Evicting the Enemy: Taking Authority and Cleansing your House

You want to always be begging for God for a miracle. You don't want to look like victory.

You want to keep getting your butt kicked by Satan. Don't pay attention to what I'm going to say.

But I've made a decision. As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.

And it's a decision I've made for this church as well.

You're not going to get your butts kicked. You're not going to be half-stepping with the Lord,

doing the hoki-poki, one foot in, one foot out.

You're going to be a shining example of his goodness and grace.

You're going to be a trophy to the goodness of the Lord.

Welcome to the City Light Church podcast.

Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com.

That's citylightnyc.com.

Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds.

As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God,

that you are surrounded by his grace, and that he has a real hope and a future for you.

Well, let's begin this morning in John chapter 11, verse 43.

John 11:43

This is that the resurrection of Lazarus. Many of you have read this account already.

Where Jesus is friend Lazarus, he was sick.

It's a real funny passage because Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus,

hey, the one who you love, Lazarus is sick, and then it says he loved him so much,

he stayed an extra two days. Isn't that funny? I mean, I'm not going to preach on that because

it's a whole message in itself, but Jesus loved Lazarus so much that he took his time getting to him.

He took him so long he died.

I mean, you think it would say if he loved him so much, he doubled time back to Lazarus,

but he didn't. He stayed an extra two days.

Whole separate message, but it just shows you that God is never late. He's always on time,

and sometimes you think certain things are happening, and from God's side, it's like,

Lord, if I were you and you were me, I would come and have helped you already,

but God knows exactly what he's doing, amen.

So here's Jesus, God in the flesh, he's standing over Lazarus's tomb,

and he cries with a lot of voice, Lazarus come forth, and he who had died

came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.

This is how they buried him, and it was a type of mummification.

This is a picture of coming to Jesus. This is a picture of the new birth being born again.

This is a picture of you and me when we became Christians. A resurrection happened.

We went from darkness to light. We were made new. We got new life. We were raised from the dead.

However, when we were raised from the dead, we weren't already fully sanctified. Notice that

Lazarus didn't come out wearing a crisp clean tuxedo, but he came out with the grave clothes on him,

and he was all bound. I mean, this was a gruesome sight, and Jesus had to say,

lose him and let him go. So Lazarus comes forth, but it's like Revenge of the Mummy, you know.

And that's a picture of every single one of us when we come to the Lord. We still have a lot of baggage,

a lot of stuff, and what has to happen is we have to open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit,

to lose us, to release us, to get the grave clothes off of us. Listen, God's desire, his will,

is for every single one of his children to be living and walking in victory,

to be living and walking in the peace of God, to not have the baggage of yesterday year,

the hooks, the demonic hooks of the past still in you, weighing you down, pulling you back.

It was for freedom that he has set you free. Amen. But there is a process, and really that's

what church is about. Church is about your spiritual formation, making disciples that happens

in the context of community, and it's you learning and getting the tools from the Word of God,

and how to live this life of victory. I'm greedy for the things of God. I don't want to get to heaven,

and then see, oh, I only received half of what Jesus paid a very expensive price for me to have.

I want it all, like that old lady song, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now,

everything, and it's okay to be greedy for the things of the Lord. Amen.

Yet there are Christians 10 years into their relationship with the Lord still hobbling about.

They smell like mummy. You don't want the breath of the crypt keeper.

You want that? The divine fragrance of the freshness. So how do we get there?

Let's look at Romans 12, verse 2. I want you to understand, man, I'm telling you right now,

Romans 12:2

the enemy does not want me preaching this message, and I distinctly heard from the Lord to

preach this message. Pastor Monos, because he got the sermon title either on Monday or Tuesday,

because there are times where I don't know, I'm been waiting on the Lord all week and I don't know

till Saturday night. Those are not fun weeks. I like these. One of the messages has been cooking

in the oven for a week, you know? But there are times where if you ever go on YouTube and there's

a generic title, pray for me that Saturday night. Yeah, you're having fun that Saturday and I'm

literally rolling around. I'm at office floor. God, I need a word from you. God speak to me,

because what I won't ever do is just pull out a random sermon and go, this will do.

And you'll know it right away. I've never done it. I'd rather get up here and then just make the

whole service worship than me just preach any old thing. It has to be the now word of the Lord.

It has to be fresh bread from heaven. It has to be something that you need. And this specifically came

to me and I haven't preached along these lines in too long, frankly. Here's the bibles,

recipe, prescription, I should say, for how to actually experience life transformation. We can

all agree. There's two kinds of Christians both are heaven bound. Just one is experiencing a whole

lot of hell while on earth and the other one is experiencing heaven on earth. But there's two kinds

of Christians. There's the Christian that's actually filled with joy, walking in victory,

receiving answers to their prayers, is helping other. Their cup is overflowing. And then,

unfortunately, there's also the Christian that's beat up and bruised, smells like the grave still,

still looks like a mummy and is just hobbling about. And for whatever reason,

just hasn't utilized the keys. Maybe they never got them. The Bible says,

my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. They haven't gotten the keys. They haven't learned

yet how to actually live the victorious life. So a key here, a biblical prescription,

is do not be conformed to this world. That means you don't allow the world to shape you,

you actually exert pressure and you shape the world. Man, we really strayed from that one

in the last 15, 20 years. But that too is another sermon for another time. But be transformed

by the renewing of your mind. So transformation happens by the renewing of your mind. That's one

key. It's not the only key, but it is a major key. Transformed by the renewing of your mind,

that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So in that journey of

resurrection, still with a grave close to actually living, enjoy, and in freedom, and in victory,

there has to be a renewing of the mind. There has to be a mental transformation. That's where the

battle is in your mind. And you see this exact same picture with the children of Israel, the biblical

