December 18, 2009

• Destroy the Yoke – Pastor Don Moore

  I am so glad I was able to download this sermon for you – INCREDIBLE SERMON, if you don’t watch any other sermon this is one to watch!  I have included the transcript, but trust me, the visuals are worth seeing as illustrations.  It is about 25 minutes long.

  Below is the transcript. What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says. It is hard to visualize some of the action so when there were different speakers I put their names in (parentheses).  Trust me, watching this is better than reading – I guarantee you will come away smiling.

  SAY AMEN
  SHOW 138
  DESTROY THE YOKE
  11/08/09

  You know, the Lord, by His Spirit will confirm what you’re supposed to do.  [amen]  So I’m just trying to be obedient here and give you some fresh manna.  Father, in the name of Jesus as we open this Bible, as we look into the anointing, bless us with fresh manna from Heaven, Give us understanding.  Let not my words be confused by the dull and the dimwitted.  But let them be expressed by the Light of God, which stirs in our hearts with understanding.  We pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  [amen] 

  In the book of Isaiah, in the tenth Chapter…are you there?  [yes]  We want to start, right, I want to hit the nail on the head right away so that we get this right away, okee doke.  [ok]  I want to begin in the 27th verse right on it.  Let’s read it together, come on.  “It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.”  Let’s read it again please.  “It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.”  Amen!  [amen] 

  I just need two volunteers to come up here.  Any two, male, female, doesn’t matter.  Here’s one male and here’s another male.  Ok, come right up here on the altar with me… I’m going to use this mike stand here.  This will be a beautiful thing… The Lord is giving us a picture from the agricultural world.  And if we don’t know the agricultural things we won’t get a clear understanding of this passage of scripture.  Now, let’s assume that these two strong men are oxes.  [laughter]  And I’m going to use these oxes to plow my field.  Alright? 

  Now, if I decide, and we’re just going to plow the field, and I say to these oxes, “Oh come on oxes, just follow me.”  and I walk, what will happen?  [we're going to stand here]  They’re going to stand here.  Or they’re going to go eat somewhere else, or they’re just going to wander around.  So, as the farmer in charge, I realize over a period of time, that if I need them to do as they’re told, and I need them to follow me, we’re going to plow this field, plant seed, and produce a crop, I have to find a way to hook them up.  To go where I want them to go, when I want them to go.  So this would be a big piece of wood, and I would take this big piece of wood and I would put it over their shoulders.  Since you guys aren’t official, really you’d have to hold those here for a minute.

  Now, I put it over their shoulders, and then I would say come with me and go with me, and would they go?  No, they still wouldn’t cause they can go, they’re free to drop it, or to go somewhere else.  Is this not so?  Ok, give me the big basket over there.  Thank you, Sister Joy.  And give me the same thing on that one… Now, if I was mechanical, and I want to make sure they go where I tell them, if I control their necks, I got ‘em.  They have to go where I tell them.  So, I would put this over his neck and over his neck, [laughter]  and then all I have to do is get something to tie it to this bar.  Now even, you know, nonmechanical people can see this example.  So, all I have to do is tie this, connect it here and here, and connect it there and there, and now, I connect a rope to here and I go, let’s go.  They have to go where I go.  I say, “Now, let’s back up.”  They have to back up.  “Let’s go right.”  They have to come right. “Let’s go left….Left.”  [laughter]  They have to go left.  Does everybody get this example?  [yes] 

  Now, they can see….look how far left that way they can look. Come on, they can only see a little ways that way and a little bit that way.  Can they see behind them?  [no]  No, they cannot.  Alright, can they see all the way up?  Can you guys lift your heads all the way?  No, they can only go a little bit up.  They can only see where they are walking, and that’s good enough for me.  But other than that, these dudes are yoked.  [that's right]  I got them yoked up.  [laughter]  I can take them where I want to go, whether they want to go or not.  [right]  Correct?  [yes, yes]  Where I want them to go or not. 

