Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the necessity of denying oneself to truly follow Jesus, urging believers to seek truth and be taught by the Lord. He explains that God's love remains constant even during severe dealings in our lives, and that true freedom comes from abiding in His Word. The preacher warns against the dangers of modern Christianity that promotes self-indulgence rather than self-denial, and he calls for a return to the Scriptures as the ultimate authority. Beach encourages the congregation to reflect on their relationship with Christ and to actively deny their own desires in favor of God's will, highlighting that true discipleship requires a commitment to learning from Jesus and living according to His teachings.

We thank you for your presence here, Lord, we thank you, Lord, we thank you, Lord. For your love, we thank you, Lord, for being a God of truth. Oh, God, we pray you'll make us lovers of truth, free us, Lord, from our devotion to what is not true. Free us, Lord, from our devotion to falsehood, from anything, Lord, that is not true. Make us, Lord, lovers of truth, seekers of truth, for we know, Lord, that we shall know the truth and the truth alone shall set us free. Set us free, Lord, this morning, we pray. Set us free, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus. The Lord has to do a very, very radical and deep work in all of our lives if he's going to secure the testimony of his son in and through us. And we need to simply accept the fact that the Lord loves us with an everlasting love and that his dealings in our life. When they become severe does not mean that he no longer loves us. Or that he is rejecting us because of the severity of his dealing in our life, and it is imperative that we come to rest in the Lord's love for us, lest when he begin to deal severely in our life, we begin to think that something is wrong or that the Lord doesn't love me. Let me tell you, beloved, when the Lord deals deeply in our lives and uproots through truth, through his word of truth, everything in our hearts and all of the corruption and all of the deception, there is a great temptation for us to feel as if Jesus doesn't love us. And it's during those times that we must pray that the Lord will help us to see that. He does love us and that our acceptance in his presence is not based upon our own righteousness, it's based upon his righteousness and his grace. And this is why God has taken so much effort in our lives to help us to understand his love. How many have ever felt that God doesn't love you because you've seen some areas of sin or rebellion or something awful in your life? We've all struggled with that. We've all struggled with that. And sometimes sometimes we're afraid that when others see our corruption, that they won't love us either. Right. And these are areas of immaturity in our life that God has to work. Deeply to help us to overcome. Come. So. There's a scripture in the book of Jeremiah, which we're not going to turn to, I'm just going to paraphrase it. And it's very important that we understand the scripture, because if we're going to become disciples and followers of Jesus, the scripture will come to pass in our life. It says that the Lord's people shall all A.L.L. That's everyone. They shall all be taught of the Lord. Let me ask you a question. Are you being taught of the Lord? Taught by the Lord. Now, most of the time when we possibly hear the thought of being taught of the Lord, we might equate that to Bible knowledge or theology or something like that. But that's not really what it means to be taught of the Lord, because a person can be well acquainted with all the Bible doctrines and not be taught of the Lord. Jesus wants to teach us how to be taught by his Holy Spirit and by his word so that we can be instructed on a daily basis. And so I'm asking everyone here this morning to consider this prayer. Father, I want to be taught of you. I want to learn from your heart, from your word. You can be taught of the Lord. So I'm hoping this will whet your appetite and your desire to be taught of the Lord now. As you know, we have been speaking on the topic, are you following Jesus? Are you following Jesus Christ? And we've been asking ourselves these questions, are we following Jesus next? Do we have the Holy Spirit? And then in response to that question, we say, does the Holy Spirit have us? And these are questions now that we're seeking to find answers to, not based on our feelings or what we feel, but based from the word of God. Let me say real quickly, all right, there is a great need for the Christian church to come back to the scriptures. Things are going way out into the realm of emotion and feeling. People are actually building their lives on revelation and dreams and visions and prophecies that they're receiving. And these prophecies are literally taking the place of the words of Jesus in the scripture. And these revelations are taking the place of feeding on the word of God. Let me tell you something. Beware when you begin to feed in your inner man upon words from the Lord or revelations or visions or dreams or impressions. The charismatic movement is being rebuked by God. And if the charismatic movement doesn't turn back to God and turn back to the scriptures, it's going to be given over. It's going to be given over to false spirits which already are seducing the