The Devil is a Liar! | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

I like it.

I think um Mr.

Pastor Keith has a ring to it.

So um we're gonna stick with that.

You got that, Sean?

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Pastor Keith, I like it.

Um Church, it is so good to see every single one of you.

I'm so so glad um that you're here.

I'm excited for um today's message.

And today's a little bit different because we're gonna be a little bit shorter, at least that's the goal.

Um we'll see what happens.

Um, because at the end of today's message, we're gonna have our first family talk of 2024.

And if you're new to our church family or unfamiliar with what family talk is, it's basically a space where at the end of service we take a couple of moments just to provide church updates.

So it's a part of our service, but it's on the back end, and that's where we intentionally just kind of talk about things that are going on in the church the same way that we would with a family discussion, even if this isn't your church home, or even if this is your first time being here, this is a great Sunday to be here because we believe in full transparency.

Everyone is welcome, but we'll be sharing some updates on our financial standings as a church, and I think it's gonna be encouraging for us to hear what God is doing through our community.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay, I'm excited to jump into today's message.

So if you have your Bibles, um, would you join me in the Gospel of Luke chapter number eight?

The Gospel of Luke, chapter number eight.

Um, we're gonna be kicking off a new series starting today called Seeds.

Somebody say seeds.

And really, this is coming on the back end of our of our message last week, which was our fission Sunday, where we talked about who we are as a church, but also where we're going as a church and ultimately what our theme is, our focus for um this year.

And so what we walked away with is this statement of being rooted and rising.

That means being rooted in the things of God and rising up in what God has for us.

It's a year of harvest, and I believe that's true not only for our church collectively, but also for all of us individually.

And so we recognize that in order for there to be a harvest, there's work that has to be done.

And part of the work that needs to be done is taking a seed and making sure that you sow it on good ground.

And so over the next four weeks, we're gonna be unpacking the idea of the seed, specifically the seed of God's word, and how that's a catalyst that can transform every area of our lives.

Can I get a good amen to that?

All right.

Looking here at the Gospel of Luke, chapter number eight, we're gonna jump in at verse number four, and then we're gonna go down to twelve, and then we'll see where the Holy Spirit wants to take us.

So here's what it says it says, As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable, a sower went out to sow his seed.

As he sowed, some fell along the path, and it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.

Other seed fell on the rock, and when it grew up, it withered away since it lacked moisture.

Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it out.

Still, other seed fell on good ground, and when it grew up, it produced fruit a hundred times what was sown.

As he said this, he called out, Let anyone who has ears listen.

Then his disciples asked him, What does this parable mean?

He said, The secret of the kingdom of God has been given for you to know, but to the rest it is imperable, so that looking they may not see, or hearing they may not understand.

This is the meaning of the parable.

The seed is the word of God.

The seed along the path are those who have heard, and then the devil comes to take away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

The seed is the word of God.

The path are those who hear it, but the devil he knows what the word of God can do in our lives, so he comes to steal it before it can take root, so that we won't believe and be saved.

Today, I want to do something that I don't typically do, but today I want to talk to us about the devil.

I want to talk to us about our opposition that all of us face, whether we know it or not.

If you're taking notes, and I hope that you are, I want you to write down this message title in all caps.

If you're typing it, put it in bold, we'll put an exclamation point at the end of it.

The devil is a liar.

Let me say that again.

The devil is a liar.

Let me say that one more time.

The devil is a liar.

Let's pray and see what it is the Lord wants to speak to us today.

God, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for your presence and the opportunity um to simply um be in your presence amongst community.

I pray over the next few moments, God, that I decrease and that you increase in that Holy Spirit, you are welcome to inspire us, to challenge us, and to lead us into all truth.

Lord, I pray for open eyes and we can see you.

I pray for open ears and we can hear your truth and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Amen.

I I remember ever since I was uh a small boy, my my mother um telling me um over and over again that I had a calling on my life.

Now I realize that parents are meant to be encouraging, at least they should be.

Um, but my mom would always have these random moments when she would just come into my life, particularly if I was walling out in the streets, that she would say to me, Hey Keith, don't forget you you have a calling on her on your life.

And she didn't try to control me, she wasn't trying to manipulate, but she was letting me know that sometimes the behavior that I was acting out in was an effort to fit into a world that I wasn't supposed to fit in, I was supposed to stand out.

