How is everybody?
Awesome.
There a guy who had a neighbor and his neighbor came knocking on the door and he said, I'd like to sell you my dog. I'll give him to you for five bucks. Said five bucks? I mean that's, that's a pretty good looking dog. For five bucks?
Yeah. Honestly, you can have him for five bucks. He says, wow. He says, he's a talking dog. He's a talking dog.
Says, yeah, my dog talks, but I'm going to give him to you for five bucks. And he's going, a talking dog. And then all of a sudden the dog trips and says, I am, I'm a talking dog. Said, and I want you to buy me. Because this guy never feeds me, doesn't take care of me, he's never bathed me and I'm amazing.
I want you to know that. I used to be on the road. I did tricks, I did things. I had Vegas, I had my own show in Vegas. Made all kinds of.
I mean, I was the most revered talking dog in the whole world. I was in the military for several years. I got 10 medals for bravery. I was in the military. You have no idea how amazing I am.
And he goes, oh, shut up. He says, what's going on? He said, well, wow, he is a talking dog. I can't believe you're gonna sell a talking dog for five bucks. Why are you gonna sell him for five bucks?
I gotta get him out of here. I can't stand it anymore. He's such a liar.
As a joke, the dog was a liar. Like all that stuff he said he did. He, he didn't really do. He just said that so the owner couldn't take it anymore. So how many found the explanation a little bit helpful?
Thank you all. Wordy, you're the best. Thank you. All right, so we're starting a new series, hashtag ootd. I think we should put it hashtag OOTD Impact.
Because you don't want to do hashtag OOTD on your X file or whatever it is because some people dress kind of funny and. But you know, there is a hashtag ootd. And some people, they're going out and they're going, hey, look at me. And they take a picture of themselves and they put hashtag outfit of the day and all that. So this is.
Some of our younger staff members thought that this would be a good idea for a sermon series name. Not me. This wasn't on me. I was like, what not to wear? But anyways, that's my show.
You know that's my show. What not to wear. All right, so we're going to start a series on ootd and we're going to talk about the armor of God. How many want to talk about the armor of God? So we're going to talk about that and we're going to break that down in a way that you're going to walk in it.
I'll tell you after the series. You're going to be so set up. You're going to be. Yeah, I'm gonna kick some butt. All right, Ephesians 6.
Ephesians 6. Turn there in your Bibles with me. Let me hear the flutter of the pages.
Okay, all right, here it is. Ready? This passion translation. The Passion. Now, my beloved ones, I have saved these most important truths for last.
Now a lot of translations just have one word that it says finally, finally. But if you look up that word finally, it's a summary. It's a. Now in light of those things, it's like a summary. And now I want to give you some of the most important thoughts with my last words.
So these are the very important words I want to give you in light of the revelation in these first five and a half chapters I've written to you. And now in light of that, I want to sum it all up with this very important truth. So pay attention. So that's what's happening here. I've saved these most important truths for last.
Be supernaturally infused with strength through your life union. Say life union. Say it again. Life union. Come on.
Be supernaturally infused with strength through your life union. You are one spirit with God. You and God are indistinguishable. You are one with the Godhead. You are the God stuff.
Your life union is with God. Be infused with power through your life union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious with the force of his explosive of power flowing in and through you. I got one. Amen for that verse.
One.
Stand victorious with the force of his explosive power flowing in and through you. All right. Pinch your. Pinch your neighbor and say, wake up. All right.
Put on God's complete set of armor provided for us so that you will be protected as you fight against the evil strategies. King James Version says wiles, the wiles of the devil are the wiles and strategies of the accuser. God has provided for us. He has outfitted us. There is a provision in our union with Christ.
There's provision that we are protected. There's an armor, there's a suit that we walk in. There's things we're provided with that gives us ability in our hand to hand combat are hand to hand combat with the devil. Your hand to hand combat is not with human beings. Your fight is not against what you can see.
What you can see may very well be influenced. And often if it is coming against you and it's evil, it's being influenced behind the scenes by some dark force. See in the old covenant you used to read, remember the old Covenant where you look, oh, there's an evil army coming after us. So they saw their enemies, they fought tangibly with their enemies. Remember Joshua when he was fighting against the.
I think it was the Amalekites there. And he's fighting and, and his victory was dependent on whether Moses hands were up on the hill. Isn't that annoying? I mean you're fighting, giving it everything and then you're like, and you look up and Moses hands are down, then his hands go back up. I mean, I'm giving it all.
