Shadowing – part-2

yesterday. We were talking about, okay, so how do we deal with the fact that we have

a supernatural enemy? And it's not, when I say we have, I don't mean just the church,

I mean humans. Humans have a supernatural enemy. Humans have a supernatural enemy, and

the aim of this supernatural enemy is to use pain and pleasure, is to use pain and pleasure

to blind and dull, to blind and dull us to God, to blind and dull us to God, to blind

and dull us to God, to make us self-centered and self-reliant, and to strip us of what

it is to be human. So mankind, and so we're not just talking about Christians, we're

talking about the human race. We're talking about the human race, and we're talking about

mankind as in ones that believe in Jesus Christ and have received him as Lord and Savior,

ones that are religious, ones that aren't religious, ones that do not believe in God,

doesn't matter. Humans have a supernatural enemy. Mankind has a supernatural enemy, and

that enemy aims at using pain and pleasure to blind and dull us to God, to make us self-centered

and self-reliant, and to strip us of what it is to be human. And what is it to be human?

If you want to know what it is to be human, you have to look at Genesis chapter 1. Eden.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

What did he promise there? He promised dignity. He promised security. He promised provision.

He promised freedom. He promised companionship and intimacy. He promised purpose. He promised

happiness, because the very name Eden meant delight. He promised these things, and I think

there's one or two more I forgot. And the intent of this supernatural enemy is to use

pain and pleasure to blind and dull us to God, to make us self-centered and self-reliant,

to strip us of what it is to be human by removing these things and giving us a counterfeit version

of it. And this has been going on for 4,000 years or 6,000 years or however old you want

the earth or mankind to be. That's what he aims at with all mankind. With Christians,

his intent is, can I destroy your faith in Christ? Can I destroy your faith in Jesus

Christ? Again, using pain or pleasure to either draw you away from or to turn you away from

or to turn you against. Can I destroy your faith? If you're a believer, that's Satan's

activity. His activity is, can I destroy your faith? And in the process, he uses value systems.

He fuels and shapes value systems. He uses ideologies. He uses institutions. He uses

religions. He uses the socio-economic, religio-politic systems of the world, all of them corrupted

by values that have very little to do with God. Take any system, any ideology, any economic

system, any socio-religio-political system and it's been corrupted. How does it get corrupted?

These are the three things used to corrupt it. Blind and dull you to God, make yourself

centered and self-reliant. Capitalism stinks of this. Strippers of what it is to be human.

Every system is meant to do those three things so that man is stripped of what it is to be

human. It doesn't matter whether you take a democratic system, a capitalistic system,

a communist system. It doesn't matter which economic system you choose, which religion.

Even Christianity is a religion. Look what we just prayed about. I mean, how does a Christian

denomination, and I'm not pointing a finger at the Catholics, the Presbyterians, Methodists,

Anglicans, different denominations are involved. How do we go from Christ to decimating a

culture? How? Any questions guys?

Any questions, any thoughts? Not you. Any questions, any thoughts? Okay.

I guess we need to get on with our life. That's why it's so important for us to be connected

with each other. Yeah, it's impossible to deal with it as an individual. You can be

the strongest person you need to be, but you still can't deal with this individually. Yeah,

the question, the comment Karen made was that it makes them more aware that to deal with

something like this, you cannot deal with it as an individual, but you have to deal

with it as a part of a people or part of a group because it's impossible to deal with

this on your own, even if you were the strongest person alive. Not possible.

So 1 Peter 5, 9 kind of, 1 Peter 5, 9 kind of gives us an idea of who the devil is, and

we use scriptures to tell us what we need to be aware of or how we need to see him.

So the first Peter 5, 9 calls him the devil and then says that he is a fierce lion, a

fierce lion. Then it says he prowls around, prowls around, oi, oi, prowls around. Then

it says he roars, then it says he seeks out prey, and then it says he devours. Look at

that, eh? This is from scripture. This is not trying to create something that doesn't

exist. In that one verse it says that the devil is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce

lion, and he is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce lion, and he is a fierce lion, and

the devil is a fierce lion. So there is a fierceness to his beastness. I know it's grammatically

wrong. And then he prowls, so he's on the hunt. He roars, and his roar is meant to frighten,

to intimidate. He seeks out prey, so he's not aimless, and he devours. So the devil

is a fierce lion, and he has a fierce lion. And then the devil is a fierce lion, and he

devours. So he's on the hunt. So this is real. The bible says so. God is giving us an idea

of what we are looking at. And so it's impossible to then deal with it unless you have a four-legged

table, or a four-wheeled car, or whatever you want to call it. And some of the basics

that we need to understand if you want to have any success in combat is you need to

you need to know you need to have a lifestyle that is rooted in Christ

three you need to have knowledge of the word and four you need to be part of a people like

karen was saying part of a people of god otherwise this is very effective

the reason the enemy is effective is because people usually don't have this you have to have

christ as savior and lord you cannot have a savior till you admit you need saving you cannot be

