Satanic Wiles Pt.1

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Pastor Scott

May 21, 2000 Sun AM

Audio | Purchase Audio | Related Devotionals | Bible Teachings | Print

Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen? Let's turn to the book of Ephesians. We want to continue in the preparation for this hour that we're living in, the warfare that's at hand, and the walk in the Spirit that we've been talking about that causes us to experience the visitation of God's power. It's natural, when you're walking in the Spirit, to experience signs and wonders that are following our daily course. The Scripture said these signs shall follow them that what? - believe. It's not just a belief, trying to believe in the name of Jesus or the promises of God. It's a belief in who we are as the representatives of God, the ambassadors of Christ, the fact that we are representing Him in authority here on this planet. That's really what our daily lives come down to.

The Scripture says the whole duty of man is to do what? Love God and keep His commandments. For you and I as Christians, there's no other reason for us to be here but to express our love for Him and be an expression of His love for humanity. Then, of course, the obedience factor, the keeping of His commandments, which causes us then to be able to represent His name in power and authority. He's the faithful God. We sang about the faithfulness of God here in one of our choruses. He's the faithful God to those that love Him and what? Keep His commandments. You see, His faithfulness is not something that is without requisite, without relationship to Him. He's faithful to Himself and His word at all times. He's faithful to those who love Him and keep His commandments, specifically or individually. Some people think that God will just make all of our problems go away and that eventually all men will be saved, and God is a God of mercy, and sin will be overlooked. The great gift of Jesus will have been sufficient to atone, and, therefore, all people will be embraced in the bosom of God in that last time. That's not what the Scriptures teach.

You and I as believers have a responsibility to get this real message of the Gospel out. A message that does present to us the free gift of Jesus Christ, and the fact that it's not by works, but it's by grace that we're saved through faith. When that's experienced, there's a consequence to that; and it's a changed life, and it's a perceived lordship of Jesus in our lives, to where we no longer are making the decisions for our course, but He is. It's no longer I that live but Christ that liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

We want to be careful when we're talking about the walk in the Spirit that we don't see this as just a signs and power demonstration, but that we see it as a walk of grace and faith and the lordship of Jesus manifesting in our lives. When that begins to happen, then we're going to come into the original conflict. I want to talk about that a little bit this morning.

The enemy is not going to let you perform this unassaulted. The fact that you're going to go out and cast out devils and lay hands on the sick and see them recover and pray prayers of authority and see miraculous increase to where God will open the windows of Heaven, pour out blessing that you can't contain, the cruse does not fail, the meal is multiplied, the water is walked upon, the water's turned to wine. All of the great miracles of God. To think that those are going to happen without opposition is to really mistake what this life is all about. The life that you and I are experiencing now is an expression of the conflict between Satan and our Father, between light and darkness, good and evil. To deny that, then, is to accept the primary philosophy of our nation today and of the world, and that's the secular Humanist's perspective of relativeness, that there are no absolutes as far as good and evil, light and darkness; the misconception that man is basically good, and, therefore, if you give him the proper environment, he will do right. That's absolutely contrary to Scripture. Nobody ever had a better environment than the first man, Adam. The evil was not environmental. The evil that he encountered was a person, and the force that came from his rebellion against God, the power of sin, which is pride and rebellion.

We're going to talk about how those forces are opposing you and I as we're walking in the Spirit and wanting to go about doing good, healing all that are oppressed of the devil. Let's look at Ephesians Chapter 6. We're going to talk about the spiritual warfare and the satanic wiles that you and I are going to see begin to multiply the more you begin to try to be about Father's business. Some of you are going to experience new trials and temptations that you hadn't experienced for a long time, and it's because you hadn't been doing anything. As you begin to move against the powers of darkness, you're going to see that there's going to be an assault upon your life. We need to prepare ourselves for this battle. Make sure that in the midst of this excitement of the visitation of God in our midst, the power of God, the prayer of faith healing the sick, and the casting out of devils, make sure that you don't become one of the seven sons of Sceva who begins to see all of this happening and thinking, Praise God, man, this is great, and you begin to go out and say, "In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, Come out!" And the enemy responds to you, "Jesus I know, Paul I know, who are you?"

