Okay. Welcome to episode 13. Today, we're going to be talking about when toxic lesion the ship causes you to drift into dangerous waters. So, we've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's dive right in. Of course, if I can show. There's a shark fin date, you know, the symbol, the international symbol for no swimming, danger, no swimming. There are areas in our lives that the Lord tries to put hedges of protection around us, boundaries, to keep us safe. And when we're misled and deceived by toxic leadership and false doctrines, we tend to go through those bokajna or those hedges or those fences into dangerous areas and start to swim out deep into dangerous waters. Galatians 6, 7 through 8 says, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man sowed that shall he also reap. For he that sowed to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption," which means decay and ruin, "but he that sowed to the spear shall of the spear reap everlasting," which is perpetual life. Now, everlasting life, perpetual life is not just when we get to heaven. It's not just, yeah, you know, I'm going to live forever when I get to heaven. But perpetual life means a consistency of life, of living, right? When we stay close to the vine and we're connected to the vine and we have the divine flowing into our lives, we have that perpetual life, right? The scripture talks about that we should go from victory to victory and glory to glory. And that means we are going to have difficulties, we are going to have trials because Jesus himself said that. But when we're connected to the vine, there's that perpetual life that flows into us, right? But he that sowed to the spear shall of the spirit reap perpetual life. So that means that we need to be very careful what we sow to, whether we sow to our flesh or we sow to the spirit. And we're going to get into what is that seed, where, how do we sow to the spirit and how do we sow to the flesh? So this is what this verse is talking about. Now, unfortunately, when we are talking about toxic leadership and how it causes us to drift into dangerous waters, when our leadership sows to their flesh and they reap corruption, which is decay, which is of the physical body, right? Your body has an expiration date, let's just say. But that expiration date should be so far into the future that when the time comes for you to depart to go to heaven in your spirit, you will know that you're approaching that time. And how do I know that? Because when I look at the Old Testament under the law or even before the law, let's just say before the law, you know, Joseph was called in and he pronounced, he received the blessings from Jacob. He knew it was his time. He blessed all of his children. He curled himself off in bed and he gave up the ghost, right? That's a picture of grace because the law has not been into effect. The law went into effect after the diaspora from Egypt and then went into the wilderness of Sinai and the Lord offered them a chance to have a relationship with them. Instead, they chose to be measured by their works and by keeping God's laws. If you could look at our library that we have on YouTube, there's a whole teaching that we did on that and the law came into effect. So the way it's supposed to work is that, you know, Paul said, you know, I fought the good fight. I finished the course. I've kept the faith, right? And he knew he says, and then further on, he says, and I'm about to be poured out as an offering. He knew his time had come. And so he wrote that letter. He blessed the churches. He knew his time was coming. So this notion of a Christian walking out of their house and on their way to work and getting run over by a bus does not jive with Scripture. It doesn't coincide with what we see in the Word of God. Both in the New Testament and in the Old Testament. But what happens is when we drift, we get further away from God, we start sowing to our flesh, which reaps corruption. We give place to the enemy. The enemy comes in and spoils us in so many different ways, mental torments, physical torments, financial problems, familiar problems, all kinds of things. But it all starts at the head because it's like the anointing flows from the head down, just like the oil that flowed from Aaron's head down to his beard. The beard speaks of leadership, elders, right? Most of the church today doesn't have that. I mean, they have elders in name only, but they're not there to counsel and advise the leader. They're just there to kind of rubber stamp anything he or she wants to do. It's not the way it's supposed to be. But let's continue. Okay? How did we get here where we're drowning and somebody needs to throw us a lifeline? Well, here's Hebrews 3, 12, and 13. Take he brethren, lest there be any view of an evil heart. That heart is the thoughts and feelings, the mind, right? You know, today, the church discounts a lot of the mind that is being, you know, modern mumbo jumbo and so on and so forth. That's not true. The Bible has a lot to say about the mind, right? Of unbelief, and that word unbelief means disbelief, lack of Christian faith in departing to remove a revolt from