Chad Roberts - Sep 12 - 5:30 pm

0:00Welcome to Awakened Degrees. Thanks so much for listening today. My name is Pastor Chad Roberts and I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. You're about to hear a powerful sermon that I know is going to encourage you. If you like what you hear, share it with a friend and download our free mobile app, Awakened Degrees, wherever you get your favorite apps. My prayer for you is that this year is the best yet. I want to title today, doing the devil's work, doing the devil's work. Some of you, perhaps you've been to the Redwood National Forest along the Pacific Coast. Redwoods are a fascinating species of trees.

1:00They can live between 800 to 1000 years. Think about that. Their trunks can measure an astounding 30 feet wide. And Redwoods have the ability to grow between 150 feet to 300 feet tall. Can you even imagine that? There are some estimated 80,000 Redwoods along the Pacific Coast. And God is designed to them very uniquely. What's fascinating about a Redwood is that although it's trunks can measure 30 feet wide, although it's height can measure up to 300 feet high, they actually, in fact, have quite a shallow root system. The roots only grow approximately 6 feet down into the ground.

2:05Even more fascinating, the roots are only about an inch wide in diameter. So how is it that something that only is an inch wide and grows about 6 feet down can uphold and sustain and weather the storms? A tree that's 30 feet wide and 300 feet tall. It's because God's designed them quite unique. What's fascinating about the root system of a Redwood tree is that God has designed them that they don't stand alone. If a Redwood stands alone, it's not going to stand very long. What happens is even though the root system is what you would think shallow compared to its height and width, what God did is He designed it to where the roots intertwine and grow in together. So what that means is when a storm comes and when the wind hits a Redwood, the Redwood isn't

3:06standing alone, the wind is coming against an entire forest. The Redwood is not going to fall because it's intertwined to the entirety of the forest. Brothers, sisters, it's the same in our lives. Do you know why you're going to make it through what you're going through? Is because your roots are intertwined to us. Do you know why even though I went through what I considered the worst year that I've ever had, I've never even been in the hospital short of being born and I spent 17 days this year in the hospital. And when the winds came against me and when the winds came against my family, do you know why we stood is because our roots are intertwined to you. Brothers, sisters, we don't stand alone. And God has not designed us to be alone. God's not

4:12designed us to do life alone. The scriptures do not call the church. The scriptures do not call us a religious institution. You realize that? The scriptures do not even call us a charity, although there are acts of that. The scriptures do not call us a hierarchy and neither do the scriptures call us an organization. You don't want the scriptures called the church. A family. A family. Brothers, sisters, it's because we are a family of faith. And when our roots are intertwined to one another, we're going to be able to withstand any storm that Satan brings our way. Can you say amen today? So I want to talk today about doing the devil's work. Why?

5:16Because brothers, sisters, we are indeed and in fact the family of God. This holiday season, God continuously puts in my heart and I felt it several weeks ago. I've made several remarks regarding it and I feel it again today that God wants peace within our own families. The church family is not all that different than your relational family. Family is family. And do you know what that means when it comes to family? There are problems. There can be division. There can be strife. There can be misunderstanding. There can be hurt feelings. There can be wrong opinions. A church family is not all that different than a relational family. And brothers and sisters, I want to share with you my heart today because I realize that many of you right now Christmas is

6:18going to be tents for you. The holidays is not a joyful time for you because they're strife in your family. I realize that there are many families that don't speak to one another. There are siblings that will have nothing to do with one another. There are parents who are not speaking to children. There are children who withhold grandbabies from grandparents. Brothers and sisters, this is not the will of the Lord for our lives. The Lord does not want us to be a people of strife and a people of tension. I'm going to take God's word today and I'm going to show you what we should aspire to. I'm going to talk in terms of family so that whether it is your biological family, your relational family, whether it's your work environment, whether it's your group of friends or whether it is your church family. God has a way of handling problems, strife,

7:28tensions. And I want us to go in to the holiday family and to family time and the holiday season with a different perspective. That's my goal today. If you're going to take notes, I'm going to have a few things for you to write down. I'm first going to take you to first Thessalonians 4-11 and then we're going to skip over to first Thessalonians 5-11. But I want you first to write this down. The Bible gives us a really clear, vivid image, a really clear picture of who Satan is. And he is our enemy. I want you to know that there is no one in your life who is the enemy except one. And that is the kingdom of darkness. That's it. The people you work with is not your enemy. Your family is not your enemy? No one is your enemy except for Satan. And let me tell you what the Bible says about Satan.

