Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
this morning lord that you will send your glory lord the anointing and power of your spirit lord that's it's not enough lord to just for us to go through the motions we know we need your power and your glory god to come down to convict men and women and children to convict them of sin righteousness and judgment to come to convince them of where they are and where they need to be to draw them out of darkness into your marvelous light to break off satanic oppression and chains lord we need your anointing it's the anointing of the holy spirit that destroys the yokes the yokes of sin the yokes of satan the yokes of self lord we pray in the name of jesus for your glory to come down for for power and glory to come down upon auburn and opelika lord upon this region upon the students at that university over there at auburn university we're praying for you your you to rent the heavens and come down and demonstrate the glory of your power the the intense power that is within your presence god your true glory to convict to convict of sin to draw out of darkness to convince people of what is truth and what is a lie to to make the light of the gospel shine bright in the minds of people that satan is blinded father in heaven we just thank you lord for your word we know that you hear our prayers and we believe that you are going to bring forth revival through your glory through your truth through your power as the word of god is preached in truth lord you will bring forth your power jesus name amen and amen i'm believing i'm believing i'm believing god's going to pour out his spirit on all flesh didn't he say that somewhere he promised in acts chapter 2 in joel chapter 2 that in the last days he would pour out his spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters would prophesy your young men would see visions your old men would dream dreams he promised to do it so when we pray and ask god to pour out his spirit to send his glory to send his power to fill us to anoint us it's not falling on deaf ears amen he is looking for people that will pray his will be done on earth
as it is in heaven amen and when people pray those desperate prayers when they get desperate and hungry and desire god he will answer amen and i'm just going to tell you kevin didn't share it last week so shame on kevin but during service last week god showed kevin a powerful vision of god pouring out his spirit on the campus as we're out there preaching and i know that's going to happen because i saw the same thing in in about i think it was march of 2009 i believe the next thing for us as a church will be to go out to the campus with the end times message with some things some some big you know signs and you know to illustrate what we're talking about but we're going to go out there and start preaching some of this stuff and and use it as as debate on the hook to bring people in to listen and then share the gospel with him and again you know what it's not by might nor by power nor by the the power of men's words but god has to pour out his spirit so let that be your prayer in the in in the the rest of this time until jesus comes lord send your glory we need your glory we need your power to touch people when we preach when we witness when we speak let it go forth with power the power of the holy ghost the anointing most most important thing we need and i'll tell you this much the devil hates the anointing of the holy spirit you want to know why he hates it so much several reasons why number one he used to have it he was called the anointed cherub that covers so he used to have the anointing he lost it and god uses the anointing the power of his spirit to break satan's yokes and chains off of people it happened in here last week i want to tell you some powerful chains and darkness broke off of my daughter so much so that it's affecting others in her family amen so god's power it didn't have anything to do with me because i felt as beat up from the last couple of weeks as a person could have felt last week but the anointing of the holy ghost the glory of god came in and i felt that darkness leave her and even i saw it go out the door that satanic darkness so that's why we need to we need the anointing i remember i think it was kenneth not
kenneth hagin but i think it was leonard ravenhill and said this he goes sometimes i'm not quite sure what the anointing or unction is but i know what it is not amen sometimes the holy spirit is subtle and he's moving in power and you don't really see it and know it sometimes he comes in in such power you can't miss it you're so overwhelmed by it but i'll tell you what if there's no anointing it becomes very evident amen so that was just a little side note this morning i want you to turn with me we're going to go back we're going to continue this uh series on warfare on spiritual warfare i want you to go back with me to uh revelation chapter 12. we we went to this scripture last week and we're going to start there again because there's some things we're going to bring out but i've entitled this series we're doing here war in the heavens because of because of this passage here in revelation 12 and and another one that we're going to look at in ephesians in just a second um but before i read this let me say this it's kind of where i'm going to start i think this morning but you know i i stand in awe sometimes at the ignorance and stupidity of bible colleges and seminaries that and preachers even pastors and christians who immediately when a person starts talking about spiritual warfare um dealing with demons dealing with the devil understanding how they work how to resist them how to stand against them a lot of things that are in the bible all of a sudden the demons in them rise up and go oh you you you think there's a demon behind every tree or you think there's a demon behind every bush yo you're just one of those fanatics you're just all caught up in demons you should be caught up in the lord jesus christ and immediately i go who didn't say we that jesus is not first when you start talking about that you know i just marvel at him because did god talk about demons and satan in the bible did jesus talk about it did the apostles talk about then why all of a sudden do people lose their minds and get crazy and want to attack somebody that starts talking about i say it's demonic now there are bible colleges and seminaries and pastors and even churches out there that'll teach you you shouldn't you shouldn't think about the devil you shouldn't be focused on demonology or how to deal with demons there's no such thing as as binding demons all this stuff i mean i i read some some stuff last night from different seminaries across the country it was quite amazing and we wonder why that the church church folk and pastors are leaving the ministry
