Constrained, Afflicted, and Ashamed Part 1: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 We have saw two restorations and today we’re going to look at the conclusion of the second restoration and the third restoration. In this third restoration, it’s going to be the resurrect the restoration of the constrain, those that are forced uh not to participate in the first two and the restoration of the afflicted and ashamed. Nehemiah is constrained to stay in Babylon. He couldn’t come with Ezra. He couldn’t come by the king’s order to that second restoration. Other things that can constrain us is drugs and alcohol. Alcohol is still the number one drug in the world.

▶ 0:54 Gets a hold on people’s lives and it puts a force on them to do wrong things and not get into the restoration of God. You see this elephant here? This elephant is held by a simple rope tied to a stake that’s just stuck in the ground. That elephant weighing 10,000 lbs, five tons, could easily break that rope if the stake was really anchored way in the ground. Or he could easily just pull that steak right out of the ground and go on his way. But because they took him as a baby elephant, put a chain on his leg and over the years he found that he could not go but to the end of that chain.

▶ 1:51 Then his mind said when that is on my leg, I can’t go any further than the length of that rope. So they can actually tie the elephant with a little string and he will stand right there. He will not go any further than the length of that string because in his mind. That’s what he’s limited to. And that mind is what limits a lot of people. We are constrained by our own thinking that we’re not worthy of God or God isn’t doing anything or you know I’m no good or you know my past is so bad, God can’t save me, whatever. And so we are let our mind constrain us from entering in to the things of God. And in this session, we’re going to see God comes and breaks those constraints.

▶ 2:46 And then here you have the Muslim doing this little three prayer a day thing. And uh they are constrained by the things that they have been taught from childhood as truth. And actually they are lies. I just read some stories from the British Broadcasting Company about the Muslim nations. How rape and incest is common in the Muslim nations. Yet there’s no statistics. Because if a girl is raped, she has to have four witnesses. She only counts as a half a witness. Any woman is a half a person in the Muslim nation. So her vote, see in court is only half a vote. So she has to have four more women.

▶ 3:39 Now who’s going to rape somebody with four people around? You know, and if a man rapes his daughter or his son, you got to have two witnesses. Okay. The daughter has to have four, the son would have to have two. And so they say they say in the Muslim nations we don’t have these statistic. It’s because if the girl comes forward, she can be killed for adultery. Because if she don’t have four witnesses, then they say you committed adultery and you’re just trying to cover it up and she pays the price. And so, one of the stories was this.

▶ 4:32 There was a family and in these nations, they have these military checkpoints. When I go to third world nations, you go through military checkpoints. I’ve been through them. You got a couple of soldiers out there, you know, checking everybody papers and all that, whatever. This guy pulls up with his family in the car, his wife, four kids, and of course, his oldest child is a, you know, 18, 19 year old girl. So they told him, you can go through, but leave your daughter here. And of course, the guy, he didn’t want to leave his daughter there. He knew what they were up to. And they said, “Listen, if you don’t leave your daughter here, we’re going to kill your wife and your other kids right in front of you, and we’re going to take her anyway, and you’re going to have to live with that.” Now, I tell you folks, that would have been a hard decision for me to make.

▶ 5:35 How do you sacrifice one member of the family? I think I would have been like the principal of that school. I would have went after that shooter. I might have died in the process, but I’d go down fighting. You know, how do you select one child to pay the price? And there was many stories that these women secretly hand to the media when they come in and tell them these stories. They they jump out of balconies after being raped by their father. They they have no other cord. They can’t live with it. Uh just the embarrassment, just the dishonor of living in the Muslim nation after you have been deflowered or defiled is something most women cannot handle. So they just kill themselves.

▶ 6:27 All right, that’s constraint. Religion can constrain you with stupid ideas like that. And then we have the military. You know, you got to obey whether you like it or not. And uh you got to go to Vietnam or whatever when they tell you to and and you know, you’re not free to do what you want to do when you’re in the military. So, it’s government, military, and these things are areas of constraint. Now, we’re going to see real quick here in Ezra the pattern for God’s protection. It’s all through the Bible. He just makes it plain here. Ezra chapter 8 21-23. Ezra, remember from the last lesson, has determined to learn the scriptures, to do the scriptures, and to teach the scriptures.

