Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
you're the father who longs for your children to come home you're the one who stands there looking down the road waiting for us to return from our rebellion from our offenses from our sins from everything you just you're just waiting for us to come home humble not thinking we deserve anything or have the right to anything and you're there to cleanse us in the blood of your son you're there to give us a ring and a robe and to make us your sons and daughters again well what a wonderful thing that you've done through the cross and the resurrection of jesus to provide a way for us to be forgiven lord you have demonstrated your love for us and you continue to do it as even the most well-intentioned christians when we try to live as holy as we can obediently as we can lord there's just times we we mess up there's times we're hurt there's times that we're oppressed and attacked and we just we don't do what we ought to do and i'm just grateful lord that you're merciful that there is forgiveness with you and that we can come to you as children and if we come humbly to you and confess our sins and turn from them and and turn to you you receive us and you forgive us well we thank you for that today in jesus name amen you know i think that we need to be reminded of that from time to time especially if you're in a church that you know preaches strong sometimes we forget god is merciful and patient with us and that's a little bit of what i want to talk to you about today just a little bit about [Music] kind of the way we deal with attacks and oppression and kind of understanding some things but i want you to uh go ahead and take your bibles out and turn to uh so we're going to turn to luke 22 first of all this morning luke 22 and again if you just tuned in by internet radio this morning by fire and grace radio we welcome you to fire grace church and um glad you're joining us luke 22 let me get there this ought to be a familiar story to most of us right about the apostle peter
a lot of things were going on this is the last supper story a lot of things were happening we're just going to start reading at verse 47. everybody got their bibles luke 22 47. and says this and while he yet spake behold a multitude and he that was called judas one of the twelve went before them and drew near unto jesus to kiss him but jesus said unto him judas betray us thou the son of man with a kiss and when they were about him they saw what would follow they said in him lord shall we smite with the sword and one of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear and jesus answered and said suffer ye thus far and he touched his ear and healed him then jesus said unto the chief priests and the captains and of the temple and the elders which were come unto him be come out as against a thief with swords and staves when i was daily with you in the temple you stretch forth no hands against me but this is your hour and the power of darkness now you need to remember that phrase this is your hour and the power of darkness of course then they took him and led him and brought him to the high priest house and peter followed afar off and when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were sat down together peter sat down among them but a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said this man was also with him and he denied him saying woman i know him not and after a little while another saw him and said thou art also of them and peter said man i am not and about the space of one hour another confidently affirmed saying of a truth this fellow also was uh was with him for he is a galilean and peter said man i know not what thou says that immediately while he yet spake the crew and the lord turned and looked upon peter and peter remembered the word that the lord had spoken unto him or had said unto him before the crow thou shalt deny me thrice and peter went out and wept bitterly um this is something that um you know i don't know that we talk about very often and you know this is something we can we can look at with peter here and we know from reading the gospels that peter was very dedicated to the lord jesus he loved the lord we know we talk about john they talk about john being the beloved disciple but you know john wasn't any more loved of jesus than than peter was they just had different personalities john was just a more affectionate individual as we see in the scriptures and peter was just more passionate individual he was just a more you know fiery passionate individual and i just want to say the lord it doesn't matter what kind of personality you have
the lord still will use that and loves that and understands he made you unique and your personality is you he's not trying to change your personality not trying to change who you are just wants to change some of our behavior sometimes and get us to act right amen and obey but this is something that you know i guess we need to get a hold of is that there are times in your walk with god that are going to seem overwhelming to you life troubles attacks persecution things that you don't understand that bring confusion things that um bring in what what we see here is what jesus said you know you had all these opportunities to get me is what jesus was saying when i was teaching in the temple and all that but no this is your hour this is the hour your hour you the power of darkness has a season i remember in the scriptures you know if we go back to mark 4 and you go back to matthew 3 and you go back to when jesus was being tempted in the wilderness and the devil was tempting him remember that and jesus was 40 days in the wilderness and he was fasting and he was uh praying and and satan was there tempting him and you know we get three of the temptations but of course the bible says that jesus was tempted in all points like we are yet without