in droves these days because they're spiritually emotionally and physically beat up by satanic powers and we we know that paul said in second corinthians chapter two he said if we're ignorant to the devil's devices he will get an advantage over us right i could turn there we might turn there in a minute but hosea 4 6. everybody ought to know that one hosea 4 6 what does that say god said my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge right so we should have an understanding now i will say this if some church or ministry that's all they talk about then yeah maybe they're getting out of balance because there's other issues in the kingdom of god but if they ignore it completely they're going to do it to the the detriment and great harm of their people and if you don't learn this stuff what to do and what you're dealing with then you're going to be found hurt by okay because there's a war and you know what i started thinking about even before before we look at revelation 12 what i got started you know god just started laying on me is you know i mean this started this spiritual warfare with the devil started all the way back in the garden of eden right had eve resisted the devil with the truth of the word of god that she knew she would not have fallen instead she listened to him and gave in that was the first record of spiritual warfare that we have with the human race right it the next thing we see is cain right deciding he was going to offer god the fruits of the ground but god had already showed him that he didn't want the fruits of the ground as an offering it was it had to be and something had to die blood had to be shed and so he wasn't going to accept it cain gets angry then he gets angry and jealous of his brother and it doesn't tell us in genesis that this happened but it does tell us in first john 3 that cain was of that wicked one and slew his brother so that satan came on the sin of cain's jealousy and anger toward his brother opened the door for satan to come in and commit the first murder then we go over just a few chapters that's chapter four then we go over in genesis chapter six and we see that by this time man has become so evil and wicked that fallen angels are having some type of sexual relations with human beings and creating a race of giants in the land and it got so bad that god said man has become so wicked so evil his imaginations of his thought are only evil continually satan was doing everything he could to contaminate the human race and destroy
it that god said i've got to come in and he found a man who was perfect in his generations who hadn't been tainted by this demonic infiltration of the human race and god says build an ark i'm going to save you and your family i'm going to destroy everyone else in everything in this world over what satan was doing all right now jesus said this as it was this is in matthew 24 it's also in luke 17 he said as it was in the days of noah so also will it be in the days of the coming of the son of man so just like it was then it will be when it's time for jesus to come again are we there we're there amen so what was he saying the warfare and the satanic attempt to contaminate all of mankind will be at its peak just before jesus comes just like it was in the days of noah okay now there's a reason i'm going here you can go through the bible and see one instance of of spiritual warfare the people of god or a man or woman of god having to stand and fight against the forces of darkness satan's demons satan's fallen angels you you see this throughout scripture old testament and new but somehow when a preacher like me decides to teach on it and teach you how to deal with it recognize it deal with it and overcome it through the name and power of jesus somehow i am a nut somehow i'm spooky and weird right somehow i'm not biblical all of a sudden and i'm sitting here going i don't understand what bible some of these preachers and seminary professors are reading especially with something like this that is through it from genesis to revelation i mean we see saul disobey god we see saul disobey god in first samuel 13 in first samuel 15 and immediately when saul disobeys god the holy spirit had come on saul saul was prophesying saul's heart had been turned into another man we see saul disobey god and when samuel goes and anoints david it says that the spirit of the lord left saul and an evil spirit came and troubled him and that evil spirit began to push saul and provoke saul saul ended up killing 80 priests of the lord tried to kill david for years and threw a javelin at his own son jonathan because he was driven by this evil spirit
it was so obvious to to saul servants around him that they said you need help you need to call for somebody with the anointing with with music to come in and play for you so this spirit will leave you because you have turned into a crazy man right but here's a king who was anointed by god called by god appointed by god empowered by god flowing in the gifts of the spirit disobeys god gives place to an evil spirit and now the whole kingdom is in disarray and righteous people are dying and being persecuted by the one god called and anointed spiritual warfare see satan always seeks to work against you but he he'll work directly against you or your mind and your heart trying to influence you like he did eve or he'll get into somebody like saul and [Music] use him to come against you but this is throughout the bible we see later david is king i mean i just can go through this go through the whole bible david is king and we see what first was it first chronicles 20. 21 it said satan provoked david to number the people pushed him to do something god told him not to do the bible tells us this i can't i mean i could go on and on and on through the scriptures but let's go to the new testament jesus comes on the scene after jesus is baptized in water and the holy spirit descends on him what's the first thing we see the spirit driving him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil jesus has to spend 40 days and 40 nights in prayer and fasting to win this battle of temptation with the devil warfare he comes out of that it said with the power of the holy ghost on him he comes out of that with the power of the holy ghost and immediately he has such an anointing on his life because he got the victory in prayer and fasting he has such an anointing on his life that all of a sudden demons can't even stand to be in his presence and they start crying out through people so jesus ministry you look through the new testament jesus ministry over and over and over again it said he cast out many demons many gathered at the door and he cast out many that were possessed with devils many many many many many then he said he gave the anointing to his twelve apostles he said go out and cast out demons and heal the sick they went out and did that and came back luke chapter 10 wow lord even the devils are subject to us through your name then jesus dies on the cross i mean we talked about this last week how satan