saved unless you acknowledge that you are sinful and that is when you receive christ as savior

and declare him as lord then you have a lifestyle that is rooted in christ and reflects his character

then you have the word of god which is the only thing that combats the enemy

and then finally you have you're part of a people of god and so it becomes very hard for this lion

to devour you because like i said yesterday it's the stragglers who get picked out not the ones

that are part of the herd isolate yourself and it usually ends up with you being devoured

cool not cool actually but cool okay

so what's our posture before we even pray we're talking what are we dealing with over the last

two days how do we deal with the devil how do we deal with the supernatural enemy so the first

question is what's the posture even before prayer and you see that outlined in effeciens 6 18 and

first peter five eight effeciens 6 18 and first peter five eight if you read it here's what it

says effeciens 6 18 and first peter five eight

it says praying always with all prayer and let me read it from niv and pray in the spirit on all

occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this mind be alert and always keep on praying

for all the lord's people first peter five nine five eight first peter five eight be alert and of

sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion resist him in standing firm in faith

because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind

of sufferings so here are the things that we need to adopt as a posture even before praying first

these are very simple things guys it's not terribly complicated alert the devil and be alert

it's not terribly complicated alertness that is persistent alertness that is persistent

how best can i describe this when you drive you have to be alert and you can't be alert at the

beginning of your drive or at the end of the drive those are the times when you can kind of take it

easy alertness is how we drive as soon as we sit in that car you become alert i was driving with

what's his name evan last week evan was so alert even though i was driving that every time i would

take a right turn or a left turn he would shoulder check twice even though i had already shoulder

check like i'm driving and i'm turning right and i'm him i see him going there's an alertness that

we drive with that is fascinating and it's the same thing that god is saying is the posture that

i need to develop alertness that is persistent and this isn't difficult we do this in so many

other areas of life but unfortunately when it comes to spiritual things we just don't i don't

understand why to be alert spiritually till it becomes a habit you don't tell yourself as you

get into the car alert now alert you don't write alert and stick it on your driving steering wheel

saying alert alert no it's just become natural because it's a habit because you realize what

will happen if you're not alert because this is spiritual and not visible we are not alert

because there's nothing to harm us there's no semi coming your way from the right or praful

driving don's car from the left so so so you know you're safe or you think you're safe when in

reality the spiritual invisible is more real than the visible and so alertness that is persistent

second sober go back to driving i mean one of the things that evan told praful right off the bat when

he started taking him driving you got to stop drinking and so after that praful would not touch

a bottle of water he just stopped drinking after that because you have to be sober and it's the same

thing i'm sorry man he told me everything about your driving praful i hope your parents are not

watching this we're just talking about water so the second thing is to be sober as in to be sober

sober is simply not to over or underestimate over or underestimate

yourself or the enemy

or the enemy to neither overestimate nor underestimate either yourself or the enemy that's

it's to be it's to be clear headed it's to be clear headed

these are not difficult things it's just a posture it's just that

i know i'm repeating myself but it's just that we haven't gotten into the habit of this once you

get into the habit of it it becomes very natural like driving you're just naturally sober naturally

alert and what happens then is you see trouble a mile away i remember this friend of mine

amazing he's sitting in the front of the bus and he's this is in india it happens quite often so

it's not surprising so he's sitting in the front of the bus and there's this truck coming towards

him and the driver who's driving the bus has no problem but he's sitting in the front of the bus

and he knows for some strange reason that that truck is going to hit the bus so he gets up from

the front of the bus and goes sits right at the back of the bus and the truck comes and hits the

front of the bus and a lot of people in the front get hurt he's right at the back and he walks out

of the bus without a problem why because he was alert enough to know that the way that truck is

coming it's going to move from this side of the road to this side of the road and it's going to

stay on this side india you usually move from this side to this side but you go back but he somehow

knew this guy would not go back and so he goes to the back of the bus and it saves his life man

this is not an exaggeration i remember him telling the story and instead of feeling bad i started

laughing my head off but alertness is seeing trouble a mile away and knowing if i do this

and this i can help this person out save this person's life save my life this is very simple

a lot of us get into trouble because we are not sober or alert

we think that because we have had two good days that we can handle the world

next all this is in first peter five eight and nine just look at look at it again first peter five

seven to nine all of this is there so starting at verse seven cast all your anxiety on him because

he cares for you be alert and of sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion

looking for someone he may devour resist him standing firm in faith because you know that the

family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering so the

next thing is guys these are our postures before we even pray cast your anxiety on god cast cast

your anxiety on god whenever i'm anxious whenever i'm having trouble it is best that i cast my

anxiety on god quickly because the devil loves exploiting my anxiety one of the ways he really

wrecks our lives is something happens that is really stressful and because we don't take it

to god immediately because we think we can deal with it because we think god may not help because

of many different reasons we don't go to him immediately and because you don't go to him

immediately satan swoops in and begins to really mess up what you're stressing about

