WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Shadowing – part-2 Publishing Date: 2021-06-27T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/shadowing-part-2/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 yesterday. We were talking about, okay, so how do we deal with the fact that we have 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:15.080 a supernatural enemy? And it's not, when I say we have, I don't mean just the church, 00:00:15.440 --> 00:00:22.440 I mean humans. Humans have a supernatural enemy. Humans have a supernatural enemy, and 00:00:22.840 --> 00:00:29.840 the aim of this supernatural enemy is to use pain and pleasure, is to use pain and pleasure 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:45.520 to blind and dull, to blind and dull us to God, to blind and dull us to God, to blind 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:59.440 and dull us to God, to make us self-centered and self-reliant, and to strip us of what 00:00:59.440 --> 00:01:06.440 it is to be human. So mankind, and so we're not just talking about Christians, we're 00:01:20.440 --> 00:01:27.440 talking about the human race. We're talking about the human race, and we're talking about 00:01:29.440 --> 00:01:35.440 mankind as in ones that believe in Jesus Christ and have received him as Lord and Savior, 00:01:35.440 --> 00:01:41.080 ones that are religious, ones that aren't religious, ones that do not believe in God, 00:01:41.080 --> 00:01:47.280 doesn't matter. Humans have a supernatural enemy. Mankind has a supernatural enemy, and 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:54.280 that enemy aims at using pain and pleasure to blind and dull us to God, to make us self-centered 00:01:54.480 --> 00:02:01.480 and self-reliant, and to strip us of what it is to be human. And what is it to be human? 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:08.480 If you want to know what it is to be human, you have to look at Genesis chapter 1. Eden. 00:02:08.480 --> 00:02:15.480 What did he promise there? He promised dignity. He promised security. He promised provision. 00:02:16.480 --> 00:02:23.480 He promised freedom. He promised companionship and intimacy. He promised purpose. He promised 00:02:36.040 --> 00:02:43.040 happiness, because the very name Eden meant delight. He promised these things, and I think 00:02:44.040 --> 00:02:51.040 there's one or two more I forgot. And the intent of this supernatural enemy is to use 00:02:54.040 --> 00:02:58.320 pain and pleasure to blind and dull us to God, to make us self-centered and self-reliant, 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:04.200 to strip us of what it is to be human by removing these things and giving us a counterfeit version 00:03:04.200 --> 00:03:11.200 of it. And this has been going on for 4,000 years or 6,000 years or however old you want 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:19.120 the earth or mankind to be. That's what he aims at with all mankind. With Christians, 00:03:21.600 --> 00:03:28.600 his intent is, can I destroy your faith in Christ? Can I destroy your faith in Jesus 00:03:33.040 --> 00:03:40.040 Christ? Again, using pain or pleasure to either draw you away from or to turn you away from 00:03:41.200 --> 00:03:48.200 or to turn you against. Can I destroy your faith? If you're a believer, that's Satan's 00:03:48.200 --> 00:03:55.200 activity. His activity is, can I destroy your faith? And in the process, he uses value systems. 00:03:57.200 --> 00:04:04.200 He fuels and shapes value systems. He uses ideologies. He uses institutions. He uses 00:04:04.200 --> 00:04:11.200 religions. He uses the socio-economic, religio-politic systems of the world, all of them corrupted 00:04:25.640 --> 00:04:32.640 by values that have very little to do with God. Take any system, any ideology, any economic 00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:39.640 system, any socio-religio-political system and it's been corrupted. How does it get corrupted? 00:04:40.400 --> 00:04:44.080 These are the three things used to corrupt it. Blind and dull you to God, make yourself 00:04:44.080 --> 00:04:49.380 centered and self-reliant. Capitalism stinks of this. Strippers of what it is to be human. 00:04:49.380 --> 00:04:56.380 Every system is meant to do those three things so that man is stripped of what it is to be 00:04:56.380 --> 00:05:03.380 human. It doesn't matter whether you take a democratic system, a capitalistic system, 00:05:03.660 --> 00:05:10.140 a communist system. It doesn't matter which economic system you choose, which religion. 00:05:10.140 --> 00:05:17.140 Even Christianity is a religion. Look what we just prayed about. I mean, how does a Christian 00:05:17.700 --> 00:05:22.820 denomination, and I'm not pointing a finger at the Catholics, the Presbyterians, Methodists, 00:05:22.820 --> 00:05:29.820 Anglicans, different denominations are involved. How do we go from Christ to decimating a 00:05:36.140 --> 00:05:43.140 culture? How? Any questions guys? 00:05:53.300 --> 00:06:00.300 Any questions, any thoughts? Not you. Any questions, any thoughts? Okay. 00:06:09.660 --> 00:06:16.660 I guess we need to get on with our life. That's why it's so important for us to be connected 00:06:22.820 --> 00:06:29.820 with each other. Yeah, it's impossible to deal with it as an individual. You can be 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:36.580 the strongest person you need to be, but you still can't deal with this individually. Yeah, 00:06:36.580 --> 00:06:42.020 the question, the comment Karen made was that it makes them more aware that to deal with 00:06:42.020 --> 00:06:46.420 something like this, you cannot deal with it as an individual, but you have to deal 00:06:46.420 --> 00:06:51.380 with it as a part of a people or part of a group because it's impossible to deal with 00:06:51.380 --> 00:06:58.380 this on your own, even if you were the strongest person alive. Not possible. 00:06:59.300 --> 00:07:06.300 So 1 Peter 5, 9 kind of, 1 Peter 5, 9 kind of gives us an idea of who the devil is, and 00:07:12.940 --> 00:07:19.920 we use scriptures to tell us what we need to be aware of or how we need to see him. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:26.920 So the first Peter 5, 9 calls him the devil and then says that he is a fierce lion, a 00:07:28.520 --> 00:07:35.520 fierce lion. Then it says he prowls around, prowls around, oi, oi, prowls around. Then 00:07:35.520 --> 00:07:42.520 it says he roars, then it says he seeks out prey, and then it says he devours. Look at 00:07:42.520 --> 00:07:49.520 that, eh? This is from scripture. This is not trying to create something that doesn't 00:07:51.440 --> 00:07:58.440 exist. In that one verse it says that the devil is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce 00:08:01.520 --> 00:08:08.520 lion, and he is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce lion, and 00:08:08.520 --> 00:08:15.520 the devil is a fierce lion. So there is a fierceness to his beastness. I know it's grammatically 00:08:22.320 --> 00:08:29.320 wrong. And then he prowls, so he's on the hunt. He roars, and his roar is meant to frighten, 00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:38.440 to intimidate. He seeks out prey, so he's not aimless, and he devours. So the devil 00:08:39.140 --> 00:08:44.140 is a fierce lion, and he has a fierce lion. And then the devil is a fierce lion, and he 00:08:44.140 --> 00:08:49.140 devours. So he's on the hunt. So this is real. The bible says so. God is giving us an idea 00:08:49.140 --> 00:08:56.140 of what we are looking at. And so it's impossible to then deal with it unless you have a four-legged 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:02.520 table, or a four-wheeled car, or whatever you want to call it. And some of the basics 00:09:02.520 --> 00:09:07.320 that we need to understand if you want to have any success in combat is you need to 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:14.520 you need to know you need to have a lifestyle that is rooted in Christ 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:28.760 three you need to have knowledge of the word and four you need to be part of a people like 00:09:28.760 --> 00:09:36.840 karen was saying part of a people of god otherwise this is very effective 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:46.200 the reason the enemy is effective is because people usually don't have this you have to have 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:55.720 christ as savior and lord you cannot have a savior till you admit you need saving you cannot be 00:09:55.720 --> 00:10:03.240 saved unless you acknowledge that you are sinful and that is when you receive christ as savior 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:09.480 and declare him as lord then you have a lifestyle that is rooted in christ and reflects his character 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:16.040 then you have the word of god which is the only thing that combats the enemy 00:10:16.040 --> 00:10:22.840 and then finally you have you're part of a people