Reject The Rejection

 

2 Corinthians 4:1-9

1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

 

 

1. Verse 8 speaks of rejection… every where you turn, you feel rejection, despair, distress… sum it all up… “Rejection”
   1. To refuse to accept, submit to, believe, or make use of.
      2. To refuse to consider or grant; deny.  To not be accepted, to not be believed… no use to anybody… not considered and denied in every way.   Rejection is a horrible feeling… if I came to you and offered my hand in friendship or as a brother… and reject it…   it can be devastating.    Oh we can put up a front… and say it does not matter… or “fine”… but inside your heart pains over the rejection.
   2. But here is the word…. Rejected on every side… but “not” distressed.  “Perplexed” but not in despair… persecuted but not forsaken… cast down… but not destroyed…………………
   3. Go ahead……… reject me……… tell me it is no use. Tell me it’s too late………  telling me no chance of revival……….. No chance of a miracle……….
   4. 2 Corinthians 4:15-18

15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

1. In other words…………….. I am rejecting your rejection!                            I refuse to accept that it is too late………… I refuse to accept……………… no revival………… I refuse to accept no miracles. I refuse to accept that God cannot do anything, anywhere at any time!!
2. I reject your rejection!!
3. In 1905 the university of Bern turned down a Ph.D. dissertation on being irrelevant and fanciful.  Well albert Einstein rejected the rejection.
   1. In 1902, a poetry editor returned some poems to a 28-year-old saying, “Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.”  The poet was Robert Frost.  He chose to reject the rejection.
   2. How about one man failing in business, lost job, ran for legislature, lost.
   3. Year later business failed.  2 years later, sweetheart died, 2 years later defeated for speaker of house, 7 years later, defeated in run for congress,
   4. 7 years later, defeated for U.S. Senate.  2 years later, defeated for vice president.  2 years later. Defeated for senate.
   5. Two years later……… elected 16^th president of us.  Abraham Lincoln…. He rejected all the rejection.
4. Everything you see……… except you and me, is temporal; we are not here for the temporal… we are in this thing for eternity…………….
   1.  I reject the concept that these temporal things are going to move me away from the eternal!!! Nothing temporal or temporary should ever move me away from the eternal glory of God!
   2. Think about it… it is similar to a rowboat standing in the way of a battleship!  It is not going to happen……………
   3. Isaiah 59:19

19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

1. We cannot allow these temporary things in this life stop us from glorifying the name of the Lord…
   1.                                               i.     Temporary things…  job… why let a job rob you of your time, when it is just temporary?
   2.                                              ii.     Money? Rob of blessings.
   3.                                            iii.     Success,
   4.                                            iv.     Good time for a “short” time.
   5.                                              v.     Living in sin or carnality.
   6. Can I tell you something else that is temporary that it doesn’t want you to know?
      1.                                               i.     Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
      2.                                              ii.     Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
      3.                                            iii.     Isaiah 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
   7. I refuse to accept…that the devil is eternal in power and might…!     He was cast down from his throne, he was cast down as lightening from heaven, and he is going to be cast down in to the lake of fire!!!!!!!!!!  His past and future is going down………………….   I reject that reject!!!!!
   8. All you hear and read about the church……… it’s going up!!! And outta here!!
   9. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1. What are you accepting tonight that you ought not to be???
2. I am preaching to you tonight that it is not too late for your city!
3. It’s not too late for your sons and daughters and husbands and wives!
4. It’s not too late for a miracle!!!!
5. Its not too late for whatever you need tonight!!!

 

1. We are hearing the wrong thing. If we are hearing…
   1. Sit down, quit, give up, you don’t need to give, don’t need to worship!!  Your hearing is impaired with that kind of talk.
2. Sound is measured in decibels
   1. 30 decibels is a soft whisper, if I were speaking in tone without a microphone of 30db, those in the back if they heard anything would only hear gibberish.
   2. Hearing loss begins to occur at the 80-decibel range if in that range for a length of time. Significant hearing loss can occur under high decibels for a period of time. And it will occur so slowly that you don’t notice it.
   3. For example:
      1.                                               i.     Baby crying 80 decibels for 8 hours
      2.                                              ii.     Lawnmower 90 db. for 6 hours
      3.                                            iii.     Helicopter 100db for 4 hours
      4.                                            iv.     Boat/jet ski 110 db. for 2 hours
      5.                                              v.     Gunshot 120+ under one hour
   4. Their ears have become dull of hearing
   5. So when you are around too much noise you can begin to lose you hearing and not hear what others are hearing.
      1.                                               i.     Have you ever been around in a noisy environment?   Such as grinding shop or even were many motors are running.  If you are just there visiting, you can notice that the noise is loud and even painful to your ears. But the ones working in there seem not to notice.
      2.                                              ii.     Have they gotten “used” to the noise?  Yes in a way… but the way they have gotten used to it… is that they have suffered some hearing loss in that range of sounds…  they have not truly learned to ignore the sounds, but have actually become “dull” of hearing or suffered a loss in that range of sound.
   6. So if you were to speak to them in a normal tone, in that decibel range, they would not hear you… you would have to raise your voice or face them so that they would be able to hear you.
   7. I have been in some environments that you could shout from the top of your lungs directly into the ear of a person and not “understand” what is being said….
   8. Notice I said understand…   it is one thing to hear something… but it is entirely different to understand what you hear.
   9. Hearing only parts and pieces can very well turn into a bad situation.
   10. Many times in wars and battles, coordinates are called in to shell and one number is not heard correctly and the shells drop in the wrong place. Or you hear the orders incorrectly and move into a dangerous area all because you heard something but did not understand what you heard.
3. 1 Kings 19:11-12

