Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Spiritual Warfare Pt.7

Hallelujah! Amen. Let's turn to Ephesians 6. I just want to encourage you to continue to pray for the Lord's hand to move in Africa and His will to be accomplished. We know that He's working. What's been done already is supernatural, we rejoice in that. We're just looking to continue faithful and let Father be glorified in all that we're able to do and see how He finishes the ordering of our steps. Ron is scheduled to leave a week from tomorrow. He was scheduled to leave tomorrow and the circumstances cause us to continue to wait. He does have to be out of the country by the 14th and so we're just believing the Lord to give us favor between now and then. Many good things are happening, invitations in ministry that we've been receiving. Ron has been ministering in Nairobi the last couple of weekends and really the three largest Protestant ministries in the nation. He's been invited, in fact, to preach in the largest church in the nation in Mombassa and it's pretty exciting. Of course, Mombassa is about 90% Muslim and the largest congregation in the whole city is a Christian church. So it's an exciting thing to see what the Lord's doing. They have around 30,000 members in their church there in Mombassa and Ron has been invited to come there and he's been at the headquarters church in Nairobi, other ministries that are opening up and excited about that. As we shared, the Adam's Rib book has gotten into the hands of a number of these men that are excited about them-invitations that are available there.

Ron was asking if I'd be interested in coming over and holding some meetings. They're having a meeting I think-I can't remember when it is. I don't remember if he said September or the first of the year, or whatever it is. In one of the meetings there, there's going to be all of the churches present. They'll have over 100,000 that will be meeting in those meetings. A lot of doors that are opening up, so we're excited about that as we pray and seek Father's will whether we want to participate in that or not. Most likely if we do, we'll have Ronnie go and conduct the meetings for us and we'll just see what Father has. If He wants us to go, of course we'll be there. Be in prayer and let's just believe the Lord to open those doors of utterance for us.

Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober, be [in a vigil]; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." We see the admonition of the Lord that we're to be vigilant in our preparation and ever ready, for we are not wrestling against flesh and blood. Our enemy's looking to devour us, to destroy us on every hand. We've shared about the things that are really the most dangerous to us here in our society, and especially here in this neighborhood in which we live, and that's the prosperity that we face and the ease of life and comfort. The ability to come and go as we please, not only the fact that we don't have to have passports to cross over into Fairfax County, but the fact that we have the affluence. Gasoline almost two dollars a gallon, and you still can't get a place in traffic, too many cars. I thought some people would be parking by now, the prices of gas, but they seem to be multiplying.

We realize that we're a people that are blessed. The question that we have to ask is this, what are we doing in this time of prosperity to guard ourselves over this independent spirit of coming and going as we please? And making sure that as we go we're being sent, and that the Spirit of the Lord is with us and that we're able to effectually represent the kingdom of God wherever it is that we find ourselves, whether it's on a business trip, a pleasure trip, whatever it might be, that wherever we find ourselves, God's spirit needs to have directed us there and we need to be very, very aware of our representation of His kingdom. The enemy's there and he's seeking whom he may devour. We talked this morning a little bit about the power of darkness that we face and I want to talk a little bit about that. As you look back at the passage in Luke that we were looking at this morning, in Luke, chapter 4. I think there's something that's very important there for us to spend a moment on. Luke, chapter 4 and we talked about the deceitfulness of our enemy. His cunning craftiness and how even in the environment of innocence, he was able to cause Eve to defect and Adam to subordinate and we find them naked in the garden and hiding from the presence of God. We understand what it was that Eve was up against at this particular time. And what it was that was forfeited in their defection. Chapter 4 verse 6 says, "And the devil..." Referring back to that victory that he had over God's creation. He was given at that moment all power to rule in this earthly kingdom, the wisdom of this world, the deceitfulness of this world, the lusts of the things of this world, the pride of life that dominates this world and all of that was given to him in that victory in the garden.

Second Corinthians 4:4 calls him the god of this world and he's had sufficient power to blind the minds of those that would try to believe the glorious gospel. That's the power that you're up against. You're not going to be able to make it based upon your past victories. You're not going to be able to make it on yesterday's bible study. What have you done today to prepare yourself, because Satan's not resting, are you? His tactics have destroyed far greater men than you and I. And do you walk around with some kind of false confidence thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think? Beware when you think you stand. We need to put on ourselves the armor of God and be ever vigilant because our enemy goes about seeking whom he may devour. And the Scripture says here that all of the power of the kingdoms of the world are now under his authority. And he says, "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it" (Luke 4:6). Very interesting. "All this power will I give thee." But there's some good news because as we read this and we understand the ability of the enemy to deceive and to intimidate, to seduce. The good news is this tonight, beloved that we've been given all power and all authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm us, Amen?

