WHO
TOLD YOU YOU WERE NAKED??
(Thanks
to Steve Munds - www.Be4ore.org )
"The
LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and
righteousness. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times,
and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure." (Isaiah
33:5-6)
We have a promise from God to have stability in an unstable world!
In self-esteem and self-worth, in the 90s there was a lack of stability. Did you
know that every 45 minutes in America a teenager took their life? (Actual
suicides, not attempts!)
Psychologists' say that the number one reason for, teenagers, to take their life
is because they have a poor self worth! God is saying listen, "I know My
plan, I revealed it to you, get into my Spirit and you will know that there is
stability in your time, for such a time is this."
The stock market goes up and down, our government goes up and down, and the
world is too! But, there is stability in your time because God is stable! (re: Isaiah
33:6) He is not a schizoid…He is stable and He is always on high!
Don't let the devil spread lies about your life!
The devil is a liar. We all know that. So, if the devil is a liar and Jesus is
the truth, then why should the devil have more influence than the truth? Why do
people believe him? It is because the lies that they hear about themselves have
become the truth. It has to become truth before you will believe it;
they have to be convinced it is the truth.
The Bible calls satan an angel of light. He looks beautiful on the outside, but
he is a deceiver. One of the most tragic results of the fall is that man's mind
became darkened. He has deceived the world into believing that now he is the
truth and God is the lie. (2
Cor. 11:14)
That may sound absurd, but in natural this is true! PRIME EXAMPLE:
Look at the world today. They feel that satan has a greater plan for their lives
than God does. How can that be? Satan can only lie. He can never tell the truth.
The Bible says that satan is the father of lies! (John
8:44) So what is God's solution to satan's lies? The truth! The Word. The
Bible!
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32)
The truth will set you free. Set you free from what? The lies. The devil
says you are sick. The Bible says that you are healed, (1st Peter 2:24) so which one are you going
to believe? The lie says you are going to be poor. The truth says you are going
to prosper. The lie says you will never be happy. The truth says you will always
be happy. So which one are you going to believe?
Why would satan want you to believe the lies? He feels that if his influence can
be greater than God's influence, you will not only believe the lie but
you will become part of the lie. Then you will start fulfilling the
destiny of the lie rather than the destiny of the truth!
Why is it wrong to lie?
When you start believing a lie,
you become a lie…something that is not really you because you were born out of
truth! (God's truth!) You are no longer your own personality but the personality
of the lie. You start to feel that you have to perform or put on an act to be
accepted. When you become part of the lie, you start lying! You become a liar
because you start to believe that you are worthless or a nobody. You start to
believe that you are ugly. That's a lie!
The Lord God called to Adam, "Why are you hiding?" And
Adam replied, "I heard you coming and didn't want you to see me naked. So I
hid." "Who told you, you were naked?" the Lord God asked. (Genesis
3:9-11 TLB)
God asked, "Who told you, you were naked?" It's a lie! Who told you,
you were dumb. Who told you, you were ugly? When that fruit was eaten it changed
the future and distorted man's view of himself! The tree was no longer God's
gift, but it became a curse because they partook of that fruit in disobedience
and rebellion. When you believe the lie you become part of a lie and then you
begin lying.
Why is it wrong to lie? It is deceitful. (Wow! Big news right?) Remember the
Scripture that says something about all liars shall have their part in the lake
of fire? (Revelation 21:8)
That's reason enough right there, but there are some practical things according
to the Word. I call them seven results of lying.
The Seven Results of Lying
Number 1 -You will
attract liars into your life.
The
wicked enjoy fellowship with others who are wicked; liars enjoy liars. (Proverbs
17:4 TLB)
When you start to believe the lies you will attract other liars into your
life and what does that become? Double jeopardy! Then not only will the devil
have a stronghold in your life, but he will have a buddy to back it up! Two
liars don’t make the truth. (Three or more don't either just in case you were
wondering.) Two liars just make more lies.
We’re dealing with self-image… So, think about this, if you begin to believe
lies about yourself in any way, shape or form, you will suddenly start to
attract other liars! Then that will just reinforce your insecurity. You will not
have the security and stability that is supposed to be in your life that is
given to you by God. That insecurity will reinforce the lie that you are dumb,
you are nothing, or you are ugly.
