If you could turn in your scriptures with me
this morning to Deuteronomy chapter 28. I want
to try to communicate something to you that I
believe is going to break some things off of
some people today, that is going to help some
people. You might see some things that you've
never seen before about relationships and about
how they operate, but you and I know That God
wants us to walk in blessing Amen God wants us
to walk in his blessing and Deuteronomy 28 I'm
only gonna pull one verse out of this but Deuteronomy
28 is the chapter of blessing the first 14 verses
and then the larger part of the chapter the curses
for disobedience it's it's not really rocket
science blessing for obedience cursing for disobedience
you know it's just like when you when you were
a kid if if you I guess I can't always say that
a blanket statement if you had a home that was
functioning well then what did you get You got
blessing for obedience and you got and you got
corrected for disobedience. Right. And that's
what God is saying. You're my sons and my daughters.
There is blessing in the place of obedience and
there is trouble in the place of disobedience.
So I just encourage you read that whole entire
chapter on your own. I want to read from verse
13 and it says this and the Lord will make you
the head and not the tail you shall be above
only and not beneath if You heed the command
of the Lord your God Which I commanded you today
and are careful to observe them. Hallelujah.
Father, I just thank you for your word this morning.
And I ask that it would just go down into the
deep places of our hearts in Jesus' mighty name.
Amen. Amen. Praise God. Wasn't the Hayride Saturday
night awesome? If you had an awesome time, just
clap your hands right now. Praise God we want
to thank Dennis and Linda for opening up their
home And it was an awesome awesome time we Had
in August and what made me think of this is Linda
led in this as well, but we had a dog show and
so a guy Sat down in a movie theater and noticed
that the man in front of him brought his dog
and was sitting in the seat next to him. He thought
it was unusual but he liked dogs so he didn't
say anything. And the movie started and pretty
soon there was a funny part and the dog made
some low woofing noises. the man was astonished
because it sounded like laughter and then there
was a sad part and the dog started whimpering
and it continued throughout the film the dog
at all the right places gave all the right emotions
and When the lights came up He tapped the owner
on the shoulder and he said I gotta say this
sounds weird but it seemed like your dog really
enjoyed the movie and The owner looked back at
him and nodded and he said yeah, it is really
weird because he absolutely hated the book Oh,
Dale even liked it. One time I watched my dog,
I had a dog chase her tail for 10 minutes. How
many of you had a dog that chased their tail?
And I thought, what a dumb dog. And then I thought,
well, I just watched that dog for 10 minutes.
I want to answer a question today. I want to
ask you, are you chasing your tail? God has said
that he has called us to be the head and not
the tail. And I want to ask you, are you living
as the head and not the tail? My commentary,
Jameson Fawcett Brown said that this phrase,
the head and not the tail, came from, it was
an oriental form of expression that Moses incorporated,
and it indicated the possession of independent
power and great dignity and acknowledged excellence.
God wants his people to possess independent power
and great dignity and walk with Excellent. Isn't
that good? I like the message in this trans.
It's a transliteration. It says God will make
you the head, not the tail. You'll always be
the top dog. Never the underdog. As you obediently
listen to and diligently keep the command of
God. Amen. You know, the counterpart is found
in verse 44. it's talking in fact if you if you
read verse verse 12 it would it would talk about
lending you will be the one that lends and they
will borrow from you but the counterpart says
that you will always be borrowing that you will
never lend because you're the tail and you're
not the head when you disobey and so in the analogy
Being the head is the blessing for obedience
Being the tail is the curse for disobedience
and I just want to start by saying this if you
have sin in your life that you have not regarded
before God that you know about and You have tolerated
it in your life there is There is grace for a
season for you to repent, but if you refuse,
if you refuse, then the blessing of God will
begin to come off of your life. That's the way
that it works. The Word of God speaks to us.
If you're the head, you're the leader. You are
deciding where to go in life The tail gets dragged
along always unprepared at the mercy of every
situation never in control I Want to give you
some signs that you are chasing your tail? Number
one You fear the opinions of man You fear men
rather than God We live in a culture right now
that calls good evil and evil good and Some of
the things that you stand up for as a believer
you will take ridicule for You post truth on
your Facebook page, and I'm not I'm not telling
anybody here, I don't think anybody here should
be obnoxious and be tearing others down. We can
we can say right. We can say things that are
true and still not be speaking the way Jesus
wants us to be speaking. Do you hear what I'm
saying? But there are truths that if you stand
up for in this culture, you will be shot down.
