The Fruit of Media — Joel Walters

Revival Begins in the House of God

Well, if you'll take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. We have been studying through this series on the attributes of God. But I'm going to take a couple of weeks break and cover some other topics that I, the Lord has been putting on my heart for a while.

And I'm just going to preach on them. So, Acts chapter 19. As you look around, as you hear the news on the radio or on the newspaper, or you look around at the state of our nation, I don't know if you have the same heart cry, maybe my lips aren't crying it out, but my heart is crying out, Oh God, we need you to work.

We need you to work in our land. We need revival. We need awakening, a spiritual awakening. And so if I ask for a show of hands, I'm not going to, but if I said, if you desire to see revival in our nation, I would venture to say most of you would raise your hand.

If I'd say, do you desire to see revival in your own life? I hope you say yes. What is revival? Revive. You ever thought of it in that way? Perhaps there's been a car accident and someone's body is lying there dead and the paramedics get there and they revive that body, that body which once had life, which once had breath and passion, that needs to have air breathed into it again, needs to be revived.

Brought back to life. Do you feel that way spiritually? That you at one time in your life, you could say, I can think of one time in my life when I was passionately serving God, when I was running all out for him, but I'm not there anymore.

And I need to be revived. I need that life back in me. Do you desire revival in your own life? And let me ask a third question. Do you desire revival in your life today? There's a big difference. What about today?

Could God awaken us today? He can. Could he do it this morning? Yes, he can. Acts chapter 19. So often we can look at the world and say, oh, the world needs awakening. The Bible tells us that judgment must begin at the house of God, that it must start with us.

So I ask you, are you wanting revival this morning? Acts chapter 19. The apostle Paul is traveling around preaching, and there is an account of revival. Well, there was demonic warfare, but here in verse 17, it says, and this was known to all the Jews and the Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus.

Just pause there for a minute. They were in the city of Ephesus. There had been demonic activity, and fear came over all of the people. And it says, it was known to all the Jews and the Greeks also, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord was magnified.

The name of the Lord was magnified, and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Many of them also, which used curious arts, brought their books together and burned them before all men.

They counted the price of them and found it 50 ,000 pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. This is a description of a revival. An entire city across cultures, both the Greeks and the Jews, a fear of God comes upon them, a magnifying of the name of Jesus, and it says the word of God grew and prevailed.

Prevailed, that means it was victorious. And it was seen in the lives of the people that believed, because they came and they confessed their sins, and they got rid of all of the junk in their lives. Ephesus was not a very righteous city.

It was full of paganism and idolatry. And those people that were getting right with God got rid of all of those things. Here are the books of curious arts. So this is the wickedness, the occult, and they burn them.

It says the value was 50 ,000 pieces of silver. Apparently this is about 50 days worth of wages. It was a large sum of money that was destroyed here, but they did it. This is revival. This is God at work and people being convicted and getting right with God.

This is revival. And so again I say to you, do you desire revival? Do you desire it in your own heart and your own life today? I hope so. Turn now in your Bible to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6.

Sowing to the Flesh or to the Spirit

Galatians 6, begin reading in verse 7. Be not deceived. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.

But he that soweth of the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Paul begins this in verse 7 by saying, don't be deceived. I said it before, this is like, don't be stupid. Don't be ignorant.

Don't be so foolish to think that God can be mocked or as if you can get something over on God. He says, what you sow, you reap. Now, sowing is an old word for planting. What you plant, reaping is what comes up and you gather.

What you plant is what's going to come up. That's going to be the fruit. And don't think otherwise. Don't think that you're smarter than God or you know better than God. If you do, you're deceived. What you put into the ground is what is going to come up.

Now, we've had gardens in the past. And we go out there and we'd have to dig, you know, and break up all the hard ground and pull out all of the weeds and get out all of the shells as much as we could.

