FORGET! REACH! PRESS!, Part 3

Greetings, friends and listeners, and welcome to The Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I'm excited to bring you today's message, Forget, Reach, Press. Written from a Roman prison, the aged Apostle Paul penned his most joyful and hopeful epistle to the Philippians. After decades of ministry he had learned the secret to a fruitful and enduring faith.

Forget the past, reach for the present, and press toward the future. But when we get to the fourth beast, did you see anything in there about what kind of beast it was? He doesn't liken it to any beast on the planet, does he? Because there is no animal like it on the planet.

He didn't know what to call it because it didn't look like any beast he had ever seen. All he tells us is it's dreadful, it's terrible, it's got iron teeth, which shows you how it just goes and devours. And then he said it stopped with its feet. How many remember that now? And that is how the Roman Empire came to power. It utterly consumed the earth, amen?

And with its armies it stamped its way throughout all of the regions of that world in that day and it rose up to be the greatest empire that had been up into that time, amen? But now we see that it had ten horns and this speaks to a future time that the original area of the Roman Empire is going to be split up into ten major powers. And I don't know exactly how that is and I don't know anybody that knows exactly how it is because just about when they think they've got it figured out, and you know at one time they said, oh it was the United Nations, well they hung on way past ten by now. And another treaty that was going on they said it was that, well they went past ten by now. So if it is them it's got to go back down to ten.

I don't know what the breakup and the makeup is and that's really not my point right now so we won't go there. I want you to see though that it speaks of a future time, it speaks of the last days and we see all the rumbling going on in Europe. It's frightening what's happening over there, amen? But then out of these ten horns arises one major horn that comes up and we know by reading all of Daniel, you'd have to continue to read, we know that that is the Antichrist.

How many follow me so far? Okay I told you all that but I don't want you to get hung up there because here's the point I'm trying to make. He was not able to describe what this beast looked like because it was so different from the other three and there was no other beast on the earth that he could liken it to so he was not able to describe it. And we read in verse seven that it said it was diverse from all the other beasts. If we drop down to verse 19 it says, then I would know the truth of the fourth beast. I wanted to know about the fourth beast which was diverse from all the others. If we drop down to verse 24 it says, and the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. He tells us what's going to happen.

Ten powers are going to rise and another shall rise after them. A single, that's the horn, and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue the others. So here's the point that I hope you see. Let's look at the word diverse. What does the word diverse mean?

Different? How many agree it means different? But we need to go to the original language, don't we?

We can't just go by the English. We need to know what it is in the original language and it was written in Aramaic. Daniel wrote this in Aramaic and when you go to the Aramaic you find the word is Shana.

Shana. And it does not only mean to be different, it means to be altered. Do you understand? Are you listening?

How many are following me? You see, something can be different. A man is different from a woman. Amen. But then we can get this transgender person who's altered. They're not just different, they're altered.

How many follow me? It means to be altered and so what he's pointing to is this particular last day civilization and culture are going to be at war with the Creator, with the creation and the natural order of things, the way God ordered it and created it. Amen. They're going to be in war with it. They're going to alter the natural order of things and do that which goes against nature.

And so it will produce a civilization and a culture of confusion. Amen. How many see that? When I came upon this it just struck me in my spirit because this last day, this Antichrist, whom we don't know who he is and you know there's a lot of speculation, but there's a lot that's told about him. You can read a lot more about him with the rest of Daniel and we find out that this man will magnify himself above all, even above the God of heaven. Amen. And it's said that he will acknowledge and glorify a strange God and he will not regard the God of his fathers nor the desire of women. Amen.

Wow. What kind of man is he going to be? We know he's going to be Antichrist but on a human level what kind of person is he going to be?

This culture that we're in right now, this culture of confusion, the spirit of error is going to produce that person, that Antichrist person. Amen. And we see it ramping up and so child of God, if you are a Christian, you're not of the world, you're not hearing their voice, you're not hearing their message, you're hearing the truth. Amen. So I want to ask you, according to what Jude said, he said, brethren, I found it needful, necessary when I decided to write unto you about the common faith.

I was just going to write a nice little letter about the common faith, but then I found an urgency in my spirit that I had to exhort you to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints, for the faith that was once delivered unto the truth. Amen. Contend means you got to strive against, you got to fight for.

Amen. I'm asking you, are you in contention against the culture of confusion or are you in collusion with the culture of confusion? We're in a conflict against evil, against a godless culture, a spirit of error, a spirit of confusion, and we can't just sit nicely in the pews on Sunday morning and have our little church service. We've got to contend. We've got to stand up. We've got to stand against.

And it's not just on me, it's on you too. Amen. Are you contending for the faith? He said, I had to write you. It was urgent that I adapt my letter to exhort you to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. And I want you to know that once delivered, you need to underline that in your Bible, once delivered.

