"Don't Die in the Wilderness"

 

Steve shares one of his life messages at Grace Assembly in Klang, Malaysia.  This message is about not dying in the Wilderness and making it into the Promised Land.  It is pointed, relevant and gives clear direction about how to actually make it into your Promised Land. 

 

Steve preaches for about 50 minutes and Pastor Richard Thong gives a follow up of around 10 minutes at the end which is equally powerful.

 

"Quacking" in the Church

When the Apostle Paul was speaking to the Ephesians, he told them this:

Acts 20:26-27 (NKJV) “Therefore I testify to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God”

In counseling the young Pastor Timothy, Paul said this:

2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV) “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ahamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

Paul used the term "innocent" about himself when saying that he had faithfully declared the Word of God. In other words, he believes he would have been "guilty" of some error, he would have had the blood of men on his hands had he not declared "the whole counsel" of God. What is the whole counsel of God?

Other versions of the Bible which interpret the same verse use terms like "the whole will of God" or "all that God wants you to know." In short, the whole counsel of God is to preach the balanced, big picture of everything He has to say about any given subject.

The Word of God is a collection of books which requires dedicated study. When I am preparing to preach a sermon or even give a simple Bible study, it is not a joke. I cannot simply go to the scripture that I want to base my teaching on. I must go to every scripture that I can find in the Bible that deals with that subject in that particular context. This is why it might take me as long as 20 hours or more to prepare a sermon, especially if it is the first time I have covered that subject. There have been times that I have reviewed more than 100 scriptures in order to teach on just 1 of them. On average, it's more like 20-30 scriptures I look at before I understand the broader context. Do I really need to do that much research to prepare a 45 minute talk? Yes, I do. The reason is because much of the studying that I am doing is simply to make sure that I am not preaching a slanted or a narrow piece of God's Counsel without taking into account and adequately teaching the bigger picture.

Could I throw a sermon together in an hour or two? Could I watch a YouTube video from some other preacher or read a chapter of a popular book and preach it? I suppose I could... many do it (quite obviously)... but I won't. First of all, I didn't get that revelation personally. Secondly, whenever I study someones sermon or book and really go into the scriptures, it is literally shocking how often they are casually throwing around things that are completely out of context or they have added their own words to scripture (always marked with emphasis, of course). Friends, I'm not talking about little known teachers but I'm talking about materials you can buy at your local established and reputable Bible Bookstore. Scary. It's good to remember that a Bible Bookstore is a business. They sell things that sell. They sell ear tickling, people pleasing books and videos right up there on the same shelves next to the solid, balanced, un-compromising books and videos that quite frankly in most cases, aren't selling nearly as well.

A famous Bible School professor once said that "heresy is the overemphasis of any minor doctrine." He was right! If we speak only a small part of the truth and major on what is minor, then we lead people astray. (He's so famous that I forgot his name!) The over-emphasis of minor doctrines happens every day. Think of abuses in the realm of prosperity, healing or grace teachings. All of these teachings have a place in the big picture of God's counsel, but they do not stand alone and it must always be remembered that at the core of an understanding of God is that He is sovereign. The sovereignty of God is a major doctrine. These other doctrines are subservient to it.

Let me put it this way. God does whatever He wants to do, whenever He wants to do it according to His Word, His own rules that He gave Himself. And the only prayer that He is obligated to answer is the one that you pray which is in accordance with His will. And so for instance, if you don't have the character to handle wealth, then you can tithe and give and pray all you want, but God in his grace probably won't entrust you with much of it. Why? Because He loves you too much!

When the Apostles selected 7 men to help them in serving the people in the early Church of Jerusalem, it was so that they could devote themselves to prayer and to the study of God's Word. Hmmm... they must have been studying and praying a lot!!! (Acts 6)

That was a BIG foundation for my main point! I hear the sound of "Quacking in the Church!" Like ducks? Nope. Like people who are "Quacks!"

Quack is an English slang term used to describe people who neither have the qualifications nor the experience but pass themselves off to be experts, usually for the purpose of gaining money or fame. The most famous type are "Quack Doctors." If you Google the subject, you will find a lot about them.

In years past, many of these quacks were involved in selling products including a very popular field of helping ladies lose weight. They would post advertisements saying that if you take their products, you can eat whatever you want and as much as you want and will still stay slim. One of their alleged products, was to intake tapeworms which would theoretically eat the food in your stomach. Great, right? Evidently, thousands of women went for it. Or, maybe it's an urban myth. There is debate even on this! This was a long time ago! I think most ladies now wouldn't do that. (they go for lipo or plastic surgery instead.. hahahaha) Potions, secret ingredients, items imported from exotic lands... These quacks have tried to sell everything to gullible people. By the way, they are still at it but are more careful about it. Billions of dollars are spent every month on things that don't work.

