Discipleship in Denying Yourself
Sunday, September 4, 2022 – RECAP/Study Points
OBJECTIVE: To seek out the element of empowerment, living out the order of God concerning denying yourself.
I pray that you are attentive in this moment enough, where you are so prepared that I could call on you next week to teach it.
Pastor Dewayne: Yeah, you want to really embrace the notes. You want to not only see them on paper, but you want to be able to see them operate in and through your lives. If they are not operating in and through your lives, that should be a sign to you that you don’t really know it. You’ve got it in your head, but it’s really not in your hear, because if it was in your heart, out of the abundance of your heart, you would see it in your behavior. Because whatever you believe, that’s what your behavior should reflect.
There is a power and a life that you will not experience if you don’t know how to master the denying yourself principle. It’s amazing because if you don’t watch it, we have brought a lot of stuff from the world into the body of Christ. In the world, satan is a copycat. He just does things in the reverse.
You see, God wants our minds to be led by our spirit, and he wants our spirit to be led by the Holy Spirit. God wants your spirit to lead your mind. Your soul should be following your spirit, and your spirit should be following the Holy Spirit. Now in the world, what satan wants to do is to have your soul following your flesh, and he won’t say flesh because he knows if he says flesh when you get saved, you’re gonna know that it’s him. So, what satan calls it is your feelings.
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It’s amazing because, in the world, we do things when we feel like it. And, when we don’t want to do something, we say it’s because ‘I didn’t feel like it. And what we do now, we bring that same mentality into the body of Christ, and we pray when we feel like it. We praise when we feel like it. We tithe, we serve, we love when we feel like it, and God never designed you and me to operate like that.
Because that element of feeling, I almost hate to respond to people who ask me how I feel. You know my response? With my hands. I feel with my hands. Because if I had to really tell you how I felt, I would not be congruent with the word of God at that particular time. Because the Bible says let the sick say I’m healed, let the weak say I’m strong, let the poor say I am rich, but I feel broke as all get out. I feel sick sometimes; you don’t even know fighting coming in here, you don’t even know. If I had to be responsible or if I had to respond to your question, then I would have to give you some organ recital…man, my liver ain’t quivering, etc.
Someone just left me the other day and said, ‘take care,’ and I’m so careful in catching that. No, I don’t take care of me; I cast cares. And taking care will cause these feelings. Your feelings always want to cast its ballot. Your feelings always want to have a vote, some say-so in your final outcome. And, we’re not moved by what we feel but by what we believe.
Pastor Dewayne: But, you know something Pastor Mike, when you allow your feelings to have the vote, what satan does is lock you into what I call selfless. And selfish people don’t change their behavior; they just change the people they use.
All I have to say to that is Amen! And when we get over into Matt 6:24 and Matthew 10:34, we’re going to see that highlighted because your feelings are about to be extinguished in this lesson. Ooh, Jesus is going to set you straight about some things, and prayerfully your lives will conform and never be the same.
Pastor Dewayne: Yeah, because flesh always wants to protect itself, selfishness always promotes self, and selfishness always provides for self. That’s why they hate this denying themselves principle because they no longer can promote, protect and provide for self.
They have to now think about others; now watch this because when satan can get you to walk by your flesh or walk by your feelings, you open up a door for him to come in. That’s why Pastor Mike’s heart desire is for you and me to not only reveal the life of Jesus but experience the power of Jesus in and through our lives. And I’m telling you if you sit here or watching us via streaming and you are not really embracing this, you’re gonna miss a moment that God wants to reveal himself in another area, and you won’t be able to reveal Jesus in the earth realm because you don’t understand the denying yourself principle.
Matt 16:21-25
Pastor Dewayne: Now, Jesus is giving them some information, but at the same time, he’s going to show them about this denying yourself principle. Because, I’m going to tell you, if you don’t know how to deny yourself when religious people come against you, you’re going to respond with your flesh because you’re going to say, ‘they ought to know better’, and ‘I’m going to give them a little piece of my mind, and that’s probably all you have is a little piece. ●
Then, Peter took Jesus aside. Can you imagine, Peter took Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him? He said, far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you. You know Jesus is telling him something, and now Peter is telling Jesus that he is a liar. Jesus is really trying to tell him that when you start operating in the things of God, persecution is going to come. As a matter of fact, sometimes there is going to be strong persecution, where they want to kill you. And, if you don’t understand, if you are operating in the flesh, you’re going to try to protect your flesh, you’re going to try to promote your flesh, you’re going to try to provide for your flesh, and you’re really gonna open up a door for satan to steal, kill, and destroy.