Israel. Amen. The biblical Israel. Hallelujah. The Israel of the Bible. Amen. And see when you follow

the Holy Spirit, you can preach about all the isms one week, feminism, and racism, and Zionism,

and the next Sunday you're preaching against taking authority over Satan. Amen.

Exodus 16 verses two through three. This is also a picture of salvation. The children of Israel

coming out of Egypt. That's a picture of our salvation. But what you see in the children of

Israel time and time again is that they came out of Egypt, but Egypt never came out of them.

And so they just continued in this new life, but walking according to what they had learned.

Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the

wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord

in the land of Egypt. I mean, this is like days after they witnessed the mighty power of God.

They saw the red sea split open. They saw the enemies consumed. They were liberated from slavery.

But here they are whining and complaining. Many of them wishing death upon themselves, suicidal why?

They got out of Egypt. Egypt represents the world. Egypt represents Satan. They came out of that,

but it still had its hooks in them. When we sat by the pots of meat and we ate bread to the full,

for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill us, this whole assembly with hunger.

Oye, they. Chapter 32 verses one through five.

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered

together to Aaron and said to him, come, make us gods that shall go before us.

For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has

become of him. Yeah, he's up in the mountain talking face to face with God. He's up in the mountain

getting the commandments. He's in the glory of God. He wasn't really up there that long.

But very quickly, they got antsy. And what do they do? They did exactly what they used to do in

Egypt. In fact, the golden calf that they built was one of the Egyptian gods.

Come, make us gods that shall go before us for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the

land of Egypt. We do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, break off the golden

earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters and bring them to me.

They're going to have a good old smelting party. Verse 3. So all the people broke off the golden

earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. Like, how is this happening? So quickly.

Because they got out of Egypt, but Egypt never got out of them. Listen, it's up to you. How do you

want to live this life? It really is. Nobody can come here and live this life for you. I just made a

decision. I want to see how far God can take me. I see in the scriptures he is so good. And when

he gives, he gives in an overflowing manner. So Lord, let's see, what can you do to a completely

surrendered and yielded life? What can you do? And he can do so much. Blow your mind, make you

want to pinch yourself, you'll think you're dreaming. So all the people broke off the golden earrings

which were in the ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and he

fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molded calf. Then they said, this is your God,

O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar

before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast of the Lord.

Verse 6. I'm in the punch line. You know, I have, I have 25, sorry, 32 verses 25 and 26.

Sorry for that confusion. I'm sure you were terrified when you heard me waiting for a scripture.

I repent to that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for whatever emotions ran through your body right then.

I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I love, I can't even see his back. I love you. Gentleness with the media

team. I love you. Everything's okay. It's never your fault. It's mine. It's that. And when Moses saw

that the people were naked, this is the same party. They they melt down their jewelry. They make a

golden calf. Like, if you actually look at this, they go, what is going on? But it's so easy to judge

them in the scriptures. Yeah, we behave this exact same way. You know, you look at the disciples,

they're watching the miracles happen in real time. And then at the next day, they're in doubt

and I'm belief you go, how could they be this way? We're the same way. These things are our

examples. And it's an admonition to not be that way. And here they see the mighty miracle working

power of God. We've seen the same thing. They tasted of God. We've tasted of God. Yet a few

demonic lies, we let it go into our minds. We let them take a foothold. And then we're doing the

same exact thing. They saw the people were naked for Aaron and made them naked unto their shame

among their enemies. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's side?

Let him come unto me and all the sons of Levi gather themselves together unto him. So this,

you know, if the Bible were a book, I'm not going to say it'd be x-rated, but definitely NC 17.

You notice the Bible isn't squeamish and it paints vivid pictures. Yet somehow it's still

holy. I never had to shut the Bible and go, oh, wow, that's real. But they keep it real. God

keeps it real. And you say, wonder why they got naked? Oh, they got naked. They got naked because

they were given over the perversion and they were having an orgy. Yeah, it's kind of lustful.

How? How is it possible? How is it possible in a Christian's life? Because they got resurrected

and they still got the grave clothes on. They've come out of Egypt, but Egypt hasn't come out of

them. So there has to be a holy brainwashing. Now, if you're content to live as a Christian with

your demons, if you're content to be a Christian but still live under demonic oppression,

you want to always be begging for God for a miracle. You don't want to look like victory. You want

to keep getting your butt kicked by Satan. Don't pay attention to what I'm going to say.

