The Many Forms of Disobedience-Part 3

Good Morning, and praise the Lord.  I pray that you are getting some insight into how this sin affects our walk with the Lord, as well as our purpose and destiny.  Let’s turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

2 Corinthians 10

Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? if any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed: That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present. For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ: Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

I find it interesting how the Apostle Paul talks about his letters and writings being bold, yet appearing to be timid in person when he preaches and teaches.  Does that remind you of the day we live in with regards to social media?  People want to be keyboard warriors online, yet when you meet them in person, there isn’t much to them.  But I digress…

In this particular passage of scripture, Paul is talking about how we tend to be bold in the things of the world, yet shrink back when it comes to spiritual matters.  My brothers and sisters, this should not be.  It needs to be the opposite.  If we’re led by the flesh, then this is how we operate.  Notice how the world system is, and the messages it sends.  In the 60’s the attitude was if it feels good, do it.  In the 70’s it was say it loud and you know the rest of the phrase.  In the 80’s, it was all about excess and putting on airs.  In the 90’s, the message was to question authority.  In the 2000’s, it has been to promote diversity and inclusion.

I am definitely going to get some push back on this, but do you notice the common thread?  I’m asking you to look at this with your spiritual eyes, and hear with your spiritual ears.  Allow the Holy Spirit to deal with you on this topic, because I can hear some of you saying; is there anything wrong with what you just said?

The answer is yes, because all of those themes were the cry of each generation that was alive through those decades.  Let’s break down each decade so you can understand where I’m going with this.

• The 60’s – I was born in 1966, and the popular song, for those of you who don’t know was “These Boots Were Made For Walking”, by Nancy Sinatra, who is the daughter of the late Frank Sinatra.  There was a lot of self discovery in that era, and we were on the verge of the sexual revolution and an influx of drug activity.  Young people were expanding their minds through marijuana, cocaine, heroin, as well as the so called “Summer of Love”, which occurred in 1967, which gave you the aspect of free love, sharing drugs and great music.  Does anyone remember Woodstock?  I’m willing to bet that if you are 50 and younger, you either don’t, or never heard about it.  That was a time of rebellion and it was popular to be disobedient.  Unfortunately, a lot of young people were headed towards destruction.  Let’s move on.
• The 70’s – This period of time marked the end of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and a very popular musician named James Brown declared to “…say it loud…I’m black, and I’m proud.”  That sparked a whole new movement for African Americans in this country to not be ashamed of whom they were.  Many young people became self aware, and decided to run with it, in their music, in anarchy, and in bucking the system, so to speak.  Do you see where I’m going?
• The 80’s – This was the time of over indulgence, and being who we weren’t.  If you notice, I’m making a lot of musical examples, because I am a musician, and I’m trying to make a point.  Rock and rap music were interesting, because both groups were promoting disobedience.  Between the heavy metal of Ozzy Osborne and the popular beats of NWA, the messages were taken to heart.  Cocaine was the main drug of choice, and it was cool to use it, according to those who partook in it.  Crack cocaine was introduced into the inner cities, and gangs were wreaking havoc over territorial boundaries in their neighborhoods.  There was a lot of white collar crime as well.
• The 90’s – This set of young people began to see through the facades of the 80’s and felt that the older folks were a bunch of hypocrites, who certainly weren’t in touch with the signs of the times.  They wanted everyone to know that they weren’t afraid to express themselves, and they were going to question and fight the powers that be, so to speak.
• The 2000’s to present day – So now we have the baby boomers, who are living beyond the 3 score and 10 promised in the bible, and are looking back to see if it was all worth the fuss they created when they were young.  Those of us who lived through those decades are looking back and wondering were those years really the good old days.

So we see what happens when people forget God, and have grown accustomed to doing their own thing, not including the Lord in the equation of their lives.  Do you not see what I’m saying, or can you pick up what I’m putting down?  That was something my mother said a long time ago.  If not, let me break it down even further for you.