That's the question we want to ask this morning, Who are you in the Kingdom of God? Who are you in the eternal realm? Do you have a reputation? Does the devil know your name? I trust that he does. I trust that in the corridors of darkness there's a wanted poster of you, to where the enemy, the principalities and powers, say, "We got to do something about this guy," because they've taken note that you've been with Jesus. Isn't that a great testimony? It says, And they took note. They recognized that these common people had been with Jesus, and because they'd been with Jesus, they weren't common anymore, praise God. They're different. These are strange folks. These are a people that really believe that God answers prayer. Do you know that's unique among Christianity? Oh, it's not unique to pray. It's unique to get answers. It's not unique to pray. It's unique to believe that God's going to answer, that He's a God who personally is involved in our lives, who cares, and who's going to confirm His word with signs following. That's unique among Christians. You see, many Christians have taken on a modified form of Deism, of Universalism, that God has somehow just created things and stepped back, and that fate is now in charge. Jesus said, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you can ask what you will, and it will be done; amen? There's an abiding clause there. There's a trust. There's a living in His word, and His person residing in us.

We're at war, and we need to take note of this. We're going to begin to find ourselves in conflict if, in fact, we're going to be out about Father's business. If you expect to go out into the highways and byways and compel people to come out of the grasp of darkness, if you propose to go out and lay hands upon the sick and see them recover, if you propose to go out and speak the name of Jesus in power and authority, you’d better expect opposition. Because of that, there's the need to daily take upon ourselves the armor of God.

Ephesians 6 says it this way, verse 10, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." Strong in the person of the Lord and in the power of His might, His ability in us. Not your ability. Not your ability to pray, not your ability to believe, not any type of natural talent, gift, or tenacity; but in His might, His presence within us, because without Him, we can do what? Nothing that's accepted of Him.

The Scripture goes to say, Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to withstand, or to stand, against the wiles of the devil. "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." What's the implication here? It's so clear. We're talked about it so many times, but, beloved, this is something that needs to get stirred up in our understanding. If you don't have on the full armor, you will not stand - period.

You're no exception. You're far less capable in your own being than many of these who are being addressed. This is something that we're going to find out in our study today. This is something that the great men of God, the great women of God, realized. We have it recorded in this book. Thank God that the Bible shows us the defeats of people and not just the victories, amen? How many of you can identify with their failures? Yeah. Much more than their victories. Oh, the comfort for generations of the book of Job. How thankful many of us have been over the years as we're read the recorded events of the denial of Peter. How we thank God for the story of God's faithfulness in Samson and how through that great failure, God showed Himself merciful, and he slew more in his death than in his life.

We see throughout the ages that in this battleground called life, this conflict brings to the great people of God harm, defeat, but not destruction, praise God. Cast down, but not forsaken. Amen? There's going to be war, and the more you begin to exercise¾ I want to share this with you; I don't want to frighten you, but I want you to begin to deal with reality¾ the more you put yourself on the front lines in going out and declaring the name of Jesus and opposing principalities and powers, the more bold you become, the greater opposition you're going to face, which makes you a candidate for a greater visitation of God, a greater anointing, and greater miracles. The Lord will never leave us nor forsake us, and we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us. In all of these things, we are what? More than conquerors, praise God.

Don't be afraid, but be prepared. Don't be naïve. Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves; but prepare yourself, because if the whole armor of God is not your daily experience you will not stand. If every day you don't adorn yourself, you will not stand.

Look at the great life of David, the great victories that the man of God, the great prophet, experienced. A man after God's own heart, the Old Testament type of Jesus Christ, and yet we find him one day without the armor of God; and we find that his frame is but dust just like yours and ours. We find him in defeat, and we find him broken; and we see the consequences of the death of his son and the inability to build the temple of God because of the blood upon his hands.

Oh, beloved, there's a price to go out to war without the armor of God. You can't stand in your own strength, and you will not win based upon yesterday's victories. Every day is a new warfare. Today is the day of our salvation.

I want to tell you something. Your reputation won't do you anything but bring you opposition. It will not cause you to be victorious, but it will bring you greater opposition; and you better be prepared. You're the one the enemy wants to bring down.

With that in mind, the Scripture tells us very clearly to put on the whole armor of God. Whenever you've experienced those victories¾ whatever it is that God has done in your life that's caused you to come to the forefront, and men recognize His grace in your life, whatever gift it is that's manifested, whatever event it is that's occurred that's brought light upon your submission to God and His grace working through you, it's going to cost you something. It's going to cause greater trials and temptations, and you're going to find that most of those are internal and not external. We're going to talk about that primarily this morning, maybe some of the externals this evening.

Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord. "Put on the whole armor that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Now, the word, "wiles", of course, we've talked about, it's a very important word, and it means deceits or cunningness. Satan's not going to take you head-on. It's going to be through a cunning, crafty approach based upon his knowledge of your weaknesses. We're dealing with a spiritual being of great antiquity. The devil is not eternal; only God is eternal. The devil is a spiritual being, the most powerful creature¾ hear that term, creature. H is created; God made him¾ that was ever created. You are no match for him personally; but greater is He that's in us than he that's in the world. Amen? Thank God for the greater one that lives inside; but you can't handle him. We understand then that this is who the opposition is. You see, you’d better know who you're battling before you go to war. You’d better count the cost to see whether you can win this conflict or not.

As we begin to understand the enemy, the Scripture says we're "…not ignorant of his devices." (2Cor 2:11) They haven't changed. He uses these deceits and craftiness. I want to tell you one of the greatest tools the enemy uses against us is flattery. One of the great tools is flattery. One of the great instruments that the enemy uses against us is success. One of the great instruments that is used against you and I is the lavishing of personal comfort and ease upon our flesh. Everything that you and I are going to deal with as it pertains to the enemy, is going to be an appealing to the natural man or to the flesh, and all of these temptations are found in I John, aren't they? All that's in the world is what? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The putting on of the full armor of God.

You know, when you begin to go back to the first temptation¾ you all remember the story, Adam and Eve, the perfect environment. If you believe in the Bible at all, then everything that psychologists are saying today has to be thrown out. All of the great minds of our day, trying to tell us that the problems with society today are that there are environmental problems, and if we can throw enough money at this thing and change the environment, that men will basically be good. Wrong! Man is totally depraved. The Bible says, In us, that is in our flesh dwells no good thing. (Rom 7:18) We understand that, and we believe that; but it wasn't always the case.

When Adam was created, not only was he created into an environment of perfection, but he was created in a state of innocence. Man, what a time that's going to be to move back into that innocence. Isn't it going to be great to see redemption's full effect on us, when we've been conformed into His image, praise God, and sin's power is no longer anything that we have to contend with? You know, all those ugly, hidden, dark motives and thoughts and things that motivate us to do what looks good to be accepted of others, and the image that we try to portray and the motivation of fear and all of these things that are pride induced - isn't it going to be good to be free from all of that and be able to just worship and love Him who died for us?

That's who we are. You might as well stop trying to hide it. We know what you're like. How come? That's what we're like, and all men are the same; but it wasn't always the case. Adam was innocent, pure. No perverted motives. We can't identify with that. We can try to comprehend it, but we can't identify with it.

In the midst of all this¾ we know the story¾ how Timothy tells us very clearly that Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived. Within her, she was seduced by the enemy with the accusation that God was holding back, and that he was withholding from them something good that they should have. Sure, God had given them all of the planet, and He'd given them dominion over the planet, and He'd given them authority over all living things, and He'd given them authority over all of the fruit of the field and everything, everything except the fruit of this one tree in the midst. Everything but that. The enemy says, "Why is God holding out on you? You know what the problem is here? God's afraid of you, and He's afraid that the day that you partake your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Him, as gods."

They were already gods; we know that. The Scripture says¾ calls Adam the son of God, not gods in the sense of the Creator, but in the fact of their created position, they were in dominion over the planet. They weren't equal to God; they were His creation. They were created, however, in His likeness. They were created to represent Him. They were created to love Him. He would come into the cool of the garden, and they would gravitate to Him and love Him and be fulfilled by His presence; and after sin had come, they were hiding from Him. God said, "Adam, where are you?" He said, "I'm hiding over here in the bush." He said, "Why?" He said, "Because I'm naked." "Who told you that?" "Well, my eyes have been opened." "What happened?" "I partook of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, and my eyes were opened. I've experienced another realm that I was never created to occupy." "Adam, what made you make that decision?"

Have you spent much time thinking about that? Why didn't he just kiss Eve off? God could have made him another woman. Catch you later, Eve. Tell me what Hell's like. Why didn't he move in that kind of a direction? What was it? Well, you know, Adam, he was tired of being alone. It wasn't good for man to be alone, and Eve was cooking dinner for him, and the physical relationships that were there. He was lonely, you know, and he wasn't real attracted to the hippos or the monkeys, and so Eve, you know, it was a physical thing and his love for her. I don't believe that any of that was the reason he defected. I believe that the reason that Adam defected is very evident in man today as opposed to woman. The original sin, the only thing that could have caused his defection is the same thing that caused Lucifer's defection. I want to tell you what it was. It was pride. Adam thought he could fix things. I'll fix things. This woman was given to me. I'm in authority here. She defected. I'm responsible; I'll fix it.

I believe that, that pride of thinking that somehow this could be fixed within himself, the pride of life, was the motivating factor. There could have been other contributing factors, but I believe that, ultimately, the ultimate sin was one of pride, it was one of rebellion. Rebellion is just saying, "I can do it on my own without your help, God; thank you." I believe that being the original force of sin is what motivated Adam.

I want to talk to some of you men here this morning. I want to tell you something very clearly, and listen to me. That's the one thing that the devil's going to use against you. He's going to use this pride aspect. He's going to use the pride as it pertains to your family, your wife, your children, or whatever, to deny what the circumstances really are. Rather than deal with it in a Biblical manner that may cause things to look bad, you try to cover them up; you try to fix it; you cover it with a covering that's not of God, and it's going to ultimately bring death. You can't fix it. You can't make your wife, you can't make your children serve God. You can't make this nation serve God. You are not going to affect anything in and of yourself, or by your own ability.

The moment you move contrary to God's methods of righteousness, of truth, of light, he's already defeated you. The minute he can get you to trust in your own wisdom, in your own strength, in your own methods, to where you begin to think that somehow because of your financial wizardry you can fix it, somehow by your own tenacity, somehow by your own abilities, you can fix this problem, whatever it might be, you're already defeated. We're talking about putting on the whole armor of God so that you could stand against the wiles of the devil.

Men, I want to tell you, the one thing that's going to be very, very active in your life is that thing that draws upon that pride, that ego that makes you want to stand above others and think, Yeah, I know others can't handle this, but I can. I want to tell you something, you cannot. If you don't work by the power of the armor of God, you will not stand. As we put on the armor that we might stand against these cunning devices of the devil, we have to realize, verse 11, that or excuse me, verse 12, that we're not wrestling against flesh and blood. The opposition that you and I are going to face is not natural; it's supernatural; it's spiritual.

Natural circumstances are bad enough, but when you and I now go into the workplace or just go about our daily business, we're not only dealing now with the universal problem of sin that's out there in it's own way seducing all of humanity, but we are being specifically sought out by powers of darkness. Principalities and powers are specifically looking to bring you down. Sin is generally there available to everybody and because people desire it, natural man, the masses are gravitating to it, they don't need any personal assaults. Sin in its universal state is sufficient. They look up, and they see whatever it is that their eyes are seduced by, and they gravitate to it. All of the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of other things that enter in to men's hearts; it's there, and people are being destroyed by it. They lift up their eyes, and they see the new neighborhood, and that everybody who is somebody is moving there; so they want to move in that direction. We’ve got to drive this and wear that and smell this way and all of the things that the world tells us is attributed to our "success." That's what shows you've made it.

We're all dictated to by these things to one degree or another because we all want to be accepted. It's the one thing that drives all humans. We want to be accepted. That's why these kids end up in all of these gangs. You think, how in the world, man, could kids end up in these situations? It's because they've never been accepted. They've been rejected of their parents. These are kids that are not necessarily easy to love, but someone embraces them, and that's¾ I'll tell you what, you can say what you want, it's the greatest, it's the greatest contribution to this move of homosexuality in our nation. It's not just the physical aspect of it; it's the acceptance. Having experienced all of the different types of rejections that people have, somehow in here now, there's an acceptance; there's an intimacy. We, as human beings, need to be loved. We need to be embraced. We need to have some type of worth. Man, you just can't hold your kids enough. You can't tell them you love them enough. Now, in the process of that, we know all of the disciplines that are necessary to bring about Biblically-balanced children; but genuine love doesn't spoil anybody; it strengthens them.

It's important to understand the opposition of the enemy. Men, because of this natural ego and pride¾ men, you know, they want¾ they're measured by their ability to produce. Men living by the sweat of their brow, which was part of the curse. I have to go out and till this field now, and so the whole deal is, man, since I'm working under this load, if I can have more acres than anybody else, I can produce more fruit than anybody else, I can have bigger barns, and that that motivates natural man¾ that pride factor¾ but you see, it's a way of being accepted. It's how men get their identity, and if we're not careful, we're going to be worked on by the principalities and powers to accept our identity that way instead of the Scripture's method, which says we are accepted in the beloved.

Dads, listen to me, man. It doesn't have anything to do whether your kids are wearing designer clothes, hundred and fifty-dollar tennis shoes. They can be wearing the boxes, and you're the most¾ I want you to understand something¾ you're the most blessed man that ever walked the planet, you have greater treasures than anybody that's on the planet, if your kids will rise up and call you blessed, if you, when you depart, know that you've left a heritage and that you have a child who loves God and is going to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Don't allow the satanic wiles that are around us, trying to seduce us and deceive us, to allow ourselves to be measured by any of the natural measurements that Satan has fabricated.

I want to tell you something. Every measure of success that you and I understand in our society is satanically induced. You find one measure of success that the world holds to that God's word originated. What is success? Hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant." What is success? Fulfilling the whole duty of man, loving God, and keeping His commandments. What is success? Godliness with contentment is great gain. Now, what's been seducing you lately? We're saying that we want to go out and move in power and lay hands on the sick, and thank God for that, but how many of us in wanting to be about Father's business¾ Some of us for years have prayed for opportunities to serve God, and now we're too busy because of our success. It's very important, beloved, that we recognize his tactics and his wiles.

As it pertains to us that are the heads of our homes, men, if you don't put on this armor, you're not going to see it. You're going to go out there, and, man, you may have a good intention when you leave the house, but if you don't have the full armor on, I'm telling you, you won't be in the office for five minutes, and you're reseduced. You're already vexed as Lot was by the environment. All of a sudden, this thing's moving again, man, and there's something new to be had. There's always something bigger and better, and natural man, in our lust, is never satisfied. If we're going to be successful in wrestling in this match, we've got to understand it's not flesh and blood. You're not in competition with the guy at work. You may think you are. Man, I can do more than him; I can get above him; I can be his boss, or whatever it might be; I can become a senior vice president; I can become the CEO, or whatever your ambitions might be.

Where does Biblical diligence end and worldliness, satanic lust and pride, begin? How do you differentiate between the two? It's who's getting the glory. Diligence, godly diligence, brings glory to God. It's for the Kingdom. It's being a proper representative, so that people around us will say, "You know, I want you to understand something, you're doing a fabulous job. You're head and shoulders above everybody else in this place." You say, "You want to know why?" "Yeah." "It's because I'm doing it for this company; I'm doing it as unto the Lord. I'm not working for the company. I'm working for God. I'm working to bring glory to God. I work because I was created to work. It's who I am. It's my duty as the unprofitable servant."

We begin to make those distinctions between the world's methods and the Kingdom's methods. Many of the enemy's methods are subtle. They appear to be good. You see, the fruit that was in the midst of the garden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You see, good, good can be sinful if it doesn't glorify God. Good is sinful if it doesn't originate in God. Good is one of the most deceptive methods of Satan to destroy humanity and take them from God. All of the good deeds, the humanistic philanthropic endeavors, that cause people to worship man and the act, and not God, are satanic wiles. We're not wrestling against flesh and blood. When you're in competition with that man on the job, you're - it's satanically induced. If you're being motivated by that competition, I want you to understand something, you're not just competing against that guy. You're competing against principalities and powers that are working in him to distract you from eternal things.

Now, I know that most of you that I'm talking to this morning in here are like me. You're not competitive. If there is that, that you deal with - Janet and I were talking on the way home Wednesday night after service about the spirit of excellence that we were talking about. She said, "You know, the degree that you were talking about it, and that thing that you have that works in you, not everybody has that." I said, "Well, I think they do." All that I was talking about was pride manifesting in the proper direction. Pride is what motivates us. Self-will is what motivates us.

Some of you are very motivated to lay on the couch, and nobody can get you off. You're excellent at it. It's a gift. They should have named you Velcro. Pride, just being self-will, it's - this is what I choose. When you choose to win, when you choose to be successful at anything, that's pride that's motivating you. If it's something that can be sanctified, if it's something that can be used for God, it, then, is beneficial. We all have it. We're all¾ we are all governed by self-will. The real issue is, what are you using your will for? Now, the fact that some of us are not as intense in a given situation¾ the intensity, the intensity is induced by the value you put upon it and by the value you put upon yourself (that's the pride part) of having acquired or won the race, achieved the goal. What we have to do is decide since this is in me, it can be sanctified; how am I allowing my members to be yielded as instruments to Christ, and how much zeal¾ has the zeal of God's house eaten me up? If we're more zealous for the things of the world than we are the things of the Kingdom, then guess what? We don't have the armor on.

You see, the armor being on our minds and our hearts and gird about our loins, etc., this armor is what causes us to be able to understand how these things are working in us and what the motivation behind them is. Satan, now looking for¾ knowing your weak spots and my weak spots, he's looking to put these things before us on a daily basis. Don't be ignorant of his devices. We're not wrestling flesh and blood but principalities and powers.