Jesus turned to him and said, ‘get thee behind me, satan’. Notice, he knows that the words coming from Peter’s mouth are not coming from him, they’re coming from satan, and he’s talking to the spirit that motivated Peter to say what he said. And, then he said, ‘you are an offense to me for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men’.
Wait, wait, wait…You are not mindful of the things of me, but you’re more mindful of the things of men. Boy, you are already in a loser’s position. When you are more mindful of the things of men, than the things of God, you have already been defeated. Say, ‘I must be mindful of the things of God, more than any man’.
Pastor Dewayne: And the wild thing about it, Pastor, it’s not automatic. This guy is walking with Jesus. This isn’t somebody that’s outside that’s a Gentile. This isn’t somebody that’s not hanging with them. So, this lets me know that just because you connected, just because you’re in covenant, doesn’t free you up from the attacks or thoughts of man.
None of us are exempt. Even the ones who walked with Jesus…literally. We are walking with Jesus literally, folks. Do you understand that? But yet the temptation of satan, the world, the flesh is still going to be present. I have concluded, the reason why temptation overtakes a man to the point of sin is simply because he wants to. Any Christian in the right mind would never say, I want to sin, but the Bible says you don’t have to now because of the authority that you have in Him.
During the law, the law would help us to point out our sins, but the law couldn’t do anything with sin. Jesus came to fulfill the law, didn’t do away with it, but He knew within our own strength, we could not keep the law. So, he removed the penalty of the sin so that we could win in the end. The power that He’s given us is through His grace where He says, ‘now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling’, so you don’t have to fall if you don’t want to. So, any man or woman who yields to sin yields to sin because they want to, and Peter wanted to demonstrate to Jesus how much he loved him. This ain’t going happen.
Pastor Dewayne: And it’s amazing, Pastor, because Peter got one part of it. He tried to tell Jesus, man you can deny yourself for this stuff. And Jesus went on to tell His disciples, ‘if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me’. Now and is a conjunction. It connects the first word to the second word, and if you put another and there, you are connecting the second word to the next word.
Now watch this…Peter was telling Jesus, ‘Jesus be it far from, you deny it’. He only had one side. Notice what Jesus said, if you want to follow me, let me show you how — deny yourself AND take up your cross.
Notice, Peter only told Jesus to do one thing. Jesus is trying to tell us to do two things because God will never tell us to stop something without giving you something in its place to do. Listen to me, that’s why over there in Mark chapter 1, they said repent AND believe the gospel because you can’t change the way you think without picking something else up. Somebody can tell you to come out, but they don’t have anywhere for you to go into; you’re gonna go back.
Just like the Bible says to take off the old, renew your mind, and then put on the new. God would never tell you to take off something if He didn’t have anything for you to put on. And it’s amazing, some of ya’ll are trying to deny yourself, but you’re not taking up the assignment that He’s given you, because anytime God gives you and I a promise, anytime God gives you and I a Word, inside that Word there are some principles, if you practice, they are designed to lead you to the promise.
Wow, if you don’t pick up something after taking something off, then you are going to be naked. If you don’t get something out without putting something in, you’re going to be empty. And a lot people are trying to do one thing without doing the other. You can’t can stop the desire to sin without starting a desire for the Word.
Something has to replace the other. You remember when Jesus cast those devils out, and he said, now if you don’t get this thing together and be filled with me, those devils are going to come back and find this house swept and clean and empty, and they’re gonna come back and occupy this place again. So, once you unoccupy, you’re going to have to then occupy with something else.
Pastor Dewayne: And that something else has to line up with the Word. That something else has to be the things of God, but not the things of man. Because there are some people you’re denying stuff, but you’re picking up the things of man. You know, you’re talking about I’m denying this sexual desire that I have, and what you say is ‘what I’m going to do is, I’m just not going to go over there anymore’. And, it’s amazing that those demons know how to find you. Your sin will always find you. You can be at the restaurant in line to treat yourself because you are trying to deny yourself. And, all of a sudden, guess who comes in the line behind you talking about ‘Hey girl, I didn’t’ know you come to this restaurant.
It’s got to be the Lord to have both of us here at the same time’. Now, this is the one you’ve been trying to get away from. No, you have to deny yourself and pick up something. That’s what Adam tried to do in the garden; after he sinned, he picked up something manmade and tried to make an apron for himself. You tried to pick up something to make it look like you’re doing good, but you’re really not doing good; you’re struggling. And, the reason why you’re struggling is because you’re not picking up the principles, and the reason why you’re not understanding the principles is because you’re not going over the notes that you’ve been sent every week.
