Careless Ease

The enemy is being allowed a greater measure of power on this earth. It's all part of what the Lord is allowing. So the enemy is going to be going after Christians like never before.

If we're going to stand against the enticements that the enemy is going to lay in our path, then we must learn how to deny ourselves. We've got to figure this out. But the basic attitude of most American Christians is to go after and get every kind of pleasure they can possibly get their hands on short of obvious sin.

And to enjoy every form of entertainment they can possibly enjoy short of obvious sin. Indulge every desire of the flesh they can possibly indulge short of obvious sin. To pursue every personal idol that they have built up in their heart as long as it's short of obvious sin.

The bottom line is we have had prosperity in this nation for 50 years. And now we are living with the fruit of it. You see the condition of the church after 50 years of enjoying prosperity.

Some people think it's God's blessing. I don't know. But whatever it is, now you see the fruit of it.

Sexual sin out of control. Promiscuity out of control. Divorce out of control.

Drug use out of control. And all the other sins that go along with all of that stuff. And all the heart issues and stuff.

People just living for self out of control. That's the fruit of 50 years of a church that has enjoyed prosperity. Basically the only time people say no to themselves is when they can't afford something.

If they have the means to get it and they want it, they get it. Look what Jesus said. Verse 34.

Watch out. Maybe your translation says beware. Does that word mean anything to you? When Jesus, if he stood in front of you and said beware, is there anything in you that can be reached? Is there something in you that hasn't become so jaded that Jesus' words can actually affect you and scare you? Trouble you? Disturb you? They should.

He gives a warning here. Don't let your hearts be dulled. Let me read it in the Living Bible.

Watch out. Don't let my sudden coming catch you unawares. Don't let me find you living in careless ease, carousing and drinking and occupied with the problems of this life like all the rest of the world.

Another translation says that one part. But take care that your hearts are not loaded down with self-indulgence. This word carousing, it really just means the after effects of overindulgence.

It's how you felt Thanksgiving evening. It's how you feel when you give over to spending money. It's how you feel when you've just thrown yourself into the world, sat in front of some carnal movie.

That's what it's referring to. The word is dissipation. It's just an over excessive indulgence in something.

And Jesus is warning us. End time believers, don't do this. You know, one of the problems with indulgence is it will turn you into a moral coward to where you can't take a stand for anything.

Everything's got to revolve around your feelings, around your desires and your flesh and your pride and so on. That's why the emperors were always so soft and effeminate because they had given themselves every pleasure that they could possibly become involved in. That's where it takes you.

If your lifestyle is a lifestyle of constantly saying yes, yes, yes to your desires, you're in trouble. You are not prepared for what's coming upon this earth. You know something? We all desperately need to learn how to say no to ourselves.

We have got to learn how to control ourselves. In the midst of a culture that is out of control, we have to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. We have to learn to go to the Lord, not to just jump on opportunity, not to just go and do the thing that you have the power to make happen.

We've got to learn how to take something to the Lord and say, Lord, with a sincere heart, do you want me to do this thing? You've got to learn how to do this. If you're going to be led by the Spirit, the sons of God are known by the fact that they are led by the Spirit, Paul says. You know what it means to be led by the Spirit? You have to come into that.

And to be able to be led by the Spirit, you've got to be willing to say no to yourself. When you want something really bad, you should force yourself to go in the other direction, at least until you can get clear-headed about it. That's how you prepare yourself to withstand all the things that the enemy is going to lay in your path in the days ahead.

To bring you into his mindset that all revolves around pleasing the flesh.