 Good morning to all of you Listen yesterday, I spoke it at Downey Calvary Chapel and had to do with the enemy So I want to just share with you that I'm not lazy. I'm not negligent. I Thought the message was was appropriate and it had to be transformed and changed I had something else, but I just felt it was such a matter of urgency There's military terms that are used here by Paul the Apostle spiritual warfare a spiritual war As a battlefield all these terms and euphemisms have to do with the military and Then I sat here and then I saw two CC emers here Hilton and Gale from Mono bello capo And they were there last last night and I fell embarrassed. I go you go probably gonna hear the same thing However, when Jeff came in here and start talking about PTSD He hit it right on the nail. That was a confirmation for me And then about the ministry you're going to be having pretty soon a spiritual warfare. That was another confirmation And so I believe with all my heart that God has honor for me to change the message I don't want to feel like a second-class speaker You know, I'm using some old manna for you and I don't think it is it is very important very timely Anyone who calls himself a Christian at one time of another you're gonna have to face the battlefield One time of another Satan is gonna come to you. You're nobody special The moment you become a Christian automatically by default you have become a target and The enemy is a foe foe Not Vietnamese soup foe Foe is an enemy an enemy has no neutrality The enemy has one objective to kill you and destroy your or maim you paralyze you Or keep you in suspended animation with your own stupidities That is the target and that is the aim of the enemy And he also adds also mental psychological Weapons they're called fiery darts those fiery darts are the the residual characteristics like shame and embarrassment Because there's something inside of you There's a it's a battle going on And I want to just share with you I want to read three scriptures to you because I want to make reference to them as I speak and So the first one is in Matthew chapter 13 verse 24 And then I'll take you to Acts chapter 5 And then I'll take you to Ephesians chapter 6 verses 11 12 and 13 Now it's been said that in order for one to understand real doctrine This this is a very simple rule. What is doctrine? Well, if it's mentioned in the gospels Is it practice in the book of Acts the first church? Is it mentioned in the epistles? What's it's talked about in the gospels is it mentioned or practice or brought about in the book of Acts and Is it mentioned in any of the epistles that that is a very simple rule is Doctrine and so here we find in Matthew chapter 13 an encounter as Jesus shares a parable and in this parable Don't feel bad if you don't understand it. You'll see that the disciples they go, huh, they didn't get it either verse 24 of Matthew Chapter 13 Another parable Jesus put forth to them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in this field But well man slept his enemy came and so tears among the weed and went his way But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop then the tears or weeds also appeared So the servants of the owner came and said to him, sir Did you not plant good seeds in your field? How then does it have tears and the master said an Enemy has done this the servant said to him Do you want us them to go and gather them up? But he said no less while you're gathering the tears you may uproot the wheat with them, you know accidentally Let them both grow together until the harvest at the end of the harvest I will say to the reapers first gathered together the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them But gather the wheat into my barn. So you may say wow trip out. I don't get it I know Don't you're not alone needed the disciples now notice verse 36 then Jesus sent the multitudes away and went inside the house what I see here is that Jesus sent the wannabes the looky loose These are the people they want to follow Jesus for different reasons They are followers of Jesus and then there are the disciples of Jesus. They're wannabe Christians They're the looky loose This insignificant people who really were not following Jesus. They're called the multitude and they left Now what Jesus ends up with are the real hardcore the OG's and they stand there These are the real people that want to change that they're inquiring. What was that the pair of because I'm tripping I don't get it and notice what happens He's they said explain to us the parable of the tears of the field in other words Bring it down a couple of clicks. We don't get it and he says everything here You don't have to have a commentary a theologian. This is any kid, you know under, you know over the age of six years old Understands it is very simple. So here's the breakdown what Jesus meant verse 37 He answered and said to them he who sows the word sows means planting he who sows the good seed is the who The son of man the field is the what? The seeds are the what the sons of the kingdom who are the tears the tears of the sons of who? So we got two different sons the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the wicked verse 39 He defines the enemy the enemy who saw them is who? the harvest is the wind and the Reapers are the angels and So he continued to explain very simple that the enemy Only wants to disrupt destroy and ravish the work of God now I for one you need to have this disclaimer Though Satan should never under any circumstance be given undue prominence It is important that the place giving to him in scripture