movement. We've got to listen that God doesn't command us to feed on anything but Jesus Christ and his word. And if you're not feeding on God's word, you can very well be led astray. There's no safety. Except we abide in the truth. The truth is what sets us free. Another quick word of passing here, there is so much going on today about deliverance. But the problem with the deliverance that's going on in the church today, it's not associated with truth. It's associated with getting a preacher's hand slapped on your forehead. Let me tell you something, brothers and sisters, not meaning to disrespect any genuine leading of the Holy Spirit to lay your hands on anyone. But let me tell you something. There's no hand that's going to be laid on you. That's going to set you free. A man's hand is nothing but a man's hand, period. You or I are not going to be free by someone coming and speaking in tongues into our ear. Tongues does not free people. Laying hands on people does not free people. Telling people about dreams and visions doesn't set people free. How many know what sets people free? Jesus sets people free. Jesus sets people free. We've read it a number of times, but I'd like to read it again. John chapter eight. You don't have to turn to, but listen to the words of Jesus Christ. Oh, church, listen, listen. Then said Jesus to those Jews, which believed on him. If you continue in my word, my word, if you continue in my word. John 17, 17. What does that say? Sanctify him by thy word. Thy word is truth. This is what Jesus is saying to all we who believe in him. If you continue in my word, that word continue, there means to abide, to remain consistently daily, day by day, morning by morning, night by night. Continuing in God's word, sanctify them. Listen, the word sanctify means to set apart, to set apart. For example, here we have an overhead projector. Did you know that I have the power to sanctify this overhead projector? I do. The word sanctify means to set apart. I can say this as long as I use this projector, I sanctify, I set it apart. I designate it for the specific purpose of being used to show the songs that we're going to sing on Sunday mornings. I've just sanctified that overhead projector. I've set it aside for God's purpose. John 17, 17, sanctify them by thy what? By thy word, thy word is truth. If you continue in my word, do you see the connection here? We can not experience the setting aside of our inner life, our mind, our heart, our will, our emotions, our body, all that we are. We can not accomplish the work of being set aside, wholly devoted to God apart from the in working power of God's word together with the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the word in the spirit working together in our heart that accomplishes the sanctification that accomplishes the setting us aside for the purpose of God. There is so much need in our midst and in the body of Christ for deliverance to be free from this, to be free from that, to be free from this, to be free from that. But the focus is no longer on the truth which sets us free. We have to return back to the truth. Listen to the words of Jesus. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples now? Now, listen carefully. Being a disciple is a lot more than just claiming to be a disciple. It is a lot more than joining a disciple class for 10 weeks and someone says, what are you doing? And you say, well, I'm being discipled. No, you're not. You might learn something in the disciple classes. I'm not here to say you can't be a part of a disciple group or a disciple class, but that's not what it means to be a disciple. The word disciple means to be a pupil, a student, a learner. Listen, one who sits at the feet of Jesus and is taught one who sits at the feet of Jesus and is taught. So let's put this picture together so far. Jeremiah, they shall all be taught of the Lord Jesus. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples? The word disciple means to be taught of the Lord. It means to be a pupil under the instruction of a teacher. You know that you're supposed to give undivided attention to your teacher. Perhaps one of the reasons why I did so poorly in school until Jesus saved me was I did not give undivided attention to my teacher. Frankly, I could care less what they were saying. And I'm sure maybe some of you might feel the same way. I could care less what my teacher was saying, I was more interested in doing my own thing, talking to my classmates, I didn't care about what the teacher was saying, and then I suffered when we were tested. I flunked or I cheated. I remember making a deal with a certain person in school. She did all of my algebra homework. For the entire semester, Nancy Lehman, all my algebra work, listen, the problem with that was she couldn't take my algebra test and Mr. Grundyke couldn't understand why I got consistently hundreds and hundreds and ninety nines and ninety eights in all of my homework papers. And then when the algebra test came along, I got a ten or fifteen. He couldn't understand. You know what I did? I lied. I lied my way. I'm sorry. I got nervous and I just forgot everything. I didn't pay attention to my teacher. I didn't care about anything. But a good pupil, someone that I wasn't a good pupil, listens carefully to their teacher. Let me tell you something. When you become the pupil, you're the pupil, not the