“Three Battle Fields“ - Pastor Raymond Woodward

it's a a really wonderful thing to be apostolic in lifestyle and in doctrine Pentecost is an experience it dates back to the day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago apostolic is a broader word than Pentecost Pentecost is an experience Pentecost to some as a denomination not to us it's an experience but apostolic encompasses teaching and doctrine and lifestyle and power and principle and so we're apostolic and Pentecostal and we're very glad about that and I want to tell you that the Apostolic Church has always done best when it wasn't looking around trying to take its cues from everybody else everywhere else in culture the Apostolic Church is always done best when it just got in the presence of God and followed the Word of God and obeyed the principles of God's Word it's only when the church has ever glanced sideways for direction that we've ever lost our way taking cues from culture has never helped the church becoming religiously relevant has never blessed the Apostolic Church striving for social acceptance has never grown the Apostolic Church it may grow other kinds of religious movements but it doesn't grow the apostolic church in fact I would say very firmly it's only when we've reached back to our roots that we've ever made huge strides forward in God we talk about progress in the church and we want to progress and we want to grow and we want God to do wonderful things here in our midst and here in our church and here in our city and far beyond but sometimes what we call progress really what it is is getting back to the basics when the Apostolic Church worships and prays and sacrifices when the apostolic church reaches and teaches and preaches that's when we grow the early church they weren't concerned one iota about fitting in they were concerned about standing and standing up and standing strong and so in that first century the the methods of the Apostolic Church were incredibly inclusive they wanted everybody to belong everybody was welcome but the message that they preached was unbelievably exclusive you were either apostolic or you weren't you either believed what Jesus and the Apostles taught or you didn't it wasn't fuzzy like it is today it wasn't blurry like it is today it was very plain it was the words of Scripture or it was nothing long before there were terms like Christian or Pentecostal or apostolic the early church in fact referred to itself as the way and Luke uses that term a half-dozen times in the book of Acts two or three years ago we did a series called the way because that idea wasn't original with the church it came from the words of Jesus himself when he said I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by me Jesus was very exclusive you either come this way or you don't get in to the kingdom at all and so because he said I'm the way then the disciples they referred to the church as the way and that's why the early Christians were persecuted they were called heretics in the first century here's what Paul said when he was on trial in Acts 24 but this I confess unto thee that after the way somebody say the way after the way which they call heresy that's how I worship the God of my father's and I believe all things which are written in the law and in the prophets Paul said I believe in what the Old Testament reveals I believe in what the prophets and what the law was pointing to and that's Jesus Christ and I follow him he said I am the way so Paul said I belong to this group called the way now when you call yourself the way you're automatically saying that that way is right and other ways are wrong and they didn't back up from that and it's much the same today if you say there's one way to God and you don't allow for any fuzziness or any blurriness in that people will call you a heretic today because today they want all roads and all opinions to lead to God because that makes it easy for everybody and that that's how it is it was the same way in the first century however and so they called themselves the way anybody that says the way that's pretty exclusive and that's exactly how they were but I've got to tell you that the Apostolic Church did just fine in the first century thank you very much they did great they grew they had revival people were one to God and I would suggest to you that the Apostolic Church has always done its best when it wasn't looking around every time we've obeyed the word instead of the flesh we've been blessed every time we've submitted to God instead of submitting to the ways of the world we've seen God's glory and every time we followed the spirit instead of following the trend or following the crowd that's when the church actually ends up setting the pace now you are seated tonight and we're just a small group in a small city in one corner of North America but you are seated among the descendants of the people who brought a move of the spirit and a tidal wave of worship back to the dead formal Church world that had lost its way about a hundred and ten years ago now every denomination now in North America has little pockets of people who speak in tongues who operate in the prophetic who sing with exuberance who preach was some kind of anointing who worship with some measure of abandon every denomination has that some denominations call that their contemporary service and some have just given up and said that's how we're gonna do church and how they do it that's wonderful but it wasn't always like that our grandparents who were Pentecostal our great grandparents who were Pentecostal they weren't liked back then and it wasn't popular to speak in tongues you were weird and wacky and probably demon-possessed if you talked in tongues back a few decades ago and not every Church thought it was okay to lift your hands not every church thought it was okay to clap your hands now so many of them do every denomination today in North America has little pockets of those people if it's not the whole denomination but if it hadn't been for the Apostolic Church who restored the church to first century fervor just over a century ago every church group in North America today would just be a mere shadow of what it is as far as worship and as far as all of these other things the Apostolic Church of which were part thankfully part of it began in the first century it continued at Azusa Street a hundred and ten years ago and the Apostolic Church has always led the way when they listened to God you can talk about just about any issue if you talk about racial equality the Apostolic Church led the way when there wasn't much racial equality in the United States where Azusa Street was happening but one way I want to talk to you about tonight and I don't know why this is I think it's because about exactly a month ago actually it was the last day of February I was on my way to a meeting in in Texas in San Marcos Texas and it was a women's conference and I woke up early that morning because there's no way to get out of Frederick turn on a plane unless you get up early in the morning and I get up early and this is this hasn't happened to me forever in fact never has it happened exactly this way but I I woke up in bed and I was laying there and just some thoughts started rolling through my mind and I got ready and I got my carry-on packed and I headed to the airport and and I got there early enough that I just sat inside security and I just started writing stuff down and I really felt like God just tied a bunch of threads together that I had studied before some of them I've preached here before but it's just like it just opened up and I felt like it was for that particular meeting it was a women's conference that I had to speak at which was an unusual thing - two meetings that I get to do from time to time women's conferences and youth camps I think those are really funny but I still do them because somehow it makes me feel young