be realized like today You know when you study the Bible We have bibliology you want to study Jesus Christ Christology you want to study the works of God theology you you want to learn about the doctor of salvation Astrology you want to know about the doctor of the Holy Spirit? Pneumonology and so you want to know the end times Asketology But do you know there's also another division of learning the Bible? It's called satanology Demonology Angiology, they're very important Paul the Apostle told the Corinthians in second Corinthians 211. He says don't let Satan take advantage of us For we are not ignorant of his devices Schemes evil plots or in a military parlance. It's called Stratagem a stratagem is when you trick the enemy to do something and then you pounce on them and that's how the enemy works Paul says very confident for we are not ignorant of his tactics We are not ignorant of his tactics Now when you say ignorant we have made that wording to something foolish man. You're ignorant No ignorant. It's not lacking Intelligence not being stupid Like let me ask you You will know this answer You what you think you know, but you don't know this answer Who is gonna who do you know who won the Super Bowl? Yes or no? You may wish Denver wins it Not my Super Bowl you can have it Ain't no fun. No fun. It's not it's not exciting nothing It's just be careful with the Budweiser. Just be wiser tomorrow That's it And so the enemy is a sworn enemy There's no neutrality Somebody who hates or seeks to harm somebody or something a person or a group especially a military force that fights another in combat or battle It's either him or you There's there's no decisiveness. He's there to kill you to destroy you Mame you or basically stabilize you. What's another stabilizing just unable for you to do any kind of fighting He can put you in a suspended animation. What is suspended animation? Well animation is when you move like a cartoon you move, but when you're suspended Guess what you're doing you're moving, but you're going Nowhere and that's the trick of the enemy to make you feel like you're occupied It's like a fly to the spider web Get caught and you move a lot the more you move the more the spider says move on Because the more you're in the net the more you're in the web site Go on that you're my dinner now and later on that spider goes after that fly has already Fought and they're weak and that's when the spider to the fly was then dead and you're gone and That is the essence of the enemy now go with me to axe chapter five and we'll read another verse Chapter five of the book of Acts I won't wait for you you catch up to me But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold the possession and he kept back part of the proceeds His wife also being aware of it and brought a certain part in later at the Apostles feet But Peter said Ananias why has Satan feel your heart to what? to lie to the who Well the Holy Spirit and keep that part of the price of the land for yourself Well, it remained wasn't it your own and after it was sold wasn't not your own control Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but you have lied to who to God then Ananias as a man's name Hearing this he's those words fell down and breathe his last So great fear came upon all those who heard this thing you better believe it Verse six and the young men arose and wrapped them up carried him and bury him Which is very usual today in Israel. You die the same day. They bury you. They don't have Mortuary homes you died for that day. They bury you and Then so Peter of verse 7 and it was about three hours later on when his wife came in not knowing what was happening and Peter answer her Tell me whether you sold the land for so much Look at her. She said yes for so much She was implicated on this scheme with her husband Then Peter said to her how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Look the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out to and boom Immediately she conked out and his feet and breathed her last and the young man came in and found her dead And carrying her burb buried with her by her husband So great fear came upon all the church and upon all those who heard these things it all started with ananias The question was this why have you allowed? Satan to fill your heart to lie So now mentioned the gospel mentioned the book of Acts now Let's see if this gospel if his doctrine go with me to Ephesians chapter 6 verse Chapter 6 verse 10 He says finally my brethren Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might whose whose strength whose might not yours It is God's Divine Celestial unique strength It's not muscle power. It's not gold gyms It's not that kind of bulkiness It's not brawniness has nothing to do with you being big and you're tall and you can hack and you can hang in Nothing to do with that Has everything to do with eternal strength It's a it's a fortitude that God gives you the strength During the times where you have to fight when you have to fight or when you have to fright God will give you The ability the endowment to say yes with with so much Courageousness when the things when everybody says no God will give you the ability to say yes God will also give you the strength to have that magical word No, and if you're polite you'll add that no, thank you Why? Because it's bad for you because it ruins my marriage because it ruins me it ruins my head it ruins my Relationship and you make that judicial reasoning not because you're smart not because you went to a two-year junior college Not because you went to Bible school It is all have