The 4 Levels of Spiritual Warfare (Part 1) - Touré Roberts

hey family i'm pt pastor toray roberts i'm the lead pastor of the potter's house at 1la and denver on behalf of my wife pastor sarah and myself we want to welcome you to our channel and to this word i cannot wait for you to hear what god has for you in this message i want to tell you a few things really quickly subscribe if you're not already subscribed to this channel subscribe so that you can be made aware of all of the word that's coming at you week in and week out and also turn on your notifications so you don't miss a morsel that comes forth we're also grateful for you and your partnership if you are so uh compelled we invite you to support what we're doing not just our church but what our church is doing there are a number of outreaches a number of things critical necessary things that we support and we're able to do it because of your generosity so without further ado let's get right into this word god bless you i'll see you soon hallelujah family that song is is good news and we all need a reminder from time to time about the consistency and the faithfulness of the god that we serve i wouldn't serve a god i couldn't serve a god that i couldn't trust in all of the seasons of my life and the high seasons the low seasons and so i'm so grateful that not only will god not fail but he can't fail family i want to take a moment first to honor all the fathers out there all the fathers that are watching i salute you and and bless you send you love and greetings i am one of you and i thank god for each of you being a father is not easy it's difficult and even the best of us don't always get it right it's a huge huge calling and uh and and sadly there are breakdowns sometimes because the calling is so huge men run away from it and uh that's not justification but perhaps it's revelation for you and and so let's be in prayer for fathers you know i i realize that some people out there you lost your father your father isn't there or your father maybe in some instances what weren't there and my heart goes out to you i know days like this where people are celebrating their fathers and you know it can be kind of challenging and so my heart goes out to those who have lost fathers or those who never had fathers but i will tell you this god himself will be your father i remember if you allow me to digress for a moment i remember when you know earlier in my life my dad wasn't as involved as i wanted him to be and and i'd realized that there were some reasons behind that that i was too young to even understand and i remember i used to go over to people's house to my my friend's house at school and and they would you know i would spend the night over and their father would be in the house and they had this this perfect picture and and um and i remember one day when i was 18 after years of that years of experience and that i was like you know god like how come you didn't like why you didn't how come i didn't have a father like him or like them and you know what god said to me it was an amazing response god said how long have i been with you and did you not recognize that i've been your father the entire time and then he walked me through some of the things that a father does i i protected you you remember when you almost died that was me i taught you i i fed you i corrected you and it was really an amazing thing to honestly and truthfully surmise that even when i felt like i didn't have that full-time dad i did in god and god will be your father and so i want to salute and celebrate all the fathers out there today and and i want to salute and celebrate all the people out there who have been fathered by god and you know you don't always get to choose where what you need comes from but god will always make certain that you get what you need are you tracking with me well god bless you it's exciting exciting to be with you here again i'm i'm here in the company i'm leaders in our church and i'm just just excited about this connection with you we all are and and we are going to grow today i'm excited about this message and i got to tell you i was a little i was torn because i've got another message in my spirit too that is a great message but i was torn about this message because this is the type of message i'm talking about the four levels of warfare today and if you were tuned in last week you know that i alluded to them at the end of last week's message and and quite frankly i don't typically teach this type of message this level of message this this depth of message on sundays i'll save it for a bible study or or training with those that i know are leaders and are more mature but the lord told me on this father's day if you really want to be a father if you really want to be a gift to the people that follow you then give them this information you know and then i started thinking about what a father does a father prepares his children for life and if we don't have an understanding of warfare and the victory that we have in warfare this is not spooky or scary anything like that really this is all about understanding because watch this it says that my people perish for a lack of knowledge that's what it says in hosea and so being a good father is making certain that those that i have the privilege of fathering not only naturally but spiritually are equipped with understanding with insight and knowledge so they can fight a good fight that's what a father does and so i can't think of a better father's day gift to give to to those who are connected to me in this ministry than than wisdom and insight and tools and speaking of tools i want to draw your attention as we begin this conversation about the four levels of spiritual warfare full disclosure there are five and maybe we'll get into five but there are four that relate to personal spiritual invisible warfare that all of us will encounter at some point in time in our life and uh and so i want to draw your attention to a passage of scripture it's in psalm 144 and 1. this will be the basis of of of where we go we're going to pray and i'm going to get right into this uh i want you to make certain that you have your pen and pad or your phone ready well it might be tough if you're looking at it from your phone i don't know how you do what you do but you want to capture this information maybe you go back and you listen to the podcast later or you watch but but they're going to be notes that you take and i think that ultimately this is a very encouraging message you're going to get tools today and so speaking of tools let's go psalm 144 and verse 1. and this is a psalm of david and we know that david was a bad boy david had been in some fights and some battles at every level of his life he experienced you know warfare and and but the awesome thing is he always came out victorious he always came out with the upper hand even when when he was not so perfect in his life he still found a way to win i believe it's because of what he's saying right here and so he's given god praise and he says bless be the lord my rock who watch this who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle let's pray father we need you we know your love we know your grace we know your mercy teach our hands to war and our fingers to fight not in some humanistic way and some you know bombs and no that's not what we're talking about what we're asking you for god is victory we're asking you god to unlock the potential that's on the inside of each of us to come out of any and every trouble with victory this is what you anointed jesus to give to us and so god we're open we're listening we say the same way that samuel said as he was instructed by eli speak lord your children are listening and father may wisdom and revelation flow insight and knowledge that we all might be better stronger wiser and more victorious as a result of these moments that we spend together and we pray this in the matchless name of jesus and if you agree and you receive say amen amen if you receive it you can put it right there in the chat right there in the feed if you want to just say amen i receive it i i receive victory i receive breakthrough hallelujah and so let me just say as it relates to warfare and as it relates to anything but especially warfare ignorance is not bliss i referenced it earlier there's a passage in hosea chapter 4 and verse 6 and it says that that my people perish for the lack of knowledge that means that what you don't know could hurt you and that's why it was really important for me to to talk to you because sometimes even as a a preacher and a preacher with a large platform and i have all types of people watching some you know i would say if i had to break it down by percentage 60 60 would be church people people were actually churched 30 percent of the people would consider themselves spiritual but not necessarily religious or what have you and about 10 of our people those who perhaps are watching or listening right now haven't really made a decision yet they're more seekers they're more searchers and so often times when you have a congregation that is so broad you you want to stick to this is the the mega church pastor's temptation you want to stick to to subjects that aren't too deep and and i and i get that right you have to cast a wide net because not everybody's ready for the deeper things even jesus said there's a whole lot more i want to talk to you about but you couldn't handle it right now so i understand the sentiment of that but when i step back and i look at the times that we are in and i look at how intense life is getting i just believe that god wants to equip his sons and daughters in a more deep and profound way and that's why i'm i'm going here and we're going to go a little deeper than we go but but but my promise to you is that when we're finished we're going to be sharp when we finish you just just just put in the chap i'm going to be a bad man pajama just uh i'm a bad you probably don't know nothing about that but but but but you're gonna be back you're gonna be dang you're gonna be a spiritual ninja and that's what i want to raise up right and see it's all cool to not be that it's all cool to simply be you know positive and all that kind of stuff until warfare comes hello somebody i this message is not for when everything is going right right i got a bunch of messages for you when everything's going this time this is for when all hell literally breaks out in your life and you don't know what to do and it's hitting you like a ton of bricks and you're confused and you don't know what's going on i want you to have this so that you can have it in your back pocket so you can bust out your ninja skills your spiritual come on somebody your spiritual cup you understand i i i learned judo when i was growing up they taught me judo when i when i was a kid you know my parents were black panthers yeah you didn't know that my parents were black panthers and they would teach all of the kids in the black panther party judo and so i learned judah i will flip i flip you ain't seen nobody get flipped the way i flip i'm sorry i'm sorry and later in life and later in life and it was kind of wrong because they wasn't teaching judo in the hood so i'll be in the hood and the bullies be trying to get it whatever bring it on what manner of fighting style is this and it didn't look all pretty didn't look all sexy but i'll have you right on the ground i'll be right there on the ground i'm sorry i digress but we're talking about being spiritual ninjas right right even in a natural as a father as a father all of my kids learn krav maga like all of them well crap my god you don't play and if you're not familiar with krav maga it's an israeli defense it's powerful it's internationally uh taught and embraces it's a powerful thing but anyway what i'm getting at is what some people are in the natural as it relates to being able to fight and to overcome and to protect themselves i want you to be in the spiritual i want you to be spiritualism do you always have to pull it out no but just in case that that you find yourself in a situation of warfare or you find somebody you love or you're concerned about in a in a spiritual battle you will know what to do you will know what to say and that's why this message is so important if you're tracking with me just put it right there in the chat or say i'm tracking with you i'm tracking with them tracking with you and so uh ignorance is not bliss in any area of your life in business the ignorant person is the least prosperous person especially here in l.a especially in hollywood the less you know the less money you're going to have that's just the way it works there is a there is an ignorance tax in business there is an ignorance tax in hollywood in any industry there's an ignorance tax so so we're going to know we're not going to be taxed i feel the holy ghost we're not going to be taxed because of what we don't know and if you don't understand spiritual warfare and if you don't understand that that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual weakness and heavenly places you will pay attacks because the person on the other side of that warfare that we're going to talk about right