Part 6: “It Is What It Is: OH REALLY?”
Praise the Lord everyone! The Spirit of the Lord is here and in the atmosphere, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty—freedom from all oppression and bondage of the wicked one Satan. (II Cor. 3:17)
As spiritual kings and priests unto God (born-again Christians) we can and should all live in liberty every day of our lives! Jesus Christ has given to us His Peace that surpasses all human understanding. (John 14:27) We are to have the testimony, at all times and seasons, that we are enjoying life to the full and seeing many days of excellence while on earth.
Even when the world seems to be falling apart, and in the midst of personal persecution and sufferings, God’s spiritual kings and priests are found praying and singing praises unto God in the mid-night hour, just as Paul and Silas did when they were beaten severely, thrown in the dungeon, and feet made fast in the stocks. (Acts 16:22-25)
Though we are persecuted and troubled on every side, we still have joy and rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer for Christ sake! I say, I say, I say, “nothing can separate us from the love of God!” (Rom. 8:35-39 & II Cor. 4:8-18, James 1:2)
Tell me, is it your desire to be happy and satisfied and to see good days no matter the circumstances you face? Well, the Bible tells us specifically how to achieve this spiritual and natural utopia in Christ. Examine the following verses from I Peter 3:8-10.
Finally be ye all of one mind, having compassion
one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be
courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing:
but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are
thereunto called, that ye should inherit the
blessing. For he that will love life, and see good
days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his
lips that they speak no guile: (treachery, deceit,
and lies)
The Apostle Peter gives us the keys to living a happy and satisfied life here on earth. In other words, Peter shows us how to rule our world, by walking in love and doing two things with our mouths: (1) keeping our tongues from speaking evil, and (2) keeping our lips from speaking guile (telling lies).
For the next few weeks, we will focus on these two unacceptable facets of speech in the sight of God: speaking evil and speaking lies. All Christians must be of one mind and keep themselves from speaking evil and telling lies to each other and all people. We should never put the mouth of Satan on any person, especially not a member of the body of Christ!
Remember from our earlier teaching in the Series, God examines the words of our mouths and meditations of our hearts—both of which must be found acceptable in His sight—in order for God our Redeemer to manifest the God-good things we desire in our hearts to receive from our eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ.
When we speak evil and tell lies, our speech displeases God, and God will not hear nor honor are prayer requests, petitions and decrees and declarations. (I Peter 3:12) The words spoken from our mouths must always match the Word (God’s Laws and Promises) that He has placed in our hearts and written on the mind of our souls to receive our inheritance.
Since every born again Christian has been liberated by the Spirit of the Lord, there is absolutely no reason or excuse we can offer for speaking evil and telling lies. God through Christ Jesus, has made us free from sin, shame, guilt, and condemnation. God has made us a blessing, and commissioned us to go forth and be a blessing to all people and things in the earth. Therefore, with the same mind, all Christians are to pursue peace with all men, serving only as “peacemakers”—and not as “hell-raisers”—regardless of how people treat us!
So this week, let’s talk about “speaking evil.” One of the greatest lessons we can learn, and grow in Christian maturity, is to always hold ourselves solely responsible and accountable for the things we say and do to others, and not take stock of what people say and do to us. (II Cor. 13:5-6 & I Cor. 11:31-32)
Indeed, as we walk out this Christian life, we all have had our turn at the wheel of responding negatively when people offend us with the things they say and do. But, we are the disciples of Jesus Christ, ever studying, learning, and correcting our behavior to mirror that of our Lord.
