The Art of War . Deliverance

All right, let's dive into deliverance, shall we?

Yeah, let's begin here with Matthew 13, the Lord's Prayer.

This then is how you should pray, Jesus said to his disciples when they asked

him a question on how they should pray.

And then he says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we

also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Beautiful.

So, As I said the word deliverance this morning, chances are across

this room, people's minds have gone to all sorts of places, right?

There'll be a gamut of different understandings around that word this

morning, but what we can interpret and understand and infer from

what Jesus teaches his

disciples here on how to pray is that in some ways, shape or form,

we all need deliverance from evil, and we all need it on the regular.

Yeah, because this isn't just a one time only prayer, is it?

This is a prayer that we are to pray each day.

So there is a sense that deliverance is something that we all need as

followers of Jesus on the regular.

It's not a one time, dramatic event, but it is a life of learning how to live

each in the light, in the way of Jesus.

And we're going to tackle some of that as we go through this morning.

So why are we diving into these waters?

Well, we are doing a series on spiritual warfare, so, and this is a part of that.

Part of the reason also for tackling this topic this morning is there's some

really bad theology on this in the church.

It tends to not be taught terribly well, this topic.

It tends to be just grounded often just very experientially

rather than biblically.

So this really, this morning, is about helping you think biblically on

this topic.

Also too,

you know, within this room, there's probably been a gamut of

experiences and some of you, this might be quite triggering as well.

Perhaps you've had

quite a traatic experience around, something

of the nature of deliverance ministry.

And hopefully this morning might help you in that place as well.

And if you haven't, hopefully maybe this morning will stop you from entering into a

potentially traatic experience

around this topic of deliverance.

But really the key aim is to help us.

Well, help us to think biblically around this topic.

And so as we begin, I just want to touch on a few different scriptures

and I want to just highlight the reality of the demonic realm.

Okay.

We don't like talking in these ways, do we?

But scripture has a lot to say about it.

What can we infer from what the new certain key New Testament passages have

to say around the reality of evil forces that are at work in the world around us.

So let's begin from Romans here, Romans 39.

For I am convinced, writes Paul, that neither death nor life, angels, demons,

present, future, or any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all

creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

So what's the implication?

A implication of what Paul is talking about here?

There are forces, there are powers at work that are trying to get us to

believe that we can be, or that we have been separated from God's love.

That's a win for the enemy, right?

If it can get us to believe that we have been or we can be separated from

God, it puts us in a state of anxiety.

Yeah?

In various different forms.

So next, 21.

Do I mean then that food sacrificed to idol is anything

or that an idol is anything?

No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God.

And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

Again, what is something that we can infer that is relevant for what we are talking

about this morning from this passage?

That we can be participants with demonic forces.

Oh, that's fun.

Isn't it?

All right.

So these are things for us to think about that We would learn to think well about

what scripture has to say on this topic All right Next one corinthians 12 verse

10 To another and talking about spiritual gifts here to another miraculous powers to

another prophecy to another distinguishing between spirits and To another speaking

in different kinds of tongues and still to another the interpretation of tongues.

So distinguishing between spirits, implication here, that

is a part of being the body.

We need those who are able to discern the source of influence

that's operating in people and in a community because it is not always

good and it is not always obvious.

So the Holy Spirit comes and graces and gifts and empowers certain people to

be able to discern where the source of power Within a person or a community

is coming from we need this gift in operation If you think you have this

gift, I would love to hear from you.

Okay, because I would not say here at red door I know all the people

who are operating in a discerning of spirits gift space But some of you

here will have been graced by god in that way And this body needs you.

All right, 11.

Anyone

you forgive, I also forgive.

And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I have forgiven in

the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us.

For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Okay, implication here, Satan is trying to outwit us.

And forgiveness really, really matters in this.

Tempting us to hold on to unforgiveness is one of Satan's key strategies.

Spiritual Warfare 101, Forgiveness.

