WEBVTT 00:00:03.947 --> 00:00:10.000 Demonic spirits are real and they're not something that we need to be afraid of, but we need to be aware. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:16.672 We need to be aware, we need to be wise and we need to understand how to deal with these types of things. 00:00:16.672 --> 00:00:21.960 When I was traveling on the New Life Drama Company, we went to Humboldt, tennessee. 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:24.367 Does anybody know where Humboldt Tennessee is? 00:00:24.367 --> 00:00:27.743 You all do so. 00:00:27.743 --> 00:00:35.613 It's way out west north of Memphis, and we visited a church there and the pastor I could tell from the moment that we met him. 00:00:35.613 --> 00:00:46.979 He was stressed out, he was trying to lead this church by himself, didn't have a team around him, and the people that he was ministering to were dealing with a lot of very heavy things. 00:00:46.979 --> 00:00:58.255 So he asked us to go with him to pray for some people in his congregation, and the first people that we visited the gentleman, the young man, had been in a car accident and he was his. 00:00:58.255 --> 00:01:10.474 Mentally, he had been affected by that, and so we had a chance to encourage the mom who was his, the caregiver mostly the caregiver for him and to pray for this young man as well. 00:01:10.474 --> 00:01:17.587 And so the next stop, we get up to the house and he turns. 00:01:17.587 --> 00:01:19.450 He puts the car in park. 00:01:19.450 --> 00:01:26.162 He turns it off and he says I should probably say something before we go in there and in. 00:01:26.162 --> 00:01:29.266 From my experience, that's not usually good. 00:01:29.266 --> 00:01:31.969 Right, something bad is about ready to follow this. 00:01:31.969 --> 00:01:35.915 This isn't like you're going to walk in here and they're going to give you $1,000. 00:01:35.915 --> 00:01:38.441 This is going to be something different than that. 00:01:39.123 --> 00:01:47.171 And so he told us that there was a lady that lived in this home that had been tormented by demons to the point to where she would. 00:01:47.171 --> 00:01:53.801 She actually thought that she was a jaguar, the cat, you know, the wild cat, a jaguar, and she would. 00:01:53.801 --> 00:02:04.091 She would get into these trans, just, and would like claw at herself, claw at her children, her husband, and she also would begin to talk to. 00:02:04.091 --> 00:02:07.575 She didn't know Spanish, but she would begin to speak in Spanish. 00:02:07.575 --> 00:02:13.290 By the way, god's not the only one that can cause people to speak in tongues. 00:02:13.290 --> 00:02:17.237 Satan knows the languages of this world and he can speak through people as well. 00:02:17.237 --> 00:02:25.413 Right, so this woman would call out for somebody named Antonio in just this deep, dark place. 00:02:25.413 --> 00:02:28.979 She would snap out of it from time to time and then go back into it. 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:38.753 So we, he's telling us all of this and he's like, if there's anything you can do to help, please help. 00:02:38.753 --> 00:02:43.664 And I'm thinking, oh Lord, why is it always me? 00:02:43.664 --> 00:02:44.385 Why do I? 00:02:44.385 --> 00:02:45.367 You know? 00:02:45.367 --> 00:02:50.915 So, anyway, when the Lord calls you to do something, you do it Right. 00:02:51.320 --> 00:02:54.485 So we went in there, we began to pray for the lady. 00:02:54.485 --> 00:02:56.088 The pastor was leading the prayer. 00:02:56.088 --> 00:02:58.954 She began to manifest harmonically. 00:02:58.954 --> 00:03:05.588 Her hands turned into like she was not literal claws, but she looked like she was holding a. 00:03:05.588 --> 00:03:07.431 You know that she had a Jaguar hand. 00:03:07.431 --> 00:03:12.979 She was calling out to this Spanish, whatever it was, antonio, antonio. 00:03:13.860 --> 00:03:17.627 And the pastor God love him took his Bible. 00:03:17.627 --> 00:03:18.909 Can I practice? 00:03:18.909 --> 00:03:20.151 Can I pretend this is a Bible? 00:03:20.151 --> 00:03:21.514 Real quick, ruthie. 00:03:21.514 --> 00:03:27.167 So he took his Bible and he was just praying. 00:03:27.167 --> 00:03:40.049 Yeah, he was hoping I don't know if he, if he, no, I won't do that but he was hoping somehow that the contact with the Bible would cause some kind of help. 00:03:41.311 --> 00:03:51.734 What it did was it made things intensely worse Because the demons aware, the demons ever in that woman were very well aware of what the Bible is. 00:03:51.734 --> 00:04:00.193 And so it didn't make the demon happy that the pastor was laying the Bible on this young lady, but not knowing what else to do. 00:04:00.193 --> 00:04:06.611 And so I just said humbly to the pastor, is it okay if we just take a minute and pray for her? 00:04:06.611 --> 00:04:08.462 And so he said, sure. 00:04:08.462 --> 00:04:11.467 Actually he looked very relieved at that moment. 00:04:11.467 --> 00:04:14.973 He backed away and we just came around this girl. 00:04:14.973 --> 00:04:16.826 We prayed first of all for protection. 00:04:16.826 --> 00:04:20.959 We prayed that the blood of Jesus would cover over her and us. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:24.906 We prayed that she would be ready to receive her freedom. 00:04:24.906 --> 00:04:36.290 And then we laid our hands on her and we said, in the name of Jesus Christ, stop harassing her and come out. 00:04:36.290 --> 00:04:49.714 In Jesus' name, she let out a big yell that demon, or demons, came out of her, and then we commanded them to get out of the house and to never come back on the property again. 00:04:50.963 --> 00:04:57.387 So that was our Wednesday, and that night we were having a church service at the church. 00:04:57.387 --> 00:05:00.492 And we get there and we are wiped out. 00:05:00.492 --> 00:05:06.713 I don't know if you've ever wrestled with demons, but it does make you, it tends to make you tired. 00:05:06.713 --> 00:05:09.766 And so we went to that service that night. 00:05:09.766 --> 00:05:11.911 I was the one leading the service. 00:05:11.911 --> 00:05:14.425 I didn't feel like I was going anywhere. 00:05:14.485 --> 00:05:16.048 This was a little country church. 00:05:16.048 --> 00:05:17.833 There were probably 20 people in the crowd. 00:05:17.833 --> 00:05:19.805 I'm trying to give it my all. 00:05:19.805 --> 00:05:31.553 We're doing skits in between, you know, and about halfway through this man stands up and he starts running to the front and he says I need Jesus. 00:05:31.553 --> 00:05:36.149 And I'm thinking I was so spiritually minded, bill. 00:05:36.149 --> 00:05:40.589 I said to myself it's not time yet. 00:05:40.589 --> 00:05:45.959 We've got some more to do and then we can give you a chance to respond. 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:55.954 But he didn't seem to care, he just ran down front and so all I knew to do he's kind of slid in on his knees to the front. 00:05:55.954 --> 00:06:01.473 I found myself on my knees, I just began to pray with him and he accepted the Lord. 00:06:01.473 --> 00:06:06.829 And then he looked back at his family and he said come on and his whole family gets up. 00:06:08.281 --> 00:06:12.346 And, by the way, the young lady was sitting in the church. 00:06:12.346 --> 00:06:23.942 Completely well, because after she got free from the demonic spirits she got born again in her house, totally transformed, totally changed, brand new person. 00:06:23.942 --> 00:06:30.894 The most interesting person in the room that night was a white haired lady. 00:06:30.894 --> 00:06:33.103 I just call her grandma. 00:06:33.103 --> 00:06:42.214 Grandma, eyes filled with tears, comes up to us after the service and says you have no idea what just happened here. 00:06:42.214 --> 00:06:46.463 And we said well, tell us, explain it to us. 00:06:46.463 --> 00:07:02.728 She said for 40 years I have prayed and fasted and asked God to deliver my family and to bring them to know Jesus, and tonight my whole family got saved. 00:07:02.728 --> 00:07:08.153 That's that's what Jesus does. 00:07:08.153 --> 00:07:09.939 That's what he does. 00:07:09.939 --> 00:07:17.822 He sets the captives free as a sign of who he is, who he is Now. 00:07:18.745 --> 00:07:20.550 I could go on and on with different experiences. 00:07:20.550 --> 00:07:24.711 I don't want you to be misinformed, though it's not like this. 00:07:24.711 --> 00:07:33.795 Thankfully, this doesn't happen every single day, like I don't walk into Walgreens and all of a sudden, somebody's slithering like a snake on the ground. 00:07:33.795 --> 00:07:39.471 Lord, I really don't want that to happen unless it's needed, it's really needed. 00:07:39.471 --> 00:07:41.983 But anyway, so and I'm not. 00:07:41.983 --> 00:07:49.233 It wasn't anything about me other than I believed with all of my heart that God wanted to set those people free. 00:07:50.040 --> 00:08:03.675 Ok, now we are surrounded by people continuously who are affected either positively by the Holy Spirit and angels, or who are affected negatively by Satan and by demons. 00:08:03.675 --> 00:08:10.632 We need to be able to discern the difference and we need to know how to help people who find themselves in that place. 00:08:10.632 --> 00:08:11.923 Is that interesting? 00:08:11.923 --> 00:08:15.264 All right, so let's go there. 00:08:15.264 --> 00:08:18.865 First of all, what are angels? 00:08:18.865 --> 00:08:19.788 Anybody? 00:08:19.788 --> 00:08:20.410 What's an angel? 00:08:20.410 --> 00:08:26.223 Judah, servants of God? 00:08:26.223 --> 00:08:26.764 Excellent. 00:08:26.764 --> 00:08:27.264 What else? 00:08:27.264 --> 00:08:31.963 Something in the sky? 00:08:31.963 --> 00:08:32.884 It can be in the sky. 00:08:32.884 --> 00:08:36.283 Sure, messengers of God? 00:08:36.283 --> 00:08:37.388 Yeah, awesome. 00:08:37.388 --> 00:08:39.482 So let's look at it. 00:08:39.482 --> 00:08:41.546 They're created beings. 00:08:41.546 --> 00:08:45.813 They're not eternal in the same way that the Father, son and Holy Spirit are. 00:08:46.461 --> 00:08:56.432 The angels were created by God and they are often referred to like the hosts of heaven, the joyful assembly, the mighty ones. 00:08:56.432 --> 00:09:02.264 The Bible talks about cherubim and seraphim. 00:09:02.264 --> 00:09:07.354 It talks about lots of some of them having lots of wings and lots of eyes. 00:09:07.354 --> 00:09:11.567 I mean, it's like you think Stephen Spielberg has an imagination. 