But I've made a decision. As for me in my house, we're going to serve the Lord. And it's a

decision I've made for this church as well. You're not going to get your butts kicked. You're not

going to be half-stepping with the Lord doing the hoki-poki, one foot in, one foot out. You're going

to be a shining example of his goodness and grace. You're going to be a trophy to the goodness of

the Lord. And that trophy looks like victory. It looks like freedom. Amen. But there has to be

a renewing of the mind. And just PS, if you're doom-scrolling paganism. So what's, what do you mean,

paganism? Paganism. The world. Everything out there. That's paganism. If that's what you're

getting into your eye gate. If that's what you're getting into your ear gate. For hours of

day, you are being indoctrinated. You are being brainwashed. You said, I don't like to choose the word

brainwashed. You're already getting brainwashed. The algorithms are doing their job. They're brainwashing

you. You have to push back. You have to say, I will not be conformed to this world. There is a

reason why, by the way, now we have more therapists than ever before. We have more psychiatrists than

ever before. More psychoanalysts than ever before. And also, we have more people in depression than

ever before. More people in anxiety than ever before. More people battling suicidal thoughts than

ever before. There is something about the world that we live in because it's now not just trickling

in the paganism, the worldliness, the carnal thinking, the secularism. It's not just trickling

and it's being pumped in by the gallon. And Christians can just let their guard down and just

consume it. And then wonder why they don't have the victory of the Lord in their life. You're

going to be transformed by the renewing of your mind and you won't be conformed to this world.

Come on, if you believe it and you want it, shout amen. Hallelujah.

So second Corinthians 10 verses three through five. Actually, let me pause there. Let me just pause

there. We won't do that one yet, not yet. Because when this message came to me, it came to me in the

form of a question and I knew I had to ask this question of you. And the question was, when was the

last time you took a stand? You actually took a stand against Satan. When was the last time you

actually commanded him and broke his power over your life, over your home, over your family?

And I just felt in my spirit that a disproportionate amount, I mean like 80%, which 80% of the people,

you have not taken a stand for your life verbally, not thought about it, not oh God help,

but verbally rose up in your God-given authority and said devil no more in Jesus name.

Because it makes all the difference in the world. You have been given authority over the devil.

And by the way, there is a devil. This is the Satan is not a metaphor for evil in the world.

Satan is not just like an old timey belief for just the negative things in the universe.

He actually is a person. God is a person. Satan is a person. He once was Lucifer. He tried to ascend,

pride was found within him. He said I will ascend and be higher than God. He was thrust down. A

third of heaven's angels rebelled along with Lucifer. They were thrust down and cast out of

heaven too. Those angels are now demons. Lucifer is now Satan and he hates you. You don't even

know how much he hates you. Do you know why he hates you so much by the way? Because you have his

old job. Jesus said you're the light of the world. I felt the anointing there. His name was Lucifer.

He used to be the light bearer. That's why immediately in the garden when he saw who God had created

and they were made in the similitude of God. They were made in the image of God and he saw that

holy ghost outshining from them. He knew I want to sabotage them right away. I hate them. I'm

envious of them. I want to destroy them. And by the way, he has no limits. If you've ever been

in the dark place, if you've ever had your home really attacked by Satan, you realize he doesn't

have any limits or boundaries. He's never destroying you and then all of a sudden feels bad and

goes, wow, I really, I did a number on them. I'm going to back off and let them catch your breather.

He has no limits. He will keep destroying and keep pushing until that Christian rises up in their

God-given authority and commit, yes, I said, come, come, come, man's him to stop. And there's people

right here. I'm not angry by the way. I got to preach in a certain way because there are spirits

right now that don't want me saying this. So if it seems like I'm aggressive, it's not at you.

I love you. I kiss you. I hug you. But there is a heavenly fury that must seize you because

he will not relent. He's not meek. He's not gentle.

So let me just pause in the direction I was going and then just talk to you about what Jesus has

given you after the cross because a lot of people, they're getting their butts kicked by Satan and

they don't even know they can do anything about it. I got an early lesson in this right as I was

getting saved. Thank God that the church, that the Lord first brought me to, they understood there

is a spirit realm. They understood that the devil is real. They understood that Jesus meant it

when he said Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. Then he said, I've come that you might have

life and that you would have it in abundance. But when I was getting saved, I was in that Burger King

across the street from the church. And the man bringing me to the Lord, he had me repeat after him.

And he said, say this, the blood of Jesus. I went to blood of Jesus. He said, say it again, but with

all your heart. Oh, no, the blood of Jesus. And then he said, say Satan, I renounce you in Jesus

name. And I said, Satan, I renounce you in Jesus name. And I felt like somebody just unplugged me

like, woo, like just a swirl in my head, but a good swirl, like one of relief. I'm 16 years old.

It was my first time sensing something like that, feeling the supernatural like that.

And I went, woo, I went to Burger King. Burger King napkins, all crushed all over for me, blown

my everything out. I've been crying. They're just listening to him. Tell me the gospel. And I open

my eyes and he goes, did you feel that? I'm like, yeah, he said, I just saw two evil spirits

fly off from your head. Now, if somebody says just says that to you, if somebody said that to me,

I would have said, you know what? I don't know if Bellevue is still open, but Bellevue mental

hospital is going strong in the early 90s. That's it. You've got to get to Bellevue.