So she was saying, Hey, you're you're you're called, don't forget that.

And so I'm like, Okay, Mama, I hear you.

But it took me until my 20s before I realized that I truly did have something that God was stirring in my heart in the way that I saw the world, the way that I functioned, even before I was walking in fellowship with God.

So you can imagine my mother's excitement on one Sunday afternoon over 20 years ago when I when I called her and said, Mom, I'm tired of running.

She was filled with joy.

And from that moment, I she began to kind of share other things that God has spoken to her as it relates to me and what God was ultimately going to do in my life.

In addition to that, from the moment that I gave my life to Christ, I felt like something came alive on the inside of me.

The Holy Spirit immediately came alive on the inside of me.

Megan and I both, we got filled with the Holy Spirit and we and we jumped in.

Like I was living a world 100%, living a life 100% for the world.

But when I got saved, there was no in one world and out the other.

Like I did a 180 and I was in the deep end of the pool and I couldn't even swim.

But I was in.

Like I was in.

I was making every adjustment I could to live a life that was honoring to God.

There was no there was no duplicity in all of it.

And I remember going to varying conferences.

I remember going and sitting in front row in church services.

I remember situating myself around pastors and elders, and at different moments, even young in my faith, that people would say, Man, there's there's something in you.

And God's gonna use something, He's gonna use you to do something significant.

As I spent more years and and more time being discipled by varying leaders, they would all come to the same consensus that God has a calling on your life and He's gonna use you to lead a church one day.

And at the time, that seemed terrifying to me.

But nonetheless, I continue to trust God.

So that truth is something that I had known that was coming for 20 plus years, that God was ultimately leading me one day to lead a church.

So you can imagine my excitement when I when I was made aware and I got the phone call, and God said, Hey, I'm leading you to go and lead a community of people in Orlando.

This is a city that my family and I loved.

It seemed like it was a perfect fit.

And so I began to think about all of the different words that I had received leading up to that.

And in church language, we call that confirmation.

Anybody familiar with the concept of confirmation when you hear a word that somebody speaks to you, you open up your Bible and then you see a passage of scripture that seems to be speaking that very same thing.

You listen to a worship song, and that song is encouraging around the very same thing that you heard.

So sometimes we may call that a coincidence, but in the kingdom, there is no coincidence.

That's just God confirming and reaffirming and telling you over and over again that this is me speaking to you.

Get this in your heart because this is what I want you to do.

And so, what I knew that God was doing in us for the past few years was I need you to prepare now for what I'm gonna have you to do later.

God made it very clear to me that I need you to begin to prepare now for what's going to happen later.

Start writing your sermons now, start preparing the leadership development now, start doing the things now because when it happens, it's gonna happen quick, and you're gonna already have to be ready.

You can't get ready when it's time, you've got to already be ready.

So I began to orient my life over the past 10 years in preparation for the day that I would be stepping into this position.

So when we get here, man, it was amazing.

It was a community we were already familiar with, it was great.

And so for the first, I say four to five months, while we're still getting oriented to the city and to the community and even to the staff that we inherited, but man, we were doing what we felt called to do.

It was amazing.

The confirmations, the prophetic words, they were all coming together, it was brilliant.

And then this weird thing happened in 2020 called a pandemic.

And then the dreams and the aspirations and the ideas of what I thought it was going to be to lead a church went from being in person to these powerful gatherings of worship services and amazing community to now having to preach through a screen.

How do you pastor a new congregation that you don't even get a chance to see and touch?

How do you lead a staff that you're still getting to know when you're not even in proximity to them?

And so as I'm trying to figure out and talk to friends and people who have gone before me, I'm doing something I've never done in a context that no one's ever done it before.

So there's no answers.

There's no Google search for giving you any results.

You know, Google will give you something, it will just come back like, I don't know, you tell me.

Like you there was there was no insight on on how to lead in in this season.

So what I found that was beginning to happen on the inside of me, that there were moments when I began to question, man, did I really hear from God?

Because the fruit of it was I'm I'm in a space and and it's not looking the way that I thought it was going to look.

Am I?

Did I did I miss it?

Did I did was that me speaking out of my flesh?

Was that was that me just responding and reacting to something that I feel like I'm gifted to do, but maybe I wasn't called to do it?