Tequila, put your hands down, please. Thank you. Get all that ground ready and then we would build it into mounds. Some of you driving here saw it, the fields out there where the farmers have taken the tractors and then they got all of these mounds of dirt.

And then they come along and they put seeds into those little mounds. Now, if they want to have a tomato crop, they don't get the big giant pumpkin seeds and go out and put it all into the ground. Do they?

No. Because if you put a pumpkin seed in the ground, most likely, hopefully, if you did everything right, you're going to get pumpkin plants. You're not going to get the tomatoes. But if you want tomatoes, you take tomato seeds and you put those in the ground, then tomatoes are going to come up.

It's very obvious. No farmer would sit and put tomato seeds all into the ground. And then when pumpkins popped up, sit and scratch his head and say, I don't know what happened to my crop. You'd say that man was foolish, wouldn't he?

He was deceived. He was just being stupid. That's the seeds he put in. That's what he got out. The Apostle Paul uses this and he speaks to us and our spiritual lives that what we plant into our minds and into our hearts is what is going to grow.

What you put in is going to bear fruit. If it's if you're sowing to the flesh, if you're putting in planting things of the flesh and that is carnality, guess what you're going to see in your life? You're going to see the fruit of carnality.

I am thankful for the second part, though, also that says, if you sow into the things into your life, the things of the spirit, you're going to reap the spiritual benefit of everlasting life. What you plant is what's going to come.

Whether that is good or whether that is evil and don't think otherwise. Now, turn back to the Old Testament again. Book of Psalms. Psalm one hundred and one. Psalm one hundred and one. Beginning in verse one.

Walking With a Perfect Heart in Secret

I will sing of mercy and judgment unto the Lord. Will I sing? I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. Will you stop there for one moment?

Who's writing this? It says above your psalm, it says David, Psalm of David. David's writing. David is described as a man after God's own heart. Who is David talking to here? It's a psalm, it's a prayer.

He says, I will sing of the mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord. He's talking to God. And he's saying, God, I am singing praises to you because you are merciful and you are just. I'm singing to you, God.

And then he goes right from that into verse two, where he says, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

You've heard me say it before, but who you are in secret is who you really are. You can put on a show in front of people like the hypocrite who went before the congregation and he stood up and he raises his hands and he prays out on the street corner in the congregation.

Or the hypocrites that went and they did charitable deeds, but they did it to be seen of men. When they fasted, they fasted in such a way that everybody else would see it. And what did Jesus say? He said, don't be like those hypocrites.

They're doing it to be seen of men and they have their reward. But you, when you pray, do it in secret. When you give, give in secret. When you fast, fast in secret. It's between you and God. See, they were hypocrites.

A hypocrite is a fake. Anybody can get up and be a good fake. But who you are in secret is who you really are. Are you really a giving person? It'll know whether people are going to see it or not. Are you really a man or woman of prayer?

Your secret life will reveal that. I said it before to young girls, or at least in addressing young girls, to say, listen, every guy is going to put on the best, if he's pursuing you, he's going to put on the best show that he can.

He's trying to win you. But watch him, watch the way he treats his mother and watch the way he treats his sisters, if he has sisters. Those are the women that live in his home. That's how you'll be treated if you end up marrying him and living at home with him.

That's the way he treats you. The way he treats the women in his house is going to be the way he treats you if you become the woman of his house. So don't be blinded by the, oh boy, he holds the doors and he is all the gentlemen and everything else, but he treats his mom and sisters like they're second class citizens, like they're rotten.

You see, he can put on that show, but the real him is how he acts at home. The real you is who you are in your house, not who you pretend to be in the open. The real you is who you are in secret when no one else is watching you but God.

That's the test. And David says to God, he says, God, I'm praising you for who you are and I want to walk in a perfect way and I want to walk within my house. That walk means the way he lives, his conduct.

I want to walk within my house with a perfect heart, not just out in the open, but behind closed doors. I want to walk with a perfect heart. And what does he say after this? Look at verse three. He says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.

