The Reality of Spiritual Warfare - Sunday Service

well father we thank you for this another opportunity to minister to these your precious sheep thank you that revelation knowledge will flow freely uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanic or demonic force and father i pray that you will speak through my vocal cords this morning and think through my mind none of me and all of you it's in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen praise god well welcome to church and i'm excited about what we're talking about let's begin again in ephesians chapter 6 uh 10 through 12. i want to review a little bit and then we want to go from there to romans 12 two and three and then uh second corinthians 10 5 and then we'll get into today's message we're talking about uh the reality of spiritual warfare and we're talking about winning in spiritual warfare the battle of the mind is where that battle is going to be taking place and it's so very important for us for you to understand that we are fighting against opposing forces that want to kill steal and destroy look what he says ephesians 6 and 10 he says finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might verse 11 put on the whole armor of god as we said before that's the word of god put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles or the trickery or the strategy of the devil so notice uh satan is coming up with strategies to to come against you he's he's coming up with with plans and strategies to try to kill steal and destroy where your life is concerned that's amazing that you see this in the scripture that you put on the armor of god because there's a devil lose and he wants to kill steal and destroy and and god says if you can understand how to fight this battle you will be able to stand against the strategy of the devil now i don't know about you but i'm always interested in how to be effective in standing and overcoming the strategy that the devil has for my life everybody uh has a strategy that satan has devised to come against you now look at verse 12 he says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but our our our fight our war is against principalities powers rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in heaven places you here you find the four classes of demonic spirits principalities powers uh wicked spirits uh in this world spiritual wickedness in high places those are are are the four headings of or the four classes of demonic spirits and so it's not just satan coming against you but his his cohorts his his uh those demons that are assigned to carry out the strategy the the wicked strategy drat strategy to try to bring you down please understand there's a battle going on there's a battle for your soul your mind your will and your emotions and satan's coming against you and and and you don't want to get to the place where you you don't recognize that there there's an enemy coming against you and it's not the person you go to work with it's not the person you had an issue with there are demonic spirits that work through people to try to kill steal and destroy in your life try to oppress you try to get you to feel you know depressed and guilty and all those kind of things and we have got to understand the battle and to take the victory that has already been given us where this concern well how do we do that romans chapter 12 verses 1 through 3. look at what he says here now this is important because he just directly tells us what to do he says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice so he's talking about dedication here to present your body's a living sacrifice you know i've heard somebody say well i wasn't at church this morning but i was there in spirit now he wants the dedication of all of you your spirit soul and body he says but the by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice presented wholly acceptable unto god which is a reasonable service now the previous chapters talked about all of this mercy and it's like in light of all of this mercy come on let's dedicate yourself to god and look at verse two very valuable verse two and be not conformed to this world don't be fashioned after this world don't don't start thinking like them uh don't start acting like them you know we spent a lot of time last week talking about what it means to be conformed to this world and one of the things that i want you guys to understand is that we don't have to be conformed to this world because the bible gives us an option he says but be ye transformed how by the renewing of your mind another translation says be changed by the renewing of your mind now i said this over and over and over again and i'll continue to say it as a human being the most important thing you can do is get born again but now once you get born again as a christian the most important thing you can do is renew your mind because if you don't renew your mind you will remain conformed to the world you will continue to think like the world thinks you'll continue to act like the world acts you'll continue to believe like the world believes if you don't renew your mind renewing the mind is not a one-time event the renewing the mind is a lifetime process renewing the mind is exchanging that worldly well-thinking worldly way of thinking for that word way of thinking it's exchanging that worldly opinion with that word opinion it it's taking your thinking and and lying lining it putting it on top of the word and if your thinking doesn't line up with the word then you don't try to change the word you allow the word to change your thinking and so you you please understand this you get born again now the most important thing you can do is renew your mind and i still know christians who are just refused to renew their mind and you know of course the enemy is going to come up with every reason he can come up with to tell you that the bible is not real or the bible was written by men or the bible this bible anything to try to convince you not to renew your mind because he knows that's the most important thing that a christian can do because once they renew their mind he's powerless what is he going to do with a christian who no longer will conform their life and thinking with the word what is he going to do he can't do anything he says be transformed by the renewing of your mind why so you can prove what is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of god and you're never going to be able to prove the good acceptable and perfect will of god until you renew your mind all right now so i like what he says in this version he says uh and be changed by the renewing of your mind so you know when you got born again your soul mind will thinking that didn't that didn't get born again uh uh your body didn't get born again your spirit got born again so it so you can get born again and still be doing some of the same stuff you were doing before you got born again why because even though you have a new root and a new spirit you know there's there are two parts of you there are three parts you are a spirit your soul your body but there are two parts of you that don't yet line up with the word if you don't renew your mind you see your spirit's born again but in life you'll continue to do some of the same things because you're thinking the same way so when you get born again you got to renew your mind you got to you're going to you want to see things change in your life in this physical body got to renew your mind nothing changes until you accept the the vitalness of renewing your mind with the word of god be changed how by renewing your mind so you can prove what is that good and perfect inceptive will of god there's some people that get born again live all their lives and never understand the purpose for why they are living and i'm telling you right now the most important thing that a christian can do is renew his mind renew his mind and i'm talking about renew his mind to a point where you know you accurately renew your mind you see the way you think is the way you live your your thinking is going to determine your living so wrong wrong wrong thinking is