I was listening to K-love the other day when a song from 2000 was played. That song is 21 years old if this were a secular station unless it was an “oldies” station it never would have been played, but someone along the line decided there wasn’t enough good music in 2021 that they had to play an old tired tune from 2000….At that moment I made a decision I wasn’t going to be bludgeoned by such an old tune I flipped my car to Bluetooth and listen to up to date music that is inspiring me right now. Yes, the song was good in 1999 but it had passed its prime and someone thought “O well they will just put up with it!”
This may seem a little extreme but I need quality music to make through each day, I need quality time in the word and in prayer. I don’t want to settle for last year’s blessing and anointing or 21 years ago blessing and anointing. God’s mercies are new every morning and we have settled too much, too long, for the old when God has so much more for us.
Satan has compromised the church to sleep. rather than our fighting on our knees he has got us fighting his way on Facebook, with our friends and neighbors.
Rather than our exemplifying the Holy Spirit through the fruit of the Spirit alive in us…we look just like the world.
Rather than the power of pure holy righteous influence we have at times tried to manipulate…. we have forgotten our call…
Love God, love people, make disciples…if you want to change the world you must do it God’s way….Satan has been doing this for a long time…he tried it with Jesus but it just didn’t work
New Living Translation Luke 4: 1-4
Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.
3 Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’”
The devil is offering Jesus bread when He himself is the bread of life.
In John 6:35
Jesus explains to the world that He is the bread of life…
New Living Translation Chapter 6:35
35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
What Satan was offering Jesus was compromise, satisfying himself for the moment with the little Satan has to offer rather than the greatness God has.
Jesus said, “No,” referring to this passage later, knowing that all those who come to Christ will have their needs meet forever.
The enemy wants you to settle with temporary satisfaction, being angry, jealous, envious, holding a grudge, allowing fear, doubt or worry to overshadow all the plans God has for you….the enemy tries to get you to compromise with a temporary “one up-man-ship” over someone rather than looking at their life through the eyes of eternity.
He wants you to settle with a job, or using your gifts in a limited way thinking you can never fulfill your dream…stop settling for the right to be angry, jealous, getting even… when God sees your “enemy” in the eyes of eternity.
Stop settling by limiting your skills and gifts…set goals, set your eyes on things you can’t do alone, allow the Holy Spirit to begin to work through you to accomplish all God has planned.
Jesus said those who accept his bread would never hunger or thirst again….there is no limit to what God will do through a person whose eyes are on eternity and not immediate gratification…stop settling look at everything through Jesus eyes!
Your skills, gifts talents and abilities were given to you to touch and change your world around you! You are not a second-class citizen but the answer to the questions all of those around you have!
New Living Translation Luke 4:5-8
Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. 7 I will give it all to you if you will worship me.” 8 Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’”
All of us will serve someone or something…it can be our dreams, desires, our jobs, bosses, our families…none of these are bad things as long as we serve God first…we can serve our greed, our selfishness, our anger, our woundedness, our fears and anxieties.
Satan had the right to offer these things to Jesus because when Adam and Eve fell they surrendered the authority they were given over the earth to Satan…but this was part of the reason Jesus came..
1 John 3:8b
“But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.”
More importantly Jesus came to take back all of this authority by His sacrificial death on the cross
Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Daniel shows us that there are powerful spirits that control regions and nations, drugs, fears, other addictions control so many and they have no freedom. People don’t see the way Jesus sees. I love the story in 2 Kings 6:15-17 Elisha and Gehazi Aramean army King of Aram
We need to begin to see everything around us the way the Lord does and begin to function like the God we serve is in charge. The devil is not equal with Christ or the Father he is a created being just like us and through free will turned away from God and is doomed.
When we surrender to the Lord the enemy no longer has any authority over our lives and as we begin to see through his eyes we begin to realize how broken people are and how much, through the power of the Holy Spirit we can bring them to freedom. All authority has been given to Jesus and He gives it freely to us so we can make disciples, and teach others how to be and live free.
We are not in bondage to this world system, we live by a different authority. We don’t need to play the enemies way or his games…we are not victims but victors bringing hope and freedom to a hopeless world…if you are in Christ you have this authority and we must begin living it…
Luke 4:9 –12
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! 10 For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you.
11 And they will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”
12 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’”
The devil wanted Christ to twist God’s word…Go ahead jump doesn’t God say he will protect and guard you?
Doesn’t God say the plans he has for you are for your good and a hope you don’t need to worry about eating right, taking care of yourself, reading God’s word, going to church, praying God’s got this it is all good….that too is a twisting of God’s word…
Often it is not even in the twisting of God’s word but the twisting of our trust in God…do you remember the whole world was going to collapse in 2000 Y2K…
We are in a similar situation now with the election…many are acting as if man is in control..I don’t know all that God is up to but I choose to trust his word
Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Perhaps we miss the part in that verse about loving him…loving God means you doing what he asked you to do…you are in His word, prayer, in fellowship, using your gifts talents and abilities to bless others and honor God, you are trusting Him and not being afraid, you are living your life fullness of the fruit of the Spirit
You see Jesus knew Satan was right, God had given His angels charge over him to stand guard and be with Him as he needed them but he also knew God’s heart that giving in, in any way to Satan was the quickest way to ensure a repeat of the fall of man and Jesus came to set mankind free.
Today we need to choose, what will you settle for? Will you settle for the whining and fears of man based on people who do not reflect the Father’s heart or will you choose to believe
- God has blessed you with all kinds of gifts, the circumstances of this life and this world don’t limit those gifts, only you can limit your gifts…Unhappy with what is going on in the world? God has equipped you with the gifts to change your part of it…don’t settle for whining and complaining about how bad things are…God is not surprised but anything and he has given you what is needed to bring about the change
- Despite what your eyes may see and the media keeps telling you God has got something going on in the heavenlies and we need to make sure our hearts are right so that we can see what God is up to….neither the democrats nor republicans, neither the business owners nor the unions, neither, white, black, brown, or any color are in control as we allow God to be in control of our lives as He is already in control of what is going on…why settle for what you see and hear…ask the Lord to show you what he is doing
- God’s word is true…don’t settle for believing only what man has to say…you see everyone in this room, watching on Facebook are so much more powerful that what they even perceive, you have all been gifted, placed in positions with relationship, given skills but the missing element is believing God at his word…we need to be radical in our belief that God has got that, that he knows what is going on and that he has a plan and a purpose for us
If you don’t know how to start allow me to give you three simple keys…love God, love people, and make disciples, start there and let’s see where the Lord takes you…loving Him will help you to understand his heart better so you see through His eyes, loving people builds your compassion and helps you to see people through His eyes not numbers, races, political affiliation but people God loves so much he sent his son to die for them. Make disciples because most of the world is broken and if they know the Jesus you know it will heal them and many of the problems in our nation will go away if people truly know the real Jesus!
Church it is time to awaken to the reality of the power of the God we serve and the call…for too long we have allowed everything to control us..stop settling and lets change the world stop believing there is nothing you can do..stop whining, stop being fearful…start doing what you are called to do!
If you are not willing to risk the unusual you will have to settle for the ordinary
Jim Rohn