A FRIEND OF THE WORLD IS ENMITY WITH GOD

Title: A friend of the world is enmity with God.

Bible text: (James 4 : 4, 1 John 2: 15-17)

Preacher: Femi S O (A Teacher of God’s word)

Copyright© Femi .S. Olomola 2016 [All rights reserved!]

Publish by: Wefos Project Int'l Limited

Email: [email protected]

First Published [Summary Edition] 2016

ISBN: 978-978-953658-0 

Recap of last week Sermon:  

During the last sermon, we talked on the topic "AMEN IS NOT ENOUGH" to learn and understand what is expected of you as a part of your responsibility to seal your amen because whether you like it or not, you have a role to play for that prayer or prophecy to be accomplish in your life. We narrated four major ways that will definitely enable God to prove himself worthy in your life and therefore releases answers to all prayers and prophecies he deemed it fit to answer as 1. If God dearly love and respect the vessel to which he is using for exploit, 2. If the one responding the amen or expecting miracle has satisfied the conditions set down in our previous bible text, 3.  If God want to show himself as God the Almighty, 4. If there is a special love from above for the one expecting the miracle. We also learnt that God is a real father indeed and he will not give out his power or miracle just in vain but for a purpose and which is to deliver the oppressed of the devil and bring the lost back to light [John 10: 10].

Preamble:

This week we shall be looking at the topic “A FRIEND OF THE WORLD IS ENMITY WITH GOD” to learn and understand what it takes to be a friend of God and virtually everyone want to have God as their friend since this level of relationship carry more power beyond any imagination but little do they know that when you are a friend of God, you will be an enemy of the world and expect hatred and persecutions and likewise, when you are a friend of the world, you will be an enemy of God because everything in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life come not from the father [1 John 2: 15-17] and so, when you love the world, there will definitely be some serious conflict between you and God. Genuine sons and daughters of the Almighty God are not of the world because they are dead to it but of heaven and above [John 8: 23, Philippians 3: 19-21] and therefore the life they live here on earth, they live to satisfy the criteria of the sonship of God the Almighty which is to live for Christ [Galatians 2: 20]. We shall also be looking into how our topic as a phrase can affect you as an individual. Please sit back and enjoy this great lecture that will change your life forever.

Introduction:

First and foremost, what do we mean by THE WORLD as its being used within this context?

Though the world and all that dwell within belong to God as the creator [Psalm 24: 1-2]. God created the heaven to be his throne and the earth to form the dwelling of his creatures, man and all the beings, [Genesis 1, Act 7: 49a], He made everything good and perfect for man to live in peace with Him but Satan came in and made them disobey their creator to go his own way [Genesis 3: 1-13], then God Himself places a curse on man and everything in the world [Genesis 3: 13-19]. The world became a cursed place and therefore, Satan uses this opportunity to comes in and begin to rule and take dominium among men since man has given him that authority by disobeying God and obeying him [Satan] to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and of evil which God had earlier forewarned them not to eat from [Genesis 2: 17].

The world became a total struggling place since it is now under a curse from God and because man has given the devil, the required power and authority to rule and dominate over them by virtue of partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and of evil as explained above. The devil became champion in the world and he rule over many things [John 12: 30-32, 2 Corinthians 4: 4 KJN], until God decided to have mercy on the world again because everything had turned upside down which is against His will and He knows that the end of such a generations of the world is destruction, and so therefore, He voluntarily sacrifice His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to use his life erase the sin of the world and thereby bring them out of the curse circle, since the wages of such disobedient that was committed by man is DEATH as God had earlier forewarned them that if they eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they will surely die [Genesis 2: 17].

Though the world and all that dwelleth within it belong to God as the creator but it is also the dwelling place of the devil, since he was cast down from heaven above following his pride and evil plot among the angels of God and as such, he has hijacked the world and began to rule over all that dwell within because the power that God had created him with still remains with him, even in high proportion [Ezekiel 28: 12-17].

Another characteristics that had made the devil so powerful to have developed or devises a cheap entry means into man is found in the book of [Ezekiel 28: 12-14 NIV] which describe him as the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty and that all precious stones adore him because he was anointed and ordained the guardian cherub of God, this simple feature justify why the devil had the capacity to hijack the world to himself and rule among man because man [the flesh] is a property of the earth where they are taking from to actualize God’s purpose of human creation and of course to the earth they will return after death, which is also where the devil has had natural dominion over all precious stones. This therefore, proves that the world is not only cursed by God as we have read above but it is also satanic by virtue of the indwelling nature of the devil as purportedly describe above and this justify why a friend of the world will be enmity with God as we read in our bible text, [James 4: 4] which says “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” 

This also justify why life is unfair for the inhabitant of the earth because going through the world is like going through a deadly forest with all wild animal which belong to one ruler and it will take God to pass through successfully. Our lord, Jesus Christ, also affirmed to this in the book of [John 16: 33b NIV] which says, “in this world you will have tribulation, but take heart I have overcome the world” 

In this world you will have trouble because two major forces are always in contention over the affair of man [Galatians 5: 17] and when two lion are fighting, it is the ground that suffer and we are the ground through which the two forces in operation tends to take superiority but to those who have accepted, Jesus Christ, as their lord and savior and that are following him diligently, victory is assured because our lord Jesus has conquer the devil on the cross and so, you are already a conqueror. Let’s now look at how one can be a friend of the world and an enemy to God.