on one side I'm not sure if I'm getting in touch with my feminine side with the others or what's going on but we had a powerful move of God there were a thousand ladies Beverly would not go with me on that one but she's going to another one in in a few weeks in Wisconsin I'm glad and she's she's gonna be preaching and and she's been studying and thank God she's been studying because it just kind of never mind if I study five minutes to preach five minutes she studies five hours to preach five minutes she's the real deal here's the thing I I just had never seen it quite this way I studied all these things you'll recognize some of them but God had never tied him together and I took it to that meeting and we had a powerful move of God and I came home and of course I wanted to preach it to you that very next week and and it just wasn't the right time and and finally early this morning kind of got the the the the green light to share it tonight one of the ways the Apostolic Church has always set the pace is seeing women as equals now we don't think that because we've been polluted by our culture that tells us that the church that it kind of down plays and downtrod swimmin and nothing could be further from the truth if you went back to the first century the first century church was the first group to see women as equals and that was in a cult where women were considered property and the first century church included women in ministry the only way the church ever got off track was when they started looking around at what society was doing and mimicking that instead of doing what God's Word said in Jesus day now now this is radical and we don't think it is because today we live in North America and and women they have so many freedoms here in Canada and we're grateful for all of that and it should be that way but we think this has always been this way and it hasn't always been this way but we also think because of talking heads on television we also think that the church has kind of held back and put on the brakes and tried to keep women down when all the time it was Jesus and the first century church that lifted women up above what they were allowed to be in that society in Jesus day women were considered the source of all evil because in the the theological thinking of that day women represented sexual temptation women represented the original sin of their forbearer Eve and because women were valued only for their subservient role as wives and mothers when Jesus came along women were not even allowed to be taught by rabbis basically women were seen as inferior servants and in the thinking of the day their place was in the field at the well or in the kitchen and if they ever left their houses they were expected in most places to be veiled they weren't allowed to talk to men in public except their own husbands and a woman was not permitted to testify in a court of law since the witness of a woman 2,000 years ago was considered untrustworthy why because she's a woman if that's the society that Jesus came to and that is the society that the first century church started in it was in that context that Jesus came and don't you ever let anybody tell you that Jesus puts down women Jesus was the first woman's Liberator he preached a message of unrestricted access and acceptance before God it's not radical to us today we live in Canada we're a free country but it was radical when Jesus brought that message we take for granted how revolutionary Jesus was he elevated women in a society that degraded them and so what seemed like normal actions to us Jesus ministering to a woman Jesus forgiving a woman caught in adultery Jesus talking to an anonymous woman at a well all of those seem like normal things to us they were actually dramatic revolutionary acts in a culture in which it was an inappropriate for a man even to speak with a woman in public now here's what you see in the Gospels that's so radical and so different and please don't miss it especially you ladies and I dedicate Bible study to you tonight and I don't know why it should be an Easter Bible study Sunday's Easter but it's not an Easter Bible study so this is a let's call this a ladies Bible study okay and all the guys and pastor we can listen in but last night one of the most exciting things that we did at business meeting was for the first time in our church history we're a little behind the envelope and and behind the curve on this but we put a couple of ladies on our church board last night and the person that's most excited about that is standing right here because I think it's wonderful and I I told I told our existing church board the other night I absolutely hate to quote Justin Trudeau but somebody asked him why he was doing something and he said it's because it's 2018 well that's why we did that last night and I'm thrilled but our ladies bring so very much to the Apostolic Church it's unbelievable everywhere you look in the Gospels you see a host of women who have equal access to Jesus the same as the men there's Mary who sat at his feet and Jesus said one thing is needful and this lady has chosen the good part she's the one that I want you to pay attention to there's the sinful woman who anointed Jesus feet and Jesus said her sins which are many are forgiven her there's the woman of Canaan who desired a crumb from the master's table and Jesus said o woman great is thy faith he commended her above everyone else there's the woman of Samaria she met Jesus at the well and Jesus looked at her that woman we don't even know her name but jesus said the father is looking for people just like you sister to worship him in spirit and in truth everywhere you look in the Gospels Jesus is looking at women and he's lifting them up and he's exalting them then there's the woman who had an alabaster box and Jesus when she broke that and she poured it over his feet and she wiped his feet with her tears and with her hair he said wherever this gospel is preached they're gonna remember not this man this woman they're gonna remember her wherever they preach about me sometime they'll get around to preaching about that event and when they do they'll have to lift up this particular woman and mention her wherever the gospel is preached they'll preach about her and then there was the woman taken in adultery and in a culture when yeah both of them were guilty the man and the woman but it sure seemed like the woman bore the brunt and the shame and the brutality and the embarrassment way more than the man they didn't even bring him to Jesus they let him off scot-free they caught her in the very act of adultery that means they should have at least to be fair brought both of them to Jesus they didn't even bother because in that society it was easy to pick on a woman and put her down Jesus never did that ladies jesus said to her neither do i condemn thee go and sin no more and we live in a society where the statistics are still skewed there's a lot of abuse in our society but if you study it very much or very long you'll find out that the abuse statistics are so skewed and so many young women that come among us and they want to live for God and they have a shattered past and they're hurting because they've been misused and they've been abused and they bear the brunt of that and they feel the shame of that and I want to stand here as a pastor in this congregation and say Jesus words to you are the same as our words to you we don't condemn you Jesus can help you Jesus can lift you Jesus can forgive you and Jesus can give you power to go and sin no more but we're not in the business of condemning people Jesus wasn't and we're not Jesus even welcomed women among his disciples the Bible says and certain women Mary Joanna Susanna and many others it says that in in Luke chapter 8 and so that's why the church in the first century adopted this radical new way of relating to each other they worked with each other