SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole.
SPEAKER_01: I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.
SPEAKER_01: Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Born for War podcast.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I just thought I would do a really light subject today.
SPEAKER_01: Since we've got baby dedication on demon possession.
SPEAKER_01: So, okay, here's the deal on demon possession that I need to say, and that is this that there's way too much information.
SPEAKER_01: And this, I've done, I've done seminars on this, have spoken all over the place on this particular topic.
SPEAKER_01: But it's under the series of the cosmic war, which we've been on.
SPEAKER_01: I think this is the eighth, seventh, or eighth message.
SPEAKER_01: But I decided to make it a part one because as I looked even at my notes, I went, there's no way.
SPEAKER_01: There's just no way we can cover this, right?
SPEAKER_01: And I really want to make sure that I carry you into the positive side, the power side of your identity in Christ and the authority that you have in Christ over darkness and over the demonic.
SPEAKER_01: But I can't, I can't present that without you understanding the gravity of how demons work.
SPEAKER_01: So for you that are guests with us, you came for a baby dedication, and you can already tell you don't like this guy.
SPEAKER_01: He's even dressed in black, which that that was not, it has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: It was just more like, I thought about it later.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, okay, there's gonna be all these guests with us today.
SPEAKER_01: Don't normally come.
SPEAKER_01: You may be coming from churches where, you know, you would never talk about demon possession, and if you want to leave, it's fine.
SPEAKER_01: It really is.
SPEAKER_01: I'm used to people leaving, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's it's kind of been part of my MO for a long time that I say things and people just leave.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it seems like more come than leave, so I think it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but this is actually an issue that's really in the Bible, and it's actually going to lead us into Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Christmas Eve service, I'm gonna talk about this.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just let you know a little preparation for Christmas Eve that the world needs Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: The world needs Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: The world is desperate for Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: That's gonna be the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Do you realize that the first announcement of to Christmas was not to people, was not to prophets, it was actually to the devil.
SPEAKER_01: So that's a tease for you guys for Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_01: So here I want to start with this.
SPEAKER_01: Can Christians be demonized?
SPEAKER_01: Can Christians be demon-possessed?
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna begin with that, and there's um and that's controversial for sure, and I'm gonna act like a politician, and I'm gonna answer it with yes and no.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so so can a Christian be demon-possessed?
SPEAKER_01: The answer is yes and no.
SPEAKER_01: Thirteen times in the New Testament, the King James Version or the New King James Version talks about demon possession.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to Matthew 4.
SPEAKER_01: Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 4, verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: And in Matthew, in this gospel, this is the first time that demon possession is used.
SPEAKER_01: His fame, meaning Jesus, went throughout all of Syria and they brought them all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.
SPEAKER_01: Now I want you to look at that verse.
SPEAKER_01: It's a very interesting verse, because Matthew is actually making a differentiation between diseases, torments, epileptics, paralytics, and demon-possessed people.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what that says to all of us when you read that at face value is that you could be tormented and not demon-possessed.
SPEAKER_01: You could have a disease and not be demon-possessed.
SPEAKER_01: You could be have epileptic seizures and you're not demon-possessed.
SPEAKER_01: You could be a paralytic, you're not demon-possessed, because he makes those categories different.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in other parts of the Testament, and again, we don't have time to go into all of them here, there's 14 of them, 13 others.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it would appear that sometimes Jesus recognized a particular sickness as being caused by a demon.
SPEAKER_01: He actually uses the same, the same word is used in the Greek for healing someone as casting out a demon.
SPEAKER_01: So there were times when he cast out blindness, or he cast out muteness, or he cast out what might seem to be, from maybe a clinical perspective, an epileptic seizure.
SPEAKER_01: At least it appears that way.
SPEAKER_01: But in this verse, they seem to all be in different categories.
SPEAKER_01: So here's why I say that.
SPEAKER_01: I say that because not every sickness is caused by a demon, and not every person who's got epilepsy is caused by a demon, not every paralytic is a paralytic because of a demon.
SPEAKER_01: Because in some of the circles that some of you have come out of, you blame the devil for everything.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And so and so you think the devil's behind every bush.
SPEAKER_01: My perspective is the devil is not behind every bush, but he is behind some.
