Twelve Transgressions: Avoiding common roadblocks on your journey to Christlikeness

By Sergio Scataglini

Avoid spiritual trip wires that can cause you to stumble!Christians--even leaders with good intentions--commit transgressions that can have a devastating ripple effect, releasing poisons within marriages, families, careers and the body of Christ. Now you can identify twelve transgressions that are lurking in the shadows to hinder holiness and roadblock your relationship with God. You are not the only one to struggle with sin! See how spiritual giants from God's Word learned life lessons.Avoid Dangerous spiritual land mines!Here are twelve Bible characters who dearly loved God, but in their humanness and ignorance, they each made costly spiritual mistakes that stopped them in their tracks. Some repented on time and were spared; for others the transgressions became irreversible. All of them paid a price for their error of sin. This book will help you avoid making the same mistakes, face you in the direction of spiritual healing and assist you as you seek a more solid Christian life of service.The Twelve Trangressions will expose your heart condition and offer you encouragement, restoration and biblical principles for your spiritual journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charisma House
• Release date: Mar 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781599799049

Sergio Scataglini

Sergio Scataglini fue pastor presidente de la iglesia Puerta del Cielo en La Plata, Argentina. Obtuvo su maestría en Teología en el Seminario Teológico Fuller de Pasadena, California, EE. UU. Dios ha confiado a Sergio el ministerio de impartir a otros la pasión por una vida de santidad. Hoy en día lleva este mensaje alrededor del mundo. Sergio y su esposa, Kathy tienen tres hijos.

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GODCHASER

Preface

Apprehended by His Fire

In May 1997, I greeted my congregation in the city of La Plata, Argentina, and said, I will return to you in a week; I am going to see the revivals in a couple of places in the United States. I will bring reports back to you of what the Lord is doing in the world. Basically, I thought I was doing so well with the Lord that all I needed was another touch from Him at these places of revival. I assumed that these encounters would simply strengthen my ministry. I didn’t have any idea that God was about to bring a revolution into my life.

However, there had been a cry, a very strange prayer that I had been praying for the previous months. Several times as I knelt down in prayer, I found myself praying, Lord, if You are not going to bring another revival, take me home. I do not want to live anymore. Each time I tried to rebuke my soul because I have three children and a wife; the ministry was not doing so badly either. I thought, I should not pray this way; the Lord might answer my prayer!

Then I realized that the Holy Spirit was putting a burden in my heart to see revival. There was a holy hunger for more of God. John Knox used to say, Lord, give me Scotland or I will die. I pray that you will desire revival more than your own life; that you will desire, more than being alive, to see your entire nation shaken under the power of God.

Like many others, I was praying for revival, but I was not preparing for it. I was going to bring reports of revival back to my congregation. So I went to a place of revival and rejoiced in the Lord with what I saw. I was excited, and then I left the next morning very early for northern Indiana, where my wife’s family lives.

Two days later I stood up to greet the people in a church in Indiana. I only had a few moments in the program because they had another guest speaker that Sunday morning. It was not my turn to preach there; as a matter of fact, I was supposed to leave very quickly to go to another church to preach. But the Lord had other plans.

I shared a greeting, and then the pastor said, I’m going to ask Pastor Sergio to come up front. We are going to pray for him before he goes to the other church so he can carry fire to them.

Some young people began to pray very calmly. Everything was quiet and orderly, and the service was going nicely according to the church bulletin. I closed my eyes, and my mind was not on revival or anything else. I was in a rush to go to the next church to preach. But suddenly my clasped hands began to shake without my permission; I could not control them. In our denomination, and especially in the training my father gave me, we maintain control when we are on the platform. We let the Lord use us, but we don’t get out of hand. We were concerned that if we get out of control, the rest of the congregation might lose control as well.

But something was happening to me for the first time that I could not control. I thought, This is out of place! I opened my eyes and looked at the congregation before me. No one else was shaking. So I tried to stop the trembling. I gripped my hands more tightly trying to stop the movement, yet my entire body began to shake. I remember locking my knees and making them really stiff, and then I fell on the floor.

Something strange was happening, and I said, This is not right; I must get up. I was on the floor, shaking completely out of control. I looked at the people, and they were looking at me. No one was praying any more! The pastor began to lead a few songs. I was weeping and the next moment I was laughing. I felt very, very embarrassed, quite shocked and extremely happy—all at the same time.