they serve God together men and women and if you read the book of Acts which is the history of the formation of the early church here's what you'll see acts 1:14 they were in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary acts 2:17 your sons and your daughters shall prophesy acts 5:14 there were added to the till to the Lord multitudes both of men and women that was the start of the church in Jerusalem acts 1613 they spake to the women which resorted thither that was the start of the church in Philippi acts 17 for a great multitude and of the chief women not a few that the start of the church in Thessalonica acts 1712 many of them believed also of honorable women that was the start of the church in Berea literally everywhere in the book of Acts that a church was started and we know anything about it there were women in the formation of that church our church is no different we have great godly women who have preached to us who have taught us who have taught our children who have led our young people who have filled these altars who've taught Bible studies who've been prayer warriors who stood in this pulpit who've been in these pews who lift their hands who bring an incredible anointing and presence of God into our myths and I just want to stand here tonight and say I thank God for the ladies that are part of this church I know this is an unusual topic for a Bible study but we're going somewhere but I thank God that we've got women in every area of this church their ministry and their anointing is spectacular and it is so powerful and I thank God for it first Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 by grandmother Lois Timothy and thy mother Eunice you wouldn't be who you are if it wasn't for godly women Romans 16 verse 1 I commend unto you Phoebe our sister Romans 16 3 greet priscilla and aquila my helpers they even list priscilla before her husband Aquila and we think that's because she was the better preacher that's why it's everywhere in the New Testament and then there's this one Galatians 3:28 in Christ there's neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus and I would stand here one more time and say that we were doing that before anybody else was doing that Jesus started that and the only time the church has ever stumbled is when we started looking around to our sure and taking our cues from culture the Apostolic Church has always done its best when it wasn't looking around beginning in the first century continuing at Azusa Street we led the way in seeing women as equals and including them in ministry we only stumble when we stopped to look around at what everybody else in society is doing so ladies don't let the world tell you what it means to be an apostolic woman let the Bible tell you what it means to be an apostolic woman now we are going somewhere tonight since Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 there has been what the Bible calls enmity between the woman and the serpent the curse of Genesis 3:16 says that the woman would forever have pain in childbearing but the blessing of first Timothy 2:15 tells us that the woman would be saved in childbearing she has pain in childbearing but the woman would have she would be saved in childbearing you know why because a woman gave birth to the Messiah so since the opening pages of the Word of God the devil has feared and the devil has hated godly women what we would call mothers in Israel Paul he had a surrogate mother he says this in Romans 16 13 greet rufus who's chosen in the Lord also his mother who has been a mother to me as well Paul said it's his mom but his mom has been like a mom to me now some of you that are relatively new at CCC you know exactly what that means because there's some precious little lady that she's mothered you while you've been young in the Lord and she's prayed for you and she's talked to you and you know exactly what Paul was talking about I mentioned this last Mother's Day William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army said some of my best men are women I love that quote but while the sexes are equal in standing before God they are different by God's design in how they wage spiritual warfare and spiritual warfare started first with the woman it was a woman named Eve who first engaged in battle with the devil on the three battlefields that I want to talk to you about in the next few moments her battle is the oldest battle in the Bible it started between the devil and the woman Genesis 3 is the setting now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman yea hath God said you shall not eat of the tree of the garden he's questioning what God gave them as a command and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst midst of the garden God said about that tree you shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest you die and the serpent said to the woman you shall not surely die for God God's just jealous of you God just doesn't want you to be all you can be God just doesn't want you to grow or to have knowledge God doth know that in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be open and you will be as God's knowing good and evil do you know the devil hasn't changed that lie in 6,000 years the devil still trying to tell people that if you follow God's Way its restrictive if you follow God's Way it'll chafe you if you follow God's Way you'll be limited and if you'll just ignore God's command you can grow you can be like God you can have knowledge you can have fun you can have a great life he hasn't changed that tired lie in 6000 years and then this is this is where we're going tonight and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food everyone say good for food it was pleasant to the eyes everyone say the eyes and it was a tree to be desired to make one wise everyone say desired she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat now three battlefields if you were to graph that out on a chart it would look like this three temptations that Eve faced in the Garden of Eden three temptations she faced these temptations the devil put in front of her something that was pleasant to the eyes he put in front of her something that was good for food and he put in front of her something that was desired to make one wise so three temptations or three battlefields and Eve the woman is the very first one to face this battle with the devil and and I've got to tell you this is the bad news Adam and Eve both of them not her not him but together both of them lost this battle on all three fronts they yielded to all of those temptations and the resulting carnage still affects every man and woman boy and girl today everybody everywhere now many years later the Apostle John would write and he would identify the three battlefields that war against the spiritual life of every Christian here's what he would say first John 2 verse 15 love not the world neither the things that are in the world here's why If any man love the world the love of the father is not in them you can't have both at the same time they won't counterbalance they won't coexist they're at war with each other so you've got to choose it's always about choosing when you serve God If any man love the world the love of the father is not in them now watch this the same three temptations that Adam and Eve messed up John said these are what everybody faces you face them I face them for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life those are your three battlefields everybody in this room that is not a the father that's of the world if you yield you're doing something worldly if you yield you're doing something self-destructive but if you resist if you conquer if you win the battle then God has his way in your life those things are not in the word of the Father but they're of the world and the world is passing away the world isn't going to be around here for another two three thousand years