Failures That Hinder Christian Usefulness — Emanuel Esh

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www .charityministries .org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1 -800 -227 -7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, AFPA, 17522.

These messages are offered to all, without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry.

Christian Usefulness and the Testing of Faith

Greetings to all, in Jesus' precious name. I've been much encouraged this morning already. The open meditation and thought of the foolishness of holding on to our tin cans. If the Lord has given us all and all in Him, how foolish it would be to hold on to our tin cans, which we use for begging.

I know there's a place for us to be beggars, but there's a place for us to rejoice in what God has done. Turn to James, chapter 1, for an opening scripture. James 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

The opening meditation was a blessing, an encouragement to continue on, to be sanctified in the Lord, and so forth. It seems to me like many Christians are going through trying times, being tried, being tested.

Many of the churches are going through trying times, being tried and tested also. I'd like to share a message this morning on failures that hinder Christian usefulness, or Christian growth, you might say.

I was blessed this week with a little note that someone sent our way. It said, instead of telling God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big your God is. That was a very fitting word for me.

It's so easy to get caught up with how big our problem is, and we complain to God about our problems, but we forget Jesus said, if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, it shall obey thee.

Let's just tell that problem how big our God really is. It takes faith to do that, and I think of Joshua and Caleb coming back from spying out the land, and the ten spies persuaded the people of the evil, the great giants, the great walls, and the land that swallows up its inhabitants thereof.

But Joshua and Caleb saw it from the eyes of faith, and they said, those giants will become bread for us. Those trials and those tests that we're going to go through in life, they can either swallow us up, or they can become bread for us.

Amen? That's how I see it. And so, this morning, I have brought along some illustrations. I want to use these illustrations in the message. It's the process of bread baking, and I'm not a bread baker.

I wish I would have the experience of doing it at least once, I could tell you I'm a baker, but I have not done it. I've seen my wife do it many, many times, and I greatly enjoy fresh homemade bread. But, there are so many Christians that lose their way as difficulties of life come by.

And I thought of young Christians, and how those who first get born again in the time of their baby stage of the Christian life, there are so many obstacles that come against newborn Christians in many areas of life.

Especially if you were not raised in a Christian home. And how I survived that, the only answer I have is that it was God's grace that carried me through. And I'm sure many of you could testify the same.

And when I see someone, a newborn Christian in the faith, my heart goes out to them because I realize, and I know and understand, they're going to go through many fiery trials. And you know how you just want to take that little child of yours and just help him through all those trials.

But, the Lord wants to take us through there, the Lord wants to walk us through those things. And I'm amazed at the strength of newborn Christians, and the faith they have, and how God keeps them over and over again.

They just somehow, they're able to walk through it. It is the power of the Spirit of God working in their hearts and lives, helping them through their tests and their trials, speaking to them, giving them direction, illuminating their hearts and their minds, and they're able to go on.

Then I thought of the older Christians. That's really where the test hits the road. Endurance, longevity, many years. Even King David appeared to lose his way when the giants came at him in his older age.

And there was other men there who took care of them for him. But there are many older Christians who seem to lose their way. In fact, maybe even more so than those young ones who are new into faith, full of the Spirit of God, walking in God's grace, experiencing God's grace daily.

But many older Christians, it seems, they lose their way. And here I have four areas of failure that hinder Christian usefulness. And we bow our heads for prayer. Our Father in Heaven, look upon us, O God.

Save us from the enemy. Save us from our own selves. Save us from going our own way. And Father, do speak to us, older Christians, by Your Spirit. Grant us the grace to walk in the same kind of faith that You did when we were young Christians, Lord.

And I pray that Your grace would abound in every heart here today. Father, take over this vessel. Speak through me, Lord. You know, Father, I am undone. And without You, I can do nothing. And I'm looking to You, Father, for Your anointing.

That You may use this vessel for Your honor and Your glory. Father, would You speak to the body today. Speak to the church. Speak to individuals, Lord. This is our prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen. These four areas, I'll name them, that I have here.