As the Holy Ghost reproves us of wrong speaking and doing things, we must be quick to obey the Lord’s commands and depart from evil—including evil speaking, and do that which is right and good in the sight of God. When we turn away from evil, the Bible says we will dwell in righteousness and safety forevermore! (Ps. 37:27-31)
The Bible is very clear that we can and must take control over our mouths. We don’t ever have to speak evil things. Just think about all the spiritual equipment we have been graced with to enable us to control the things we say from our mouths. For example, God has given to us power, love, and a sound mind (self-control and discipline within the mind of the soul). (II Tim. 1:7)
We have the mind of Christ, which are the emotions and intellect of Jesus Christ. (II Cor. 2:16) Thus, negative and evil words, from out of control negative emotions, should never flow from our lips. We have the fruit of the Spirit, including joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and temperance. And, you know I cannot forget the first mention of the fruit of the spirit, which is love. (Gal. 5:22-23)
Moreover, as we preached last week, if we keep our human brains (thought life) stayed on God, then God will keep us in “perfect peace” (Welfare: health and prosperity) (Is. 26:3) When our minds are stuck on God, there is no occasion for us to yield to temptation and sin, including speaking evil of others. So what excuse can we offer for speaking evil?
Saints, I want us all to be on high alert:
EVIL SPEAKING AGAINST PEOPLE AND ALL CREATED THINGS IN THE EARTH IS VERBAL ABUSE AGAINST GOD!
Please understand and know that whenever you speak evil about another person you are speaking evil against God. (James 3:9-12 & I John 4:20-21) How can you say you love God and curse and fuss out your brother? When we are all made in the image and likeness of God. We waste our time thinking that we can worship and fellowship with God in spirit and in truth, while at the same time allowing our mouths to be used by Satan as a running faucet of evil speech against other people.
God also has given the whole earth to us, including every created thing in it, and we are never to curse anything in the earth without a just cause. (I Cor. 3:22 and I Pet.1:3) Yet, routinely and without any fore-thought we curse many things, saying things like: “I hate rainy days,” “I can’t stand cold weather,” “I hate pork”, and “I can’t stand cats.” God gave to us all things in abundance so we may enjoy them, and not express hatred toward them. (II Tim. 6:17)
As noted earlier, God “made us a blessing” and called and commissioned us to “be a blessing.” Thus, from the same mouth, we should not be speaking blessings and curses! (James 3:10-13) If any person says they belong to Jesus Christ and yet refuses to control their tongue from evil speaking and doing evil, then they are not truly born-again of God the Father, and need to receive salvation through Jesus Christ. You see, a fig tree cannot bear apples—only figs!
True worshipers of God continually bear the fruit of the Spirit of the life of Jesus Christ. Thus, holy conversation must flow from the mouths of Christians. We must always be known by men and before God has having a good conversation, which is filled with the wisdom and knowledge of God, and grace and truth.
Now, let’s go deeper in our understanding of evil speaking. The Greek translation of the word “evil” in I Peter 3:10 describes words spoken that are harmful, ill, bad, profane, wicked, and worthless.
Nearly all Christians are aware that we are not to say curse/cuss words, to speak bad or harmful things about each other. You do know this right? (Smile) The Holy Ghost always reproves born-again Christians of evil words spoken to others and seeks for us to repent, change, and order our conversation aright. (I Peter 1:15)
But I want to focus the balance of my time on a form of evil speaking that has crept into the body of Christ from the tradition of the world. That is speaking “worthless” words. Worthless words are expressions we pick up from the people of this world which have no basis in faith, are contrary to the Word of God, and therefore, make the Word of God of no effect in our lives when we say them. Worthless words are idol words and are offensive to God. (Matt. 12:36-37)
A few examples of worthless words are: “Good luck,” “Knock on Wood,” “Cross my fingers,” “You are dead right,” and “Oh my God!” Also, identifying yourself by various societal nomenclatures is worthless, such as Zodiac signs, sororities and fraternities, and political parties.
Listen to me please. You are not a democrat, republican, nor an independent—you are a son of God through Jesus Christ who has been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ from your sins, and made a spiritual king and priest unto God. And, its high-time you stood up and let the world know about it!
But the worthless word I want to hone in on today that has become extremely popular in society, even among Christians, is saying: “IT IS WHAT IT IS.” And, to every born-again Christian, I say OH REALLY???