▶ 7:25 And because he did that, he had around 3,000 followers plus their children. See, over here in that Persian Empire, wanting to come back and gave given permission by the government to come back and beautify the house of God. So, he’s got to travel 800 miles. And in those days, there’s marauders, there’s bandits, there’s people that want your goods. They attack you to take what you got, kill you if they have to. That’s the way it was back then. So Ezra, he proclaimed a fast that we might humble ourselves before God. You see, fasting is a humble act for you. Lifting your hands is a humble act.

▶ 8:18 God gives us these humble acts. Kneeling before God in front of people is a humble act. You see, singing, clapping, these are things God has chosen and ordained to bring his presence and bring himself to you because it is a humble act for you. Some of us at the beginning are very humiliated. You say dancing before God is a humble act. We got no problem dancing in the bar, dancing at the football field with the cheerleaders and all that, but boy could dance before God, that’s that’s just too much. See, but it’s a humble act. And a sacrifice is something you don’t want to do. But you do it, it’s a sacrifice. So they humbled themselves.

▶ 9:13 They fasted and they prayed. They acted they actually talked to God. They didn’t think their prayers. They spoke them. Amen. And this is embarrassing for us. It’s humiliating. It’s humbling that I’m speaking. God, I need your help. I And people are going to hear me. Well, if they’re really praying to God, they’re not going to be hearing you because they’re going to be busy talking to God themselves. Amen. So it is our mind anyway. And this is why and he and he asks God for a right way. And you know I’m tired of hearing about liberal and conservative ways, socialist ways, capitalist ways, uh all these ways. I would like to hear what is right and what is wrong.

▶ 10:07 What is the right way? Could that be an amen? And this is what they’re looking for. They want a right way. God, what’s the correct way for our children? You see, you bring children into the world, you’re responsible for them from the scriptures. God put you totally in a position of responsibility for the outcome of your children. And if America and other nations would hold people that have sex and have babies responsible, we’d have a lot less problems in our young people. Just throw that out. That was free. But they are. They’re the ones that God says are responsible. You had them. You take care of them. You be an example to them. You raised them, right? That’s your job. It’s not the government’s job. It’s not the church’s job. It is your job.

▶ 11:02 Hallelujah. So they’re praying for a right way for their children, a right way for their substance, their possessions. See, and a right way for them. What, you know, what is right for us to do? What is right for us to do with our children? What is right for us to do with our possessions? And this he explains. He says, ‘I was ashamed to require the king a band of soldiers to protect me against the enemies along the way because we had spoken to the king how great our God is. And we told him that the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, they that follow him. He’s going to bless them. He’s going to protect them. He told that to the king. He preached that to the people in the Babylon uh city capital of which is now Persia nation.

▶ 11:59 And uh it would be embarrassing to go well you know our God is big but we need some soldiers. It’s embarrassing today that Christians say how big Jesus is and how powerful the Bible is, but we need government handouts. Wow. See, the Christians in America are at a place where we boast of how big Jesus is and how powerful his word is, and we don’t even read the word. We don’t even study it. We don’t even know it. And we don’t know who this Jesus is. Hallelujah.

▶ 12:53 So America’s minds right now is government, give us your protection and your substance from birth to the grave. That’s the framework in America right now. And where does that put God and his work and showing you? And he shows his power by blessing those that serve him so that those that don’t serve him will want what we have. Hallelujah. He also said this, God’s power, the power of Christ and the wrath of Christ is against all them that forsake him. He said, ‘You know, if you’re not going to serve God, King, God’s going to hold you accountable, both now in this life and in eternity.

▶ 13:50 And when you hear most preaching on radio and TV now, you never hear about the lake of fire. It’s all flattery stuff. Grace, faith, I believe. I’m going to heaven no matter what I do. And yet Neah uh Ezra here knew how powerful God was to those that follow him and how he would come and correct now and punish for eternity those that reject him. And the New Testament makes it clear in words they profess to know me but in works they what? Deny me, disown me. See their lifestyle. So that’s the pattern.

