BATTLEFIELDS | Snared but not Subdued | Philip Anthony Mitchell

welcome to the victory broadcast if this ministry has impacted you in any way please consider supporting the spread of the gospel by visiting us online and choosing the giving option that works best for you now we pray that this message will stir your heart and build your faith get ready to receive the word of god victory family grace and peace [Music] to all of you wherever you're watching me right now in and around the city of atlanta to all of our friends watching in cities around the country and in pockets around the world i want to welcome you to victory church online and welcome you to a very important series that i believe the devil does not want you to hear a very important series that the enemy will do everything he can to keep you from leaning into this series a series that we paid a price to bring to you in this message and the messages that are coming behind it this is gonna be week one of something we've never done before what i'm just calling a narrative series a series that we've affectionately entitled battlefields you are standing on one i am standing on one until the day jesus calls you home you will be standing on many battlefields and the adversary of your soul and my soul will do everything in his power to keep you from leaning fully into this message a few weeks ago family i experienced something that was unforeseen and borderline traumatic and i felt led of the spirit of god to cancel the series that i was supposed to bring to you in the month of march and to bring to you this series battlefields a narrative series not allowing that experience to go to waste and sensing the spirit of god wanted me to use that traumatic experience to share the story with you for two primary reasons number one so that jesus and jehovah god yahweh would be glorified but that through the principles i was reminded of through this encounter you would be strengthened you would be made wise you will come out of this series more prepared [Music] than you are right now i thank god that we serve the god of providence who does not allow our experiences to go to waste and i thank god for the holy spirit that guides us in the feeding of this flock called victory church this growing body of believers this is not going to be a theological series this is not going to be a topical series this is not going to be an exegetical series this is going to be a narrative series i'm gonna use three weeks to tell you a story a true story a very intense story a lot of nuances and crazy events in that story and in each message i'm gonna take three weeks to break that story down into three sections and each message will be half story and half principles that i was reminded of that i'm going to be sharing with you during the course of this series [Music] and i believe by the end of this series everyone watching me right now look right at me because the devil is a liar and he is a defeated foe i believe every person watching right now everyone who is weak will be made strong by the end of this series i pray and believe that everyone who is ignorant will be informed by the end of this series and i pray for everyone watching me who is strong that you would be even more emboldened by the end of this series for i am standing here talking to you right now even more emboldened because of that encounter and because all that god did through that encounter and i want to just tag a title to this first message in the series called snared but not subdued snared but not subdued eternal god and of a wise father our lord and our savior you whom we feel your presence right now in the studio praying that your presence would arrest the sons and daughters watching me through this camera the men and women and teenagers in this chat we know god that through unforeseen forces we are bringing this series to your people [Music] and father we thank you that you are the god of providence you are the god of sovereignty you are the god who said you work all things for the good of those who love you and who are called according to your purpose you are the god who hides your children under the shadow of your wings you are the god who said you are a strong tower that we can run in and out and find safety you are the god who leads us when we are weary to streams of water that brings us peace you are the god that fights our battles with us because you do not abandon us in our afflictions father for all those who are weak all those who are weary all those who are ignorant father i pray in the name of jesus you would minister to your people today you would minister to your people through this series and father we pray we would be all the more equipped and i pray that over your people in the mighty and majestic an absolutely matchless name that's above every name the name that has given us every victory the name of jesus yeshua hamashiach [Music] we pray in that name amen and amen and amen subdued but not or snared but not subdued family born in ancient times and played in countries around the world many of us if we've been to a park or been to a v day or spend time with family at a reunion are familiar with the game called tug of war it is not a new game in america it is not an american sport it is a sport that's been played by countries around the world for thousands and thousands of years tug of war for those of you who are not familiar with tug of war is a sport that puts two teams against one another in an absolute battle and tests of strength and will and endurance and stamina if you're not familiar with this game the way it looks is that you have a group of people on both sides of a rope they have their hands on the rope and in the center of the rope is a flag that's tied to represent a boundary line and the two teams with all of their might would pull or tug on that rope with everything in them pulling each other back and forth jostling if you will back and forth for the opposing team to pull the other team over to their end a certain distance until they have crossed a boundary to say that we are the winner the goal in tug of war is to gain ground over your opposing team in a sense tug of war is essentially a battle of two opposing forces for two things primarily for ground and for influence