Satan has a strategy to stop you from completing your journey. The good news is God has a strategy to keep you on track.
let’s assume that you are
going on a journey you’re going on a
trip
it’s a journey that you have to take you
you don’t have a
an option not to go on this journey
you are informed when you begin the
process of entering this journey
that this will be a a dangerous
trip there will be landmines
that you will not be able to see
explosives that you will not detect
quicksand that will be covered over
there will be pits that you’ll be able
to fall into
and they are all through this journey
but they will not be obvious to you but
they will be there
throughout the journey
but after being told this disappointing
discouraging news
about this journey you must take
the person speaking to you gives you a
map
and on this map are all the places
where the dangers lie it’s written on
the map
it shows you where every landmine is
where every explosive is where every
uh pit is where every every place that
would seek to
bring you home do you win and destroy
your life
they’re all laid out on the map on the
journey you must take
so the question i want to pose to you
today is how are you going to treat this
map
given the fact of what it has on it and
the journey
that you must take uh will you
ball it up and put it in your pocket
will you ignore it will you read it once
a week
will you reference it occasionally
probably not because your life depends
on it
because you’ve got to take this journey
and there
are minefields
so that map is going to become the most
precious thing in your life
because you want to make it to the other
side
we are all on a journey called life
once you were born you started this
journey
and it’s a journey you must take you do
not have
another option if you are alive you’ve
got to take this journey called life
in this journey called life there are
mine fields
there are explosive devices
pits with sharp edges at the bottom
all designed to destroy your life from
from
completing your journey
god has given you a map
his word and his word is designed to
reveal to you the pitfalls
so that you can make the journey
what you think about the map
will affect how well you do on the
journey
you might decide to ball it up and put
it in your pocket and
ignore that it’s there or you might
decide to look at it but not pay
attention to it
you might decide a weekly visit to it is
once
is enough i’ll take my chances the rest
of the week on my own
or you can decide that this map is
absolutely
essential because i want to complete
this journey
and i don’t want to be killed by what’s
on the road undetected
now i understand that all of us have
faced consequences at some level
that there would be hardly a person in
here
who hasn’t made a decision that turned
out to be unwise
that you have paid for or are still
paying for
i’ve had more than one inquiries tell me
what to do
because i’m bleeding with the
consequences of whatever the decision
was
but i would like to suggest if you will
stay with this
you will view consequences differently
and more deeply
you will stay away from future ones
and learn how god meets you in the ones
that you
may be dealing with currently
in genesis chapter 3
we have the strategy of the devil
to bring consequences into your life
negative consequences
i’ve been running into men and the first
con
thing that comes up is what
football
that’s the buzz now
and i can assure you every single
team has been watching game film
all week they’ve been watching game film
of the enemy
of the team they’re gonna play they want
to learn their tendencies
they want to learn what their movements
have been
the personnel they want to become fully
acquainted with the group they want to
destroy
satan has game film on you
you got game film you’ve been assigned a
demon
and that demon knows your every move he
knows your every moment
he knows your orientation he knows your
sensitivities
he knows your inclinations that demon
understands you and so there is a report
on you
me and us
so there is a tailor-made strategy
to do you in
even as a believer to defeat you
and to bring negative consequences
into your life you’re on tape
spiritually speaking
so today i want you to understand the
strategy
because if you know the strategy you can
better
see the landmine
and handle it more appropriately
let me say it in a more raw term
there is a contract out on you
me us
to bring about
your inability to finish the journey
understanding this however will help you
me us to move forward differently
than we perhaps have come to this point
because there’s no use in continuing
to step on landmines that you don’t have
to
so let’s look
and see how the enemy
to your journey is working in verse 1
now the serpent was more crafty than any
beast of the field
which the lord god had made
crafty means sneaky
crafty means clever or shrewd