SPEAKER_01: And so you've got to understand how he works, and that's why we're studying this.
SPEAKER_01: Because the key to victory in anything is knowing the tactics of your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: And so we do have an enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me just say this that I don't think anybody here is ever gonna meet the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Capital D.
SPEAKER_01: You and I are not anointed enough, powerful enough, or significant enough that Satan cares that much about you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to hurt your feelings, but that's kind of true.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but what he has is he has a host of demons.
SPEAKER_01: And these are kind of small level devils that we've talked about over the last few weeks have different categories of power in the hierarchy.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not gonna go through that again because I've already covered that.
SPEAKER_01: You can go back and look at the past sermons on that.
SPEAKER_01: But there are demons that everybody is influenced by and impacted by.
SPEAKER_01: So that's the word used here for possession.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the time of the 17th century, when they were writing the King James Version, King James had these scholars, they chose a particular word, and the word is daimonosomai.
SPEAKER_01: Daimonoe in the Greek.
SPEAKER_01: Daimonosomai, even then, did not mean ownership.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't know about you, but I used to run with some guys, and we did some really bad stuff back in high school.
SPEAKER_01: And it seemed like the kind of guys that I ran with back in the time before I knew the Lord were always getting their cars possessed.
SPEAKER_01: Or they were getting this possessed, and half of them were stolen anyway, so they didn't own them.
SPEAKER_01: But possession to me implies ownership.
SPEAKER_01: I do not believe any Jesus follower, born-again believer, can be owned by demons.
SPEAKER_01: I don't believe you can be owned or possessed.
SPEAKER_01: So when I think of possession, that's what I think of is ownership, and so no, you cannot be demon-possessed if that's what we mean.
SPEAKER_01: But actually, daimonosomi means demon-influenced or demonically influenced.
SPEAKER_01: So I use the word demonization.
SPEAKER_01: So there were people who were demonized, would be a better English translation in our vernacular today for demon possession in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: So I believe, yes, we can be demon-influenced.
SPEAKER_01: And it's obvious all through the epistles, the letters of the New Testament, they're talking about spiritual warfare constantly.
SPEAKER_01: And so if we as Christians, which the letters were written to, can't be demon-influenced, demonized, then why in almost every letter is there something about the devil or something about the spirits and the impact they can have in our lives?
SPEAKER_01: James 4, 7.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
SPEAKER_01: Now James is writing to believers.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, this is a great recipe for walking in the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Submit to God, number one, resist the devil, number two, and the result will be he will flee from you.
SPEAKER_01: So he's writing to believers, submit to God, resist the devil, he will flee from you.
SPEAKER_01: Now turn in your Bibles to Matthew 16.
SPEAKER_01: So you're in Matthew now.
SPEAKER_01: Keep turning to the right, Matthew 16.
SPEAKER_01: And we have this interesting story.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the story of Peter interacting with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now Peter's the leader of the twelve.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see, matter of fact, look at verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna pronounce that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and then he's gonna be demon-influenced.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be satanically influenced.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: Simon Peter, so verse 15, but who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: And Simon Peter answered, said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter is not only a believer, he's a fired up disciple.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But now look at verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: From that time, Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day.
SPEAKER_01: Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, that this should happen to you.
SPEAKER_01: And he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan.
SPEAKER_01: You're an offense to me, for you're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.
SPEAKER_01: So here's Peter, at the same time period, probably within 15 minutes of each other.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You're the living God.
SPEAKER_01: You're the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: You're the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody else is saying that yet.
SPEAKER_01: He's got the insight from the Spirit, and then Jesus says, Well, thank goodness you notice that.
SPEAKER_01: That can't be from you.
SPEAKER_01: That has to be from the Lord in you.
SPEAKER_01: And yet then he turns around and he rebukes Jesus who's going to go to the cross and he has to say, get behind me, Satan.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see what's happening here?
SPEAKER_01: That Satan can influence us.
SPEAKER_01: He can influence.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there are b there are some Christian leaders right now in our country, leaders of the prophetic prayer movement that are being investigated for all kinds of crazy stuff that they've done in the past.
SPEAKER_01: That's not hard.
