Good Morning Beloved,
I'm so thankful we can be joined together to worship
and praise our Lord
Heavenly Father,
We thank You for assembling us all together today
our world is rapidly changing, its overwhelming at times
Your church is broken, charmed by false gods teaching false doctrine, we live in a world, where so many are displaced from their homes, children are going hungry, the elderly are cast aside, often mistreated, or even forgotten.
a world where the rich hold the reins of power
God of hope, we are vulnerable
turn our eyes upward toward You
that we may look to You for vision
and encourage to always do what's right
to strive to be faithful in both word and deed
in times like these, lend us Your voice
to speak words of hope, encouraging one another
looking down on others only to lend a helping hand
to those who have greater needs that ourselves
deliver us O merciful Lord from the evil around us
and the sin within us
In Your holy name we pray
Amen
"Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house. Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, saying, “Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die.” So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died."
2 Samuel 11:11-17
Today's Message: The Matter Of Uriah
Shortly after creation, Adam sinned. And the whole human race fell under God's condemnation. Sin now rules every unregenerate heart, and if it had its way, it would destroy and damn every soul.
If you refuse to see your sin as God does, you cannot escape His eternal judgment. Sin has huge consequences, very huge... consequences.
I recall in 2003, the space shuttle Columbia, was scheduled to lift off. It was to be a routine flight..
And shortly after lift-off a piece of insulating foam from the Columbia's external fuel tanks broke off and struck the left wing. And initially, it was presumed, no serious damage had occurred.
However, serious damage had occurred, very serious damage indeed.
When Columbia reentered the earth's atmosphere, on February 1, the seriousness of the damage became all to evident. The damaged wing was no longer protected from the extreme heat and in midair, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated. Because NASA's failed to correctly assess the damage which prevented it from the appropriate taking actions, that could have avoided the devastating results. All seven astronauts, on board were killed. It was a very devastating, yet a completely avoidable tragedy.
Mankind, faces a similar, but even more tragic fate. It too, is completely and totally.. avoidable.
If you attempt to deny your sin, refusing to accept your guilt or hide your own sinfulness, trying to justify your sin, you'll forfeit the forgiveness and justification of God, through Jesus Christ.
In 2 Samuel 11, David made a series of choices that led him to his darkest choices in his life.
He is now about fifty and has been the king for about 20 years. Israel, under his leadership, has become a mighty nation. David has become a visionary of sorts, a powerful warrior, and was recognized as a worshipper.
But while he stands strongly as Israel’s king, there is a pounding of temptation that will soon topple every bit of his resistance. One of the things with temptation is that it cannot be entertained. . . Every man is tempted but one has to flee from the temptation.
In looking at David’s life, one finds there were three avenues that let the enemy into his life.
David could find no man more loyal to him than Uriah. Perhaps Ittai, the Gittite Philistine, might be more loyal than Uriah. But the problem with Uriah was that his blind trust and devotion to David led him to his own death. . . . His death warrant was signed by the man whom he completely trusted, King David.
What Does God Think About Your Sin?
Sin is contrary to God's very nature, in fact, sin is abominable to God. He hates it, He hates it.
Scripture calls sin "filthiness," it degrades human nobility, and it stains the soul. In fact, Scripture likens it to a putrefying corpse, the human race, is in bad bad shape. Sinners are the tombs that contain stench and foulness. And the penalty of sin, the ultimate consequence of sin, is death.
How absolutely terrifying is it's consequence.
God wants you to understand how bad, how terrible sin is... As I said before, He hates it.
And I would suggest, that you dare not take sin lightly.
Sin tempts the even best of saints, and the godliest of men among us, we all commit sin.
I recall the story of a pastor, he was listed among the 25 top influential evangelicals in the United States. As some would say today, he was on top of his game.
But somewhere along the way, as the mountainous walls of challenge were scaled, as the treacherous waters of change were navigated, and as the small church grew from a basement in Colorado to 14,000 members, and gradually God’s business slowly turned into "monkey business."
I am fairly certain that he started with a dream. A dream that was spiritually driven, it was a dream destined to succeed. In fact, the dream began in his mind but was brought to fruition in his basement. It wasn’t very long until the dream had outgrown the basement and the dream had to be traded in for a larger place.
In fact, before all was said and done, the basement was left far behind. . . that little basement church had been traded for a enormous empire of buildings and a mass of financial wealth.
Yes, yes indeed, God had been good. . . or so people thought.
He was a graduate of a leading charismatic seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a very polished image and a warm personality and all of that was just a portion of the equipment that this young man leaned on. He worked diligently as a young pastor. His dedication begins to peak with mid-life and accomplishments and accolades became a dime a dozen.