teacher. You say, well, obviously, well, that's we really haven't come to grips with that yet. See, when we're when when we're the pupil, Christ is the teacher. Let me ask you a question. How well are you sitting at his feet now? Again, don't judge it by some subjective feeling. Oh, I'm a good pupil. You're a lousy pupil. You're a rotten student. If you're not living. In his word every day and letting him instruct you. With a humble and a broken heart, see, we get our own definitions. Oh, I'm a good disciple because I listen to Bible tapes all the time. I listen to Times Square Church and Life Ministries, Bible tapes and other preachers. I'm I'm a good student. It doesn't necessarily mean you're a pupil of Jesus Christ at all. You know why we don't want to be a pupil? Because we don't like to be told what to do. Just a few moments ago, as we were singing, Suzanne had to come and get me. She had my son, Andrew. What was wrong? Soon as I looked at him, I knew what was wrong. He had that look on his face. He had told Suzanne consistently in the nursery, no, no. She said to do something. No, I'm not going to do that. So Andrew and I had to visit the men's room and it wasn't to go the bathroom. Andrew doesn't like to be told what to do, and he needs to be taught that he has to do what he's told. He's not his own boss. He's not the boss in our house. He doesn't tell mommy what to do. He doesn't go around saying no, he doesn't pick and choose what he wants to do. But that's just what we're doing as Christians. You say, well, brother, I'm not doing that. Are you a pupil? If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples? Now, watch what happens when we come into the ranks of being a disciple. I mean, we can go on here about being a disciple. A disciple is taught a disciple doesn't teach. A disciple is taught. You know, if you enroll in a class and think you already know the subject, what value will it be? Very little. Alan, you were a school teacher and you probably could do very little with students who thought they knew the subject. Better than you. I mean, I don't think they would be interested in his teaching. Anyone else teacher ever carry? Were you a teacher? Carrie was a teacher. The very fact that you enroll in a class presupposes something. It presupposes you need to learn what that teacher's got to teach. You need to learn something. We this is where we break down right now. You know how many of us just don't believe that we need to learn. We're unteachable. We're very unteachable. And you know what? It's demonstrated through life. We get so angry and we get so mad and we get so fussy and rebellious when when when we try, when someone tries to teach us or when life comes and and works in our life in a way where we have to submit, we get angry. Why? Because we're really not students at heart. Are you a student at heart? Are you a pupil? Do you say every day, Jesus, teach me something new about you and help my pride not to get in the way. But what if Jesus wants to teach you and you someone that you don't think is able to teach you, then all of a sudden, well, bless God. I'm a pupil. Yes. And I'm a student of Christ. Yes. But this is ridiculous. See, again, the Lord finds us out and shows us someone who's not as smart as you. The Lord might want to teach you a whole lot of things. So let's follow this through now, let's think this through, beloved. I believe the Lord is on a campaign. He is he is out to shake us from the things that we're trusting in that are leading us astray. We dealt with this many months ago. False peace. This is not your rest. You shall know that. Oh, no, I don't get ahead of myself. You should if you continue in my word. Then are you my disciples? All right. So right now we can conclude from that scripture and from the whole New Testament, if we are not continuing in his word, then we can't claim the title of disciple. You are my disciples, indeed. And listen, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. I find that's. Oftentimes, when I interact with saints. And I hear them say, I want to be free. They want to fix they don't want freedom, they want a bandaid. They want an easy way to deal with a problem, but they don't want to pay the cost. Then are you my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Brothers and sisters, listen carefully. Knowing the truth. Is in direct proportion to being a disciple. Which is in direct proportion to abiding, continuing in the word. I hope you're following this. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Being a pupil of Jesus Christ at his feet in your heart, at his word with a meek heart. That the engrafted word might come in and cause us to grow. Is the means by which God sets us free. And this freedom is not a freedom of anarchy or a freedom of lawlessness or a freedom from boundaries or a freedom from rules. It's a freedom from the slavery and tyranny of self and sin and Satan and the world. It is a freedom from the slavery of that which is not according to the kingdom of God. So that we can become slaves to righteousness, slaves to God's will, slaves to obeying the words of Jesus Christ. Those who claim to have freedom in Christ but are walking in anarchy and rebellion and doing their own thing are not experiencing freedom in Christ. The freedom that Christ comes to bring, that comes from knowing the truth, that comes by being taught