Righteous Confrontation: The Modern Calf

🌟 Join us in this compelling episode of the Relentless Pursuit podcast! 🌟

In today’s chaotic world, where wars and elections dominate the headlines, we delve into the importance of initiating a divine-led movement. This episode explores key concepts such as righteous confrontation, the spiritual battle against sin, and the essential role of self-control, all guided by the Holy Spirit.

We'll reflect on powerful biblical examples and share personal anecdotes that illustrate how sin disrupts our relationship with God. Together, we’ll emphasize the need for daily spiritual renewal to align our lives with His will.

Tune in for an inspiring discussion on embracing holiness, steering clear of modern distractions, and cultivating a deeper, more intimate connection with God. Don't miss out on this transformative journey!

Transcript

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What's up RP family? I'm so excited for you to join us this week. I have a special episode for you, but before we get started, I want you to know that this is a podcast for more than just the moment. This is a podcast that we want to start a movement. We're believing that God is going to do great things through this podcast. So if you can right now at this time. Could you share this podcast to your friends, to your family? We want to expand our influence, but also we want to expand the influence that God has over your life and over your friend's life. And we're believing that this podcast is going to be extremely impactful. Not because we are, talking about certain things that Christians don't normally talk about but because I believe this is the word of God for today and our mission here at Relentless Pursuit is to pursue after God as he relentlessly pursues after us and The thing about that is our pursuit for God has always been hindered until Jesus came on the earth Our pursuit for God has always been blocked by sin before Jesus died and paid that price. The thing about this message today is I felt so urgent to talk about it. Because we have so much in this world going on. We have the chaos that's happening in the Middle East. We have wars happening. We have our election season. And Lord knows, That everybody gets a little extra crazy when it comes to elections Lord knows that there's a lot of misinformation that's happening and a lot of lying that's happening And so people are being manipulated And the thing about that and this is why I felt so urgent is because in the moment We get shifted by our emotions but in the long run, we have to rely on the spirit. And so in that, when you are voting, because you should vote, as a Christian and as a a citizen of this, these United States or whatever country you're in, praise God speaking in life. Anyways we should be voting and doing our civic duty. And not only that relying on the spirit of God to guide our hand a little bit, and so I wanted to talk about this subject of righteous confrontation. Because there are people that are dying in caves that haven't had an encounter because they had lost the hunger and drive that they had. In fact, I just did a, we just did a devotional today and we talked about the things about how sin can hinder your vision. And David, when he ran into a cave, he was hindered by his vision. He was afraid and he was scared. And the same went for Elijah. When he was afraid of Jezebel, he ran into the cave and we're dying in the caves because we're so crippled by what has grasped us, and that we have no encounter with the Lord, but one shift of the moment, one, one, one denial of this. Of ourself. One, one, one little thing that we did different can shift the entire perspective that we have on our situation. And so we have these churches that are walking in around and obviously not literal. We have these churches that are walking around and they're Death and they're not bringing life. We have these services that are claiming to be revivals, but have nobody revive. We have these times of worship that are very beautiful, but they're beautiful to a natural man, not to the spirit. We have these experiences in service that the lights are just right. The sound system is amazing. The singer's voices are almost heavenly and the preacher speaks exactly to what I need in this moment. But then we leave with just an encounter or an experience, but not an encounter. And we have lost the anointing of God because we have missed it. Misplaced it, or I'm not even saying misplaced it. We have exchanged it for sin. The Bible talks about there is a when the planting of seeds, there's a seed in the rocky ground. There's a seed in the thorns in the thorns. And then there's a seed in the good soil. And there's these different types of seeds. And the one that's going into the rock is for more so the nonbeliever. The one that doesn't receive the word. The one that's I That is That is something you're doing with that word. And then they walk out. There was no experience. There was no encounter. They walk out. But then there's the next one. Where it was the seed that was planted in the rose bushes. They're, they were planted in the thorny ground and they take root, but their roots aren't deep enough. The thief comes in, or the birds come in And that's the type of Christians we see a lot today. And the reason why I was so encouraged to talk about this, and pushed to talk about this is because we talked about being a friend of God and how being a friend of God you have dialogue with God. You have communication with Him and you're drawn close to Him. You have intimacy with Him, and you get to know who He is, and for your personal life. And then we talked about God unveiling the Secrets of heaven and him showing what that secret was and that secret was Jesus and he, we have to have a fresh revelation of who he is. And then we talked about the awe and the fear of