the living God. So we need to take he lest there be any of you an evil heart. An evil heart is not so you don't think that when the scripture talks about the heart is deceased and desperately wicked. It's talking about unsafe people. It's not talking about your heart heart because that's where Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit dwell. But in this case, the word in the Greek is cardia, but how it's used in a sentence is how you know whether it's talking about the physical heart, your center, or your mind. And in this particular case, we're talking about the mind, right? Thoughts and feelings of unbelief, lack of Christian faith. You know what? God says, by his stripes, I was healed, but I don't necessarily believe that. You know, faith is built upon faith, right? The scriptures in Romans 1.18 says, "And the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, from trusting God to trusting God, for the just shall live by trusting God." That's what it literally means. Because Paul in Romans 1.17 says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the definite article. It is the power of God unto salvation." That word salvation isn't just to save you, but to deliver you, to heal you, the power of God unto salvation, for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. "And herein is the righteousness of God revealed from trusting God to trusting God, the just shall live by trusting God." So what happens when we start to drift is that we no longer trust God like we should. Our thoughts in our minds do not embrace the truth that God is good. Our mind starts to dwell on our sickness, on our disease, on our infirmity, on our financial problems, on our family problems, anything but God, and the goodness of God, right? From the living God. But, so here's the thing. He says, "But," which that word "but" kind of negates all of this, "but exhort one another daily." Why did it still call today? We need to exhort one another. We need to encourage one another. But here's the deal. If I turn around and encourage you, and I remind you of the goodness of God, that you will see the goodness of God in the land of the living, if I remind you of the teachings of the Lord and how God loves you, and you don't embrace and listen to what I'm saying to you, you're making a choice, and the longer you reject the truth, the harder it will be for you to embrace the truth and walk in that truth, right? Let any of you be hardened, there's that word. Render stubborn through the deceitfulness, the delusion of sin, and that word sin is from to Mr. Mark, and so not sharing the prize. See, for you and I, sin does not bring judgment anymore, but it does bring a disqualification from receiving the prize, right? Paul said that when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we're not being judged by for our sins, but we're being judged for our works, for the things that we've done here on earth. So, whether it's gold, silver, precious gems, or wood, hay, or stubble, the fire will reveal it. So, we become disqualified, we miss the mark, we miss the mark, and we become disqualified from receiving the prize. So, we go to heaven, we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, all our works are then judged before there, the fire comes through and consumes everything, and there's nothing left except us. Because we've been hardened, rendered stubborn, through the delusion of missing the mark, we get so focused on what's wrong with us, that we don't think about what's right with us. Because if you're saved and you're a child of God, you've been watched by the blood of Jesus, you have more than enough to lift yourself up from wherever you are and encourage yourself and keep driving on. You do, but you can choose not to, you can choose to get involved and embroiled and wrapped around your problems, your infirmities, your sickness, your issues, your losses, we all suffer loss here on earth, and get into a state of depression and despair, where after a time you can no longer hear the voice of God, you can't. So, let's continue here. Look at this poor guy, I mean, he is just, he's drowning, he's like, "How did I get here?" You know, he's just so overwhelmed, because you know, these things happen gradually, right? It's not like you wake up one day, you know, people don't wake up one day and they're walking with the Lord and having the joy of the Lord is their strength and the next day they're committing adultery or the next day they're robbing a bank or the next day they're doing something wicked. No, it's a slow degradation, slow. And in every step of that slow slide, the Lord is always calling us back, but we can choose to embrace or not. It's a choice. It's a choice. I'll take this quick moment to share something with you that Pastor Sharon was, recently was telling me about a Zoom call that she was on with Doty Oldstein, who is the mother of Joel Oldstein. And 47 years ago, she had been diagnosed with stage four liver cancer. Okay, when a cancer reaches stage four, that's it. There's nothing more they can do. They actually told her to go home. You have six weeks to live, go home and enjoy what's