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

1. God does not raise his voice…  God is not going to shout at you… God is not going to yell at you…
2. God is not even going to shove you or tap you on the shoulder to get your attention before he speaks… he will speak. But it will be in a small still voice.
3. If it is too noisy…. Or you have suffered a hearing loss… you might not hear…. or if you hear… you might not understand that small still voice.

Amos 8:11-14

11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

 

The reason that they cannot hear is that they have become deaf… and cannot understand what is being said.

1. Now, what I am trying to say tonight… is that sometimes we get into an environment that is too noisy and we cannot hear the word of God! Or understand it.
   1. Noise… A disturbance, especially a random and persistent disturbance that obscures or reduces the clarity of a signal.
      4. Computer Science Irrelevant or meaningless data
   2. There is another word… noise masking.
   3. The use of noise to make a sound unintelligible or less distracting.
   4. In some airplanes they can electronically mask the noise of the engine and prop noise so that you can actually speak in a normal tone.
2. Satan is a noisemaker. And masker
   1. It is his desire that you do not hear from God… and for you to become “dull of hearing” that you do not understand what is being said!!
   2. What is a noisy environment?
      1.                                               i.     Hearing what the world says and not God!
      2.                                              ii.     Hearing what men say and not word of God.
      3.                                            iii.     Going by what you feel… going by sight o don’t get me started…
      4.                                            iv.     By not. Shutting up!  God is not going to talk over you, God is not going to speak above you… sometimes we just need to listen.
   3. The reason this world has a famine of hearing the word of the Lord…………….. They have suffered a hearing loss……….. Satan has caused them to hear only the beating of their own heart… hear the course of their own life…
   4. God is speaking but nobody is hearing…
3. God is saying… I am here… I am ready… will you just love me and worship me and obey my commandments?

 

1. The enemy will use noise masking also.
   1. It will seem to be quiet… and solemn, but you have become “used” to some sounds… and the sounds have caused you to suffer loss.
   2. Complacency is a masking of the voice of God.
   3. Well I have always gotten by on this amount of prayer, study, etc.… I can continue…
   4. No……………….. Yesterday is gone……… and the praying for yesterday is gone………..
   5. Today the Lord needs to be worshipped… today our soul must be fed………… today. God must speak to me…
   6. You have gotten used to the silence of God…. Which is not silence… but you just have not been hearing…
   7. When Israel stopped listening to the man of God… they became dull of hearing…
   8. God has spoken to me more through the preaching of his word……… than anything else…  but I need to be listening…. And not think… well that’s not for me….
   9. It better be for me………… I need to hear from God!!!
   10. 1 Corinthians 1:21 for after that in the wisdom of god the world by wisdom knew not god, it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
   11. We need to reject the noise out of our life… and know this… God desires revival. God needs laborers and God desires to speak to his people………..
2. Accept the Lord and reject the things taking you away from prayer, giving, witnessing and revival!!

 

There is some noise we need to make though….

Psalms 107:1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for [he is] good: for his mercy [endureth] for ever.

Psalms 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say [so], whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

 

Has God been merciful to you?????

 

Are you redeemed????       Then say so!!!!

 

Are you thankful that this church has some prayer warriors………that I know if I need to go to battle… all I have to do is call and they will pack up and armor and get their sword and shield and be ready to go and take on all of hell…………

Because God said we have the power!!! Over all the power of the enemy!!!!

If hell says no ……… we say.  What so ever ye ask I my name believing it shall be done.

If hell says you are defeated……….. We say……… 8 rejoice not against me, o mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

If hell says sit down………… we say stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.

If hell says be sad… We say we are going to leap for joy!!

If hell says to be quiet…. We will worship……….. We will praise we will shout until hell falls apart……….. And goes running for the hills.  For his mercy endureth forever… forever.