You Are Offensive to me - Who Do I Think I Am

                      You Are Offensive to Me - Who Do I Think I Am

                   Hello and welcome to My Little House of Prayer. I am your host, Dayla Smith. I am so very glad that you could join me in our discussion of the subject of offense. Let's open in prayer. I want and need prayer. After all this is about how to live a prayerful life. The Lord is good to me. But even in His goodness, there are tests. And in these tests is when we need each other. I am not about money. I am about the Lord’s business. So, do not take what I am going to ask you for is money. Why should I ask you, when we can agree and go to the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and never forsook His people, or made them beg for bread. But, here is my need. I need prayer. So, there you have it. Pray for me. Also, what do you need from the Lord that I can agree in prayer with you for? Now let’s open in prayer. 

                  Let’s reread 1 Corinthians 13 Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. This is one of many ways that David hid the Word of God in his mind that he would not sin against the Lord.  So, without further adieu, let’s begin. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

       We are looking at the end of verse 4, where it describes love as not being proud.Charity(love), vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, I first titled this message “I Am All That and a Bag of Chips'”. But, this Tuesday morning, the Lord told me to change the title to “Who do I Think I Am”. We are now living in a society that is puffed up and proud. We all like to look good in front of people. This is alright if we are giving the glory to the Father. But, when we look good in front of people at the expense of someone else, this is a horrible sin. One that not only degrades you and the other person, but opens the door for destruction of our walk with the Lord. The worst of this sin is that we can cause that person to stumble in their walk with the Lord. Maybe even cause them to walk away from the Lord.

               Before we begin, I want to look at the Webster’s Dictionary and the Strong’s Exhaustive concordance for the meaning of pride. In the Webster’s Dictionary, pride means: feeling of self-worth or esteem; conceit; a sense of one’s own importance; a feeling of elation due to success; the cause of splendor; to be proud of; to take credit for; or a herd of lions.

                    In the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance it means: (The word Vaunteth): to boast, to pierce through; adverb or preposition form: across, farther, other side, or over. (The word puffed): the primary sense of blowing, to inflate,make proud,growth by expansion or germination, natural production (lineal descent),kind, mankind, nature, or natural. And last but not least, the word pride. Arrogancy, excellency, excellent, majesty, pomp, swelling, arrogance, haughtiness, or highness.

                     Looking at all of these definitions, I want to say this. Lucifer was a created being made by the Lord. He was absolutely something to behold. He was there before creation began. He got to see it all happening. Isaiah 14:12-24   12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.22 For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord.23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

                    The Lord not only describes His creation, but He also tells him his future. Hallelujah! Come on! You can shout with me! Hallelujah! Satan only has some of the truth. He does not have all of it. I see it like this. He was in class, but because he was busy writing love notes to leviathan, he only got the homework lesson. And in so doing, pride entered his heart. Because of his own deception, he became the great deceiver. He knows just how to twist the truth in hopes of destroying the Lord’s wonderful creation. So in our everyday lives, there is the choice to have righteous choices or unrighteous choices. It is left up to us. The Lord hopes we will make righteous choices. Look what it says in Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

                       We all have pride in our hearts (minds). But, are we glorifying our heavenly Father, or are we out for our own ambitions. Is our ego so low that we have to put people down in order to feel good about ourselves? This world is filled with a lie that feeds into our lives no esteem what-so-ever. The more the enemy can beat us down, the more he hides the Lord’s message to be overcomer’s in him. We have a choice to receive his lie or to receive what the Lord says about us. 

                   Deuteronomy 28:13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: This is one of many scriptures that talks about each and every one of us. How do we glorify our Father in heaven? By acting out these scriptures towards one another. In other words, do you want to have esteem concerning who you are? Build someone else up using His word. Like I’ve said before, each one of us may be the only bible someone will ever read. Righteous pride is remembering we are nothing, can do nothing, or have nothing apart from Him. Then, we give Him all the glory for it. He makes us who we are. He expects us to serve one another with that same grace.

                            You see, false pride tells us that we are all that and a bag of chips. But according to Isaiah 64:6, it says that even on our best days, we have no righteousness in us. We have to rely on the Lord God Almighty. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

                 So, Isaiah says that even when we think we have it going on, that we are still yucky. Our righteousness depends solely upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Some of you are thinking, “But that is the old testament. We are in a different covenant.” Jesus gave the same laws in simplified terms. Matthew 5:17-20   17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 22:37-40   37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Romans 3:19-23   19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

                 So, Jesus didn’t just give us the same laws of the LORD, but he was our example of how to walk in it. Do you see now that we are to still live our lives according to the laws of God? The difference is that we are under grace. Ephesians 2:8-9   8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. We should live our lives according to the laws of God, but there is redemption of our mistakes. Forgiveness for repentance. Does this make sense to you? 

                   What does this have to do with pride? Everything. Pride is an awful door into our hearts (minds). You see, according to James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Did you see that? If we break one we break all of them. Remember I have been saying that just because we received the Lord’s gift of salvation does not make us any less a sinner in need of a Savior than the lost person. The only difference between us and the lost soul is that we have the wonderful gift of His grace as our testimony. Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 

                  It is through the testimony that the Lord gives us that we can have righteous pride. Where we boast of Him and not of ourselves. Where our testimonies bring all the glory and honor that is due to His Name. Ephesians 2:8-9   8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. The apostle Paul was always bragging on the Lord of all the many trials and testings the Lord had brought Him through. We are all going through many trials and testings that the Lord is graciously bringing our spoiled selves through. “How can you call us spoiled?” Even I am spoiled. He does dote over us. But, our unrighteous pride can get in our way, and in so doing, cause us to forget to seek His face and not His hand. 

                    King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:2-11   2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

                  And Jesus gave a shortened version in Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

              If you do not know the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Let me introduce you to Him. It is really simple. First you must acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a savior according to the mirror of the law of the Lord. Ask Him for His forgiveness for all of your sins and call them out to Him. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Then, forgive those who have sinned or transgressed against you. Then, repent. Repent means to change your mind concerning sinful habits. Change your choice making decisions. Let Him influence your choice making decisions as you get in His Holy Word. Ask Him to be Lord over your life. I want to pray this prayer with you. But, this is just an outline. The real work begins after I pray with you because it is a very personal walk with the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. 

                    Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

                               If you have made the decision to give your life to Jesus, let me be one of the first to welcome you to the body of Christ. All of heaven is greatly rejoicing over your decision today. Please let me know of your decision today. I want to pray for you. If this message has brought up any questions or spoke to you in some way, or if you have any prayer requests; please let me know by commenting below, private messaging me, or you can email me at my1littleafmp@aol.com. I would greatly love to hear from you. Remember I love you with the Love of the Lord but Jesus will always love you more.

(close in prayer)