Advance: Power Over Paganism and the Occult

Hey Pastor, Steven here. Welcome to the abundance Springs podcast. If you haven't already be sure to check this out online at abundance Springs. Church. And now on to this week's message. I was just a couple of years ago as that coffee with another Pastor from our community and he was telling me about something that happened in his church. And there were having service this one Sunday and I have a First Nations gentleman came and sat down in the front row in the church and the pastor noticed that there seemed to be something off with this gentleman but said but continued preaching but towards the end of his message the the man he got up and he began to kind of just move funny and he was saying something under his breath is he he went around and everybody just kind of ignore him for a bit and then service ended and he was still kind of going through everything and they're they're Auditorium and and and saying things that didn't make sense or anything like that and eventually and he left. One of the congregants there went to visit his Pastor afterwards and and was worried because it seems so strange that he had gone to another friend of his that he had on the reserve and was told that actually this guy must have been placing a curse on their congregation. Muse Muse freaking out in my pastor friend who tried to tell him no more than you know, you don't need to worry about this more followers of Jesus. We've got something greater you're going to be. Okay and is the pastor told me he came to the church a few days later and he noticed that there was there was all this. I don't know sander or Salter or something on the ground in a in a circle around their their church and we went he talked of the sneaking suspicion and I'm sure enough by what he thought had happened. This congregants. This follower of Jesus had had sought out I don't know if they're called a a witch doctor Shaman or or whatever. They had sought out a spirit from this the reserve and brought them in to break the curse. That had been pronounced over the church and my pastor friend was Furious. You confronted this individual and said why do you think that we need? to use the Demonic to face the demonic do you not believe that there's there's power enough in Jesus and we have to overcome this.

Yeah, there's there's two positions that many in Western culture takes when it comes to paganism and spiritism in the occult in the Demonic the supernatural but the one side is to ignore it in the other side. It is to idolize it. Become obsessed with it a CS Lewis writing in the I believe it was the 50s in his book the screwtape letters in the prologue. He he write this there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about. The devil's one is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and feeling excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves the devil are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same Delight.

How are we to treat this topic has for many of us. We think about the old Calder or paganism or or the Demonic and we think was at the end of their nice story. I mean in biblical days, but they don't think none of that stuff is real and there's nothing behind any of this stuff.

I can hear myself.

four others of us we think about these things and we would break into a cold sweat. Maybe we begin to to seek the power that they can be found in these things or or maybe it's a different way of looking at it where we think there's nothing that we can do to stand in front of these sorts of things. But what do we get to do with these cuz we cannot ignore them. We can't ignore them, especially in in Pincher Creek in Southern Alberta prevalent in our community. And in our region, in fact before I came to Pincher Creek, I had a couple of other pastors take me to the side you were familiar with the area and just share with me that I'd better be ready for there to be a spiritual battle when I came in here because of the presence of the occult and the Demonic in Pincher Creek. Spiritism Pagan paganism occult practices demonic activity. How do we look at them? But they no biggie. Or do we tremble in fear?

Person plicity sake I'll generally just be talking about the Demonic today. And the reason for that is scripture is clear that all of these things have their root in the Demonic paganism has its roots in the Demonic Spirit isn't he is pulling from the Demonic the occult, obviously. the demonic it's a whether or not the morality that these people seem to to claim is something that that makes you feel like there couldn't be anything wrong with it or anything like that. You know, I'm no matter what your morality is is Cape your morality is serving something else other than God, it's wrong elsewhere in the screwtape letters. If you're not familiar with the screwtape letters is essentially a fictional exploration of a experience the demon sharing with a young demon. Is it on how to effectively

damn, the soil of someone that he is packed with and one statement that they make is this idea that

Define with you living a moral life Satan is absolutely fine with you living a moral life. If you can make you think that by living a moral life you can do anything, but follow Jesus.