going to determine wrong believing which is going to determine wrong living right thinking is going to determine right believing which is going to determine right living see there's a reason why you're you're the way you are and the bible is trying to get every christian to understand the importance of renewing your mind with the word of god and and then this day there's a challenge because you've got to get under the right teaching so you can renew your mind right you got to get under the right teaching so you can renew your mind right you don't want to renew your mind to the to the law of moses why if you renew your mind to the law of moses you know you know what the production is going to be guilt shame condemnation and sin consciousness that's what we're renewing our mind from we're renewing our mind from the law of moses that produces guilt shame uh condemnation fear all of those things that's what renewing it from but there are some christians who are still trying to renew their mind in in in the in the in the law of moses which produces those things that jesus died so you can be free from so you'll stay stuck in condemnation guilt shame if you don't renew your mind away from the law that produce condemnation guilt shame fear and all those things i'll talk a little bit more about that as we as we move forward now let's go to one more scripture and we'll get started the second corinthians chapter 10 verses four through five and um [Music] let's just read that in the king james second corinthians 10 4 through he says for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they're mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds fortified thoughts in your mind that create addictive behaviors he says that you can you can pull those down and he says casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of god and bringing into captivity watch this every thought to the obedience of christ so he's saying your thinking is responsible for all of this and you're going to have to become a good custodian over your thought life and so when when you're thinking in line with the world the bible clearly states that you have the authority to capture that thought cast it down by placing the word of god in your mouth really to create the thought see you don't fight thoughts with thoughts you fight thoughts with the word of god and when you when you're understanding the word enough and it's simple and and you you know how to use it in your life you can take the word of god and say you know the devil's saying well you're going to die you're going to die you're going to die you're going to die and then you open your mouth up and say no the bible says i'm going to live and not die the bible says and you start quoting out loud what the bible says that'll pull that negative thought down and bring it into the obedience of christ so that's how that works now i'm excited about this morning because this is something that you know i'm not trying to start a big fight but i'm just saying this is something that just it makes so much sense to me and this is something you're gonna have to chew on something that you're really gonna have to think about uh what we i think we need to get a hold of is becoming more precise about the things of god and i think that we've been our lives have been riddled with a lot of religious thinking okay and not uh accurate thinking from the word of god and people will say things because that's what they've heard all their lives and then when you get right into the word you find out oh my god the bible bible says this you know one of the things that that i got a hold of years ago uh where i used to say like everybody like every christian i met god is in control i said that all time god is in control and then this man of god said to me one time he said brother dawg that's not exactly true and i'm thinking like you've got to be out your mind what do you mean that's not exactly true god is in control and then he got really precise with me he says well if you read the scripture in the book of genesis he said that god gave all of the authority and control to mankind for a period of time and i'm like whoa i said are you kidding me he said yeah if you go over here and look at it it's in the book of genesis he said god gave authority to man over all of the earth and i thought wait a minute and and so i had i had to really go and and to look at this and he said in in genesis chapter 1 verse 26 and god said let let us make man in our image after our likeness let them have dominion or authority over the fish of the sea over the file of the air over the cattle over all the earth over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth so god created man in his own image in the image of god created he him male and female and god blessed them and god said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea over the file of the air over every living thing that moveth upon the earth he gave us authority and control over everything except one another and so i had to think about that i said in actuality if god gave the controls to us then how can we go and blame him for something in fact heaven could say wait a minute i turned the dominion over the ear i turned the dominion of the earth over to you oh that's precision now see i could have stayed caught up with everybody just cause everybody was saying god is in control god is in control and i understand what they're saying but the the precise accuracy of that is that god has given control over to those of us who've accepted him that mankind has control over what's going on and then he turns around and says that you can you you can choose life or death blessings or cursings and he says you choose and then he gave a hint choose life so that you and you see so you you have this authority to make a choice i'm thinking wow but see religion will say something in general and you just get caught up with that and you stop searching for the accuracy of what's going on in the scripture so here's what i want to talk about right now the need for for precision it the need for precision i think that a lot of christians are not getting results in their life is because of a lack of precision now before i move into this we're talking about warfare we're talking about battle in the mind now in a in a battle in in the in the in the natural one of the things that you want to do is you want to find key uh keys key areas keys key places where you want to destroy uh that may have a big impact on the rest of the war so you'll you'll pick out targets that's word i'm looking for key targets and and once you you you decide if we can destroy these key targets that'll put us ahead in the battle and you know you have to locate those targets and you have to be precise in in in in order to attack it and to destroy because if you miss the target then you know you don't accomplish what you're trying to accomplish and i begin to think wait a minute there are some key targets in my life that i need to make sure that i i i destroy that i blow up that i bomb i've got to recognize that that fear is a key target i got to recognize that condemnation is a key target and and shame is a key target and guilt is a key target and and if i can hit those key targets then i can accomplish a lot and so what happens is if you if you're going to be on target or or hit those targets it's going to require precision it's going to require precision to make sure you don't miss the targets and so what happens you know in church we go around and we blame all this other stuff you know especially in marriage you know this is the problem this is a problem you're the problem that's the problem if you did that and the real problem is you're having a fear dance you need to destroy that fear target or you're going around and saying well you know i just feel bad or i feel suicidal or nobody likes me and you need to destroy that condemnation target or that guilt target you see and so that's what religion does it has us it has us to ignore those major targets that can cause great progress in our life and we're just you know it was like a shotgun we're just firing