of god and so it becomes very hard for this lion 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:30.200 to devour you because like i said yesterday it's the stragglers who get picked out not the ones 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:37.000 that are part of the herd isolate yourself and it usually ends up with you being devoured 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:48.520 cool not cool actually but cool okay 00:10:53.800 --> 00:10:59.000 so what's our posture before we even pray we're talking what are we dealing with over the last 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:04.040 two days how do we deal with the devil how do we deal with the supernatural enemy so the first 00:11:04.040 --> 00:11:11.000 question is what's the posture even before prayer and you see that outlined in effeciens 6 18 and 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:21.160 first peter five eight effeciens 6 18 and first peter five eight if you read it here's what it 00:11:21.160 --> 00:11:27.480 says effeciens 6 18 and first peter five eight 00:11:33.400 --> 00:11:41.560 it says praying always with all prayer and let me read it from niv and pray in the spirit on all 00:11:41.560 --> 00:11:46.280 occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this mind be alert and always keep on praying 00:11:46.280 --> 00:11:53.240 for all the lord's people first peter five nine five eight first peter five eight be alert and of 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:59.000 sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion resist him in standing firm in faith 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:02.680 because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind 00:12:02.680 --> 00:12:09.720 of sufferings so here are the things that we need to adopt as a posture even before praying first 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:14.760 these are very simple things guys it's not terribly complicated alert the devil and be alert 00:12:14.760 --> 00:12:21.560 it's not terribly complicated alertness that is persistent alertness that is persistent 00:12:22.280 --> 00:12:26.920 how best can i describe this when you drive you have to be alert and you can't be alert at the 00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:31.000 beginning of your drive or at the end of the drive those are the times when you can kind of take it 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:37.720 easy alertness is how we drive as soon as we sit in that car you become alert i was driving with 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:45.560 what's his name evan last week evan was so alert even though i was driving that every time i would 00:12:45.560 --> 00:12:50.200 take a right turn or a left turn he would shoulder check twice even though i had already shoulder 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:58.440 check like i'm driving and i'm turning right and i'm him i see him going there's an alertness that 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:04.360 we drive with that is fascinating and it's the same thing that god is saying is the posture that 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:10.760 i need to develop alertness that is persistent and this isn't difficult we do this in so many 00:13:10.760 --> 00:13:16.120 other areas of life but unfortunately when it comes to spiritual things we just don't i don't 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:22.120 understand why to be alert spiritually till it becomes a habit you don't tell yourself as you 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:27.800 get into the car alert now alert you don't write alert and stick it on your driving steering wheel 00:13:27.800 --> 00:13:32.920 saying alert alert no it's just become natural because it's a habit because you realize what 00:13:32.920 --> 00:13:37.720 will happen if you're not alert because this is spiritual and not visible we are not alert 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:43.880 because there's nothing to harm us there's no semi coming your way from the right or praful 00:13:43.880 --> 00:13:55.480 driving don's car from the left so so so you know you're safe or you think you're safe when in 00:13:55.480 --> 00:14:04.440 reality the spiritual invisible is more real than the visible and so alertness that is persistent 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:15.240 second sober go back to driving i mean one of the things that evan told praful right off the bat when 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:21.560 he started taking him driving you got to stop drinking and so after that praful would not touch 00:14:21.560 --> 00:14:28.920 a bottle of water he just stopped drinking after that because you have to be sober and it's the same 00:14:28.920 --> 00:14:34.040 thing i'm sorry man he told me everything about your driving praful i hope your parents are not 00:14:34.040 --> 00:14:42.920 watching this we're just talking about water so the second thing is to be sober as in to be sober 00:14:43.160 --> 00:14:49.960 sober is simply not to over or underestimate over or underestimate 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:53.960 yourself or the enemy 00:14:57.800 --> 00:15:04.280 or the enemy to neither overestimate nor underestimate either yourself or the enemy that's 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:08.920 it's to be it's to be clear headed it's to be clear headed 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:15.640 these are not difficult things it's just a posture it's just that 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:21.400 i know i'm repeating myself but it's just that we haven't gotten into the habit of this once you 00:15:21.400 --> 00:15:30.200 get into the habit of it it becomes very natural like driving you're just naturally sober naturally 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:36.520 alert and what happens then is you see trouble a mile away i remember this friend of mine 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:42.920 amazing he's sitting in the front of the bus and he's this is in india it happens quite often so 00:15:42.920 --> 00:15:48.120 it's not surprising so he's sitting in the front of the bus and there's this truck coming towards 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:52.760 him and the driver who's driving the bus has no problem but he's sitting in the front of the bus 00:15:52.760 --> 00:15:57.800 and he knows for some strange reason that that truck is going to hit the bus so he gets up from 00:15:57.800 --> 00:16:01.560 the front of the bus and goes sits right at the back of the bus and the truck comes and hits the 00:16:01.560 --> 00:16:07.480 front of the bus and a lot of people in the front get hurt he's right at the back and he walks out 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:13.240 of the bus without a problem why because he was alert enough to know that the way that truck is 00:16:13.240 --> 00:16:17.560 coming it's going to move from this side of the road to this side of the road and it's going to 00:16:17.560 --> 00:16:21.800 stay on this side india you usually move from this side to this side but you go back but he somehow 00:16:21.800 --> 00:16:30.520 knew this guy would not go back and so he goes to the back of the bus and it saves his life man 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:36.600 this is not an exaggeration i remember him telling the story and instead of feeling bad i started 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:43.400 laughing my head off but alertness is seeing trouble a mile away and knowing if i do this 00:16:43.400 --> 00:16:48.520 and this i can help this person out save this person's life save my life this is very simple 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:52.200 a lot of us get into trouble because we are not sober or alert 00:16:53.160 --> 00:16:57.160 we think that because we have had two good days that we can handle the world 00:17:05.320 --> 00:17:12.200 next all this is in first peter five eight and nine just look at look at it again first peter five 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:18.920 seven to nine all of this is there so starting at verse seven cast all your anxiety on him because 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:24.200 he cares for you be alert and of sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:28.520 looking for someone he may devour resist him standing firm in faith because you know that the 00:17:28.520 --> 00:17:32.200 family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering so the 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:40.120 next thing is guys these are our postures before we even pray cast your anxiety on god cast cast 00:17:40.120 --> 00:17:48.120 your anxiety on god whenever i'm anxious whenever i'm having trouble it is best that i cast my 00:17:48.120 --> 00:17:58.040 anxiety on god quickly because the devil loves exploiting my anxiety one of the ways he