was involved in all that right satan's involved in all that jesus raises from the dead one of the last thing he says mark 16 15-20 go ye into all the world preach the gospel to every creature he said he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned and these signs shall follow them that believe first thing he said in my name they will cast out demons wow [Music] wow obviously we're supposed to be concerned about it obviously we're supposed to know how to do it obviously jesus believes that if you're a believer you should know how to deal with the devil amen larry lee i remember this years ago i love dr lee but larry lee said years ago he went to southwestern theological seminary in fort worth texas that's one of the largest baptist seminaries in the country it's one of their premier am i right there i think there's fuller out in california there's southwestern in dallas fort worth and then there's one in new orleans i don't know the name of [Music] but he said now think about this he was there in the late 60s early 70s and he said they sat in class with their professors and debated whether demons were active in north america why oh we hear about demons manifesting and getting cast out in africa but we're too smart for them here i guess america's too holy to have demonic activity going on this was in the 1970s you want to know why the church is in a mess because their pastors were taught not to deal with the devil not to exercise their authority that's why you see hardly anyone casting demons out of people and that's why you see just sin and sickness and premature death and destruction just through the church and this is not just in the baptist or methodist or traditional denominational churches but even the pentecostals and the charismatics this is even taught down at southeastern in lakeland florida at the assemblies of god bible college that binding demons is not biblical that a christian can't have a demonic problem because they're covered by the blood well i you know what i've been a minister for 25 years
nearly every christian i've ever seen has a demon problem that's what they teach not what paul taught is not what peter taught it's not what jesus taught not what's in this book y'all i hope you all forgive me for just going off for a minute right people will listen to this all over the world so that one was for them all right so then let's fast forward now we've gone through a lot of the bible right we could go through the book of ephesians we could go through that we may in a second you go the book of galatians i think nearly in every every book of the bible the devil is mentioned galatians ephesians colossians i mean i could just go all of them i think pretty much so we just took a little trip from genesis now we're in the book of revelation right so look what we're going to read this again because i want to focus in on one thing here not just about the war in the heavens because this lets us know that the time frame we're revelation 12 says that there's there's three 1260 days left before jesus returns for armageddon before the seven years the last seven years are up so this we we're told when this happens right here so we know when this happens so let's read revelation 12. i feel good this morning yeah i have all morning long i just couldn't wait to get here all right let's read it um go down to verse seven well i need to back up because you need to see anyway talks about the woman fled into the wilderness verse six where she has a place prepared of god that she should they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score or sixty days that's the three and a half years you can do it on your calculator if you want to but it comes out to three and a half years all right and it says there was war in heaven and michael and his angel fought in the dra against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not neither was their place found any more in heaven and the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan which deceiveth the whole world he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him now i heard a loud voice in heaven saying now right now what when there's three and a half years left right now in the spirit realm in the heavenlies at this point something supernatural is going to happen right now satan and his principalities and powers have access they they they dwell and operate within the the first and second heaven the first heaven being our atmosphere the second heaven being outer space the third heaven the bible tells
us is the throne of god that's why we hear the word heavens satan mainly works through the second heaven into our earth but he also has access at times god allows him access to the to the third heaven before the throne to accuse us and i shared that last week but i just wanted to say that again this is what he's talking about here but he says i heard a loud voice saying in heaven when this event happens when this war with michael and the angels are fought when there's three and a half years left when this war is fought satan's going to be cast out of the heavens and it says he comes down to the earth but let's let's be reading he said now i heard with a loud voice saying now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ for the accuser of our brother and his cast down which accused them before god day and night and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they love not their lives unto the death therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them but woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he has a short time so i wanted you to see that because of course there are people now saying that you know the kingdom we're in the kingdom now in the sense that the fullness of the kingdom has come the devil's in such a defeated place that christians you know christians are going to take over the politics and social and win everybody to jesus and transform the world so jesus can come back that's a kingdom now dominion theology that's about as false as it gets because it tells us when this happens right also you could go and read revelation you see at the seventh seal the seventh trumpet and the seventh file is when it says now it is done now the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ at the end when jesus returns he will take that full dominion that he won on the cross from satan it's being worked out now but when jesus returns is when it will bring when he physically returns to the earth it will bring that kingdom to pass amen that's when the thousand-year millennial reign will take place and jesus will show mankind what it is like to have the kingdom of god on earth right amen this is bible but i want you to back up and he talks about in verse 9 he says in the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan look at this next verse here this next part of this verse which deceiveth the whole world wow the devil is operating you guys god god's word here says that the whole world is deceived by this entity