You know, we want all the bells and whistles, the dramatic stuff, the,

you know, get out in Jesus name and the manifestations, you know.

You wanna walk in Spiritual Warfare, walk in Forgiveness.

Forgiveness is massive.

It is massive.

It is a massive scheme of the enemy to convince us that we are

okay walking in unforgiveness.

Oh, we are not, my friends.

Okay, 2 Corinthians 10, 3 5.

Oh, no, 4, sorry.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

So the implication here, there are demonic strongholds.

That act as fortifications in our lives that stop us from living according to

the truth and therefore prevent us from living in obedience and in freedom.

All right, Ephesians 4, 26 to 27.

In your anger do not sin, writes Paul.

Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do

not give the devil a foothold.

Implication here.

Very clear.

We can give demonic forces access to our lives when we walk in unrepentant sin.

Don't just get, don't think it's just anger that gives the enemy a foothold.

That's not really the main point here.

Point is, is that when we walk in in obedience to the ways of

darkness, then we are opening doors.

We're giving access to the enemy in our lives to have influence in our lives.

Okay, 1 Timothy 4 verse 1.

1 Timothy 4:1

The Spirit clearly says that in latter times some will abandon

the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

So the demonic is so good and convincing and can teach people doctrine that

will cause them to abandon their faith.

The demonic isn't stupid, it's clever, it's tricky, and we can be fooled for

its teaching, fooled by its teaching, if we're not wise to the enemy's schemes.

James 4 verse 7, Submit yourselves then to God, resist

James 4:7

the devil, he will flee from you.

1 Be alert of sober mind, the enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring

lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith.

So, what's the implication here?

That the devil needs resisting.

He wants access to your life.

He wants to devour your life.

And is consistently at work trying to gain that access.

Why?

Because his agenda is to steal, to kill and to destroy.

Alright, let's define some terms here.

Fun?

Good?

Let's go.

Alright.

Oh, actually, just take that down for a second Mal.

Let's talk about a moment what we actually mean by the word deliverance.

And the word deliverance in and of itself in its simplest terms just means rescue.

It is the action of being rescued or set free.

But what we're dealing with today is specifically the area

of deliverance from demonization.

Alright, I'm going to explain that in a moment.

Often when we think deliverance we think it's about possession.

Okay, demonic possession.

I don't find that.

Phrasing to be terribly helpful, because possession implies ownership.

You are owned by God, you are not owned by Satan.

And to make deliverance all about possession actually discounts a whole

gamut of deliverance that we all actually need to participate in and walk in, right?

And, so I find a more helpful word is, is the word demonization.

So let's have a look at what we mean by this.

It's important to define our terms so we're all on the same page.

So demonisation means to be demonised.

That sounds like not a very good time, does it?

Alright, so what do we mean by this?

Any level of influence that demonic forces can have over an individual Can range from

mild influence to more severe oppression, where a demon influences someone's

thoughts, behaviors, or emotions.

It's a part of spiritual warfare.

It requires prayer and discernment and spiritual authority to overcome.

And believers can experience degrees of demonic oppression, but through

faith and spiritual intervention, they can resist and overcome it.

Amen.

All right, so then just get, let's just define a little more clearly what

we mean by deliverance, because what we mean is more than just the casting out

of demons when we're using this word.

So the process through God's power by which a person is set free from the

influence or oppression of demonic forces.

It's a form of spiritual healing that it can involve prayer, confession,

and the exercise of spiritual authority to break the hold that

these forces have on a person's life.

So it's not just about a one time dramatic event, but part of an

ongoing journey, it can be part of an ongoing, can be a one time.

You know, dramatic event.

Some of you, have, you know, have seen that in action, that kind of, situation.

But it can be part of also an ongoing journey of spiritual growth where

people experience freedom from fear, freedom from addiction, from

destructive behaviours, emotional or psychological burdens that are caused.

They have a demonic, origin to them.