the snake the serpent was more
crafty sneaky slithery
than any of the other creatures god had
made
so when satan wanted to make his move
he chose something that would be
consistent with what he wanted to
achieve
he wanted to achieve craftiness
so he chose a crafty creature
satan knows what to choose
and who to choose to slither into your
world
in order to get your undivided attention
he knows how to
maneuver slick
knows how to whine and dine in order to
cause you to have a conversation with
him
has it ever bothered you that this woman
is talking to a talking snake
we got a talking snake not only do we
have a talking snake we got a talking
walking snake because the snake now is
walking
because the curse was that from then on
it would have to crawl in his belly
which means it didn’t have to crawl on
his belly
prior to that so we have a walking
talking snake
and this walking talking snake
is not a shock that this woman is on
she’s coming on a normal conversation
the very first conversation between a
human being
and a person is about god
kind of sorta because we read in verse 1
that the serpent was more crafty and the
serpent said
indeed has god said you shall not
eat from any tree of the garden please
notice
a missing word the serpent was more
slithery
than any other beast the lord god had
made
but then the serpent said hath god said
not half the lord god
that missing word is on purpose
the word god elohim deals with god’s
power
the word lord deals with our covenantal
relationship with god
so the serpents is basically saying
let’s talk about god but let’s leave out
relationship
we can be religious but not be
relational
so the first conversation between a
snake
and a human being wants to bring up
religion
but leave out relationship
let me explain something the devil
doesn’t mind that you in church
as long as you don’t have a relationship
with the lord he don’t mind
god talk he doesn’t mind invocations and
benedictions
as long as there’s no relationship with
god in between he doesn’t mind that
the creature that satan used
to bring death and consequences
to eve and then adam and then the human
race
was a creature over whom
man and woman were to rule
and watch this and the creature was good
because the bible says whatever god
created in chapter one
was good so at this point the snake’s
not bad
which means that the strategy
is to use something good to create
something bad
he doesn’t go find something bad because
there’s nothing bad to find other than
him
so satan find something good that men
and women should have been
over and he uses something good to bring
something bad
and then that how it works in our lives
it starts off
looking good but
once infiltrated with his purposes
that what was good even that included
god
became bad so
his strategy first of all is for you to
miss him
so if you’re looking for somebody with
horns a red jumpsuit and a pitchfork
you’re looking for the wrong creature
he’s going to use something
that is good to create something that is
bad
so that you can have consequences
negative repercussions
like an illusionist at a magic show
some of these things these guys can do
with just spectacular
and one of the main reasons that they
are able to cause us to go ah
wow it’s because they do something
over here to get our attention while
they’re doing something else over there
in other words they distract us from
what they’re really about
satan is not going to tell you up front
i’m here to destroy your future
you know they’re not going to tell you
that
he’s going to be crafty sneaky slithery
and we we know what that means so a
subordinate creature the bible calls
satan
a counterfeit it says he has counterfeit
doctrine counterfeit miracles
counterfeit spirits
counterfeit teachers
in order to do one thing deceive
we know what that looks like to have
been duped tricked
because it didn’t look like deception
some of
some of you have gotten what i’ve
recently gotten in my mail
from a credit card company
congratulations
congratulations
you have been awarded a 5 000
increase on your credit limit
you are now cause they want to make you
feel good platinum
who doesn’t want to be platinum who
doesn’t want to feel
platinumish
and you are a preferred customer
so they’ve made me they made me feel
good about me they tell me
that i’m worthy they have a higher
credit limit
but behind all that behind all that
and the reason i know what’s behind it
is because i pay consequences
some of you know what it is to be paying
on something
minimum amount year after year after
decade after decade
after decade all because they made you
feel good
gave you a platinum sense of yourself
you started
smelling yourself
so
he wants you to miss him
and so he uses something that’s crafty
but slithery and will make
even god part of the conversation
what’s the second thing he does that’s
in verse 1 2.