and so peter starts off saying listen as soon as you're anxious take it to god

because once you deposit that sack of anxiety at god's feet you now have your hands free to do what

you need to instead of holding this with one hand while battling the enemy this is such a cool

posture where you don't wait but you bring it to him and say here i'm really struggling with this

it doesn't mean it is solved immediately but it certainly means it's handed over immediately

children do this if phoebe has a problem she ain't waiting till service gets over

and she'll immediately deal with the problem

and occasionally you say no

fourth to fourth one firm in faith firm in faith

firm in faith and what does that mean firm in faith guys the other thing is once you give

you anxieties immediately to god it's literally like your mind is at rest and the mind is where

most of the battles happen your mind is at rest you literally wear the helmet that protects your head

firm in faith what do you mean by firm in faith firm in faith is establishing who you are to god

establishing who you are to god

establishing who god is

and retrieving promises of god that's what firm in faith looks like promises of god this is just

posture in prayer as in all right so what does it mean to be firm in faith firm in faith is not

going through the apostle's creed or the nysene creed or repeating scriptures firm in faith is

quickly aligning yourself so you know how much god cares for you and who you are to god

and then quickly remembering who god says he will be in this situation

and then retrieving promises that god has said to you

that's what firm in faith it gives you it gives you traction man

it's like but i am his much-loved child he is my father

he didn't even need to swear it but he's going to take care of me he never leaves me

he never leaves me in this particular situation he said he'd take care of me all right so i know

where i stand with him now who is he and then you begin to remember who he is i was praying for

someone this morning who was struggling with something and i asked him so who has got to you

and the person said he is lord god almighty i thought him as a man your problem is going to

get solved before you even hit the road because suddenly you recognize who god is and then finally

pulling out the promises that have been given to you already have been given to you three

simple ways man any questions

no

okay

so

to be effective against satan in your own life and in the city

one of the things that we have to do is hate sin

hate sin

this has to be something that you establish inside you that i'm not going to tolerate it i'm not

going to nibble on it i'm not going to frequent it every so often i'm not going to have 10 good

days and one bad day i'm not going to let my hair down with sin i'm not going to be samson

because i usually samson usually ends up dying or ends up having his eyes gouged out it's just not

my style

you have to decide to hate sin a hatred for sin

sin is anti-god sin is anti-god we don't think so we think of sin as something that is natural to

it's okay sin is anti-god when i sin i love when i sin i love what god hates

and intensely loathes

i want us to remember that sin is anti-god when i sin

i i am loving something he absolutely hates and intensely loathes

this whole cheap grace thing has made sin something that is like a

friendly thing that god says yeah i understand i love you still and so it becomes like

i love you still and so it becomes like this python that god keeps in heaven as a pet not true

he hates it he has in he has an intense loathing for sin he hates it and every time i choose this

i am loving something that he intensely loathes and that he hates

he hates

you don't like covid 19 do you even after the vaccination it's not like i actually like you now

there's an intense loathing for every variant

when i sin god isn't really saying what we christians say you know i love you jacob i just

hate the sin it's a standard statement right god loves the god loves the sinner just hates the

sin it's a nice statement it's it makes you all friendly and warm and gooey but at the end of the

day it is not sin that is being sent to hell it is the sinner that is being sent to hell god is

not punishing sin in hell he's punishing the sinner god hates sin and sin doesn't exist like

a wisp like mist sin always exists only in hearts and if it doesn't exist in a heart it doesn't

exist at all sin is not some kind of ethereal thing that's floating around saying who shall i

come and sit on no it's always something that lives only if it finds a heart and as much as it

is true that jesus loves please don't for a second thing that he comes to me and says oh jacob you're

sinning again i love you jacob i just hate the sin you're doing no he finds it lordsom that i sin

and then having such intense loathing for sin he now sends his son to die for me which is why love

is stunning

god finds i know these words will sound so anti-grace that it's hard to swallow

but god finds me repugnant because of my rebellion just like i find wickedness and wicked people

reprehensible reprehensible because of their sin i mean when we talk about this 750 bodies being

found doesn't make you feel any better that oh it's just sin we should love the sinner is that

your normal reaction no when you hear of someone in power who was supposedly a christian abusing

women what is your reaction oh poor guy just love him just hate the sin is that your reaction you as

human beings if you don't have that reaction what do you think god feels he finds this he finds me

very odious and repugnant when i sin

just as i would find someone reprehensible if they were doing something terribly wicked and after he

feels that he then rises up and says but this boy i will love and this boy i will lay my life down

for this boy i will die for it is not that he doesn't see it as repugnant he says despite how

i feel about him and his sin i will choose to love him and therein lies the love that was shown on

the cross and if we don't realize how loathsome it is in his sight we will not realize how loving

it is on the cross and what does cheap grace do cheap grace makes it tolerable and it cheapens

what god did on the cross

so john 3 16 then can be reworded god so loves this city that is so loathsome to him in its