Look over at the tenth chapter of Luke and in the context of this great admonition that the Lord gives us. Verse 19, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." The good news is this, that the earthly kingdom is powerful. It has established the empires that have opposed the church of the living God for all of these ages. Satan's kingdom is masterful and is powerful and as ingenious as it is-don't minimize it. Step back for a moment, look around you and look at what man has created and when he confesses, he's able to create today. We stand and marvel at the technology of our generation. Not only all of the communications. You marvel at some of the inventions, the laser. And now we find the genetic engineering that's taking place. Man boasting that he can create life and sustain it forever. The creation of organs, the cloning that's taking place. That all came from the midst of the garden, that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All that man's done in this generation is come from that one source and there's a lord over that power. These inventions and this knowledge is not just randomly appearing, it's by design. There's an orchestrator of all of these hosts of wise men and powerful men, of all of the great creators and Satan is that source, but he has a master, doesn't he? And the good news is that as he orchestrates, he's under the control of the great eternal orchestrator, creator and master of the universe. And all that Satan does is under the control of our loving, heavenly father. We see each kingdom opposed and set in opposition, the power and the kingdom of light versus the kingdom of darkness, and all of the boasting of the great hosts of the kingdom of darkness, the apparent frailty of those in the kingdom of light.

The world mocks us, as we saw in Corinthians, and we're despised and disdained in their eyes and weak. But it's only in their kingdom and with their weapons that we're inept. But our weapons are not carnal, they're mighty through God. And this spiritual kingdom and the kingdom of light that Jesus speaks of here in this tenth chapter of Luke is one that we need to be aware of and one we need to tap into, because I want to tell you something, they're wiser in their generation than we are. We can't fight them with their own weaponry, we don't know how it works we've been too far and too long removed from it. You say, "Not me, man, I can still use those worldly wiles." Then you need to get saved and you need to get filled with the spirit and you need to fall on your face and be broken and realize that you've been living in enmity with God. And so it's time to understand our need of walking in innocence as it pertains to our reliance and our trust in this kingdom.

He said I'm going to send you forth as sheep among wolves. And that's what it looks like and there's no hope for us if we war with their weaponry, but our weapons aren't carnal, they're mighty through God, Amen? Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. We saw and we realize that it's at that juncture that when we're weak in ourselves and when we're weak in the eyes of Satan's kingdom, then we're strong, praise God, invincible as we saw young David this morning, boasting in His God's ability and in his jealousy for the integrity of his father. And so in the tenth chapter of Luke we find that we're to adorn ourselves with the armor of God and realize that Ephesians says, putting this armor on, then, we're to withstand in the evil day. We saw that that word, "withstand," meant-to be offensive or to set out against the kingdom of darkness. Beloved, I want you to understand one thing, you can't be in the armor of God and not be going forward. And so it's important for us to understand that with this armor there's a marching order, there's a supernatural propulsion in this armor to carry us against the principalities and the powers that we war with on a continual basis. And after these things, chapter ten says, (verse 1) "After these things the Lord appointed [anointed, empowered] other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city. Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest."

Oh, beloved, one of the things that's so important for us to be arrayed in this armor of God and to be able to stand invincible in this day, is to realize that this armor, this prayer armor that we put upon ourselves is praying that God would open doors of utterance for us, praying that He would send us forth as laborers into this field and see a remnant set free. He said, "Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. Speak the peace of God upon that house. My presence will come there and I'll sustain you, and I'll sustain the house that's sustaining you. Oh, beloved, how important it is for us to realize these principles of the kingdom of light. All the natural tendencies to have to have all of the natural preparation and God says, I'm your source. I'm your very present help in all of your trouble. Don't lean to the left hand or to the right, but in all of your ways acknowledge me. I'll continue to keep you in that path; the highway of holiness. That path where there is no occasion of stumbling, that path where the lion is not allowed to abide. I'll make a way where there is no way. I'll go before you and my glory will be your rear guard. But you're going to have to go in total reliance on me, you can't go trusting in natural provision. And even upon those homes in which you enter, speak peace and I'll be the source to that. (Verse 7) "And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house." If you get a better deal somewhere else, don't go. Stay upon that house that you entered first and let God be the source and not man's solicitation. And then He said in verse nine, "And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, [and this is what it's all about, beloved] the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you."