SPEAKER_01: At my age, that's not hard for me to believe.
SPEAKER_01: I can be up to no good just like that if I begin to stray away from God's word, from fellowship, from accountability in my life.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm using the word demonized.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about demon influence, and I'm telling you, all of us in this room can get into trouble if we don't walk with God and submit to him on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_01: One noted theologian, C.
SPEAKER_01: Peter Wagner, who was a close friend of mine.
SPEAKER_01: I studied under him at Fuller when I was getting one of my degrees at Fuller.
SPEAKER_01: He's now deceased.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote this in my research, I've noticed several things.
SPEAKER_01: For one, almost all those who themselves are actively involved in a ministry of exorcism or deliverance, affirm that Christians can be demonized.
SPEAKER_01: Those who deny it, by and large, have had little or no direct contact with the demon.
SPEAKER_01: And I found that to be true, that there will be, there may be someone today in a crowd this size that might come up and say, I don't believe in what you say, and they said some things.
SPEAKER_01: And my response, I'll just let you know so you don't have to come up and bother me, is that my response is always the same.
SPEAKER_01: Have you had any experience in this?
SPEAKER_01: And their answer is always no.
SPEAKER_01: So until you've had experience in it, don't talk to me about it.
SPEAKER_01: Take what I'm saying is true because here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: I think you know me well enough by now to know that I've always tried to ground my experience with the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Scriptures come first, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Then experience comes out of that.
SPEAKER_01: But my experience lining up with scripture has been that in almost all the cases I've dealt with, these are Christians who are demonized.
SPEAKER_01: I don't find non-Christians who are demonized who want to get rid of their devils.
SPEAKER_01: They like them.
SPEAKER_01: They dig them, they hang out with them.
SPEAKER_01: That's where their identity comes from, is from that.
SPEAKER_01: So it's very rare.
SPEAKER_01: I think only two cases that I've ever had where someone came to me, they don't know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They know they don't know the Lord, and they are so tormented, they want to be set free, and they heard that I could help.
SPEAKER_01: And so I lead them to the Lord first, and they give their heart to Christ, and then we start dealing with the demonic, and that takes time.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's why I'm calling this part one, because we need to get into the difference between a power encounter and a truth encounter, and we don't have time today.
SPEAKER_01: So in January, as we go through the Christmas season into the new year with some stuff we're going to do there, we're going to come back to this, and I'll do a part two about truth encounter and power encounter.
SPEAKER_01: That's really, really, really important.
SPEAKER_01: Because you can have a truth encounter and not have a power encounter, all the demons come back.
SPEAKER_01: But if you have a truth encounter through the discipleship of the gospel in our lives, they don't come back.
SPEAKER_01: So, so here's what Wagner's talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Then he goes on.
SPEAKER_01: For another, I have discovered that several Christian leaders have changed their opinion on this matter over the years.
SPEAKER_01: But the changes I have found have all been in the same direction.
SPEAKER_01: From once denying that demons can harm Christians to now affirming that they can and do.
SPEAKER_01: As of yet, I've not known anyone who has changed from believing that demons harm Christians to not believing it anymore.
SPEAKER_01: For example, Charles Swindah has changed his opinion.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this was written in the 90s, but that has really been true.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen that so many times with noteworthy even cessationists, those who raise your hand if you know what I mean when I say cessationist.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so maybe half of you or a third of you.
SPEAKER_01: So cessationists would believe that all of the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit in the supernatural gifts like healing, deliverance, and such ceased.
SPEAKER_01: It's called the cessationists, ceased after about, it varies a little bit, maybe 50 years to 150 years, when the canon of Scripture was completed.
SPEAKER_01: There was no need for miracles like that anymore, and so they ceased.
SPEAKER_01: I don't believe that.
SPEAKER_01: But I came out of that.
SPEAKER_01: So I understand that belief system.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you may still believe that.
SPEAKER_01: And I hope that as we grow in Christ, we can grow in that.
SPEAKER_01: So now look at Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: So continue to the right, and let's look at an example in one of the most spiritual epistles in all of the New Testament, which is the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_01: It's called, some have called it the cosmic church as a theme for Ephesians.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 4 is amazing.
