Night of Deliverance (May 2023)

It’s time to fight back!

Pray (command any assignments to leave)

Pentecost

What is deliverance?

Deliverance is the ministry of casting out demons from people.

1/3 of Jesus’ ministry was spent doing this. Think about that for a moment. 1/3 Preaching/Teaching 1/3 Healing 1/3 Casting out demons!

In Matthew 15:26 Jesus called Deliverance the children’s bread! If that is the bread I have to say that the church is starving!

So many churches don’t believe or don’t teach on deliverance. Many of the ones that do teach on it try to contain it in order to try to make it more presentable.

Deliverance is messy, but Jesus didn’t mind messy. He just wanted people free!

Too many churches and too many pastors want proper…they don’t want messy. Even if messy means freedom! Messy is worthy it! Jesus went to the cross and it wasn’t proper. It was ugly! It was horrible! It was messy in so many ways, but to Him it was worth it!

I understand the resistance though.

MY TESTIMONY

Mark 16:17 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;”

Luke 10:17-20 “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.””

As a follower of Jesus we have authority over our enemy! The question is…are we using it?

1 John 3:8 “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

Jesus wants to destroy the works of the devil in your life and He has given you His authority in order to defeat him.

Lazarus is a picture of deliverance. Lazarus was resurrected. That points to our salvation and being brought from death to life. But Lazarus didn’t come out in strength. He came out struggling. Many of us give our lives to Jesus and He says, “Come forth!”, but when we come forth we are bound up by strongholds and demons that make it hard to live in the abundant life that Jesus promises us in John 10:10

John 10:10 NKJV

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

After Lazarus is resurrected/saved Jesus says, “Loose him and let him go!” This is deliverance! This points to us being freed from the bondage of the enemy so that we live as Jesus intended!

So why do so many churches not teach this, walk in this, have victory?

1 Samuel 17:8-11 “Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”

The enemy is taunting you. His goal is to keep you from the fight! He wants to wear you out, get you so burdened that you can’t pick up your sword or put on your armor!

1 Samuel 17:23-24 “Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid.”

The enemy is taunting you.

He wants you cowering in fear.

He wants you worried about what people will think.

He wants you to focus on how tough he seems rather than how tough your God is!

David’s brother tried to stop him. Saul told him he couldn’t do it.

The enemy will use people that are close to you to try to stop you. They will tell you that you cannot when God is saying “With Me you can!”

David then tried to put on Saul’s armor, but it wouldn’t fit.

You can’t wear your parents armor

You can’t wear your pastor’s armor

You can’t wear your spouse’s armor

You have to put on the armor of God for yourself! That armor is Jesus! You have to know Jesus, love Jesus, walk with Jesus and know He is greater than anything you will ever face!

Goliath tried to taunt David personally. “Are you a dog that comes at me with sticks?” and he cursed David.

The enemy is cursing you too! He is speaking against you in hopes that you don’t pick up a stone and pull out your sling. The sling represents the authority of Jesus and the stone is His name! Jesus is the stone the builders rejected, but He’s the only stone you need to take down your enemy!

1 Samuel 17:45-47 “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.””

David let that stone fly and the enemy hit the ground.

We need to come at our enemy with the name of the Lord of hosts! David literally came at Goliath with the name of Jesus, because Jesus is the Lord of hosts!

1 Samuel 17:50-51 “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.”

David used the enemy’s own sword to cut off his head. That means that how the enemy has attacked you God wants to use that very thing to take him down!

If you’ve been in bondage to fear- God wants you to rise up in faith!

If you’ve been struggling with depression and heaviness- God wants to fill you with joy!

If you’ve been stewing in anger- God wants to stir up your love!

Make the enemy pay for what he’s done to you in the name of Jesus!

In order to make him pay, we must understand how he has been working and defeating us in certain areas.

How demons operate:

They tempt

They harass and oppress

They deceive

They afflict (sickness) Matthew 4:24 “Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.”

They enslave

They counterfeit

They drive

How do we allow demons into our lives?

Willful sin. Disobeying God’s commands Deuteronomy 28:15 ““But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:”

Unforgiveness- Matthew 6:14-15 ““For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Matthew 18 Parable of the unmerciful servant- Hand him over to the tormentors. And so also...

Inner Vows- An inner vow is a determination of the heart out of a place of deep pain. It involves statements such as “I will never be like my mother/father.” “I will never let another man hurt me” Matthew 5:33 ““Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’” Numbers 30:2 “If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” Placing your trust and protection in self.