now just like we play tug of war in the natural there is a tug of war that's happening around us right now in the spiritual although the bible does not call us to focus all of our attention on the demonic paul does tell us in the new testament that we should not be ignorant of the devil's devices nor should we be ignorant of the spiritual warfare that is happening all around us in a sense you and i as we're living and breathing right now looking right at me in this camera we are living a physical life in a physical body but we are also living in a spiritual war that's happening all around us and that war is never ending we all right now as i'm talking to you are standing on a battlefield and you will stand on battlefields until jesus comes to get you or you go to seek him whichever one comes first the opposing forces according to the scriptures in the spiritual tug of war that we are in is the forces of the kingdom of heaven good and the forces of the kingdom of darkness which is evil the rope in a sense represent the means of that warfare the weapons of our warfare the flag in the center of the rope would represent people that's being jostled back and forth between the forces of good and the forces of evil the people that's being jostled back and forth between the forces of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of darkness and the personal battlefields that's raging all around us those battlefields are being played out in our minds in our homes and in the church that we are a part of for even jesus said to peter and his followers that i will build my church upon this rock the revelation of who he is and peter as the first pastor and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it he already let them know that the church will always have to deal with dwarf fear and if you belong to christ and you are part of the church of jesus christ you are not immune from warfare and what are the spoils of war in the natural they are spores of war they are pows they are captives they are land and territories that's taken in the natural and in the spiritual there are spoils of war namely the souls of men and women the salvation of men and women their ability to be snatched from darkness and brought into light their ability to be snatched from wrath to being objects of love influence is part of the spoils of war mental stability is part of the spoils of war physical ground or territory is part of the spoils of war and i want to take three weeks starting with this message to share with you the first part of a story that took place over a week from monday to friday and i want to chronicle this story for you all the details of this story all the nuances of this story even the parts that put me under threat for my own life i'm gonna share with you in this story i'm gonna unpack the story sharing with you monday and tuesday in this first message wednesday and thursday in the second message and friday in the last message and you don't want to miss one sermon in this series i want to share with you something that took place in my life a few weeks ago in the month of february that in the beginning it seemed very inconsequential but later it proved to be a five-day battle that took a lot out of my wife and i both mentally spiritually physically people around us it was that battle that gave birth to this series and birth to the principles i'm gonna remind you of that are extremely important for us to remember as followers of jesus christ the story begins on monday february 15. about three o'clock or so in the afternoon i came home from the gym from a very intense workout and i was tired and i was hungry i walked into my house and i sat down at my kitchen table with my wife and my kids and i began to engage my wife and my kids for a few minutes i put my phone down on the table and i saw notice notifications on my phone from instagram and facebook and so i opened up my instagram account and so i had notifications from my dms so now i begin to drown out the voice of my wife and kind of drown out my children they're kind of talking to each other and i open up my dms at the kitchen table when i open up my dms at the kitchen table and for this reason i probably will never go back in there again i don't mess with dm so if you sent me one and get back to you i'm sorry but i opened up my dms at the kitchen table and i seen a message from this account that said instagram copyright services and the message from instagram copyright services says you have violated the principles or copyright principles of our social media platform and unless you give a substantial rebuttal to what you have done your account is going to be deleted in 24 hours now in the moment i was very nervous when i saw that because i know that my account in terms of numbers in the thousands is the largest account we have for our ministry of all of our platforms and so as soon as i read that my account was gonna be deleted in 24 hours i quickly got up from the table i walked away from my wife who was my thinking partner the first mistake that i made i went downstairs in my basement and i saw and i sat in a dark room alone reading through this message from instagram copyright services first big mistake i went to a dark room alone okay i sat down in that dark room reading this message back and forth and then i'm clicking through to what i need to do and i'm thinking to myself where did i violate their copyright principles i try my best to be a man of integrity both in the light and in the dark and i'm kind of running through my mind of where did i violate any instagram copyright material now we was in week two of our series proven so i know just a few days ago i had just remembered man that i went on google and snatched the image from the movie the passion of the christ with jesus depicted on the cross and i threw that image on my instagram account and i just put these words under it these three powerful words this is love so i'm thinking to myself that i normally don't snatch images from from from the website and put it on my social media page so my mind i'm thinking man this has to be the violation that i committed it has to be this it has to be the fact that i snatched this image from the passion of the christ i was just trying to promote the