In the Vine Podcast
Mondays with Mel: Why do we hate sin?
Following the vein of Zeal which Denize has beautifully broken down, this episode stemmed from one question: Why do we hate sin?
Although it's not exhaustive, it does give some insight into God's heart for us and our position as believers.
Tune in and enjoy!
- Duration:
- 28m
- Broadcast on:
- 15 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- aac
(upbeat music) - Welcome to our newest segment Mondays with Mel on In the Vine Podcast. These episodes, Melissa will be taking the opportunity to get creative, sharing biblical insight and teaching, hosting new guests and more. Stay tuned, and if you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to show your support, and like, share, and subscribe. Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Mondays with Mel with your host, Mel. Today I'm going to talk to you about a whole bunch of things, so just, you know, strap on for the ride, keep your hands and feet inside at all times, 'cause it's gonna get good. So the first thing that I wanna start with is righteous indignation. You know, you've heard me say that I'm in the season of my life where I've just drawn the line in the sand, and that I just refuse to back down, right? And so one of the things that I need in that is righteous indignation. And so I realized in my pursuit of that, and my cultivation of that is that Denise, you know, she wrote this amazing post for In the Vine, I hope you guys went, if you have not read it, please go ahead and make your way over to our page after this episode, and listen, I read her post about the word zeal. She also talked about it in our latest episode, in one of our episodes for In the Vine, and she kinda just broke down how God has been releasing and unraveling this revelation before her eyes since the beginning of this year, and it's really quite profound. And so when I use the term righteous indignation, think of the word zeal, okay? Because it really is that. And one thing that I think about every time I think of righteous indignation is actually Psalm 78. I actually have it written down because I didn't wanna butcher it. It says Psalm 78, then the Lord awoke as from sleep. Like a mighty warrior overcome by wine. He beat back his foes. He put them to everlasting shame. And so that, to me, paints a picture, right? I know that if you've ever been around drunk people, you've understood that when they wake up, or when they're in their drunken stupper, they become like they have the strength of like a million men, right? And so that's what I picture the Lord. I picture him getting up and just like being so angry and so zealous and so fervent in order to beat back his foes. And so I'm like, Lord, help me cultivate that inside of me because that's not something that you can muster up through emotion, you know? I think the counterfeit for a lot of things that we are supposed to be spiritually minded about end up being very, can be is, wait, yeah. The counterfeit is very carnal. So, for example, we can, instead of walking on righteous indignation and letting the Holy Spirit cultivate that inside of us, we can get angry and move out in the emotion of anger, right? Thinking that it's one of the same. That's what Moses did in the book of Exodus, where it says that, you know, he tried to bring deliverance to his people, but he brought it, he brought it, he tried to do it in the wrong way, right? Which he ended up having to flee from Egypt and he lived in the back of the desert for 40 something years. And so, that's the picture, right, of when we try to do it in our own strength versus when we try to, when we walk it out according to the Holy Spirit and through faith. So, in my pursuit of righteous indignation, I've been, you know, really cutting off some things and trying to inundate my mind with a whole bunch of really good sound teaching. And I ended up stumbling upon Todd White. Now, I remember listening to Todd White many years ago and his testimony is amazing. It's profound, but I never really just like subscribed to him or followed him or anything like that. But I stumbled upon him recently and I'm like, man, like this is not that I'm not surrounded by these kind of men, right, but to see it in other men that are not in my community and in my immediate fellowship, right? It's so good to see men of God really walking out, they're calling in a manly way. You know, he's very no nonsense, but at the same time, you know, it comes out of a place of compassion and out of a place of love. And so, I've really been, not a whole lot, but I've been listening to some of his teachings. And one of them, he started describing, he started talking about Christians, right? And how Christians as a whole, there seems to be like this pride in walking around broken. And it seems like the more broken we are, and when I say we, okay, I want you to know that I'm talking about, I mean it in a generic sense. I'm not talking about me, I'm not talking about you, it's just the body as a whole. We tend to think that the more broken that we are, the more like a soldier for Christ we are, right? And it's not so, it shouldn't be so. You know, I'm reminded of the words of Jesus when he told the people, when you fast, going to your, going to your secret place, right? He's like, wash your face, don't let anybody know that you're fasting, don't let anybody know that you're going through this suffering. Because the sympathy pretty much, the sympathy