yesterday. We were talking about, okay, so how do we deal with the fact that we have
a supernatural enemy? And it's not, when I say we have, I don't mean just the church,
I mean humans. Humans have a supernatural enemy. Humans have a supernatural enemy, and
the aim of this supernatural enemy is to use pain and pleasure, is to use pain and pleasure
to blind and dull, to blind and dull us to God, to blind and dull us to God, to blind
and dull us to God, to make us self-centered and self-reliant, and to strip us of what
it is to be human. So mankind, and so we're not just talking about Christians, we're
talking about the human race. We're talking about the human race, and we're talking about
mankind as in ones that believe in Jesus Christ and have received him as Lord and Savior,
ones that are religious, ones that aren't religious, ones that do not believe in God,
doesn't matter. Humans have a supernatural enemy. Mankind has a supernatural enemy, and
that enemy aims at using pain and pleasure to blind and dull us to God, to make us self-centered
and self-reliant, and to strip us of what it is to be human. And what is it to be human?
If you want to know what it is to be human, you have to look at Genesis chapter 1. Eden.
What did he promise there? He promised dignity. He promised security. He promised provision.
He promised freedom. He promised companionship and intimacy. He promised purpose. He promised
happiness, because the very name Eden meant delight. He promised these things, and I think
there's one or two more I forgot. And the intent of this supernatural enemy is to use
pain and pleasure to blind and dull us to God, to make us self-centered and self-reliant,
to strip us of what it is to be human by removing these things and giving us a counterfeit version
of it. And this has been going on for 4,000 years or 6,000 years or however old you want
the earth or mankind to be. That's what he aims at with all mankind. With Christians,
his intent is, can I destroy your faith in Christ? Can I destroy your faith in Jesus
Christ? Again, using pain or pleasure to either draw you away from or to turn you away from
or to turn you against. Can I destroy your faith? If you're a believer, that's Satan's
activity. His activity is, can I destroy your faith? And in the process, he uses value systems.
He fuels and shapes value systems. He uses ideologies. He uses institutions. He uses
religions. He uses the socio-economic, religio-politic systems of the world, all of them corrupted
by values that have very little to do with God. Take any system, any ideology, any economic
system, any socio-religio-political system and it's been corrupted. How does it get corrupted?
These are the three things used to corrupt it. Blind and dull you to God, make yourself
centered and self-reliant. Capitalism stinks of this. Strippers of what it is to be human.
Every system is meant to do those three things so that man is stripped of what it is to be
human. It doesn't matter whether you take a democratic system, a capitalistic system,
a communist system. It doesn't matter which economic system you choose, which religion.
Even Christianity is a religion. Look what we just prayed about. I mean, how does a Christian
denomination, and I'm not pointing a finger at the Catholics, the Presbyterians, Methodists,
Anglicans, different denominations are involved. How do we go from Christ to decimating a
culture? How? Any questions guys?
Any questions, any thoughts? Not you. Any questions, any thoughts? Okay.
I guess we need to get on with our life. That's why it's so important for us to be connected
with each other. Yeah, it's impossible to deal with it as an individual. You can be
the strongest person you need to be, but you still can't deal with this individually. Yeah,
the question, the comment Karen made was that it makes them more aware that to deal with
something like this, you cannot deal with it as an individual, but you have to deal
with it as a part of a people or part of a group because it's impossible to deal with
this on your own, even if you were the strongest person alive. Not possible.
So 1 Peter 5, 9 kind of, 1 Peter 5, 9 kind of gives us an idea of who the devil is, and
we use scriptures to tell us what we need to be aware of or how we need to see him.
