I AM THE CHURCH III: Clean the House
Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021
Pastor Troy Brewer, OpenDoor Church, Burleson, Texas
The blessings and the perils of living in a blessed place.
The promises and warnings that come with the territory of great upgrade.
Deuteronomy 6:10-14
“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you.”
When you 10X and upgrade into a next-level blessing, you find yourself in what you never would have imagined as dangerous territory.
Cities you didn’t build.
Houses you didn’t fill.
Wells you didn’t dig.
Vineyards you dint plant.
Walking and living in a blessed (mature) place…
can quickly turn into a cursed place… if you let the priorities of “other gods” into that place.
Become the culture of your house.
Hold up a phone. This is a place you didn’t build. You didn’t have to figure it out. You didn’t have to put up the infrastructure. And this blessed place was given to you and trusted to you.
THERE ARE OTHER “gods” IN THIS PLACE THAT GOD SAYS YOU SHALL NOT SERVE!
To be in the world and not of the world has always been a challenge and a terrible conflict for the people of God throughout the centuries.
The beautiful house God gave you can become toxic and even sick because you are no longer under the influence of God but you are being swept away by the charms and temptations of the new world you are living in.
Deuteronomy 6:13-14
You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you
IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE BLESSED, you have to do a serious self-examination of your house.
JESUS COULDN’T STAND HOW THE LAODICEAN CHURCH LIVED. THEY WERE NEITHER HOT NOR COLD. THEY WERE NOT MOVED WITH ANY KIND OF PASSION. THEY WERE THE CHOSEN FROZEN. THEY WERE FULL OF LACK OF EMPATHY AND HAD ABSOLUTELEY NO ZEAL FOR THEIR OWN HOUSE.
THEY COULDN’T BE REAL.
The Laodicean Church
Revelation 3:17 (NKJV)
Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire…
THIS SERMON SERIES IS CALLED “I AM THE CHURCH,” and if you are going to be the church, the temple of God or the bride of Christ, you are going to have examine and clean your own house.
YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO BE REAL ABOUT WHAT NEEDS TO BE CLEANED UP, THROWN OUT AND DRIVEN OFF.
The leadership, word and testimony of your church looks more like heaven than it looks like hell. A fearless demonstration of freedom, redemption and the goodness of God.
It should be full of the Holy Spirit; not political correctness.
If your church is not consistent in its love for God, preaching of the gospel and standing on the scriptures—if your church isn’t reaching the poor, preaching the gospel, healing the sick, casting out devils—if your church is run by limp-wristed leadership more concerned for how many clicks they get than how much transformation happens through them, and if your church is not answering evil with the goodness of God, then its time to clean house!
Your family and the things involved in your home life:
Your own physical body
The atmosphere of your heart and your mind
Jesus knew how to clean house.
John 2:15-17 (NKJV)
When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” (Psalms 69:9)
John 2:17 (Passion)
That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture: “I am consumed with a fiery passion to keep your house pure!”
Jesus fashioned a whip and cleaned out His Father’s house.
Be intentional and develop real tools for cleaning your house!
A “Zeal for your house:”
The Principle of the Leprous House and Garment
Leviticus 14:33-57
“This is the law of leprosy.”
A house can have a disease.
How you dress can have a disease.
How you talk and what you watch can have a disease.
Leviticus 14:33 – 57
33 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 34 “When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession, 35 and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is some plague in the house,’ 36 then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house. 37 And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall, 38 then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. 39 And the priest shall come again on the seventh day and look; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the house, 40 then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city. 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. 42 Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar and plaster the house.
43 “Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, 44 then the priest shall come and look; and indeed if the plague has spread in the house, it is an active leprosy in the house. It is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place. 46 Moreover he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be unclean until evening. 47 And he who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
48 “But if the priest comes in and examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49 And he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 50 Then he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; 51 and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. 53 Then he shall let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.
54 “This is the law for any leprous sore and scale, 55 for the leprosy of a garment and of a house, 56 for a swelling and a scab and a bright spot, 57 to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.”
Now let’s talk about our own homes and the demonic agenda in our own society to sexualize your kids and your grand kids.
Because it’s time to clean house.
Demonic forces are at work right now to ruin the lives of your children and sexually exploit them in ways you can’t even imagine.
In culture, education and health care, American children also are increasingly targeted for sexual messages, images, and themes at younger ages. Sometimes, this is even supported by taxpayer money through government-led initiatives.
Social media is a prime hunting ground for sex traffickers. In March 2019, Instagram was reportedly the leading social media platform for child grooming by sexual predators.
According to the Heritage Foundation:
A recent poll of 2,000 teens found that nearly 75% had received pornographic direct messages from strangers, even if they had a private account. And 77% of victims of sex trafficking in 2019 met their abuser through a website, app, or text.
Our culture is saturated with sexual content that was once considered too risqué for children, and social media has accelerated the spread of pornography to young viewers.
The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that, in the United States, 42% of children between 10 and 17 have viewed pornography online.
The sexualization of children is occurring in brick-and-mortar spaces too. “Drag queen story hours,” in which cross-dressing adult entertainers interact with children in taxpayer-funded local libraries, have appeared across the country.
In education, the United Nations promotes Comprehensive Sexual Education around the world. In America, groups such as Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Campaign, and the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education. Network promote “comprehensive” sexual education, which includes instruction about homosexual practices, transgender theory, and abortion down to the second grade in some places.
Perversion is being peddled to your children!
- When parents learn the full scope of the perversion being peddled to their children, it’s shocking. Take it serious but fear not….
….This is why we must have God-fearing and family loving people on our school boards. This is why we must have God- fearing and family-loving teachers and administrators
- “Neutrality” has come to mean state-enforced secularism, the specific and intentional exclusion of God from public policy and state-supported events, which means “almost everything that matters at any level of society…” It’s time to stop pretending the state is actually neutral. IT IS NOT!
- “There is a global campaign to promote sexualized material to grade school children which is heralded by the UN, championed by Planned Parenthood and is now making its way into all schools.”
“normalized pornography.”
- Teachers do not know better than parents what your children’s gender are.
- Experts fear boys will grow into men with unmeetable expectations.
- Sexuality is not the same as sexualization. Sexuality evolves in children as they develop a healthy curiosity and growing understanding of their bodies. Sexualization occurs when someone’s sense of their own value is based solely on sex appeal or that individual is held to narrow standards of attractiveness,
- Avoid sexually suggestive clothing fads. Help your daughter embrace her innocence and not rush the fleeting season of girlhood.
* Allow only those toys that align with your family’s moral standards. If you won’t allow your daughter to wear racy clothing, avoid toys that encourage that.
Guard what enters your child’s mind. Carefully choose the TV shows she watches, and watch with her. Research movies and song lyrics online for language or sexual overtones (Pluggedin.ca). Install Internet filtering software to guard what comes into your home.
Do not let your kids go to bed with an iPad or a smart phone.
Screen time needs to be in public, open places in your house at very specific times.
- Help your teen discern acceptable behavior. Lead them in praying for people whose private lives are made public in the media.
- Nurture your son and daughter’s self-image. Remind her often that she is precious and made in God’s image.
“FASHION A WHIP” & clean your house!
There is nothing shameful about being set free!
TroyBrewer.com
answerinternational.org
Propheticnumbers.com