the world is right now passing away and the lusts thereof is passing away but he that doeth the will of God he abides forever so so every day we have these choices you can do what the world tempts you to do and that is passing away and and you become part of the world system you become part of the worldly mentality and you lose those battles and it diminishes you as a person it diminishes your spiritual life or you can choose to be a person who does the will of God do you know you don't have to understand every commandment of God to obey the commandments of God you don't have to understand completely to begin obeying immediately because there's a beautiful blessing for just simple obedience and so those that do the will of God they abide forever now if you took those three things that John just identified for us and if you put them on the same chart it would look like this John said there's the lust of the eyes that corresponds to the temptation Eve and Adam faced in the Garden of Eden that it was pleasant to the eyes he said you're gonna face the lust of the flesh well that lust of the flesh is that it was good for food it would feed the flesh and finally the pride of life John said well that was it was desired to make one wise and so those three temptations those three battlefields are what every Christian faces even today now the greatest news in all the scripture will celebrate it this Sunday so this is my Easter plug in a Bible study that is definitely not an Easter Bible study we'll celebrate it on Sunday Jesus came as the second Adam Adam lost the battle Eve lost the battle but Jesus came as the second Adam and he went into the wilderness to be tempted for the very purpose of being tempted and in the wilderness weak in the flesh but strong in the spirit worn out after 40 days of fasting and prayer but strong in the spirit Jesus won every single battle and I'm so thrilled that he did and I'm even more thrilled that Jesus didn't face these three temptations and lose the battle and I'm also grateful that he faced these three temptations and he didn't win the battle by using his divine power because if he'd used his divine power I couldn't replicate that if he'd used his divine power you couldn't imitate that so if he had beat the devil as god that doesn't help us but jesus beat the devil fair and square with every temptation he beat the devil by quoting the Word of God standing on the principle of the Word of God and that's something that you and I can definitely do so he gave us a pattern by the way it wouldn't have been news if God had beat the devil in the wilderness in Matthew Mark Luke and John that would not have been news God beat the devil and kicked him out of heaven in eternity past so that's an old victory God won that a long time ago but what's new about the wilderness is now it's God robed in flesh and Jesus is giving us a pattern now I'm gonna take Luke's account of it Luke in chapter 4 he talks about this second Adam and and in Luke chapter 4 the Bible says Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost and and he was led to the spirit into the wilderness and he's tempted of the devil and we we know these temptations they're familiar to us but there's a incredible parallel here first of all the devil comes to him and says you're hungry Jesus you need to make these stone into bread and you know the story Jesus said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God that's what Jesus said you can do that I can stand when the devil is trying to draw me away and I can say I'm not living by that I'm not going to give my energy to that I'm not gonna give my allegiance to that I live by every word of God I don't just live by what pleases my flesh so I can do that I can't wipe the devil out like God could but I can do that and then the devil comes next and if you continue on reading down through a loop secound in chapter 4 the devil takes Jesus up into a high mountain and he said I'll give you all of this if you'll just bow and worship me if you'll just do that and Jesus said get thee behind me Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve now again I can't do what God could do to destroy the devil but I can beat the devil by doing that I can say when the devil shows me things and he tries to put things in front of my eyes that are attractive to me put things in front of my eyes that that would pull me off course spiritually I can do exactly what Jesus did devil get behind me I'm not looking at that I worship God only I don't worship you I don't worship the things of the world I don't worship what you're putting in front of my eyes I only worship God now I can do that and you can do that and then finally the devil takes Jesus up into the temple to the pinnacle of the temple and and challenges him you you need to jump off and if you jump off the angels of God will come and they'll bear you up and Jesus says when the devil is trying to tempt his ego if you jump God will protect you if you jump you'll be okay because your spiritual and your God and you can do this and when the devil tries to tempt Jesus with his pride that Jesus says it is written he said it is said thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God and at some level folks it all comes down to that devil get out of my face if you're gonna tempt me with that I refuse the temptation I'm gonna go do something else the Bible says that God will always make a way of escape when you are in an hour of temptation all you've got to do is learn instead of running headlong into the temptation and getting in trouble you've got to learn to look around and look for the door of escape look for the escape hatch God built it into every temptation you faced but nobody can make up your mind for you nobody can give you the internal fortitude that you need to say don't tempt me devil if you attack me I'm gonna go pray against you if you attack me I'm gonna go do something for God if you keep tempting me I'm gonna go witness to somebody you keep tempting me I'm going straight to prayer meeting you're gonna regret the day you ever brought that across my path that's what Jesus did he said don't tempt the LORD thy God well I can do that I can say devil get out of my face I I can do that and so these are the ways that Jesus conquered these temptations on the same three battlefields now again if you put those on a chart it looks like this Jesus one where Adam and Eve had lost every temptation Jesus faced it wasn't accidental or incidental it wasn't coincidental what the devil was doing he was trying to defeat Jesus in the very same way that he had defeated Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden new Adam same temptation and the devil hasn't changed his strategy in 6,000 years of human history he's still going to try to get you with the lust of your flesh he's still going to try to get you with the lust of your eyes and he's still going to try to get to your pride he's going to try to make you think you know better than God and you know better than God's Word and so we are not ignorant of The Devil's dove Isis and if we'll just stand on the Word of God we can win on all three battlefields every time but if we start questioning the Word of God if we start ignoring the Word of God if we start circumventing the Word of God that's when we start to lose the battles Adam and Eve lost on all three battlefields Jesus won on all three battlefields and I would suggest to you that both men and women fight on the same three spiritual battlefields all the time every day both men and women can be victorious over the devil through Jesus victory but because we're different by God's design we fight these battles differently what does victory look like when you beat temptation what does victory look like when you win over the devil what does victory look like for a child of God I'll tell you exactly what it looks like it looks like something we call