wickedness that he gives up his beloved son to die for it so that lives can be changed inside out

to enjoy his delight enjoy his holiness enjoy his love god so loves this loathsome city because of

its wicked god so loves this city that is loathsome to him in its wickedness that he gives up his

beloved son to die so that lives can be changed inside out to enjoy his delight his holiness and

love that's how we need to see john 3 16 it's michael angelos painting all over again

cysteine chapel

there's adam on one side and then there's god on the other side god looks a little older wiser

perhaps fairer with a bigger beard reaching out and touching adam that's what we've done with sin

too god is holy man is unholy but it's okay god tolerates sin he sent his son to die now it's all

taken care of so let's just hold hands and sing kumbaya god ain't into it man he absolutely loathes

it we have made sin something that is god-friendly and it ain't

a sin until we get to this point guys we have very little traction with undoing the works of the

devil because he's been someone who's a liar murderer thief right from the beginning i love

what jesus says and i want to get to that point where we get two hours a day where we can say

what jesus says that the prince of darkness has come but he has nothing in me what a cool statement

he has nothing in me

any questions any comments any disagreements

you agree with this

just take off your mask and say it

yeah yeah how do i move from sin happens every so often to hating it

um

till you know how good something is

you will not be able to give up waters less

how once you taste how good something is it becomes easier for you to hold on to that which

is good and hate that which was less sorry go ahead sorry go ahead sorry just say go ahead

okay just one sec let me just write down that point because i did probably come to it second

just say it again marcus

yeah

yeah okay okay so

the first point is till you realize how good something is

is

you will not hate what you have

so that's the first point unfortunately you cannot know how good something is till you spend some time

getting used to it you cannot know how good something is till you spend some time in it

that is when you realize this is so worth it why would i exchange this for that why would i

why would i exchange this for that this is too good why would i give this up but the thing is

most christians don't even discover how good it is because they don't spend enough time figuring

it out everything must be instant doesn't work that way so that's the first point the second point

is to make up your mind as in make a decision that i have been set apart called paid for with

a huge price and now that that has happened i am going to die to everything that i used to be so

that i can attach myself or cleave to the one person who paid the ultimate price for me we do

this in human life someone does you a favor and you will now do anything for them

you love somebody and they pull you out of a bad situation and you you now owe them for the rest

of your life

these are two ways that i used to shift from tolerating sin to absolute hatred for it

and if i don't hate sin i will not be able to combat the enemy you know i'm not so worried

about combating the enemy for myself but as a church as a pastor if i do not have the ability

to combat the enemy in your life or in someone else's life out there then what's going to happen

what is going to happen out there when people are demonized people have problems with evil

people are caught trapped plundered who's going to set them free who if i am not able to function

like this if you are not able to function like this who sets them free where do they go

they go to their priests their witch doctors their religion their rituals and what do those

rituals do but dig a hole that is deeper that is inescapable who

this is not so much for us man even if tomorrow we were to die in terrible torment

in a second you would be in the presence of jesus christ our tickets are booked everything is good

there should be a hatred for sin

hate it when you're caught in it get out of it and hate it

and use these two ways

i remember being caught up in so many different sins when i first became a believer

oh my god man it was impossible to escape them till i began to taste how good god is

how once i tasted how good jesus is i used to think to myself really jacob you want to go back to

that that tastes worse than vomit and i haven't tasted vomit i just want to gross you out

you want to go back to that when you got this

guys we got to come to a place where the exchange is so lousy that you have to be stupid

but as long as i don't see how good this is i'll keep i'll be willing to exchange

any questions any thoughts

okay so let's look at what effective combat

just we'll take three things and the reason i'm going over these three things is because while

we have this 49 day prayer that has been going on for the last few weeks and we're going to

have this prayer that has been going on for the last 15 days i want us to begin to take up

to to use slightly heavier artillery than we have been using thus far so effective

combat against the work of this supernatural enemy that we have not even for our sake but

for the sake of the city usually involves prayer or action that counters

satan's intent

and you do that for yourself you do that for other believers who you know may be struggling

with things and you do that for the city or people that you are assigned to or that god tells you to

pray for

that's basically what combating this supernatural enemy in its very basic that's what it is it is

either prayer or action that counters satan's intent and you do that for yourself you do that

for other believers or saints as the bible calls them and then you do it for the city of a people

of a different situations that you are assigned to this is what christians are supposed to do

jesus would send them out to do exactly this the holy spirit came in isaiah 61

to do exactly this who does it do it through always through people jesus works through people

he can work directly but he loves using people

so during the next 49 days we want to turn isaiah 42 go to isaiah 42 22 isaiah 42 22

isaiah 42 22 look at what it says that we want to turn isaiah 42 22 to isaiah 32 1 to 3 so let's

read isaiah 42 22 first it says that this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped

this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons

they have become plundered with no one to rescue them they have

situations around us hey this is a people plundered and looted all of them trapped in