00:09:11.567 --> 00:09:12.831 Read the book of Revelation. 00:09:12.831 --> 00:09:17.068 It's very interesting the way that these different angels are described. 00:09:17.068 --> 00:09:24.633 The Bible talks about thrones and powers and authorities, different rankings of angels. 00:09:25.421 --> 00:09:28.265 So let me give you a few things that Scripture teaches about angels. 00:09:28.265 --> 00:09:32.494 Number one angels worship God in heaven. 00:09:32.494 --> 00:09:40.312 If you could see heaven right now, you could picture it for just 30 seconds. 00:09:40.312 --> 00:09:43.764 The thing that you would be blown away by, I believe. 00:09:43.764 --> 00:10:04.937 Besides, obviously, if we were able to see Jesus, that would be the first thing, but the second thing, the sensory overload that I think that you would experience in picturing heaven, is the volume of sound as people worship God from all of history, all of time. 00:10:05.441 --> 00:10:16.000 Those who have been followers of Jesus Christ that populate heaven now all day and all night, all time they worship. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:40.715 They spend their time gladly worshiping God, and the Bible says specifically that the angels gather around the throne and they encircle the throne and every time they come around, it's like they see another aspect of who Jesus is, and so they cry out Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, god Almighty, who was, who is and who is to come. 00:10:40.715 --> 00:10:43.121 Worthy is the Lamb of God. 00:10:43.121 --> 00:10:56.615 Every time around the throne it's like another, like a beautiful piece of jewelry and you turn it in the light and you see a different part of it, a different sparkle, a different way of observing its beauty. 00:10:56.615 --> 00:11:02.916 The angels of heaven never grow weary of worshiping God. 00:11:05.522 --> 00:11:10.572 Number two they serve, as somebody said this, messengers for God. 00:11:10.572 --> 00:11:15.690 Who's the famous messenger in Scripture, gabriel? 00:11:15.690 --> 00:11:17.344 What messages did he deliver? 00:11:17.344 --> 00:11:18.041 Just a few. 00:11:18.041 --> 00:11:27.187 Jesus' birth, gonna have a baby, right, yeah, lots of different examples like that that we find. 00:11:27.187 --> 00:11:29.465 He spoke to Joseph as well. 00:11:29.465 --> 00:11:31.424 Right Appeared to Joseph, to Mary. 00:11:31.424 --> 00:11:35.086 So they serve as messengers for God. 00:11:36.121 --> 00:11:39.350 Do you remember the story of Abraham and Sarah? 00:11:39.350 --> 00:11:44.951 The angel arrived to tell them that they were gonna have a child in their old age. 00:11:44.951 --> 00:11:45.863 What did Sarah do? 00:11:45.863 --> 00:11:47.341 She laughed. 00:11:47.341 --> 00:11:48.807 She laughed. 00:11:48.807 --> 00:11:57.583 Then Abraham was like we probably should make them dinner or something, if they did actually come from heaven. 00:11:57.583 --> 00:12:00.028 We should show some hospitality. 00:12:00.028 --> 00:12:06.288 We know that the promise that the angel brought the messenger brought came true, didn't it? 00:12:06.288 --> 00:12:07.311 Yes? 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:12.730 Number three they make war against Satan and his demons. 00:12:12.730 --> 00:12:23.320 The angelic hosts of heaven make war, and who is the commander of the army of the Lord Michael? 00:12:23.320 --> 00:12:24.241 Well, obviously Jesus. 00:12:24.241 --> 00:12:28.952 But then there's an angel named Michael who is the warlord. 00:12:28.952 --> 00:12:46.032 He is the one who orchestrates, coordinates and helps to supply what's needed to come against the enemies of God, and he is very good at what he does. 00:12:46.032 --> 00:12:48.065 He's very good at what he does. 00:12:48.065 --> 00:12:51.889 Lots of examples of his action in the scriptures. 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:57.049 Number four angels offer special protection to God's people. 00:12:57.049 --> 00:13:00.986 This is something that you can pray over your life. 00:13:00.986 --> 00:13:04.105 You don't need to pray like. 00:13:04.105 --> 00:13:05.490 You don't need to talk to angels. 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:15.469 I'm not saying that If they speak to you, then you can test the spirits, make sure that they're from Jesus, right, but basically, god has given his angels. 00:13:15.469 --> 00:13:26.745 In Psalm 347 it says the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them, and he delivers them. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:33.705 How many of you have stories of times where you should have been in a car accident and all of a sudden, something changed? 00:13:33.705 --> 00:13:38.229 And the only way you can describe it was like you were in a bubble or something. 00:13:38.229 --> 00:13:39.251 You know. 00:13:39.251 --> 00:13:42.629 There was something that was placed in between you and the oncoming traffic. 00:13:42.629 --> 00:13:53.086 You can't explain it so many times that maybe we've faced things that could have been very detrimental and yet we were protected and preserved from that. 00:13:53.086 --> 00:13:55.142 Anybody experienced that. 00:13:55.142 --> 00:14:01.842 If you haven't, you will, because you're going to know about it now and you're going to be looking for it. 00:14:02.465 --> 00:14:05.144 Okay, we're not supposed to worship angels. 