"How do we battle the Devil?" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

appropriate it is that just at the conclusion of the prayer when it said deliver us from evil I think we're all painfully aware that there is a battle between good and evil in the world today and it's been a couple of weeks since I did part one in this series called spiritual warfare and last night I thought you know I I went on a camping trip between part 1 and part 2 by the way that's how the beard showed up people might wonder pastor Doug in the first CD he had no beard second CD why his beard grows fast but I noticed in my notes that I talked about a recent terrorist attack and here we are again and there's another one yesterday at least it appears that way the world really is in a sad way there certainly are evil forces that are at war the Bible tells us whoa to the inhabitants of the earth from the sea for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because his time is short seems to indicate that as we get closer to the end of time the devil becomes more furious because he knows that his end is coming and so we've been talking a little bit in review about why is there evil in the world and that the there was a war between Satan Lucifer who was once a good angel and Christ in his angels and they were cast out and because our early parents listened to the word of the devil instead of the Word of God then there has been this world has become the beachhead really of a battle between good and evil and and all people from our first parents we basically became infected with this disease of sin today in part two we're going to talk a little more specifically about how do we battle the devil and it's something that Jesus told us we should expect would happen I think most of us have computers and I would venture to say that most with computers also have what you would call a software protection some kind of antivirus protection on your computer don't you on your computer sometimes it's known as anti-malware sounds insidious doesn't it it's a computer software that is used to prevent and detect malicious software antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove from a computer the viruses however with the proliferation of other kinds of malware antivirus software started to provide protection from other computer threats in particular modern antivirus software can protect from a malicious browser a browser hijacker ransomware you know what happens now people will through a virus in a backdoor they get into your computer they will lock up all of your information will copy it and they say they will not release your information unless you forward credit card payment to them basically hold your information in your computer hostage that's why it's important to back things up browsers hackers ransomware key loggers they put software on that measures all of your keystrokes so they'll know when you type in a password and then they try those to access your information worms Trojan horses fraud tools adware spyware adware awful spyware spam scam and fishing tactics they tried to secure online identity so they can loot your banking accounts to get into your personal information manipulate your life that way through social engineering why do people make viruses for the computer two reasons really now they give three here but it really is to one to make money to to steal account information that's still one make money and three some people do it just because they love creating virus is to watch companies crash because of the pride of saying I brought them down it's his selfishness so they in the end this is the thrill of seeing the havoc and the chaos they can create that drives them to create more viruses now remember when I was a kid seen a routine of the Three Stooges where they snuck around behind a house and they released a bunch of rats in this house and then a few hours later they knocked on the front door and said we're exterminators and I couldn't help but wonder if some of these people that sell antivirus software have people in dark rooms somewhere that are creating new viruses to help you buy the software am I the only one that's ever wondered that before of course that would be a lack of integrity and far be it from any company to ever do that so there is evil in the world and in the same way computers get viruses the Bible says that people can get devils we talked about demons we talked about people having unclean spirits and evil spirits and they're called by all these names in the Bible and before you walk out and think that I'm being sensational Jesus taught this the Apostles taught this you don't hear much about it because folks feel it's antiquated and it's unsophisticated but it is biblical truth Jesus talked about casting out Devils now this makes me nervous I mean and I think you ought to watch out for anybody that walks around with a business card that says demons are us and we cast out devils and we have an exorcism ministry and nowhere in the Bible did the Apostles look for this but when they encountered it they dealt with it and so just be on your guard if people say that they've got some special gift in this I think we ought to avoid it as much as possible but notice the verses mark 16:17 that's it's the last chapter in the book of art of Mark these signs will follow those who believe in my name they will cast out demons they will speak with new tongues sail take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly it will by no means hurt them we know Paul was bitten by a serpent and it was a deadly serpent he shook it off and nothing happened but he says these signs will follow those that believe do you believe these are things mark 9 38 now John answered him saying teacher we saw someone who doesn't follow us he's not part of the disciples or the apostles casting out demons in your name and we forbade him because he doesn't follow us and