▶ 14:41 If you want God’s protection, fast one day a week. I guarantee you it won’t kill you. And God will see it as an act of humility. Pray. Talk to God. And he will give you a right way for your children, for yourself, and your substance. He will bless your life. And I know enough Christians since I came to Christ when I was 20 years old that have the fruit of that. And that was over 40ome years ago. Hallelujah. So it works. I’m telling you it works. It worked in my life and a lot of other people I know. Here’s the picture of the map. He had to go from here to Babylon. They never went across the desert here.

▶ 15:32 They always went up and around and down 800 miles. Took him four months. And in the seventh year of Ardis, okay, remember that seventh year of Artazertz. What year? Seventh. Okay, he came. He left and he came in the seventh year of Artazerts the king. Now I’m going to title this implosion details. Remember last week we talked about implosion and uh remember the start of implosion was a failure to reach out. That’s part of keeping the pressure. Man, implosion is when the outward pressure is higher than the inward pressure. You will implode spiritually. When the world’s pressure is higher than the spiritual pressure in your life through prayer, praise, worship, the word, fasting, giving your money, assembling together, and reaching out.

▶ 16:31 Those are the eight points of pressure that you need to maintain in your life so that the world doesn’t cause you to cave in and become like them. He says in Ezra 9:es 1-2, the people of Israel, that’s us common folks, the priests, that’s the temple leaders, and the Levites, that’s the temple servants, those who served in the temple in the house of God, have not separated from the people of the lands. So the end result of implosion is they start living like the people of the land and doing the abominations, the detestable things. They do the sins of the of the people around them. And that is abundant in America today. People claim to know Christ. They commit adultery. They commit homosexuality, incest, and and and you know, steal and lie and cheat and and don’t pay their bills and whatever.

▶ 17:31 And then, well, hallelujah. I’m a Jesus boy. And so, there’s no separation. And that’s the end result of implosion. The world caves in, or you cave into the world, I should say, and you’re just like them. Only you profess to know Christ. And they are going to hell because they don’t know him. And you’re both doing the same thing. And then he lists these nations. Now remember when Israel went into Canaan land, they were to conquer seven nations. Well, they list five of these nations, but they add the Moabitete, Ammonite, and Egyptians to this list. Egypt was several hundred miles south of them and yet they did what the Egyptians who used to have them in slavery did.

▶ 18:26 Now it is important for you to know the Ammonite no more Moabitete was an incestuous relationship birth. Lot’s daughters got him drunk. There’s alcohol again. And had sex with his own daughters and had these two kids. All right? Incestuous relationships, you see. And what is that? Well, when we go to the Bible, God’s word, Jesus is the word, and we twist the scriptures to come up with our own doctrine, we just committed an incestuous relationship. When we twist the scriptures and come up with our own doctrine instead of God’s doctrine. Are you there?

▶ 19:20 Now, how many people you know that do that? Oh, yeah. And did didn’t Peter say they twist Paul’s scripture to their own destruction? See, they did it back there. See, that’s why Ammon and Moab is important for you to understand. And that’s why they weren’t allowed in the congregation of God for 10 generations. You see, that had to be cleansed out. When you go to that Bible and you come up with your own doctrine, you are turning into a Moabitete and an Ammonite. And God rejects that. And you destroy people with your doctrine. Now they took their daughters for themselves and for their sons and the holy seed mingled with the people of those lands. Okay? Now what is he trying to explain here?

▶ 20:12 He’s trying to explain you see their abominations were idolatry. They worshiped idols. These nations uh and and they made slaves out of people. In fact they made slaves out of the Jews. They killed children in their sacrificial idolatry worship. Uh they uh got intoxicated in their worship. They got drunk, had sex right in the temples and all the rest. And they just did all kinds of sin. Okay. So what’s he trying to explain? He’s trying to explain that when we get into an intimate relationship. You see, marriage or sexual relationships between a man and woman is an intimate, a close, personal relationship. And he’s trying to say these sins that you commit.

