Day 8: Only God can penetrate the hide of a rhinoceros….
Day 8: 2 May 2018
I “randomly” chose a sermon from my favorite pastor. This started my day with an intense focus on a sermon that I have never heard before. It unraveled into something quite unexpected, but exactly what I needed to hear and learn, TODAY.
Today’s sermon: Chuck Swindoll :: Boars in God’s Vineyard
Sermon NOTES:
Rhinoceroses are good examples of certain people inside the church (or even people in general). They boar into others with great destruction, if we allow it.
“Listening to such an individual in the church will demoralize you.” ~ Chuck Swindoll
They cause hinderances in the teaching of God himself through his word, the bible.
“I need people like that, they cut me down to size.” = humility, always good. ~ Chuck Swindoll
“It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.” ~ Psalms 119:71
“Doubtful that God can use anyone greatly until he has hurt him deeply” ~ A.W. Tozer
“I have learned that I cannot trust any man who has not known pain deeply.” ~ Chuck Swindoll’s son
“Never get in a spitting match with a skunk, even if you win, you come out smelling bad.” ~ Chuck Swindoll = I needed a giggle in this serious moment.
Impossible to even teach them to play well with others. God has to deal with it. It is between them and God. It is for ME to leave it alone.
“It is good that at times we endure opposition, and that we are evilly and untruly judged when our actions and intentions are good, because often these experiences promote humility and protects us from vain and glory.” ~ Thomas a Kempis
Heartbreaking experiences can take us where we need to go.
Sometimes it simply just fine to go our separate ways.
“God is still God, and I am still not” ~ Michael W. Smith
“Our God is in the heavens and he does what he pleases.” ~ Psalm 15:3 (Maybe Swindoll making a loose translation of it???)
God does not choose to stop all of our oppression and abuse. We cannot become hard and cynical because of this. At that point, we only turn around and hurt others with it. And we become the offender.
“Integrity to confront a boar (rhinoceroses) like this. They often know you better than you know yourself.” ~ Chuck Swindoll = WOW is that the truth.
Their skin is too thick for us humans to penetrate, only God can do this, IF he so chooses.
Their ears are deaf to hearing us, or hearing logic. Only God can deal with this.
“Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.” ~ Romans 16: 17-19
“Self-indulgence, self-possessed, willing slaves of their own ego, they want their own way, they seduce the minds of the simple-minded and the unbelievers, they deceive those with deception.” ~ Chuck Swindoll (and what they do the precious minds of children)
Look past the words of others. Target of the deceivers is the uninformed and the undiscerning. We are to be a protector of those people.
Questions:
- Is this in agreement with the scriptures? Always go there first.
- Does this glorify my Lord Jesus Christ?
- Will this deepen my walk? Will this promote personal holiness and Godliness?
Basic Three Gates:
- Is it accurate
- Is it clear
- Is it practical (key for me, in this time of physical healing from emergency)
This is not my fight, the battle has already been won, whether I can see it or not.
“Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.” ~ Titus 3:10-11
STOP, what exactly is a factious man?
“Referring to one who has a strong and self-chosen set of opinions and viewpoints. This individual uses them to stir up divisions. Including anyone who is divisive and disruptive who takes delight causing dissention and threatening.” ~ Chuck Swindoll
God says REJECT them. How? After a first and second warning there must be discipline. Confront first. If a man is still argumentative after the second warning, reject him, he knows he is twisted.
A factious person is psychologically twisted. Mentally and morally twisted. He knows he is sinning. He sins, being self-condemned.
Then, time of separation, in hopes of restoration. If no restoration, DONE.
“We have a calling. Don’t you dare let some dragon drive you off. Don’t let some strong-hearted twisted individual convince you that you are a failure. If God leads you somewhere else, go. Not letting somebody that packs a gun lead you.” ~ Chuck Swindoll
My personal note:
Yesterday I felt fear again through an unusual source. That fear was deeply rooted in abandonment from someone in leadership who has had a grip of oppression over me in the past. The tie of those two people made it all a bit too close to home yesterday. I did not handle it well.
That fear had a moment of engulfing me because we “should” not question leadership. Now I have scripture to back up what I have instinctively wanted to do in action but did not have the peace to do.
God has given us scripture to face the giants of our time. Whether the giants are in leadership in our churches, our homes, or on the street, we have solid scripture to back up solid steps.
They can lay in their own yuck and muck, don’t make it mine.
Introduction: Thanksgiving, Praise and Worship exercise
What song can get me out of this intensity from what God has just shown me? I did the study, now I need the relationship, the security to rest in Christ. I need calming peace.
SONG: No longer slave to Fear : Iam a Child of God : Chris Tomlin
“Your blood runs through my veins.”
I can picture that as I have so little of my own blood running through my veins (from the emergency). You have every detail Lord.
Step 1: Gather
Lord, you know exactly where my mind went to with this sermon. It was totally unexpected, but you gave me new tools for my toolbox. You strengthened the armor that you always provide, for my safety and protection.
Step 2: Focused Reflection
I can stand strong in my choices based on scripture. No fear from those who have already abandoned me, and they have been warned. Wow this is beyond awesome Lord.
Step 3: Journal
“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” ~ Proverbs 18:1-2 (ESV)
Step 4: Revisit
I got it, I got it, I got it. Love the answers handed to me on these silver platters. Thank you, Lord.
You worked on my spirit yesterday, removing more traces of victimization. Without yesterday, today would not have be so clear. Keep giving me baby steps!!!
Step 5: Active Reach
Decision:
I will see rhinoceroses in these “factious” people. I cannot penetrate that thick skin, only you can. Let it go, even more than I already have.
Action:
When I get that pang about several “factious” people in my life, just see them as rhinoceroses that I have no business struggling with. Done deal.
Seven times today, I will: Envision the backsides of offenders moving AWAY from me!!!
May ALL of you be blessed with thin skin and the ears to hear God,
Maribeth Baxter, MBEC (Certified Mind-Body Coach)
Dig Deeper – Grow More
Do your own 21-Day Brain Detox, by Dr. Caroline Leaf, Christian neuroscientist.
Find out about Dr. Caroline Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD in Communication Pathology specializing in Neuropsychology. … She frequently lectures to both Christian and secular audiences worldwide, linking scientific principles of the brain to spiritual, intellectual and emotional issues in simple and practical … Dr. Caroline Leaf
75% to 95% of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life. What we think about affects us physically and emotionally. It’s an epidemic of toxic emotions. The average person has over 30,000 thoughts a day. Through an uncontrolled thought life, we create the conditions for illness; we make … Dr. Caroline Leaf