Jesus said do not forbid him do not forbid him from doing what from casting out Devils in the name of the Lord do not forbid him no one who can work a miracle in my name so this is a miracle you notice that can soon afterwards speak evil of me casting out Devils was referred to as a miracle it's the power of God supernatural things are dealt with supernaturally Luke 10:17 then the seventy Jesus sent out 70 disciples these are not apostles some have argued it's only apostles to cast out devils it's not true then the 70 returned with joy saying Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name he said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven acts 5:16 now this is after the Holy Spirit poured out you're dealing with now the time of the early church also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits tormented by unclean spirits unclean spirits torment people and they were healed it says they were all healed Acts 8 now I'm not giving you all the verses I just want to make my case acts 8 verse 7 for unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed so we believe the other things does God still heal the sick now these are really pretty supernatural miracles when you see the lame restored and so forth acts 19 here's another one and God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought in from his body to the sick and diseases left them and evil spirits went out of them here it's connecting disease and evil spirits can this the devil cause sickness we talked last week about that woman who's Satan Jesus said Satan had bound 18 years and she was all doubled over so part of the early church certainly recognized that there is a battle between good and evil and that people are being harassed by the devil I believe that when we are saved the Lord sets us free that doesn't mean that a person after they've been saved by the Lord cannot again be harassed by Devils we'll talk about that in a minute Mary Magdalene out of whom were cast Seven Devils have you read in the book desire of Ages it sounds like seven different times and Christ again talks about a man who has an evil spirit cast out but he doesn't do anything to replace it and Jesus says seven devils worse than the first come back and so there are believers who maybe have fallen back in the old life like a prodigal one and they need deliverance as well and so this is something that applies not only to our ministry but may apply to us personally we're all harassed by the devil we explain that right everybody's tempted by the devil some people experience demonic possession in varying degrees and how do we get involved in this warfare then well Paul gives us some guidelines this was in our memory verse I'd like to repeat to you Ephesians chapter 6 verse 14 through 18 he says put on the whole armour of God we need to stand in that armor but let me read it to you stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth there's seven implements we're going to talk about in the armor having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the Evil One and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of god praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints now we're gonna discuss what these different implements of armor represent but I thought it's always nice to have a visual we've got one of the members of our church Bob why don't you come on out one of the members of our church is handy with metalworking and Bob Curtis who wants to remain anonymous so he's got his full gear on today he's here come on up here can you see the steps we don't want we don't want an insurance claim so this represents some of the armor of God Bob I think actually made that helmet is that right and that's pretty cool and she'll all of it he made all of it that's right there Greaves and so forth and so here you've got you get the shield that you know you should be able to tuck behind and protect your body you get the helmet OSHA would not let him bring his a really beautiful metal sword that a double-edged sword so he's got that one right now and you got the Greaves the breastplate and there you notice under the armor this can pinch you you wear a robe and then you got your belt of truth and you put your sword normally in a scabbard that would be on the belt and so this is the implements of armor that are discussed in the Bible I knew all the kids would wake up right about now in this sermon all right hey let's thank Bob you say amen I just if he stays up here while I'm preaching WC Fields said don't do a movie with the dog or a kid because they steal everything men anyway are you stuck no okay well thank you very much Bob he says that's heavy and in it how much does that weigh 45 pounds I do and he doesn't even have full body armor on some of the medieval armor when that's more like the middle medieval armor when they were full armor it could weigh over a hundred pounds and those guys used to go off into battle wearing that stuff the armor and Bible goes way back we're going to look at some of the examples of the armor for instance second Chronicles 2614 styles changed through history you'll see some different depictions on the wall when Paul wrote about the armor of God he wrote a lot of his letters from jail he was probably chained to a Roman soldier and he could look yet a description of it right there in front of them Paul spent a lot of time travelling around as a prisoner or at least in the custody of a Roman soldier one was named Julius and they wore this armor so ii chronicles 26 14 King aza he was a good king he prepared them for an entire army shield Spears helmets body armors bows and slings to cast stones as I actually was made famous it says he made machines of war this is way before the time of Jesus he made machines of war they could hurl javelins and stones he had clever engineers first Samuel 17 you know the story of David and Goliath he had a bronze helmet