pits or hidden away in prisons they have become plundered with no one to rescue them

they have been made loot with no one to say send them back it could be your life it could be

the life of someone you know, it could be the life of someone who does not know

Jesus Christ. Regardless, this is the condition. And then we go to Isaiah 32,

1-4. Isaiah 32, 1-4. And that's what I'm hoping will happen through the way we

pray from now on. Isaiah 32, verses 1-4. Here's what it says,

Isaiah 32:1–4

See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. As in

it's talking about him as king and we as his rulers. Each one will be like a

shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the

desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those

who see will no longer be closed and the ears of those who hear will listen. The

fearful heart will know and understand and the stammering tongue will be

fluent and clear. The point being, hey guys, can I have you fight a certain way

so that people come to you and they find refuge? That you become a shelter in the

storm. You become a shadow when it's really nasty like this. So let's look at

those three methods of combat. So here are the three things that I'm hoping we

can pray over the next 34 days that are left in our 49 day thingy. One, basic

combat. One, guys when you pray for the city, Satan blinds people to the gospel.

Satan blinds people to the gospel. He, yeah especially when he knows that

there are people now who want to do good, he begins to work even harder. So he

actively opposes. He actively opposes any attempt. He actively opposes any

attempt people make with the gospel. He actively opposes. So for this city if

you're praying, this is something we'll have to focus on. How does he oppose

them? How does he blind their minds? Through distraction, through religion, as

in traditional legalistic Christianity that doesn't have Christ at the center.

Through distraction, through religion, through false religions, through false

religions and through sheer hostility to the gospel. Go to 2nd Corinthians 4-4.

2nd Corinthians 4-4, just so you know that it's in the Bible. 2nd Corinthians 4-4.

The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see

the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ who is the image of

God. So there's an active blinding of the minds of unbelievers. So one of the

things we'll have to start praying is that, oh God as we begin to pray for this

city, we're going to use 2nd Corinthians 10-5. 2nd Corinthians 10-5. 2nd Corinthians 10-4-5.

We're going to actively start using that to pray for people from now on. This is

basic combat where we begin to do harm to the enemy. 2nd Corinthians 10-4-5. The

weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have

divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive

every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Guys, we don't realize how

powerful arguments are and how arguments can become strongholds. What happened in

the Garden of Eden? There was an argument. What was the argument? You really think

God is good and they actually began to listen to that argument. An argument is

not some kind of a fight. An argument is presenting a different way of thinking

so that you begin to question what God has said. The essence of sin is to stop

believing what God has said. Arguments lead to strongholds and so we are now

beginning to say, starting tomorrow when we start praying that, oh God, we start

pulling down arguments that are being raised in the city. That Christ is this or

Christ is that or this God is this or this God is that. Now we actively begin

to come against an enemy who's blinding the minds of thousands and thousands and

thousands. This will be fun. This is what the church is meant to do. It says in

Matthew 16 that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. What does

that mean? That if the enemy has frontal attack that the church can go

against it, break it and take out captives that are being held so that

they can know Christ. Look at our lives man. There's not a life here that was

born Christian as in you didn't drop down from heaven. You had so many problems.

There's a Marxist here. There are at least two drug addicts here. I could go

down a long list and God had the ability to grab us and pull us out.

Not two, more than two. The point being guys, from now on we begin to pray like

this. Satan, you've been blinding the minds of people. Now we come as a church

to stop this blinding. We pull down the arguments that you set up in minds. We

pull down strongholds you set up in minds. We begin to destroy them so that

people can be set free because this is what keeps people captive. The thinking,

thinking keeps people captive. Change the thinking the person is free. It's

fascinating. Just think of this. One day I thought and you thought that we have

actually sinned and that no religion, no going to church, no ritual, no connections

is ever going to take away that sin and then we began to think that there is

someone who's paid for that sin and then we began to think we need this person

and then we began to think I want to receive this person and then we put our

thoughts into words and we said I receive you Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Your thought changed your life. Sins will not be remembered anymore. Thinking

changes your life. This is why we need to understand how, you know the best way to

think of it is a vice like grip that's a supernatural enemy who's much more

powerful than humans has on the minds of people almost crushing their minds from

thinking and then you begin to a church begins to 20 people 30 people 40 people

50 people begin to pray a simple prayer saying in the name of Jesus Christ we

break this vice and this blindness on the minds of the people of the city and

the grip begins to loosen. He has no choice because he has walked before God

and he was thrown out from the presence of God. He knows the omnipotence of God

like nobody else does and he's scared and he's frightened and when a people

begin to take that name that he has seen that broke his back at Calvary he

begins to loosen this grip and suddenly minds that have had no ability to handle

the gospel begin to open to the gospel with simple words like Jesus grace love

kindness it begins to open up and lives one by one begin to turn to God we don't

see it on CNN or a global TV but it begins to happen. How do you think you

got saved? Someone was praying for you man. My God the number of women who was

fasting for me older women who were fasting for me younger women never

fasted for me but older women a lot of them. In 1st Thessalonians 2 18 it

actually says that Paul was hindered from going to Thessalonica by Satan. This

is real guys. Paul was hindered 1st Thessalonians 2 18 I wanted to come to

you but I was hindered by Satan as in I was blocked by Satan. It's real. This is

Paul saying it. He was a champion. How come he got blocked? Next basic combat 2

Come against whatever is normalized in your city. Come against what is normalized

in your city. Come against what is normalized in your city because whatever

is normalized in your city is what's going to come and try to enter the church.