to do with the endowment and the grace and the love and the goodness that God gives to you And that strength is needed today because men don't have that kind of strength anymore So Paul says I want you to be strengthened by the Lord's might verse 11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil or straight up chapter 4 chapter 13 Jesus is the devil Acts Peter as why has Satan filled your heart and here Paul says do not wrestle forgive me Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand Against the wiles of the devil now. I've have to be honest with you. I Read the Bible when I got saved there are so many English words that I didn't understand I said this time and time again, but it's worth mentioning again Because you may be a brand-new Christian and you look at the Bible you say man This very daunting and it scares me I don't understand if I'm gonna be able to understand this listen Not only would you be able to understand that it comprehend it But you'll hear the voice of God through God's word you will learn those words We have now apps now on your phone. You have not apps. They're good for you And you can go into the book of Daniel Daniel Webster's and Find out what is wiles the world wiles basically means craftiness cunningness Which means that Satan the devil he is sly slick and wicked He's cunning having read those scriptures. Let us pray father in the name of Jesus May you now take full control of our faculties Speak to the believer and the non-believer as well and anoint my lips my words my memory and of course Your living word speak to us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen now We saw in the parables We saw here that the essence of Satan is to destroy the work of God Satan is the author of sin in the world the devil tempts men to sin the devil Lays snares for men to get trapped the devil puts wicked purposes into the hearts of men According to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 Satan blinds the minds of the unbelieving world It is the work of Satan to blind the minds of men, especially Unbelievers so they cannot see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ But it equally in contrast It is the job of the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to enlighten you so that you may see the truth for what it is warfare Spiritual warfare. We are told you see What does it look like the Bible doesn't tell us what Satan looks like Images of Satan or the devil with horns and a pitchfork are inaccurate according to the Bible The devil's clear strict the most clever strict is to make men believe that he does not exist That's a strict. Ah, just a figment of evasion nation man. Don't worry about it There's no such thing as a devil if you're a Christian Jesus talked about it. He encountered him in Matthew chapter 4 you saw in the book of Acts that affected the church and you'll see later on some other things You'll see later on when Paul says that we not need to be ignorant Here's how he described his own agenda Paul the apostle when there was a lady who came upon him with devil oppression And finally he rebuked the devil and this is what Paul said He said all fool of deceit and you fraud you son of the devil you enemy of all righteousness Will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? Acts 1310 there he described them You're full of deceit. You're deceitful. You're fraudulent You're an enemy of all righteousness and you want to pervert and distort the gospel of Jesus Christ Now I'm not concerned about how the enemy looks like Now having gone to the Marine Corps in the height of Vietnam. I joined in 69 But I entered boot camp in January 1970 Well, I graduated from boot camp and then I graduated from from infantry school and then from infantry school we went to jungle survival because Everyone had Westpac orders. That's parlance in the military for West then Pacific theater It was no shows no movie. It was a theater. They call it. There's a campaign right now We have a theater in Afghanistan that Americans are still fighting are still being killed as we speak And so everyone had orders when I graduated everyone had orders Westpac. They were people. They were so disillusioned Oh, but but they gave me a promise that I'm gonna be stationed in Hawaii No, no, no, you're gonna strain to nom But I think told me I was gonna be stationed in Yuma, Arizona. No, no, Charlie. You're gonna go And you end up either in the Philippines you go to Japan, but eventually we end up in the bush And that's the separation took place And so when I was there in jungle survival I was part of the part of the the ongoing training extensive training because we were entering into a different dynamic of engagement We were now dealing with guerrilla warfare something that was not conventional And so having had the experiences from 66 67 68 69 we have now Cases where we studied them and as we study the cases we knew the enemy What were their names? What's the difference between NDA and vietcong? What was the difference about them? Well, what is their modus operandi? How do they operate? How do they look? We want to know what kind of weaponry they have We want to know what kind of movement do they do and so we needed to know everything about the enemy And this is what Paul says we are not ignorant which means that you're not informed If you as a Christian are not informed What are the enemy does and what he does and how he does it and then it could be very alarming Because you blame it everything on the pipe you blame everything in the way you brought up You blame it on your old lady. Forgive me your wife You