now is a thief he comes to rob kill and destroy which means that if you don't perceive the functioning of that on the that which is on the other side then then you would be paying a tax because you didn't know that it was happening it's called the ignorance tax and and and we're not going to pay that tax anymore in jesus name are you tracking with me so let's talk about let's get into this the greatest spiritual battle the greatest invisible battle watch this will always be in the mind let's just start there and if we look at second corinthians i teach on it i talk about all the time it talks about how the weapons of our warfare are not carnal study it when you get a chance it says the weapons of our warfare that lets us know that there is a warfare right and and that we have weapons and and there are there are ways to to navigate this warfare right weapons are tools to deal with the warfare and paul is teaching us the great teacher paul is teaching us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they're mighty through god they're not natural but they're mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds now you got to study that i'm not here to teach that we got a lot of ground to cover but i'll tell you off the bat that word strongholds doesn't speak to uh some demonic presence on your life per se it speaks to an attack on your mind because later on it talks about casting down every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god so the invisible battle the heat of the invisible battle is always going to be a battle that plays itself out in our mind right it's true if you think about it a negative thought is battle in fact most of the most of the time that the height of the battle the the most intensive part of any sport spiritual warfare battle that any of us will face will take place in our mind it's true whether you call it you know negative energy or negative thoughts or whatever right that's a battle and let me tell you something where does that come from where do these thoughts these these these limiting beliefs right i'm talking about the battle of the mind where do these limiting belief thoughts come from where do these self-sabotaging thoughts come from think about it when did you become anti-you and do you think that you became anti-you by yourself when did you be when did you turn against you that's how you know that it's coming from a source outside of you and it is obvious that source outside of you doesn't like you and is against you and wants to rob from you and hurt you and destroy you kill steal and destroy and so i think that ultimately if we're going to understand warfare we have to first understand the kingdom yeah the kingdom watch this it is the only message that jesus taught and preached he only had one gospel and if you study it it was the gospel of the kingdom it's the only thing he preached everything that he was talking about and teaching was about the gospel of the kingdom so you people say you know you're preaching the gospel what gospel because he only preached one gospel and it was kingdom so what is the gospel of the kingdom this is the series in and of itself but i'll tell you right now the gospel of the kingdom that jesus came to preach it says that he showed up on the scene preaching and teaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness of jesus and driving out devils right and he says watch this he says repent for the kingdom of heaven is here is at hand it's right now well what was the kingdom of heaven here doing the kingdom of heaven was here dealing with the kingdom of darkness that's why he came he came because there was a prevailing dark kingdom and he showed up bringing a new more powerful kingdom of light to illuminate and to push back and drive back the kingdom of darkness are you tracking with me see in order to understand warfare you got to understand that it's a kingdom thing in fact put it right there in the feed put it right there in the comments say it's a kingdom thing it's a kingdom thing it's a kingdom thing and so so so those negative anti-you thoughts those those those thoughts think about this this how you know there's a devil who would make you want to kill you a suicidal thought an anti you thought you wouldn't make you want to kill you there is a something out there that is anti-you that is at war with you every single day and that's why david was saying i bless the lord who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight what's the difference between hands towards fingers to fight i was thinking about that like god why did he why did he separate that when you think about it hands is about the war fingers i gotta say this right fingers have to do with a more detailed war i i gotta say that i gotta say it better if i slap you and i wouldn't unless you earned it okay if i slap you that's one experience but if i gouge your eyes out that's another experience so it is a more precise he says he taught my hands to war but but my fingers to fight to be more precise there there's certain moves that you can do that can cut off somebody's air supply not with the hand but with the formation of the fingers in a particular posture are you tracking with me so so and that's that's what i talk about being a ninja i don't want you to be i mean take whatever you can sometimes it like that just whatever you got to do to get out of thing i get that i want you to fight with skill i want you to be tempered and balanced and you understand what i'm saying and so let's get into it let's let's get into it uh in order to understand warfare you've got to understand the kingdom there's there's somebody on the other side of how you feel the way you feel i want to talk about i want to get into these four areas of warfare that we're going to talk about we'll talk about the first one the first level of spiritual warfare is temptation you're like what temptation is warfare absolutely absolutely warfare uh let's look at let's go to james chapter one real quick i want you to understand temptation we're gonna talk about it real quick james chapter one james chapter 1 and 12 says blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been the old king james translation says tried the new king james says approved and one thing you have to understand is that in order to be approved you have to be tried i could talk about that all day but but jesus was led watch this by the spirit into the wilderness watch this for the purpose of to be tempted of the devil god is a gangster it's almost like like you know being you know even the crips in the bloods have a little initiation sort of