00:14:05.144 --> 00:14:08.445 We're not supposed to worship them. 00:14:08.445 --> 00:14:11.749 They are God's workers, his workers. 00:14:11.749 --> 00:14:18.621 Okay, we know of lots of times in the Bible where there were deliverance that came through angels. 00:14:18.621 --> 00:14:20.806 Lot was attacked and sought him. 00:14:20.806 --> 00:14:22.024 Remember, the angels were sent. 00:14:22.024 --> 00:14:29.354 When Daniel was thrown in the lion's den, the angel closed the mouth of the lions so they wouldn't harm him. 00:14:29.354 --> 00:14:34.350 When Peter was thrown in prison in Acts 12, an angel came and set him free. 00:14:34.350 --> 00:14:37.806 So lots of examples of angelic work. 00:14:37.806 --> 00:14:47.280 Now, that was such a quick history or definition of angels, but we needed to know that side of things. 00:14:47.301 --> 00:14:51.331 So now we can talk for a few minutes about what scripture teaches about demons. 00:14:51.331 --> 00:14:55.643 Okay, so who are demons? 00:14:55.643 --> 00:15:01.369 If you had to just give a simple answer demons are fallen angels. 00:15:01.369 --> 00:15:04.173 They're fallen angels. 00:15:04.173 --> 00:15:10.907 Remember, in the passage that we read at the very beginning, jesus said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 00:15:10.907 --> 00:15:16.249 What was he referring to there? 00:15:16.249 --> 00:15:18.111 He got kicked out. 00:15:18.111 --> 00:15:30.029 Yes, he got kicked out because he had convinced himself and one third of the angelic hosts that he was going to make himself like the most high. 00:15:30.029 --> 00:15:32.645 How many of you know? 00:15:32.645 --> 00:15:34.188 There's no need for two most highs. 00:15:34.188 --> 00:15:47.648 And so God determined that he would judge Lucifer and all of those angels that had followed him, and he cast them out of heaven with one word. 00:15:47.648 --> 00:15:58.212 You see, my friends, god has no problems with having power over demonic spirits. 00:15:58.212 --> 00:16:04.730 We're the ones that can become fearful, which is totally normal reaction. 00:16:04.730 --> 00:16:14.817 We can become fearful when we see things or experience something that we haven't experienced before, and that's the whole point. 00:16:14.837 --> 00:16:20.652 Okay, so the next time we see Satan in the scriptures, where do we see him? 00:16:20.652 --> 00:16:24.923 In the Garden of Eden, right? 00:16:24.923 --> 00:16:27.546 Remember what he told Eve and Adam. 00:16:27.546 --> 00:16:32.128 Both he said God's holding out on you. 00:16:32.128 --> 00:16:39.613 He knows that if you eat of this tree, listen to what he said you will be like him. 00:16:39.613 --> 00:16:41.667 Does that sound familiar? 00:16:41.667 --> 00:17:05.680 It's a very thing that got him kicked out of heaven, and misery loves company, and so Satan has tried and will continue to try in any way possible to deceive people into believing that they are actually God themselves, and we have a whole world that's living in that false reality, right? 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:08.724 So demons are fallen angels. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:15.544 By the way, satan's position before he was kicked out of heaven, he was a praise and worship leader of heaven. 00:17:15.544 --> 00:17:22.300 He was adorned with all kinds of jewels that were built into him, musical instruments he was. 00:17:22.300 --> 00:17:26.369 He was the one who led the choir, the heavenly choir. 00:17:26.369 --> 00:17:34.788 Wow, how far he has fallen from that. 00:17:34.788 --> 00:17:41.807 If you want to read more about that, you can write down Isaiah 1412 through 14. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:45.221 So, where? 00:17:45.221 --> 00:17:47.068 Where are Satan's headquarters? 00:17:47.068 --> 00:17:54.355 If you had to locate him, to send a small package, what would you? 00:17:54.355 --> 00:17:56.298 What would you? 00:17:56.298 --> 00:17:57.222 Where would you locate him? 00:17:57.222 --> 00:18:01.180 Most likely, huh? 00:18:01.180 --> 00:18:03.346 Did you say hell? 00:18:03.346 --> 00:18:04.347 Hello for you? 00:18:04.347 --> 00:18:05.530 No, you said Cal. 00:18:05.530 --> 00:18:07.444 You can't say that out loud. 00:18:07.444 --> 00:18:12.147 We love everyone who's from California, and so does God. 00:18:12.147 --> 00:18:22.760 Just in case somebody's listening to this later, we could say hell, but hell is, is a final resting place for Satan, Right? 00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:24.625 So where does he now? 00:18:24.625 --> 00:18:25.962 Where is he active? 00:18:25.962 --> 00:18:30.607 He's loose in the earth and above the earth, right? 00:18:30.607 --> 00:18:37.771 So in this atmosphere, in this area, he that's where he can be found and that's where demonic spirits are. 00:18:37.771 --> 00:18:42.829 Okay, now we know there are some scriptures that talk about him talking to God, god talking to him. 00:18:42.829 --> 00:18:48.049 So it seems like he has a little bit of a past as far as where he can travel and what he can do. 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:51.126 Right, but he's still limited. 00:18:51.126 --> 00:18:52.443 He's still very limited. 00:18:52.443 --> 00:18:58.469 Really, the only power that he has is the power of you believing a lie. 00:18:58.469 --> 00:19:11.672 If he can convince you to believe a lie about God and about yourself, then he can keep you from enjoying the truth and living in the truth. 00:19:11.672 --> 00:19:16.105 Right, okay, are you with me? 00:19:16.105 --> 00:19:21.448 Sorry, I'm rushing, but we have to get feel like we need to get through this. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:32.487 So demons have only one purpose Know what it is To further Satan's evil work in the world. 00:19:32.487 --> 00:19:44.327 Their number one purpose is to further the work of Satan in this world, whatever they can do to accomplish his purposes. 00:19:44.327 --> 00:19:57.030 Just like angels do whatever they can do to accomplish the purposes of heaven, demons do whatever they can do to carry out Satan's handy work. 00:19:57.030 --> 00:20:09.323 They are unholy, they hate Jesus Christ, they hate him, they hate God, they hate the Bible, they are disobedient, they are arrogant, they are liars. 00:20:09.323 --> 00:20:18.311 They come to steal, kill and destroy and, like Satan, they work through the world and the flesh to tempt us to do wrong. 00:20:18.311 --> 00:20:23.351 They don't always appear as the pitchforked red-suited guy. 00:20:23.351 --> 00:20:35.826 Most of the time they appear as a click on your cell phone or they appear as a temptation to be angry with somebody. 00:20:35.826 --> 00:20:42.367 That's how they appear, A lot more than you see them appear as they truly are. 00:20:42.367 --> 00:20:55.665 So we must understand that this world and our flesh have a part in this, because sometimes people make decisions that have consequences and it's outside of the demonic realm. 00:20:55.665 --> 00:20:56.624 It's just your flesh. 00:20:56.624 --> 00:20:59.626 You see something and you want it, and so you do it. 00:20:59.626 --> 00:21:02.948 But Satan is the one who tempts us. 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:14.825 If you think about Jesus, after he was baptized and received the Holy Spirit, he was led immediately by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and the devil hit him. 00:21:14.825 --> 00:21:17.642 It was a low blow, the first one. 00:21:17.642 --> 00:21:26.772 He had been fasting 40 days and 40 nights and Satan says to him if you are the Son of God, command these stones to be turned into bread. 00:21:26.772 --> 00:21:31.631 I think it's so cool that Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes later. 00:21:31.631 --> 00:21:38.588 Just like to say, yeah, I got this, but at that moment in time it was a temptation. 00:21:38.588 --> 00:21:43.886 It was a test and we could go through all of the different temptations that Jesus encountered. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:52.652 Most of what the Bible says about demons comes from the gospels, the life of Jesus. 00:21:52.652 --> 00:21:57.943 They did not like Jesus and he did not like them, and that hasn't changed. 00:21:57.943 --> 00:22:05.983 Time and again, jesus encountered men and women who had somehow fallen under the control of demonic spirits. 00:22:05.983 --> 00:22:08.304 It's a real thing. 00:22:08.304 --> 00:22:11.207 My friends, it's not something to play with. 00:22:11.207 --> 00:22:27.609 Some of you I'm just feeling this Some of you have been dabbling in wicking and witchcraft stuff, just scratching the surface, and I'm here to tell you tonight do not play with a poisonous snake. 00:22:27.609 --> 00:22:43.222 Satan will use anything, including something that seems powerful, that supposedly helps people, but I am telling you it is false, it's a lie, it's deception. 00:22:43.222 --> 00:22:47.567 Do not give in to the temptation. 00:22:47.567 --> 00:23:01.309 Some of you are having a hard time listening right now because of the fact that you're being influenced by darkness, and I'm saying, in the name of Jesus, that tonight you will go free. 00:23:01.309 --> 00:23:06.425 You will walk in freedom from this night forward. 00:23:12.078 --> 00:23:24.490 Some of the terrible afflictions that we see in the Gospels blindness, deafness, loss of speech, paralysis, insanity, seizures and suicidal tendencies are tied to in scripture demonic activity. 00:23:24.490 --> 00:23:30.122 Now, I'm not saying that every person who has an illness has a demon. 00:23:30.122 --> 00:23:32.814 Please don't hear me say that we are not. 00:23:32.814 --> 00:23:34.838 Jesus said what did he say? 00:23:34.838 --> 00:23:37.834 Don't celebrate the fact that demons are subject to your name. 00:23:37.834 --> 00:23:47.663 Celebrate the fact that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that you are a believer, that you've been saved, that you're not under Satan's rule any longer. 00:23:47.663 --> 00:23:49.696 Right, so it's going to be. 00:23:49.798 --> 00:23:53.130 It's really important that we focus, keep focused on the right things. 