blame it on your mom. You made me on your dad. You blame it on mama and you blame it on obama. It's stop You cannot do that We're engaged in a warfare And jesus told us that paul warns us about it There are things in our life that did they just hinders us He says put on the whole armor of god Why so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil For we wrestle not not against flesh and blood That's hand-to-hand combat. It's not wrestling. What you see today is phony wrestling This is called the greek or roman wrestling called grappling did I say that right grappling Is when someone already starts already grappling you and what they what they do in that sport is to To make sure they put you on a key and hold you down Until you tap out until you realize i can't move and lord really maybe you're pinky Maybe your hand maybe your palm when you do this and you tap out you tell homeboy get off of me man. I'm down That's what wrestling means Paul says for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood What does that mean flesh and blood means we're not dealing in the physical realm You see if you see me i see you And all of a sudden you throw a blow at me for no reason because you're i look like an enemy And you come at me i can see you and lord willing i'm fast enough to duck and move out of the way And lord willing i have control that i just run But if the hood comes out, you know, you come something come It's natural It's natural that happened somewhere to russia and our states on the platform and he came rushing at me And instead of saying oh my brother, what's wrong with you? I just i go whoa cool It's just came out And i said oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, so sorry man. Get him saved before you kick him out So a lot of us don't know the origin of satan. We don't know his personality character We don't know his agenda his target. We don't know his tactics. We don't even know his weapons We don't even know his nom de guerre, which means the names of war He has many names schemer liar the beast meant many names And first of all, how do we fight against him or do we fight? Here Paul says put on the whole armor of god, but you're not going to fight him He says just make sure you stand and keep standing notice this He says well, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood But against principalities Secondly against powers third against the rulers of the darkness of this age fourth against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore Because you're fighting something you cannot see Take up the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil days and having done everything to what? stand Because there's nothing more deceiving the seeing a christian in the physical world walking and standing But if you look at him in the spiritual entity He's an impotent man a powerless man Crippled by his own shame crippled by his own mental hygiene going awry By his own heart that is not burning with fire for jesus christ You are consumed with your guilt you are consumed with your shame You are paralyzed from the inside out and you feel like a second-class citizen And when you feel like a second-class citizen the joy comes out of you and joy is very important in our christian life Because joy is the strength of the lord You cannot not have joy I find this so quizzical and so Odd to meet christians and they look they're mad dogging. What up? Yeah, man I go to this church and yeah Dude, what are they? What are they serving there, dude? What having lemons what what what why are you why are you mad dogging? What is that posture? What's what's all what's all this and what's all that? That shouldn't be so I want you to look at something Well, first of all, let me tell you that the try the try headed act that comes in first, let me tell you about when I was in in infantry training in juggle training Vietnam got very personal to me My childhood friend bobby Next door neighbor literally He went in four months six months before I did he joined the army And before because we were getting drafted and so he wanted to be to the punch So he joined the army because his brother and uncle growing the army And so he went in the army Six months ahead of me five months ahead of me and during training. I found out that he had been kia And I asked permission to go to his funeral And they gave me granted permission to go get out of my trend to go to the funeral And I found out he died he stepped on out in a very in an IED back in those days because his guerrilla warfare He stepped on a booby trap And he was killed instantly When I saw I didn't see his body But when I saw the drama and I saw what they did to the mom my friend next door neighbor Vietnam was now part of me. It came close to my house very very close So imagine my mental state when I went back to my training When I'm back to my training, I believe I was the most highest recruit They're very attentive in knowing the enemy because now it was personal I wanted to know the nomenclature of every weapon. I want to find out what weapon they use I want to know what weapon are we going to be used and we fire every weapon available in those days in vietnam Every weapon available during the vietnam war. I was able to practice. I was able to hear it I was able to feel it. I was able to feed it so that we can engage in a warfare We also heard the weaponry that the enemy would use an ak-47 And Kalishnikov's rifle assaults and the kind of grenades and the kind of grenade launchers they have They have a different unique sound There's a capping goes on does explosion is different sound