So the first Peter 5, 9 calls him the devil and then says that he is a fierce lion, a
fierce lion. Then it says he prowls around, prowls around, oi, oi, prowls around. Then
it says he roars, then it says he seeks out prey, and then it says he devours. Look at
that, eh? This is from scripture. This is not trying to create something that doesn't
exist. In that one verse it says that the devil is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce
lion, and he is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce lion, and
the devil is a fierce lion. So there is a fierceness to his beastness. I know it's grammatically
wrong. And then he prowls, so he's on the hunt. He roars, and his roar is meant to frighten,
to intimidate. He seeks out prey, so he's not aimless, and he devours. So the devil
is a fierce lion, and he has a fierce lion. And then the devil is a fierce lion, and he
devours. So he's on the hunt. So this is real. The bible says so. God is giving us an idea
of what we are looking at. And so it's impossible to then deal with it unless you have a four-legged
table, or a four-wheeled car, or whatever you want to call it. And some of the basics
that we need to understand if you want to have any success in combat is you need to
you need to know you need to have a lifestyle that is rooted in Christ
three you need to have knowledge of the word and four you need to be part of a people like
karen was saying part of a people of god otherwise this is very effective
the reason the enemy is effective is because people usually don't have this you have to have
christ as savior and lord you cannot have a savior till you admit you need saving you cannot be
saved unless you acknowledge that you are sinful and that is when you receive christ as savior
and declare him as lord then you have a lifestyle that is rooted in christ and reflects his character
then you have the word of god which is the only thing that combats the enemy
and then finally you have you're part of a people of god and so it becomes very hard for this lion
to devour you because like i said yesterday it's the stragglers who get picked out not the ones
that are part of the herd isolate yourself and it usually ends up with you being devoured
cool not cool actually but cool okay
so what's our posture before we even pray we're talking what are we dealing with over the last
two days how do we deal with the devil how do we deal with the supernatural enemy so the first
question is what's the posture even before prayer and you see that outlined in effeciens 6 18 and
first peter five eight effeciens 6 18 and first peter five eight if you read it here's what it
says effeciens 6 18 and first peter five eight
it says praying always with all prayer and let me read it from niv and pray in the spirit on all
occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this mind be alert and always keep on praying
for all the lord's people first peter five nine five eight first peter five eight be alert and of
sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion resist him in standing firm in faith
because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind
of sufferings so here are the things that we need to adopt as a posture even before praying first
these are very simple things guys it's not terribly complicated alert the devil and be alert
it's not terribly complicated alertness that is persistent alertness that is persistent
how best can i describe this when you drive you have to be alert and you can't be alert at the
beginning of your drive or at the end of the drive those are the times when you can kind of take it
easy alertness is how we drive as soon as we sit in that car you become alert i was driving with
what's his name evan last week evan was so alert even though i was driving that every time i would
take a right turn or a left turn he would shoulder check twice even though i had already shoulder
check like i'm driving and i'm turning right and i'm him i see him going there's an alertness that
we drive with that is fascinating and it's the same thing that god is saying is the posture that
i need to develop alertness that is persistent and this isn't difficult we do this in so many
other areas of life but unfortunately when it comes to spiritual things we just don't i don't
understand why to be alert spiritually till it becomes a habit you don't tell yourself as you
get into the car alert now alert you don't write alert and stick it on your driving steering wheel
saying alert alert no it's just become natural because it's a habit because you realize what
will happen if you're not alert because this is spiritual and not visible we are not alert
because there's nothing to harm us there's no semi coming your way from the right or praful
driving don's car from the left so so so you know you're safe or you think you're safe when in
reality the spiritual invisible is more real than the visible and so alertness that is persistent
second sober go back to driving i mean one of the things that evan told praful right off the bat when
he started taking him driving you got to stop drinking and so after that praful would not touch
a bottle of water he just stopped drinking after that because you have to be sober and it's the same
thing i'm sorry man he told me everything about your driving praful i hope your parents are not
watching this we're just talking about water so the second thing is to be sober as in to be sober
sober is simply not to over or underestimate over or underestimate
yourself or the enemy
or the enemy to neither overestimate nor underestimate either yourself or the enemy that's
it's to be it's to be clear headed it's to be clear headed
these are not difficult things it's just a posture it's just that
i know i'm repeating myself but it's just that we haven't gotten into the habit of this once you
get into the habit of it it becomes very natural like driving you're just naturally sober naturally