on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of his coat was 5000 shekels of bronze they say 122 pounds he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders and the staff of his spear was like a Weaver's beam had a big old post they used to make weave their rugs on so he had this spear that was much thicker than what a normal man could carry and his iron spear head weighed 600 shekels it's about 22 pounds now when I exercise in the morning I lift some weights that are 25 pounds I can't imagine lifting the spear with a 22 pound spearhead this guy was a monster and a shield bear went before him his shield was so bad big one guy his job with you carry the shield until he actually goes into battle now when I read about armor in the Bible it never seemed to do a lot of good David did not want to wear Saul's armor he tried but Saul of course was a head and shoulders taller than everyone else and I'm just imagining the David put on Saul's armor he's peeking out of the neck hole and he said this isn't gonna work he wasn't used to it it didn't fit you got a work in your armor a have won into battle trusting his arm but he had a little crack and an arrow found a crack in his armor and struck a vital vein and he bled to death and died so men made armor is not what our trusted is being this verse that we're reading here in Ephesians is talking about a spiritual armor and as we go through these different implements we'll talk a little about what they represent in our lives in a practical way if we just talk about metaphors and you can't put it in your life it doesn't do you any good fighting with evil forces in the church in the world are very real we need real answers amen all right second Corinthians 10 verse 3 for though we walk in the flesh Paul says we do not war according to the flesh be easier if we thought we could wrestle with and box the devil but you can't can't clobber him with a baseball bat for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God so we're fighting against things that fight against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ the opposite of your thoughts being in the captivity of Christ is when the devil starts hassling you in your thinking Romans 13 verse 12 Paul said the night is far spent the day is at hand therefore let us cast off the works of darkness let us put on the armor of light and so this is an armor of light god said to the church you are the light of the world it's it's a truth connected with it and so with that maybe we should go into the first implement so we've got the belt of truth first thing Paul talks about having yourself girded with this truth you can read in Isaiah 11 verse 5 righteousness will be the belt in his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist now the belt was a very central thing it sometimes wears more of a girdle than you know we've got our leather belts that we wear it was a little wider and it's the kind of thing you know Cowboys when they wear a gun holster they don't got a skinny belt is a little bigger they'd hang their swords on this they would sometimes have the equivalent of a fanny pack they had sometimes some of their gear and their necessities their water bottle and things that they might need we're all strung to the belt it held everything in place in the Bible soldiers often wore robes and clothes but when they went into battle they would gird their clothes up into their belts so they want to be tripping over it you can read an example of that when it talks about first Kings 846 Elisha the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah and he girded up his loins that means he took his robe and tucked in his belt and he ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Israel so they gird themselves the belt is it held everything in place what holds everything in place for us is the truth Jesus says the truth will set you free Christ said I am the truth the truth is you know what we're sharing now all these points that were giving you it's makes sense that it would be the first thing the Lord loves truth among the things that God says he hates our dishonesty in proverbs chapter 6 16 he hates a lying tongue God wants the truth truth sets us free second Corinthians 6-7 by the word of truth and by the power of the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left by the word of truth so how do we fight the devil he's the father of lies we fight him with truth you need to be ready to give an answer for what you believe there's so much error in the world when you share truth there's something liberating about that you don't want to be embarrassed 1:7 says why do you believe what you believe remember a few years ago actually several years ago I was a camp pastor at Leoni meadows and I had the tough job of being pastor for aquatics camp it's actually really great it meant I did a worship in the morning I did a worship at night and through the day we kind of water ski and wind surfs and I was helping teach kids to water-ski because I I grew up we had a boat in the backyard I knew how to water-ski and so some of the kids wanted to learn to ski barefoot now water skiing you know you get the boat going 15 20 miles an hour it depends on if you've got one ski or two you have to go faster with one ski because you got less displacement you can go slower with two skis but when you ski barefoot you got very little holding you up you got to be screaming across the lake and you do it in the morning when the water is very common you got to have it glassy because if you're going along and there's little waves and your toe gets caught under away why are you going 40 miles an hour you just you just flip and you have to go so fast I actually saw one kid I think he bruised his ribs he fell he hit so hard on the water that he had trouble breathing later so when you're barefoot skiing they actually got a barefoot suit it's got its padding up here to protect