so you can get familiarized So when you enter in country when you go into the bush or when you pass the wire You need to know everything your enemy the movement and what they carry You need to know the enemy how they move and yet in the christian community We don't really understand the spiritual warfare and we blame it on our wives We blame it on our state of mind. We blame it on our past We blame in our teachers and our counselors and we put the blame game instead of saying it's not about them It's not about you is that you love jesus christ and because you desire to love jesus christ You're committed to jesus christ and you spend a breakfast and coming to learn about jesus christ guess who doesn't like that The enemy doesn't like that Because he's seek only to destroy and to maim and to hurt you and belittle you That's his agenda Now very interesting And this is this is where I wanted to share this with you Because I made a very enlightening discovery I've been to christians in 1975 But when you read the bible, you're always learning something new man You cannot say oh, yeah, I read that before it'll make sense to me. Look it I read first timothy second timothy titus those are pastoral epistles I read them like two times a month three times a month. I know pastors they read that passage Like every week To remind them of their position Remind them who they are as believers because pastors have a bigger target. It's called a high value target The moment some of you decide, you know what I'm going to get involved in ministry I'm going to represent I'm going to get down and dirty and be committed to the things of god You you think there's no bells and hell ringing in your name The moment they said what? Belon is going And he is getting involved in ministry the enemy says oh hell no And they're going to send some more minions not satan minions demonic Because listen when paul is writing to the Ephesians, he's writing to christians James talks about the same thing Humble yourself before the lord and let him exalt you flee from satan And let you be covered with the clothing of humility satan It's all reference to christians And we all come to that theological conclusion. Hey, I'm a i'm a christian greater to see that it's in me It's of the world. I can't get possessed by satan true Only those that are not christians are open season So if you hear as a non-believer first, let me tell you First if you hear as a non-christian, you don't know the lord jesus christ. Let me applaud you for being here You're a trip Because think about it because you're probably saying this to yourself What am I doing here? I know I wasn't born a christian when I went to the first christian environment I was tripping man Oh my gosh These are all alleluia Wow And the men are singing men are singing And some men will hold hands I had enough I had enough of the county twin towers. I had enough Of the military the last day I want to do is hold hands with guys But guess what? They're hippies man, and they got my hand Oh my god I'm not a christian man. This is getting this is getting a little freaky And then I said to myself oh homeboy don't don't lift up your hands. Whatever you're doing don't lift up. Oh, here we go I said, oh man Embarrassing man. I said whatever you do home. Don't do that kumbaya. Oh here we go. Oh It was trippy for me. I didn't understand what was going on, but the word of god came forth Then I knew I knew then That god was calling me I just knew it When they asked for the invitation There was a major hesitation because I had a lot of pride, but there was a major hesitation I'm trying to figure things out. Why and I don't want to go up there No way and the guy kept saying you need to come up I went my my thought and philosophy at the time I got nothing to lose and everything to gain So I went forward It's like that Boom me and two girls transformed by the power of god The ability to say no to the things that I would readily say yes to Then I noticed one thing. I didn't call it spiritual warfare. I just said this is a trip out moment It was a spiritual warfare because I noticed that after I became a Christian Everybody was giving me coke for free It's free. Why is it free last weekend when you were charging me? Why not free? Try some weed on the house. Why is it free? Everything was free on the house everything. I didn't I wasn't able to connect the dots I was still too stupefied to understand that but it was later on that I connected that that's ah But god had given me the inner strength for me to say those magical phrase No, thank you Why I don't know I I couldn't tell you well because the enlightenment and the transformation in my mind was just I couldn't tell you that All I said no And I said to myself. Oh my god, where'd that come from? Weed weed too. I was a toker midnight smoker weed was my buddy Weed and me we're tumbled together You can never take away my weed. Why god made it is from the earth. I'm green It's organic. I'm organic. We're both organic God made it. It's like pepper. It's like oregano same thing, but we smoke it My rationale I become a christian And I got my buddies there toky now usually I'll go for a yeah, man. I don't know where I didn't say no. I said it's a phrase. It's the greek word called charley. Charlie. I said no charley homes And they said why not in my answer? I don't know I don't know how's the fish I would drink every day By lingo jenny walker josec werbel. I don't care And there is a drink again. They asked me you want some I said, uh, no, thank you really are you okay? I think so. Why don't you want to drink? I don't know I