indeed has god said you should not eat
from
any tree of the garden
he wants you to think god is holding out
on you
he never references all the trees
she could eat from he wants to talk
about
the one tree that you gotta know know on
he doesn’t talk about all the freedom
that you have from every tree of the god
you may freely eat
he wants to talk about well let’s let’s
talk about
what god said relative to what you can’t
do he says you shall not eat
he wants to paint god as a god who’s
trying to keep you from having a good
time
and he does it oh magnificently he
reduces
a command and makes it a question
see when we started god said i command
you not to eat
he says let me let me just ask you a
question
tell me what you think about this see
when we reduce
god’s command and turn it into a
question we’ve lessened
its impact because he just asked me a
question
can somebody ask me a question
god’s nose are so we can enjoy his yeses
did you hear that god’s nose don’t eat
from that tree is so that you can eat
from all the other trees
what they’re gonna find out is when you
eat from that one tree you lose all the
mother trees
his nose are to protect his yeses
every tree of the god you may freely god
is a big big god of freedom
they go on freedom but when he puts that
no in
a lot of he tells he tells things okay i
don’t want you have sex outside of
marriage okay
that’s what he tells singles
and satan says god holding out on you
and it looks like god is not fair he’s
done a number on
us and so what he does in doing that
is to not only bring consequences but
keep us from ever getting
around to all the stuff
that’s the free benefits that he wants
to bring into your life by getting you
stuck
in this one tree
in fact you let the new testament tell
it first corinthians 7
the single should be a lot happier than
the married folk
that that’s what paul says
father the singles should be single
should be shouting
if you don’t believe me ask the married
folk you’re sitting next to
[Applause]
[Music]
it’s like the child that complains at
christmas
about the one toy they didn’t get so
they don’t even get to enjoy the toys
that they did have
satan is saying god is trying to hold
out on you he doesn’t want you to
he don’t want you to enjoy everything
that’s out there to be enjoyed
now let me explain something at this
point
that a lot of people are confused i know
uh
flip wilson made it famous the devil
made me do it
so let’s get something corrected
the devil cannot make you sin he doesn’t
have he
he doesn’t have that kind of juice he
can’t he can’t make you sin why
because colossians 2 says that the death
of christ
defeated him so he cannot force you to
sin
since he can’t force you to sin he makes
you
want to
because he can’t impose sin on you he
starts
messing with your mind
and so the way he does that is deceiving
the thought pattern
so that you begin to think differently
we begin to think differently
than we ought to so it becomes our
decision
influenced by him not enforced by him
so that means we can’t blame the devil
any longer
not from the force standpoint what he
does is he plants
his thought into your mind until it
becomes your thought
and so then it influences your action my
action our action
so the second one is god is holding out
on you he’s keeping that
tree from you
when god’s whole point of restriction
was to enhance freedom
the third strategy
the woman responds from the fruit of the
trees of garden we may eat
but from the fruit of the tree verse 3
which is in the middle of the garden god
said you shall not eat it
or touch it or you’re going to die
he said to the woman you surely will not
die
okay there will be no consequences
so what is he getting at here what god
said is not gonna happen i know god told
you that
but don’t buy it strategy
god’s word cannot be trusted
you can’t believe that bible you can’t
act on that bible you can’t you can’t
trust that
that was written 2 000 years ago 4 000
years ago if you’re going into the old
testament
they don’t know what you’re dealing with
they didn’t have all this technology
god you can’t buy that
god’s word cannot be trusted
the bible says in romans 3 verse 4 let
god be true and every man a liar
let god be true and everybody who
disagrees with him
is lying even if they are good liar
the bible says in john chapter 8 verse
44 satan is a liar and he’s the father
of lies well
there’s a couple of things there number
one he’s a born liar
anybody know any boring liars they’re
just
okay born lie they’ve been lying since
now only
not only is he a born liar
but he’s the father of lies which means
he got chillings
if you’re a father you got children so
he spawns deception he
he replicates deception
he says god’s word cannot be trusted
like
don cornelius and the soul trained
scramble board
he gets all the words out of order and
you can’t
you can’t buy that it’s all you can’t
buy that that’s not
real and right for the day so skip his
no trespassing sign
you’re not going to die this is not
going to hurt you
you’re not going to get into trouble
you’re not going to catch a disease
you’re not going to live a lifetime in
debt
you’re not going to become emotionally
unstable you’re not
you’re not you’re not it’s okay
you got to check out whoever’s talking
to you whether they’re a child of the
father of liars
