The Word Of War | Jimmy Evans | Zion 2020 (Night 4)

[Music] well happy New Year to everybody it is good to see a pastor Jimmy and I were talking back in the green room we were talking about when did Sian begin as I began in 1990 and been 30 this is our 30th year of doing cyanide think the first year we did sign we went 12 nights in a row and I preached every night and I'll never do it again it made an old man out of me we so you had prophet Jim lafoon here last night wonderful word that he brought you had Chuck Pierce prophet that was here what's sending out or whatever I know I'm not a prophet because I prophesied in September that the Cowboys won the Super Bowl so I want to repent but I also want to say I meant next year we have a new coach we have a new coach I have hope I have a okay well I want to bring this word I was praying back in November for this sign conference and you know I just said to the Lord as I was praying I said Lord when you're ready to give me a word for as ioan you know I'm ready just whenever you want to do it and Lord said I'm ready I want to give you this word so it took a couple of days and the Lord just downloaded this word into me but there was a very emphatic spirit when the Lord was ministering this word to me and as I'm preaching it I know you'll realize why there was such an emphasis on this word but this word is called the word war I want to talk about a war that is happening in the spirit realm related the Word of God and sometimes when you're reading the Bible you know I read through the Bible every year sometimes when you're reading the Bible you kind of get trapped in the little stories and there are so many wonderful stories in the Bible but let me tell you a couple of big stories in the Bible the biggest story in the Bible begins in Genesis 1 the first chapter of the Bible and ends in revelation 22 the last chapter in the Bible and here's the a story in the Bible God's love for mankind God created man and woman in His image in the Garden of Eden and he lived with him their God God's desire was to intimately live in the presence of men for all of eternity because he made them provisionally immortal they would not have died unless they would have sinned and so even when we sinned the Bible says that the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the earth God had a plan of redemption that would cost the life of his son that's how much he loved mankind that he redeemed us with the life of his only begotten Son and at the end of the Bible you have mankind living in a paradise with God for all of eternity the interpretive key of the Bible is love if you don't understand love you can't possibly understand the Bible and regardless of all the little stories in the Bible the big story of the Bible is God's love for mankind well there's another big story in the Bible that all the little stories feed into and that is Satan's hatred for the Word of God and in Genesis chapter 1 in Genesis chapter 2 God gave His Word to Adam and Eve and in Genesis chapter 3 we see Satan coming into the Garden of Eden in Satan's first words to humans was where his worth Eve and he said has God surely said those are his first words the first thing he did was to question the integrity of the Word of God and he said has God surely said you can't eat up the fruit of that tree and he said we can't eat of the fruit of that tree or we'll die and Satan said you will not surely die God knows in the day that you eat that fruit that you're gonna be better off you're gonna be like God in other words God's Word has no integrity he is a bully trying to hold you down and he's a liar because you will not dive when you eat that fruit by the way did they die and all of this suffering that you see in the world today is the result of the word war all this all the pain and suffering everything happening in the Middle East everything happening in Israel everything happening in the world today the pain and misery is the result of a war over the Word of God and that word that war is raging right now in America is raging in the church right now I've never seen I have never seen as many pastors renouncing their faith and claiming they're no longer Christians I see right now and these were pastors who preached the word who had conservative beliefs and then they began to kind of defect and the next thing you know I've never seen anything like it the number of people becoming atheist renouncing their faith and things like that and it's just a result of a word war that was prophesied in the Bible so I want to begin by talking about a spiritual reality in the foundational truths concerning the Bible on tell you three things about the Word of God that you need to understand these are very important things the number one is this the Word of God is the most powerful force in the universe this controls the universe people of faith believe that people who do not have faith question that let me prove it to you in the Bible this is Hebrews 11 the faith chapter and here's Hebrews 11:3 by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible how did the universe come into existence scientists say this biologists say this ethicists say this there many people have a different explanation but if you go back to Genesis 1 it says God spoke and everything happened the universe was created and held together by the Word of God the Word of God is the most powerful force in the universe it's not physics it's not just something out there there is God and God's spoken word is the most powerful force the universe this is 2nd Peter now and in Peters talking about the end times and he's talking about people who are mocking and scoffing about the end times ok here's what he says second Peter 3 beloved I now write to you the second time or the second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure Minds by way of a reminder that you may be mindful of the words were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of Lord and Savior knowing this that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the father's fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation for this they willfully forget listen that by the Word of God the heavens were of old by the Word of God the heavens were established okay and the earth standing out of water and in the