Skip to content Guest Message - Tommy Geyser May 12 · 30 min ...more
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:18 I'm gonna share with you something from the book of Corinthians chapter 4, and I'm gonna share 2, verses of scripture from that particular book.0:30 Now the book of Corinthians is, Paul writing to the church in Corinth, the Greek people. They were highly educated. They were people that were caught up in0:41 philosophy and all kinds of things. And and Paul tells them that he fears for them, lest their minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. They were getting too big0:53 for their boots. They were getting too clever. And at the same time, he begins to correct the Corinthian church. In the in the first book of Corinthians chapter 1, he begins to tell them that they're blessed1:05 because all the gifts of the spirit are functioning. The spirit of God is moving among them, and that is a tremendous compliment anyone can give to any church that the spirit of the Lord1:17 is operating there. But then he says to him, but I I cannot speak to you as those that are spiritual because there is carnality among you. You1:29 are carnal. You're not spiritual. And then he begins to explain to them why they were carnal. He says there's division among you. Some say, I'm of Paul. Some say, I'm of Apollos.1:41 Some say, I'm of Peter. And he says, who's Paul and who's Peter? It is God that gives the increase. And so right there in the beginning of the first book of Corinthians, he's rebuking the Corinthian1:53 church for following man. They put their eyes and their trust on man. And he says, these men are only tools in the hands of God. And he said, because of that, there's division2:04 among you. There's slander. There's undermining of the work of God. And then he begins to explain to them that there are 3 groups of men, men and women. The first 1 is the2:16 natural man. He says the natural man does not comprehend, does not understand spiritual matters. He has no clue about the plan and the purposes of2:28 God. He has no clue about the word of God. He is the natural man. And then he says there's the carnal man. The carnal man is he who has made a commitment to Christ, but he's still2:40 caught up in the world system. He's still down by worldliness, and he does not really comprehend or understand spiritual matters. And then he says2:52 there's the third group of people, and those are the spiritual people. They're the ones that understand that they will the just shall live by faith. They are the ones that understand the plan3:03 and the purposes of God. They understand, what God is doing, and they understand, what God will do in the future because they are spiritual. And so he brings correction, and then3:15 in rest of the book, he speaks about the resurrection. And Paul speaks about many wonderful, doctrines that we believe today. But here when he comes to, chapter 2, the3:27 second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3 to 4, he speaks about this 1 verse, and this 1 verse is going to point out the natural man. He's speaking about the natural man. He says,3:39 if the good news, the good news, of course, is the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. He says, we preach is veiled from anyone. It is a sign that3:51 they are perishing. If they are blind to the good news, it is a sign that they are perishing. Satan, the God of this evil world, has blinded4:03 the minds of them that don't believe so that they are unable to see the glorious light of the good news, the gospel, that that that is shining upon them.4:15 They don't understand the message we preach about the glory of Christ who's the exact likeness of God. And so he says, this natural man, he4:26 cannot receive the light. He cannot receive the message that we appreciate about the glory of Christ. And the reason is because the God, the evil God of this world has4:38 blinded their minds. Lest this light shine in unto them. Now I want you to notice, he says, Satan, the god of this evil world.4:50 We must understand that we are living in an evil world. It hasn't got better since that day. In fact, it has got worse. We're living in a day when people openly worship5:02 Satan, when people openly curse God, when people openly curse the Bible. We live in an evil day all around about us. There are evil men and women who are in5:14 the grip of Satan, the God of this world. Now you can say what you like about the church. You can say what you like about the Bible. You can say, I don't believe any of that stuff, but you5:26 cannot deny the fact that we are living in an evil world. Now he says, Satan is the god of this world. He is the 1 that people5:38 worship. He is the 1 that people are following. And so the question is, how does Satan become the god of this world? Now there are people that5:49 teach, he had legal rights to the earth. There's no legal rights to the earth for Satan. He's a usurper. He stole it. He deceived Adam and Eve, and he6:01 took control