  Ok, now Minister Joy, would you come up here please.  I need you to just sit over there for a second.  Come on. … [laughter]  (Joy) You’ve got to have two oxen the same size, by the way.  (Pastor Don) You going to let me teach this?  (Joy) Yes, sir.  [laughter] … (Pastor Don) Now, can you guys see this alright?  You’re going to see it better now.  I want everybody to get this.  Cause we quote these scriptures and have no idea what they’re talking about.  (Joy) Too tall, because it’s choking me.  Now, it’s, you’re choking.  [laughter]  (Pastor Don) Obviously they are unequally yoked.  ah, ha.  He can carry way more weight and last longer.  She may be more agile, and can turn quicker, but I have a problem when I go to plow the field, right, he will probably eventually lift her right off the ground.  Yep, yep.  Or kill her.  They are unequally yoked.  Can we see this?  [yes]  Alright? 

  So, they are not in agreement, not of same mind.  Not going the same direction.  Not going with the same strength.  Not going with the same understanding.  The yoke prevents them from getting out of line to a point, but if they are unequal, when plowing the field.  Let’s say, if they started plowing the field, he has a bigger stride, he has a bigger stride.  He takes…(Joy) sorry, I don’t mean to wreck this but I’m choking here.  (Pastor Don) You have, you’re destroying my yoke.  [laughter]  No.  I’m working at it.  They would end up in a situation where I’m plowing, or leading them, plowing in a circle.  Because over a large space he takes bigger steps.  Right.  And so, he’s going to pull her to one side and not the other.  Thank you, you did wonderful. 

  Therefore, I have to go and get, let’s see… Come on, come on… This is better.  But not yet perfect.  Brother Dwane, come to me… No, the keys are alright… ok… I’m going to yoke him up.  [laughter]  Now, what are they doing?  [laughter]  What are you guys doing?  Now I’m more equally yoked.  Right?  They have about the same stride, about the same step.  He’s just a little bit taller, but not enough that they’ll pull too far that way.  Unequally yoked.  Now here’s what the scripture says. 

  It says, because of the anointing, the yoke is destroyed…. Because of what?  [the anointing]  It is the anointing that destroys the yoke.  ok?  Thank you gentlemen.  Thank you gentlemen.  Thank you gentlemen.  Thank the gentlemen.  [great job, applause]  Thank you gentlemen. 

  Now this scripture has been, this scripture has been abused and misused  because we don’t get that agricultural picture.  And so we use it, we use it improperly.  We have to understand that being unequally yoked doesn’t mean necessarily the same thing that the Lord is trying to convince us. 

  We put the emphasis on the yoked part.  God is putting the emphasis on the anointed part.  [amen] 

  It is the anointing that destroys.  [right]  Breaks, in some scriptures it says breaks the yoke.  Destroys the yoke/breaks it.  And here’s what it is saying.  The adversary, the enemy, the devil, over time and life yokes us.  He puts something around our necks so that he can lead us to where he wants us to go.  [right]  He prevents us from looking fully all the way around and having an ability to see the whole picture.  He limits our view.  He also prevents us from looking fully up to God because the yoke is in a downward position.  [that's right]  So it is a picture of how the enemy binds us. 

  We end up being yoked then by our feelings, for he works through our feelings.  We end up being yoked by our thinking, for he works through our thinking.  We get bound by traditions.  We get bound by customs.  We get yoked into this is the way things have always been done mentality.  This is the way it’s always been done, don’t break with tradition.  And then we find this, that his immoral attitudes can lock us in.  You know, let’s not be confused.  Sin feels good for the moment.  Long term sin is always going to feel bad.  But for the moment, you’re getting high, you feel good when you get high.  Or at least you think.  You’re actually, you’re only altered.  You’re not necessarily feeling good.  You are in an altered state.  But if you don’t like where you are, [ah, hunh] Then the altered state feels like a good thing. 

