Get To The Root!
Yesterday, I had a dental extraction. They had to twist, tug and pull because the root was so strong. The tooth was damaged and rotten and the dentist knew it would become a source of poison and pain in my body, so the entire tooth, including the root, had to go!
This makes me think about what our pastor and leader Chief Apostle HC Gunn always says about getting to the root of your sin, problem, or situation. It’s more than what you see or say on the surface. If the root of where that sin or issue came from is not uprooted fully then some form of it will remain.
Roots are strong. If they can hold up a tree that is 52,500 cubic feet, then you know that the root of sin can hold on to anything, unless we employ the Lord and the word to uproot it. As Chief Apostle Gunn said, we need to ask the HOLY GHOST to help us, and that includes taking the teaching that comes through the messages every week and that is written in God’s living word. These, coupled with sincere praying and confession, are the tools we need to dig up those roots!
Yesterday evening, during Friday night service, Chief Apostle Gunn taught from the book of Judges 4 and 5, but of course, the Lord also led him to deal with some other critical issues that need to be addressed among the church and the nation, including more warnings about COVID and being safe, because this time something worse is riding with COVID. And God has had to remove his defense from this nation because we refused to repent. So we are open to every enemy and we need to head toward safety. Safety is in being under the covering of God and being faithful to him. It's also in the simple things like getting vaccinated, wearing masks, staying away from large crowds, staying home when possible, and standing against lawlessness and injustice.
Side note: Sometimes, during the message, it is easy to miss some of the crucial things God is saying if we are distracted and not paying attention. I am grateful that God has allowed us to use technology to record our services so we can be reminded and we also have this blog and our chat thread to keep the word at the top of our minds. It reminds me that there are people around the world who can’t even use a Bible or search anything on the internet about God or they will be persecuted. We must be grateful for the access and freedom we have to serve God.
Okay back to the message!
There was so much gold in the message but there was one thing that kept ringing in my ear when I began to prepare for this blog.
Chief Apostle Gunn asked: Is your conscience clear?
When I first got saved, Chief Apostle taught me to make sure to serve and surrender to God with my imagination, my mind, my soul, my heart, my will, and MY CONSCIENCE!!
Why is this important? Because what is in your conscience lives in the back of your thoughts and at the bottom of your heart. And what is in your heart comes out.
Proverbs 4:23: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
Matthew 15:19: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies …”
Chief told us last night that sometimes being around another person who is battling or involved with for instance drug use, sexual sin, stealing, racism, abuse, drinking, cursing, lying, gambling, etc. can awaken in you the desire to do those things if you used to do them -- and sometimes even if you didn’t -- because of soul ties and spiritual transfer. Just a touch, a conversation, an embrace with the wrong person can connect you to that desire to sin. And sometimes your past will try to haunt you down and live hidden in your conscience and that's why we need to make sure it is clear of any residue.
But we can’t be religious and blame our wrong desires and feelings on being around other people, that wasn’t the only point of what Chief Apostle Gunn was saying. We have to be accountable and do what it takes to stay clean.
He later said that the blessing is when the sin or temptation is on the outside trying to get on the inside versus the sin already living in you. Because you can rebuke it, fight it or shut the door on the sin that is not living in you much easier. God has given us the power and the victory to overcome temptation and resist the devil.
Through the blood of Jesus and his resurrection power, God has given us the ability to repent and be made new and to be free from the sin that was once in us. BUT, if we are trying to love God and the world and hold on to those desires and ways that are in enmity with God then we'll always carry the residue of sin in our conscience. There will always be that itch to go back to the sin.
That is why we must make sure our conscience is clean, clear, and under control (my favorite quote from a skincare commercial.) It rings so true!
And I am so grateful that at the Body of Christ Inc., we are taught that we can go before God and lay and bow before him and confess and cry out so that our conscience can be washed and made new.
Having a good conscience is more than the classic definition the world gives us about being “woke,” “kind,” “fair” or putting things into “a good light/ perspective.” It also speaks to the things you are most sensitive to, what you're likely to notice and be most aware of. In other words, what are you inclined to do? What do you care about and pay attention to the most? What is your character? What do you conform to? We can’t try to have a clear conscience according to the world’s standards, it must be according to God’s standards.
Hebrews 10:22: “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
If we don’t ensure our conscience is clear with God, then that root of sin will remain even if it looks like it has been extracted. There will be a bit or piece somewhere stuck without God’s help. There is no way I could have extracted that bad tooth myself!
As Chief Apostle taught from Judges 4-5: Barak, a KNOWN military commander, was afraid to go to battle, even though he was called by the Lord to do so and God promised a victory: “And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.” (Judges 4:7)
Yet even with this guarantee, Barak said in verse 8 to Deborah: “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.”
This is very sobering because it's how we treat the word of God. No matter what God tells us or what comes from the pastor, we still choose to not believe and we lean on our understanding or we trust in or hide behind a person, circumstance or job, etc. We will believe our conscience, thoughts, and emotions more than the creator who knows the outcome of everything.
So, God had to raise up a woman, prophetess, and judge, Deborah, to have the courage to take the lead in obeying God and trusting God for the victory.
Deborah replied in verse 9: “I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.”
Chief Apostle Gunn has said often that there is no reason to fear or worry when your conscience is clear with God. We have learned that fear and worry are sins. So, if we continue to fail to follow through with God’s word, be obedient and carry out his orders, because of fear and worry, we have to find and uproot the sin that is lingering in our conscience.
A commentator put it like this: Deborah’s name meant “Bee” and Barak’s name meant “lighting.” Now, if one were to think about what would grab the most attention and fear of an army -- they would say it would be the big sound and power of lighting not the buzz or sting of a bee, but because Deborah loved the Lord and her conscience was clear before him, she was able to stand up and accomplish his will -- and although the odds were stacked against them, helped Barak bring home a victory for the Lord. Barak was so caught up in himself that he could not see the lighting that was with him, but God showed his power through a woman who was as diligent as a bee.
Like Deborah, our conscience can be full of faith and focus and the knowledge that God can do anything, instead of a conscience full of the sin of fear, like Barak, that lies and tells us God can only do what we think he can do or what we want him to do. He is bigger and stronger than we can ever imagine!
Listen to today's radio broadcast "Did God Hear Me?" here: https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/listen-in?wix-music-track-id=2480502513786528&wix-music-comp-id=comp-kjfzbgmx
If you have been impacted by the messages and ministry of our Pastor and The Body of Christ, Inc, please sow a seed and watch what God does with the harvest! Let's be involved with what God is doing in this season! Donate here.
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