holiness when a sinner who was unholy begins through the power of the Holy Ghost to live a life that is holy the devil's grip on them is broken his power is diminished and they get to walk out free so every time you win on these battlefields what it's developing in you is what we call holiness or sanctification now holiness we talk about it sometimes the Apostolic Church a lot of people are freaked out by the word it's a powerful precious word by the way it's a Bible word and and if it's in the Bible we do talk about it the same as we talk about everything else that's in the Bible and I would suggest to you that holiness we think of it as a wall it protects us from the world around us holiness isn't just a wall holiness is a weapon holiness is something that you can use against the devil in your hour of temptation and and it's it's amazing now here's the scripture and this is familiar if you were part of the series we did like way back at the beginning of 2060 I think the the series vessels of Honor you're familiar with this scripture Paul wrote to Timothy Timothy is a young pastor of the great Apostolic Church in a very sinful mega city called Ephesus and and right here in this one little passage we see very clearly we see the distinction between men's standards of holiness and women's standards of holiness and and I'm gonna be very quick because we've studied that and if you have questions about this there's that series there's other stuff we can give you and and we'd love to answer your questions because people have questions about this it's it's different when you've grown up in the world and you're used to the world and all you've ever thought about is the way the world thinks this is strange and so it's okay for it to be strange or different or new and we'd be delighted to answer your questions about this I'm not gonna take time to answer all your questions tonight that would be a series and we don't have time for a series in fact pastors watching the clock and we need to kind of head toward the end here here's what we see in in Paul's writing to Timothy I will therefore that men there once a men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting before Paul ever talks to the ladies about what he'd like them to do he addresses the men and says man you better shape up or ship out basically and then he says in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and same face Ennis and sobriety not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array but instead of that which becometh women professing godliness they should adorn themselves with good works now we've been through all of this and this is not the Bible study tonight we've already covered this if this is new to you we can get this explained to you and give you some stuff that you can go through it and understand it more completely this isn't a Bible study but I just need to touch it here if you read that scripture you'll notice that men's holiness issues and I find it amazing that God signifies three through the writing of Paul men's holiness issues are standards of action men act holy and so here are some holiness standards for men number men you get control of the appetites of your flesh you are supposed to lift up holy hands and you can't lift up holy hands if you are consumed and overwhelmed and overcome with the lust of the flesh and men's struggle in this area much more all the evidence says that all the current studies say that we keep trying to tell everybody men and women are exactly the same men and women are not exactly the same men are tempted differently than women and so this is one area and and so every say appetite men get control of your appetites you cannot come into the presence of God and lift up holy hands and lead your family in worship and prayer you can't do that if your hands have been clicking on a mouse looking at your computer screen last night looking at stuff that's sinful and ungodly and wicked and lustful and perverted you cannot do it so men don't you talk about the ladies and what they should do until you've got a handle on one of your holiness standards and before we go too much further notice this without wrath the way men deal with anger that's a holiness standard for apostolic men we don't talk about that nearly enough it is not the will of God for you to be a mr. nice guy here at church and be friendly to everybody here at church and to be kind to everybody here at church and go home and be a brute to your family that is not the will of God you need a trip to the altar you need a good repentance session you need to make some apologies because you're not living as an apostolic man now if you want to live as a worldly man you can get angry the prisons are full of angry men in Canada in the US and all around the world but you don't have a right to call yourself an apostolic man and have an out-of-control temper out-of-control anger you have no right because you're not living a holy life that's one of your battlefields it always gets really responsive when we talk about that but it's true and finally Paul said without doubting men you need to be very careful that the cynical skeptical attitude that the world tries to put on men that they doubt everything that's real and they doubt everything that's genuine and they dealt doubt everything that's sentimental or emotional there are there are men that they have beautiful families and and a wonderful wife and a great existence a great life and they'll turf it all because it's like their emotions are shut down Paul said you don't have a right as an apostolic man to live that cynical skeptical attitude of the world you you are to be a man who comes into the presence of God and you lift up holy hands you get the appetites of the flesh under control and and you get your anger under control and you get your stupid cynicism under control because that might serve you well in the business world but it doesn't serve you well in the church so before we go any further I like the men that are in this room I'm talking especially to the ladies tonight but I like our men to lift up your hands right now and lift up your voice here's one thing the devil tries to do with men as he tries to silence them that's how he was successful in the Garden of Eden Eve is facing the temptation of her life and Adam says absolutely nothing Adam was silent but apostolic men we're not silent it's our job it's our responsibility it's our holy calling to lead our families our children our wives in worship unto God and to get it right so all of the men here would you lift up your hands and would you lift your voice if you're that brave bold bad man then lift up your voice in the sanctuary and just give God praise in this room I worship you Jesus I thank you God for our men I thank you God for your calling on them and I thank you for your hand on them oh god we don't want to just slide by we don't want to do minimums God let your holiness live in us let your holiness live in us now here's something that's very unique in Scripture and this throws a lot of people and especially today I think because today we're wasting so much energy trying to tell everybody that men and women are the same except for their physiology which is totally untrue we're created differently but if you look in the Bible you'll see that men's holding this issue's almost all the time men are commanded to act holy and I guarantee you guys that the ladies have noticed this that almost every time you look in Scripture the ladies are commanded to appear holy it's not act holy although a woman can act unholy let me tell you and a man could appear unholy but everybody would make so much fun of him that he drink back into the the house and fix it but God knew we'd be tempted differently and so here's what Paul says to Timothy to teach the ladies teach them to adorn themselves teach them how to decorate themselves to do it in an apostolic way