  So the devil convinces us, because he’s got us yoked, that we don’t see the full problem, that that type of drug behavior and constant use, will lead us into trouble or into difficulty and keeps us from being able to see the Lord.  A gossip, gossip feels good… Come on, let’s just tell the truth.  It feels good to talk people down and build yourself up.  We feel good.  We feel good grinding them out.  Getting on the phone and grinding them out.  We always don’t give all the information.  We only give part of the information.  But the part that we give makes us feel good and puts them down.  And therefore we step up onto the, you know, onto the pedestal of our own pride… Come on, we’re just telling the truth.  But it becomes a yoke.  It becomes a shortened version of what we should see.  We only see a little bit about the person and we give limited information about the person.  They don’t tell, the gossip never tells you the motive or the reason that the person did it.  All they tell you is what they did and then puts them down and makes fun of them. 

  So, being unequally yoked, he’s trying to get us to see that the devil yokes us.  He binds us.  He locks us, generation unto generation.  So, if poverty is a yoke in a family, he passes it on to the next generation, the next generation, the next generation. If sexual abuse is, the same way, The next generation.  Of violence, the next generation, the next generation.  And so these, all of sin, is a yoke.  Say it.  [all of sin is a yoke]  All of sin is a yoke.  And how about habit?  Bad habit is what?  [a yoke]  It’s a yoke.  We repeat our behavior.  Because we’re limited in what we can do and what we can see.  Alright. 

  Now, what the scripture says is that the anointing will destroy that yoke.  [yes]  In other words, something that we’ve done always, repeated behavior, thinking, yoked thinking, yoked thinking, you know.  I just get so upset when people are, “I can’t” people.  Or this one, and I don’t know why we deal in absolutes.  “It’ll never work.” What do you mean, it will never work?  Absolutes.  If it will never work, we’d still have square wheels.  [laughter]  You know.  I’m surprised, that was good.  Only a few of you got that…

  So, unequally yoked, is referring to the fact that people are in this yoke and they are bound.  We have taken unequally yoked to mean one thing, that we’re involved with a nonbeliever.  We’re involved with a nonbeliever.  If that was a correct interpretation of it, then why is there more divorce in the Church than there is out of the Church?… Anybody thinking?  Your wheels turning?  And here’s the reason.  Because a person has accepted Jesus as Lord doesn’t mean they have made Him LORD.  Because they’ve accepted Him as Lord doesn’t mean He is CEO, Chief Executive Officer in charge.  It doesn’t mean that they have learned correct behavior.  It doesn’t mean that they have broken out of the yoke [yes]  that binds them and holds them into bad behavior or bad thinking. 

  I was sitting with a young lady.  She was so interested in this man, and I said, “You know, you need to bring him in.  Let’s talk about this.”  She brought the man in and in this particular case she was, “I can’t marry this guy.  We are unequally yoked.”  And I said, “Why do you say that?”  And she says, “Well, because he doesn’t go to church.”… And I says, “Well, that’s not what the scripture’s really talking about.  Let me meet this guy and let’s find out some things.”  You know, the young man sat down and he says, he says, “I didn’t grow up in church.  I still don’t understand these things.”  He says, “But I do understand morals and ethics, good behavior.”  I found this guy had a higher standard of character than most people that I knew.  The difference was, no one had taught him the Gospel.  No one had introduced him to Jesus the Christ.  No one had sat down and taken the time to disciple the young man.  I told the young lady, I said, “Well, let’s start some marriage counseling.  Let me just disciple this young man.  He’s going to be alright.”  You know, he turned out fine.  It was just a matter of somebody speak to him, answer his questions, because why?  He had good character.  We have no trouble getting people saved if they have some character.  [that's right]  Cause the truth will set them free.  Will make them free.  But we have to get some information. 

  I know this isn’t a popular thing, but just because somebody goes to church.  You know the wolf is in the church?  [that's right]  He’s just wearing sheep’s clothing, but he’s a wolf.  How are you all doing?  Everybody alright?  [yeah]  Huh?  The wolf is in the Church.  So we have to be careful.  It’s not about Church, it’s about finding out who is the person here. (points to heart) Who is, what is their character, their nature and their makeup.? 

