For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. Prov.23:7KJV
Good Morning everyone, as the attacks and all the misconceptions have started already today with computer crashes, incapable use of certain pictures, plus other equipment failures and breakdowns of certain effects, things seem to be a normal day. At least in the life of this church, so as always we are going forth, and pressing on no matter what evil throws at us to preach the word of truth, and the bread of life. At least we must be doing something right for the Kingdom, to be tormented by so many continuous evil assaults.
Dear Father in Heaven, please O’ Lord we just want to express our love to you, and we worship you dearly, with all our hearts. We are all your children, and we want to thank you for this church, and all the members, and all the people who have helped us along this narrow road, to find the true path to righteousness, and how we are all fitted and placed together to make a perfect union of the body of Christ. Please be with us in spirit and in truth, as we worship you in spirit and in truth. Please send your Holy Spirit to us all that hear and read this message today, we need your Holy influence of love, understanding, and compassion. In Jesus’ mighty Name, Amen.
Please turn your bibles to the book of Matthew 25:14 “ the parable of the talents”
"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to the last--dividing it in proportion to their abilities--and then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of gold began immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. The servant with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled the money. But the servant who received the one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping.
"After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of gold said, `Sir, you gave me five bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' The master was full of praise. `Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'
"Next came the servant who had received the two bags of gold, with the report, `Sir, you gave me two bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' The master said, `Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'
"Then the servant with the one bag of gold came and said, `Sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.'
"But the master replied, `You wicked and lazy servant! You think I'm a hard man, do you, harvesting crops I didn't plant and gathering crops I didn't cultivate? Well, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Matt.25:14-30 NLT
What I would like to talk about today is the spirit of fear; I think in this day and age the word fear is in every man or woman alive, we are all pressed with all kinds of fears. Fear starts when we all start growing up, by the time any of us reach maturity our minds are so full of hardships and anxieties, pains and hurts that are deep within all our minds, and some of them become scares, and some just bad memories., or some fears that are locked way back within our minds. A number of of them could have come from bad childhoods, like getting bitten by a dog, or a spider or other insect, or a quantity of high school disturbances, or a lose of a loved one, or maybe a certain fist fight with the school bully, what ever the effects that stick into a persons mind are all different types of fears that we have to live with sometimes most of our lives. I had a father that was very strict, and of course I gained a fear every time he drove into the driveway, chills would enter my heart. Another fear could be illustrated by an accident a few months ago, a tractor trailer backed into me and crushed the front of my truck, and came close to crushing me, and I have been afraid to even go back into that parking lot, now when I see a big truck backing up, I have become in a unusual way, a slight gun shy. All these fears that are deep in our hearts are "footholds" within our minds, and then Satan can use them as "strongholds".
We use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's strongholds. With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ. And we will punish those who remained disobedient after the rest of you became loyal and obedient. 2Cor. 10:4-5 NLT
But the just shall live by faith My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it; and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him.
But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah and by faith preserve the soul. Heb. 10:38-39 AMP
The man with the one talent was chosen along with one of the three, he was not bad or evil, mainly he was living in fear, He was afraid, he wasn’t full of sin, but he was living in fear and if he was living in fear he was living in a mode of rebellion and not trusting in our Lord.
This one man was chosen to be a servant of Jesus Christ. He was called just like the other two. But then he was cast out because he was tormented by fear. He was being controlled by one of the principles of Satan’s army. So we cannot allow fear to control us. The man buried the money because he was afraid of loosing it.
When we follow the closeness of Christ, and stay with Him, and cherish Him, we will have the victory over fear. Our faith and love and relationship toward Christ will overcome any fear.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1John 5:4-5 NKJV
If we let fear control us then where is the power of the living God within us? If we don’t have control with in ourselves, through Christ , we are nothing.
And sooner or later we start following a pattern lead by evil. If we truly love Christ totally, wanting to be like Him, and to be like him, and to fully know Him. There isn’t any way that fear can enter, yes there are times that we all fall into several attacks, by evil and if we fall into the spirit of fear and worry, then that is when we submit to God.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:7-10 NLT
Back to the master that divided the money according to each one’s abilities. Each one received what each one could particularly handle, in other words God gives us certain gifts, talents, and jobs to do, so if they are given to us by God, each one of us should be able to handle each duty without being over whelmed.
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1Cor. 10:13 NIV
I have to admit that some may have the spirit so deep within their insides, that sometimes they lose all control, it is not a mental problem it is that secret spirit of fear of the devil that has invaded in that person, let’s say for instance, let us imagine walking into a psyche ward, and you will find people all different, just like you or me, locked into these cold cells, and them being in there is not really a chemical imbalance, or a physiological problem, or emotional problem, it could very mainly be along the line somewhere in their lives they picked up a demonic spirit, from almost anywhere, maybe even a cult church, that has entered in, with out the person or family and friends not even knowing it. We have to remember that Jesus went around casting demonic spirits, 2000 years ago, and these same spirits just didn’t go away or disappear they are just reclassified in our 20th century today.
And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him."
Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Matt. 17:14-16 NKJV
They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
"Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:26-38 NIV
So there is just 2 examples, and that is why we see many deliverance ministries, all over the world.