by this being okay he is a little bit of a problem amen ah so anyway i wanted you to see that because this is the entity this is what we have to deal with okay now let's back up if that's not good enough for you then let's back up to ephesians chapter six all right learn something you know what i've taught on spiritual warfare for many years i've studied these passages i saw some things i hadn't seen before it's amazing the word of god is amazing amen we're going to cover a lot of things here but i didn't say this i didn't make this up this is in your bible right so he writes this to the ephesians if i can ever get to the right spot here everybody is ephesians 6 i'm not come on now i'm having to think all right ephesians now this everyone ought to be familiar with and i'm i may talk about this a little bit but there's just some things some things i want to focus in on everybody knows about the armor you should by now right the armor of god [Music] you can you can leave that one up for the moment here here's what it says verse 10 we're going to start reading there hey give you greek definitions here greek definitions for be strong okay and actually it is the the phrase be strong it's in dunamo okay it means to be empowered to be enabled but here's what i like about this death part of the definition to increase in strength or make strong remember what i just said a minute ago god wants us to increase in spiritual strength in him and that comes from being faithful that comes from being obedient that comes from from reading and meditating in the word it comes from spending time in his presence in worship and prayer it comes from from being in church and from oh just walking with god you have to exercise those spiritual muscles prayer and fasting be strong in the lord increase in strength can i say this if you are compromising sinning disobeying not reading the bible not praying not fasting missing church a lot here's what's going to happen you are not going to increase in strength
it's just a fact of spiritual life it's kind of like this if you you know for me if i did if i don't go to the gym or if i don't work out i'm not as strong as i usually trust me i'm there having a broken wrist and the ankle injury i had i've i'm in the worst shape i've been in in a long time physically i know i used to work out with weights all the time so i know what i'm talking about with this all right increase in strength so be strong in the lord and the power is might it's not a passive thing it's something you have to say i'm going to do this right i'm going to be strong everybody says i am going to be strong i am going to increase in strength in the lord amen all right let's keep going he said and this is what this is something that's interesting that i never looked this up before because i assumed what it was he said be strong in the lord and in the power of his might now i knew about two words that are translated two greek words that are translated power in the new set dunamis which means miracle working power okay god's supernatural miracle working power and exusia which means god's authority the good way to illustrate that is a police officer has a badge and he has a gun the badge is exusia that represents his authority the 40 caliber automatic weapon is the power to back up the authority amen but what this this word here power is not that greek word which i thought huh what is this it's not that greek word it is the greek word kratos and listen to what it means it means vigor dominion power and strength think about that great vigor actually it says vigor and then it puts grape there so when he says be strong increase in strength in the vigor of the lord see i like that now does that mean that the lord's doing it all no no it means that you in the lord you and him together can have great [Music] vigor great dominion great force okay it's not just god dropping some power down and doing it for you it's not god doing a miracle it's not dunamis all right he he's using this word to show us it will take some effort amen that's why he used the word kratos and then he used the word might now a lot of times the word might is also it's
translated it's the greek word dunamis or exultious translated might but here it's not the word might here is ischus ischus and it means force or forcefulness oh you know what that means through the power of the lord the vigor of the lord you be forceful be aggressive be strong not weak not timid when it comes to dealing with the devil i've shared this with you guys before amen one of the definitions if you go back to the signs that follow them that believe in mark 16 when it says to take up serpents and we know that means to take authority literally to lift up to suspend a demon to stop his operation but one of the words the the greek word there for take up is airo and our hero one of the definitions of our hero besides lift up suspend is raise the voice raise the voice how many have you ever had a little dog messing with you leave me alone little dog leave me alone little dog leave me alone he keeps on when you finally say leave me lord what does it do that's the way you have to do with the devil sometimes amen so i just thought these words were interesting but let's keep reading he says here to put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the walls of the devil put on the whole armor of god do you know what that means there i love this the the word the greek word means to sink into or to invest [Music] i mean it is it means [Music] to get all up in it amen and god's saying you need to invest in this and here and here's something i think we overlook sometimes you know everything is a two-sided coin here right when he says put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand what's the other side of that coin if you don't you won't be able and see paul just got through before this in chapter 4 verse 27 you know what he said give no place to the devil meaning what if i have to tell a christian to give no