alert and what happens then is you see trouble a mile away i remember this friend of mine
amazing he's sitting in the front of the bus and he's this is in india it happens quite often so
it's not surprising so he's sitting in the front of the bus and there's this truck coming towards
him and the driver who's driving the bus has no problem but he's sitting in the front of the bus
and he knows for some strange reason that that truck is going to hit the bus so he gets up from
the front of the bus and goes sits right at the back of the bus and the truck comes and hits the
front of the bus and a lot of people in the front get hurt he's right at the back and he walks out
of the bus without a problem why because he was alert enough to know that the way that truck is
coming it's going to move from this side of the road to this side of the road and it's going to
stay on this side india you usually move from this side to this side but you go back but he somehow
knew this guy would not go back and so he goes to the back of the bus and it saves his life man
this is not an exaggeration i remember him telling the story and instead of feeling bad i started
laughing my head off but alertness is seeing trouble a mile away and knowing if i do this
and this i can help this person out save this person's life save my life this is very simple
a lot of us get into trouble because we are not sober or alert
we think that because we have had two good days that we can handle the world
next all this is in first peter five eight and nine just look at look at it again first peter five
seven to nine all of this is there so starting at verse seven cast all your anxiety on him because
he cares for you be alert and of sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone he may devour resist him standing firm in faith because you know that the
family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering so the
next thing is guys these are our postures before we even pray cast your anxiety on god cast cast
your anxiety on god whenever i'm anxious whenever i'm having trouble it is best that i cast my
anxiety on god quickly because the devil loves exploiting my anxiety one of the ways he really
wrecks our lives is something happens that is really stressful and because we don't take it
to god immediately because we think we can deal with it because we think god may not help because
of many different reasons we don't go to him immediately and because you don't go to him
immediately satan swoops in and begins to really mess up what you're stressing about
and so peter starts off saying listen as soon as you're anxious take it to god
because once you deposit that sack of anxiety at god's feet you now have your hands free to do what
you need to instead of holding this with one hand while battling the enemy this is such a cool
posture where you don't wait but you bring it to him and say here i'm really struggling with this
it doesn't mean it is solved immediately but it certainly means it's handed over immediately
children do this if phoebe has a problem she ain't waiting till service gets over
and she'll immediately deal with the problem
and occasionally you say no
fourth to fourth one firm in faith firm in faith
firm in faith and what does that mean firm in faith guys the other thing is once you give
you anxieties immediately to god it's literally like your mind is at rest and the mind is where
most of the battles happen your mind is at rest you literally wear the helmet that protects your head
firm in faith what do you mean by firm in faith firm in faith is establishing who you are to god
establishing who you are to god
establishing who god is
and retrieving promises of god that's what firm in faith looks like promises of god this is just
posture in prayer as in all right so what does it mean to be firm in faith firm in faith is not
going through the apostle's creed or the nysene creed or repeating scriptures firm in faith is
quickly aligning yourself so you know how much god cares for you and who you are to god
and then quickly remembering who god says he will be in this situation
and then retrieving promises that god has said to you
that's what firm in faith it gives you it gives you traction man
it's like but i am his much-loved child he is my father
he didn't even need to swear it but he's going to take care of me he never leaves me
he never leaves me in this particular situation he said he'd take care of me all right so i know
where i stand with him now who is he and then you begin to remember who he is i was praying for
someone this morning who was struggling with something and i asked him so who has got to you
and the person said he is lord god almighty i thought him as a man your problem is going to
get solved before you even hit the road because suddenly you recognize who god is and then finally
pulling out the promises that have been given to you already have been given to you three
simple ways man any questions
no
okay
so
to be effective against satan in your own life and in the city
one of the things that we have to do is hate sin
hate sin
this has to be something that you establish inside you that i'm not going to tolerate it i'm not
going to nibble on it i'm not going to frequent it every so often i'm not going to have 10 good
days and one bad day i'm not going to let my hair down with sin i'm not going to be samson
because i usually samson usually ends up dying or ends up having his eyes gouged out it's just not
my style
you have to decide to hate sin a hatred for sin
sin is anti-god sin is anti-god we don't think so we think of sin as something that is natural to
it's okay sin is anti-god when i sin i love when i sin i love what god hates
and intensely loathes
i want us to remember that sin is anti-god when i sin
i i am loving something he absolutely hates and intensely loathes
this whole cheap grace thing has made sin something that is like a
friendly thing that god says yeah i understand i love you still and so it becomes like
i love you still and so it becomes like this python that god keeps in heaven as a pet not true
he hates it he has in he has an intense loathing for sin he hates it and every time i choose this
i am loving something that he intensely loathes and that he hates
he hates
you don't like covid 19 do you even after the vaccination it's not like i actually like you now
there's an intense loathing for every variant
when i sin god isn't really saying what we christians say you know i love you jacob i just
hate the sin it's a standard statement right god loves the god loves the sinner just hates the
sin it's a nice statement it's it makes you all friendly and warm and gooey but at the end of the
day it is not sin that is being sent to hell it is the sinner that is being sent to hell god is
not punishing sin in hell he's punishing the sinner god hates sin and sin doesn't exist like
a wisp like mist sin always exists only in hearts and if it doesn't exist in a heart it doesn't
exist at all sin is not some kind of ethereal thing that's floating around saying who shall i
come and sit on no it's always something that lives only if it finds a heart and as much as it
is true that jesus loves please don't for a second thing that he comes to me and says oh jacob you're
sinning again i love you jacob i just hate the sin you're doing no he finds it lordsom that i sin
and then having such intense loathing for sin he now sends his son to die for me which is why love
is stunning
god finds i know these words will sound so anti-grace that it's hard to swallow
but god finds me repugnant because of my rebellion just like i find wickedness and wicked people
reprehensible reprehensible because of their sin i mean when we talk about this 750 bodies being
found doesn't make you feel any better that oh it's just sin we should love the sinner is that
your normal reaction no when you hear of someone in power who was supposedly a christian abusing
women what is your reaction oh poor guy just love him just hate the sin is that your reaction you as
human beings if you don't have that reaction what do you think god feels he finds this he finds me
very odious and repugnant when i sin
just as i would find someone reprehensible if they were doing something terribly wicked and after he
feels that he then rises up and says but this boy i will love and this boy i will lay my life down
for this boy i will die for it is not that he doesn't see it as repugnant he says despite how
i feel about him and his sin i will choose to love him and therein lies the love that was shown on
the cross and if we don't realize how loathsome it is in his sight we will not realize how loving
it is on the cross and what does cheap grace do cheap grace makes it tolerable and it cheapens
what god did on the cross
so john 3 16 then can be reworded god so loves this city that is so loathsome to him in its
wickedness that he gives up his beloved son to die for it so that lives can be changed inside out
to enjoy his delight enjoy his holiness enjoy his love god so loves this loathsome city because of
its wicked god so loves this city that is loathsome to him in its wickedness that he gives up his
beloved son to die so that lives can be changed inside out to enjoy his delight his holiness and
love that's how we need to see john 3 16 it's michael angelos painting all over again
cysteine chapel
there's adam on one side and then there's god on the other side god looks a little older wiser
perhaps fairer with a bigger beard reaching out and touching adam that's what we've done with sin
too god is holy man is unholy but it's okay god tolerates sin he sent his son to die now it's all
taken care of so let's just hold hands and sing kumbaya god ain't into it man he absolutely loathes
it we have made sin something that is god-friendly and it ain't
a sin until we get to this point guys we have very little traction with undoing the works of the
devil because he's been someone who's a liar murderer thief right from the beginning i love
what jesus says and i want to get to that point where we get two hours a day where we can say
what jesus says that the prince of darkness has come but he has nothing in me what a cool statement
he has nothing in me
any questions any comments any disagreements
you agree with this
just take off your mask and say it
yeah yeah how do i move from sin happens every so often to hating it
um
till you know how good something is
you will not be able to give up waters less
how once you taste how good something is it becomes easier for you to hold on to that which
is good and hate that which was less sorry go ahead sorry go ahead sorry just say go ahead
okay just one sec let me just write down that point because i did probably come to it second
just say it again marcus
yeah
yeah okay okay so
the first point is till you realize how good something is
is
you will not hate what you have
so that's the first point unfortunately you cannot know how good something is till you spend some time
getting used to it you cannot know how good something is till you spend some time in it
that is when you realize this is so worth it why would i exchange this for that why would i
why would i exchange this for that this is too good why would i give this up but the thing is
most christians don't even discover how good it is because they don't spend enough time figuring
it out everything must be instant doesn't work that way so that's the first point the second point
is to make up your mind as in make a decision that i have been set apart called paid for with
a huge price and now that that has happened i am going to die to everything that i used to be so
that i can attach myself or cleave to the one person who paid the ultimate price for me we do
this in human life someone does you a favor and you will now do anything for them
you love somebody and they pull you out of a bad situation and you you now owe them for the rest
of your life
these are two ways that i used to shift from tolerating sin to absolute hatred for it