But the, the victory depends on this guy's hands being up. You know, your victory depends on the finished work of the cross. And so you are condemned to victory every day. Because Jesus did it. He did it, he did it, did it, did it.
It's done, done, done. But you know what? In those days they were physical. They saw it like, you don't have your kids. Wake up.
Mom. Mom. Goliath on the front yard again. He's there, Mom. Get your bible, get your favorite verses.
I'll curse you in the name of Jesus. We don't often see our enemies, you know, knocking on the front door. Hello, I'm sent from the devil to accuse you. But nonetheless it's just as real. But nonetheless it's just as real.
And in the unseen realm, there's rulers, there's forces, there's demonic things. We don't struggle against what you can see with these eyes. That's where the eyes, your spirit need to be open and flooded with light. Because we don't, we don't fight against flesh and blood, but with highest principalities, authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are powerful.
A powerful class of dem gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage. So don't get mad at politicians, don't get mad at dictators, don't get mad at your neighbor. You really are in control.
The problems with nations, the problems with things in the world. See of the increase of his government and peace, there'll be no end. So if God's not forcefully moving ahead, it's because the church doesn't know how to engage his program. It's because the church is sloppy, unfit and undressed and ill equipped to do what we're called to do. But we're not ill equipped.
We've been provided for richly to be incredibly successful in the realm of the spirit. Amen. That's what we're going to talk about. All right. So the essence of all spiritual warfare is to embrace your union with Christ Jesus.
We can stop there. That's the end of the story. The essence, the, the very foundation of victory, the very foundation of all that takes place. I, I hate to even use the word warfare because we think of Goliath and we think of the Amalekites. There really are spiritual forces.
But the essence of our victory, the essence of what we do is to stay in union with Jesus. And the enemy is like he TR roar at you to get you out of a place of absolute immunity, absolute protection, absolute victory, absolute overcomer in every moment of your life. And he tries to get you into fear and get you into anxiety and get you into worry, because that's what he does. But he's a toothless guy who has no authority over you at all. That's why I told you the joke about the lying dog.
It actually wasn't just something random. It fits with the sermon. Romans 13:14. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on what?
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on what? Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. When you come to God and you embrace the good news, you were baptized into the family of God. You put on Christ Jesus.
You were baptized into him. And it says, put on the Lord now and make. Listen to this. Thou make no provision for the flesh. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ now and make no provision for the flesh.
Don't let the flesh make decisions anymore. That's not a sin nature. It's not like you got a good nature and a bad nature. You don't. You are one with God.
One spirit with him cannot be improved upon. You are perfect. But we still have this earth tent. Slap yourself. That's called flesh.
The flesh has desires. The flesh still does things. You still got mindsets and things that need to get fixed up and renewed. So this little earth suit and all that's attached to it needs to stay in line with your redeemed spirit. Your spirit already knows what to do.
But you have responsibility to have your redeemed, renewed, set apart powerful, perfect spirit. Totally govern every other area of your life. And if your born again spirit doesn't govern every other area of your life, you can put yourself in a place of jeopardy. That's why it says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. Now, would not have to instruct you to make no provision for the flesh.
If you couldn't make provision for the flesh, you can. You can wake up and decide. I'm gonna let my body and my natural cravings direct me today for breakfast, I'm gonna have ice cream. That would be flash, just for those who need an example. You wake up, you feel frustrated, you kick the dog.
That's the flash. Did that help anybody? All right. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ the word wiles. Wiles is the word.
Method. Method. Methodea. Methodea. The accent's on the E.
All right, Two words. It comes. It's compound word and the word wiles. And we're supposed to know this? Don't be ignorant of his schemes.
What are his schemes? What are the wiles of the devil? Two words. To journey with. To journey with.
So we are not unaware that the devil journeys with us. Oh, don't worry about it. But you know what he does study you. It's the word methods. Where we get methods.
Schemes is where we get schematics. Schematics. But the devil studies you. He watches you. And if you keep eating ice cream every morning, he's going to go, that's a problem.
And he's going to throw thoughts in your head, like, why don't we add some chocolate chips to that?
Was that you, Holy Spirit?
You might say, what a mundane thing to say, Pastor. I could get into some other stuff, but it might get a little personal. I've. This year I am a Presbyterian. No, not a Presbyterian.