But I sensed it. I felt you can lie to me. I felt stuff. Leave me. And I'm, it was like, I can

breathe and see for the first time. And he said I saw two evil spirits. So I believed him.

So I want to give you just three scriptures. And if you're having trouble in this area,

because no, if you're a Christian, you cannot be possessed by the devil. But you can be oppressed.

Possession is on the inside of your spirit. Your spirit is born again. Your spirit is filled with

the Holy Spirit. But there's a lot of Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit. But from the

outside in, the devil is harassing them, oppressing them. They feel heavy. They feel stuck.

They feel like just moving through life that they're pushing up against the concrete wall.

They're tormented with night terrors at night. Their flesh is out of control. They're doing

their engaged in sin that they don't even like. But they find themselves defiling themselves.

And they're going, I don't even know why I keep doing this. It's satanic bondage. And Jesus

has given you the keys. And Jesus has set you free. You got to walk through the door, though.

By the way, did you know that the anointing, when Jesus announces the anointing in 61, he said,

I've come to proclaim liberty to the captives. Not to set them free. But I've already set you free.

What are you doing? It's like coming up to a prison cell and prisoners are in there with a crusty

bread, you know, tin water cup. And the doors wide open. I've set you free. Walk through the door.

All right, Luke 10, 19, we're talking about why you have the authority to take control of your

life. Of course, submitted to God, but not allow Satan to mess with you. When was the last time

fathers? You took authority over the devil. Christians have one or two problems. One, they never

even take authority over the devil. And they just get buffeted for years on end. Or they learn

something like this. And then all they're doing is casting out demons and talking to the devil

all the time. And that's how you get a crazymatic, which is a crazy charismatic. And that's why

some Christians get weird and get goofy. And everything is, you know, they see a demon behind

every bush. Don't be that person. But also don't be the Christian who's just waiting for God to do

it. When God has already done it, you have to rise up in his authority now. Hallelujah.

Some of you need to pace your home and say, Satan, I forbid you. I forbid you in Jesus' name

to have any activity here. Consecrate your home. You have to do it. I can't do it for you.

You know why? Because you have authority over your life. You have way more authority over your

own life than I have over your life. You get the spiritual implications. Like every week I pray for

a city light, Lord, let your hand be a ponsent. We as a staff will oftentimes we plead the blood of

Jesus on the church. That's good. That's right for us to do. But it's a general sweeping kind of

carpet prayer. And that's good. But nowhere near as effective as when you, over your own life,

said, declare, Satan, I cancel your plans over my life. Because he has plans for you. And they're not

nice. But you can break them and you have to open up your mouth. I say that because a lot of people

do a whole lot of thinking. It's not real until you say it out loud. That's why Satan battles you

so much when you try to say it out loud. Oh, I'll sound crazy. Oh, I'll sound weird. Oh, just feels

off. Look at the biblical pattern. They didn't whisper. They didn't think thoughts. They spoke. You

received salvation by opening your mouth and speaking and saying, Jesus is Lord. Hallelujah. So here's

a foundational verse. Behold, I give you the authority. This is Jesus giving you authority. You

know what authority is delegated power. I haven't seen the old time the 80s meter maids.

Not the meat, but the traffic cops, not meter maids, but the traffic cops. Back in the 80s, it was lit.

They would have their walkman on and they would be dancing in the streets. This is back like New

York was so different. They're rollerbladers. It was like crazy in the streets. And then you'd have

the traffic cop. I'm not going to dance for you, but you know, they'd be doing like, huh?

Well, like dancing would headphones on. 120 pound woman stopping a Mac truck. How does that happen?

They see that white glove go up and the Mac truck has to grind to a hold. Why? Because she has

authority, which is delegated power. He's not stopping because Nancy put her hand up. He's

stopping because Nancy now in her role is a representative of the state and city of New York.

And when that white cloth glove goes up, I better stop because I don't want to ticket. You have been

given authority, which is delegated power. Jesus gave it to you to do what? To trample on

serpents. And there should be no Christian who's afraid of Satan. There should be no Christian

whoever gets night terrors. There should be no Christian who is afraid to claim their house for

the Lord, to claim their life for the Lord and to break Satan's power. Some of you are getting set

free. Some of you are hearing this for the first time and you're about to be loosed and let go.

Those mummy clothes stink. You're going to put on a nice crisp dress or a nice crisp tux, hallelujah.

Gender appropriate too. Amen. That's how delivered you're going to be. You're going to know the

difference no matter what culture tells you. Hallelujah. Behold, I give you the authority to trample

on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing, shout nothing.

Nothing shall by any means hurt you. Hallelujah.

You ever feel stuck? That's not oftentimes. I mean sometimes not everything is the devil.

I'll concede to that. Not everything is the devil, but he's behind a lot of things.

And you can get stuck in life and it feels like you're just on a treadmill or just you have no

the spark is gone. The hunger is gone. It's like the juice stopped flowing. The energy is gone.

There is a demonic agenda to keep you stuck. What do you do? You have to do something. You have

to open your mouth. You have to declare. And most of this happens obviously in the privacy of your

own home. Satan, I break your power in Jesus name. You foul spirits trying to slow me down.

I break your power in Jesus name. These are quick. This whole thing takes about 10 seconds or less.