really 00:17:58.040 --> 00:18:03.000 wrecks our lives is something happens that is really stressful and because we don't take it 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:09.400 to god immediately because we think we can deal with it because we think god may not help because 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:14.680 of many different reasons we don't go to him immediately and because you don't go to him 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:19.560 immediately satan swoops in and begins to really mess up what you're stressing about 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:27.160 and so peter starts off saying listen as soon as you're anxious take it to god 00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:34.920 because once you deposit that sack of anxiety at god's feet you now have your hands free to do what 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:40.280 you need to instead of holding this with one hand while battling the enemy this is such a cool 00:18:40.280 --> 00:18:48.040 posture where you don't wait but you bring it to him and say here i'm really struggling with this 00:18:48.040 --> 00:18:52.440 it doesn't mean it is solved immediately but it certainly means it's handed over immediately 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:59.640 children do this if phoebe has a problem she ain't waiting till service gets over 00:19:00.600 --> 00:19:02.360 and she'll immediately deal with the problem 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:10.440 and occasionally you say no 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:18.520 fourth to fourth one firm in faith firm in faith 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:24.920 firm in faith and what does that mean firm in faith guys the other thing is once you give 00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:32.280 you anxieties immediately to god it's literally like your mind is at rest and the mind is where 00:19:32.280 --> 00:19:40.280 most of the battles happen your mind is at rest you literally wear the helmet that protects your head 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:49.480 firm in faith what do you mean by firm in faith firm in faith is establishing who you are to god 00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:52.440 establishing who you are to god 00:19:57.880 --> 00:19:59.320 establishing who god is 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:14.280 and retrieving promises of god that's what firm in faith looks like promises of god this is just 00:20:14.280 --> 00:20:19.720 posture in prayer as in all right so what does it mean to be firm in faith firm in faith is not 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:24.520 going through the apostle's creed or the nysene creed or repeating scriptures firm in faith is 00:20:24.520 --> 00:20:28.920 quickly aligning yourself so you know how much god cares for you and who you are to god 00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:33.960 and then quickly remembering who god says he will be in this situation 00:20:35.320 --> 00:20:38.280 and then retrieving promises that god has said to you 00:20:41.320 --> 00:20:45.080 that's what firm in faith it gives you it gives you traction man 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:50.520 it's like but i am his much-loved child he is my father 00:20:52.840 --> 00:20:57.480 he didn't even need to swear it but he's going to take care of me he never leaves me 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:03.400 he never leaves me in this particular situation he said he'd take care of me all right so i know 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:09.160 where i stand with him now who is he and then you begin to remember who he is i was praying for 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:13.080 someone this morning who was struggling with something and i asked him so who has got to you 00:21:13.080 --> 00:21:18.280 and the person said he is lord god almighty i thought him as a man your problem is going to 00:21:18.280 --> 00:21:24.600 get solved before you even hit the road because suddenly you recognize who god is and then finally 00:21:24.840 --> 00:21:30.520 pulling out the promises that have been given to you already have been given to you three 00:21:30.520 --> 00:21:33.960 simple ways man any questions 00:21:40.360 --> 00:21:40.860 no 00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:47.180 okay 00:21:54.600 --> 00:22:04.680 so 00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:13.640 to be effective against satan in your own life and in the city 00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:17.240 one of the things that we have to do is hate sin 00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:20.680 hate sin 00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:26.680 this has to be something that you establish inside you that i'm not going to tolerate it i'm not 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:31.160 going to nibble on it i'm not going to frequent it every so often i'm not going to have 10 good 00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:37.160 days and one bad day i'm not going to let my hair down with sin i'm not going to be samson 00:22:38.760 --> 00:22:46.040 because i usually samson usually ends up dying or ends up having his eyes gouged out it's just not 00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:46.940 my style 00:22:52.040 --> 00:22:56.040 you have to decide to hate sin a hatred for sin 00:22:58.760 --> 00:23:10.200 sin is anti-god sin is anti-god we don't think so we think of sin as something that is natural to 00:23:10.840 --> 00:23:27.320 it's okay sin is anti-god when i sin i love when i sin i love what god hates 00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:33.960 and intensely loathes 00:23:34.600 --> 00:23:38.920 i want us to remember that sin is anti-god when i sin 00:23:39.560 --> 00:23:44.920 i i am loving something he absolutely hates and intensely loathes 00:23:48.360 --> 00:23:53.480 this whole cheap grace thing has made sin something that is like a 00:23:55.000 --> 00:24:00.920 friendly thing that god says yeah i understand i love you still and so it becomes like 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:09.400 i love you still and so it becomes like this python that god keeps in heaven as a pet not true 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:18.440 he hates it he has in he has an intense loathing for sin he hates it and every time i choose this 00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:21.800 i am loving something that he intensely loathes and that he hates 00:24:21.800 --> 00:24:23.800 he hates 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:32.600 you don't like covid 19 do you even after the vaccination it's not like i actually like you now 00:24:34.840 --> 00:24:37.800 there's an intense loathing for every variant 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:50.280 when i sin god isn't really saying what we christians say you know i love you jacob i just 00:24:50.280 --> 00:24:57.240 hate the sin it's a standard statement right god loves the god loves the sinner just hates the 00:24:58.280 --> 00:25:04.680 sin it's a nice statement it's it makes you all friendly and warm and gooey but at the end of the 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:10.760 day it is not sin that is being sent to hell it is the sinner that is being sent to hell god is 00:25:10.760 --> 00:25:19.480 not punishing sin in hell he's punishing the sinner god hates sin and sin doesn't exist like 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:26.920 a wisp like mist sin always exists only in hearts and if it doesn't exist in a heart it doesn't 00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:32.680 exist at all sin is not some kind of ethereal thing that's floating around saying who shall i 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:42.120 come and sit on no it's always something that lives only if it finds a heart and as much as it 00:25:42.120 --> 00:25:48.360 is true that jesus loves please don't for a second thing that he comes to me and says oh jacob you're 00:25:48.360 --> 00:25:55.400 sinning again i love you jacob i just hate the sin you're doing no he finds it lordsom that i sin 00:25:58.760 --> 00:26:07.320 and then having such intense loathing for sin he now sends his son to die for me which is why love 00:26:07.320 --> 00:26:07.960 is stunning 00:26:14.280 --> 00:26:21.880 god finds i know these words will sound so anti-grace that it's hard to swallow 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:28.360 but god finds me repugnant because of my rebellion just like i find wickedness and wicked people 00:26:28.360 --> 00:26:35.320 reprehensible reprehensible because of their sin i mean when we talk about this 750 bodies being 00:26:35.320 --> 00:26:40.920 found doesn't make you feel any better that oh it's just sin we should love the sinner is that 