water by which the world that then existed perished being flooded with water but the heavens in the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men so what Peter is saying is this in the last days people will come and they'll mock the fact that Jesus is returning is that happening by the way so that's an endtime prophecy they're mocking the fact that Jesus is returning and Peter says well you know the the foundational issue in their lives is they refuse to acknowledge the authority of the word of God they willfully forget that the worlds were created by the Word of God and all future events will be dictated by the Word of God the world is being reserved for fire the Bible says in Revelation that God will dust at the end of the millennium the thousand year rule of Christ that God will destroy the heavens and the earth with fire and create new heavens new earth and Peter says every future event is being reserved by the Word of God and it will happen exactly as God says and I'm saying to you right now the most powerful force in the world is the Bible that you carry this is this controls everything past present and future somebody say Amen that's why the devil hates it so much he hates it okay here's another truth about the Word of God that you need to understand all of God's blessing resides within his word God cannot and will not bless us outside of his word Genesis chapter 1 so this is verse seven God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them then God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth God blessed them and said God blessed them with his word when God spoke his word to them within the confines of that word there was a blessing and here's what that means when God told them to be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it what it means is God would supernaturally protect promote and bless them as long as they were doing that work he also told them that they couldn't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so they didn't have a lot of the word they didn't need a lot they just had the essence of what God wanted him to do enter Satan the only thing that Satan was after when he attacked Adam and Eve was to get them off that word within the confines of the Word of God they were invincible and they would still be alive and blessed today if they were honored the Word of God Satan is full-time occupation is to keep you off the Word of God because he only comes to steal kill and destroy and he can't touch you when you're on the word the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit it it is the most powerful force and Satan Satan was defeated by Jesus himself when Jesus quoted three scriptures Satan can't touch you when you're on the word you're blessed but off of the word of God God can't bless you now I got saved from his 19 years old truly got saved gave my life to Christ and I was a cursed young Christian I lived the first several years of my Christianity cursed at two areas of my life many areas that were cursed but two areas in particular was our marriage and our finances we had a cursed marriage after several years of marriage we almost divorced because I didn't know what the word said about marriage and you know I had no idea is a young husband we God miraculously healed our marriage the Lord began to teach me about marriage and the principles of marriage which I teach today people and when we begin to pray this the word in our marriage our marriage went from curse to bless and now this may Karen I'll be married 47 years blessed three years first and the rest of it bless we had a cursed marriage we were Christians with a cursed marriage we had cursed finances our finances were cursed we didn't know what the Bible had to say about money I didn't know what the Bible had to say we went to church one day in Kenyan we lived in Kenya at the time and the preacher was preaching on giving and I hated every single second of it and I struggle all my life financially I and I had no idea what the Lord said but he was he was just preaching out of the Bible and I was miserable and I thought during his sermon I hate this message and I'll never come back here again and we left in that afternoon Karen came up to me and said I really liked that preachers message and I'd like to give to the church well I got physically nauseated I mean I just thought this is the I married a fanatic and I can't believe it I mean it we're gonna go broke it just was terrible and and she but she gave $40 which was a zillion dollars to us at that time and with my hard heart over the months to come I saw God bless us in an unmistakable and that's how I met God because it's my father because I woke up one morning and I thought he knows us I didn't know that he knew me person I really did and but when we began to give I began to see tangible unmistakable changes in our finances and we're blessed we've lived the rest of our married lives financially blessed because of the Word of God and what I'm saying to you is all of God's blessing is right here you want you want this is your promised land you want to be blessed you have to come right here God can't bless you apart from this he loves you but he can't bless you and when we get saved it would be wonderful if we got saved and you wake up the next morning it's just you're just in this wonderful place a blessing that's not what happens you get saved and then you have to disciple yourself through the church through your quiet times through your relationship with Jesus and bring every area of your life to the Word of God and say I want to be conformed to your word Lord don't be conformed to this world Romans 12 says don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind here's what I'm saying to you I want you listen God wants you blessed the only one who wants you cursed to Satan God wants you blessed but he can't bless you apart from this so the decision Satan's warring right this minute as I'm preaching he's warring to keep you from this work and I'm saying to you the reason that he's warring is he wants to keep you cursed he wants to keep you defeated okay here's here's what Matthew 4 says Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights afterward he was hungry now when the tempter came to him he said if you're the Son of God command that these