Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Spiritual Warfare Pt.8

First Peter Chapter five and verse eight, we saw that we're to be sober. We're to find ourselves in a vigil, watching with all seriousness. That's what sober means, sobriety, be serious about this thing. "...be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." We've been talking about spiritual warfare.

Those of you who were gone, last Wednesday and Sunday morning tapes you really need those to come up to speed. If you missed those services you missed something. Outstanding word to us from the Lord, and in the foundational principles of what we're trying to share here. So if you missed last Wednesday, and Sunday morning, you need those tapes. I won't go back over all of those principles, but we've been talking about the war for the mind, and the subtlety that Satan uses, and how we're preparing ourselves to pull down all of those lying vanities that are trying to be sown into our consciences, and cause us to move into the original sin, which is independence. To try to live our lives independent from God, and that is the original sin that Eve committed, and wanted to become as a god, and to know herself by partaking of that fruit what is good, and what is evil, and have the wisdom to make the discernment, and the choice, and the judgments of herself. So Satan then trying to move that way. We see that as a roaring lion he's still going about looking for those that he finds in independence. We saw that we're to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God the Scripture said. So there's to be a humility and a dependence upon Father. So Satan's looking for the people that are doing their thing to pick them off, trusting in their own wisdom, and in their own strength. One of the ways that he begins to recognize an individual in this particular capacity is the fact that they lack the mandate that they were given to be seekers of the kingdom first, and to say I'm not here to do my will but the will of He that sent me, and that I have bread to eat of that you know not of, and that's to do the will of my Father. We showed that the greatest defense against spiritual attack is an offense. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to withstand or set out against the enemy. You're living in independence if you are not fulfilling the mandate to go into all the world and preach the gospel. If you're not actively attacking the powers of darkness, then you are living in a position of vulnerability to satanic attack, because you're living for yourself. You're living in a life of ease and comfort, and you are not about the business of He that's called you, and made you a soldier as Timothy speaks of in his epistles. So I want to talk about that a little. That's enough of the review and I want to talk about that just a little bit this evening, and how important it is for you and I to be involved in setting out against principalities, and powers.

Look at the Ephesians passage again there in Chapter six, verse 12. In Ephesians as we're looking at that particular aspect of putting the armor of God on and realizing that there's a real attack. As we were sharing Sunday, it's a continuous attack on our lives. Every moment of your life, Satan is looking for that chink in the armor, for one way to bring access of that fiery dart into your heart, and to take you out. We saw that one of his tactics, you remember as we were closing Sunday night, it might have even been during communion, we were talking about the fact that Satan will be patient, he'll let you have a life of ease, and comfort, and success, because you remember what we were studying on Sunday, all of that power of worldly natural success belongs to him, and to whomever he gives it. Satan will gladly make life easy for you and cause you to begin to trust in your own abilities, and think that you've really made something out of yourself, and give you a whole life time of that, to find that one vulnerable moment to bring you down and destroy you at the latter end. Don't equate your spiritual success or God's approval with natural success or what man would deem success. We are not successful if we're not busy about Father's business. What's first in your life? Is it the gospel? Is it the kingdom of God? Is it the eternal and not the temporal? That's what we're looking at and discerning in our own hearts, and our own lives.

We see then in Chapter six, verse 13, "...take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand..." or to set out against the enemy. You remember what we said a couple of sessions ago, how do I know if I have the armor on? Does anybody remember we asked that question? How do I know if I'm really in the whole armor of God, and I'm in the position that God wants me? What did we say? Does anybody remember? You're going to be doing what? Progressing. You're going to be going forward. You're going to be attacking the enemy. For this purpose, was the Son of God manifest to do what? Destroy the works of the enemy, or the evil one. It's why Jesus came and it's why He sent us. Okay? So for this purpose was the Son of God manifest to destroy the works of the evil one. He said I have ordained you and I've sent you forth to bear fruit, and that your fruit might remain. If you and I are emulating Jesus in his armor, then beloved, there should be some fruit evidencing itself. There should be some fruit that's remaining that we could look at and say, "this is evidence that I'm dying to myself, and that I'm being conformed into the image of Jesus. There's maturation that's taken place in my life. I'm a better servant than I used to be. I'm not near as selfish as I used to be. I'm not bound by some of those things that used to have me bound up. The covetousness, the fear, the pride, it's fallen down around me praise God. The spirit of God I can sense is causing me to die daily, and I can really discern."