8:28The Bible says it depicts him first as a serpent. Do you know why the Bible depicts him as a serpent? Both in Genesis and later on in Revelation. You know why? Because that fort tongue. Do you know what it speaks of? Deception. Satan is a deceiver. Satan is a deceiver. And he will try to influence you. He will try to influence your emotions. He'll try to influence your opinions. He'll try to influence your friendships. He'll try to influence your family with the sole purpose that he wants to still kill and destroy in your life. That's his agenda for you. The Bible depicts him as a roaring lion prowling about seeking whom he may devour the scriptures says. And if he can devour relationships in your life, he'll ripple them apart every chance he gets.

9:33He'll ripple apart friendships. He'll ripple apart family, family ties. He wants to sever. He'll ripple apart churches if they let him in. Do you realize that right now he prowls about us as a roaring lion seeking whom he's going to devour? May he not gain any access in here? Amen. Oh, let me show you. He's also an adversary. That means that he stands in direct opposition to everything that God stands for. He stands in opposition to godly living. He stands in opposition to righteousness. The Bible says those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be what? Field. But do you know Satan's agenda for you? He wants your life. He wants your soul starving.

10:34The glory of water is that it quenches our thirst. The glory of bread is that it quenches our hunger and the glory of God is that it quenches our soul. It quenches the hunger and the thirsting that we feel within. Substance can't do it. Relationships can't do it. Friendships cannot do it. Money cannot do it. Position cannot do it. Only God can fulfill within. That's it. And Satan would rob it and he would destroy it. He would steal it. And then I want you to write this down and this is the primary I want to focus on today. Satan is depicted as an accuser. He is the accuser of the brethren. And you know what this means, brothers and sisters. It's quite fascinating. The Greek, the Bible Greek term for slander is devil. So when the scriptures tell us as a church family,

11:40do not slander one another. Do you know what it's saying? Don't be little devils. Let's put it this way. Don't do the devil's work for him. He's already our accuser. Let's don't make his job easier. The brothers, sisters, I want you to hear me. When we engage in gossip, we're doing the devils work for him. When we entertain rumors and whispers, we're doing the devils work for him. When we slander our brothers and sisters, we are doing the devils work. And see a church family isn't all that different from a relational family. There's conflicts. There's gossip. There's opinions. So how do you handle this biblically? How do you handle these things biblically?

12:46Well, let me take us to the scriptures. I first want you to go to First Sessalonians 4-11. And I want you to write this principle down first. I'm going to share with you three principles. Number one, I want you to note this. The more I pray, the less I say. The more I pray, the less I say. Look at the scriptures with me. Verse 11. We should, according to this verse, aspire to live a quiet life. I like the new living translation here. It says, make it your goal to live a quiet life. I love the way that's it. Make it your goal. Aspire to be quiet. Brothers and sisters, this is a good word for many of us this morning.

13:52We should seek to be quiet. I'll just say this. And if you get mad at me, it's more than okay, because I can't even see you. So it's okay. That's the joy of preaching blind. You can get read in the face and I won't even know it. Some of you, seriously, you need to shut your social media off. You need to shut it down. You need to walk away. You just need to shut it off. It distracts. It hinders. It opposes. Godly thing. You just need to walk away from it. It does no good in your life. It does no good for your testimony for the Lord. And if you're somebody that you're always stirring up.

14:55Oh, it's all right. I'll lay men myself. Amen, Chad. Preach it. Amen. If you're somebody that you're always stirring the pot, you need to pay attention to this verse. Brother, sister, make it your goal to live a quiet life. Amen. If we would all take this to heart and say, you know what, I don't need to worry about so and so. And I don't need to worry about that group and I don't need to worry about what all they're saying and I don't need to worry about where they're, how they think and what they do and where they're at. I don't need to worry about all that. You know why? I don't need to worry about it because I'll tell you why. It takes everything I've got to walk my own narrow road. I don't need to pay attention to your narrow road. It's all I can do to walk mine. Amen. And let me tell you where I want to be. I don't want to be in your

16:01quarrels and I don't want to be in your fights and I don't want to be in your arguments and I sure don't want to be in your opinions. I want to be beside the still waters where God can restore my soul. Amen. I want to pursue peace in my life, not conflict. I want to pursue peace in my life, not rumors. I'm not worried about what everybody else is doing. I'm worried about walking my path and my road that God sets before me. I tell you all I've got is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path and I can't see way down the I can only take the next step or two and I don't need to worry about your steps. Look at the next phrase. Oh, this is so good. I mean, this is just amen. Not only should we aspire to be quiet and let me say this brothers and sisters, do you know why the Lord wants us quiet because because here here my heart, quietness equals peace.