gospel i was trying to promote the cross i'm trying to promote jesus i'm trying to promote that this is what love really looks like in my mind i'm thinking lord i did the right thing trying to spread the gospel but apparently i must have violated something so in my mind i'm thinking i'm operating with integrity and so i click on the link to give my rebuttal i put my information in to give my rebuttal and i write this beautiful long rebuttal trying to say man you know trying to try to plead my case as to as to why i've operated with integrity and why i've done nothing wrong and if i if i violated the principle somewhere i apologize i'm so sorry i passed the church tell me what i need to do to make the situation right you know because because i don't want to lose my account i need it for my organization it's very important to me and on and on and on one paragraph two paragraphs three paragraphs four paragraphs trying to make a case not to lose the largest account we have for our ministry and so i go ahead and i put all that information in there and i hit send in that moment i'm sitting there alone away from my wife i log in i make the rebuttal wife is not there and i walk out that dark room thinking that i did the right thing about a half an hour later i'm staring at my instagram account and i see it it starts to flutter it looks like my account is being removed from me right in front of my eyes and in the morning i panicked i run to my wife and i said lena look at my phone something is happening with my instagram account and she said honey oh my god what did you do i said i got a message saying i violated a copyright and i had to respond she said honey let me see the message and i turned the phone around i said look it came to me idea and she said honey no no no honey this is fake so honey this is false this is false honey what did you do why didn't you talk to me about this second big mistake honey why didn't you tell me i would have helped you reason through this is it honey this is fake this is full she grabbed my phone and immediately my wife goes into trying to change the password to my instagram account i mean she's just in a frenzy trying to change the past when i'm sitting there thinking man what in the hell did i just do after back and forth with whoever was on the other side of the account my wife won back the account in that moment changed my password got the confirmation to my email and man man 40 minutes of terror ended for the right that moment we went about our day thinking everything was good ate lunch ate dinner hung out with my kids it was my sabbath or was my day off and i'm chilling thinking everything is okay my wife and i go to sleep thinking everything is well i get up on tuesday morning with my wife standing right next to my desk and she's just running back and forth in our bedroom very very frantic and i wake up and i'm like lina what's wrong lina what's wrong lina what's wrong she said honey i i just got a message her social media help her administrative admin called and said something's going on with pastor's account you need to check and i said lena what happened she said honey your social media your instagram account is gone i'm like lena what do you what do you mean my instagram account is gone she said honey your instagram account is gone it's been hacked it's been completely taken over not like not like something is funny no they completely took over your account i can't get into your account and she's running back and forth honey your account is gone your account is gone your account is gone now my wife starts to cry and she's crying as i'm watching her crying because she feels like she let me down she feels like i did everything i had to do to change that password i don't understand what happened she's pacing the room back and forth like oh my god honey your calendar's gone your counter's gone now my heart just dropped in the moment but i'm stoic i'm not saying anything i just sit down on the floor and i watch my wife pace the room back and forth because she felt like she failed me in this moment honey your social media account your instagram account it's gone and she's doing everything she can to try to get the account back and she says i can't get in i can't get in and there we go sitting there in the room on tuesday morning the largest platform we have for our ministry is gone we can't get into the platform it's been completely taken over my wife is crying she's frustrated she is in a complete panic that panic my wife was feeling probably lasted for hours we'd immediately started trying to figure out what can we do to get the account back i'm jumping on youtube trying to find videos of what i need to do to get the account back my wife is trying to do research and trying to figure out what to get the account back she finally takes my phone she throws my phone across the room she's crying she's frustrated she's very upset with herself man it was a very traumatic tuesday morning in mitchellville we can't figure out for the life of us how i still lost my instagram account although my wife had changed the password the day before how did the account get taken over although my wife had changed the password the day before what we did not realize is that while we slept during the night time the hacker the enemy in a sense while we were sleeping went through the night and went into my email account and was able to get into my email account and change the confirmation code in my email account to send themselves a brand new confirmation to reclaim my instagram account so they hacked into my instagram account they hacked into my email and was clever enough and cunning enough to get into the email to get the account back from us while we slept at night the hacker was working while we were sleeping let me say that again while we were sleeping the hacker was working while we were sleeping the hacker was working you read stuff like that in the scriptures while we were sleeping the hacker was working the hacker came at night to snatch that account back from us tuesday morning brought to us terror and fear and frustration and confusion the account was completely taken over and my wife had enough common sense to change the password in my email we recovered my email account but that