and if i don't hate sin i will not be able to combat the enemy you know i'm not so worried
about combating the enemy for myself but as a church as a pastor if i do not have the ability
to combat the enemy in your life or in someone else's life out there then what's going to happen
what is going to happen out there when people are demonized people have problems with evil
people are caught trapped plundered who's going to set them free who if i am not able to function
like this if you are not able to function like this who sets them free where do they go
they go to their priests their witch doctors their religion their rituals and what do those
rituals do but dig a hole that is deeper that is inescapable who
this is not so much for us man even if tomorrow we were to die in terrible torment
in a second you would be in the presence of jesus christ our tickets are booked everything is good
there should be a hatred for sin
hate it when you're caught in it get out of it and hate it
and use these two ways
i remember being caught up in so many different sins when i first became a believer
oh my god man it was impossible to escape them till i began to taste how good god is
how once i tasted how good jesus is i used to think to myself really jacob you want to go back to
that that tastes worse than vomit and i haven't tasted vomit i just want to gross you out
you want to go back to that when you got this
guys we got to come to a place where the exchange is so lousy that you have to be stupid
but as long as i don't see how good this is i'll keep i'll be willing to exchange
any questions any thoughts
okay so let's look at what effective combat
just we'll take three things and the reason i'm going over these three things is because while
we have this 49 day prayer that has been going on for the last few weeks and we're going to
have this prayer that has been going on for the last 15 days i want us to begin to take up
to to use slightly heavier artillery than we have been using thus far so effective
combat against the work of this supernatural enemy that we have not even for our sake but
for the sake of the city usually involves prayer or action that counters
satan's intent
and you do that for yourself you do that for other believers who you know may be struggling
with things and you do that for the city or people that you are assigned to or that god tells you to
pray for
that's basically what combating this supernatural enemy in its very basic that's what it is it is
either prayer or action that counters satan's intent and you do that for yourself you do that
for other believers or saints as the bible calls them and then you do it for the city of a people
of a different situations that you are assigned to this is what christians are supposed to do
jesus would send them out to do exactly this the holy spirit came in isaiah 61
to do exactly this who does it do it through always through people jesus works through people
he can work directly but he loves using people
so during the next 49 days we want to turn isaiah 42 go to isaiah 42 22 isaiah 42 22
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
read isaiah 42 22 first it says that this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped
this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons
they have become plundered with no one to rescue them they have
situations around us hey this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped in
pits or hidden away in prisons they have become plundered with no one to rescue them
they have been made loot with no one to say send them back it could be your life it could be
the life of someone you know, it could be the life of someone who does not know
Jesus Christ. Regardless, this is the condition. And then we go to Isaiah 32,
1-4. Isaiah 32, 1-4. And that's what I'm hoping will happen through the way we
pray from now on. Isaiah 32, verses 1-4. Here's what it says,
See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. As in
it's talking about him as king and we as his rulers. Each one will be like a
shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the
desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those
who see will no longer be closed and the ears of those who hear will listen. The
fearful heart will know and understand and the stammering tongue will be
fluent and clear. The point being, hey guys, can I have you fight a certain way
so that people come to you and they find refuge? That you become a shelter in the
storm. You become a shadow when it's really nasty like this. So let's look at
those three methods of combat. So here are the three things that I'm hoping we
can pray over the next 34 days that are left in our 49 day thingy. One, basic
combat. One, guys when you pray for the city, Satan blinds people to the gospel.
Satan blinds people to the gospel. He, yeah especially when he knows that
there are people now who want to do good, he begins to work even harder. So he
actively opposes. He actively opposes any attempt. He actively opposes any
attempt people make with the gospel. He actively opposes. So for this city if
you're praying, this is something we'll have to focus on. How does he oppose
them? How does he blind their minds? Through distraction, through religion, as
in traditional legalistic Christianity that doesn't have Christ at the center.
Through distraction, through religion, through false religions, through false
religions and through sheer hostility to the gospel. Go to 2nd Corinthians 4-4.
2nd Corinthians 4-4, just so you know that it's in the Bible. 2nd Corinthians 4-4.
The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see
the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ who is the image of
God. So there's an active blinding of the minds of unbelievers. So one of the
things we'll have to start praying is that, oh God as we begin to pray for this
city, we're going to use 2nd Corinthians 10-5. 2nd Corinthians 10-5. 2nd Corinthians 10-4-5.