Stones become bread but he answered and said it is written listen man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God it's more important than food and every time Satan came against Jesus with a temptation Jesus said it is written it is written it is written the most important thing in your life is not money the most important thing in your life is God's blessing the most important thing in your life is not food the most important thing in your life is God's blessing I want to say something to all the parents and I want you to listen to me because parents have that even Christian parents can have this mantra and it's very well-meaning it's a very well-meaning thing but it creates problems and in the mantra of many parents is they tell their children once you graduate from high school once you go to college I want you to get a degree and I want you to get a good job go get graduate go to college get a good job get an education get a good job okay well can I say something that maybe help you change that a little bit because education is important that's all those things are it's not that they're not true but can i maybe help you to change the way you say that to your kids here's what you need to say to your children I want you to get an education but more than that I want you to seek God and find what his will for your life is and I want you to prepare for that how do you know that you're getting the right education if you don't know what God's will is for your life in Psalm 139 says that God individually knit us together in our mother's womb and he had so many thoughts for us that they're more than the sand of the seashore did you know that God detailed your life in your mother's womb there's only one person who can tell you who you really are in Scott I was safe for two weeks sitting in the back smoking Marlboro regular not whites Marlboro regular and it's important it's important and I mean I was a bad guy been safe for two weeks sitting in the backyard reading a book first Christian book that I read and a sheet dropped down in front of my face and I can see myself preaching to a multitude of people and the Lord was showing me who I am there's not one person Amarillo Texas would have said Jimmy Evans is a preacher but God did god knows who you are he knows who your child is and just going to a cookie-cutter college and get a cooking cutter degree and going down to make money that's not God's will fine man doesn't live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God God will bless you when you follow his word he will bless your children too here's the third thing about the Word of God the Word of God is God the word of God is not something it's God this is young one in the beginning was the word in the Word was with God and the Word was God he was in the beginning with God listen all things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it which means the dark darkness could not overpower it God is Lord Jesus is Lord of God in every single thing that was created in all the universe was created by the Word of God this is 2nd Timothy 3 all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work now in our Bible in our English Bible it says given by inspiration of God all Scripture is given by inspiration of God but in the Greek language that's one word pianist Asst Theo is God useless is spirit all Scripture is the Spirit of God this book is alive Hebrews four says the Word of God is quick and alive and sharper than any two-edged sword you read other books this book read you this is God God is in this work and if you say God fill me up but let him get his word on you he'll fill you up the more of the word you get in you the more of God you get in you this is work John 6 this is Jesus it is the spirit who gives life the flesh profits nothing the words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life this is a spiritual book understood by spiritual people and imparted by the Holy Spirit and so the Word of God is the most powerful force in the universe all of God's blessing resides within the Word of God in the Word of God is God and I just explained to you why Satan hates the word so much and why he wants to do any possible thing he can to keep it from your life or to take it away from you what we see happening in the world today well I want now to talk I want to ship turn to mark for in your Bibles there if you would I want to ship to a biblical principle okay though those are the basics of the Word of God but let me talk about a spiritual principle here a biblical principle for just a minute now mark 4 is the parable of the sower and Jesus is talking about a sower sowing seed and he is sowing all these seed and he's talking about four kinds of soil that three kinds that the seed cannot produce in and one kind that it can and he talks about the hard soil the soil on the road that immediately the birds come in and take the seed he talks about the the shallow soil where the seed takes root but when heat comes it wilts he talks about the thorny soil that the the seed has too much competition it gets choked out because of the thorns and he talks about the good soil so he's telling the parable of the sower and he's talking about four kinds of soil that the seed lands in now he's giving the interpretation that to the disciples he's giving them the interpretation he's going to say something shocking and I'm gonna talk about missed minute we'll go on this is verse 10 of Mark 4 when he was alone those around him with the twelve asked him about the parable and he said to them to you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God but to those who are outside all things come in parables so that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them whoa whoa whoa this is kind of a little bit of a shocker Jesus was a teacher they called him rabbi and Jesus is talking to all this multitude and he's telling the parable of the sower and he says the solar says the seed and so then the few of them are with the disciples take them aside and say you know Ward what is it mien and he says now I've granted that you can understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God how many of you would like to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God I'm gonna tell you how so he said to you I have granted