  Then, if you have a person with character, who’s with a person who has no character, who sits in my office and says, “I hate God, I don’t want God, I don’t want religion, I don’t want you and I only want her for her body.  But I’m not interested in anything else.”  Guess what?  She’s unequally yoked.  [that's right]  If that’s what she’s going to seek to stay with.  If you got that, wave at me.  Let me know.  Alright. 

  Being unequally yoked is if you’re going to start a business, and you’re going to involve yourself in that business with someone who has no character.  Doesn’t have an understanding of your moral code.  You see, cause a Christian business person has to have the highest level of moral code.  [amen]  You don’t cheat.  You don’t lie.  You pay your taxes.  And you do business correctly.  But you can get with someone who says they’re a Christian and they don’t do all of those things.  [that's right]  Well glory.  Hallelujah…  Everybody got that?  [yes]  So we don’t go into business with a heathen… [that's right]  We clear?  [yes]  Don’t go into business with someone who hates God. Don’t hook up your personal life with an atheist who doesn’t want God.  You tell them, “Hey, you get God, then we can hook up.”  But before then, their character is not going to line up with yours.  It’s unequally yoked. Alright.

  Now it says that the yoke, the sinful nature, the way of thinking, the limited view and vision, inability to look up and down, and see and whatever, whatever, it’s not talking about the label over the house.  It’s talking about the content of the house.  [yes]  Everybody walks around with a label saying that this is what I am, but we need to get down to the issue of content. [that's right]  Alright?  I said, “Alright?’  [right]  Yes, so, a Christian believer is going to have a hard time making a relationship with a muslim.  [umn hmn]  You are unequally yoked.  The reason is you have two different gods and two different moral codes.  [right]  So you’re gonna, you’re going to run into a problem.  Amen?  [amen]  How about that?  [yep]  Can a Catholic and a Methodist get married and work it out?  [yep]  Yeah.  The code basically is the same.  It’s just the fringe around the door.  We have to walk through the fringe around the door.  But they could be unequally yoked if the Catholic believes that only Catholics are going to Heaven, and nobody else can be saved.  Then they’re unequally yoked.  [right]  Why?  Because then the Methodist is living with someone who doesn’t agree with their topic of salvation and therefore their house is going to stay divided.  Everybody got that?  [yes]  We’re good to go?  [yes] 

  Now.  What is the anointing then?  That will destroy this thing.  The anointing will destroy the yoke.  The word, “anointing,” in and of itself means to smear or to apply, you know, ointment to … an interesting thing in the Hebrew, it has a connection to, in the sense of smearing as to paint. .. I loved that when I found that.  Smearing as to paint.  So the anointing will cover over that which was there, will cover it over.  What else is the anointing?  The anointing is the Presence of God.  Or the ability of God.  Or the charisma of God.  Or the power of God.  The anointing is the Presence of God.  The anointing.  What do we do.  We use it to consecrate and to set someone apart.  The oil, why we put the oil on them to consecrate them.  To say that they are special unto God.  Sanctified, set apart.  We consecrate them. 

  But the anointing is usually in reference to, we anoint them to set them apart for service.  Can you say service?  [service]  We’re not just anointing them to make them feel good.  We expect them to do something.  [amen]  God anoints a person to be king.  He expects that the anointing of the king will come upon him and he will serve as a king.  We anoint someone to preach.  Jesus said in Isaiah 61, He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel.”  [right]  He didn’t say He anointed me to sit down and do nothing.  The anointing is not for do nothings.  The anointing is not for I’m just going to sit.  There is no anointing, listen.  There is no anointing for “I’m a pew sitter”.  [amen. amen]  I haven’t found that in Scripture.  Come to the altar, let’s anoint you to do nothing.  [laughter, probably not] 

  The anointing is for a purpose.  Can you say, “for a purpose?’  [for a purpose]  It is designed that you are anointed, being recognized that you will be empowered by the Grace of God, you will be empowered to do something.  You’re being set in an office or a position for a function.  “How God…”  Acts Chapter 10:38 How God anointed Jesus Christ with…. what?  …with power and might… to do something.  TO carry out a mission. 