Yeah, but they are not denying themselves. That’s why they haven’t picked up the notes. They’ve got other things on their agendas and to-do lists, and that’s not one of the important things that they have made valuable to them. Next week I want to start the lesson on being led by the Spirit. It’s so much easier to be led by the Spirit when you know how to deny you. This will give you a head start.
Matthew 6:24, 10:34
Our identities and who we have established us as being, in most cases, are diametrically opposed to the order of God, whereby we have established our way, and been doing it over a course of a period of time more than we have His way. So, then when it comes to making decisions, or choices, or even having thoughts, we have been typically influenced by the way we have conducted our lives prior to coming to this knowledge.
In other words, before I knew things such as considering someone else over myself, it was all about me. Or, if someone said something directly to me, my training taught me to respond in a derogatory manner back to them. It was the law of self- protection, providing, and promoting. That’s what we’ve been used to. Now Jesus is saying let me protect you, let me provide for you, and let me promote you. We were doing all those 3 p’s ourselves, and a huge part of it followed us over into our new life in Him. And, if the truth is told and the truth should be told, a lot of us have not renewed our mind to the degree where we have married the two (a little country and a little rock-n-roll) into one, and we build a life based upon these two dispositions.
Like, if the heat comes on me too much about persecution, I know how to get you off of me, because sometimes Jesus takes a little too long to straighten out my enemy. Have I got any witnesses? And Jesus, don’t trouble yourself with this one; I got this. ‘You blankety, blank, blank, blank, blank’….and it’s seems that they go away and they don’t try me in that area any longer. But, look what has happened to my witness, and look how I feel after I’ve said it. Now, he’s saying in Matthew 6:24, no man can serve two masters.
Pastor Dewayne: Yeah, you can’t marry those two, and it’s impossible for you to serve both of them at the same time because both of them have two different agendas. You can’t go to Florida and go to New York at the same time. You may get on 95, but one of them is going in one direction, and the other is going in another. You can’t marry the two together, and there are a lot of times when people are actually doing that.
You know when someone has done you wrong, they do wrong back to the person and tell them that ‘Oh, I was justified’ because they shouldn’t have did what they did or they shouldn’t have said what they said, and so I stake myself in the ground and I don’t even know that I’m being led by the flesh, I don’t even know that I’m being deceived, but I cover it up ‘in Jesus name’. You know what I mean? I’m not tithing, and it ain’t that I can’t tithe, I just don’t feel like it right now because I want to buy me some stuff, but then at the same time, I’m declaring the blessings of God. You can’t marry those two because, eventually, the more you operate in it, it’s going to create a distance.
That’s why Jesus said to Peter, ‘we’re going to go up there, and they are going to persecute me and then kill me’, He was reminding Peter that if he was going to follow Him, what they do to Him, they will do to Peter. Peter said to Him, be it far from you, that ain’t gonna ever happen’. Ten chapters later, the Bible says that they grabbed hold of Jesus and were taking Him to the scribes, priests, etc., and Peter followed from a distance. Notice, Peter was protecting his life because he didn’t want them to get like a two-for-one deal. He put some distance between them. He was close enough that he could see Jesus, but he was too far to fellowship with Jesus. And there are a lot of people, you’ve created some distance, because that’s all you are doing.
You’re operating in the flesh; you’re going by your feelings; you’ve got a little gap between you and Jesus. You’re close enough that you can see Him, you can talk about Him, but you’re too far to fellowship with so people can see His life in and through your life.
Now in that same 26th chapter, there was another disciple, John, and he said he went in with Jesus. He went in with Jesus because he had a revelation that Jesus loves me, and I’m telling you, when you get a revelation of how much God loves you, it casts out all fear. You see, Peter didn’t have that revelation then; that’s why Peter had a distance between them, and notice what happened. That girl came up to him and said you look like one of them and he denied it. When you don’t deny yourself, at the same time, you are denying Jesus, and when you deny Jesus, you’re disqualifying yourself to demonstrate Jesus in and through your life.
Because there are some things that He wants to show the world, and He has no possible chance of showing the world these things if, in fact, we are constantly getting in His way with what we want. There are some things He will ask us not to do solely so He can show Himself to others. And we’re so focused on what we want and how we feel that He can’t show Himself mightily. Like classic case and point, God told DeeDee and I personally to buy a partner a car. They come pulling up to our house in a brand new car and wondered why we weren’t excited. They went out without acknowledging Him in all your ways, and God wanted to show Himself mightily through us, but they couldn’t deny this gratification for just a little while longer so He could us show Himself mightily. God wants to do stuff for us, but us keeps getting in God’s way. This is so important to the degree that Jesus considers you your own master, and He says no man can serve two masters. So, who is going to be Lord? Is it going to be you, or will it be Him?