by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit in his word. The freedom that comes makes us slaves. But see, we don't equate freedom with slavery, do we? We equate freedom with no one tells me what to do. And all you need is a few teenagers and you'll discover that real quick. A teenager understands freedom, no curfew. My younger brothers and sisters are told they have a bedtime, but I don't. That's freedom to the teenage mind. That's not freedom. Freedom. That's not the freedom that Jesus is talking about in this particular scripture. In context, he's talking about sin being free from sin, freedom. So. Ask yourself this question, are we following Jesus? Do we have the Holy Spirit? Does the Holy Spirit have us? If the answer to those questions is yes, by the grace of God. Then here's the next question. Are we denying ourself? Are we disowning ourselves and are we carrying our cross? This is part two of last week. Where we talked about, are we disowning ourselves? Are we denying ourselves? Listen carefully. For the next few moments, because this may be a very timely word that the Holy Spirit wants to speak into your life today. This may be an answer to possibly a prayer that you've been praying for a long time. Over issues and struggles and problems in your life. That the hands of preachers couldn't free you from or books couldn't free you from. This may be it. This may be it today. This may be God's word to your heart today. And I believe it is if you'll listen and ask God to open up your heart. If you are a disciple, a pupil, a student. Having come to the place where you have said, Lord, you are the teacher and I am the pupil. You are the master. I am the servant. You've got what I need. I will stop trying to teach you. I will stop trying to tell you what to do. Lord, I'm asking you to change my heart. We need a major deliverance in our midst and in our lives and in our homes. We've got to take the posture of being a pupil before Jesus Christ. I don't know what God has got to do to smash our hearts and to break our hearts. But we have got to get off our high horses and humble ourself in the presence of Jesus Christ. We need to follow the lesson of Moses when he stood before the Lord in a burning bush and God said, take your shoes off. This is holy ground. Too many people have their shoes on. We need to take our shoes off. We need to come back to a reverence of the Lord Jesus Christ and a reverence of God's word. And as we become a disciple and we continue in the word of truth, let me tell you something. The word of truth becomes your final authority. If the word of truth is not your final authority, that is, if God's word is not the thing that you live by and die by, you're not a disciple. You may belong to the Lord, but you're not one of his disciples. I believe the Lord is. Tired. Of his children saying. Well, Lord. This is how I'm going to do it, this is how I'm going to live my life. When God says, listen, I showed you how to live your life, I showed you what to do. You shall know the truth when you abide in his word and the truth shall make you free. Here is what the truth shall make you free from. This word will address many troubles that are going on in your life today. Listen, Christians are supposed to be troubled by the devil. They're supposed to be troubled by a world system that hates them. They're supposed to be troubled by the evil prince of this air. But today, the troubles that most Christians are experiencing have nothing to do with that. They're troubles that are brought upon ourselves because we do not have the power to deny ourselves. And if you haven't come to learn this yet, you will. Living for yourself and trying to claim to be a Christian at the same time is impossible. It won't work. Your life is going to turn into a mess. Your relationships are going to turn into a mess. Your friendships are going to turn into a mess. Your finances are going to turn into a mess. Everything will turn into a royal mess if you are trying to name the name of Jesus Christ and at the same time live for yourself. Oh, yes, you can be well acquainted with God's word. You can be well acquainted with Bible doctrine. You can be involved in all manner of religious activities. You can go to home meetings. You can go to Times Square Church. You can come here Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, three o'clock, Times Square Church, Sunday night, six o'clock, Times Square Church, Wednesday night, Calvary Assembly of God, Friday night, a prayer meeting and street meetings, and then start the whole thing up again on Sunday morning. And you can be a self-centered human being living for yourself. But it can't be. If you become his disciple, because if you become his disciple, you'll be taught of him. And guess what he'll say? It's time to get off my throne. If you're a religious addict, you'll never hear the Lord say that because religion never bothers you about your self-centered living. It actually promotes it. If you're if you're a disciple of modern Christianity, you won't need to worry about a thing. They'll equip you to be a self-centered person. Modern Christianity will feed you with just what you want to hear to get what you want from God. It's what modern Christianity will do. But if you become a disciple of Jesus Christ, he'll stop you plumb right in your tracks. What are you doing? What are you doing? Who