He climbed the hills and broke new ground. He advanced to Senior Pastor and then to the national director of the National Evangelical Association which is a hodge-podge of Christians that rank some 30 million strong. He was on the phone with the White House. He was busy being interviewed on TV by Barbara Walters. He was active in a friendship with a number of the highest ranking evangelicals. Among all of this prestige, he was a highly sought after speaker, appearing numerous times on Christian television networks all around the world. Some would say, he had arrived.
I'd like to point out something here, when you are busy climbing mountains, sailing seas, and changing lives, very little time is left for prayer and time alone with God. The ever so crucial requirement in pastoral ministry. When your time is spent more on carnal calisthenics than on personal pastoral growth given in the Pastoral Epistles by Paul, it won’t be long, until public exposure will come.
You see, sin is like a detective, hot on your trail and it will be found out.
It is never a matter of if but only a question of when..
"For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him."
Luke 8:17-18
And yet he entered into temptation and committed unimaginable and unspeakable sin..
When it was discovered, it was quite a scandal, was forced out of the church, the one that he had started in his basement, because of behavior unbecoming of a I won’t spend my time with the morbid details but suffice it to say that he is in my mind, disqualified from pulpit ministry for the rest of his life.
All of this follows revelations of a particular Florida Republican Senator, who was exposed by his past sins. No matter how big you are, how high you climb, sin always, always has huge consequences.
And until God confronted David through the prophet Nathan, David denied his sin.
That's the natural tendency of every fallen sinner. A truth that still remains today.. Though man may deny his sin before men, he can never hide it from God. He sees all... and someday, every single one of unbeliever, will stand before God and give an account for his or her sin. It will be like modern court, except they will be no prosecutor, no attorney.... only a judge! One whom which you'll have no defense.
There is vulnerability in success...
Though David's armies had brought great security to his city. The captured provinces poured money and resources into David’s account. This money brought him power, honor and success. But success is tricky, fickle thing! It can be so dangerous when one starts accessing his holdings.
The thing is pride, self-righteousness, self-indulgence, and little accountability often comes with great success.
If a man of David's caliber can fall so far, so horribly far, where does that leave you and me?
And if you're being completely honest, you'll admit that you sometimes love your sin, you delight in the thrill of it, and even seek opportunities to act it out. You know instinctively you are guilty before a holy God, yet you inevitably attempt to camouflage or disavow your sinfulness. In short, you deny it, just like David did. Just like the other godly men, I mentioned in the stories did. It's an intrinsic part of the flesh, the carnal nature of men....to sin and deny it.
First, you seek to cover it up, then you try to justify yourself, and, often, you are oblivious to your sin. And that's exactly what King David tried to do when he sinned against Uriah. He had committed adultery with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. Then when she became pregnant, David first plotted to make it seem as if Uriah was the father.. But when that didn't work, he plotted and schemed to have Uriah killed. Which only compounded his sin further.... And for all the months of Bathsheba's pregnancy, David continued to cover his sin.
Because of the success when the troops marched off to fight, David marched off to take a nap. This success led to an idleness. He had “paid his dues” so to speak. This idleness mixed with his lust and with the trappings of success primed him for disaster. Pride, fullness of bread, and idleness are a deadly trio that will surely lead you down a path to disaster.
The second thing is, you attempt to justify yourself. Adam blamed Eve, whom he described as "the woman whom You gave to be with me" In blaming Eve, Adam was blaming God too. God, he reasoned, was responsible for the woman who victimized him.
We try to excuse our wrongdoing by saying it's someone else's fault. Or we argue that we have a valid reason for committing sin. We manage to convince ourselves that it's OK... it's OK to sin.
David later confessed his sin, and repented. "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah."
Psalm 32:3-5
However, in this present day God is quite unreal to many people, he loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real; the only reality is the devil. Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God. . . The lust is then aroused, it envelops the mind and over powers will of man, leading him further into the deepest of darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us.
This is the huge problem with sin that few really see. In fact, this generation has lost their fear of what is going to happen to them because of their sin. Now, your sinful heart is creative in finding ways to justify its own evil intentions. Some may call sin a sickness, a mental condition, or a hormone imbalance; you can find ways to excuse yourself as a victim; and you can even deny what you've done is wrong. People seem to always find new ways to justify sin.
And whether in ignorance or presumption, you can be oblivious to your sin, insensitive to your own sin. Generally, that occurs because you sin often, you can no longer discern its sinful. Sin brings down the intellect of a man, it essentially causes you to be spiritually stupid. Sin brings a man low, especially in the eyes of God, very low in His eyes.
So I ask you ... What Are You Going to Do About Your Sin?
If you're unsure of your salvation, this message should make you uncomfortable.. cause you a great deal of despair.
But you must choose to accept Jesus' atonement as payment for your sin...
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries