Unseen Realm Pt. 4 // Footholds & Freedom

Welcome to the Lookin' Up Weekly Podcast.

The Church of the Looking is a whole mission is Jesus living in his presence.

Growing in his family and living on his mission to transform the world with the moment's wondering love.

Visit us the moment at the lookout of the church.

So good to be with you guys this morning.

It's a beautiful fall day.

If we haven't met yet, my name is Luke, and I get to preach at you for a bit.

Okay?

If you're the first time to the lookout, we're so thankful that you're here.

And uh, you know, we hope that you see uh that one of the marks of this community is we just we love we love worship, we love prayer because we believe that God is not somewhere else, Jesus is not somewhere else, his very presence is right here.

We don't talk about him like he's not in the room.

And so when we when we uh when we sing, when we pray, when we hold these spaces together, it's because that's the value that is coming at.

This is real.

Jesus is alive, amen.

And so uh so this morning um we get to celebrate that even more.

Um before we jump into the message, a couple things uh for you guys to know.

Again, thank you for everybody who's participated in blessing bags.

And um, if you didn't catch it, blessing bags are Christmas gifts basically we're putting together for children in Mexico and women in Mexico.

And there's a lot of ways to be a part of that.

But we had over 115 bags that were coming back today.

So come on, give it up for that.

Um also I want to say a huge shout out.

Some of you guys um uh you know, you you know that we we offer a food bank out of the the basement over the the north end of the building, Wellspring Food Bank.

We deliver Marsha Sioux delivers to um uh thousands of people uh every month.

We have drivers actually take food out.

It's the only food bank that delivers food in the whole county.

And um, and as you guys know, with where things are at in our nation, with the government shutdown and snap benefits, the the need uh for food has just skyrocketed.

Food insecurity is is probably at an all-time high right now, and especially in a month like this coming into Thanksgiving, um, it it's a lot.

And so we mentioned that last week, and here's what's cool just in the last in the last week, about$8,000 came in just to fund Wellspring, okay?

And um, and then uh uh most of that came from this church, but there's other people that are not part of this church, even people who are not followers of Jesus, has said we we want to make sure that people are fed this November.

So people are giving, and I just want to encourage you to continue to lean into that because of that investment.

Marcia Sue, she went she went crazy at the grocery store this week.

She bought a lot of protein.

So if you if if you need help, so by the way, this isn't just for others, if you need help, if you are uh if if groceries have been a problem and especially coming into this month and if you're in that place, please, please, please go visit the Wellspring Food Bank.

Get the supplies you need.

Um, and if you are, if if you're experiencing provision in your life and abundance and you have something to share, you can always bring in food donations or contribute online.

When you go to Give Online, you can select Wellspring, and let's just continue to resource the food bank, right?

So that everybody who comes in, especially this month, can get all of what they need and coming into Thanksgiving, that they can do uh a beautiful Thanksgiving meal as well.

All right?

So let's just keep at it.

And this is part of our longer term, you know, one of the themes this year, if you're not part of this church, one of our yearly themes is that we're living for the sake of others.

Everything that God does in us is not just for us, it's to overflow into the world that He's sent us into.

And so we've been sharing these so loved stories and just these really small moments of love and action.

I want to read a few of these that you guys have put on cards.

Some of you have been texting these in.

You can text in a so love moment to that number on the screen.

I'll just read just a few of these, which are just really beautiful.

Somebody said this.

My neighbor had been going through divorce.

I was able to pray over her in her mind, and you could tell it helped bring her peace.

Come on.

Somebody said this.

I prayed for a man struggling with alcohol before he went into rehab.

Somebody else said this.

I picked up my neighbor's daughter from driving school to go visit her dad in the hospital, right?

So just everyday moments.

We don't have to make this super complicated.

It's look for the one that you can overflow the love of God to, and you share the story because as we share the stories, we stir each other up to love and good works.

Even you, even you, right?

We stir each other up to love and to good works.

So can we just thank Jesus together for every moment of love and action?

Come on.

And so, cool thing is the numbers are going up.

We're we're we're we're trying to share a thousand moments of love and action before the year ends, all right?

And so I just want to invite you to be a part.

If you have not yet all year shared a single moment of love and action, today's your day, all right?

Today's your day.

You can fill out a card in the back or send a text message, and we want to share those.

Amen?

All right.

So, um, a lot more to be said that's happening around the world.

We'll save that for future weeks.

But today we're gonna open the scriptures together.

If you have your Bible, we're gonna start in the book of Ephesians.

If you don't have your Bible, it's okay.

Uh, we'll have the scripture on the screen.

And uh um, I I just want to acknowledge maybe you're coming here and you haven't been here the last several weeks.

We've been in this teaching series called Unseen Realm.

And all of these messages really do kind of build on each other.

Um, so I'll do my best to catch you up today on where we're at.

However, I want to encourage you to go back online and kind of track along, follow along.

And uh, and we're talking about really thematically, we're talking about all these big things we read about in this book.

Some of these things we can understand pretty quickly.

Other things are like, wow, that is that is wild and bizarre.

There is a lot that happens in the unseen, invisible realm, but we need language to know how to make sense of that because God has created all things, both seen and unseen, and we get to participate.

So we're gonna start in Ephesians chapter four, starting in verse 25.

Here's what Paul writes.

He says, Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

In your anger do not sin, do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Now I want to read another passage.

This wasn't in my notes, but I want to read this anyways.

This is Ephesians chapter 5, just a chapter later, starting in verse 8.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Walk as children of light.

Oh, let me just back up actually.

It says this for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light, but now you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Come on.

So, one of the benefits of parenting, one of the many benefits of being a parent is the moment when you get to reintroduce or you get to introduce your kids for the first time to essential cinematic history.

The movies that I grew up on.

Okay?

So last few days we just did a whole trilogy of Back to the Future.

Anybody?

Any back to the future?

Come on, man.

Come on, dude.

Back to the future.

And uh and my you know, the litmus test is my nine-year-old daughter, and she watches it.

I'm like, did you like that?

She's like, I really liked that.

I'm like, awesome, we're doing the whole thing, all right?

Um several months ago, we started, or actually just a couple months ago, we we uh we we took our kids to the entire Jurassic Park series starting at the beginning, right?

And it was just amazing.

My my daughter fell in love with Velociraptors, as you do.

Um but it's really interesting when you go back and you watch the movies that you were formed in and you can compare and contrast with the newer movies that our kids are watching now, and kind of the the difference in particular with the antagonist or the villain in these stories, okay?

So all the older villain, all the older films seem to have external villains.

So just take back to the future.

It's very clear that your antagonist is biff.

Everything is a bit biff, biff must fall by the end of the movie, all right?

He's gonna hit the truck with manure dumping down on side.

And we love that, right?

And it's clear that's biff.

The tannins, right?

Um, but you think about the Disney movies, right?

So Lion Cling, very clear villain.

You got uh uh Scar, right, from Aladdin.

You have Jafar from Toy Store, you have Sid.

But what's really interesting is a lot of the newer films, if you pay attention to this, a lot of the newer films aren't external villains, they're internal villains.

And so you look at these internal antagonists, you could say.

So inside out, the villain is anxiety.

Um you you look at other films, animated films, and the villain is family trauma, which didn't exist like 50 years ago.

Nobody's writing movies about that.

It was family trauma in Brave, Encanto, Elemental, all right?

You got fear in Frozen as the chief villain.

So all these movies are like kind of moving towards, okay, there's the villain's not just out there, it's in here.

But then what's wild is if you guys, for any like families that that have Netflix, uh no judgment.

Um one of the movies that just exploded this year, this June, that came out of Netflix is this movie called K-pop Demon Hunters.

All right.

Um, I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand or anything, okay?

In fact, I'm not I'm not offering a critique at all.

This is there's no critique.

I have not watched the movie.

I don't try to critique things I haven't experienced, okay?

That's not this.

I just want to read to you the description, okay?

Just to create a contrast.

So here's the description of it.

When K-pop superstars aren't selling out stadiums or topping billboard charts, they're using secret identities as demon hunters to protect their fans from supernatural danger.

Together, they must face the biggest threat: an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise.

So be careful of those boy bands, all right?

The main character is Rumi.

I'm sorry if I'm spoiling this for you, my bad.

Main character is Rumi, a half human and half demon.

A secret known only to her and her mentor, Celine.

Rumi struggles with her identity, fearing rejection due to her demonic blood and the patterns on her skin.

She was raised by her mentor to fight darkness, has been trained to hide her demonic side while protecting humanity from supernatural threats.

Okay, so Snow White.

Pocahontas.

K-pop demon hunters.

Can we just acknowledge something's shifted?

Something's shifted a little bit.

And so if you're coming in today, we've been talking Unseen Realm, you're like, man, we've been talking about all kinds of weird things in church.

I'm talking about, listen, this is like top Netflix, all right?

You think things are weird in church?

Dude, look at what we're watching online.

This is like, this is like mainstream pop culture.

And obviously, the moral of the story, K-pop demon hunters, is you know, we're gonna fight demons through Korean pop music.

I wish it was that easy, right?

Through singing and dancing is how we're gonna save the world, okay?

Now that's not what the Bible shows us about how we push back the powers of darkness.

I wish it were.

But we have come a long way, and uh and and and and really in the culture, there's this larger question is there is an enemy we're fighting, but is the enemy out there or is it in here?

What is the source of our struggle and what do we do about the enemy?

Now, last week we talked a little bit about these three layers that we face called the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Okay, you can go back and listen to that sermon from last week.

So we we read that some of our unseen men enemies are the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Jesus came to set us free to walk in freedom, but we do need to explore how to recognize the source of our struggle and how to walk in that freedom that Jesus came to bring.

How many of you guys know where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty?

So the awesome thing is Jesus came to exercise and demonstrate power and authority over every dark, evil, vile thing.

And he calls us to walk in light, just like we read.

But if Jesus is king, why do we sometimes feel bound to our struggles still?

Can we just be honest about that?

If Jesus is king, if even for Christians, like even if we're trying to follow Jesus, there's sometimes we still feel bound to the struggles that we face.

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus, that's what he said.

And that means, but that means that the Satan and the gods of this world only have dominion where they have invitation, permission, or have gained entrance.

And so the one thing that's really important to know is that this is what's common between the kingdom of uh darkness and the kingdom of light, is they both advance through willing participants.

Both advance through willing participants.

The kingdom of darkness advances through willing participants, the kingdom of light advances through willing participants.