  Christ, the word, “Christ, Christos,” it means the Messiah, but it also means the Anointed One.  That God has anointed Him with a special anointing.  That anointing is to accomplish something.  Jesus then took that anointing and anointed the 12 then anointed the 70, and then anointed the 120.  And then anointed all of us to function according to the Gifts of the Spirit to do something. 

  There are two aspects of it that I want to discuss with you.  One is to consecrate and to set in office, to smear or oil up somebody to set in office and another is, an action, oil, oiling, anointing, an action of service.  An action of service.  Right now I am ministering to you under the teaching anointing.  God anointed me to do this.  Therefore, you should be feeling and sensing as I go through this, you should pick up that the anointing is getting stronger the longer that I go.  It’s getting clearer.  What God wants me to say is becoming more clear.  He’s lining it up.  And guess what?  That anointing has the ability to supernaturally, if you tune into it, it stirs up your anointing.  [yes]  Lord have mercy.  Somebody get this.  It stirs up whatever anointing is in you and you begin to listen, not just with your ears, but now some of you, I can see by your eyes, your heart is beginning to listen and you’re beginning to say, “ahhhhh, let me get some of that.” 

  Now, why do not more people get healed?  Is it that the people that are praying for them are not anointed?  [no]  Or is it that there’s another problem, lack of understanding.  It’s a problem of understanding.  More people would get healed if they understood the anointing…. More people would get healed if they understood the anointing.  People come to the altar, you know, to get prayed with, and that’s a good thing.  That’s a wonderful thing.  But sometimes when they come, there’s no anointing.  [hmmm]  Lord have mercy.  I’m trying to help somebody.  The anointing is the ability of God to consecrate for service, to set apart, to place a special ability and empowerment. 

  Now, the anointing is also an action.  Didn’t I say that?  [yes]  It is also an action.  It is that manifestation of that empowerment and that ability.  How many of you here pray?  Put your hands down.  But you all don’t pray in the anointing always.  [amen]  Sometimes when you really are praying in the anointing you are praying in the Spirit.  Whether you know what you are saying or whether you know what you are not saying, you are in the anointing and your intellect shuts down and you’re praying from your heart… There is a place of prayer that is anointed and a place of prayer that is not.  There is faith that is an action but there is faith that has no anointing on it. 

  Let me give you a couple of examples.  Can I give you a couple of examples?  [yes]  You can be home praying for your children and you’re praying like this.  “Lord, when I go to Wal-mart, I want to buy two loaves of bread, a carton of milk, and bless the kids.  Amen.” … Was that anointed?  [no]  No.  It wasn’t.  [laughter]  No anointing on that.  You know, “Lord, I’m going to pray for Pastor Don.  Lord, bless Pastor Don and help his wife to be able to put up with him, in Jesus’ Name.”  Was that anointed?  [no]  No.  There is a disconnect between your spirit man and your intellectual man, so let’s be honest, most of the time when you pray you are praying out of your carnality… That doesn’t mean you’re praying something bad.  It’s just carnal.  Meaning it is just physical, mental.  And sometimes you come to the altar like that.  You say, “Well, oil me up Pastor Don,”  you know.  [laughter]  … You know, “You made a plea for people with a bad back.  I have a bad back, so I’m just up here, you know, pray for me.”… Is it sincere?  Yeah, you’re sincere.  I’m not making fun of your carnality.  I’m not making fun of your carnality.  [laughter]  It’s sincere, but is it effective?  No!  Is it anointed?  No!  Does it pull on the anointing?  No!  You just prayed and you just prayed and you might as well turn the radio on, and talk to yourself.  [mmmmm] 

  Have a blessed day!

  Heather

  • 7:37 am
  • 6 Comments