Come against what is normalized in your city because whatever is normal in the

city is what will try and come and break down the walls of the church and these

are some things that are normalized in this city. Sexual sin, Vancouver is

sickness, tolerance that has no filter and accommodates. I love the word

accommodates. It's got so many doubles. Accommodates everything. These are the

very things now that are in the city that will begin to enter the church and

the church needs to take a stance against it. Most men and women who come

to Vancouver from any country in the world to serve God here are usually

unseated by this or this and sometimes by poverty but we leave poverty out for

now. This and this are two things that have destroyed so many men and women of

God that was sent to Vancouver from the Caribbean, from South Africa, from India,

from Asia. They come here and they are unseated by these things and this is

what will try and ruin the church too.

So today before we go we'll try to pray against the spirits of infirmity. The

Bible talks about it in Luke 13-12. We'll pray against spirits that cause

affliction. We read about it in 1st Samuel 16 where a spirit would come and

afflict Saul. We'll come against the spirit that causes heaviness or

depression. Isaiah 53 talks about the spirit of heaviness or depression and

we pray against fear that brings its own anxiety and destroys lives. We'll pray

for that. These things are so common. We pray this just for us that in our midst

sickness ends. As in, recurring sickness ends. We'll pray against depravity, lust,

porn, adultery from affecting the church. We won't pray that today. We'll pray that

during the week. Come against these spirits, man. Why is it that it's so

impossible to escape porn? Sure, there's a chemical side to it. There's a biological

side to it. There are hormones that are released that require a new high. I want

to say to you that almost every sexual addiction has to it a demonic element or

a spiritual element that can be easily broken. But after you break it, you need

to now step into right ways of living. That's the hard part. Jesus breaks

things easily but he cannot force you to live a right life. He can break a wrong

life but it is your choice to live a right life. Breaking is easy. Jesus breaks

things very easily. Any questions? Just one last thing and we're done. Who believes

that? Excuse me, Karen. I hear you mumbling there. You're not allowed to do that, you know.

By now it would have been 43 degrees in Pilgrim. People would have fainted by now

and I thought it was the work of the Holy Spirit and I had to continue.

And the last one is basic combat three

and that is come against spiritual powers, come against spiritual powers

that dominate your city, that dominate your city. And you'll know them by either it being

displayed all over your city or you will know it by the religious sites that are increasing

in your city. We'll discuss that off camera so we won't be talking about it now.

One of the things you'll find in any city in India, any city in South America, any city in Asia

is you know the dominant power that is worshiped in a city or that is exalted in a city by going

to the airport, the railway station or the entry to any city in India. You will see at the city gates

the powers that dominate that village or that city or that town and it's the same in South America,

it's the same in many Asian countries. It's an old way of doing things. The Old Testament used to

talk about that and so these spiritual powers can keep people under bondage for years and years and

years and years on end, thousands of years and hundreds of generations kept under wraps,

unable to break out of it. It doesn't matter that you come to the city of New York or you come to

London, what has been inculcated continues wherever you go. It's not geographical, it is spiritual

and we'll talk about that off camera and deal with what we need to deal with in this city.

I will take it in bits so that our muscles get stronger. We won't take on Dharasingh immediately,

you don't know who Dharasingh is.

We won't take on the ultimate Goliath immediately, we'll take it in small bits.

So I'm looking forward to this guys. The church must

be seasoned in terms of fighting. Can you look at Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 5?

Judges 3:1–5

Just so you know that this is something God really likes. Judges chapter 3, let's read it from the

Judges 3 · chapter mention

message. Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 3. Judges chapter 3 verse 1 to 3. I love this and I'm

Judges 3:1–3 Judges 3:1–3

slightly scared of it but I really like it. Judges chapter 3 verses 1 to 3. These are the nations that

Judges 3:1–3

the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan.

He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites

who had not had previous battle experience. A church that does not know how to fight

and has no battle experience is a very poor church.

So over this week, make sure you ask these questions. One, are the prerequisites that we

talked about on Saturday night met? Are the prerequisites we talked about last night met?

Have you met those prerequisites? If you don't know what we are talking about, go and listen to

yesterday's teaching. I'm going to read it to you. So, the prerequisites that we talked about last

night met. If you don't know what we are talking about, go and listen to yesterday's teaching.

Are the prerequisites met?

Second, before you...

Yeah, second,

is your heart

grieved,

stirred up,

angry?

