Spiritual Warfare #1 - Know Your Enemy
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YouTube upload date: 2024-03-19
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[00:00:10] Welcome everyone to Fire and Grace School of Ministry this morning. Our students here and
[00:00:17] watching live this morning, of course some will be watching later, but excited to start
[00:00:23] the second semester this morning. Of course, the second semester our first block on Tuesdays
[00:00:31] will be spiritual warfare. So today is spiritual warfare class one. We've entitled this know your
[00:00:39] enemy first day of semester two of our first year excited about getting into this. Now as we get
[00:00:47] into this this morning, again I want you to take good notes. I haven't decided on an assignment for
[00:00:52] this class. Maybe we'll know when we get toward the end. But you know it's important, I'm just
[00:00:59] going to say this, I can't believe that there are actually churches, seminaries, Bible schools
[00:01:06] that do not teach on spiritual warfare at all. They don't talk about it, they don't touch it.
[00:01:13] There's even a demonic belief, I believe just put out there by demons, that if you talk about the
[00:01:20] devil you're giving glory to the devil. And that's about one of the most ridiculous things
[00:01:24] I've ever heard in my life. God put a lot of stuff in the Bible about Satan and his angels
[00:01:33] and demon spirits because he wants us to know how they work. Because he wants us to be wise
[00:01:39] to their ways and their craftiness and everything else. And he wants us to know how to fight them,
[00:01:45] how to resist them, how to discern them, how to bind them, and all those things. So we're going
[00:01:50] to cover all that. Plus, of course, we'll get into the deliverance issue in this
[00:01:55] semester in this class. But anyway, know your enemy. Now before we get into the scriptures on
[00:02:01] this, this is a very, very famous book going back centuries. I don't even know how old it is,
[00:02:10] I don't remember. But anyway, it's a famous book. It's read and quoted and used often because of
[00:02:16] this Chinese general, Sun Tzu. That's how you say it, Sun Tzu. And this is the book,
[00:02:24] The Art of War. And of course, he just, again, I think President Trump quoted
[00:02:33] from it in his State of the Union speech the other night. It's a well-known book,
[00:02:38] well-quoted book. But he has a lot about military strategy in this book and fighting the enemy.
[00:02:44] One of the things, and this is one of the famous quotes from The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
[00:02:50] He says this, he says, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of
[00:02:57] 100 battles. He said, if you know yourself but not the enemy for every victory gained,
[00:03:04] you will also suffer a defeat. Isn't that interesting? If you know neither the enemy
[00:03:09] nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. So very important to know yourself,
[00:03:18] your strengths, your weaknesses, your place, your position, your gifts, your talents,
[00:03:25] you know, especially it's to be honest about where you have weak spots. Because you know,
[00:03:31] if you have a weak spot, that's where the enemy is going to want to attack. So that's why he's
[00:03:36] talking about know yourself. Be honest. See, there's a lot of people that are not honest
[00:03:42] with themselves. You got to be honest with yourself. Know and understand your weaknesses
[00:03:47] and your strengths and your gifts and abilities. But the main point here, I want to point out
[00:03:53] with Sun Tzu here in this quote, know your enemy. Okay, know your enemy. So if this great Chinese
[00:04:03] general said, know your enemy, and the Bible says things like this, let's look at this verse.
[00:04:11] Bible says, Isaiah four, six, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. This is especially
[00:04:22] true when it comes to dealing with Satan, the dragon, the serpent, the devil, the fallen angels,
[00:04:29] the demon spirits, the enemies of Jesus Christ and true born again Christians. Ignorance is not
[00:04:37] bliss. Ignorance will get you hurt. It will get you killed sometimes. It is never good to be ignorant
[00:04:47] of your enemy. All right, now let's, let's see. Does this verse apply? Well, let's read the whole
[00:04:55] verse first here. This is, uh, Hosea four, six. Oh, that's not good up there. Looks better up
[00:05:03] there, but not here. Anyway, says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou has
[00:05:09] rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no priest to me. Seeing thou has
[00:05:14] forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. So he's saying here is two ways
[00:05:21] you can not have knowledge. You can reject knowledge. You can, or just not have it. And
[00:05:27] then someone can bring it to you and you can reject it. Uh, either way, it's not a good thing
[00:05:32] for you to do. Um, but let's keep going here. That's Hosea four, six. So my people are
[00:05:36] destroyed for lack of knowledge. And then this one, this passage, and we're not going to get
[00:05:41] into the, of course, in this passage here in second Corinthians two, he's talking about
[00:05:46] the church forgiving someone who had really, you know, sin bad and caused a big problem in
[00:05:52] the church. And he was talking about the issue of forgiveness and the need to forgive.
[00:05:57] But he made this statement in the midst of that discussion about the need to forgive. And he says
[00:06:02] here, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.
[00:06:11] Now that verse is so, so very important to this discussion, this teaching,
[00:06:16] this understanding of knowing your enemy. Why? Because what is it saying here? Paul's saying
[00:06:20] to the Corinthians, look, you're not ignorant to his devices. So he should, he shouldn't
[00:06:26] get an advantage over you. But what is the flip side of the coin? If you're ignorant
[00:06:33] to the devil's devices, then he will get an advantage over you. Now,
[00:06:39] do you want to give the devil any more of an advantage in your life than you need to?
[00:06:44] No. Right. So ignorance of the devil's devices, not good, never good. Ignorance is never the way.
[00:06:56] All right. Especially when it comes to spiritual warfare. Very important to understand that.
[00:07:04] Now let's keep going here. Let's look at this. Here's the definition of Satan. Now,
[00:07:10] listen, Satan, our enemy, has many names. As we're going to see, we'll look at Revelation 12 and it
[00:07:17] calls him that old serpent, the devil, Satan. He's accepted the name Lucifer. That really wasn't one
[00:07:25] of his original names, but he's accepted that as people have called him that. But in the Bible,
[00:07:31] he's called the deceiver. He's called the tempter. He's called the liar. He's called the father
[00:07:37] of lies, the murderer. He's got a lot of names. Satan is one of the primary names that he goes by.
[00:07:45] But let's, so let's look at what Satan means here. The word Satan simply means
[00:07:53] an adversary. This is the blue letter Bible, the outline of the biblical usage. It says an
[00:07:58] adversary, one who withstands an adversary in general, superhuman adversary, Satan,
[00:08:08] the arch enemy of good, adversary, Satan, adversary as in, what is this one? I like the
[00:08:16] gensinius, hebrew, calvi, lexicon. He says here an adversary as in war, an enemy. So this is an
[00:08:26] enemy, an adversary. He's the adversary. He's the enemy of God. He's the enemy of humanity,
[00:08:32] and he's especially the enemy of the people of God. So this is very important to understand
[00:08:39] as well. Plus here, the way the Hebrew letters, I want you to notice this, and we're going to look
[00:08:45] at this. But of course, as it says down here, the angel of Jehovah, he also started out as an
[00:08:53] angel of God, and we're going to talk about that too. But let's look at this because to me,
[00:08:58] this is very interesting. Now remember, the Hebrew language changed after the Babylonian
[00:09:05] captivity. Before that, they used the paleo Hebrew letters and language. This right here is
[00:09:14] the post Babylonian, but just so you know these letters here, this is, and of course,
[00:09:20] Hebrews read from right to left. So it looks like a w, that's a shin,
[00:09:27] right? And this is tet in the middle here, and this is nun. So Satan is shin, tet, nun,
[00:09:37] which is basically an s, a t, and an n. That's where you get it, Satan from. All right? Now,
[00:09:45] these letters also have meaning. All right? That's another thing. Just so you know,
[00:09:51] we go to the paleo Hebrew, and you see that shin or shin, as it can mean, either way,
[00:10:00] it can be said either way. Here's the ancient, kind of the ancient. Looks like it just looks
[00:10:04] like our w, very similar, but it's to portray teeth in the sense, or fire, in the sense of
[00:10:14] consuming. Seeing the 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it's a tooth here, means sharp. But
[00:10:25] anyway, the pictograph of teeth symbolizes to devour, to consume, to destroy something sharp.