sin so we know that in those 40 days that the devil tempted him with every possible temptation there was and jesus was in that wilderness place and he was fasting and then of course when jesus resisted the devil speaking the word and standing firm and not sinning and not giving into the temptation and as he spoke the word of god and went through that battle the bible says if you read it there in luke 4 and mark and matthew it talks about how the devil left him for a season what's that mean well that was a season of attack that was a season of temptation that was a season of oppression and jesus had to win that battle in that season and when he won that battle the devil had to flee from him for a season well the reason it says for a season is because the devil will go and regroup he will go and try to find another way he has to back off because you know the scripture is true in james 4 that if we resist the devil if we submit to god and resist the devil he must flee from us all the flee from us yes not permanently he never flees permanently we won't get rest from that war until jesus comes or we go to be with him right so he you've got this ongoing battle with satan and demon spirits that's very real okay and there's just going to be and you have to get it in your head there's just going to be seasons of attack and oppression and trouble at times on every side
now what you have to determine is how am i going to respond to that am i going to and am i am i going to humble myself am i going to get in into prayer more am i going to fast am i going to resist the devil am i going to resist the temptation that's coming my way what am i going to do how am i going to respond now here's what the reason i read this story about peter that everyone that's been in the church any amount of time has been a christian for an amount of time they know this story but the reason i brought this up is because i just want you to know today that even the strongest christian even the most holy ghost field the most spirit-filled the most on fire the most dedicated the most passionate you know peter was all those things full of faith he's the one that had the revelation that jesus was the christ the son of the living god he was the one that jesus spoke to what he said they said flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you but my father which is in heaven this is a man who had revelation this was a man who was on the mount of transfiguration with jesus when he was transfigured and moses and elijah appeared there's a man that saw that all that happened okay this is a man that saw the miracles of jesus saw jesus raised the dead and caused the blind to see and the to walk there wasn't doubt in his heart about who jesus was and he loved jesus and he had left his family and his business to be a disciple and to follow jesus and to learn he had given up everything so we're not talking about somebody who was weak we're not talking about somebody who was lukewarm we're not talking about somebody who was compromised in in in their walk with jesus now we're talking about somebody dedicated but peter had an idea in his head that things were going to be a certain way and this is where we are dangerous we get ideas in our head that things are going to work out a certain way are going to be a certain way and he was determined remember in matthew 16 he said when the lord was talking about he was going to be crucified and peter began and said to rebuke him and said lord this is not going to be unto you this is not going to happen to you and and and jesus turned and said get behind me satan you want the things that be of men not the things that be a god and so what peter was doing was his idea was that the lord was going to eventually overcome the romans set up the kingdom right then on the earth and it just wasn't time for that and none of them none of the disciples understood that jesus was going to have to suffer and die on a cross for our sins and be raised again the third day and here's what's even more wild he told them that he was going to have to do that before and they still none of them fully understood it and and or this didn't accept it they just didn't want to accept that he was going to eventually be taken captive by the pharisees or by the sadducees and pharisees and the romans and and be crucified and be killed they just didn't want to accept that and they didn't
understand that jesus going through going to the cross for our sins and and all that they didn't understand that that had to happen and that's the same thing for us we don't understand sometimes why bad things have to have but they have to happen in our lives and that's because for for a few reasons number one we're not perfect we sin at times and we open the door for the devil to attack us we give him place and he attacks us okay sometimes we give place through ignorance by you know say we don't understand we shouldn't have certain objects in our home that are occultic or whatever we're just ignorant of that because we don't know the word of god on the subject and so we have something in our home so we open the door for us you know to be attacked by the spirits demon spirits but then there are times it doesn't you know it's just people around you you know trouble with family members trouble with friends uh family members having trouble you know and it affecting you um you didn't do anything it's just you happen to be in the eye of the hurricane right and then there's just times that you're just going to be persecuted the devil is going to stir up people to persecute you for your beliefs for your stand for the word of god and for jesus you're just going to be persecuted and so you know what you have to you have to look at is whether what how am i going to respond to this now we see the story of peter this man who was dedicated this man who was fired up this man who was a disciple a true disciple of jesus not a phony one not a fake one he just when when the test came when when everything began to fall apart when they came to get jesus and he he fell apart amen he did not respond correctly he took out a sword and cut a man's ear off then jesus tells him beforehand you're going to deny me peter goes i will never deny you i won't do it i don't know how many people i know christians he said i will never fall into that sin i will never do that boy they end up doing it but i want you to know here's the beautiful thing you go back in luke you go back into the other gospels and you read this story and you see some things where jesus told him but i've prayed for you matter of fact it's earlier in this chapter here too in luke 22 he said i pray for you that your faith fail not when you when you do when this confusion and this hour of the power of darkness comes and you don't understand what's going on and you blow it peter and you're going to blow it how'd you like that prophecy a lot of people say that's a false prophecy somebody telling you you're going to blow it you're going to fall you're going to deny jesus you're going to mess up
they either call jesus a false prophet right oh no prophecy is supposed to be for edification exportation and comfort that doesn't sound like prophecy to me right truth doesn't always look edifying does it sometimes truths things hurts right so he tells g he jesus tells peter the devil's desire to have you that he may sift you as wheat how many of you know that the devil goes before the father and petitions to attack us and test us at times sometimes pretty severely and sometimes like in the case of job and like in the case of peter god says okay you can do a b and c but you can't do e and f right those are going to be the seasons those are those seasons the hour the power of darkness and here's what's amazing it can feel at times as though god has left you to let the devil just wreak havoc in your life and you begin to question everything what did i do did i do something wrong did i open the door does god even love me does god even care about me and this is the dangerous time when you can if you allow yourself you can get offended and angry at god job could have made that choice job could have gotten offended with god peter could have gotten offended with god but you know what i love about peter because peter loved jesus so much when he failed when he blew it when he didn't respond correctly to the a situation he didn't understand to the persecution that was coming to jesus and the problems that were surrounding them and the fear y'all have no idea the the the what it must have felt like the atmosphere that the devil and the demons created around the arrest and crucifixion of jesus i mean they the demons and the devils were having a party they thought that this was their victory hour and it was so strong the presence the demonic presence and power was so strong that when jesus was in the garden of gethsemane right before this he says his soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death meaning the oppression of the enemy was so strong that jesus said that his soul was overwhelmingly sorrowful unto death meaning it was so he was so miserable he wanted to die then
that's why he prayed the prayer father if it's possible let this cup pass for me because he was beginning to feel the oppression of the powers of darkness and and he was beginning to feel the weight of the sin of mankind and the father was beginning i believe this beginning to draw back as jesus really began to shed his blood in the garden of gethsemane when he sweat great drops of blood that's when he began to shed his blood for us and i believe that that showing of the shedding of the blood of jesus in the garden of gethsemane was was to give us redemption and atonement and power and hope that when we're in our time our time of the power of darkness when the devil's trying to crush us emotionally and spiritually and mentally and listen there's some warfare that can go on mentally and spiritually that can bring about such depression and sorrow that even solid strong christians in their heart and minds go i if i have to live this way i don't want to live believe me listen everybody thinks being a preacher being a pastor being a prophet is an easy thing but i want to tell you right now i go through periods of such oppression and attack from the enemy such demonic attacks such crazy trouble and issues on every side at times i promise you there are many days that i would rather not be a pastor i would rather not be called to be a prophet i would rather not preach the gospel there are days that i don't even want to get out of bed and come to church to preach a message and today was close to one of them but this is real and the powers of darkness were so strong at that place and at that moment peter's whole world everything that he believed everything that he gave up his time with his family for and gave up his business for and walked away from his fishing and everything that he had given up and walked away now it seemed to be crumbling all around you can i say something you're not a christian you've never been in this christian walk long enough if you haven't been through a period where it looks like everything around you is crumbling see if we're going to be his disciples we're going to take up our cross didn't he say and follow him that means we're going to walk in the same path at times of mental and emotional and even at times physical suffering sometimes like i said because we've blown it we've opened the door sometimes because of our own sin but sometimes