I hate. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. A forward heart or a perverse heart or a crooked or twisted heart. Shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person walk in my house with a perfect heart and I'm not going to set anything wicked before my eyes.

I'm not going to set anything wicked before my eyes. I'm going to turn away from the evil. I'm actually going to hate the evil. You know what the fear of the Lord is? We said it. Revival is always when the fear of the Lord takes place.

They're in Ephesus. They feared and they got right with God. Proverbs tells us the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. That's what it says. David has a fear of God. He says, God, I want to walk in a perfect way in my house.

I don't want to put wicked things before my eyes. And I want to hate that which you hate, God. I want to stay away from perversion and from the crooked path. The broad path that's full of people. God, I want to do what's right.

But I want to set nothing wicked before my eyes. I want to set nothing wicked before my eyes. Temptation, what is it? Temptation. Is it sin? No. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. He was tempted. Temptation is not sin.

You know, you and I can be tempted. Temptation is when we're drawn away of our own desires and enticed. That's what it says. I've said it many times, but I'll repeat it again. God made us with appetites and desires and supplied all that was needed to satisfy those desires.

Sin is satisfying desires in an ungodly way. God built us with desires and appetites, and then he gave all that was needed to satisfy those. Sin is trying to satisfy those desires in an ungodly way. So again, Eve is there in the Garden of Eden, and God has given them an appetite.

They are people that are hungry, and they eat from fruit trees. God made them that way. But God filled a garden with fruit trees that they could eat from and satisfy themselves. But Satan comes along and says, no, satisfy that craving with that which God said not to eat of it.

You're hungry? Look at it. It's desirable to make your wise, and it's good for food, Eve began to think. And so she tried to satisfy her desire and appetite with that which God said no. But all that she needed to satisfy it was right here.

That's temptation. The devil comes along, and he tries to get you to satisfy those God-given appetites and desires in an ungodly way. And so we have desires as people, as humans. God has built us men with a desire.

Remember, God created Adam and Eve, and all, well, he created all of the world and created Adam, and everything that he did, he said it was good. Then he looked at Adam, and he saw that Adam was all alone, and he said, that's not good.

I'll make him a helper. And so he created a woman. He created Eve. Whose idea was marriage? God's. Who created sexual union between man and woman? God did. It's a beautiful thing. Hebrews 13, 4, it tells us that marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.

This is something God made. It's beautiful. It's wonderful. The result is children. This picture of a man and a woman is a picture of Christ in his church. This is a wonderful, beautiful, God-created thing.

But, what does it say at the end of that verse? But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. You see, harlotry, adultery, fornication, sexual immorality is trying to satisfy that God-given desire in an ungodly way.

The Apostle Paul said, if you desire to be married, then get married. And he even says this, to avoid sexual immorality, then get married. It's a wonderful thing. Marriage is a wonderful thing. Sexual relationship in marriage is a wonderful thing.

But the perversion, the temptation, is satisfy that desire and that craving in an ungodly way. We're not to do that. Or to be like Joseph, who when he was tempted, even alone, not behind closed doors of his own house, but the own doors of another man's house.

And Potiphar's wife tried to get a hold of him. Joseph ran. Why? He took every thought captive. That's what Paul tells us to do. Take every thought captive, bringing into our captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Bring every thought into captivity. I used to struggle with this. I used to think, what does it mean to take a thought captive? I'd have this thought, and I would know it was evil. And I'd say, oh God, that's an evil thought.

I don't want that thought. But how do I take it captive? And I just, when I was younger, I would just pray and I'd say, God, I don't know how to take it captive. Whatever that means. You just do it, please.

Take that thought out of my mind. As I grew, I kept reading. Sometimes we miss things if we just stop reading. What does it say? Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. You may have thoughts.

That's temptation. Jesus is hungry. Was he not physically hungry? Yes. In the wilderness. And the devil comes along and says, satisfy that hunger. Turn this stone into bread. And Jesus takes that thought.