thing anyway that was very distasteful forgive me but but but in order watched i feel this is for somebody in order to be approved for your assignment you must be tried and so often times we think that because the trial comes that god is not with us or that we are out of order or out of alignment but the reality of it is no no sometimes you are in the fight because you are right where you're supposed to be and god wouldn't put you in the fight unless he knew that the outcome would be you being approved and so jesus didn't even step fully into his ministry until he came out of the season of tempting i feel the spirit of god some of you are in the middle of something and all you got to do is stand if you just stay in that thing if you don't watch this if you don't get out of the oven too soon if you don't come out of the fire too soon you've got to get this in your spirit you got to say god don't take me out one second sooner nor have me in one second longer because i want to be well done put it right there in the feed i want to be well done baby i want to be well done i don't want to be i don't want to have no pink in the middle i want to be well done for my purpose because what god see see the thing that god does he doesn't do outside of you he does in you and it's the place that nobody can see and even when you're cooking something think about it in order to see if it's done sometimes you can't look on the surface of it what do you have to do you got to cut it a little bit to see because it's happening inside i feel the holy ghost and there might be some people and you're going through something and people are laughing at you and maybe somebody left you but i hear god saying i am working on the inside of you and when your insides get together your outsides are going to be glorious if that's your word say i receive it bt i receive it i receive it i receive it i receive it and that's what you gotta know in every season no pink no pink no pink i feel it no pink no pink in the middle he doesn't want to put this and you start bleeding no no no no no no no no no well done inshallah and see when you can be well done god can say well done when you can be well done god can say well done are you tracking with me anyway we have digressed quite a bit we're talking about temptation blessed is the man who endures temptation it says for when he has been approved he will receive watch this the crown of life oh i love that the crown of life now we can go all deep and go esther ecological with that and make that about you know i shall wear a crown one glass you know that's wonderful ain't nothing wrong with it i love that that's wonderful but i think that there's a crown symbolizing your authority and your kingship that you can wear in life if you can beat temptation if you can endure it if you can understand it let me tell i feel the holy ghost and some people you didn't realize that the temptation was warfare you thought it was you let's look at it let's go first let's look at it it says blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he is approved he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him [Laughter] so much there it says let no one say when he is tempted i am tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil nor does he himself tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he watch this here we go when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed okay let's start right there when he is drawn watch this drawn away that's really important too drawn away when he is drawn away by his own desires and entice so you might think that's why it feels like it's you because it's pulling on you it's pulling on desires and different things but if it's you then what's drawing you see when i start seeing temptation as warfare i look at temptation differently and i recognize that really what temptation is about is not so much about what temptation is drawing you into but what we really ought to be more concerned about is what temptation is drawing you away from oh god i feel the holy ghost because ultimately it is a distraction and and the negative one the evil one the enemy of our soul is very strategic with the timings of temptation and he wants to draw us out of and into he wants to draw us out of divine destiny moments because sometimes you can be present but not present a lot i feel the holy ghost you can be present but not present you can be present but you're you're you're somewhere else and so what i've learned is pay attention to the timing of the temptation attack because it is a spiritual attack and god is strategic okay okay wait wait you're trying to pull me into this let me stand for a minute i'll talk about that let me stand up for a minute and then think wait wait what track was i on when he tried to distract distract me where was i headed what was i thinking what was i feeling what was on my mind how was i flowing what doors were open what did i get excited about and now i'm very very i'm telling you and you so you have to be you have to be a ninja and you have to guard it you have to guard it you got to guard it and so it talks about being drawn away but but as i mentioned temptation is that is designed to develop you yeah it's not against you if you work temptation right it can work for you let's just talk practically doesn't it feel good when temptation comes and you stand up to it you walk out of things like yeah i beat you i could have but i didn't i could have if i could have the average per the old me woulda and you just feel you don't mean and your chest is out and you like i beat that thing it just it does it does something to you right that thing that thing used to always get you and you weather it now you may have done it by the skin of your teeth but you beat it you don't come up you beat it and you're like oh my god i did it this it develops something in you right you start trusting in yourself again and it fights against the negative self-talk that comes your way oh a lot of there's a passage in one of the epistles of john where he talks about sometimes our heart will condemn us but but we can get to a place to where our heart doesn't condemn us anymore and so so the gift of enduring temptation is the consciousness of integrity and when you have a consciousness of integrity your expectation and your belief in what you can have what you can do goes to a whole nother level hallelujah because i'm not being condemned by myself now the truth of the matter is the grace of god even the grace of god will sometimes position you in a way that that you didn't earn i'll give you that but but you got