You will be crucified. on social media Because
it isn't politically correct But you have a decision
to make Am I gonna fear God or am I going to
fear man? Jesus said do not fear the one that
can only hurt your body He said I'll tell you
whom you should fear and that means have great
respect for even tremble for You should fear
the one that when it's all said and done can
cast you into hell That's the one you should
fear and tremble before But when you fear man,
you are chasing your tail You are not leading
the way You are responding to what everybody
else thinks. Some of you, when you're in a room
before you decide what to say, you stick your
finger up in the air and see which direction
the wind is blowing. How do the people in this
room talk? Well, then you become a chameleon
and you begin to talk like everybody else in
the room. You come to church and you stick your
finger up in the air. How do the people at church
talk? and you can fit in wherever you go. But
the truth is, you are living the life of a hypocrite.
Because in one crowd, you are saying all the
right things, and in the other crowd, you're
saying all the things they want you to hear to
be accepted. God wants us to stand up for Him.
Amen? He wants us to not cave to the fear of
man, he wants us to live in the fear of God.
Hallelujah. To not fear the opinions of man.
This is where peer pressure comes in. Some of
you young people, you're tempted to engage in
life in ways that you never would have thought
you would, but you're hanging with people that
do those things. And the funny thing is, those
people probably never would have done those things,
but peer pressure works together to move the
entire crowd where you never thought you would
once go. I wanna call you back to standing up
for Jesus. Hallelujah. Young people, take a stand.
It is good to say, no, I'm not gonna go there.
I'm not going to speak like that. I'm not going
to talk like that. I'm not going to engage with
the world like that. Fear God. Number two, you
are comfortable in chaos. In fact, chaos is swirling
around you. Why? because you never draw a line
in the sand. You'd rather have the moment and
the situation make the decision for you because
you're not comfortable making decisions. And
so you are led by every whim and fancy that comes
along and life is always swirling around you
in a chaotic mess. Because you never draw a line
in the sand But first Corinthians 14 33 says
this God is not the author of confusion He is
the author of peace Isn't that good now Paul
was specifically addressing how Gathering should
flow when he said that But it is true nonetheless
for your own life that God is not the author
of confusion when everything in your life is
chaos when everything in your life feels feels
like it is just controlling you and pulling you
here and there it is time to stop and It is time
to to lift up your eyes above the situation and
say Jesus This situation, these situations in
my life, they are not from you. They are confusion
and they are a wind that is blowing. But just
as Jesus spoke to the wind, you can speak to
the confusion and you can say, peace, be still.
And why can you do that? Because you are the
head and you are not the tail. You are in control
as the Holy Spirit is in control of you. Praise
God. Is this speaking to where anybody is at?
When your finances get pulled every direction,
you just need to stop a moment. And you need
to say, God, I just thank you that you are in
control of my finances. I have given you my tithe.
I have paid. I have worshipped you with my financial
life. I have put you first. And so God, I speak
peace to my finances in the name of Jesus. And
I thank you that you are in control in the name
of the Lord. Oh, hallelujah. God is not the author
of confusion. He is the author of peace. Glory
to God. Do you know that word for confusion could
be translated instability? God is not the author
of instability. He is the author of peace. I'm
not preaching on finances this morning. but there
is a prescription in the Word of God to bring
peace to your finances and when we Obey the Lord
in that prescription for our lives Then peace
comes in his peace comes in to our finances.
Hallelujah. I want to say praise God for that
glory to God number three You are prone to deception
You are prone to deception you are chasing your
tail if you are prone to deception in Luke chapter
21 in verse 8 Jesus said take heed that you are
not deceived deceived In fact, there are seven
or eight times in the New Testament alone where
the Bible says, do not be deceived. And one of
the primary tools of darkness of the enemy is
to deceive God's people. When we're prone to
deception, it veers us away from the Word of
God. Now, the enemy doesn't come in, you know,
dressed up Dressed up with horns and a tail and
say here. I am I'm trying to deceive you It doesn't
work that way the enemy masquerades the Bible
says as an angel of light and he will speak something
to you that is partially true and partial truths
can lead you in the wrong direction and it's
why You and I need to know the word of God. Amen.
Somebody shared with me last week that said,
you're not supposed to seek gifts from God. You're
only supposed to seek the giver. How many of
you have heard that? Did you know it's not true?
It sounds good, but it is not true. I am seeking
the giver. I'm in love with Jesus. But he came
to give us gifts. And he wants his sons and daughters
to ask him for gifts. Every good and perfect
gift comes from the Father of heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows. Your
children don't come to you and say, I don't want
anything from you, I just want you. No, they
don't do that. I'm hungry, Mom. I'm hungry, Dad.