And what does he do? He takes it captive. And he says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So again, does Jesus have a desire to be worshiped and adored?

Yes. And so Satan says to Jesus, hey, you can be worshiped and adored, but you don't have to go to the cross. Just bow down to me. The thought. Temptation. But Jesus took that thought captive. And he said, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shalt thou serve.

See, he was taking the thoughts and then he was putting them captive. I think of captive as in locking them up in a prison cell, locking it up. Nope. Nope. I'm not. I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to do that.

Joseph was tempted by by this woman. Come lie with me. But he says, no, I'm not going to do that. And he ran. Now, you can control what you set before your eyes. But you cannot necessarily always control what is set before your eyes.

You see, I could buy what is set before your eyes by others. So this heart cry of David, it says, I'm going to walk in my house with a perfect heart. I'm not going to set anything wicked before my eyes.

Doesn't mean that somebody else might set something wicked before his eyes, but he wasn't going to do it. See, sometimes we face this. It's getting worse in our country. But as you drive around, man, you know what I'm talking about.

You drive down the road, the highway, and you turn a corner. And there on the huge billboard is this wicked thing that is set before your eyes. I mean, the whole purpose of it is to get your attention to look at it.

Did you set it there? No. You didn't put it there. Someone else did. Some evil person that's trying to make money by causing men to stumble. The devil puts that there. Was that setting it before your eyes?

No, you turn away. I hope you turn away. I've said it before. More and more in our country, man, you just got to keep your eyes on the road. Because they're everywhere. You didn't put them there, though.

There have been times I've been on the computer working, and I'm studying the Bible, of all things. And I go to some website, and boom, this advertisement pops up on the side. And, oh, got to click. I didn't put it there.

Someone else was targeting me. This is the devil throwing his thing and saying, hey, satisfy your desire here. That's the temptation. I've got to take that and then take it captive. No. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.

You can't control what billboards are on the side of I -75, necessarily. But you sure can control whether you put up a billboard in your room. You put something on the wall in your room. Now, you set it there.

And maybe nobody else knows. Maybe you go out, and you put on a good show at church, and you look to be a faithful person. But in your own house, you do not walk with a perfect heart. In secret. It's a whole other story.

And you set wicked things before your eyes. Again, I say you cannot always control what's put in front of you by the devil or by others. But you can control what you set before your eyes. We're to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Entertainment and the Corruption of What We Sow

You know what entertainment is? Entertainment. Entertainment is that what you take part in or you do for your pleasure. For enjoyment, right? Entertainment, it's supposed to be. Think of something that you don't like to do.

I don't like to dig holes. I hate digging ditches and digging holes. I don't like to dig. I've dug too many trenches before, I think. Not because I was, you know, incarcerated or something and had to dig ditches.

But doing landscaping and running PVC pipes and irrigation systems. I got sick of digging trenches. I don't want to dig trenches. So when I think of something enjoyable, something pleasurable, I don't think of digging ditches.

I don't think what my grandfather did. My dad's dad, he got great pleasure in digging holes. I don't know. But I don't. If I think of something that is entertaining, I think, oh, what is it that I do like, that I really, really enjoy?

That's entertainment. You know what is scary? Is it what the world and what this wicked world does for entertainment, that which is evil? So often, entertainment is that which is evil. And so I set things before my eyes for entertainment, to take pleasure in it.

But on the screen of the TV or on the computer or whatever it is, it's nothing but filth and terrible. We're not to be that way. Romans 12, 9 says that we're to abhor that which is evil and cling to that which is good.

The evil things are to just abhor it. That's like stuff that you want to stay away from. I've talked about abhorrence before. Get this idea. I know there's something outside. I know I give all these gross stories, but there's something outside our door right now.

