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Sermon of the Week 
Tuesday, October 20 2015

Watch out for those Trojan Horses…

With the annual occurrence of Fantasy Fest, and Halloween, it is indeed the season for Trojan Horses. A Trojan Horse is something that looks good on the outside, but is something else on the inside.. it is full of deception, manipulation, compromise and hidden agendas…

At Halloween, what if we Christians put a sign out in front of our homes that said…. “The only Ghost around this house is the Holy Ghost”!!!

2 Timothy 3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. v.2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, v.3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, v.4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—v.5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. v.6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control...v. 8 these teachers oppose the truth.

In 1871, an American named Heinrich Schliemann began excavating an ancient city in Turkey. To the amazement of many, this retired businessman had discovered the lost city of Troy. Today, you can still see the ruins of its towers and its walls, which were 16 feet thick.

According to Homer's Illiad, the Greeks besieged Troy for ten years without any success. After the death of the warrior Achilles, many wanted to give up the fight. But the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, came up with a plan to get the Greek army into the city of Troy.

Odysseus built an immense wooden horse. He and his warriors hid inside it. After leaving the horse at the gates of Troy, the Greek army sailed away as though they had given up. The Priest of Troy spoke accurately with these words of impending disaster …"Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" (I fear Greeks even those bearing gifts), but he was murdered by Poseidon.... The Trojans, seeing the Greek ships sail off, brought the horse inside the city gates. That night, while the Trojans were sleeping, the Greek ships quietly returned. The soldiers hidden in secret compartment of the horse slipped out and opened the gates for the enemy to enter the city.

The Greek army quietly entered Troy and set it on fire. The Trojans awoke to find their city in flames. As they tried to flee, they were killed by the waiting Greeks.

The story of the Trojan Horse and the fall of Troy have come to represent the subversion and conquest of anything from within. It's the break in, the robbery, the kidnapping that's an inside job. It is a gift that isn't really a gift... Something that looks one way, but is actually another.... It's just like the old saying goes... if it's too good to be true, then it's too

good to be true.

It was 5:00 and everyone was racing home after work. A woman and a man are involved in a terrible car accident. It's a really bad one - both the cars are totally demolished, but amazingly neither of them is hurt. As they crawl out of their cars, the woman says, Wow, just look at our cars! There's nothing left of them, but fortunately we're unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and who knows, perhaps live together for the rest of our days". Flattered, the man replies: "Oh yes, I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God". The woman continues: "And, look at this - another miracle! My car is completely destroyed, but this bottle of scotch didn't break. Surely God wants us to use this and celebrate our good fortune in surviving the crash and meeting one another".

She hands the bottle to the man. He nods his head in agreement, opens the bottle, drinks half of it, and then hands it back to the woman. The woman takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap back on, and hands it back to the man. The man asks: "Aren't you having any?" The woman replies: "No, I can hear the police coming now, you can keep it…”

In our opening scripture text, Paul sends a warning with his greeting to Timothy at Ephesus... He is telling Timothy that he needs to be aware that if Satan can't crush and destroy the church from the outside with persecution he will attempt to ruin it and cause it to lose it's testimony and it's witness by corruption and lethargy from within. That's how Satan has always operated. He either tries to crush us with hardship, persecution, intimidation and hostility or corrupts us with compromise from within. And we need to take notice of the fact that what ten years of outward assault on the city of Troy was unable to accomplish was done in one night when the enemy was allowed to come within the city using a Trojan Horse.

Satan's Trojan Horse is leading the church to believe that they can talk like, act like and be like those who have no desire for the things of God and still maintain their standing before God, and have the favor of God…

Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit (yoo'-thet-os…positioned or well placed to (benefit or receive the benefits of) the kingdom of God.

God's people are to be a peculiar people. God's people are to be a unique people not just weird or nut cases. And we are peculiar and unique, not because we use funny Bible language and have separated ourselves from the world around us, or we usually don’t fit in, because of our value system, and we want to share our faith with everyone we can….

But we're a peculiar, (per-ee-poy'-ay-sis…purchased or redeemed people) because we have been redeemed for special purpose and *….calling....

1Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should shew forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”.

As a peculiar people, we see beyond the gratification of the moment, we are a people who know the real score on eternity's scoreboard... we know who wins and who loses in the final analysis...and we live our lives knowing how this thing is going to turn out….We know that we cannot treat as cheap, what heaven has paid such an incredible price for…Why should we auction off our birthright as Esau did to Jacob, and then he spent his entire life regretting it.

Some decisions are like getting a tattoo, it’s hard to undo the effects of what has been done. God forgives, but sometimes we like Jacob, make it to heaven with a limp, because of the choices he made.

You see, we have come to understand that Satan wants to turn Kings into slaves and rulers into beggars, and we’re here to stop him at every chance we get!!!!

The newspaper headline read....."Student sells her virginity for $45,000.00"... The 19-year-old University student, Natalie Dylan, offered her virginity to the highest bidder in an online auction and said there had been more than 1,200 bids. She said, "I have accepted an offer in excess of $45,000, which is way beyond what I dreamed," Calling herself "uni-girl", the young New Zealand woman had described herself as attractive, fit and healthy and said she had never been in a sexual relationship……Bruce Pilbrow of the organization, “Parents Inc”.... told the newspaper, they were "horrifically sad" that a woman would sell herself in this manner, in order to meet her tuition costs....

The truth is that folks are auctioning off their faith, and abandoning their convictions and values every day as they receive a Trojan Horse which comes with a lot of stuff they never bargained for.

Sometimes the price tag is acceptance, belonging, attention, popularity, rebellion, escapism, self-preservation and getting ahead of competition.

2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? v.15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? v.16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." v.17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." v.18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

In Numbers 22. The Israelites, in their wilderness wanderings, had come to the borders of Moab. They had just conquered the Amorites, and it looked like Moab was their next target for conquest.

In NUMBERS 25:1-3, We see, that the Trojan Horse that Moab sent into the camp of Israel, was the beautiful, desirable, Moabite daughters. They came into the camp of the Israelites and caught the eyes of the Israelite men, who were vulnerable from a lack of female companionship…The men far outnumbered the available women in the city . The Moabites invited them to their sacrificial feasts full of immorality and idolatry. Soon, the men were eating and drinking at the tables of false gods, sleeping in the beds of pagan women, and bowing themselves down to worthless idols….How did it happen? (this is the account we are given, when the king of Moab hired Balaam to prophecy against the Jews, so they could be defeated)

In NUMBERS 31:13-16.... even though Balaam the prophet held fast to Jehovah, after the encounter with the angel of the Lord... He counseled the King (Balaak) that if he wanted to stop the Israelites from destroying them as they had the Amorites.... he was to send his women to seduce the men of Israel to make marriages with them and blend with them.

It's the Trojan Horse that Satan is still using successfully today. (send in the desires of the flesh)... It's the mix of fad, fashion, the forbidden and the fun of the sinner in an attempt to blend it all together with bible truths and principals. (the unholy compromise of sin, while claiming righteousness)

It is the perversion of our values and standards and the pollution of the mind, spirit and body.

It brings confusion to your spirit and bondage to your soul! And eventually your body has to pay the price with a pound of flesh!

We find ourselves, constantly standing between two extremes…. Gnosticism… which says that no matter what you do, your Spirit will go to heaven…. And Armenianisim, which says you live with one foot on a slippery, icy patch and the other dangling over hell…..We can justify and deny what we want, but we cannot deny what the Word of God makes so very clear...

1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. v.16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world”.

So many are being pulled in and swallowing the bait of the world's Trojan horses!

Friends, the time is too short to take the chance of waking up too late to realize that compromise and selling out your convictions and core beliefs have caused you to miss the rapture and then to know that now you will have to face the terrible tribulation which is coming upon the earth.

This is not the time to throw away your faith and convictions!

If you know scripture even a little bit…..you have to know that we are near the end of the age! As we see Russia working with Syria, without any response or outcry from the U.S. or other nations except for Great Brittan which has already been overrun! HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE, in that knowledge?!!!