it's just because god is allowing us to be tested and sifted and he's allowing it to make us stronger and can i say that the things you know i can't tell you how many people have told me that this week they've had a particularly rough week but folks if we you know there's the scripture and i think it's in jeremiah i can't even remember now but it talks about if we've if we've run with the footmen and they've wearied us how will we run with the horses and i say that just to say that you know what yes can we walk through some serious trials and darkness and hours of the power of darkness now yes but we're about to enter one of the biggest ones one of the most difficult ones the time that jesus said would be worse than any time in the history of the world god's got to let us go through a few trials a few struggles a few temptations how we going to respond when we're persecuted how do we respond when we are lied about slandered and just flat out done evil and rewarded evil when you do when you do good to somebody or try to be good and they just evil back at you how you how do you respond you want to draw the sword out and cut the ear off see this thing about christians you know peter what does it say let's look back at the scripture here in luke 22. after peter denied the lord the third time there you know i love the other gospels it says he cursed i mean think about that i don't even deny jesus but he did it cussing right doesn't sound like a christian boy i tell you what the unsaved people would jump on that boy you're some christian wouldn't they that's what that's what they do they love it when we mess up right but look what it says about peter in verse 62 when the lord looked at him and he remembered the lord told him you're going to deny me three times he says peter went out and wept bitterly you know see these are times we don't like to talk about do we as christians those dark hours when we feel alone when we feel rejected when we feel separated from from god's presence when we're being attacked by people and by demons and devils and when we're going through an hour of temptation and the powers of darkness seem to surround us more than the presence of peace and joy of god
and we act like that's strange and yet the bible told us all along as a christian this is what your life will be oh yeah are there seasons of of great joy and peace and the power of god flowing and the anointing flowing oh yeah you know just this morning god got me up at three o'clock this morning i was up from three to six just praying and talking to him this morning and i don't always get up from three to six i'm not trying to sound super spiritual i woke up wide awake couldn't sleep and knew that the lord wanted me to get up and pray but as i did he began to give me these scriptures and he began to speak to me but about you know in in first kings chapter 17 through 19 and if you want to go you go back and read that everybody ought to remember the story of elijah you know but listen can there be the mountaintop where you're on the mountaintop with god and god gives you a prophetic word you know there'll be no reign according to my word and god brings the word to pass and then the lord tells you to go and hide yourself by the brook cherith and you go and hide yourself and god supernaturally provides he gets the ravens to feed you morning and night god supernaturally provides and then he says go i want you to go over here and do this go to this widow woman's house and then god works another miracle of provision so that the meal doesn't fail and the oil doesn't fail so you can eat god provides again oh but in the midst of this tragedy happens and the woman's the woman's child dies she says what are you doing man of god did you bring this evil upon me to you bringing my sin to remembrance and elijah says give me the child and he takes him up into the little room the woman prepared for and it takes the child up there and lays over the child and cries out to the lord and the lord raises the child back to life so a battle goes on of death and life and then the lord speaks and says go go show yourself to ahab i'm going to send rain on the earth so elijah obeys and goes and tells ahab there's going to be rain god's showing he was in control of the rain not baal right so here you got a man who's a prophet who's speaking words that are from god he's spending time with god hearing from god giving prophetic words that are coming to pass on the mountaintop the rain you know they before the rain comes he confronts all the false prophets in the land confronts them fire comes down from heaven and consumes his sacrifice everybody sees elijah is a true prophet among all the false prophets well it looks like he's on a mountaintop he says all the people fall on their knees israel repents and said the lord jehovah jehovah he is god not baal it looks like you got a revival going on right you got a revival going on and all of a sudden though the rain comes and that woman jezebel that which
that evil lust filled witch full of the demonic powers of the day one of the most powerful witches that's ever lived curses you threatens you threatens elijah what does he do he takes off running and through the power of that witchcraft and that demonic attack elijah the prophet who had just been on the mountaintop with god who had seen the power of god who had given words from god supernatural miracles happening supernatural provision he's seeing the hand of god and hearing the voice of god nothing better than that ever and you know what i believe every christian can have that but folks how many of you know it doesn't matter how strong you are how powerful you are how much you can move in the gifts of the holy spirit and the power of god how many miracles you see the devil can bring an attack on you and god can back off his hand and let it come and you'll be uh you can be like peter and elijah and be with her elijah goes out into the wilderness and sits under a juniper tree and says lord let me die i've done all this for you and they just want to kill me that's what he said i'm the only one left lord never feel like