what is the greater danger to the church today is it the celebrity Pastor you know the one who was the quote unquote spiritual adviser of this athlete or this musician or this politician is the greatest danger to the church the Prosperity Gospel you know the setting where there is a multi-millionaire Pastor who lives in a multi-million dollar mansion with a private jet when you look at some of the numbers around the richest Pastors in America you'll see figures that range from 20 million to 100 million but is this the greatest danger to the church today
is it money is it Fame and influence well let's take a look I Love The Gospel of Jesus Christ when it's preached without any edits or filters and in this present day I struggle to find the type of preachers who give you the Gospel of Jesus Christ Raw and Uncut there used to be a good crop of preachers who weren't afraid to preach repentance they weren't afraid to tell you that sin leads to hell what happened to the pastors who would preach in such a way that you were left feeling challenged challenged to do better
challenged to seek the face of the Lord and to turn away from sin look at the modern-day Church does the church of today symbolize Jesus Christ does the modern-day Pastor humble themselves and recognize that their title may be head pastor it may be Bishop but in reality their call is to serve it's to become a servant for God's kingdom and we've seen an influx lately of the fall of celebrity pastors it seems like one after another is in the news for some sort of abuse controversy or financial Scandal these pastors have millions of viewers and
followers that follow their every word and move they fostered these cult like followings and they've built multi-million doll Empires with lavish Lifestyles these are Cults of personality and this trend transcends mega church pastors it seems that the motivation of pastoring and of church leadership has become fame fortune and Prestige the pastor has become this unapproachable figure for those who are really in need of counsel and guidance leaders have become more concerned about the number of Instagram followers and Facebook likes than proclaiming the word of God they have become more concerned with wealth than the word
more concerned with status than with scripture and more concerned with popularity than with preaching the gospel is this what Christ called us to on the contrary Christ called those who would lead his flock to a very different Ministry now there's nothing inherently wrong with having a large Church a thriving media Ministry and living a comfortable lifestyle but the extent to which we engage in these things testifies to our inner motivations and intentions here is how Jesus outlined his concept of ministry Matthew 16: 24-26 says then Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come after me
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul in other words a true disciple of Jesus Christ sets aside selfish interests a true disciple of Christ expresses a willingness to take up their cross and to endure Whatever May Come the Lord taught is that whoever would be
great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be humble and didn't Jesus Christ exemplify humility did he not demonstrate a willingness to serve even with his life Jesus's model of ministry is clear humility service sacrifice not pump circumstance and Status Jesus clearly says the greatest among you will be a servant but there seem to be two types of leaders today those who lead for their own Glory those who lead for the glory of God those who lead for their own Glory are concerned about status and image but those
who lead for the glory of God are concerned about spreading the gospel those who lead for their own Glory spend more time on updating their Instagram stories than cultivating their relationships with the Lord so that their sermons are inspired by the Holy Spirit those who lead for their own Glory have little to no time for the man on the back bench who has a mountain of issues and simply needs Direction but those who lead for the glory of God spend time in service to others those who lead for their own Glory get drunk with their
own celebrity and power and become abusers and power Brokers while those who lead for the glory of God become intoxicated with the Holy Spirit but what has God called us to has he called us to lives of Fame and Fortune no rather he has called us to lives of love and service Paul has this to say about spiritual leadership Acts 20:28 says pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the Church of God which he obtained with his own blood spiritual leaders
should consider themselves overseers or caretakers for the Church of God the same way a man would be protective of his wife and children a spiritual leader should be protective of their flock even more so because the flock is not theirs but the Lord's Christ died for the church and the pastor has been entrusted to Shepherd the flock of Christ what a high calling in another passage Paul says this Hebrews 13:17 says obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account let
them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you leaders leading according to the flesh take this passage as a license for Spiritual abuse they will use and abuse their Authority and Status over the church and call on people to be obedient to them but just as a wife's call to submit to her husband is contingent on the husband's submission to Christ so is the parishioner to the spiritual leader if that leader is not following the path of Christ they have no Authority at least no Authority from
Heaven if that leader is drunk with their own power rather than the power of Christ they have no Authority if that leader is consumed with worldly Pursuits and interests rather than the interests of the Gospel they have no Authority oh beloved this world has enough celebrities we don't need anymore we don't need any more entertainers we need preachers we don't need any more icons we need Apostles we don't need anymore charlatans we need Shepherds what we need beloved is good honest Godly leadership a leadership that encourages repentance and hly living we have enough people encouraging