SPEAKER_01: All of Ephesians is very powerful in understanding spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_01: And you guys have seen how many times I've gone to Ephesians.
SPEAKER_01: I've gone to Ephesians, what, like a half a dozen times over this series, especially because of all the mention, chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 6 on principalities and powers.
SPEAKER_01: And so here I want us to camp.
SPEAKER_01: I actually want to start at verse 17, but before I do, look down at verse 27 and underline this.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 27 as a rubric for everything else I'm going to read, starting at verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: It says, nor give place to the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Now again, this is written by Paul to believers.
SPEAKER_01: Can't give a place to a devil unless there's a place that can be given to the devil.
SPEAKER_01: So this is to believers, nor give place to the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Now go up to verse 17, and the reason I'm doing this is because I think it explains so well the new man and the old man and how we give place to the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17, this I say, therefore, I testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.
SPEAKER_01: Wow, there's so much here.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying that there's a potential that we can still walk as we used to walk before we knew Christ, even though we have Christ in our heart.
SPEAKER_01: You could still do that.
SPEAKER_01: You have a choice about what you're going to put on.
SPEAKER_01: You have a choice of the clothes that you've put on, and you also have a choice every day whether you're going to put on the old man, which was being corrupted in your life before, or the new man, which is living in righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And he even says that you can come to a place in your life where you have such a futile mind you can't even think straight.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's you guys to see what happens with believers.
SPEAKER_01: They're not here right now.
SPEAKER_01: You're not in this category, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: You're here.
SPEAKER_01: But even in the nine years since the inception of the road, there's people that are not here anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And they were leading small groups and they were fired up and they were following Jesus and they were evangelists for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And then they started kind of moving in a different direction.
SPEAKER_01: They started reading certain stuff, they started looking at certain stuff, and gradually over time, they fell into the futility of their mind, alienated from the life of God, and that ignorance took over, and we don't see them anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And then they got a divorce, or they had an affair, or they committed suicide.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I could go through all I've seen it all.
SPEAKER_01: The potential in all of us to be demonized is always there.
SPEAKER_01: It's always there.
SPEAKER_01: And then it talks about uncleanness.
SPEAKER_01: But then verse 20 says, You did not learn Christ this way.
SPEAKER_01: If indeed you have heard of him and have been taught by him, truth is in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So stay connected, stay connected to the word, stay connected to believers, stay connected to new men, new man, new woman type people, those who walk in that.
SPEAKER_01: That you put off, verse 22, concerning your former conduct.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he's saying put it off because it's still there, it can still come, it can still entice.
SPEAKER_01: The old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts.
SPEAKER_01: So just because we're born again does not in any way cause us not to be attempted again and again to go back to those old ways.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have the church.
SPEAKER_01: That's why many of the reformers said, no church, not saved.
SPEAKER_01: No church not saved.
SPEAKER_01: That they they meant it that those who are truly saved, you're in the church because you're putting on the new man.
SPEAKER_01: And those that begin to disassociate from the church, they're not even believers.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't believe that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not that extreme, but I'm telling you, great reformers like Calvin and Luther believe that.
SPEAKER_01: That's how important the church is.
SPEAKER_01: That you've got to be where new men are.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to be where the new people of God are, or you're hopeless because you'll go back.
SPEAKER_01: We know that's true.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we even look at what's happening in the body of Christ right now with leadership and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01: There's leading pastors that do dumb things because they've learned how to cloak it in manipulation and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And so they know how to say all the right things, but they've got this dark thing going on, right?
SPEAKER_01: We all have that tendency.
SPEAKER_01: I have that tendency.
SPEAKER_01: I need you, you need me.
SPEAKER_01: I need to hang out with people like you.
SPEAKER_01: You're my favorite people in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I believe that with all our heart.
SPEAKER_01: We go to other places and go, man, I can't wait to get back to road people.
SPEAKER_01: Because we're pretty honest, right?
SPEAKER_01: We're pretty honest about our stuff.
SPEAKER_01: We don't do a lot of religious posturing and stuff, and um.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the kind of church I want to be in because that's the kind of church I feel most comfortable in, because then we can quickly repent because we love each other and we're for each other.