place to the devil then what can that christian do or i'm wasting my breath he can give place to the right so then paul comes over two chapters and he starts down this road now here is new testament bible college professor here is new testament baptist and methodist and assembly god preacher put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles the plans this attacks the strategies of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood so the war the battle the struggle the hand-to-hand combat is not against flesh and blood so he tells us right there immediately this is not physical this is not a physical war per se it's not with people then what does he use principalities powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places let's break that down principalities so these aren't physical principalities like a mayor or a judge or a magistrate he says these aren't flesh and blood so he's talking about spiritual beings spiritual entities called principalities these are your big boys the greek word for them is rk rk and it means chief in rank so satan has a ranking system there are demonic forces and yeah i won't get into this but there's a difference between a fallen angel and a demon i'm not going to explain that today we will deal with that but they're two different things but even within the the realm of fallen angels within the realm of demon spirits there are ones with different strengths and abilities and they are ranked and it says principalities are the chief when you deal with them you better be right with god okay most of us haven't dealt with them most of us deal with lesser ones well let's go down the list so there's principalities rk there's powers exusia and this literally means um superhuman
um entities that have been delegated influence so these are powers that are below the principalities that the principalities delegate to them what to go out and do they have authority from the devil to do certain things i believe a good term for these is what paul called the messenger of satan was sent to buffet him you see it was sent specifically so these are the ones i believe that are sent out to do certain things they're delegated authorities of the devil all right then he says y'all with me come on now rulers of the darkness of this world this word here is a compound word is cosmo crater cosmo crater it simply means a world ruler but again remember some people take this and try to go oh paul went talking about spiritual beings he was talking about you know like a bad leader of a country or something no he told us in the first part of this verse this is not flesh and blood i'm talking about here so he said world rulers of the darkness of this world the darkness just simply means the the things done in obscurity it's that sometimes almost you can feel it you but you can't see it but there's a just a sense of dark i saw it last week what i saw last week was it was a spiritual being but it was now i know a ruler of darkness because all i saw was darkness leave okay so there are these world rulers they have authority in i think operating in in in the things of this world the darkness of this world like there are some that are stronger in bringing depression some that are stronger in bringing sickness some that are stronger in bringing addiction or bringing lust they are rulers over the dark things that are in this world all right you making sense all right and then he says this spiritual so we are not confused he says spiritual wickedness in high places the world's word spiritual in the greek is pneumaticus and it means non-carnal uh ethereal demonic
a spirit a supernatural spirit so he says a demonic spirit of wickedness and you ought to write this one down panera is wickedness and it means depravity malice plots sin okay the word pan areas for wickedness it means depravity malice plots since plots of wickedness but he's telling you again there are spirits in high places now let's let's see what high places mean some of your your translations may even say heavenly places right here's what high places the definition of that were their high places is epireneus or epiranius i should say it means above the sky celestial above the sky celestial so we see explained a little more in ephesians 6 what john referred to in revelation chapter 12 the war in the heavens michael and his angels god's angels the fighting that goes on in that realm did we not see a picture of that in the book of daniel as well daniel chapter 10 daniel had set himself to praying and fasting for 21 days and of course gabriel was sent with a message and a revelation for daniel he said on the first day i was sent below the principality he just says the prince but it's the principality of the kingdom of persia withstood me hindered me fought against me for 21 days and it was so intense that michael the archangel had to come help me this war has been going on in the heavenly realms in the spiritual realm above our heads for many many thousands of years and it continues to this day all right and it's going to continue until the very end until jesus comes satan is working and what do we see it says he deceives [Music] the whole world now i want to focus in on something this morning even within within certain denominations and within even certain charismatic and pentecostal groups there's different ideas about our authority i will say this this morning and again we're going to get into this maybe next week in the weeks ahead about our authority that we have but yes
christians have been born again christians who have been washed in the blood repented of their sins truly saved truly come from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light have been given authority a certain level of authority and power in jesus name to use jesus name to bind demons resist demons cast demons out and and to live at least in a personal realm of winning battles over them okay i'll talk more about do we have the right to to deal with principalities and powers i think we do but i think we need to be careful okay because there's protocol to things and i think some people are stupid you know they learn a certain thing out of a book they run and try to do it and they haven't been in prayer and fasting and they're going to get beat up so what the sons of skiva learn they saw paul casting out demons acts 19 in the name of jesus you know they found a a demon-possessed man that probably had a very very powerful probably thousands of demons in him and they saw paul doing it and they go hey he's he's he's figured this out and they were exorcists i mean that's what they tried to do for a living is help people with evil spirits i don't even know there's some unsaved people out there that go around and try to help people who have demon spirits i've seen them on tv there's a what is it paranormal or paranormal state that show i'm sitting there thinking they're dealing with people with real demons i've watched this show a couple of times and i'm like you guys are fools one of them is a roman catholic priest trying to help him another one's a homosexual psychic and i'm sitting here going you guys are going to get killed the only reason these demons ain't killed you is because you're doing their work for them you're you're giving people a false hope that there's a way to deal with their demonic problems outside of jesus christ and repentance and faith and the blood and somebody who actually knows him who has the power and authority oh but the sons of skiva acts 19 oh we're gonna do what paul's doing we adjure you by jesus whom paul preaches demons spoke through that man jesus i we know paul we know who are you and really i think king james should have said who do you think you are talking to us that way we have to take it from paul we don't have to take it from you and it says they beat them the demons through the man beat them and they all left seven of them naked and wounded i think they got humbled a little bit don't you