Hey, if someone came and did some harm to your child or to your mother or sister,

what is your reaction?

Doesn't something rise up within you? Isn't there anger? Isn't there grief? Isn't there

a stirring up of zeal?

I remember crossing a street in Ladner on a pedestrian walk and this car came zooming

by and I was walking with two others and I was the only guy. And the guy, he was a very

I was the only guy and the guy just zooms by and misses them by inches and I remember how angry

I was. I thought to myself, my God, there are days when you're not very Christian.

But the reason I was outraged was because of the absolute flouting of rules as he missed these

people by this much and something rose up because I thought to myself, these two kids are in my care

and what if something had happened to them? If a car going by can do that, why is it that my

heart is not grieved, angry, zealous when people are being kept captive for years on end, man?

There is a reason why Jesus takes a whip and begins to chase things out of the temple.

There are things that humans do to each other that animals wouldn't do to each other.

How is it possible that we who are made in the image of God can be reduced to that kind of

behavior if it was not demonic? And isn't it common? Is it rare? Is it once in a while happening?

No, it's happening every day, every night around the world. Is there not a cause?

Yes.

If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

Third question, is your breastplate intact?

Is your breastplate intact? What do you mean by that? Ask Manoj. Ask Dr. Manoj. He talked about

the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness, as in, are you walking righteously? Because man,

that gives you such an advantage. Your breastplate is skewed, you get shot and there's no protection.

Is your breastplate intact? It's not very difficult, God. Guys, we're not talking about

walking in perfection. We're talking about walking in right relationship with God. It isn't difficult.

It isn't difficult. Right relationship with God. I can have arguments with my mom and still be in

right relationship with her. Fourth question, do you know how to apply? Do you know how to apply?

Do you know how to apply Old Testament and New Testament stories in battle? Old Testament,

New Testament stories in prayer? In prayer? Do you know how to apply? If you don't, don't worry.

We'll go down that route. Do you know how to apply Old Testament and New Testament stories

in prayer? Pulling out stories. This is what David did. This is what I'll do. This is what

I'll do. This is what Samson did. This is what I'll do. This is what Paul did. This is what I'll do.

These are just questions we won't answer today. Five,

do you know how to weaponize your words? Do you know how to weaponize your words?

Do you know how to weaponize your words? As in, can you use words in prayer

that become weapons? Because it's one thing Satan's scared of. He uses words to frighten us.

He's scared that we may use the name of Jesus and the actual word to scare him because he didn't

know how to handle it when Jesus, when he was being tempted, started using words. He didn't know how to

handle it. Go read Isaiah 36 and 37. Sennacherib, who's an Assyrian king, uses words to frighten

Israel. Along comes Isaiah and he declares what God is going to do. And now the very words that God

says frightens Sennacherib. Words can be weaponized. The word of God is a sword. It can be,

I love weaponizing words where you can cut things down with the word of God.

Will you obey when it doesn't make sense? Will you obey

when it doesn't make sense?

When one of Jeevan's guys was sick and he was struggling, like it was half COVID, half other things, he was struggling and Jeevan

wrote to me and I was praying for that guy. His name's Prasad and it's really good help to Jeevan.

I was praying for the guy and suddenly felt the Lord saying, serenely, while I was praying, I see the face of this man and just half asleep, half awake, see the face of this man and as soon as I see the face of the man, I know that if I Google that, I don't even know what to Google but that I'd find it on Google. So I go and Google it and this man's face comes up. And this is exactly the face I saw. And so I was praying for that guy.

I find out who this guy is and I text Jeevan and it's also illogical. You see a face, you Google it and the face comes up on Google. How? I don't know. I don't even know what to Google. What do you Google? Man with a beard? You don't know how many of them you'll get.

But this face comes up and I know it is this face. So I text Jeevan saying, hey Jeevan, there's this guy. This is who he is. There's some connection with your friend who is ill. Find out who he is and things will work out.

What are the odds, man? The friend who is ill has a piece of land that this man is claiming as his and has taken him to court and was practicing rituals against him. Jeevan finds it out, prays. In a couple of days, the guy is home, healed.

And I'm thinking to myself, how does this even work? How does God pull up a face out of eight billion faces? As you see that, it happens to be the very man who is a religious guru in India, laying claims on a piece of land that he says he wants for his temple and is now doing harm to the family to whom that land actually belongs to.

Once it's broken, the boy recovers. Can you obey when it doesn't make sense? Because everything that we do in this, everything that the Bible commands us to do in terms of fighting the devil doesn't look like fighting.

It looks pretty illogical and foolish. And the last question. Can you walk in order? Can you walk in order?

Luke chapter eight, sorry, Matthew chapter eight, verse nine, the centurion says to Jesus, I'm a man under authority. And I know how authority works. I tell somebody they go. And I know the same way if you tell something, it will happen.

Point being, listen, walk under order, walk under order and you will find that the supernatural realm bows to you. Walk under order and operate within your capability. Tomorrow God will extend it.

