell them you you better get serious about this and if you need to pluck your eye out pluck it out you better get over this you better fast and pray and seek god you better shut down every avenue you have that brings you temptation this is a serious sin see that's what jesus is saying that's the counsel of the lord and um come on he said if your right hand caused you to sin cut it off cast it from you it's more profitable for you that one of your members perished and that your whole body be cast into hell this is really good counsel it's from jesus christ the son of the living god whose eyes are like flames of fire he said furthermore it's been said whoever divorces his wife let him give her a certificate of divorce but i say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery what he's saying is you can't divorce just because you're having a hard time getting along grow up that's what he's saying the whole process of marriage is to sanctify us it's so that we can die to self and learn how to love even when we feel like we're not getting our way you might not feel like you're being loved we're supposed to love anyway come on somebody we can't give up and quit because it's hard that's what jesus is saying now if somebody did that already and you did that before you came to the lord and uh it's too late to unscram and you got remarried again you can't unscramble an egg just repent and you're forgiven by the blood of jesus but as a christian now walking with god you can't just divorce you have to work it out that's why you better be very prayerful and very careful before you get married what am i telling you i'm just reading to you the counsel of jesus now jesus again he forbids oaths or we call them vows verse 33 i don't know how we're going to how far we're going to get we're in chapter 5 but we'll see he said again you've heard that it was said to those of old you shall not swear falsely but you shall perform your oath to the lord but i say to you do not swear at all neither by heaven for it's god's throne nor by earth for it's his footstool nor by jerusalem for it is the city of the great king nor shall you swear by your head because and here's what i have underlined you cannot make one hair white or black none of us can the reason jesus is saying don't swear in other words make an oath or make a vow he said don't do that because you don't have the power neither do i he's saying we don't have the power to fulfill it he said let your yes be yes let your know be know whatever is more than these is from the evil one now in our previous session when we talked about inner vows it comes from this and people make those we all have made them and most of the time we make them on a subconscious level sometimes we make them consciously pain comes into our life abuse someone hurts us someone sins against us or maybe we do something that gets ourselves into trouble and rather than look to the lord following him obeying him trusting him because at the time we're not doing that we make a vow inside maybe a man hurts us and then we make an inner vow or we make a judgment like this a judgment is all men are like that well that's not true all men aren't like that or if a woman hurts us all women are like that no they're not or if a pastor hurts us all pastors no they're not all pastors aren't like that there's good and bad so we make a judgment then with a judgment that's why jesus said don't judge because when we judge we become judged then we make an inner vow if all men or all women are all whatever like that then my vow is i will never let them get close to me or or another vow i will never let i will never trust someone or i will never or or if our parents raise us in a certain way and we can see the mistakes they made i will never be like my parents or i will be like this so what happened jesus said don't do that he said say yes or no to what's right or wrong but anything more than this making these kinds of vows is from the evil one because then we're no longer living by the spirit and by following the word of god we're living by the vow that we made which prevents us from following jesus when we make a judgment and a vow it closes our heart off to the influence of the holy spirit in that area so what happens is and we've all done it and i'm pretty sure including myself that all of us have maybe some still may still have some judgments and vows in our subconscious that we're not even aware of yet and over time the holy spirit illuminates us and when he does we can let him go and every time we let them go we get freer in christ proverbs 6 verse 2 said you are snared by the words of your mouth you are taken by the words of your mouth snare means caught and then you're taken so jesus said don't make a vow don't say well i'm never you know someone gives a prophecy and it doesn't come to pass i'm never going to listen to prophets again don't say those foolish things the bible says do not despise prophecy but test all things just say okay lord i wasn't good at testing i went down the wrong way i guess i'm going to learn how to be good at testing the word he said don't despise prophecy test it hold fast to what's good refrain from what's evil so if you say i'm never going to list that again you've just shut yourself off from what god has for you in the future come on somebody well let's see if we can finish chapter five this is the master counselor's manual the sermon on the mount isn't it great i love it all right jesus said in verse 38 you've heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but i tell you not to resist an evil person whoever slaps you on the right cheek turn the other to him also now this does not have to do with nations in war people take this out of context and don't understand it they think that jesus thinks we're all supposed to be pacifists and not have a military this is about personal offenses in romans chapter 13 it talks about the rulers that bear the sword to execute justice and do what's righteous okay so no it doesn't mean if another country invades or a bad person does something we're just supposed to let them run over us it's talking about personal offenses come on somebody here's what jesus is saying you've heard who said eye for an eye tooth for a tooth i tell you not to resist an evil person whoever slaps you on your right cheek turn the other to them also if anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic let him have your cloak also whoever compels you