left. And she refused to accept that. It reminds me of that verse that said about Abraham, and he staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief, but with strong in faith, giving praises unto God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he is also able to perform. God has made you and I tremendous promises. And Doty Oldstein held on to that promises, that her blood and life was not to die of cancer, but to live a long and fulfilling life. And 47 years later, at the age of 91, she is still alive. She's still praising God. She still has all of her senses, all of her marbles. She gets around with no assistance. That is the power of faith. When you trust God, that is a powerful thing in me. Enemy knows that. That's where the enemy wants to break you, wants you to focus on anything other than the goodness of God. Because David said, I would have fainted and I not thought to see the goodness of God, the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And he says, trust in the Lord, I say, trust God, for he shall strengthen your heart. We have so many, you know, the Psalms we have, Jesus' life we have the epistles, but it's just like it's not enough for us. We get so wrapped up, I mean, I just want God to fix my problem. Not realizing that the problem that you have, whatever that is, was caused by something that you opened the door for in your life or the enemy to come in and harass you and afflict you and bind you up. That's why Paul said, give no place to the enemy. He got to close those doors. So somewhere the enemy came in to spoil you. God always goes to the root of that problem. So if you're waiting for your problem to get fixed, if you're waiting, you're going to financial difficulties or whatever your struggle is right now and you're sitting around feeling sorry for yourself because you're waiting for God to heal you and God is waiting for you to acknowledge him and open your heart for him to show you what the root of your problem is. I've been through it and it's not pleasant, but I can tell you that if you do that, then God can move because God's word is infallible. We didn't get into this position overnight. We didn't. It was a slow fade. So let's look at that. Galatians 5-4, one of my favorite verses for all the wrong reasons, Christ has become. So the verses, Christ has become unto you, of no effect to whoever you are justified by the law you have fallen from grace. So let's break down. What does that mean? Christ has become. Christ has been rendered entirely idle and useless. It's like a Ferrari that has, I don't know, 12,000 horsepower or whatever, a rocket ship sitting on the launching pad, but it can't take off. It's been rendered idle and useless. Think about that. If you're struggling with something and you have been, the enemy has come in and spoiled you, Christ has been rendered entirely idle and useless. Prayers are not going to work in that situation when Christ is idle and useless. Of no effect, it's a double negative to be rendered entirely useless. So he'd say Christ has been rendered entirely idle and useless, entirely idle and useless, like twice, a double negative for you, whoever you are justified to be rendered just or innocent by the law. Now, you can say, well, the law, I don't live by the Ten Commandments or anything like that. The law is self-effort. The law is anything by which you deem yourself justified before God other than the cross of Jesus Christ. That means that my effort, my going to church, my tithing, my having my devotionals, my quiet time, that then gives me the privilege or the right to ask things of God and God is obligated to do something for me. Now, you may not be thinking it that way, but let's face it, there are people who don't understand and I've seen it in the churches. We're like, well, you don't get it. He's such a good brother, good sister, they come to church, they tie, they're always here and then all of a sudden they've been diagnosed with this incurable disease. Because in their mind, their justification is by their works. Not by faith. Not by faith. You have fallen to drop away, to be driven out of one's course, to lose. The course of life is the course of grace. When you start to see yourself or you start to see other people, because sometimes people are very gracious to themselves. They give themselves a lot of margin and a lot of latitude to get away with a lot of things. But when they look at other people's actions, they're very harsh and judgmental about other people's actions. It's kind of like do as I say, not as I do. That's one of the, actually the whole marks of toxic leadership, is that they don't live what they speak. They don't walk out what they speak. They don't do the things that they're telling you you should be doing. So if you are really, you know, you fall, you make a mistake, you know, praise God, hallelujah. But then when someone else offends you or does something else and your reaction to them is harsh and judgmental, you're under the law. Because as Pastor Sharon has been so fond of saying, grace requires graciousness. You have to be gracious in order to be under grace. Because grace is