I need some money. I need the car. When they
get older, I need the car. You're like, get your
own car. What do they do they ask you for things
and did you know that that is not wrong? In Ephesians
4 the Bible says that Jesus descended Specifically
to give gifts to the church Gifts in first Corinthians
in first Corinthians 12 it ends and it says it
says covet that you should prophesy. That means
you should want the gift of prophecy. Praise
God. Now, he goes on and he says, now I will
show you a more excellent way. How many of you
appreciated the message Pastor Ben preached a
couple of weeks ago? Wasn't that awesome on love?
If you are not here, you need to go and you need
to listen to it on our YouTube channel on the
love of God. But how many of you would say, I
don't need your love, Lord. I just need you.
That is ridiculous. We need the love of the Father.
It is a gift from Him. We need everything that
He has. We need the giver. We need the gift.
When we don't know the Word of God, we're prone
to deception. And we get on the wrong track.
Oh, I'm not supposed to ask for healing. I'm
just supposed to seek God. Well, you are supposed
to seek God, but it is okay to ask Him for healing.
It is okay to ask Him. In fact, He said that
one of the gifts is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus said that we should ask Him for the
Holy Spirit. And He will give it to us. Praise
God. Don't be deceived. Deception can happen
when some things are wrong in our life. Deception
can happen when we're in love with the spirit
of the world. Deception can happen when we put
our feelings above the Word of God. Our generation
right now in America is proclaiming certain things
to be good or evil based upon how they feel about
them. When feelings are your basis, you are prone
to deception. We need to learn the Word of God
because morality is never dictated by the feelings
of a culture. Morality is dictated by what the
Word of God says. And His morality through the
Old and New Testament is consistent. He never
changes. And so, friend, while I thank God for
feelings, I love feelings. I love to feel His
presence. I love to, you know what I love? I
love... See, I leave here sometimes, and I like
to watch movies where they shoot people. I'm
sorry, it's just true. I like to watch movies
where things blow up. Where people punch each
other. Is that terrible for a pastor to admit?
I'm just being honest with you. Why? Because
I like how it makes me feel. I like it how it
makes me feel when the Cubs win. I don't like
how I feel when the Cubs lose. But I thank God
for feelings. God has feelings. We have feelings
because God has feelings and we're made in His
image. But we are not led by our feelings. We
are led by the eternal Word of God. And if you
want to be blown about by every wind of doctrine
and every internet teacher that comes along,
you will be prone to deception. In the end times,
Jesus said that many teachers will come and they
will preach things that are not of God. They
will get you majoring on things that God does
not major on. They will get your life in the
wrong direction and it will steal from your calling.
The enemy really doesn't care if you're deceived
or not. Do you know what the enemy cares about?
whether you are effective or not and He wants
to deceive you so that you're no longer effective
in your calling Get you focused on the wrong
things If you're deceived you're chasing your
tail You find yourself trying to convince people
of things that don't even matter Ephesians 4
Right after he talks about the fivefold ministry
apostle prophet pastor teacher evangelist He
says that the church should be trained up no
longer children tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery
of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful
plotting. But speaking the truth in love may
grow up in all things into him who is the head,
Christ. from whom the whole body joined and knit
together by what every joint supplies according
to the effective working by which every part
does its share causes growth of the body for
the edifying of itself in love. Hallelujah. Isn't
that a good word? And so he wants you to grow
up in Christ. Amen. How many of you have got
growing up to do in Christ? My hand is up. I'm
going to grow up in Christ. I'm going to learn.
I'm going to give myself to the Word of God.
I'm going to become what God wants me to be.
You need to know the truth, not because the pastor
said it, not because somebody on Facebook said
it. You need to know the truth because God said
it and His Word said it. Amen? Number four, this
is the one. This is my last point on chasing
your tail, and then I've got a few remarks to
conclude with. You're chasing your tail when
you subject yourself to the control of others.
The spirit of manipulation. Manipulation is a
demonic tool to get others to do your will. It
is power hungry. It's rooted in deception, often
fear -based. Manipulation manifests relationships
of all kinds. God has not called us to be manipulated.
I always cringe when I... See certain people
receive the offering because I believe in generosity
and I believe in tithing and I believe in giving
But sometimes the people taking the offering
are operating in a spirit of manipulation Trying
to manipulate people into giving Does anybody
here appreciate being manipulated? No If you
give, you wanna give because you're a cheerful
giver. And it is out of the abundance of your
own heart and generosity, amen? Because nobody
likes being manipulated. If you are the tail
and not the head, you will open yourself up to
being manipulated. Romans chapter 12. Verse 9
says let love be without hypocrisy Let love be
without hypocrisy some translations say let it
be genuine Marriage is often a breeding ground
for manipulation Am I telling the truth? But
God wants love that we have for one another to
be genuine, to be sincere, to be open. My wife
and I joke about each other a lot from the pulpit.