that you get from people is the reward that you get in heaven, either sympathy or the accolades, like, oh, you're so holy, like you're fasting, blah, blah, blah. And that's the reward that you're gonna receive. But if you wash your face and live your life, according to how you normally live it, then it says that your treasures would be laid up in heaven. And so to me, that's really profound. And I remember a long time ago, I went to go see this teacher and he was talking about how there's a difference between sympathy and there's a difference between sympathy and compassion. Sympathy is like, when somebody is like, oh, you're poor thing, like, come here, let me help you. Compassion is when somebody brings you an answer to a problem. When they see you in your brokenness and they give you a hand up, okay? And I'm going to circle back to this later. So make sure that you remember the difference between sympathy and compassion. So he's talking about these things and he's talking about Christians that are always like downtrodden. And he's talking about how we're so, again, generically speaking, right? We're so quick to be like, oh, I'm so sick, I'm depressed, I'm sad, I'm this, I'm that. And then he's like, stop that. That is the enemy's nature. It's the enemy that is rejected. It's the enemy that walks around sick. It's the enemy that walks around, like just walks around, defeated, right? And so, and when he said that, I, the Holy Spirit expanded that further in me. And I was like, he is so right. It's so easy for us to identify with Satan's nature as far as like feeling broken. And not rising up and saying, no, I'm not broken. Yeah, I may have like, for example, right? I know a lot of people have father issues and they use that as an excuse and as a crutch to not move forward in life or they grew up in bad circumstances and by no means, am I discrediting that? And by no means am I saying that those things weren't hurtful or they didn't mark you in some way, but at some point, you're gonna have to decide I'm done living in this bondage, right? Forgiveness. Isn't for, we've all heard this quote that not forgiving somebody is like drinking poison and expecting them to feel the harmful effects of it. It just doesn't make sense. And so when I realized that I was like, wait a minute, like, I'm not sick, Satan is sick. Why am I gonna take on this nature? I am made in my father's image. So I'm taking his nature on and he's not sick, he's not downtrodden, he's not rejected, he's not defeated, so I'm going to fight out of a place of the image of God, right? And I'm reminded of a teaching that one of my friends sent me that I had totally forgotten into another friend reminded me and so in the teaching was from Pastor Vlad and I don't know, I can't really recall his last name, part of it is because it's a unique last name and sorry for the shaking the mic keeps shaking because I'm just bringing pure thunder for you guys today. But anyway, so I don't really also subscribe to Pastor Vlad just for personal reasons, not justifiable at all because every time I listen to one of his messages, man, he's so good. He's somehow he's able to like take you into the deep places while allowing you to keep your floaties on and so he has such a gift of teaching and preaching. And so in this teaching that she sent me, I was talking about strengthening yourself in God. And so one of the things that he said, he's like, you're not a sick person trying to be healed, you're a healed person fighting sickness. And so when I was reminded of that by my other friend, I was like, oh, that's right. Like we're not fighting from trying to get victory, we're fighting from victory, right? And so as I pressed into that, I started realizing, wait a minute, like the things that are happening in my life are not mine and they're not mine. And so that's the thing about Satan is that he can only, we're the ones that give him the open door into our soul. I'm not saying outside circumstances, outside circumstances that are totally out of our control, that's totally, you know, for sure, like you can definitely accredit to those things to Satan. But the way that we react, the way that we respond, Satan can only control your soul or affect your soul to the level that you allow him, right? Because that's internal, that's you giving up your right, that's giving up your, that's you giving up your authority. And so I'm sure I'm not looking at that as a whole, but in the immediate, when I see that, you know, it makes perfect sense to me. So anyway, so with that being said, as I'm pressing into that, right? I'm like, okay, like righteous indignation, AKA zeal. I am like, okay, God, you know, I, how do I cultivate that? How do I get to a place of where I hate sin and where I hate sickness and where I hate everything that comes against you? And it plays, it's not like I love sin, right? It's not like I'm in a place where I'm like, oh, I don't treat yay, like it's not that at all. But it's just like, okay, like, yeah, don't do it, you know, like just don't do that. But it says in the word that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne. And so righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne. Then there has to be this zealous and this fervency of hatred against sin because it truly comes in and not that God can be just thrown, please, I'm not. Come on, it's the Lord. Like you're ready to be just Satan and you're ready to take the keys of sin and death, of hell