Cosmic Encounters and New Freedom - The Cosmic War: Satan, Demons, and the Kingdom of God

Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole.

I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.

Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.

Welcome to the Born for War podcast.

Okay, so cosmic encounters and new freedom.

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 9.

So Matthew 9, and if you've ever been asked by anyone if you could explain to them what was the purpose Jesus came to the earth, what did he come to do?

Why did he have his public ministry?

This would be the passage to take them.

We tend to jump right to the cross and right to the resurrection, which is right.

That's good.

But if you actually want to talk about what Jesus literally did on the earth to take away our sins and to set us free, I think this is a great synopsis of the ministry of Jesus.

Matthew 9, starting at verse 32.

As they went out, behold, they brought to him a man, mute and demon-possessed.

So in each instance of demon possession, there's 13 of them in the New Testament, there's an association with some kind of a debilitating illness or malady in the person who's demon-possessed.

Now that's hard for us because we're Western.

We come with a Western world view.

And a Western world view is if you're sick, you take medicine, you go to the doctor, you take pills, you trust in big pharma to take care of you.

Okay?

That's very Western.

But in the East, even today, that's not necessarily true.

They tend to think spatially different than us, and they tend to think into a fourth, fifth, or sixth dimension.

In other words, they've grown up knowing that there's angels and demons.

They know that there's spirit beings in a dimension that they cannot see.

Just as much as you know that right now, if you took a transistor radio, or right now, if you opened up your computer, you would pick up waves that are flowing through this room that you cannot see, and you could watch a podcast.

You could watch a movie, because there's stuff happening that you can't see that are right here.

Well, in the same way they think, not so much about movies, they actually think about demons, they think about spirits being in the room.

And so that's why in many nations of the world, and I was in Okinawa 30 years ago, you had the Utah.

And the Utah was a witch doctor, always a woman, a witch doctor, even in the 1980s and 90s, you know, and probably still there today, that you go to if you're sick and they channel spirits, and then they heal you.

And they s and through demon power they get healed.

So, how many of you have ever known someone who was into new age or white magic that said that they've seen people get healed through white magic?

Okay?

You guys need to get out more often, okay?

Um, no, I I've talked to a lot of people like that, and I have no trouble believing that, that demons can heal people.

And what they do is through the healing, they also attach themselves to the person, and that's a whole nother rabbit trail.

But here we see a man who is mute and demon-possessed.

And when the demon was cast out, you need to underline, demon was cast out, the mute spoke.

And the multitude marveled, saying, It was never seen like this in Israel.

So even them who believe in the spirit world haven't seen this kind of power before.

But the Pharisee said he cast out demons by the ruler of demons.

Now, if this was a Pharisee, if this was an evangelical pastor who doesn't believe in this stuff, which is a lot of them that don't, he would say, not so much that it's by demons, because he doesn't even believe that demons have any interaction with us today.

That's just something you read about in the Bible, but it's not really happening, not in the civilized West.

Because we're so civilized.

You know, you can go to any city street in New York or Chicago or Detroit or Atlanta or Denver, and it's very civilized.

All right.

They would say he cast out some kind of a psychological problem.

There was a psychological problem.

That guy needs to see a psychotherapist.

That's the way we would think.

But to the Pharisees at that time, they understood it was demonic.

They believed in the demonic, they believed in this dimension, the fifth, sixth, fourth dimension, whatever you call it.

That dimension had interacted in the three-dimensional world, and so they had to blame it on something, and it couldn't be the power of God, because the Pharisees never cast out any demons.

So if Jesus comes with this kind of power and authority, they'd be giving credence to what he's doing.

So they say, well, he does it because he's he it's Satan doing it through him.

He's actually of Beelzebal.

Verse 35.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching, I want you to underline, teaching in their synagogues, preaching, underline, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

So here's what's happening here.

What we have, men and women, are two different ways in which we cast out demons based on the biblical literature that we have.

One is through what we see first in verse 32, that a man whose demon possessed, verse 33, the demon was cast out.

I'm gonna call that a power encounter.