are you living for? How many want to go there? You hear people say, I don't want to go there. If you touch a sensitive issue in their life, I don't want to go there now. I don't want to go there. Don't talk to me about that. Well, you know what Jesus is saying? You might not want to go there, but you're going to have to go there. We're we're going. You might not want to go there, but we're going there. Now, when we don't want to go there, we walk away from the person or we threaten them. Don't you say that? Don't you say that I'll leave. Don't you say that? How many have ever said that? Don't go there. Jesus is saying he's he's quoting, I hear him quoting Psalm 139 with or so I go. Huh? Where shall I go? Where shall I flee from my presence? You go ahead, go anywhere you want. And after you're done and after you're after you're all burned out from running, open up your eyes and guess who you're going to be facing? Jesus, you can't outrun him. You're going to have to deal with this sooner or later, brothers and sisters. Thank you, Lord, for the truth that sets men's lives free. I love thy law, O Lord. If you are a disciple following Jesus, you will be empowered to deny yourself the word deny. Means. To refuse oneself. Self. To give up oneself, listen to give up one's rights. To give up one's preferences when they oppose God's will to give up one's opinions when they oppose God's word. To give up one's tastes when they create unnecessary disunity and conflict with others. You demand your way over a nonessential issue and you divide your whole family. Now you tell me if that makes sense to hold on to your silly opinion, your silly desire and create havoc in your whole family. Disharmony, you break the spirit of your wife and your children or your husband. All because you want to do it your way. Let me tell you something. You know where I've come to? I've come to the place of my life. I choose my battles wisely. I choose them wisely. I try not to make. A strong stand on nonessential issues, I just simply let others. I'm not going to fight over something that's just an opinion and therefore result in breaking the harmony of my family. And I'm specifically talking about our families. You know what I'm talking about? You want to go to A&P, your husband wants to go to shop, right? So you have a fight over it and you don't talk, you don't talk to each other for a week. Does that make sense? Why is it happening? This is why. Don't you love this thing? This is great. This is why. Because we're not being taught of the Lord how to deny ourself, are we? See, that's not part of the Christian package today. We're not taught to deny ourself. We're taught to go to God in heaven and say, ask, ask Barbara Eden. I dream a genie, ask, ask God whatever you want. He'll give it to you because he loves you. That's the most perverted statement I've ever heard. Any parent knows that's stupid to say that. Anything my little son asked before, I'm going to give him because I love him. Yeah. Why do we buy into that and think that's the way God is? Kevin Grace, you love Grace, don't you? She's so sweetheart. Are you going to give her anything? Her daddy asked for anything. Why, Kevin? She wouldn't know what to do with. She'd get in trouble. What if she's asking for something that you as her father foresees would bring great harm to her? So what you're saying, then, is true love doesn't always say yes. True love says no. Every parent will hear this sooner or later from their teenager. You don't love me. Why? Because you won't let me do that. OK, if that's what you think, I'm sorry. Now, if you're if you're a weak parent. And you're not secure in your love and you and you don't see that truth is what establishes a relationship with your child, then you might. Well, maybe maybe there maybe I should let him do it. But God help us to grow in our capacity. And so, therefore, our problem is that we're not denying ourself. We're not disowning ourself. Mark, Chapter 14, verse number sixty six. Peter was around a fire, you remember? And the scripture says that what Jesus predicted that Peter would deny his Lord three times, right? Well, Jesus or Peter denied the Lord three times, but in one instant he used a phrase of words that truly captures the meaning of what it means to deny yourself. He's he cursed. And the scripture says, I don't know the man. I don't know the man. Do you know what it means to deny ourself? It means to say, I don't know that person. I don't know that person that lives in me and all of his desires and all of his impulses. That that would lead me away from God's will and God's heart and God's way. I don't know that person. There is a Christian message going out today that is catering to the very person that God commands us to disown. Brothers and sisters, when the Holy Spirit comes into your life and when the manifest presence of Jesus begins to abide in your life and you become a disciple, after hearing the call of Christ and God conquers your will and conquers your heart and takes the fight out of you and you sit down and take your proper seat as a pupil at the feet of Jesus, you will be taught of the Lord to deny yourself and God will not let you live a life of indulgence. He will not let you demand your own way at the expense of hurting others and hurting your own life. This is going to be a tough lesson for the 21st century fat laird to see in