not a worldly way teach them about their apparel it should be modest not in modest like the world and then teach them about their attitude it should be an attitude of shamefacedness and sobriety which speaks of a woman's submission so so here's the point we've been here before but I want to use this as a springboard to my final point tonight in Scripture women are commanded to appear holy so that men will not be tempted to sin and men you don't get off scot-free you're commanded to act holy so that women are not tempted to sin and we are different in our temptation zones and we are different in our battlefields because we're different from creation and it's not just that and this is what came so forcefully to me a month ago today when I was sitting in the airport and just writing these down as it came to me and I've never had anything come to me so clearly and I hope I can explain it tonight as clearly as it came to me this passage reveals to each gender not just three walls to put up this passage reveals to each gender three weapons that you can use to defeat the flesh to defeat the devil to defeat sin and to let holiness grow in your life I am not pretending for one second that these are the only spiritual weapons we need that would be ridiculous we need prayer we need fasting we need sacrifice we need all kinds of spiritual weapons but these are powerful weapons and I don't think it's an accident that Paul puts them together and and and and puts them opposite of each other because these weapons these walls there are an external manifestation of what's going on in inside of us so so let me put it on this chart and let me just show you this I think this is so amazing to me John said the lust of the eyes is one of your battlefields well men you've got to get your appetites of the flesh under control or you will yield every time to the lust of the eyes if you let your mind go and you let your emotions go and you let your lust go out of control every single time you will yield to the lust of the eyes because that is one of your battlefields but notice it's the same battlefield for the ladies they still fight with the lust of the eyes but they fight it in a different way because the world so unfairly tells women that you need help to be beautiful men for some reason get off scot-free again some 50 year-old man with a potbelly and he's supposed to be ok but you need help because you're a woman that's patently unfair but ladies there's a battlefield for you because the world wants to attack you the devil wants to attack you and say you need to look like that to be beautiful you need to look like that to be accepted you look to need to look like that to be attractive that's not true and so this is a battlefield it's the same battlefield but it works its way out differently for men and for women with men it's an internal battle mostly and with ladies it's an external battle because the devil knew what our temptation zones would be and then John said there's the lust of the flesh and and this is what Jesus faced and he won do you know what your flesh wants to do men your flesh wants to get angry every single time that somebody doesn't do what you want your flesh wants to get angry every time your life doesn't turn out just the way you planned and and an angry man is not only self-destructive but he's destructive to everybody that comes anywhere close to him and so this is the way that men face this battle cuz a man's flesh his human nature his carnality wants what he wants when he wants it and that's just a masculine selfish thing and apostolic men you don't have the liberty of letting your anger run unchecked because you don't have the right to get everything you want all the time you're Jesus child now you're an apostolic man now now the battle is the same the field is the same the battle ground is the same but ladies the lust of the flesh works its way out differently in ladies there's a battle ground here and and that battle ground is the way she Apparel's herself or she clothes herself and and modesty it defeats the lust of the flesh and and you've noticed this if you're new at ccc we're so glad you're here but you've noticed that our ladies they dress differently than what you might see in the mall or what you might see somewhere else definitely what you would see anywhere near a beach although thank God in New Brunswick that's not a problem for more than two days a year this is Felicia Delta she's not a Pentecostal I don't even think she's a Christian but but she said this Felicia Delta she said manipulating a man's attention for the purpose of your affirmation is how women are tempted to lust when a woman tries to manipulate a man's attention she adorns herself as she dresses in a certain way to try to get his attention for the purpose of her feeling affirmed or her feeling attractive or her feeling sexual or whatever that's how a woman is tempted to lust now she's not an Apostolic she just she just has some understanding and so ladies when when you are modest when when you have a spirit of modesty what you're doing is more than just a dress code what you're doing is more than just putting up a wall you're using a weapon to defeat the lust of the flesh because your flesh wants to be approved and wants to have affirmation and wants to have the world look at you and think wow and so that's how a woman there is no benefit or blessing there's no favor from God because you don't care how you look God's not talking about not caring how you look homely is not holy so we're not talking about like dressing a sack and and just just like put on a frown and and impress everybody with how holy you are that doesn't help anybody especially not you by the way we're not talking about that some of the prettiest most attractive beautiful ladies are ladies you have this inner sense of modesty and and godliness but it's more than just a wall it's a weapon it defeats the devil on this battlefield right here I don't have to be looked upon like the women in the world want to be looked upon and then finally I just think it's amazing how this all lines up women and men both fight one final battlefield and it is the pride of life and the pride of life it comes out in men with this apathetic cynical you know I'm in control I'm in charge I don't sweat it out I just I'm in control and you can't move me and and we see it sometimes in church and it's it's really sad when it gets a hold of a younger man and the earlier it gets a hold of a man the more destructive it is and sometimes you'll see a young man that he just bottoms out spiritually and it's almost like he comes to church with his arms full that steely glare and it's like I dare you to try to move me past her I dare you to try to move me worship team I'm not moving and what that is is that's that apathetic spirit that so easily takes hold of a man and really it's just pride its pride I'm gonna prove that I'm in control I'm gonna prove that nobody can move me I'm gonna prove that nobody can make me cry nobody can make me budge and it's that proud pride of life attitude and men can go down for the count so easily on that battlefield it's it's unreal but ladies there's a way that that battlefield affects you and it's in your attitude of submission it's it's so important and people don't like to talk about submission because they think it puts people down they think if you talk about submission and you reference women that you're putting women down and and that's why I spent a while building this foundation tonight Jesus didn't put you down ladies Jesus lifted you up and set you free and he wants you in his eternal Kingdom so he's not putting you down he's setting you up he's lifting you up peace he's freeing you and holiness isn't just a wall holiness is a weapon and this last one and again if you're new at CCC we don't expect you to understand this all in five minutes we'll take time and you can take