So write down power encounter.

This is a power encounter.

And a power encounter, uh, which the stories that I've been telling over the last few months are mostly power encounters, because that's how I got started was in power encounters.

Now you're gonna you're gonna realize by the end of this message that I believe there's a not just a better way, but a more lasting way to bring healing than, listen, just a power encounter.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do a power encounter.

I'm just saying that just a power encounter is not good enough.

And a lot of deliverance ministries that are out there that I've at least rubbed shoulders with are more into the power encounter thing.

And the problem with the power encounter, in and of itself, is you get the demon out, you can get the demon out, but if you don't clean up the house, seven more demons more powerful than the other will come and fill that house.

And sometimes it's worse than before.

But here's what a power encounter is: a power encounter is where you come in and maybe an eye-to-eye, person-to-person situation, and you command that spirit to leave that person.

And if you're walking in power and authority, if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, they go.

And you don't need to have a wrestling match.

And you don't have to have their head spinning around, and you don't have to go for hours and hours and hours.

Now, I didn't see the exorcist, but my understanding is they really embellish all that.

That is a bad priest, very bad priest.

Doesn't know what he's doing.

Um, if you're going into situations where you're sitting there wrestling around, you don't know what you're doing.

So, so I want to challenge you, and the reason we're doing this series is I hope that at least a little bit you can start to have confidence that the Holy Spirit within you can do the works of Jesus effectively, and even better than what we see in him, because we only have a limited scope in scripture, but he says, the things you've, John 14, write down, John 14, 12 through 14.

John 14, 12 through 14.

Jesus said, the works, not listen, he didn't say the words you've been hearing.

He said, the works you've seen me doing, D-O-I-N-G.

The works, W-R-K, not words only, the works you've seen me doing, you also shall do, he's speaking to us, and greater works than thee shall you do because I'm going to the Father.

Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do.

Pretty powerful passage.

That would be a good one to memorize, John 14, 12 through 14.

In other words, that the way in which Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all the way back to Moses in the first five books, all the way to Revelation, it was written that we might know how to live our lives, not just study about it.

So in the West, we have this tendency to read something and we believe it intellectually, but don't have me do it.

I mean, we don't do this stuff.

The missionaries do this stuff.

We just read about it, we just hear testimonies about it.

We don't do it.

Well, at the road, we do it.

We want you to learn to do it.

And it's really exciting.

It's really exciting when you've gone through some stuff on demonology and you start realizing I have power and authority in Christ.

First of all, to cast out my own demons, if you are demonized, and some of you are way more demonized than you know, and I'll explain that in just a second, um, or to walk forth with a new kind of freedom that God has for you in your life.

The other encounter, and the more effective, starts in verse 35.

So let me just say this about verse about uh power encounter.

30%, probably 30% of Jesus' ministry was in power encounters.

But verse 35, Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

I'm gonna call this a truth encounter.

This is a truth encounter as to juxtaposition to a power encounter.

So this is what Jesus did 70% of the time.

He spent most of his time teaching truth, causing people to start believing truth.

Not just casting out demons, but crowding out demons.

In other words, beginning to get people to believe truth.

That's what the church is about.

That's why we come to the road.

You don't come mainly to the road for fellowship.

Now, some of you do, but I'm telling you, that's not our main purpose.

Our main purpose is not for fellowship, and it's not for donuts, and it's not for coffee, and it's not for children's ministry.

All those things are great.

It's for equipping the saints to do the work of ministry, Ephesians 4, 11 and 12.

So our job here at the road, if we're successful, is that you take the kingdom of God, the proclamation and the demonstration of the kingdom of God out there.

Not just learn about it, but actually start doing it.

Wouldn't it be exciting that if everyone of us in this room, we decided this week, I'm gonna proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom as God opens doors in everything that I do.

If I could pray for someone at Safeway, if I could pray for someone at King Supers, if I could, as a teacher, find an opportunity to pray with another teacher or to help a student or love them.

I'm not talking about getting up on a soapbox and proclaiming the gospel and telling everybody to repent and get saved.

I'm not saying that.

I think in few cases is that the best way.

I think the best way is what I call subliminal seduction.

It's subliminal seduction.

You're seducing people through the kingdom of God, through a subliminal way of loving them, asking and helping them to understand what they're struggling with and guiding them through that without using maybe the name of Jesus until it's the opportune time.

Okay?

So you're actually subliminally a kingdom worshiper and warrior in what you do.

Well, that's pretty cool, right?

So then what happens when we start living that way is we're demonstrating the kingdom.

And one of the biggest problems I have with the political realm, because I've been a part of it, is when I see Christians not acting like Christians in the way they treat people with their truth message.

And you can't bring the good news if you're the bad news.

Okay?

And so why not be Christian and still speak the truth?

Be a believer in Christ, loving people, being kind to people, being forgiving to people, and caring about them.

So what happens when we start to have truth encounters and power encounters, is people get healed.

They do.

Now, what's the number one problem in America today?

Okay, the number one problem in America today, probably in the top three, because isolation would probably be, I think, now that thinking about it, would probably be number one.

Isolation.

But I would say if you look at it from a uh psychological, scientific perspective, the number one problem most people will tell you today is the psychological problems, the mental health in our nation.

So I was with the assistant to the mayor of Colorado Springs about two months ago, and I asked him, What do you think is the number one problem in Colorado Springs?

And he said, mental health.

And I think that's true, and here's why because you're believing the wrong stuff.

If you keep having confusing thoughts, you're gonna have mental illness.

If you start thinking kingdom and you start lining yourselves up with the truth of the gospel of the kingdom, you'll get better.

I promise you, you'll get better.

So sometimes people come to have come to Liz and I about marriage their marriages and stuff, and we say, you don't want to come to us.

They go, why not?

Because our answers are way too simple.

We're not we're not sophisticated enough in our marriage.

We're not gonna make conflict resolution, we're not gonna talk about all those issues about values, those are important.

We just don't.

We say, look, number one, number one, read the Bible together and pray together one time each day.

That's all.

You're like, oh how dare you.

I think they thought I was gonna say read Mad Magazine together.

I don't know.

But it's like, you know, it's I've said they've done this a dozen times, if not more.

If you will just read the book, just read one verse.

Because more done a lot is better than a lot done less.

So just read one verse.

I would say one chapter, but just read one verse and then pray together.

And well, I don't like to pray together.

I mean, I pray out loud, I might say something really stupid, and you say, You will.

Just go ahead and say, I'm gonna say something stupid, it's okay.

But just say, Lord, bless Liz.

And Liz says, bless Steve, you know, and start there.

That's good.

And just do it every day, and then do it for 30 days, and if you're not doing any better, then come back and see us.

And they never come back to see us, and I don't know if it's because they leave the church or what.

But um, so that's a truth encounter.

Okay, that's actually a truth encounter in your marriage.

That's renewing your mind, that's that's having new belief systems, and that's what a truth encounter is.

But a power encounter, truth encounter together can be super powerful in healing, too, even psychologically.

So, one time I cast a demon out of the sky, and he had been with me for two years.

He'd been a Bible study with me, and I cast three spirits out of him, and his epilepsy went away.

So he'd been an epileptic since I don't know, I don't know the whole story, but he had been an epileptic since he was eight years old.

He was now 19 years old and a college student, and the epilepsy was healed.

So, so in this story, you have this guy that was mute.

But when the demon was cast out, his muteness went away and he could speak.

So there is that association of the two.

So let me give you eight practical ways we might know if someone is demonized.

Eight practical ways that we might know if someone is demonized.

Number one, is there a particular sin, nagging thought, or insatiable desire that's sinful, for which you cannot seem to ever get set free from for any prolonged period of time.

In other words, you just continually struggle with it.

I'm not talking about that, you know, you're insatiably consumed with Georgia football.

Now that's a good thing, okay?

No, no, I'm talking about, I'm talking about, no, a sin, an area of your life that is debilitating and is enslaving to you.

Number two, in the presence of worship, holy sacraments like holy communion or baptism or the power of God, you regularly find yourself feeling fearful, shaking, unable to speak, or desiring to flee.

So a few weeks ago, we had someone in our church who just was uncontrollably shaking.

And then one of the members of our church prayed over her and I and I wasn't there, but my understanding is she was set free, boom, just like that, because of the prayer.

But if you find yourself in the presence of the power of God, kind of shaking or fearful, um, you're probably packing a growler.

Okay?

Don't want to do that.

Not good.

Number three, don't laugh.

Do you regularly fall asleep in church?

When the word of God is preached, you zone out.

I've seen that so many times.

Uh and by the way, um, I know who you are.

Okay, so okay, number four.

Do you regularly have frightening dreams, hear voices, or have excessive fears?

Fear is not from God, gang.

Except the good fear.

I mean, being fearful of a dangerous situation is a good fear.

But creating dangerous situations where there's no need for fear is probably not of the Lord.

Number five, do you regularly struggle with bouts of depression and hopelessness and at times seriously contemplate suicide?

I think most of the time that's demonic.

It doesn't mean that every person who's depressed, because a lot of you have struggled with depression, um, that it's demonic.

I'm not saying that, but I'm talking about it's just as debilitating and it's constant.

Have you really gotten prayer about that?

You've you've thought about suicide?

Have you gotten prayer about that?

I mean, you may have prayed about it, but have you gotten someone else, maybe a more anointed, more powerful person to pray over you regularly about that?

You got to grow in confidence.

So a power encounter can take care of it quickly, but a truth encounter can take care of it for the rest of your life.

So I'll explain the differences between the two.

But but the main point is that do you have you ever thought about prayer?

And the reason I say that, I'm I'm shocked how many believers have struggled with stuff, and now they'll say, Well, have you gotten prayer about it?

Well, no, I don't want to bother anybody.

And it's like, come on, man, that's what we're here for.

That's what we love to do.

We love to pray and see people get better, and it's really fun.

So when you come up for prayer, that's our privilege, man.

We love that.

We you think, well, I don't want to burden anybody, or I don't want my wife or my husband to think I'm a nut, I'm going up for prayer.

You're all nuts.

Okay?

So just get over that idea because you're just a nut.

You came here, you're at the road, you're weird, man.

You're messed up.

Okay?

Well, that's what our job is here is to teach the kingdom so we mess up your life.

We're here to mess up your life so that you're fired up for Jesus.

And um, so there you go.

So get over that.

And it's our honor to pray for you.

I mean, that's the reason I love being on the ministry team.

That's why you guys that are on the ministry team, you love it so much, is you get to see actual results when you pray for people, and it's really fun.

Number six, do you regularly struggle with a particular sickness or illness?

Again, I'm not saying everybody who's sick or everybody has an illness is it's demonic.

I'm not saying that.

I'm saying sometimes it is.

So I think it's just smart to cover all your bases.

Get prayer for anything in your life that you continually struggle with.

Number seven, do you see specters in the night, shadows that move, or regularly have deep fear of darkness?

That can be demonic.

Now, none of these are always demonic.

I'm just saying they could be demonic.

And these are a lot of stuff that I've seen.

Number eight, an addiction in your life that holds you in bondage.

So I almost feel like any addiction that's holding you in bondage has some element of darkness, some element of the demonic in it.

So the power encounter.

So let's talk about power encounter.

So power encounter is a legitimate way to set the captives free.

Jesus did it.

That's the main way that he did it, where it's dramatically written about in Scripture, but it's not the main way he did it long term.

So he said, Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe.

All that I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you always, even until the end of the age.

So when when Jesus is saying, he's talking about a truth encounter, but he exhibited fully 30% of the time a power encounter.

So a power encounter is wherein you're face to face with someone, or you're in a room, or I've cast out demons in restaurants, I've cast out demons in uh the library.

Um lots of fun places like that on the beach, um, but in church a lot, but you don't have to have a big wrestling match.

This is not some scene from the exorcist.

Okay?

So it's it's commanding the spirit to shut up.