and the rest of the people in ephesus you know what they saw don't play with this name of jesus don't have the occult books in your house and go addressing a demon in jesus name and that's when they said hey you need to be serious about this thing and they brought their books together and burned them that's all acts 19 right we'll get to that too are y'all still with me all right i want to get to something about the sword of the spirit and this is what i'm going to end with today because this is important okay we go through the the the parts of the armor and i probably we may come back to this but it it's kind of let me break it down first i mean we know the bible says right here in ephesians 6 put on the whole armor of god the girdle of truth folks it is both a real piece of armor that you cannot see but you can say all day long i put on the girdle of truth but if you are not walking in the truth of the word of god if you don't believe the word of god is the truth the whole thing from genesis to malachi and matthew to revelation if you don't believe it you do not have the girdle of truth i don't care how much you say it and i know there's many christians out there right now there's christians who say they believe in jesus but say they don't know if they believe that all the bible they don't have on the girl of truth okay you understand what i'm saying you have to be in agreement with what you're saying your life has to match it can't be talk it has to match he said i put on the breastplate of righteousness well there's two parts of righteousness you know what that is first of all the righteousness of christ that we cannot be saved apart from or be right with god without the blood of jesus and putting on his righteousness but after we receive the gift of righteousness that romans cause calls it by faith then god expects our life to change and then we walk in what's called the practical righteousness of the saints obedience holiness okay righteousness is a gift but you can't take the gift of righteousness and walk in unrighteousness you want a verse for it first john chapter one verse 5 and 6 in that range what does it say if we walk in the light what is the light jesus and his word the lamp the word of god is a lamp unto my feet light unto my path if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of jesus christ his son cleanses us
from all sin if we walk in the light first john chapter 1 verse 567 if we walk in the light if so see you receive the gift of righteousness that comes from the blood of jesus by faith in his crucifixion his atoning death his resurrection you receive that by faith that's where salvation comes you don't earn it you hear me but there's a difference between not earning something and keeping something this is where a lot of our brothers get off and i could walk up to you and say i'm gonna give you a thousand dollars okay but i want you to hold on to this until jesus comes okay did she earn the thousand dollars she didn't work for me i just gave it as a gift right she reached out her hand and took it that's receiving it by faith okay but i say this i want you to keep it i want you to guard it i want you to watch over it all right now she has to choose at that point that's what we do some people are spinning up what god gave them instead of holding on to it they're letting go of it through sin through disobedience and they're going to get jesus is going to get here and he's going to go where's where's that righteousness i gave you it's gone [Music] i said you know what that's that that parable in matthew 22 where it says the man came in not having on a wedding garment he says how did you come in here not having a wedding garment on friend he called him how'd you come in here you knew better wedding garment what's the wedding garment revelation 19 it's the righteousness of the saints not the righteousness of christ the righteousness of that we're to walk in amen y'all stay with me that was a little little extra there but here's what i want to get at the blessed plate of righteousness and what does he say after that above all taking the shield of faith right above all the shield of faith wherewith i'm able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked now the faith faith is faith in god's word okay faith say write that down everything in the kingdom has to do with faith in god's word
okay if you don't believe god's word the shield of faith you don't have it you see where i'm going with this you understand this people think they have the armor because they're saved no the armor is to be sunk down into you have to get in it you have to put it on you have to invest something in it to get it amen look up those words so he says above all the shield of faith that will quench the fiery darts of the wicked so what happens if i don't believe god if i doubt somewhere what's going to happen fiery darts going to get through right because only the shield stops the darts right all right now i know i'm working through this kind of fast because it's really not my point today but then he says on having your feet shod [Music] with the preparation of the gospel of peace that means prepared you're prepared to share the gospel if you're prepared to share the gospel that means you prepared yourself in knowing the gospel amen so i believe this talks about studying the word studying and being ready to share it being bold not fearful timid let's go on but then he says the sword of the spirit which is the word of god all right here's what's very important everybody you can you can turn to hebrews turn to hebrews real fast this is important this is one of the points god wants me to make this morning all right hebrews chapter four so much of everything in our lives revolves as christians it revolves around the word of god okay and i'm gonna show you the two-edged sword here okay what's it mean what's two-edged sword means it's not it's not a trick question yes it has two sharp edges on it not one samurai sword has one sharp edge right but the old battle swords like the one uh william wallace had that had two edges on it okay two-edged sword the bible says that the word of god is a sharp two-edged sword ephesian i mean hebrews 4 let's read it right here and i love this we're going to back up in verse read verse 11 and 12 here he says let us labor therefore to enter into that restless eating man fall after the same example of unbelief for