You see the thing that people need to realize when we encounter them on a daily basis, is that they've encountered the kingdom of God, that they've come in contact with the resurrected Jesus Christ. As you read on into this chapter, verse 16, "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." Are you really convinced of that literal, specific representation of the risen Christ? Do you understand that as ambassadors of Christ, as we go and speak, Jesus is speaking through us? How cautious we need to be in the representation we make of the kingdom of light. How careful we need to be in what we throw around as the gospel. It's tragic today how the gospel sounds more like a self-helps clinic than it does a dying to self mandate.

It's interesting. I shared with the guys the other day, there's a big-people are just-in many of the different ministries-media ministries, especially the larger ministries that are involved in television and radio. They're saying that giving is at an all time low and our prosperity at an all time high. And you want to know what causes that. I'll tell you the spirit that causes that. You see, when times are tough and people are (quote) "believing God" and the Lord is prospering them and they're giving and believing God, it's an amazing thing to watch what happens. You see, then as they begin to prosper and they get much, they give what they gave when they recognized God as the source and, "Now that I'm in this great abundance, it's by my own hands and so I'm going to use it on myself. I mean, after all I deserve this, I earned it, I worked hard, I was smart in my investments." It's amazing how God gets the glory when it's $20,000 a year and you get it when it's $200,000 a year.

And that's the spirit of the world and it's how it works. And if you study historically, you'll find that that's a historical phenomenon. But it's who man is. And we need to realize that in all of these areas there must be an absolute dependence upon God. And their needs to be an awareness that what we do we're doing as unto the Lord. Let him that boasts, boast in the Lord and glory in the Lord. It says, "And the seventy returned again with joy, [verse 17] saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." As these men went out, beloved, in anticipation of God working with them confirming the Word with signs following, it's obvious that they went forth and were obedient to the mandate. They prayed for a harvest. They fulfilled the mandate of verse nine, to heal the sick, to admonish them that the kingdom was present. Those that reject you then you reject them and just shake the dust off of your feet, but remind them that they already encountered the kingdom of God.

Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall." There was a discernable victory that was manifesting itself as you went forth. We don't war against flesh and blood but principalities and powers, spiritual wickedness in high places. They went in the name of Jesus and began to lay hands on the sick. They began to cast out devils and Jesus said, "I looked into the heavens and I saw the casting down of principalities and powers." How are we going to affect the kingdom of darkness today? It's going to have to be done in the same manner. We're going to have to begin to pray, "Father, fill our hearts with compassion. Help us to lift up our eyes and see the fields white unto harvest. We have to begin to labor, Father, in a fervency and an expectancy like we've never wavered before." If we're going to know the anointing and the armor of God, we're going to have to use it for it's right purposes and that's to see Satan cast down as lightning, to realize that 1 John says, "He that committeth sin is of the devil... For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the [evil one]" (3:8). You see, a lot of us want to put the armor on just so we can feel safe and we can have joy and peace and prosperity and healing. The armor is for the purpose of going and destroying the works of the evil one. There's no armor if you're not going into conflict with the evil one and the whole purpose to see Satan cast down as lightening as Jesus rejoiced.

I saw him cast down. "Behold [verse 19. The verse that we so often quote.] I give unto you power [exousia, authority] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." Interesting. This word, "power" here is different than the power that Satan says, "the authority that he had," in Luke four. This word is not exousia, this is dunamis, the literal ability, the supernatural ability, and He says, "I give you authority over Satan's ability." You see, a lot of times we would like to have dunamis over his dunamis, but many times, He gives us authority. We don't sense any great personal surge of power, but we know the greater one that's within us. We know that the war is being fought in the heavenlies, in the spiritual realm. We have confidence that when we speak in the name of Jesus, that there's a legal authority that MAKES the powers of darkness subordinate themselves. Whether we sense it, whether we perceive it, it's done because we've been given representative authority over all of his ability. "And nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." A very key part of walking in the spirit and keeping ourselves safe in the armor of God. Don't get caught up in all of the conflicts. Don't get caught up in all of the testimonies of those that are getting healed and the demons that are getting cast out. That's not what it's about. It's that you're in right relationship with God. "Rejoice in this rather that your names are written in the Lamb's book. That your names are written in heaven." Praise God! Be more concerned with relationship than you are representation. Be more caught up in the spirit of Mary than you are in the spirit of Martha. And spend that time at His feet and worship Him and the time will come when we serve Him and we can rejoice that the devils are subject to us.