We're going to actively start using that to pray for people from now on. This is
basic combat where we begin to do harm to the enemy. 2nd Corinthians 10-4-5. The
weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have
divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive
every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Guys, we don't realize how
powerful arguments are and how arguments can become strongholds. What happened in
the Garden of Eden? There was an argument. What was the argument? You really think
God is good and they actually began to listen to that argument. An argument is
not some kind of a fight. An argument is presenting a different way of thinking
so that you begin to question what God has said. The essence of sin is to stop
believing what God has said. Arguments lead to strongholds and so we are now
beginning to say, starting tomorrow when we start praying that, oh God, we start
pulling down arguments that are being raised in the city. That Christ is this or
Christ is that or this God is this or this God is that. Now we actively begin
to come against an enemy who's blinding the minds of thousands and thousands and
thousands. This will be fun. This is what the church is meant to do. It says in
Matthew 16 that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. What does
that mean? That if the enemy has frontal attack that the church can go
against it, break it and take out captives that are being held so that
they can know Christ. Look at our lives man. There's not a life here that was
born Christian as in you didn't drop down from heaven. You had so many problems.
There's a Marxist here. There are at least two drug addicts here. I could go
down a long list and God had the ability to grab us and pull us out.
Not two, more than two. The point being guys, from now on we begin to pray like
this. Satan, you've been blinding the minds of people. Now we come as a church
to stop this blinding. We pull down the arguments that you set up in minds. We
pull down strongholds you set up in minds. We begin to destroy them so that
people can be set free because this is what keeps people captive. The thinking,
thinking keeps people captive. Change the thinking the person is free. It's
fascinating. Just think of this. One day I thought and you thought that we have
actually sinned and that no religion, no going to church, no ritual, no connections
is ever going to take away that sin and then we began to think that there is
someone who's paid for that sin and then we began to think we need this person
and then we began to think I want to receive this person and then we put our
thoughts into words and we said I receive you Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Your thought changed your life. Sins will not be remembered anymore. Thinking
changes your life. This is why we need to understand how, you know the best way to
think of it is a vice like grip that's a supernatural enemy who's much more
powerful than humans has on the minds of people almost crushing their minds from
thinking and then you begin to a church begins to 20 people 30 people 40 people
50 people begin to pray a simple prayer saying in the name of Jesus Christ we
break this vice and this blindness on the minds of the people of the city and
the grip begins to loosen. He has no choice because he has walked before God
and he was thrown out from the presence of God. He knows the omnipotence of God
like nobody else does and he's scared and he's frightened and when a people
begin to take that name that he has seen that broke his back at Calvary he
begins to loosen this grip and suddenly minds that have had no ability to handle
the gospel begin to open to the gospel with simple words like Jesus grace love
kindness it begins to open up and lives one by one begin to turn to God we don't
see it on CNN or a global TV but it begins to happen. How do you think you
got saved? Someone was praying for you man. My God the number of women who was
fasting for me older women who were fasting for me younger women never
fasted for me but older women a lot of them. In 1st Thessalonians 2 18 it
actually says that Paul was hindered from going to Thessalonica by Satan. This
is real guys. Paul was hindered 1st Thessalonians 2 18 I wanted to come to
you but I was hindered by Satan as in I was blocked by Satan. It's real. This is
Paul saying it. He was a champion. How come he got blocked? Next basic combat 2
Come against whatever is normalized in your city. Come against what is normalized
in your city. Come against what is normalized in your city because whatever
is normalized in your city is what's going to come and try to enter the church.
Come against what is normalized in your city because whatever is normal in the
city is what will try and come and break down the walls of the church and these
are some things that are normalized in this city. Sexual sin, Vancouver is
sickness, tolerance that has no filter and accommodates. I love the word
accommodates. It's got so many doubles. Accommodates everything. These are the
very things now that are in the city that will begin to enter the church and
the church needs to take a stance against it. Most men and women who come
to Vancouver from any country in the world to serve God here are usually
unseated by this or this and sometimes by poverty but we leave poverty out for
now. This and this are two things that have destroyed so many men and women of
God that was sent to Vancouver from the Caribbean, from South Africa, from India,
from Asia. They come here and they are unseated by these things and this is
what will try and ruin the church too.