church to learn, because she says, I am rich, I am increased with goods and I'm in need of nothing. Does that sound like a life of self-denial? No, that sounds like a people who know nothing about denying themselves, who know nothing about disowning themselves, and who know nothing about carrying the cross. A Christian religion void of the meaning of the cross. Oh, we'll take the meaning that we're forgiven, praise God, we'll take that part of the message, because we like that. Because then that helps us not to feel guilty. We're forgiven. So we'll take the message that we're forgiven. We'll take the historical Jesus, that he died for my sins and that I'm forgiven, but we'll pervert the meaning of forgiveness to mean now that I'm forgiven, I can do what I want, live the way I want, and I can still claim forgiveness. Of the true meaning of forgiveness, that's license to continue in sin, so the laird to see in church is characterized by an unwillingness and inability because Jesus is outside and inability to deny themselves, so therefore their entire life. And let me tell you, laird to see ins are very religious people. They're not atheists. They're not the ones marching down the streets in New York in the major cities saying, throw out God, throw out religion, throw out Christianity. No, they're the ones in the churches singing, shouting hallelujah to God, but they're not being taught of the Lord. They're being taught the traditions of men. The rudiments of this world, the traditions of the world. The teachings of men. They're not abiding in his word. Continuing in the truth. Luke chapter 14. 25 through 33, Jesus tells us that we must forsake. All that we have. Listen to the words of Jesus here. Luke chapter 14, verse number 33. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he has. He cannot be my disciple. Now, is that in the Bible or not? Is that only in my version or is that in your version, too? Now, listen, if the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Christ and to bring his words to our remembrance and to produce in us the spiritual realities that God's word demand be in us. Then wouldn't it seem to be reasonable that the chief ministry of the Holy Spirit would be to take these sayings and work them in us? Then how come multitudes and multitudes and multitudes of people claim to know the Holy Spirit, but not only know him, claim to be filled with him. Filled with his presence. Filled with his power. Filled with his unction. Filled with the Pentecostal blessing. And yet there is no teaching in their life, for the most part, regarding denying self. Amazingly, it's just the opposite. So many who claim to be full of the Holy Ghost are full of self. Full of their own ways. Full of assertiveness. A taste for the things of this world. A real taste for the pleasures of life. It doesn't make sense. Is it possible that it's not the Holy Spirit at all that we're filled with? Is it? Is it possible that we bought into the lie? And we're basing our belief that we are filled with the Holy Spirit on criteria other than what the Scriptures teach? I don't care what it is. You might have talked in tongues. You might have had a weird experience. Someone might have come to you and went like this, and said, you got it, you got it. Are you basing the fact that you believe you're filled with God simply on that? I would encourage you today to turn and run from those ideas that you have and go back to the Word of God. If you are filled with the Spirit of God, you will be a living martyr. Tear ye in Jerusalem until you be what? Endued. The word endued there means clothed upon. It means like a clothing. And you shall become my what? Witnesses. Where does the word witness come from? Martyr. You shall be my martyrs. Excuse me? Being filled with the Holy Ghost means I become a martyr? Absolutely. It's what Jesus said. A martyr. If not a literal martyr, you become a living martyr. And a living martyr is one who what? Denies self. Disowns self. Carries the cross. And lives for the glory and honor of another one. Even the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. What will we deny when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of us? Listen carefully. What will we deny when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of us? Soul. Flesh. Sin. The world. And Satan. When we become a disciple of Christ and begin to be taught by the Holy Spirit and live under the government of God's kingdom, it is inevitable that we will be taught by the Holy Spirit, by the Word of God, to deny and disown ourselves. These are the five things that the Holy Spirit will teach us to disown. Each one of these things. The soul. The flesh. Sin. The world. And Satan. Are in opposition to God's kingdom. Listen. God's ways. God's will. God's holiness. God's plan. And if we do not learn by the power of the Holy Spirit to deny these things, then we will live on a crash course with the things of God. Now, we can't go into detail right now with these, because we're going to break them down. We're going to go through one at a time. But let's just begin by reading Luke chapter 14, verse number 26. If any man come to me and hate not his father, his mother, his wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, listen, his own life. The word life there is soul. Soul. So we must hate our own soul. Listen. He cannot be my disciple. Now listen