Just shut up.

I don't really, I'm not interested in your opinion.

You're a liar anyway, so I don't really want to have a big discussion with you.

I'm commanding you to leave.

Now, if the person doesn't want to repent, then you're wasting your time.

You're literally wasting your time.

So if someone comes forward, my feeling is if someone comes forward in our church, if someone is asking you to pray for them, probably their will is already engaged.

So you say, Well, I want you to repent of that.

I want you to tell the Lord, that's sinful, that's wrong, and I'm gonna stop it with the power that I have in Christ.

And they it starts with them doing that.

But then you come in, and God will give you wisdom, and you cast a demon out.

Sometimes you know what they are, and sometimes you don't.

You don't have to always know.

I know a young man here in our church that I cast out a bunch of demons at a conference that we had here, and um, and he's just doing great today.

He's walking with the Lord, and I for I didn't even know who he was.

And then he told me the other day, I was that guy you prayed for up there in the third row.

And I went, Oh, you were because I never even saw the guy's face.

He was all over the floor and everything.

And so some guy said, could you help me with this demon?

I said, sure.

So I went and I said, Don't, I don't want any more noise from you, I don't want any screaming, forget that.

You can stop that right now by the authority invested in me.

And I command you to leave.

Leave this guy right now, and he was set free.

So pretty cool.

So that's a power encounter.

Okay, but then the truth encounter is even better.

So a truth encounter can be built on a power encounter, especially at a church like ours where we believe in a power encounter, but we believe more in a truth encounter.

So you can cast out a demon out of someone, but if they don't start spending time in God's word, if they don't start coming to whole-hearted men, if they don't start coming to whole-hearted women, if they don't get in a community group, if they don't start getting equipped, bad news, man.

Seven demons more powerful can come and inhabit that house.

I've seen it so many.

That's where deliverance ministry, some of them miss it.

It's because they're all into the big episode, the big confrontation.

We're gonna get this demon out.

And I want to say, no, we don't need a confrontation, we need a confirmation.

We need a confirmation in truth.

We need a baptism in truth more than we need a baptism in power.

And so it's it's always more effective to say, well, what is it you're struggling with?

Well, I struggle with bitterness.

Okay, bitterness against who?

Well, bitterness against my parents, or bitterness against this person who betrayed me in this in this job situation or wherever it was.

I said, Well, have you thought about forgiving them?

Yeah, but I can't.

Well, let's work on that.

Let's work on why forgiveness is a good idea.

Because obviously that person or those individuals still have power over you.

So you're enslaved to them, and they don't even remember you.

They don't even know who you are.

You are we always think people think about it, they're not thinking about you.

They couldn't care less about you.

They forgot about all the dumb things that they did to you years ago, but you're still carrying them.

So who's got the power, right?

So you start saying, No, I'm gonna forgive, and it may only be intellectual, but it'll it'll turn to your emotions eventually.

But if you'll forgive, you're getting set free.

That's a truth encounter.

And when you have a truth encounter, I think a lot of times, actually, there's demon footholds and strongholds in your life, and you start getting set free.

And one day you wake up in the morning and you go, I haven't thought about that in in three months.

And you go, you're healed.

Or you saw that person at 7-Eleven, or you saw that person at Safeway, and there wasn't that ah, you know, you know that feeling, like, oh, I gotta like I want to I want to strangle them, you know?

Um, but you don't have that anymore.

You just have a nice loving kind of you don't trust them any further than you could throw them, but but you've you've really forgiven them.

They don't have any power over you.

That's a pretty cool thing.

And and I've had that happen so many times in my life because I've had a lot of people that have you know done things that they were so dumb, they did so many dumb things to me, you know, and I'm so great, and I can't believe the people who do those dumb things to me because I'm so wonderful.

No, but I mean, where it's probably a give and take of both, of course, but they but they carried power over me because I couldn't forgive, and then I did.

And then, you know, pretty cool.

Like two years later, you see them, and there's no weird feelings or anything.

And so that's because you're free, and that's a truth encounter.