[00:10:33] Like for instance, the Bible in Hebrews chapter 12 says our God is a consuming fire, right?
[00:10:41] One of God's names is El Shaddai, right? El, and then you have the Shaddai, the Shin, the Shin,
[00:10:49] the consuming one, right? All right? This is what you have here. So you see, you have the consuming,
[00:10:58] or the devouring, where the teeth is the first letter in Satan's name here, because these
[00:11:06] meanings can have both positive and negative. So let's keep going, just so you see that. See,
[00:11:13] shin or sheen, either way, to consume, to destroy, sharp, to press the one letter that God used to
[00:11:20] identify himself, God's signature. So it's also refers to the Lord. But again, it's used in many
[00:11:29] words, the letter is. So like, you know, letter, first letter of my name, D, well, yeah, I could
[00:11:37] just say sign D-O, my initials, and you know, most people, if anybody knew me, or if I had a
[00:11:43] situation, all the people know who that was, but D is used in a lot of words, right? So it's not,
[00:11:50] it's not a bad thing that it's used both in, with the Lord's, some of his names, and Satan,
[00:11:56] some of his names, but I wanted you to see that. So you have shin or sheen, first letter, and tet
[00:12:04] is the middle letter for Satan. And notice what it says, that a twisting, a snake.
[00:12:14] Isn't that interesting? So here's the, here's the, the present Hebrew letter, the way it looks now,
[00:12:20] the post Babylonian Hebrew here on the right side at the bottom, but this with the circle
[00:12:26] with the like of the X in the middle, that's the ancient paleo, Hebrew, but it's a serpent
[00:12:33] as surrounding something. All right, here's more of the definition of that. Tet, a twisting or coiling,
[00:12:42] a snake, the pictograph symbolizes to surround, to twist, a snake. So there you have it. It's
[00:12:50] interesting. So you have basically the devouring or consuming snake is even what the letters mean.
[00:13:01] And then the word, it's interesting here. Notice that the X-files symbol. What is that?
[00:13:11] There's telling you the serpent, the snake files, the Satan file. I'm telling you what it is.
[00:13:21] See that, but they're using the ancient paleo Hebrew letter and most people don't know,
[00:13:29] right? And they're letting you know that whole alien thing is just Satan's agenda,
[00:13:34] right? The last letter noon means a fish as swimming or moving through the water,
[00:13:40] which is representative of activity or life. As you see, the pictograph of this letter
[00:13:48] is of a fish darting through water, symbolized action, life, and it'll show you this book's
[00:13:53] need. It'll show you how it's used in the Bible, but you put this all together and Satan means
[00:14:02] shin, teeth devouring or destroying, tet, snake that surrounds, noon, very active and fast,
[00:14:09] like the darting through water representing life. So this is talking about Satan's very
[00:14:15] name is to consume or devour, to surround as a snake, to choke out life, right? That's what
[00:14:23] he is. Murderer, the thief it calls him to, he comes to steal and to kill and destroy Jesus.
[00:14:29] So I wanted you to see that. Now we're going to get into one of the earliest books written
[00:14:35] in the Bible, all right? I mean, not in the timeframe in the sense, like for instance,
[00:14:43] that most scholars believe that Job, and we're going to go to Job one and two,
[00:14:48] but Job was one of the first books written. Now, of course, later on when God has Moses up on the
[00:14:56] mountain and gives Moses the first five books of the Bible, he takes Moses back further
[00:15:02] to write Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and so on. But that was later,
[00:15:09] he just took Moses back and gave Moses what happened. But the earliest book that was around,
[00:15:17] which is agreed by most scholars, is the book of Job. So let's go to Job chapter one. Now,
[00:15:22] you think about this, if this was the first or one of the first, we can at least say that
[00:15:27] for sure, without any fear of being wrong that Job was at least one of the first
[00:15:36] books of the Bible in existence. And boom, Job chapter one and two, who are we introduced to
[00:15:44] immediately? The devil, Satan. We have the story of Satan going before the throne of God to petition
[00:15:54] God to attack or test Job's fate. Now, if this was one of the first books of the Bible ever
[00:16:03] written and the first two chapters, and really the whole story, what's the whole story is
[00:16:10] Satan saying, let me attack this righteous man that believes in you, that follows you,
[00:16:17] and he'll curse you to the fates. This right here ought to let us know that this is what
[00:16:24] the war is over. Satan hates anyone who lives righteously, who wants to obey God, who wants
[00:16:32] to draw near to God, who loves God, and he wants to be able to test you, to tempt you.
[00:16:40] He wants to make, he wants to hurt God by getting you to turn against God. That's the whole goal
[00:16:47] of everything. Satan wants to take people away from God or keep them from God by any means
[00:16:55] necessary. All right? And this is this, again, you read this story and you go, how in the world
[00:17:05] do pastors and churches and Bible schools and seminaries, how do they not teach on spiritual
[00:17:11] warfare that we're in a conflict with Satan and these unseen forces of his called the powers of
[00:17:20] darkness, principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness
[00:17:26] in heavenly places. How is it that they don't teach it? But anyway, let us read it right here.
[00:17:35] So let's read a little bit of it. Job chapter one, verse one, let's put that up.
[00:17:39] There was a man in the land of us whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright,
[00:17:47] and one that feared God and eschewed evil. And there was born unto him seven sons and three
[00:17:53] daughters, and his substance was also was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen and
[00:18:00] 500 sheasses and a very great household so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the
[00:18:06] east. So God blessed Job. Job was a righteous man. He feared God. He loved God. He served God.
[00:18:14] And it said he feared God and he hated evil. He pushed evil away. Amazing, right? Let's go to verse
[00:18:23] four. It says, and his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day and sent and called
[00:18:30] for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so when the days of their
[00:18:34] feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up earlier the morning
[00:18:38] and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be
[00:18:42] that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. So Job was not
[00:18:50] just concerned with himself. He was concerned for his sons and daughters. He wanted them to live for
[00:18:56] God, to know God, to live righteously. And he had such a fear and respect of God that he thought,
[00:19:02] you know, even if my sons may have cursed God in their hearts, I'm going to make a blood sacrifice
[00:19:09] for that. I'm going to make sure I keep things right between my family and the Lord. So he was
[00:19:17] a serious follower of the Lord. Now verse six, here we have verse six. Boom. We see this Satan
[00:19:29] mentioned here, right? Now there was a day, and this is very important, when the sons of God came
[00:19:34] to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan,
[00:19:41] whence cometh thou? And Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth
[00:19:46] and from walking up and down in it. It's pretty amazing. And the Lord said unto Satan,
[00:19:52] hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and
[00:19:57] upright man, one that feareth God and sheweth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord and said,
[00:20:03] doth Job fear God for naught or for nothing? Hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his
[00:20:10] house and about all that he hath on every side, now hast blessed the work of his hands and his
[00:20:16] substance is increased in the land. He says, but put forth thine hand now and touch all that he
[00:20:23] hath and he will curse thee to thy faith. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath
[00:20:29] is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand. And so Satan went forth from the
[00:20:37] presence of the Lord and began his attack on Job. Now I want to pause here because I want us to
[00:20:44] think about this for a minute. Boom. Here's a righteous man, not sinning, not doing anything,
[00:20:52] not playing games with the devil, not opening the door to the devil. But isn't it interesting
[00:20:56] that the devil lets us know? You know, some people got their mind that the devil is some,
[00:21:01] you know, red guy with horns and a pitchfork who lives in hell. No, he doesn't live in hell.
[00:21:09] He lives here. He lives here among us all the time. Where have you been, Satan?
[00:21:16] Walking to and fro through the earth. That's where he's been. He's always walking about here.
[00:21:25] Why is he doing that? Well, we'll see from 1 Peter 5 it says he walks about as a roaring lion seeking
[00:21:32] whom he may devour. Why? Because he's a devourer. He's the devouring serpent. So he's a hunter.
[00:21:42] And he says something interesting here about Job. Because Job was a righteous man,
[00:21:48] because Job feared God, because Job understood blood covenant, what does Satan say about Job?
[00:21:57] Basically, he's there to say, I can't touch him. You placed a hedge around him. You placed a protective
[00:22:06] wall, a fence around him. I can't touch him. And on top of it, God, not only do you have a hedge
[00:22:14] around him, so I can't touch him, but you blessed everything that he does. You blessed his work,
[00:22:20] you blessed his something, you blessed everything. But let me take his stuff that you blessed him
[00:22:28] with, and he'll curse you to the face. See, this is what it's about. This is the war. Did Job know
[00:22:34] this was going on at that moment? No, he did not. He had no idea. And all of us have no idea.
[00:22:46] Unless God shows us, we have no idea of what Satan is planning, or maybe what he is even in
[00:22:51] the process of doing in our lives. But I can tell you this much. It pays to fear God,
[00:23:00] depart from evil, live a righteous, holy, obedient life to the Lord,
[00:23:08] understand the blood covenant that we have in Jesus through his blood and his resurrection,
[00:23:15] and to make sure that we're in the Lord as we should be. Now, does that mean we won't be
[00:23:23] attacked? No. And that's one of the things I think why God put this in here. He allowed this
[00:23:31] to happen, and he made sure that this was in the Bible, because he wanted us to know,
[00:23:36] I don't care how obedient you are, how holy you are, how righteous you are, how strong you are,
[00:23:42] how much you love God, there are going to be seasons where you're going to be spiritually
[00:23:48] attacked by the devil, and your faith and your relationship with God, your dedication to God,
[00:23:55] is going to be tested. Those are just facts. And I'm going to tell you, I've had this happen.
[00:24:01] I had my job experience in 2001. It was, it was tough. All right. But let's keep reading.
[00:24:13] Let's see what happened here and find out what we're finding out. Remember, again,
[00:24:18] the purpose of this class, know your enemy, right? So we look, we look at these stories,
[00:24:24] and what do we learn? We learn things from them. So let's see how Satan was allowed to attack him.
[00:24:30] The parameters God put on him said, well, you can attack him, but you can't touch him
[00:24:34] physically. All right. So let's read it. Verse 13. And there was a day when his sons and his
[00:24:40] daughters were eating and drinking wine in their elders, eldest brother's house. And there came a
[00:24:45] messenger and a job and said the oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them.
[00:24:51] And the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants
[00:24:57] with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And while he was yet speaking,
[00:25:03] there came also another and said, the fire of God has fallen from heaven and hath burned up the
[00:25:08] sheep and the servants that consumed them. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
[00:25:14] And while he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, the Chaldeans made out three
[00:25:20] bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away. Yea, in the slain, the servants with
[00:25:25] the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And while he was yet speaking,
[00:25:31] there came also another and said, thy sons and my daughters were eating and drinking
[00:25:35] wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and
[00:25:40] smote the four corners of the house and it fell upon the young men. And they are dead and I
[00:25:45] only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle. That's his coat,
[00:25:52] shaved his head, fell down upon the ground and worshiped. And said, naked came I out of my
[00:25:57] mother's womb, naked shall I return. Thither the Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away,
[00:26:03] blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all this, Job sinned not nor charged to God foolishly.
[00:26:13] Boy, I know some people be cussing in Blue Street, right? Losing their minds. I can't even,
[00:26:19] it's hard to even comprehend this attack. But isn't it interesting how the devil attacked?
[00:26:25] Think about this. Now remember, God did not do any of this. Satan did all of this. We're talking
[00:26:31] about knowing our enemy. What did he do? First of all, he used evil people. The Sabians and the
[00:26:36] Chaldeans came what? They came and stole from him and killed his servants. So the devil will
[00:26:45] use what? Other people to attack us. He will move through evil people. He'll move through
[00:26:53] wicked people. Another thing is interesting here. It says fire came down from heaven.
[00:27:01] And you say, well, ain't that something that God does? Yeah, God's done that. You know,
[00:27:06] the sacrifice that Elijah put up, remember? And the fire came down from God and consumed it.
[00:27:12] This fire though was not from God. This fire was the devil. So it shows you that he has this
[00:27:19] power to bring down fire from heaven. And we see this talked about again in the book of Revelation
[00:27:26] chapter 13 when it says the false prophet that's coming, there will be a false prophet. I believe
[00:27:32] probably the final Pope, but the false prophet, it says one of the demonic satanic signs and
[00:27:38] wonders he's going to do to deceive the nations will be to call down fire from heaven.
[00:27:43] Isn't that interesting? So the devil has power to manipulate and use people.
[00:27:49] He also has the ability to do supernatural things like bring down fire from the sky.
[00:27:58] How did he also, what did he use? What did Satan use to kill Job's children, grown children,
[00:28:05] mind you? What did he use? The wind. So Satan knows it has an ability to use the wind,
[00:28:15] the weather. That's why Jesus, when Jesus was on the water and in the storm and asleep in the boat,
[00:28:22] it said he rose up and he rebuked the wind and the waves. Well, the rebuke is the same word used
[00:28:27] when he rebuked demons. You see that storm was trying to harm him and his disciples and Jesus
[00:28:37] rebuked. Would anything, would Jesus have to rebuke something from the father? No.
[00:28:46] Would the father or the Holy Spirit be putting Jesus and the disciples in danger on the Sea
[00:28:53] of Galilee in a storm? No. That's why when Jesus said the things, when he said in John 1412,
[00:29:00] he said the things that we do, the works I do, you shall do also. That's why we've seen many
[00:29:04] times we have rebuked storms and tornadoes and they've changed course or died out completely.
[00:29:12] But in this situation, and as most people believe, the reason Job feared that his sons
[00:29:19] and daughters, his grown sons and daughters may have cursed God is because he didn't trust that
[00:29:23] they were really living for God. So that's an issue in this story as well, but that's not the
[00:29:27] main point here. But with all this going on, Job did not, it says, look what it says,
[00:29:36] with all this, look at verse 20, 22, and all this Job sin not, nor charge God foolishly. Now
[00:29:44] let's just keep reading. We don't read chapter two. And again, there was a day when the sons
[00:29:48] of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them. So remember
[00:29:53] this term, the sons of God, because this is going to come up later, but the sons of God are angels,
[00:29:58] angelic beings, some good, some bad. Obviously, Satan used to be an angel. He used to be one
[00:30:04] of these sons of God, and he's presenting himself before the Lord as well. It says again, there
[00:30:11] was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also
[00:30:15] among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, from whence cometh
[00:30:19] thou? And Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking
[00:30:24] up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, has thou considered my servant Job,
[00:30:29] that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God
[00:30:34] to sheweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him
[00:30:40] to destroy him without cause. Can I tell you, a lot of times people come to me all the time and they
[00:30:47] say, why is the devil attacking me? And you know, sometimes there is a cause. Sometimes we've opened
[00:30:52] the door. Sometimes we've sinned. Sometimes we've given place to the devil with our mouth. We've
[00:30:57] allowed him to do something because we've spoken it and given him permission. But a lot of times
[00:31:03] it has nothing to do with us. As God just steps back sometimes says, all right, I'm going to let
[00:31:09] you test them. Remember, what did he say to Peter? Luke, what did I believe? It's Luke 22. Remember,
[00:31:19] Peter said, you know, Jesus said, all of you are going to forsake me. And Peter said, no, Lord,
[00:31:27] all these might other, these other ones might do it, but I won't ever do it. No. And he says,
[00:31:34] you know what, Peter, Satan, and this is what he said. In fact, let's turn there. Let's just
[00:31:38] turn to Luke 22. We might as well. We're not in a hurry. It is Bible school. We're trying to learn
[00:31:45] the Bible. Luke 22 verse 31. We'll go down there. Of course, I think Peter opened the door because
[00:32:00] there had just been an argument who was going to be the greatest among them. They were having
[00:32:05] some pride issues there. All right. And here's what it says. This is Luke 22 verse 31. And the
[00:32:16] Lord said unto Simon, Simon Peter, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan had desired to have you, that he may
[00:32:25] sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
[00:32:31] strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and
[00:32:37] to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt
[00:32:42] thrice deny that thou knowest me. So here he flat out just tells him, Satan has desire to have you.
[00:32:50] What happened here is the same thing that happened in the book of Job.
[00:32:55] Satan saw that Peter was very dedicated to Jesus, that he loved Jesus. He saw that, you know,
[00:33:02] that Jesus loved him and even favored Peter. I really believe, you know, we just see that there
[00:33:08] was a special connection there, right? So the devil probably feared, you know what, Jesus is
[00:33:15] this. This Peter is so bold. There's no doubt that God is going to use him in a powerful way.
[00:33:24] So let me go before the Lord and ask that I may sift him, that I may tempt him,
[00:33:31] that I may test him. Now, Satan probably with Peter couldn't go there and go, you know, Peter
[00:33:41] is perfectly righteous and has not sinned because right before this, there was an argument who should
[00:33:47] be the greatest among them. As many people have said, it might appear that Peter won the argument
[00:33:54] because pride goes before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction.
[00:34:02] So Jesus could see that in Peter and Jesus also knew about Satan petitioning.
[00:34:09] So just remember this, one thing we can know about our enemy is that he has certain parameters that
[00:34:19] he can work in. He can't just do whatever he wants. He has to get permission, especially when it comes to
[00:34:30] the children of God. He has to get permission for whatever attack, for whatever temptation.
[00:34:38] Sometimes it will not be because we've sinned or opened a door or made a mistake. Sometimes it
[00:34:43] will just be he wants to try to stop us. Remember, he was trying to get Job to turn away because, you
[00:34:51] know, Job and Job's friends were really like the elders of the land. People would come to them
[00:34:59] to learn about God and to get judgments on things. So they were the wise men. They were the
[00:35:06] men who knew God. They were the judges. And Job was a good witness. He was a good example. He was a
[00:35:14] good testimony to everyone around him. And so the devil wanted to stop that because, you know what,
[00:35:19] the devil doesn't want righteousness and God's truth spread in the earth. He wants wickedness,
[00:35:24] sin and evil and lies and deception spread in the earth. So anybody that's trying to spread
[00:35:29] the truth of God's word and righteousness and holiness and how to have a relationship with God
[00:35:38] and to fear God and to depart from evil and all those things, the devil hates. And so he will
[00:35:43] attack. And then, of course, he will certainly attack if we give him place. So we have an
[00:35:50] adversary. His name is Satan, the devil. Let's look at a few more verses just to show this.
[00:36:00] Again, let's go to 1 Peter. I quoted it a minute ago, but all these verses are going to be very
[00:36:06] important throughout this course. But 1 Peter chapter 5, the elders which are among you,
[00:36:17] I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of
[00:36:23] the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God, which is among you taking the oversight
[00:36:29] thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind,
[00:36:35] neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. When the chief
[00:36:41] shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not of the way. Likewise,
[00:36:46] ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, yea, all of you be subject one to another and
[00:36:50] be clothed with humility." Notice he says, be clothed with humility. I wonder where he learned
[00:36:54] that from. He said, be clothed with humility. This is Peter, remember, much later writing this.
[00:37:00] Be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
[00:37:07] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time,
[00:37:13] casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant,
[00:37:19] because you're adversary. What does the word Satan mean? In Hebrew, it means adversary.
[00:37:27] For your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
[00:37:36] Now the word seeking there is a present tense Greek verb. So what does that mean?
[00:37:42] Right. Satan means he is, as a roaring lion, continuously, ongoing, and presently, he's
[00:37:51] constantly seeking whom he may devour. And it's interesting, if you took that word devour into
[00:38:01] Hebrew, you're going to, I can tell you right now, you're going to get a shin involved in that,
[00:38:07] because that word means to devour, to consume the teeth. And that's, again, that's the picture
[00:38:11] he's given a lion. But how does a lion consume with his teeth? Right. He doesn't say he is a lion.
[00:38:21] He says he's like one. It's just an example. Let's look at this. Be sober. Look at verse
[00:38:27] eight again. Be sober, be vigilant. Now, what's the word vigilant mean? Anybody know?
[00:38:33] Yes, it does. Very good. On guard. It means to be watchful, to be paying attention,
[00:38:40] close attention. And actually, one of the words is be on guard for danger. Okay. The Lord doesn't
[00:38:51] ever want us to let our guard down concerning this adversary of ours. Say the devil, because he
[00:38:58] said he's constantly looking to devour us. And then that's why he says the very next thing.
[00:39:01] So let's read verse eight and nine now. He says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary,
[00:39:11] the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the
[00:39:18] faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the
[00:39:24] world. So he says to resist. Now the word resist means to actively fight against. Nowhere in
[00:39:37] scripture do we see the Bible teach us to be passive or weak or inactive when it comes to
[00:39:47] this spiritual warfare against Satan and the demons and the fallen angels. We are to resist
[00:39:58] steadfastly in the faith. Now that's what this course is going to be about, learning
[00:40:04] how to do that. Now a lot of you've already learned, you know, some things about how to
[00:40:08] do that, but I'm not taking anything for granted. We're going to cover it thoroughly.
[00:40:13] Today is not about how how to resist and get into that, but it just commands us to.
[00:40:18] So we're never to, you know, we're never again, we're never to be lazy. We're never to be
[00:40:24] inactive in our fight. We're to constantly be alert. We're to constantly be aware that there
[00:40:30] is danger. We're to constantly be keeping our eyes and ears open, our spiritual senses open,
[00:40:36] and really just always keeping it consciously before us that we have an enemy and he is looking
[00:40:43] to harm us. He is looking to attack us and deceive us, lie to us, get us to sin, bring harm,
[00:40:51] bring destruction, whatever he can do. This is a constant battle that's going on.
[00:40:58] All right. In fact, let's, let's look again. I quoted these verses, but let's go to John,
[00:41:04] the gospel of John chapter 10. Jesus calls Satan here the thief. John 8, he calls him
[00:41:17] the murderer. He's called the father of lies there, but he calls him the thief here because
[00:41:23] he is a thief. He steals. But this verse right here, and I, we're going to go John 10.
[00:41:31] Let's see. Oh, let's just read from verse seven. Of course, I covered some of these verses
[00:41:41] Sunday in my message about the hirelings, but John 10 seven and any of these passages that
[00:41:49] we cover in class will probably be on your test more than likely. And you guys know,
[00:41:57] I love the fill in the blanks. All right. Let's read this. John 10 verse seven,
[00:42:05] then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily, or truly, truly I say unto you,
[00:42:10] I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers,
[00:42:16] but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door by me. If any man enter in,
[00:42:23] he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal
[00:42:31] and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life. Everybody say might have,
[00:42:41] not they will have, might have. It's very important to this verse. The thief cometh not but for to
[00:42:47] steal or to kill and to destroy, but I am come that they might have life and that they might
[00:42:53] have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd giveth his life for the
[00:43:00] sheep. So in this passage, Jesus is clearly saying, again, you have an enemy. You have an
[00:43:08] enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy from you. Jesus then says, but I am come
[00:43:17] that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Might, maybe it's possible,
[00:43:25] but it's possible it might not be that way. Pretty important, right? So Jesus has said,
[00:43:34] you know what, I'm coming. And then he talks about being the good shepherd who gives his
[00:43:37] life for the sheep. So he immediately alludes to his death on the cross, giving his life,
[00:43:44] laying down his life, his sinless life, his physical body on the cross to shed his blood.
[00:43:55] And the reason he brings that up because it is the blood of the lamb, the blood of Jesus Christ
[00:44:02] that broke the full power of Satan. Now, I may get into this. We may get into this later,
[00:44:10] but of course, let's just understand. If we go back to the Garden of Eden,
[00:44:15] this is where Satan got his right to mankind. He had no right whatsoever to touch Adam and Eve,
[00:44:22] period. He could not touch them. He could not harm them. They gave him right by disobeying
[00:44:30] God by sinning, by listening to him, believing what he said and sinning. When he got, when Satan
[00:44:37] got Adam and Eve to sin, that gave Satan the keys of hell and death. That gave Satan the right
[00:44:47] to afflict mankind, to attack mankind, to tempt and test and manipulate and deceive
[00:44:56] and bring death and destruction. Why? The wages of sin is death. You see? So what Jesus is saying
[00:45:05] here, when he starts talking about his death on the cross, being the shepherd that lays down
[00:45:11] his life for the sheep, he's saying, Satan pretty much has control over everything here.
[00:45:18] He's the thief that comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I am come that they might have
[00:45:24] life and they might have it more abundantly. And that is, if you come into Jesus through faith,
[00:45:31] if you come in through repentance and faith, being born again, washed in the blood of Jesus,
[00:45:36] your sins washed away, you become a son and a daughter of God and you're given great authority
[00:45:45] over the devil. We're going to talk about that more as this course develops. But it's all might.
[00:45:57] And I say this, I emphasize this because it's not assured. You can become a believer.
[00:46:05] You can become a born again believer in Jesus. And yes, your sins have been forgiven,
[00:46:12] but that doesn't mean you're going to overcome the rest of the temptations and the attacks
[00:46:19] and the warfare that's going to come against you if you stay ignorant.
[00:46:25] God knows you're going to, you know, when you're first born again, you're a babe in Christ and
[00:46:29] you got a lot to learn, but you're going to have to learn it. You're going to have to learn how to
[00:46:36] break the curses, bind the demons, resist the devil, fight the devil. You're going to have
[00:46:41] to learn his devices, how he works, how he tries to get in. But I want to show you just
[00:46:48] what I'm saying. Let's go to first John first. We're going to be all over the Bible this morning.
[00:47:05] So first John chapter three, everybody with me? I want to just show you this first on three,
[00:47:21] and we're going to go to verse seven. We'll read verse seven and eight here, maybe a little more.
[00:47:32] But he says here, little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
[00:47:40] righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committed sin is of the devil for the devil
[00:47:46] sinneth from the beginning. Look at this. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he
[00:47:52] might destroy the works of the devil. So the Son of God was manifested, right? God came into the
[00:48:01] world. God took on flesh and became the Son of God so that he could destroy the works of the
[00:48:10] devil. Now, what are the works of the devil? We'll come back to this. Let's go to Acts
[00:48:17] 10.38. We know that the works of the devil, he just said here, are sin. So that's one thing.
[00:48:29] But Acts 10, Acts 10.38 says this, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
[00:48:39] and with power, who went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil,
[00:48:45] for God was with him. So Jesus came to defeat the works of the devil. So he talks about healing
[00:48:53] here. So let's understand something that our enemy, he works with. Number one, sin,
[00:49:02] sickness, oppression, which that is depression of the soul, the mind, will, and emotion.
[00:49:12] Sickness is to afflict the body. Also, oppression is to afflict the spirit of man.
[00:49:19] So to discourage or to put in fear and anxiety. But here it talks about how God anointed Jesus
[00:49:29] with the Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good, healing
[00:49:33] all who were oppressed of the devil, testing out demons as well. Right. So Jesus came doing that.
[00:49:42] Then Jesus dies on the cross and through his blood, he defeats the very, the very root. Remember
[00:49:51] a tree. A tree has many roots, right? But it always has what's called the tap root.
[00:49:58] Is that it? The long center main root that goes down. Jesus came, when he came, when he died on
[00:50:06] the cross for our sins, when the blood of God was shed, when he paid the penalty for Adam and Eve
[00:50:15] sin, he literally took back the rights of hell and death that was given to Satan. He cut,
[00:50:28] not just, he didn't just cut the tree down and leave the stump. He cut the tap root of the tree,
[00:50:37] the original sin, the connection of all mankind to Satan from the beginning when Adam and Eve
[00:50:45] gave it to him. And Jesus cut that tap root. Now, for us right now, because he hasn't returned
[00:50:54] his second coming yet to set up his kingdom, it looks like that tree is still alive and well.
[00:51:00] Right? And that's why right now it's whosoever will believe. Remember, you can't see the tap root
[00:51:08] of the tree. Kevin, do you ever see the tap root of the tree unless you rip it out of the ground?
[00:51:12] No, you never see it. But for those of us that believe without seeing, see, that's what faith
[00:51:21] is. Faith is believing without seeing. So for us to believe that Jesus cut that tap root of
[00:51:25] Satan's power over sin and death and sickness, it's through faith. We get to experience
[00:51:36] some freedom now. But again, we have to exercise faith. We have to fight. We have to stand. Now,
[00:51:45] let's look at more of what I'm talking about. Let's go to Revelation chapter one.
[00:51:56] Somebody is good preaching, good teaching. You know, it's the Bible. It's not me. I'm telling you,
[00:52:07] the Bible speaks for itself. Told somebody yesterday. So, you know, the main job of
[00:52:12] preachers is not to tell you anything new. It's just to go, Hey, did you know this was in there?
[00:52:17] That's pretty much my job. Hey, you know, this is in there. So revelation chapter one.
[00:52:31] Oh, let's see. Where shall we go? There's so much good here. Where do I want to start reading?
[00:52:54] Oh goodness. Why don't we just start reading at verse four, revelation one, verse four.
[00:53:04] He says here, John to the seven churches, which are in Asia, grace be unto you at peace
[00:53:09] from him, which is and which was and which is to come. And from the seven spirits, which are
[00:53:15] before his throne and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of
[00:53:21] the dead, the Prince of the Kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins
[00:53:27] in his own blood and hath made us Kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory
[00:53:33] and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him.
[00:53:39] And they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall well because of him. Even so,
[00:53:44] Amen. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which is
[00:53:50] and which was and which is to come the almighty. And Jesus says he's the almighty.
[00:53:55] I love it. And John, all who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom
[00:54:03] and patience of Jesus Christ was in the aisle that is called Patmos for the word of God
[00:54:07] and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. And I was in the spirit on the Lord's day
[00:54:12] and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am alpha and omega,
[00:54:17] the first and the last. And what thou see us right in a book and send it into the seven
[00:54:21] churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamos and to Thy Tyre and
[00:54:26] to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. I turned to see the voice that spake with me
[00:54:32] and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks and in the midst of the seven candlesticks
[00:54:37] one likened to the son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot and gird about the
[00:54:41] paps with a golden girdle. His hair, his head rather in his hair were white like wool as white
[00:54:47] as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire and his feet like a defined brass as if they burned
[00:54:52] in a furnace and his voice is the sound of many waters and he had in his right hand seven stars
[00:54:58] and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
[00:55:04] strength and when I saw him I fell at his feet is dead. You know there are people complaining now
[00:55:10] about people being slain in the spirit we just that's when you're in the glory of God
[00:55:16] and you can't stand anymore and you fall down that's what happens. It's a real thing
[00:55:24] he said I fell at his feet he's dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not
[00:55:30] I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I'm alive forevermore amen
[00:55:37] and have the keys of hell and death the keys. Where did he get those keys? The Bible says when Jesus
[00:55:48] after Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind he told the thief next to him who believed
[00:55:55] in him and asked for mercy he said today you will be with me in paradise as I've said many times
[00:56:02] before Jesus didn't go to heaven at that moment he descended into the lower parts of the earth
[00:56:07] Ephesians 4 makes that clear Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth now there are
[00:56:12] teachings out there in the charismatic Pentecostal realms that says Jesus went into the side of hell
[00:56:18] and suffered in hell no he did not he went into paradise just like he said but I believe
[00:56:28] he called Satan forth and said give me those keys sucker the mind now and he took them
[00:56:39] and so he has the keys of hell and death therefore if we are in him if we are in Jesus through
[00:56:45] faith through being born again through confessing our sins and having our sins forgiven and we're
[00:56:51] walking with him guess what we we're with the one who has the keys of hell and death he is the
[00:56:59] resurrection and the life now let's look at where he says about his blood too just so we we
[00:57:04] make sure again I think we covered this in redemption class but go just flip on over to
[00:57:08] revelation 12 because this also is a very important passage depicting this war the spiritual war
[00:57:19] revelation 12 and this is a vision we're going to start in verse one there's a vision you know
[00:57:31] and these things that have to be interpreted of course but revelation 12 one and there appeared a
[00:57:40] great wonder in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head
[00:57:45] a crown of 12 stars as she being with child cried prevailing in birth and pain to be delivered
[00:57:51] and there appeared another wondered in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and
[00:57:55] ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads and his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven
[00:58:00] and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be
[00:58:04] delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born and she brought forth a man child who
[00:58:09] was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to god and to his
[00:58:14] throne and the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of god that they
[00:58:19] should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days now there's so much within this
[00:58:25] i'm only going to point this part out here is that this is kind of a picture and of course
[00:58:31] this did recently happen in the constellations but that's not all that this is about this
[00:58:37] right here is telling the story of how you know the the woman with the crown of 12 stars that's
[00:58:45] that's israel that's the the hebrew nation the jewish nation the the descendants of abraham isack
[00:58:51] and jacob that have the 12 tribes and that's what the 12 stars the crown with the 12 stars
[00:58:57] represent and the woman represents israel and she she has that crown of 12 stars and she israel
[00:59:03] the jewish people were the ones to give birth to bring forth the messiah god in the flesh as a man
[00:59:12] emmanuel the lord jesus christ she was the one chosen the nation chosen to bring forth foretold
[00:59:20] in prophecy that he would be of the tribe of juda one of those 12 tribes and that god again
[00:59:28] would become a man be born of a virgin and that satan would be there the dragon satan would be
[00:59:34] there to try to devour and destroy him immediately and we see that fulfilled in scripture how that
[00:59:40] satan moved harrod to try to kill all the babies in bethlehem and so the devil was
[00:59:49] immediately trying to destroy him and devour him when he was a child but of course god protected
[00:59:55] him and he talks about the man child who's to rule all nations so this is just a vision this is a
[01:00:01] picture kind of history all right and then when you get to verse six he begins to talk about the
[01:00:09] end time so i believe you kind of have uh the picture revelation 12 one through six is kind of
[01:00:16] an overview vision picture of history and then he talks about there's this war going on let's
[01:00:27] look at it because it gives you a time period look when it says here and she brought forth a man
[01:00:32] child who was to rule all nations with the rod of iron and her child was caught up to god and to his
[01:00:36] throne so so you know again overview right remember jesus comes he's born of the virgin
[01:00:45] mary god takes on a human body born of the virgin mary does his ministry dies on of the
[01:00:52] cross for our sins he physically bodily rose from the dead he appears 40 days to his disciples and
[01:00:59] to hundreds of people and then what happens 10 days before the day of pentecost remember he's
[01:01:05] crucified on Passover 40 days there's 50 days till the day of pentecost 40 days he's showing himself
[01:01:12] alive he's letting them touch the the nail prints in his hands and the where the spear pierced him
[01:01:20] in the side and then what he ascends back to him he's caught back up into heaven in front of
[01:01:28] hundreds and hundreds of people all right that's what this is talking about he was caught up now
[01:01:36] from the time he was caught up listen to this now this is important you get a hold of this
[01:01:41] jesus is caught up what did he do right before he was caught up into heaven in acts chapter one
[01:01:47] he tells his disciples the church the people there that believe in him that are following him
[01:01:52] go to jerusalem wait for the promise of the father you're going to be baptized in the holy spirit
[01:01:58] not many days hence then you're going to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
[01:02:03] creature he said these signs shall follow them that believe in my name you will cast out demons
[01:02:08] so when so this is when he's doing this right this is when you get mark 16 15 through 20 when
[01:02:14] you get matthew 28 in those last few verses 18 19 is that's right before he ascends so jesus ascends
[01:02:25] right the church prays for the next 10 days the baptism the holy spirit's poured out they're
[01:02:33] speaking in tongues they're prophesying the gifts of the holy spirit start moving peter stands up in
[01:02:37] the midst of that preaches three thousand people out of the church is born all right the new
[01:02:42] testament new covenant church is born there on the day of pentecost souls begin to get saved
[01:02:50] it is from this point remember when the child is caught up to god the man child that's going to
[01:02:57] rule the nations he's caught up back to the throne that's when he says there was war in heaven
[01:03:06] michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels
[01:03:13] now what is what is the book of revelation taking us to what's the story it's taking the place it's
[01:03:18] taking us is to what the second coming of jesus so between that time of when the the lord jesus
[01:03:28] was caught up to heaven and his second coming he's telling us there is a war going on michael
[01:03:39] and his angels are fighting against the dragon and his angels and then he tells us something
[01:03:48] disturbing there was a war that went on in the heavens and the dragon and his angels did not
[01:03:56] defeat michael and his angels and they were thrown somewhere else out of the heavens they
[01:04:05] were thrown where here and then he tells us the inhabitants of the earth you better pay attention
[01:04:16] because the devil's angry because he knows it's over he knows his time is short you say well
[01:04:26] well what do you mean i mean that was 2000 years ago oh yeah he knew to him you gotta
[01:04:32] understand something there's no telling how many thousands of years he's been around
[01:04:38] say i believe he's been around even before adam and eve so i believe he's been around
[01:04:44] thousands upon thousands of years maybe 10,000 maybe 20,000 years we don't know the devil's
[01:04:50] been around a long time all right well once jesus defeated him once jesus came rose from the dead
[01:04:59] and he figured out everything that happened and he got those keys snatched away from me it's like
[01:05:04] oh the devil had his old crap moment oh he rose from the dead yeah well he no jesus did
[01:05:21] he appeared he appeared to us 40 days you know appeared to his disciples for 40 days
[01:05:26] then he ascended to heaven then we had the 10 days they had pinnacles and what i'm saying is
[01:05:32] from that point is when it says there was war in heaven now this is not the lord is he ascended
[01:05:38] back to the throne the war in the heaven is under i believe under the firmament was going on
[01:05:45] it was michael and the good angels fighting against the dragon and his aim i think there
[01:05:51] who knows you know i mean honestly this is the first time i've thought about this but
[01:05:55] i wonder if there was a war as jesus ascended up as that they decided to attack as jesus was
[01:06:01] ascending and the lord says michael do you think i don't know that's very possible but i know the
[01:06:07] time frame i mean if we look at the sequence of this passage it's pretty interesting right
[01:06:12] because he says and there was war in heaven now there's many i know many people have many
[01:06:18] different interpretations to this but again i think the primary purpose of this passage
[01:06:24] is show us there is a spiritual war going on and it's intense but let's keep reading and there was
[01:06:30] war in heaven michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and
[01:06:35] his angels and prevailed not neither was their place found anymore in heaven and the great
[01:06:41] dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan which deceived the whole world
[01:06:47] he was cast into the earth and his angels were cast out with him and i heard a loud voice saying
[01:06:53] in heaven now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his
[01:06:57] christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before god day and night
[01:07:03] and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they love
[01:07:07] not their lives unto the death now again think this this is showing too that i believe in the
[01:07:14] end time there's a point where the devil gets no more access to the heavens he gets no more
[01:07:20] ability because notice it says he calls him the accuser here he gets no more ability to go up
[01:07:25] there and go you know i would like to go and see what i can do with josea or daniela or
[01:07:31] pastor dean or kevin it's like nope you're done you're out door shut we're through here
[01:07:40] all right so he's also giving us the picture here that the war i believe is we get closer and
[01:07:46] to the end of the age in the second coming jesus he's showing us that the war is going to get
[01:07:51] more and more intense which is why it says woe unto you inhabitants of the earth and see look at that
[01:07:58] let's go back to verse 11 that's important he says and they overcame him that is satan the dragon
[01:08:04] the devil that old serpent they overcame him by the blood of the lamb the blood of jesus christ
[01:08:10] by the word of their testimony and they love not their lives unto the death therefore
[01:08:16] rejoice ye heavens and you that dwell in them but woe into the inhabitants of the earth and the sea
[01:08:20] for the devil has come down into you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short
[01:08:25] time so there is a war there was a war we're in the middle of we're in the middle of of that war
[01:08:34] all right and that's just the fact and so let's go to um ephiegians chapter six we're in a war
[01:08:52] very real you better know yourself know your enemy see here we're told that there is a war
[01:09:06] going on around us specifically against us and that there are forces in the heavens
[01:09:15] yes in the sky that we are at war with not god's throne not the third heaven but in
[01:09:22] where we live but i wanted to read particularly verse 10 through 12 here
[01:09:28] where paul instructs the the church at ephesus christians he says finally my brethren be strong
[01:09:34] in the lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of god that she may be able to
[01:09:39] stand against the wiles of the devil the wiles the schemes the trickery the deceit
[01:09:47] the tactics or as george w bush would say the strategically of the devil that's not a word
[01:09:55] it's a strategy that man couldn't talk but he says finally my brother and he says put on the
[01:10:04] whole armor of god finally my brother and be strong in the lord brother and the power of his might put
[01:10:08] on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we
[01:10:14] wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers
[01:10:22] of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places now this
[01:10:31] could also be translated wicked spirits in high places not just spiritual wickedness but he's
[01:10:41] telling you it's spiritual and i love it a lot of people you know they don't know they just become
[01:10:46] the mouthpieces of the devil sometimes you start teaching christians christians have demons still in
[01:10:51] them on them all over talking to them and then of course the devil immediately somebody starts
[01:10:56] teaching on spiritual warfare deliverance and these things and oh you'll hear it all the time well
[01:11:02] now now there's not a devil behind every bush i hear that all the time there's not you think
[01:11:09] there's a devil behind every bush no i don't sister jean they're in you they're on your
[01:11:21] shoulder they're in your head no you're wrestling the the wrestling let's come here josea josea is a
[01:11:30] getting to be a strong young man here about you're gonna be taller than all of us i think before it's
[01:11:37] over with all right but let me ask something all right make sure we get him on camera here
[01:11:42] so we got him on camera so josea is here now now josea if i'm standing over here
[01:11:47] and you're standing over there do this shadow by now is that wrestling yeah wait a minute back up
[01:11:54] a little bit more all right right wait a minute are we is this called wrestling no what's called
[01:11:59] wrestling this right here right here right that's that's called wrestling yeah is when you fight
[01:12:05] right you're up close all right you can sit up when you're all you're all up on each other
[01:12:12] i never seen wrestlers that were standing you know on opposite ends of the ring
[01:12:18] right i never saw two wrestlers with one hiding behind a bush
[01:12:23] all right he says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against these principalities
[01:12:30] these powers these rulers of the darkness of this world these wicked spirits in high places
[01:12:36] we are wrestling with them wrestling wrestling that means you wallowing around struggling
[01:12:46] with them now does that sound more like everybody's reality in life are we not wrestling with these
[01:12:53] evil spirits in our minds in our bodies in our relationships in our homes with our kids
[01:13:02] even in church are we not constantly wrestling we're wrestling with spirits of fear spirits of
[01:13:08] doubt and unbelief we're wrestling with spirits of hoardums and lust we're constantly wrestling
[01:13:13] with evil spirits of antichrist seducing spirits and doctrines of demons it is a constant wrestling
[01:13:21] match and the primary battlefield where the devil wants to can where he conducts the battle
[01:13:32] number one battlefield not the only battlefield but the number one battlefield is in your mind
[01:13:41] that's it that's why let's go to this verse let's go to second corinthians chapter 10
[01:13:59] oh people have been taught wrong for so long oh man that rhyme didn't people have been taught wrong
[01:14:07] for so long i need to make a t-shirt out of that oh let's read this second corinthians chapter 10
[01:14:24] and we'll start reading it verse 3 as paul's basically repeat what did you say in in
[01:14:30] ephesians 6 he said we don't wrestle against flesh and blood so it's not it's not the we're
[01:14:37] not going to see these things we're fighting with most of the time every now and then god allow you
[01:14:40] to see an evil spirit or give you the discerning of spirits and let you see what's operating but
[01:14:47] for the most part we are fighting these unseen forces but they're very real they're very real
[01:14:55] they speak they lie they deceive they plant thoughts in our heads feelings in our bodies
[01:15:01] they attack us physically with sickness the illness disease try to kill us with death even
[01:15:10] they're playing for real but here's what he said second corinthians 10 starting in verse 3
[01:15:16] he says this the holy spirit through the apostle paul says for though we walk in the flesh
[01:15:24] we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly
[01:15:32] but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations and
[01:15:38] every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god and bringing into captivity
[01:15:43] every thought to the obedience of christ he's letting you know right here that we're not
[01:15:51] fighting again flesh and blood you're not going to see this enemy 99.999 percent of the
[01:15:57] time you're never going to see this enemy and the weapons that you use you don't see
[01:16:05] they're invisible as well they're spiritual as well that's why words of the weapons the word
[01:16:09] of god the sword of the spirit i'm speaking words right now you hear them but you don't
[01:16:15] see them they say that this battle is not going to be the weapons of our warfare are not
[01:16:23] carnal they're not fleshly but mighty through god and then he says the weapons god's given us
[01:16:29] is so that we will have the ability to cast down imaginations imagination now where are imaginations
[01:16:40] formed in your head right but who helps you form those imaginations in your head a lot of times
[01:16:52] it is not you forming them demon spirits he's telling you satan demons they are at war with
[01:17:02] you and they will form imaginations in your head and they will try to build up now listen what
[01:17:09] they do is they try to build strongholds in your mind by listen every thought just look at every
[01:17:17] thought that you have as a brick let's say let's say the devil he's he's bringing these
[01:17:24] different thoughts to your head you know he'll he'll shoot things in there like you you mean
[01:17:29] you really believe the bible you you really believe jesus dying for you you really you
[01:17:34] believe that crazy preacher in alabama you really oh oh another one here's another one
[01:17:42] you mean you trust the bible wasn't it just written by men isn't that very
[01:17:47] so but what he does is all these thoughts and ideas that are exalting them so what are they
[01:17:53] doing they're exalting themselves against the knowledge or the truth of god god says his words
[01:17:59] true right the devil tries to get you to doubt it what is that that is a thought or an imagination
[01:18:05] that is exalting itself above the knowledge of god and these are bricks and what the devil's
[01:18:14] doing is if he can get you to receive enough bricks in your head he is gradually building
[01:18:25] a stronghold in your in your mind and what you meditate on what you think on constantly
[01:18:38] what you allow to go on in your mind will eventually sink its foundation down into your
[01:18:48] heart and once it does that it's a stronghold now the good news is this because of what jesus has
[01:19:02] done for us he says we have weapons that can tear down these strongholds oh that's good preaching
[01:19:15] right there what are the weapons that tears down the stronghold number one weapon the bible
[01:19:26] the word of god the words of god are powerful they're alive that's why in matthew 4 and in
[01:19:38] luke 4 when satan came to tempt jesus he spoke the word of god out of his mouth every temptation
[01:19:52] satan was trying to build a stronghold trying to put bricks in jesus's mind
[01:19:57] his bricks and every time jesus would use a weapon to destroy that brick
[01:20:05] man this is just the beginning of this we're not going to be able to we're not getting into all
[01:20:11] the weapons today just trying to give you the understanding that this is always this
[01:20:17] this battle is always going to be before us it is a mental battle primarily now again the devil
[01:20:27] will attack us physically sickness disease pain problems yes he wants to bring death and
[01:20:35] accidents and destruction to our physical body but he would rather before he does that use us
[01:20:43] for his purposes so if the devil knows if he can get control of someone's mind what they think what
[01:20:51] they believe then he can use them to spread his message that's what he does he turns people into
[01:21:01] his evangelist it could be about anything all right but this is what he does let's see let's go to
[01:21:10] uh go to first timothy chapter four first timothy four you know this is a you're gonna hear me i guess
[01:21:29] until jesus comes i'll be going to this verse again and again and again and again but there's
[01:21:37] so much here he says now look at verse four i mean chapter four verse one now the spirit speaketh
[01:21:48] expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing
[01:21:56] spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot
[01:22:04] iron now let's just stop right there go back to verse one there he says the spirit speaketh
[01:22:11] expressly so paul said the holy spirit just came all over me and said this is something specific
[01:22:15] you need to say that in the latter time some will depart from the faith giving heed if you
[01:22:22] look up the phrase in the greek dictionary giving heed what you're going to find is it means
[01:22:29] possessing the mind in fact i'm going to look it up right here and read it exactly for you
[01:22:42] since of course we're not in a hurry we're still doing good on time first timothy four one there
[01:22:57] we go giving heed all right and i've put this up before but here i'll let everybody here let's make
[01:23:06] sure my volume is up here we go here's how you pronounce it 43 37 prosecco prosecco what he said
[01:23:20] and the outline of biblical usage it says to give attention to take heed to to be given or addicted
[01:23:30] to to devote thought and effort to the strong's definition here says to hold the mind remember to
[01:23:38] hold the mind towards to pay attention to all right to hold the mind um so let's go let's go back and
[01:23:50] read this verse he says in the latter time some shall depart from the faith paying attention to
[01:23:57] right allowing seducing spirits to hold the mind hold sounds familiar yeah that's right
[01:24:08] stronghold do you let the devil hold your mind your thought life do you allow his ideas
[01:24:20] his bad seeds of doubt unbelief fear anxiety lust anger covetousness greed
[01:24:30] you see he's always going to be planting evil don't let him you resist in the name of jesus
[01:24:40] all right but i wanted you to see that to hold the mind the work like for instance let me let
[01:24:44] me see uh daniela let me see your notebook there you got a nice pretty flowery notebook here see
[01:24:50] i got i'm i'm holding daniela's notebook right right i'm holding it but you could also say what
[01:25:00] does she possess the notebook now or do i possess the notebook now i possess the
[01:25:06] i'm holding it now right that's what it means you let the devil build a stronghold in your mind
[01:25:16] he now possesses control he begins to possess control of your mind and this is how he manipulates
[01:25:25] the world and this war is real and satan and his demons and his fallen angels are not behind
[01:25:33] bushes they have no reason to hide behind bushes people they are looking to get strongholds
[01:25:41] in people's minds in their heart their spirit so that he can make them a tool for his kingdom
[01:25:52] and that's what this war is all about control influence power and this war is going on every
[01:26:03] single day see remember let's let's turn to this go to second corinthians chapter 11 and we're
[01:26:21] going to be talking more about again the garden of eden and what happened even before the garden
[01:26:27] of eden what do you mean pastor jim you can talk about what happened before the garden of eden yep
[01:26:35] because the bible's like a puzzle there's pieces everywhere let's read this second corinthians
[01:26:45] chapter 11 verse one where paul says here would to god you could bear with me a little in my
[01:26:50] folly and indeed bear with me for i'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy speaking to the
[01:26:55] christians the church of corinth for i have espoused you to one husband that i present you
[01:26:59] as a chaste of virgin to christ but i fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled eve through
[01:27:05] his subtlety so your minds you see that so your minds so your minds should be corrupted
[01:27:17] from the simplicity everything just satan the serpent the dragon the devil the fallen angels
[01:27:24] that went with him the demon spirits and we'll deal with the difference between the two
[01:27:30] but again the war is to corrupt your minds to build strongholds in your mind to get them
[01:27:43] rooted down in your heart so that you become a tool of the satanic kingdom know your enemy
[01:27:55] knowing your enemy is again we you know like i said we could go for another hour on this
[01:28:00] just this issue but today what i want you to know and there'll probably be next week
[01:28:08] just be knowing your enemy part two but i just want you to know he's your adversary he's real
[01:28:17] he's powerful we're gonna find out he's powerful he's got a lot of power remember he used the
[01:28:21] wind he used he called down fire he has supernatural power not as powerful as god
[01:28:28] but he is powerful he's also very wise the bible says this about him that he was
[01:28:39] perfect in wisdom he's very wise he knows how to tempt you he knows how to test you
[01:28:52] he knows how to talk to you he's watched you since you were being formed in your mother's womb
[01:29:05] and he started a war against you then you know he tried to blind me as a little child
[01:29:14] it's funny y'all want to hear something funny as we end today pastor dean was born
[01:29:29] in a roman catholic hospital nuns carried me around for the first days of my life
[01:29:37] they only knew huh yep i had to break some curses from that right but i had a reaction
[01:29:52] i remember when i was born and they said i look back and i know the devil saw the glory of god
[01:29:57] of my life because remember he says before when even when god called me to the ministry he used
[01:30:02] jeremiah one and said before you were formed in the belly i knew you and i ordained you and
[01:30:06] sanctified you to be a prophet to the nation so for the moment i know i was in my mother's womb
[01:30:12] the glory of god was on me the hand of god was only the devil seized that
[01:30:15] and he began his war immediately and they put some kind of stupid drops in my eyes that
[01:30:22] they don't even use anymore i don't know why they did it i think they just experiment on babies and
[01:30:28] you know vaccines and all kind of other stuff but yeah they were worried i was going to be blind
[01:30:33] because i had a severe reaction to whatever they put in my eyes and uh didn't work still here
[01:30:44] so just know that the war is real satan is real spirits are real they're wrestling
[01:30:54] they're planting thoughts they're not hiding behind trees they're hanging out in your room
[01:30:58] they're trying to hang out in your room they try to hang out in your house they try to hang
[01:31:01] out with you in the car they love it when you're alone that's when they really like to hang out with
[01:31:09] all right get you thinking on things and it could be anything again it could lust fear anger
[01:31:15] doubt so what's the number one battlefield your uh assignment all i'm going to assign you to do
[01:31:27] today for spiritual warfare class one knowing your enemy because i want you to have a
[01:31:33] discussion with each other what y'all to have a discussion about again knowing yourself and your
[01:31:44] enemy what you would say is your weakness in your mind where the devil attacks you with where you
[01:31:51] have the the biggest struggle with thoughts ideas strongholds you know the the bricks the devil
[01:32:01] tries to to put in your mind because remember what did what did sanzu say sanzu the art of war
[01:32:09] know yourself know your enemy if you know yourself you're honest and true to yourself
[01:32:16] you know your strengths you know your weaknesses and you know your enemy he said you you need not
[01:32:20] fear the outcome of 100 battles meaning don't mean you're going to win every battle but you'll
[01:32:27] win the war right so the question uh is just have a discussion among yourselves about where you feel
[01:32:45] your weakness is particularly mentally in the attacks of the devil and there's a reason for
[01:32:58] that and let me let me tell you why too i want to focus on you could say we could especially
[01:33:01] why don't you focus on our strengths because there's power when you talk about and admit
[01:33:09] where you're weak and you talk about it with other people there's power in that there's
[01:33:16] strength that comes from confessing those faults and weaknesses or whatever there's strength that
[01:33:21] comes from that in james chapter five confess your faults one to another and pray one for them
[01:33:27] there's nothing wrong with it because listen we all have weaknesses every one of them and we know
[01:33:35] that the devil knows you know especially we know we're aware of them so if we're aware of them
[01:33:41] right we know satan and his cohorts are aware of them right so just discuss you know where your
[01:33:49] biggest battle is how you fight it um maybe how you could do better you know but just have a
[01:33:58] class discussion so that's your assignment yeah it'll be posted on can all right well let's pray
[01:34:08] and we'll be dismissed this morning so we full hour and 45 minutes i guess not even well we
[01:34:15] started a little late so not quite an hour and 45 minutes but let's pray father in heaven we thank
[01:34:21] you lord for your word for the truth lord for the power and authority that jesus came and took
[01:34:30] those keys because he lived that sinless life and laid down his life for our sins on the cross and
[01:34:39] lord we just thank you for the power of the blood of jesus we thank you for power and authority
[01:34:44] that we have weapons now of warfare that we can resist our adversary the devil satan the dragon we
[01:34:54] can resist him we can resist his strongholds and his thoughts that he tries to bring into our minds
[01:35:02] or we can overcome through the blood of jesus through the name of jesus through that power
[01:35:07] and authority the lord make us aware help us to know ourselves and to know our enemy
[01:35:16] and i pray this in jesus name amen all right class dismissed