I said, I must get out of here! Three times I tried to stand up. The third time two ushers helped me to my feet. The associate pastor was next to me. The pastor came down from the platform to where I stood in front of the platform. Crying, I said, Pastor, do not let me interrupt this meeting; please take me out of here.

This brother put his arm over my shoulder and said, You are not interrupting, Brother. This is the presence of God. His words were like a healing balm over my soul. I knew how important it was that when the new glory of the Lord came, there be godly people witnessing the experience to understand what is going on.

They finally carried me out. I thought they were carrying me to a separate room because I wanted to be alone with God. But they had the bad idea of seating me on the front row! I continued shaking, and every few minutes I would fall on the floor. Someone would pick me up and put me back in the chair. I tried to control myself as much as I could, but the more I tried, the stronger the waves of the Holy Spirit would come upon me. There were surges of power over my entire body. His glory was there. I did not know what to call this experience.

Someone, without consulting me, went back to the church office and called the pastor of the other church that was expecting me to preach. The pastor was told, It does not look like Sergio is going to make it today. It took me two weeks to get to that church to preach!

At that point of my experience, though, my mind was not changed; my thoughts had not yet been renewed. My body was shaking, and I could feel the waves of the glory of the Lord. But I did not know yet what this meant. The Bible speaks to us about miracles, signs and wonders. I believe that my experience was a sign from the Lord to get my attention. And He certainly did! I was available twenty-four hours a day to Him for the next six days.

Then a brother came and asked me a question that was a little humiliating. Brother, do you need a ride home?

Yes, I said, I think I do. I only had one prayer as we were driving to my in-laws’ house. As I continued to shake, cry and laugh, I prayed, Lord, please do not let my in-laws see me like this. I was praying that they would not be there when I arrived. There had been some theological tension with my in-laws, and I did not think they would agree with my unusual encounter with the Holy Spirit. I also prayed, Lord, do not let this cause any division. But the Lord did not answer my prayer not to be seen.

When we opened the door to my in-laws’ house, standing right there before me were my mother-in-law and my father-in-law. I could not walk very well, so the brother who had driven me home was sort of carrying me, almost as if I were intoxicated. I was perspiring, and I could not speak clearly, but I remember saying to my mother-in-law, Mom, I am OK; don’t worry, but please do not look at me.

Immediately my mother-in-law raised her hands to heaven and began to praise and glorify God. She entered into a three-day fast because she knew God was touching me. As I made my way to my room, I heard her say, to my great surprise, This is what we need in our churches!

The man who had driven me home began explaining to them what had happened at the church. That gave me an opportunity to go upstairs to my room. I closed the door and was so happy to be alone. I continued to shake and weep, and I did not know what was happening.

Two hours later, the physical manifestations ceased completely; there was no more shaking, and everything was fine. I said to myself, Boy, do I have things to tell my church in La Plata. I thought that was the end of the experience.

Since I was normal again, I went downstairs to explain to my in-laws what had happened. Before I could explain, my mother-in-law set a plate of food before me and said, Isn’t the Lord wonderful? When she said that, I could feel the glory of the Lord coming upon me again. I fell backward to the floor and began shaking. Once again I crawled up the stairs to my bedroom!

I was supposed to confirm with another pastor in the area that I would preach in his church, but I could not even make a phone call. I prayed, Lord, if this experience is from You, why am I not doing Your work? I should be more busy than ever before. Sitting on top of my desk was a list of things to do. The airplane ticket I had purchased to get to that next church was expensive, so I felt I had to get back to work. I was looking at that list, and that list was looking at me. I wanted to get busy for the Lord, but I did not understand that the Lord had a different plan for me. He did not regard my agenda; He ripped it to pieces!

For six days I was in the presence of almighty God, weeping and crying in the bedroom at my in-laws’ house. When I thought I was normal, I would put on my tie and jacket and get ready. Before I would touch the doorknob, the power of God would come upon me and throw me on the floor so I could not get up. At times I would be there for hours before I could get up.

The next day after my experience at the church, the presence of the Lord was even more powerful. About 7:00 A.M. I began to iron my shirt, because I wanted to do things for God. I did not finish ironing my shirt until about 3:00 P.M. In between my attempts to iron the shirt, the glory of the Lord would fill the room, and I would fall on the floor and worship Him. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I would later understand that I was having an encounter with the fire of His holiness.

John the Baptist explained this phenomenon clearly in Matthew 3:11:

I baptize you in water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I . . . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

God is not equal to us—He is more powerful. That is why He cannot fit in our old religious patterns. That is why we cannot have a fresh outpouring of His Spirit on our lives and keep the same old wineskins. We have to have a change of wineskins before the Spirit can descend. If you are so bound to your ways and your patterns, and the Holy Spirit comes, this will break the old wineskins. But new wineskins are different because they stretch.