You were having a truth encounter.

Truth encounter is better than a power encounter, but sometimes you need a power encounter to get to a truth encounter.

Does that make sense?

And so that that's kind of how it works, I think.

And um, so the truth encounter is getting steeped in God's truth, in his promises, and in our identity in Christ, that we are the blood washed saints of the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, that we're a son of the King, we're a daughter of the King.

We have all authority and power living within us because we have the Holy Spirit.

And that's why Paul writes in Romans 12 I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Do not be conformed to this, we could say, demonic world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I mean, that's exciting.

You're renewing your mind, you're building your life on your thoughts brick by brick.

Second Corinthians 10.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.

We talked about this last week: strongholds and footholds, casting down arguments, that thinking, you guys, that's belief systems here.

And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

So the New Testament has been given to us through the ministry of Jesus and the apostles to renew our minds.

The Old Testament's given to us by the patriarchs, by the renewing of our minds.

That's why it's it's don't talk to me about your psychological problems if you're not spending time in God's word.

I mean, what are you thinking?

What are you thinking?

Like you're gonna figure it out in some psychological way?

Now, I believe in psychology.

I believe all truth is God's truth wherever it's found.

So there's stuff that Jung said, there's stuff that Freud said.

This is true, it's kingdom truth.

But I don't buy the whole bottle of wax.

Here's where I buy the whole ball of wax, and it's this book right here.

So you memorize it, you spend time in it.

I was out last night in the night looking up at the sky late at night with the stars, and I said the Lord's Prayer, and then I said Psalm 1, and then I said Psalm 23, and then I said Romans 8, because I've memorized this thing.

I was just saying them to renew my mind, gang, because I had all kinds of conflicted thoughts going around.

Anybody ever have conflicted thoughts?

Well, fight it with truth, and God's word is truth, and truth will set you free.

Yeah, and so that's what Jesus is saying to us, and that's what a truth encounter is is discipling out of us the demons.

Discipling out of us our false beliefs.

So write this down.

It's really important.

It's the most important point I make here today.

Power encounters cast out demons.

Truth encounters crowd out demons.

So power encounters cast out demons.

Truth encounters crowd out demons.

In other words, you start filling your mind with good things, wholesome things, wonderful things.

Philippians 4, 8, you don't have time for lust.

You don't have time for jealousy.

You don't have time for gossip because you're filling it, you're crowding out the demons.

They don't have anything to feed on.

You're sweeping the house, man.

This house that we're in right now when we first got in it was full of mice.

They were everywhere.

It was gross, man.

And I don't get grossed out easy, but I got grossed out at our house, and I remember thinking, what have I done?

You know, I had left Briargate, clean, wonderful, beautiful house to this ramshackle 62-built junker in Black Forest, and I took out the fireplace brick by brick, just tore it out.

There's a hole there and mice coming up everywhere.

It was gross, man.

And, you know, and that's that to me, that's a great picture of demons.

You know, you can stir up the demons, okay?

But what we had to do is we had to come in there, we had to clean the house, we had to find out where they were coming from, and we had to close, we had to shut down those entranceways that those spirits had.

And so do you.

And that's what a truth encounter does.

You gradually start closing down the doorways, the windows, the cracks of your life by crowding them out with truth.

It's not good enough to cast out bad thinking.

We have to cast in good thinking.

We've got to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Oh man, I just got way off.

Okay.

Um, when is a power encounter most effective?

I've got five things, I'll just give you a few.

And um you can pick up my notes on the app if you want to.

But I'd say when you don't have much time and you're not gonna see the person again, that's a great time to do a power encounter.

Or someone comes forward and like say up here, or there's a situation where they've been really working this issue, okay, and they are ready to be set free.

That can be perfect for that.

Well, when is a truth encounter most effective?

Always.

Truth encounter is always the most effective way because you're building new habits.

That's what my book's gonna be about.

The the book that I wrote called Breakthrough Courage, nine habits that conquer fear, um, is about that.

It's about developing nine habits that I think are the most important habits of your life.