And really the question for all of us, we always have to ask this question which kingdom am I participating in today?

Okay, it's not neutral.

You're always participating in one kingdom or another.

Okay.

So this passage that we read in Ephesians talks about do not let the sun go down your s while you're still angry, and it uses this phrase, and do not give the devil a foothold.

A foothold.

It's a really interesting, uh, it's a really interesting word that we don't often use.

A foothold, uh, the Greek word is this word topos, and it literally means a place.

It's a place, it's a location, it's a space, right?

It's a space in your life that the enemy can occupy.

And a foothold is basically, think about it in terms of battle or war.

A foothold is a secure strategic position from which one can advance.

Okay, so in World War II, Allied forces invaded Normandy, France, and established a beachhead or a foothold, okay, behind enemy lines.

That foothold allowed the Allies to create a base of operations and proved to be the springboard to victory in Europe.

So, absent that foothold in Normandy, the Allied forces were at a distinct disadvantage.

They could not advance.

And victory would have been much more difficult to realize.

But so the Bible, when it uses this word foothold, there's a couple ways to think about it.

We're in Boulder, Colorado, and so some of you can appreciate the the uh the foothold metaphor as it relates to ski rock climbing, right?

And finding a place to gain traction.

Okay?

We can talk about it in terms of military strategic importance and in a battle is you find an opening from which to stage a base of operations.

Both really work in what we're talking about today.

The only way the enemy, the enemy of our souls, the father of lies, Satan, as we talked about, and all of his dark dominion of demons that respond to him, uh, the only way they have influence in our lives is when they gain a foothold into our lives.

Okay, so just flag that word.

We're gonna talk about a few footholds here today.

Common footholds can be this repeated unconfessed sin in our lives, unhealed wounds, undealt with demonic activity, from open doors to the occult, or even just agreement with lies.

Okay, so all kinds of light things like that.

Okay?

And footholds are real, and we have to talk about them.

The house belongs to Christ, but an open window can let in a squatter.

And the legal authority is yours to evict any activity or any influence in your house that does not belong.

So when we come into Christ and all authority is given to us, our responsibility in our lives, and in your home, and in your marriage, and with your kids, and in the affairs of your life, your work, um, your relationships, everything you touch, your job in the kingdom of God is to receive your identity and the grace and the power of God in your life, and to push back, to evict the enemy where he still has a foothold.

Okay?

That's that's the normal Christian life.

This is what we do on our Mondays through Fridays, okay?

Saturdays and Sundays too.

All right.

A foothold over time, though, that is undealt with can become a stronghold.

And a stronghold is a place where lies have been fortified to feel like truth.

Okay?

So now all that means, that sounds super intense, right?

But all that means is we need discernment to locate the source so we know how to respond.

Is it internal desire?

Is it trauma?

Is it demonic oppression?

Is the enemy out there or is it in here?

So that we can pursue the right response.

So we understand the source so that we can pursue the right response.

So the right response to some footholds is repentance.

For others, it's healing, and for others, it's deliverance from the evil one.

Okay?

The reason that's important we talk about is because in the church we can kind of be a one-trick pony.

Okay?

We learn one tool and try to use it for everything.

When I first got married, my wife, she was showing me how she was getting things done around the house.

She was hammering screws into the wall.

Okay?

Now, you don't hammer screws into the wall, you use a screwdriver, right?

But when you have like you have like two tools, you use it for everything.

So in the church world, we tend to think everything is a demon, right?

Now we will talk about demons, demons are real, but not everything is a demon, okay?

And so the reality is this you know, sin has to be repented for.

A wound has to be healed, demons have to be cast out, but you cannot cast out a wound.

Too many people are trying to cast out a wound.

A wound cannot be cast out, a wound must be healed.

Demons, demonic activity in our life, you don't want to take a demon through therapy.

You want to cast out the demon.

Okay?

You don't try to counsel a demon, you cast it out.

Okay?

The thing is, when we don't know the source of our struggle, we don't have the tools and the language and the understanding and the word of God to do that, we're just trying to cast out everything.

We don't know what anything is.

We're just doing our best to do okay.

Now, truth is, it can be all three of those things at the same time.

Okay?

The point of this sermon is not to do this comprehensive deep dive over all these things.

We have like entire weekend experiences and like workshops for that kind of stuff.

And I can't be prescriptive.

I don't know what's going on in your life.

And I can't oversimplify your story, you the footholds in your life.

But what I what I hope to do in just the next few minutes here is to just create some language to provoke some reflection of am I walking in the freedom that Jesus paid for?

Is there an open door that I've let be open that needs to be shut in the name of Jesus?

Alright?

You guys with me.

Okay.

In James chapter 1, verse 13, it says this Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.

James 1:13

For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own evil, by his own desire.

Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

Okay, no, we just need to talk about this.

A common foothold, if you want to know where the the enemy, the evil one, has access to your life, anywhere where there's unconfessed sin, it can become a foothold for the enemy.

No.

Jesus has dealt with our sin.

That's why he went to the cross.

The good news is it doesn't have to be complicated.

We have we we live with so many things that we keep secret for so long.

But God calls us into the light and and he deals with us in the light.

He meets us in dark places.

He's not that he's not there, but he invites us to come into the light.

Okay.

But you know, when we talk about sin, we talked about this over the last few weeks.