instagram account was gone there was a mass scramble now all day tuesday to try to get that account back and then we go on instagram help desk and we started sending them emails saying my account was taking over we need to get the account back send two hours later my account was taken over we need to get the account back this is my name this is my original information send two hours later send two hours later send two hours later send two hours later send two hours later send and we will do that probably for the next 12 or 15 hours to no avail in that moment what my wife and i felt was this deep sense of violation this deep sense of loss this deep sense of culpability like what did we do wrong it was heartbreaking it was frustrating i had walked into a trap blindly it was the next morning while i was in prayer and spending time in the word that god led me to a passage and in that passage god spoke directly to my heart from that passage i want to read to you the passage god gave me the very next morning it came from psalm 142 verse 1-3 says i cry aloud to the lord that was me i lift up my voice to the lord for mercy that was me i pour out my complaint before him that was me before him i tell my trouble that was me verse three when my spirit grows faint within me it is you who know my way in the path where i walk men have hidden a snare for me now family i just want to draw your attention to one powerful word in verse number three and it is this word snare at the end of verse number three in the path where i've walked men have hidden a snare for me the word sneer here family the word sneer in our lives simply means traps that are set by satan and or forces of evil so anytime we talk about snares we're talking about traps that are set by our adversary or traps that are sent by the forces of evil traps are set here it says this snare for david was hidden in other verses it says this snare was set very powerful words hidden or set because it tells us that snares are strategic in their placement they are planned and they are not accidental it tells us that the enemy schemes for opportune times to set traps and snares for god's people for the children of light snares listen look right at me are often hidden they're not just out for you to see they are often hidden they're planted in very subtle and undetected ways snares are designed to avoid direct conflict did you hear that that's powerful snares are designed to avoid direct conflict they do not come and knock on your front door they come through the back door while you're sleeping it's like a spider web that's sitting up in the tree you can't see the web those insects or flies can't see the web and the spider is hiding deep in a hole he avoids conflict but he sets a sneer out for those flies that's not paying attention god help us and then these flies some of you are watching me right now i've been a fly i'm a fly right now these flies fly right into the web of that snare right because snares avoid direct conflict and then out comes the spider to suck the life out of that fly that got trapped in that snare sneers are meant to entangle us snares are meant to cause loss snares are meant to cause harm or damage or ownership of a person's will some snares are so violent they completely hijack your will they completely hack your mental ability to even think straight snares are designed to seduce us to entice us to the point of overriding good judgment some snares are so deceptive that we completely lose all of our logic and we walk right into the enemy's traps the snares are satan watch this they are custom made oh my god the snares that i will deal with may be different than the snares that you may deal with why because satan watch who is not allowed to have a body oh i want to teach satan who is not allowed to have a body who roams the earth to and fro who commands a legion of fallen angels called demons that are real and powerful they listen to our prayers they watch us in our homes they watch us as we go to work they listen to us talk they hear the things that we deny this don't mean we need to be afraid of them i'mma get to that by week chapter three or week three but they know you intimately watch they know the stuff you be crying about they know your weaknesses they know they know you battle with lusts they know you get tempted by drugs and alcohol they know you battle with rejection they know you battle with hurt they know these things they've been watching us since we were little the devil was scheming on jesus when he was born that's why god told his father and mother take him down to egypt to protect him from the onslaught of them killing children so watch our snares this is so powerful are custom-made they fit the person they was designed for your snares might be different than mines and the snares that i might be tempted with might be different from yours snares are custom made they're custom-made they tailor-made to our fears our desires our weaknesses our ignorance our pride and because all those things it gives the enemy an advantage when enemy knows people are ignorant of god's word he knows how to snare you because you never read that scripture before when the enemy knows you battle with lust he knows exactly what to use to snare you when he knows you battle with drugs he knows exactly what to use to snare you when you battle with pride or fill in the blank for your problem i got problems too the person with the microphone he knows exactly how to tailor make your snare snares are easier to avoid than they are to escape it's very easy to avoid a snare it's very difficult to escape from one it's easy to fly around a web it's very easy to get unstuck from one i want to use this part of the story and the message to share with you four common snares that satan used to afflict harm in our lives and it's the most extreme cases to sabotage i mean completely sabotage the plan of god in our lives i mean satan would set these snares to completely shipwreck our face our testimony our purpose now somebody could give you a longer list i could have gave you 25 things don't have time for that i just want to give you the top four snares that i see happening in the lives of believers all the time number one unsuspecting people satan uses unsuspecting people