Then you won't have demons because the demons have nothing to feed on, because you're believing and walking in truth.

And sometimes you don't, because you're human, and so you need prayer, and so you have to cast them out.

And you can cast out your demons.

Okay, nine steps to freedom from the demonic.

I've got a minute and 20 seconds.

Okay.

Um, so number one, come to Jesus.

Alright, that's a smart one.

So if you don't know Jesus, then everything I've said so far is I am possible.

Not possible.

You can't do it.

And if you want to stay with your demons and you like your demons a lot, then just stay there.

That's a good place to be for you.

You're really comfortable with your demons, so you can go home with your demons and dine with them tonight.

Or you can get born again.

And you can come to Jesus, come forward up here at the end of the service and say, I want to receive Christ, I want to surrender to Jesus.

Not hard.

You're not gonna get a halo.

Um Charlton Heston's not gonna walk in the room looking like Moses or anything like that.

But it's a simple step, step one, of knowing Jesus.

Number two, attending and involved in a spirit-empowered Bible teaching church.

So if you wanna if you wanna go to a church where it's a motivational speaker, then go to what we call a seeker-sensitive church.

That's where the pastor is a motivational speaker.

And they don't really get into the Bible, they take a verse and they make you feel good about yourself.

Um, but if you really want to grow, you want to be in a Bible-teaching church, because this book is inerrant, infallible, and inerrant, infallible.

It's good.

Okay, number three, um, you need some blood-stained allies in your life.

You need some men or some women in your life that love you.

This is not a solo sport, it's a team sport.

We need each other.

Number four, honesty.

Honest about your sin, um, willingness to uncover shame in your life.

Honesty's huge.

Oh my goodness.

Honesty is such a good thing in every area of our life.

Number five, confession and repentance of all known sin.

So if you've got something in your life, confess it.

Repent of it.

Number six, daily read and study God's Word.

Read God's Word.

If you're married, do it with your wife or your husband.

Really good idea.

Number seven, realize your new identity in Christ.

That you're a bloodwashed saint, that you're forgiven.

You're completely forgiven, church.

Past, present, and future.

You're forgiven.

You just don't believe it yet.

You're still carrying unforgiveness.

You feel like that you're a loser, and because of that, you carry this weight, and I want to just pronounce over you, you're forgiven.

But you gotta start believing it.

You gotta start walking, I'm forgiven.

You have to say it again and again and again.

I'm forgiven, I'm forgiven, I'm forgiven.

Number eight, command the spirit to leave.

If you know there's a demonic spirit over you, and you're walking in authority and you've confessed all your sins, then tell it to leave.

You can self-deliver.

I mean, do you guys realize how much you're already self-delivering every day?

In other words, when you get up in the morning and you open God's word and you're reading it, and you say, I'm gonna believe that today, I'm gonna walk in that today, I'm gonna be loving today, I'm gonna be kind today.

You're casting out the opposite of all those things I just said.

And you don't even know it because they're hovering around.

And you start living that way, they're like, ah, that's a house I can't inhabit.

They go haunt somebody else, they leave you alone.

And then ninth and lastly, daily surrender yourself to God.

Daily surrender yourself to God.

So in Matthew 10:1, Jesus said to his disciples, and when he had called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

Matthew 10:1

Church, no difference between these apostles and you guys today.

We can cast out unclean spirits.

We can heal the sick, we can preach the gospel.

Everyone of us in this room.

John 14, 12 through 14, Jesus said, Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father.

Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do.

That the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

That's us.

If we started doing that, if we started living that way, we would rock this city.

We would rock this county.

We'd we'd so mess up the whole political process, it'd be unbelievable.

We would start having entrepreneurs left and right that are successful in their businesses because they're living by kingdom principles.

We'd have mechanics that you go to and you actually think that they could fix your car and not overcharge you.

That you could you could you could have a marriage where there's an adventure to it, not without problems, but there's an adventure to it.

That's that's what I dream about all the time.

That's a Kingdom of God revolution.

Thank you for listening to the Porn for War podcast.

We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.

To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org.

God bless.