Repent or Repeat – Part III
LIVING ON VACATION
Job 22nd Chapter
23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be
built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 24
Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the
brooks.
As summer approaches many of us will be taking well – deserved vacations.
While we plan to go see family, friends, relatives and Mickey Mouse, let’s ask
ourselves, "What is the purpose of a vacation?" In many cases it’s
basically to get us away from something; whether it’s a job that’s stressing us
out or a mundane routine we are in. Whatever the case, we can surely say that a
vacation’s purpose is to get us away from something.
Now let’s talk about being too close to sin. When it comes to sin, our
repentance moves us away from it. When we make the quality decision to do a
"180," we choose to move far from the sin that kept us in bondage and
in darkness. Yet, at this stage our repentance is not complete. To explain more
clearly I need to give you an example.
Let’s say we have a young man who is living a life of sin. One day he goes
to church and keeps on going to church. Finally at that church he repents of
his sins. Is he O.K. now? Yes he is, FOR NOW because he is in church. But what
happens when he goes back to his apartment where all the music he used to
listen to is, or the marijuana he used to smoke is, or where the Playboy
magazines are? He can stand "smack-dab" in the middle of his
apartment and rebuke those things in the name of Jesus all day and night, but
until he throws them out of his apartment, they probably won’t move at all.
They will be close to him just like they used to be.
This is why repenting consists of not only "turning away" but
"putting away." If our young brother doesn’t "put away" the
things that are keeping him in bondage, then he’s only going on vacation from
his sins. And when he comes back home, the vacation will be over. Now one thing
I really like about this scripture is that it tells us, "if we return to
the Almighty we shall be built up." That dope that was keeping a brother
down will do only one thing: keep him down. But once he puts the dope, the
music and everything that is ungodly far away from his tabernacle (body), he
will be built up. Our brother will be restored, not only physically and
spiritually, but financially as well.
Now I hear the critics saying, "Come on Brother Yon, how can sin keep
me broke??!!" Well, I’ll put it to ya’ this way. What we call sin, the
world calls "a habit." When we think of a habit that keeps us broke,
we immediately think of only two: "drugs & alcohol." However, there
are too many to name, and all of them reside within the confines of sin,
especially NOT TITHING!!! Now don’t jump to the conclusion of this message if
you’re not tithing. If you’re not tithing you need to get this. We are clearly
told in Malachi 3:10 to tithe — no excuses.
The tithe itself is a form of repentance from the world’s (devil’s)
financial system to God’s financial system. Your tithe is a covenant between
you and God. Once you’re in covenant look at the result in the 24th verse,
"Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones
of the brooks." Look at that again!!!! THEN SHALT THOU LAY UP GOLD AS
DUST!!!! GOLD AS DUST!!!! GOLD AS DUST!!! Now, don’t take this personal, but if
I came over to some of your houses, I would find PLENTY of dust. I tell you the
truth; you come to my house you will find plenty of dust!!! But from now on,
every time I see a dust in my house (AND I’M A TITHER), guess what I’m going to
start confessing? GOLD AS DUST!!!!
Child of God, if we could put our sins away and turn to the Almighty, we
will begin to walk in the increase of the Almighty. Not only will we have the
gold as dust, but we will also have it as stones of the brooks (24th). God’s
got increase on His mind!!! God’s got your increase on His mind!!! He’s got our
wealth in His hands and He’s ready to disperse it. [Haggai 2:8 – "The
silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.]
I don’t know about you, but one day Veronica and I got tired of having
vacation prosperity (prosperity only on pay days). It’s time for us to put the
problems away so that we can LIVE ON vacation and not have to GO ON vacation.
The problems are close to us because it’s the sin that we keep hoarding up in
our houses and in our hearts. It’s time for us to loose those sins and sinful things
and let them go. If it hasn’t done anything for you by now — let it go. If that
devil is keeping a strangle hold on you, rebuke him, repent, and then put him
away!!! Stop continually running that debt up!! It is God’s will for you to be
out of debt. Get rid of that "reefer"; it’s God ‘s will for you to be
clean. Stop hanging out with friends that drink if you want to stop drinking,
fornicating or doing what they are doing. You are a child of the Most High God
and it’s time you start LIVING YOUR VACATION!!!!