time to figure it out study it out think it through and and make decisions about it and we love you whether you ever do it ever get it or whatever we just love everybody here and we welcome everybody but you've noticed and you're important to us and this is important to us so it's only fair that since you're important to us and this is important to us then every once in a while we at least mention it because you've already noticed this is true in in our church you've already noticed that our ladies all have uncut hair they have this long beautiful hair and and you've noticed that it I just want to explain why we don't condemn anybody that doesn't we don't preach against anybody that doesn't but we just feel like we owe you at least an explanation because other than that it's just weird it's like why do you do that well here's here's why the Bible teaches a woman to have an attitude of submission listen carefully if you don't hear anything else I say that is not because she's inferior to men Jesus taught and the church taught that women are not inferior to men a woman is submitted to her husband because God created them in that order the man and the woman the husband and the wife please notice that nowhere in scripture does it say that women are supposed to be submitted to man not there and so if anybody ever tries to tell you that women should be submitted to men women should be seen and not hurt or any of that stupid stuff you need to tell them that that's not in the Bible and if they think it's in the Bible go find a reference because it's not there women are not supposed to be submitted to men they're supposed to be submitted to their husband it's a particular man in a marriage relationship because the marriage is a picture of Christ and the church submission does not mean subservience submission does not mean she does all the work and she's the servant and you sit back and wait for her to come fan you that is not submission under Authority ladies does not mean without authority under Authority actually gives you more authority when you're submitted to God's Word in God's plan it actually gives you more spiritual authority and so there's this beautiful passage in 1st Corinthians 11 and it's a famous passage in the Bible about the this whole idea of headship and Submission and authority and Paul weighs in on it and tells us how this particular battlefield this attitude of submission how it's evidenced in an Apostolic woman's life and he talks about strangely enough what she does with her hair and this is why we do what we do this is this is why so so just let me explain why we why we do this Paul says ladies your hair is given you for a covering it's given you to serve as a covering 1st Corinthians 11 verse 14 and 15 it talks about that and when he says your long hair is the way he phrases it your comb my hair koma is the way you'd pull it into the English from the Greek your comb a hair your you're uncut hair your hair that is allowed to grow it has given you to serve as a covering why does a woman need a covering well it's because of this place in God's order of creation but that's not what I want to talk to you about tonight I want to pull back to this scripture because in verse 10 he says this for this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels this is an incredibly important verse this is an incredibly important concept and it has to do with these battlefields that we fight on and ladies you have a secret weapon in this battlefield against the pride of life there's nothing more powerful than a submitted godly humble sister in the body of Christ and she might look like she's the weaker sex that's what we say she's not the weaker sex she can knock the devil down when she goes to prayer and so this is what Paul talks about now there's two words two major words for power in the New Testament first of all there's Dunamis in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 it says he shall receive power you shall receive Dunamis after the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you'll go and be witnesses to me well Dunamis is the ability to do things beyond our natural ability the gifts of the Spirit operate at a Dunamis power because we can't give a prophecy or we can't give a message in a language that we've never learned but through Dunamis power through this doing power of the Holy Ghost we can do it so that's Dunamis power but there's another kind of power in the New Testament every bit is important and it's exuse 'ya power and exuse II a power is mentioned in John 10 verse 18 where Jesus said I have the power we'll talk about it on Sunday I have the power to lay my life down and I have the power to take my life up again I have the power that's not doing power that's restraining power its power to hold steady when hell is attacking its power to stay put and do the will of God when the devil the world and everybody around you is trying to pull you off course and Jesus said while my body is crying out for relief on the cross I have exuse see a power I have the exuse eeeh the power to stay on the cross I can lay my life down and I can pick it back up again he had restraining power exuse see a power and that is power to restrain yourself and this is where ladies you bring such an incredible power to the Apostolic Church because Paul said there's exuse eeeh on your head because of the angels because you are submitted you have restraining power given from God on your head it rests upon your life and the angels recognize it the Holy Angels recognize it and the Fallen Angels recognize it they were there in creation they know how creation got messed up the Fallen Angels helped mess creation up and so they know exactly what's going on and when a lady who is submitted to God in this beautiful covenant of separation through what she does by not cutting her hair this is why we do it it's not weird this is why we do it it's in Scripture she has restraining power on her head she has authority in the spirit realm because of the Angels and when a lady like that goes to prayer there's an unbelievable power and blessing and anointing that's released and so I want to stand here again as a pastor we love everybody everywhere and we've got lots of people that come to our church that are brand-new Christians and we give them years to develop and grow and learn we're not expecting anybody to do anything just because a pastor said but what we do wish for you and what we do hope for you is that you'll read the Word of God on your own and when Jesus convicts you when Jesus teaches you you'll just kind of fall in line with the Word of God and there are beautiful benefits to doing this and one of them is what I'm talking about tonight because we all face war on the same three battlefields and for a man he's got to get the pride of life under control by checking his cynicism at the door and checking his apathy at the door and not being ashamed or embarrassed to lift his hands or shed a tear or or lead his family in worship and for some men that's a huge struggle and the devil tries to twist him and say you're a man you shouldn't be weak like that you shouldn't serve God like that you shouldn't worship like that you're a man be a man and all that is is the pride of life and men you've got to beat that enemy on that battlefield but ladies there's a similar pride of life issue and it's when a lady when she just decides that I'm gonna be my own person I'm gonna do my own thing I'm gonna raise up and I'm gonna do what I want and what the world says or what feels good there's an opposition to that and it's this beautiful spirit of submission that for every godly apostolic lady she says I don't have to do that I'm not submitted to you I'm submitted to God I'm not submitted to the world and it's fashion and what it tells me I'm submitted to God and the Bible says in the words of Paul she has restraining power on her head because