the word of god is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the word of god is alive how many of his translation says alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword now in the greek language that the new testament was originally written in you will see the word word of god the word word two different is two words for that word one is logos l-o-g-o-s logos and the other one is rhema r h e m a but pronounced rhema logos and rhema okay to give you an example um in the gospel of john chapter one verse one in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god is the word logos all right stay with me all right because it gets a little the word rhema appears here in ephesians 6 when it says the sword of the spirit which is the word or rhema of god logos rhema and some of you already know where this is going one of the definitions of logos besides the divine expression of god which is christ one of the definitions of logos is something said all right something said you can look this up in the strong's dictionary if you want to something said what does that mean it's something that has been said if i said i said something that means i did it in the past but if i said i'm saying something that's something i'm saying now the difference between the two words is rhema means something that is proceeding from the mouth of god now it's something god is saying not something he said do you all know the difference see that is what the prophetic gift is all about the prophetic gift the true manifestation of the min the gift of prophecy or someone speaking by unction or inspiration of the holy spirit the difference is i can read any scripture in the bible that is the logo something god has said and it is alive and quick and powerful that's the word used right here in in hebrews chapter 4
when it says the word of god the logos what god has said what is written in the scriptures what he said in the past is still alive and powerful it is the foundation of everything the walls were made by the word of god everything is held together by the word of his power it is forever settled in heaven it will forever be done heaven and earth will pass away jesus my words will never pass away right the word of god right the written word of god but god also is still saying things he is still speaking prophetically through his people to his people he speaks and he brings things [Music] that he's saying now or things that are in the logos that he wants to emphasize as something for now all right this is what's so important the two edges of that sword are what god has said and what god is saying and if you don't have both of those working in your life then you do not have the sword of the spirit and you are not going to win this war do you hear me see what this what this talks about here what this reveals is we both need to know god's word written word we need to be students we need to study it we need to be solid in doctrine we need to know the word of god we need to know the written word better than we know anything in this world but that gives us the foundation that gives us the platform that gives us the safety net that gives us the protection so that god can speak to us right now what he wants us to know sometimes he pulls out a scripture that he wants us to know for now but sometimes it's a word a revelation a vision some prophetic word that he wants to give us to help us get through i'm going to show you this in in in a verse right here and i know i'm probably going a little long today but i i it's a lot to get across but go to first timothy oh hallelujah first timothy chapter one i want you to see this because this is spiritual warfare you have to take both what god has said and what god is saying and fight the devil with it you hear me
all right everybody there first timothy chapter one paul's given some instructions to timothy and i want you to go down to verse 18 verse 18 19 and 20. he says this charge i commit to the son timothy according to the prophecies which went before on you that you by them might as war good warfare i'm going to read that again this charge i commit unto thee son timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee that you by them might has wore a good warfare holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrecked of whom is hymonaeus and alexander whom i have delivered unto satan that they may learn not to blaspheme paul is saying here to timothy now now let's let's look over real quick we may come back to this i want you to see this verse he was never telling timothy to not stick to the word of god see we got some flaky weird charismatics out there that think everything's supposed to be spiritual and it doesn't really matter if you know the word of god or true sound doctrine they're idiots and i don't mind saying it they are idiots okay anybody who gets away from the word is a fool and the bible calls them that not me the bible god calls them that all right and if you get out there just depending on spiritual experiences and you get away from the word you will be deceived by the devil okay because i want you to see look over in first timothy four he makes this very clear in verse one he says now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith why giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and then he goes down in the same chapter when he tells him this he says in verse 11 he says these things command and teach let no man despise your youth but be thou an example of the believers in word logos in conversation or behavior in charity that is love in spirit in faith in impurity now listen to what he tells him till i come give attendance to reading to exhortation and to doctrine be sure you stay in the true doctrine of christ in the true doctrine of the bible and then he says neglect not the gift the charisma the spiritual gifts that are in you that were given you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the presbytery or the order of elders meditate upon these things give yourself holy to them that your profiting may