the Lord and that's how we claim to have the fear of the Lord. But there's a lot of people that don't have the impact of the fear of the Lord. And then today I wanted to talk about the righteous confrontation because we went through these three steps and now we need the fourth because what we. Confront with righteousness is our sin. We have walked. This life with Christ without dying to ourself. So when there's an opportunity of opposition, we don't grow with God, we grow in our desires, and we walk through our desires. We have the seed that's planted in the soil, but because there's no root, we rely more on our strength than His strength. And I wanna explain We're going to expand on this topic here. So when the children of Israel came out of Egypt and Moses went up to the mountain to speak to the Lord, God offered that invitation to the people of Israel, to the Hebrew people. He offered that invitation for them to communicate with them, but they had fear that gripped them and then they made a golden calf out in the base of the mountain and referred to that calf. Get this Elohim. And this is where this righteous confrontation happens. This is where holiness meets sin. And this is where light meets darkness. This is where we get the adversity in the spiritual is because we have people who say they're children of God, but misrepresent or even worse, manipulate what God said based on their own perspective. That's not biblical. Let me explain. Because when they called this golden calf Elohim, they were referring to him as the God that delivered them. They wanted a visual of what God did in the spirit. The people rejected the attempt of intimacy with God because they were afraid and Because of their lack of the closeness, lack of intimacy with God they began to create a version of God that did not bear his image. Meaning, although you don't see the calves nowadays, although you don't walk down the street and there's golden images everywhere and but people in church, not, I'm not talking about, people in the world. I'm not talking about people that are cold. I'm talking about the lukewarm in church build golden calves in their heart. And I know this is a little difficult today, and I know I'm talking a little bit of a kind of fire and brimstone type of talk, and people don't like this message because they want to feel warm, and they want to have an emotional experience, but I want to warn you and precaution you as someone who's Someone who has went through sin and has fallen many times and that has gotten back up and felt worse than when I started, that felt worse in the moment, that woke up with battle wounds. I want to warn you that you don't have to follow the same way that I did. And that my journey with God is for you to be built up. I want you to go above and beyond what I can do. I want you to not have to go through my mistakes. I was a sinner, but now I'm a saint and we identify ourselves as sinners still. And because of our lack of intimacy with because of our lack of friendship with God, the desire to know him is built based on a false identity of who Jesus didn't appear as. He was the word and the word became flesh. The reason God removed people from Egypt was not so that they could get to their promise, but they were so focused on their promise that they missed the process of it all. And that's why even in the process, they wanted to go back where they were bound in. Meaning that he just wanted a relationship with his children, but because of their bondage mentally, it hindered the ability to come into the presence of who he was. Or who he is. And Jesus, the thing about this, is Jesus has been calling us since the beginning with Adam and Eve. And he's exposed his desires to be with us. He's walked with us. Adam in the garden in the cool of the mist. I like to say it like that. But he walked with Adam every single day because he wanted a relationship with him. But then it was hindered because then Adam fell. And what did God do? He said, Depart from here because I don't want you to live forever. Forever in this state because my plan, God's plan was always to place Adam, whose man back into intimacy with him. God's plan. Look at this. Let me explain it this way, because the Bible says Jesus was the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world, meaning that God's plan was already established before Adam had sinned. Not saying that Adam had no decision making in it, but God knew that man had desires of the flesh and that there was an adversary that was trying to hinder the relationship with God. Because our adversary, man, I'm about to go, I'm getting too ahead of myself. Let me not, that's a few more podcasts down the line. I'm going to be talking about spiritual warfare in a couple of podcasts, but I'm not going to get into that right now. Let me go. And then Jesus, so Jesus whole Desire was to replace our heart of flesh, I'm sorry, to replace our heart of iniquity with a heart that is given to Him. God wants to give us a new heart and not rely on the deceitful heart. Cause in Proverbs 25, 28 let's get some Bible into this. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self control. Proverbs 4, 23. Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. When we have compromised the integrity of our heart because of habitually and consistently opening our gates to the things and embrace the things that dilute the Holy Spirit, we are tearing down the walls of sin. Self control, what is one of the fruits of the spirit is self control. And because we are now hindering ourself in one aspect, there is one fruit. Let me, the Galatians five, it says the fruit of the spirit. And if we don't have all, I believe nine of these fruit of this one fruit qualities of this one fruit, then we are rejecting the full power of what the fruit brain. And so we are weakening the power of the Holy Spirit in us because we have iniquity in our life. And the Bible says it's a, the Bible says it's not a sin to drink. Let's go here because I like this. I like this topic. The Bible doesn't say it's a sin to drink. Jesus never, and this is the one that people get very twisted on, and I'm sorry not really sorry. But, I know this is going to get real rough. But the Bible is very specific and detail oriented. The Bible never said it's a sin to drink, and this is where I want to go with this. Because it doesn't necessarily say it's a sin. But what's a sin? W and man, do I wanna get into this, I wanna get into this. What's a sin? Sin is anything that takes you away from God. And so if something is taking you away from God, then that means it's a sin. What does that mean, Nate? That means if you're playing video games instead of praying and spending time with God, then that's a sin. The Bible never talked about video games, Nate. But you're taking yourself out of the presence of God. So that means it's a sin. I understand the Bible never specifically says video games are sin. I understand the Bible never specifically says that drinking is a sin. But if you've been a drunkard for before you were saved, it's probably not wise or smart for you to be drinking now, to be tempting that temptation that was in your life previously. But let me explain it like this. The Bible does say that if you are leading people, then it is a sin to drink. I believe it's in Timothy. I wish I had the verses for you. If you are a leader, then it is a sin. Especially if you're a pastor, Lord. Not only does it say be sober minded, but you are flirting with the desires of the past. And that doesn't just include drinking. For me, it was video games. I used to be a hardcore gamer. I was on Twitch and everything. I was streaming and I was playing games and stuff. And I thought I was good, but that's nowadays everybody's good. I used to play 2k. I used to play fortnight, call duty. I used to play it all. And I sometimes have the desire to itch that feeling of playing video games. But the thing is it becomes consuming. When you itch it, it's like a mosquito bite when I have an itch to do something or I have an itch from a mosquito bite, I scratch it a little bit. And then that scratch comes back more intense, intensified. And the thing is that we have created idols of worship. And so video games used to be an idol for worship. Drinking is an idol for worship. Let me explain it this way. Love. Love could be an idol for worship. And let me explain it because I want to explain that. Let me say your idea of love is misrepresented based on the lack of understanding of love because certain people, including myself, have at times use the surface level of love. To completely throw away the depth of it. But they rely on what their definition of love is. And so God says love everybody, love this, love that, I am love, that's what we use as a misrepresentation of Him. Although yes, we are to love everybody, but love also brings conviction, love also brings correction. And so as a son to a daughter, or a son, I'm sorry, as a father to a son, or a mother to a daughter, there needs to be correction. Now, I'm not going to be the one that's correcting everybody, every single person, and I'm definitely not going to be the one that's doing certain things that I don't like and say, Hey, you shouldn't be doing that in an angry way. Bringing condemnation, using the devil's tactic against a fellow Christian. I don't want to do that, but what I do want to do is bring awareness to what God's truth is. I got way off. I got way off the task here. Because my task isn't to condemn you. I want you to know that. I'm not trying to condemn. If you drink, I'm not condemning you. If you play video games, I'm not condemning you. If you smoke weed, I'm not condemning you. I want you to know that. But I don't want you to, to perish for a lack of knowledge. Because video games was a god to me. Lust was a God to me. Basketball was a God to me. And so the Bible says, and this is Jesus. Let me just, this is Jesus because we portray this picture of a golden calf that he wants you to love everybody. But if you're going to hell, don't you want an alarm to sound off? And we've doled and became numb to the version of hell where we burning and fire and gnashing of teeth and crying out for just a drop of water because we're burning Nathan, calm down. That's where our love has to come in is because I don't want to see people going to hell. And we're okay with just confessing with our mouth, but we don't have the actions behind the claim of Christianity. It breaks my heart. When people And I'm not trying to be judgmental in certain ways, although the Bible does say that you Christians need to judge Christians, but very, let me actually explain that because I believe a pastor should have the right and the influence in your life to direct you and correct you and keep you accountable. I think your leaders need to keep you accountable. I will not be the type of person to go out and in someone else's church and say, Hey, you shouldn't be doing that. I am not a judge, jury, or executioner. I am not that type of person because I know what it is to be in sin. I know that everyone needs the grace of God in order to overcome the sin that's in their life. I know that you can be down in the dumps. You could have made wrong decisions and you end up in sin. certain places that you never intended to be. I know what it's like to be the one that's on the end of the judgment. I know what it is to be on the other side of people's wrath. I know what it is to feel like you're distant from God because of the things that you've done and you haven't had no accountability even in a church. Like I know what it is, but I'm trying to sound the alarms off in your life. So you don't have to make the same mistakes I did. Matthew 5, 29, it