So deliverance is a holistic process that involves both spiritual

intervention and practical stir.

steps towards healing and wholeness.

So I just want to say at this point, right, and I touched

on this, my first

message in this series, we can tend towards one of two extremes when we're

dealing with this, this particular topic.

We've got the bury your head in the sand.

Yep, this, this, la la la.

This, this isn't, this isn't a thing.

I'm just not going to think about it.

I'm just not going to pay any attention to it.

Thank you very much.

Or we go, swing to the other end and everything's a demon.

And that's so convenient, isn't it?

You can blame all your bad behavior on a demon.

No, sometimes it's just you my friends and your disobedience to the Lord and as much

as it would be so nice to say it was a demon's fault, it's actually you just need

to pray, repent and get before the Lord.

And this is why community in this is so important, discernment is really,

really important because as much as we can go to either extremes,

there is a reality in this too.

We can come under the influence in varying degrees.

of intensity of evil and demonic forces.

And so what are the different ways demonic forces can manifest in our lives?

Again, you know, just, just have a degree of wisdom.

Okay.

When we, when we say these things, so deception is a key way that Demonic

forces, operate, leading, leading individuals to believe lies about God, or

identity in Christ is a big one, false beliefs, heretical teaching, that kind

of thing.

Temptation

is another way that demonic forces work in our lives, influence

behaviour, accusation and condemnation.

This is a great one.

Demonic forces.

It's one that we, you know, that the average Christian

will often come up against.

Accusation and condemnation.

Demonic forces working by accusing and condemning believers, trying

to undermine their confidence in God's grace and God's forgiveness.

So this comes through as persistent feelings of guilt and

of shame and of unworthiness.

Oppression is the next one.

So it can oppress people by exerting pressure on their

minds, emotions or bodies.

This can include feelings of fear, anxiety, depression, hopelessness.

Now, you know, when I say say these things right, what we gotta

be, what are we gotta be aware of?

You can have feelings of intense fear, anxiety and depression that can have a

demonic origin, but you can have these feelings that doesn't, that don't as well.

Not every sad or bad feeling that you have you can, can you attribute to a demon?

Okay, this is, this is This is again, discernment, discernment in this space.

Influence on behaviour, so demonic forces can influence a person's

thoughts, decisions and actions, leading them to engage in destructive

or self sabotaging behaviour.

So things like addictions, uncontrollable anger, or other behaviours that

harm relationships and the wellbeing

of people.

Physical manifestations, Convulsions,

strange physical phenomena

like superhan strength.

I know some people have seen that

firsthand.

This is often

associated with Bible describes as more of like that possession kind of

understanding of being demonized.

A real severe demonic

influence.

Where the,

where the, where the demonic has so much position they are controlling

a person's, really controlling a person's paper and giving them

abilities beyond their natural ability.

We're good?

All right, great.

Spiritual

blockages.

Demons can

create spiritual blockages that prevent individuals from experiencing the

fullness of God's presence and power.

And this might manifest in inability to pray, worship, read scripture, you

know, I've heard multiple testimonies of that, people just unable to read the

word until they've actually had a moment of deliverance through prayer where

whatever this thing has that has been harassing them, They have been delivered

from that and suddenly they're like, Oh my gosh, I can actually come before

my word.

Now that

being said, you might be struggling with reading your Bible, and that

could just be because you're lazy and you just need to apply yourself again.

All right.

So,

excuse me.

Alright, and finally disturbances in sleep or mental

clarity.

Yeah, this

is a fairly common one.

Sleep disturbances, nightmares, mental fog, making it hard for a person to

find peace or maintain a clarity of

thought.

So, we had an

interesting conversation this week, and this

came up, through an

email that someone sent, but also Thursday mornings Adam has a pastor's prayer

here with a nber of different

pastors and leaders in this

area and I was just

asking the question around, you know, what do you guys all believe about deliverance?

But it came up this

topic of, can an object

be

demonized?