Make you think that you're a good person make you think that you're paganism or whatever else it is. Whatever your faith is, whatever you may be doing that that it's going to get you where you want to go that you're just okay, he's fine with that because ultimately he's worried about eternity as we enter into this is just ask her head and we're going to pray just to open up here that as a Believers in Jesus. We don't need to fear the lord. I know that that it's it's easy to fear. It's easy to write these things off and I asked God that you were right now just begin to open our minds to what it is that you want to say to us in our hearts will be ready to hear from you Lord God that's that you will just take these things that I'm about to say these things that come out of a a feebleness of humanity answer your Holy Spirit Lord. God. Will you just began to implant these things in the right way the way that they need to come across to each individual person's heart and mind and soul in Jesus name. Amen. So we're in the middle of a series talking about the early church and really that the Carries On into us as the Church of Jesus and that's after Jesus died on the cross and rose again, and he spent some time with the disciples and continue to teach him then and just before he raised back into heaven. He told them listen. I'm going to send the holy spirit of God to you to just wait around to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And when you do he's going to give you power to be my Witnesses where you are at around the whole world and that we see this in time and time again in the book of Acts that the god Holy Spirit in the ables the church to do amazing things to advance the good news. Standing strong in the face of opposition Miracles being done. words of wisdom that unwise people speak to Acts chapter 13 if you have a paper Bible with that with you and want to read in that or if you have a mobile device me like to follow along on your mobile device. You can go to a SCC. Life and tap on the message note style there to follow along and take your own notes. Also, we're just going to have everything on the back screen behind me as well. So you should be able to follow along on that. He's always he's starting in verse 4 and the two of them referring to Saul and Barnabas sent on their way by the Holy Spirit went down to seleucia pencil from there to Cypress when they arrive at salon as they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues John was with them as their helper. They travel through the whole island until they cut came to paphos there. They met a Jewish Sorcerer And false prophet named bar-jesus who was the attendance of the proconsul sergius paulus the proconsul and intelligent man. Sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God, but LMS the sorcerer for that is what his name means opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith been solved was also called Paul filled with the Holy Spirit look straight at LMS and said you are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of Deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord now the hand of the Lord is against you you are going to be blind for a time not even able to see the light of the Sun and immediately. Mist and darkness came over him and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand when the proconsul saw what had happened he believed but he was amazed that the teaching about the Lord.

And look at this passage here and I I see something very applicable for us something that we can learn from the example Apollo and Barnabas in the first thing that I see here is that the you need to be aware. You need to be aware if you're going around and you're thinking to yourself. Well, you know the Demonic doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where you're thinking to yourself. You know, I'm a naturalist. I don't believe that there's any real spiritual realm you're sure there's God, but other than that, there's no miracle. There's nothing you're not being very aware of the fact that we are engaged in spiritual warfare. The Apostle Paul tells us that spit our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of the Unseen Realm. If someone things come against you in the spiritual realm if you're not aware, you're not going to have any kind of power or any kind of ability to stand strong against the thing that you're facing. This is why the spiritual gifting of discernment is so necessary in the church and in each one of us. The ability to discern spirits in the some people that I know they have this in in droves they can walk into any situation. They can hear someone speaking and they can immediately have something just unsettled in their spirit and they say that is not from God some of us struggle in this area.

But you know, this is something that as we seek it we can grow in. I am not somebody that necessarily always has a strong sense of discernment in me. But they're there have been times where I have walked into a buildings or different situations and I have just felt a weight almost like it was hard to breathe as I looked around and saw demonic paraphernalia that was was there and that I hadn't seen when I felt this feeling it would become clear to me that you know, there's there's definitely something going on here. Paul and Barnabas here. They recognize what was going on. They didn't fall prey to this bar. Jesus's elements the Sorcerer And false prophets and say, oh, wow. Look at this guy. He's on our side do that at all because they were aware that there was something at play and they recognized it. They recognize that things weren't right. So be aware the second thing that you need to do and then we can learn from this is being obedient obedient Paul and Barnabas. We're living obediently to God's will the holy spirit said set apart Saul and Barnabas for me and send them into this place and they didn't say where we're going to go this way instead, but they said, okay I'm going No matter the cost. I'm going. So as they stood before this sorcerer. This man who was calling upon himself power not from God, but from Satan. Didn't have to be afraid. Because they were obedient to God. And living obediently in God's will and his followers of Jesus filled with the holy spirit of God. They could stand confident knowing that God is their protector sure many difficulties could come at them. Maybe trials could come at them. Maybe there's some kind of outward push back but it is a war in the spiritual realm, but as you walk and what God wants his followers of Jesus, you can know that you are protective. Number of years ago my uncle went on a mission trip to Peru haven't gotten permission from him to share this story. But that's okay, you know only his wife watches online should be fine with it. Right Jenny. Yeah right on this mission trip in in Peru in it as he told the story to me. It is him in this group. They were walking along and then they were shown on this rock spend in they were told that this rock them that these spiritual listic exercise has had them practice for hundreds of years on this rock sacrifices of human beings in all these types of things. You could feel this presents coming off of The Rock and the group had to get somewhere and into the leaders. Just hitting you don't touch the rock don't do anything. We're just we're going to carry on. This is what we're here for my uncle being my uncle he decided that that he knew better. Until when is the group went on ahead he laid his hand on the Rock and he began to pray against all that spiritual spirituality the Demonic presence that that was on that rock there. Everything seemed fine if you caught up with the group with at night. Shared with me that night if he was laying in bed, he suddenly woke up just just shaking with this vision of some kind of thinking Shaman or witch doctor or whatever and in the ceremonial guard standing over him holding a dagger. Freak The Living Daylights out of him. He went to see the leaders in and they they they all prayed together and he went back in and if you fell asleep he again just felt this presents and saw this this man operation with this dagger held over top of him again, and he just had this feeling of of danger. There's something going on here until a couple more times this happened and they prayed and then finally, Broke through and everything seemed to be fine, and he was able to just sleep the night away.