***For example many years ago, the ministry house I lived in went to a seminar for healing, in Shiloh, Oakland, CA. There was a little man, was praying over everyone in sight, all kinds of people, and he was laying people out in the spirit, all over the Berkley campus, and then after watching this man pulling legs, bending backs, straitening arms etc. At the very end of it all, the man pointed to me, I as just sitting in the stands, and he said I want to pray, for this guy. He brought me up on the stage, and he started to pray for me, and I got laid out in the spirit, and then he reached toward my gut, and yelled, rebuke, and I arched my back with a large cough, and came up of the stage floor about a foot and then hit the stage, I did not feel the hardness of me crashing down on the stage, but he did this seven times, and each time I coughed, while there was about a dozen preachers praying all around me in tongues , then they all picked me up and lead me back to the chair, and I sat there and wept, and I actually felt pure, no fear, no worry, no pain, I actually felt like I was a newborn baby, just starting over, in other words I truly felt born again. So I guess to prove a point, I myself had a few things inside me, even though I was a Christian, so that goes to show, that each one of us can have, some type of spirit, of fear or worry, or any other type of spirit, and not even know it.
So I just want to express the fact that nothing has changed, in the last 2000, years there are demonic spirits everywhere, but in our worldly society today most people think there is something wrong with a persons brain, or some other physiological problem, but we do have to consider that these poor defenseless people all in these psyche wards, may have some sort of demonic spirit, or spirits in them, and then they are given all these medications, and the medications are controlling the person, but may or may not be controlling the spirit that dwells within them.
Let us express another view, for instance we see a skinny little man, and it takes six heavy strong men to hold him down to get him into a straight jacket, now does where does this skinny little man get all this strength? Where is this power coming from? Well you see how strong a demonic spirit can be. Am I starting to make sense? Why do you think there are so many deliverance ministries, but we also have to realize that people that are around these demonic spirits all the time, I would say sometimes that these very people pick up spirits without even knowing it, and in my travels all over this country, I have felt it. In the very people that are going to deliver you, they themselves possibly could posses spirits themselves, it is the law of the odds, and it is completely logical. Staying pure, without sin, is very hard, while we all yet live in the flesh.
We all have to understand that these same demons are a major fact in cancer, colds, flu’s, blindness, deafness, and all other kinds of sickness and disease. God does not come and give all these sufferings to His people; God is the Healer of all things.
And He said, " If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer." Ex. 15:26 NASB
We are fighting a war here that people just don’t see, we are all blinded of a demonic spiritual force active within this world.
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 2Cor. 4:4-5 NIV
Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. Eph. 2:1-2 NLT
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph 6:12 NASB
Now let us return to our subject in Matt. 25, Back to our servant, who is like any one of us, having the will of god and blessed into the kingdom, Theoretically he had the same power and relationship as the other two that received the talents, but the master only gave him one, he also must have known his ability. But this particular man had the spirit of fear within him and we all know that;
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.2Tim.1:7KJV
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.1John 4:18 NKJV
This is the way Satan has control over our lives, fear is an acting living spirit that controls our lives. So fear does not come from God, it comes from evil. Satan wants to control us by fear; the devil wants to stop us from doing the will of God. We are basically in bondage if we are in fear of let us say the bills, or our financial situations, living conditions, etc, then we cannot concentrate on the word, the love, and our intimate relationship with God.
God is a God of love, we really need to understand that we are all fighting a spiritual war may it be with Christians in opposition to Christians or believers with non believers, or within our own selves, but it is not the people themselves, it is the spirits that may dwell into each and every person, with many different degrees of elevations, we should all be sticking together and helping each other, and as the years go on towards the end, these demonic spirits seem to be spouting up in large a percentage of human personalities. We can all see it, in the papers, television, the churches, and even in the pulpits.
God has given us many gifts, and if we don’t utilize them, and or are afraid to use them, we will turn out to be like the people in Matt 7;
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Matt. 7:21NIV
We all have to admit that not all of us will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, if we don’t utilize the gifts and talents that the Lord has given us all. We have to fight this spirit of fear, it is very important to us all, when fear in any one of us comes about it would seem as if we are robbing God, and it hurts God. We must be praising and in worship and prayer with Him as much as we can. If we are being controlled by fear than we can not do the work that God predestined us to do, we can’t do our work as Christians, we can’t be good witnesses if we are worrying or in fear about other things including fears of our own selves. This way the whole kingdom gets hurt, and the major accomplishments will not be completed, you can see the strategy of the evil one now I hope. We all know that Satan is running out of time and now he is using all the biggest guns he can.
Things in our lives act like the domino affect if we can’t help someone else because of fear, then that person cannot help the next, who learned what you were supposed to teach or help them learn through love or a special deed, or a message, or just a simple scripture, you were supposed to reveal.
For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1Pet.4:17 NASB
So if we get controlled by the spirit of fear what will God say when we stand before Him, don’t forget we cannot bear good fruit if we are a slave to fear and or worry. We are to help each other in this cold world, and if we look at ourselves in a state of fear, how can we follow the great commission?
Dear Heavenly Father, How O’Lord do I end this sermon, How O’God do I make all of your words stick into everyone’s minds for the good of the Kingdom, your glory, and all of our eternal lives, Please O’Lord comfort us all, show us the way through that narrow road that leads to life. Please heal all of our hurts, pains and fears, which will stop the enemy from slipping into all of our lives. In Jesus Name, Amen, and Amen.
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. Prov.23:7KJV