us to sin and to live according to the flesh what we need are leaders that will encourage Us in the word of God may we be those leaders and may we follow those leaders leaders who aren't afraid to hold up the Bible and say this is God's standard the standard we ought to follow and live by all men and women of God should live by 1 Corinthians 2: 1 and 2 the simplified translation reads and when I came to you brothers and sisters proclaiming to you the testimony of God concerning salvation through Christ I did
not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom no lofty words of eloquence or of philosophy as a Greek oror might do for I made the decision to know nothing that is to forego philosophical or theological discussions regarding inconsequential things and opinions while among you accept Jesus Christ and him crucified and the meaning of his Redemptive substitutionary death and his resurrection all across the world today we Christians can't help but notice the steady decline of people who regularly attend church or openly hold to the Christian faith it used to be that businesses were closed on
Sundays employers allowed their workers to have Sundays off and attending church seemed to be the norm amongst our peers times have changed when I tell people that I prefer having Sundays off of work so that I can attend church people almost seem offended that I consider myself religious what is happening here it used to be that Mom and Dad took their children to church every Sunday and the children grew up understanding the importance of their religion typically this process would continue throughout the generations however today we see something different the sight of seeing multigenerational churchgoers
is rare to say the least even churchgoers appear to be changing right along with the secular culture as the Zeal and enthusiasm for the Christian faith decline all around us the hostility and dismissiveness of Christ and his teaching seemingly increase is it fair to say that religion is dying no this is not a fair assessment religion is alive and well but people have shifted their priorities people today are more concerned with how they can personally benefit they are less concerned about how they can humbly serve God and serve others religion is still just as prevalent
but the end goal is no longer loving God and loving our neighbors I submit to you that there is a new religion taking a foothold in the lives of people today this religion is contrary to the values and teachings of the generations that have come before us and the Very teachings of Christ we hold so dear this new emerging religion is a religion of self many churches and Christians today claim that their number one purpose in life is honoring Christ but is this true do their actions support this I would say that many indeed are
convinced that they are putting Christ first in their lives because this emerging religion of self has grown subtly as Eve was deceived in the garden I fear many of my brothers and sisters today have been ens snared by this selfish mentality many people seek to hear things about the Bible that make them feel good but never stop to consider if these things are true Christians and non-believers today seem to agree on this one thing what truly matters in life is happiness but what does the Bible say Jesus so perfectly enlightens Us in Matthew 16: 24-26
about what our focus in life should truly be on let's establish this portion of scripture as our main text for this lesson in verse 24 the Bible says then Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Jesus is very very clear about what he is stating here if people want to follow Christ which many claim they want they must be willing to put what they desire aside and dedicate themselves to what God desires this is extremely unpopular today the religion of self
teaches that our happiness hopes dreams and comfort are the most important Pursuits a person can have although this idea may sound nice on the surface it's subtly picking away at the very Foundation of Christ's Ministry it is hard to convince a person that they should put God first in a society that has constantly impressed on them the exact opposite people are constantly being bombarded with ads of the hot new items to buy pressure at work to become the biggest and greatest or music that glorifies happiness over what is right and wholesome when people continue to
live with this inward focus and lose sight of God the result is always empty consider the wisdom that proverbs 30 gives us proverbs 30:7 to9 says two things I ask of you deny them not to me before I die remove far from me falsehood and lying give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with the food that is needful for me lest I be full and deny you and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God the religion of self teaches us to constantly acquire
more and more every year a new model of a popular vehicle hits the market and people do everything within their power to buy it every year a new cell phone comes out and people count every penny they have to ensure that they will be one of the first people holding that new phone but how often do people consider the fact that the car and phone they already have are just fine why is it that people are never satisfied it's because they feel like they deserve the hot new items on the market they often are too
self-focused to realize there are far greater concerns in life to attend to than simply obtaining items that will lift their social status their desire for material things is a fake counterfeit to happiness and will never truly satisfy anyone the Bible teaches us that true happiness and contentment are reached when a person seeks God above all else proverbs 30 gives us a warning that the desire to obtain items we want or even need for that matter should not take priority over our walk with God is being full of food drink and luxuries worth the cost of