Yeah?

So Adam had

some fun conversations with his past friends.

Are we okay?

Good, fantastic.

Just to go back before I talk about that subject matter real

quick, is that remember the enemy that we have is threefold, right?

There's the, there's the flesh, the world, the demonic, the, the, the satanic.

Does it make sense?

So understand, as Dale talks about these, Phil Baker wrote a great

book, Weird Christians I Have Met.

Does anyone remember that book?

And the chapter outline was like, each chapter was like a

caricature of an extreme position.

And the one that's funny is the guy called Demonic Dave, where everything is a demon.

You know, and Pentecostal Pamela, and Prosperity Pete, and End Time

Ed, you know, all these guys.

And, and so the, But the call here is to, in the midst of highlighting

this dynamic, is also to remember that the approach is not just always this

demon is at the background of this.

Does that

make sense?

So just so

you know, pastorally, when I'm approaching a

pastoral matter, we don't jp to that

conclusion straight away.

I actually approach pastoral response in relationship to like mind, body, spirit.

So we talk about actually, what are you believing?

What is your space in your, do you need to renew your mind to the way God

thinks, like a mental conversation?

Do you need to confess sin?

There's things that happen in the emotions and in the mind

that need to be addressed first.

And then body is more like obedience dynamics, you know, so do you

actually need to make some decisions about how you're going to behave?

You actually need to stop doing these particular types of activities.

And people can find complete and utter freedom and breakthrough

just by doing either one of those first two, but sometimes not.

And so therefore, we go into this spiritual dimension.

So the question at hand is, can an

object be, possessed

by a satanic force?

And the answer, my friends, is yes and no.

It's great, isn't it?

It's great.

Are you clear now?

This is the problem with this particular arena of conversation,

is that there is confusion.

When I say yes, any object you can give a foothold, right, in your life, okay?

So I have seen where someone has been unaware they have had an object

in their house that has been not something that doesn't honour God.

And so in that object, I've seen it, they were unaware, I pointed

it out, we should take that away.

Praise the Lord, they were like, yep, cool, let's get rid of it, got rid of

it, and suddenly there was a little bit of a shift in the atmosphere of

their home.

One funny

story was one lady was trying to sell her house, we got rid of this thing and the

house sold the next five minutes later.

I was, it was, it was quite silly.

But the answer is also, No, in the sense that if you're aware that you

have something, the brain gives, like for instance, like the superstition,

the Asian cultures have a lot of this dynamic in relationship to holding on

to a belief that this object has power.

Right?

So, but it's the belief of that object.

Does that make sense?

And so sometimes you've got to, yes, remove an object, because

yes, but also because you actually have created that in your internal

thinking, which needs to be broken.

And so the wonderful question is, is if you've got an object and you

are reluctant to let go of it, or reluctant to remove it, then there's

a good question to ask, right?

Why?

You should.

No, I can't.

Well, it's actually got a hold on your life.

More importantly, the demonic force has got a hold on your life.

Does that make sense?

Very good.

So the answer is yes and no.

Fantastic.

Well done.

Thank you.

Yeah, I mean

there's a reason I think, you know, second commandment, you

shall have no graven images, right?

We are so prone to wanting to empower the created things, right, and

worship them rather than our creator.

And God knows this.

So he puts it as the second commandment.

You shall have no graven image.

You'll have no object that you are going to subscribe power and

worth to, looking to,

to be some kind of savior in your world.

It is your relationship with me.

And you can't make a idol of a relationship, can you?

Because.

It's

intangible.

Alright.

I want to give you now the four main models for deliverance.

Alright, this is a little bit of a teachy kind of thing.

But I just found this incredibly helpful in understanding how

different people approach this topic.

How they engage in the ministry of

deliverance.

And so different

faith

t , oft hold

to one of these four, I'll say from the get go, there is

wisdom in each of these four.

We're not going to get to the end of the go, and this is the

right one that you all must

adhere to.