Jesus said, "Yeah, I saw it and it's the reason I sent you forth, but notwithstanding, rejoice rather in this, that you're in right relationship. That you're not out about your own agenda but you have meat to eat that others around you don't know anything about, it's to do the will of He that sent us." We so often love to draw on that 19th verse, that we've been given all power over all the power of the enemy, but beloved, it's not unconditional. It's conditional upon your position, upon your righteousness, upon your obedience to the spirit of God. You see this testimony was effective because they obeyed. Now, most of us know the doctrine, but to what degree are we about Father's business in this time of harvest? What are we doing to affect our environment with a gospel that's uncompromised, that's pure? A gospel that carries with it a daily cross, a denying of ourselves, a loving of Him even more than our very lives.

The gospel as we all know has been very cheapened in our country, around the world actually. This is one of the things that's causing the doors to open in Kenya for the ministry that's there. Ron says that the reception that they've received is so similar to that that we experienced in India. You see, there's people there that have real hearts for God, but it's been so long since they've heard the true gospel, they forgot what it was like, and when they hear it, their hearts come to life again and they say, "This is what God's Word is." Men have come to him and said, "Dear God, we've compromised to build our own kingdoms."

You see Africans are no different than Americans. Man is man; flesh is flesh. Adam's children are all the same regardless of their geographical location. Pride, self-indulgence, self-exaltation is what's in man. And this gospel of holiness and a straight and narrow way has struck the heart of many of these who are wanting to emulate the great successes of American Christianity. And it's causing a shaking, but at the same time it's bringing about opposition and that's why we're experiencing the opposition. Beloved, we're not going to just waltz in over there and open arms thrown out to us. We're very dangerous. You say, "How in the world, man? This little piddley place in Sterling, Virginia? A couple of guys that we sent? How in the world can we be perceived as dangerous?" We just read it to you. "He that hears you hears Me?" Amen? How many of you think Jesus could shake up a nation? Don't you know the fear that strikes the hearts of the enemy as men go forth bringing the true gospel message? "Aren't these the men that turned the world upside down," was the accusation being made against Paul and his little team. Paul had no greater authority than we have. He had the same name to go in. Peter, James and John had no greater power than you and I have. They were flesh like us, dust like us. They were men of like passions of Elijah, but they went in a total dependence upon the presence of God and they trust in that that had been freely given to them and freely they gave. "Silver and gold have we none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." (Acts 3:6)

When's the last time you've spoken those words and seen the power of God manifest and seen sickness flee and seen the oppressor leave and your mind be liberated again and the peace of God that passes understanding flood your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. When's the last time you boasted more in the manna that God provided you than the filet mignon you bought yourself? Oh, Beloved, there's meat to eat that so many don't know anything about and this power that's been given to us is for the sole purpose of establishing this kingdom. "Tell them this, as you lay hands upon their sick and you cast out devils, the kingdom of God is at hand."

So as we get ready to go to work tomorrow and go about our daily schedules, Satan's out there to destroy you and he's victorious if he can make your day about being fulfilled on the job. If your day is about going to the market and going to the mall, if your day is about putting little curls in your children's hair and coming up with the latest craft, if your day is about some form of recreation or personal fulfillment, and the kingdom of God hasn't been represented, then he already won that battle. Thank God the war has already been determined but our place in the kingdom hasn't. If Satan can keep you caught up with the cares of this world and blind your eyes to the mandate that's upon us to represent this kingdom accurately with all that we encounter, to live before them as Daniel did, living in the world, but not of it. He went to work everyday. He worked at the highest level, and he never compromised his relationship and trust in his God. And don't you think for a moment that Satan won't use the same tactics against you that he used against Daniel.

So many of us so proud of our representation, we're bold witnesses. "Praise God, everybody at work knows I'm a Christian," you think, "I'm doing a job here." And thank God, you are, but it hasn't ended yet, they're going to take that and turn it on you. That doesn't guarantee you God's favor and all of the sudden you're going to go through the ranks and everybody's going to think you're a great guy and trustworthy. There's enemies of your soul out there. The whole thing is not whether you get advancement to another position, it's whether the integrity of God is represented properly or not. You see, that's what it's all about, it's not these temporal things. We're not warring with flesh and blood, we're not keeping score like the world. "He that dies with the most toys wins." No. He that dies with the most toys, dies; and then the judgment. Amen? You brought nothing in, you're taking nothing out.

It's very important for us to understand what our lives are about and that spiritual warfare, this armor that we're talking about putting on, this helmet of salvation, this breastplate of right standing with God. "Rejoice because your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:20) The righteousness of God: that is what protects our heart. Where your treasure, is where your heart is. Do you treasure righteousness? Is the greatest treasure in your life to be right with God? To be His son? To be an heir and joint heir with Christ and have eternal rewards, things that may or may not be seen at this juncture? Do you have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel?

As we said, if you're in the armor, you're going forward. If you're in the armor and your feet are shod with the preparation, you're going into the highways and byways and compelling men to come. We're going forth as laborers into this last day harvest. If you don't have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, you're dancing to another piper. You have your dancing shoes on. The world is piping and they hate those of us with our shoes on. We can't dance. Don't dance to your tune. These aren't dancing shoes. You step on somebody with these shoes you don't just apologize. You see, the shoes that are being spoken of, that Paul was referring to in that day. These were shoes-they had cleats on them. Those of you that have played sports-soccer or football, baseball, we don't only have cleats on, man; we need to be like Ty Cobb and sharpen them. They accused him of being mean. And he said, "What's so mean about that?" He said, "I just see it as compassion, would you rather be cut with a dull one or a sharp one? Because I'm going to cut you." That's my kind of guy, aggressive.

We understand, then, that whether we're adorned in the armor becomes very obvious. We've talked about the thought processes. We've talked now about the relationship and where our treasures are and where our heart is. We talked about our feet being shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, whether we're out boldly declaring and representing this gospel message here and the final day harvest. Wednesday we're going to talk about the shield of faith and the sword a little bit.

This power, according to this tenth chapter is to be representative power. Verse nine, "heal the sick that are therein." "Go into the cities and look for people that are candidates for my mercy and my grace." Oh, you see the world's wisdom has a different way. It wants to go in and minister to everybody. And we want to go into the poor and we want to be able to give them all food and give them clothes and make sure that they don't have to work. Dear Lord, let's protect them from the curse of Adam's sin. God said that you're going to live by the sweat of your brow. These guys lived by the ease of welfare. Welfare's just defiance of God's judgment. "We don't need God. God's curse won't affect us. We'll be compassionate." And you can see all that man calls wisdom, foolishness in the site of God. And so we've been called to represent Him. He said I've ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit would remain.

As we prepare to visit the Lord's Table this evening, let's finish by asking ourselves the question, "How seriously have we taken our ordination?" Are we bringing forth more fruit or less fruit? You see, because if there's an abiding in His kingdom, the one thing that we know for sure is this, there's going to be a chastening that's a continual process. Are you submitting yourself to the chastening of the Lord? If not, you're not sons. You're bastards, the Scripture says, illegitimate, tares, wolves in our midst, but not sons. If there's fruit at all, if there's life in us, there will be a continual reproving and chastening and purifying.

As we prepare to go to the Lord's Table this evening, are you rejoicing more in this that your names are written in heaven? Is that your highest treasure tonight? When you stop and think of what we prepare to face tomorrow morning, whatever it might be, in each of our individual lives? Are you caught up with jealousy and envy and strife and bitterness? Do you find yourself like the gentleman I spoke of this morning, judging God and wondering why you've gotten this lot in life and why things are so tough and, "Why me, Lord and how come all of these trials, and why is every thing going wrong?"

Or are you able to just stand up and say, "Praise God, my name's written in heaven, I'm a child of God, my steps are ordered, I'm exactly where God wants me in, and I thank God and rejoice in these trials. The trying of my faith is working patience in me and I'm going to endure, and with the armor of God I'm going to stand and boast, that in the midst of all that's apparent adversity, all I see it as is a purification process. I'm being cleansed from my flesh; I'm being cleansed from the fear of failure and the fear of the devil. I'm being changed into a child of God who lives in innocence and lives in dependence and greater is He that's in me than he that's in the world." How do you see where you are today? And where are your treasures? That's what will indicate whether the armor is in place or not.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God. We just delight in Your presence tonight and in all that You've done for us. We see that in this day of adversity that the enemy's seeking whom he may devour. The ones whom he will devour are those who are not attacking him. He sees anybody static as prey. He sees the aggressors as representatives of their Lord and Savior. Anyone who resists him, he will flee. Any who resist his wiles and his methods and his wisdom and his worldliness will know the victory at every specific representation of the kingdom of light. Father, make these things real to us and cause us, then, to be vigilant, to be men and women of sobriety, to adorn ourselves fully in your armor and having done all, to stand in Jesus' name. Amen.