SPEAKER_01: So he says these things.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
SPEAKER_01: So he keeps going back to the mind, the mind, the mind.
SPEAKER_01: And that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore putting away lying.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are liars.
SPEAKER_01: You lie a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, advice from Pastor Steve.
SPEAKER_01: Lying is a bummer.
SPEAKER_01: Because you wake up in the morning and you can't remember who you lied to the day before.
SPEAKER_01: Or you can't remember who you lied to the week before.
SPEAKER_01: And now you're trying to remember in a conversation or situation, well, did I tell them this or did I tell them that?
SPEAKER_01: And so you're in this quandary constantly because you lie a lot.
SPEAKER_01: So stop doing that.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, he's going to say that's how the enemy gets a foothold in your life, is lying.
SPEAKER_01: It was Mother Teresa who said, Mother Teresa, I mean a lot of theological stuff with Mother Teresa, I'd have problems with.
SPEAKER_01: But one thing I can say, Mother Teresa was a pretty holy person.
SPEAKER_01: She said, get up in the morning, spend an hour with God, and don't lie.
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty good advice.
SPEAKER_01: If you walk in truth, in my new book that I'm working on on Nine Habits of Courage, I talk about the fact that you've got to build a house of truth.
SPEAKER_01: I think that's Habit 7 or something.
SPEAKER_01: Build a house of truth.
SPEAKER_01: Walk in truth.
SPEAKER_01: So therefore, put away lying.
SPEAKER_01: And I wouldn't be saying it in verse 25 if some people in Ephesus were liars.
SPEAKER_01: Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we're members of one another.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 26, be angry, but do not sin.
SPEAKER_01: Do not let the sun go down in your wrath, nor give place to the devil.
SPEAKER_01: So that's the context of what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_01: So my new this is a New King James Version.
SPEAKER_01: It says, nor give place to the devil.
SPEAKER_01: But actually the NIV is better on this one, which is rare.
SPEAKER_01: I think usually NKJV is better.
SPEAKER_01: If you're an NIV person, uh I apologize for hurting your feelings, but I'm just as for a teaching perspective, because I like literal, I like I look up words, NIV isn't as good, but it reads better.
SPEAKER_01: So I totally get it.
SPEAKER_01: I keep using your NIV, that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: It's not an issue to get worked up over.
SPEAKER_01: But this one, they really get it right.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it says in the NIV.
SPEAKER_01: Do not give the devil a foothold.
SPEAKER_01: That's a great, great translation.
SPEAKER_01: Do not give the devil a foothold.
SPEAKER_01: In the Greek, it's the same root word for a stirrup on a saddle.
SPEAKER_01: Don't give a stirrup so that the devil can mount you, that he can have influence over you.
SPEAKER_01: This is perfect in understanding the demonization process of what he just said all through basically Ephesians 4, especially from verse 17 about the new man, that when you begin to indulge in certain sins in your life, which all of us are capable of, whether we walk with the Lord for six months or sixty years, you still are capable of that.
SPEAKER_01: You are giving a foothold probably not to Satan, but to devils, plural, to demonic emissaries, which are all seen in the same rubric in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: So, everybody look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you a little illustration.
SPEAKER_01: So all of us have fleshly areas of the old man that we battle with, and my fingers represent that.
SPEAKER_01: For some of you, it might be lust, it's a struggle for you.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you it's lying, some of you it's anger, some of you it's jealousy, maybe envy.
SPEAKER_01: Just go through the list.
SPEAKER_01: You have the whole list there in um in Galatians, in Ephesians, talks about all these different areas where we all struggle.
SPEAKER_01: So when we are born again, the blood of Christ covers that.
SPEAKER_01: So we're forgiven of all of that, and you're gonna go to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And um, but even though if my hand were turned red with the blood of Christ, I still battle with stuff because I'm still in the flesh.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not devoid of my flesh.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, I think it's a bigger battle.
SPEAKER_01: I used to say, Liz doesn't like when I say this, but I I think it's it's a it helps people understand better that I was a happy pagan.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I really enjoyed being a pagan because I didn't know anything else but being a pagan.
SPEAKER_01: So I was into paganism, and that's like drinking with my buddy, stealing stuff, running around, carousing, all that.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't, my conscience didn't bother me one whit.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, then I get saved, and then the battle begins.
SPEAKER_01: Because now all this stuff that I used to do, and I was like, that's cool, man, more the merrier.
SPEAKER_01: And now went, I gotta somehow begin to corral this flesh and walk in holiness because my love for God became greater than my love for my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted him, and I wanted to be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: And man, I have no regrets after you know 45 years of walking with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what happens is that we start indulging sins, and let's say it's a sin of jealousy, and you're you're struggling with jealousy, and you go home today, you confess to the Lord, I'm I'm jealous about this, and I give it to you, and I surrender that area to you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's quiet, all quiet on the fleshly front.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But then, you know, you begin to start messing around, and you're on the internet, and you're looking at some lustful stuff, and you keep indulging that, but then you stop.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So what was here, and now, okay, it's forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: You're you're walking in holiness and righteousness, peace, and joy, the fruit of the kingdom of God again.
SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's the problem the problem is when we have these areas of our life that we are continually indulging in, there's demonic spirits of lust.
SPEAKER_01: There's demonic spirits of jealousy.
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be a point where they come in and they lock in on that area.
SPEAKER_01: That's a foothold.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't deal with it, more spirits come, more spirits come, and more spirits come, and it becomes a stronghold.
SPEAKER_01: It goes from a foothold to a stronghold.
SPEAKER_01: And that's when you're in big, big trouble.
SPEAKER_01: So I believe, and I have a whole, I only got a third of the way through the message today.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll pick it up in January.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to leave you hanging that much, but let me just say this: you can be set free by putting on the armor.
SPEAKER_01: And in some cases, you're gonna need somebody to cast that spirit out.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm talking about about a power encounter and a truth encounter.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have time to get into all that.
SPEAKER_01: But um, there you go.
SPEAKER_01: That's part one.
SPEAKER_01: So stand with me.
SPEAKER_01: Alright.
SPEAKER_01: So, let me leave you with this.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want to leave you with.
SPEAKER_01: So, when we moved to our house in Black Forest, we had mice.
SPEAKER_01: They were gross, man.
SPEAKER_01: We had so many mice, and at one point I tore out the fireplace because I wanted to redo.
SPEAKER_01: Hey there, buddy, what's happening?
SPEAKER_01: Um, there is a fireplace we tore out, and the mice just keep running through, man.
SPEAKER_01: So, guess what you got to do to get rid of mice?
SPEAKER_01: You can either trap them, which takes forever, or you can figure out what they're feeding on and start eliminating that.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're here today and you are letting the enemy feed on something you know in your heart isn't right, I want to encourage you to share that with someone that you trust, a blessing ally, confess it, and then get some accountability so you can be set free.
SPEAKER_01: But let's put on the armor.
SPEAKER_01: I want to put on the armor secondly.
SPEAKER_01: Put on the armor, and we'll talk more about this in January.
SPEAKER_01: But let's take your hands right now, hold them out like this, and then put it on your head.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, I put on the helmet of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Say that.
SPEAKER_01: Renew my mind.
SPEAKER_01: The corruption of the old man is over in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I put on the new man, renewed in the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Now put your hand on your chest.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you tell me to put on the breastplate of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: I put on the breastplate of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna live wholehearted today.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna live wholehearted this week through the breastplate of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Now put your hands on your waist.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I'm gonna live by the belt of truth.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna live in truth.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna quit lying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna start learning to tell the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, put your arm out like this.
SPEAKER_01: This is the shield of faith.
SPEAKER_01: I put on the shield of faith, which extinguishes all the darts of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now hold up this hand with this hand so you can keep these right here.
SPEAKER_01: This is the sword of the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You said faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, which is the sword of the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy with the shield of faith and the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, everybody, not everybody can bend down, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to just point your hands at your feet.
SPEAKER_01: These are the feet of the gospel of peace.
SPEAKER_01: May I be a peacemaker everywhere I go.
SPEAKER_01: May I be the good news and share the good news.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for today.
SPEAKER_01: We worship you, we bless you.
SPEAKER_01: Let's worship Allah.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Foreign for War podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org.
SPEAKER_00: God bless.