you handling armor and so I tried it a few times and kind of got the knack of it thing and they got this boom off the side of the boat so you don't just go up on a rope when you're learning you this is boom off the side of the boat the boat gets going about 40 miles an hour you step out you get one foot and then when you think you got yourself you hold on you get the other foot out there and hopefully you can get going puts off a big spray because you got to go so fast this one boy really wanted to try it he was just like 12 years old a little bit chubby and he was so excited because he had a friend of the boat with a camera and he got out and he got one foot going easy skiing and he got his other foot out and he turned he looked to smile and right then he caught his toe on a ripple or something and he just disappeared it's like a flash guess it's all happening so fast and we look back and all we saw was his kids skipping across the water like a stone and we were hoping he was okay so he's throwing the boat around we came over and he looked up and he got kind of a dazed expression on his face and we said are you okay yeah so do you want to try it again No we said all right you want to get in the boat No so you want to try it again No so what's the problem I can't find my swimsuit when they make bathing suits they put a little string in there that you're supposed to give attention to and evidently he didn't do anything about the string in his suit and he was left in a very embarrassing situation fortunately we were all boys in the boat we found his suit it would look like a checkered flag at a race so it was easy to spot and he got back in the boat but if you won't don't want to be embarrassed if you don't want to trip you need to have truth it keeps everything else in place and we need to know how they give an answer so you've got that belt of truth as a very important implement in the armor of God the next thing is the breastplate of righteousness and you can read an Isaiah 59 17 for he put on righteousness as a breastplate you know what that means Isaiah wrote this six hundred years before Jesus Paul when he talks about the armor of God is not imprisoned dreaming things up Paul is remembering the words of Isaiah he's quoting Old Testament principles that this armor of God is talking about the righteous characteristics of God he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation isn't that what Paul just said and what a salvation so the breastplate Paul does demonstrated it was especially on the front it was often just tied off like a girdle in the back because the Romans never provided armor for the back of their soldiers because they said you are never to turn your back to the enemy it was only for the front and it protected the vital organs in the front and when it's called the breastplate of righteousness that's really saying living a life of righteousness protects you you accept the righteousness of Christ now you notice I mentioned where the Bob demonstrated his armor that under the breastplate part of it they would actually sew a robe underneath there because if you're out in the Sun can you imagine being out there when it's a hundred degrees for an hour wearing armored I picked up my flute once after it sat out in the Sun for a little while you burnt your fingers trying to play it you stand out there with some lion without some lining so this robe of righteousness kind of goes underneath the breastplate of righteousness and this represents the righteousness of Christ but that righteousness of Christ that he gives us as a gift in justification is something we should be living in sanctification if you're gonna go into battle with the devil if we're gonna do what Jesus told the disciples to do we need to know that our lives are right through accepting the righteousness of Christ and then trying to walk in the light a righteous life amen the devil just laughs Jobe 29:14 he says I put on righteousness and it close with me now was jobber righteous man we want to embrace the righteousness a god gives us as a gift and through His grace he gives us power to live a new life so it covered the vital organs that Bible says guard your heart and it's talking about that guarding our heart as well then you've got next these gospel shoes a footing is very important in warfare I know when our son came home from the Marines yeah they issued some really quality Footwear it's gotten a lot better than what they had during World War two and some of the very worst Footwear in history was from the Civil War one of the manufacturers during the Civil War he made some boots for the soldiers and he thought I can make these by pressing cardboard the soles were all made out of cardboard and they used very cheap materials for leather and he wanted to mass-produce them for the northern army and the soldiers found when they went marching through the mud their boots just disintegrated you know what the name of the company was the shoddy boot company so whenever you say that is made in a shoddy way that is a word that comes from these cardboard boots that the military issued to the northern troops that left them barefoot which is no way for a soldier to go into battle so now you'll know what shadi means but I remember when Daniel came home he had these just really good strong leather boots I got some boots I take on my hiking trip that were made by company called Ararat that I've had for 12 years and there is good today every now and then I take care of them I rubbed them with mink oil I spray them with water proof because if sometimes we're out in the mud we wear this last camping trip and they're just as good today and they got a nice grip on the bottom so you're hiking around on the rocks and stuff you don't slip because you need good footing to fight when I was a kid in I went to a Jewish school called Bentley in New York City and my brother was a great older than me