What it means in the original language is it's irrevocably delivered. You can't alter it. You can't change it to fit with the culture. People are trying to alter the Bible's teachings to fit the culture.

The culture's got to come and line up with the Bible's teachings and not the other way around. I hear preachers all the time and teachers all the time talking about how, you know, we've got to reach this generation and we've got to alter things to reach them. Now, there are a lot of things we can do in this generation we couldn't do in mine growing up. I mean, we've got the internet, we've got Facebook, we've got Snapchat, we've got...

It goes on and on and on. And of course, up and coming churches need to use all of these things to reach this generation. Absolutely. But you can't alter the message. You can't alter the truth. You can't change it and say it's okay now.

God made you a homosexual, so it's all right. It was once delivered to the saints. It will never be Shanah. I said it will never be Shanah.

It will never be altered. If there be damnable heresies that have creeping in and seeping into the church, it's because those who should oppose it are silent. Or it couldn't get a stronghold. It couldn't get in deep. If somebody stood up against it, it couldn't get in deep.

But people are silent. Don't bother me. Just let me come to church on Sunday morning. Just let me sing on the choir.

Let me be the leader of my special song. Don't bother me about that stuff. Or worse.

Or worse. They're on the choir and they sing their songs and then they go out and collude with the culture. They talk their Christian-ese around the saints. Amen. And then when they're out of church, they're right in the thick of the lifestyles of what the culture is doing.

Listening to their music. You all know that Satan was the choir director in heaven. You all do know that, right?

How many knew that? And that he was created with instruments in his being. He has the percussion. He has the strings. He has the reeds.

We're all in him. He was the choir director. Of course he's going to use music.

Of course he's going to be successful in using music. But when you begin to listen to the lyrics of the world, and I'm not talking about, isn't she beautiful, isn't she wonderful. I'm not talking about, you know, you light up my life.

When Benny and I got married, we had somebody sing that, you light up my life, you give me hope. I'm not talking about those sweet love songs. There's nothing wrong with love songs when you're in love.

When you're in love, you want to hear love songs. I'm talking about the lyrics out there that promote racism, black and white. They promote it. I'm talking about the lyrics that promote promiscuity, that promote homosexuality, the lyrics that promote profanity that makes my skin crawl. Why would I want to listen to music that's laden and laced with profanity and filthy words that conjure up filthy images and lyrics that even promote murder.

Some tell you to have sex with your mother and some tell you to murder your mother. Why would you want to listen to that kind of stuff? Why would you join in with that kind of stuff? Because you like the beat, because you like the rhythm, because you like the melody. That's Satan's way of infecting you. He infects you because you like the beat and you like the melody and you like the singer. I like her voice.

I like his voice. Well, when they start singing songs that are ungodly, when they start singing words that are filthy, amen, I don't care how well they sing and how much you like them, you need to turn them off. You can't dance in church and dance with the devil too. The sad truth is, most people don't even dance in church anymore.

I told you I didn't know which way it was going to go. Christians should be at our best when the world is at its worst. Christians, we have to interact with the world when we go to work and school and our families, etc.

Nobody's telling you to be a hermit. That would be anti-bible. You're to go into all the world, but when you go, preach the gospel. Preach the word. Preach the truth.

Go into all the world, but preach the gospel. Don't join in with them. Don't join in and say, well, I don't see nothing wrong with drinking alcohol. You don't know your Bible very well. Amen. My question is, are you a stepping stone to Christ or a stumbling block to hell? Because you can't be both.

You can't be both. And when people are justifying these behaviors, it's because they are infected with the spirit of the world. I don't care how much you love them.

I don't care how dear they are to your heart. You need to recognize if you've got the spirit of truth, you have to recognize the spirit of error. And you've got to do all that you can, and then pray that God will open up their eyes. Here's the thing. No longer can you just sit in the pew and think, as long as I'm doing okay, and I go to church, and I pay my tithes, and I'm okay, I'm not worried about the rest. We got to earnestly contend. We got to contend for the faith. And the word contend, it sounds tough.

You know why? Because it is. The word is agon. Agon in the Greek.

Agon, and we bring it over in the English agonize. And sometimes it's agony. It's not easy, amen. It's not easy to stand up for the truth. It's not easy to stand on righteousness when it seems like more are against you, amen.

But you've got to fight for the truth. You've got to stand up for righteousness so they don't like you, so they get mad at you, so they don't want to talk to you. You might be the very thing that causes truth to come into their heart and convict them. The word that you give them that the Holy Spirit can convict them.

And sometimes the mouthier they are and the more they protest, it's because they're under more conviction. You got to deliver your soul. You've got to deliver the truth, amen.

