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Opening

We are learning about Hearing God’s voice above the noise in our sermon series “Hearing from God” based on Larry Kreider’s book, “Speak Lord, I’m Listening,” and today we are talking about discernment. By the way, I’m told that there is a newer version of this book on Amazon called “30 ways to hear from God,” so if you can’t find this one...

Every spring, there’s a colorful family of songbirds called the Wood Warblers who return to their breeding grounds in norther Europe, filling the heavens with their beautiful trills and whistles. There are over 50 different species of Wood Warbler, and each has its own distinct song. The male uses his song to attract a mate and to establish his territory, spending time every day singing from various perches around the perimeter of his home, announcing “this is mine!”

The baby birds in the nest begin learning their appropriate song at a very young age while their father circulates his territory. However, if the father gets too far away and a male of a different species is singing close by, the impressionable offspring sometimes learn the “wrong song.” Can you imagine how confusing and difficult it would be for a bird to find a mate and live out its life when it has learned the wrong song?

This illustration reminds us how important it is for us to listen to the right voice. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 and in John 10:5 He says, “they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

Today’s world is filled with voices, it’s important to be able to distinguish the right one above the noise. We must learn our Shepherd’s voice, and recognize the tactics of the enemy to lead us astray. And because our mission is making disciples, we must also learn to teach others about spiritual warfare. Becoming a Christian doesn’t make us exempt from the troubles of life, on the contrary, it puts a target on our back. The Lord Jesus asked His father not to take us out of the world, but to protect us from the evil one. So, we’re born again, but we’re still in enemy territory, and it’s a spiritual battle. Not against flesh and blood as Ephesians 6:12 says, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Last week we talked about how being a Christian is not a destination, but a journey in relationship with God and with others. This week, I’m going to talk about the ministry of a Christian on that journey. Our co-mission with Christ is to build His Kingdom by making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them all that Jesus commanded. That ministry is a spiritual ministry. Making disciples requires discernment of the unseen spiritual realm because we’re building a spiritual Kingdom. Not a Kingdom of brick and mortar, but a Kingdom of truth and light.

The Christian ministry is a spiritual ministry, and our battle is a spiritual battle, but I’ll tell you the good news from the beginning - the battle has already been won!

Pray

DISCERNMENT (Tuning In)

God is constantly speaking to us, but we also have a lot of other voices going on in our minds at the same time. We can reduce interference on “His channel” by removing distractions and spending time in relationship with Him through prayer, meditation, and reading His Word. But how can we determine if we’re even listening to the “right song?” How can we distinguish the Shepherd’s voice among so many others.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” The word for pretension here is the same word for height in Romans 8:39 “neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The word is hyposoma and it means a supernatural power; hypo - outside, soma - the body, in the spiritual realm.

This should give us pause… these supernatural powers are trying to separate us from the love of God… and much of that is taking place in our thought-life! The Christian ministry is a spiritual ministry and much of that conversation with the spiritual realm takes place in our minds. So, every voice in our minds that is not of God, Paul says we need to take captive (that means bind it up) and demolish it. Demolish is a strong word, but it means just that. We are to tear down, destroy, dismantle, do away with, and eliminate every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

In his book, Larry identifies at least four of these voices that a Christian might hear in their thoughts; your own voice, other people’s voices, the voice of the enemy or his spirits of evil, and of course the voice we want to hear; God’s voice.

Your Voice The majority of our thought life is our own voice. We’re people, and people need to talk to themselves to figure things out… that’s just the way it is and there’s really nothing wrong with that unless your own voice is saying things that are contrary to what God says. No matter how much we know, we don’t know more than God, so we should keep our own voice in check, humble and submitted to Him - seeking His will and not our own.

Your voice includes your own personal preferences and desires, which are powerful motivators for self-serving actions, but be careful that you’re not putting your own desires ahead of God. Jesus said in Luke 9:23–24 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” He wasn’t talking about our literal life, but surrendering our desires to Christ, trusting that His plan is greater than our own.

Other People’s Voices Other people can also have an influential voice in our minds. Words that have been spoken by people we love can lodge themselves into our own thought pattern. We see this most often with parents and children, just like our Wood Warbler family, the parent’s voice is imprinted on the child, who then forms much of their identity around what they were told by their parent. The words of a spouse, close friend, or any person whose opinion we value can become lodged into our minds and (if we’re not careful) our very identity.

Whether positive or negative, the voices of others need to be discerned as a separate channel from the voice of God. God will never speak in a demeaning or belittling way toward His children. His voice is encouraging, loving and rooted in the truth of His Word. A voice that speaks to us in any way other than this, needs to be eliminated from our thought life.

The Enemy’s Voice The enemy also tries to speak to us in the voices of our mind, planting seeds of doubt and fear, accusations and lies. He may even quote scripture, twisting it’s meaning or speaking in spiritual-sounding language in an attempt to convince us that we’re hearing from God. His words confuse us, distract us, entrap us and derail our focus from where it belongs; on God.