all over the place instead of precision that's needed to hit the target i hope i hope i'm making that plane i need to calm down i'm really excited about you getting this so so how would i define precision because i believe that's going to be the key in the life of a believer in new testament living so in every battle precision precision is the key to winning the whole war i believe that i believe that so much i can remember the time when i first got saved there was no precision it was just religious things that i heard somebody else say but it wasn't precision i didn't know the targets that were causing the most issues and and and and yet i didn't i didn't release an attack or plan an attack to destroy those targets and so in every battle precision is the key to winning the whole war and so we've got to get precise we've got to get rid of the religious language that just sounds like god but it doesn't have any precision precision is defined as exactness precision is accuracy being exactly that neither more or less that's what precision means it's exactly that neither more or less it's not that more or less no it's exactly that neither more or less precision uh let me give you an illustration second uh timothy 2 15. i want to look at it in the amplified and then the nasb 2 timothy 2 15 and the amplified and then the the in a the n a s b version and i want to show you what the bible talks about when it talks about studying the scripture he says study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to god approve test it by trial a workman who has no cause to be ashamed correctly analyzing accurately accurately that's precision accurately dividing rightly handling skillfully teaching the word of truth did you see what he says that when when we get to the word it's got to be accurately divided and and i don't know if i've ever really had that a lot in my christian life i've had a general presentation of the word but it lacked precision and i believe the more precise you can get about this battle in the mind the more victory you're going to have look at it in the uh nasb translation he says be diligent to present yourself approved to god as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth what is he saying handle the word with precision handle the word with precision see even that phrase the word of god needs some precision with it are we talking about the word of god that was under the old covenant when god was operating as a judge or are we talking about the word of god which is the word of grace operating under the new covenant as god was operating as father you see if you just say word of god then i'm thinking well you know is the is this the word of god that i should be renewing my mind meant mine with over in the old covenant or is this the word of god i need to be renewing my remind men under the covenant of grace are you following what i'm saying it is so important that we we become precise and accurate about word of god and how we're handling the word of god so whatever you give your attention to will frame your thinking and ultimately it will frame your life we do know that whatever you give yourself attention to it'll frame your thinking and then it will ultimately frame your life so now my next issue here here is what are you attending to the most what are you giving your attention to the most what are you doing every day what what what has your attention the most okay whatever has your attention the most is ultimately going to determine your life now listen carefully so with precision what should i be giving my attention to as a christian with precision what should i be giving my attention to as a born-again christian living under the new covenant provided by jesus christ and his death on the cross today right now that we're all gathered together on this stream what should i be giving my attention to somebody says you know uh well i read the bible but what's the precision i want the precision of what i need to be giving my my my attention to now let me give you an illustration and and and i think the more illustrations i can give the more you'll begin to follow what i'm saying i'm believing that that you're getting what i'm saying i'm believing you're understanding what i'm saying and if you're not just hang on in there amen uh look at proverbs chapter 4 20. let's use this as a little illustration to try to draw this out proverbs chapter 20. now in proverbs chapter 20 he says uh let me get there proverbs chapter 20 and excuse me i'm proverbs chapter 4 verse 20. excuse me no no no wonder it took me so long to get it proverbs 4 20. all right look what he says proverbs 4 20. my son a attend or give attention to my words and climb thy ear unto my sayings all right am i saying that it's not important to give attention to all of god's word no i'm not saying that that is important but i think that we are now in a place in our life where we can begin to search for accuracy and precision my son attend to my words all right but there's a there's 66 books in the bible so attend to all of your words yeah that's cool i have no problem with that but when i need healing do i need to attend to the whole bible or are there some specific words i need to attend to or when i need deliverance do i is do i got to get all the words in the bible or or do i get some specific accurate words that deal with with with healing or or or provision all right let me show you what i'm saying here now no so he says give attention here but then if you'll flip over to romans chapter 6 in the new testament romans chapter 6 in the new testament he's going to deal with something that requires our attention in order for us to be successful under this new covenant of grace watch very carefully now for sin shall not have dominion or authority over you all right now hold on a minute now what we just read is only true in the new covenant because under the old covenant sin had dominion and authority you follow him saying so you got to rightly and accurately divide that sin shall not have dominion over you well it did before you got born again it did when when before jesus died on the cross and gave us this new covenant it dominated mankind so now he's talking about us under the new covenant this new and living way for sin shall not have dominion over you under this new and living way for you are not under the law well now that we're born again we are not under the law but we're under grace so now he's he's showing he's showing some precision here he says sin will not have dominion over you and then he says uh you're not under the law you're under grace what he's saying is under the law sin had dominion over you but under the grace of god it no longer had dominion over you so you see the precision there but religion will keep saying you know sin dominates you sin dominates you sin dominates you that is right under the law but we're not under the law we're under the grace of god so sin does not dominate you under the grace of god all right you follow me now go to the next verse he says what then shall we sin now this is an action shall we sin because we are not under the law he says okay you're not under the law so should we just go ahead and sin because under the law it said if you sin you're going to be you're going you're going to be condemned to death you're going to all kinds of things that will happen he says shall we sin now that we're not under the law he's but under grace he says no grace is not a license to sin that's not what the grace grace still has the objective of holiness look at verse 16. all right now this is so important follow me carefully know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness verse 17 but god be thanked that you were the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that word doctrine means teaching which was delivered unto you now go back to 16. now i'm telling you all my life i just i i did not see this i kept it in the general i didn't have any precision towards this i mean i read it like this years ago know you not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey all right so i'm thinking i need to obey something his servants you are to whom you obey so if i obey god i'm his servant if i obey the devil i'm his servant and in general that would be cool all right and it wouldn't be anything real wrong with that okay it's not like that's wrong all right but there's only one problem here because there's an accuracy here that if i don't get the precision here i'm going to miss out on something really big deal you see the word obey it appears two times in this verse of scripture this word obey in verse 16 and 17 is translated it is a greek word that's translated to listen or to give attention to wow this word obey translated in the greek it means to hearken to pay attention to or to listen to to hearken to pay attention to or to listen to now if i don't go back and understand the context of what's happening i'm gonna miss the whole point now look at this know you not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey to hearken to to give attention to to listen to oh servants to listen to so that to whom you yield yourself servants to listen to or to give your attention to his servants you are to whom you listen to or give your attention to whether of whether you listen to or give your attention to the sin unto death or whether you listen to or give your attention to obedience unto righteousness and the next verse says that it's doctrine or teachings that you're listening to the next verse calls this doctrine or teaching so he's saying he says but god be thanked that you were the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine so he's talking about teachings he says you will be a servant to whichever teaching you give your attention to whether you give your attention to the teaching of sin unto death which came by adam or whether you give your attention to obedience unto righteousness which came by jesus he says whichever teaching you give your attention to that's the teaching you're going to serve well he never got that are you seeing what i'm saying and now all of a sudden i'm like oh wow if i continue to listen to and give my attention to the teaching or the doctrine of adam which is sin unto death then that's what i'm going to serve but if i will give my attention and start listening to the doctrine and the teaching of jesus christ concerning obedience unto righteousness then that's what i'm going to serve so very simply put you keep listening to teachings uh about the old covenant under the law instead of listening to teachings about the grace of god unto jesus christ he says you're going to either serve that doctrine or you're going to serve this one god be thanked that you were the servants of sin why but you have given your attention from the heart to that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you now the doctrine that's been delivered unto you by jesus christ verse 18 being then made free from sin you became the servants of righteousness how did you become the servants of righteousness by giving your attention and yielding to the teaching that came from jesus christ concerning this grace of god by giving your attention to and being obedient to the the the obedience to righteousness or the the fact that i'm righteous because of jesus and i'm not righteous because of what i do i'm righteous because of the lord jesus and not because of what i do i'm going to listen to this teaching on god's grace and i'll be a servant of righteousness because i'm not listening to the teaching of that came from adam concerning sin unto death wow all of a sudden now i'm thinking oh my god i need precision i need precision because i didn't get that i was just satisfied with oh if i obey the devil then i'm gonna serve the devil if i obey god i'm a certain god and like i said that's not it's like it's not that's not wrong but the precision that's necessary to show us how to get there the precision that's necessary to show us how to walk in this is what was missing so the devil listen to this now so the devil can only succeed in your life if you are under performance-based christianity which is under the law you want to lose the battle in the mind allow yourself to try to accomplish what jesus has already accomplished allow yourself to try to accomplish it by your own works and by your own performance and every time you try to do things by your own works and your own performance satan is guaranteed victory in your life the devil can only succeed in your life if you are under performance-based christianity which is under the law of moses performance centered self-centered is all under the law same thing here's what i'm talking about jesus has already died rose again and he says i am righteous so now you're righteous and so instead of you just receiving that by faith i'm righteous you're over here doing all righteous activities to try to take something that you can't earn you're over here trying to work real hard to get real righteous instead of believing it see see jesus has already done it and my job is by faith taking it by faith taking possession of it so what happens is instead of just saying jesus is enough i'm righteous because he made me righteous i'm redeemed because he made me redeem i'm healed because he's provided healing instead of me saying okay god i receive that by faith we did that with salvation remember what he said in ephesians 2 he said we were saved by grace but we got it through faith you're healed by grace but you get it through faith you know what what the other side says it says we are we are saved through performance that's not right you are healed through your performance that's not right you are delivered through your performance that's not right not anymore it was but not anymore because of what jesus did man i've been set free from that because of what jesus did now think about this now please understand this what's under the law versus what's under grace if i repeat this again you may begin to really hopefully this all fall in place now the law is what you do for god grace is what god does for you under the law of moses it's all about what you do for god under the law of moses it's what you got to do for god in order for god to do anything for you but under the grace of god it's what god does for you and you believe it and you receive it okay let's look at look at another one under the law the law is is the law is working for god but grace is working for you the law is under the law you're working for god but under grace god's working for you wow wow under the law you're always working for god that's why you're so tired under the law you're always working for god and under the law it required all of that work back then i'm not saying that's not true i'm saying it's not true under grace i'm saying it's not true on earth because under grace god's working for you god totally has done everything that could ever be done in your life everything that you'll ever need in your life he's already done it god is working for you you see when you are focused and thinking more on what you have done wrong or what you have done right you're thinking more this is what i've done wrong this is what i've done right people have that mindset today if you do if you live good you go to heaven you look bad you go to hell all right listen to what i'm saying when you are focused and thinking more on what you have done wrong and right then you are performance centered focus because you're thinking about oh this is what i did wrong this is what i did right your your performance centered focus now if you are performing before god and if you are conscious of your performance then you are under the law if you are performing before god and if you are conscious of your performance then you are under the law and you know what hebrews chapter 9 14 calls it hebrews chapter 9 pull it up he calls it dead works and look what he says he says how much more shall the blood of christ who through the eternal spirit he offered himself without spot to god how much more to be able to purge your conscience from dead works so you can serve the living god he says what else does he have to do to show you that everything is done and you know what dead works