and our brother had cystic fibrosis and even though he was 2 years older than me he was always my size growing up because his growth was a little bit stunted and Lisa teased him because my brother he he was thin little barrel chested flaming red hair and he had the name Falcons so they called him Chicken Little and they made fun and and you know I used to feel bad for my brother because I'd see him coffin at night and taking his medicine going to the hospital he was he was pretty sick and this one kid named Vern in gym class was making fun of my brother my older brother and and I was scrappy little kid you probably would never guess and I just I just got really mad and even though Vern was in his class and he was older than me I took off and just started fighting with Vern and we were trying to box but they had I had just I was changing going into gym class and his class was leaving gym class and I didn't have my shoes on and all I had was socks on and they had just waxed the floor in the gym and it's like watching someone on wet ice trying to box it was a joke I'm sliding all over the place Randi's is laughing at me so I pulled off my socks and I got big flat feet and they just stayed grabbed and I live in Davern and I never forgot what a big difference it makes having a good standing you need a good understanding you don't get it an understanding I wear size 12 that's a big understanding you need a good understanding if you're gonna fight good footing Muhammad Ali used to say dance like a butterfly sting like a bee bee and he was renowned for his footwork and so you need gospel shoes you know the Bible says speaking of those shoes how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news who proclaims peace who bring his glad tidings of good things the feet in the Bible represent your walk it represents the direction of your life Romans 6:4 even so we should walk in a newness of life if you're gonna go into battle with the devil you want to make sure your own life are you living in the will of the Lord are you following him Christ said wherefore if your hand or your foot offends you cut it off and cast it from you 1st Timothy 4:16 in doing this you will save yourself and those that hear you so quite practically if you're going to be reaching out for others one of the things that's happening is you will be saving yourself in doing the same and so be involved in doing the will of God and in sharing the gospel in walking in his light as you walk in the light you have those gospel shoes you want Jesus to wash your feet put on those gospel shoes and then you can do battle with the enemy amen shield of faith in verse 16 here in Ephesians 6 it talks about the Satan attacking our faithfulness jesus said if you've got faith all things are possible and so constantly the devil is going to be attacking our faithfulness and our faith in Him we got to hold up the shield of faith the Bible says Christ is the author in perfecter of our faith second peter 1:4 by which we have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises that through these we might might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust i think it was the spartan soldiers had this big shield that they would carry a bronze shield and it was just big enough where they could duck down and they could resist a hail of arrows it would deflect all these arrows at the enemy you probably heard the story of the 300 spartans that ostensibly held off the persian army and they pass until the home troops of greece could rally an army adequate to fight and you know if you can believe the stories in history these 300 soldiers withstood 15 times as many soldiers that were coming against them I mean actually killed 15 times before they were finally all killed but they stood up under a hail of arrows that the Persians rained down on them because they got behind the shield the devil is always going to be throwing flaming arrows at your faith their doubts that he sends and we meet those doubts with the promises of God and you just don't even want to get near those arrows of temptation the shield creates an insulating area between you and the other weapon when you see that the devil is throwing doubts and fears don't let it get near you you keep the shield out don't even entertain the tent a temptations and that's what that's all a symbol of moving on you've got the helmet of salvation in verse 17 the most vital organ you know you can go into battle and lose an arm and leg a foot but you don't want to lose your head because it's all over then and if you get clobbered on the head it's a knockout for the enemy you above the neck has seven entrances see interesting number you know most things are symmetrical in the Bible you have two eyes two arms two legs two nostrils two ears but you know one mouth but you got seven sacred entrances to your soul above your head you got to be careful what comes into your eyes you got to be careful what comes into your ears I expect you got to be careful what comes into your nose and your mouth because these can all have an impact on who you are you know I have fun when I think about this helmet of salvation in my mind I almost picture an astronaut crews out in space his helmet is very important if he gets a break in his helmet he dies it's creating a whole atmosphere for him because he is from a different world and when he is in space he's in an alien environment and in order to live he's got to breathe this environment from his home world we as Christians are living in an alien world we're to be breathing the atmosphere of heaven what we're thinking about what we're looking at what we're listening to and even the things we smell and eat all affects us and so you need to control the avenues to the soul this is the helmet of salvation also it's very simple knowing that you're saved you are a child of the king have that as a crown on your head so that it affects everything you do putting on the helmet of salvation you know how David brought down Goliath didn't the Bible think alive had a helmet but when David came out to fight Goliath a lot of commentaries agreed Goliath he disdained him it says he pushed his helmet back and said are you sending a boy to fight me with a stick he didn't see David's sling yet David a shepherd staff and his slinging some stones and when he pushed his helmet back he left himself vulnerable and so the helmet didn't do him any good that day then you've got probably one of the most important implements which is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God what did Jesus use to fight against the devil every time Satan came he said it is written it is written it is written how did Christ cast out Devils you know it often happened when he was in church Christ was preaching proclamation of the word the devil would start screaming have you come to torment me how is he being tormented by the word the truth they hate that three times Jesus quoted the devil just three times to Satan and he said get behind me Satan and the devil had to leave from the Word of God resist the devil and he will flee from you how do you resist the devil claim the promises of God in his word this is a double edged sword it cuts both ways jesus said I didn't come to this to send peace but a sword and doesn't mean Jesus came to send trouble it meant that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword Jesus is pictured in Revelation where the sword coming out of his mouth do you really think in heaven Jesus will have a sword coming out of his mouth what does that represent now it's not just any sword what kind of sword double-edged sword the Word of God you get the new in the Old Testament you get the two witnesses ten commandments are written on two tables of stone it cuts no matter what direction the Word of God pretty is the only offensive weapon in the arsenal of the armor most of it is to protect you the helmet the shoes the shield the breastplate but the sword is for offense we go forth conquering for Christ with the Word of God so when we're dealing with fallen spirits most important thing is make sure that you are armed do you know the Bible you don't have to know everything but you need to be equipped a little bit Jesus even told the disciples don't go out preaching until you receive the Holy Spirit and so we want to have the Holy Spirit that will bring the words to our remembrance so the seventh implement it's it's really Paul mentions it it's not something you can visualize but it's prayer you know soldiers before they go into battle are often challenged and encouraged by their commander they're in communion they're getting their orders with their commander and it's not just any prayer notice what Paul says they're all prayer we're going to battle with all prayer Ephesians 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit being watchful to this end soldiers got to be on guard with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints notice the word all all all all four times Psalm 86 be merciful to me O Lord for I cry to you all day long second Thessalonians 1:11 therefore we also pray always for you Luke 21:36 watch therefore Jesus said pray always that you might be counted worthy to escape these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of man so you've got all prayer where to be armed with all right this first section I've just been talking about the armor I'm saying that if you're gonna be Jesus said you're gonna encounter evil in the world you're going to encounter evil spirits and not very often do you have someone starts wreaking and writhing and calling out with some strange otherworldly voice and most of the time it doesn't happen that way you might go your whole life and never encounter anything like that but it doesn't mean that people aren't harassed with unclean and evil spirits the Bible talks about people who are tormented with evil and Jesus is very clear he gives us the spirit so that we can do battle with the devil how do we in a practical sense do battle alright now I'm going to talk about what that battle might look like seven points seven parts of the armor seven points in the battle first of all prepare your own heart we sort of discussed this by putting on the armor you don't want to go into battle with the devil proud because you're wearing the devil's armor if you're trusting yourself the devil is proud you want to go in with the spirit of humility considering yourself lest you also be tempted that's what the Bible says Galatians six-one Ephesians 4:2 with all humility and gentleness with patience we need to have a humble attitude and not to be arrogant you've probably seen programs before where these dubious evangelists are out there casting out Devils and some of you remember several years ago I don't want to be unkind but it was sort of public knowledge Jimmy Swaggart had a very prominent ministry got the trouble for visiting with ladies of the night and the Assembly of God asked him to take a year off to get counseling and but his you know he had a big thriving ministry and he didn't want to do that and he said you know I I had this evil spirit of pornography that was afflicting me and Oral Roberts called and he cast out the evil spirits over the phone and the Assembly of God wasn't too happy with that explanation they said now you probably need to spend some time praying and counseling and and he didn't want to and then Oral Roberts confirmed he says yeah he said he had these evil spirits of pornography had their claws and Jimmy Swaggart and I prayed and they came out screaming and yelling well a few weeks later Jimmy Swaggart was pulled over in Palm Springs with a prostitute in his car and pornographic magazines spoon all over the floor it's not how it works it's through submitting yourself to God and trusting in the Holy Spirit with an humble attitude