Out and Up ​Part 3 – Sacred Pillars

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As certain as there is a God in heaven and souls of men awaiting judgment, there are appointed times and seasons on the earth. We are given glimpses of this reality throughout the scriptures. For example the Bible says:

• There is a set time to favor Zion – Psalms 102:13

o We know Zion to prophetically speak of the New Testament Church, the Body of Christ in the earth.

• Genesis 21:2 says that Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

• Galatians 4:4 tells us that in the fulness of the time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

• Acts 19:11 says that there was a time when God did special miracles by the hands of Paul. 

o Later in that narrative Luke 19:21 says, “After these things were ended …”

• Luke 4:13 When the devil had ended all temptation, he departed from Jesus for a season.

o The New King James Version says the devil was only waiting “for a more opportune time.”

 

Evidently there are opportune times when the devil believes he has a better chance of deceiving God’s children.

 

Revelation 12:12  “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

 

These accounts, along with many others, reveal that there is a spiritual consciousness at work in the earth. There are times and seasons in which the Spirit of God works more openly and there are times and seasons in which the devil works more openly. At the conclusion of almost every message I have preached I say the same thing. My parting words to you are:

 

“Go in peace, don’t go in pieces; God has a plan for your life … but so does the devil, learn the difference.”

 

The spiritual world is real. Allow me to name a few people in the Bible that the devil was able to trick or deceive and altered their destiny and legacy:

• Eve – the perfect, sinless daughter of God.

• Cain – murdered his brother.

• Noah – got naked drunk in his tent which led to his son being cursed.

• Abraham – didn’t wait on God with Hagar.

• Lot – chose Sodom; vexed with confusion; 2 incestual relationships.

• Jacob – lied to his father and stole his brother’s birthright.

• Judah – sold his brother; lied to his father; cheated his daughter-in-law, then got her pregnant.

• Moses –  Smote the rock a second time …cancelled his ticket …

• David – we don’t have enough time to tell it all …

• Shall I go on?

• Peter – denied Christ 3 times.

• Judas – sold Jesus and betrayed Him with a kiss.

• The Disciples – hard-hearted and refused to believe Jesus was alive.

• John Mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark 

• Barnabas – separated from Paul and the Church at Antioch in an argument over who was hearing from God.

• Matthew 24:23-24 – Jesus revealed the end times would be shortened so even the elect might not be deceived in the last days …

 

2 Timothy 4:10  Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica — Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.

 

2 Timothy 2 NKJV

17  And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,

18  who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.

 

The road sign on the way to deception, failure, and ruin reads: “It can’t happen to me.” Deception is so deceptive … this is why we need each other to hold us accountable with love and God’s word.

 

The devil wants to blind us to the truth and keep us in bondage to sin and this world. He does not want you to ever be saved and delivered out of his hand. He will try everything he can to keep you from believing in and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. His primary goal is to weaken the Church so that it will stop evangelizing the world. Deception is his strong suit.

 

Once you are saved, the devil will try his best to keep you from becoming a disciple of Christ. He hopes he can keep you living in the wilderness of this world. The enemies he will use to keep you from becoming a threat to him are found in Exodus 3. God revealed them to His children 3500 years ago.

 

Last week we discussed the Canaanite and found him to be a spirit of Compromise. You cannot live the victorious life God intends for every one of His children if you have one foot in the kingdom of God and one foot in the world. Repent and resist.

 

We also briefly reviewed the Hittite which speaks of fear and dismay. God told Joshua to not be “Hittited.” We cannot allow fear to shape our lives. What would you for God if you weren’t afraid? Do it!

 

This morning we are going to take a look at two more of the enemies listed in Exodus 3. First the Amorite. The nature of the Amorite is Prominence:

• Outspoken

• Arrogant

• Unbending

• Insecure

• Pridefulness

• Opinionated

• Stubborn

• High-minded

• Emotional

• Quick Tempered

• Territorial

 

These are sacred pillars to the Amorite. Challenge them and you will be attacked and most often the attack is public. (Amorite – Publicity)

 

The Amorites set themselves up in high places to have the high ground advantage over others. They often attacked others before they even knew they were enemies. They even attacked members of their own group. Proverbs says the first person to speak is believed … they speak first in efforts to control the narrative and shape the opinions of others.

 

Romans 12:3  For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself  more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

 

When we search for high ground and speak first to protect ourselves and our decisions, even from those who love us, it is often the insecurity of the enemy known as the Amorite. If you are on solid ground, you will invite counsel and embrace instruction and not fear review. 

 

Proverbs 12:15  The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.

 

The next enemy God’s children face in the Promise Land is the Perizzite. Not the Parasite, but the Perizzite. 

 

The word Perizzite means without walls. It’s an “anything goes” spirit. Tolerance is the keyword. This spirit will not accept standards, boundaries, limitations, and does not accept absolutes. Rules are for others. The Perizzite will shame you for not being more tolerant of their destructive behavior. 

 

The Perizzite’s right to protect their own truth is the sacred pillar of their faith. Challenge their truth and you will be attacked … even if you are their family.

 

We must live a principled life based on God’s Word. We cannot cover the rules we break with one hand so that we can point to the ones we are keeping with the other. 