to be snares in our life he uses people who are ignorant of god's word ignorant of truth as pawns to ensnare god's people some of y'all y'all know exactly what i'm talking about you know the season when he planted that boyfriend in your life that god did not send or planted that girlfriend in your life that god then i said some of us we got snared by boys and girls by men and women by so-called friends that the devil sent but not god sent some of us got married to snares had to divorce snares some of us have broken hearts from bad relationship because snares that god sent on two legs right into your life two legs and good pipe game snared two legs and wide hips snared two legs and a wedding ring snared two legs and our promise ring as a friend snared we know exactly what it is for god to use people unsuspecting people as pawns sent right into our life befriend us bag us get our number not knowing that they are pawns of the enemy to lead us away from jesus away from purpose away from calling some of you watching right now even i can testify of people that came into your life and was a snare to you in your life led you astray away from jesus at some season in your life it's like in the old testament how god let his people enter canaan and watch he gave this some instruction when y'all get there kill everybody now lord that don't seem right you heard what i said kill everybody men women ox beasts slay them all right we see the wisdom of god in that command god didn't want to leave them around all these snares watch and all we see in the old testament is god people living amongst people that the devil used as pawns to do what to lead the people of god away from yahweh into the idol worship of all these other things bails and astral poles and all these other false gods that had their lives and a complete wreck satan will send the wrong people at the right time into our lives to be a snare to us and some of us we can testify of the pain of people we look over our shoulder like that that boy was a snare that girl was a snare that person was a snare some of you who are divorced you're crying over divorce it wasn't your fault you don't even realize that was an honorable exit from a bad situation because that was a snare that put a ring on your finger i know this is too real right right the devil uses unsuspecting people will completely hijack them and use them as snares in your life man a good example of this could be found in the book of judges too long to read so i'm not going to read it to you you can read it on your own judges 13 to 16. in the book of judges the bible chronicles these different leaders that god used to lead his people and then the last leader he talks about is a man named samson who had unbelievable power and strength now i will i would probably test that he was not diesel he probably was not in the gym he probably was not buffed because if he was people would not be asking him the source of his strength he was probably a regular dude like me on his way to being buff but had this supernatural strength killing animals taking gates off of bars and people are looking at him like you're not that caught up but he had the supernatural strength and they wanted to the philistines the opposite army of god the opposing forces the forces of the adversary was trying to get to the source of his strength they tried all these different things to try to get them and they thought themselves a good snare you know what this dude samson he loved women and so they hire a woman named delilah and god god god trying to protect samson samson not paying attention the devil uses delilah to get to the secret of his strength he lays his head on her lap he gets a haircut he loses his strength temporarily so the enemy of our soul your soul and mind he uses people as snares in our life a second thing that he uses all the time in our life as a snare is unbridled ambition of the flesh i want to do i want to do i want to do what i'm feeling to do i feel like god said all that um bridal ambition that's rampant in our generation everybody want to do everybody finna do fixing to do about to do i felt like god said you know how much demonic stuff we tag god said to god said god said god said but you don't have no prayer life how did god say well you don't have no prayer life god said i don't know the word god said i felt like god said i felt like so much watch unbridled unchecked ambition of the flesh satan uses our own weakness our flesh our sinful nature as a snare against us he uses our own flesh as a snare against the purposes of god in our life this is what happened to me on monday when i came home on monday february 15th watch i had just come home from the gym what did that mean i was tired and i was hungry my flesh was weak and at the point my flesh was weak the enemy snared me when i had no food and i walked away from my wife i didn't have the boundaries of common sense in that moment an enemy works through our flesh our own bright ambition watch i was moving too fast on monday february 15th too much ambition in the flesh just moving so fast got it from the table went into a dark room started doing all this just moving too fast feeling to do about to do fixing to do god said moving to got the revelation yesterday starting too fast unbridled ambition that's why the bible says zeal without wisdom is dangerous this whole generation needs a lesson on that zeal without wisdom is dangerous we move too fast in the flesh and the enemy will absolutely take advantage of your sinful nature minds and yours to set snares for us unbridled ambition the leading of the flesh that creates space for the enemy space for the enemy to to ensnare us man a perfect example of this is found in an obscure passage in first chronicles chapter 21 is so good i have to read it to you david moving too fast in the flesh got ensnared by the adversary first chronicle 21 verse 1. watch the first person mention in the text there he is satan not the holy spirit not god not wise counsel satan watch rose up against you see that word against battlefield who israel and watch the next word and incited who the man of god i'm so strong i've been walking with god for 20 years i'm immune to this no satan rose up against battlefield and incited david to take a