Did I miss God?

Because every place that I had done ministry up until that point, it has been profoundly fruitful.

Everything that I touched was incredibly successful.

So now I'm in this space where I'm not able to see those same results, and it made me begin to question myself.

I found myself talking to my mom.

So my mom was my therapist before my therapist was my therapist.

So she was the place that I could go and just talk and process and do things with.

So I'm talking to her, kind of sharing a little bit of what I'm sharing with y'all.

Man, it's not feeling good, mom.

Like I just I feel like I may have missed it.

Like, I feel like when we were in Jacksonville, I hit my stride, and that was like I kind of peaked there.

When we went to DC, that was amazing too, and I would have been content with that.

But but this is not, this is not what I what I signed up for.

I'm not sure if this is what it is.

And so my mom kind of whispered, just real gently into the phone, the devil is a liar.

Now you have to understand that right now we're like, mmm, that's so spiritual.

But for me, I didn't even want to hear that.

Because like I needed a place where I can just vent and be frustrated and be human.

For me, for most people in my life, I'm that for them, where they can come to me and I try to redirect them and kind of give them some wise Yoda type counsel.

So when I when I went to my mom, I'm just like, let me be human, let me just be a regular person.

Mom, I'm not feeling it anymore.

I'm annoyed, everybody's getting on my nerves, I'm getting on everybody's nerves.

Maybe I need to reorient and do something different.

So this is me just talking to my mom, and my mom, she said, nah, the devil's a liar.

You ever have those people in your life that you like, I just want to vent, and they just gotta come in and speak scriptures and stuff.

Like, I don't want to hear all that right now.

But but that's but that's what my mom was doing.

So she said, the devil is a liar.

So I tried to keep talking as if she didn't, as if she didn't say it.

I was like, yeah, yeah, anyway.

So I kept talking.

I tried to talk over her, and she said, the devil is a liar.

She got a little bit louder, and so did I.

I'm like, yeah, mom.

So anyway, and I'm going to more and more, and then she says something that only a mother can do to get your attention.

She called my whole government name.

Not government, government.

My whole government name.

She said, Keith LeDaniel Pittman.

Only my mom can talk to me like that.

Only only Helen can get into the core of my being.

Keith LeDaniel Pittman.

She said, Have you forgotten all that God has shown you about where you're supposed to be?

The devil is a liar.

Have you forgotten those words of prophecy that have been spoken over your life, years leading you to this exact moment?

The devil is a liar.

Have you forgotten when you realize and you got this word that you're supposed to come here, the confirmation that God provided for you so that you can have peace even in difficult transition?

Have you forgotten the devil is a liar?

Something began to rise up on the inside of me because in that moment, I had already forgotten how the enemy operates.

And it can happen to all of us.

Those moments when things are going really well and you get hit with some challenges, and then just as much as you know that God is real, you can also think that He's not moving in this area of your life.

It may not be leading a church for you, but it may be launching a business.

Man, I'm launching this business, I feel like this is what I'm supposed to do.

I've launched it out as not being successful.

Maybe I've missed God, maybe I'm wrong, there's no growth opportunity, and then somehow we evolve into this place that I'm a failure.

If that doesn't quite hit you, then maybe I'll give you one that maybe all of us can relate to or hope to someday.

Man, I am so excited to be adding another family member to our family.

We have a precious little child, until you're at home with that child at three o'clock in the morning and you can't sleep, and that child is not letting you sleep, and you're beginning to get delirious, and you're like, what have I done?

I have a small human being that I am now responsible for.

I don't know what I'm doing, and now I'm at this place where I'm wondering if I made a mistake.

I said I do at the altar because everything was great leading up to that moment, but when I said I do, I didn't think that they would stop.

And now I say I don't, and now we won't, and maybe I've missed it.

We all have different spaces where we hear the truth of God's word that hits the reality where we currently are, and we begin to see how we feel.

We look at this context, and then we begin to think to ourselves, maybe I've missed God.

Maybe, maybe, and we won't say this out loud, but maybe God was wrong.

Maybe, maybe I was wrong about this thing.

But I'm here to encourage you the way that my mother encouraged me.

The devil is a liar.

It may be uncomfortable right now, but the devil is a liar.