 

What we tolerate in our lives today becomes the norm tomorrow.

 

Now, before you start thinking of people you believe may be controlled by this spirit, think again. We are admonished by Jesus to not judge others. This is a rule … we should follow the rules Jesus laid out for us. Today is about you.

 

God is not asking us to judge anyone but ourselves.

 

So what shall we do?

 

Exodus 23 NKJV

23  “For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

24  “You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

25  “So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

 

1. Don’t bow down to their Gods.

2. Don’t do like they do.

3. Overthrow and break down their sacred pillars in your life.

 

And don’t believe deception can’t happen to you. Accountability is a good thing.

 

James 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Out and Up ​Part 2 – The Devil We Know

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You’ve heard the saying: “The devil we know is better than the devil we don’t know.” That’s not the truth. Both are horrible and they both want to kill, steal, and destroy you.

 

Hebrews 3 NKJV

7  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice,

8  Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness.”

 

Last week we discussed why the Children of Israel rebelled against God in the wilderness. It was basically because the devil they knew seemed better to them than the devil they didn’t know. In fact, more than once the leaders and the people argued and even launched protests aimed at forcing Moses to lead them back to Egypt and to the bondage they once knew. 

 

People sometimes get comfortable in their sin and often they don’t even know what they are missing. It is evident that some of the Children of Israel weren’t as motivated as were God and Moses. This is not an uncommon problem. Virtually every parent has faced trying to get a child to be as excited about getting up and going to school as they should be. You can think of so many other examples I know. 

 

It was an easy choice to run from the enemies they'd always known but not so easy to run towards enemies they’d never known.

 

But the reason God delivered the Children of Israel from the enemies of their past, was so they could help Him conquer the enemies of their future.

 

Exodus 3 NKJV

7 ¶  And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

8  “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.”

 

The devil they knew was life in Egypt. The Hebrew word for Egypt has at its root meaning: To confine; limit; fence in; cramp; enclose; bind; distress; or to build a stronghold against. This was the devil they knew, and it is the same devil who is lord over every lost person. 

 

Getting people to do what is best for them or at times what is even critical for them is not always easy. Motivating people to do what’s right is a hard job. Nonetheless, God wanted to bring His children out of their bondage in Egypt. And He wanted to bring them up and into a land flowing with milk and honey … but there were giants in the land … enemies they had never faced. Let’s take a brief look at the six enemies God told His children they would encounter in their new life.

 

Each one of these “ites” represents an enemy that can be recognized by their Hebrew name. God called them:

 

1. The Canaanite

a. The Peddler

b. To bow the knee

c. Compromise

d. We cannot live a victorious life and enjoy the promises of God with one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world.

e. The Church has to be very careful not to mimic the world under the deceptive umbrella of being relevant.

f. We are and we must be different.

g. “Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord. (2 Corinthians 6:17)

h. “For you are a peculiar people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood … called out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

i. At some points in your Christian walk you will be tempted to compromise by enemies you have not met before … don’t! But if you do, repent and recover yourself from this snare of the devil. (2 Timothy 2:25&26)

 

For some reason it seems easier for God to get His children out of the world than it is to get the world out of His children. As we said earlier, we cannot live a victorious life with one foot in the Kingdom and one foot in the world. A little compromise goes a long way … keep going and soon you will arrive … keep acting like the world and soon no one will even know you’re a Believer.

 

2. The Hittite

a. Dismayed

b. Dismayed means to be so afraid that you are broken, shattered, confused and unable to focus or think clearly. The Hebrew word translated dismayed in Joshua 1:9 is the Hebrew root word for the word “Hittite” …

c. There was one reason the Children of Israel who came out of Egypt did not go into the Promise Land – It was Fear!

d. Not just any fear … but the fear which made them afraid, unsettled, disabled … it left them shattered, broken in pieces and confused. They were in mortal terror.

e. Their fear terrorized them … they were dismayed – “Hittited” …

 

This demon spirit wants to limit us living our Christian witness in the wilderness, short of the Promise Land. 

 

Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

 

It’s not only about your victory over the situation, but also about your victory in the situation. You get victory when you trust God above the things you see. 

 

What do I do when I face a Canaanite who is tempting me to compromise? What do I do when I face a Hittite who is trying to break me, confuse me, and make me afraid? 

 

1. Stop where you are and call it what it is – The Enemy of God!

a. Who is trying to upset you? 

b. Who is trying to defeat God’s will in your life?

c. Is it God or is it the Devil?

d. Call it out and rebuke it in the name of Jesus.

2. Go to the Word of God and get some armor and ammunition.

a. Find 3, 5, or 7 scriptures to use against the enemy.

b. The Word of God is your sword.

c. Confess the Word – it strikes the heart of your enemies.

3. Get help.

a. Pray.

b. Get Godly counsel.

c. Confess your faults to someone you trust with your life, not a new acquaintance – someone trusted, tried, and true – someone who has invested in you – and get them to pray overyou.

 

There are two things you don’t want to miss. One is the rapture of the Church, and the other one is next Sunday. Next Sunday we will continue our series by uncovering two more of the enemies God mentions in Exodus 3. Specifically the Amorites and the Perizzites. If you want to get ahead, begin reading through the book of Exodus and the book of Joshua.