00:23:53.130 --> 00:23:59.430 There are some of these illnesses and diseases that can have demonic activity attached to them. 00:23:59.430 --> 00:24:16.233 I remember one time praying for somebody that was very sick, near death, and the Lord gave me a word of knowledge and I said to them please forgive and I don't remember if it was the dad or what it was, but please forgive. 00:24:16.233 --> 00:24:30.894 And the person chose to forgive and God raised them up because there was a demonic spirit that was working through that unforgiveness to try to manipulate and really to try to kill this person. 00:24:30.894 --> 00:24:34.305 And it wasn't my powerful prayer that saved them. 00:24:34.305 --> 00:24:41.541 It was the word of God you can be free, you can walk in truth and walk away from this. 00:24:41.541 --> 00:24:48.778 Luke 8, 26 through 39, and I won't read the whole passage, but write it down and read it later. 00:24:48.778 --> 00:24:58.323 Meditate on this One of my favorite passages, where Jesus goes to the garrisons and he steps out on the land. 00:24:59.124 --> 00:25:02.558 And there was a man that met him from the city who had demons. 00:25:02.558 --> 00:25:08.157 For a long time he had worn no clothes let's just listen to this description. 00:25:08.157 --> 00:25:11.150 He had not lived in a house, but among the tombs. 00:25:11.150 --> 00:25:22.737 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice what have you to do with me? 00:25:22.737 --> 00:25:28.751 Jesus, son of the most high God, I beg you, do not torment me Now. 00:25:28.751 --> 00:25:30.596 Did this man know Jesus? 00:25:30.596 --> 00:25:35.734 As far as we know, this is the first time that Jesus had visited this town or this area. 00:25:35.734 --> 00:25:39.469 He had to get in a boat and go away from Galilee to this place. 00:25:39.469 --> 00:25:44.400 I've actually been there, stepped onto that ground where this probably happened. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:45.883 It's amazing. 00:25:46.064 --> 00:25:47.413 The Bible is true, my friends. 00:25:47.413 --> 00:25:55.580 It's not only true from the standpoint of us believing that what it says is true, but it is historically accurate as well. 00:25:55.580 --> 00:25:59.051 You can go to the very places Some of you have been to Israel. 00:25:59.051 --> 00:26:11.039 You can go to the very places that these things occurred and stand in the footprints, figuratively, of Jesus and these great stories that we read. 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:19.117 So the demon was the one that was crying out through the man what have you to do with us? 00:26:20.180 --> 00:26:27.703 Jesus, son of the most high, I beg you, do not torment me, for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. 00:26:27.703 --> 00:26:31.134 For many a time it had seized him. 00:26:31.134 --> 00:26:39.358 He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert. 00:26:39.358 --> 00:26:42.829 Jesus then asked him what is your name? 00:26:42.829 --> 00:26:52.853 And he said Legion, for many demons had entered him, and they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 00:26:52.853 --> 00:26:55.458 They didn't want to be sent. 00:26:56.259 --> 00:27:03.445 One thing about demons they do not have the same power as Father, son and Spirit of being able to be in multiple places at one time. 00:27:03.445 --> 00:27:16.675 They are kept in one place at one time, and so for Jesus to send them somewhere deep, far away, where no people were, was not with something that they wanted. 00:27:16.675 --> 00:27:18.118 They wanted to. 00:27:18.118 --> 00:27:19.661 Demons are lazy. 00:27:19.661 --> 00:27:21.611 I'm just being honest. 00:27:21.611 --> 00:27:22.512 Demons are lazy. 00:27:22.512 --> 00:27:25.057 They're persistent, but they're lazy. 00:27:25.057 --> 00:27:27.423 They look for the easiest target. 00:27:27.423 --> 00:27:47.157 It's like a lion that is looking at a you know gazelles, and they're looking for the one that's at the back of the pack that is limping along, because that's the easy target, right, and so we must be vigilant and be watchful. 00:27:47.157 --> 00:27:52.998 He said Legion, for many demons had entered him and they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 00:27:52.998 --> 00:28:01.980 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside and they begged him to let them enter these, so he gave them permission. 00:28:01.980 --> 00:28:10.070 The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. 00:28:10.070 --> 00:28:15.439 Demons are not for your benefit. 00:28:15.439 --> 00:28:23.936 The proof of what they want to do is what they did to the pigs they ran them off the cliff and drowned them in the sea. 00:28:23.936 --> 00:28:28.184 That's their, their disposition. 00:28:28.184 --> 00:28:30.234 That's how they operate. 00:28:30.234 --> 00:28:35.689 I was going to say a joke, but I'm not going to. 00:28:35.689 --> 00:28:36.210 I'm going to move on. 00:28:36.210 --> 00:28:39.597 The herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. 00:28:39.597 --> 00:28:43.013 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it. 00:28:43.054 --> 00:28:59.381 In the city and in the country, people went out to see what had happened and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 00:28:59.381 --> 00:29:05.049 They weren't afraid of the demons anymore. 00:29:05.049 --> 00:29:14.645 Now they were afraid of the man who spoke to the demons and made this man completely whole. 00:29:14.645 --> 00:29:17.089 Wow. 00:29:17.089 --> 00:29:22.501 So they basically said Jesus, you need to leave. 00:29:22.501 --> 00:29:25.027 You've had your time here, thank you. 00:29:25.027 --> 00:29:26.170 Time to go. 00:29:26.170 --> 00:29:38.082 The man from that had the demons wanted to come with Jesus, and it's interesting, jesus said to him go back to your home and declare how much God has done for you. 00:29:38.082 --> 00:29:48.119 Wonder what grandma was praying for this young man that needed to see him clothed and in his right mind. 00:29:48.119 --> 00:30:02.318 God cares, my friends, not just in the, for those who are affected by demonic activity, but he cares about us as we pray and beseech God for freedom for people. 00:30:02.318 --> 00:30:07.089 He wants us to see the results of his work. 00:30:07.089 --> 00:30:13.505 All right, so let's let me give you a few classifications here for demons. 00:30:15.028 --> 00:30:17.154 Number one demons like to have expression. 00:30:17.154 --> 00:30:19.119 They are not. 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:21.887 They like to be expressive. 00:30:21.887 --> 00:30:23.632 They like they are demonstrative. 00:30:23.632 --> 00:30:24.212 They are. 00:30:24.212 --> 00:30:28.583 They like to be outspoken and outlandish. 00:30:28.583 --> 00:30:29.505 They are. 00:30:29.505 --> 00:30:34.455 I mean, you can see it just by watching television. 00:30:34.455 --> 00:30:42.317 Honestly, you see a lot of the things that are in our culture that are hugely strange and out of bounds. 00:30:42.317 --> 00:30:54.402 That's how demons operate, right, they are the antithesis, the exact opposite of angels and of Jesus and Father and Spirit. 00:30:54.402 --> 00:31:03.132 Their number one tactic in operating through people, animals or objects, is to cause fear. 00:31:03.132 --> 00:31:04.499 To cause fear. 00:31:04.499 --> 00:31:06.750 There have been many times. 00:31:06.810 --> 00:31:09.900 I used to deliver the mail, I delivered pizzas, I delivered phone books. 00:31:09.900 --> 00:31:17.829 I was in the deliverance ministry Little joke, yeah, I got a light in the light in the middle a little bit. 00:31:17.829 --> 00:31:30.460 But there were so many times when, I believe, there were demonic dogs chasing after me and the only one that ever got me was the one that I didn't pay any attention to. 00:31:30.460 --> 00:31:37.682 It was about that tall and it ran out and it grabbed ahold of my ankle and it would not let go. 00:31:37.682 --> 00:31:44.637 And I'm looking at the lady and I'm saying I'm thinking it's not my dog. 00:31:44.637 --> 00:31:46.781 You know, can you take your dog? 00:31:46.781 --> 00:31:49.391 And so she, she, she didn't. 00:31:49.391 --> 00:31:51.557 She didn't call the dog, she didn't. 00:31:51.557 --> 00:31:53.846 Oh yeah, he's just playing. 00:31:53.846 --> 00:31:56.935 And I'm like, yeah, that doesn't feel like playing. 00:31:56.935 --> 00:32:01.008 So I gave the pizza, they gave me the money. 00:32:01.008 --> 00:32:02.813 The dog's still holding on, there's no tip. 00:32:02.813 --> 00:32:09.066 So I had a choice in the moment and I chose the fleshly route. 00:32:09.066 --> 00:32:22.818 I gave the dog a boot back into the house and then I went back and typed a little sentence in the computer that says do not deliver to this address rabid dog. 00:32:22.818 --> 00:32:30.532 Right, so that's just a just to lighten the mood a little bit. 00:32:30.613 --> 00:32:41.559 But seriously, I have been preaching the gospel to people and their pets go wild, crazy for no reason. 00:32:41.559 --> 00:32:53.711 I have been in rooms witnessing to somebody who was near death and their grandchildren begin to act out just in crazy, not not normal, abnormal ways. 00:32:53.711 --> 00:33:01.363 Satan hates to see God's kingdom advance, but guess what? 00:33:01.363 --> 00:33:03.145 He can't stop it. 00:33:03.145 --> 00:33:05.390 He can't stop it. 00:33:05.390 --> 00:33:08.557 It's going to continue to grow and advance. 00:33:10.020 --> 00:33:16.153 Number two an unbeliever, an unbeliever in Jesus Christ, can be possessed by demons. 00:33:16.153 --> 00:33:18.397 What does that mean? 00:33:18.397 --> 00:33:27.499 It means that a demon could actually move into their vessel, into their body, into their soul and live Right. 00:33:27.499 --> 00:33:32.306 Can you imagine? 00:33:32.306 --> 00:33:41.185 There was a lady one time that came to our church and she had migraine headaches all of the time. 00:33:41.185 --> 00:33:51.797 And as we were praying for her, the Lord actually gave us a vision where we could see the demon and it looked like it wasn't a monkey, but it looked like a monkey Kind of. 00:33:51.797 --> 00:34:01.330 It was a strange creature that had its arms wrapped around her head and was just squeezing and whispering in her ear, squeezing her head and whispering in her ear. 00:34:01.330 --> 00:34:12.115 This woman was so tormented and we spoke to that demon and commanded it to go, and she never had that problem again. 00:34:12.115 --> 00:34:15.740 Again, this is, this is the kingdom of God. 00:34:17.744 --> 00:34:25.135 Now, we don't talk about this a lot in our culture, although you wouldn't know it, because every show now is paranormal, it's. 00:34:25.135 --> 00:34:30.208 You know what do you call the thing with the teeth? 00:34:30.208 --> 00:34:44.592 The things with the teeth, that's demonic, that's it Like Dracula, it's vampires, and now and then you have zombie vampires. 00:34:44.592 --> 00:34:47.378 And then you, my friends, there's nothing new. 00:34:47.378 --> 00:34:49.742 These are all. 00:34:49.742 --> 00:34:57.880 These are all caricatures of demonic spirits, and so that's why it's so important for us to be careful. 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:05.628 What we pay attention to, what we allow into our homes, what we encourage by listening, listening to and looking at. 00:35:05.628 --> 00:35:11.378 Okay, I'm trying to save you from trouble. 00:35:13.681 --> 00:35:20.195 The third thing is that believers can be demonically oppressed or depressed. 00:35:20.195 --> 00:35:22.824 What's the difference between oppression and depression? 00:35:22.824 --> 00:35:34.757 Anybody ever felt like the weight of the world was on your shoulders, like for an extended period of time? 00:35:34.757 --> 00:35:36.521 That's oppression. 00:35:36.521 --> 00:35:37.713 It's like something. 00:35:37.713 --> 00:35:40.835 I'm not going to push hard because I know, is this the shoulder that? 00:35:40.835 --> 00:35:44.014 I don't think that's not the one. 00:35:44.014 --> 00:35:44.797 This is the bad one. 00:35:44.797 --> 00:35:49.378 Okay, so you know, if I were to just constantly apply pressure to his shoulder. 00:35:49.378 --> 00:35:54.898 He may not say anything right away, but five minutes in, what is he going to do? 00:35:54.898 --> 00:36:08.782 He's probably going to use that elbow somehow or something to remove me from oppressing him, to push down, to hold back, to oppress. 00:36:10.211 --> 00:36:13.735 Okay, believers in Jesus can experience that. 00:36:13.735 --> 00:36:25.681 It does not mean that your spirit has been infiltrated by demons, because when you are a true Christian, a follower of Jesus, what happens on the inside of you? 00:36:25.681 --> 00:36:28.795 Jesus moves in. 00:36:28.795 --> 00:36:33.737 And here's the clue Jesus and demons aren't going to occupy the same place. 00:36:33.737 --> 00:36:39.315 Jesus isn't the one leaving, the demons are the ones leaving. 00:36:39.315 --> 00:36:41.536 But we can be oppressed. 00:36:41.710 --> 00:36:42.652 And then what is depression? 00:36:42.652 --> 00:37:08.800 That's pressure on the inside, on the inside, that nagging feeling, that thing where you just can't even lift your head up, the thing that keeps you awake at night, the thing that causes you to be overly sorrowful about something Demons can do, that they can cause that, they can attempt. 00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:12.219 They can attempt to cause that in our lives. 00:37:12.219 --> 00:37:13.974 We need to be aware. 00:37:13.974 --> 00:37:19.438 Okay, now here's the good news. 00:37:19.438 --> 00:37:20.416 Are you ready for the good news? 00:37:21.371 --> 00:37:28.880 Number four Jesus has been given all authority over demons and he gave that authority to us. 00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:33.695 There's not one demon spirit. 00:37:33.695 --> 00:37:49.353 I don't care how much he's been working out, I don't care how tall he is, how ugly he is, what kind of weaponry he's carrying, he cannot and will not defeat Jesus Christ, and that's good news. 00:37:49.353 --> 00:38:00.451 And in this passage we read at the beginning behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 00:38:02.150 --> 00:38:19.981 We, as believers in Jesus, when we're serving God and keeping ourselves in the right place not perfection, but we're keeping ourselves in a place of holiness we are given a special grace to walk, even amongst demons. 00:38:19.981 --> 00:38:21.554 We could walk through a whole. 00:38:21.554 --> 00:38:47.137 You know, I've been in Haiti where we literally were staying right next to the witch doctor's house hut and he's doing his chance and all of the stuff and we're just sitting there enjoying the presence of God and he literally would come up to the property line and look over at us and like, try to intimidate us and things like that. 00:38:47.137 --> 00:38:55.378 But man, all we did was just raise up our hands and worship Jesus and before long he was going back inside hiding somewhere. 00:38:55.378 --> 00:39:00.378 And it's not that I wanted him to be punished, I want him to be saved. 00:39:00.378 --> 00:39:08.954 But he's also not going to cause us to be afraid so that we don't do the work of God where we're at. 00:39:10.389 --> 00:39:16.101 Mark 16, 15 also says go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 00:39:16.101 --> 00:39:18.916 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. 00:39:18.916 --> 00:39:21.315 Whoever does not believe will be condemned. 00:39:21.315 --> 00:39:27.677 And these signs will accompany those who believe In my name they will cast out demons. 00:39:27.677 --> 00:39:32.338