the ability to understand the mysteries of God but to those other people I won't in fact I don't want them to understand it because if they understood it they might perceive and repent you're just thinking Oh talk about favoritism I feel sorry for those poor people that they're sitting there listening to him and he won't let him understand why why in the world would God why the world would Jesus go out and DePriest all those people and then wouldn't let him understand there's a reason there's a reason okay so we're gonna continue verse 13 he said to them do you not understand this parable and then will you understand all the parables how then will you understand all the parables this sower so is the word and these are the ones by the wayside the the road for the word is sown when they hear Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts these likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who when they hear the word immediately receive it with gladness and they have no root in themselves and so endure only for a time afterward when tribulation or persecution arises for the words sake immediately they stumble now these are the words sown among thorns they are the ones who hear the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful but these are the ones sown on good ground those who hear the word accepted and bear fruit some thirtyfold some sixty and some 100 also he said to them is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed is it not to be set on a lamp stand for there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed nor is anything been kept secret but that it should come to light if anyone has ears to hear let him hear then he said then now listen here's the principle so listen real carefully take heed what you hear with the same measure you use it will be measured to you and to you who hear more will be given for to whoever has to him more will be given but whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away ok so to you who here I'm gonna keep giving you more whoever has more will be given but to him who does not have even what he has will be taken away here's the kingdom principle I want to teach you in the kingdom of God you have to be qualified to be multiplied God does not indiscriminately or randomly come and multiply person you have to qualify for it and I'll read another scripture here that shows exactly the same principle in a different context in the kingdom of God you have to be qualified to be multiplied Matthew 25 now here's the same exact principle you're gonna hear the same exact words in a different context this is the parable of the talents Jesus this is actually a parable about when Jesus returns being ready to be judged by Jesus and it says the master went on a journey he gave one of his servants five talents one two talents and one one talent he returned from his journey the man who had five talents made five more talents well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your master the man who made two talents who had two talents made two more he said well done good and faithful servant enter in the joy master and then there was a man with one talent who hid it in the ground this is Jesus but his Lord answered and said to him you wicked and lazy servant you knew you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gathering where I have not scattered seed so you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers that my coming I would have received back my own with interest so take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents for to everyone who has here we go more will be given and he will have an abundance but from him who does not have any one he has to be taken away and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth we have identically the same statement that Jesus is made in two completely different context one is the parable of the talents one is the parable of the sower so Jesus says to him who has more will be given and he will have an abundance but him who does not have even one has to be taken away okay so what does that mean in the parable of the talents here's what it means take who has the ability to steward more will be given to him and he will have an abundance but to him who will not steward even what he has will be taken away though this is the story so it says in the beginning of Matthew 25 the master came and gave one man five talents one man two talents one man one Talent according to their own ability the word ability means demonstrated capacity the master had been watching these these men and he didn't favor the one with five talents and he wasn't picking on the guy with one town but the man with five talents had demonstrated to his master that he had the ability God is the perfect steward he cannot waste and if he would have given the man with one Talent five talents he would have wasted all those talents he can't but by his grace he gives everybody something but somebody's amen everybody's got something okay so God comes and he's been watching these guys and he notices that the guy with five could actually use more and he can and he gives him more and then the guy with two can have more and then by his grace he gives the guy with one one he comes at the end and lavishly rewards the guy with five lavishly rewards the guy with two and punishes the guy with one because he would not use it to him who has and took the one away from this guy and gave it to the one with ten which is not socialism by the way this in case you're thinking about voting for everybody so anyway I'm not saying it but the they go back to the parable resource so the parable is sower is there's four kinds of hearts and the sower sowing the word and there's the hard heart the shallow heart the thorny heart the good heart okay so what does this principle mean related to the Word of God the principle was given related to stewardship to him who has more will be given but when Jesus says related to the parable of the sower to him who has more will be given okay and him who does not have even what he has to be taken away does it mean here's what it means to him who receives the truth of the word more truth will be given to him and he will have an abundance based on how much of the word he receives according to his standard of measure but to him