and death. And so, but in an atmosphere where there's sin, right, there has to be an establishment of God's throne. And so we're the ones that carry that authority and on the earth, right? We're the ones that are the ambassadors and we're the ones that get to walk out in the authority of kingdom. I hope I haven't lost you guys. And so I don't think so though 'cause I talk a lot about this with a lot of our listeners. And so anyway, nonetheless, moving on. So I was talking to learn. I was like, how do I get to a place of hating sin? And the Lord reminded me of Psalm 139, right? I know that many people are acquainted with Psalm 139 and rightfully so. I know that I've read it when I've gone through seasons of insecurity or, you know, when one of my friends was pregnant, I would read this scripture over their baby and lo and behold, she's my God daughter now. Isn't that beautiful? Oh, God, God is so good. Anyway, sorry, I got taken back to that. So anyway, why do we hate sin? So Psalm 139, I remember like there's, it feels like Psalm 139 is like this. It's broken up into four different sections. And at the beginning of the Psalm, David is talking about how they are, how we can't escape from God's presence. And he's talking about God's omnipresence. And then he moves on to how we were being created in our mother's womb and how that creation in our forming is so intricate and it's so miraculous and it's so intimate with God. And he talks about how, and by the way, if you guys remember for our Mother's Day post, we did a post about how the root word for womb is also the root word for mercy. And so it's just beautiful to think, right, that we were knit together in our mother's mercy. And so that, that to me is so, it's beautiful. And so, you know, David, the way that I just had this, like not realization, but this moment of like reflection, right, it's that kind of moment that David was having, even more so because these are the ones that created these words together, right? And so however, in the third section, it's almost like when you're at the club, I mean, I know my listeners, they never been to a club, right? You guys have been always holding. But some of us have a story. And so I remember like, you know, there was times at the club when you're like vibing to a song and all of a sudden the DJ just like scratches a disc and he switches it over to either a different genre or a different song and you just like have to switch it up. And so it feels like this is what happened with David. That David was like having this intimate moment and all of a sudden he was like, ah, like just going after certain things. And so let me read it to you because it took me a long time for me to reconcile this, but it was actually the question that I, the question that would be answered in the season for me. And so God is so cool that he does that. But so let me read it to you. And I'm reading out of the passion translation just because I don't study from this version, but when I just wanna get more like supplementary words and stuff and just a more romantic picture, I, most of the time I tend to read it from here, especially songs like this. So anyway, let me read to you what it says. Verse 19. Oh God, come and slay these blood, they're seeing murderous men. For I cry out, depart from me, you wicked ones. See how they blaspheme your sacred name and lift up themselves against you, but all in vain. Lord, can't you see how I despise those who despise you? For I agree when I see them rise up against you. I have nothing but complete hatred and disgust for them. Your enemies shall be my enemies. So when I, when I used to think about that before, I'm like, how, like what does this have to do with the other bed as I was asking God, like how do I get to a place of hating sin? And moreover, the actual question is, why do we hate sin? That was my actual question. Why do we hate sin? And the reason for that is because it separates us from God. Yes, it's bad, sin is bad. And most of the time it's to the destruction of our own bodies, to the destruction of our own souls. Absolutely. But why, and I think it's in either first or second Timothy, Paul tells Timothy that God desires on men to be saved, right? So if that's God's desire, obviously he wishes for nobody to go to hell. However, it's our sin that sends us to hell. It's our lack of, well, moreover, it's our lack of accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. But he created that in order for us to be able to live with him for eternity. So his plan has always been intimacy. And so sin, when we die in our sin, it separates us from him, right? And when we're living for Christ and when we're in with him, it keeps us from his promises. So let me move on from that. So Psalm 139, I highly encourage that you read it because it's just, it's really beautiful. And so as I was thinking about that, and as I was, and as I'm studying that, one thing that I've also tapped into is how, you know, I'm talking about Satan's nature and these things. And so when we start realizing that, okay, I'm not depressed, that's something that belongs to Satan. It's not, I'm sure it could happen, but it's not like all of a sudden like that thing just breaks. Right, so for example, I had the realization that I am not a sick person trying to be healed. I'm a healed person trying to be fighting sickness. I mean, and so I was reminded like a few weeks ago, somebody brought up that scripture, that story in Acts where it