A pescatarian. That's right.
I'm not a Presbyterian. Pes. Cheryl said I always get that mixed up. Amen. Can you say pescatarian?
I still don't know what it means, but Cheryl says that's what I should do anyways. God bless her. Sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks through her. Anyhow. All right.
Journey with. Journey with. See, the devil watches you. And when he sees you give in the cravings of the flesh, he'll start to toss some more thoughts in there. Don't you love pizza?
Is two pieces enough? Maybe four. Is this all about me today or what? Huh? Did you see that movie?
There's a little bit of skin in that movie. Did you like that? Little bit? Little bits. Okay.
Right. You know what? You pop up your phone there, you can get lots and lots just real right there. Nobody will know what did we get into? Some other things there, I don't know.
Are you allowed to talk about pornography?
The devil gets you down some crazy paths. Amen. Sorry, I had to say that right on Sunday morning. But some people are struggling with it. And the devil watches that.
You know, he'll feed that. And here's the amazing thing about the devil is the devil drags you down a path you don't want to go, and then he blames you when you get there. He goes, I can't believe you did that. Can't believe you. What kind of scumbag are you?
And you go to church on Sunday. You call yourself a Christian. You know what? Faith ain't working for you. You might not even be a believer.
The Holy Ghost probably didn't get on you. You are a big time loser. Straight to hell, straight down, straight down, straight out. So he drags you into it, encourages it. It's going to be awesome.
It's going to be good. You should try just a little bit. And then all says, there's, ah, you evil, evil dog. Are we okay? All right.
That's why we gotta be dressed for success. That's why. Because you know why it says right here? Because we're not ignorant of the wiles of the devil. We're not ignorant that he follows up.
He investigates by methods. He sets up a settled plan, he follows it craftily, he frames devices and he wants to deceive you. Because the devil is a liar. Here's the whole wonderful thing. If he lies to you and gets you down an ugly path and you get there, here's the most important thing.
Right away, turn to Jesus, say, did you see that? I did. I'm forgiven, right? You're forgiven. Come on, get over here.
Let me give you a big hug. Now, you might think that's ridiculous. You know what? That's when you need faith. Because you know your natural man says he's not that forgiving.
That's when you need faith. When you're in a pit and you got yourself there and you know the guilty feeling you're having right now is on you. Don't ever let it get to shame, because guilt is because you did something bad. But shame tries to get at your identity and tries to say you didn't just do a bad thing, you're a bad person. And we're not having that.
Amen. So come on, all of you who had ice cream this morning, put it aside right now in the name of Jesus. You're not some broken down ice cream eater. For breakfast. You're a child of God.
You're a pescatarian. I already know what that means, but thank you, Kyle. Thank you. All right. Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. I'm telling you, though, you get down in that place, you got something in the pit of your belly. You feel like such a loser. The devil would love to keep you there. The devil would love to keep you in loser land forever.
But I'm telling you, you just turn around right away and go, ah, God, he said, yep, I got that covered. You're forgiven, healed, and free. That was weird, though. What was weird? Well, what just happened, that was kind of weird, wasn't it?
Well, what happened? Because he throws it into the sea of his forgetfulness. And it's not because I forgot you were bad yesterday. No, it's not that he forgets. He chooses to never hold that against you, ever.
It's like when I go golfing, if I don't hit a good ball, I go, that was ugly. I call him mulligan, and mulligan means never happened. Another mulligan, pastor. That's your 10th mulligan. Are you throwing that in my face?
Best wood in my bag is my pencil. Amen. I thought the devil was defeated, Pastor. I thought the devil was done. What are we talking about him for?
I mean, why do I have to engage the enemy? I. I made a deal. You don't talk to me, and I won't talk to you. You.
You stay away from me. I'll stay away from you. You don't have to be afraid of him. He's afraid of you. His only power over.
He's a lie. And he lies to you and says, I can crush you. I go, shut up. I'm gonna kick your butt. I'm gonna go heal three people right now because you're Colossians 2:15.
He made a public spectacle of him triumphing over him in the cross. Triumphed over all evil. You know what triumphing is? Triumphing is the party that you have after you had complete victory. So what we are called to do is live in absolute, total triumph every day of our lives.
We are not trolled to try to achieve victory. We are just to announce the devil everywhere. You are defeated. You are done. You are absolutely done.
