LE BRISEMENT DES SERVITEURS DE DIEU / THE BREAKING DOWN OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION
SUNDAY AUGUST 7^TH 2022Sermon by Pastor Marc E Simeon

LE BRISEMENT DES SERVITEURS DE DIEU

THE BREAKING DOWN OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD

 Psaume 66:10-12

• 10 Car tu nous as éprouvés, ô Dieu! Tu nous as fait passer au creuset comme l’argent.
•  11 Tu nous as amenés dans le filet, Tu as mis sur nos reins un pesant fardeau,
•  12 Tu as fait monter des hommes sur nos têtes; Nous avons passé par le feu et par l’eau. Mais tu nous en as tirés pour nous donner l’abondance.

Psalm 66 :10-12

• 10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.
•  11 You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.
•  12 You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.

INTRODUCTION

• Modern men have mastered the craft of breaking things down.
• Some mountains have been flattened to become super highways.
• Some dense forests have been wiped out to become metropolitan cities.
• People have turned some rocky terrains into sand mines.
• Monstrous machines have been invented to master the most rigid elements of nature.
• We know how to break things down to the smallest particles.
• We grind; we burn; we explode; we freeze in our effort to tame our environment.
• Although we gravely misuse the dominion that God has given us over the physical world, but we act within the compass of our jurisdiction over the earthly realm.
• When we consider the lives of the most prominent servants of God, we see that they all had to go to a breaking down process before they could be useful to God.
• When we consider biblical characters like Noah, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel and David, just to name a few;
• We see that they all had to go through the rigid breaking down process in God’s school of formation before they were entrusted the tasks tagged to their destiny.

The Tests of authentication of the true servants of god

• In Hebrew 11 we read of some of the trials some of the saints had had to go through to make it to God’s hall of fame.
• Heb 11:32-38
• 32 ¶ Et que dirai-je encore? Car le temps me manquerait pour parler de Gédéon, de Barak, de Samson, de Jephthé, de David, de Samuel, et des prophètes,
• 33 qui, par la foi, vainquirent des royaumes, exercèrent la justice, obtinrent des promesses, fermèrent la gueule des lions,
•  34 éteignirent la puissance du feu, échappèrent au tranchant de l’épée, guérirent de leurs maladies, furent vaillants à la guerre, mirent en fuite des armées étrangères.
• 35 Des femmes recouvrèrent leurs morts par la résurrection; d’autres furent livrés aux tourments, et n’acceptèrent point de délivrance, afin d’obtenir une meilleure résurrection;
•  36 d’autres subirent les moqueries et le fouet, les chaînes et la prison;
• 37 ils furent lapidés, sciés, torturés, ils moururent tués par l’épée, ils allèrent çà et là vêtus de peaux de brebis et de peaux de chèvres, dénués de tout, persécutés, maltraités,
•  38 eux dont le monde n’était pas digne, errants dans les déserts et les montagnes, dans les cavernes et les antres de la terre.
• The kingdom of God is made of tested and refined people.
• God continues to use different moldings measures in order to shape us to his will.
• Because of the presence of sin in our lives, we naturally resist the shaping of God in favor for our own will.
• Those who are in covenant with God have sacrificed their wills on the altar on the day of conversion.
• Getting saved is like coming from the wild; the job of the Holy Spirit is to tame us to behave in the likeness of Jesus Christ.
• God has no use for those who refuse to be remade.
• He who is unable to sustain the breaking down process of God cannot hope to do effective and lasting works for God.
• Pride, envy, arrogance, short circuit, discouragement, jealousy, look warm, faking, self-interest, self-promotion, are the common pitfalls for those who escape the breaking down process of God.
• Many eager candidates have failed right in the training camp of God.
• There is a staggering number of pastors leaving the ministry in the last few years.
• The pandemic has hit the church in full strength.
• Many pastors have seen the membership of their churches declined to nothing.
• We are living in the era of artificial parishioners who have lost the sense of commitment to the body of Christ.
• The pastors are left in dismay with more questions than answers. Consequently, many are flooding the exit door of ministry.
• A trained soldier cannot quit in the middle of the war because of hardship.
• You can expect that from people who are drafted to go to war without proper training, but not from soldiers who construe military services as a vocation. 
• The formula for success in the things of God is not just a combination of calling, anointing, talents, training, and hard work.
• But it is endurance and perseverance.
• None of that can be achieved until one is broken down by God.

THE BREAKING DOWN PROCESS

Ps 66:10 Car tu nous as éprouvés, ô Dieu! Tu nous as fait passer au creuset comme l’argent.

11 Tu nous as amenés dans le filet, Tu as mis sur nos reins un pesant fardeau,

12 Tu as fait monter des hommes sur nos têtes; Nous avons passé par le feu et par l’eau. Mais tu nous en as tirés pour nous donner l’abondance.

Ps 66:10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.

 11 You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.

 12 You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.

• Php 1:6
• 6 Je suis persuadé que celui qui a commencé en vous cette bonne œuvre la rendra parfaite pour le jour de Jésus-Christ.
•  6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
• God has no need for soft and fearful soldiers.
• God trains his own for the worse case scenarios against the devil.
• In Psalm 66 we see that it pleases God to let his saints go through hardships before they experience a breakthrough in life.
• That includes the wrongs that you have endured from others.
• That includes even the mistakes that you have made.
• Sometimes God allows you to make certain mistakes early in life to afford you the exposure of the consequences of sin.
• A man destined to be rich may know abject poverty in the morning of his life.
• Some of the most successful people have had very humble beginnings.