are dead works are you trying to do something to deserve something it's dead works because you're trying to do to deserve it you you know oh if i can pray for three hours then i'll deserve god to bless me you know if i can pray and fast for five days i deserve for god to bless me and if i'm living good then god i deserve for god to bless me and you're doing what you're doing so you can deserve it that's dead works and he says jesus shed his blood so you can be set free from sin consciousness so you can no longer serve god with dead works oh wow you see listen to me people under grace they are conscious of what christ is doing for them and will do for them that's what when you're under grace it's all i'm conscious about what god's done i'm conscious about that he's already healed me i'm conscious about he's already delivering me i'm conscious about what god has done i'm con i i'm all conscious about what he is doing i'm more conscious about what he will do praise god that's what i'm conscious about god's doings not your doings and that's the key god's doings not your doings that's the distinction between that old way of living and that new way of living that i got to i got to renew my mind to god's doings instead of my doings because under grace it's done under the law it's what you got to do glory to god you see the devil will get you every single time you shift to self-effort and self-performance because when you shift to self-effort then he will condemn you for your efforts he'll turn around right after you release yourself effort and then he'll condemn you for yourself efforts and he'll say look at what you did look at what you did that's how this game is played satan will cause guilt and questionings guilt and questionings that's what satan calls us well he'll do stuff for example how many times have you read your bible today just to cause you to feel guilty about not reading your bible see you can read your bible but if you don't that should make you feel guilty it should make you feel hungry but not guilty grace destroys the power of the devil and when you renew your thinking to line up with this grace of god this gospel of grace this finished works of jesus christ when you renew your thinking to line up with that the gates of hell just can't prevail against you why because you have a revelation of jesus you have a revelation of jesus let's look at this just for a moment let's look at the relationship between satan and the law this is important uh let's let's start off with this lucifer was was in the garden of eden and then man took his place now you got to know there's an issue there now that's why he hates man so much he's in the garden and now man's in the garden and man took his place listen carefully so why not temp eve if you're if you're that mad satan why don't you just tempt eve to murder her husband i think think with me for a moment he hates us he wants to kill steal and destroy because man took over something that he had so hey devil why don't you just you know since you you all at why don't you attempt eve to murder her husband you know why because the devil uses the law to strengthen temptation he couldn't tempt eve to murder her husband because there was no law at the time prohibiting murder let me show you something first corinthians chapter 15 56 where there is no law there is no strength for temptation wow look at verse 56 the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin the strength of sin is the law he could not get her to sin and commit murder because there was no law at the time prohibiting it satan can only tempt in the area where there is a law that's so strong where there is a law and that's why he wants to get you and me and the body of christ to stay stuck on living by the law of moses because it allows him the the power to tempt oh man please see this see if you still if you're still stuck on those 613 laws of moses and and and you're not understanding that satan needs a law in order to tempt you and not coming over to this new and living way i know there's a lot of deep things in this and especially for some of you who are online and you've never heard the gospel of grace and you're thinking like what in the world is this guy talking about but i promise you i'm right and that's not an arrogant statement it's just i'm this this grace is so big and huge because grace is it's not a doctrine it's it's it's a person jesus full of grace and truth and you have to peel off layers and there's so many layers that you peel off and and i've i've stayed with this thing for years and and i'm telling you what i'm i'm telling you what i know the battle of the mind can be won when we renew our mind and grace when we renew our mind in the finished works of jesus when we renew our mind and what jesus has already done through his blood and through his broken body satan can not win the battle of the mind when your mind is being renewed in grace wow the only law in the garden at that time was don't eat of the tree that was the only place where satan could tempt the only strength that he was the strength to be able to tempt adam and eve could only be dealing with the tree because there was the only place where there was a type law over that when god said don't eat of the tree and the day you eat over you will surely die and that was the place of temptation have you noticed that that he couldn't tempt adam and eve in any other area except the one area where there's a law wow the law doesn't justify you it doesn't god is for me and god is on my side and this is what the devil is afraid of the devil doesn't want you understanding that god is for you and god is on your side and god's working for you he he wants you to think no you got to do all these things he wants you he wants you to think that god's you know holding out on you and that he's not for you and that he's against you and he's the one that caused the tragedy and he's the one that's keeping this from you he's the reason why you broke blessed and disgusted that that's his whole plan this is the battle of the mind let me show you something genesis 2 16 flip over there real quick genesis chapter 2 16. i i'm telling you man this is verse 16 says and the lord god commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest what did he say freely eat underline the word freely freely it's not costing anything freely freely you see grace operating guard freely eat okay a generous god holding nothing back and you know the sin in the garden the sin in the garden was more you know not eating not doing what god said to do the disobedience but god said eat of all the trees of the garden except this one they were so worried about that one that they were not partaking of the generosity of god eat all the trees in the garden except that one but then look at genesis chapter 3 and 1 because in genesis 2 16 we see a generous god holding nothing back but in genesis 3 1 look at the word that satan drops now the certain serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the lord thy god had made and he said unto the woman yea hath god said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden notice he dropped the word freely notice he dropped the word freely look at romans 8 32 this is so important you've got to understand most of the things that god has given to us by his grace it was all god and none of us it wasn't like we did anything for that for for for reconciliation to happen it's it's like we didn't do anything for redemption to happen we didn't do anything for jesus to be a propitiation for all of our sins it was all god and none of you it was done free of any anything that we had i often thought how can the problem we were the problem be the solution and it was all god it was all god but look what he said in romans 8 32 he that spared not his son but he delivered him up for us how shall he not with him also freely give us check it out all things freely give us all things we keep believing that we've got to earn things and jesus is talking about freely giving us all things can't you see the problem can't you see the slap in his face jesus said i want to freely give