You you may have not worked out the way that you thought it was going to work out, but the devil is a liar.

The Bible tells us in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, these are the words of Jesus speaking very pointed language to religious people that the enemy was using to resist him.

John 8 · chapter mention

You heard that right.

Religious people that the enemy was using to resist him.

It is possible to be in the church, but the church is not in you.

The Bible says this.

He says, You are of your father the devil.

That's harsh.

You want to carry out your father's desires.

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him.

When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies.

To paraphrase it, the devil is a liar.

What Jesus was helping to reinforce in this text was he's helping them to understand that we can lose sight of the truth of God's word and we end up reacting to the lies of the enemy, but the devil is a liar.

My friends, this is exactly what Jesus was speaking about in that parable.

That the word of God is generously being provided to all of us.

He wasn't selective in this person gets it and this person doesn't.

That God liberally distributes the word of God because he knows that the word of God is the catalyst that contains truth, that has the ability to transform our entire lives, that it and it has the blueprint on what it looks like to live a life that's honoring to him, that has impact in the kingdom, but also has influence in the world, that God's word gives it all to us, he makes it available for us.

But when we face opposition, when we face resistance, he speaks of an enemy that comes in to steal it before we believe it in that way that people cannot be saved.

That is the enemy's end goal.

It's not to make you have a bad day, it's not to upset you, it's not to make you frustrated, but it is to steal the very life-giving essence of the word of God so that you won't believe and be saved, so that you won't believe and be rescued, so that you won't believe and begin to actually see that God's promises are meant for you as well.

He wants to steal it from your heart so it doesn't produce fruit in your life.

So, what do we do with that?

I want to share three quick thoughts, or at least I hope there'll be quick thoughts, on the things that we need to do in response to the reality of the enemy that we're facing.

Do you guys want to hear these three thoughts that I think can help set us up?

Okay, y'all made me believe that, so I'm gonna give y'all the first one.

We'll see if y'all earn point two.

Okay, here's the first one right here.

Guard your heart.

Guard your heart.

The Bible speaks about the heart as being the core of a person's being.

It's considered to be the seat of our emotions, our desires, our will.

It's the place where our moral character exists.

This is the place where our beliefs are formed, our attitudes are expressed, and our actions and our decisions begin to spring out.

Proverbs chapter 4, 23 beautifully tells us guard your heart above all else.

Proverbs 4 · chapter mention

For it is the source of life.

Guard your heart.

It's important that you guard your heart, that you have to protect it the same way that you have maybe a ring at your home because you're watching over things that are coming into you.

He's like, I need you to have that same tenacity when it comes to your heart.

This underscores the heart's centrality to the spiritual life and our moral actions.

It's a beautiful place that the Bible tells us that when we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts, that we are now saved.

It's amazing how the heart has the ability to be the place where the presence of God can reside that allows us to give birth to purpose and calling.

But consequently, the heart is also the place where we can sometimes be the most vulnerable.

Our experiences can lead us to being offended.

We become defensive, disheartened, and sadly even calloused after enough disappointment, after enough frustration, after enough things that we've been exposed to, our heart can become hardened.

We see this expressed with Pharaoh in our Bible reading plan.

We went through Exodus and we saw how when even though God was doing these miracles, the Bible says, and Pharaoh hardened his heart.

He refused to respond to the beautiful power of God.

This idea that after exposure to enough disappointment, we can almost grow numb to it, and it can change the very way that we act and behave.

And it happened so subtly.

A couple weeks ago, I was I was given some information about an instance of something that someone did that that I kind of taken offense to.

And the way that I process things is I try not to overreact in my emotions.

So I I made some people aware of it, some elders, some trusted pastors, other people that I that I truly look at being a multitude of counselors that is able to provide wisdom to me.

Unanimously they all came back and said, Yes, this was a clear violation that you have right, this is an actionable event.

So as I was processing through this a little bit more, trying to make sense of it, God said, Man, I'm so grateful that you processed it with wise counsel, but you haven't talked to me about it.

And as I began to kind of pray begrudgingly, because I knew what God would say, but sometimes I don't want to hear what God was going to say.

He said, Keith, you need to get it out of your mind before it gets into your heart.

Because what can happen when we're dealing with frustration, disappointment, we process it, we think about it, we overthink about it, we analyze it, we look at it, we get other people to support it, and before long, that frustration that's in our mind begins to work its way into our heart.

