Corrupted from Simplicity

Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.

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   We worship you today, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We worship you, we praise you, we thank you, Lord, for your love, for your grace. Lord, that you suffered, that you allowed yourself to be beaten, whipped, crucified for us, Lord. For we stand in awe of that sacrifice, that atonement for our sins, Lord, that pavement and that paid in full that you did on the cross and your resurrection from the dead. We worship you, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Help us today. Guide us into your truth. Lord, this year we pray that you will guide us into simple, single-minded devotion. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah. You may be seated this morning. Hallelujah. We welcome everyone here today at Fire and Grace Church. We welcome those watching and listening all over the country, all over the world. It's still quite amazing. You know, it's been an amazing and wonderful year. We've had a lot of victories, a lot of battles. But I was just thinking about reflecting back over 2018, and it has been a good year. Not without difficulty, mind you. Anybody say they've had a few trials and difficulties this year? Yep. Yep. But you know something? You know, that's part of it. I mean, that's just the way it has to be. This has been one of those last few days where it's been just a battle for me in prayer and seeking God about what to share with you this morning. Even this morning when I got up praying, asking the Lord, he was like, I'll tell you during praise and worship what he said to me. So he did. So I hope you have your Bibles out this morning, because I'm just going to share what's on my heart with you. But let's turn first of all to 1 Corinthians 2. Actually, you know what? Let's go to 2 Corinthians. We're going to go to 1 Corinthians 2. But let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 first. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. You know, I'm just going to tell you this right now that things are just going to get worse over the next few years. I hope you all know that. I'm preparing quite a few messages on the things that are transpiring just in recent weeks,

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   but that are going to be gaining steam in the days ahead. Deception is going to get worse and worse. And I'm talking about among believers being deceived. Jesus said that. Jesus said deception is going to get worse and worse and deceivers are going to get worse and worse. And I'm just going to tell you right now, deception is rampant on very basic things that you would think Christians ought to know. Very basic things. But I see it getting worse in the days ahead. There's definitely the the snowball is rolling down the hill a lot faster concerning war. Russia, even Putin is talking about nuclear war with the United States this week. All of these things are speeding faster and faster. There's articles coming out that countries, there's three countries right now leading the way for a cashless society. And it's being pushed. I've talked about this over the last few years, but the goal for a lot of the international banking system was to be to move us all toward a cashless society. That the big, the really big push for them is 2020. That's their words, not mine. Whether they will accomplish that or not in 2020. But I'm just letting you know that that's that's the goal. So things are things are rolling on just as Jesus said. Now, remember, what did he say in Matthew 24? He said, take heed that no man deceive you. Signs of his coming. He said, take heed that no man deceive you. Many will come in my name and deceive many. All right. So he said deception is going to get worse and worse. He said that you're going to hear wars and rumors of wars. Boy, are we there. All right. Russia moving into the Ukraine, they'll probably try to take that this year. That's going to cause greater tensions. Chinese generals talking about firing on U.S. warships, the South China Sea. At any moment in time, things can spin out of control. I just want you to know these things are prophesied in the Bible that we will have them. OK, so I mean, I'm not predicting when they're going to happen. I'm just telling you that things are going to speed up over the next few years and that any moment these things can change. But Jesus warned primarily of deception increasing. Even people who claim to know Jesus would be deceiving people. Boy, is that ever true. Just wait till I got I've got some things to share with you over this next year. When we get into January and February, I think it's going to blow your mind how bad the falling away really is from Jesus, from the word, from New Testament Christianity. It's just amazing. The denial of Jesus as the Messiah is growing. The rejection of the New Testament is growing.

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   Truly, the spirit of Antichrist is rising up even among believers. And there are many people beginning to deny the Lord Jesus themselves. And you're going to be your mind is going to be blown. But then Jesus said this after he said, you will hear wars and rumors of wars. This is all Matthew 24. He said, then they will deliver you up to be afflicted and they will kill you and you'll be hated of all nations for my namesake. What was he saying that he said persecution of Christians will increase. We're definitely going to see that in the days ahead. And it's not just physical persecution. It's psychological, mental, emotional, spiritual rejection. But we're going to see that increase. I'm just noticing that the level of animosity toward Christianity and Christians is definitely rising like the tide coming in. Jesus went on to say, of course, that and then he repeated himself again. He said, many false prophets will rise and deceive many. And because the iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold. Many will be offended. They'll betray one another and hate one another. And there's a great also spirit of offense that's rising even. And I'm talking about among believers. There's a spirit of offense being easily offended with one another. And that's growing. So all these things were foretold. And I did share a message on this passage a few weeks ago, but I'm going to focus in on a different part of it. But let's read 2 Corinthians 11, 1 through 4. Paul says here to the church, would to God that you could bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chase virgin to Christ. But I fear less by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. Just remember this in the days ahead. We're going to cover this. But the devil is very subtle in how he deceives people's minds. And I'm talking about Christians and gets them off track. Very subtle. It's very slick. But I fear less any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. You need to underline that word. What is the devil trying to get you away from? The simplicity that is in Christ. We're going to look at what this word, the definition of this word in just a second. He says, for if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom you have not preached, that we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. You know, you think about Paul, and I've said this before, the Apostle Paul was not a man who walked in fear. I mean, if you remember, Agabus the prophet warning that when he went to Jerusalem, he was going to be bound in chains

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   and the disciples, the Christians there, tried to convince him not to go to Jerusalem. And Paul said, no, I'm going. I know it's God's will for me. And whatever happens, happens. This is not a man that walked in fear. He wasn't in fear of death. He wasn't in fear of being beaten or persecuted or thrown in prison, or, you know, or anything. But he said this one thing he feared, less by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ. Think about that. Your minds being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ. We just sang a song a minute ago. Our viewers didn't get to hear that song, but the simple gospel is one of my favorite songs, but it really is simple. And this is what the devil's after. And let me read this definition. I didn't send this to Kevin this morning because I didn't know what I was preaching on. So this is the definition of this word. Let's see if we can, if you can hear it. Here's how to pronounce it. There we go. That worked nicely. I didn't even want to try. In the blue letter Bible, the outline of the biblical usage says here, singleness, simplicity, sincerity, mental honesty, a virtue of one who is free from pretense and hypocrisy, not self-seeking, openness of heart, manifesting itself by generosity. The word in the Strong's definition says singleness, i.e. sincerity, without dissimulation or self-seeking, generosity, bountifulness, liberality, simplicity, singleness. So as you see, the devil is really trying to corrupt our minds. I think some translations even say from single-minded devotion to Jesus. Keeping our minds focused on Jesus, who He is as the Savior, as the One who died for our sins, as the Lamb of God, as the sinless sacrifice, as the One born of a virgin born in Bethlehem, the One who died on the cross, the One who rose from the dead, the One who is called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace, the One who is called God in the flesh, the only true God, the Creator. The devil is trying to corrupt our minds from the simplicity of that. That He is God, that He is Creator, that He is the only Savior, He is the only way for forgiveness, He is the Healer, He is the Deliverer, and that He is going to be the soon-coming King.

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