you all things and we keep thinking but i got to earn all those things i've got to earn all those things he says i want to give them to you freely i gave you my son so i can freely and and we we we drop we drop freely and thus religion showed up we dropped freely religion shows up and now we think we've got to earn all things we got to earn our healing we got to earn our deliverance we got to earn our blessings we got to earn we're always you know preaching that you got to do these things to earn it instead of preaching jesus is freely giving it to you so use your faith and take it believe it and receive it that's the biggest issue the biggest issue in in the kingdom of god is when you decide to trust you and your efforts more than you trust jesus and what he has already done self-righteousness is the is from heaven's perspective you can't do any any you can't do more wrong than choose to put everything in your hands instead of god's hands you you can't do any worse than to say i i choose to trust me the more than i trust god and that's what you're doing i choose to trust me more than i trust god could it be that that that you're counting the blood of jesus worthless by his blood we have a blood bought right to be saved a blood bought right to be healed a blood bought right to be righteous and then instead of just receiving what the blood has done we count it worthless and go over here and say no i am going to perform to be righteous i'm going to perform to get healed i've got to earn it i've got to earn it and now instead of taking our faith and using it to take possession of what jesus has already given us freely we now take our flesh which well that's that's true we take our faith and make it a part of our flesh and we use our faith to try to earn what jesus has already given us and so it's law law-based faith versus grace-based faith what's the difference grace-based faith takes possession of what's already done grace-based faith receives what jesus has already done grace-based faith appropriates what jesus has already made happen faith takes what grace or jesus is made but flesh-based faith tries to make tries to earn tries to create oh god i know there's some people having problems what i'm saying flesh-based faith i've never even used that term before in my life and grace based faith i've never even made that comparison before in my life all i know is i got this morning up and i said lord give me boldness to say stuff that normally i would think about before i let come out of my mouth but i'm telling you right now a lot of christians are operating in a flesh flesh-based faith and not a grace-based faith in other words you're using your faith to try to make something happen and then when it doesn't happen i can tell you how i know it's flesh-based i can tell you how i know it's faith that's based in the law because when it doesn't happen the guilt comes and the condemnation comes and you're not enough and oh god maybe i maybe i didn't do it enough maybe maybe i didn't say it enough maybe i couldn't believe enough that that's oh i don't i i ain't trying to start nothing i'm just saying i've done this i've lived it i've lived it too i lived it too where my faith was was flesh-based and and i was trying to use my faith to do what jesus had already done and instead of having faith in jesus christ instead of having faith in what he has done instead of having faith in his faithfulness and just trusting him and just believing that i received i said now let me go do this i'm gonna say this i'm gonna say this 60 times a day and and i'm gonna do that fast three times a day and i'm gonna do all of these things and i'm gonna earn it and i'm gonna earn it and i'll never forget when i ran into the scripture pull it up galatians 2 16 in the new living translation i'm going to earn it i'm going to earn it i'm going to earn it but i'm going to obey the law and i'm going to obey the law and god's going to get it to me instead of me having faith in jesus christ and look what he said he said yet we know that a person is made right with god by faith in jesus christ not by obeying the law i've been made right not because i did all the right things i've been made right because i have faith in jesus christ my faith is in jesus christ my faith in his is in his finished works my faith is in what he has done not by obeying the law but flesh-based faith says i'm going to obey the law and have faith that because i obey the law god's going to do this and then it continues on he says and we have believed in christ jesus so that we might be made right with god i've been made right with god because of my belief in jesus christ and the holy spirit came in and started working desires in me that i didn't have before and i started doing things that i didn't want to do before and it started with i had faith and belief in jesus christ so that we might be made right with god because of our faith in jesus christ not because we've obeyed the law and he says for no one will ever be made right with god by obeying the law no one will ever be made right with god by obeying the law and that's what that's how satan's winning is we're still trying to be made right with god by our self-performance under the law still trying to be made right oh i don't believe i'm righteous if i watch this if i don't do right yeah well what's wrong with that what's wrong with that is when you say i i'm not righteous i'm not going to be made right unless i do right then you're going against what is blood he says you've been made righteous because i made you righteous and if you'll believe that your doing will line up with your believing see you're trying to do something first and then believe it but he says believe me my faith has got to be in jesus believe me believe my finished works believe in what i have done first and then your doing or your actions or your fruit will be born out of your right belief and faith in me and who i am i know i know it's a tough message i can prove every word i can prove every word i preached on this morning by scripture and just because you don't know the scripture is don't be so arrogant enough to sit up there and say oh i don't that ain't right that's wrong and you just don't know enough to say that i know this because i i know him i have seen what i'm preaching to you activated my life and i've seen the greatest changes within me than i've ever seen and consequently those changes translated outside in my action in my living and in my doing i'm telling you god still weighs the heart of his people and you keep thinking about he's just you know you're going to go to hell because of your actions now you're going to go to hell because you don't believe and receive jesus actions can be taken care of and your actions are never going to be perfect that's the thing that gets me we we preach against what i'm talking about as if you got your actions together you preach against what i'm talking about as if you have no sin at all in your life are you crazy you do have sin in your life and please forgive me for saying it like that i gotta have honey on my lips you you got sin in your life like everybody else it might not be the big ten but you're rude to the waitress you're you're you're concerned about your self-importance that's pride you're you're moved by mammon come on nobody's perfect until we see jesus and the only perfect person to ever walk the earth was jesus christ everybody else needs jesus christ how do you ever get to the point as a christian when you think i'm flawless i'm perfect so i can tell you that's wrong you got to do this in order to do that when you're not perfect in your doings and you never will be perfect in your doings but if you believe right you'll live right if you believe right you'll do right if you believe you've been made righteous then the doing part is going to be translated but so many people are trying to do first and then doing stuff they don't even believe wow it's a sermon that's got to be preached god resists the proud he gives grace to the humble and people who humbled themselves under this new testament this new and living way that