You're not being invited to have debates with demons to engage in big conversations.

It's like talking to a dirty old mangy dog. Give the command, do it once and believe it took effect.

Amen. But some of you got to start speaking. This whole thing is being birthed out of some of you.

You're getting your butts kicked and it's unnecessary. You just need to take a stand.

Let's look at that next verse. Mark 16 and 17. Do you know that two thirds of Jesus' ministry

was healing the sick and casting out demons? You actually hear so little about demons, Satan.

I mean, in spirit-filled circles, you hear it often enough. But there's whole branches of

Christianity where they now believe Satan is just a metaphor for evil. Not really a being.

And these signs will follow those who believe. In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak

with new tongues. It's really crazy with Jesus. This is like one of his last sentences on earth before

he was caught back up. And he talks about healing the sick, casting out devils, speaking in the

Rima Stolara Precrefarama Shantara Rabanda. Tongs. Today, if they were to put Jesus's last words,

so many Christians would say, and Jesus, departing them, said, now remember, be really, really sweet,

and be really, really kind, and super, super extra tolerant, and above all, don't be judgmental,

because that's the greatest sin of all. Oh, he's so much supernatural stuff. Hallelujah. And it's

applicable today. Ephesians 119, I'm giving you this because when you begin to exercise your authority,

Satan's not going to just go, oh, wow, look at you. I'm terrified now. No, he's going to challenge you.

You say, how will he challenge me? In your mind, a question will arise. Hey, how do I get to do

this? Is this even right? I never heard what Pastor said on Sunday. Maybe he's off. Maybe he, I mean,

he will do anything to get you to stop. So you need to have scripture, because forget what I say,

but definitely don't forget what the scripture says. You need a biblical foundation. That's why I'm

giving this to you. So when Satan challenges you and causes questions to arise, all he wants to do

is get you to be squeamish, back down, and just take it. And he is terrified of the Christian who

actually arises in their God-given authority. So here is one of the chief passages that talk about

why you get to, why you get to take authority over the enemy. Where did this authority come from?

I gave you two scriptures in Luke, another one in Mark, third time to charm, because it led out of

the mouth of two or three witnesses, everything be established. Paul is praying for Christians that

they would know what is the exceeding greatness of his power, toward us who believe, according to

the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and

seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Hold on. So where is Jesus right now?

Seated in heavenly places, right? All right. Far above. All principality and power and might and

dominion. Now if you're new, you're like, all right, well, what is principality and power and might

and dominion? These are actually specific terms for demonic hierarchies, because they're not all

itty bitty passenger demons. There is a demonic hierarchy, and you see this again in Ephesians 6 when

he says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, spiritual

wickedness and high places. He's right now just establishing that Jesus isn't just above these

things, but as an added, he says far above. Jesus has been lifted up far above every demonic hierarchy.

Now question, and the answer is in Ephesians 2.6, where are you in all this?

Someone came so close, you're so far. I'm not going to pick on him.

Someone said next to Jesus, that's close, but it's even better than that. It's actually within him.

You are seated in Christ, in heavenly places. Are you catching this? Seems like you're but in the

physical, in the naturalism, 4401 Broadway, but in the spirit, you're seated within Christ.

You have to know this man, this has to be a reality in your life,

so that when you give the command to any evil spirit, it's not you shouting in desperation.

I've seen some Christians that haven't been taught, right? It actually looks, I say this with

love in my heart, but just like pathetic. Like, leave me alone. You are not crying out helplessly.

You are royalty. Jesus has made you so. Your sins are forgiven. You have been made righteous,

and then Jesus took you in. You're in the body of Christ, and you've been exalted. You've been

elevated. You're, even though your physical butt is at 4401 Broadway, in the spirit, you are

within Jesus on the very throne room, the very throne of God, so that when you give a command,

because now you, in Christ, you're far above all principality and power, might and dominion.

You're actually talking down to that thing.

When I go somebody's experiencing demonic oppression, I realize I'm talking down to this thing.

It must obey, because I'm in Christ, and he's given me authority, and I'm seated in heavenly places

in Christ, far above all might and dominion and principality and power, and every name that is

named, not only in this age, but in also in that which is to come, oh, it gets better watches,

and he put all things under his feet. So somebody here, you said, you know what, pastor,

this sounds nice, but I got saved last week, and I realize I'm in the body of Christ, but I feel

like I'm just like the little toe on the foot of the body of Christ. Well, even if you're the little

toe, you're still under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church.

That simply means he gave Jesus to be the head for the church's sake, which is his body,

the fullness of him, who fills all in all. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

All right, we got to get to second Corinthians. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Lord. You feel like your finances are just being squeezed?

When was the last time you out loud, and there's a key to that,

because Satan's not afraid of your naughty thoughts against him. Oh, you thought devil back off.

What was the last time out loud? Husbands, get in the habit of agreeing with your spouse.

You know how long it takes to agree 15 seconds. You're like, that's all I'll ever agree with them

about. 15 seconds. Good enough. It's a good start. You keep agreeing for those precious 15 seconds

that it'll get prolonged, and then be a couple of minutes, then you'll be just

lo and behold, walking in agreement as God intended with your spouse.

But you get together in out loud. Just learn to say Satan, I break your power in Jesus name.