to just you know blow things off like that is not the way that it works you need to prepare your own heart put on the armor of God humble yourself before God how much can we do without Jesus nothing but we can do all things through Christ something else you might consider if you're going to be praying for someone in particular that you think is just bound by the devil in some way not only pray but fast and pray mark chapter nine man brought his son to Jesus the devil was throwing the boy in the fire sometimes and in the water other times you know what that represents two opposite things now it's fire bad I'm fire under control is very important it's water bad water is very important but you can burn and you can drown these two opposite extremes you know we need to be born of the Spirit we need to be born of the water and here you've got this boy the devil's drowning them in water trying to drown them and throwing him in cook fires and things any father brings his son to Jesus and says Lord if you can do anything please help me you know Jesus said if you believe all things are possible he said I brought him to your disciples and they could not cast him out so right there don't miss that even the disciples sometimes ran into evil powers they could not deal with Jesus cast out the devil the boy leavers evidently a hard case because the boy was thrashing and writhing as the devil came out and and there was a great calm and Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and delivered him to his father disciples came to Jesus later and said Lord why couldn't we cast him out and he said this kind does not come forth except by prayer in fasting now you know what that means all of you are fasting right now it might only be 20 minutes some of you may be hiding sunflower seeds or something we see the kernels you're not supposed to do that in church but no problem fasting for 10 minutes and maybe having a problem fasting for an hour the very fact that Jesus is fasting and pray what does that imply it could take time because you don't even look like you're fast until you've missed at least one meal right some of you feel like you're fasting if you miss a snack oh you don't get credit for that so you miss a meal he's talking about you you might have someone you're praying about you have to fast and pray for a while there could be a process involved in praying that a person some people pray for years for others fast and pray notice Luke 22 Jesus is speaking here verse 31 and the Lord said Simon Simon indeed Satan has asked for you that he might sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you Jesus prayed because the devil was wanting to hang on to Peter that your faith should not fail and when you've returned to me strengthen the Brethren so there's even Jesus said Satan wanted Peter and he prayed prayer is the answer so you've got prepare your heart pray cite scripture we talked about what Jesus did with the devil but if you're dealing with a person when it's a citing scripture that doesn't mean just the inner supposed to ramble off a bunch of verses but the application of the scripture you notice when Jesus quoted scripture to the devil he quoted scripture that applied to the temptation so the proper application of Scripture is something the devil hates because the devil can quote scripture to candy but he twists it to people's destruction in modern terms when you share the Word of God with people Devils are evicted as we are involved in giving Bible studies you might not hear a person shout in the scream or roll around but if you are calmly in a person's house and you're opening the word you will notice sometimes a glint in a person's eye they'll say wow I've never understood this they're they change all those in the front yards clean all kinds of things begin to happen you may not know it but you cast out an evil spirit that had their life through studying with them so when I say quoting the word I don't mean you just start shouting scriptures over a person and they're gonna scream and an evil spirit comes out most of the time the unclean evil spirits come out of people as we share the gospel as we study the word it's not happening with me I mean now and I could be careful I'm not suggesting that every problem that a person has is demonic there are those that are again out there and say he's got the devil of earaches he's got the unclean spirit of you know dry eye syndrome or yes whatever it is you know you get it it's a devil of arthritis it might just be old age it's not everything is a devil possession you see what I'm saying because there are preachers out there that believe that nah I don't believe that but when you're addicted it's not the Spirit of God when you're addicted to anything that's an unclean spirit that in some capacity has a whole love you and I know when I struggled in giving up drugs and giving up I knew that I could curse cigarettes for me one of the hardest things that it was through people studying with me and understanding the promises of God that I gained the strength to be free from those things and this is how it happens in practical sense so as we go forth sharing with Christ we're taking the word with us this is the sword of the of the Spirit the Word of God amen it says believe has you been preparing your own heart and citing Scripture and train perhaps praying and fasting believe that God is going to work in that person's life jesus said in mark 9 if you can believe all things are possible Martin Luther said our songs and our psalms sorely vexed and grieved the devil whereas our passions and our impatience as our complainings and our crimes are saying alas and what was me pleased him well he laughs in his fists he takes the light in tormenting us especially when we confess praise preach and laud Christ if we're say we're Christians we complain all the time we don't believe our own promises to preach the gospel that