don’t worry it’s it’s not going to be
that bad
probably enough folk in the audience
today who know yeah it can be that bad
it really can be that bad
you talk about deception it reminds me
of the story of the banker who was
uh duck hunting the banker was duck
hunting the banker this duck comes
across
takes up and going bam shoots the duck
out the sky
the duck falls into
a farmer’s land the banker who’s
doing the duck hunting goes to get the
duck but the farmer’s standing out there
the farmer said that ain’t your duck
i mean it’s not my duck i shot the duck
yeah but it fell on my property
so that’s my duck oh the banker said oh
no it’s not i shot the duck that’s my
dog my farmer said oh no it’s not
that duck is on my property this is
private property you can’t have that
duck
like i said well i tell you what there’s
a way we can resolve this
i’ma let you hit me as hard as you can
you hit me as hard as you can follow
your face and hit me
then you let me hit you as hard as i can
and whoever screams the least
gets the duck of course the bank is
younger than the farmer and
you know he’s in shape so he feels like
this is going to be my duck because
because i’ma hurt this man so
farmer you go first obama cox back
bam hits the bank of the banker falls to
the ground with a little grown
farmer gets up after a moment gets
himself together
okay now it’s my turn
the father said that’s okay you can had
a duck
[Applause]
satan just wants to hurt us
you’re not going to die one of the
things most of us have learned on some
level
is when we play with sin then sin winds
up playing with us
you’re in charge of it one moment and
then it’s in charge of you the next
moment months years decades
and this is a challenge because we are
being bombarded
in our world today on every level
this leads him to another strategy
verse 5 for god knows that in the day
you
eat from it your eyes will be open and
you will be like you will be like god
he says look let me explain
why god does not want you to eat from
this tree
god is selfish god doesn’t want anybody
to be like him but him
and because god is selfish and knows if
you eat this tree you’re going to know
as much as god knows
be as smart as god is he wants to keep
you
from being like him he doesn’t want you
to be his equal when he knows you could
be his equal
of course that was satan’s whole goal to
be god’s equal in isaiah 14.
so god doesn’t want you to be his equal
and to keep you from being his equal he
doesn’t want you to get that tree
cause then you won’t need him anymore
you’re going to know it all yourself
you will be like god
and what was the one thing satan wanted
more than anything else when he rebelled
against god
he wanted his independence
he did not want to have to answer to god
anymore
and our rebellion is a desire
for our independence because if i’m like
you
and if i’m equal to you i don’t have to
submit to you
if we’re on the same level at work you
don’t get to boss me
not if we on the same level
if you can become like god if man can
become like god
if governments can become like god
they don’t have to answer to god because
they are like him
god doesn’t want you he don’t want
anybody to be like him
you all remember doing michael jordan’s
heyday
everybody wanted the commercials you
want to be like mike remember
everybody won’t be like mike superstar
michael jordan
so folks wanting to be like mike went
out and bought
jordans say jordans
parents went into debt
to get their kids jordans because
they want to be like mike
jersey number 23
because they want to be like mike i got
news for you
putting on jordans don’t make you like
mike
wearing a jersey with number 23
doesn’t make you fly
you don’t become like jordan simply
because you got a phrase
or you like basketball there must be an
ability that matches your shoes
you just can’t look the part and be like
mike
and you just can’t act the part and be
god
he is in a class by himself and he will
always resist anybody who seeks to be
independent of him
with the consequences of your rebellion
god so much doesn’t want man
to try to be like him which he could
never be
but even to carry that thought he told
israel
you can’t even take a picture of me
you you can’t take a picture of me make
no
graven image in the ten commandments of
me don’t you create something you think
might coulda looked like me
cause anything you come up with is gonna
be a bad photograph
you remember how they used to have those
photograph machines in the mall
and you go put your little money in and
you sit in that seat you pull that
curtain
and you sit down and then they take a
picture four little pictures come out
and you take those pictures don’t show
nobody them pictures
some ugly pictures
in fact we apologize for our picture
that’s not a good that’s not a good
picture of me
yeah it is you just don’t like it but
god said don’t photograph me don’t
create an image of me why
because i’m in a class by myself and
anything you come up with is going to
make me look bad
so he says i am who i am i’m not who you
want me to be
god is selfish
okay let me let me talk a minute now
about this tree god knows if you eat
from this tree
you will have the knowledge of good and
evil
okay so let’s let’s let’s look at this
tree this tree has two things on it
good and evil okay
but it’s a google tree it’s a google
