Joel Urshan - THE HOUSE OF FLESH

First Kings, chapter 16, and I'm going to begin reading at the eighth verse. I'll also be reading from Romans 13. First Kings 16:8-10: "In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Ela the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah. Two years. His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in the house in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah. Zimri went in and smote him and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah; and reigned in his stead."

I want to read to you from Romans 13:11-14: "And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying: But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

I want to speak to you for a few moments on this first night of GC on this subject: the house of flesh. The house of the flesh. Could you lift up your voice with me and ask God to bless the preaching of his word and this gathering of his people? Lord, I thank you for every soul that has gathered into this place. Lord, I believe you have us here on purpose. Lord, I believe that you have gathered us from wherever we were and that you have each and every person here by divine appointment because you desire to speak into our hearts and into our minds, and I pray that we will receive the word of the Lord. Help us, I pray, in Jesus' name. Help every one of us, God, to receive your word, to obey your word, to be changed by the power of the Holy Ghost. Oh, give him praise for it today. Somebody shout, in Jesus' name. Somebody shout, Amen. And amen. God bless you. You may be seated in the name of the Lord. Brother Young, Brother Dren Young, what a powerful ministry of worship and this great praise team and musicians. Thank the Lord for it.

I want to speak to you tonight about—I want to speak specifically about three particular subjects, if you please. One being you—you, the person that God wants you and I to be; the us that is created in Christ Jesus; what the Bible would call the new man; that that is in Christ. You know that when you're in Christ, everything changes. You're not who you used to be. When you're in Christ, your heart changes, your mind changes, your outlook changes, your your your your heart—the tenderness of your heart increases when you are a new man and a new woman in Christ Jesus. The Bible says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The Bible says that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The scripture says that we sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The Bible also explains to us that in Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and that we are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power.

So I want to talk to you about the fact that you are a special person to God. He has made you in his image. He has called you, and called you out of darkness into this marvelous light, that you should show forth his praises. You—I'm talking to you. I'm talking to the person next to you, and I'm talking to you. You are a chosen generation; you are a holy nation; you are a peculiar people; you are a royal priesthood. That's who you are. You are furnished unto good works. You are a person that is to be made and molded in the image of the almighty God. That is his plan; that is his purpose. You are to have peace; you are to have no condemnation; you are to be free from fear. I'm talking about you, the person who is in Christ Jesus. You are supposed to have a family devoted to the things of God. You are to have a marriage that is at peace and full of love and full of life and full of joy. That is who you are. Don't let the world define you; let the word define you. Don't let the world tell you who you are, and don't let your biological lineage tell you who you are. You let the Lord of Glory tell you who you are. It is he that hath made us, not we ourselves. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. He gets to define who we are. That is who we are.

I'm also going to talk to you a little bit about your adversary, because you do have an adversary, and he hates who you are. He despises who God has made you to be. He would do anything if he could confuse you as to your identity. He wants to make you feel worthless; he wants to make you feel useless. He he wants to make you feel like there is no purpose for you in this world. He wants to cause you to think you are destined to lose, lose; destined to miss out; destined to fail and to falter. That's his desire for you. You have an adversary. He is not—he is not an innocent entity; he is a—he is a horrible entity. The Bible describes him as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The Bible says we are to give no place to the devil. The scripture helps us to understand that this devil that we're talking about is on the constant prowl, looking for somebody to trip up, looking for somebody to to cause to fail, cause to to lose it all. The Bible describes a moment when he appeared before God along with the sons of God, and the Bible says that the Lord said, "Where are you coming and where are you going?" He said, "I go to and fro throughout the Earth, and I'm looking for somebody." The Lord said, "If you considered my servant Job," he said, "Are you kidding me? Of course I've considered your servant Job, but you have a hedge about him, and if it weren't for that hedge, he would curse you to your face." The devil was just looking for an opportunity to trip Job up and cause him to curse God to his face. That's who your adversary is. The Bible says that that the Lord looked at Simon Peter one day and said, "Simon, you need to hear what I'm telling you. Satan has desired you; he has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you; you're going to be able to overcome him, but he desires to sift you as wheat. You need to stop entertaining your adversary. He means you harm; he means you mind harm. He wants to conflict your conscience; he wants to trouble your soul; he wants to complicate your future; he wants to mess up your marriage." You say, "I'm not married." Oh, but but he's got vision, and he he wants to cast vision for your life and tell you now that you can't have a successful life in Jesus Christ. You need to flee him; submit yourself to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Don't entertain him; don't listen to him; don't engage him; don't let him in your mind; don't let him in your life. You have an adversary, and he's for real, and he really does want to destroy you. The Bible says, "The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." There are three reasons he comes: to steal, to kill, and to destroy, and for no other reason does the devil show up. I don't care how enticing what he presents may be to you; there are three reasons that he will show up: to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Don't listen to his music; there are three reasons: steal, kill, and destroy. Don't watch his entertainment; there are three objectives: to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Don't hang out with the people he puts in your life; there are three objectives: to steal, to kill, and to destroy. You can't glean the good when it comes to the devil; there is no good in in him; there is no truth in him. He is a liar, and he is the father of all liars. That nagging voice in the back of your mind telling you you are no good, telling you that you have no hope, telling you that you have no future, telling you that God doesn't care, that that you could never live for God, telling you that you are a hypocrite and you're bound to be a hypocrite, reminding you of all the failures in your family, reminding you of all the mistakes you've made—that's the voice of your adversary. He is the accuser of the brethren, and you want nothing to do with him.