makes the devil happy we got to believe that God is gonna do what we're asking them to do now point number five and I see I know you've got some of these on your screen up there anoint with oil this is not something that's hard and fast but there is a verse not only do you read James 5:14 if anyone among you is sick let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him and anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he's committed sins they'll be forgiven so here there's healing and forgiveness through prayer and anointing with oil which is a symbol for the Holy Spirit coming in their life some sickness is diabolical in nature we've already shown you that in the Bible so you have that example and then look at this mark 613 it says they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them just interesting that they mentioned casting out Devils and anointing with oil many who are sick it's almost like they were all together one thing that was happening and then point number six invoking Jesus name all that we do is in the name of the Lord acts 16 verse 18 it says that Paul greatly annoyed turned and said to this girl who was possessed with an evil spirit I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out that very hour there was a girl who was demon-possessed and again it says these signs Christ said mark 16:17 these signs may know these signs will follow those that believe you're gonna have to take this up with Jesus if you don't understand this Friends these signs will follow those who believe in my name they will cast out devils now I hope I've made it clear to everybody I'm not talking about some medicine a show or some kind of you know carnival atmosphere in the church where people are casting out Devils I'm talking really about what we do as we're living the life and sharing the word you're going forth but don't doubt for a minute that there aren't real spiritual battles that are at war some things are medical and we know that the Bible talks about people who are demon possessed and then the Bible talks about people who were lunatic and that meant they maybe had a mental illness Jesus can heal both candy but we've got to be careful some people quite literally have a chemical problem I know if I get too hungry I get grumpy that's a chemical problem isn't it and so chemicals in your body can affect your behavior and so some people have valid chemical problems and I've heard pastors say throw away your medicine we're going to and cast out this devil you gotta be very careful about doing that having said that there are probably some people that are demon possessed and doctors are trying to deal with it with medicines and so if because no doctor or not I shouldn't say no doctor very few doctors admit these spiritual wars that are going on well friends that's been sort of an overview of what's happening behind the scenes there are radio waves out there that we can't see in their spiritual forces there are sneaky people trying to put viruses in our computer and there are devils that are trying to put their claws in us and we all need Jesus antivirus software amen he that has the son has life and if Christ is in you greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world we don't need to be afraid do we know how the story ends the devil the devil's tremble they are kept in everlasting chains reserved under the judgment of the great day they know their days are numbered Christ will declare to those that are lost the way depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Satan knows that they are going to be consumed in the fires that destroy the world and purify the earth at the same time and so we don't have to be afraid you know it's also good to know yeah there are one-third of the angels that fell but two thirds that didn't fall so you've got more on your side than they have on their side you remember what Elijah said to his servant Lord open his eyes more they be that are with us than they that be that we're with them and so we're on the winning team and you know the truth is that even if all of the angels fell and followed Lucifer if you've got Jesus on your side you're on the winning team I remember reading about David's mighty men and there was this one mighty man I never could forget his is Eleazar the son of dodo that's why I was easy to remember Eleazar the son of dodo and he's listed among the mighty man of David and it talks about this one time when they were in battle with the Philistines and all of the army fled because the Philistines outnumbered the Israelites but David would not retreat and David stood the ground and they were in a barley field and Eleazar stood at his back I guess you could say David where does his back and they're they were back to back Eleazar and odo and they fought the Philistines and they defeated them the two of them went through the Philistines like a mowing machine and Bible says Eleazar could not let go of his sword cuz he had held it so long that his hand clave unto his sword you know it's interesting when you considered the Bible does not record David ever losing a battle and if you go into battle with David Jesus the son of David you will never lose a battle so he's got your back and you don't have anything to be afraid of so wait you know people get nervous Doug talks about Devils and they go out and they're spooked by everything you don't have to be afraid I'm not afraid I think that we can find confidence in knowing that Christ is with us wherever we go and that he can give us the victory so put on the armor of God and stand and do it with all prayer and persistence and watchfulness how many of you want to be soldiers in God's army for life-changing Christian resources visit AF bookstore com [Music]

Channel: Aaron

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Id: kjQelk4paBc

Length: 54min 39sec (3279 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 30 2018