17:08The Lord wants you at peace. He doesn't want you quarreling and arguing and debating. He doesn't want you fighting and angry and all flustered. He wants you brothers and sisters. He wants us at peace and when I'm quiet, I'm beside the still waters and God's restoring my soul and He's bringing peace into my life. Oh, that's what I want. Now look at the next phrase. Oh, this Paul, Paul, Paul. Boy, he knew what to say to us. And mind your own affairs. The new living translation there says mind your own business. Amen to that. Mind your own business. Do you know what that means brothers and sisters? That means we don't

18:11need your opinion. And you don't need my opinion. Amen. Mind our own business. Why? Because when I metal in your affairs and when I metal in your business and your life, it's taking me away from what? Keeping my eyes on the Lord. I got my eyes on you. No, I need my eyes on the Lord. Let's mind your own business. Let's mind our own affairs. The more I pray, the less I say. And I'll just say it brothers, sisters, we don't need one another's opinions. We need one another's prayers. Amen. We don't need our opinions. We need our prayers. I've made a resolve in my life. I've made a resolve because I don't have to tell you we Christians, and I'm including myself,

19:13we Christians, we are the worst to go to people and say, well, I wouldn't say nothing, but I know you'll pray about it. Well, I wouldn't say anything, but I know you'll pray. No, no, no, no. I've resolved the next time someone comes to me and says, I wouldn't say anything about it, but I know you'll pray. I'm going to say, you're right, brother, you're right, sister, take my hand right now, and I'm going to ask you to pray for this brother, sister. You pray for him right now, right now, you pray. I'm listening. Let's go. I mean, isn't it the truth? Yes, yes, yes. I don't need your opinion. We need prayer. If I have an opinion, I need to take it to

20:14God, cause the more I pray, the less I say, we already have an accuser, let's don't help him by doing his job. So what's the biblical command? Well, I am to seek, I'm to aspire, I'm to make it my goal, to be quiet. Why? Not because, and that's not saying there aren't times you speak up, or that's not saying there aren't times that we call sin out and that we don't have hard conversations. Listen, I have hard conversations all the time. I wouldn't be a good shepherd if I was afraid of hard conversations. I don't like them. I don't want to have to have them. Let's see, a conversation is different than gossip. Now come on, let's dig a little right here. Amen? A conversation is different than gossip. Do you know what the difference is? Who you're talking to? If you're not talking to

21:18the brother or the sister that needs the conversation, then we're gossiping and we're doing the devil's work. Do you know why Jesus taught us? If you have an ought, if you have an offense, go to the brother, go to the sister. Do you know why he taught us that? And then he said, if they don't listen to you, then take another brother with you, take some Iron leadership with you, take me with you. Do you know why Satan doesn't want that to happen? Is because conflict happens when we talk about each other? Resolve happens when we talk to each other. And see, here's the thing, Satan does his best work in the dark. If I'm assuming what you're thinking, Satan's having a heyday. If I assume that you haven't a period of this or you said this or you think this or these other

22:18people said this about me, do you know how many times people come to me and say, Pastor Chad, do you know what so and so sad about you? You don't have any people having an opinion of me? And do you know what I always say? I always say, I don't want to hear it because I don't care. I'm not living for them. I'm not going to stand to give account to them. I'm not going to be judged by them. I'm not, no, what I care is what God thinks. And because other people have an opinion, that's not, I don't even want to hear it. There's a difference. When we talk about others, brothers and sisters, that's gossip. When we talk to the brother or sister, that is biblical conversation. That's setting down together and saying, brother, sister, will you help me understand?

23:24I don't understand why you said this or I don't understand why you, this is what I understand. And I don't know if I have it clear, brother, sister, can you just give me clarity on this so that we feel good about our relationship? Now you won't get mad at somebody like that. Amen? But that's not what Satan wants. He wants you assuming, he wants you guessing, he wants you, no, he does his best work in the dark. And see, when we bring light to things, whether that's a hard conversation, whether that's confronting sin, whether that's reproving a situation, or whether that's just getting clarity because something is just simply not even true. We had a situation with a leader where somebody had heard something, that was absolutely not true.

24:28Did you know that I'm a pastor, husband, and father of four who suddenly went blind in 2018? Today, I teach people how life is not random, but it is actually orchestrated by God for a great purpose. Learn more about my story and awaken to grace at Chadrobertz.org.