of the angels and she wins the battle over the pride of life by her beautiful power of submission the three battlefields they're the same for each of us but we fight them differently because we're male and female exuse you pitchers a woman praying in the posture of know she's restraining the enemy she's restraining the devil we received a powerful word from God through pastor Matt on Sunday night about backsliders about continuing to pray because we haven't seen the end of the story ladies could I tell you that your prayer posture when you are submitted to God is a posture of no it's a posture of restraint it's a posture that says devil you have no right to come into my life you have no right to come into my family you have no right to mess up my kids you have no right to take my heritage my grandchildren you have no right to do that and so while a man he has an offensive posture a woman has a defensive posture in prayer it is so powerful and we need it so much in the church and it's amazing to me and I'm closing that so many Christians see some of these passages in the Bible as trivial or unnecessary or they have such deep and profound meaning but I come back to where I started the Apostolic Church isn't looking around to take our cues from culture the Apostolic Church takes our cues from the Word of God ladies the devil has been fighting women longer than he's been fighting anybody else in the Bible except for God the devil's been fighting women since Genesis 3 verse 15 the battle between the devil and women is the oldest battle in the book because the devil is afraid of a woman who submitted to God he's afraid of what godly women bring to the church he's terrified of what a godly mom brings into her home over her family because women have a special understanding about spiritual warfare that all of us men really don't have and it's because of the birth process if you have the Holy Ghost the Bible tells me in the words of Jesus in John 7:38 he that believeth on me as the scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water I've said it before in this pulpit that is not belly as in stomach as in food that is belly as in womb as in birth and so if you have the Holy Ghost you can pray in the Holy Ghost and you can birth something in the supernatural but here's what the devil knows he knows that women understand that because of the birth process way better than the men do and about the time the men are given up getting ready to go to Tim Hortons the ladies have just locked in to this intercessory groaning prayer and they push and they deliver something in the supernatural and that is why the devil is terrified of a woman who understands that she has a unique way to win the battle on the three battlefields holiness ladies and gentleman is not just a wall that we've built around the Pentecostal church built around apostolic Saints to keep us in it's a wall that keeps the world at bay but it's even more than that it is a weapon that we use to push back against the encroachment of the enemy it's not a bad thing to have a weapon to fight unholiness it's not a bad thing to have a weapon to fight unrighteousness and it works itself out differently but wouldn't you say we've all got some work to do on these things all of us have some progress to make on these things so right now I'd like the men and the ladies in this church I like you both if you would together to lift up your hands and your voices and I'd like you to pray I'd like you to hook on to where we were Sunday night some of you were praying so powerfully over your family and we don't have Sunday night music and we don't have Sunday night emotion and we don't have Sunday night emphasis right now but what we do have is the Word of God that was here Sunday night and I'd like you to begin to pray just like you did on Sunday night you say well pastor I haven't seen anything since Sunday night no because we're birthday something and so every once in a while you just have to push one more time everyone so y-you just have to give it one more effort in prayer every once in a while you just have to say God I'm standing on your word I'm not standing on my emotion ladies if you would I'd like you to stand right now whether you have ever heard any of what I've taught tonight whether it's brand-new to you it doesn't matter everybody together all the ladies I'd like you to stand and I'd like you to lift up your hands over your husband's over your children over your grandchildren over your mom's your dad's your sisters your brothers over your husband especially I'd like you to lift up your hands because when a godly woman prays you feel that there's a great power released she's not wasting her time living a holy life she's not wasting her time obeying the commandments of God there's incredible power that rests on her head there's a a restraining power that rests on her head she can push the devil back because the devil recognizes her authority and now man I don't want you to check out because you have a role as the priest of your home unlike all of our men to stand up and I'd like you to lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting and I'd like you to pray and I'd like you to push we don't let the ladies do all the heavy lifting spiritually around here we've got good godly men that know what it is to work in the spirit and to pray in the spirit and to go after it in the spirit we're not in competition one with another we fight on the same three battlefields we might be different we might fight differently but we're in the same battle [Applause] thank you God for apostolic truth and thank you for apostolic lifestyle and thank you for apostolic teaching and thank you for apostolic understanding and most of all God thank you for apostolic power that rests on your people we're not perfect but we're striving to be a holy people we don't have it all together but we're striving to be righteous because you've called us to be a righteous people in an ungodly world we don't have our act all together but Jesus we're so far from what we used to be we're so far from the old bondage we used to be in and we thank you for freedom thank you for your blood thank you for your spirit thank you for your word as you're praying that's so beautiful and powerful would you turn your attention specifically on the backsliders you're praying for specifically for the backsliders you're praying for the the backsliders you were praying for on Sunday night back up and give that another push in the spirit on Wednesday night I believe God is going to do something incredible in our midst this year there's going to be many backsliders come back to God there's going to be many backsliders find their way to an altar but it's not going to happen unless God's people insist that the devil let go insists that he loosened his grip every place that the sole of your foot treads God said I'll give it to you but you've got to fight for it adabo chordoma yes yamato calabasa hey drop a like an emotion subah god hear our prayer here's the prayer of a godly mom hear the prayer of a godly dad hear a prayer of a godly wife a godly husband and Jesus right now there's somebody in their family that's not serving you and it grieves them in their heart they've shed many tears they've been so confused they've been hurt emotionally and God they don't understand but Jesus help us lift up our eyes above all of that and to believe you for a revival to believe you for an ingathering to believe you four prodigal stew come home in Jesus name in Jesus name in Jesus name [Applause]

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 47,611

Rating: 4.7683215 out of 5

Keywords: pastor, raymond, woodward, preaching, preach, sermon, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, three, battle, fields, apostolic, christian

Id: ypzXJxEzFVU

Length: 75min 15sec (4515 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 28 2018