carefully. We're not going to go too much longer. Just hold steady for a few more minutes. We have the word soul up here. Alright? Jesus said that we have to hate, or deny, or disown our own soul if we want to be His disciple. Now, soul can be broken down into three areas. Mind, will, and emotions. Mind, will, and emotions make up the soul. Jesus said that if we want to be His disciple, please listen carefully, beloved. If you have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has you, this is what He will teach you. This is what He will teach you. All shall be taught of the Lord. Jesus said that we must disown, forsake, hate. In another place, He said, lose. Two, three, four. These are four words that describe the way we must look at our soul. An aspect of our soul. If the Holy Spirit is working in you, you will be taught of the Lord what it means to disown, forsake, hate, and lose your soul. If you're not being taught of the Lord these things, that means that you need to pray, Oh God, I want to become a pupil. Now, let's start with the mind. This is the thoughts, the thinking, the reasonings. So the question we ask ourselves is this, and I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, if you get a hold of this stuff, and it gets a hold of you, it will transform your life. It will transform your family. This is where all the problems in the church are stemming out of right now. We're not disowning or denying anything. And we get mad when we have to. And it is a commentary against us. It shows that we have very little of God in our life. Now, the soul is broken down into these three areas, and the mind, we see the thoughts, and the thinking, and the reasoning. So, listen, the part of the soul that manifests itself in our mind, in the way we think, in the way we reason, in our thoughts, has to be denied when our reasoning and our thinking and our thoughts are contrary to God's will and God's Word. 2 Corinthians, we'll probably not get much further than this. Listen to this, brothers and sisters. You know, I have found the problem with so many Christians, and they're in so much trouble, and they're so tangled up in the world. It's because they don't know to disown and deny their thoughts when their thoughts are leading them away from God. Say, I have a thought of hostility toward one of you. What am I supposed to do with that thought? Harbor it? Think about it all day? Act upon it? No, I'm supposed to disown it. Deny your soul. 2 Corinthians, listen carefully, chapter 10, verse 3, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. That is, we are not fighting with fleshly weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Notice these words. Strongholds. Casting down imagination. You know what that word imagination actually means? Logic. Reasoning. So we're to pull down and cast down every imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of who? Christ. So Jesus said, Except a man forsake his soul, he cannot be My disciple. What is He saying? He's saying, unless you take your thoughts, your reasoning, your logic, your meditations, and you allow them to be subject to the truth of God's Word, and when you find a thought leading you astray, when you find a reasoning, a logical saying trying to lead you away from the truth of God's Word, it is time to get on your knees and pray, Holy Spirit of God, do for me right now what You have promised to do. Empower me. Strengthen me. Endue me. Clothe upon me the ability to say no, to deny, to disown this thought. If you don't do that, you will become a slave to your thoughts and your reasonings. What are you doing? God's Word says, Don't gossip. Doesn't it? You know what it means to gossip? It means to talk to someone else about someone else. That's right. So the example is gossip. Where does gossip begin? Right here in the mind. It's where it begins. How many world wars has there been? Two world wars, and who knows the way things are going on in the Middle East? Guess where World War I began? It began in James 4, verses 1-3. In the heart. Just think about it. An entire world war began in the heart of men. In the mind. You see, Jesus knows what He's talking about. Gossip begins in the mind with a thought. If you have the power of the Holy Ghost in your life, He is immediately there upon you recognizing the thought to gossip to empower you to disown that part of your soul. Disown it. Deny it. I don't know that man. That is part of the sinful constitution that lives in my flesh, and I am no longer associated with it. I will no longer allow my tongue to express its evil desires. I am a new creation in Christ. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now I am commanded to speak that which is profitable, that which edifies, that which ministers grace. I am called to speak the truth in love, not gossip. This is what it means to deny our soul. That's only one example. Are you denying yourself this morning? We're going to close now. We're going to pick this up again. As mentioned last week, financial disaster is in the church. Why? Not being taught to deny our self. Immorality is in the church. Why? Not being taught to deny our self. Selfish ambition is in the church. Why? Not being taught to deny our self. Contentions, jealousies, and strifes, and bitterness, and harsh sayings are running wild within the hearts of husbands and wives. Why? Because we're not denying our self. We're demanding our own way. Health problems. Due to overeating. Why? We're not denying our self. What's going on in your life right now that's been a thorn, a source of contention, a source of trouble, not only in your life, but it's affecting others, that God has now revealed through His precious word, the cause. You're not denying your self. What's going on right now? What about starting with your relationship with Jesus Christ? How's it doing? How's your intimacy with the Lord? Is it suffering? Why? Because you're not denying your self. If you say yes to Jesus, you're not going to be able to say yes to yourself, and your ways, and your desires, and most of the time, your preferences. Because that's the nature of following Jesus. In closing, let's bow our hearts, and let's give the Holy Spirit a few moments. Let me ask another question here as I'm about to pray. How involved are you in other people's lives? You know, brothers and sisters, please just give me the freedom for a few moments. We're going to cover this sometime in the short future. But listen, you're not going to make it into the place of spiritual maturity that God has called you to as a lone ranger by yourself. Now listen carefully. This addresses a great fault in our lives, and in the church abroad. There ought to be, but it's got to be organic. It can't be something that's organized and forced. But there ought to be, listen carefully, listen, because this touches this issue of denying self right between the eyes. There ought to be a daily interacting of our lives with other people, receiving and giving. Do you know why there isn't for the most part? Because we're not denying ourselves. We're not denying ourselves. Very few have come to see the incredible value inherent within a group of people coming together, waiting on God, and letting God speak. Through this one, through this one, through this one, through this one. The value that can come into our life is so rich and wealthy, Christians don't even seek after it. Why? Because we're not denying ourselves. Let me tell you, when we get rightly related to Christ and rightly related to the Holy Spirit and rightly related to the Word of God, we will not only glory in the fact that Christ is speaking to us and teaching us, but we will long for and seek after the contribution of our brother and sister in our life. I listen. I long to be invited to a gathering, to a meeting over your house, your house, your house, where the purpose is simply to gather together in a circle and wait on God. One share, a teaching. One share, a revelation. Like what Carrie just did. How the Lord's been teaching him about the devil's money. We need that! We need that! Why isn't it happening? Why? Is it because someone should preach it and organize it and you and you and you and you meet over at Joe's house Tuesday night and you and you... No, you can't do it that way. It's not happening because the level of desperation is not present yet in the hearts of God's people. That's why it's not happening. When a group of people are healthy for God, they're constantly, as often as they can, gathering together that the Lord might speak. The Lord might minister. Deriving the wealth that comes from everyone contributing. Oh, brothers and sisters, I'm begging God to do that in our lives, everywhere. I'm begging Him to do it. But I tell you right now, it'll never happen until we learn to deny ourself. Take up our cross and follow Him. Father, thank You for Your Word. Lord, thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for teaching us this morning, Lord, that the Holy Spirit's ministry is to empower us to disown ourself. Help us now in these few moments to hear Your voice and to see areas in our life where we have failed to deny ourself, resulting in havoc. Give us the spirit of repentance. Empower us to turn from our own way and raise up a company of believers all over who will be living in the power of denying themself, living by Jesus Christ. Do it, Lord, we pray. As Norman sings this song, I just want to invite you, ask God to speak to you, and whatever He says to you, do it. Do it today. You want special prayer? Just lift your hand. We'll pray with you. Special prayer. Just come on down. Sit here. Let's pray. I tell you what, church, we need this. We need to learn to deny ourself. We're so full of ourselves, and all we need to do is go through just a little bit of trouble in all what comes out. Oh, it's horrible, isn't it? Who wants to take up the call to be a disciple and learn, be taught by Jesus Himself how to die, that we might live? Anyone who wants to gather for prayer, just come on up. If you feel impressed of God to come, come and we'll all join together, and we'll pray that Jesus will teach us how to die to ourself and live by Him. Oh, the fullness that we'll come into, the fullness that we'll come into is just beyond our wildest imagination. Amen. Thank you, Lord. He shall achieve His love He's my Lord He has risen for me He shall bow and bow down Jesus Christ is Lord We love you, beloved. I hope and pray that you'll discover that self is nothing but a bunch of trouble. And when by the power of God you learn to deny it and disown it, you'll be a happy camper. Amen. Amen. Jesus is able to do this in us as we look to Him. I've got to hurry up and run. We have a family reunion today. But God bless everyone. Give someone a hug.