You don't have a leg to stand on. Bye bye. That's it. I am a child of God, and the evil one cannot touch me. That's the truth.
Now, the devil tries to tell you that's not true. But you say, wrong again. And if you fall on your head, you immediately pick yourself up. A righteous man falls seven times, but he picks himself up again. A righteous man.
Hey, are you okay? All right. Hebrews 2:14. He might destroy him. He did it so that he might destroy him who holds the power of death.
That is the devil. So what is the devil? He is destroyed. John 3. 8.
The reason the son of God was manifest, made visible was to undo, to destroy, loose, dissolve all the works of the devil that he's done. Amen. Did Jesus come? Did he come? Was he manifest?
Did he come? What does that mean? The devil is destroyed. Can I get an amen from the front row? Strong front row today.
Amen. Devil's done. But the New Testament also says, Ephesians 4:26, 27. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.
I was up three months one time because I was so angry, I just couldn't go to bed angry. Took me three months to get over it. But boy, Cheryl called me a Presbyterian. So be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.
Now, the scripture wouldn't tell you not to give place to the devil if you couldn't give place to the devil. See, you can be an absolute, wonderful, set apart, powerful believer and still be demonized because you do dumb things like don't forgive people. Because you do dumb things like walk in bitterness. Because you do dumb things like keep on watching pornography 24, 7 and wonder why you feel like a load of poo. Did I just say that out loud?
A load of poo.
Hello. Oh, I hate these sermons. Pushes all the responsibility back on me. No, Jesus did it all. You just got to say thank you.
And if you fall in the mess, just turn around. Like I'm free from that. You're free from that. I have a box full of ghetto to jail free cards.
Well, if you do, that means that you'll just keep on doing it. Because you're free. No, because you realize you're free. The love of God transforms your heart.
You know who keeps doing it? You know who keeps doing it? The people who keep on by their own performance, trying to impress God. You know who keeps doing it? People who think that.
That if I just behave better, God will accept me. You know what? God accepted you while you were a loser. God accepted you when you could not behave yourself while I was yet a sinner. Christ died for me.
No greater love has anyone than they would lay down their life for a friend. He laid down his life for you. You didn't deserve it. And even when you're in the worst, most miserable place and you feel like, how could I do that? What have I done?
You turn your face to Jesus right away, and he's going to run to you. He's going to embrace you. Truth is, he doesn't have to run to you because he's never left you in the first place. The saddest lie of the world, the church is, is that when you sin, God leaves you. He doesn't leave you.
He's right there. He will never leave you or forsake you, even in your worst situation. It doesn't say that he walks away from you. It says that in our minds we feel separated from God. It says, doesn't say you're an enemy with God.
It says you're an enemy with God in your mind. Not in his mind, because he's right there. Hey, hey, turn this around. Come on, come on, come on, come on. He never goes anywhere.
He's always right there.
All right, John 17. Here's Jesus praying his high priestly prayer. My prayer is not that you would take them out of the world, but that you would protect them from the evil one. Now why would Jesus say protect you from the evil one if you didn't need protection from the evil one? Are we.
Are we making a connection here? First Peter 5:8. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion. The roaring lion is the toothless one who can't do anything but go, rawr. He roars.
You come out of the place of hiding, and the ones with tooth, they jump on you.
But he's just. He's got. He's toothless, dumb and stupid. When he roars, you say, shut up over there. That's all you got to do.
The enemy, the devil, prowls around roaring, looking for someone to devour. So why do we have this battle, Pastor? Why? Why do we have this battle? Why did God allow this evil influence?
If I'm a child of God, I'm in the family God. I'm in union with him. Why do I have to struggle in this broken world and broken system? Why does even crappy things happen to me, Pastor? I go through stupid stuff, you see.
Go through it, conquer it, be victorious over it. You know, you're going to have trouble. You're going to go through difficulties, but you're not to be subject to the difficulties. You're to make those things subject to you. You're called to reign and rule over every good Thing did you know what you're going to do for all eternity?
You're going to reign and rule with him. You know what you're doing right now? You're in training to reign and rule.
Set in Judges, judges, all that, it's all a type of the shadow. But in judges they said, why? Why do we have to conquer all these enemies? I thought you gave us the land. You said just walk in and poss.