who rejects the truth of the word he has disqualified himself from receiving more truth and even the truth he has will be taken away from him Jesus is telling a story about the parable of the sower and the sower comes to sow but there are three types of soil that reject the Word of God won't let it produce and then I begin Jesus began the parable of the sower with these words to you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God but to those who are outside outside all things come in parables so that seeing they may not see and they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand lest they should be that's elisha turn and their sins be forgiven so listen to me so jesus had already told these people out here the word and they rejected it when Jesus taught the Word of God if you accepted his word he would give you more word but those people he said I to you to those of you who have been faithful followers of mine and every time I speak you received my word I have granted to you to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God because I gave you my word and you accepted it so I'm going to give you even more to those of you who have truth and you've received it I'm going to give you more and more and more every truth that you receive qualifies you for more truth but every truth that you reject disqualifies you for more truth and sets you up for deception even what you have will be taken away so what Jesus is saying is this those people out there those people outside that won't listen to my word I'm not giving them anymore if you reject the virgin birth don't expect a lot of revelation after that if you reject the blood atonement of Jesus don't expect the heavens to pardon to see the Son of God standing at the right hand of the Father if you take the basic truths of the Bible and reject them you're not getting any more and this explains by the way stop why so many people who wants held to the Word of God who are now defecting from the faith because once you begin to reject the word related to abortion and the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage and biblical morality and all of these curses once you begin to do that not only have you rejected the word you've now set yourself up for deception and they say all saying that it's possible to be so open-minded that your brains fall out and you see seriously look at look at the craziness and it's crazy you say how do people get so crazy you can't say boys and girls the Bible says God made a male and female they boys and girls anymore I am I'm a setup here said boys and girls boys he girl what do I hope it just annoys Oliver so but how do people get so crazy by rejecting the truth of the word of God it's a dangerous thing to reject the Word of God because you set yourself up not just to lose the ability to gain more truth but actually lose the truth you have to everyone who has more will be given but to him who does not have even what he has to be taken away listen let me say let me say something people don't control truth God controls truth it's possible to be so open minded that your faith falls out and you lose the capacity to understand the basics of the Bible so let me put this to the test here so what I'm saying is every time you receive a basic truth of the Bible you set yourself up to receive more to the degree that you receive the but the truth of the word is to the degree that God's gonna give you more okay so let me I'm gonna read seven basic truths from the Word of God just seven base these are very basic and I want I want to ask you two questions as I'm reading these what do you think about these really I mean what what do you think and what does the world thing what do you really think the world thinks about these so here's seven very basic truth immortal God number number one God created the universe and everything in it in six days on the seventh day he rested very basic Genesis 1:2 God created man in His image in two genders male and female number three God created marriage is a sacred covenant relationship between one man one woman how can I get in so much trouble in such a short amount of time it's it's a gift it is a gift I have it number four Satan is real and he hates God and His Word and leads the demonic horde that only comes to steal kill and destroy number five now it's wonderful to be in the presence of people like honestly is I thank God for you number five mankind rebelled against God and died spiritually thus becoming morally corrupted and fallen every person is born spiritually dead and with the Fallen nature that's the opposite of humanism number six God loves mankind and never desired anything but good for us and even after we rebelled he created a plan of redemption to pay for our sins and to bring us back into a relationship with him God became a man and he lived a life we should have lived and died the death we should have died to pay for our sins Jesus is the only means of eternal redemption through faith in Him we were born again and restored into a personal relationship with God number seven every person who has ever lived will stand in eternal judgment before God one day there's a real heaven and a real hell and every person has one of those two eternal destinations based on their faith in Jesus no that's just basic Bible right so most Christians don't believe those the majority of Christians do not believe those seven statements I just made and let me let me prove it to you so this is a ten-year-old article 2009 in the Christian Post by Jennifer Riley and the title of this article is most US Christians don't believe Satan or the Holy Spirit exists most Christians don't believe hell is real even though Jesus talk more about Hell than heaven so this is the article I'm quoting the majority of American Christians do not believe that Satan is a real being or that the Holy Spirit is a living entity the latest Barna survey found nearly six out of ten Christians either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with a statement that Satan is not a living being but as a symbol of evil the survey found 40 percent strongly agreed with the statement while 19 percent of American Christians somewhat agreed in contrast about 35% of American Christians believe Satan is real 26 percent strongly disagreed with the statement