to work what you got to help yourself are you tracking with me yeah no temptation temptation is one there's another i'm going to read this one and we'll move on to the second one no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man but god is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it that's such a powerful truth that means and you know when that lies on you real strong and that lies saying man i can't i can't i'm about to fall i i i can't i can't withstand this thing no with every temptation there's a way of escape if you were just you know there's a passage of there's a there's a there's a a greek word that was translated self-control in some of the epistles it's a greek word and in fact it's in galatians 5 where it talks about the fruit of the spirit and one of the fruit of the spirit is this word self-control and if you look up that greek word look at what this word means it means inner dominion oh hallelujah and that's what we want to get to being a spiritual ninja is having inner dominion i feel it well you're not moved by negative or positive where you have inner dominion where something comes at you and you're no longer impulsive your impulsivity is is crushed it's quail because because you you you have inner dominion you recognize that the most valuable part of you is not the outside version of you it's wonderful to have six a six-pack it's wonderful to get your squat on and have everything popping out and everything and that's that's all wonderful and cool but but do you have inner dominion can you keep your mouth closed can you keep a secret can someone trust you with their secrets or are you just so you just can't wait they're telling you and you're like you can keep it with me you can keep that secret with me and you cannot wait to get on the phone and start talking to somebody about what they just shared with you inner dominion in a dominion i i i gotta be honest i'm working with if i just might be transparent i'm working with impulsivity because if i love you uh sometimes i will just not even think about helping you and i will help you and sometimes i will help you to my detriment and even the the the detriment of my calling and my purpose that's how crazy i am i i'm a lover see lovers if i might just digress for a second lovers you have to be careful and and and here's the thing lovers are who god uses he needs that love in order to love people through you and and to get you to serve but sometimes your big heart will put you in tricky situations oh i feel the holy ghost can i just take what time here just do this little yeah sometimes it'll put you in tricky situations i'm thinking about king solomon and if you study king solomon's life king solomon man he was the wisest ever the wisest and the richest ever king saul had it going on he's a dude that said god you know when god said ask of me and i'll give you whatever you want he's a dude where where that said god just give me a wise and understanding heart he didn't ask for money he didn't ask for the heads of his enemy he didn't ask for long life he asked any of that he was wise enough watch this to know to ask for wisdom so that he might lead his people that's what he wanted so this is i'm talking about he had he had it together and then later on you look at the end of his days he loses 80 of the kingdom and it was because watch this it was because he started going after other gods but people don't realize that he didn't go after other gods what happened was he had an affinity for women he loved them the bible says that he loved many strange women it says and they turned his heart towards other gods do you understand what i'm saying so it wasn't that the other gods were so alluring to him no it was that he loved strange things his big heart the same heart that made him pray god give me wisdom and understanding so i can be a blessing to people is the same heart that loved all those women and those women ultimately turned him to what they loved so the issue was not that he was a wicked man he wasn't a wicked man his heart just got him in trouble and so so what inner dominion does is is you will learn how to catch yourself real quick because i'm telling you man i i'll be ready to do stuff like my baby's like you about to give what to who i'm like no i just got and then you know then then wisdom will set in and then i'm like that that would have been stupid you know what i mean so so inner dominion right and it's something that we all need and one of the things that helps us to develop inner dominion is to master temptation are you tracking with me so temptation temptation temptation is the first level of spiritual warfare many probably didn't know that temptation was actually warfare yes it is it didn't start with you there's something on the other end some entity that's trying to draw you out of your purpose it's trying to draw you outside of the will of god and you got to stand up to it and the bible says that there's a way of escape and let me say this let me just give you a little bit more have a strategy for temptation right you you've been you long enough to know you you know what i'm saying you you know what you like and what can get you and and what happens is oftentimes is we see the trouble and just keep on walking right on into it come on somebody let's just keep it 100. tell me you know and then you wonder why you fell you failed because you walked right into it no no you got to have a strategy you see because listen you got to see it as it's trying to take me away from something it's trying to rob me of something there's loss in it somewhere so what's your strategy i want you to think about that this is homework what's your strategy for your common temptation because by the time it's on you it's too late you gotta already know right krav maga i already know what to do if you swing on me it's i've already got it together if you charge me with what i learned in judo i already know what to do i'm already there i have a strategy for it you come into my house i got a strategy i already know where i'm going to ship now i'm kidding but you have to have a strategy a strategy for temptation right don't let it just slip up on you what am i gonna do uh i'm gonna stay away from some things but yeah but what if this comes what are you gonna do right you're going to this place and you know that she's going to be there can i just drive down your street for a second you know he's going to be there you know they're going to be there you know it you just know it you did that there what are you going to do just walk right oh hey oh fancy seeing you here and then