I doubt very seriously that Christians have ever stopped to think about what they are saying when they use this phrase, and how it grieves the Holy Ghost. While the phrase, “IT IS WHAT IT IS” may sound cute, rhyming, and dismissive when spoken, it carries a great demonic weight that seeks to limit and block our Spiritual Authority in the earth as spiritual kings and priests unto God.
Let me tell you a brief story of a counseling session I once had with a Christian gentleman several years ago. He was going through a difficult time with some of his family members. After spending almost two-hours talking about the problems the family was facing, and exploring several options for resolving the crisis, he suddenly shook his head in frustration, and said to me Pastor, “IT IS WHAT IT IS.” I said, to him, what did you say? He repeated even more forcefully, “IT IS WHAT IT IS.” AND MY REPLY WAS OH REALLY???
I want to tell you that I got Holy Ghost hot with his attitude toward the family problem. I was not angry with him, but angry with his perspective and treatment of the problem. In fact, I think my reaction to his attitude surprised him. I believe he expected that I would be just as resigned as he was to just accept the situation as status quo. Instead, I threw the Bible at him! Well, at least I did figuratively speaking, with several admonishments from the Word of God.
Can you even imagine Jesus Christ being confronted with a difficult problem, and just throwing up His hands and saying, sorry, “IT IS WHAT IT IS?” Would for example, Jesus Christ have said to Martha and Mary about the death of their beloved brother Lazarus—“there is nothing I can do, IT IS WHAT IT IS?” No way!
In that instance, Jesus explained to Martha that He is the “Resurrection and the life,” and anyone who believes on Him, even though they were dead, yet shall they live. Moreover, Jesus said the believer in Him would never die! And, before the eyes of Martha and Mary, and many other mourners, they saw Jesus call forth Lazarus from the dead, and Lazarus came forth walking out of the tomb in which he had been laid for four-days. Jesus said “lose him and let him go.” (John 11:24-26, & 38-44)
To the Christian gentleman with the family problem, I said he needed to have “FAITH IN GOD.” To speak directly to his “family problem” about Jesus Christ, and command it to be resolved as desired, in peace and love. Surely, if the faith of God can raise Lazarus from the dead, then having faith in God can bring forgiveness and reconciliation to offended family members. Is there anything too hard for God!
Somebody in here or reading this message today may be having trouble in their family—but I say to you have faith in God—and speak peace and love into your home, all the way up and down your family tree in its generations!
Jesus Christ said that anyone who believes on Him shall do the same works and greater works than those He did while on earth, because He is seated at the right hand of God. (John 14:12) As such, a Christian should never find themselves at a station in life, where they forfeit faith in God, and say the useless and demonic words: “IT IS WHAT IT IS.”
The phrase, “IT IS WHAT IT IS,” is an expression commonly used to characterize a frustrating or challenging situation that a person believes cannot be changed and must be accepted. In other words, the person is setting faith in God aside, giving up, and saying “just deal with it as it is!”
When a Christian says: “IT IS WHAT IT IS,” they are assuring not only that the current frustrating or challenging situation will remain unchanged, but, in the future they will be tempted by the devil to say, “IT IS WHAT IT IS” when the next challenging situation comes along that seems impossible to change.
If this attitude toward problem-solving is continually nurtured, it will become a habit of thinking and speaking. Thinking that we cannot change the world is a dangerous and unacceptable way of thinking for Christians because we walk by faith and not by sight. (II Cor. 5:7) The just live by faith. (Rom. 1:17)
In fact, God sent us into the world, so that the people of this world might know the only true God and Jesus Christ through the supernatural works of Christ. (John 17:18 & Matt. 5:16)
Whatever a thing is, that is not right; (causing frustration, worry, fear, complications, or problems) we speak to it and call the thing what it shall be!
The Christian who gets into the habit of saying “IT IS WHAT IT IS,” will find themselves having turned the faith of Jesus Christ deposited in them by God, to the off position. And, instead they will turn on self-reliance in their own natural abilities and strength to change things—which will result in them becoming resigned to having no power to change the situation, or needing someone else to come and fix it for them.