But it's not like that. We have to walk in, we got to kill giants, we got to kill armies, we got to tame wild animals. I mean if you gave us the land, you'd think you could clean it up, put up some nice condos with a few swimming pools. But no, when they went in the land, they had to possess it. And possessing had to be done through warfare.
We're going to possess the city of London. And you know, it's going to take some effort, it's going to take some understanding. And I'll tell you right now, a lot of stupid things have happened in our congregation. Some attacks have happened in my personal world, in my world, and the devil is trying to discourage me.
You ever wake up with a four day long headache? Sometimes that's just the devil. You take some Advil, doesn't touch it. You know why Advil, doesn't touch demonic things. Demonic things have to be dealt with spiritually, not through medication.
That's when you got away. Oh, that's enough. I curse you in Jesus name. This pain leaves my body right now. Well, we almost had Carl.
Stuck him down with a four day headache. Thought we had him. He finally woke up. You gotta wake up. How are you?
We're doing a series on the armor of God and teach you how to do some battle. Gonna try to make it real practical. Judges 3, 2. Was only that the generation might know how to be taught to war. At least those who previously knew nothing of it.
Sadly, the church doesn't know of war. And the war that they do know is stupid war. The war they do know is be afraid of the devil. Oh my goodness. Careful.
If you touch a light, a light bulb, there might be a devil in it. And sometimes he hides under doorknobs. There's been all kinds of crazy, crazy teaching. But I'll tell you one thing you got to know for sure is that you have all authority and all victory over every single demonic thing. You got to know that be established in that.
That's why he said finally, in light of all of these things they said, and one of the things he said is, I have blessed you with all spiritual bless blessings in heavenly places. I have blessed you with empowered words in the heavenly realm. And you can speak to those thrones and dominions and cast them down. He said, I have seated with you. With me.
You are in a place of authority with me in heavenly realms. And you have authority over all the works of the devil. That's who you are. But we gotta exercise it, we gotta do it, we gotta get involved, and we gotta quit being ignorant about what the devil's doing. Amen.
We're gonna dress for success. So that's judges. All right. The kingdom of God is eternal, but dominion is generational. The kingdom of God, eternal, it's established, it's unshakable.
But if we're going to lay hold of God's purpose in our generation, that's our responsibility. Acts 13:36. David said he served God in his own generation by the will of God. And then he fell asleep. Psalm 115, 16.
The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's. But the earth he has given to the children of men. So God, by his own will, has determined that how things go on earth depends on the church. How things go on earth depends on the body of Christ. What gets loosed and what gets bound depends on the body of Christ.
God has established it that way, and nothing can change that. If he changed that, everything would implod, blow up, because his word is no good. But because he said, man will always make the decisions on earth. That's why Jesus had to become a man to come and redeem us. Because a man lost it, a man had to get it back.
And there's a man seated on the throne today.
But he gave us the Holy Spirit. He flooded us and baptized us with glory so that we could take authority in the affairs of earth and we could bring the kingdom of God as it is in heaven, into every sphere of our life. All right. John 8:44. You are of your father, the devil, because there's no truth in you.
When he speaks, he speaks from his own resources. He's a liar and he's the father of it. That's Jesus talking to the pastors at the church in his day. He went to church, the pastors came, start rebuking him. He said, pastor, you're of your father, the devil.
You're a liar. And what was the next thing after it? They plotted, how can we kill him him? But he said, you're a liar because you lie just like your father. The devil's basic tool is deception.
And he lies to you. And everything he does is rooted in a lie. Healing might work for some people. Laura, she got healed of cancer, but that only happens once in a while. It's random and maybe we got it wrong.
Maybe, maybe, maybe that wasn't what happened. No, Laura knows that's what happened. When are we going to see some miracles? She got healed. We had another child this week.
We were praying for a child.
Jesus. The name of Jesus. We were praying for a child this week. Had a cluster of cancerous tumors. And they were doing some treatments, doing some tests.
Went in to have a scan and examine where things were at. And the doctor came out and said, I don't know what happened happen, but.
And the doctor said, it's like they melted.
They're gone. I love that because the doctor's apologetic, you know, I'm really sorry, but the cancer we said you have is not there. I'm so sorry.
Let me move to a rapid conclusion then. The serpent said that a woman you will not surely die for. God knows that the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God. How will you be like God? Because you're already like God.