The reason I share this story it's because I believe in my heart that the reason why this was able to happen is not because he went and decided to pray for this rock, but it's because the action of doing so with an action of disobedience. an action of disobedience are we walking obediently in the will of God? Today his hand of protection is fully over us. Be aware be obedient. Thirdly be brave. Imagine this you're at your out there sharing the message of Jesus. And in the most powerful guy in the region the Roman proconsul basically the governor of the entire Province. Hey, I want to hear from you until you go in front of this Roman proconsul.

And what do you do? You just nicely share the good news and then walk away in Hernando. This is what Paul and Barnabas do they see this sorcerer who already has the proconsul zere the proconsul likes this guy keep some around skis curing from this guy and he decides but they're going to confront him.

They're going to confront this powerful man's favorite advisor basically in front of him and call him out on who he really is. That takes bravery.

Take the holy spirit's power.

Spirit-filled believers who are Spirit lead in spirit empowered to advance. We have strength within us. I believe that Paul and Barnabas in that moment. They were empowered to recognize they were empowered to have bravery and empowered. to call out elemis be aware be obedient be brave finally be bold. So you can be aware that there's something wrong and you can be obedient to a point. You can even have The Bravery to say, you know what I'm going to go ahead and go into the situation now, but when the words are called for where you have to step out in faith, and actually proclaims something is putting your neck on the line. Do you have the boldness to actually do it? Or is that where the obedience ends?

Presa can be something as simple as we're in a checkout line and we feel that the prompting of the Holy Spirit to let someone know that Jesus loves them. And we said that would be really weird God and and we fight and we just walk away that boldness and we've lost our boldness there. We both can you imagine being Paul in this place? You've already demonstrated braver. You've already recognized the truth of the spiritual situation, that play here. And what does he do? He calls us out on it, but he doesn't just call him out. He says I'm by the way, if you're now going to be struck with blindness to the point, you won't even be able to see the brightness of the Sun.

What takes boldness? I mean you think that it's nerve-wracking When you pray for someone to get healed and you're like God I really hope that you do this cuz right now I'm proclaiming healing over this person if it doesn't happen. Oh my goodness. They're going to think that I'm really dumb. Well you sitting there and he's like right now I'm basically proclaiming crackers over the courser. in the power of Jesus Christ NFL app It happened.

Do we can be bold because Jesus is already won the victory. Yes, we're in a struggle not against flesh and blood but against all the things that are unseen. But we don't have to Shake in our boots about it. So we don't have to worry about it to that extent for the simple fact that the war is already won. Yes, the battle rages on for a time at the loud to continue so that God in his great mercy and Grace can give an opportunity for as many as he knows. We'll come to follow him to follow him. possible

But the victory has been won. When Jesus rose from the grave after dying on the cross to pay the the price in the penalty for all the things that we had done. That was not right.

She settled the debt that we owed the king of the universe and could not pay ourselves. Spent three days in that grave and rose again and when he rose again, he proclaimed victory over sin. He proclaimed victory over death sang Here is my Divine life that I give to you. And he proclaimed victory. over Satan and Satan's forces

and give it to you. He gives it to you.