In such, instances the devil would be successful at stealing from the Christian knowledge and application of their Spiritual authority in the earth—for we have the Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ in us to quicken dead things, as I taught in previous Sermons.
Christians who are unwilling to venture into things that seem impossible to change, cannot please God. (Heb. 11:6) Faithless people allow circumstances to dictate and dominate their world. Thus, saying: “IT IS WHAT IT IS” to problems, results in the world ruling over you, rather than you ruling over your world!
GOD WANTS YOU TO FIX PROBLEMS USING THE FAITH OF GOD IN YOU!
Understanding and applying the born-again process will completely remove the expression, “IT IS WHAT IT IS” from the Christian’s vocabulary. What I mean is: the way in which we received salvation through Jesus Christ, is the same way that we are to live our lives in this world. If we will simply follow the born-again process in dealing with the problems that surface in our lives, we will never again say worthless expressions like “IT IS WHAT IT IS.”
The born again process occurs, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that God raised Him from the dead, and we confess with our mouths Jesus as Lord. The born-again process is also called the “Heart/Mouth Connection.” As explained in earlier sermons, God performed the operation of the Circumcision of Christ on our hearts (spirit, soul and mind) and placed His Laws in our hearts and wrote them on our minds.
As Christians, our inner-beings are filled with nothing but belief in God and know that His Laws planted in us are Truth. All we need to do is take the promises of God written in the Bible and speak them with our mouths. Only believing that the things we say will come to pass—only believing that whatever things we say, we have them. (Mark 11:24) Got it?
Your heart already believes in God and His promises, therefore you must speak what your heart believes. And, you will receive that which you say.
Look at this Scripture at II Corinthians 4:13. It reads,
We having the same spirit of faith, according as
it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken;
we also believe, and therefore speak.
Glory be to God! When we heard and believed the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, through God’s amazing grace, He gave to us the same spirit of faith that is in Jesus Christ. And, because we believe in Jesus and His finished works on the cross, we speak forth with our mouths every promise in the Word of God in belief! Before we utter the promises of God we believe, and as the words process and flow from our mouths, we believe!
This is so awesome! We believe, therefore we speak, saying whatever God says! Thus, we speak saying for example:
--Whatsoever we ask in prayer, we receive it. (Matt. 21:22)
--We say, anything we ask in Jesus name, Jesus will do it so that God may be glorified in the earth. (John 14:13-14)
--We say, we quickeneth dead things and call those things which be not as though they already exist. (Rom. 4:17).
--We say that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation—even the Word of Reconciliation (Restoration). Yes, we exchange a man’s problems for the promises of God to complete physical manifestation. (II Cor. 5:17-19)
--We say that Lord is our Shepherd and we lack nothing. (Ps. 23:1)
--We say of the Lord He is our refuge and fortress. (Ps. 90:2)
--We say, the Lord is a very present help in time of trouble. (Ps. 46:1)
--We say unto the mountains in our lives and others, be thou removed and cast into the sea, and it comes to pass. (Mark 11:23)
--We say Jesus is with us, even until the end of the world. He never will leave nor forsake us—always be by our side to provide support in times of need. (Matt. 28:20 & Heb. 13:5)
In closing, using the expression “IT IS WHAT IT IS” has no place in the conversation of Christians. So never say it again! Such chatter is worthless and indicates that the Christian is living in fear of the circumstances, rather than trusting in God and His Word to resolve the problem.
In your life right now, you may be struggling with problems of varying severity. There is nothing too hard or impossible for God to fix. Don’t give up and quit! The answer to the problem is write on your lips—believing, speak the Word of God to the “WHAT IT IS” IN YOUR LIFE, and watch it become “WHAT YOU WANT IT TO BE.”
REMEMBER ITS NOT, “IT IS WHAT IT IS.” RATHER. “IT IS WHAT YOU SAY IT IS, BECAUSE YOU HAVE WHAT EVER YOU SAY!”
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See you next week should the Lord tarry.