The third subject I want to talk to you about is again you, but not the you in Christ Jesus. I'm talking about the old you; I'm talking about the old man; I'm talking about the flesh; I'm talking about this natural body; this that is fallen; this that is broken; this that is cursed. There is a reason that the body is slowly dying, and it is slowly dying. It it it it is you. You you may not feel like it right now, because so many of you are in the vitality of your life, but but all of our bodies are on a slow march to a place called the grave, because death is present in this world, and death is present in this world because man sinned against God, and while the sin in the moment felt good and tasted good and seemed pleasant to the eyes, it had with it death, and death has been here ever since. You should know nothing about death; you should know nothing about a funeral; we shouldn't even know what that is. You should know nothing about an obituary or a hearse or a graveyard, a tombstone. Uh, you shouldn't know anything about what a mortician is or an undertaker. That shouldn't even be a thing, because death shouldn't even be here. In fact, Adam and Eve should be alive right now, being fruitful and multiplying, but sin brought death, and so I want to talk to you about your flesh. Your flesh—you outside of Christ, you outside of the presence of God, you outside the presence of God cannot be trusted. You cannot trust your human flesh; you cannot trust your gut instincts. I know that you live in a world and you have to navigate life in a culture that says that you should follow your heart. You should not follow your heart. You hear this preacher tonight. I want to counter every lie the devil has told you. You should not follow your fleshly heart. The Bible says that the heart of man is deceitful above all things. Your heart is more deceitful than the devil himself. Your heart is more deceitful than that serpent, which is the most subtle beast in the field. You cannot trust your heart. Not only is it deceitful above all things, it is desperately wicked. You cannot trust your heart; you can only trust the word of your creator, the one who made you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Before he formed you in your mother's womb, he knew you, and he ordained you for his purpose and to his glory. That's who you trust. Oh, I wish I could preach it like I feel it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. You don't trust your heart; you trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding; but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Hear what I'm telling you; hear what I'm telling you. Those are three steps: Trust in the Lord with all your heart—that's step one. Lean not to your own understanding—that's step two. In all your ways acknowledge him—that's step three. And here's the promise: He shall direct your paths. Praise God. Don't—don't—I know you're living in a culture where they talk about your truth and their truth, and everybody has to be committed to their truth, and and that that's such a deceptive lie of the enemy, because there is no such thing as subjective truth. Truth is truth; it's just truth, and it doesn't matter what you think is truth. Truth is stands alone; it it doesn't matter how far you think the sun is; the sun is a certain distance away, and that's the bottom line. You don't get to mix it up; you don't get to try to try to throw your spin on it and try to add your facts to it. No, truth is just truth, and Jesus said, "Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth." Jesus said, "I am the truth, and I am the way, and I am the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." You can't trust your flesh. Here's the reality: Your flesh is in cooperation with your adversary. Your flesh will prepare a way for your adversary to have access to your life. I'm talking about you outside of Christ, you outside of prayer, you outside of worship, you outside of submission, you outside of obedience, you outside of being dedicated to God, you outside of Jesus Christ—is in tandem with the enemy of your soul.

This passage of scripture that we read about this young king, Ela—what a man. It's three verses long; this little story just kind of pops up in the scriptures, and and we take a look at it, and it's such a tragedy. He was a king. That's you; that's you in the story. The King. Don't you know who you are in the eyes of God? God sees you as a king; he sees you as a royal priesthood. You you say, "I—but you don't know what I've done." I don't have to know what you've done; I know what Jesus did. "But you don't know where I've been." I don't have to know where you've been; I know what Jesus did on Calvary's hill of sorrow. Jesus sees you as a king; he sees you as a person with authority; he sees you as someone who can trample the lion and the adder; he sees you as someone who can lay hands on the sick and see them recover; he sees you as someone who has temperance, someone who has self-control, someone who has the ability to lead people, someone who has the opportunity to be close to God and and to be like the Lord. And that's—that's how he sees you. And yet here's King Ela. The Bible says that King Ela was king for two—two years; he reigned for two years, and while he was king for two years, the Bible says that there was an adversary. Ela didn't even know it, but there was an adversary. The adversary's name was Zimri, and Zimri had his sight set on Ela. He wanted to be the king, and so Zimri conspired against Ela. He was going to kill him; that was the plan. Ela didn't know it, but Zimri was lurking in the shadows, watching every move that Ela made, paying attention to his habits, paying attention to his likes, paying attention to his tendencies, paying attention to who he hung out with, paying attention to where he went and how long he stayed there, and he slowly began to plot his plan as to how he was going to take Ela down. One thing he noticed about Ela is that Ela frequented a particular house. The house was owned by by by a man named Arza; he was actually the steward of of the house, and this house was Ela's in Tirzah. And the Bible says that he went down to the house of Arza, and he would drink there until he became intoxicated. He would drink himself drunk in the house of Arza. He had been a king for two years, but I guess to relieve the pressure, I guess just to just to satisfy his flesh, I guess just to indulge himself a little, he would go down to the house of Arza, and he would intoxicate himself until he would lay inebriated on the couch. Then he'd wake himself up, and he'd get on his way and and and go about his life again. Zimri was watching. Zimri paid attention to everything that Ela was doing, and he positioned himself inside the house of Arza. Ela didn't know it, but every time he would go to Arza's house, Zimri was inside, paying attention to when the coast was clear, and his opportunity would present itself. And one day he leapt out of his shadows; he smote Ela, and he killed him, and Ela died after being in the house of Arza, intoxicated.

Ela is you in Christ—you, that king, that royal one, that that one who has authority, that one who has a designation of of strength and and and ability. The house of Arza is the house where everything that Ela, in his flesh, wanted, he could have access to it. And Zimri was the adversary that I am warning you about tonight. I see it; I see the allegory in the scriptures; I see the familiar story, and I've watched it over and over as a pastor, where there would be an anointing upon a young man of God, an anointing upon a young woman of God, talent and ability, opportunity, something that the Lord had put inside of their spirit, something that the Lord was calling them to do—a kingship, an anointing, a royalty, an opportunity to do something great for God—but there was a house that they would not stop frequenting; there was a place they would not stop going; there was a habit that they would not wage war against; something convinced them that they could indulge the flesh and still be used of God; something persuaded them that they would be able to play and plate and cater to this habit, this fleshly lust, and that it would be okay; they could just pick themselves up and go along their way like nothing ever happened, but it didn't happen that way for Ela. Oh, it might have happened the first time he went to the house of Arza; it might have happened the second, the third, the fourth time that he went to the house of Arza, but what he did not know is that inside that house the adversary was lurking behind the corner. Don't you play with sin; don't you play with transgression; don't you play with iniquity; don't you cater to your flesh; don't cater to the habits that are sinful. Can I preach to somebody today? There's an anointing on you; you have royal blood in your veins; you have a kingly anointing; you have something inside of you that is so special. God sees you as one of his children; he has placed a special favor upon you. If you have the Holy Ghost, you've got the greatest thing there is in the world. If you've been baptized in Jesus' name and your sins have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, you've got the most precious gift you could ever have. Can I say to some young person tonight, "You better buy the truth and sell it not." There is no cheap little thrill worth giving it away; there is no temporary little high worth giving it away; there's nothing in this world—there's no promotion, there's no fame, there's no wealth, there's no addiction, there's nothing worth abdicating the anointing of God in your life. He—what I'm preaching to you—there is an adversary, and he does pay attention to who you are and where you go and what you like and what you don't like, and he and your flesh are working in tandem to bring you down, and you may think it's okay to go into that house of flesh—everything your flesh would want is lined up on the counter—but I'm telling you you've got to stop going down to that house of flesh. I'm telling you you've got to stop indulging in that sinful lifestyle. I'm telling you you've got to stop entertaining those fleshly thoughts. I'm telling you that there is an adversary that's lurking in that hangout you have, and you think it's fine; you think you you can go to church on Sunday and be one thing, and you can hang out with your friends through the week and be something completely different, and I've come from Cincinnati, Ohio, to look you in the face and tell you you are better than that. You've got a king's anointing on [Applause] you. No—nobody sees it coming, Brother Chapain; nobody sees it coming. They just—they go down and they indulge in a lifestyle, and they don't even realize that the enemy is lurking in the shadows until they emerge one day out of their drunken stupor, and they have a sexually transmitted disease that they have no cure for, and they're going to be living with it for the rest of their life. They never think about it until they emerge from their inebriated state, and they have participated in an act that now has them so condemned, so so so condemnation written—they don't know how they'll ever recover; they don't know how they'll ever…