census of israel so satan incited david to operate in his flesh with unbridled ambition gosh now watch this is powerful is there anything wrong with taking a census [Music] so that means sometimes even my ambition to do things that seem good can be a snare you didn't hear me they don't have to seem evil to be a snare it can seem good on the surface it seems like there's nothing wrong with taking a sentence i just want to watch i i just want to count the number of my people can't be anything wrong with that but god did not want him to do that right verse 2 so david said to joab his commander of the troops go and count the israelites from bathsheba to dan then report back to me so that i may know how many they are so david moving too fast in the flesh he enlists somebody else into his sin we do that very well how many times has saint i in the flesh i've been a snare in the flesh have you come on let's talk right now in the chats pause if you've been a snare moving too fast in your flesh just put oh that's me in the chat just put that's me that's me that's me no honest people in the room that's me that's me that's me i can testify yes a lot of you can testify of moving too fast too much ambition unchecked unbridled ambition finite two about two fixing the two god said all that other stuff verse three this is powerful watch the text brought joab we better be thankful for all of our joabs but joe i replied may the lord multiply his troops and 100 times over my lord the king are they not all my lord subjects that is like what's the point of doing this right why does my lord want to do this why should he bring guilt on israel so he watch watch watch watch david gets wise counsel from joab in the middle of his ambition what do we do with that wise counsel did you talk to your pastor about that decision do you talk to your mom about that decision did you talk to anybody in your small group about that decision but you finished two you're fixing it too you're about to you do you oh you're going to the altar did you talk to anybody about that this is what we do we do what david did verse 4 the king's word however overruled joab the king's word my desire my wants my flesh overruled the common sense that god sent somebody to help me in so joab left and went out to all israel and came back and then dropped down to verse seven so david is unwilling to hear the wisdom of god the council verse seven this command was also evil in the sight of god so he punished israel why why because snares they bring pain they bring punishment they bring laws they bring frustration in the most extreme case they ship wreck people's lives the devil would use people he would use unsuspecting people he will use unbridled ambition number three he used unsanctioned opportunities he uses unsanctioned opportunities that is watch doors that appear to open that god did not send your way gosh yeah they offered me the job did god tell you to leave the one you're on yeah that that door opened up did god open that door or did you push your way into that door because the devil will create for us watch this unsanctioned opportunities unsanctioned not given to us by the authority of god and use unsanctioned opportunities as snares come on look right at me i'm trying to help some of you the devil will use unsanctioned opportunities to snare uh some of you you know exactly what i'm talking about you look over your shoulder and realize i shouldn't have done that i shouldn't have went there i shouldn't have taken that opportunity not every opportunity is a god opportunity not everything that looks good is god sometimes god and his love will close doors to redirect us to what he has and so when we the devil will use unsanctioned opportunities to snare us doors that appear to open they look good but they're not from god man a perfect example that is seen in matthew chapter four matthew chapter four we see a perfect example jesus is tempted by the enemy in verse eight and nine it says again the devil took him to a very high mountain show them all of the kingdoms of the world and their splendor all this i will give you but that comes at a cost if you would just bow down and worship me here is the opportunity for what jesus for quick fame and easy money look right at me all my uh entrepreneurs artists all my people that's doing look right at me open door for for a quick roll to fame and easy money right there is the open door for jesus if you just bow down here is the open door for splendor and glory and fame and all of that a beautiful open door and look at some of us man we would just quickly jump right on that man because we want that easy road to success that was an open door unauthorized opportunity that jesus did not walk into that trap this fourth thing the last one i'm gonna give you this fourth thing that the devil uses is unchecked offenses gosh the devil will use unchecked offenses as a snare for our heart and our mind when he uses those offenses to cause us to walk away from people and places and purposes that god rightly assigned to our lives how many of us have ruined relationships and left people and places and purposes that god assigned to our life because the enemy used a unchecked offense as a snare now there are two very important things to note about the snares of the devil as it relates to offenses i want to show you them first luke chapter 17 verse 1. look at this carefully jesus said to his disciples things that cause people to sin are bound to come but woe to the person through whom they come did you see that things that cause people to sin are bound to come pastor i don't get it watch as long as you're breathing look right at me as long as you are breathing and as long as you live look right at me you will be offended people will offend you i your pastor will offend you your boyfriend will offend you your girlfriend friend your parent will offend you your child will offend you you as long as you are living you will be offended in other words the scripture is trying if you read the whole passage jesus is teaching us that offense is inevitable it's going to happen there is nothing you can do to stop yourself from being offended from time to time offenses are inevitable but what you allow to happen with that offense determines the damage or the lack of damage that comes to your life you can even watch this work get better as a result of offense and let it perfect your character or get bitter as a result of offense and let it ruin something in your life let's say and ensnare your mind or your heart look at second timothy chapter 2 verse 24 and the lord's servant must not quarrel this is paul teaching timothy about offense instead he must be kind to everyone able to teach not resentful that word resentful don't get bitter because the offenses of people wear in the church god verse 25 those who oppose him must be watched gentle in the instruction the look in the hope that god will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of truth and that they will come to their senses like you will come to your senses and watch this word and escape the trap or the snare of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will that is the devil works through people he works through offenses he works through opportunity he works through these things and he says listen you have to not allow yourself to be ensnared by the trap of unchecked offenses yes it hurts you yes they should not have done that yes you feel like you want to retaliate but if you don't check your offenses the devil will seize on that offense and he will harden your heart towards people and as a result of that you will break relationships destroy bridges walk away from churches walk away from purpose you will sabotage things god absolutely intended to be in your life there are so many people who are sabotaged god ordain relationships because we could not handle an offense somebody tried to correct me sabotage somebody tried to tell me i was wrong sabotage a friend tried to pull me in the corner i said i was wrong sabotage there's so many of us i have done this you have done this have watched destroy bridges we listen we we be burning bridges that god intends for us to walk over in another season oh god this is too it's too real and we so immature that when we get offended and offended we shall get we don't know how to take that offense and subject it under the authority of the holy spirit say lord help me work through this instead we take that offense and we cut off relationships run away from churches sabotage opportunities in our immaturity and poor character this my brothers and sisters look right at me it's so important for you to grab hold of why because the devil works all these works through all of these things to ensnare us to do what to sow doubt in your mind to make you doubt to deceive that's what he wants to do to deceive you and i he wants to derail us from the path that we are on he wants to desensitize you to the spirit of god he wants to snare us to divide us from friends and family and community and churches we supposed to be in he uses snares to watch distract us from what our minds are supposed to be on that's what happened to me on february 15th that's near distracted my mind and my wife for an entire week we was distracted from what we were supposed to be doing and this one right here is the one that he probably does the most like he he ensnares us to watch discourage your heart and mind and you know exactly what this feels like walked in some snare and we so discouraged that we can't bounce back from some dark or low place i'm almost done family we got to learn to avoid these snares like jesus did watch jesus being tempted in the wilderness the devil tries to ensnare him three times watch he had been fasting for 40 days before the birth of his ministry he was hungry watch this watch he was tired everybody watched he was hungry and he was tired what does that mean he was vulnerable you know when those snares get us the most when we are vulnerable prayer life is not strong bible read is not strong not going to church just just vulnerable and that's when the enemy came to snap him when he was vulnerable i got snared at the kitchen table when i was vulnerable tired hungry not thinking right how did jesus avoid that snail three times he said to the enemy it is written it is written it is written what did he use he used discernment and he used wisdom that's how you avoid snares discernment and wisdom i didn't use wisdom on february 15th i was not so wise i walked right into that trap as soon as i walked away from my wife into that dark room into that place i wanna i wanna i wanna ask you something family look look right at me i want to ask you something i want let's just be honest for a second have cause i i know there are people watching right now you're not in a good place i know that has anything in your life been hacked has anything in your life been taken by the snare of the enemy of your soul what about your fire are you still on fire or has your fire been hacked and taken over what about your joy when the last time you just felt the pure joy of jesus without without you getting some new iphone without the iphone 12 or a new job or anything just felt the joy of g has that been hacked has that been taken over during the pandemic what about peace when last time you you slept but just got rest for your mind has that been hacked or taken over what about confidence some of us we don't even pray with confidence what about our confidence has it been hacked or taken over by the enemy of your soul what about your focus or your vision we busy but are we fruitful we're going left and right but are we going straight what about your passion i mean i whatever man i don't even feel like doing this no i don't feel like logging on anymore don't feel like going in the zoom anymore what about your passion and your your enthusiasm has that been hacked and taken over what about your devotion i don't want to get up and pray i don't want to spend time with the lord don't feel like opening my body you know i'm just i'm just watching some of us just just dragging ourselves through a weak body i just just dragged myself onto the stream drag myself into the zoom i might drag myself into a just where is that into where is that devotion has that been hacked and taken over what about your hope some of us been through so much hell we stop believing stop dreaming we don't even imagine anymore has your hope been hacked by the devil and taken over or maybe something tangible like an