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

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical. They're not natural. They're not carnal.

But mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, I'll just stop right there.

A stronghold. Can anybody tell me what a stronghold is? Like in biblical language,

or middle English language, or you know, you're like Lord of the Rings.

A fortress. That's a stronghold. A keep. A castle. A big house. A stone house.

A fortress, whatever. That's a stronghold. Paul is saying we have these weapons for the pulling

down of strongholds. What are strongholds? Because this is a key to how Satan operates in our lives.

Let's allow the Bible to define the Bible, because then it lists what a stronghold is in verse 5.

Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,

bringing every thought, shout thought, thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. So listen

now. A stronghold is a house or fortress made of thoughts. And there's different kind of strongholds.

Now you even have motivational speakers who will teach on this. They just take Jesus out.

And they won't use the term stronghold, but they'll talk about mindset, your mindset,

your mental position, your mental stance. There's a stronghold of poverty. See, when you were

four or five years old, you said, mommy, daddy, can I get that? And they said, no, we can't afford that.

And you went, oh, we can't afford that. And there was a brick called poverty. And the brick

went along with the thought we can't afford. And then you heard that about a couple of hundred more

times in one form or another. Now you got a couple of hundred bricks making that fortress.

Then you went to school, you came out, you struggled, and then you kept receiving these lies from

Satan. Each brick is a lie. It's a self-destructive thought. And then a stronghold is when you've amassed

enough bricks. Now you have this mindset, this fortress that's contrary to the truth of God,

built up in your mind. And that's how Satan operates. So what do you do? What can you do?

Well, there's only one thing that eradicates a lie. And that's the truth.

So when you're presented with a lie, the Holy Spirit will, as you walk with Him, He will alert you.

You then have to find the truth of God's word and speak that out loud to cause that brick to be

dismantled. And over time, and how long it takes is up to you and how aggressive you want to be with

this. But over time, you will dismantle it, brick by brick by brick until the whole fortress comes

crumbling down and you're completely free. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah.

There's people who have a stronghold of, I'm always going to struggle in life. And you know how

that starts? Satan whispers. You get the thought, life is hard. I'm always going to struggle in life.

It's not your thought. It's a demonic thought. You have your thoughts, but have you ever had

intrusive thoughts? It's kind of like a fiery dart being chucked into your cerebellum. Oh,

I'm always going to struggle. But you don't go to the truth of God, you go, yeah. And then a

thought comes with a memory. Yeah, I struggled when I was 12. I struggled when I was 50. And

internally, you say, yeah, I guess I will always struggle. Oh, now you just partnered with that lie.

See, even though you're saved, even though technically it's illegal for Satan to mess with you,

but when you partner with his lies, you now open the door, open a window and say, hey, come on in.

And then he does it again. You're struggling and goes, see, all you do is ever struggle. You go,

oh, yeah, all I do is ever struggle. And brick by brick, you now concoct the fortress made of

lies. And that's a stronghold. That's how the devil operates. You've got to receive the truth

of God's word. Hallelujah. Enemy tells me, oh, all I do is struggle. Well, the word of God says

that the way of a transgressor is hard and full of sorrow. But Jesus said, my yoke is easy.

And my burden is light. That's the truth. Hallelujah. Oh, the devil tries to get me to think like.

But the truth is that the Lord is my shepherd. I will not lack. He makes my cup to overflow. Hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And then I want to talk about one final thing, which I preached

on years ago, the Lord pushed me to preach on it. And I honestly thought this has no audience here

at City Light. And I preached on it. And then I was mobbed up to service by all the people saying,

thank you so much for talking about that. And that's actually about witchcraft and the occult,

because it makes no sense to know your authority in Christ and who you are in Christ. But meanwhile,

you've allowed Satan to come into your life because you have inroads into your life specifically

from witchcraft. And I know I had a background in that, but I didn't think so many people would

identify. But the reality is that the reality is that Satan has tried to destroy this country,

has tried to destroy Christian them in this country. And when you allow tens of millions of

pagans to come in with their paganism and false gods and new ages, it's going to affect

the climate and culture of a nation, amen. So when I was in sixth grade,

I had a spiritual hunger. Now remember I was raised as an agnostic atheist. You say,

which one we didn't know. We were so confused. My parents and I. But I had a hunger for the

supernatural. And in my class, there was a girl. And she let me know how her aunt was a witch.

And that intrigued me because I was so hungry for the supernatural. I knew there was more to this

world. Even though I had no Christian upbringing or training or discipleship, I knew there was more

to this world than the physical realm. And she said, my auntie is a witch. And she kind of intrigued

me. And then I went to the library and I got books on witchcraft. And there were spells there.

And some of the spells I would mimic. And then there was this, I was raising four stills

queens in the, in the mini mall. There was this new age store. I got a Ouija board. I got tarot

carts. I actually got multiple Ouija boards and multiple tarot carts. I was searching for something.

I remember one time I slept on that deck of tarot carts because she said my auntie,

who's a witch, said, you need to sleep on them for a week before you use them.

Wrap them in silk. I said, mom, do you have a silk scarf? Yeah. Can I borrow that?