The key to discerning the voice of the enemy is to understand what condemnation sounds like. The voice of the enemy will make us feel stuck, with no way out. He will use our sins and mistakes to convince us that God doesn’t want or love us. He will use words of finality like “always,” “never,” “can’t,” and “impossible.” These type of words should catch our attention as being the condemning voice of the enemy, and not the gently convicting voice of God.

God’s Voice God’s voice is still, small and loving. When He brings sin to our attention, it convicts us but it also gives hope for a way out. I find that God has a wholesome sense of humor, and often uses irony to draw our attention to something He’s trying to tell us. He isn’t snide or sarcastic, but sometimes what He says to us will make us laugh! One thing I’ve learned, and delighted in, is that when I position myself to hear from Him, being still before Him and resting in His presence, if I ask Him a question... He answers! Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Try it!

Discerning what we hear takes practice, so spending time in conversation with God; asking and listening for His answer, gives us that opportunity to practice using discernment. The Holy Spirit will help us determine if what we’re hearing is from God or not. As always, use what you know about Him to make that call… Was it gentle and loving? Does it line up with the Word? Does it bring me peace? And if not, we should do as Paul says and demolish that thought.

THE BATTLE FOR AUTHORITY

This battle we’re in as Christians is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, it’s really not as complicated as the “super-spiritual” like to make it out. It’s simple, once you understand the reason for the battle.

Paul says it right there in Ephesians 6, our key chapter for Spiritual warfare against “rulers, authorities, powers, and forces.” Spiritual Warfare is the battle for the legal right to RULE. It’s not about what is being done to you, it’s all about who has the legal right to do it! Now, we know that God is on the throne in heaven, but why did Satan get thrown out of heaven? He wanted to sit on that throne. So when God created mankind, to care for and have dominion, Satan was right there trying to trick us into breaking the rules thereby giving that dominion to him.

If there are rulers, then naturally, there must be rules and those rules are the contract (or the covenant) for our legal rights. The ruler makes the rules. When people broke the rules, the accuser got the legal right to use his powers of evil in their lives. Who is the accuser? Satan.

Let’s look at some scriptures that show us that there is a legal structure to the way things work in the spiritual realm. In the Old Testament, the rules were laid out by the covenant law of Moses (a.k.a. the Ten Commandments). Let’s look at Job

Job 1:6 “One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.” Why was Satan there? He’s the accuser. [Before Jesus, the rules were the ten commandments, and when we broke the ten commandments, the accuser “the Satan” would go before God to allow him to torment and punish the disobedient. The ultimate punishment, scripture calls “the wages of sin” is death.

Enter our kinsman redeemer, Jesus. Who, once and for all, paid those wages of our sin with his own death so that all we have to do is believe in Him and we would no longer be under the power and authority of the evil one. The punishment for our sin removed, we are “saved” and God grants us everlasting life (no more death) by grace through our faith in what Jesus did. We stacked up the traffic tickets, we’re guilty, but Jesus walked into court and paid our fine so our sentence, our punishment has been fulfilled by Him.

Ephesians 1:20–23 “...he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

Great, good, end of story. Wait… then why do we still have to battle? If Jesus overcame sin and death, if he is now far above those “rulers, authorities, powers, and forces,” then why is there still a battle? Why is there still spiritual warfare?

Spiritual warfare is all about submitting to God, (His rule, His authority, His power, and His Holy Spirit) and resisting the devil, (his tricks, his lies, his accusations, and his evil spirits). James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

We still have spiritual warfare even though Christ is seated on the throne, not for our salvation, that’s already been given to us, but to derail our mission and to keep us from being effective in what Jesus has asked us to do. Jesus kept us in this world for a purpose. We have a commission to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ before He returns in the last days. The enemy is now after our mission, and if he can keep us distracted in battle, we won’t have the bandwidth to make disciples.

Before He was taken up into heaven, Jesus came to his first disciples and said… Matthew 28:18–20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

He has charged us by His authority to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them all He commanded. He also gave us His Name, to bind and to loose.

His Name Philippians 2:10–11 “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

He gave us His Blood which has already defeated the enemy and freed us from punishment for our sins.

His Blood Revelation 12:11 “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

And He gave us His Word which contains the counter-attack to every one of the enemy’s schemes.

His Word: Matthew 4:4 “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

The enemy has been defeated, and he has no power except the power we hand to him through open doors in our life. This is why we are told to submit to God in all things. And to resist the devil. He’s still prowling around looking for an opening to attack, a chink in the armor of the children of God. Anywhere he can get a foothold, he will try to disrupt God’s plan for your life and distract you from your co-mission with Christ.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear, the enemy has been defeated and even when he gets a foothold to torment us - he absolutely cannot take away our salvation. Remember Romans 8:39 “neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have been given everything we need for a godly life, but even when we falter, the enemy’s activity in our life is is no longer justified punishment as it may have been in Old Testament times. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our freedom and any torment or attack of the enemy is unauthorized... without our permission.

