Cultural Catastrophe Part 6

Pastor Kerry Wilson

 Cultural Catastrophe Part 6
• Matthew 7.28,29 “ And it came to pass, when
Jesus had ended these sayings, the people
were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught
them as one having authority (power), and not
as the scribes.”
• I want to look at “culture” for a few minutes as
we move into how that it has been woven into
the fabric of the church. We have spoken of
identity and impact.
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• The culture of Jesus day was that of being sub
-serviette to the Roman Empire. Rome was
definitive in their stand toward those whom
they conquered. Rome said, “you can exist as
a sub-culture in our world but don’t rebel or
try and impact or change strict Roman law.”
• Culture is the actions, knowledge and values
shared by a social group, and is defined by
what they are doing and what they believe.
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• Subculture can be defined as an “ identifiable
subgroup of society with a distinctive set of
behavior, beliefs, values and norms. The
subculture is subordinate to the dominant
culture of a society, which allows individuals
great group identification. It can be identified
by clothing, athletics, music or even what we
consider “punk”.
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• These groups are often called “Urban Tribes”, a phrase
coined in 1985, by a French sociologist, and later by
Ethan Watters in his book, “Urban Tribes: A Generation
redefines Friendship, Family, and Commitment.”
• The importance of our opening statement lay in the
statement “ and not as the scribes”. You see Judaism
had become nothing more than a stylish trend inside of
the existing culture. Characterized by dress, strange
worship habits, the “payos” and a lot of veiled women.
Judaism was a subculture inside of an acquiescing
Empire.
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• The reason that the observation was so powerful
in Matthew 7, was because Jesus was the catalyst
for a new movement which we would now call a
“counterculture”. A counterculture can be defined
as a sociological term used to describe the values,
lifestyle and beliefs of a group in opposition to
the existing culture.
• Now I ask you, Which of these defines the church
……………………………………………..?
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• Jesus came to change the culture of His day
and gave commission to a group to continue
that change until He arrived again.
• Here are some examples of a counterculture:
• 1. Glasnost or “openness”
• 2. Beat Generation and the evolution thereof
into what we called “hippies”.
• 3. Glowing Christians, which you know as
“charismatic's”…
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• Glasnost characterized by enabling the media and people
to know the negative and ugly side of what was transpiring
in Russia. This counterculture succeeded in their mission.
Glasnost and Perestroika ended with Mr. Gorbachev take
down that wall…….
• The Beatnik, or Hippie generation of the mid fifties and
sixties rebelled against society and adapted views such as
transgender rights, women’s rights, the use of the pill,
which promoted the recreational side of sexual behavior,
war(more specifically the Vietnam war), hallucinogenic
drugs which was to encourage introspection and a
unimpeded over life. If you look at all the aged hippies who
now dress in modern clothes, many of these idealisms in
fact changed the way that society acts and thinks….
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• The charismatic movement which paralleled the hippie
movement was a counterculture against dead and orthodox
Pentecostalism or what religion was. They were
characterized by an awakening for the gift of glossalalia,
and the positive side of the gospel. Charismatics now
number 176 million, and neo- charismatic's number 295
million, which are charismatic’s that remain inside of their
denomination yet practice these gifts. Most of this
movement is credited to Father Dennis Bennett, an
Episcopal priest in 1960. This movement is in large
responsible for the “commanding God”, prosperity
movement now embraced by Pentecostalism as a whole.
Charismatic movement is second only to Roman
Catholicism in branches of religion.
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• You can see the urgency in the church
recognizing the call from God. We are a
counterculture, not based on an overthrow of
the existing structure, but a change in values,
lifestyle and the refusal to synthesize truth. A
group whose culture of lifestyle and response
depends on God and His eternal plan.
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• I think that by now we have established our
significance in these last days. I believe we know
who we are, and where we are going.
• The time is now for knowing how to get there
and what obstacles stand in our way. I think we
have sufficiently exposed the power behind the
world system. This system of idolatry has been
bred into the church over decades of Christianity,
it will not breed out over night without answering
the call of God for our generation.
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• Remember the definition of “idolatry”, a social
phenomena where a false perception is
embraced as if it were real. This same
definition helps us to understand the nature
of our battle. If this perception has a hold on
us, it still has to have an object that benefits
from the devotion. The idol itself has no life so
it can’t be the beneficiary of the sacrifices
made.
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• The truth is that we are the beneficiaries of our
idolatry, they become self serving for our wants
and desires. We have now come to the place of
decision, as Eve in the book of Genesis, Lucifer
persuading her that she would or could evolve
into a god by partaking of the tree of
“independence”. We have been deceived into
believing in the spiritual realm that sacrifice
supplants what God has commanded. It has
changed the whole culture of Christianity.
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• Romans 1.25 “ Who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is
blessed for ever. Amen.”
• If in fact this verse has come to pass, we are
and have become self serving and the effect of
that is we have the autonomous choice of
deciding what we will offer to God.
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• We understand the definition of “sacrifice” because
our culture teaches us that if you want something you
begin to make sacrifices, plans to accomplish that goal.
The next cultural catastrophe that I want to minister on
pertains to sacrifice.
• What does God have to say on the issue, He says
obedience is better that sacrifice. We participate in
God’s program to the degree that we want and then
sear our conscience by reminding ourselves of what we
gave up or participated in. We have millions
“sacrificing”, but very few obeying.
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• I want to take some time to look at the
evolution of this deception, how it works and
the danger in not realizing just how hidden it
can be.
• We are going to use a case study found in the
Bible. There are more than one but with the
way I preach, I would like to be finished before
Christmas……..
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The Anointing
1 Samuel 10:6-9
• 6Andthe Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou
shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another
man.
• 7And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that
thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.
• 8And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I
will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to
sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou
tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do.
• 9And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go
from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those
signs came to pass that day.
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The Deception
1 Samuel 15: 17-19
• 17AndSamuel said, When thou wast little in thine
own sight, wast thou not made the head of the
tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king
over Israel?
• 18And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said,
Go and utterly destroy the sinners the
Amalekites, and fight against them until they be
consumed.
• 19Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice
of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and
didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
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• 20AndSaul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the
voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the
LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of
Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
• 21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the
chief of the things which should have been utterly
destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
• 22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice
of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken than the fat of rams.
• 23For
rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because
thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath
also rejected thee from being king.
• What is stubbornness, it is the refusal to listen to
someone else, believing that your way, idea, and
opinion is better. You don’t just get here, you
move here based on your autonomy. It becomes
idolatry in the sense that you worship your view.
• 20AndSaul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have
obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone
the way which the LORD sent me, and have
brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have
utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
• 21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and
oxen, the chief of the things which should
have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto
the LORD thy God in Gilgal
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• You see once you have come to know the
reality of the spiritual it changes you forever.
• To have known the presence of God is to long
for the presence of God and the peace that it
brings..