came by jesus christ think about it man i mean just please think about it jesus went to the cross and he died and was raised from the dead for what so we can be the same he went to the cross he was raised on death for what so we can still walk in condemnation still walk in guilt still walk in shame still walk in fear you're saying his death absolutely meant nothing if there's not a new and better way he died on the cross so that those who are in christ shall not be condemned he died on the cross and was raised from the dead so that if you believe in jesus you'll not be put to shame he died on the cross so that you don't have to have the spirit of fear but love power and a sound mind when jesus died and was raised from the dead everything changed and we're still trying to mix a little of the old with the little of the new and then end up getting nothing when the old has passed away and the new is here now under the old covenant it prophesies and gives us pictures and and if you have the the the lens of grace on you can go back to the old testament and see you can see jesus coming from all kinds of places you can see the grace of god showing up at all kinds of places and not on not all the old covenant was under the law even before the law you see the grace of god operating all over the place but there's got to be boldness somebody's got to say a thing right because people are dying and they're not getting results and because we're believing god but we don't know how to believe right it's believing in jesus believing that he's faithful to every word he promised more than you believing that you can use your faith to earn something that jesus has already gotten for you that's what i'm talking about i have committed my life to preaching this gospel and i now know that when i renew my mind with this satan can't win over people who know how to live in grace let me show you the scripture i got two more scriptures i don't know if i get to him colossians chapter 2 um verse 13 and 15 in the new living translations for sick of time colossians 2 13 and 15. um well let me let's read it in the king james first and then in the new living translation because you know i said to you that satan can't tempt you without the law because the law is the strength of sin but you got to understand demons can't operate those things that you're fighting against they can't operate without the law look at this i'm going to read 13 through 15. he says and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses powerful blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against you that's the law he blotted it out which was contrary to us and he took it out of the way and he nailed it to the cross and having spoiled principalities and powers so when the law was nailed to the cross he spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphant over them in it now look at those same three verses in the new living translation in the new living translation now watch this you were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away you were dead then god made you alive with christ for he forgave all our sins watch this he canceled the record of the charges against us and he took it away by nailing it to the cross so all of the things that were charged up against us because we couldn't perfectly keep the law he nailed it to the cross in this way he disarmed spiritual rulers and authorities please understand every demon was disarmed when god did this when jesus did this he shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross so why are we trying to get victory over them when jesus has already gotten victory over them our job is to maintain the victory jesus already had we win but there's no way satan can win the battle of the mind when your mind is renewed to the gospel of grace when your mind is renewed to the finished works of jesus christ there's no way he can win he has no defense against a born-again christian who knows how to live in this grace none none when he tries to throw condemnation on you your mind's renewed there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in christ jesus period when he tries to throw shame on you from your past you say god in your word you said he that believeth on jesus shall not be put to shame what's going on when you renew your mind with all of that he has zero victory the battle of the mind can be won by this grace of god and you got to humble yourself to that to not humble yourself to the grace of god is operating in pride and when you operate in that kind of pride and refuse to accept what jesus has done you now are resisting grace and honey you can't live without grace for by grace i am what i am by the grace of god not by what you've earned i am what i am by the grace of god not because you were so awesome in your doings i am what i am only by the grace of god that is what we celebrate today that we are who we are by the grace of god father we thank you for today i pray that that as i was preaching the holy spirit anointed every ear to hear and they heard better than what i could have ever said it i trust you i trust you that i preach it and you you you bring the increase i trust you i trust you i'm learning more and more to trust you that where i may have issues in articulating something that or i might think i have an issue in articulating it but when it comes out of my mouth you have this you got you you got it you got it you got me you got that word it'll go it'll enter it'll it'll it'll be planted it'll come up a mighty harvest i pray that life was so changed today so changed so challenged i pray the spirit of god will now just settle in in that room that space where where they're they're listening to this stream and i give you praise for it now i give you praise in jesus name if you're here you're not born again and you hadn't done the most important thing that every human needs to do get born again so you can do the most important thing that every christian every christian needs to do and that is to renew their mind if you pray this prayer with me i take great joy in leading you to to the family of god repeat after me father i believe that jesus is the son of god [Music] i realize that i'm a sinner and i repent for my sins and i receive jesus forgiven me of my sins lord jesus come into my heart be my lord and my savior so by faith i declare that i am saved in jesus name amen if you just prayed that prayer of salvation with me today first of all welcome to the family of god but i'd like to get something in your hands if you just text the key word i'm saved that's one word to 51555 you can provide your name and an email address i will send you a free ebook as a gift to you today and welcome to the family of god not because you earned your salvation because we didn't earn our salvation we were saved by grace and you just took it because you believed it by faith amen congratulations hallelujah well let's go ahead and conclude our worship by our giving did you hear what i said you know for years i heard in church that giving was a part of worship but it was i didn't know what that meant i didn't know how it was explained until after having an opportunity to teach a series on this and to begin to understand you know i thought that i had to give in order to motivate god to do something for me uh anytime you're doing something and expect god to do something for you you're under the system of the law and you know even in luke where it says give and it shall be given unto you good measure press down shaken together running over no no no no that's under the the system of the law oh you're having a problem with that but i've taught it i can tell you jesus said a lot of things as a prophet operating under the law i mean jesus said stuff like if your hands offend you cut it off if your feet offend you cut it off he said a lot of things that were under the law and it was in matthew mark luke and john so you better learn how to rightly divide the word of truth you see today it is given unto me i am blessed good measure pressed down shaken together has already been made available to me and i am giving not so that can happen i am giving because it's already happened see the problem is is when you give to try to get god to do something for you you're not understanding that he's already done everything that pertains to life in godliness and so my giving is an appreciation for what he's already done my giving is not in manipulation to try to get him to do something my giving is in appreciation for what he's done but for most people in body christ we give to try to manipulate massage god to try to get him to do something for us and i never forget when i stopped doing that and i got a hold of giving as a worship giving as appreciation giving as uh being thankful and grateful to what he's already done [Music] things happen that i still can't explain to this day and so if you you're not you know well i don't agree with that well you need to get to teach him and shut your mouth up before you sit up there talk about you don't agree with something you need to look at the whole word and understand what the word has to say and i spent about a month and a half teaching this and it was an enlightenment to our whole church to understand that our giving is not out of necessity i'm not giving because it's necessary to give for me to get i'm not giving because it's necessary for me to do that so i won't go to hell the bible says don't give out of necessity but give out of a cheerful heart who's whose heart is in god who who whose person is appreciative and grateful and thankful for what god has done and that's what i've done that my giving is motivated by look at what god has already done oh my god he made that available to and i want to give oh my god he did that oh i didn't know about that oh praise the lord holy and all of a sudden now out of appreciation and thanksgiving my giving now puts me in remembrance of what jesus has done for me and every time i think about the cross and think about what he's done and think about how he had to pay the price of sin see when you sin somebody's got to pay for that in order for god to be a just god you just can't get away with it no what god did was okay somebody's got to pay for all your mess jesus is going to pay for it it's been paid for he's the sin offering this is a powerful powerful thing and so let your giving be your worship i'm reminded of the magi in the book of matthew i believe chapter two where they finally found jesus and the bible says they saw jesus opening up their treasure treasury they fell to their knees and began to worship him and that's a perfect illustration of what our giving should be like that we see jesus in the word and we see him in our life open the treasury up take what's in that treasury and gift giving and worship him for what he has done so at this time if you'd like to participate in concluding our worship i don't think your worship is is your worship is incomplete without giving and i believe that as you do that like taffy and i have you will begin to see some very noticeable changes in your life because the motivation is right my motivation is not giving so god can do this or giving so he can give me a car i was so giving so he can make me rich god's already done a lot of things and i want to out of appreciation and thanksgiving give where that is concerned amen if you'd like to give through the text you can text world changers space and then the amount to 74483 or you can call the number on your screen 1-866-477-7683 or if you want to mail in you can do that address 2500 bredet road college park georgia 30349 or you can go online and give at worldchanges.org or creflo.ministries.org you can use your paypal and i tell you what it's a blessing of the lord and taff and i are grateful and thankful for you all and we pray that you will walk in goshen and not egypt where all of your needs are met and you see the very best that the father has to offer in your life we thank you god bless you let's now pay attention to these announcements for the week and i'll be right back with our closing remarks and benediction happy valentine's day world changers nation now today is a day that many of us are celebrating love and reflecting on god's grace in our lives now we have some special events and activities coming up and we want to keep you in the know here's what's going on this week do you want to work at wcci well your opportunity is here we have the following openings material planning coordinator and a pre-press operator in our manufacturing operations department and senior manager for customer and vendor services now to apply for these and other positions simply send your resume to hr world changers.org looking to connect with other world changers just like you we'll check out a world changers community group that's right join other world changers every month as they connect discuss study notes from this month's sermons and fellowship online via zoom now to join a group email community groups at worldchangers.org or you can simply call 770-210-5700 extension 6277 now let's grow together today i have a special guest with a special message pastor can you join me hey hey welcome thank you for having me i am so excited listen hey y'all i have a special message for you guys guess what we are launching a new junior high live service yes you can check us out every sunday on our world changers junior high youtube page and just so that you can have alerts every single time we go live make sure that you understand what's about to happen we are going to have live services with prizes power pack messages live performances and so much more so to stay in the loop follow us on youtube at wcye junior high studios that's wcye jr.hi studios and on instagram at world changers ye this way you get alerted every single time we go live but before the show launches listen you have to have a meeting with the parent got to okay so parents i need you to meet me i want to meet you we got to get it together so here's what i need you to do text junior high that's j-r-h-i-g-h to 2-4-2-5-1 all right baca thanks for having me i can't wait i can't wait i just want to know can i come uh no okay okay and this first meeting is just for parents are you looking for your information awesome awesome join us every wednesday and friday at 10 o'clock am for our weekly community food giveaway at our college park campus now we truly enjoy seeing your beautiful faces on a weekly basis so make plans to stop by we look forward to serving you and your family while supplies last we are celebrating 35 years of service all year long now in honor of our 35th year in ministry the changing your world e-store wants to celebrate you that's right we're having a sale and from february 1st through march 5th enjoy 35 off select items you can choose from amazing products like radical apparel winning in troubled times finding rest in jesus and so much more now visit cyw e-store dot com and shop while supplies last now we don't want you to miss a thing so be sure to check worldchangers.org for updates you can visit us on facebook instagram or twitter or you can just contact us at 770-210-5700 now we want to hear how you're growing so be sure to drop us a post share today's message with someone you love and we hope you have an amazing week well praise god happy valentine's day enjoy your day today do not allow the enemy to rent space in your mind and by enemy i mean just anybody that's right don't let them rip space in your mind chill out have a good day the majority of you have a bunch of snow everywhere the rest of you have a bunch of rain everywhere hey man good day it's still a good day god made it let's rejoice in it amen now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the almighty god be glory majesty dominion and power both now and forever and everybody said amen god bless you have an amazing day

Channel: Creflo Dollar Ministries

Views: 226,947

Rating: 4.8557329 out of 5

Keywords: creflo, creflodollar, worldchangers, taffi, taffidollar, grace, megachurch, collegepark, atlantachurch, sermon, gracelife, tbn, pastors, church, pastordollar, drdollar

Id: _KtwzQ1qCRE

Length: 77min 58sec (4678 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 14 2021