oh uh uh that no here's one you got to watch out for hey stranger come on somebody when they start with hey stranger you gotta turn around about face all they should see is elbows no no here's another one hey stranger and hey you hey you it's that you it's not the hay it's not the hay it's to you because what does that you mean right and what you are you talking to when you say hey you have a strategy i need to move on i need my wife here to pull me out of here so the first level of temptation we're going to get to today the first level of temptation the first level of warfare rather is temptation it's temptation and we can beat it the word says we can overcome it we know that it's not designed to develop you that doesn't mean that you go to the gym of temptation well since the temptation is trying to make me strong go on put 40 pounds no no no no no no it just so happens when you find yourself in it just know that the process of you getting out of it will develop your ability to withstand it and consequently be approved and i'm going to move on why i have a chance the second level of spiritual warfare is oppression now we're going to look at four not today we're only going to look at two today but the difference between that the two are are are divided into two sections one has to do with what's this external spiritual warfare spiritual warfare that is outside of you but then the two more uh a progressive advanced layers of spiritual warfare is when that warfare actually gets in you and we're going to talk about that part more next week but oppression is still warfare that comes to you but it's outside of you but sometimes it can put so much pressure on you that you think the warfare is in you uh let's talk about real quick let's go to acts chapter 10 and verse 38 and it says uh it talks about how god anointed jesus of nazareth with the holy spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for god was with him that word oppressed is really interesting um it it's from two words and the idea there it literally means holding down by exercising authority over okay holding down by exercising authority over so when you are experiencing spiritual warfare or the oppression level of spiritual warfare you will feel a heaviness sometimes a fogginess and even a depression right and you don't know where it came from what's going on what's happening but there is this heaviness right and it's because the enemy as jesus is talking about is holding trying to hold you down because of your ignorance trying to hold you down by exercising authority over you and this is why jesus matters this is why jesus matters you know and and we we just you know god and we the universe and all that's wonderful everybody's on a journey trying to figure it out but here is a difference between all of that and jesus jesus is the one that came to crush the authority of the wicked one he is the one that came to do that that's literally why he came there's a passage in in one of the epistles of john where it says that that that um that god it says for this purpose the son of god was manifest that he might destroy the works of the devil what are the works of the devil it is the authority that he temporarily received to oppress and so you're trying to positivity your way out of it and wondering why it only works for a moment but you have to go back and get high off positivity all over again it's because positivity doesn't break the yoke it's wonderful to be positive it's awesome to be positive but there are some things that you need the power of the risen savior to accomplish are you tracking with me that's why it says that he anointed jesus with the holy spirit and with power who went about healing all of those who what who were being oppressed having authority exercise over them holding them down and what it feels like is heaviness fogginess and even depression isaiah 61 and 3 gives us an insight on what to do he says and the context in isaiah 61 is it is isaiah prophesying about the coming of jesus jesus in fact in luke chapter 4 i believe will ultimately say as he opens this the the tanakh the torah the jewish bible in the temple as he opens it up the prophets as he opens it up and he reads isaiah 61 where it says the spirit of the lord is upon me for he has anointed me to to preach good tidings and to bind up the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives he closes the book in the temple and says this day this word is fulfilled in other words he was saying that i am the one who was promised and prophesied to come and set the captives free and in in isaiah 61 and 3 which again is part of that he says i will give the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness which helps us to understand that the opposite of heaviness is praise and so if the opposite of heaviness is praised as we start talking about dealing with the spiritual attack of oppression praise is a huge part of it oh i feel it and sometimes you got to find the praise there's a passage that says that god watched this it says that he enthrones o king james says he inhabits but the most accurate translation of the hebrew word is that god enthrones the praises of his people why does he enthrone praise he enthrones praise is because praise creates a throne it puts god in his relation it puts god in his rightful place in our lives that's why one of the first things that the enemy tries to attack when he attacks you is your praise he tries to take your hallelujah out of your mouth he tries to make your hallelujah based on circumstances he tries to make your hallelujah based on happenings he tries to make your hallelujah based on what's going right for you right this is what he tries to do and that's what the enemy so he tries to knock you out he tries to hit you in the mouth real quick so that you won't praise god but i dare you the next time that you are feeling oppressed i dare you to open your mouth and say hallelujah anyhow i dare you to open your mouth and say like david said i will bless the lord at all times and his praises shall continuously be in my mouth praise is a big part of it praise is not based on your circumstance praise is not based on your situation praise is based on the never ending unchangeable characteristic of the sovereign god he changes not he will be with you in every season and he is never any less god because of what you're going through if that's your word if you receive that say amen pt amen put it right there on the beat amen pt amen amen pt no praise is a big part of it now i wanna i wanna tell you something because sometimes i'm gonna be honest with you praise