There's a few ways we can frame this out.

Sin, and it's you know, most kind of found fundamental viewpoint, is rebellion against God.

There's a part of us that wants to do things our own way.

And that's something that we're born with.

Another way to put it is it's a brokenness that needs mending, or it's a deadly disease that needs healing.

Sin is a condition.

We're all born into sin and we participate in sin.

St.

Ignatius of Loyola probably put it one of my favorite definitions.

He said, This sin is unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me is only my deepest happiness.

There's part of us that are suspicious about God's intention.

Intentions for our lives, right?

And so, and that that suspicion about what is God really after here, when we don't think that He's after our deepest joy and deepest happiness, what are we gonna do?

We're gonna take matters into our own hands, right?

And we're gonna find ways to fulfill the deepest desires of our heart in our own way.

And so another crude way to put this is sin is what is screwed up inside of us and our propensity to screw things up.

Anybody ever felt that way?

The human propensity just screw everything up.

And so that's another kind of like more street-level way of saying, like, okay, yeah, there's something wrong and it has to be dealt with.

But part of the what we have to talk about with sin is this is not all on the devil.

Some of these things are on us.

We have a free will.

The whole nature of sin it comes back to free will.

We have the ability to choose or to not choose.

And because of that, we also have the ability to confess and repent.

And so what we need to understand about sin when we read in this James passage is sin starts with our own evil desire, our own desire, and it moves on from there.

It says each person is tempted when he's allured in a way and enticed by his own desire.

God did not tempt you.

It wasn't something that happened out there, it came from within.

And it's important to know that there's a part of the footholds in our life that it's you can't just throw the devil made me do it card on it.

Okay?

It's really important we know that.

There's parts of our life that this is this is your our own responsibility.

And uh, you know, if if you cheat on your spouse, you can't just say, well, the devil made me do it.

Satan's like, I didn't make you do it, you did that on your own.

You didn't need me to do that, right?

Don't pull me into this, bro.

Like you, you you came up with that all on your own.

Now, certainly he can put gasoline on that fire.

But what what happens though with basic things of sin?

We have to start with there's there's parts of our life that come from our own desire.

And when we are allured into those things, um, they can gain power, they can gain traction.

And and James uses the language that it can become fully conceived, which is which is kind of like this, you know, the language that he's using is like a sexual language.

Like there's something that it's gonna be conceived, it's gonna you're gonna give birth to something that over time, if you let this thing fester, if you let this go on undealt with, it will give birth and it will turn around and kill you.

It will you you will die, it will bring forth death.

And so the way the the way forward with with issues of sin is the movement of confession and repentance.

Let me just read this passage here.

Going a little bit off my notes here.

But here's what 1 John says.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light and he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So I don't want to make a bigger deal out of this than it is.

It's sin is the way that we move forward, is like this doesn't have power when we bring it into, I confess it, I receive, I don't have to do anything to earn it, I receive forgiveness and grace and mercy and the power to resist sin moving forward.

Okay?

And yet, what James is talking about, there's that what happens is when we refuse to bring it into the light, we can get to a point where we are held captive, we're no longer able to say no to the destructive patterns in our thinking or behavior.

When sin remains repeated and unconfessed, it can be likened to a captivity.

You can call it spiritual bondage.

John chapter 8, Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

John 8 · chapter mention

So what happens is when we go on and on without dealing with the sin issues of our heart, what can happen is our very will to either choose or not choose can be constrained.

Okay?

It's not destroyed, but it can be impeded in particular situations.

Let me just get practical.

This is what happened.

This is why uh for some of you, you experience maybe it's like every time you talk to your mother, you just just rage explodes inside of you.

And like you used to be able to control it, but you can't control it.

You can't say no to it any longer.

And there's might there might be some things you just can't even say no.

You don't, it doesn't even register anymore.

It's become so habituated that you don't even say no to it anymore.

It could be everyday patterns like online shopping.

It's like you just can't even, you just buy at buy now every time.

You can't even say no anymore.

It's not even a thing of the will.

It's just something you do.

It could be gambling, it could just be doom scrolling, drinking, porn, serial dating, promiscuity.

Areas where the will feels like it's now missing.

You used to be able to kind of resist it, but now it's become so habituated you can't stop yourself.

And so that's really the difference I just want to point out between issues of sin and then issues of bondage.

Okay, so with issues of sin, the will is divided, which basically means there's still a struggle.

Like, there's still like, ah, I kind of want this, but I kind of don't want this, or uh, I I, you know, you have good days or bad days.

That's an issue of sin, okay?

There's like you're not gonna be perfect all the time, but there's still within you this kind of, I want to do what's right, but sometimes it's really hard and you struggle.

When you get into things of bondage, it's where the will is constrained and it's largely gone.

It's where behavior feels almost automatic or inevitable, you're no longer able to resist.

Okay.

Now listen, this is there's no like one size fits all thing on top of this, but I just want to say this.

According to James, bondage forms where there's repetition that's enhanced by justification, you know, through, you know, we we we justify the behavior.

It's always been like this.

I can never change.

And then it becomes a stronghold.

Bondage forms through repetition, justification, and stronghold.

Here's why it's important to note that when we when we go with the flow and we stop returning to Jesus through the postures and habits of confession and repentance, choosing ongoing rebellion may lead to a future where you can't actually choose differently.