appear to all take heed to yourself and unto the doctrine continue in them for in doing this you will save yourself and them that hear you in this passage you see the two-edged sword he says give attendance to reading and he was talking about reading the scriptures meditating in the scriptures continuing in sound doctrine but he also said don't neglect the gift the spiritual gifts in you that were given you by prophecy the two-edged sword logoth rhema he was telling timothy teach the written word teach true sound doctrine give yourself to know true biblical doctrine but also flow in the gifts of the holy spirit that were given you when the elders laid hands on you you see that now back up again back up to first timothy 1. when the word of god good and it always balanced right so he says here you want to war good warfare listen closely he said this charge i committed to these son timothy according to the prophecies that means inspired utterances things that were foretold predicted ahead of time that were spoke over you by the elders by he says this charge i commit to you son timothy according to the prophecies that went before on you that you by them by them by the prophecies that were on you that you might wore a good warfare holding faith all right when god speaks to you a prophetic word that it's inspired he speaks to you a a rhema word whether it be directly to you or through another believer or through a prophet or a minister you need to hold on to that thing and you need to take that word you need to fight with it see i'm telling you the lord gave you that word last sunday to fight with because he knew the devil is going to attack you about that financial issue and what the lord wants you to do is take that word that prophetic word and fight that devil off and also take the written word and fight him off amen it's a two edged sword logoth rhema logos something said rhema something god saying past tense present tense amen good stuff right but he directly paul directly tells this
young minister you have to take hold of these prophecies the things you know were from god that the witness of the spirit was on that were from from proven elders proven ministers of god in the kingdom you need to take those prophecies and you need to war a good warfare with them amen turn to this passage and we're going to close this morning first thessalonians chapter 5. first thessalonians 5. you with me everybody there here's what he says we're going to drop down to verse 19. [Music] he says several things here there's three verses i want to cover quench not the spirit despise not prophesying prove all things and hold fast to that which is good do you see that what's that say don't put out the spirits fire don't quench the spirit the spirit of god wants to speak to you he wants to lead you into all truth he wants to show you things to come right we've covered that john 16 right the holy spirit will come to you he will speak to you he will guide you into all truth he will show you things to come that's what the holy spirit is doing right he says don't quench the spirit so don't stop him from doing that by being stupid or stubborn or rebellious or lazy don't quench the spirit despise not prophesying and the word despise here is interesting it means to set it not or to lightly esteem to not take it seriously when the true gift of prophecy or the true ministry of a prophet is going forth don't take it it lightly but then he adds this with any prophecy you get from somebody or any prophetic word you believe you hear it says what prove all things test it test it to what the written word test it to know did it was it by the same spirit that i felt when i was born again or when i was baptized in the holy ghost did i get the same witness of god's presence and peace does it does it contradict the scripture anywhere see what i'm saying prove all things but once you prove it or you know in your spirit or by the word of god that it was a word from god to you see don't worry we got scripture for
that right cast your care but that was a rhema but what he says here is prove all things and then what hold fast to that which is good you hold fast by saying no devil god said this in his written word and god said this to me by his spirit or by a servant of god god said this to me and i know god has spoken to me and that's the way it's going to be so i rebuke you and resist you in the name of jesus i believe god whether i see it right now and i believe god and i believe the word that is fighting with this thing so now you know what the sword of the spirit is amen do you know how to put on the armor two things you do what is that you make sure your life matches each of those pieces and then out of your mouth and and can i say this everything in the kingdom of god operates through our mouth if we cast out demons how do we do it in the name of jesus come out we have to speak some see what i'm saying how do we get saved if you will confess with your mouth the lord jesus believe in your heart that god has raised him from the dead you shall be what right but how about if you confess with your mouth the lord jesus but you don't make him lord what'd you just do you lied see what i'm saying life has to match mouth but if your life matches what comes out of your mouth those words create spiritual life and power around you see the armor is real when you say when you are walking in the truth of god's word and you believe the truth and you say out of your mouth i put on the girdle of truth guess what happens it's there for real and let me say i know some some people think i'm crazy i don't care because more of this is coming in the days ahead but i know how real the armor of god really is because one time god had me confront a satanist a false prophet and rebuke him to his face and the next day i was standing out in a field praying where i had prayed for years so everybody knew where i went to pray and i'm standing out in a field in an open area by a pond with a white t-shirt on and bullets start
being fired at me now there was nothing around me that was metal i heard one bullet go by my ear multiple shots were fired and then on the second volley i heard it hitting something metal ting bouncing off of something but there was no metal around me and it sounded like you know those bullets that were hitting the ships and saving private ryan as they were like now i wasn't a fool i didn't stand keep standing there because i was being shot at but i kind of got into the tree line and made it back to the house but that wasn't the first time somebody wanted to kill me so i'm just telling you it's real it's not just spiritual it's real so every day make sure your life matches and then say out of your mouth i put on the armor i put on the girl i put on the breast i put on amen it's real and it happens i find this interesting everybody familiar with psalm 91 the lord is my what refuge and my fortune what does he say though i will say of the lord he is my refuge and my fortress my god and whom i trust right why because faith belief has to have confession amen all right do you learn something today put on the armor of god every day make sure your life matches the armor of god every day fight this battle with the weapons god's given you and you start winning you start winning some battles instead of feeling beat up all the time amen let's pray