says that there was this paralyzed man whose family, I think it was, would take him to the beautiful gate, which was the entrance of the temple. And it says that they would put him there every day and he would ask for arms from people. And so pretty much it was like he was asking for handouts. Right. And so it says that one day Paul, and I forgot the other guy's, the other man's name, they were going to the temple to pray. And this man was sitting there. And so then he asked them for arms. And it says that Peter fixed his eyes on the man. And the man looked at Peter and like with expectation that he was going to give him what he asked for. And so Peter said, what you're asking, I'm paraphrasing okay, 'cause I don't have the scripture and I forgot to write it down. But in essence, Peter looks at this man and he says, well, you're asking for, I don't have, but what I do have, I'm going to give to you. And the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk. And so he gets up and he's healed and he's strengthened and all these things. And I remember when they brought up this story, I just felt like so much anger rise up inside of me because it brings me back, you know, I'm just so tired, right, of the arms. And please, like, let me put this into a more spanned out, zoomed out context because the church is called to give arms and it's hard to take care of those that are needy and all those things absolutely 100%. Even in the book of Acts, it talks about how Paul would receive arms for his journey. And so it's not necessarily a bad thing. But when we look at it in the context of this man here, people that would go to the temple, they would give him arms. And so if we look at it, this man, even though he received arms, his situation wasn't changed, right, because he would go in day in and day out. And so as I thought about that, I'm like, yeah, like I'm tired of giving arms. Like I want to be able to go up to somebody and be like in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk and not just bring relief for the moment but bring deliverance for a lifetime. Again, as I illustrated with a story that I'm a shoot, we already filmed the last episode and I talk about this in a different story but can you imagine this man who used to just sit at the gate day in, day out, what his life looked like after? Can you imagine what that looked like? And I'm not going to get into details because I don't want to spoil the last episode but to me, it's so profound. And so that's the kind of person that I want to become, right? That's the kind of anointing that I know that we all want to carry. That's the kind of authority that we all want to walk in because, you know, and today actually, I was reminded, so this is the second time that I filmed this episode. I had filmed it yesterday but I didn't feel settled in my spirit so I decided to re-record it. And today in prayer, I prayed out this story on Sunday and what was cool is that our apostle actually touched on a few points that I'm touching on and I'm like, okay, cool. Like I feel the peace of God on this. And so, but I just, I felt like I had to re-record and so here we are, right? And so in the story, when I prayed it out, I was reminded, Peter had the revelation of Jesus being the son of God, right? And what was Jesus' response to Peter? It was, yes, Peter, this revelation came from God, not from man, and on this rock, I will build my church. And so we know that Peter's name stands, can be translated to rock. And so when I'm reminded of the story of Acts, it's like it was the church that brought him, the real church, the way, the true and living God, the bride of Christ that brought this man deliverance. And so I'm like, absolutely, that's what I want. Like I want to be able to walk out in that authority and I want to be able to receive that kind of change. I don't want just relief for the moment. I want transformation, right? And so with that being said, as I'm pressing in for healing, my thing is healing, right? And I've shared that with you guys. I've realized, right? And I know you guys have remembered that I keep talking about not being carnally minded, but being spiritually minded. And the carnal mind can look at the symptoms, can look at the things that are happening right now and say, the arms will do, it's okay. I tolerate this, I'm passive with this. As long as I'm comfortable, I'm okay, right? But the spiritually minded person will fight to take on and to reveal the nature of Christ inside of them. We are not called to be downtrodden. We are not called to be defeated. If that was the case, then why did Jesus have to give up his life? If we were just meant to survive, we're called to live in victory. I had a little bit of trouble reconciling this because I'm like, God, we still suffer sadness and we still go through these things. I'm like, look at Paul, right? He went through all these crazy things. Like, how can I reconcile this for people and for myself and make it seem as though, 'cause what I'm not saying is walk around in an ethereal state all the time, like I get it, life happens. But the thing about Paul is that he had tapped into a supernatural aspect of God, right? The martyrs, real life martyrs in today's day and age. Like, the reason why they're able to endure so much is because they have the joy of Christ. Stephen and the Bible, while he was being stoned, he looked up to heaven and he said, I see the son of God high and lifted up. And he's like, Lord, don't