the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life. That means grace is reflected in your life, including gratitude. So if you're a person, it's always complaining, always talking about their problems and their issues and when is this going to go away and when is God going to do this for me? You're under the law. Because a person who's under grace already knows and understands that they belong to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. They have sins have been washed away for all time and God is now their father and God loves them and God cares for them. So they're not at all concerned about whatever is going on with them. Paul makes a distinction in the first chapter of Romans, Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I served with my spirit. He didn't say whom I served. He said with my spirit. Because he understood that his flesh didn't want to serve Jesus Christ, but his spirit did. And in Romans, he makes that delineation between, he said with my flesh, I serve sin and with my spirit, I serve the Lord. Okay. So, this is what's important. So how does this, what does this stuff look like? So we see, right, there's this degradation, Christ is rendered idle or useless. How does this in practical terms become like this? How does, how do we get here? In other words, well, toxic roots, yield, toxic fruit. So at the heart, the soil of insecurity, roots of bitterness, some kind of an offense, there's the seed of offense, that offense went in there. Now, I will tell you that what is the seed I said mentioned to you before. Honey, we could be kind enough to just get me some more water. You can just avoid the camera. Sorry about that, folks. What is that seed? It talks about, the Lord Jesus Christ talked about the parable of the sower. The seed in the parable is the word of God. And some of that seed fell on hard soil, some on rocky, the other soil on these, these kind of Briarwood kind of roots that come and choke the seed and ungood soil. The seed is the word. How is the word sown through our mouth? Words are sown through our mouth. So something was said and/or done that produced that offense, which sowed that seed in the heart and it became a root of bitterness. Something went in there and got in there and it really got you all, all bound up and worked up and everything else. Thank you, honey. And what comes out of the addictions, anger, loneliness, fruits of resentment and unforgiveness, choices, loneliness, sickness and firmity. Those are the fruits. So sometimes when we're asking God to heal us or to deal with depression or anger issues, that's the fruit. God needs to go to the root that caused the anger, that caused the loneliness, that caused the addiction, that caused the sickness in order for it to be removed for all time. Because sometimes when we pray for healing, there is a reduction in the symptoms. Like in that moment, the symptom goes away. Maybe it stays away for a while and then it comes back because it's a fruit. You pluck in the fruit, but the fruit grows back because the root has not been dealt with. So, that's seed, right? Let's look at that. Look to your tongue for a warning. These are the things that bind as thou art snared with the words of that mouth, that are taken with the words of my mouth, right? It literally means you have been snared with the sayings of that mouth, has been captured with the sayings of that mouth. That's a young little translation of the Bible. The tongue will either release us into the freedom in Christ or will bind us to the powers of darkness and the reflection is our mouth, right? Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Whosoever shall find it, shall eat the fruit thereof. Proverbs says, you either choose life or death before comes out of your mouth. So, if you're practicing and repeating everything is wrong in your life, it's just going to bind you even more. That's why I'm saying to you, as I said to you before, prayer is a powerful thing, but in order for prayer to work, your heart has to be right. Your heart, meaning your mind, has to be right, has to be aligned with your heart and the truth of God's word in order for it to work. I mean, when you read the New Testament, you can see God lays out these guidelines, if you will. Prayer works, but your heart has to be right in order for it to work. You can't be holding on to your offenses and your issues and think that somehow healing is going to break forth, so that your finances are going to get better, that you're going to get that job, but that your marriage is going to improve. The root has to be dealt with, and I got to tell you that when you don't deal with this stuff, these are the things that end up becoming a result of it. It produces stress, and these are the things that stress affects your head, issues with mood, anger, depression, lack of energy, concentration problems, anxiety, panic attack, you've got skin problems, you've got heart problems, increased blood pressure, fast heartbeat, higher cholesterol, stomach, IBD, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcer, stomach cramps, reflux disease, nausea, weight fluctuation, problems with the