tree
because it’s information knowledge the
knowledge of good and evil
so you will be able to google
all the information necessary for you to
know what god knows
because you’re going to be like god so
you have this comprehensive knowledge
without god okay
stick with me here you will be
like god but you won’t need god
you will be able to determine and
discover
good and evil but you can leave
god out of the equation of the discovery
there is good and evil information
but evil has not entered into the world
yet
other than the presence of satan there
is
no evil so what he is saying is
there is an information base of
knowledge that will discuss things you
don’t know
anything about and you can get that
without god because you will have become
your own god because you will be like
god therefore you won’t need
god to discover your own truth
as i tell you often many of you living
with
with people who want to be like you
parents
they’re called teenagers
who think they know what they’re talking
about
they talk like professionals
they talk like experts
the reason why you’ve got this teenage
strife
in your home or you may have had it gave
it to your parents and giving it to your
parents
you have that strife is because they
want to be like you
they want to be parent so there’s a
conflict
you say in a moment they but but two
grown folk in this house
you create a distinction right away
the problem is they want their
independence while still depending
oh
you ain’t missed that this is true see
they want their independence don’t tell
me what to do just feed me
don’t tell me what to do but you got to
get me some clothes don’t tell me what
to do but you got to take me where i
need to go because i haven’t got my
driver’s license yet
so i want to be independent
but i still want you to cover me
i know you want to be that independent
why don’t you cover yourself and see how
that goes
see what we’re doing is we’re living in
a world now who has insisted on
independence
and god has said you got it
and the result of consequences
what was the consequence he says you’re
going to die because remember
death is not succession of life
cessation of life death is a
illegitimate separation so when a body
dies
it’s only dead because the soul left
there was a separation
which made the body inactive
there’s economic there’s social death
environmental death relational death
there’s all kind of deaths
so we a lot of us ending dying are dead
in a certain category
because we ate from the independence
tree
i want my data without god and i will
determine
truth right and wrong and i will do it
independently of god
because i want to be like god i want to
be my own god
it reminds me muhammad ali
he’s on an airplane true story muhammad
ali is on the airplane during his heyday
he’s sitting on the plane the stewardess
comes back and says bye and says
mr ali will you buckle your seatbelt we
get ready to take off
she comes back down the aisle ali has
not buckled his seat belt
said mr ali i really do need you to
buckle your seatbelt we need to take off
muhammad ali says superman don’t need no
seat belt
stuart has said superman don’t need no
plane you need to buckle your seatbelt
you ain’t all that
i don’t care how much education you have
what degrees you have
what notoriety you have what success you
have what money you have
where you live what car you drive what
car what clothes you wear
you cannot be like him
he is in a class by himself and you are
to submit
all of those categories to him
when you don’t
[Applause]
consequences it says you’re gonna die
and so so many of us are dying
dying with regret dying with
debt dying with
relationships we’re just dogging
not knowing that’s a consequence
not just something that happened bad bad
luck it doesn’t know
it’s a consequence of sin
which we’ve all faced on various levels
finally
verse six
his final move it says
when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food and that it was the
delight to the eyes
and that the tree was desirable to make
one wise she took from his fruit and ate
and she gave also to her husband
with her and he ate
if it feels good do it
when she saw that the tree was good for
food
that tree was always good for food
that’s why i told him i eat it
but here’s what he did he let her see
the tree through his eyes
because she’s now looking at this tree
different than when she talked about it
earlier
when she saw the tree was good she’d
been passing that tree in the middle of
the living room of their house
every day but when she saw the
treatments good for food why did she
look at the tree differently because now
evil has been dropped from the
conversation
see it was the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil but now she’s only seeing
the good part of the tree
and isn’t that how deception works you
only see the good part
you don’t see the outcome
if they told you that hit with that
marijuana or that crack
is going a few years from now
have you an addict
needing to get the monkey off your back
if you could see you in that condition
with the evil it would change
how good that hit is up front
if you could see yourself with three
children out of wedlock
and a single parent on welfare
trying to make it if you could see that
in advance then all of a sudden
sex wasn’t that wasn’t all that
it wasn’t all that