denying God is living life as a Thief as a means to obtain the things you want worth profaning the very name of God the answer is no so our priority instead should be asking God for just the right amount of things that we want and need and being content with whatever amount he chooses to give us if our needs are met and we are content what should we then be setting our affections on the answer given in Matthew 6:33 is but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be
added to you contrary to what self-absorbed thinking teaches contentment is not achieved by seeking to build a kingdom for ourselves it is achieved by seeking to build the kingdom of God our Focus as God's people should be on God's Will and not our own depriving ourselves of our selfish Ambitions and submitting ourselves completely to Christ is the true meaning of life let us continue with our main text and Jesus's words in Matthew 16 against self-promotion verse 25 and 26 say for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my
sake will find it for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul in a world that prioritizes self-preservation the Bible confronts us with a very difficult truth to accept this idea seems so counterintuitive and yet much joy and peace is to be found when one accepts it by faith the very Act of letting go of even our lives is the key to finding our lives the religion of self teaches that the ultimate goal in life is discovering
who you are and satisfying that selfish Destiny however we see here from the very mouth of our savior that the willingness to forsake our own life and purpose is exactly what helps us find our life and purpose this is possible because our identity is in Christ when we give Christ the proper headship that he deserves we understand that any worth we have is solely based upon him and not ourselves now someone might be tempted to say are you telling me my safety is not important to God how is it that I need to be willing
to lose my life for him friend we must understand that although God Watches Over Us protects us and blesses us none of this is mandatory for him he does these things because he loves us not because he has to we must understand that God may allow us to go through certain trials hardships or even lose our lives for the sake of bringing him glory the way a person responds to this truth is a good indicator of how heavily they have or have not been influenced by this mentality of self- worship let us hear what God
teaches us through Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 12:7 to10 so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations a thorn was given me in the flesh a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceited three times S I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ May rest
upon me for the sake of Christ then I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and calamities for when I am weak then I am strong throughout the Bible we see good men and women of God who lived with a far lower quality of life life than you and I we see God's people belittled physically assaulted and even killed most people these days would hardly be willing to even inconvenience themselves for God let alone accept bodily harm or the laying down of their lives even now as I stand and claim that I am a follower
of Christ the thought of losing my life or suffering pain because of my faith sounds terrifying this is something I should work on and I am certain I am not the only one but as we read through scripture we find time and time again little clues that God wants us to get our priorities straight is our concern to be with ourselves or with God in his purpose notice that God was allowing the Apostle Paul to endure a certain health problem for the reason of not allowing him to become too full of himself and prideful although
Paul asked God multiple times for him to take this away God chose to allow Paul to continue with the thorn in his flesh we see a similar scenario play out when Job loses his wealth wife children and his health at the hands of Satan God allows this like the health condition Paul endures to happen does God care for Paul does God care for job of course he does and very much so but he also never promised that life would be easy comfortable or even safe for God's people what does this mean for us God never
promised us safety either we must be willing to lose our very lives if that is what God desires from us we do not have to understand but we need to obey the world will teach us that we need to do what makes us happy and to live out what we perceive to be our destiny but this is false what truly matters is submitting to what God's will for our lives is and what will bring him glory we must resist this emerging religion that seeks to elevate ourselves over our Lord and Savior Jesus demons will teach
and people will listen now immediately when people hear something like this they'll say well no people won't listen to Demons because we know they're evil but in this video I want to show you that not only will demons teach and have people listening to them but people will go a step further and seek out demonic teachings secondly I want to show you how demons will present themselves in order to attract people and finally I'll show you how you can identify demonic teachings because it's not always overtly evil when presented to you but before we dive
into these points if you look through your history you will find different incidents and events where people were LED astray by ungodly demonic teachings Cults are nothing new a cult can be defined as a religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian or a charismatic leader the New Yorker magazine once wrote an article arle titled what makes a cult a cult the line between delusion and what the rest of us believe may be blurrier than we think isn't
that true how often have you seen something strange or even demonic but yet there will be people who are in support of that very thing and I mean you just have to look at some of the Cults that have been documented and you'll see what I mean here's one case regarding Jim Jones the leader of the people's temple in the 1950s to the 1970s the Rolling Stone wrote The Following until the September 11th attacks the tragedy in Jonestown on November 18th 1978 represented the largest number of American civilian casualties in a single non-natural event it
is as unfathomable now as it was then that more than 900 Americans members of a San Francisco based religious group called The People's Temple died after drinking poison at the urging of their leader the Reverend Jim Joan in a secluded South American jungle settlement then there are other cases like the heavensgate cult it was reported that in the 1970s Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles came to believe that they were the two witnesses referenced in chapter 11 of Revelation in the Bible this cult ended in tragedy these are just a couple of examples but the majority
of cases repeat the same pattern there is a leader who is somewhat charismatic and they gain a congregation by teaching some type of new doctrine then the members of the group are somehow so mesmerized with this leader that they will follow all of his instructions without question and more often than not this leads to tragedy there are many people who subscribe to demonic teachings we all know of churches Ministries and pastors who have thousands and thousands of followers they have great church buildings with beautiful art architecture there's wealth and there's award-winning worship teams but the
gospel that is preached there has nothing to do with repentance or dying to self but then there are churches Ministries and pastors with much smaller congregations less glamorous worship teams and modest Church buildings but the big difference is they preach Jesus they preach the full and true gospel that is in the Bible I know that I'd rather Pastor a struggling Church preaching the truth than to Pastor the wealthiest Church in America and preach lies and flatteries so back to the opening line demons will teach and people will listen the statement comes from 1 Timothy 4:
1 and 2 which says now the spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons speaking lies and hypocrisy having their own conscience seared with a hot iron demons are not visible you cannot literally see them however they are in operation in this world if demons were visible and openly seen no one would ever listen to them or sit in their presence so here is what the devil does he will use a preacher someone who is charismatic someone who looks relatable and looks
like a Christian and sounds like a Christian but the key thing is that this person will have a deceitful spirit and they will teach doctrines of demons so effectively some churches are led by demons because their Pastor is a false teacher who presents doctrines and beliefs that lead people away from the truth of God's word they often appear as attractive appealing ideologies but they are inspired by the forces of Darkness most false teachers will live lives that are hypocritical they will speak on repentance but they themselves live in adultery they will speak on giving but
they themselves will be materialistic they will speak on love but yet they will not demonstrate the love of Christ to the people around them but what's even worse than this is the fact that they will teach a false Doctrine a demonic Doctrine and here are a few ways to identify demonic doctrines demonic Doctrine number one the devil's lie is that you need to get rid of the so-called old gospel in the Bible and apply a new modern gospel to the times we live in times are different context is different therefore we need to adapt but
the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 1: 8 to9 but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you let them be under God's curse as we have already said so now I say again if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted let them be under God's curse demonic Doctrine number two so-called teachers and preachers will reason that the only way to win The World Is to make Christ more acceptable to the world they will argue that the only way we
can get the world to come to church is to make the church like the world but the Bible is so very clear about this James 4:4 says whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God John 15:18 to9 says if the world hates you keep in mind that it hated me first if you belong to the world it would love you as its own as it is you do not belong to the world but I have chosen you out of this world that is why the world hates you
let's take a look at the impact of doctrines of demons when you listen to doctrines of demons you are like a ship navigating Dangerous Waters without a reliable Compass these doctrines will lead you off course you will end up on the broad road instead of the narrow road you will end up compromising with sin and justifying sin false teachings can have a huge impact on our faith and spiritual lives they can lead us to moral compromises destructive beliefs and a departure from the fundamental truths of Christianity they can distort our understanding of God his love
and his purpose for our lives now to guard ourselves against these deceptive doctrines we must diligently study God's word we must be so filled with the holy spirit so that we can discern what aligns with Biblical truth just as a counterfeit expert studies real currency to recognize fake bills we need to immerse ourselves in the genuine word of God to recognize false teachings imagine a castle surrounded by A Mighty Fortress by building our faith upon the solid foundation of God's word and remaining Vigilant we fortify ourselves against the deceptive doctrines of demons [Music] [Music]