You've got to make a decision. When we stand before the Lord, Jesus said, we're going to give an account for every idle word, every fruitless word, and I believe we're going to give an account for the silence and the words we didn't speak when we needed to speak up on behalf of the truth, amen. This world is rushing, rushing to the kingdom of the Antichrist. And America is turning all the time.

We see what's going on in Europe, and but for the grace of God, it's coming here. But the church, those who are real, we've got to stand up for righteousness. And I am like Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God under salvation. There's a lot of things going on out there and a lot of teachings and a lot of nice sweet shows that are on the air and they talk a nice thing, but I want to know where is the power.

Show me the power. I want to see the power of God that will stand up in the face of the enemy and not be afraid. If I didn't have the power of God, I would not preach this message.

I wouldn't preach it. But Jeremiah said, and I'll close with this thought, you know, everybody uses this scripture of Jeremiah and we use it to talk about when we got so much joy and so much glory and so much good stuff going on that we just can't contain it. We say, feels like fire shut up in my bones. But that's not the context. The context is God said, Jeremiah, make your face like a flint, go out there and tell him what I said. And he said, I can't, I can't do that. He said, you're going to do it. And he said, no, I'm not either. I'm not going out there.

I know what those people will do to me. I'm not going out there, Lord. But he said, it was like fire shut up in my bones and I couldn't hold it back. I couldn't stay silent. I could not stay silent. Amen.

Every head bowed. There's some of you that you need to make a decision. You need to decide, are you going to serve God? Are you going to serve God? Are you going to have one foot in the church and one foot in the world?

Because I'm telling you, it's not going to work. Sooner or later, Jesus said, no man can serve two masters. He's going to love one and hate the other. You got to make up your mind. Are you in collusion with the world? If you are, you're opening yourself up to a spirit of confusion. Are you going to be in contention for the faith? Because if you will, the Holy Ghost will give you the boldness, the anointing, and the wisdom, what to say for him. You love your family, but if they are not right, you're going to have to tell them like it is. Amen.

You love people that you know, but you're going to have to tell them like it is. I don't want to stand before the throne of God and have somebody point their finger at me and say, you never told me. Amen. Father God, I ask you today that the same spirit of urgency that you have put upon me and put in my spirit, Lord, that you will put it on these people. God, that you would stir us up, that we would realize we've got to stand for righteousness. We cannot be wishy washy in and out. We've got to be real.

We've got to be real. Father, I pray that you would put a new sense of urgency upon us. And I pray for a Holy Ghost conviction to come upon any and all that are in and out and up and down. And they're trying to serve you and hold on to the world too. Let a Holy Ghost conviction come on them this day, Lord. Lord, because you love their soul, because their soul is in the balance, because their soul is in the balance. And you said many, many tackle your farce sin.

The handwriting is on the wall, and their soul is in the balance. What will you do? Will you take the holy vessels of God like Belteshazzar did? Will you take those holy vessels and use them to put in the wine of the world?

Are you going to take that which was to be in God's tabernacle and be holy and clean and anointed, and you're going to let it be a vessel for sin and unrighteousness? He said, your way to the balance and you are found wanting. You are lacking. It's time to be sober. It's time to be vigilant.

It's time to intercede. It's time to rend our hearts and not our garments, our hearts, to rend them till we have a burden. And that we will weep between the pillar and the porch. And we will weep till when we come to our feet, we are clean. We're clean from the inside out.

We're clean. And we're ready then to be a vessel of honor in your great house. For you said in the house of God, there are vessels of honor and there are some to dishonor. But if a man will purge himself, every individual has the individual responsibility. If a man will purge himself, he shall be a vessel of honor, sanctified, separated, made for the master shoes, qualified and prepared unto every good work. So let it be, I pray in Jesus name.

Amen. I hope you're being encouraged by our message, forget, reach, press. In his letter to the Philippians, written from a Roman prison, Paul wrote of his great joy in Christ and his secret to his successful ministry.

I forget those things that lie behind. I have known scores of Christians who get stuck in depression and failure because they keep looking back and lamenting about the past. Only when you let go of the past, can you embrace the present and reach out for daily victory in Christ. As citizens of heaven, Paul said, we are pressing towards the mark of the calling up on high, the rapture resurrection.

We should be pressing for the goal aligned with our eyes on the prize. Heaven is in our view and the saints who have already crossed over are calling out, don't faint and don't look back. Forget, Reach, Press is available on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK196, mail to Sound of Faith, PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203 or shop online at soundoffaith.org where MP3s are also available. To order by mail, send a minimum love gift of $10, request SK196 to PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Saints airtime is costly, so if the Lord moves on your heart, please consider sending a special love gift to help us whether or not you wish to place an order. Until next time, this is Sharon Notze, Maranatha. you you you you you you you you you you