[Applause]
if you could see the evil but what he
wants to do is erase the evil and you
just fall in love with the good
this is so good
so he increases her
physical appetite when she saw the tree
was good for food
physical appetite then on top of
increasing
her physical appetite
he increases her emotional appetite
it was desirable that’s what it said it
was desirable
she was feeling that tree she feeling
the tree
that treated and gotten a gizzard she
she feeling that tree
then he increased her intellectual
appetite
her intellectual appetite
it it can make one wise
i can really be smart
the danger of so many of us and we have
a fairly educated constituency here
is that you have allowed your degrees to
rule over the word of god
you’ve allowed human wisdom and
intellect
and all truth is god’s truth there’s
nothing wrong with getting educated and
becoming more skillful but whenever that
truth
conflicts with divine revelation you are
ignorant
the bible calls it fool
bible calls that a fool but that is the
knowledge of a fool
when you’re smarter than god it’s like
nietzsche who great made his great
philosophical statement
because man has become so educated and
philosophically astute
god is dead signed nietzsche
a few years later nietzsche died
somebody wrote the sign nietzsche is
dead signed god
[Applause]
that’s why that’s why okay hold on
you are to respect all people the bible
says give honor to whom honor is due
if people have accomplished something if
they’ve done great things
you ought to honor that
but what you are not to do is turn them
into an american idol
because they ain’t all that yes they
have achieved you respect it you
recognize it
but you got to understand there are a
lot of fools out there
who’ve eaten from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil that we are
impressed with we are impressed with
never mind they they popping pills to
survive never mind that they
strung out on drugs never mind that they
can’t stay married never mind that
never mind all that they just can sing
or rap or or or they’re smart with a
degree
never mind all that we get impressed
with the wrong
folk honor it
recognize it but don’t turn it into an
american idol
because just like you they gonna die
there is a way that seems right to man
proverbs 14 12 says but the end thereof
is death
proverbs proverbs says in
in proverbs chapter 3 verses 13 to 18
it says you are to eat from the tree of
life
which will give you wisdom because you
know our biggest problem today
all of us on varying levels our biggest
problem is
our lack of discernment
if i would boil it down to our biggest
problem
we are not able to discern so we get
impressed with the front stuff
that looks impressive because we haven’t
discerned the back stuff
that’s the end of the story so we we
lack discernment
and that is the one thing that spiritual
people have according to hebrews
chapter 5 verses 11 to 14. spiritual
people
know how to discern it says between good
and evil
they’re not faked out because it looks
good up front
they’re able to see good
and evil why because they eaten not from
the tree
of independence they’re eating from the
tree of life which gains wisdom
and so james 1 sums it up
in james chapter 1 we read these verses
in verses 13 to 16.
let no one say when he is tempted i am
being tempted of god for god cannot be
tempted by evil
and he himself does not attempt anyone
each one is tempted when he is carried
away and enticed by his own lust
then when lust has conceived it gives
birth to sin
and when sin is accomplished it brings
forth what
death it doesn’t mean you’re going to
drop dead physically i mean something’s
going to die there will be an
illegitimate separation
so satan’s strategy can be boiled down
to one word deception
about that that but because some whole
thing up is he deceives us
and you know we’re not picking on
anybody because everybody’s been tripped
up at some level
but when you find where a trap is you
don’t keep walking over it
[Applause]
you gotta you gotta address that trap
and then you gotta you gotta move on but
you don’t just keep walking you have to
see people
go over the same thing over and over
again they’re doing the same thing over
and over over and over over and over
over
two mischievous boys one day went to a
department store and they were
they wanted to be mischievous and so
what they did was they
they took the tags off of the couture
expensive garments and put
the price tags on cheap garments then
they took the tags off of the cheap
garments and put those tags on the
expensive garments so the expensive
garments had cheap tags and the cheap
garments had expensive tags on them
so when folks came into the store
they were buying expensive things for
low cost
and buying inexpensive things for high
cost
because the tags have been switched
what satan has done is he switched the
tags on us
and he’s got us spending
a lot of our lives and our time
on our and our energy on cheap stuff
because he didn’t switch the tags
not understanding what god has provided
for us free of charge
he switched the tags
so the question on the floor is
do you want to avoid any future
consequences
and do you want to see as much mercy as
god can give you
for caring consequences
because if you’re tired of consequences
you qualify for god’s
abundant grace
amen