that Satan is merely symbolic in about 1/10 somewhat disagree so that 70 percent of Christians do not believe that Satan is real and about a third believed he's real is continued here likewise most Christians in the United States do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force 58 percent strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that the Holy Spirit is a symbol of God's power or presence but is not a living entity well there's a problem well first of all the Holy Spirit shows up in the second verse in the Bible you kind of know you're a major figure when you show up the second verse and the Holy Spirit is obviously a major character in the Bible because he's got ok but the Spirit of God brooded over the surface of the deep is verse 2 of Genesis chapter 1 Satan shows up in the 3rd chapter of the Bible he's in the Bible until Revelation chapter 20 there are only four chapters in the Bible that do not include the presence and activity of Satan Genesis 1 and 2 in Revelation 21 and 22 Satan is a major figure in the Bible and Jesus in the wilderness fought Satan himself mark 4 or Matthew 4 Luke 4 records the temptation of Jesus let me say first of all if what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit and the devil isn't true why in the world would anybody believe what it says about Jesus what would you believe it I mean if anything in this book is incredible why would you base your life on it you can't cafeteria the Bible you can't go through and say I like that blessed me I like I'm putting that on frigerator you take it or you leave it this is the inspired and infallible Word of God that's what this is and when Christians when the Christians say they don't believe in Hell well that's real that's just you know in that convenient live like hell and then go to heaven in that convenient there is a hell there's a real heaven and there's a real hell and the decisions that we make in this life have an eternal significance and this book every word in this book is the truth of God that's what it is take it or leave it don't pick around on it see I'm not surprised that the world doesn't believe the word they're unbelievers I'm not shocked that non-christians act like non Christians I'm not shocked that they think like non-christians I'm shocked that believers act like that but remember remember in Matthew 24 the disciples came up to Jesus and they say can you tell us what the end is going to be like and he told him in detail he was very specific about the end times and then Matthew 25 is three parables about when Jesus returns and the first parable is the parable of the virgins the bridegroom returns and five versions were ready in 5 verses were living in darkness and didn't know the bridegroom according to Jesus Christ when he returns 50% of the church will be false he gave those he gave this statistic not me when he was asked about the end and I don't know I don't go around judging I don't know I don't know who isn't isn't but I'm telling you it is alarming to see what's happening in the church and thank God you're sitting in a church that preaches the Word of God I don't say that self-righteously I'm saying I thank God that all the time I was pastoring here and also pastor Jimmy that the elders gave us the freedom to preach the Word of God I want to I want to talk I'm gonna close this message by talking about the condition of our hearts Jesus said there's only one kind of heart that can bear fruit for God and it's a good heart so I don't believe I'm gonna say so it talks about the heart heart the shallow heart the thorny heart and the good heart I don't that could be you know four types of people I honestly believe that all of us can have hard areas of our hearts and shallow areas and thorny areas in good areas I think there are some things that are naturally easy for all of us to hear and I think there are things that are naturally difficult for some of us here well I mean so let me talk very quickly and I want to talk about plowing the hard areas of our hearts through repentance and obedience jesus said the sower shows the word and these are the one by the wayside where the word is sown and when they hear Satan comes immediately it takes away the word that was sown in their hearts well Karen and I went to church and the preacher was preaching on giving and I hated it that word was out of my heart before I left the parking lot Satan had stolen that word from literally by the time I got out of the parking lot I mean I had given that word up and we get home but Karen had received the word she had a different heart we're lady to give him there are areas that I could receive in but not in that area the way we speak the way we the words of our mouths the way we treat people marriage giving submission to Authority pride and humility forgiveness grace the supernatural the Holy Spirit faith prayer believing that God is my loving Heavenly Father in trusting him this have there are areas that some of us have that our hearts are hard let me say why if you're chronically failing in an area and you chronically struggle in an area and you're not blessed God loves you it's not saying you're not saved it's not saying God doesn't love you is saying you're hard to the word in that area and the only answer - a hard heart is repentance and obedience and in the area of marriage in the area of giving and other areas of my life that I was hard I had to repent God God's not gonna repent to us and we have to go to God and say I repent for my hardness toward the truth of your word now I say this and I just think all of us have areas that we're hardened I just think we do I want 20/20 listen I want 20/20 to be the most blessed year of your life but if it's going to be blessed the word has to penetrate and if you have a hardness it means it won't and you won't be blessed what God wants you to be but you have to change your heart and if there's an area that you're hard - what I'm asking you to consider is saying to the Lord here tonight I'm deeply deeply sorry for the sin of rejecting your work it might have been trauma in your past it might have been you know I grew up poor so in my life it was just the scar of being poor that hardened me toward the issue of money but I want you to repent I want you to open your heart to the