Each has

its strengths and each has some pretty significant

weaknesses, as well if

you make that particular model the whole thing.

And so the gospel model, I mean, that's an interesting one there.

These

are your, your branches

of

the church, that you

would call cessationists.

So that believe that the gifts of the spirit are no longer needed.

It ended with the apostles.

And so the belief here is the gospel model

is that, Christians

cannot actually be demonized, that the answer, the, the, The deliverance

that everybody needs is the gospel.

And once you have been saved, once you've heard the gospel, responded

to the gospel, professed faith in Jesus for your salvation, professed

him as Lord, you are delivered.

And then the demonic then can no longer have any foothold in your life.

So the Gospel is the answer.

So the argent here is

that the Holy Spirit and the demonic spirit can't occupy the same space,

can't occupy the same person.

Once the Holy Spirit sets up shop inside a person, then there

can be no, the demonic

can't occupy that same space.

But nowhere in the epistles do you see, this is an interesting point that they

make, nowhere in Like the letters after the gospels, do you see any commands

or instructions to cast out a demon?

Cause the actual casting out of demons we only see happening in the

gospels.

So that is

an interesting observation here with the

gospel model.

So therefore

you just preach and apply the gospel and look to the spirit for growth

in righteousness and you resist any other temptation just by standing on

the word.

All right, so that's the gospel model.

Then we got the power encounter model.

This is probably the one we're more traditionally kind of

associate with deliverance.

So this is where there is a direct confrontation between demonic

force and the authority of Jesus.

So in this model deliverance happens when believers Using the name and the power

of Jesus they command demons to leave or stop influencing a person's life The

emphasis is on spiritual authority and warfare where the goal is to bring freedom

by casting out breaking the power of an evil spirit So it involves, you know,

commanding a demon to manifest itself.

It's really it really engages the demonic which is the I'm not a massive fan.

I think this has its place sometimes, but it really requires engaging

demonic forces, binding them

in the name of Jesus, getting information from them, what's your

name, what's your ground, the ground you're standing on, your place of

attachment.

So breaking

bonds, cancelling ground by confessing of sin and casting

out.

So, Yeah, so,

often this can manifest in very dramatic ways.

This is why I'm not a massive fan of this because it often

leaves a poor person quite

traatised.

And I don't

think it's actually necessary for a person to experience deliverance for

it to be, this.

you know, very, dynamic, you know,

often it's

very shouty.

Some reason

people, Christians can sometimes think the demonic are deaf.

So I've got to actually like yell at them.

And really what that is, that's just a posture of trying to stir up

your own authority really, isn't it?

And because if you're truly grounded in the authority of Christ and you

know, he has defeated every evil force, you don't need to get shouty.

They're

not deaf.

You know,

this

a brings up the topic of

corporate deliverance.

Some of you might have seen that

happen where in a, say

in a space like this, somebody will get up to deliver an entire group

of people from a specific daemon.

Not to say that there can't be deliverance experience in those spaces, but again

I, Our approach would not advise that.

Don't think it's very pastorally caring for people in that space.

Can be

quite traatic.

Again,

not just for somebody who might be delivered in that moment, but for those

watching on, particularly

with the nature of certain, the sin that might be required

to be renounced in that space.

And so if a person is confessing some

deeply traatic sin,

and it's like, you just don't know what that's going to trigger for

those around, it just seems very

Wild West.

Very cowboy,

just, just, yeah.

We didn't see Jesus

modeling, that kind

of

approach.

But again,

I do think there are times where the demonic power has such a hold on

somebody and they are such a danger to themselves and others that this

direct encounter could actually be what

is needed.

Still means

you can still go in that gracious, authority of Jesus and not, you

know, pull out your six shooters and start firing all over

the place.

All right.

Then there's the truth encounter model.

Now as a teacher, this is naturally the one that I am going to

lean into.

So, the Truth

Encounter Model believes that, you know, Christians can fall prey to deception.