I hope that you don't take that as if we despise
each other. It's our it is actually a form of
wonderful affection Love is genuine and honest
and that's what marriage should be free communication
Perhaps you are in a situation where you feel
like you are always walking on eggshells and
I cannot communicate in my own marriage. It might
be because of a spirit of manipulation. You are
afraid that you are going to offend your partner.
God wants us to have open and honest sharing.
I am not afraid to say anything to my wife. She
is not afraid to say anything to me The peanut
gallery speaks again Love is to be without hypocrisy
First John 418 says there is no fear in love
I Want to say that again there is no fear love.
I want to call the husbands in the room to foster
an atmosphere where your wife never is afraid
to speak. Somebody say amen. Foster an atmosphere
in your home where there is a freedom of expression.
Hallelujah. In fact it goes on and says perfect
love casts out fear. Because fear involves torment
He who fears has not been made perfect in love
if you operate in a spirit of manipulation You
are operating in the spirit of fear and the enemy
is actually using you He who fears has not been
made perfect in love I Read a children's track
Actually, my wife read it to me. She said, this
is a children's track. It said this, if you haven't
prayed the prayer to receive Jesus Christ, you're
going to burn in hell forever. It said that on
the children's track. Remember when I said you
can say true things? But not be sharing the heart
of God Jesus doesn't want us to serve him because
we're afraid He has went to the cross inviting
us to come to deliver us We cannot manipulate
people into the kingdom of God Well, how does
manipulation what does it look like what does
manipulation look like guilt -tripping Now I
know none of you have ever been guilty of this
Guilt -tripping putting a guilt trip on people
for not doing what you want them to do Silent
treatment That is the spirit of manipulation.
Silent treatment. Some of you are laughing. Some
of you are squirming. Belittling. Constantly
tearing down. The withholding of affection. It's
the spirit of manipulation The withholding of
affection Talking about your spouse with your
friends So that you can have more ammunition
Am I telling the truth this is the spirit of
manipulation. Blame shifting and never taking
personal responsibility. It is all manipulation.
Now, if you have ever been used in manipulation,
then I call you to come under the conviction
of the Holy Spirit and repent in Jesus' name.
Honey, I am sorry for the way. I treated you
isn't that an awesome thing to say Okay, everybody
repeat after me honey. I am sorry for the way.
I treated you That is an awesome thing to say
You know what we need we need marriages that
have freedom and open communication Do you know
that my wife does not believe everything that
I believe? I know it's hard for you to believe
that, but it is true. There are things that we
can have very nice discussions about that we
don't see eye to eye on. And do you know what?
She is free to believe differently than me about
some things. We're not talking about major things
our people is you know our people saved through
the name of Jesus Of course she believes that
do people need to be filled with the Holy Spirit
of course she believes that but there there are
some things That that I consider to be important
that she does not consider to be important imagine
that Do you know what we are still in love with
each other? and it's good. I've only had one
person ever come to me and say, pastor, thank
you for preaching on manipulation. Do you know
the master manipulator in the Old Testament was
Jezebel? She controlled her husband Ahab. He
had no spine. He was he was in stable insecure
and She is the queen manipulator of the Old Testament
and Only one time in my whole ministry of 30
years has anybody ever come up to me and say
Thank you pastor for preaching on that because
I have been a manipulator Would you pray for
me? That I would be free manipulation. Normally,
when we hear this kind of a message, we're thinking
of somebody else. But who in here will say, God
search my heart. God deliver me. God have your
way in me. Want to go to one verse It's not in
my notes That I believe the Lord has dropped
in my heart in first Corinthians chapter 7 Would
you go there with me and I'm gonna close with
this this is an awesome passage for married couples
Not just married couples, this is Paul talking
about marriage Commandments that he gives to
single people, to married people. But let's look
at verse 10. Now to the married I command, yet
not I but the Lord, a wife is not to depart from
her husband. But even if she does depart let
her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her
husband The husband is not to divorce his wife
But to the rest I not the Lord say now listen
to this It's in the Word of God. I believe it's
very important even though Paul Paul is saying
this is more my feeling but listen to this If
any brother has a wife who does not believe and
She is willing to live with him let him not divorce
her and so Men if your wife is not a believer
and she's willing that the the Gist of what Paul
is saying is she is willing to allow you to live
the lifestyle of a believer without contingencies.