And when it works its way into our heart, it begins to harden our hearts in the way that we see people.

It begins to become a generalization of how we may function around certain situations, and then we use that experience and we think that it's wisdom and saying, Hey, when this happens, this is what that means.

When it means that that's not the truth.

The fact of the matter is that was a unique circumstance, but when we generalize things, it can get into our hearts in such a way that we now become one of those people that look at those people as those people instead of saying that we're all flawed people.

Because it got into our hearts.

God challenged me with saying, get this thing out of your heart.

Because if you don't, it's going to begin to consume the way that you function and the way that you interact with others.

You'll be naturally distrustful.

You'll have up walls and you won't let people get in because you look at everyone through the grid of your pain.

I'm talking to somebody right now that you've experienced enough things and enough disappointment, and it's understanding.

And you certainly have a right to carry that.

And you need to process that maybe with with a with a counselor, maybe you need to process that with biblical guidance.

I'm not saying that we turn a blind eye to it, but what I'm saying is when we begin to allow it to conform us and to form our hearts, it can make us callous and then very anger towards other people, and that's not the will of God.

So, how do we guard our hearts?

We have to stay vigilant.

That means that we have to be self aware of the things that offend us and why they offend us, which is a question that we very rarely ask.

We're quick to respond to things, but very often, very rarely do we ask why am I responding this way?

Why does this bother me so much?

It's because a lot of times the offense that we're feeling is because it's making us feel that we don't have power, and that's connected to a wound.

That person didn't actually create, but they're gonna feel the full wrath of it.

So we need to actually get an understanding on why do I react this way when this happens, instead of me just reacting that way, we need to make sure that we're vigilant.

The Bible tells us this in 1 Peter chapter 5, 8.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

It says it's be sober-minded and be alert because your adversary, the devil, is like a prowling, roaring lion, looking for whom he can devour.

Here's what that means the enemy is looking for ways that he can get access to your heart.

And whether it's somebody cutting you off on a highway or your boss giving you work at the last minute, he's just trying to find your weak spot where he can gain access to your heart.

So we need to be aware of the things that are triggers for us so that we know how to appropriately draw boundaries around it to make sure that we don't go into areas that we know are unhealthy for us, but we don't grant access to things, parts of our lives that people don't deserve.

We need to pray for them.

No one says amen with that word.

Jesus says, Pray for them, that's rightfully you.

This is what the word says.

Jesus says, Lord, forgive them, they know not what they do while he was on the cross.

And I know what you're thinking, they know exactly what they don't, and that's why I'm responding a way that I do.

But Jesus understood that if I don't model for you how to forgive, even when the offense was intentional, it doesn't poison you or it doesn't poison them, it actually poisons you.

Pray for them.

God, I just pray a blessing on them.

I pray that whatever wound exists in their life that causes them to perpetuate wounds in the lives of other people, that you can heal them from that.

Because I refuse to be bound to the pain that God has allowed me to walk through, but is gonna give me victory over it.

Maybe I refuse to stay stuck in the past, and then we're gonna turn the page.

Here's the second thing.

We're gonna move quick.

Here's a second thing.

I think y'all earned point number two.

Point number two, wear your armor.

Guard your heart, but wear your armor.

Susan gets it.

Susan's excited about it.

She's excited about this part.

She was in our nine o'clock service and I was like, wear the armor.

She's like, yes! Armor, yes.

Okay, let me let me give y'all a really, really quick rundown of why this is so, so important.

I I wish, I wish I had the time to unpack this in depth.

Wait a minute, I did on our equip class on the armor of God, where we did part one, two, and three.

So I'm not gonna give you all the information.

You're gonna have to go and check out what I said in our equip class that is available on our YouTube channel if you like and subscribe.

Okay.

But let me let me give you the short version of it so that you can understand the reality of what it is that we're facing.

I was recently watching an interview with someone that's a Christian, and they said, hey, you know, I really don't believe in the devil.

I feel like people use it as an excuse to kind of like just kind of push off bad behavior.

I don't even think the devil is a real thing.

I think there's negativity in the world, I think that there's negative energy, I think there's bad stuff, but I don't believe that there is a devil.

To that I say, that's cool, but Jesus did.