to go one mile go with him too give to him who asks you and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away you know this is such great counsel you know how many people get offended and get sideways they get wronged and they're going to hold on to it for the next five or ten years they're gonna remember it and they're one they're gonna wanna exact payment they wanna teach the other person a lesson that's not our job to teach the other person a lesson that's god's job this is great counsel he said if someone wrongs you take it paul said the same thing to the corinthians he said it's an utter failure that believer is going to court against believer paul said isn't it better that you would just be wronged he said don't you even have people among your own among the church that can settle this for you that you have to go before an unbelieving judge two believers so the the so jesus's counsel he said when personal injuries come let it go if you don't obey this you're going to be taken captive don't so they slapped your other one seek said give them the other one let them do it if they force you to do something you don't want to do come on that's in context the commentators say that it was common in that day for the roman soldiers who occupied jerusalem at the time that this was written to come to a jew and in a condescending way given their pack and say carry it and they had to carry it they had to walk a mile carry it jesus said if they force you to carry it a mile when after the mile's up say hey i'll take it another mile for you that's what he said to do that's called letting your light shine and if you carry it the second mile while you're singing praises to god whistling and making melody in your heart by the end of the second mile they're going to say will you tell me about jesus come on somebody did i tell you the story i i'm going to tell this and maybe we'll try to close somebody said okay it's not that long i got complimented recently someone told me that my sermon sunday was like reminded them of the mercy of the lord they said it endures forever i heard i heard this awesome testimony you're going to love this of watchman knee was a great saint in china i think he passed away in the 60s and he was tortured to death but he's a great saint and apostolic man who really walked with god and he taught people how to walk with god and he taught his his people how to love their enemy and to forgive those who wronged them and uh he said if they would do that jesus said in john 15 if you abide in my love and you keep my commandments he said i'm saying this to you that your joy will be full so he taught them that if you forgive your enemies and you love them he said your joy will be full so one day these two true story two chinese brothers came to washingtoni who was their pastor they said pastor we're doing what you said but we're not we don't have any joy we're really having a miserable time he said tell me what's going on well they grew rice on the hillside in china and it's terraced they cut it the hillside like flat like steps they said we own a certain plot of ground a certain way up the hill and he said we labor hard back in the day they would carry and i've seen this in the philippines and in india they'd have a pole over their shoulder with two five-gallon wooden buckets they said we walk my brother and i we fill those buckets up all day long and we carry them on our shoulder we walk uphill to our plot of land and we water our rice paddy we water it he said it takes us all day to feed to water the rice it's a lot of hard work going up and down the hill said we'd come back the next morning and the man who owns the rice paddy just under ours he had he would dig a hole and drain all the water onto his patty he didn't work at all and ours was uh ours was dry we had to go work again and fill ours up again but we remembered what you taught us that jesus said to love your enemies and forgive them he said we forgive him we've forgiven him like four days in a row now but we're tired like we have to work twice as much and he's not working at all he's stealing our water he said we have no joy we have no joy and he said oh my my beloved brethren he said you're not doing what jesus said jesus said love your enemy he said you're just you're not loving him yet you're trying to forgive him but you don't love him they said what do you mean he said well didn't he say if he'd force you to carry your pack one mile go too he said i'll tell you what to do tomorrow they said what they said tomorrow when he drains the water out of your land he said i want you to go back no i'm sorry he said i want you to go back tomorrow and fill up all your water and then work on into the night and fill his up they said what yeah he said jesus said if he forced you to go one mile go too he said he said to love your enemies so the next night before the man could steal their uh water they worked all day to fill their water then they worked on into the evening and filled up his rice paddy and before the sun came up they went home exhausted they did this for two or three days in a row and by the third day the man broke down in tears repenting and asked him to forgive him they were able to lead him to the lord and they came back and they said we have the joy of the lord they said it's the most supernatural thing they said we would work twice as hard into the night and we had joy all night long he said all night while we were carrying water up to the man who'd been stealing from us we were filled with the joy of the lord come on somebody that's the counsel of jesus that we shouldn't just tolerate our enemies but love them he said if they force you to go a mile go too they hit you on the right cheek give him the other cheek amen and that's what jesus taught in the next verse in and we'll close with this he said you've heard it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but i say to you love your enemies bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you this is our goal in helping people is to get them to the place of walking in faith in god and love first timothy 1 5 the goal of the commandment is love from a pure heart sincere faith and a good conscience so i i had this recently with someone i was counseling who had a a serious wrong done against their family and i shared with them you know what you have to do not only forgive them but you have to love the person that that harmed your family you have to love them they said oh pastor we were afraid you were going to say that i said look at it's the only way your heart will be free we have to understand something every wrong that's done against us is either a stumbling block or a stepping stone it's not neutral if we don't respond properly to the wrong done to us we stumble we will never go higher in our walk with god but every wrong done to us has the potential to be a stepping stone into a higher level with god if we respond in love somebody say amen and you've heard my testimony about 20 years ago 21 years ago we had a church split there's no need to tell you about the ugly details but there was a hand small group about five people who worked behind the scenes and poisoned about a hundred people years later a couple of them came back and apologized to melinda and i repented for what they did but at the time it was painful because of their slander and lies they infected about 100 people we lost 100 people in one weekend it affected the finance of the church i had to sell my car to just be able to keep my head above water of course shortly after that god really blessed the church and we quickly bounced back but for a time it was hurtful to me especially when you're pouring your life in to help people grow in christ and they betray you so i went through a season where i knew right away what happened unforgiveness is not even an option because i know jesus said to forgive so i determined i wouldn't allow unforgiveness in my heart but i didn't quite understand at the time how to get love flowing out of my heart and what i was doing without realizing it was rather than loving the people who had injured me i was trying not to hate them there's a big difference i was trying not to be bitter not to be vindictive or not to hate them and i thought that was forgiving them okay lord i forgive them i won't be mad at them i won't hate them i won't talk bad about them i just forgive them but after a couple of years i think it was almost two years i would try to forget about it but whenever it came up every once in a while someone would mention something that reminded me of that church split and i'd feel these feelings of bitterness in my heart and i i would repent and it's happened over and over i'd repent again lord i don't want this bitterness finally i went to the lord i said lord i can't get this out of my heart i want it out and the lord so clearly by the holy spirit spoke to my heart he said you're not doing what my word says i said what what do you mean lord and he took me to this matthew chapter 5 verse 44. he said what you're trying to do is not hate but i didn't call you to not hate i called you to love and you're not doing that yet i said oh lord how do i do that he said obey my word i said love them bless them that curse you do good to them and pray for those that spitefully use you so so i remember sitting down and i wrote a card i went and bought this to a couple people and i bought a 50 gift card to a restaurant put it in there told them that i loved them and i told them some good things that i appreciate about them put in the mail to them then i kneeled down and every day i would practice lord i bless those people i pray that they'll never be judged for what they did i pray they'll only find your goodness and your mercy so i pray for them i'd bless them and i do good and once i did that guess what happened the love of god that was in me the whole time and was never coming out of me it was just in there dormant when i started a plot doing the word she said blessed are those who hear and do when i started doing what he said the love of god started coming out of my heart and when the love of god started flowing out of my heart it drove out all bitterness and my heart got free i went to another level in my walk with god and i never could have got to that level if it weren't for my enemies the people that wrong us are the best thing that could ever happen to us because when we overcome by loving them we go to a higher level that's the truth oh i think the whole message was worth just for that when we so it doesn't so if you've been wronged it's not that i'm not going to sympathize with your pain but i'm not going to sympathize with you i do it i will but i won't i get it i know it hurts but what i'm gonna do is say hey you have to forgive you have to love if you don't you're gonna stagnate you can't go higher in christ until you love your not tolerate that's another thing i've and from time to time you know if something comes up or something rubs us the wrong way if i catch myself i don't want to just tolerate i want to love so every every injustice every hurt every pain that comes our way it's either a stumbling block or a stepping stone this is the counsel of the lord so i'll close with that he said love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to those that hate you pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your father in heaven now there's four greek words that are translated sun in the new testament napieos means infant party on it means toddler small child techno and it's the teenager young adult and we a fully mature adult who has proven character and they get the car keys and the checkbook and the authority that's called a weias when jesus was 30 years old god said this is my beloved weias in whom i well pleased and he got filled with the holy spirit and when i went out with power to be about the father's business jesus said when we get to the place where we love our enemies we bless them we pray for them we do good to them he said then you will become we are sons of god you will become those that are granted the authority of the kingdom amen for god makes his son rise on the evil and on the good he sends rain on the just and on the unjust if you love those who love you what reward have you do not even the tax collectors do the same and if you greet your brethren only what do you do more than others do not even the tax collectors do the same therefore you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect so there's counseling chapter 1 from jesus christ which is matthew chapter 5. in chapter 6 and chapter 7 lord willing we can go through those but these are this is the constitution of the kingdom this is the grid that we use to help people get free in christ amen [Music] [Music]

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Length: 71min 52sec (4312 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 05 2021