Sanctification of Body, Soul, and Spirit

Number one is failure to go on in the Christian life in the area of being sanctified, cleansed, made whole, healed, body, soul, and spirit. The verse that was brought earlier this morning. Second area is some fail in the test of fitting into a local body.

And number three is some fail in the test of fire when trials and testings come. And then number four, some fail in the test of brokenness and usefulness. And I'd like to walk through each one of those in light of bread and of baking.

And I have brought along some dough and some wheat and a loaf of bread. Number one area that I have here is the area of failing in the test of sanctification process of the whole body, soul, and spirit.

As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5 .23,. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a process that God takes us through, you and I personally, in many different ways.

That of sanctifying us wholly, body, soul, and spirit. And I don't know what all that means, but I do believe that at salvation we have been saved by faith when we look upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

We receive that by faith into our own lives. And the Spirit of God comes and dwells in my spirit through faith. And does such a deep work of sanctifying and changing. Like it says, I will give you a new heart, a new spirit when I put within you.

And I will cause you to walk in my statutes and to keep them. That's salvation. And I don't know if that's just the salvation of the spirit, but I know that when the Spirit of God comes and dwells in the heart through faith that we are saved.

And I know that that does not necessarily mean that all of my issues have been taken care of. There are people who come to faith in Christ Jesus by listening to a preacher on the television or by hearing someone preaching and in their heart, they somehow in their heart they take a step of faith and they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation and their soul is saved.

Maybe even without specifically confessing any sins. But there's the area of the soul, the area of the emotions where many people carry it through their lives that do not get dealt with at the time of salvation.

But this is part of the sanctifying process of the Christian life, is to deal with every issue in your life that the Spirit of God brings to you. Every one. I remember in our first year when I was saved, my wife and I, we were saved in the middle of a revival meeting and much good heart anointed preaching against sin.

And we hit the altar time and time again, confessing the sins that were preached against, recognizing the Spirit of God, bringing it home to our heart and opening up our heart and confessing. Yes, that is me.

And we hit the altar, we repented, we confessed and we got free from those sins. But there are many Christians who have never had that kind of opportunity, may I say, or have never taken the opportunity to deal with the further issues in their lives.

Sins that they have committed but have never specifically confessed them. And many times they are bound by the power of those sins in their Christian life. It hinders Christian growth. It hinders usefulness in the Christian life.

But if we are willing to open up our heart and allow the Spirit of God to deal with every area of our heart, we can begin to come to freedom, more freedom and more freedom. By the time those two weeks of Revival Meetings were open, when we got saved, our hearts were so clean and so free, you know, we were on the way.

Praise God. But I remember a year later. We had Revival Meetings again and the preacher came around again. He preached again against sin and other things. And you know what? I had to hit the altar again because sins were brought to the surface that I had forgotten about, that I hadn't realized.

And the Spirit of God again convicted me. And again, I was able to confess those things that I had done and I was able to be free. I even had to go back to my employer a year or two after I was saved and say, Hey, would you forgive me?

I wasted time when I worked for you. And I did this. I hadn't thought about it before. But the Spirit of God began to work on my heart and life. Sanctifying me, cleansing me, cleaning up my old life, taking out that filth, taking out those things which were hidden deep down in the heart.

They come out. And I believe there's people here today who don't know the freedom that there is in keeping your heart, opening up your heart continually that way. Many Christians, I believe, fail in this area of sanctification.

They do not go on to perfection in this area. Issues in the heart, they keep them under. They never allow them to come up. It's too painful. But I have to say, if that's where you're at, you will be hindered in your usefulness as a Christian until you deal with them.

Unforgiveness, bitterness, so forth. And Hebrews says, but exhort one another daily while it is today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And if you have recognized, if God at any time has convicted you of sin in your life that you've never confessed, and you just put it away and said, ah, it doesn't really matter, you are in danger of hardening your heart.