instagram account have you been sneered in this season by the enemy of your soul in some area because no matter how strong you are or i are no one watching me is immune to demonic attacks and no one might watching me is immune to being snared by the adversary they come for us when we least expect it in this life this life where we stand on multiple battlefields we may stumble every now and then into the snares of satan i did but we don't have to be subdued by those snares look right at me family you may have stumbled into some snares maybe something in life got hacked but the enemy don't have to keep it you don't have to keep your joy you don't have to keep your peace you don't have to keep your passion you don't have to keep your fire you don't have to keep your hope your confidence fill in the blank whatever it is dang sure not gonna keep my account you see i've been posting right right so in this life we may stumble into snares but we don't have to be subdued by them we don't have to just roll over and accept defeat on monday i was snared by the devil by the forces of evil by tuesday afternoon i was frustrated with the online help options from instagram and facebook who was not emailing me back by tuesday night lena and i made a radical decision and by wednesday morning i will end up on another battlefield both physically mentally and spiritually and next week this story heads into the deep waters of unbelievable events unbelievable happenings and accounts providential things [Music] and i believe the principles of what i'm going to share with you next week they're going to instill faith and renew some fire and some of you who are watching me right now who absolutely need it this is where we're going in part two of this series called battlefields and you do not want to miss one message in this series i promise you for the week you will come out strong for the ignorant you will come out informed and for those who are already strong you will come out more emboldened than you was before that's where we're going in part two and part three of battlefields let me pray for you eternal god another wise father i pray right now for all my brothers and sisters watching me right now who can testify of something being taken from their life maybe during the the length and the the the time we've been in the pandemic maybe someone they have lost fire maybe they've lost passion confidence hope maybe they've lost their their ability to to believe that you love them maybe in something in their life intangible has been hacked and taken from the enemy maybe somebody watching right now is entangled right now in a snare in a bad relationship in some thing that they look over their shoulder and don't even know how they ended up in this place but god i thank you lord that you are the god who fights the battles of your children that we may get snared but we do not have to be subdued and so father i pray that you would encourage my brother or sister right now and father i pray in the name of jesus that as this story unfolds the weak will be made strong the ignorant will be informed and the strong will be emboldened as a result of this account and that satan will not get glory but you will be glorified i pray this over all your sons and daughters that they would hang on to hope that they know that they can recover whatever has been lost i pray that over them right now in the mighty and majestic and matchless name of the lord jesus christ amen amen look right at me family don't move don't log off look right at me look right at me uh some of you watching maybe uh you know you you hopped in here not by accident god brought you here and maybe right now during the pandemic you don't have a place to land man we just want to invite you to be a part of our family to keep logging onto victory church online receive the word that's being pre-shared at our church you can jump into gospel community we just want you to keep coming back and joining us every single sunday for those of you who are supporting uh the gospel financially we want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart uh [Music] it's been a year since we have been in physical gatherings together a year and in that year's time many churches did not survive the pandemic many churches closed down and a year of not physically gathering a year of not seeing each other in rolls and aisles a year of not holding each other in the lobby and all of that still through the pandemic we have prevailed because of your generosity so for all of you who are supporting the ministry i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart and those who are not i want to invite you to help us in the spread of the gospel help us in being faithful to god you know being faithful to honoring him with the first fruit of all of your increase and i want you to do me a favor if this message spoke to you in any way when it goes live on youtube would you take that link and share it with somebody who needs to hear it and i want to encourage you to invite somebody to part two in part three of this series i promise you it's about to get real next week and it's going to be a blessing to you take this message share it with somebody and invite somebody to part two of our series battlefields i promise you it's gonna be a blessing to you now family our mc's coming right behind me to give you a couple quick announcements and then we're gonna hang out in the chats for a few minutes and love on each other talk about the message and i'll see you next week for part two where it gets really intense so pray and meet me right here next week for part two of battlefields i love your family y'all go in peace [Music] thank you for listening to the victory broadcast we prayed that message was a blessing to you if you have a story or testimony to share we want to hear all about it send us an email to share at victorychurchatl.org or visit us online under share thanks for listening go in peace

Channel: Victory Church

Views: 1,533

Rating: 4.9024391 out of 5

Keywords: PastorPhilip, BATTLE, BATTLEFIELDS, Snared, Enemy, Fight, Jesus, PhilipAMitchell, Pray, fight, Victorychurchatl, warefare, nariative, weapons

Id: QzXuokYVgEY

Length: 60min 46sec (3646 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 15 2021