Same breath as he gives you forgiveness in the same breath as he adopts you as a child of God. He says I have won the Victory and as my child, so have you So have you?

I remember as a child I went to a private school and some of my friends were real mean so they can bid share stories about these things that they'd heard about demonic confrontations and things like that since and just scare me to get to know and there's a 6 7 8 year old and I'm just I'm freaked out of my mind. For some reason. I ended up enjoying Frank Peretti books there. They're kind of a Christian author who enjoys this type of stuff you and I'd be freaked out of my mind reading this stuff. I was still read it, but I do freaked out of my mind reading this stuff in and you know, I sit there and I get up at night and I'll be like new taking a long step away from the edge of my bed cuz you never know. There might be a demon underneath there something right really at the follower of Jesus. It wasn't the right thing to be afraid. I wasn't actually recognizing the power and authority that I had as a follower of Jesus.

So we have to respect the power that Satan has he ever told you that he the lion that said prowling around seeking whom he may devour. I don't know about you but I I personally don't go to the zoo and take a big long stick and poke Lyons. It seems like a dumb thing to do even though you have power over them at the zoo. You know, there's a big cage. It seems really dumb to poke a lion with the same time. Should we fear something that has already been shamed? Chewy fear something that's already been beaten that has no true power over us and the answer is no now that said sometimes hearing stories of these types of things did does still give me the willies, you know, it freaks me out just a little bit, but I know that my God is greater and that he's with me at the Demonic activity going on in this world relegating are spiritualities and spirit isms that we see being practiced in and paganism and all of it to two things of person is all of that to fiction and mythology and just saying they're just stories. They're just things that we hear about somewhere else. It doesn't happen in North America or it doesn't exist at all. His also not okay.

both are in error. As friends if we're truly active in what God commands for us as followers of Jesus and is leading us into in Pincher Creek wanting to share Christ love with 600 people and seeing 20 people give their lives to the Lord vibrant and fruitful followers of Jesus born out of the fruit of the Gospel by the end of 2020 and guess what folks we're going to come up against spiritual things.

And we have a couple different options are few different options option one is that we just ignore it and we go know all these things that are happening. I can just break through if I get the right strategy. Option number two is that we break down crying and trembling into your pants. Option three is that we recognize it. And we stand strong. and we Proclaim the Wii Have the victory. If we have God on our side that we are filled with and surrounded by the holy spirit of God who leads us and empowers us. Let the enemy cannot stand. the blood of Jesus

Super Friends Know that we will face opposition. Opposition in the spiritual realm whether it is overt or covert. It will come. It is here. Willie face it and if you choose to then we really must remember be aware. Be obedient the brave. people

of course now that really applies if we don't follow Jesus and so right now I'm going to have an opportunity for anybody online or anybody here that wants to follow Jesus that isn't following him already, or maybe you found that you just begun to have to walk further and further away from him. He just feel so distant and unreal in your life. And then invite you right now if you recognize who Jesus is and what he's done for you and the importance of it all and you're saying I want to follow Jesus. I'm going to lead you in a prayer right now that is just you proclaiming that you do believe and that you've chosen to follow. So whatever I closed and every head down. I'm just going to invite you all to pray with me. And if you pray this prayer in your heart the first time or coming back for the first time then know that you are forgiven that you are saved that you are wonderfully left. pray with me Heavenly Father I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I deserve the consequence of my sin. But I trust in your son Jesus Christ as my master, and that's my savior. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for saving me. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit. begin to wash me clean Empower me to live not as I once lived. But to turn from those things. and begin to follow you as you desire me to live. In Jesus name I pray amen friend if you just prayed that prayer for the first time. I want to congratulate you and in the knowledge that you have joined the family of God and that we're here for you. Whatever is going on a few questions were here for you as part of that. We want to make sure that you get a Bible in your hand so that you can be reading What God Says to you and that you get partnered with somebody that can begin to walk you through what it means to follow Jesus. He was taking the first step and now is the lifelong journey. And so you'll see that there's a blue card in the seat back in front of you if you're here in this room if you want to fill that out and let us know the decision you just made so that we can get back to you. You can just place that face down on the seat next to you as you go on your way or if you're online sleep and I just click on that the button in messenger there and let us know the decision that you've made and how to get a hold of you so that we can follow up with you and make sure that you have what you need to succeed.