hold this sin against them. He was talking about the people that were stoning him in the moment. But we take on sicknesses and we take on emotional turmoil, being so carnal. And I'm not condemning, if anything, I'm speaking, I'm speaking life, you know? And the Bible says that if we weren't joined together with the Holy Spirit, then we would die. But because we are joined together with the Holy Spirit of God, then he imparts life into us. When I focus on Holy Spirit and I focus on the fact that he imparts life into me, it feels like I get another dose and I'm getting stronger and I'm getting more anointed to walk out in my calling. And so with that being said, there has to be a moment where we just have to rise up and say, you know what, enough is enough. I'm taking on the things that God has given us and I'm going to fight from that place. I'm going to fight to receive and I'm gonna fight from it. And so it's really important to study out who we are in Christ, it's so important. And you know, the romantic stuff, like as far as like Psalm 139, you know, to me I call that romantic, 'cause it really is romantic. Like I just love to know that the Lord was so intricate in his ways towards me. But there's also those scriptures, right? Where it talks about us being co-heritors, I don't know if I could ever say that correctly, with Christ. Where it talks about us being a chosen generation priest unto our God. Those scriptures that talk about us being people that are able to cast out demons, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, like we have to start believing that. You know, if it's anything that I've been convicted on these past few months is it's one thing to know the word and it's another thing to apply the word. And now I don't make, like now there's just nothing that can separate me from that. Because if I'm gonna believe in God then I'm gonna believe everything. And of course, like, you know, we have to fight our flesh and we have to fight the opponent, right? But do not grow weary and doing well because in due season you will reap our harvest. God will always come through. And so stop taking on the nature of Satan and fight and live from the nature of our loving father. And as the word says, we have received the spirit of adoption that cries out Abba Father. It's beautiful. We need to live from that and stop being complacent and receiving the arms from people. You know, it doesn't matter if somebody thinks or knows what I'm going on. I'm not saying like, you know, don't, I'm not saying to not share what's going on with you. But when I share what's going on with me now, I share it with people that I know are faith-filled. I'm careful with my words and what I confess because that's really important. And no longer pay attention to the reports of doctors. Instead, I tell the report of doctors what God has said. And please, I'm not saying that I'm completely perfect at it and it's not, I'm not saying that I'm like bold in it. It's just a muscle that I'm developing because going back to the beginning, righteous indignation is cultivated. It's not emotional and it's not something that we can walk out on our own flesh. Righteous indignation comes from the very spirit of God, that zeal, that fiery word that says death, where is your sting? So with that being said, I hope you guys were blessed by this. I hope that you were encouraged and I hope that your hands were strengthened. You guys have what it takes to walk out in the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ literally already finished everything on the cross. He gave us everything that we could ever possibly need. We just have to believe in it, fight for it and fight from it. Okay, so be blessed. Make sure you check out our Instagram, check out the post that Denise did about the word zeal, check out the rest of it while you're there. And don't forget to follow us. Our also on YouTube, make sure you subscribe and make sure you ring or tap on that little bell so that you can get notified every time that we post something new. And make sure, as always, to comment, like and share, please send us your testimonies. This past week, we received a stunning testimony that I wish I could dive into, but out of respect to their request of privacy, I'm not gonna share it, but you guys in the vine has just been blessed by God. That's all I can say. And so we're so grateful for your support. Make sure that you stay in touch with us, that you keep in touch with us, and that you provided us your feedback because ultimately we wanna hear from you and we want to do first what God wants us to do. And secondly, we wanna see how that can serve you. So stay tuned, see you soon, and thanks for tuning in. (upbeat music) - Thank you for listening. If you liked this episode or we answered any of your questions or you have a question that you would like to be discussed in future episodes, let us know in the comments or share on social media. And don't forget to visit our website for more information about our upcoming events, and be sure to hit subscribe so you won't miss out on the amazing content and guests we have lined up for you. Shalom and God bless. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
Following the vein of Zeal which Denize has beautifully broken down, this episode stemmed from one question: Why do we hate sin?
Although it's not exhaustive, it does give some insight into God's heart for us and our position as believers.
Tune in and enjoy!