I was at a lunch the other day with a well meaning pastor who was telling me that I should eat a lot of honey. Well, as an under control diabetic who has done much research, I know that I am not supposed to eat a lot of honey, no matter the kind. What may be good for some people may not be good for me! He was telling me that if I eat natural honey, that it won't affect me and will actually cure my diabetes. How does he know this? Because people told him so and because he read an article on the internet. Sorry, but I need more than that before I risk my health!

The point is that people are constantly giving us advice that is narrow and even inaccurate. It's not only true in the field of health, but also in the field of spiritual advice.

If I told you all of the crazy advice based on mis-applied scriptures I have encountered, it would floor you! Some people have been damaged beyond imagination. Others still have not awakened to the error of what they have been taught and are in a state of blindness.

Here is my advice to you. Don't be a Quack and don't be gullible! Don't try to be an expert unless you have actually gone through the process of studying God's Word and gained godly, trustworthy counsel. Every Christian needs to be more careful when giving scriptural advice. To the same point that the Apostle Paul was at... Realizing that when we dispense partial truth, we are guilty of the blood of men.

And don't be a Prophetic Quack! Just because you think it was God who spoke to you does not mean that it really was or that it completely was. Every prophecy, every dream, every impression must be tested according to God's Word.

The term Paul used with Timothy was "Approved." He was saying that only after you have studied the big picture are you one who is approved by God who can now correctly handle the Word of God.

Let me tell you friend, the Word of God is a loaded weapon and you had better respect it and you had better learn how to use it. Remember this, even the devil uses scripture. The devil used scripture on Jesus and he still does it today. Because Jesus understood the whole counsel of God's Word, He was able to refute the scriptural manipulations of the devil. (Matthew 4:1-11)

Unfortunately, I believe that if Jesus were to show up in human form today in many Churches, He would keep interrupting the preachers in the same way he gave rebuttal to the devil. It would go something like this:

Preacher: "You're the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, the lender and not the borrower!"

Jesus: "Hello?! That's not for everyone who calls themselves a Christian. That will be true for those who are careful to obey all of My commandments."

You don't believe me? Check it out for yourself in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. And while you're at it, check the rest of the Bible as well. There are strict conditions for prosperity. It's not just a matter of sowing in the Sunday collection.

Where are the prophets?!? Not the "feel good" false prophets that only speak encouragement and never call out sin or confront bad attitudes or partial teachings... The real ones? The ones who are passionate about Jesus and His Word? The ones who care more about peoples salvation than they do about their own acceptance and their own reputation? The ones who weep over the fact that 5 of the 10 virgins didn't make it because they were foolish and ill-prepared! (Matthew 25) Where are the prophets who are grieved that many Churches have become dens of thieves... businesses which promote and enrich men rather than building the true Kingdom of God!

It's time for a major clean up. A shift is coming. A new reformation. Let us be sensitive to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit in this time and let us move with Him. Let us be disciplined to study ourselves to the point of approval by God to correctly handle His Word.

Tolerate the Attack?

The word "tolerate" is one that I normally think of in a negative light.  Tolerance is not a friend of the Christian, especially in modern political and social lingo.  I often  use the term in a sentence that begins like this: "I will not tolerate..."

Imagine my surprise earlier this week when a prophet who I sat down with, a female prophet from India, told me that I need to "tolerate the attack" that is coming!

She spoke to me straight from the heart of God for 35 minutes.  The meeting had been arranged by a Pastor friend of mine here where I'm ministering in Malaysia for a month.  He had Holy Spirit inspired urgency to put us together.  She spoke to me about many things that she could not have known.  I received more than a dozen confirmations in that meeting.

I noticed that she chose her words carefully (unlike some other prophets) and she is a highly educated lady of substance and means.  She could have used a more common word like "endure," but she used "tolerate."

To tolerate something is to allow it to happen even if you have the power to stop it.

Here is the exact prophecy:

"Tribulation.  A terrible time of tribulation is coming on you and your ministry.  Betrayal.  Accusation.  Satanic but carried out by the outwardly religious.  It will be terrible and intense, but it will be for a brief time and then it will be over.  Do not take matters into your own hands.  Do not defend yourself.  Tolerate the attack."

The thing that she didn't know is that I already know about this attack that is coming, at least to a degree.  I know the players and I know their game.  And I actually have the silver bullets in my gun to shoot the werewolf in sheep's clothing.  I could finish him.  But that's just what satan would want me to do now isn't it!

I have put my gun away...  I have even taken the bullets out.  And the others that I know who are tempted to shoot the same bullets on my behalf, I have strongly encouraged to also not shoot.

When we tolerate the attack, we show complete faith in God.  Earlier, the Lord had spoken to me directly, saying that "Whoever isn't really committed to the vision that I have entrusted to you needs to leave.  Let them leave son.  Trust me.  I'm working."

Once again, it's time to watch God trim the tree.  This is a moment when the fighting force will be whittled down just as Gideon experienced in Judges 7.

Here's the scripture:

Judges 7:1-8 (NIV)

Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod.  The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.  The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many men.  I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, My own strength has saved me."  Now announce to the army, Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.  So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.  But the Lord said to Gideon, There are still too many men.  Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there.  If I say, This one shall go with you, he shall go; but if I say, This one shall not go with you, he shall not go.  So Gideon took the men down to the water.  There the Lord told him, Seperate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.  Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs.  All the rest got down on their knees to drink.  The Lord said to Gideon, With the three hundred men that lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands.  Let all the others go home.  So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Bruce the Shark: A Prophetic Picture of a Typical Modern Church Leader?

No, I'm not really trying to be funny, though it is sort of funny until you realize just how sad it is..

Bruce the Shark, is of course, from the Disney Animated Film, “Finding Nemo.” He is a well-meaning Shark because his goal is to overcome his natural desire to eat other fish. He finds Marlin (Nemo’s Dad) and Dory and forces them to come with him to a meeting that could best be described as 12 step, Alcoholics Anonymous style of event. They meet two other sharks there and the meeting proceeds.

Bruce leads the other two sharks in a declaration which includes these words, “I am a nice shark” and “Fish are Friends, not Food.”

Bruce also lets the group know that it has been a few weeks since he has eaten a fish and the other two sharks go wild in admiration for Bruce’s great accomplishment of restraint.

In a sermon I delivered a couple of weeks ago, I changed Bruce’s statement to “Sheep are Friends, not Food” because many leaders in the Church feed on Sheep rather than protect them.

What happens with Bruce is that a few minutes after making his declaration, Dory has a little accident, her nose gets hit and some blood comes out into the water. Bruce, being the shark that he is, can’t resist and tries to eat Dory and Marlin. The other two sharks try to do an “intervention” but Bruce is going berserk because his shark instincts have been awakened by the blood in the water.

I think you’re starting to get where I’m going with this… Christian leaders are well-meaning, they have good intentions, they try every trick in the book to attempt to break in themselves, their improper ways, but in the end, if they haven’t been transformed into something other than a shark, when the blood comes into the water, they pounce.

This is why we are startled when it happens. Because we don’t expect that such well-meaning people, people who have supposedly devoted their lives to serving God’s flock, would harm God’s Sheep.

Being a follower of Christ and becoming a leader in His Church requires much more than behavior modification techniques and positive mental attitude exercises. We must literally change who we are and become “like Christ.” Develop the “mind of Christ.” We must be changed from the inside out by the Word of God & His power to the point that we are no longer swayed by the whiffs of blood in the water.

The blood in the water that tempts us is different for each person. For some it is to be provoked to anger. For some it’s jealousy. Others, it is materialism or greed that brings out the shark in us. Maybe for you it’s pride, revenge, selfishness, ambition, control, competitiveness or even lust.

The question that I’m wanting for us to consider today is this: Is there a trigger for you that still triggers you? What is your blood in the water? If you can identify it, then you can intentionally work on it.

2 Corinthians 10:5 exhorts us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” When we take a person prisoner, we question them for intel on how the enemy works so that we can win the war. And since the enemy is both the devil and our own flesh, we find out about his tactics and our weaknesses. If we will take prisoner our thoughts and deeds that are against God’s Word and ways, then with God’s help, we can change!

So what are we supposed to become? We are supposed to be sheep. Jesus is the Lamb of God and He is also our Shepherd. The big problem that we face is that no people naturally want to be sheep. They are helpless, defenseless, easily victimized and vulnerable. From a human standpoint, they make terrible leaders and seem very weak. 

If you asked any young man right now, “would you choose to be a shark, or a sheep?” The vast majority would choose to be a shark. Sharks are confident, cool, decisive, tough, in control and mean! Sheep are… well, they are “followers.” Who really wants to be a follower, anyway?

My son Ethan, when he was younger, enjoyed the movie, "The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl." That was cool!  But it wouldn't have been a hit if it had been "Sheepboy!"

But unless we are sheep, are we really even saved? I think not! Unless we are disciples, followers of Christ, are we really living for Him? Unless we die to ourselves daily, pick up the cross, place ourselves as living sacrifices on His altar, are we in His army?

Our only protection as sheep is to stay near to and listen to the voice of Jesus. It seems like a tremendous risk until you realize that His protection is the ultimate! And then our posture in serving within His Kingdom and even in the marketplace becomes Sonship. The authority given us as sons and daughters of the King is well beyond any other kind of authority that there is.  Sonship leadership is Jesus Style Leadership and it is the most effective kind!

Think of this...  King David, a man after God's own heart and a great leader was a shepherd.  He led sheep and he led people.  King Saul, his predecessor, was a donkey herder.  He drove donkey's and he drove people.  But that's a message for another day...

May we no longer be well meaning sharks, but may we be changed from sharks (wolves) into followers of Christ, gentle lambs, Children of God.

So the next time someone says, “You’re such a follower!” Say, “Thanks!  You can follow me as I follow Christ if you want!”