Let me let me help us to understand really, really quick.

Y'all gotta buckle up.

I'm gonna already talk fast, I'm gonna talk even faster.

The Bible speaks specifically about these rebellions that took place in heaven.

Isaiah 14 talks about this, Ezekiel 28 talks about this specifically about this angel that had rebelled against God because he was anti-God, anti-kingdom, anti-the people of God.

This angel we often refer to as Satan, but that's not his name.

The Satan is actually just a noun that describes his responsibility, which is to be the opponent, to be the accuser, to resist, to be anti-all things.

The Bible speaks about the name as being Lucifer, this fallen angel that resisted and walked away from his heavenly abide because he himself wanted to become God.

He led a rebellion that then he took the form of a serpent, met Adam and Eve inside of the garden, made them question God's word, the very thing we're talking about right now, that then led them into a place of sin and brokenness, and we're dealing with the consequences of that.

When Jesus was beginning his earthly ministry, the Bible says that he went away for 40 days of prayer and fasting, and the opponent, the accuser, Lucifer, came and met him and tempted him to try to prevent him from walking in the fullness of what God had for his life.

But Jesus said, Get behind thee, Satan, and he was able to exercise his authority and dominion that that Adam had failed at in the garden.

So Jesus was redeeming all of the things that Adam had lost through his very behavior.

Are you with me so far?

So when Paul begins to talk to us about putting on the armor of God, he says, You don't wrestle against flesh and blood.

I know that you are seeing an enemy, and that enemy right now is the form of your boss.

I know that you are thinking about the opposition that you face, and you're thinking about the person that's connected to it.

But if we only understood that there is things happening in a spiritual realm that is beyond our eyes' view, Daniel chapter 10, I didn't even talk about this, but read Daniel chapter number 10 because it gives us a glimpse into spiritual warfare that's taken place.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

The Bible says that Daniel had prayed for 21 days, and then an angel had came to him and watch what he says to him.

He says, I heard your prayer and was sent to respond to it 21 days ago.

But the prince of the power of the airs met me to try to fight me and keep me from delivering God's word to you.

But then the angel the ark, then Michael the Archangel came and then shut him down, and now I'm here to let you know what God's word says.

If you only understood the power of your prayer and fasting, if you only understood that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, I know that you may think that your husband has lost his mind, but there is spiritual wickedness in high places that are trying to bring corruption and brokenness into your family.

And so that's why when no matter what strategy we use, if it does not incorporate the name in the blood of Jesus, it will never be successful.

So when you put on the whole armor of God, it's my way of recognizing that I can't fight this battle with my words, I can't fight this battle with my logic.

But thanks be to God that Jesus has fought the battle on my behalf, and the battle is not mine, it belongs to the Lord, and I am victorious in Christ Jesus.

Put on that armor, put on that armor, church.

I know that there's some things that we're facing, but put on that whole armor.

The third and final thing that I want to share.

The third and final thing I want to share is consider the source.

Consider the source.

That when you're when you're dealing with those negative thoughts, when you're dealing with those things that seem to speak contrary to the truth of God's word, consider the source.

One of the things that I despise most about writing my academic papers is having to do the reference page.

I hate it.

Like it's probably boring to the point of being unhealthy.

Like I despise it.

There are papers that I have not submitted right now because I haven't had the energy or desire to go and find the sources of everything that I've said, but now I understand it academically and it also carries weight spiritually.

Because they don't want to make sure that I'm just rambling and making stuff up.

So I have to cite my source.

The same can be said about us that when we begin to have these negative thoughts that speak to us and say that we're insufficient, cite the source.

Who who said who said that you were naked?

Who said that you would never accomplish anything?

Cite the source.

I believe that that in 1 John 4 it tells us, my beloved, make sure that you don't test, that you don't believe everything that said, that you have to test and try to make sure that it is actually coming from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

I want y'all to hear me.

Just because somebody says in Jesus' name doesn't mean that they're speaking for Jesus.

We we see this in God's word over and over again.

Do you remember that when Jesus, after he revealed himself to his disciples and they said, We believe that you are the Son of the living God, you know what he says?

He's like, Oh great, now that you guys understand who I am, here's what's gonna happen next.

I gotta go back to Jerusalem and then I gotta go and die on the cross.