of the earth. And that's why he is the God of this present evil world. And so he is a deceiver.6:13 He's a liar. He's a thief. He's a robber. Jesus said he's come to destroy and to kill. And there are people today that don't want to hear about Satan. They don't want to believe6:25 about Satan. And yet Jesus says he is the most destructive power on the face of the earth. In fact, once a person is in Christ, the battle continues and6:37 becomes worth because he says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. So when you6:49 become a soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you become a follower of Christ, you must know that you are in a battle every single day. He shoots his fiery darts.7:01 He wants to destroy you. He wants to steal from you that which God has given to you. And so here, he's saying it is this God, this evil7:11 1 who has blinded people's minds so that the light cannot shine in. Now the other day, someone said, the snake is still in the garden, and I thought that was a wonderful7:22 statement. But I must tell you, the snake is not in the heavenly garden anymore. He's in the earthly garden. The snake is right down here.7:34 And so here, he's speaking about the natural man who cannot comprehend spiritual matters. And it is important for us and for the church to understand7:46 the people that we are dealing with. They have been blinded by the God of this world. And I wanna show quickly share with you 7 things that Satan blinds people to.7:58 He, first of all, blinds people to God's love. To God's love. Satan has told people God is not a God of love. Look at the world condition. Look at the suffering.8:10 Look at the pain. Look at the things people have to go through. How can you say God is a God of love when there's so much sorrow, so much brokenness, so much heartache in the world?8:23 And and so Satan blinds people to the very fact that God is a God of love. In fact, the Bible is God's love letter to us. Never has ever8:34 anyone ever written such a long love letter. And it is God writing that letter to each 1 of us as individuals, revealing to us of8:46 his wonderful love. So God is love. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should8:58 not perish but have everlasting life. It's the world, not the world of mountains and it's a world of people. God loves people.9:10 But the amazing thing about God is this, he does not just say that he loves us, he demonstrates that love. How? By sacrificing his own life, by God9:22 becoming a man like us. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. He came to be the lamb slain. He came to die on the cross9:34 for your sins and for my sins. No greater love of a man than this than a man lay down his life for his friend. Jesus, God's son, who was sinless,9:46 died on the cross so that we who are sinners can be forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness. Did you know that on that cross,9:57 Jesus could have called 70000 angels? That's the number the Bible says that he could have called and he could have wiped out man, but he stayed on that cross and the Bible tells us10:09 why. It says he was willing to endure the suffering of the cross because of the joy that was set before him. What is that joy? When you look in the10:21 scripture, Paul writes to different churches and he says, you are my joy. You that have come to Christ, you are my joy. And here, it says Jesus stayed on that cross because of10:33 the joy that was set before him. What was that joy? It was every single man and woman who would respond to the gospel and come into the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He looked down10:45 the corridors of time and he saw me. He saw me in my sin. He saw me in my violence. He saw me in my rebellions and because of that, he remained on that cross. He says, no10:57 man has the power to take away my life. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up. And I wanna tell you, he stayed there because when he looked down the corridors of11:08 time, he saw me in my misery. He saw me in my bondage and he knew there was a day coming when I'm going to accept that gospel message and something powerful was going to happen in my life.11:20 I was going to become a child of the living God. God is love. He'll never fail you. He's love. He loves us in the storm. He loves11:32 us in the valley. He loves us on top of the mountain. He loves us when we let him down. His love never stops. It just keeps on flowing. Everlasting love.11:44 Doctor Carl Barth was a well known theologian, man that was very renowned, and 1 day he came to speak at a theological college. All the students were very excited that this11:56 great man, this great theologian was gonna come and speak to them about spiritual matters. And after he had spoken, he opened up for questions. And somebody asked him and said, doctor Bath,12:08 can you perhaps explain to us in 1 sentence what Christianity really is really about? And doctor Barr thought for a few moments, and