If you don't deal with it now, it may lead to a future where you can't choose differently.

But the good news is this the good news is this when we come to him, and I want you to know this, some of you have things that you need to confess to a brother or a sister in Christ, when you come to him, he is faithful to forgive your sins.

And he wants to see you free because whatever is a secret and in the darkness remains a foothold.

But any part of our life that is now in the light, the enemy has no jurisdiction over.

For some of you, that's the most important thing you could hear this morning.

Now, it could be that some of the simple patterns of your life, it's it's been that way as long as you can remember.

Which begs a different question.

Sometimes we are stuck in patterns of sin that didn't start with us choosing.

Now hear me.

It started before us, and this is where the Bible gets into this whole idea of generational.

There's such a thing as generational sin, where open doors in your family of origin have ushered in jurisdiction for the enemy in your life.

Now, listen, don't get freaked out by that.

The movement is still the same.

You confess it because you've entered into it.

You confess it, hey, this is what's going on.

I I have relational brokenness in my family.

You confess it.

You ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate any open door, be it in your life or the life before you, you know, your parents or your ancestors that gave room for that sin to exist within your family line.

You bring it into the light of Jesus and you cleanse your family line through the blood of Jesus and you start walking in freedom from that.

Sometimes it's a journey to walk in freedom.

But nobody is stuck where they are at.

You are not stuck where you are at.

I just want you to know that.

Okay.

And sometimes it takes counselors, sometimes it takes trauma therapists, sometimes it takes spiritual directors to assist you in the ongoing path of freedom.

But there is no destructive, sinful pattern in our life that is too strong for the blood of Jesus Christ.

Somebody say amen.

So thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, God.

Just thank him for a moment where he has set you free from the power of sin.

Thank you, God.

Even before I got up to preach this morning, I went to a brother and confessed in my own heart where I've sinned against God.

Because this is what we do, because we go to a good father.

So we confess sin, but not everything is a sin per se.

Sometimes it's a sin, but it has a different source.

So sometimes what we think is just a sin issue actually stends from an unhealed wound.

And so for some for a lot of us in the room, we all have wounds over time.

This is inevitable.

You will be hurt.

Some of the wounds are more than others, right?

But it could be a time of rejection in your life.

It could be abuse, it could be betrayal, abandonment, it could be hurt from church leaders.

There's a lot of things.

Something was done to you, or you experience a certain trauma.

But just like a physical wound needs to be addressed, it's the same with the wounded soul left unaddressed.

A lot can go wrong.

There's a lot of people, especially in the church, we have wounds in our lives, and it's something that happened to us, and then we live that, it becomes the ongoing narrative and the ongoing story for the rest of our lives.

But listen, the invitation is not to minimize the pain, but it's just to, it's, it, it, it's actually to encourage all of us.

We have to continue to present ourselves and the pain and the wounds of our life to Jesus in order to be healed, okay?

But you can't just try to get over, some of us try to, we're trying to get over a wound, like you get over a sin or something like that.

It's like you're not, no, it wound is not an obstacle, it's an invitation to healing.

And what happens with a physical wound, if if you have a wound and if it's left unaddressed, there's a lot that can grow in that wound.

And over time it becomes something so much worse than the original wound in the first place.

And so what happens is oftentimes when we're wounded in our lives, we can actually start to make judgments, we can start to make vows, and we can start to get caught up in sinful response to that wound so that we will never get wounded again.

Okay?

So it's like uh, you know, a couple examples of that.

It's like um, you know, or maybe maybe you feel here's a few signs of unhealed wounds.

Maybe it's overwhelming negative emotions, guilt, fear, despair, rage, hatred.

Maybe it's a distrust of entire categories of people, men, women, authority, or ethnic groups, or skin color.

I mean, it you can do a lot of things.

It's obsessive thought patterns, attraction to death, legalism, constant threat interpretation, all right?

And so here's what it might sound like.

It might sound like somebody who says, I will never trust men again.

I was hurt in this area, I will never trust men again, or women again, I will never do that again.

I'm never gonna get married again.

Or maybe it's this I will always be in control of any situation I get into.

I'm not gonna do this thing where I'm not, I will always remain in control.

That's a that's a vow, right?

And it bears its own fruit.

Maybe it's somebody that says people, people don't get me and they never will.

You've dealt with objection, now you have this narrative and it's this judgment.

People don't get me, they never will.

And so because you believe that, that it's a wound that becomes a habituated way of thinking, all of a sudden that can result in the sin of just both self-rejection and rejecting others constantly because you'll never let anybody get too close.

It becomes its own death wish when it's undealt with.

Are you guys hearing with me?

Okay.

So here's an example.

Maybe you're dealing with insecurity, potentially stemming from a moment of rejection or abandonment by a friend.

And it's likely this wound is there.

And so what happens when this wound is undealt with?

Anytime you try to make new friends and someone starts to come near, there's an reaction.

Don't get too that hurts when you get too close, right?

So, so your mind starts to get used to pushing people away.

They, you know, what do they really think about me?

What are they saying behind my back?

Did I do something wrong?

Am I what's wrong?

Maybe they don't like me.

And then you start to reject the person before they get too close because you can't let anybody, it's there's still pain in that wound.

So you start getting in the habit of rejecting people before they're able to reject you.