What a what a what a stark revelation that after they've seen Jesus do these miracles, he then says to them, I gotta go to the cross and die.

Check out what Peter does.

Peter, who I can relate to in so many ways, when you actually look at the the Greek language and and and contextualize it in our way, Peter pulls Jesus to the side.

Like you ever like had somebody come and pull you to the side, like, hey man, I ain't gonna say this for everybody, but um put you out of it.

Peter goes up to Jesus and pulls him to the side, and the language says he begins to rebuke Jesus.

I don't know where these negative thoughts are coming from, Lord, but you will not go back to the cross.

That is not what's gonna happen.

And Jesus responds and looks at him and says, Get behind me, Satan.

Because you are speaking words of the flesh that are inconsistent with the word of God.

What I believe we have to recognize is that there are some people in our lives that very that very well have great intentions behind it, but they may give us some words that are inconsistent with God's word.

You mean you're not happy in your marriage?

Well, you know the Lord wants you to be happy, so you just go ahead and shut that marriage down because that's not what God wants for you.

The devil is a liar.

There are some things that I believe that we accept because the culture wants to normalize the lies of the enemy instead of us having this reality of saying, No, but God's word says this, and this is the standard by which I will live my life.

The devil is a liar.

There are some people in here that you've heard some things leading even into the beginning of the new year, and you honestly believe it, but I'm here to set you free and let you know the devil is a liar.

Here's some things that maybe you've heard you're never going to find the job that you know that you need.

The devil is a liar because God is your provider, according to four of Philippians 4:19.

Philippians 4:19

Maybe you've heard something like you're never going to recover from this divorce.

The devil is a liar because God is near the broken hearted Psalm 34, 18.

Maybe you've heard you're never going to experience true freedom.

The devil is a liar because whom the Son has set free is free indeed, according to John 8 36.

Maybe you've heard that you're too broken to ever be healed, but the devil is a liar because by his stripes you are healed.

Isaiah 53 5.

Maybe you've heard that your past will define your future, but the devil is a liar because those who are in Christ are a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5.17.

Maybe you've heard that you're alone in your struggles, but the devil is a liar because God's word says he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Hebrews 13 5.

Maybe you've heard that you're unworthy of love, but the devil is a liar because you are loved with an everlasting love.

Jeremiah 31 3.

Maybe you've heard that you're never gonna overcome this addiction and this bondage, but the devil is a liar because where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Second Corinthians 3 17.

Maybe you've heard that your dreams are impossible, but the devil is a liar because with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19, 26.

Maybe you've heard that your life doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but the devil is a liar.

You are God's masterpiece, created for good works.

Maybe you've heard that you've gone too far from God to return.

That the devil is a liar because the Lord is confessionist in a grace that's not the anger.

Maybe you've heard.

And we have an opportunity to invite the Holy Spirit in, to search our hearts, to expose every lie of the adversary, and to begin to expose it, evicted from our minds, evicted from our houses, evicted from our bank accounts, evicted from our marriages, evicted from our children, evicted from our very bodies.

But, devil, you are not welcome here.

You are a liar.

This temple belongs to God, and He's cleaning house right now.

You're no longer gonna be squatting on the inside of me because God is doing a new thing on the inside of me.

The devil is a liar, and who your son has set free is free indeed.

So we're gonna take a few moments and we're gonna go into a time of worship.

And in this moment, I just want you to fully engage.

Invite the Holy Spirit to do a deep forensic work on the inside of you to expose those lies that maybe you've heard since the time that you were a child.

I'm so grateful for a mother that spoke words of life over me, but I realize that may not be your reality.

But the thing I love is that we have a we have a savior who's closer than a brother.

And he was to repl he was to replace the lies of the enemy with the truth of God's word.

And worship is an invitation for the Spirit of God to move and do something significant in our lives.

With every hand lifted up, I want us to prepare for this.

Lord, I thank you for your presence.

I thank you for the truth of your word.

And the truth reveals to us that the devil is and always will be a liar.

So, Father, in this moment of worship, as we lean into your presence, I ask that your Holy Spirit does a deep work on the inside of us.

Reveal those lies that we still somehow believe, even those hidden ones, bring it to light so we can walk in the freedom of who you say that we are and what we can do.

In Jesus' name.

Let's worship the God of family.

Thanks again for listening.

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