The commentaries will tell you, as you read through this particular part, that the apostle was very likely speaking of the powers in Rome, the powers in the priesthood in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, those forces both civil and ecclesiastical that were opposing the true believers. That's true. We're not¾ we're not battling the masses. They're instruments of these principalities and powers that are opposing the Kingdom. Since that's not who we're warring, then very clearly our weapons are not carnal; the Scripture says they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Why do we as Christians seem to think that we can sit down and reason with these folks? If they're being motivated by demonic powers¾ and understand what I'm saying, not every person is demon possessed, raven maniacs, head spinning, spitting guacamole¾ but if we really believe what the Bible says, we understand that the whole world's system is motivated by demonic power, by Satan's regime. If we believe that, and we understand that the natural or carnal mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God but, in fact, perceives them as foolish, then listen to me very clearly. We not only cannot reason with them philosophically and logically because they're insane - the world is insane. We're seeing it evidenced more by the decisions that are being made in our legislature. They're insane! We go, "What? Are you kidding me?" The person right next to you says, "Oh, good idea, man, oh yeah, that's fabulous." I don't want to get off on that, but, you know, the sad thing is especially in our educational system today. Now, don't discipline the children. Let's buy metal detectors. What? Come here! I want to slap you. That's stupid! We're dealing with this. It's not flesh and blood. It's satanically induced. They can't hear us, reason, nor will they accept the Word of God because it's foolishness to them, so what do we do? We live a life separate from them, that by our good works heaps coals of fire upon their heads. When we speak, we speak as the oracles of God. We declare the principles of God. The masses will receive it as foolish, but there's a remnant that will hear it and be saved.

Don't debate morality with the world. It's a satanic wile. Just speak the Word of God to them. Don't justify it. Don't try to explain it. It's the power of God to salvation. If they have ears to hear, if God is drawing them and wooing them, if He's going to give them the gift of grace so that they can hear, they'll hear it. If not, they're going to think you're an idiot. They'll talk about you behind your back. That's all fine. That's where we're living. To try to make friends with them and think that somehow if I can get close to them, then they'll be somehow swayed by my commitment to God, I want you to understand that that was the very spirit that took Lot to Sodom and caused him ultimately to be vexed and the destruction of his family. Hear me clearly. The system, the world's system, is your enemy. I'm not talking about a political system. I'm not talking about our democratic republic, or whether it's the socialism that's collapsing around the world or whether it's some type of dictatorship. Has nothing to do with government; it has to do with a world system who has a god over them, Satan, the enemy of your souls.

We're taking time this morning. I'm wanting to refresh in our minds the conflict that's going on, so that when it begins to now be taken from universal to personal, you can see that the conflict's the same. The methods are the same. It's just been personalized. It's specific now. When the Scripture speaks to us and tells us then that our war is against spiritual wickedness in high places, with few exceptions¾ and I'll talk about that for just a moment¾ those that are serving in the high places are representatives of what? Wickedness. Wickedness in high places. The god of this world sees to it that his people are in charge. Have you noticed that?

Christians came up with a good idea in this nation. You know what? We're a democratic republic. We can vote; therefore, we need to vote in Christians, and we'll change the environment of our nation. Well, one way not to get elected is to make it known that you are a Bible believing Christian, and that every decision you'll make will be according to the Word of God. Okay, who else do you have?

People today talking about Bush. Well, Bush is a Christian. Bush isn't a Christian. I heard him say with his own mouth¾ I heard the man say with his own mouth he does not believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God. He doesn't believe in the same Bible that you and I believe in. He believes that the Bible contains truth, that there is some historicity to it, that it's a great book for morals and¾ he doesn't believe that this is God-breathed. He doesn't believe that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Well, what are you saying? All I'm saying to you is this: At least understand¾ I'm not telling you don't vote for the guy¾ I'm just saying don't be duped into thinking he's a Christian. I mean, there's no question about the other guy, so we won't even mention that; but don't get duped into thinking that the guy's a Christian, and don't get duped into thinking that God would somehow then cause this movement to bring him into a position to represent Him.

If you're going to see throughout the Scriptures anybody who was raised to national prominence, there's only one way to get there with God as the source. Supernatural sources will usually take you there via the pit, Potiphar's house, the prison, and supernatural placement. To affect a nation, you're going to experience a visitation of God on Mount Sinai, and you'll come and say, "Set my people free!" You'll have visited God upon the mountain, and you'll speak as the oracles of God, not as a politician, and God will be what's jealous in your heart and not the masses. It's not hard to recognize who God sent and who men have placed. God's men don't seek the approval of man. They seek only to hear "Well done."

When you and I are in this conflict, beloved¾ listen¾ anything that would begin to speak to you that would want you to compromise to be accepted of men, to be somehow palatable to the system, it's not God. I'm not talking about the fact that we need to be abrasive, that we have to be in conflict for conflict's sake. I'm talking about conflict will be more than you want if you'll just adequately, properly, represent the kingdom of light.

