Return to Spiritual Warfare
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13 “ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
19 “ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
Great to be back~
We hit the pause button on our Sermon Series on Spiritual warfare I thought it very meaningful on the day that we are back in our house to pick up from the last sermon series I preached when we were still open.
As we navigated through the Coronavirus pandemic.
Even the virus itself and its spread is a manifestation of warfare happening in the spiritual realm.
The coronavirus did not come from God. God allowed it for a reason.
In the middle of the crisis God remains to be a covenant-keeping God.
God wants to preserve and even bless His people.
Let me qualify that, it is not material blessing, it is not a health and wealth gospel that we preach but rather God wants to bless His people to accomplish His greater purpose.
God has a purpose for His covenant people, true blessing comes when you as part of the church are being used to accomplish God’s greater purpose!
Satan wants to steal that blessing from you. He wants to turn that blessing into a curse.
This is where spiritual warfare comes in.
There is a warfare already waging in the spiritual realm. Where the forces of good battle the forces of evil. God’s mighty angels fight against Satan’s demonic hordes.
At the crux of this warfare is satanic opposition to the advancement of the Kingdom of God. You can picture the advancing Kingdom of God as a rescue mission.
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
Jesus rescues souls from the kingdom of satan to His kingdom, and His Kingdom is where He rules in the hearts of men.
There is warfare happening for the souls of men.. Satan and His legions fight against the Kingdom of God.
How are you involved in this spiritual warfare?
You become engaged in spiritual warfare the moment you get involved in the Kingdom of God.
Satan uses all the tools at his disposal to prevent a Christian from growing in His faith, he sees your potential for God and the Kingdom of Jesus and tries to stop you from being used.. and it becomes more severe when you are more involved in God’s work.
Like any war, spiritual warfare involves force and violence.
Jesus said that this warfare at some point has intensified.
12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
We have to be ready and to be aware,
warfare has evolved, human warfare used to be fought with swords and spears, it has evolved with the use of guns and now we see more compact sophisticated weapons in contemporary warfare..
In the same way, satan is becoming more subtle in his weapons, he is employing new tactics but the battleground remains the same..
Spiritual Warfare Battlegrounds:
The battleground of the world.
The battleground of the mind.
The battleground of the Kingdom of God.
Let us talk about the third battleground because that is where the battles become most intense.
The battleground of the Kingdom of God like I said is fought when you are involved in advancing God’s Kingdom. Satan starts with the church.
I want to present to you scripture about the true church of Christ.
2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
The church of Jesus will be presented as the spotless bride of Christ. That is a promise from God… redeemed, purchased by the blood of Jesus.. there will be a global church.. destiny..
2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Jesus has won the war..
Satan uses guerilla warfare tactics, and local war tactics within the local church..
God wants to bless and not curse His church because of His purpose..
Jesus loves the church, He died for her, he purchased her with His own blood. Don’t let Satan deceive you..
You will see Jesus’ heart when He spoke to two local churches in ancient times. to Pergamos or Pergamum and Thyatira.
13 “ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
19 “ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
You noticed that Jesus starts with loving and reassuring words that He knows and understands what we as a church does and what we are going through..
But we have to pay attention when He says the words:
“I have this against you...”
There are two names that you have to consider carefully that the Lord mentioned in His warning, because these names correspond to foul spirits that are in churches of the world today.
Named Foul Spirits:
Balaam
Jezebel
They are very dangerous because they circumvent the blessing and love of God to His people by:
These spirits circumvent the blessing and love of God to His people by a two-step process:
Infiltration
Seduction
What exactly are these spirits?
You probably have heard of the Jezebel spirit, but equally dangerous is the Balaam spirit..
“the doctrine of Balaam” - it is the spirit of doctrinal error and greed.
Who was Balaam. You can find his story in Numbers 22 - 24. (tell key:hired by Balak)
God would not allow him to curse Israel so he uttered words of blessing instead.
He was only after material gain, he did not regard the gifts of God but preferred material possessions. Greed.
A lot of churches in America have fallen into this:
Changing the message of the gospel to one of wealth and health the prosperity gospel.
Because he cannot stop God’s blessing, he went another route, he used infiltration and seduction as a tool...
1 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
Later we will find out that Balaam was behind this..
Listen:
Satan knows that God cannot curse you because you are His people, so he attempts to make you cursed because of your sin.
What is the Jezebelian spirit? Who is Jezebel?
Jezebel was the wicked queen married to King Ahab of Israel..
The Jezebel Spirit is the Spirit of manipulation into idolatry.
pornography.
Satan uses new tools but his desired outcome remains the same:
Satan’s desired outcome:
God’s people fall into idolatry.
God’s people fall into sexual immorality.
It only takes these two to keep a Christian and a local body in defeat.
These spirits are actively at work in the church of God today.
Church’s response:
Repentance.
16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.
2. Put on the Full Armor of God.
(Ephesians 6)
Be prepared, be on guard, be vigilant in prayer and by doing so, repair the breach and fortify the walls.
Let us pray for the Spirit of Nehemiah to lead this church.
Nehemiah by the way...
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
3. Slay the enemy.
Identity and kill the root cause.
In the very disturbing story of the sin of Israel, a man named Phinehas in Numbers 25, killed an Israelite man and a pagan woman in the act of adultery with a spear. But that only stopped the bleeding, it stopped the plague brought by the wrath of God.
That was not enough.
In Numbers 31 God commanded Israel to kill the root cause of the sin.
They wiped out a whole people, the Midianites and they also killed the false prophet Balaam itself.
In 2 Kings 9 Jezebel died a violent death.
We are not told to kill people in the New Testament, but we have the power to destroy the seducing and foul spirits.
We have to identify and destroy that Spirit. With what weapon will we do that?
We learned about The sword of the Spirit..
There is even a greater weapon.
The Blood of Jesus Christ.
Blood has a red color, but only the blood of Jesus makes pure white anything washed in it.
14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Lay hold of the promise in
26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star.
Dear God,
We stand today,
By the testimony of your Word
and by the power of Your blood.
We repent of all our sins.
Free us from materialism, idolatry and the lust of the flesh.
Give us the spirit of Nehemiah.
To lead the way,
By the blood of Jesus and His word.
We slay the spirit of Balaam and the Spirit of Jezebel.
We destroy all enemy strongholds.
Set Your people free!
Repair the breach, and fortify our walls.
In the Name of Jesus!
Raise them as Your mighty army, that will carry out your purpose in this generation!
Count as worthy to rule with you over nations and to receive the morning star.
In the Might Name of Jesus I pray.