is not enough praise is not enough all the religious people are saying where you going with this pt praise is not enough because sometimes you need praise and therapy oh sometimes you need praise and and and therapy because sometimes god will allow medicine to be used as a tool watch this to get your physical and your mental to cooperate with what the spirit is doing ah you gotta guess what i'm saying because see where we made a mistake in the church was we're like we just don't trust jesus yeah we're going to trust jesus and call a therapist because remember the battle is in the mind and then remember our physical right these these the our physical beings are not perfect they were designed perfect they were designed to be perfect but they are no longer perfect and we don't get back to perfect until we get our new bodies which means that there could be chemical watches imbalances affecting how you process information so i've got the truth but i can't even process the truth because i need therapy and sometimes maybe even medicine see we think that science and god are mutually exclusive no no no baby they work hand in hand i say this all the time science is the study of the consistency of god when god chooses to remain consistent which means that science is finite but just because it is finite does not mean it is ineffective you understand in other words i cannot i cannot rest on the period of science because sometimes god moves beyond science science is the aggressive study of the consistency of god when he chooses to remain that's all science is studying is how did god put that together how did he do this how we don't say it we don't call it that but that's all it is you're studying creation you're studying the inner working of things right so so but what we've done is we say oh well if i'm a believer then i have to throw out science no you don't no you don't because science is tracking what god did archaeology everything it's tracking what god did no matter what type of name he put on so sometimes i'm gonna tell you straight out sometimes praise is not enough and the church needs to understand this i'm not saying that we put our trust in medicine i'm not saying that we put our trust in therapy no we put our trust in god and we utilize whatever tool god made has made available to us to get us to what we need are you tracking with me so we've looked at the two levels of spiritual warfare temptation and oppression and i want to stop with those two we're going to pick this up next week we got four more we've dealt with the external spiritual warfare but then what happens when it when the battle goes internal when things seep through the gates of your spirit that's a whole nother level and i can't wait to talk to you about it i want to pray for you we've talked about a lot today we've said a lot of things we talked about oppression and i wonder if there's anyone under the sound of my voice right now who has been harassed by the enemy through temptation um i see it so so clearly that that temptation has been on you so strong and you're wondering like man like you know things are going good but man this temptation is like it's like crazy like you know i can't you know my life is in some ways better than it's ever been but if i'm honest man like i'm nervous i'm nervous about messing it all up and i want you to know that it's just a test and i want you to know that it's not you and i want you to know that there is a way of escape and i want you to know that there's victory in god but you got to get a strategy and you got to be honest and you got to stop playing with fire there's a passage in proverbs that says that the the wise person sees the evil and hides himself it says but the fool goes on and is punished you got to stop playing with it you got to recognize that that it's not about what's being presented it's about what you're being drawn away from it's not about what you might stumble into it's about what the enemy is trying to trip you out and you have to see it that way and you have to see it as a purpose thing they have to see it as a destiny thing there are some things i'll be honest with you that i won't do not because i don't want to do it that's fine there are parts of me that want to do stuff that i shouldn't do but when i size it up in comparison to my destiny it becomes unattractive you would be surprised that's why you have to have a vision so you have to have the purpose of your life in front of you often because they're things that are attractive to you via temptation that aren't attractive when you see it compared to your destiny when you see it compared to the dreams and and where you want to go and in that little 20 minutes or two hours or whatever it's going to be whatever it is your thing at five seconds whatever it's not worth your destiny then you take pride in growing yourself internally i don't want to be someone that all you got to do is dangle a carrot in front of me and then i move i want to be stronger than i'm better than that i'm better than that all you got to do is dangle the carrot and i'm there no i'm i'm more i'm more valuable than that i'm not a piece of bread i'm i'm not a piece of meat and sometimes man i i can really go deep with this but but sometimes what's underneath your your vulnerability to temptation is this this need to be accepted just need to be accepted and god wants to heal that too so i'm going to pray for those who are battling temptation i can tell you right now i have spiritual sons right now particularly in the area of sex that is one of their greatest temptations i have spiritual sons good looking guys that are literally waiting on their wives right now sexually because of the impartation they receive from me right and they good luck and the reason why i said good looking guys is because you know some guys don't have a lot of options and which is a blessing which is a blessing to them it's a blessing to them but i'm talking about cats that got options i'm sorry everybody got an option somewhere i you know but i just want you to think it's not you know no these cats are cats that can just you know it is not a problem trust me i'm sorry but they have inner dominion so i'm gonna pray there also might be some of you and you're oppressed and that makes me so mad just even thinking about it that the enemy would have the nerve to take advantage of your ignorance and your vulnerability and exercise authority over you and trying to hold you down and i sense breakthrough is coming to you it's coming to you that's why jesus came he came to set the captives free and what i want you to do is i want