They can yield control to

demonic forces.

So the truth

that Christians are rescued out of dominion of darkness into the

kingdom of Christ, and all sin has been forgiven at the cross.

It actually cancels all demonic rights over a believer, but we can still yield

through disobedience, through unbelief,

through, sin.

submitting

to false teaching, we can

still yield, to the influence

of the demonic.

But overall, all demonic rites have been cancelled over us

through the work of the cross.

Amen.

So in this model, deliverance isn't primarily about casting out demons, but

it's about exposing deceptive beliefs or thoughts that give evil forces access.

So the core idea is demonic influence often takes hold through lies.

And the way to break that power is by embracing and living out God's truth.

It's the renewing of the mind.

Be transformed by coming before

the truth.

It, so this

model involves helping people identify areas of their lives where they've

believed lies about themselves, about God, around the world, about

the world around them, and guiding them to understanding and acceptance.

in those areas.

So it's a much more of a discipleship focus, yeah?

So, it's about bringing people into alignment with

the truth.

That they

continue then walking in alignment with that truth.

So

in this, model of

deliverance, it involves talking with the person and not demonic forces.

You're not paying them any

attention at all.

It's helping

the Christian personalise the truth of their identity in Christ

and overcoming the deceptions that they've fallen prey to.

So it involves confession and forgiveness,

renouncing, beliefs or

unholy behaviours, attachments, those kind of thing, and then

a recommitment, a rededication

to Jesus.

And then

finally there's the deep healing model.

So this is a very therapeutic approach, and this is dealing really

with things like, where there's

deep, traa, unresolved

pain, harmful patterns that are creating a vulnerability to demonic forces

there.

So, this is a

really holistic

approach and this would

probably be, you know, quite in line, you know, with what we do here on

a Wednesday with prayer ministry is probably this you know, more deep

healing model where it's that real space to explore where are the deep wounds

that perhaps demonic forces have got

permission, deep traas in your

life, deep patterns of sinful behavior that have come through

your family that are strongholds in

your life.

And so it

is, it is, it is takes time, but it's gentle

and it's,

And it's a space for that deep healing to take place.

Alright, so there are

the four, key models

there.

Adam just wants to add something.

Are you

enjoying this, combination

approach here to the seat this

morning?

So, having that

list still up there, can you

see that, There's a

tendency for someone to experience breakthrough in one of those

four things, and what happens?

Welcome to

being a han.

We think

this is the ultimate truth of this ministry.

And see what the body does?

The body of Christ, globally, will attach themselves to one of

those four things as their primary thought around deliverance ministry.

And guess what that creates in the body of Christ?

Division.

And so, let me say to you, our Red Door family, do not let this conversation

become a divisive conversation.

Do you hear me?

This is the playing into the enemy's schemes.

What's his scheme?

Division.

See what I'm saying?

Like, it's sort of self evident

in a way.

Where did

my notes go?

Oh, okay.

Cool.

Don't put deliverance ministry in the middle.

Put the ministry of Jesus in the middle.

Does that make sense?

It's a part of this, but it's not in the middle.

And the

reason why hans put it

in the middle is because when you see a breakthrough in somebody,

man, it's awesome, right?

You know, this must be it.

We've found the secret.

And then suddenly we put it in the middle and it actually shouldn't be there.

Jesus, the ministry of Jesus should be in

the middle.

And just

one little thought on spending 16 hours trying to get information from a

demonic Like something on the inside of someone is a waste of time because why?

They serve the master of lies, right?

And so this requires discernment Because it can be very confusing And

so we need discernment to know how to handle this and walk through it with

with love and grace in Jesus name

beautiful one picture

I'll just give you which it might be helpful to understand

perhaps.

Cause I think

it's a good point the gospel model brings up.

Is that, well can a person who has the Holy Spirit, how can God's presence and

evil forces dwell in the same space?

Well, you know, go read the Book of Job.