that i'm the only one i'm the only one going through this it's funny how he forgot that jezebel was killing prophets you know what i mean he he managed to live in a time of persecution great persecution she was trying to wipe out all the true prophets and it hadn't been for obadiah hiding some in a cave and given him bread and water that she would have killed all the prophets of god which i believe is also a picture of the time we're coming into the devil is going to want to kill all the true christians and and all the true ministers of god and just like then he won't be able to get everybody right but it's going to be a season of the hour the power of darkness and it's really already upon us it's just going to get stronger and darker and there are people who are going to grow more and more in the image of jesus and the likeness of jesus they're going to grow more and more christ-like more and more godly bear more and more fruit and then there's going to be people get more and more evil and listen folks if you think it's only the unsaved world out there that's going to get more evil i got news for you i get most of the vile meanness and horrible accusations and slander and lies from people who say they are christians
so what do we do well i'll tell you what peter did even though he blew it he didn't give up see the difference and listen the big difference between peter and judas is peter loved the lord so much that even when he when he blew it when his world came unraveled and he responded wrongly and and sinned and cursed and denied he knew jesus and and went through that whole thing he went out and wept over it it broke his heart he loved jesus so much he cared that he sinned see this is a big problem in church where everybody wants to argue how much sin you can do or not do and i just i just look at if you sin as a christian does it break your heart is it something you hate and you don't want to do and you despise it and you want to overcome it or do you have theological uh doctrines that make you feel comfortable while you do it like once they would always say or this hyper grace movement which one see we respond and so peter went out and went billy but what did judas do judas sinned it wasn't judas's sin wasn't any worse than peter's sin people say well yeah he betrayed jesus what did peter do when confronted he denied he knew him and cursed him right judas just got money for it but do you notice that judas after he saw jesus was condemned threw the money down what was the problem i believe the problem is real simple when you go through the test you may fall like peter and judas you may fall and mess up and and screw it all up but the question is does the sin does the mistake does the blowing it cause you to weep bitterly and do you confess it to the lord repent and do you come home to to jesus and to the father do you come home and and desire him or do you go out and get so depressed and listen so depressed that you fall away and go back into the world completely or like many have done like judas commit suicide even because you can become so depressed so demonically oppressed so attacked of the devil and especially when you blow it the feelings of guilt and shame and all these things can come over you and you can be so so into it that you will want to kill yourself i know christians who are going through such a warfare and some of it they brought on by their own sins and their own mistakes but they don't want to live
and i'll just say this i don't care what anybody whether it's controversial not i believe if you commit suicide you have you have sealed your fate in hell forever and if there are any exceptions that's not my job to try to figure them out that's god's job i just know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him that's what the scripture says right and if you kill yourself you just murdered yourself and you cannot repent there's no opportunity and judas went out and hanged himself see i believed you just could have liked peter falling on his face went back to the lord and asked god to forgive him so is the christian life going to be all easy and joy and peace and love and happiness and prosperity and easy going yachts and bon bons i don't know that's what joel osteen says you have your best life now right every day can be a friday you can have teeth like me no he and i read a different bible his has been edited amen i hate to pick on him but you know it's true nowhere do i see true christianity and being a true disciple of jesus and truly taking up your cross and following him and trying to obey and trying to live this life and trying to preach the truth and share the truth and live it in front of people never do i see that that's easy as a matter of fact you know second peter chapter three the apostle paul said yea and all who will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution and some persecution is mental emotional some is financial some will be physical and some is spiritual from satan and from the curses of enemies and listen y'all just don't get i know this some people say they act like if you're a christian that witchcraft and people speaking negative words and curses against you shouldn't affect you but i'm sorry it is biblical that words have power witchcraft is real there's been times i've had witches like a bunch of jezebels and satanists focus their whole attention on cursing me and putting curses on me and i want to tell you i knew they were doing it i could feel the demonic powers and the oppression of the enemy coming at me with full force and you have to fight that in the name of jesus binding those demons resisting