La 3:26-33 Il est bon d’attendre en silence Le secours de l’Éternel.

 27 Il est bon pour l’homme De porter le joug dans sa jeunesse.

 28 Il se tiendra solitaire et silencieux, Parce que l’Éternel le lui impose;

 29 Il mettra sa bouche dans la poussière, Sans perdre toute espérance;

30 Il présentera la joue à celui qui le frappe, Il se rassasiera d’opprobres.

 31 Car le Seigneur Ne rejette pas à toujours.

 32 Mais, lorsqu’il afflige, Il a compassion selon sa grande miséricorde;

 33 Car ce n’est pas volontiers qu’il humilie Et qu’il afflige les enfants des hommes.

• Moses had to be raised in the palace of the Pharaoh so that he could be exposed to all the mysteries and all the knowledge and the splendor of Egypt.
• Moses had to know the depth of sin in order to become the legislator of righteousness.
• Joseph had to know what slavery was like before God could elevate him to dignity.
• David has had to take many classes and exams from God’s school of formation before being admitted king and guardian of the nation of Israel.
• Gideon had to experience an existential meltdown before he could enter to his destiny as a mighty man of valor before God.
• Paul had to be so hateful of Christians before becoming the pioneer of the advancement of the gospel.
• Before one is fit for God’s service, he must go through the most enduring process.
• Your motives, your actions, your thoughts, your emotions must all aligned to God’s will.
• You will be tested; you will be tempted; you will be persecuted; and you will have to fight discouragement.
• You will have to submit your will to God’s will.
• You will have to stand alone at times.
• You will have to forgive others again and again, and again.
• You will have to tame your flesh and learn to walk uprightly before God.
• Unfortunately, we are so prone to elevate leaders because of their degrees, accolades and charisma, regardless of where he or she may be in his/her pilgrimage toward holiness.
• Without the breaking down of God, there’s no guaranty that one will be able to sustain all that life will be throwing at them in the battlefield.

RESHAPED FOR SECONDARY PURPOSE

• There are times when we fail so miserably to qualify for the task that God had initially planned for us.
• Like the potter with the defected clay, God is busy reshaping many of us for a secondary usage.
• Jer 18:1-6
• 1 ¶ La parole qui fut adressée à Jérémie de la part de l’Éternel, en ces mots:
•  2 Lève-toi, et descends dans la maison du potier; Là, je te ferai entendre mes paroles.
•  3 Je descendis dans la maison du potier, Et voici, il travaillait sur un tour.
• 4 Le vase qu’il faisait ne réussit pas, Comme il arrive à l’argile dans la main du potier; Il en refit un autre vase, Tel qu’il trouva bon de le faire.
•  5 Et la parole de l’Éternel me fut adressée, en ces mots:
•  6 Ne puis-je pas agir envers vous comme ce potier, maison d’Israël? Dit l’Éternel. Voici, comme l’argile est dans la main du potier, Ainsi vous êtes dans ma main, maison d’Israël!
• God has both an initial and several secondary plans for everyone’s life.
• The initial plan is the highest and the most rewarding plan that God bestowed on a person before his or her birth.
• The initial plan of God in one’s life is like the first E.T.A. from a GPS when taking a long trip.
• The GPS calculates distances, speed limit, ideal weather, traffic lights and non-stop driving to give you the first estimated time of arrival.
• What the GPS cannot control is the actual driving conditions like: detours, unforeseen traffic delays, adverse weather conditions, tiredness, breakdown, fueling, accidents, laziness, construction delay, etc.
• As you continue the trip, the ETA keeps on changing.
• If you get lost, the GPS writes you another route plan.
• If you don’t want to pay tolls, the GPS will write you another route plan.
• If you don’t want to use highways, the GPS will write you another route.
• Each route plan will affect the ETA..
• God places us on earth with an ETA for everything He wished for us to accomplish.
• When we fail to reach our destination on God’s estimated time,  it is always driver error.
• Satan is very active to distract people from the original route plan of God.
• Very few in this world are on the original course that God had intended for them.
• A litany of other reasons may have caused God the potter to move to plan B with us the clay.
• We are not here to discuss yours or my failure.
• This room is full of people who are on plan B, or plan C, or plan Z with God.
• God the good potter is very creative.
• God the good potter has no intention to waste you and me the clay.
• There is always another object the good potter can use the clay for.
• Ask God to make something out of you.
• Ask God not throw you away.
• You must be very humble at this point.
• Forget about the original plan.
• Accept the fact that you are at fault in God’s having to do all kinds of gymnastics to draft a plan B for your life.
• Come to God like the prodigal son returned to his daddy’s house with no sense of merit.
• Come to God with a humble attitude while acknowledging your unworthiness for a second consideration.
• The secret is the fact that God cannot and will not despise a contrite heart.
• Ps 51:17 (51:19) Les sacrifices qui sont agréables à Dieu, c’est un esprit brisé: O Dieu! tu ne dédaignes pas un cœur brisé et contrit. (LSV)
•  17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-These, O God, You will not despise. (NKJV)
• God is a master craftsman; He can make the most eloquent piece of art from broken and rough clays.
• God can turn ashes into beauty.
• Forget about what you could have been; enjoy what God is making of you now.

CONCLUSION

• Whether you are on God’s original plan or in the last plan in the book, be thankful that you are in God’s hands.
• Watch out for sin.
• Watch out for spiritual pride.
• Watch out for arrogance.
• Be thankful, and be humble.
• Make the best of your second chance.
• Make sure to catch all the heavenly rewards you can  with the vessel that God makes of you whether original of secondary.
• Amen!