Apparently they can.

Cause, you know, the Satan, you know, goes and has a chat

with God.

But I think

one helpful picture is actually the picture of

the temple.

So if you

picture the, the, the temple, you've got the Holy of Holies, right?

Now nothing can reside in the Holy of Holies except the presence of God.

Yeah?

You, if you're a believer in Jesus, are now that temple, right?

However, in the outer courts of the temple, and we saw the Israelites

doing this, all other manner of

things can be, gathered

in the outer courts.

And as that, if that's a picture of our life, you can, all sorts

of weird and wonderful idols that are occupying your thinking,

your understanding, your worship.

You know, Adam talked about objects, right?

One of his first things he did when he came to Christ, he threw

out a truckload of objects.

What were those objects?

They were CDs, right?

It was music that did not honour God.

Now, was there any inherent power in the actual object?

No, no, no.

But these were, these were things that were cluttering his temple, that

were not bringing glory to God, yeah?

And that, cause, a source of demonic access into his life, if he was

to continue feeding on this stuff.

And I think, I don't know, I have, I found that a helpful way of framing,

maybe forming a mental image of how demonic forces can gain access.

Even this morning, I'm sitting in my, sitting in my little prayer space at

home, and I'm going, you know what, there's a very big difference, right?

I can, I, if, if, if a demon was to come and occupy residence in our house,

Now, he would be exerting quite a significant degree of influence in the

culture of our home, wouldn't he, right?

We go, okay, well, hopefully I've got enough smarts to not

be allowing that to happen.

But even if there was a demon that was running around the outside of my

house, banging on the windows, right?

He can't come in.

But gee, he's an almighty just intimidating distraction.

Yeah?

And so, not even, so, that's where the more harassment kind of form of demonic

influence can come, is like banging on the windows of your house, the house

that is your inner world, your mind, your heart, and bringing harassing thoughts

and accusations and condemnations.

That just derail you, or

unsettle you, and perhaps

some of you can resonate with that.

You go, oh yeah, we can take influence, we can take authority over these things.

We don't just have to sit there and go, oh, you know.

We stand up, and the authority we have in Jesus, and we take authority over

those things.

In prayer,

and if we're not sure how, we say, hey.

Come see us.

You know, I've got this stuff going on.

It's really harassing the living daylights out of me.

Can you help me?

Yes, of course, we can absolutely help you.

All right, so I will say this, if you're

here and some of this stuff is like, oh gosh, I feel like perhaps

there is a really strong source of demonic influence in my life.

There's like addictive patterns.

You are really in.

you're stuck in.

There's, there's condemning thoughts that just seem to have

to be demonically animated.

We all have negative thoughts, right?

Yeah.

And we all can, can fall prey to our own unhelpful self talk, but

sometimes there are those thoughts that are just demonically animated

and they are just so vicious and

accusing.

And again, like, just come and talk to us and let us pray with you.

And perhaps prayer ministry might be something helpful

for you.

You know

what, I do need, I probably do need to touch on this too.

You know, we live in a age and an era and a space that is, you

know, ever heightening awareness of issues around mental health.

The church does a horrible job of dealing with the realities of mental health

when we just make it all about demons.

And we just, cause some poor person is presenting with

some mental health challenge.

And we go, well we just need to cast the demons out of you.

Just don't do that, okay?

It's not helpful.

You know, it

might be, but it might

not be either.

And if you're not actually qualified to diagnose, just don't diagnose.

You know, how

about that?

How about

just pray for the person, with the person and allow the Lord to be their deliverer?

Not you.

And if you're not sure, just, you know, encourage them to, you know,

come and talk to the leadership of the church here, or to actually go see

somebody, who actually

has some qualifications in that space.

Because we can really, we can do real damage when we just go, Oh, it's a demon.

And you just, you know, just go all Wild West on the person.

It can be, so we've got to walk with such careful discernment in this space.