says, If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away, it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for you to be for your whole body to be thrown in hell. Matthew 24, 13 it says, But the one who endures to the end will be saved. In Matthew 21 12 through 15 it says, Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those yelling doves, and he said to them, The scripture declares my temple will be called a house of prayer, and you've turned it into a den of thieves. The blind and the lame came into the temple and helped them, leading The leading priests and teachers of religion of the religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the temple shouting, praise God, the son of David. But the leaders were indignant. And here's the thing is when there's confrontation, a righteous confrontation, it brings and invites God's miraculous power. It is because it's a revolving door of, In miracles coming in and sin leaving. Iniquity leaving and deliverance coming in. Freedom coming in and transgressions leaving. It's inviting God to exchange what we have kept. Our desires of the flesh inwardly. And exchanging it for purity. And washing our integrity. It's a bar. And many times we chain our encounter to God with a feeling and miss the opportunity of encounter because we need to feel something. In the Bible, there's a temple. And in that temple was the Holy of Holies and which the holiest place because it carried the Ark of the Covenant. And any of the priests that entered the Holy of Holies if they were not cleansed, they would die immediately. Ha. And so much so that they tied around, rope around him and they put bells on him and then if they died, they would hear the jingle and they would pull him out. So they prepared because they knew it's happened previously. And when the Israelites fell into sin and the nation came and stole everything, When the nations came and stole everything from Israel and went into the temple and mutilated the temple and took apart the pieces including the bronze, gold, and silver the question that came to mind is there is why didn't they drop dead when they entered into the Holy of Holies because bronze and silver and gold were in there? Why didn't they drop dead? They entered the temple. They entered into the Holy of Holies. What I believe the Lord told me was that sin enters in and it pushes out the Holy Spirit because the heart of the Israelites was corrupted. They didn't notice the departure of God, the departure of God's presence, and they fell into religious habits and traditions. And since God departed from the place, sin corrupted the temple. The same thing works in our life. When we sin and transgress against God, we build up a wall to the Holy Spirit. And when we constantly fall into iniquity that was corrupted, I'm sorry. We begin to lose the sensitivity to God's presence and the same temple that was corrupted in the Bible that could be infiltrated by the enemy happens again. I'm sorry, because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit that could be corrupted by sin and infiltrated by the enemy. In the Bible, God deals more aggressively with sin of his children than the sin of this world. He says, better is it for you to be cold than lukewarm and sin. He even says, I spit out the lukewarm. I'm going to come to a close here, but I want to encourage you to really dive into the presence of God. Dive into the God's presence so that he could unveil what is in you. He can unveil any darkness that's in you. And that he can replace your heart of stone with the heart of flesh and give you eyes to see and ears to hear. And that he could search you as David said, Lord, search me, search my heart. Oh Lord, he's washed you clean from your past, but you have an opportunity of, or you have, you can pick up the things of the past and place them back on you and God's calling you out of it, but there's needs to be a die, a death that daily. This needs to be a death daily, where we pick up our cross daily, a constant renewing of our mind daily, putting on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth the shoes of peace the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit. We need to be equipped daily. Because what did the enemy say to, to Jesus? He said, I will, or he, or what did the Bible say when the enemy was leaving Jesus? He said he was waiting for a more opportune time. The enemy's going to try to weasel his way in. He's seeking for whom he may devour. He came so that he could have you. And we have been patty caking with the things of this world because we have grown tolerant to what the world is saying is okay and that we have allowed compromise to come into our borders. But the Bible is saying the kingdom have, heaven has suffered violence but now the violent have to take it back by force meaning that the gates of hell will not prevail because we are on the other side. Offensive and we have been so reliant on the defensive for so long, but it's time for the innocessors It's time for the warriors It's time for the remnant that have not bowed their knee to bail to rise up again because this is the day Where we say I am no longer the man of the past. I am no longer a man of compromise or woman I am no longer a man or woman of tolerance. I am a man and woman of God I will walk in purity. I will walk in holiness. I will be clothed with the righteousness of God, for God calls me his righteousness. So I just want to encourage you, for those listening still and haven't cussed me out, I want you to know I'm not trying to condemn your actions, but don't allow the devil to manipulate what I've said, because it's not what I'm saying. So I want to thank you for joining this week's episode of Relentless Pursuit. If you can, if you're still here follow, share, and subscribe to all our social media platforms. I love you guys. I want you to know that. I truly do. I'll see you guys soon.