Let me read one more verse, and we'll be about a third of the way through the introduction. Ephesians 6, verse 13, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

Here again we see the phrase, "whole armor." You can't put on bits and pieces. You know, it's hot out today. I think I'm just going to wear my shoes. I feel like just evangelizing today and putting on the shoes, the preparation of the gospel of peace. I'm going to just go out and herald the gospel a little bit today. You know in doing it, I think I'm just going to kind of lay back and mellow out, and I don't want to offend anybody, so I'm going to leave my breastplate of righteousness at home. I don't want anybody thinking that I'm holier than them, so I'm going to leave my breastplate of righteousness at home. I don't want to cause too much conflict, so I'm going to take the sword of the Spirit and the girdle of truth and leave that here on the shelf because the truth just seems to offend people; and I just want to love them with evangelism. We don't want to get caught up in holiness and discipleship and all of that. I just want to evangelize a little bit.

Well, it's obvious if you start making decisions like that, that you're leaving your hat at home, too aren't you? The helmet of salvation. Now, you're there subject to all the wiles of the devil. I want to talk tonight about some of the specific things that we deal with that have brought the men of God down. I'm going to go over five of the key men in the Scriptures that were brought down over these issues, the primary issues that we want to address that are generically stated in I John, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.

You might even want to spend this afternoon, and see if you can find them. Go back and find - look up five key men in the Scriptures that found themselves overcome by the enemy and see what caused it. I don't mean people ultimately overcome. I don't mean people cast down and destroyed. I'm talking about men that were restored, men that you and I would call godly. Men like Abraham and Moses, David, Peter, some of these that you and I would know as the great pillars of God. Look at some of the others. You can look at men like, that we become a little more concerned with, men like Lot. What do you think Judas' problem was? How come some made it back and others didn't? What causes a man to fall on the rock and be broken with godly sorrow and others to harden their necks and be broken without remedy? Does this armor have anything to do with that, the preparation for our daily battle? That's what we're going to be talking about over these next number of sessions. To the natural man, the armor's cumbersome. What good does it do to have a weapon and not be carrying it? Can you leave your sword at home? What are you going to use in the daily conflict, because it will arise? Do you think the enemy doesn't know when you've left home without it¾ and I'm not talking about your American Express card¾ preparation for this battle.

We'll pick it up a little more tonight. Father, we thank you for the Word of God, and we ask that you'd stir our hearts in this warfare that's at hand, that we would see that as we speak boldly of this doctrine of divine healing, and we make ourselves available to exhibit the authority of the Kingdom of God through the casting out of devils and the message of deliverance to those that are bound, that we would understand what it's like. It's not just a little doctrine that hasn't been spoken. It's a war that hasn't been being waged. What are we going to do in preparation for the battle at hand? Help us, Father, to see the age, the hour. Help us to understand that, that that we're excited about and going out and telling people about the resurrection of Jesus and the power of wholeness through His blood, spiritually and physically, that it's going to cause conflict beyond our imagination. Help us, Father, to be prepared, to see that it's not without price, but that we are more than willing to go, "Here am I, Lord, send me," and to realize that there is no peace, and there is no contentment outside of this life, this walk in the Spirit, this dependence upon the supernatural.

As we trust in the natural and are wooed by all of the natural seductions, it brings about a melancholy and a catering to flesh, a slothfulness, a vexation. We must prepare ourselves for battle and please Him that's called us, and be temperate in everything that is not preparatory for excellence of the Kingdom of God. Help us to be faithful, Father, in it, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand before the Lord this morning.

As Gary plays, we just rejoice in the goodness of the Lord. It's good to see Marion here this morning after the battle that she's been through, and God's just so graciously touched her and lifted her up. A number of battles that have been waged over these last weeks, and God's shown Himself faithful. The enemy will gladly let you receive a physical healing. That's not the problem. Don't focus on that. That's a great benefit, but the soul, the spirit-man must be affected in that visitation, or we've gained nothing. Those of you that have been touched, healed, are you new inside?

As we prepare to sing this in just a moment, we want to see the power of God manifest in our midst. If you are here this morning, you have a need in your body, you need healing, we want you to come. The brethren are going to pray for you. The opposition of darkness is not just the freeing of the natural man, but the awareness. This is a way of trying to discourage us, to distract us from the more weighty matters. Let Him make you whole entirely, spirit, soul, and body. Those of you who are fine in health and fine in all of the natural areas of life, can I ask you something? There's nothing wrong with your body. There's nothing wrong with your bank account. Do you have joy? Are you at peace? Maybe you're sick in your soul. There's a battle, and we've been promised the victory. Let's not take anything less.