▶ 21:05 You see, you are attached to them. You’re married to them. You’re married to that idol. You’re married to that alcohol. You’re married to them drugs. Are you there? You’re mingling with the people of the land. That’s what the people of the land do. See, and that is the end result of implosion. And you should know if you’re imploded or not. If you’ve caved into the world, it’s easy to see. The Bible says, “By their fruit, you shall know them.” You can look in the mirror, look at yourself, and and you can honestly go, you know, I’m imploded. I’m doing what the world does. I’ve caved in. Doesn’t take a great move of the Holy Ghost to figure this stuff out.

▶ 22:04 Are you with me, church? All right. Now, many Christians in the United States accept the philosophies of the atheists, the humanists, the evolutionists, the homosexuals, the liberals, which are progressives. There’s no difference. And there’s no difference between a liberal progressive and a socialist. And a socialist is only one step up from a communist. All right? And religionist and hedenist like Hugh Hefner. Uh many also sin like them. They not only embrace the philosophy, they start sinning like these people sin. Divorce, same-sex marriage, same-sex lifestyle is okay. It’s a righteous act. Sexual immorality, you know, going out on your wife, going out on your husband, you know, just having a fling, having an overnight stand.

▶ 22:59 Uh, well, they call it a hookup today. Just hooking up, you know, no responsibility, no accountability. And, uh, people are not even marrying today because they can get sex free. No, no problem. Welfare without work, intoxication, abortion on demand, used as a contraceptive raising the debt ceiling and the taxes. Well, why’d you put that in there? Because the people I talk to in America have no idea that this debt ceiling, this fiscal cliff, this economical financial cliff is nothing more than a congressional madeup thing to you get distracted from the real problem. And it doesn’t matter which side wins this fiscal cliff argument, they’re both losers because they’re not addressing the real problem.

▶ 23:54 And the real problem is the debt ceiling. They’re going to raise the debt ceiling so we can borrow more money, go farther into debt, and keep spending more money than we got. And so we’re going to have a We had a physical cliff last year. We had it the year before and we have it this year. It’s just a game they’re playing up there. And especially our young Americans do not read enough editorial news and real news to understand the issues and they vote and think foolishly because they don’t take the time to do the research. So as preachers have to throw this stuff out to you so you can make sense of some of this stuff. If any preacher worth his salt will do that for you. Hallelujah. You need to understand this stuff.

▶ 24:49 Anyway, raising taxes, gosh almighty. I can show you how to solve America’s problem just like that. But they’re not going to listen and you won’t listen, a lot of you, because you’re going to have to take some responsibility for it. And half of America almost don’t pay taxes. They get all the benefits without any tax being paid at all. And that’s not right. Are you there, church? Yeah. We want something for nothing. We want something for nothing in the church. We want to go to heaven by God’s grace and faith without any responsibility of living right. And being a light to the world.

▶ 25:42 And in the secular society, our community, we want all the freebies we can get without any responsibility of paying for them. Hallelujah. They don’t believe in nor preach. Sinners go to hell. I put hell in there because the lake of fire took too much space. But remember, hell is cast into the lake of fire. And the lake of fire is the final destiny of those that reject and forsake God and his word. And it is a fact. You will be punished for eternity. That is a fact. And no grace and no faith can keep you from that. It’s your grace and faith to follow Christ will keep you from that. Can I hear an amen? Hallelujah. And don’t get don’t get me wrong.

▶ 26:33 We grow into this. You know, you’re going to be making some mistakes as a young Christian. Relax. Just like our children grow and they make mistakes, so do Christians grow. But we keep growing toward maturity. And Christians go to church. Only 25% of Americans right now are going to church, and that includes Catholics. Assembling together is part of the package of keeping your inner spiritual pressure strong so you don’t cave into the world. But we go to church to provoke one another to love and do good works. That’s what church is about. And that’s what this message is about today. That’s what worship should be about. That’s what everything should be about in the church. To stir you up to love one another, love yourself, love your family, love your neighbor, love your enemy, and live a righteous life. Amen. And not flatter yourself.