Are you able to do that now a little more? Are you able to discern daily being crucified with Christ? I die daily. It's no longer I that lives but Christ that liveth in me. The life that I now live in this natural body in this flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me. Are you able to consciously now discern that Jesus is actually making decisions through you, that the Holy Spirit's leading you into truth? Remember what we talked about a couple of sessions back. We were talking about all the noise, and all of the busyness of the world. We were in first Corinthians one, you remember. We were talking about the wisdom of this world, and how they count us foolish, how they count us weak, and how we need to look upon ourselves, and see ourselves. Beloved, if you stand there and say, "hey man, I'm as capable as they are. I'm as wise as they are in their generation. I'm just as good at their tactics, and weapons as they are." Then I want to tell you something, you're one of them. Because our confidence can't be in the flesh. Our weapons are not carnal, they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Amen?

Do you boast in your worldly abilities, in your carnal abilities? Are you able to boast that the world looks on you and despises you, and mocks you, and calls you base, and weak? But when I'm weak, bless God, in their eyes, then I'm strong. You see, this is what the Holy Spirit's saying to us in this particular area and you don't have the armor on if you're not offensive, if you're not out destroying the works of the evil one.

Let's go back to Luke for just a second. Keep your finger here and we'll jump back and look at this. Go back to Luke nine and ten and let's see what this thing's all about. When He calls the twelve and He empowers them. Things didn't change from the very origin. He calls the twelve and He empowers them to bring the Word, the gospel to Israel, the covenant people. "Don't even go to the gentiles. I want you to bring this to the house of the covenant children, and give them the first shot at it, but they're going to reject you. Then I'm going to open the door to the gentiles." Of course, Paul's ministry is going to be emphasized, but there's a pivotal point in there before this transition that the church is actually birthed.

On the day of Pentecost, of course, we find out that as they were tarrying, as they were sent to tarry, and to wait for the promise that was from on high, that God visited them. The Scripture makes it very clear that in the visitation of God; in the origin of the church, they were endowed with what? Power to become witnesses unto him. If we're going to have power to stand against Satan, it's power that's going to be accessed through our ministry of the kingdom to a lost and dying world. It's not going to be power that just causes us to be able to back off into our monastic ideologies, and to hide ourselves in our church, or to hide ourselves in our homes or whatever. Beloved, we are here as the light of the world. We're the salt of the earth; we cannot put this thing under a bushel. We need to begin to go out and declare the goodness of our God; the majesty of his kingdom. In doing so, we're going to receive opposition. They're going to hate us, because they hated him first, and you're going to need his presence just to live. That's what the armor of God's all about. You say, "I don't know if I like that. I kind of like hiding back and having things easy." It's not what we were called to do. The Scripture makes it very clear that all men are going to hate us for his namesake, but he that endures till the end, shall be saved.

Spend a little bit of time in Matthew ten. Read that thing. Let it become real to you. Have the principles of Matthew ten really been absorbed into your conciseness? Do you really understand how men are going to hate you? Do you understand how your own family is going to hate you? How children are going to offer up their parents? Do you really believe that Jesus when He said, "I didn't come to bring peace, but I came to bring a sword," was creating the environment that you and I would dwell in as citizens of the kingdom of God, that we would never be accepted by the world system, we'll be their enemy? To be a friend of the world is to be what? The enemy of God. What's the topic? Spiritual warfare. We're at war. Satanic powers. We're not warring flesh and blood but principalities and powers. He uses flesh and blood. He uses all of that wisdom against man to destroy them to oppose us in the kingdom. The question that we have to ask ourselves this evening is, how sober am I? How vigilant have I been in making sure that I have on this full armor of God? The most important piece we talked about time and time again. Here I am again going back to it again. The helmet of salvation. The renewed mind, where you don't think like the world. You don't desire the things of the world. You don't use their methods. You will not in anyway embrace their ideologies. The simplistic mind of innocence and dependence upon the pure Word of God, "it is written." Whenever Satan comes, we've hidden the Word of God in our hearts and we say, "it's written."

So we're looking here and we see that He gives power Chapter nine of Luke says, and authority over all the devil's powers, and to cure diseases, He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. Verse six says, "And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where." Then we talked about the fact that there was the rejoicing that the devils were subject. Jesus said don't rejoice that the devils are subject, but rejoice rather in this: that your names are written in heaven. The key is the relationship, the dependence. Of course, the devils will be subject to you if you're speaking in His name. It's not something you have to build yourself up to do. All you need to do to move in total victory over Satan's power, all you need to do to be able to cast out the strongest demons, to be able to oppose the worst sicknesses. All you need to do is, when you encounter that thing, be in total dependence to Jesus, to be empty of self, to say, "I can't do anything about this in my own strength. "

Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee; in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. When's the last time you gave that out? Freely you've received. When's the last time you've given that out? Oh, we've given out words of encouragement. We've handed out the newest--I was cracking up the other day. I'm driving down the road busting up. Both Christian radio stations, they're both peddling pills. Have you all noticed that in the afternoons especially? You turn on the radio stations and they've got cure-all pills for everything. Dear Lord! Take this one, all your fat falls off. Sniff a honeybee and something happens; I don't know what it is. There's something about honey and stuff. Then there's this other stuff that you take and they were giving you healthy prostate and then there was another pill. I'm serious this stuff...! I'm listening to these things and they've got all these pills! Then I flip to the other station, and this guy told me I didn't need any of those pills, I needed a magnet! He said if you can get this magnet, you don't need those pills. I thought, this is great. So I whip out my magnet and I say, "in the name of the magnet." "In the name of "Honeycomb, won't you be my baby?" (Jimmie F. Rodgers, 1957) Beloved, when's the last time you gave out a good vitamin or you gave out a good recommendation to honeycomb, or you showed somebody your new magnet and didn't say, "such as I have, give I thee, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk? I'm here to tell you, their pills and their magnets aren't going to get it in the arena that you and I are going into. Stir up the gift that's in you that was given you by the laying on of hands. Oh beloved, as we come into these last days and we begin to refresh ourselves, and prepare for the warfare that's at hand, are you preaching the gospel? I'm not ashamed of the gospel; it's the power of God unto salvation. Let the world mock. Let them call you a fool, but when I'm weak, then I'm strong. Satan's going about as a roaring lion selling pills and magnets. I want to tell you something, there's one guy causing the stock market to go up. His name's Lucifer. It's the world system and he's the lord of it. You need to ask yourself tonight, who it is that we trust in.

The ninth Chapter, over in verses 23 through 25, "...If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will [retain] his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world..." All that Lucifer offered in Luke four. "It's mine to give. The power and the glory of it; it's mine to give to whosoever I will." All you have to do--remember we drew this conclusion Sunday. Beloved listen, any time you make a decision to embrace the world's methodology, you're bowing down to worship Satan. It's not just an alternative decision. It's not just "well, you know, I'm just going to apply a little natural wisdom." He said, "This is my arena; it has power, it works. I will give you the benefits of it; it will work for you if you will worship me." So as we begin to see this, Jesus speaking it here very clearly in this passage of verse 25, He says, "what advantage is it to gain the world, and lose your own soul, and be cast away?" Do you want to see what the world's method is in the eyes of Jesus? It's to be ashamed of him. Look He says, "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, ["Whoever trusts in the world is ashamed of Me."] of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's [glory], and of the holy angels" (verse 26).

Oh beloved, the war for your mind. The war for that precious nugget that burns inside of us here tonight: that power called faith. How he would have you rely on intellect and natural wisdom, and not walk into the supernatural realm of the Spirit that calls things that are not as though they were. A faith that causes us to worship the invisible God. A faith that causes us to look into the heavenlies and see the cities that are made without hands, the mansions that have been set forth for us. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. Those that come must believe that He is and that He's a rewarder of those that diligently seek him, but without faith it's impossible to please Him. Beloved, our faith is the victory. How rational have we become in our approach to the Word of God? I want to tell you something, this Word is not naturally rational. There is nothing rational. It is not logical. It's physically impossible. It contradicts all laws of physic; all natural laws that we know to step out of that boat unto the water. But when He calls you, its time to come. Amen?

"Yeah, if Jesus spoke to me, man, I'd come." Well He is speaking to you. He's talking to you to become bold on the job, and begin to share this gospel. He is talking to you. He's talking to you about trusting him in different areas of your life that you used to trust him in, where Satan's come and taken ground. It's time to set out against him and resist the enemy, and watch him flee from us, and to take back that ground that the blood of Jesus purchased for us. How many decisions do you find yourself making now in the world's arena and not the wisdom of God? When Jesus speaks to us and we begin to read these passages, and He talks about being ashamed of his name, beloved how many of you really understand the power, and the authority of that name like you used to, to where you could just breathe it, and know that principalities, and powers were going to be driven back? Where is your confidence? Do you find yourself greasing the hands of whoever it may be that can make things happen?

Ronnie told me just the other day he said, "Pastor, just thank you, thank you. Every time I would call and I was just getting ready to revert to the old Ronnie," -- and Ron's just doing a great job, and thank God for the new, new Ronnie. He said, "the old Ronnie I just wanted to make things happen, and I'd call you just hoping that maybe you wouldn't catch it." He said, "every time you'd say, 'Ron, die. Leave it alone. If it's not God we don't want it.'" I told him, I said, "Ron, you don't want to be caught in Africa having manipulated your way in there. You'll die. If God didn't send you, you don't want to be there. Let's make sure it's God. So that when the times get hard, and you write the book, "Before They Kill and Eat You", like brother Garlock, you can believe in the supernatural." Oh, I thank God for the times I had with men like that. As I would spend time as a young man with brother Garlock, and Kenny Schmidt, and some of those men that I've shared with you before, and hear how God would order the steps of these men. They would move in the power of God. We find ourselves falling into this. They're getting ready to go overseas, and I'm wanting to make sure that Karen has enough health insurance, and that we get international health insurance. Is there a way to medevac them out with all of the things she's fighting with to get them out of there, and what about this, and open end tickets. Beloved, back in the days of Garlock, they went with one way tickets. They didn't know where they were going, they didn't know they were getting back home, but God was the source. The man lived to be eighty years old and have the stories of a God that's sufficient. Have we lost that? Now don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with having some of the natural provisions: if you're not trusting in these things, if you can make decisions contrary to them when the pressure's on. Ron said, "I'd call and you'd always say, no." If God's for us, who can be against us? He's gone before us and He's making a way where's there is no way. He's opening doors that no man can open. He said, "I'd go out of there pumped. Amen! Ready to go!" Then it wouldn't happen again, and it wouldn't happen again, and it wouldn't happen again. I'd have all these other opportunities, people that would rise up and I'd call you and say, "they got this, and they got that, they got that," and you'd say, "We don't need those people."

Are you ashamed of Me and My words? Is there a wisdom now that you're trusting in, a force that somehow you think is going to cause you to finish this course? Having begun in the Spirit, are you being made perfect in the flesh He asked the Galatians. Are there things you can do now in your own strength that would gain some kind of merit? You see the problem is, we get off into areas that are natural and the tendency then is to deal with them naturally. The enemy isn't flesh and blood. The weapons are not carnal. What we need to do beloved is find ourselves fighting spiritual wars and not natural wars. We're missing the point if we think that what it's all about is us getting increases, and more comfortable materially, and all of these different things. It's about us becoming conformed to His image.

Oh, I thank God that the majority of us haven't ventured off into confusion and defection. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I understand that the majority of us are walking in faith, and walking in a position of maturity, and confidence that we've never known, but I don't think there's a person in here that could deny that you've been going through battles in your own life having to contend with Satan seducing you away from the simplicity of your faith. Satan wants to take away from you that name of Jesus and cause you to trust in your credit line, in the newest science, in the newest fad, the newest herb, the newest magnet. It's a war for your soul. Can you say, in all confidence, I haven't been affected? I'm walking in greater dependence and faith than I've ever walked in. Is that your testimony tonight? Then you ought to thank God for it. If it's not, then let's sober up and become vigilant, and take back that that's been taken from us, and realize that there's an enemy seeking whom he may devour. If you're not on the offensive, you're on his list.

"Jesus I know, Paul I know, who are you? What's your name?" Some of us might still be on the list, but where are you? "Jesus I know, Paul I know..." Wouldn't you love to have your name third, instead of, "Jesus I know, Paul I know, wait a minute [frantically flipping pages]. Well wait a minute, you were here on page three, crossed out, 12, 72, 8,400." Oh beloved, put on the whole armor of God that you can set out in that evil day. The evil day. This day that we're in. The day that you recognize Satan's after you. The day that you recognize there's an inroad in your life that didn't used to be there. Set out against him; take the land back. The Scripture goes on and says in the 13th verse of this sixth Chapter, "...and having done all, to stand. Stand..." Praise God. We need to take some land back in your lives. We need to realize that it's time for us to take this shield of faith that quenches every fiery dart of the enemy. You remember Sunday we talked about that. You see many of us seem to think that doctrine's what it's all about; being able to quote it and agree with it. "Amen, amen I agree with that brother." Our amour's just all shiny, spit shined man, every piece just in place. We can have every piece of our doctrine perfect, we can recite it. That's not a warrior for God. There ought be smoldering darts in your shield, your sword nicked up; as we said, you're looking out the ear hole of your helmet. A thousand have fallen at your side and ten thousand at your right hand and you're standing.

"Praying always [verse 18 says] with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." You see if the armor's on, man, it's not about us. It's about seeing that we're watching the backs of our brothers, and sisters that we're telling people, follow me as I follow Christ. I'll get you to heaven bless God. He's looking for those whom he may devour. You get caught up in yourself and you'll get devoured. If you're retaining your life, you're going to be devoured is what the Master told us. I give you all power and all authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you. Then what are you afraid of? What is it that we're afraid of? Afraid of losing that position and that security of that job? You know, people today, man, the fear, the fear that's out there in the world because of the economy today. I want to tell you, there's no question in my mind. I don't think this is necessarily what's going to happen right away, but there's no question in my mind that the best thing that could happen to the true church in this country would be for all of our prosperity to go away. Just pow! Gone. Does that bring fear to your heart to even think about it? I'm not talking about just natural tendencies.

As we even looked at different things back during the possibility of the Y2K scenario, and thank God that didn't happen, and you go through some of those scenarios, and you get a chance that some of you young adults did, and you go out camping for one day. One day! I hate sleeping bags. I hate sleeping bags. We went out camping that one time that we went on the pastors' outing and the guys went up there, and you're sleeping in that bag. You're not sleeping. It's like an all night wrestling match; Jacob with the angel! I woke up and I was limping when I came out of the tent. Forbe was snoring so loud, two tents over, it sounded like he had a chain saw out. You get up, it's raining. It's wet, and it's just nasty. I got to thinking, what if you had to do this with a whole bunch of other people that you just as soon not be around. It's bad enough to endure this to yourself!

We're so far out of touch with reality. Oh God, don't make me so poor that I steal or so rich that I forget you. He's seeking whom he may devour. You see, there's a wisdom of the world and it works. Can I ask you something tonight as we're closing? What's your first tendency, what do you gravitate toward first? When things kind of go haywire, what's your first reaction? Is it natural or spiritual? That will let you know where you are in this girding yourself with the truth. You see the loins gird about with truth. The loins, that's emblematic of the power. Your loins in through here, in through your thighs where the power is, into where the center is, that which stabilizes you, that gives you your balance so that nobody can take you down. Are your loins gird with truth or are you thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think? Are you in the Samson stupor that you might wake up and shake yourself, and not know that the spirit's departed from you? Where are we in this hour as God's preparing his people for his soon coming? The trumpet is to sound. Will you hear it or like one of the five foolish just know how to get ready, but you weren't ready? "I know how to be ready; I'm just not ready. I know where to get the oil, just haven't been there for awhile. I started this race. I'm just not capable of finishing it." Satan will gladly let you hang out around those that are ready. There's something in that passage and I can't even say it's implied. I'm just going to say, let's read into that of the five wise, and the five foolish. Didn't the five foolish seem very comfortable asking for the oil? What does that tell you? It sounds to me like the five wise have been carrying them. "Oh, you're a little short today, okay. Little short, okay. You're not ready, okay. You didn't study, didn't pray, okay. Living for yourself again, being selfish again, refusing to serve. Oh, okay, but we'll carry you." But the time will come, when the trumpet sounds, and it's every man for himself. "Give us of yours." "Not so. I can't give you this, man. I need this to get in." Where are you in this war that's at hand? Are you sober, are you vigilant, are you ready?

Father, we thank You for the Word tonight. We just ask that You would cause us to continue to strengthen ourselves, and to gird ourselves with this truth that we can look into the mirror of truth, and see what manner of man we really are. That we'd have ears to hear what the Spirit's saying to the church. There's a lot of boasting going on in the churches today of how smart they are in the world's methods. What great business men they are. What great promoters they are. But, to be a friend of the world is to be at enmity with God. How do you respond when you hear the Word of God spoken to you, "it is written...?" Do you say, "yeah, but...?" Do you just draw a blank and think, that just doesn't make any sense to me at all? The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, they're foolishness to him. Is everything you hear from these teachings dull? Is it gray, "yeah, I hear it, but it doesn't work in the real world?" Do the world's methods, are they crystal clear to you? Do you understand exactly how they work? Then you're carnally minded. The spiritual mind says, "I don't understand that stuff. That looks like that takes an awful lot of faith to believe in that." You see, I personally don't have enough faith to believe in evolution or the stock market or secular humanism. I can't even see it; it makes no sense to me. I understand very clearly "forsaking all and following him," "giving and it's given unto you," "seeking first" that all makes sense to me. I thank God for the helmet of salvation. How are you thinking tonight?

Let's stand before the Lord. As Gary plays for us, we'll just allow the Spirit to speak to us. How offensive have you found yourself lately? Do you sense the power of God and the anointing within you that you can be a bold witness on the job? Are you looking for opportunities to lay hands on the sick, to cast out devils, to speak the Word not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in power, in demonstration of the Spirit? Speaking as a man who's experienced it? Unable to be bridled because you can't help but speak the things that you've seen and heard? Oh Lord, make it real to us.

Let's sing it together and worship Him. "Jesus draw me close..." Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Sing it one more time. Just close in now to the Holy of Holies, the bold access by the blood of Jesus. Oh, thank You, Lord, for the free gift. Just worship Him tonight. Just thank Him for His presence in your life. Thank Him for the Word of God that's a light to you that illuminates that Word that thrills your heart, the Word that's bread to you and strength to you. Oh, we thank You, Lord, for the wisdom of God. We thank You that we've not been dulled by this world's wisdom. We've not been seduced by their treasures. Our weapons are not their weapons. We thank You tonight for the great weapon of praise and worship that sets up ambushments against the enemy. We thank You for the great weapons of the name of Jesus. The name that's above every name, that at His name devils tremble, disease flees. Such as I have, give I thee. Father, let that be. Let that be in our lives as we go forth in Your name tomorrow. Help us to look for ways to set out against the enemy. For this purpose was the Son of God manifest, for this purpose were we filled with the Holy Spirit, to destroy the works of the evil one. Make it real, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Let's get after him!" Go in peace. God's love go with you, in Jesus' name.

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