Pastor Dewayne: You know it’s amazing because we all have been there. I remember that Lisa and I invested with the guy to get a restaurant in Baltimore (a Christian guy), and it’s wild; before I gave him that money, I could call him, and he would be in Baltimore, and he’d here in a lickity-split. I gave him that money, he opened up that restaurant, and the first month, he’s putting money in the account, the second month, he’s putting money in the account, the third month, he’s putting money in the account.
Man, I was telling Lisa, well, this was alright here. That fourth month, nothing, fifth month, nothing. I called him on the phone, and I couldn’t get him. So, I get a guy, and we ride up to Baltimore. We get to the spot, and I see him in the restaurant, and I call him. He can’t see me, but I can see him. The guy that picked up the phone said he wasn’t there. I said just tell him I called, and he said ok. So, we walked up on him, and the guy that answered the phone said ain’t got nothing to do this. So, I asked the guy what is going on? This place is still open; you’re still making money. I had one demon on this side, and one on the other, but then the spirit of God said to me, Dewayne, if you cut up down here, they’re going to say Pastor Mike’s brother, the Assistant Pastor of Spirit of Faith Christian Center… I had to cast those thoughts down, and this is what I told him. You know what, if that’s the way you operate, then go ahead, because what God has promised for me, I’m not gonna mess this up by creating another problem with you. Go on an do your thing. And I’m walking off, and the guy that I’m walking away with is saying this to me, ‘you just too soft, and you want to be a Christian all the time, love, love, love, love, love. He said, tell me how much he owes you, and I bet you I’ll have that money for you in a half an hour. And that demon popped back up (on my shoulder), and I said, nah, man, we can’t do that. We get in the car, and on the whole ride back, he’s saying man, I know I love Jesus, but I don’t love him like that, I don’t love him like that. Now, you mean to tell me that I’m gonna let someone like that lead me? And some of you all are still holding on to stuff, and you don’t know that at the same time that you are holding on to something, you are missing out on the promise land that God has ready for you to receive.
Matthew 10:34
You’ll see another side of Jesus, where even the person that was with Pastor Dewayne should never have that impact in your life.
Why? Because, when you start denying you, even some of your family members, who don’t have the revelation that you have, can talk you out of even that situation with Pastor Dewayne. That was his friend who went with him.
He says, I’ve come to separate you from even your momma’s theory or philosophy or disposition or proclivity because even your momma might not line up with the principles that I’ve given you. And, you’re going to have to know how deny yourself from people and take up my principle.
Pastor Dewayne: That’s good! And, watch this, Pastor Mike, right after that in verse 38, He’s telling them again how to do it. He who does not take up his cross and follow me. He’s talking to His disciples. He’s already told them about denying themselves, and now He’s telling them you just can’t deny yourselves and stop right there because you’re going to operate in your abilities trying to protect it. All you have to do is now take up your cross?
What is that? Take up your assignment. What is God telling you to do? What is God speaking to you? And that’s why I’m loving this Holy Spirit connection to what we just finished because now, when you take up your assignment, now you and the Holy Spirit are going to do wonderful things in the earth realm.
It’s amazing; one time, I was talking to God, and I said why didn’t you tell us (because I would have done it another way), you told us to walk in the spirit, so we won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh. I would of said it like this ‘stop what you’re doing and then start walking in the spirit’. He said, no, Dewayne, notice when I say walk in the spirit; at the same time I’m showing you how to cut yourself from the flesh. So, as you walk in the spirit and some of you all are trying to figure out and trying to break this feeling that I’m having, stop doing this, stop doing that, not by working it up in your own ability. Now, you’re coming up with the things of man. Operate in God’s principles. It may not feel comfortable at the very beginning. It may feel like it’s a struggle. It may feel like nothing is going on in the natural, but something is always going on, and you’re going to see yourself being delivered from the power of darkness, and you will see yourself revealing Jesus at the same time.
That was so, so powerful! I have watched people let people coerce them from their set place because they had a problem with DeeDee or I, family members mostly.
You let one family member have a problem, all of the other family members are no longer connected. You let one girlfriend be offended, all the other girlfriends get offended.
You let one guy not get something from the ministry that he thought he deserved, then he’ll go spread that, and then people around them, because that’s my girl/boy, I’m going down, it’s ride-or-die with them. That’s why Jesus said; I didn’t come so you think you’d have peace. I’ve come that there will be variance, that there will be distance, when the only thing that you will respond to is righteousness and unrighteousness. But some of you are so caught up on your momma. When your momma, your father, your friend, gets bigger than the principle of following Him, you’re not fit to follow Him.
Assignment:
- Study this lesson (get familiar with it) and listen to this over and over until you can teach it.