And as we bring this to a close, I want to touch on this.

All right.

The message of the cross, and this all must come back to Jesus.

We don't engage in deliverance because we need to scratch

and itch for the spectacular.

Yeah?

We gotta be really careful of that.

The message of the cross is the message of our deliverance.

And it is the message of Passover.

And I wanna say this, what is the message of Passover?

Jesus is the Passover lamb.

That's what he demonstrated when he went to the cross.

What is the message of Passover?

The story of Passover, the original Passover, was deliverance.

Yeah, we make the cross often all about atonement.

What do I mean by that?

My sins are forgiven?

Well, I'll go on off and do whatever I like.

Right?

Because my sins are forgiven, praise the Lord, and I've got my ticket to heaven.

Okay.

Yes, your sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ that was shed on

the cross, and He was your perfect sacrifice, covering your sin, past,

present, future, now, and forevermore.

But He was the Passover Lamb.

Which means he is the one that through his act of death and

resurrection, he is your deliverer.

He is the one that rescues you from evil, from darkness, and brings

you into his kingdom of light.

The Israelites, they weren't just rescued out of Egypt, were they?

They were rescued into the promised land.

Same for us.

We're not just rescued out of something.

We're not just delivered out of.

We are delivered into.

We are delivered into a life of faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

That's our promised land.

Yeah?

Our promised land isn't just this holding pattern until we go die and

be with Jesus in the sweet by and by.

It's horrible theology right there.

We are delivered into the promised land now that we would walk in faithfulness

to Jesus now, so we pursue deliverance for ourselves and one another.

We pursue freedom from demonic forces for ourselves and one another so

that we can walk in faithfulness to Jesus in the here and now.

He is not a therapist.

And sometimes that's what we turn him into.

He's just here to be therapy for people.

He's just here so they can go to therapist Jesus and then live their

best life now for their own sake and their own freedom and their own glory.

No.

It is all about living faithfully to Jesus, so that we can be

conduit for heaven to come on earth in the here and now.

We can participate in the mission of Christ now.

So we pursue deliverance and rescue for people, so that they can

join in with the work of Christ.

Yes, so they can be free, right?

That matters to God.

He is a compassionate good father.

We're not just his slaves, right?

He cares about us in our places of bondage.

It breaks his heart that we would be enslaved to demonic and evil forces.

He deeply desires our freedom, but then we are called to something so much more.

We are delivered from, we are delivered in to faithfulness to Jesus.

And that's the end game here.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

All right.

Team, how

about you come on up?

Let's

speak Jesus.

Yeah.

Yeah,

and one final thing I will say as the team gets

prepared,

for me personally, my greatest moments of deliverance has actually come from

just living a confessional lifestyle.

Are you practicing confession?

Because you know that is Spiritual Warfare 101.

Yeah, if you're just living a confessional life where you have

people around you when you can say, Man, I am, you know, I did this the

other day.

And you can

confess your sin one to another, that you would be forgiven.

healed.

Yeah.

Sometimes we want, we pursue things like prayer ministry.

We pursue things like, you know, more, I guess, dynamic forms of

deliverance because we just, we want the McDonald's drive thru version.

You know, we just, we want the bit that doesn't actually cost

us that it doesn't cost us the lifestyle of obedience to Jesus.

It doesn't cost us being deeply, profoundly vulnerable on the regular with

those around us as we confess our stu sometimes seemingly stupid sins, right?

That we can be so ashamed of.

that stops us confessing those sins, is you could have deliverance, but if

you have, your mind's not being renewed and you're not learning how to walk

in faithfulness to Jesus, you're just going to open up those doorways again.

So this is why discipleship has to be so central around this topic

as well.

So are you

practicing confession?

Because yeah, as much as we can talk about these wonderful aspects of spiritual

warfare, the real profound work is done in the simple, faithful acts of things

like confessing our sins one to another.

Amen.

Alright, church, how about you stand and let us worship.