00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:49.080 your normal reaction no when you hear of someone in power who was supposedly a christian abusing 00:26:49.080 --> 00:26:55.800 women what is your reaction oh poor guy just love him just hate the sin is that your reaction you as 00:26:55.800 --> 00:27:03.400 human beings if you don't have that reaction what do you think god feels he finds this he finds me 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:06.760 very odious and repugnant when i sin 00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:15.960 just as i would find someone reprehensible if they were doing something terribly wicked and after he 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:22.680 feels that he then rises up and says but this boy i will love and this boy i will lay my life down 00:27:22.680 --> 00:27:30.680 for this boy i will die for it is not that he doesn't see it as repugnant he says despite how 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:37.000 i feel about him and his sin i will choose to love him and therein lies the love that was shown on 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:42.840 the cross and if we don't realize how loathsome it is in his sight we will not realize how loving 00:27:42.840 --> 00:27:52.440 it is on the cross and what does cheap grace do cheap grace makes it tolerable and it cheapens 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:53.720 what god did on the cross 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:11.080 so john 3 16 then can be reworded god so loves this city that is so loathsome to him in its 00:28:11.080 --> 00:28:17.000 wickedness that he gives up his beloved son to die for it so that lives can be changed inside out 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:24.920 to enjoy his delight enjoy his holiness enjoy his love god so loves this loathsome city because of 00:28:24.920 --> 00:28:35.240 its wicked god so loves this city that is loathsome to him in its wickedness that he gives up his 00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:45.400 beloved son to die so that lives can be changed inside out to enjoy his delight his holiness and 00:28:45.400 --> 00:29:03.160 love that's how we need to see john 3 16 it's michael angelos painting all over again 00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:08.120 cysteine chapel 00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:14.760 there's adam on one side and then there's god on the other side god looks a little older wiser 00:29:15.800 --> 00:29:22.520 perhaps fairer with a bigger beard reaching out and touching adam that's what we've done with sin 00:29:22.520 --> 00:29:30.680 too god is holy man is unholy but it's okay god tolerates sin he sent his son to die now it's all 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:36.920 taken care of so let's just hold hands and sing kumbaya god ain't into it man he absolutely loathes 00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:41.880 it we have made sin something that is god-friendly and it ain't 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:51.560 a sin until we get to this point guys we have very little traction with undoing the works of the 00:29:51.560 --> 00:29:58.440 devil because he's been someone who's a liar murderer thief right from the beginning i love 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:03.080 what jesus says and i want to get to that point where we get two hours a day where we can say 00:30:03.080 --> 00:30:10.040 what jesus says that the prince of darkness has come but he has nothing in me what a cool statement 00:30:10.040 --> 00:30:11.560 he has nothing in me 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.240 any questions any comments any disagreements 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:23.960 you agree with this 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:35.720 just take off your mask and say it 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:48.040 yeah yeah how do i move from sin happens every so often to hating it 00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:52.040 um 00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:05.960 till you know how good something is 00:31:08.120 --> 00:31:13.560 you will not be able to give up waters less 00:31:13.560 --> 00:31:19.080 how once you taste how good something is it becomes easier for you to hold on to that which 00:31:19.080 --> 00:31:27.480 is good and hate that which was less sorry go ahead sorry go ahead sorry just say go ahead 00:31:30.600 --> 00:31:35.720 okay just one sec let me just write down that point because i did probably come to it second 00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:37.000 just say it again marcus 00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:39.720 yeah 00:31:40.680 --> 00:31:46.920 yeah okay okay so 00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:57.160 the first point is till you realize how good something is 00:31:57.160 --> 00:32:00.600 is 00:32:03.560 --> 00:32:08.760 you will not hate what you have 00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:20.120 so that's the first point unfortunately you cannot know how good something is till you spend some time 00:32:20.120 --> 00:32:28.520 getting used to it you cannot know how good something is till you spend some time in it 00:32:28.520 --> 00:32:34.520 that is when you realize this is so worth it why would i exchange this for that why would i 00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:41.800 why would i exchange this for that this is too good why would i give this up but the thing is 00:32:41.800 --> 00:32:47.960 most christians don't even discover how good it is because they don't spend enough time figuring 00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:55.720 it out everything must be instant doesn't work that way so that's the first point the second point 00:32:55.720 --> 00:33:07.800 is to make up your mind as in make a decision that i have been set apart called paid for with 00:33:07.800 --> 00:33:15.880 a huge price and now that that has happened i am going to die to everything that i used to be so 00:33:15.880 --> 00:33:23.880 that i can attach myself or cleave to the one person who paid the ultimate price for me we do 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:29.640 this in human life someone does you a favor and you will now do anything for them 00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:38.600 you love somebody and they pull you out of a bad situation and you you now owe them for the rest 00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:39.320 of your life 00:33:47.080 --> 00:33:54.920 these are two ways that i used to shift from tolerating sin to absolute hatred for it 00:33:54.920 --> 00:34:00.200 and if i don't hate sin i will not be able to combat the enemy you know i'm not so worried 00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:04.920 about combating the enemy for myself but as a church as a pastor if i do not have the ability 00:34:04.920 --> 00:34:09.960 to combat the enemy in your life or in someone else's life out there then what's going to happen 00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:14.600 what is going to happen out there when people are demonized people have problems with evil 00:34:14.600 --> 00:34:20.760 people are caught trapped plundered who's going to set them free who if i am not able to function 00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:24.440 like this if you are not able to function like this who sets them free where do they go 00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:34.840 they go to their priests their witch doctors their religion their rituals and what do those 00:34:34.840 --> 00:34:39.480 rituals do but dig a hole that is deeper that is inescapable who 00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:47.400 this is not so much for us man even if tomorrow we were to die in terrible torment 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:52.840 in a second you would be in the presence of jesus christ our tickets are booked everything is good 00:34:57.560 --> 00:34:59.000 there should be a hatred for sin 00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:05.800 hate it when you're caught in it get out of it and hate it 00:35:11.240 --> 00:35:12.360 and use these two ways 00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:20.440 i remember being caught up in so many different sins when i first became a believer 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:24.680 oh my god man it was impossible to escape them till i began to taste how good god is 00:35:25.160 --> 00:35:30.680 how once i tasted how good jesus is i used to think to myself really jacob you want to go back to 00:35:31.480 --> 00:35:37.960 that that tastes worse than vomit and i haven't tasted vomit i just want to gross you out 00:35:38.680 --> 00:35:41.800 you want to go back to that when you got this 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.000 guys we got to come to a place where the exchange