those spirits breaking their curses praying for your enemies blessing those that curse you you have to actively war against it but this is it's a real battle we're in and this battle is going to get more intense so i encourage you this morning i'm not going to keep preaching this morning but i encourage you this morning strengthen yourself amen encourage yourself get in the word read the word sometimes when you wake up in the middle of the night at two or three in the morning and you can't sleep it's because the lord wants you to get up and pray and yes you might need to pray for two or three hours and read the scriptures and maybe that's the only thing that's going to give you any peace or any victory for that day sometimes you're going to have to fast a day or two or three or a week to break off the attack you're under sometimes you're just going to have to confess your sins sometimes you're going to have to forgive those who are wronging you or have wronged you or hurting you you're just going to have to bless them and forgive them and do your best to respond according to the bible not respond in the flesh here's the good news god hears our prayers and god answers prayers in the mighty name of jesus amen you know recently now you know i think everybody knows this and i don't mind sharing this but i my daughter my oldest daughter wanted to go wanted to move to chicago and i knew it was not the will of god this is not the time for a little southern girl to move to chicago right i won't get into it all but i know it was not god's will but she's stubborn and going through a bit of rebellion at this time but she was determined man and determined to go there i made it known to her that i did not feel it was god's will or plan that it would she would be in danger i just know i'm not saying just because she was moving to chicago or a big c i just knew it in my spirit if i knew it from the lord god gives parents knowledge of things for their children but she was determined so what did i do though i was concerned though you know there were a lot of different things looking like she was going to do it and be able to do it i just continue to pray god your kingdom come and your will be done in her life if this is not you stop it stop every bit of it and she wasn't able to get a job her person that was going to finance it or thinking about it refused to finance it the job she thought she had secured didn't work out
god stopped it and she can be mad at dad all she wants to but don't mess with the praying dad and the praying mom or praying grandma because god's going to hear your prayers that's what i'm saying what the devil tries to do is get us so tired it is so tired so worn out emotionally spiritually physically whatever that we don't pray because it's in that it's in prayer that we get the victory over it and we'll get the answers if we keep praying in faith and believing and standing amen peter came back i imagine you know the scriptures that it doesn't tell us here that peter when he went out wet bitterly that peter went out and prayed but i believe any man of god that messes up and is weeping over it is praying too that's just my personal belief and i believe that his weeping and his brokenheartedness over his fall and his blowing it in a time of darkness in a time of confusion in a time of attack of the powers of darkness i believe that because he went out he he eventually came through that just like peter like the lord told peter i've prayed for you that your faith has failed not and when you are converted when you get through this and you get back to me strengthen your brethren that's another reason why god pulls his hand back is another reason why god lets us be tempted and attacked and persecuted because when we go through it we can then help others who are going through it and maybe not handling it very well amen let's pray heavenly father we thank you so much lord for your word and your holy spirit with us today lord we lord i sense your presence and your peace and i sent you speaking to us because lord i know that we're in the middle a lot of us are in the middle of a lot of different trials and tests and trouble and persecution and attacks and we know that those things are going to only going to increase in the days ahead because this the word of god your word tells us god that is going to increase and so lord we pray that we will be filled with the holy ghost we will be we'll be filled with grace we'd be filled with mercy we'd be filled with passion and determination uh lord to make it through those times of attack of satan of of even our own failings and our own sins and their own struggles and we'll come up out of that and receive the blood of jesus to cleanse us and the holy spirit to come in and strengthen us and that we'll overcome it so that we can help others as they go through their season and so lord we just pray that you take this message today touch lives change life strengthen people bless our church family that's traveling
today that will be traveling this week even or just cover and protect each and every one move and father we just ask you just your kingdom come and your will be done i thank you for those that the emails that i get lord the messages the facebook uh contacts that i'm hearing about people getting saved lord through the messages and through the the ministry and lord just let that continue bless that and take the the gospel preach from here and touch people all over the world lord as you're doing and we just praise you for it we know the enemy doesn't like it so he's trying to stop us and hurt us here but lord your kingdom come and your will will be done i believe it on earth as it is in heaven for fire and grace church for this ministry for everyone in this church and and for my brothers and sisters who will press through and and believe and pray god you're going to move and work and family members and friends and even enemies that are persecuting uh people lord you're gonna bring enemies to salvation just like you did saul of tarsus who became paul so lord we thank you we pray for it this morning in jesus name amen and amen