So today before we go we'll try to pray against the spirits of infirmity. The
Bible talks about it in Luke 13-12. We'll pray against spirits that cause
affliction. We read about it in 1st Samuel 16 where a spirit would come and
afflict Saul. We'll come against the spirit that causes heaviness or
depression. Isaiah 53 talks about the spirit of heaviness or depression and
we pray against fear that brings its own anxiety and destroys lives. We'll pray
for that. These things are so common. We pray this just for us that in our midst
sickness ends. As in, recurring sickness ends. We'll pray against depravity, lust,
porn, adultery from affecting the church. We won't pray that today. We'll pray that
during the week. Come against these spirits, man. Why is it that it's so
impossible to escape porn? Sure, there's a chemical side to it. There's a biological
side to it. There are hormones that are released that require a new high. I want
to say to you that almost every sexual addiction has to it a demonic element or
a spiritual element that can be easily broken. But after you break it, you need
to now step into right ways of living. That's the hard part. Jesus breaks
things easily but he cannot force you to live a right life. He can break a wrong
life but it is your choice to live a right life. Breaking is easy. Jesus breaks
things very easily. Any questions? Just one last thing and we're done. Who believes
that? Excuse me, Karen. I hear you mumbling there. You're not allowed to do that, you know.
By now it would have been 43 degrees in Pilgrim. People would have fainted by now
and I thought it was the work of the Holy Spirit and I had to continue.
And the last one is basic combat three
and that is come against spiritual powers, come against spiritual powers
that dominate your city, that dominate your city. And you'll know them by either it being
displayed all over your city or you will know it by the religious sites that are increasing
in your city. We'll discuss that off camera so we won't be talking about it now.
One of the things you'll find in any city in India, any city in South America, any city in Asia
is you know the dominant power that is worshiped in a city or that is exalted in a city by going
to the airport, the railway station or the entry to any city in India. You will see at the city gates
the powers that dominate that village or that city or that town and it's the same in South America,
it's the same in many Asian countries. It's an old way of doing things. The Old Testament used to
talk about that and so these spiritual powers can keep people under bondage for years and years and
years and years on end, thousands of years and hundreds of generations kept under wraps,
unable to break out of it. It doesn't matter that you come to the city of New York or you come to
London, what has been inculcated continues wherever you go. It's not geographical, it is spiritual
and we'll talk about that off camera and deal with what we need to deal with in this city.
I will take it in bits so that our muscles get stronger. We won't take on Dharasingh immediately,
you don't know who Dharasingh is.
We won't take on the ultimate Goliath immediately, we'll take it in small bits.
So I'm looking forward to this guys. The church must
be seasoned in terms of fighting. Can you look at Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 5?
Just so you know that this is something God really likes. Judges chapter 3, let's read it from the
message. Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 3. Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 3. I love this and I'm
slightly scared of it but I really like it. Judges chapter 3 verses 1 to 3. These are the nations that
the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan.
He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites
who had not had previous battle experience. A church that does not know how to fight
and has no battle experience is a very poor church.
So over this week, make sure you ask these questions. One, are the prerequisites that we
talked about on Saturday night met? Are the prerequisites we talked about last night met?
Have you met those prerequisites? If you don't know what we are talking about, go and listen to
yesterday's teaching. I'm going to read it to you. So, the prerequisites that we talked about last
night met. If you don't know what we are talking about, go and listen to yesterday's teaching.
Are the prerequisites met?
Second, before you...
Yeah, second,
is your heart
grieved,
stirred up,
angry?
Hey, if someone came and did some harm to your child or to your mother or sister,
what is your reaction?
Doesn't something rise up within you? Isn't there anger? Isn't there grief? Isn't there
a stirring up of zeal?
I remember crossing a street in Ladner on a pedestrian walk and this car came zooming
by and I was walking with two others and I was the only guy. And the guy, he was a very
I was the only guy and the guy just zooms by and misses them by inches and I remember how angry
I was. I thought to myself, my God, there are days when you're not very Christian.
But the reason I was outraged was because of the absolute flouting of rules as he missed these
people by this much and something rose up because I thought to myself, these two kids are in my care
and what if something had happened to them? If a car going by can do that, why is it that my
heart is not grieved, angry, zealous when people are being kept captive for years on end, man?
There is a reason why Jesus takes a whip and begins to chase things out of the temple.
There are things that humans do to each other that animals wouldn't do to each other.
How is it possible that we who are made in the image of God can be reduced to that kind of
behavior if it was not demonic? And isn't it common? Is it rare? Is it once in a while happening?