But here's the thing that you'll have. You'll have the ability to know good and evil. You have the ability to make the judgment calls yourself. The one thing God never wanted you to do is make judgment calls on yourself or others or anything. Let him be the judge of those things.
You see, what the devil wanted them to do was let the seed. Let the seed of judgment enter into their lives. And you see, Satan's challenge to Adam and Eve was. Don't you want to be like God? God and what entered their life when that seed came in?
The knowledge of good and evil meant that I can make decisions about good and bad. I can determine good and bad in people with me, people around me. I can do those things so I can become like God. Calling the balls and strikes myself. I can even determine my own worth.
I will determine who it is. I don't need you. I don't need to get my value from you. I have chosen to live independently of God. I choose my life.
I choose my way. I choose my path. I do not have to be subject to you. You are God and I am God. That was a lie of the devil, because that's what the devil did.
The devil did that very same thing. Ezekiel 28:17. Get me Ezekiel 28:17. This is all about the devil. This is before our creation.
But here's what happened. He said your heart was filled with pride. Say pride. Your heart was filled with pride. Because of your beauty and your wisdom.
You became corrupted in your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of the kings. See, before our creation there was a battle in heavenly realm. And the devil rose up and he decided. He was created beautifully, but he decided, look at me.
He had authority, he had power. He was engaged with the affairs of the earth and doing things and he enjoyed it. He received accolades and things were going on. Then all of a sudden he just thought. He thought for a minute, I'm like God.
It was over. And the sin was pride. I'm going to live my life on my own terms. I will decide. I will call the balls and strike.
I am Lord. I am Lord. I've got it all under control. And I am Lord. I'm pretty awesome and good looking and I really think I'm cooking because I'm a pescatarian.
Now. You see, that's what happens with Ben. We watch a few TED talks and think we're awesome.
You know, we watch if there's a few really good awesome motivational speakers, call themselves preachers and they tell you you can do everything. They set you up for nonsense. You know what? You can do everything through Christ who strengthens you. But apart from him, you can do nothing.
And the sad lie of the enemy is always to get you to exalt yourself and take your place as God of your own existence. And you see, when you do that, you pull yourself out of that place of immunity and you're still there. God's there. He's never going to leave. He's never going to forsake you.
But your own behavior can bring a hellstorm of fire on you because you pulled yourself out of the covering of God. And you know what? There are consequences. You're never going to lose your sonship. You're never going to lose his presence in your life.
He's always there going, can we talk? Can we talk? How's it going right now? He's always there. He's always there.
I got to wrap it up. So don't trust God. You become your own boss. Pride in your appearance. Pride in your own understanding and knowledge.
Pride in your own giftedness. Pride in your own experience, your life in life or in God? I'm a. I'm a wonderful Bible teacher. I know more than most Bible teachers.
You know, I should have a show on tv. These guys are rubbish. I watch them. They're garbage. It's nonsense.
I turn on that stupid radio show. Garbage. They should all come to Impact Church. I've got it. I am Lord.
I pride. It's a horrible thing. I am nothing. I am absolutely nothing. I went to a conference once, and my wife introduced me, you know, she said, here's my husband, Carl.
He's no buddy. I said, gosh. But you know, I said, you know what? That was the most beautiful introduction I've ever had. Because the truth is, I stand here with nothing except the gospel of Jesus Christ and a bucket of his grace and a testimony of look what God can do.
The apostle Paul said, I know nothing except Christ crucified. Hallelujah. Pride's a terrible thing, you know, and you get offended. You know, when you get offended, that's pride. When you think you weren't treated right or something didn't go your way, that's pride.
And you know what you got to do? You got to look out for pride. Because the heavy foot of pride will come down on you. Because you know when you get pride in there, you won't just have the devil come your way. God resists the proud.
I tell you, I don't. The devil's got no authority over me, but God does. And you start to step in the realm of pride and wonder why you're struggling. Pastor, could you tell me what is the dynamic forces against me? Yes.
It's not a dynamic force. It is a spiritual force and it has a name, but it's not demonic. Really? You know the name of it? Yes, I do.
Yahweh.
He resists the proud and he gives grace to the humble. Anyways, that was a lot of meddling, pastor. James, 4, 6, 7. But he gives more and more grace. Power of the Holy Spirit to meet evil tendencies in all others fully.
That is why he says, God sets himself against the proud and the haughty. But he gives grace continually to the lowly and those who are humble enough to receive it. So be subject to God. Now listen. Be subject to God and resist the devil.