POWER OF PERMISSION

Understanding the legal rights (and limits) of the enemy, and the power of permission is the key to finding freedom and staying free. The enemy has no power except where we give him permission to enter our lives. He will try to crawl through any door we leave open for him, like what we watch on tv or listen to on the radio. He will leverage any unforgiveness we hold in our hearts against others to convince us that our righteousness is from ourselves and not because of Jesus. He will remind us of issues in our family line trying to get us to accept his lies as our truth. The enemy can keep us from experiencing true freedom by keeping us bound by our own beliefs, our own desires, and our own misconceptions. He will trap us in lies we believe about ourselves and promises we’ve made to others. He will dig and claw and wedge into heart wounds that haven’t healed causing more and more distance in important relationships.

I’ve included a list of examples of these open doors in your notes. if you’re struggling with any of these things, please come see me, any of our Elders, or one of our intercessors for prayer. Our inner healing ministry is available by appointment as well.

We cannot be Christians and ignore that it is a spiritual ministry. The scriptures are very clear that even though he has been defeated, we still have an enemy. Although we have the victory, we must remain vigilant. “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 6:10–11)

Summary

As heirs to the Kingdom - Christ has given us the keys. He said in Matthew 18:18–19 “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. If two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by our Father in heaven.”

He’s given us His name, His blood, and His Word as weapons of warfare. He’s given us the armor of God to stand our ground against the evil one. He’s given us the authority to bind and to loose, the power of agreement in the courtroom of heaven, and the jurisdiction as the ecclesia to administer His sentence… to demolish every supernatural power that sets it self up against Him.

Closing

STAYING FREE

As I close, I want to give you a simple game plan to take home with you. First, I need to say that not every trial or unfortunate circumstance is the result of spiritual warfare or demonic oppression. We will have troubles in this life, but some of these troubles are just part of the journey and they are allowed so that God will be glorified through them. Without a test, there can be no testimony.

Spiritual attack can be recognized when we see a pattern of disfunction in our lives that keeps us from moving forward in our faith. Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” We can’t see what the enemy is doing behind the scenes, but we know that he has been given access to some area of our lives when it seems to be knocked down over and over again. There’s a pattern, some people call it a roller coaster, consistent ups and downs like you keep hitting an invisible ceiling. Some see it as “going round the mountain again” when something just keeps happening over and over.

God’s will for our lives is to be constantly moving forward. Ephesians 4:13 “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” So, anything that is holding us back from growing in our faith is very likely rooted in spiritual forces working against us.

Once we recognize this pattern as spiritual resistance, we should get in the Word to determine where there may be an open door. The Word of God is the rule book, and once we recognize how the enemy gained access, it’s time to take him to the court of heaven for arraignment. Jesus is already on the throne, we simply need to file the paperwork.

Confess where we’ve allowed sin to enter our life, repent for agreeing with the lie, turn from it and close that door. We need to search our hearts for any unforgiveness that might be lingering, forgive those who’ve hurt us, and ask God to forgive them too. We also need to forgive ourselves, knowing that Christ has already forgiven us.

Then we need to send that ungodly thing packing. This is the sentencing phase, and this part needs to happen out loud. The enemy and his spirits cannot hear our thoughts, he can only plant his own into our minds. So when we are rebuking his rule off our life, we need to do that with our mouth. We are not talking to Satan - we are declaring in the sight of God and every spiritual force that he has been recognized in our camp and his plan has been demolished.

Whatever has been given access in that area of our life is hereby notified of trespass. We proclaim that area of our life is now submitted to God. We renounce whatever we allowed to enter our lives, bind it by the name of Jesus, His blood, and His Word. And finally, we need to receive the truth from God’s Word about that area of our lives. That space where we once allowed darkness, ask God to fill it with His love and His light. Verbally release God’s promises from His Word for that area of your life and have faith that you have them!

Spiritual warfare is a battle which has already been won. The battle begins in our thought life, and manifests in our proclamations of freedom as the ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. Jesus has been given all authority on earth and in heaven, and he has appointed us as ambassadors of the Kingdom. We only need to stand firm on that authority and defend our position in order to stay free.

Small group Questions

In your small groups this week:

Describe how you know the difference between God’s voice and another

Discuss the armor of God and how to use the spiritual equipment we’ve been given

Share one or two areas in which Christ has set you free

Let’s never forget that Jesus did not leave us as orphans. He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us to learn and to grow in this faith-life, and He has given us each other to help us mature and expand the Kingdom for His glory!

Pray (Stand) Intercessors and Communion Stewards come forward

Tithes & Offerings

We also have an opportunity each week to demonstrate our faith in the Lord of all by offering a tithe of all our income to the ministry of the Church. We believe this is a covenant promise, according to His Word, and that God desires us to tithe as a sign that we trust Him for all of our income and provision.

We bless the tithes and offerings today, Lord, the gifts and the givers. Prevent pests from devouring their crops and keep the fruit on the vine until it is ripe. We trust you in your covenant of the tithe and demonstrate our faith in your abundant provision through these gifts. May they be pleasing to you in growing your Kingdom and bring glory to your holy name, Jesus.

Communion

We also bless the elements of our communion; Matthew 26:26–28 says that “While they were eating (the Passover meal), Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

We give thanks to you, Lord for this bread, and thanks to your Son for His love poured out on the cross. We eat and drink in remembrance of you.

Benediction

Come, pray, give, eat and drink and may you walk out your salvation, staying completely FREE in Jesus name, until He returns.