Word of God the second thing I want to talk about is deepening the shallow areas of our hearts by embracing difficulty and persecution caused by faith in God in his word this is mark 8 when he had called the people to himself with his disciples he said to them whoever dark desires to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever desires to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it for what will a man profit if he gains the whole world loses his soul or what will a man give in exchange for his soul for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him the son of man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father was holy angels in the parable of the sower jesus said there was a seed that was sown on the shallow ground and it immediately sprang up but when difficulty or persecution arose because of the word they cast out the word okay so Jesus says whoever desires to come after me be my disciple he's gonna have to deny himself and take up his cross and follow me well first of all it's not about you it wasn't about you it's not about you it'll never be about you it's about Jesus and we live in a very narcissistic world full of ego driven people and if it's all about you you'll never make a disciple and by the way the word disciple means a learner of the word jesus said if I'm gonna teach you the word the first thing is it's not about you get over yourself it's not about you the second thing is is take up your cross Jesus had not died on the cross when he made that statement it was not a symbol that people wore around their necks or anything like that it was a cruel death instrument that the Romans used to kill people and torture people and when Jews would go from town to town at the city gates of towns and cities people were crucified at the city gate because the Romans wanted to put the fear into you and you would walk by and see someone that hadn't died yet they were hanging there suffering and the Romans were saying don't you mess with us and don't you rebel against us and Jesus it was just a cruel death instrument Jesus said you want to be my disciple you're gonna have to get over yourself and you're gonna have to be willing to suffer and I want you to follow me follow me means you're not the boss I'm the boss Jesus said the disciples one time why don't you call me Lord warden don't do it I say you need to go look up the dick word in the dictionary and figure out what it means it means master it means boss if you want to be my disciple jesus said you've got to get over yourself you've got to be willing to suffer and you've got to be willing to do what I say okay so it's not a life of convenience it's the life of servitude and by the way you're gonna serve Satan or you're gonna serve Jesus but if you think you're free the only way you're free is free in Jesus you're not free from Jesus you're free in Jesus okay so so the shallow soil is soil that is uncommitted I will do what I can do conveniently for God but if it causes me difficulty or persecution I'm out because you can't bear fruit because you're just you're not committed so here's two questions I want to ask you the first question is what price are you willing to give for the Word of God in your life what is this worth to you and there's only one right answer everything everything let me ask you another question what what what price are you willing to take for the Word of God more friends on Facebook more wax to your tweets more money better job people who speak well of you ease what would you take what's your price what's your price all these people that are defecting from the faith they have a price they want to be politically correct many people want to be politically correct Jesus got killed because he was politically incorrect all the early disciples except for one were martyred because they were politically incorrect millions of Christians had been martyred because of the words of their mouth and what they believed in they would not sell their soul all the way to death that whatsoe'er shows the word and some people are so shallow that they'll only hang on to the word if it's easy and our hearts need to be hearts that are deepened that we aren't Christians in church we're Christians wherever we go and we're aren't we aren't Christians on the good days we're Christians every day and we aren't Christians in private we're Christians in public and let me say this I'm not talking about being self-righteous there are three kinds of Christians related the world okay the legalistic Christians the world is the enemy and legalistic people will never reach the world because I hate them and they're the enemy okay the second type of Christian is a lukewarm Christian the world is home and they live convenient and compromise lives the third type of Christian is loving Christians to us the world is our mission field and we love people we don't judge them let me tell you a story let me tell you the perfect story to describe the kind of Christian we're supposed to be and this is in John chapter 8 and Jesus was teaching in the temple and the Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in the act of adultery they took her out of bed she was caught in the very act of adultery and they brought her and threw her at the feet of Jesus and they said Lord according to Moses this woman needs to be stoned to death and Jesus never responded to him Jesus just got down in the soil in the dirt there and he began to write and now I believe he was writing down their sins all of their sins and he was down the woman was over here and the Pharisees are here and he's saying your girlfriend is Donna draws an arrow over here you're stealing money from work oh this guy right here okay you drove drunk last weekend you're looking at bad stuff on the internet and so he's saying stuff like that and it says beginning with the older to the younger they began to be convicted of their sins and they all walked away and Jesus stood up and the woman was standing there and he said woman were your accusers and she said they all left he said I don't accuse you from this point forward I want you to stop sinning he didn't attack her he saved her life he didn't judge her he wasn't mean to her but he told her that her behavior was sin and to stop but he did it in the most compassionate way possible see if you're a worldly Christian if you're a you know compromised Christian and you're willing to give up the word for a friend or whatever the word is the only thing that can save and heal people the work the person who loves you the most isn't the person who tells you what you want to hear is the person who tells you what you need to hear and people need the word of God I don't want to I don't want to be a self-righteous holy Joe I don't want to be a Pharisee but let me just say something this world it's not my home it's not your home I'm 66 years old there's a scripture in Psalm 90 they say says the days of a man's life for 70 years or if I by reason of strength or 80 I don't like this scripture I know I'm teaching about the word but I'm wrestling with that my heart is hard toward that I Lord I repent so I'm on the last leg I won't be here for much longer twenty years however much longer and that's fine I've got a place where I'm going that's my home but this is my mission pill as long as I'm here I'm here to make a difference but I can't make a difference if I give it forward and that's just what we're seeing in the world day one more thing and I'm done and that is talking about the thorny areas of our hearts these are the ones sown among thorns they're the ones who hear the word the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches the desire for other things entering in choke the world the word that becomes unfruitful they choke the word and here's the point a person with a thorny heart the word is not first and there's just too much competition the word isn't first jesus said seek first the kingdom of God does righteousness I'll give you everything else it's the greatest promise in the Bible Matthew 6:33 if you'll give God first place in your life he'll bless you and everything else you do but many people never bear fruit for God because they're busy busy busy it's the old saying that if the devil can't get in front of you and stop you he'll get behind you and push you too fast and their people is going going going going going and they don't have enough time for God that's exactly what the devil wants but what God wants is for us to wake up in the morning and the first thing we do is get in work and the first day of the week we get in the word and everything else in our life stops for the sake of the word and so I'm asking you how's your heart related the Word of God how's your heart and none of us have a perfect heart but we can change the bad areas of our hearts by making a right response to God once you bow your heads with me if you would and thank you for being so patient lord we we receive your word you said to him who has more will be given and he will have an abundance Lord we received the word we received your word here this evening and not just that we receive your word this evening we receive your word we receive the scriptures is being inspired of God and Lord we see the war going on around us every day concerning your word but Lord what we say is we're on your side we're on your side and we pray for more revelation we pray that we would have the ability granted to us to know the mysteries of God to understand greater revelation but Lord we come and plow we repent of unbelief in areas of our lives where we have heard the word and rejected it and we repent and we make a commitment to you to obey that word to obey that area of your word beginning right now the shallow areas where we have fear of men and fear of persecution and fear of consequences if we do what your word says we repent and we say Jesus if we have to die for you you're worth it you died for us whatever we have to do to serve you we'll do it in the thorny areas of our lives that have overcrowded your word we say Lord whatever we have to do to put you first and to keep you first we'll do it for the sake of your word we want to have a heart that bears fourth root thirty sixty and a hundredfold we want to be a person that you can keep giving and giving and giving your word to because we keep receiving it and stewarding it well I pray your blessing over these precious people all the campuses I pray your blessing and that you would help us to have good hearts that are full of your word and bearing for it for you why don't you keep your head bowed and your eyes closed to believe there some here today that you want to live the blessed life that pastor Jimmy is talking about but you haven't yet taken the first step to make Jesus the Lord of your life to accept him as your Savior just like pastor Jimmy said Jesus live the life we should have lived and died the death that we should have died he suffered on the cross so that we could be made right with God the Bible says that our part in making Jesus the Lord of our life is to confess that he is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead that's our part and you can make that confession make Jesus the Lord of your life right here right now tonight in your seat just say it just tell him say Jesus I need you I believe that you died for me that you rose for me and I say right now I want you to be my Savior thank you for saving me I choose you I changed my mind from living on my own and I surrender my life to you right now Jesus thank you and if you just had that conversation with Jesus right there in your seat it is that simple you are saved and I want you to do one more thing Jesus is so proud of you and he was thinking about you specifically that day on the cross and I want you to raise your hand high right now and acknowledge him in that decision that you just made thank you Jesus thank you Jesus it is the best decision that you will ever make in your entire life and there is a celebration going on in heaven right now and we're gonna join that celebration and celebrate with you come on everybody let's give these new family members a round of applause and while we're at it why don't we praise God for an amazing week as I on thank you guys thank you God

Channel: Trinity Fellowship Church

Views: 3,486

Rating: 4.8367348 out of 5

Keywords: Zion 2020, zion, trinity fellowship, trinity, amarillo, texas, jimmy evans, Hebrews 11:3, 2 Peter 3:1, Genesis 1:27, Mark 4:10-24, Mark 8:34

Id: Fj1v9001H74

Length: 56min 38sec (3398 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 14 2020