Stand firm against him, and he will flee from you. Hallelujah. First Corinthians 15:10. But God in His amazing grace has made me who I am. And his grace was to me not fruitless.
In fact, I worked harder than than all the rest. Yet not in my own strength, but in God's. For he, his empowering grace has been poured into me. Humility. CS Lewis said, humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of Yourself less.
Let me say it again. Humility. Don't think less yourself, because you are awesome. God created you. You're wonderful.
It's amazing who you are. But you know what? You're nothing without Him. And you got to let him animate every part of your life. I tell you, there's nothing like living in in the goodness of God and the glory of God.
There's nothing like being able to say right now, I know right now that I'm in the center of His Word will. I know it. So good. Don't think less of yourself, think of yourself less. Matthew 16, 17, 19 Blessed are you, Simon Barjona.
Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. And now I want to tell you, Peter, on this rock I will build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. I will give you, say you. I'll give you the keys of the kingdom, say you.
Whatever you bind on earth will be bound. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. So you see, when you come under the lordship of Christ, you're restored to reign in the affairs of your life, but also the affairs of the world. Matthew 22:11 12 but when the king came and he saw all the guests, he saw one man there did not have the wedding garments on. So he said to him, my friend, how did you get in here without the wedding garment?
And he was speechless. See, what he was trying to say was, there is a wedding, there is a kingdom, there is a big beautiful feast that we're involved in even right now. And you see, God has provided garments for you to attend. But if you decide, I'm not going to wear the garments that you provided, I'm going to come in my own cool self. People who come as their own cool self and don't wear the garments he provides, they get kicked out of the party.
And Jesus is trying to say, the only way to walk in the fullness of the kingdom is to wear the garments he's provided. He's given you armor, he's given you garments. He's clothed you to prosper and be successful. He's clothed you to walk and manifest the kingdom. And Elijah saw him no more.
Elijah was following. Elijah was taken up into heaven. And he said, elisha, if you see me go, you'll have a double portion anointing. And so Elisha saw him go, and Elijah was no more. But what he saw was he saw the mantle of Elijah fall.
And the mantle's always fall to earth. Earth the mantles don't go to heaven, they're no use there. The anointing, the Spirit, it's here where he functions. And when he saw the mantle, he went and got the mantle. But when he saw the mantle, he tore his robes to pieces.
You cannot put on the mantle and anointing of God and still walk in yourself. You got to tear your robes, you got to remove all that nonsense. And if you want to be used effectively and find the best you and be the best you, you got to tear your robes, you got to humble yourself and you got got to put on Jesus Christ. You got to put on. Because you can't say, I'll have some of God on top of what I want to do.
No, you got to tear it all. You got to walk in humility. And you're going to see the glory of God be manifest in your life. 20, 25. It's time to come alive.
John 14, 30 and 31. I've only got 25 more verses for the Prince of Evil. He comes. He's coming. The Prince comes.
This is Jesus. He's coming. But he has no claim on. He has nothing common with me. There's nothing in me that belongs to him and he has no power over me.
But Satan is coming. And I do see as the Father has commanded me. Satan is coming. I do as the Father has commanded me so that the world may know and be convinced that the love of the Father is in me. And I only do what the Father has instructed me to do.
I act in full agreement with his orders. Rise. Let us go away from here. He says the Prince of this world is coming. And I know he is, but I'm not worried.
He has nothing in me. He has no legacy, no place, no inheritance. I've torn off every other thing that I've tried to create. Everything I've tried to frame, anything anybody else tried to frame and put on me. I've torn off anything that would try to identify me.
And I'm gonna put on the Lord Jesus Christ, him alone. He will clothe me. I will not walk in my own pride or my own self sufficiency. But I'll trust in him every moment of my day and I'll walk totally attuned to what he is saying. And I'll walk and I'll bring the kingdom to be every place I go.
So the choice remains for every person. Who do I trust? Who's in control? God doesn't want to control you. He's not creepy.
He's not a control. Freak. Who can I control today, Carl? I want to control you today. He doesn't want to control me.
He wants to work with me. He wants to partner with me. God wants to partner with you. He wants to live a life of fullness. He wants to live a life with him as your source.
He wants to live a life where you're partnering on your opening heaven and manifesting the goodness of God everywhere you go. And the spirit of the Lord said, amen. Come on.
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