If the brethren will come, we're going to take some time and just fellowship at the Lord's Table. As Gary plays for us, we'll just rejoice in Father's presence and in His goodness. This that we're about to take into our hands, beloved, in remembrance of Him is a powerful force. Revelations (12:11) says that, "these are they who have overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony." Thank God for the testimony that we have of His victory. The boast is in the finished work of Jesus. Not of anything that is waiting on us to affect. It's already a victory that's been won. The authority is reminding the enemy of his defeat, of boasting in this great deliverance that we've experienced, as captivity was lead captive. We go in assurance, not arrogance. We walk in faith not in presumption. We listen intently and obey immediately. And all glorying is in the Lord.

Let's stand in His presence and as the brethren serve us tonight, let's hold and we'll all partake together. We're a people blessed. Let's sing this together. Rejoice in Him. Change my heart Oh God, may I be like you.

Hallelujah! Just take a moment and rejoice in Him. Thank Him for all that He's doing in your life. Prayerfully consider the task at hand and how we can more effectively represent Him tomorrow in our day. Has life become mundane and you wonder where the joy went? It's because you're living for yourself. You've been caught up into the world. You've been seduced by covetousness and selfishness and greed. Oh it manifests in different ways, but your just not satisfied, you've got to have more. That's never experienced in the kingdom of light. The wisdom from above is pure and peaceable and it's easy to be entreated. The kingdom of light gives us purpose; we live every day in excitement of being able to represent He that sent us. A successful day isn't in how much we pull down in a deal, but whether we've been obedient or not. A successful day is coming home and hearing, "Well done." "And the sleep of a laborer is sweet." We can rest because we've been obedient. We've labored and because of that we enter into the rest of God. You see Hebrews makes it very clear that that rest was obedience. Israel couldn't enter because of their unbelief, because they were living for themselves.

Oh Father, give us hearts to understand. Father, make us ever aware, we're enemies of a foe that is relentless, committed to battling us every moment of every day for the rest of our lives. A foe who will make you rich and put you at ease for year on year to find you at one moment of weakness and bring you down, patient in his quest to defame our God. Let's be jealous for our representation of Him.

Hallelujah! Father, we hold these emblems in our hands tonight. And all of us at one time in our lives, over familiar with Your presence, taking it for granted, failing to realize the privilege of that visitation. We become confident in our longevity, confident in any talents and gifts that You've given us and we take these emblems in our hands and it reminds us again of the total absence of any ability to please You in ourselves for our only acceptance is in the beloved, in the broken body and the shed blood, the victory won on that cross, Jesus. How can we then fail to realize that this must be an awareness day by day, a dependence day by day, we're no stronger today to save ourselves than we were when we began this journey. We need You to be more active, more prominent, in others perception and in our own dependence. Make it real Father. As we partake tonight, let us renew our hearts in pledging to You out of hearts of innocence and child-like faith, a dependence as we say, "Not my will, but Thy will be done." It's our heart's desire, Father. And so, in remembrance of the victory won and in remembrance of the daily dependence necessary to complete this course, with thanksgiving we receive these Your broken body and Your shed blood in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake of the bread. Hallelujah! And the cup.

Glory to God! Rejoice in the finished work tonight! Just rejoice in the work that's been accomplished in you and is to be accomplished in the end. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord, we have this confidence of that that we've committed unto You, You will keep against that day. Glory to God. We have that confidence, Lord! That You are at work within us both to will and to do Your good pleasure and that's our delight tonight, Father. Oh, Hallelujah! Lord, we're aware of the enemy at the gate, and yet we are so prone to trust in our own diligence, our own tenacity, our own abilities; and Father, You want us to come to You and say, "Without You we can do nothing." We come and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. And thank You for the great work You will do in us, Father; in Jesus' name. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Its fruit will make you wise. The fruit of that kingdom can take you to the top, only for God to bring you down. Why not humble yourself and let Him exalt you? Why not wear, with the apostle, the badge of the disdain of the world as they look and mock us because of our dependence upon an unseen Father? A kingdom without pomp and circumstance, a rank, each seeking to serve others better than themselves. And they mock and they laugh, but the meek will inherit the earth. There is no fellowship between light and darkness. Make it real, Father, in Jesus' Name. Amen. Before you go turn to somebody and say, "The kingdom is at hand." Amen. Go in peace, God's love go with you.

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