So many people say, Oh, I received the Holy Spirit fifteen years ago. I believe that the Holy Spirit comes to our hearts when we receive Jesus. That is the beginning. His presence is with us. We could not be Christians without the Holy Spirit. But somehow we have managed to separate the baptism of the Holy Spirit from the fire of the Holy Spirit.

I sensed waves of the Holy Spirit over my life those first few days, but my mind was not changed until the third day that I was under this fire of the Lord. That day, everything changed. I woke up, and there was a sadness in my room. The same beautiful presence of God that was loving me and hugging me the day before now was rejecting me and coming so strongly, so dangerously close to me.

That morning, the holiness of God was so close and so strong in my room that I became frightened. I began to retreat. I backed up until my back touched the wall; then I thought, What am I doing? This is the presence of the Lord; I cannot hide from it. I prayed, Lord, please, no more. That was the first time I had ever prayed that prayer. I was so frightened that I said, Lord, I don’t think I can take any more. You are too holy.

I continued, Lord, what is it? I know there is something wrong. Please have mercy on me; don’t kill me here. That afternoon I went for a walk outside of the house. The power of God very suddenly came over me, and I sank to my knees on the ground. It was so sudden and so unpredictable that I broke down into tears immediately. Then the Holy Spirit began to show me pictures of sin in my life—issues that had been unresolved.

I was born and raised in a Christian home. My parents used to read the Bible to me even when I was still an infant. They taught me the ways of the Lord. But now God was dealing with what I had thought were evangelical sins—things I had thought He would not mind. I had accepted a lie of the devil, one that said that we will always have a percentage of willful sin in us. Now the Holy Spirit was resisting me. He was not hugging me.

While I was there on the ground, the Lord pointed out many specific things in my life that were not right. I thought time would erase them because they were so minor. But I was reminded that little sins are still sin. All sin is sinful and destructive. Memories of times I had hardened my heart against a brother flashed through my mind. I could see the very place that it had happened. I had never mistreated him, but I had made a silent pledge never to get close to him again. I was also reminded of times when my eyes had lingered too long on images of things that were not pleasing to the Lord.

As I lay there I began to weep for my sin. I felt such remorse that I felt sick, as if a fever were coming over my body. The Holy Spirit began to speak to me, and now my mind was beginning to catch up with what the Lord was trying to do. I recalled the verse that says, Because you are lukewarm—neither cold nor hot—I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Rev. 3:16).

I was shocked. Lord, I have been in the ministry for years. I am a preacher of Your Word. I fasted last week, and I pray every day. How have I been so deceived? Why have I never seen this before?

The Lord said to me, I wish you would be cold as a pagan, so I could save you again, or hot as a believer who has given 100 percent to me. Then I could use you in My own way. Then the Lord answered my question about why I had not seen this before: Deceitful is the heart of man, and desperately wicked. I was terrified; I could not believe that moment. Then the Lord spoke again to me and said clearly, Ninety-eight percent holiness is not enough.

In a sense I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. I grew up in a Christian church. My goal was to be fairly holy, to do pretty well, to pass the examination with an 80 percent, or a B average. But the Lord had different demands.

He rebuked me for my self-righteousness and exposed the lie of my heart. I then realized my greatest error: I was not trying to be like Jesus; I was just trying to be fairly good. At that moment I felt that all of my religiosity, all of my discipline was like filthy rags in His presence. Before this, I had not believed the Lord called me to be a fairly good person—I knew that He had called me to be like Jesus. The week before my trip to the States, I had fasted and prayed a lot, and I felt so good about myself. I felt I must have been 90 percent holy or more. Now I realized that was not enough.

Sometimes we let seemingly insignificant sins get into our hearts. But we have to ask ourselves, With how many sins do you think the Lord will allow us to get into heaven? What percentage of evil do you think He will allow us to take with us when the day of the Lord comes? How many idols will we carry to heaven with us? If we are going to be like Jesus, every compromising attitude toward sin must be confronted and defeated.

As I was in His presence, God spoke to me in terms that even a child could understand. At that moment, I could not understand anything more complex. He told me, Nobody gets up in the morning and prepares a cup of coffee or tea with just one drop of poison in it, and then stirs and drinks it. Then He began to speak to me about the church. There are people in the church who allow poison in their hearts and in their minds, and it is destroying them. No one would consider buying a bottle of mineral water whose label read, ‘98 percent pure mineral water; 2 percent sewage water.’ Yet that is just what many Christians have allowed in their lives.

So many people wonder, Why do I lose the power of God or the strength of the Lord so quickly? Maybe it is because I am a failure, or maybe it is because I am not trained. I will tell you that even if there is only 1 percent of willful sin in our lives, that small amount can eventually destroy the whole devotion in our lives.

I wept, I confessed and I repented. The Lord pointed out to me specific sins in my life. He did not point out generalities; He was painfully specific.

Satan has a false ministry that he uses especially in the church. His ministry is a ministry of bringing guilt and condemnation. The Bible tells us that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He comes to give us a general sense of guilt. He never helps us to resolve it. Then all we do is feel bad. There are some leaders, some workers, some servants of the Lord in the ministry whose hearts are trying their best, but they are tortured by guilt. Before they preach they have to get rid of that guilt for one hour, and then it comes back on them. That is not the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to bring conviction of sin (John 16:8). He speaks very directly and specifically, and His word is so clear to us. He will tell us what is wrong with our hearts, our thoughts and our affections, and He will demand repentance from us. He will change us. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is very different from the work of Satan.

Satan comes to destroy lives, to pull entire ministries into depression and loneliness. There are people who say, I hope that nobody will ever know me the way that I am personally. But I will tell you this, when the fire of the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will say with the apostle Paul, My conscience is clean. Your life will be purified because of Jesus. How desperately we need this fire!

That day I went back to my room and gradually began to recapture the joy of the Lord. Now instead of landing in the same place as before, I had changed to a new address. The joy of the Lord was in that room.

I am sharing my testimony with you not only to tell you about something that is happening on the other side of the world. I am sharing it because I know the Lord wants to impart to you what He has given to me—the fire of holiness. It is something He longs to pour out upon His church in this crucial hour.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED ABOUT HOLINESS

Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David and Peter—what similarity can we find in the lives of each of these biblical leaders? Perhaps it was the great faith each of them—and other great biblical leaders—exhibited as they lived their lives in commitment to God. Maybe you would say it is the great impact each man had on his nation—and on Christians today.

But there’s another thread that ties these men together, a thread shared by others like Eli, Jacob, Samson, Saul, Solomon, Jonah and the rich young ruler whom Jesus told to sell all his possessions. It is the thread of transgression! Each of these leaders felt the pain of failing God because of a sin they committed in a moment of disobedience to the God they loved and served.

These men were not evil people. Each had been called by God to lead His people into righteousness. Still, some of these leaders were destroyed by their sin; others repented just in time. Each paid a high price for his transgression. And their failures provide vital warnings to us today.

As God drew my attention to the biblical accounts of these servants of God, I began to think about why these transgressions were included in the record of what these men did for God while they lived on earth. None of their sins are in the Bible just to entertain us. Rather the Bible says that these things have been kept in His Word to encourage us and to admonish us. God included their stories not to discourage us, but to protect His people from falling into the same traps. (See 1 Corinthians 10:11.)

So many dedicated believers struggle with trying to live lives of obedience to God. As I have thought about our struggle with obedience, I have realized that it is not our inability to keep the Ten Commandments that is our biggest problem. Our biggest problem, as I will outline in this book, is avoiding what I have come to describe as the Twelve Transgressions.

I believe a tremendous spiritual revival is coming. In some parts of the world this has already begun. It may be the greatest revival the history of the world has ever seen. It is a revival of holiness combined with the anointing and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God is doing something that is new and unprecedented on the earth.

Often when I tell people that God is sending a revival of His holiness, they associate this with something harsh and negative. When I speak of holiness, they imagine that I am talking about living according to a legalistic set of man-made rules about clothing and hairstyles. They think this because, sadly, the church in times past has defined holiness simply by whether a person refrained from smoking cigarettes or watching worldly entertainment.

This is not true holiness! The Bible does not define holiness as a man’s attempt to live according to certain man-made rules or regulations. True holiness, in fact, is an inward work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a believer. Only God can make us holy, and He is more interested in shaping our heart attitudes and delivering us from wrong desires than He is about conforming us to some man-made code of behavior. He wants to form Christ in us! And this work of refining can only be done by His Spirit.

God, in His mercy, puts His arms around His church and says to her, "I want to protect you. I don’t want you to keep falling. I don’t want any more wounded casualties—casualties of spiritual war. I don’t want My servants to be wounded. I love them,