is so lousy that you have to be stupid 00:35:54.840 --> 00:35:59.800 but as long as i don't see how good this is i'll keep i'll be willing to exchange 00:36:02.200 --> 00:36:03.800 any questions any thoughts 00:36:07.800 --> 00:36:13.560 okay so let's look at what effective combat 00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:19.000 just we'll take three things and the reason i'm going over these three things is because while 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:23.080 we have this 49 day prayer that has been going on for the last few weeks and we're going to 00:36:23.080 --> 00:36:27.480 have this prayer that has been going on for the last 15 days i want us to begin to take up 00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:34.280 to to use slightly heavier artillery than we have been using thus far so effective 00:36:35.480 --> 00:36:41.880 combat against the work of this supernatural enemy that we have not even for our sake but 00:36:41.880 --> 00:36:51.400 for the sake of the city usually involves prayer or action that counters 00:36:53.320 --> 00:36:57.400 satan's intent 00:36:59.400 --> 00:37:07.720 and you do that for yourself you do that for other believers who you know may be struggling 00:37:07.720 --> 00:37:15.480 with things and you do that for the city or people that you are assigned to or that god tells you to 00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:17.000 pray for 00:37:20.760 --> 00:37:29.160 that's basically what combating this supernatural enemy in its very basic that's what it is it is 00:37:29.160 --> 00:37:35.160 either prayer or action that counters satan's intent and you do that for yourself you do that 00:37:35.160 --> 00:37:40.920 for other believers or saints as the bible calls them and then you do it for the city of a people 00:37:40.920 --> 00:37:47.800 of a different situations that you are assigned to this is what christians are supposed to do 00:37:48.840 --> 00:37:53.160 jesus would send them out to do exactly this the holy spirit came in isaiah 61 00:37:53.160 --> 00:37:59.400 to do exactly this who does it do it through always through people jesus works through people 00:37:59.400 --> 00:38:01.800 he can work directly but he loves using people 00:38:02.520 --> 00:38:12.520 so during the next 49 days we want to turn isaiah 42 go to isaiah 42 22 isaiah 42 22 00:38:12.520 --> 00:38:22.760 isaiah 42 22 look at what it says that we want to turn isaiah 42 22 to isaiah 32 1 to 3 so let's 00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:28.200 read isaiah 42 22 first it says that this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped 00:38:28.440 --> 00:38:33.880 this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons 00:38:33.880 --> 00:38:37.000 they have become plundered with no one to rescue them they have 00:38:41.800 --> 00:38:46.360 situations around us hey this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped in 00:38:46.360 --> 00:38:50.580 pits or hidden away in prisons they have become plundered with no one to rescue them 00:38:50.580 --> 00:38:55.960 they have been made loot with no one to say send them back it could be your life it could be 00:38:55.960 --> 00:38:58.920 the life of someone you know, it could be the life of someone who does not know 00:38:58.920 --> 00:39:02.680 Jesus Christ. Regardless, this is the condition. And then we go to Isaiah 32, 00:39:02.680 --> 00:39:08.960 1-4. Isaiah 32, 1-4. And that's what I'm hoping will happen through the way we 00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:13.560 pray from now on. Isaiah 32, verses 1-4. Here's what it says, 00:39:13.560 --> 00:39:18.780 See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. As in 00:39:18.780 --> 00:39:23.040 it's talking about him as king and we as his rulers. Each one will be like a 00:39:23.040 --> 00:39:27.000 shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the 00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:31.740 desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those 00:39:31.740 --> 00:39:36.880 who see will no longer be closed and the ears of those who hear will listen. The 00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:40.080 fearful heart will know and understand and the stammering tongue will be 00:39:40.080 --> 00:39:45.280 fluent and clear. The point being, hey guys, can I have you fight a certain way 00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:50.160 so that people come to you and they find refuge? That you become a shelter in the 00:39:50.160 --> 00:39:55.920 storm. You become a shadow when it's really nasty like this. So let's look at 00:39:55.920 --> 00:40:03.600 those three methods of combat. So here are the three things that I'm hoping we 00:40:03.600 --> 00:40:14.640 can pray over the next 34 days that are left in our 49 day thingy. One, basic 00:40:14.640 --> 00:40:33.200 combat. One, guys when you pray for the city, Satan blinds people to the gospel. 00:40:33.200 --> 00:40:46.400 Satan blinds people to the gospel. He, yeah especially when he knows that 00:40:46.400 --> 00:40:53.320 there are people now who want to do good, he begins to work even harder. So he 00:40:53.320 --> 00:41:03.240 actively opposes. He actively opposes any attempt. He actively opposes any 00:41:03.240 --> 00:41:18.400 attempt people make with the gospel. He actively opposes. So for this city if 00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:22.400 you're praying, this is something we'll have to focus on. How does he oppose 00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:32.600 them? How does he blind their minds? Through distraction, through religion, as 00:41:32.600 --> 00:41:41.680 in traditional legalistic Christianity that doesn't have Christ at the center. 00:41:41.680 --> 00:41:49.680 Through distraction, through religion, through false religions, through false 00:41:49.680 --> 00:42:02.400 religions and through sheer hostility to the gospel. Go to 2nd Corinthians 4-4. 00:42:02.400 --> 00:42:09.680 2nd Corinthians 4-4, just so you know that it's in the Bible. 2nd Corinthians 4-4. 00:42:09.680 --> 00:42:20.800 The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see 00:42:20.800 --> 00:42:25.560 the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ who is the image of 00:42:25.560 --> 00:42:30.480 God. So there's an active blinding of the minds of unbelievers. So one of the 00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:34.760 things we'll have to start praying is that, oh God as we begin to pray for this 00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:44.840 city, we're going to use 2nd Corinthians 10-5. 2nd Corinthians 10-5. 2nd Corinthians 10-4-5. 00:42:44.840 --> 00:42:50.240 We're going to actively start using that to pray for people from now on. This is 00:42:50.240 --> 00:42:57.000 basic combat where we begin to do harm to the enemy. 2nd Corinthians 10-4-5. The 00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:00.840 weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have 00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:05.880 divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension 00:43:05.880 --> 00:43:09.920 that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive 00:43:09.920 --> 00:43:13.280 every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Guys, we don't realize how 00:43:13.280 --> 00:43:17.200 powerful arguments are and how arguments can become strongholds. What happened in 00:43:17.200 --> 00:43:20.560 the Garden of Eden? There was an argument. What was the argument? You really think 00:43:20.560 --> 00:43:28.520 God is good and they actually began to listen to that argument. An argument is 00:43:28.520 --> 00:43:32.000 not some kind of a fight. An argument is presenting a different way of thinking 00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:37.040 so that you begin to question what God has said. The essence of sin is to stop 00:43:37.040 --> 00:43:42.680 believing what God has said. Arguments lead to strongholds and so we are now 00:43:42.680 --> 00:43:46.560 beginning to say, starting tomorrow when we start praying that, oh God, we start 00:43:46.560 --> 00:43:50.920 pulling down arguments that are being raised in the city. That Christ is this or 00:43:50.920 --> 00:43:55.120 Christ is that or this God is this or this God is that. Now we actively begin 00:43:55.120 --> 00:43:59.840 to come against an enemy who's blinding the minds of thousands and thousands and 00:43:59.840 --> 00:44:08.800 thousands. This will be fun. This is what the church is meant to do. It says in 00:44:08.800 --> 00:44:12.800 Matthew 16 that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. What does 00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:21.760 that mean? That if the enemy has frontal attack that the church can go 00:44:21.760 --> 00:44:26.040 against it, break it and take out captives that are being held so that 00:44:26.040 --> 00:44:30.520 they can know Christ. Look at our lives man. There's not a life here that was 00:44:30.520 --> 00:44:35.160 born Christian as in you didn't drop down from heaven. You had so many problems. 