pancreas, weak productive system, immune system, joints and muscles. I mean, we kind of like ignore the mind because we figure it's not about the mind. It is absolutely about the mind if you're saved. If you're not saved, it's about your heart. Your heart needs to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. You need to be born again, but once you're born again, you got to do something with your head because if you don't, this is the stuff that's going to happen to your body. Stressed and negative attitudes and negative thoughts release toxins into your body. I'm not saying that, medical science, I did a series on that, you can find that on our YouTube channel, but we talked about how your health is impacted by your thoughts. This is what happens, and this is where the enemy comes in and just spoils everything you have. So what we need to try to do is that all this toxicity, it destroys our life. We cannot live to the fullest extent of what Christ died on that cross to give you and I. If all we do is focus on our problems and what's wrong, we need to focus on what's right because you are not your body and your body is not you. Your body will be transformed in a trinkling of an eye when Jesus comes back for his church. So don't let your body drag you down. Yes, we all have issues that we're dealing with or even around us and families, marriages. There's always challenges and turmoil and strife, but Jesus said be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. Jesus overcame these obstacles for us, and so when we rest in the finished work of the cross, when we look to the Lord, when we're gentle and meek, we're in an arrestful place, is the place for the healing power of Jesus to flow into our life, into our marriages, into our relationships, families, whatever it means healing, because otherwise when you and I find ourselves in a situation where we drift, our marriages, our family, the church, the community, everything drifts, whoever's attached to our strips, we think that, well, I'm not important, I don't count for something. Listen, somebody's looking at you, whether they're at work, whether they're whatever, they're looking to you, maybe you've had an opportunity over lunch, you talked to them about the Lord or whatever, you've instilled in them whole. So now if you take 180 degree turning, you start to slide away from the Lord. They're going to slide too. If they're unsaved, they're not going to come to the kingdom because they're going to look at you and be like, "Well, wait a minute. I thought you said that Jesus was all this." People are looking to you and I. See, people think it's just enough for me to talk about the Lord, into witness. Let me tell you something. Your life is the greatest witness anybody can see. If there's an inconsistency with the manner of your walk in conversation and the words that you speak, no one will listen to you. No one, because there'll be an inconsistency between what you say and what you do and how you live. Everything needs to be consistent, right? That's when Paul talked about fight the good fight or faith, lay hold of eternal life. That's what he's talking about because it's going to be hard to trust God, especially if your body's in pain or suffering, it's going to be difficult to trust the Lord. But those are the moments where you and I need to rise up and trust God. Sometimes we just need to drive on with wisdom, of course. And so one of the things that this insidious and how this happened, this is a slow, slow fade. But first Peter 5a said, "It'll be sober, be abstained from wine, be discreet." Now, wine speaks of pleasures in the Bible. So we need to be sober. It doesn't mean we can't enjoy things. That's not what he's saying, but we need to be sober and vigilant to keep washed because you're adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he made devour. Our enemy's out there, but this is Jesus' response to that. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me, the anointed, when the Messiah, to preach good news. There's no good news and sickness. The gospel to the poor, to announce release to the captives, recovery to the sites of the blind, to deliver those who are oppressed, who are downtroned, bruised, crushed, and broken down, to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord, the day when the salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound. That's where you and I are now. That's where you and I are now. And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying to us, "Come on to me, all you the labored heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke, upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and gentle of heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." If you are under anything other than a light burden, if you are experiencing anything but the free favors of Jesus Christ and his Father, you have a yoke that needs to be broken. And you need to ask the Lord to show you the way on how to break that. And next week, we're going to start talking about, "If I'm here, how do I get from here to there, Pastor?" Until then, God bless you. We'll be talking soon. [BLANK_AUDIO]