It means she's not going to put pressure on you
when you go to church, when you put God first.
If she's willing to live with you, as you follow
Christ, even though she doesn't, then the two
of you are to walk together through life. And
then vice versa. If a woman has a husband who
does not follow Christ, if he is willing to live
with her Let her not divorce him Now I ask you
who in this situation is the head The believer
is the head The believer is the one that sets
the tone Honey, I gave my life to Christ last
night. I know you're not ready to follow Jesus
yet But I want you to know that Jesus is now
first in my life I'm gonna be gathering with
God's people. You're gonna have to be okay with
that I'm gonna lay my life down for Jesus. He's
first When he speaks to me, I'm gonna follow
him You have to be okay with that. Are you okay
with that? And if your spouse says no, are you
supposed to just do what the spouse says? No,
you are supposed to follow Jesus with your whole
heart. Your spouse is free to go. It's difficult.
It's tough. But you are a follower of Jesus Christ.
You are the head and you are not the tail. Married
couple. If your spouse backslides, it is not
permission for you to backslide with her, with
him. You keep pressing into God. Why? Because
you are the tail. Do you know how many husbands
and wives I've seen backslide together? They
move away from God together. They influence each
other. But I guarantee you this, if I backslide,
my wife will not. If I backslide, she will keep
serving God. I guarantee you this, if she backslides,
I will keep serving God. I will keep going after
God with my whole heart because Jesus is first
in my life. I'm not going to become the tail
and chase everything around. God has made me
the head because I'm following Him. You are the
head and not the tail. I'm sorry that serving
Jesus upsets you, honey. But you're gonna have
to find a way to deal with it because I'm gonna
keep serving Jesus. Come on, somebody give God
praise. I'm going to keep putting Him first.
Now does this mean there's never any reasonable
compromise? I'm not saying that. But in general,
you go after God. Is this okay this morning?
How many of you want to be the head and not the
tail? We've got to embrace it. We've got to start
rising up in who's God called us to be. We've
got to become the men and women of God. He's
giving us that opportunity. To follow Jesus I
have decided To follow Jesus I have decided To
follow Jesus No turning back Though none go with
me Still I will follow Though none go with me
Still I will follow Though none go with me Still
I will follow turning back the cross before me
the world beyond me the cross before me the world
behind me the cross before me the world Now if
you want to be the head and not the tail, it
starts with obedience. It doesn't mean you're
perfect. It doesn't mean that you will never
fail. It just means that with everything in me,
I'm gonna be a follower of Christ. I want you
to just stand up, join these that are standing
all over this place. And just say, God, that's
my desire. Lord, all over this place, as people
are standing before you, they're wanting to step
into the call. call of God in their lives to
please Jesus. Lord, deliver us from the fear
of man. If you've been under the fear of man,
just repent of that right now in the name of
Jesus. If you've been under the fear of your
friend, you've been under the fear of your spouse,
you've been under the fear of anybody, just repent
of that in the name of Jesus. God, you're the
one that I should fear. I'm gonna live for you.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God, just put your hand
over your heart right now. Lord, I am asking
that you would keep us from deception. You said
for us to pray, deliver us from the evil one.
And he speaks the language of deception. We don't
have to be afraid that somehow we're gonna be
deceived. We just have to keep our eyes on Jesus,
keep our heart in the word of God, and keep our
lives. Moving your direction God and so I pray
that you would deliver us from deception and
keep our hearts clean and pure God in this world
where everybody is so hardened by the deceitfulness
of sin Keep our hearts pliable and moldable in
the name of Jesus and soft before you God keep
us tender hearted toward you in Jesus name God,
I ask right now that you would set this church
free from manipulation Hallelujah. Oh my god.
I pray that you would set homes free in Jesus
name I pray that you would set marriages free
in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah God, I thank
you that we are that we are free as sons and
daughters We don't use our freedom as an opportunity
to indulge in the flesh, but we use it to to
choose to serve one another God I thank you for
freedom in conversation and how we feel God I
thank you for atmospheres of freedom in our homes
God I pray in Jesus name That the spirit of manipulation
will come off of your church Hallelujah God you've
called your people to be the head and not the
tail engaging in triumphal procession Going about
from victory to victory In Jesus name we give
ourselves to you And everybody said, Amen. Friends,
the work of God is happening in hearts around
this room right now. Embrace His Word. Let His
Word get inside of you and set you free. In Jesus'
name.