Even though we walk in the flesh, we don’t war after the flesh.  In other words, this is not a natural battle, but a spiritual one.  Back in the day, people were living out their fantasies of doing what they wanted.  That’s how they came to the conclusion of if it feels good, what’s wrong with doing it?  Here’s the problem with that thinking.  If we are led by our feelings, they fail us.  How many people thought that they were in love with that special someone, only to discover that it was puppy love, or an infatuation?

The enemy will have us all over the place if we follow our feelings.  That’s why we have to know that God is real.  It doesn’t matter whether we can see Him physically or not.  It’s the experience of knowing that He’s always there, and that he chose us before the foundations of the world.  Many are called, but few are chosen.

The word of God tells us to cast down those wicked imaginations that try to exalt itself against the knowledge of God.  Where did all those decades of disobedience bring us?  Let’s see, we have Hepatitis B, which is the direct result of sexual promiscuity, which later brought about AIDS, herpes and other sexually transmitted diseases, some of which have no cure, I might add.  The promotion of drugs, even to this day, has brought about addiction, disease and ultimately death, for those unfortunate enough to not escape the allure of the high.

This is why we have to bring every thought under captivity to the obedience of the Lord.  Let me just be raw for a few moments, and then we will pick this up tomorrow.

The greatest sex you will ever have is with your husband or your wife.  Notice I didn’t say your man or your wifey.  Let me explain this further.  Young people are insecure because they may not have had the benefit of having a two parent home, a mother and a father, in a healthy and loving marital relationship, so that they could see the example of the roles of the man and woman.  Please understand that I am not slamming single parents, because we may not know how they got that way.  It could have been through the death of the spouse, or divorce.  Here’s the thing, and I know that people are going to call me on the carpet for this, but it’s true.  A woman who is a mother cannot teach her son how to be a man.  Only his father can do that.  A man who is a father cannot teach his daughter how to be a woman.  Only her mother can do that.  This was the plan of the enemy to break up homes, get rid of the fathers, and leave the mothers to raise the children, and confuse them, so that they don’t understand the God ordained role of the family in society.

Next, the girl who doesn’t have a healthy relationship with her father, who treats her mother and her well, will think that she isn’t a treasure to be treated with kindness and respect, and every man she meets who is dysfunctional will seem normal to her, because she’s looking for love in all the wrong places.  The boy who doesn’t have a healthy relationship with his mother, who displays anger at the mere mention of his father, if they’re not together anymore, will grow up to think that he isn’t worthy of honor and respect, and will accept any aggressive woman to run his life, because he isn’t taught how to be the head of household, and priest in his home, always giving deference to God, instead of his woman, and being unable to commit to one woman, he is also looking for love in all the wrong places.

I don’t know why the Lord brought me this way, but I’m going to be obedient and continue.  As far as drugs are concerned, we were taught that it is a fun thing to do, to be mentally impaired for a bit, in order to relax and enjoy the high.  No one ever really wants to talk about the down side of doing them, because everyone wants to feel good, right?  No one wants to deal with their problems that are consuming them, because we want to escape reality for a few minutes.  The issue is that we aren’t escaping anything, because the problems that you wanted to forget will be right there when the high wears off.  No amount of weed, coke, heroin, crack, crystal meth or ecstasy will take away what’s really bothering us.

No matter what you say, it all boils down to the sin nature within us, who wants to rebel against anything that the Lord wants us to say and do.  Disobedience is a common denominator that fractures our very being, if we don’t bring ourselves under subjection of the Creator of the universe.  He is the only one who can heal our brokenness.  He has all the answers to the meaning of life.  No book, guru, pastor, life coach or cult can do that.  We have to allow Jesus to truly be the Lord of our lives, and give Him complete access to our soul and innermost being.

Let me end with this.  We will not live forever.  If we aren’t caught up to meet the Lord in the air at His return, we will most certainly and inescapably die.  No one knows when we will breathe our last breath and close our eyes forever.  Neither does anyone know when Jesus will return, only the Father knows that.  Don’t you want to stop being angry at the world, and just collapse into the arms of the only One who can make it all better?  Life wasn’t designed to be easy, but I promise you that it will be worth it if we just trust God and His promises, which will never fail, unlike humans.  Think about it.  May the Lord bless you.