And I would try to sleep on them. I will never forget. I tossed and I turned. And this isn't

the princess and the peak kind of thing like a little bump. It was underneath the mattress. I

remember tossing and turning and being sweaty from head to toe. I was, I was activating something

that was not right for me to activate. And that's the problem with witchcraft and sorcery and

any of these things. It's your going and touching on a realm that God has not given you dominion

over. At least definitely not to go there on your own. If you're going to go there, go like how

John did in the book of Revelation. The Lord took him up. Amen. He was wrapped in the spirit's

power. Hallelujah. And so then after I got saved, I had these blazing headaches that would come.

And it only happened like a few weeks after I got saved. And my parents didn't know yet

that I'd become a Christian. I couldn't tell them. I don't know what the consequences would be.

When my dad found out they were not good. But God is faithful and he had both of them come to the

Lord. But we lived on the 12th floor and I couldn't make the call. My dad was working from home

before it was cool to work from home in the 90s. I couldn't do it from within my home. So I went

down to the lobby and used the payphone. And the man that I that led me to the Lord, I said,

man, I'm getting all these blazing headaches. And thank God for the Holy Spirit and the gifts of

the Holy Spirit. Because most Christians, someone said I'm getting blazing headaches. They'd be like,

huh, have you tried IV hydration packets? Are you getting enough water? Maybe a good multivitamin.

I said, I'm getting these blazing headaches. And he went, mm, mm, mm, mm, is rustle. You know when

rustle starts, mm, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are working. Do you have some witchcraft stuff

in your house? When he said that, I went, oh, yeah, yeah, but I don't, I don't mess with it.

I don't, he said, you need to get that stuff out of your house. I still have the tarot cards,

the Ouija board and all that stuff. Let me read to you some scriptures. Why am I talking about this?

Because believe it or not, there's people right now here and you're trying to get the victory

and you have this, this garbage that's a portal to the demonic realm in your home. All right?

And you need to destroy it. Do not sell it and pass the demon to somebody else for profit.

All right, you got a Jade Buddha? Destroy it.

Go and shave it off and get a nice Jade Circle. You got a 22-carat Hindu God with 19 arms and

15 legs and well, you can melt that down, smelt that down. But destroy it, amen.

If you want to know a good smelter, I know a guy on 47th Street. It will smelt gold down.

It only charges a couple hundred dollars and give you, no, really, I know him and if you ever do,

no, it's time to cleanse some houses, amen. There's Christians, they're still open to astrology.

They still, the thing that psychics are cool, oh, I just read the horoscope. So Tihi, I want,

back in the day, remember 20 years ago, you get that stupid email, send us to 10 friends to get

good luck. I delete that right away. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You want the stuff as far away from you

as possible? Deuteronomy 18 versus 10 through 11. There shall not be found among you,

anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft,

or a suitsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or

a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead, for all do these, all that do these things

are an abomination to the Lord. So, you know, there's sin, there's iniquity, and then there's

this highest level of abomination. So, God is just letting you know that He's serious about this

stuff. You cannot play in the spirit realm when you're outside of God's will, you are going to get

hurt, and you need to cleanse your house, repent of anything you've done before. Oh, looking at me

like I'm preaching to the wrong people. There's 161 nations and queens. 50 nations represented

at City Light. That means we have some catching up to do. Amen. I want the other 111. Amen.

But when you have that, you're going to get a hodgepodge of weird pagan beliefs mixed in. My

own weird come from former Yugoslavia. My mother, when she got saved, she still, after she got saved,

she came out of Egypt. Egypt hadn't come out of her. She would still at work. When I was 17,

I visited her at work, and I never forget she's sitting there with her girlfriends for the lunch

break. They're smoking and drinking coffee. And just the funny memory, because that was normal

in the early 90s, you could just smoke in an office on lunch break. Today, they'd have like a five

alarm fire, the fireman would come and douse you out. And then she lifts up the cup of coffee,

what they would do is turn the Turkish coffee upside down and leave it for about 15-20 minutes.

And then as the coffee would coat the inside of the cup, it would create these weird images,

almost like hieroglyphics and just random patterns, but then they would use it to foretell the future.

I know some did it with surprising accuracy. By the way, demons don't know the future.

You don't want to know how that works? A demon says, I see your marriage is going to fall apart.

And then the person who believes that, now they partner with that and the marriage falls apart.

It didn't predict the future. It made that future happen when the person partnered with a lie.

For all who do these things are an abomination. We read that, didn't we?

All right, second chronicles, 33-6. I don't want to reread an Old Testament verse more times

than I have to. Because there's always that harshness, right? All who do, I mean, right?

There's a reason why in Pulp Fiction Quentin Tarantino had him read from the Old Testament,

not from you. Even though it's a made up verse. Well, I lost you on that one.

Also, if Sherman Doll was watching us right now, he's so happy.

Also, he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the Sun of Hinoam.

He practiced suits saying, use witchcraft and sorcery and consulted mediums and

spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.

Leviticus 1931, give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits. Do not seek after them to be

defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. Revelation 21-8. You're all good?

All right. This is great for Revelation 21-8. Because it's listing the characteristics of people

who are hellbound. And notice what it puts first, but the cowardly, the unbelieving,

then it lists some pretty heinous stuff, but just note for your own personal use

that we are cautioned to never be cowardly. Stuff I preached last week.

I feel like, you know, some pastor friends watched and they said, we're just going to get the

word out that you are not suicidal after preaching that. You have no suicidal thoughts whatsoever.

I want you to rise up. God will protect you. God will take care of you.

Honestly, I would rather die and be with the Lord than be a coward on earth.

Coward. One of those scrawny, small, on the inside. I'd rather just be at home with the

Lord than be one of those people. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable,

murderous, sexually moral sorcerers, idolaters, and I just want people to see. You might say,

why are you hammering this already? I get it because you have another conversations I've had

with some Christians. When they get that witchcrafted demonic occultic hook in them, it is very

hard for them to let go. Can I just keep my crystals? You know what I'm talking about.

I should have asked you to give a testimony. If anything comes up, just raise your hand.

Cassandra comes from that. When we first had dinner, the four of us, we bonded over some of that stuff.

No, because you're very rarely meet somebody. No, but not in that weird way. She was described,

but she was the only one who ever described something that I experienced, but she was way more

deep than me. I was in the realm of what you were called, what do they call that? Adabler.

She was eyebrow deep. I was knee deep. So honestly, people should come to you if they have any

questions. All right, let's just worship team come on up. Acts 19. Acts 19. I'll close with

Acts 19 verses 17 through 20. Remember, you have authority over Satan. Do it out loud.

Acts 19:17–20

I'm just going to bless you and your little guy, all right? I want you to stretch your hands

towards them. And this I'm doing just to teach so you can learn. Learn to command out of your

mouth. God has given you commanding power. Say this in the name of Jesus. We bless you in the name

of Jesus. You are free. Satan has no more authority. We break his power over your life. You will

serve the Lord. You will prosper in our God. You will show forth his victory from this day on

word. Everything changes. Be blessed. Amen. Amen. I felt that. Look at him. Come here, little man.

Come here. Look at how old is he? Right here. Uncle Bobo. Come here. Look at this guy.

How old is he? He's three, but the three, but he knows how to respond to the movement of the

Holy Spirit. Look at that. Can you see him? You got it. Hold on. Look at that countenance. Look at him.

Big jump. Come on. Let's close with Acts 19 because they just had an amazing crusade.

A bunch of people got saved. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus

and fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Now we leave this out

too many times in church, but they didn't leave it out. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks

dwelling in Ephesus. Come on, next verse. Many who had believed came confessing and telling their

deeds. Also many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and then they

put them on eBay to sell because they spent a lot of money. No. Together and burned them in the

sight of all and they counted up the value of them and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver.

It lists that specifically. I had a tarot card and Ouija board bonfire. I was 16 years old.

I got a friend who had led to the Lord. He was around 14, 13 or 14. He was actually my friend's

little brother, but he got saved as a brother, wouldn't. I said, I'm going to go burn this.

I said, can I come? Yeah. Back then, New York City didn't have the waste baskets. It does now

that are like a mesh. It had the 55 gallon drums and we put it in there. There was already some trash

in there. I'll never forget. We tossed the match in there and it started burning. We were like,

and then within 60 seconds, we'd turn around and it was a black thing of smoke. I just wanted to

risk a lot of fire. That's a little too much fire. But in the early 90s in New York, nobody called

the cops. Nobody showed up. But the reason why it says the cost specifically is to let you know,

don't think what you may be hoarding or holding onto is too valuable. If it's a portal to the

demonic realm, destroy it. Hallelujah. All right, let's all stand. You got to make a declaration

over your life. This doesn't take long, but you have to know who you are in Jesus and say it with

your whole chest. If you've never done this before, now's your chance. But say this in the name of

Jesus. I belong to the Lord. I am His. And He has given me authority. Satan. I break your power

in Jesus name. I cancel your plans over my life in Jesus name. The blood of Jesus on me,

on my home, and on my family. I am the Lord's. I am blessed. And I have victory. Now shout a big

hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Well, let's worship and honor the Lord with

our tides and offerings. The giving and for you can be seated. The giving information is on

the screens to my left and to my right. Just remember, we do have a full-time staff, a wonderful

elite Navy SEALs team. If you have more questions about this, if you need help, if you're looking,

if you're brand new and you heard something like this, you might feel absolutely overwhelmed and lost.

We're not just sending out, okay, you got some info deal with it. We are here for you. But how do I

get a hold of you? If you listen to past your mouth, see the beginning stages getting connected with

us. Connection card. Info at CityLightNYC.com. But we want to help you and lead you in the things

of God. Also the ministry team on my left, you're right, in that blue lit area. If something I said

resonated with you, go up for prayer. Go up for prayer and ministry team will lay hands on you and pray

with you and for you. But the great clothes are coming off. The musty mummy sense will be replaced.

And I pray right now that the Lord will multiply your giving back to you. If you need to go,

go. But if you can't stick around for a few more songs, because one of the greatest proactive ways

that really is real spiritual warfare is praise and worship. We'll see you next week. And

let's believe God for a mighty harvest of souls on Easter, two Sundays from now. Be blessed, CityLight.

Be blessed.

God loves you. And that you are surrounded by grace.