Judgments- Matthew 7:1-7

Matthew 7:1–7 NKJV

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

5. The Occult- Deuteronomy 18:10-13 “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.”

6. Lies of the enemy- John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

You are stupid

You are worthless

No one cares about you

You aren’t enough

7. Emotional Trauma- Psalm 55:4-5 “My heart is severely pained within me, And the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, And horror has overwhelmed me.”

8. Fear- 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

9. Word Curses by people in authority over you- Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

10. Grumbling and Complaining- 1 Corinthians 10:10 “nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.”

How do you close the doors? Repentance. James 4:7 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” Joel 2:13 “So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.”

Many people don’t think Christians can have a demon.

I don’t have time to go into all the reasons why Christians CAN have a demon, but here are a few.

The word we read as possessed is a mistranslation. It actually means demonized or harrassed or oppressed by demons. It is not a word declaring ownership. If a thief breaks into your home, does he own your home? No, but he can take your stuff and cause damage until he is removed!

Matthew 12:43-45 ““When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”” If this is speaking of a non-believer they would always end up worse than they started out!

Ephesians 4:26-27 ““Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.”

Jesus said that deliverance was the children’s bread. It’s for the children of God! He spoke this to a woman who’s daughter needed deliverance from a demon!

Many people say that because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit that the temple cannot have demons in it. Yet in Ezekiel 8 we see abominations throughout the temple! The more abominations the less of the glory that remained…until eventually he glory left. The more we allow the enemy into our lives, the less of the glory and anointing we will walk in!

The temple was created in 3 main sections. The outer court…inner court and holy of holies. This is how we were created as well. Body…soul (mind, will and emotions) and spirit. The manifest presence of God was found in the holy of holies. That represents our spirit. There are no demons in your spirit. If you are a genuine follower of Jesus, your spirit is perfect. The outer and inner courts though, didn’t necessarily have the presence of God with them. There were 90 something rooms there as well. These are where the abominations were at. If we open doors to the enemy, we can allow thieves and spirits into our bodies and our souls.

To say that we can’t have demons because we are the temple would also bring this question? Why can we still sin? Why are so many evil thoughts in the minds of Christians? Why do so many walk in defeat and not victory?

Mark 1:21–28 NKJV

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

The religious people want to remove the man from the church, but Jesus removed the demons from the man! He didn’t take the man to a private room. He didn’t bind up any manifestations. He dealt with it right there in the synagogue as messy as it was!

This man probably went to synagogue every week. Yet this had never happened before. He sang the songs, read the Scriptures, listened to the preaching and nothing like this happened…but when the presence of Jesus and the anointing of the Spirit walked into the room the demons got uncomfortable!

When the Anointing of the Holy Spirit walks into the room, demons can’t hide. They don’t care if you go to church. They don’t care if you sing your songs or pray your prayers. The only thing that they can’t stand is the presence of God and the anointing of the Spirit exposing them! The light shines into the darkness and the roaches scatter!

It’s time to stop playing church! It’s time for pastors to stop trying to create greater audiences and start creating greater armies! It’s time for you to stop being a pew sitter and for you to get into the battle as a soldier!

It’s time that we keep preaching the word, but we also add a demonstration of power as Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 2:4 “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,”

It’s time we fight back!

If our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit…maybe it’s time we started joining Jesus in turning some tables over and running off some moneychangers!

Luke 4:18 ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;”

Jesus came to set you free!

I want you to hear from some people who have been set free!

Todd- Mental Health

Natalie- Occult

Nai- Sickness

Heather- Generational Curses/Lies-Anger

SHARE THE GOSPEL!!! If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life…do it now!

Altar Call- Salvation/Repentance

Matthew 12:28 “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

If we want God’s kingdom to come…we need to step out of being comfortable and step into confrontation! Pick up a sword, put on your armor and let’s start fighting back!

The world we are living in is burning! Darkness is growing every day! You were born for such a time as this! If the world is going to burn…let’s make sure Sweetwater is burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit!

Ants in pants- This is not the time to be proper! This is the time to get set free!

Prayer

I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the only way to God. Thank you for loving me Jesus. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins and washing me clean in Your blood! I renounce all pride and religious self-righteousness. I have no claim on Your mercy except that You died in my place. I confess all my sins and repent for them. I turn away from them. and I turn to You, Lord for mercy and forgiveness. Help me Lord to forgive every person that has hurt me. I sever all contact with the occult and every false religion. Lord Jesus, thank You that You have redeemed me. You became a curse so I could be redeemed from the curse and inherit God’s blessing. On that basis I ask that you release me and set me free to receive the deliverance I need. I take my stand with You, Lord, and I resist the devil. I pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen!