“For the Joy of the Lord is your Strength”

1. “For the Joy of the Lord is your Strength” Nehemiah 8:10

2. The Self Willed Test by Pastor Fee Soliven Matthew 26:36-46 Sunday Morning July 6, 2014

3. Matthew 26:36-46 36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

4. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." 39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.“

5. 40 Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

6.  43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."

7. Titus 1:7 "For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed..."

8. 1 Samuel 15:23 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king."

9. Proverbs 28:14 "Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity."

10. Romans 2:5-9 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds": 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

11. 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness--indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek...

12. Dangers of Self-Will People

13. Proverbs 18:12 "Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, And before honor is humility."

14. Matthew 7:13-14 13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

15. Self-will stems from PRIDE and produces pride’s limitations.

16. Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall”

17.  1. Pride blinds us to our own weakness 2. Pride keeps us from seeking help 3. Pride keeps us from making amends to people 4. Pride causes us to blame others for problems 5.Pride prevents us from obeying God

18. But God knows my heart!

19. Jeremiah 17:9-10 9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

20. A self-willed person cannot be TRUSTED

21.  4. God's Covenant With David

22. 1. A person that cannot be TRUSTED cannot be used. 2. A person that cannot be used cannot be promoted. 3. A person that cannot be promoted is stuck with himself

23. Self-Will stems from UNBELIEF

24. 2 Kings 17:14 "Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God."

25. Self-Will is exhibited in: 1. A refusal to listen to God 2. A refusal to submit to Authority 3. A refusal to receive Instruction 4. A refusal to receive Correction 5. A refusal to sacrifice for OTHERS

26. Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

27. Recognizing the Self-Will Test

28. Examples of Self-Will Tests 1. Abraham to offer Isaac on an altar 2. Jonah to preach to Nineveh 3. Naaman to dip seven times in Jordan 4. Peter to cast his nets on the other side 5. Christ asked to face Calvary

29. 1 Peter 4:17-19 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

30. 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

31. Why the Self-Will Test 1. To reveal our own PERSONAL ambitions that are contrary to the purposes of God. 2. To reveal our SELFISHNESS 3. To break our SELF-WILL

32. People stuck ON themselves are stuck WITH themselves 1. A Self-Willed person is inflexible 2. A Self-Willed person is inconsiderate 3. A Self-Willed person is in constant conflicts 4. Most problems in relationships are due to Self-Will

33. S tuck I n N eutral

34. 2 Corinthians 12:20-21 20 For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults;

35. 21 lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.

36. The Self-Will Test reveals the level of SUBMISSION of the individual

37. Even an ANGEL became a DEVIL because of self-will

38. Isaiah 14:12-14 12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;

39. 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'

40. Everyone must answer to SOMEONE. 1. Self-will is the opposite of SUBMISSION it’s the placing of one’s self under the authority of another. 2.Submission to the will of God is what Christianity is all about. 3. The Bible can be summed up in one word—SUBMISSION.”

41. Submission 1. 1 Peter 5:5 Younger—submit to the elder 2. Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have rule over you and submit yourselves 3. Colossians 3:18 Wives, submit to your own husbands

42. 4. James 4:7 Submit yourselves to God 5. 1 Peter 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man 6. 1 Peter 5:5 Be subject one to another

43. The Self-Will Test screens out would be leaders 1. If you cannot submit to others, you cannot LEAD others. 2. If you cannot submit to authority—no one will submit to your authority.

44. The Self-Will Test will ensure Heaven is a perfect place.

45. Jude 14-25 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.“

46. 16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.

47. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

48. 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Savior...

49. “For the Joy of the Lord is your Strength” Nehemiah 8:10