Only God will be able to deliver you from the lies because they get bigger and
bigger. You no longer know what is right and what is wrong. What is true or what
is untrue.
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32 KJV)
I've got good news for you! Jesus said that if you get into God's Word, you will
know the truth and the truth will make you free!
Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate
every false way. (Psalm
119:104 NKJV)
So what happens when you follow a lie? You are less attracted to the truth. Then
when a lie is in your life, you have no understanding of truth. I am going to
say it this way, you have no understanding of reality because Jesus said, I am
the truth. (John 14:6 KJV)
Truth is the highest form of reality and Jesus IS reality! SOOO…you become
less attracted to Jesus (the TRUTH).
Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life. And truth, according to
Webster, is the highest form of reality. So if truth is the highest form of
reality, that is how and why the truth operates in YOUR life. The reality is
that God says you are marvelously made in my image, I made you this way. I just
love putting you together.
Now if God takes that much time to create one individual, don't you believe that
He thinks that you are pretty important? Tell the world! So if someone says to
you, "You are ugly." You tell them, "Well, if I am ugly, so is my
Father. He must be. Have you ever seen God? No? Then how do you know He is
ugly?" Sounds like a lie doesn't it?
When you follow a lie you will be less attracted to the truth and then you will
have no understanding of truth.
Number 3 - You will never enjoy permanent results!
Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed. (Proverbs 12:19 KJV)
There will be no stability in your time! Another
translation: "Truthful lips shall be established forever, but a lying
tongue is credited but for a moment."
The Bible says that truthful lips shall be
established forever, but a lying tongue is credited but for a moment. That is
why Jesus is going to be around forever and the devil's days are numbered! The
devil is the father of lies; he is going to be around only for a moment. Since
Jesus is the father of truth, we’re going to be around forever!
When you follow the truth, you will have a
self-image that is strong forever; there will be stability in your times.
Anytime you come into a rough situation you are going to be stable and have
understanding! You are going to have wisdom and knowledge!
"My precaution was because of false
brethren, some men who were Christians in the name only, who had been secretly
smuggled in to the Christian brotherhood, they had slipped in to spy on our
liberty and the freedom of which we have in Christ, that they might again bring
us into bondage." (Galatians
2:4 Amplified)
These were liars. Lying will only bring you into
bondage. Do you know who is the author and father of bondage? The devil. (Can
you say satan?) When you follow his lies you will enter into his bondage. Would
you want to be a slave to sin? Not me, I wanna' be free!
"...and you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free." (John 8:32 TLB)
Let's see... If the truth will set you free and a lie will bring you into bondage. (Hummm... Truth = free. Lie = bondage….)
"A false witness will not go unpunished, and
he who speaks lies will not escape." (Proverbs 19:5 NKJV)
(Oh joy!) You will be punished. I know everybody
loves to be punished. Right? What?
You don't like to be punished? Well then quit lying! Listen to the amplified
version, "A false witness shall not be unpunished and he who breathes out
lies shall not escape."
Even Adam tried to hide. He was the first
Houdini. He and Eve tried to create the first magic act by trying to lie and
hide from God. They lied and then tried to hide.
"He that hides hatred with lying lips, and
he that utters a slander, is a fool." (Proverbs 10:18 Joey Bock Version)
Have you ever seen some of these TV programs of
people that are tree-huggers? It's like they are saying that we shouldn't cut
the grass because it is nature and every time we cut the grass, we are cutting
mother earth. It's really painful for Mother Earth when we mow lawn. What do
they sound like? Idiots! Fools! Do you know why? They have followed the lie that
creation is more valuable than creator! That is just a little fictitious
example. But the reality is, when people follow a lie they become fools. I’m
not saying it is not important to feel for the earth and the dolphins, or your
local neighborhood tree….but do you know what IS important? The TRUTH!