It’s only common sense that you don’t put your hand in the fire, you don’t jump out of a plane without a parachute, you don’t put your hand in a biting dogs mouth, and you don’t play Russian Roulette with the Devil!

Speaking of common sense...some time ago I came across “a Cowboy's Common Sense Guide to Life” It says….

Never kick a fresh cow chip on a hot day.

Never slap a man who's chewin' tobacco.

Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.

Always drink upstream from the herd, or you may live to regret it.

Don't worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger 'n you think.

Don't get mad at somebody who knows more 'n you do. It ain't their fault, that they’re smarter than you.

Trust everybody in the game, but always cut the cards yourself.

The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.

Don't kneel down with yer spurs on! But I like his last one…. And get ready for the rapture, it is the final round up!

1 Kings 15:5 Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. EXCEPT IN THE MATTER OF URIAH THE HITTITE! (The media must have been in a frenzy)….

David accomplished a lot of great things, but this scar would remain and be a blemish on His testimony for the rest of his life. There have always been plenty of Trojan Horses for every generation, no generation has a corner on the market. Things always have a way of coming out and coming around.

A purse snatcher was arrested and was on trial, pleading not guilty. The victim was giving an account of what happened, and then says, "Yes, that is him. I saw him clear as day. I'd remember his face anywhere." At which point, the defendant bursts out, "There is no way you could see my face, lady, I was wearing a mask……!" ooooops!

Sin is like a hungry baby, it’s hard to keep it quite for very long ….

Winston Churchill said "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on".

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “It’s not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually fighting in the arena… who, at best, knows in the end, the triumph of great achievement and who, knows that if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place, in the final analysis, will never be with those cold timid souls who because of their hesitation, compromise, or distractions, know not the satisfaction of victory or defeat”.

As I was preparing this presentation, I realized that Sin in it's acrostic form is….S-ome….I-nsanity N-ecessary

Sin will carry you down a path you wouldn't otherwise take, it will keep you there longer than you planned to stay, it will cost you more than you ever wanted to pay, it will destroy whatever plans you made, you will make your bed where you never planned to lay, and makes it hard to find a way to return where you started,.

When we silence and kill the voice of conviction

Sincerity is squeezed out by ulterior motives.

Love is traded for suspicion.

Loyalty is replaced by self-interest.

Sacrifice is changed to self-love.

Innocence dies out to compromise.

Humility is destroyed by hard-heartedness.

Kindness takes a back seat to covetousness.

Inner peace will give way to guilt, regret and condemnation.

Just as he did in the garden of Eden, Satan loves to twist, manipulate, and distort the word of God…His specialty is to get us to question by carnal logic, everything that God has breathed forth by the Spirit….

But, for anyone to make it to Hell, they're going to have to really be determined to go there...They're going to have to push past the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Press beyond the work of God's angels who are daily busy, in bringing them to good decisions and choices. They must force their way past every witness of every Christian, at home, at work and play, in the neighborhood and on TV. , as well as the inner voice of conviction and plain, good old common sense... and Ignore the bible and every end time sign all around them. But amazingly, millions will succeed in making it to hell in spite of all that!

There will be as many very surprised individuals in Hell, as there will be some shock and awe in heaven I'm sure!

Thomas Buxton.... Sin sneaks up on people; it begins like cobwebs on

the concience and ends up as iron chains upon the soul".

Leo Tolstoy..... To sin is a human propensity, to justify sin is the

devil's main business".

Ignatius.....It is impossible for a man to be freed from the habits

of sin, until he hates it badly enough".

We not only need to kick out the sin, (KICK, KICK, KICK IT) but we need to replace it with something better!

Paul gives us a formula to help us avoid being the victim of Satan's Trojan Horses.

Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no

Provision and no place for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof”.

Paul tells us here that to win in the long run, we must deal with many embedded life patterns... and that the patterns of the sinful nature must be replaced with the fruit of the Spirit...

It's like losing weight, the problem is not the weight, the problem is between our two ears….it’s about our nutrition intake and our level of activity. We can take away the weight and not replace it with good nutrition and exercise, and we become caught in an endless cycle of failure and discouraging outcomes with little or no lasting results.

Jesus taught the people this principal of cleansing and replacing negative life patterns…..

Matthew 12:43 "What happens when an evil spirit comes out of a man? It goes through barren areas looking for a place to rest. But it doesn't find it. v.44 Then it says, 'I will return to the place I left.' When it arrives there, it finds the place empty. It has been swept clean and put in order. v.45 Then the evil spirit goes and takes with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and live there. That man is worse off than before".

SO, Get real, don't set goals that are unreasonable or not in your area of passion or ability….(a frog will never be able to sing in the church choir) but he might be a hop, a leap and a jump ahead in other things.....

Have your priorities clear, (you should finish high school before you can get to college, you need to finish your bachelor's before you can earn a master's degree, in other words it’s about putting first things first) You can’t add 1 and 3 and get 5! (or your math is messed up as well as your priorities)

Get connected, and get disconnected (there are folks that will pull you down and folks that will pick you up, it doesn't make them good or bad.. they just aren't going where you're going, and they’ll take you where you never planned to go) Keep God first and let everything and everyone else fit around that!

I want us to look quickly at The Danger of Compartmentalizing

What made the Trojan Horse so effective was it's secret compartment. It was there that the Greek soldiers hid undetected, so at the right moment they could come out and destroy the entire city. It's agenda is to bring you down, cause you to settle for less than God planned and make you miss your destiny!

Daniel 2:22 “He reveals the deep and secret things: He knows what is hidden in the darkness, for the light dwells in and with Him”.

But what's important today is to know with confidence that God still desires to use us greatly and powerfully! God's word puts it this way also....

Galatians 5:4 “You who are trying to justify the works of the flesh, have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. v.7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?

V.9 A little yeast will work it's way through the whole batch of dough". If we could ask David….”Hey, David, if you could redo the Bathsheba, Uriah thing... what would you do?" (I'm sure he would answer "run the other way as fast as I could and find my wife")

If you could ask Jacob, the usurper and deceiver... “Jacob, if you could have do overs.. what would you do?”...(I'm sure he would answer "I'd run the other way and mind my own business")

How about it Samson... if you could have a replay.... what would you do?....(I'm sure he would answer "I would run the other way, take a cold shower and use some anti Delilah body spray ")

How often is it true that the thing we think we're controlling has actually began to control us!

The soccer team coach, called a young soccer player over, and said to him, do you understand that you are part of a team, and should do what makes the team the best that it can be? Do you understand?…Yes, replied the boy… Do you understand that when you don’t like a decision, or the call the referees make, you don’t cuss out the Ref, give the manager the finger, yell at your teammates and hit the opposing player with your fist? Do you understand that? Yes, I do, replied the boy… Well if you understand all that, would you go over there and explain it to your out of control father!!!

The Thessalonian formula for victorious Christian living, is found here in...1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always.

v.17 Pray without ceasing.

v.18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

v.19 Do not Quench the Spirit.

v.20 Do not Despise prophesyings.

v.21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

v.22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. (there it is)

After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept roaring, loud and long, until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral of the story……When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut. Because you know something doesn’t mean you have to say it!

When you get over into the grey area of sin, you must do what Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife seduced him….Get a case of the Fleeees, Flee brother flee…nip it in the bud!

Kill the root and you destroy the fruit! Crush the eggs and you destroy the serpent, while it is still just the appearance of evil…. Cause you don’t want to have to deal with a full grown, angry viper, that wants to get a piece of you and eat your lunch!!!!

We and only we, have been put in charge of the fruit that's growing on our tree. How often is it that we attack the symptoms and never touch the source, and that's the roots…White wash doesn’t affect what’s systemic!

These control spirits can control churches and stifle praise and worship. It can intimidate the people and bring a heavy oppressiveness over the entire congregation…..Don’t let Jezebel in! Praise God even louder!!!

The real target of Satan's Trojan Horse.... IS THE CALL OF GOD ON YOUR LIFE and destiny...He wants to stop what God has begun…

He's actually afraid of what will happen if you decide you will honor that call from heaven that is on you. That you will realize the power and authority you can have over him! That you will realize that you don't have to put up with his works and lies and manipulation and destruction! He fears the you that God created you to be!

I want to share a prophecy that I came across by Pastor Shane Wall, that is for you in this place in your journey.

" There are fresh things that will be coming into your lives, into your relationships, into your families, into your homes. Even fresh anointings will come. Fresh impartations will occur. There are some things that were, wonderful blessed things, that were in your lives, that were once alive, and vibrant, but they kind of, went to sleep.

They're not gone, just sleeping, and God’s going to wake them up. It’s going to be renewed in you in this time. Some of you have wonderful, greatness in your lives, but the devils aren’t afraid. They don't take notice because the giant is asleep. The giant is no threat, because it's dormant. The giant is hibernating, but God is going to wake up the giant that’s within you, wake up, get up, and rise up!"

When the prodigal returned to the Father. He was back in the Father's care and provision. He was safe, he was now where he was meant to be.

He was given authority, a place with the father, a renewed sense of purpose and vision. The weight of his actions began to heal and allow restoration to take place... Today, The Father is calling…let Him restore you, heal you, bring back to His first love in your life!

All heaven is waiting for you to be all that God created you to be!

Everything God created longs for and looks forward to the time when his children will appear in their full and final glory.

We must understand that in God’s garden, it is the pruned trees that bear the most fruit… for they have found their true source of strength, and inspiration, and life, in Him through submission and obedience….He is their well spring and the fountain of their joy!!!

Would you join me in a Prayer and confession of agreement, today?.....

Bless the Lord, O my soul, with all that is within me. I Bless Your holy name! I bind my soul to Your higher call and design, as I surrender to Your Kingdom purposes. I bind myself to the destiny that You have made possible for me through covenant relationship in Christ, a new spiritual family heritage, and a new bloodline.

I loose (smash, destroy, and rip apart) the wrong beliefs, wrong attitudes, and wrong patterns of thinking that have come to try to control my life. I loose all denial, deception, and discouragement from me. I loose the influences and effects of any deception that I have perceived as "truth". I loose the influences and effects of agreements and ungodly imaginations that I have given power.

I have been created by God to translate His revelation and understanding to the hurting and needy of this world. I delight in what God has in store for me. Through a renewed mind, healed emotions, and the courage of a surrendered will, I release and bring forth new motivation, new direction and new understanding. I cooperate with my regenerated, redeemed spirit.

I speak to my mind, that it receive divine intervention on a constant basis in the problems I could never solve --but now God is working out and arranging them, even while I am asleep. I speak to my emotions, You will no longer rule me with feelings of rejection, betrayal, and loneliness. You will now receive divine peace, embrace joy and hope, and respond to the Holy Spirit's renewing power when old, negative feelings try to rule me.

I speak to my will.... you will no longer be rigid and unrelenting in your stubbornness, for you have been unrepentant, unbending, unyielding, and uncooperative. You caused much grief with your stubbornness and rebellion to God's ways. But you will open up and learn how to be strong, yet flexible; to be right, yet approachable; to be bold, yet gentle; to be courageous, yet concerned for others. I allow the Holy Spirit to perfectly balance these strengths in me. I speak to my Soul, that you surrender the barricades and obstacles you have erected over the deepest, darkest compartments within me.

I loose the self-denial, the self protectiveness, the self-defense, and the self-centeredness protecting my vulnerabilities that are in need of God's grace. I loose the lies and all guilt you have tormented me with over things that were not my fault. I loose the deceptions you have hammered me with and have used to cause me to come under your control.

Lord, may your truth always be the plumb line to balance my thoughts, feelings, and choices. I want your truth to be the standard of my spirit, the guiding light of my life, and the backbone of my soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul, with all that is within you. Forget not His benefits. With rejoicing and thanksgiving, I will hold fast to what the Lord has and is doing in me in Jesus' Name …..Amen

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