You're in danger of the deceitfulness of sin, allowing it to stay there, knowing it's there, but not dealing with it. This is very, very dangerous to the Christian life, and a great hindrance to the usefulness in a Christian's life.

This process of baking bread, and this is the example, is of wheat. You take wheat, and you put it into the milling machine, into the mill. In the olden days, they would use stones, different kinds of milling processes, and they would use stones that would grind the wheat, and it would grind it into flour.

And there was also, they would use other kinds of grain. But there are some grains in the wheat that are useless. There's a few right here that I see are not in very good condition. But when we used to grow wheat on the farm where I grew up, and when you take a handful of wheat like this, before the wheat was cleaned, or before the wheat was separated, may I say, or sifted, you would see some dirt in it, and you would see some small, shriveled up grains of wheat in it.

Or those shriveled up grains of wheat would be hard, and they would not be useful in the process of milling. They would not bear forth flour. They're basically just a hulk with a shell, and they didn't have life inside.

You see, these grains of wheat, they have life inside of them. And I would like to liken this unto individuals, and that each grain of wheat that we have, these individuals are taken, and they're put into the grinding mill, and they're ground up together, and then they're all brought, and it comes out of flour, and each one of these individual grains of wheat loses its identity in this process.

Once they have been through the grinding wheel, you can no longer pick out each one as an individual, but they lose their identity as they go through there. And when you have ground the wheat, they are no longer individuals, but they are as one.

You take that bowl of flour, and you can't discern any one kernel in there, but you see the whole as flour. And that is the picture that I have here, that unless you allow God to put you through this process of sanctifying your heart and life, you'll be unable to be useful in the Christian life in certain areas, in a large way.

There are some grains of wheat that don't allow themselves to be crushed or ground. They have been hardened. And if you're that place where you've hardened your heart from the deceitfulness of sin, repent and turn from that.

And there are some that allow the life within them to die. You see, there's life in those kernels, and when that is crushed and ground, it becomes useful, and that life begins to become useful in the flour.

1 Corinthians 10 and 17 says, For we being many are one bread and one body, or we are one loaf and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread, which is Christ. Furthermore, the Bible says, Be ye of one mind.

This process of grinding and this process of sanctification brings you into oneness with one another in the body. There are some Christians who are unable to live a normal Christian life. They're unable to flow in a normal body.

They just have so many problems, and they don't know why. Well, this is why. Because there are issues in their lives that have never been taken care of. Failure number one is not allowing yourself to be sanctified.

Not going through all the way. Unable to flow in freedom in a body. Romans 15, 6 says, That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Other verses speak of being one, being together.

Allowing yourself to be made one. And when you have sin in your life, when you have areas in your life that you've never dealt with, you will not be able to flow together with the rest of the body who is one with Christ.

If you are not clear and clean in every area of your life, how can you be of one with Christ? Yes, I know we're in Christ, but God wants us to become one with Him in every area. Didn't Jesus pray that we would become one with Him and the Father?

And part of that prayer is a process of sanctifying. Taking away all the dross that is within us. All. Or to be filled with the knowledge of Christ. Peter says, Finally be ye all of one mind, having compassion one another.

Love as brothers, be pitiful, be courteous. These are the type of things, being of one accord, one mind, one heart. Clean through Jesus Christ. That is what makes oneness. Not an outward show or dress and so forth.

You can take the soldiers in the army, all of the same uniform, but they're not one in heart. The only way to be one in heart is through the unity of the Spirit of God into Jesus Christ. Having your sins washed by the blood of Christ.

Having everything cleansed and taken care of. And flowing together in Christ with the body. Amen? So my encouragement is, do not fail in this area. Let us not keep the feast with old leaven. Neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Fitting Into a Local Body

The second step, second area of failure, is failing to fit into a local body. And this point flows right after the other one. If you are at that place where you're not sanctified, you will not be able to fit into a true local body, clearly.

