Sermon Tone Analysis

An Invisible Evil Power

Have you ever had a day when everything seemed to go wrong?

I have had days when it seemed as though there was an invisible wall of pressure against me.

I have said to my wife, Dodie, during a church service, “A spirit of confusion is here.

Everything seems to be a flop and go wrong.”

When this happens, I have learned to call a halt to the service and immediately tell the devil to get out of the service, and he has to go.

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (pp.

28-29).

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The Problem of Lacking Confidence in God

Here is where so many believers fail.

They do not so strongly believe what God says they can do that they actually start doing them.

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (pp.

29-30).

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Exhortation: God can do what God only can do.

You can do what God says you can do.

He will confirm His promises.

He will perform whatever you ask in His Name.

Rise up! Stand tall for Jesus!

You are in the kingdom of His dear Son.

Live up to your high calling!

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (pp.

30-31).

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What you Must do: The Word for Victory

You must do what Jesus did and find out what the Word of God says about the situation that the tempter has tried to put on you, and then do what the Word says to do to obtain victory.

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (p.

39).

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& James 4:6-7

May I emphasize this: Peter indicates that Satan cannot devour everybody.

He is legally bound in certain areas.

He must obey the Word of God.

He must bow to the Name of Jesus.

Peter did not say you have to find a strong preacher or a great personality to resist the devil for you.

You are to resist the devil.

tells us: “But He gives more grace.

Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’

Therefore submit to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

You submit yourself to God.

You resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

That word flee means “to run as if in terror.”

Before either Peter or James talked about resisting the tempter, they talked about the prerequisite of humility.

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (pp.

42-43).

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Don't Give into the Temptation of the Devil

Poor people are tempted to believe poverty is God's Will

Sick people are tempted to believe that healing is not for them.

Older people are tempted to feel useless.

Divorced people are tempted to fell disqualified.

If you have been tempted to give up because you have a broken home, don’t give up.

If you have been overcome by some terrible habit, and the devil tempts you to give up, don’t give up.

If you are in financial trouble, and you are tempted to live below God’s plan for prosperity in your life, don’t give up!

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (p.

53).

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Not to Old to be Bold

That is not biblical.

In the time before the Flood, God stated that man’s days would be one hundred and twenty years ().

In , the Bible says, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years.”

But it never states that we reach an age where we’ve outlived our usefulness for life and the kingdom of God.

Colonel Sanders was a wonderful Christian businessman who started Kentucky Fried Chicken at the age of sixty-five.

He was in his nineties when he went to be with the Lord, and in his latter years he was still engaged in starting new projects.

It is always good to be challenged by life, to have plans and projects.

When I am older, I want to be like Caleb.

He stood in the wilderness when he was eighty-five years old and stared up at the toughest, highest mountain.

He said to Joshua, “ ‘And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old.

As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.

Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified.

It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.’

And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance.

Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb” ().

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (pp.

45-46).

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The hardest fight is just before the victory.

You are going to have the hardest battle just about the time you enter into the greatest time of victory that God has planned for you.

If you are being greatly tempted today, it is because you are about to take that one step that will put you into the area that you have longed to be in.

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (p.

60).

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He is going to do everything he can to confuse your mind, discourage your spirit, and make your body sick.

The devil is doing his best, but his best is not enough when we know who we are and our rights and privileges as believers.

Osteen, John.

Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (pp.

75-76).

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Arm Yourself

I love the story in .