1. Love: 

Loving the world and all the things of the world is one cheap gateway to becoming a friend of the world and an enemy to God because love is powerful and is able to break through every stronghold and so, when you love anything in the world more than God, either WOMAN, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, FRIENDS, MONEY, WORK, POSITION, OR PROPERTIES, then Satan can cheaply use those things to steal your heart away from God and have your soul under his domain because he also has the capacity to control all these worldly things as we have learnt above. This is why our bible text [1 John 2: 15-17 NIV] says  “do not love the world or anything in the world, if anyone love the world, love for the father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the father but from the world. The world and it desire pass away but whoever does the will of father lives forever. 

This does not mean you will not desire for the good things of life and enjoy your world in the proportion is occurring to you but to do it within the coordinate of God’s law and commandments because God also desire a good future for his dear loving children as we have seen in the book of [Jeremiah 29: 11] which says, “for I know the plans I have for you, declare the lord, plan to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Beloved, God also want you to live in peace and enjoy the good things of life but because He knows that this is the junction where the devil usually sits to wait for most of his prey since he [devil] knows that you must desire to cross that junction and so, therefore he [devil] uses your desiring or quest for all these good things to steal your heart and have your soul with him, and when the devil have your soul with him, he does what he like with it and I assure you that one of his three basic mission to steal, kill or destroy must be fulfilled in you. This is practically why God does not want you to develop a strong passion for desiring for all these good things of life because the devil will cheaply use the passion against you but to seek Him [God] first and every other good things of life will follow [Matthew 6: 33].  

God has commanded us to love Him first above all things and with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind which serve as the first and greatest commandments [Matthew 22: 37-39] and by so doing we will realize that nothing can contend with the love of God within us and which will therefore bring so many gain as we have read above.

Conclusion:

It is good to love God first above all things imaginable on this planet earth because there is a great gain in it. Those who love God first will put Him first on every endeavor of life and by so doing, success over all their endeavors shall never depart from them but to love God first above all things cannot come by chance at all, it comes with encounter through knowing Him [God] and you only know God by his word [Romans 10: 17]. The truth is that God greatly desire your worship and obedience first before anything, just exactly the way you desire your achievement over every of your life endeavors.

When you love the world and everything in it more than you love God, you will finds it difficult to escape the devils trap most time, because he [devil] will use those things you cherish most, which you hold at high esteem to your soul against you since he knows that is where your heart will be and bearing in mind that the devil has the ability to work in a hidden form through anything imaginable on this planet earth as we have learnt above.

Prayer: 

Ask God patiently and humbly to give you the ability to love him through his encounter and the grace not to love the world and everything in it above him.

Preacher's Note:

It is my greatest desire that this sermon minister grace unto your soul but this is not enough, to be able to appropriate the God's knowledge around you as we have learnt above require deep knowledge of God, because it is until you have this knowledge that you can take your place and do exploit for God and yourself, and so I will urgently urge you to be rooted and grounded in the word of God, in other to deepen your faith, knowledge and relationship with God. you can also look out for my book written on "why do people suffer and why does God allow it" This will go a long way to minister grace to you as I have compiled series of eye opener in the book about human existence and the relationship towards knowing the true GOD, which will be the basis of your success in all sphere of life, and if you are blessed by this ministration, then do not hesitate to like our page on facebook (Youth and Single Empowerment Club, YASEC), where you can be getting my free online touching messages that will change your experience in God's knowledge. we also come together as a movement in all strategic part of the country, hold mighty crusade and revival session, and edify ourself by his word and above all sing deep long hour praises to God and invite an artist to keep us lively in the lord. Like our page and you will experience Club for christ in another level. May the lord bless you as you do.

Personal Contact:

WhatsApp: 07010795629

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Twitter Handle: @fmdot10k

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Copyright© Femi .S. Olomola 2016

All rights reserved 

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronically, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the express written consent of the copyright owner.

Publish by

Wefos Project Int'l Limited

Email: [email protected]

First Published [Summary Edition] 2016

ISBN: 978-978-953-