But even some who have been through a sanctifying process, God has worked mightily in their hearts. God has wrought salvation. God has sanctified them. They may be clean. They might be a place where there's nothing hidden at all.

But yet, somehow, they're unable to flow in a local body. A baker, he'll take that dough, and he'll knead that dough. I think my hand's all sticky here, the way it looks. But I'm sure your sisters know how to knead bread.

The flour is taken. There's no more individualism in there. There's no more your own identities, but you are now a part of a lump. Of flour. And the baker then takes that, and he puts the oil in there, and he puts the water in there.

And we today, our wives, our daughters, they put yeast in to make it to rise. And the baker takes that, and he kneads that flour again and again and again. Now, why is that process necessary? I think there's probably some sisters who don't even know why they do that.

Right? I asked my wife why. Well, she just does it until it comes to a certain constituency. Then she says it's enough, and she's finished. And just puts it in the bowl and lets it rise. And then a little while later, she'll come back, and she'll punch it down.

She'll take it out, she'll knead it again. And I asked, well, how do you know when to stop kneading it? Well, she just kind of knows when to do that. I'd like to read in this, it's called the Basic Care Bulletin, about this process.

And there's some very good points that I want to pull out of here. Listen carefully. Protein is made up of unique sequences of amino acids which are arranged one after another in long chains. The shape of the chain depends on hydrogen atoms which are abundant in amino acids.

These hydrogen atoms act like tiny barbs to hook the chain together. Some proteins have many of these hydrogen hooks, but the protein chain becomes an intricately tangled mess of barbs hanging on to each other.

The gluten in wheat is just such a protein. It is long, strong, and tangled. Before bakers can use gluten for baking, however, they must untangle it using a process called kneading. Kneading works like a mother gently combing out the tangles of a daughter's hair.

Bakers add water and oil to the whole wheat flour, and this works like a cream rinse on hair to soften the gluten and break the hydrogen bonds which keep the strands tangled. Proper kneading straightens out the gluten proteins to their greatest lengths.

As the strands untangle, they give bread dough an elastic quality. When fully untangled, the smooth gluten threads slide smoothly past one another without tearing or snagging on each other. When I thought about that, I thought, Okay, here we have these individual wheat grains that are taken and put together in one body.

And so often there's little snags and snares that we just kind of rub to the wrong way, we catch on each other, we find something wrong with each other, and that's what happens when you begin the process.

But as this kneading continues, and as the baker kneads that lump and continues to gently work that lump over, those tangled threads just kind of untangle, and after a while they flow together in a smooth way, and that's when the baker knows to stop kneading them.

If the kneading is not done properly, these things will continue to be snagging each other and they will allow the gases that are produced by the yeast to escape through those glitches or whatever in there.

I see Ben, he's a baker, he's shaking his head back there. But if it's not kneaded properly, when the yeast gases begin to expand, then they slip through there if it's not kneaded properly. But if it's properly kneaded, then the elasticity in this dough will catch those, it will be like little balloons or little air pockets in there, and that's what causes bread to rise.

I'd like for us to think about the pastors of a local congregation. The pastors are the ones that do this kneading, gentle working over of this lump, working, kneading gently, and it says that insufficient kneading results in bread which fails to rise properly.

And that speaks, doesn't it? Instead of stretching, the gluten catches on its own tangles and tears. This condition allows the trapped yeast gases to escape and causes the bread dough to fall. And when baked that way, the dough then produces heavy bricks instead of light, fluffy bread.

Any heavy bricks here today? Oh, that we as pastors would know exactly how to do that. A good baker does not pound or slap bread dough. Rough treatment only tears the tangled gluten fibers into short pieces.

Instead, kneading must be gentle, smooth, and firm. Yet, even proper kneading, if carried to excess, will produce the same end results. This is why a baker must carefully watch the dough to see when the gluten fibers have reached their elastic limits.

At first, the dough feels sticky because all the water and oil has not yet been absorbed. Sticky dough clings to the kneader's fingers without any capacity to stand alone. However, as the gluten absorbs more water and oil, it becomes smooth and only slightly tacky.

Most bakers learn to endure the sticky characteristics of bread dough so that they can more easily detect when the dough is ready. Gentle kneading eventually untangles the elastic strands of gluten and the dough begins to resist the kneader's touch.

I don't know what they're talking about. I mean, I believe it, but maybe your sisters understand that. This is the point at which kneading must stop. Once the dough feels resistant, the gluten strands will tear if they are kneaded any further.

So, we as pastors, we can do damage by doing too much kneading. And we also do damage by not doing enough. That's what spoke to me. So much for the ins and outs of bread making. This dough has been taken and it is put into a mold.

One thing about the dough in this stage, it is very floppy. It's very movable. It's like play dough. You can shape it the way you want it. You can do with it whatever you want, basically. And it really isn't much good by itself.

You can try to stand it on end and it won't stay there or just kind of fall over. It really is not sufficient yet. But you take this dough and you put it into a mold and there, you take it and you put it into the fire.

Which is what we Christians really don't like. You take that thing and you put it into the oven and you bake it or you let it rise first a while again and then you bake it. Many times Christians fail in this area of their lives.

Enduring the Fire of Trials

They fail in the area when it comes to having the heat turned up in their lives. And I think probably one of the greatest areas, one of the reasons why so many people fail in these testings is because they don't see the big picture.

They don't see that God is wanting to bring us and conform us into the image of Christ, personally and as a body. And we look at, we might look at the hands that have caused all that pain. We might not like those hands that need us over and over again.

We might look at those hands and say, I don't like what you're doing to me. But we fail to see the face of the baker. We fail to see the face of the master in the process. As he watches, he carefully, lovingly kneads the bread, takes that lump and brings it to a place where it has the elasticity and to where it's supposed to be, to where it will become a beautiful loaf of bread.

But we fail because we don't see the master's hand or the master's face. We look only at his hand, perhaps. The third step, third area of failure is in the baking process, where the dross is burned out or the humble things that harm us or that hinder us are burned out.

It's a process. The Christian life is a walk. It's a narrow walk. It's a way. It's a process. Sanctification is a process likewise. And we need to be willing to allow the master to have his way in our lives.

The dough here really is no good unless it is put into the fire and it is baked. It's just simply a flat glob. I mean, you can put that dough right here in the corner and it won't even be able to hold its own and just kind of roll over to the side and fall down eventually.

You see, we really are not much good unless we've been through the fire. I think of the mother of Zebedee's children. She came and she worshipped him and desired a certain thing of Jesus. And he said, What wilt thou?

She said, Grant that these my two sons may sit the one on the right hand and the other on the left hand. Jesus said, You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?

And are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I've been baptized with? They say to him, We're able. And he says, Then ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I have been baptized with.

It is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them of whom it is prepared of my Father. And he says that they shall be baptized with the same baptism that he was baptized with. And I think that includes a lot of things.

I'm not speaking just of a water baptism, but rather a baptism of fire. There's another verse, other verses where John says of Jesus, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. And I believe that may be a Pentecost, but I also think it avails to the fact that the Christian life is a baptism of the power of God.

And that power of God in your life will bring you to a place where the fires will burn. You will need to learn to endure hardships and difficulties and testings and trials. And that is what we call the fires.

Another picture we could take is that of a goldsmith who puts the gold into that hopper and then he puts the fire so he turns the fire up and as the fire is burning, the dross is burned off and he takes that scoop and just scoops the dross off and he turns the fire up some more and he just scoops some more dross off and as the fire gets hotter, the dross continues to rise until the gold is pure.

And he knows that the gold is pure when he can look down into that gold and he sees a reflection of himself. Because all the purities have been taken out of him and all the impurities have been taken out of it.