00:44:35.160 --> 00:44:42.200 There's a Marxist here. There are at least two drug addicts here. I could go 00:44:42.200 --> 00:44:49.320 down a long list and God had the ability to grab us and pull us out. 00:44:51.760 --> 00:45:02.680 Not two, more than two. The point being guys, from now on we begin to pray like 00:45:02.680 --> 00:45:07.320 this. Satan, you've been blinding the minds of people. Now we come as a church 00:45:07.320 --> 00:45:13.120 to stop this blinding. We pull down the arguments that you set up in minds. We 00:45:13.120 --> 00:45:17.440 pull down strongholds you set up in minds. We begin to destroy them so that 00:45:17.440 --> 00:45:21.740 people can be set free because this is what keeps people captive. The thinking, 00:45:21.740 --> 00:45:28.860 thinking keeps people captive. Change the thinking the person is free. It's 00:45:28.860 --> 00:45:34.260 fascinating. Just think of this. One day I thought and you thought that we have 00:45:34.260 --> 00:45:40.180 actually sinned and that no religion, no going to church, no ritual, no connections 00:45:40.180 --> 00:45:44.780 is ever going to take away that sin and then we began to think that there is 00:45:44.780 --> 00:45:49.020 someone who's paid for that sin and then we began to think we need this person 00:45:49.260 --> 00:45:53.300 and then we began to think I want to receive this person and then we put our 00:45:53.300 --> 00:45:57.420 thoughts into words and we said I receive you Jesus as Lord and Savior. 00:45:57.420 --> 00:46:08.420 Your thought changed your life. Sins will not be remembered anymore. Thinking 00:46:08.420 --> 00:46:17.220 changes your life. This is why we need to understand how, you know the best way to 00:46:17.300 --> 00:46:23.540 think of it is a vice like grip that's a supernatural enemy who's much more 00:46:23.540 --> 00:46:28.740 powerful than humans has on the minds of people almost crushing their minds from 00:46:28.740 --> 00:46:34.700 thinking and then you begin to a church begins to 20 people 30 people 40 people 00:46:34.700 --> 00:46:39.500 50 people begin to pray a simple prayer saying in the name of Jesus Christ we 00:46:39.500 --> 00:46:44.300 break this vice and this blindness on the minds of the people of the city and 00:46:44.780 --> 00:46:50.260 the grip begins to loosen. He has no choice because he has walked before God 00:46:50.260 --> 00:46:54.660 and he was thrown out from the presence of God. He knows the omnipotence of God 00:46:54.660 --> 00:47:00.180 like nobody else does and he's scared and he's frightened and when a people 00:47:00.180 --> 00:47:05.340 begin to take that name that he has seen that broke his back at Calvary he 00:47:05.340 --> 00:47:11.240 begins to loosen this grip and suddenly minds that have had no ability to handle 00:47:11.240 --> 00:47:16.840 the gospel begin to open to the gospel with simple words like Jesus grace love 00:47:16.840 --> 00:47:23.360 kindness it begins to open up and lives one by one begin to turn to God we don't 00:47:23.360 --> 00:47:34.360 see it on CNN or a global TV but it begins to happen. How do you think you 00:47:34.360 --> 00:47:42.400 got saved? Someone was praying for you man. My God the number of women who was 00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:45.500 fasting for me older women who were fasting for me younger women never 00:47:45.500 --> 00:47:57.080 fasted for me but older women a lot of them. In 1st Thessalonians 2 18 it 00:47:57.080 --> 00:48:03.940 actually says that Paul was hindered from going to Thessalonica by Satan. This 00:48:03.940 --> 00:48:10.680 is real guys. Paul was hindered 1st Thessalonians 2 18 I wanted to come to 00:48:10.680 --> 00:48:20.180 you but I was hindered by Satan as in I was blocked by Satan. It's real. This is 00:48:20.180 --> 00:48:30.620 Paul saying it. He was a champion. How come he got blocked? Next basic combat 2 00:48:31.300 --> 00:48:36.860 Come against whatever is normalized in your city. Come against what is normalized 00:48:36.860 --> 00:48:42.220 in your city. Come against what is normalized in your city because whatever 00:48:42.220 --> 00:48:47.460 is normalized in your city is what's going to come and try to enter the church. 00:48:47.460 --> 00:48:52.820 Come against what is normalized in your city because whatever is normal in the 00:48:52.820 --> 00:48:57.620 city is what will try and come and break down the walls of the church and these 00:48:58.020 --> 00:49:03.460 are some things that are normalized in this city. Sexual sin, Vancouver is 00:49:03.460 --> 00:49:21.020 sickness, tolerance that has no filter and accommodates. I love the word 00:49:21.020 --> 00:49:27.780 accommodates. It's got so many doubles. Accommodates everything. These are the 00:49:27.780 --> 00:49:33.220 very things now that are in the city that will begin to enter the church and 00:49:33.220 --> 00:49:39.900 the church needs to take a stance against it. Most men and women who come 00:49:39.900 --> 00:49:45.620 to Vancouver from any country in the world to serve God here are usually 00:49:45.620 --> 00:49:52.980 unseated by this or this and sometimes by poverty but we leave poverty out for 00:49:52.980 --> 00:49:58.860 now. This and this are two things that have destroyed so many men and women of 00:49:58.860 --> 00:50:05.860 God that was sent to Vancouver from the Caribbean, from South Africa, from India, 00:50:05.860 --> 00:50:14.820 from Asia. They come here and they are unseated by these things and this is 00:50:14.820 --> 00:50:18.380 what will try and ruin the church too. 00:50:24.780 --> 00:50:30.420 So today before we go we'll try to pray against the spirits of infirmity. The 00:50:30.420 --> 00:50:42.700 Bible talks about it in Luke 13-12. We'll pray against spirits that cause 00:50:42.700 --> 00:50:50.860 affliction. We read about it in 1st Samuel 16 where a spirit would come and 00:50:50.860 --> 00:50:56.860 afflict Saul. We'll come against the spirit that causes heaviness or 00:50:56.860 --> 00:51:05.180 depression. Isaiah 53 talks about the spirit of heaviness or depression and 00:51:05.180 --> 00:51:12.180 we pray against fear that brings its own anxiety and destroys lives. We'll pray 00:51:12.180 --> 00:51:21.220 for that. These things are so common. We pray this just for us that in our midst 00:51:21.220 --> 00:51:40.020 sickness ends. As in, recurring sickness ends. We'll pray against depravity, lust, 00:51:40.180 --> 00:51:49.460 porn, adultery from affecting the church. We won't pray that today. We'll pray that 00:51:49.460 --> 00:51:54.900 during the week. Come against these spirits, man. Why is it that it's so 00:51:54.900 --> 00:51:59.380 impossible to escape porn? Sure, there's a chemical side to it. There's a biological 00:51:59.380 --> 00:52:04.740 side to it. There are hormones that are released that require a new high. I want 00:52:04.900 --> 00:52:12.260 to say to you that almost every sexual addiction has to it a demonic element or 00:52:12.260 --> 00:52:18.900 a spiritual element that can be easily broken. But after you break it, you need 00:52:18.900 --> 00:52:23.940 to now step into right ways of living. That's the hard part. Jesus breaks 00:52:23.940 --> 00:52:31.380 things easily but he cannot force you to live a right life. He can break a wrong 00:52:31.460 --> 00:52:38.900 life but it is your choice to live a right life. Breaking is easy. Jesus breaks 00:52:38.900 --> 00:52:56.900 things very easily. Any questions? Just one last thing and we're done. Who believes 00:52:56.900 --> 00:53:06.980 that? Excuse me, Karen. I hear you mumbling there. You're not allowed to do that, you know. 00:53:18.900 --> 00:53:26.100 By now it would have been 43 degrees in Pilgrim. People would have fainted by now 00:53:26.100 --> 00:53:28.820 and I thought it was the work of the Holy Spirit and I had to continue. 00:53:35.940 --> 00:53:38.820 And the last one is basic combat three 00:53:41.700 --> 00:53:48.980 and that is come against spiritual powers, come against spiritual powers 00:53:48.980 --> 00:54:12.420 that dominate your city, that dominate your city. And you'll know them by either it being 00:54:12.900 --> 00:54:27.460 displayed all over your city or you will know it by the religious sites that are increasing 00:54:31.140 --> 00:54:41.460 in your city. We'll discuss that off camera so we won't be talking about it now. 00:54:43.060 --> 00:54:47.460 One of the things you'll find in any city in India, any city in South America, any city in Asia 00:54:47.460 --> 00:54:57.220 is you know the dominant power that is worshiped in a city or that is exalted in a city by going 00:54:57.220 --> 00:55:04.020 to the airport, the railway station or the entry to any city in India. You will see at the city gates 00:55:04.020 --> 00:55:08.660 the powers that dominate that village or that city or that town and it's the same in South America, 00:55:09.460 --> 00:55:16.260 it's the same in many Asian countries. It's an old way of doing things. The Old Testament used to 00:55:16.260 --> 00:55:28.420 talk about that and so these spiritual powers can keep people under bondage for years and years and 00:55:28.420 --> 00:55:34.340 years and years on end, thousands of years and hundreds of generations kept under wraps, 00:55:34.980 --> 00:55:41.860 unable to break out of it. It doesn't matter that you come to the city of New York or you come to 00:55:41.860 --> 00:55:49.460 London, what has been inculcated continues wherever you go. It's not geographical, it is spiritual 00:55:50.660 --> 00:55:54.580 and we'll talk about that off camera and deal with what we need to deal with in this city. 00:55:54.580 --> 00:56:00.740 I will take it in bits so that our muscles get stronger. We won't take on Dharasingh immediately, 00:56:01.380 --> 00:56:02.500 you don't know who Dharasingh is. 00:56:06.340 --> 00:56:11.940 We won't take on the ultimate Goliath immediately, we'll take it in small bits. 00:56:16.100 --> 00:56:20.100 So I'm looking forward to this guys. The church must 00:56:22.500 --> 00:56:28.020 be seasoned in terms of fighting. Can you look at Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 5? 00:56:28.740 --> 00:56:34.100 Just so you know that this is something God really likes. Judges chapter 3, let's read it from the 00:56:34.100 --> 00:56:42.660 message. Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 3. Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 3. I love this and I'm 00:56:42.660 --> 00:56:48.980 slightly scared of it but I really like it. Judges chapter 3 verses 1 to 3. These are the nations that 00:56:48.980 --> 00:56:54.660 the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan. 00:56:54.660 --> 00:56:58.900 He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites 00:56:58.900 --> 00:57:04.420 who had not had previous battle experience. A church that does not know how to fight 00:57:04.420 --> 00:57:07.140 and has no battle experience is a very poor church. 00:57:07.220 --> 00:57:14.420 So over this week, make sure you ask these questions. One, are the prerequisites that we 00:57:14.420 --> 00:57:20.740 talked about on Saturday night met? Are the prerequisites we talked about last night met? 00:57:21.380 --> 00:57:25.940 Have you met those prerequisites? If you don't know what we are talking about, go and listen to 00:57:25.940 --> 00:57:33.380 yesterday's teaching. I'm going to read it to you. So, the prerequisites that we talked about last 00:57:33.940 --> 00:57:37.060 night met. If you don't know what we are talking about, go and listen to yesterday's teaching. 00:57:37.060 --> 00:57:38.340 Are the prerequisites met? 00:57:41.060 --> 00:57:50.180 Second, before you... 00:57:53.460 --> 00:57:54.660 Yeah, second, 00:57:55.140 --> 00:57:56.900 is your heart 00:58:00.900 --> 00:58:01.860 grieved, 00:58:04.420 --> 00:58:05.380 stirred up, 00:58:08.660 --> 00:58:09.460 angry? 00:58:11.940 --> 00:58:18.100 Hey, if someone came and did some harm to your child or to your mother or sister, 00:58:19.460 --> 00:58:20.900 what is your reaction? 00:58:20.980 --> 00:58:25.780 Doesn't something rise up within you? Isn't there anger? Isn't there grief? Isn't there 00:58:25.780 --> 00:58:27.460 a stirring up of zeal? 00:58:30.180 --> 00:58:38.500 I remember crossing a street in Ladner on a pedestrian walk and this car came zooming 00:58:38.500 --> 00:58:47.700 by and I was walking with two others and I was the only guy. And the guy, he was a very 00:58:47.700 --> 00:58:56.900 I was the only guy and the guy just zooms by and misses them by inches and I remember how angry 00:58:56.900 --> 00:59:00.660 I was. I thought to myself, my God, there are days when you're not very Christian. 00:59:01.780 --> 00:59:07.940 But the reason I was outraged was because of the absolute flouting of rules as he missed these 00:59:07.940 --> 00:59:12.820 people by this much and something rose up because I thought to myself, these two kids are in my care 00:59:12.820 --> 00:59:17.540 and what if something had happened to them? If a car going by can do that, why is it that my 00:59:17.540 --> 00:59:24.020 heart is not grieved, angry, zealous when people are being kept captive for years on end, man? 00:59:25.220 --> 00:59:29.940 There is a reason why Jesus takes a whip and begins to chase things out of the temple. 00:59:40.500 --> 00:59:45.140 There are things that humans do to each other that animals wouldn't do to each other. 00:59:45.140 --> 00:59:50.100 How is it possible that we who are made in the image of God can be reduced to that kind of 00:59:50.100 --> 00:59:57.540 behavior if it was not demonic? And isn't it common? Is it rare? Is it once in a while happening? 00:59:57.540 --> 01:00:02.820 No, it's happening every day, every night around the world. Is there not a cause? 01:00:03.540 --> 01:00:04.500 Yes. 01:00:14.100 --> 01:00:16.820 If not you, then who? If not now, then when? 01:00:24.180 --> 01:00:27.060 Third question, is your breastplate intact? 01:00:27.940 --> 01:00:36.420 Is your breastplate intact? What do you mean by that? Ask Manoj. Ask Dr. Manoj. He talked about 01:00:36.420 --> 01:00:41.620 the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness, as in, are you walking righteously? Because man, 01:00:41.620 --> 01:00:47.940 that gives you such an advantage. Your breastplate is skewed, you get shot and there's no protection. 01:00:48.500 --> 01:00:53.140 Is your breastplate intact? It's not very difficult, God. Guys, we're not talking about 01:00:53.140 --> 01:00:58.900 walking in perfection. We're talking about walking in right relationship with God. It isn't difficult. 01:01:02.340 --> 01:01:07.780 It isn't difficult. Right relationship with God. I can have arguments with my mom and still be in 01:01:07.780 --> 01:01:21.540 right relationship with her. Fourth question, do you know how to apply? Do you know how to apply? 01:01:23.780 --> 01:01:31.300 Do you know how to apply Old Testament and New Testament stories in battle? Old Testament, 01:01:31.300 --> 01:01:38.100 New Testament stories in prayer? In prayer? Do you know how to apply? If you don't, don't worry. 01:01:38.100 --> 01:01:42.100 We'll go down that route. Do you know how to apply Old Testament and New Testament stories 01:01:43.460 --> 01:01:48.980 in prayer? Pulling out stories. This is what David did. This is what I'll do. This is what 01:01:49.140 --> 01:01:53.540 I'll do. This is what Samson did. This is what I'll do. This is what Paul did. This is what I'll do. 01:01:59.860 --> 01:02:02.020 These are just questions we won't answer today. Five, 01:02:03.300 --> 01:02:11.300 do you know how to weaponize your words? Do you know how to weaponize your words? 01:02:13.060 --> 01:02:17.140 Do you know how to weaponize your words? As in, can you use words in prayer 01:02:17.140 --> 01:02:22.900 that become weapons? Because it's one thing Satan's scared of. He uses words to frighten us. 01:02:22.900 --> 01:02:28.180 He's scared that we may use the name of Jesus and the actual word to scare him because he didn't 01:02:28.180 --> 01:02:32.260 know how to handle it when Jesus, when he was being tempted, started using words. He didn't know how to 01:02:32.260 --> 01:02:40.500 handle it. Go read Isaiah 36 and 37. Sennacherib, who's an Assyrian king, uses words to frighten 01:02:40.500 --> 01:02:46.900 Israel. Along comes Isaiah and he declares what God is going to do. And now the very words that God 01:02:46.900 --> 01:02:53.620 says frightens Sennacherib. Words can be weaponized. The word of God is a sword. It can be, 01:02:53.620 --> 01:02:59.140 I love weaponizing words where you can cut things down with the word of God. 01:03:08.100 --> 01:03:11.620 Will you obey when it doesn't make sense? Will you obey 01:03:11.620 --> 01:03:13.620 when it doesn't make sense? 01:03:19.620 --> 01:03:31.620 When one of Jeevan's guys was sick and he was struggling, like it was half COVID, half other things, he was struggling and Jeevan 01:03:31.620 --> 01:03:37.220 wrote to me and I was praying for that guy. His name's Prasad and it's really good help to Jeevan. 01:03:37.220 --> 01:04:05.220 I was praying for the guy and suddenly felt the Lord saying, serenely, while I was praying, I see the face of this man and just half asleep, half awake, see the face of this man and as soon as I see the face of the man, I know that if I Google that, I don't even know what to Google but that I'd find it on Google. So I go and Google it and this man's face comes up. And this is exactly the face I saw. And so I was praying for that guy. 01:04:07.220 --> 01:04:23.220 I find out who this guy is and I text Jeevan and it's also illogical. You see a face, you Google it and the face comes up on Google. How? I don't know. I don't even know what to Google. What do you Google? Man with a beard? You don't know how many of them you'll get. 01:04:23.220 --> 01:04:39.220 But this face comes up and I know it is this face. So I text Jeevan saying, hey Jeevan, there's this guy. This is who he is. There's some connection with your friend who is ill. Find out who he is and things will work out. 01:04:39.220 --> 01:05:01.220 What are the odds, man? The friend who is ill has a piece of land that this man is claiming as his and has taken him to court and was practicing rituals against him. Jeevan finds it out, prays. In a couple of days, the guy is home, healed. 01:05:02.220 --> 01:05:30.220 And I'm thinking to myself, how does this even work? How does God pull up a face out of eight billion faces? As you see that, it happens to be the very man who is a religious guru in India, laying claims on a piece of land that he says he wants for his temple and is now doing harm to the family to whom that land actually belongs to. 01:05:30.220 --> 01:05:52.220 Once it's broken, the boy recovers. Can you obey when it doesn't make sense? Because everything that we do in this, everything that the Bible commands us to do in terms of fighting the devil doesn't look like fighting. 01:05:52.220 --> 01:06:04.220 It looks pretty illogical and foolish. And the last question. Can you walk in order? Can you walk in order? 01:06:04.220 --> 01:06:21.220 Luke chapter eight, sorry, Matthew chapter eight, verse nine, the centurion says to Jesus, I'm a man under authority. And I know how authority works. I tell somebody they go. And I know the same way if you tell something, it will happen. 01:06:21.220 --> 01:06:36.220 Point being, listen, walk under order, walk under order and you will find that the supernatural realm bows to you. Walk under order and operate within your capability. Tomorrow God will extend it. 01:06:36.220 --> 01:06:50.220 Any questions? Because I'm done. Any questions? 01:06:50.220 --> 01:07:07.220 We'll start here guys. So this week, we'll up our praying for the city and begin to involve things where we actually take on the powers that hold people captive. 01:07:07.220 --> 01:07:17.220 We'll take on those powers, break their strength, because we are supposed to do this. And that's why I'm teaching these things. 01:07:17.220 --> 01:07:30.220 Very specifically, we'll work on things. Everybody praying together. Like Karen was saying, when an entire church begins to do it, that vice like grip loosens. 01:07:30.220 --> 01:07:48.220 Okay, so before we go, I want us to break up into groups of four and maintain a healthy social distance. Keep your masks on and then begin to pray against... 01:07:48.220 --> 01:08:03.220 It's easier to wipe it. 01:08:03.220 --> 01:08:15.220 So at home, if you guys want to call somebody else and pray, that's fine too. If you want to pray on your own, that's fine. Or you can pray just, I don't know. But calling someone might be the easiest way. 01:08:15.220 --> 01:08:28.220 Here's what we're praying. We're praying against the spirit of infirmity. 01:08:28.220 --> 01:08:37.220 The spirit of infirmity is an actual spirit that causes sickness that sometimes doctors can't solve. You don't know why it keeps happening. 01:08:37.220 --> 01:08:49.220 There seems to be no medical explanation for it, but it just continues. It is something that causes weakness, causes sickness. It is actually a spirit. 01:08:49.220 --> 01:09:02.220 We'll pray against spirits that afflict with sickness. We know that Satan did that to Job. We know that Saul suffered from it. 01:09:02.220 --> 01:09:32.220 We pray against spirits that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that 01:09:32.220 --> 01:09:39.220 causes all kinds of anxieties and stresses, which leads to a whole host of other unnecessary diseases. So we pray this, we are praying only for the folks in the church, as in all of us who are here and all of us who have been here before, and that's what I mean. 01:10:02.220 --> 01:10:09.220 by the church. So we'll break up into groups of four and pray this. Just turn to Matthew 12.29 and then we'll start praying Matthew 12.29. Any questions on this? We're not praying, guys remember we're not praying for healing. We are praying that these attacks end. 01:10:33.220 --> 01:10:40.220 In the lives of the people in this church. There are people struggling with cancer, there are people struggling with tumors, there are people struggling with arthritis, there are people struggling with consistent pain that hasn't disappeared, there are people struggling with diseases in this church. 01:10:49.220 --> 01:10:55.220 That this end. We are praying for each other saying, we've got to end this. God doesn't send sickness. 01:10:56.220 --> 01:11:03.220 No father sends sickness. So where is it coming from? Sure there are multiple sources but the devil is certainly involved in these things. 01:11:07.220 --> 01:11:14.220 That's what we're praying against. There are sicknesses that we haven't even mentioned that people have, that we haven't even heard of. I'm talking about in our midst guys, I'm not talking about someone out there. 01:11:14.220 --> 01:11:19.220 So we'll pray for this first. Yeah? Matthew 12.29. If you're not here in person call each other up and do it. 01:11:37.220 --> 01:11:42.220 Matthew 12.29. 01:11:44.220 --> 01:11:49.220 Starting at 28. 01:12:14.220 --> 01:12:19.220 The man who stood guard over them, not allowing you to enter, has been bound in the name of Jesus Christ, set aside. 01:12:19.220 --> 01:12:24.220 You go into the house that he guards and you bring out Manoj. Then you pull out Praful. 01:12:28.220 --> 01:12:33.220 And you're bringing all of them out. Why? Because the man who stood guard over them, not allowing you to enter, has been bound in the name of Jesus Christ, set aside. 01:12:38.220 --> 01:12:43.220 You can either speak it out or you can believe it, however you want to do it. But just keep that in mind as we pray this. Yeah? 01:12:43.220 --> 01:12:48.220 Cool. So Father, as we practice what we have been hearing, I just thank you, Holy Spirit, that you will be the trainer, we will be the students and we learn to do this. 01:12:55.220 --> 01:13:00.220 First for our sake, then for others outside. But please begin this process. We don't want to be theoretical, we want to be practical. 01:13:03.220 --> 01:13:08.220 So first we want to pray for those of us who are not here in person. 01:13:13.220 --> 01:13:18.220 For those of us who have struggled with diseases and sicknesses, sometimes have no explanation or keep recurring. 01:13:20.220 --> 01:13:25.220 If you want to end this in this church, then have the courage to take it outside and do it for others too. In Jesus' name, Amen. 01:13:28.220 --> 01:13:33.220 So break them into fours and do not pray for healing. Pray against these spirits that bring these diseases. Yeah? 01:13:33.220 --> 01:13:38.220 Because when you drive out something, then you can pray for healing later. 01:13:40.220 --> 01:13:45.220 Okay, so let's assume this is, what shall we call it? Bill. Stan. 01:13:49.220 --> 01:13:54.220 So let's assume this is Stan and Stan needs a little help. 01:13:55.220 --> 01:14:00.220 So let's assume this is Stan and Stan needs a little help. 01:14:00.220 --> 01:14:05.220 So let's assume this is Stan and Stan needs prayer. You said Stan, right? 01:14:05.220 --> 01:14:10.220 I'm going with Stan. Okay. So let's assume this is Stan and he needs prayer because he's been suffering with this disease for very long. 01:14:14.220 --> 01:14:19.220 So in the name of Jesus Christ, I come against the spirit that keeps afflicting you right from when you were a kid. 01:14:20.220 --> 01:14:25.220 That has crippled your body, that has brought you pain, that has done you harm. 01:14:25.220 --> 01:14:29.220 We have inspired you before you came in, what happened? But in the name of Jesus Christ, we come and break the power 01:14:30.220 --> 01:14:35.220 μπο워봇 of this spirit to continue it from afflicting you. If God shows you what it is, great. 01:14:36.220 --> 01:14:41.220 If God doesn't show you what it is, we let it be. Right now in a setting like this, it may be hard to identify something. 01:14:42.220 --> 01:14:47.220 But sometimes when you pray for people, God will show you exactly what happened and then you pray for that and it goes away. 01:14:48.220 --> 01:14:53.220 But right now we just starting this process of as a church we are going to exert this muscle of Jesus Christ that is in us. 01:14:53.220 --> 01:15:00.220 that is in us. We are exerting His muscle. 01:15:00.860 --> 01:15:04.820 I can't hear you with your mask on. 01:15:04.820 --> 01:15:07.900 We're praying for the entire church that we are breaking 01:15:07.900 --> 01:15:12.380 these four things from our midst. The spirit of infirmity that brings weakness, 01:15:12.380 --> 01:15:16.020 the spirit that afflicts like a dead job, the spirit of heaviness that brings 01:15:16.020 --> 01:15:17.900 depression and sadness, 01:15:17.900 --> 01:15:22.060 and the spirit of fear that creates its own set of physical problems. 01:15:22.100 --> 01:15:24.460 We're coming against these spirits. 01:15:24.460 --> 01:15:29.100 Because long ago, in 2005, we already know that there are wells of healing in this 01:15:29.100 --> 01:15:29.940 church. 01:15:29.940 --> 01:15:33.660 So the healing is already established. Let's drive out 01:15:33.660 --> 01:15:35.980 squatters 01:15:35.980 --> 01:15:38.460 who have no right in this land. 01:15:38.460 --> 01:15:42.300 So please break up into four and then at some point, Emily will come and sing 01:15:42.300 --> 01:15:43.820 that song, Rattle, 01:15:43.820 --> 01:15:46.340 and then you can hang out for three or four minutes.