those students were all12:20 sitting. They were intense because they thought now they were going to hear a tremendous, deep, a theological answer. And this is what doctor Barr said. He said, Christianity can12:32 best be summed up summed up in a song that my mother used to sing. Jesus loves me this I know. For the bible tells me so. Yes.12:43 Jesus loves me. Yes. Jesus loves me. For the bible tells me so. And doctor Boss sat down. That was his answer. Yes.12:56 It is about his love for each 1 of us. The old testament points to the cross. Everything that happens from Genesis to the end of the of the old covenant points13:08 to the cross, And all the blessings that you and I can experience flows from the cross. The cross is the center of Christianity. There's nothing as important as the death, burial, and13:20 resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the good news. That's the gospel that Paul was speaking about. And he says the devil doesn't want people to understand, to know, and to13:32 grasp this wonderful message of liberation. And so we blind people to God's love. And sometimes we who are carnal, we also begin to doubt God's13:43 love. In a time when we go through storms, we say, where is God? And I've seen it in many years of ministry that people who I thought were strong13:55 believers begin to blame God for calamities or things that happen in their lives. But we've gotta understand he is God and we are not. He's the 1 that rules the14:07 universe. He knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. He knows everything. And so we need to leave things in his hand. And so the very first thing, he blinds people to the love of14:18 God, but we let people know as a church that God is love. Secondly, blinds people to the goodness of God. God is not a good God. How can you say God is a good14:30 God? Why why do I suffer like this? Why all these things happening? And and you're telling me that God is a good God. The Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good. And when14:42 Moses, that great prophet of God, he says, God, show me your glory. And and he he wanted to see in above everything else, he wanted to see the glory of God.14:54 And God says, I'm gonna show you my glory, but I will cover my face. And what did God do? He walks past Moses, and he shows Moses his goodness. That's what he revealed to Moses, his goodness. Read15:06 it in the scriptures. And so Moses sees the goodness of God, and he sees the glory of God. God is a good God. Amen? Amen. When they built15:17 Solomon's temple and they put the ark of the covenant in its right place, in the center, all the priests were there and the priest began to sing.15:29 The Lord is good and his mercy endures forever. And they sang it, the Lord is good and his mercy endures forever. And the Bible says the house was filled with15:41 smoke and the glory of the Lord came down into that house that those priests were unable to stand in the presence of the righteous and the holy and the just God.15:53 Folk, we have meetings like that. We have meetings when we begin to focus on the goodness of God, when we begin to praise him for all the wonderful things he does for us, when we sing from the16:05 depths of our heart, when we leave all our problems and our issues at the side and we come together and we're a worship praising God, his glory comes down and you have a taste and16:17 you have a touch of heaven. Thank God for that. Amen. 1 of you should stand up tonight and say, yes, God is good and his mercy endures forever. Who will stand up and say that tonight?16:29 Someone stand up and say, God is good and his mercy endures forever. God is good and his mercy endures forever. God is good and his mercy endures16:40 forever. Hallelujah. God bless you. The Psalmist says, ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. For thy rod and thy starve, they do comfort me.16:53 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. If there's something I've learned from the scriptures, it is this. When I go through a storm, when I go through a17:05 valley, when there's pain and heartache in my life, I always look behind me. And when I look, I always see there's goodness and mercy following me because God said that goodness17:16 and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Goodness and his mercy never change, but Satan blinds17:28 people to that goodness. God is good. Never be ashamed to declare it out. Shout it out. Let the principalities and the powers of darkness know17:40 that we understand that our God is a good God and he's a loving God. Number 3, blinds people to the consequences of sin. The wages of sin is death, the Bible17:52 says. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And there's consequences for our sin. Even though we get born again and saved, we still have to face18:03 consequences. And that's why it's so important that we are very careful how we behave ourselves. The Bible says, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. He that sows to the18:15 flesh, to the carnality shall reap of the flesh corruption. But he that sows to the spirit will reap of the spirit everlasting life. Amen. Hallelujah.18:27 The Bible says, because the judgment of God is not executed speedily, the heart of man is set to do evil continually. Isn't that so true?18:39 People do bad things and they get away with it, and they do more bad things and they get away with it, and because they get away with it, they keep on doing more bad things because the judgment of God is not executed18:49 speedingly and suddenly. But judgment day is coming. But every person is going to stand before God 1 day. And so he blinds people to the consequences of sin and somehow19:01 think that God is just some old lovey duddy who you he doesn't mind how you behave, how you live, and what you do. The Bible tells us how to walk before God and tells us how to live. Number 4, he19:13 blinds to the reality of hell. How many people would tell, oh, there's no such in these preachers today. This is there's no hell. It's the all inclusion gospel. Everybody's going to heaven.19:26 But did you know this did you know today that hell was not prepared for you? Hell was not prepared for me. Hell was prepared for the devil and his19:38 angels. When Lucifer stood against God in heaven with all those angels, the third of angels on his side and God threw them out. He prepared hell for the devil and his angels. So19:49 we know the destiny of this God of this world, Satan. His destiny is the lake of fire. 1 day, he will be judged and cast into that lake of fire for20:01 all eternity. God does not want any man, any woman, any young person to go to hell. In fact, that God does all that is possible to prevent people from going to a20:13 lost eternity. He's long suffering, the Bible says, and he would not that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. When you look in the Bible, you see God judged Solomon and20:25 Gomorrah. He judged the days of Noah. He judged so many things in the old covenant, but yet today, he's withheld his judgment. Why? Because he's long suffering. Man stands like this and he shows his20:37 fist in the face of God. People swear at the Bible, swear at the church, curse the name of Jesus. You would think judgment will come suddenly, but God is long suffering. He20:48 wants every person to have an opportunity to make right with him. But the devil blinds him to the fact that there is a lost eternity. He21:00 blinds people to the way to heaven. You speak to people as, oh, there's many ways to heaven. There are many people today that just do good works. They work and work and work, and they think that21:12 somehow they're gonna work themselves into heaven. There are people today that follow strange gods. It's the most amazing thing. I'm just an ordinary street boy, but I wanna tell you something.21:24 I cannot understand how people will follow gods that cannot see, that cannot hear, and that cannot speak. How is it that people follow gods that are dead? Our God21:36 is a living God. Amen. He's conquered death and the grave, and he's alive forevermore, and he will be crowned king of kings and lord of lords 1 day. Never21:47 blinds away to heaven. Only 1 way, and Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the father but by me. And you get mad about it, people can get21:59 upset about it, but it's the truth that prevails. Jesus is the only way. Why is he the only way? Because he died for our sins. No 1 else died for our sins. No 1 else22:11 suffered like Jesus for our sins. Jesus himself did. Therefore, he is the only way to heaven. Number 6, he blinds people to the need of salvation.22:23 A lot of people say, well, I don't need to be saved. I'm a good person. I don't do anything bad. I don't swear. Don't curse. I don't. I'm not immoral. I don't do anything. I'm a good person. I don't believe in the22:33 salvation thing. Why is that necessary? Well, the Bible tells us 2 men came to the temple. 1 was a crooked tax collector, and the other was a Pharisee, a religious man.22:45 And it says they come into the temple and the Pharisee stands before God and he says, I thank God. I'm not like other men. I'm not like a tax collector over there. I tithe, I22:57 pray, I attend the synagogue. So I thank God I'm not like him. And the Bible says the tax collector comes and he stands before God. He couldn't even look up. He had to look down. He says, God, be23:08 merciful to me, a sinner. And the Bible says it was that man, the tax collector, who left that place forgiven and a changed man because he was willing to23:20 confess the fact that he is a sinner and in need of salvation. The bible says all have sinned and fall short. It says, for by grace are you saved through faith, not of23:32 yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Listen, my friend. This thing is so easy. It's unbelievable that all God requires from us to stand up and say, yes, I have sinned.23:43 Yes, I know I'm a sinner. Yes, my life is empty. I'm going nowhere. And I know and understand there must be more to life than this. And I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I do wrong, and so I confess23:55 it, and I ask the Lord to forgive me, the God of the Bible to forgive me, and his son Jesus to come into my life, become a new creature. All things pass away24:07 and everything becomes new. The greatest miracle that anyone can experience is the new birth, the gift of salvation. Amen? And24:19 so he lets people think they don't need salvation. We all need to be saved. Yes. Every single 1 of us. My my friend, you're not good enough. You're not bad either bad enough either. He reaches24:31 out to every single person. There might be some of you yet today. The devil has lied to you for so long. He's blinded you to the goodness of God. He's blinded you to the need of your salvation, but today, that blindfold24:42 is coming off and your life is going to be changed. And the last 1, number 7, he blinds to the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now listen. I I preach on lots24:54 of things. I preach a lot of things in the scripture, but my favorite thing is to preach the gospel because there's no power as powerful as the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's never been a25:06 message ever propagated by man that has had so much impact upon the human race than the gospel of Jesus Christ. No message, no leader ever25:18 has touched humanity like Jesus with the gospel. The good news started with a few uneducated men who made a commitment to the Lord Jesus25:29 Christ and had their lives changed, were filled with the Holy Spirit and went out and began to share the gospel till the gospel is spread throughout the world, every nation, every tribe. There are men and women25:41 who've come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ because they were faithful people who preached the simple gospel to a sinful people and their lives were changed. Amen.25:53 And so the church can shout. We can shout into the air so the prince and the power of the air can understand that we believe with all of our hearts that26:05 the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most powerful message in all the world. And that there is a God in heaven who rules and reigns, who cares for each 1 of us, who26:17 understands us and knows our thoughts and the intents of our hearts. There's nothing we can hide from him. We need to let the principalities know and it is the God of this bible that we preach and teach.26:28 Amen. And so, in closing this of the 7 points, bible Jesus said, whatsoever you ask the father in my name,26:40 that will I do, that the father may be glorified in the son. He's speaking to us. Whatsoever you ask the father, that will I do in26:52 my name, so that the father may be glorified in his son. I wanna pray for you today. I want someone's coming up to pray for you. We wanna pray tonight that the blindfolds, that the God of this27:04 world is placed on your mind will be removed. In Jesus' name, that the light of the gospel can shine in27:16 and give you understanding of your destiny and of who you are and what you can become and of the plan and the purpose of God for your life. We believe27:28 in the name of Jesus. There are Christians who are carnal, sitting on the fence. They're neither in nor out. They say, oh, yes, we believe in Jesus. But they're not walking the walk, and they're not talking the talk.27:40 They're half baked. They've only been in the oven for a little while. God doesn't want you to be in that place. It's a place of unhappiness. It's a place of misery. He's saying to all those who are kind of this time that27:52 you stand up and step out and allow the power of Jesus' name to remove those blindfolds that the devil has lied to you for so many years, that you can become the man and the woman28:04 that God wants you to be. I wanna tell you when I heard the gospel, it hit me full blown. It was now half baked about it. I dropped everything, changed. Everything changed immediately, and that's why I preach about it28:16 because it is a miracle. I experienced that miracle. When God touched me, I stopped drinking. I stopped smoking. I stopped sweating. I stopped cursing. My life was changed. And that's the gospel.28:28 Hallelujah. Come on. Give the Lord a shout for the gospel. Bless his name. But tonight, when they come in the field, we're gonna pray for you. Don't be28:39 shy. We're not gonna ask you to do anything right there where you are sitting and you're going to stand. In the name of Jesus, these blindfolds are going to be removed, and the light is28:51 going to shine in. Hallelujah. Heaven is going to come to you today if you're willing to say, yes, Lord. Here I am.29:03 God bless you.29:05 Thank you for listening to this message from Waters Church. For more information or to visit 1 of our local assemblies, please visit waters church dot org. God bless, and have a29:17 great day.
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