As we sing this together, if you have a need, you come, and we're going to pray with you. We're also going to take a few minutes and offer Cecilia Anne Rivera up to the Lord this morning, and with Alex and Elisa, just thank God for this blessing and the opportunity to see them trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and to realize they're not our own. They're given to us. They're the heritage of the Lord. What a great time that is of giving our lives over to the Lord. As we sing, those of you that have needs you come, and we're going to believe God to meet needs here this morning for His glory.

Let's sing it together. Thank you, Jesus. The brethren will come, please. We're going to pray for these. Sing it one more time. Lord, cause me . . . Let's just pray together now and believe God to touch these that have come. As we become that living tabernacle, God's going to manifest in our presence right now, and show Himself mighty.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask you to touch these lives that have come this morning. Father, we thank you now for the opportunity of serving in your Kingdom, and we thank you, Lord, that your promises in Christ Jesus are yeah and amen. We thank you that by the stripes of Jesus we are a healed people, Lord, and you've said the prayer of faith will save the sick, Lord, and you'd raise them up; and in the name of Jesus, Father, we ask you to touch bodies this morning. Cause your people to be whole. Father, we come against the opposition this morning, the principalities and the powers that would oppose. Loose the people of God. In the name of Jesus, Father, we thank you for wholeness this morning, for the glory of God. Lord, that you alone would be exalted. Father, we have need. We're hurting in our lives, in our bodies. Father, those that are hurting in their hearts this morning, we ask you to bring them peace, Lord, the joy of your presence. Glory to God. Father, we thank you now that there is an anointing for the people of God. We thank you that there is an anointing for the people of God. Glory, glory, glory. Father, show yourself mighty this morning. Show yourself mighty. Oh, Lord, we'll be careful to give you that praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

If we can have the pastors just join us this morning. We want to pray for this precious family. The Lord's been so good, to see those children that have been raised in our midst going on to serve God. What a blessing! In these last number of years to see that attrition rate just totally reverse itself, to where we're not losing ninety percent, we're keeping ninety. It's because of the Spirit that we've talked about this morning, the non-compromised application of the word of God in the lives of every home and parent, child. It brings fruit that remains. Should Jesus tarry, Cecilia's going to know that same environment. Alex and Elisa are going to let all of these years of sowing into their lives begin to express itself into another generation. The greatest treasure's not this innocent being held in a mother's arms, the total dependency upon us for nutrition and life. That's not the greatest treasure, as precious as those moments are. The greatest treasure is when they become adults and say, "Thanks, Dad; thanks Mom, for everything you've been in teaching me and leading me to serve Jesus." When they rise up and call you blessed.

Let's thank God for an opportunity to sow into the lives of our family here and recognize that we all do have an active part in that. No man lives to himself or dies to himself. We're all part of the body of Christ. Let's speak peace upon this household right now in the name of Jesus.

Father, we come in Jesus’ name. We thank you for the faithfulness of the people of God that stand here this morning with Alex and Elisa. Father, the fruit's been evidenced in their lives, and because of that, we can speak peace upon them one more time. We spoke it upon this union, and now we speak it upon this family. The peace of God in the name of Jesus and for Cecilia, Lord, an anointing upon the child, that she would be raised in nurture and admonition, and should you tarry, Lord, to go on as a mighty warrior to proclaim the goodness of God. Father, make it real in these lives. We, now, oppose the principalities and powers that would oppose this child; for you've said, Lord, that those that oppose you, your people, you would oppose them. We accept that on her behalf this morning in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Hallelujah. I got her. I got her. I'm getting used to this. Praise God. Cecilia. What a blessing. She's got hair. Our babies don't have any hair. Praise God. Isn't it a blessing? This innocence, those that come to the Lord, the Scripture says, are to come as a little child, and this is the peace that we're to have resting in Father's arms, praise God, and what a blessing!

Father, we do thank you for this precious child. We speak life and peace upon her in Jesus’ name. And everybody said, Amen. Isn't she beautiful? Praise God. Be sure to greet mom and dad. They're okay, too. Praise God. We thank God for this precious little one and the opportunity to be a part in their lives. Amen. You heard me in mama's tummy; didn't you? That's one of the things about the children. So many over the years, the tapes and different things, and how the children are aware of the voices anyway. They don't know my face, but¾ and that's okay; that's not the best part anyway. Be sure to greet them, and let's thank God again. Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "We're at war." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you in Jesus’ name. Amen.