What's left is pure gold and when you have pure gold you have transparency. And that's what God wants from you and me. He wants you and I to be transparent. He wants us to be see-through. He wants us to be able to be free from all impurities.

And that's the picture we have here. The fire of God burning. What do we do when the fire comes? We shrink back. We don't like it. We grumble. We complain about how big our problem is instead of telling our problem how big our God is.

Let's remember. He wants to form us. He puts us into a form and he puts us into this mold and we can say that this would be the mold of Christ. Be ye not conformed it says to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Another verse says For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate us to be conformed to the image of his Son. And so when we allow ourselves to be needed and taken as a lump in a local body he will also put us into a form and then he puts us into fire and you see when we come out of the fire we will have the form of Christ.

And the fire is that which takes away actually when you're baking bread and you put it in the fire I understand that the germs and the yeast that is expanding and multiplying there those little germs they die.

And those germs would be harmful if you were to eat a lot of them. But the fire purifies them. It puts to death all the old men it puts to death that which is me myself, my own and then we have we have the following that we have after it's taken out of the fire we have a loaf of bread and that loaf of bread is then taken out and it is the perfect image of the form.

And that's what we want. We want God to conform us into his image. Is that right? But if we resist this process in any area in any of these areas if we resist in any of these areas he won't be able to conform us.

He won't we won't become like him. You see how this this loaf of bread is firm it's solid it stands it is in the image of the form. It no longer is floppy it no longer just rolls around but it's been through the fire and it has the perfect form that it was put into.

It's been through the fire. That's what God desires from each one of us. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose. Do we know that?

Do we know it here? Or do we know it here? Do I know am I thoroughly convinced that everything that happens to me everything that God allows to come into my path is for my own good. Do I believe that?

If I believe that I won't be discouraged. There is no room for discouragement at all in my life if I continue to believe that verse. We are formed into his image. Let's look at John chapter 5 for a few some verses here.

Excuse me John chapter 6. This is where Christ feeds the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes. This is the chapter where he speaks of the bread of life. I did a little study on the bread of the old days.

There was three basic types of bread. Or in the Hebrew time there was there was a barley bread which was a coarse type bread and there was a wheat bread which was a better bread and then there was also in the tabernacle it talks about the fine flour.

Even when I think even when Abraham what does that say? When he met those when those three men came to Abraham he told Sarah take a look at that scripture if I can find it in Genesis 18 the three men came and he Abraham hastened to the tent to Sarah said make ready quickly make ready three measures of fine meal.

And in the tabernacle you will see that they used fine meal. And the fine meal was the best of bread and in the process of today they make the meal so fine they separate the holes from the from the white part and it's actually not as good for you but even in the Bible the fine meal was that which was for the best it was for the highest society and many times the the your type of bread indicated your status of wealth or prestige or poverty and barley bread was a was a very coarse type of bread and here we have in John chapter six this where Jesus fed the multitudes I noticed here let's read some of these verses in John chapter six verse one after these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee which is the sea of Tiberias and a great multitude followed him because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.

And Jesus went up into a mountain and there he sat with his disciples. Now notice verse four in Passover a feast of Jews was nine. I'm not sure why that's there here was the Passover coming close. During the Passover they would they would have seven days where they would not eat leavened bread.

I'm not sure that has something to do with this or not. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great multitude coming to him he said to Philip when shall we buy bread that these may eat. And this he said to prove him for he himself knew what he would do.

It's like Jesus had a plan in mind he wanted to give them the teaching about the bread of heaven. And so when the multitudes came he asked Philip he said how shall we find enough bread to feed this multitude.

Philip said two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples Andrew Simon Peter's brother turned and said to him there's a lad here which has five barley loaves and two small fishes.

But what are they among so many. So we have barley loaves here specifically they are more of the coarser type. And Jesus had them sit down and he took the loaves. Verse eleven. And when he had given thanks he distributed to his disciples and disciples to them that were set down and likewise of the fishes as much as they would when they were filled.