I don't know if it's under the porch, if it's a dead lizard, or if it's, I don't know what it is. Something died. It stinks. Denae and I have been walking, I mean this morning, we walked out of the door and you just like hold your breath and get to the car.

This too shall pass. I don't want to climb under there and try to get it, but I might have to. Whatever it is, I don't know what it is. It's amazing how a little lizard can stink. It's putrid to you. You abhor it.

You try to stay away from it. You don't want to take any of it in. You don't want to look at it. You don't want to smell it. You don't want to play with it or mess with it. It's gross. That's abhorring something.

Abhor that which is evil, but cling, hold on tightly to that which is good. This is what we're called to. First Thessalonians 522, Paul writes, abstain from all appearance of evil. Stay away from every appearance of evil.

Yet so many within this world call evil entertainment. They take pleasure in it. And many within the church call themselves Christians. Maybe are faithful on Sunday to go to church and in front of everybody else.

They put on a good show and they sing songs about God and all of this. But when they get home behind closed doors, they turn on the portal of the devil. You know what a portal is? It's a door. They open the door of the devil on that TV.

And they say, just come into our house and teach us all about your wickedness. And we're going to take pleasure in it. We're going to enjoy it. And so we'll watch DVDs or movies or TV shows about adultery, something God hates.

Fornication, violence, perverse speaking. We justify it and say, oh, well, I just don't listen to those words. Or those things don't affect me. Don't be stupid. And I say that based on what it says here.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. You sew that into your eyes, it's going to be there. You sew it into your ears with what you listen to, it's going to be there. You sew it through what you read and it's going to come out.

It's going to bear fruit. I've heard so many people say, oh, yeah, I know it's not good. But I don't really take it in any ways. It doesn't really affect me. Don't be deceived in thinking that way. It will affect you.

Then they was talking to some of the children and they were talking about these scary movies that they watch or that they've seen. And then at night they can't sleep. They have nightmares. Why? Because they're sewing into their eyes wickedness.

It's going into their mind and it's bearing fruit. They can't even sleep at night over it. We've got to be so careful. What are we taking in? What are we calling entertainment? What books are we reading?

What TV things are we watching? What are we doing with the Internet? You say, Joel, now, now, now, wait a second. Don't say the TV isn't bad. Computer isn't bad. Books aren't bad. Don't label them as bad.

I know they aren't, inherently. I've used this illustration before, but if I walk back there in that kitchen and get a big old knife and I bring it here and I say, look at this knife. Is it a good instrument or a bad instrument?

A good tool or a bad tool? Some people might say, oh, it's a good one. Others say, oh, it's a bad one. I say, well, it's used in the kitchen. A guy takes it and he cuts up food and he makes meals to feed people so that they can have strength to live.

What a wonderful tool, is it not? But then you say, but wait a minute. If that knife is in the hand of a murderer, it's a terrible tool. Used to kill someone and destroy them. Yeah. It's the same tool.

One instance it's used for good in a proper way. And another instance it's used for evil in an improper way. And you say, aha, see? The knife isn't bad. TV's not bad. Computer's not bad. You're right.

It all depends on the heart of the person using it. It all depends on the heart of the person using it. And so I ask you, where is your heart? How is the TV in your home used? It will reveal your heart.

How you're using that tool. How is the computer used when you're behind it? The computer is not the evil thing. But your heart will be revealed. How do you use that knife? How do you use that computer?

Books. Books are wonderful. This book right here is a wonderful book. How do you use the ability that you have to read? What kind of books are you reading? Many men. Women. Get onto the computer. The computer is a wonderful tool.

I'm using one right now. We use one for the PowerPoint. We're streaming a live sermon. I've gone on and I've watched so many the last few Sunday nights. We've been watching this sermon series of videos on YouTube.

Wonderful. But you know there are so many wicked YouTube videos. How do you use the computer? Men will get onto the computer to watch all kinds of things. Pornographic things. To satisfy their appetites and desires.