Any questions? Because I'm done. Any questions?

We'll start here guys. So this week, we'll up our praying for the city and begin to involve things where we actually take on the powers that hold people captive.

We'll take on those powers, break their strength, because we are supposed to do this. And that's why I'm teaching these things.

Very specifically, we'll work on things. Everybody praying together. Like Karen was saying, when an entire church begins to do it, that vice like grip loosens.

Okay, so before we go, I want us to break up into groups of four and maintain a healthy social distance. Keep your masks on and then begin to pray against...

It's easier to wipe it.

So at home, if you guys want to call somebody else and pray, that's fine too. If you want to pray on your own, that's fine. Or you can pray just, I don't know. But calling someone might be the easiest way.

Here's what we're praying. We're praying against the spirit of infirmity.

The spirit of infirmity is an actual spirit that causes sickness that sometimes doctors can't solve. You don't know why it keeps happening.

There seems to be no medical explanation for it, but it just continues. It is something that causes weakness, causes sickness. It is actually a spirit.

We'll pray against spirits that afflict with sickness. We know that Satan did that to Job. We know that Saul suffered from it.

We pray against spirits that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that are affected by sickness, that

causes all kinds of anxieties and stresses, which leads to a whole host of other unnecessary diseases. So we pray this, we are praying only for the folks in the church, as in all of us who are here and all of us who have been here before, and that's what I mean.

by the church. So we'll break up into groups of four and pray this. Just turn to Matthew 12.29 and then we'll start praying Matthew 12.29. Any questions on this? We're not praying, guys remember we're not praying for healing. We are praying that these attacks end.

In the lives of the people in this church. There are people struggling with cancer, there are people struggling with tumors, there are people struggling with arthritis, there are people struggling with consistent pain that hasn't disappeared, there are people struggling with diseases in this church.

That this end. We are praying for each other saying, we've got to end this. God doesn't send sickness.

No father sends sickness. So where is it coming from? Sure there are multiple sources but the devil is certainly involved in these things.

That's what we're praying against. There are sicknesses that we haven't even mentioned that people have, that we haven't even heard of. I'm talking about in our midst guys, I'm not talking about someone out there.

So we'll pray for this first. Yeah? Matthew 12.29. If you're not here in person call each other up and do it.

Matthew 12.29.

Starting at 28.

The man who stood guard over them, not allowing you to enter, has been bound in the name of Jesus Christ, set aside.

You go into the house that he guards and you bring out Manoj. Then you pull out Praful.

And you're bringing all of them out. Why? Because the man who stood guard over them, not allowing you to enter, has been bound in the name of Jesus Christ, set aside.

You can either speak it out or you can believe it, however you want to do it. But just keep that in mind as we pray this. Yeah?

Cool. So Father, as we practice what we have been hearing, I just thank you, Holy Spirit, that you will be the trainer, we will be the students and we learn to do this.

First for our sake, then for others outside. But please begin this process. We don't want to be theoretical, we want to be practical.

So first we want to pray for those of us who are not here in person.

For those of us who have struggled with diseases and sicknesses, sometimes have no explanation or keep recurring.

If you want to end this in this church, then have the courage to take it outside and do it for others too. In Jesus' name, Amen.

So break them into fours and do not pray for healing. Pray against these spirits that bring these diseases. Yeah?

Because when you drive out something, then you can pray for healing later.

Okay, so let's assume this is, what shall we call it? Bill. Stan.

So let's assume this is Stan and Stan needs a little help.

So let's assume this is Stan and Stan needs a little help.

So let's assume this is Stan and Stan needs prayer. You said Stan, right?

I'm going with Stan. Okay. So let's assume this is Stan and he needs prayer because he's been suffering with this disease for very long.

So in the name of Jesus Christ, I come against the spirit that keeps afflicting you right from when you were a kid.

That has crippled your body, that has brought you pain, that has done you harm.

We have inspired you before you came in, what happened? But in the name of Jesus Christ, we come and break the power

μπο워봇 of this spirit to continue it from afflicting you. If God shows you what it is, great.

If God doesn't show you what it is, we let it be. Right now in a setting like this, it may be hard to identify something.

But sometimes when you pray for people, God will show you exactly what happened and then you pray for that and it goes away.

But right now we just starting this process of as a church we are going to exert this muscle of Jesus Christ that is in us.

that is in us. We are exerting His muscle.

I can't hear you with your mask on.

We're praying for the entire church that we are breaking

these four things from our midst. The spirit of infirmity that brings weakness,

the spirit that afflicts like a dead job, the spirit of heaviness that brings

depression and sadness,

and the spirit of fear that creates its own set of physical problems.

We're coming against these spirits.

Because long ago, in 2005, we already know that there are wells of healing in this

church.

So the healing is already established. Let's drive out

squatters

who have no right in this land.

So please break up into four and then at some point, Emily will come and sing

that song, Rattle,

and then you can hang out for three or four minutes.