Cancel Culture
Pt. 1 - Reverse the Curse
I. Introduction
Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to have been "cancelled". In an attempt to use popular communication platforms to call out very real, dangerous, destructive and evil behavior like racism and sexual abuse at times movement has gone off the rails and become, as one man said, like the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn. This movement has targeted the likes of Dr. Seuss, The Paw Patrol Cartoon, and Mr. Potato Head just to name a few. In doing, the cancel culture has in many cases lost credibility with the average American. However, I want to encourage you today to embrace Cancel Culture. Before you dismiss me, I want you to listen carefully.
Text: Numbers 22:1-5, 7, 20, 36-38; 23:3-8, 11 (TLB)
Then the people of Israel traveled to the plains of Moab and camped east of the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Balak son of Zippor, the Moabite king, had seen everything the Israelites did to the Amorites. And when the people of Moab saw how many Israelites there were, they were terrified. The king of Moab said to the elders of Midian, “This mob will devour everything in sight, like an ox devours grass in the field!” So Balak, king of Moab, sent messengers to call Balaam son of Beor, who was living in his native land of Pethor near the Euphrates River.
Balak’s messengers, who were elders of Moab and Midian, set out with money to pay Balaam to place a curse upon Israel. They went to Balaam and delivered Balak’s message to him.
That night God came to Balaam and told him, “Since these men have come for you, get up and go with them. But do only what I tell you to do.”
When King Balak heard that Balaam was on the way, he went out to meet him at a Moabite town on the Arnon River at the farthest border of his land. “Didn’t I send you an urgent invitation? Why didn’t you come right away?” Balak asked Balaam. “Didn’t you believe me when I said I would reward you richly?”
Balaam replied, “Look, now I have come, but I have no power to say whatever I want. I will speak only the message that God puts in my mouth.”
23:3-8
Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offerings, and I will go to see if the Lord will respond to me. Then I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So Balaam went alone to the top of a bare hill, and God met him there. Balaam said to him, “I have prepared seven altars and have sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.” The Lord gave Balaam a message for King Balak. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.” So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. This was the message Balaam delivered:
“Balak summoned me to come from Aram; the king of Moab brought me from the eastern hills. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me! Come and announce Israel’s doom.’
But how can I curse those whom God has not cursed?
How can I condemn those whom the Lord has not condemned?
Then King Balak demanded of Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies. Instead, you have blessed them!”
Balak, the king of Moab, is frightened by reports of the approaching Israelites and decides to hire Balaam to pronounce a curse upon Israel so that he will be able to defeat them in war. Ancient Near Eastern kings often expected prophets and diviners to pronounce such maledictions upon their foes before battle, and Balaam was apparently known as a famous seer or prophet. Balaam was a hired gun. He was a soothsayer. A prophetic voice for hire. He would work with any god or communicate with any god for a price. He was not a believer. He was not a member of an Israelite tribe. He was a magician. A pagan if you will. He sets out to earn his reward. A curse to get the coins. Balaam gets to the hilltop and sees the Children of Israel spread out ready for war. Balak demands that Balaam curse the Israelites. The scene I read to you repeats 3 times. On three different occasions Balaam attempts to do what he was paid to do which was curse Israel. Instead, Balaam pronounces incredible blessings over Israel and ultimately flips the script and curses Balak and all the forces gathered with him.
Get this scene in your head. Balaam was on assignment to curse but blesses. Balaam was on assignment to pronounce destruction, but instead announces divine favor. Balaam was on assignment to speak words of death, but instead utters words of life. Balaam was on the scene assigned to usher in defeat, but instead ushers in victory.
I just stopped by today to tell you that we need to get involved in the cancel culture. There have been words of cursing assigned to you and your children. There have been moments of destruction designed for your life. There have declarations of death prepared for your dream. However, I need someone to rise up and cancel those words, those plans, those schemes.
You must understand that God HAS DETERMINED TO BLESS YOU! So, you must become determined to be blessed!
God so desires to bless you that He will even use those determined to curse you to bless you. He can cause those who are planning your destruction to set you up for victory. He can use those who are aligning themselves right now to cause you pain to instead usher in a season of favor. He is determined to bless you!!! You need to know that. You need to believe that! Come on say . . . I will be blessed! As soon as you embrace that fact your perspective of pain, turmoil, or setbacks changes. You will realize what Paul realized and declared in . . .
Romans 8:18 - Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
I may be in pain right now, but I know it will produce promise. I may be in trouble right now, but I know that it will produce trust. I may be suffering right now but I know that because God is so determined to bless me that my suffering will simply set me up for a greater season. The thing working against me may actually be working for me. The person who thinks they are on an assignment to devastate me may just end up being on an assignment to bless me instead! God can reverse the curse!
I agree Paul - 2 Corinthians 4:17 - For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
So, if we know that God has determined to bless us, then we must become determined to be blessed.
How do we do that?
We must learn to ONLY say what God says!
Some of you are participating in the destruction by repeating what the doctor said, the counselor said, the ex-spouse said about you. No, cancel those words by only saying what God says about you! Every time you repeat what someone else says you are canceling God's words about you. You are literally agreeing with the curse. I want you to begin to agree with the blessing that God has for your life. Determined to be blessed. Everything around you may look like a curse but refuse to agree with that. cancel that. Say only what God says about you. Only say what God says about your kids. Only say what God says about your marriage. Only say what God says about your finances. Only say what God says about your body. Only say what God says about your mind. Only say what God says about your business. Quit agreeing with curses.
Develop a cancel culture by only saying what God says! Don't agree with your enemy! Agree with your God.
Go back to the truth of Isaiah 54:17. We love the first part and hold onto it but listen to the entire passage!
But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me, says the Lord.
“People will make weapons to fight against you, but their weapons will not defeat you. Some people will say things against you, but anyone who speaks against you will be proved wrong.” The Lord says, “That is what my servants get! They get the good things that come from me, their Lord.
Every tongue that rises against you! Every assigned word of destruction has been cancelled over your life! Are you a servant of the Lord? Yes! Then this is your heritage! God has an inheritance for you!
Some of you have had words of death spoken over you . . . they will always be sick, they will always be like their parents, they will always be lonely, they will always be sad, they will always be broken, and it is time to quit agreeing with those words and instead agree with the words of God that says healing is our inheritance. The word of God that says He will never forsake us or leave us alone. That says He is the closest to those who are crushed.
I think for some of us the pagan Balaam understood it better than us. He says, "I can't go beyond the Word of God!" Come on rise up this morning and establish a cancel culture in your life. Anything that goes beyond the Word of God is cancelled. Satan you're cancelled. Your scheme is cancelled. You scare tactic is cancelled. Your assignment is cancelled. The Word of God establishes boundaries around my life!