That God says satisfy those. The way that I designed in marriage. But not in this way. Job said this in Job 31 verse 1. He said, I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? Why would I look upon a maid?

It's a woman. I made a covenant. I made a promise with my eyes. Why am I going to look? Now is this just looking? Does that mean you can't look at anybody? So once you walk out of your house, close your eyes.

Because you might see a beautiful woman. No. It's not that kind of look. This is a look of lust. This is a look of desire. Trying to satisfy your desires. By looking. Jesus of course condemned that. He said, I say unto you.

That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her. Hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Jesus goes to extreme measures here. He says, if your right eye offend thee. Pluck it out and cast it from thee.

For it is profitable for thee. That one of thy members should perish. And not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee. Cut it off and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee.

That one of thy members should perish. And not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. That's the man after God's own heart. What's your heart say? I'm not going to put things in front of me.

That God calls evil. And certainly I'm not going to entertain myself with it. Of course I've been speaking a lot of sexual things. There's another one. It's violence. I've made reference to it. Violence.

Violence as Entertainment and the Example of Rome

Violence. Turn to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6. Of course this is not far into the existence of this world and mankind. Man in his rebellious state is so wicked. That God has to come down and do something.

And God is going to send a worldwide flood. I want you to look at verse 5. Genesis 6 verse 5. It says and God saw. Well let me say this first of all. In the first part of chapter 6 it does speak of sexual immorality that was taking place.

But then he says in verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart.

And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. Both man and beast. And the creeping thing and the fowls of the air. For repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

So the Lord appears to Noah and look at verse 11. God says or it says here that the earth also was corrupt before God. And the earth was filled with what? Violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt.

For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. Twice here. Twice here. It mentions the violence of man. Violent. Violence is everywhere. Psalm 11 verse 4 through 7. It says the Lord is in his holy temple.

The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous. But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall reign snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest.

This shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. His countenance doth behold the upright. A love of violence. He says those who love violence. You know how many people entertain themselves with violence?

I hope you don't. Oh they love movies and videos and series that are all violent. It speaks of the decadent nature of the Roman Empire. Have you ever read? I was just yesterday reading about the Roman Empire.

These free people. Who were in such bondage. They had a love for violence. And so to entertain themselves, you know what they would do? They would go to the Coliseum or to any one of the amphitheaters.

They would fill it, pay money to go and watch. And watch an arena of men who have trained as gladiators. To go and kill each other. Until the last man stood. And they loved it. The more it went on, it grew.

It started out with maybe 30 guys. And at the most they would have up to 500. Not only men, but that wasn't enough. So they would throw animals into the mix. And then that wasn't enough. And so they started having women gladiators.

And then that wasn't enough. Some of the political leaders. The senators would, to gain popularity. They would become gladiators. And they would fight and kill. And it was part of their plan. You see, Rome prized itself as a conquering nation.

They were an incredible army. They had defeated the world. Had control of the world. It was required that you serve time in the army. And they didn't want the people back home. To become softies. And so to make sure that all of the Roman people could remain having a hard heart.

And have no problem seeing pain and suffering and destruction. They said, we're going to make a sport of this. So that we keep hard hearts. And have no problem with killing and death. But they loved it.

Year after year after year. People would be killed in the arenas. Oh, it wasn't. The goal was not get a ball from one side of the field to the other side of the field. The goal was kill as many people as you can.

And they took pleasure in it. This is decadent. This is a love of violence. And it's wicked. Even the people there. Even some of the people that wrote in the day. They knew it was wrong. Tertullian, one of the church fathers.

He stood up within the church. The early church. Because the early church began to compromise. And some people within the early church began to say. Well, you know. The Bible doesn't say. Thou shalt not watch a gladiator fight.

And they got very specific. Like I've heard people do today. And that was their argument. The Bible doesn't say that watching gladiator fights is wrong. So we can't say anything about it. And Tertullian stood up and he said.