you to start praising god when that battle gets fierce i want you to open your mouth and just say hallelujah and when the pain gets rough and you just i just want you to just start thanking god and just start praising him and just watch this even when your thoughts don't feel it just start saying god you are good god you are merciful god you're powerful god you know the plans you have for me they are good and not evil plans to prosper me and not to harm i just want you to just open your mouth and begin to praise god until everything around you begins to change and then if the spirit leads you and he may seek out someone to talk to if it's not a counselor seek out somebody and the reality of it is eating for temptation and all the things that we're going to talk about we all need somebody the bible says particularly relates to warfare in ecclesiastes chapter 4 and 12 i believe it says two are better than one if one is overpowered by another two can withstand him and a threefold cord is not quickly broken sometimes you need your tribe in warfare you need some people that that love you and that are for you that you can be honest and say hey i'm being tempted in this way people that won't look at you funny when you're saying yo man i'm oppressed i've been having crazy thoughts and they won't judge you and get away from you but people who see you and recognize your potential and who you are let me tell you something i don't rock with people who don't know me people might think that no no no my circle is very small because if you don't see me then you can't feed me [Music] i don't need you feeding me down here because that's not who i am the world will feed me there but i only have people around me that i really let into my chambers that see me for who i am that talk to me at the level that i am at because i need to be fed in the highest and truest version of who i am and if you have one person and i believe if you don't have a person like that in your life you pray and god will give you that person or those two it could one one will work two is wonderful because it creates that threefold chord no that's not you pt no uh-uh i know you feel that way but no that's not you i know they said that but no that's not you this is who you are you got to get you have to put mirrors around you your friends should be mirrors that reflect to you who you truly are are you tracking with me so i want to pray i want to pray for those who have been battling temptation i want to pray for those who've been battling oppression and i believe that breakthrough is coming i'm so glad that you got this message i'm so glad that you're hearing this and we're going to continue next week we're going to fight we're going to fight teach your hands to war and your fingers to fight you're getting ready to be spiritual warriors not in a weird way but just in case the enemy tries to jump off he's going to jump back down because you get it so father we thank you so much hallelujah for this conversation and i thank you god that this is more than just words but you're equipping and you're giving tools and you're giving strategy and you're giving wisdom hallelujah you're giving insight you're giving knowledge thank you lord and you're giving victory hallelujah and there are some who have been overtaken by temptation and they have been missing it and slipping and been distracted and then the wicked one who is the very one who distracts him comes back around the corner with an accusation you you tip me and then accuse me when i do what you tempted me to do we're severing ties and i thank you god that strength is coming to your sons and daughters right now hallelujah just put it in the chat right there just i receive strength i receive strength i thank you god that there's an anointing in christ to have inner dominion thank you lord that way of escape god i thank you that where there was once that way of escape was just a dull light i pray in the name of jesus that you're going to begin to show and reveal the way of escape whenever temptation comes and god i thank you that you're giving strategy to your sons and daughters who continue to fall in the same way god you're giving them strategy and even right now god we're imparting strength by the spirit of god inner dominion i pray it right now by the spirit inner dominion and father for those who are being oppressed you said one of the very reasons why jesus came was to set the captives free to give the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness so father i'm praying right now for those that are under the sound of my voice that first and foremost that they will receive you because when they receive you they will receive the work that you came to do hallelujah you're going to untangle them you're going to break the yoke that's what the anointing does you're going to open blind eyes you're going to give praise for heaviness and so if you're right now if you're saying you're talking to me and and i need to receive jesus and i was positive and that that was wonderful but i recognize if i am honest i had to keep on getting my fix of positivity because i didn't get real breakthrough i got momentary emotional breakthrough but i didn't get deep soul level breakthrough and you say pt you're talking to me and i'm ready to receive jesus i just want you to put it right there in the chat i received jesus not just my savior not just my healer but the one who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight the one who gives me victory put it right there in the feed i receive jesus today come on put it right there i receive him today hallelujah god i just thank you for these precious moments you've allowed me to have with your children and i thank you god that this work is sealed it's settled hallelujah redemption is here restoration is here inner dominion is here victory is here it's why you came [Music] thank you god thank you for moving we receive it in jesus name amen amen family i love you i'm for you i got you we got you and most importantly the heavenly father [Music] every day not just on father's day it's father's day every day when you make god your father it's got you it's for you i cannot wait for us to go further next week i love you put this into practice it works

Channel: ONE | A Potter's House Church

Views: 84,879

Keywords: TPH, The Potters House, TPH LA, The Potters House LA, One LA, Toure Roberts, Sarah Jakes Roberts, tphla, LA Churches, One Church, onela, Sarah Jakes, Pastor Touré, TPH Denver, Bishop Jakes

Id: bzz0QXUMRqQ

Length: 61min 30sec (3690 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 21 2021