And then that becomes this pattern of rejection.

So now you're living this whole life through a thing of rejection.

You're trying to get over rejection.

Like if I was just a better person, I could make better friends and I had better community.

And so you're trying to get over rejection.

You don't get over rejection, you're healed from abandonment and betrayal and wounds of your heart.

That's what the scripture invites us to do.

And so we have some sin that comes from wound.

James 5, 16.

He says, Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

Confess your sins for healing.

Yes.

That you, there's parts of you that need to be healed.

So we ask, so what's the what's the invitation here?

We ask the Holy Spirit to reveal unaddress wounds in our life.

We name the wound, and by naming it, we expose it to the healing ointment of Jesus, of the Holy Spirit.

We forgive those who wound us.

We receive grace and forgiveness.

And again, on a practical level, this is where it's good to be in a community of people who can help us locate the work of God inside of us.

And that can be trauma therapists, counselors, spiritual direct spiritual directors, trained prayer ministers, can help pinpoint the areas where God, hey, I think God wants to bring healing to that part of your heart.

Do you know that God wants to heal you?

He wants you to be whole.

I experienced this as well during my sabbatical a few years ago.

I had a dream very quickly within two weeks of the sabbatical.

In the middle of the night, I had a dream.

And long story short, the dream, in the dream, I discover that there was a wound in my heart that needed to be healed.

It had to do with my perception of God and my mistrust that God actually wanted to resource me to do the things that He called me to do.

And it was a wound that started to fester and started to show manifest itself and just always feeling just pressure.

It's all on me to figure this out.

God's gonna send me to do something and give me nothing, no tools or resources or power to do it.

And I had to be healed of this mindset because it was manifesting in my life and probably in sinful ways as well, where I was taking, I was being overly responsible and controlling of certain parts of my life.

Do you guys see that?

So what happens is all of us have things in our life.

It's not just about, oh, and some of you have been beating yourself up because you have things you haven't been able to get over.

I just want this to be an encouragement to you.

The Holy Spirit of God wants to minister to your heart of hearts, and there's areas for you that he wants to mend.

And his hands are like the hands of a careful surgeon.

He knows exactly precisely what needs to be cut out and what needs to be ministered to.

And the prayer for us, the prayer for you, is Jesus, would you reveal to me any wounds that I carry and remind me of your heart to meet me there?

Okay.

Some things are sins to be repented of, and some things are wounds.

One thing I didn't say is repentance is we've made this way too churchy and just way too complicated.

So if you want to know what repentance is, here's what repentance is.

That's repentance.

It literally means to turn around.

You don't have to wallow on the ground.

Like, listen, there's there's remorse that comes with repentance, but repentance really means to change the way you think or change directions.

You're going one way.

Oh, you want me to go that way?

Okay.

That's repentance.

Okay.

So literally, just don't overcomplicate it.

It's just agreeing with God about reality.

So when we when we have sin, we repent by saying, Oh, I shouldn't do that.

Turn around and do the opposite in the power of the Spirit.

Okay, that's it.

So some sins need to be repented of, some wounds need to be healed.

But there are such things as demonic activity.

Some footholds of the enemy have to do with uh um open doors for demonic activity.

No, when you read the gospels, much of Jesus' ministry was bringing deliverance to those afflicted by unclean spirits and demons that exist to harass, confuse blind, and um and oppress people.

And they exist as well today.

Those who, the the unseen, in the unseen realm, the fallen angels who rebelled against God, they hate the image of God and they work against anywhere, anything that God loves, they will work against to um to distract, to confuse, all of those things.

Now, the good news is this when you become a follower of Jesus, you're filled with the Holy Spirit, the devil and the demonic have no right to mess with you except where there is an open door.

And that can happen through unconfessed sin, either personal or generational.

We're willingness, willing participation in occult activities.

So the good news is this when you're a believer, here's what I believe, when you're just like walking down Pearl Street, demons can't just jump on you and just attack you.

They don't have a right to do that unless they have a right to do that, unless there's an open door to do that.

A lot of Christians get really freaked out.

Oh, I can't go into their home, I can't go into that shop, I can't go over there.

No, listen, there are demonic presences in different parts and things, but when you're covered in the blood of Jesus and you have confessed your sin, it has no power over you.

So you don't have to live your life fearful of what is the enemy gonna do.

No, that's not what you've been given.

You're son and daughter of God.

Now, if you have undealt with things, you need to deal with them because you are giving an open door for the enemy to get in there and start messing with you.

But all we have to do is just confess your sins, plead the blood of Jesus over your life, and walk in the light.

And you're the one that was called to push back darkness.

You're not on defense, you're on offense.

Okay?

You liked that one.

I like that.

But in our age, there are many people, including Christians, who blends all kinds of spiritualities with their Christian faith.

In the scriptures, it's called syncretism.

Or so I'm going to take a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of this from all kinds of religions and ways of thinking.

Okay?

And so in our life, and particularly in our area, some of these things could be visiting psychics, seances, necromancy, crystal balls, tarot cars, chakras, Ouija boards, astrology.

Psychedelics often open you up, make you very vulnerable to the unseen realm.

Okay.

Now, in even in my childhood, uh, when I was with friends, there was kind of a casual posture towards this.

One of my friends had a Ouija board at his house, and I said, Hey, that's no good, because my mom was wise and taught me don't mess with Ouija boards ever.

And uh, and my friend said, But it's made by Parker brothers.

Come on, dude, you know?

And I was like, Yeah, you're right, huh?

But that's kind of how this works.

We've made all these things so casual and so, yeah, you know.

But listen, all of these become an open door for demonic spirits to invite them in to speak and to have influence in our life, right?

One of the commandments is you shall have no other gods before me.

And that wasn't just a jealousy thing from God.

He knows that when we give ourselves to false gods, false spirits, and pursue the spirits of the age or anything like that, it is not good for us and it opens doors.

Some of the signs of that might just be chronic fear, night terrors, chaos that just ensues in your life.

Sometimes illness can result in that.

Jesus had to cast some people, he healed their illness.

Some people, he cast out spirits that were causing illness.

And this again, you have to know the source of what is happening in your life.

And that's where Jesus said, you know, the disciples couldn't cast out the demon.

He said, These all this kind of only comes out through fasting and prayer.

So Jesus always knew.

What the source of the struggle was, we ought to as well.

We ought to at least depend on the Spirit for that.

Now, the way through that is again, we confess any open doors as it relates to in our line or our life or our family line, any uh um activity with the occult practice, it just needs to be named, repented of, and cut off in Jesus' name, right?

It it just needs to be cut off in Jesus' name.

And so let me share with you a story.

Several years ago, my sister-in-law lived with us, and one night uh we were sleeping, and then we heard this blood-curdling scream coming from the other room.

Now, my wife and I, uh the moment you hear that, you're like, what the heck is happening?

Who's in our house?

What happened to her?

So we flew out of bed and we went into her room.

As soon as we opened the door in her room, like just we felt this spirit of death in the room.

And she was she was she was like uh completely like seized up.

She was uh um she was petrified.

That's right.

She she couldn't talk.

I mean, you could just tell whatever was going on was serious.

And so we started praying.

We started praying the name of Jesus over the sister, over the room, over the environment.

And then in you know, in a minute or so it it broke and she came to her senses and uh and she said that she had she was sleeping and she could I don't know if this awake or asleep, but she looked at the end of the bed and then there was a man, like a basically a cloaked man in black, just standing at the edge of her bed, just the ugliest person you've ever seen.

It was like it was like death that was in her room.

Now, in that moment, what she needed was not some encouragement.

She didn't need us to make her feel better.

She needed that demon to be cast out in Jesus' name.

And we had to go in that room and say, this is what's happening, and this is not allowed to happen here.

So we we took authority in the name of Jesus, we prayed, and we can't we rebuked this thing and cast it out.

Now, for a couple days, we would come home.

I would be at work all day, I'd come home and come into my house, the hair would stand up on my arm.

There was like this lingering effect of something that was still kind of in the atmosphere.

And so we just pray again.

Whatever dark, evil, deathly thing is that gained access to our home, we cast it out in Jesus' name.

You have no right to be here.

Okay?

Now, we came to find out later um that in my wife and her sister's family of origin, there it there was um uh Freemasonry.

And they were they had relatives dealing that were involved in Freemasonry, and they kind of wrote it off in their family of, oh, that's just a silly club that grandpa used to be a part of.

But let me just tell you, Freemasonry is not a silly club.

Okay?

When you go to degrees of Freemasonry, when you study the hist the history of Freemasonry, you think you can think I'm crazy.

You study the history and all the covenants that you make, you are surrendering jurisdiction in your life to the evil one.

And what happened was later on, and and so and so my sister or my sister-in-law, she was having night terrors all the time.

Maybe once a month, she would wake up with an uncontrolled, almost like a violent, just screaming and just like completely paralyzed in fear.

And we'd try to pray this thing off.

Like, why does this thing keep coming back?

We come to find out it was because of Freemasonry.

So we went through a prayer that that cast off any generational agreement with dark or made covenants with dark spirits.

We prayed through this prayer just to just to receive the freedom that Jesus came to bring.

And then those night tears stopped.

They stopped.

Now, every now and then that something that springs back up.

But listen, for the most part, the pattern of feeling changed to paralyzing fear, it stopped because we broke something that wasn't even her decision, it was inherited in the spirit from her family of origin.

And so I tell you that to tell you, listen, the demonic is real, the demonic is after you, but you can break it in Jesus' name.

Every knee must bow to the name of Jesus.

So you don't live in fear, but you know what you're dealing with.

You know what you're dealing with.

And so we live this life wanting to eliminate the footholds of the enemy and cooperate with Jesus.

Jesus said that the thief comes to steal and to kill and destroy.

That's that's all the enemy and the demons want for you, to steal and kill and destroy.

They don't care how it happens or when it happens.

They're completely agnostic.

As long as you go down and lose your trust in God and self-destruct, they're great with that.

But Jesus is equally committed to your life.

He came for that you may have life and have it to the full, and he is relentlessly pulling you towards the abundant life of his kingdom.

Come on, dude.

His pursuit is persistent, and he will walk with you as long as you need.

For the contents of our heart and lives to be exposed to his white hot light.

And he will purify us as long as it takes us.

There's no shame.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Jesus is committed to freedom all the worship team coming.

So when we turn to Jesus, there's so many invitations, and I just want to here's what we're gonna do this morning as we end, okay?

And we've done this the last several weeks, and we just want to we always try to I don't we don't want to just send you home without having a chance to respond to the word here.

There's a there's some opportunities to respond.

And what we're gonna do is I want to receive communion today.

And in a little bit we'll have our ministry team on the sides of the room.

But one of the one of the things, just in this room in the room right now, just close your eyes.

There's a few questions that we can ask when it comes to the things that we still feel bound.

Like everything in your life is good, but there's that one area.

And you just can't get through it.

And you can't figure it out.

And you try to figure it out.

A few questions.

Number one is is this sin?

Is this a divided will thing where I can it's as simple as like, I just need to repent?

And obey with grace-driven effort.

You confess and repentant.

That's good.

Jesus paid for that.

So does it have to do with sin or is it a wound or a trauma?

Are there any unresolved wounds fueling overwhelming emotions or obsessive narratives or patterns in your life?

I don't know.

Or is there demonic activity?

Did the the enemy gain a foothold through ungodly participation in the occult or even the entertainment of evil in your life?

Sometimes the movies we watch or the things we listen to, like just entertaining this stuff can become an open door for the enemy.

Is it a sin?

Is it a wound?

Or is there demonic activity?

Maybe it's all three, but when we bring it to the Lord and we submit our lives, and we confess to him when we're happy, we receive his body and his blood.

And he frees us from any bondage, anything that has a hold of it.

So here's what I want to invite you to do.

If you are a believer in Jesus, and once again, as we do when we gather, we confess his lordship in our life and we receive his body and blood.

I just want to invite you.

We have communion tables in the front and one in the back.

What I'm gonna invite you to do is just come up wherever the closest table is and get a cup of juice and a piece of bread, and just bring it back to your seat, and we're gonna receive communion together.

So before we receive communion today, which is a way we we look at what Jesus did for us, I do want to speak to those in the room.

You have, maybe as you're listening to me, you haven't actually stepped over the threshold of faith.

And you're and you might be looking at your life and looking at places, man, you've maybe you feel bound, or you just feel like I have been.

There's a certain emptiness from doing it my own way.

And maybe it maybe it can feel very dark.

This is why we come to Jesus.

Jesus, it's only the name of Jesus and his body and his blood that freed us from the dominion of darkness, and he invites us into life.

And if that's you today, if you have not yet given your life to Jesus, I just want to tell you, today is your day.

All you have to do is say, Jesus, I need you.

I need you.

I've tried to do it my way.

So if that's you, let's just all pray this together, actually.

Let's pray this together, even as a fresh confession of our heart.

Jesus, I need you.

I've done things my own way, but I repent of my sin, and I receive your gift of life.

I thank you that you've taken me out of darkness and you bring me into the light.

And today I receive salvation.

Not as something I've earned, but as a free gift that you've given me.

Now help me to walk in the light and to follow you all the days of my life.

In the name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Now, if that's the first time you prayed this prayer, man, you can you're in.

That's it.

We'd love to talk to you.

We'd love to talk to you about what that looks like, but you can participate with us in communion.

Here's what we'll do.

Just stand across the room.

Let's stand together.

And I just want to pray.

This is our power, this is what we gather around.

There's power in the name of Jesus, there's power in the blood, there's power in his body.

So, Jesus, as we come to you today, I thank you that there is no power in heaven or earth that is stronger than your body and your blood.

And we thank you that you went to the cross and you died the death that we should have died, that is the natural result of sin and darkness, but you died for us so that we could live with you.

And today, God, as we receive your body and this bread and your blood in this cup, I thank you to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I thank you that forgiveness is free in Jesus' name.

I thank you to push back any defiling forces of sin, traumatic wounding, or demonic activity in our life that we together say you have no right and no jurisdiction in our lives because we are covered in the blood of Jesus.

So together we receive your body and your blood in Thanksgiving.

Amen.

Let's receive the cracker and the juice.

Maybe as I'm talking and talk about some things that maybe hit very close to home for you.

I want you to know you don't have to move through this on your own.

You do not have to move through this on your own.

We're gonna have our ministry team prayer team members on the sides of the room.

They're trained to just ask questions and to find out where is God at work in your life, and then want to pray with you so that you can experience the freedom of Jesus.

It's not about shame, it's not about how dare you do that.

You confess what?

It's not that's not what you're gonna experience.

They are there to partner with you and to pray with you.

If there's something in your life that you feel like you need healing, you need deliverance, don't do it alone.

This is what the body is for.

So let's sing this, and as we sing this again, feel free to go to the sides of the room, receive prayer from any one of our ministry team, and we'll be out of here shortly.

Let's sing.

Thank you, God, let it be so.

Pray the chains are broken in the name of Jesus.

We thank you that who you made us to be.

Army.

That we serve in the army of the Lord to push back all the effects of darkness in a world until all that exists is your kingdom, God.

I thank you that we get to participate today, and that starts with freedom for us.

I just pray for freedom in Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

I just want to, before we leave, I just want to say one more time if you need prayer for anything, you can come to the sides of the room.

We want to pray for you.

But as we go, we're not glimming at the end, we're gumming in the power of God.

So I just want to pray one last prayer over you as we go.

Just put your hands up in front of you.

I just want to pray this prayer over you.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Go in the name of Jesus.

Love you guys.

Love you guys.