Author: pastordarryl68

Self-righteousness is terrible among God’s people. If we feel that we are what we ought to be, then we will remain what we are. We will not look for any change or improvement in our lives. This will quite naturally lead us to judge everyone by what we are. This is the judgment of which we must be careful. To judge others by ourselves is to create havoc in the local assembly. Self-righteousness also leads to complacency. Complacency is a great sin and covers just about everything I have said about the rote and the rut. Some have the attitude, “Lord, I’m satisfied with my spiritual condition. I hope one of these days You will come, I will be taken up to meet You in the air and I will rule over five cities.” These people cannot rule over their own houses and families, but they expect to rule over five cities. They pray spottily and sparsely, rarely attending prayer meeting, but they read their Bibles and expect to go zooming off into the blue yonder and join the Lord in the triumph of the victorious saints.

A. W. Tozer Sermon: Spiritual Smugness

What a great verse to be reminded of today as I think back over all that God has done in my life and in our ministry over the last many months and even into the new year. The enemy has tried to isolate and depress us, to divide and conquer us, to lie to us and scare us into hibernating through the darkest days this generation of the world has ever seen – rather than walking in the Light, as He is in the light so that others may see His Light and give glory to our Father in heaven.Not today, enemy of the cross.

Not today! You’ve gotten nothing from me that God did not first allow. And what He allowed to be removed from me or placed on me, it was for His glory and the good of His people. Amen, and only AMEN!

Genesis 50:20 ESV As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Matthew 5:14-16 ESV “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. [15] Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. [16] In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 John 1:5-7 ESV This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. [6] If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If the actions of another “christian” would cause you to lose faith or step away from your faith, your faith was in the wrong thing…the wrong person.

There has been much in the last year that has rocked people’s faith in humanity as well as their faith in God Almighty. Though I’ve totally seen and experienced the acts of humanity that have caused this, my faith has not wavered in God…but increased.

I have been encouraged by the power of His Holy Spirit in those humans who choose to mortify the flesh and surrender to His Spirit.

There is a separating of the wheat from the tares. So be it, Lord. Show is Your Power!!

I Tozer. I don’t have a date for when he preached this sermon, but Tozer died nearly 60 years ago so the sermon could be 60 to 90 years old. It’s context would fit perfectly today.

“We have developed in recent times a peace-loving, soft-spoken, tame and harmless brand of Christian of whom the world has no fear and for whom it has little respect. We are careful, for instance, never to speak in public against any of the false cults lest we be thought intolerant. We fear to talk against the destructive sins of modern civilization for fear someone will brand us as bigoted and narrow. Little by little we have been forced off the hard earth into a religious cloud-land where we are permitted to wing our harmless way around, like swallows at sundown, saying nothing that might stir the ire of the sons of this world. That Neo-Christianity, which seems for the time to be the most popular (and is certainly the most aggressive), is very careful not to oppose sin. It wins its crowds by amusing them and its converts by hiding from them the full implications of the Christian message. It carries on its projects after the ballyhoo methods of American business. Well might we paraphrase Wordsworth and cry, “Elijah, thou shouldst be living at this hour; America has need of thee.” We stand in desperate need of a few men like Elijah who will dare to face up to the brazen sinners who dictate our every way of life. Sin in the full proportions of a revolution or a plague has all but destroyed our civilization while church people have played like children in the marketplace. What has happened to the spirit of the American Christian? Has our gold become dim? Have we lost the spirit of discernment till we can no longer recognize our captors? How much longer will we hide in caves while Ahab and Jezebel continue to pollute the temple and ravage the land? Surely we should give this some serious thought and prayer before it is too late–if indeed it is not too late already.”

A. W. Tozer Sermon: Standing for Truth

I have observed many a man (and woman) self destruct in their own arrogance and self righteousness. It is excruciating and heartbreaking to watch. You cannot defend God’s Way by transgressing His Word.

God have mercy upon me, a sinner. Have mercy upon us all. Expose our arrogance. Give Light to Your Way.

2 Corinthians 10:12 ESV Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding

Proverbs 26:12 ESV Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 3:7 ESV Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

Luke 14:11 ESV For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Philippians 2:3-5 ESV Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] tLet each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. [5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Another 60, 70 or 80 year old sermon from Tozer that could have just as easily been written yesterday.

It is sad indeed to know that there are Christian leaders among us who are too timid to tell the people all the truth. They are now asking men and women to give to God only that which costs them nothing! The contemporary moral climate does not favor a faith as tough and fibrous as that taught by our Lord and His apostles. Christ calls men to carry His cross; we call them to have fun in His name! He calls them to suffer; we call them to enjoy all the bourgeois comforts modern civilization affords! He calls them to holiness; we call them to a cheap and tawdry happiness that would have been rejected with scorn by the least of the Stoic philosophers! When will believers learn that to love righteousness it is necessary to hate sin? That to accept Christ it is necessary to reject self? That a friend of the world is an enemy of God? Let us not be shocked by the suggestion that there are disadvantages to the life in Christ!

A. W. Tozer Sermon: Tell the Whole Truth

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. BLESSED be the name of the Lord.”

Upon finding out that within moments of one another, Job lost all of his wealth, livestock, nearly all of his servants and his 10 children were killed through a series of raids, fire and a tornado, we pick up in verse 20.

Job 1:20-22 ESV Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. [21] And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” [22] In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

What would it take for you to refuse to worship God and instead charge God with being unfair to you and move forward into offending God’s nature by willful and careless sin?

When I hear a member of a local body of believers – a church – say something to the effect of, “you’re judging me” or “judge not lest you be judged”, it gives me great pause. I’m talking about when one believer holds another believer accountable. The intent of accountability among followers of Jesus is not to judge one another. Nay, it’s to help one another. It’s to bring clarity in darkness. It’s to expose cancer that is eating you away. It’s one beggar helping another beggar find food.

As someone who has claimed Jesus as my Lord and Savior, being a “christian” is a declaration that I want to be made like Him, to live like Him, to act like Him, to speak like Him, to think like Him. I do not want to walk in sin, live in hypocrisy or willfully do anything that continues to bring offense to my God and my King. When I am caught in the trap of willful or unrepentant sin (or even unconscious sin), I WANT my brother (or sister) to come to me with the Word of God and lovingly point out where my behavior does not match that of my Savior. That’s not judgment – that’s LOVE!

This act of love should bring me to repentance and confession, filling me with joy and fulfillment…not anger, bitterness or contempt. It should not bring me to lash out and accuse my brother or sister of judging me nor of being a hypocrite.

When I am the one that observes sinful behavior or questionable motives in another brother or sister, the Bible instructs me to FIRST take the log out of my own eye…keep my own sinful heart free of sinful cancer FIRST, and then I will be able to see clearly through the guidance of the Holy Spirit to take the speck out of my brother’s eye. I want my surgeon to have rest (and coffee) before he starts operating on me or my loved ones. I want the chef to have clean hands before he prepares my meal. And I want my beloved friends in Christ to have clean hearts when they come to expose sin in my own heart.

This is what it means to be the body of Christ…the family of God. This is why we covenant together with a body of believers…for love, encouragement, support and accountability. We don’t want someone to just keep cheering even when we’re doing poorly and struggling. We need a coach or a teammate to step up and show us that we’re holding the bat or the club wrong, we’re positioning ourselves on the field in the wrong place, we’ve got our eye on the wrong opponent, our stance is incorrect or we’re missing the bigger picture on the whole field of play.

This separates those who are followers of Jesus from those who prayed a prayer for their “get out of hell free card” or joined a club for the benefits. This is what it looks like to be “being transformed into the image of His Son”.

One of the greatest lies of the enemy of the cross today: “You go to church for you.” This makes YOU the arbiter of whether or not YOU think YOU NEED to “go to church” or whether YOU can pursue more worthwhile events and agenda on Sunday. How many times have you heard “I didn’t get a lot out of church today.”?

It’s not about YOU…it’s ALL about HIM!

The same enemy that convinced YOU that it was about YOU, he goes to church every time the doors are open. The Church does not gather in assembly because of what WE need.

The Church gathers in assembly – like a family – because of what their Father deserves: glory, glory, glory. When we make it about HIM, He ensures that we get everything that we need…and more.

I don’t care how you voted or why you voted for whoever it was. I don’t care which party you claim or denounce. I don’t care if you’re left or right, liberal or conservative, extremist or moderate, whether you believe in absolute truth or relativism. I don’t care if you believe that a fraud was perpetrated upon our nation in 2016 or if it was perpetrated in 2020. I believe it was probably both.

Each of those things are important when weighing with whom I’ll have missional connections and with whom I’ll “do life”. Many hold values and beliefs that I cannot embrace and MUST denounce. However, they have no bearing on whom I will show honor, dignity and respect.

Our citizens on both sides are displaying a complete lack of trust, lack of confidence and lack of credibility in our institutions. I don’t blame them…I feel the same way. This is not who we have told the world that we are as a nation and people are angry about it. I get it. The great American experiment is currently in dire straits.

Yes, this country is made of patriots…but there are people who believe they are patriots for each narrative being written. You cannot allow for patriotism on one side without expecting it from the other side. Everyone thinks THEY are right and everyone who disagrees with them is wrong.

For the most part, those of us in middle America have been completely cut off from the actual truth due to a complete corruption and bias of all media upon which we depend for our news. I’ve watched multiple sources this week creating their own narrative rather than reporting what is playing out.

Interestingly, neither political/social narrative that exists today wants to acknowledge or be linked to their side’s extremists. I know I don’t – not socially, politically, religiously – they don’t represent me.

At the same time, both sides link and stereo-type their opponents by the extremists of that party/perspective and their actions.

First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

What has happened all around our country since May and in DC on Wednesday, January – out-of-control, violent and destructive demonstrations, protests, riots and mobs are ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE behaviors and should not be tolerated by our law enforcement, national guard or our elected officials. Each individual breaking the law through abuse of power, defacing private or public property, threatening the safety and security of citizens or public officials, burning, looting and rioting should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There should be no exceptions…not even the lawmakers and elected officials themselves.

This truth is not relative. Every citizen knows what is legal and what is not….and if in doubt, DON’T!

Do we expect more? Yes…because we’ve believed the enemy’s lie that all men are basically good. However, we really should expect nothing less from a population full of self-absorbed, pagan flesh and blood that denies Jesus as Creator, Lord and Savior.

This is just another of many, many sad days here in our country. God have mercy on us. We are an unholy people.