Come out of what they have just done, and their mind is conflicted. I know you think it's okay, cuz the world has told you that it's okay. The world is the mouthpiece of the devil. You hear what I'm telling you? Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world; for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Don't you listen to what this world says; you listen to what the Word says. Listen to what your pastor says. Listen to what your youth pastor says. Listen to what the Holy Ghost says.

I know that the world is now saying marijuana's fine. I'm going to tell you something: it doesn't matter if it's legal, it's still wrong. And you can go down to the house of Flesh all you want, and you can smoke it up, but don't you, don't you kid yourself; there's an enemy lurking. There's an enemy waiting for you to get so out of your mind and so off in some kind of a weird world where he can drag you into activity you normally would never participate in. You're in the house of Flesh, and you better get out of it. You hear what I'm preaching to you right now? There's an adversary lurking in that pornographic website, and don't you ever forget it. There's an adversary lurking in that, and he's waiting for the right moment to drag your soul down. Oh, you hear what I'm preaching to you? We're going to get a heart right tonight. We're going to run from the house of Flesh, and we're going to say, "God, make me in your image, make me just like you. Let me live up to the anointing you have placed upon my [Applause] life."

Hey, I'm G to tell you something: there's an enemy lurking in that little gossip chat you're involved with, where you're criticizing everybody and you're picking on people and you're bullying people. There's a, there's an adversary in that, and he's going to put his hook in you when you least expect it. You better get the slander out of your mouth. You better let the blood of Jesus wash the gossip out of your mouth. You better let the blood of Jesus wash the criticism of your elders out of your mouth. Brother, brother Uran, why are you, why are you, why are you preaching like this? I'll tell you why: because I've seen too many kings die in the house of Flesh. I've seen too many anointed vessels of God get caught up in drinking themselves away, drinking their prayer life away, drinking their anointing away. Oh, what an anointing they have! That horn of oil fell over them and dripped over them and down their shoulders all the way to their feet, covered with the purpose of God, covered with the anointing of the Lord. But don't you kid yourself: if you go to the house of Flesh, you will lose your soul.

What do I do? Hey, other there should, what do I do? Because I've been there. I know, I know that house. I'm familiar with that house. I wish you would have come two years ago to say this, because I've been to that house. I've done things already I wish I could take back. I've, I've been places I didn't mean to go. I've done things I don't want anybody to know about. I, I wish I could change it, but, but, but, but I've been to that house of Flesh. I feel like I've already met the devil you're talking about. Let me tell you something right now: that devil that tells you that there is no return for you, that is a lie. The devil is a liar. I'm going to preach to you right now, in the name of Jesus: you haven't been so bad that the blood of Jesus can't make you good. You haven't sunk so low that the blood of Jesus can't lift you up. Uh, you haven't gone so far that the love of God can't reach to where you've gone and bring you back. I'll tell you what you do: you shake yourself, you shake yourself, and you get up out of that house of Flesh, and you run to the house of prayer, and you run to the house of worship, and you run to the House of Miracles. Come on! You need to come back to where the anointing fell on you. You need to come back to an old-fashioned altar. You need to come back to where God spoke to you for the very first time. Hallelujah! Yeah, it's true: to be carnally minded is death. But let me tell you what else is true: to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Hey, young person, it is high time, it is high time, it is high time to awake out of sleep. We're going to walk in the day, we're going to walk honestly as in the day, not in chambering and wantonness, not in rioting and drunkenness. Do you know what those words mean? They literally mean sprawled out on a couch, intoxicated. It's Eli, don't chamber, don't be wanton, don't be lustful. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, I rebuke it all in the name of Jesus. You're better than that. You're better than that. Hallelujah! You're not better than other people, but you're better than that. We're just human beings, but I'm going to tell you something: when you put your faith in Jesus Christ and he gives you power, and he will give you power to turn from your wicked way. I'm going to preach it till you believe it, and better yet, I'm going to preach it till you obey it. You've got to repent. You've got to repent. You know one of the scariest verses of scripture, Pastor stole that, that people I think misunderstand, is the scripture that said Esau sought carefully for a place of repentance, carefully with tears, and he found no place of repentance. And many people have looked at that scripture and thought, "Oh my, he, he was begging God for mercy and he, with tears, and God, there was no place of repentance." That's not what it means. This is what it means: he sought for repentance, yes, carefully with tears, yes, but he found no place of repentance. Let me tell you why: because crying and repentance aren't the same thing. I'm glad you cry about sin that you committed. I'm glad you have remorse about it, but you can be remorseful and not repent. I'm going to tell you, you can cry all day long and walk away and still participate in the sinful lifestyle you were engaged in. Repentance is not how much you cry; repentance is when you [Applause] turn. I love it when you repent and cry, but you can repent and not cry. You can just say, "God, never again. I'm never smoking it. I'm never drinking it. I'm never going around them anymore. I'm not listening to that anymore. I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not going to wallow around like a pig in the mire, like a dog returning to its vomit. I'm going to turn." And let me tell you what the Bible says: the Bible says, "If the wicked will turn from their wickedness, God will remember their wickedness no more." It's time to get up. It's time to wake up. It's time to get out of the house of Flesh. It's time to come to the house of prayer. I said it's time to come to the house of prayer. Somebody lift your hands with me right now, in the name of the Lord. L, come on, lift your hands with me right now. This is a House of Miracles. Brother, young, this is a house of worship. That's what we just sang. This is a house, this is where you need to be. You need to be in the house of [Applause] [Music] God.

You know how I think we ought to start Great Lakes youth convention? I think somebody ought to run to the front of this house and say, "God, I'm changing right now. Something's shifting in my spirit right now." I believe somebody needs to come down here. God bless these young people. Thank you for coming. Every one of us needs to find a place where we say, "Oh God, I played games with the devil too long. I partnered with my adversary too long. God, let me, help me out of the house, the flesh. Come on, help me out of the house of lust, out of the house of envy, out of the house of rebellion, out of the house of pride. Help me, Lord, out of the house of Flesh. I want to make a new commitment to [Music] you." Come on, young person, that's it. You know you're anointed. You know the hand of God is on your life. You know that his blessing is upon [Music] [Applause] [Music] you. Hallu [Music] hallelu, hallu, hallelu, hus [Music] the ding ham. I feel like the Lord showed me that there are some young people that have made mistakes, and you feel so condemned for it, and you've got the devil beating you up every time you turn around, every time you try to worship, every time you try to pray, stuff you don't want anybody to ever know about. God wants to make you free tonight. God wants to make you free right now. I want everybody across this building to lift your hands, every one of us, every one of us lift your hands and begin to call out to the Lord and repent. "Lord, I give it all to you right now. God, please forgive me for the sin I've committed. Please forgive me for the transgression in my heart. Please forgive me for the iniquity that I have regarded. Lord, I spent too much time, I knew better, but I went there, I did that, I went to the house of flesh, but Lord, I believe your word and I believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and Lord, I know that if I will confess my sin that you are faithful and just to forgive me of my sin. Lord, I release it to you right now. Now I release it to you right now. Oh God, forgive me. Lord, create in me a clean heart, renew in me a right [Music] Spirit. Purify my mind, purify my soul." I'm telling you, God's doing it right now. God is doing it right now. The Lord is moving upon you right now to deliver you, to set you free, to give you peace in the place of [Music] condemnation. Come on, pour it out to God and let him restore your soul, let him lead you in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.