(EX: Throwing old clothes out, dump guy brings ‘em back…)
RESULT OF NUMER SEVEN:
"Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; Yes, he
conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. He made a pit and dug it out, And
has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own
head, and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown." (Psalm
7:14-16 NKJV)
Your lies will come back to you. Or in this case
they came back ON him! Have you ever lied? How many times did that lie come back
to you? Somebody says, "Well, you said this about me and that was a
lie." You are going, "Well, uh, I didn't say that and that is a lie
too or
That is not what I meant." Yeah right! You
can't get a revelation out of a lie but you do get revelation out of the truth.
"To keep Satan from getting the advantage
over us; for we are not to be ignorant of his wiles, lies and his
intentions."
(II Corinthians 2:11 Amplified)
To keep Satan from getting the advantage of or
over us we are not to ignore or be ignorant of his wiles, his lies and his
intentions. What are his intentions? Kill, steal and destroy. (John
10:10) We are not to be ignorant of his devices. Now how do you become
ignorant of his devices? Follow a lie…but why do you follow the lie? Because
you don't know the truth! What is the truth? God's Word.
So how do we keep ourselves from being ignorant
of the devil's devices? By knowing God's Word! A lot of people say, "Joey,
there is so many don'ts in this Bible, there are so many don'ts in God's
laws." I like to look at it this way; there are so many dos that if you do
all the dos, you don't have time for the don'ts. If you spend all your time
knowing the truth, you don't have to worry about the lie. If you have such a
hunger for God, you don't have to worry about the devil. Do you know why people
always worry about the devil? They are always worrying about the devil because
they really don't have a relationship with God! But now you know the TRUTH! (God
good, devil bad!)
It's IMPORTANT to know the truth! The devil
recognizes the truth! Did you ever notice that Jesus never went out and sought
devils they all sought him? Didn't they? Jesus didn't get up every morning and
say, "Okay disciples, let's go find us a few demon-possessed guys."
No man, he walked in the truth, the devil
recognized the truth, and they ran! So get the Word inside of you and suddenly
the image of God will start coming out and you are going to feel good about
yourself again. I feel good about myself because I am a child of God and I don't
care what personality you have, when you are secure in Jesus you are stable in
your times. When you find a relationship with Jesus Christ and the Word, which
is the truth, it will set you free. (John 8:31, 32) The truth creates confidence!
Truth creates confidence.
Do you know what attracts other people to Christ?
Confidence. That's why is it important to have a good self-image. Confidence
attracts other people. Why? Because they LIKE to see confidence! (EX:
Me!)
Why is it important to have a good self-image? If
you don't have a strong self-worth, you become the property of others. You are a
slave to what THEY say, what THEY think, how THEY feel. You are no longer
yourself. You become a total prisoner to their characteristics and
personalities.
Ewwww, that one could leave a mark. (If you allow
it to.) Do you accept what others think or say as your barometer for importance?
The world's view of self-esteem basically states
that if you are bright, beautiful, popular, talented, wealthy and productive,
you will be valued and loved. That is THEIR concept.
That is a lie! That concept did not come out of
the Bible! If we measure ourselves by those values, do you know what you usually
end up with? A loss of esteem because maybe you are not bright.
(You ARE bright, but the devil has told you that you aren't.) We need to
watch the words that come out of our mouth.
(Pastor Dave on aging) – Tell about my fear of
dying & overcoming…also EX: being sick and wallowing in it.
This is God's concept of self-worth…you are
loveable, you are capable, and you are valuable. Not because you are bright,
beautiful, popular, talented, wealthy, or productive. God says, you are mine,
you are loveable, capable and valuable because I created you that way. Why would
we want to try to find another creator? Why are we letting the Hollywood movie
stars or a Swimsuit Edition be our barometer? So what is today's new gospel of
how we are to look, or how we are to act? (A LIE!) Why should a physical fitness
magazine tell us how to look? God says you are loveable, capable and valuable.
There is no clause. There is no fine print that says the opposite. God said it
and that settles it!
You, young person, need to get into the Place
Of God. Get out of this blame game! Get out of this system of being a
victim! Take control of your TRUE destiny and realize that's only going to
happen when you find the GOD of destiny. When you find the God of destiny
you'll find your identity, and when you find your identity, you'll find your
destiny and when you find your destiny you're going to find your eternity!