No, it's happening every day, every night around the world. Is there not a cause?
Yes.
If not you, then who? If not now, then when?
Third question, is your breastplate intact?
Is your breastplate intact? What do you mean by that? Ask Manoj. Ask Dr. Manoj. He talked about
the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness, as in, are you walking righteously? Because man,
that gives you such an advantage. Your breastplate is skewed, you get shot and there's no protection.
Is your breastplate intact? It's not very difficult, God. Guys, we're not talking about
walking in perfection. We're talking about walking in right relationship with God. It isn't difficult.
It isn't difficult. Right relationship with God. I can have arguments with my mom and still be in
right relationship with her. Fourth question, do you know how to apply? Do you know how to apply?
Do you know how to apply Old Testament and New Testament stories in battle? Old Testament,
New Testament stories in prayer? In prayer? Do you know how to apply? If you don't, don't worry.
We'll go down that route. Do you know how to apply Old Testament and New Testament stories
in prayer? Pulling out stories. This is what David did. This is what I'll do. This is what
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.
These are just questions we won't answer today. Five,
do you know how to weaponize your words? Do you know how to weaponize your words?
Do you know how to weaponize your words? As in, can you use words in prayer
that become weapons? Because it's one thing Satan's scared of. He uses words to frighten us.
He's scared that we may use the name of Jesus and the actual word to scare him because he didn't
know how to handle it when Jesus, when he was being tempted, started using words. He didn't know how to
handle it. Go read Isaiah 36 and 37. Sennacherib, who's an Assyrian king, uses words to frighten
Israel. Along comes Isaiah and he declares what God is going to do. And now the very words that God
says frightens Sennacherib. Words can be weaponized. The word of God is a sword. It can be,
I love weaponizing words where you can cut things down with the word of God.
Will you obey when it doesn't make sense? Will you obey
when it doesn't make sense?
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
wrote to me and I was praying for that guy. His name's Prasad and it's really good help to Jeevan.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It looks pretty illogical and foolish. And the last question. Can you walk in order? Can you walk in order?
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.
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.
Any questions? Because I'm done. Any questions?
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.
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.
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.
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...
It's easier to wipe it.
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.
Here's what we're praying. We're praying against the spirit of infirmity.
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.
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.
We'll pray against spirits that afflict with sickness. We know that Satan did that to Job. We know that Saul suffered from it.
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
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.
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.
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.
That this end. We are praying for each other saying, we've got to end this. God doesn't send sickness.
No father sends sickness. So where is it coming from? Sure there are multiple sources but the devil is certainly involved in these things.
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.
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.
Matthew 12.29.
Starting at 28.
The man who stood guard over them, not allowing you to enter, has been bound in the name of Jesus Christ, set aside.
You go into the house that he guards and you bring out Manoj. Then you pull out Praful.
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.
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?
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.
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.
So first we want to pray for those of us who are not here in person.
For those of us who have struggled with diseases and sicknesses, sometimes have no explanation or keep recurring.
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.
So break them into fours and do not pray for healing. Pray against these spirits that bring these diseases. Yeah?
Because when you drive out something, then you can pray for healing later.
Okay, so let's assume this is, what shall we call it? Bill. Stan.
So let's assume this is Stan and Stan needs a little help.
So let's assume this is Stan and Stan needs prayer. You said Stan, right?
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.
So in the name of Jesus Christ, I come against the spirit that keeps afflicting you right from when you were a kid.
That has crippled your body, that has brought you pain, that has done you harm.
We have inspired you before you came in, what happened? But in the name of Jesus Christ, we come and break the power
μπο워봇 of this spirit to continue it from afflicting you. If God shows you what it is, great.
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.
But sometimes when you pray for people, God will show you exactly what happened and then you pray for that and it goes away.
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.
that is in us. We are exerting His muscle.
I can't hear you with your mask on.
We're praying for the entire church that we are breaking
these four things from our midst. The spirit of infirmity that brings weakness,
the spirit that afflicts like a dead job, the spirit of heaviness that brings
depression and sadness,
and the spirit of fear that creates its own set of physical problems.
We're coming against these spirits.
Because long ago, in 2005, we already know that there are wells of healing in this
church.
So the healing is already established. Let's drive out
squatters
who have no right in this land.
So please break up into four and then at some point, Emily will come and sing
that song, Rattle,
and then you can hang out for three or four minutes.