didn't know It wasn't until later on that I realized i'm born again I've been transformed and modified by the word of god. It works it works now Let me tell you You look at across your bible in In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 26 and 27 Listen very carefully. This is what I came about It says in verse 26 Be angry and do not sin Do not let the sun go down on your anger or wrath verse 27 Nor give place to the who Okay, very interesting The word don't give place The word place in the greek Is topos sounds fancy But it's fell t o p o s It may not ring a bell yet But if I tell you that that word is an extract word the original origin of this english word that we had topography Now how many know here know what topography is? How many do not know what topography is? I love you don't care satan already got a hold of you topography Is a study of a landscape the area and the terrain topography In the classical greek not the coin greek But in the classical greek it is a military term It means a territory That you allow the enemy to take You have allowed the enemy to bibwak or to come and settle down in a territory For whatever reason And that enemy soon will become an insurgent Look at israel in the south you have hamas In the north you have hezbollah These are insurgents These are enemies that encamp in the south in the north of israel and they shoot Rockets left and right They're the enemy So israel does not want any part of those Topos in that area because they're areas where they stage and then they shoot Rockets from the north and from the south In the same way It is a military word that says I have allowed the enemy to take this territory When god warns the christians about the spiritual warfare satan slick He is highly sophisticated He's not going to get dressed up all ugly looking and scare you like linda blare in the movie exorcist He's going to come in camouflage He will come maybe Looks like a like a smoking pipe He will come looking like a fancy lady and guys listen You don't have it anymore some of you i'm being real There was a time where you look good And then if you know you're not that good looking anymore you don't attract you're not magnetic anymore But someone finds you and she's fine looking and you go wow you don't I still got it. You're wow I don't think so If you're a married man That's the devil with the blue dress on The devil camouflages his his ways Let me tell you the areas where we allow satan to take advantage We allowed him to take our topos our territory. We yieldfully said You can hang here. I know you're my enemy, but I'll keep an eye on you How can that be? Oh It could be lost It could be anger. It could be pride. It could be a blemish conscience It could be a myriad of things you stay here. This is my past by my past don't have nothing to do with me demons What they want to do is strategize How to make whatever weakness you have they want to take it to the advantage And take it to the ninth degree to bully you To mess with you to harass with you And here we are we always come out saying The magical first young one nine if we confess our sins He faithful and just to forgive us of all sin and to cleanse us from all our righteousness I've said that hundreds if not thousands of times since 1975 but yet We go back at it again And we're in this yo-yo complex. We go back and we feel miserable. We know it ain't right We know that you see Paul had the same dilemma. We're not alone Paul said there's a conflict at me the dilemma of man Romans chapter 7. He says I know how to do good. I know what to do, right? But there's something telling me inside of me like an enemy that causes me to do those things that are not right Right So when you know how to do right and get you're practicing what is wrong It brings a crushing dilemma of madness. I know I should say I'm sorry, but I say, you know, I say something else I know that I should humble myself, but I do something else He says those things that I should know in how to do. I don't practice that He says who can lift me of this wretchedness And he gives the answer only the Lord Jesus Christ So I believe that you're a Christian you love God. You're like Peter Peter loves God and yet Satan says Simon Simon Satan has asked you by name He wants to sift you as sweet But behold, I have prayed for you And after you come through the testing go and speak to your brothers and exhort him by that experience I mean if I was Peter I said what did I do to him? Why is this crazy guy wants to talk to me? Because you're now a child of the light And the enemy has come to destroy you to maim you to brutalize you And how Satan works he operates on pride or knowledge Anger or bitterness Self-pity or sorrow selfishness and greed lack of self-control. What does that mean unrestrained sensual appetite of the lower nature? I don't get it That means you're your horniness It's over the top and over the line. That's what it means Because I think say what is the what is the appetite of the lower nature? Well, we have an upper nature food oxygen water Lower nature. We don't need water Lower nature And the appetite Is supposed to be for your wife And the appetite goes up the things that satan prepares for you Because you have left that terry open you left that door open So instead of just saying lord forgive me. I confess my sin and and okay But what about this demons in your backyard? Oh, I gave him permission No, you see there has to be an admission Secondly, there has to be an acknowledgement Third, there has to be a confession Fourth thing that has to be a renouncing like Paul said in Saint Corinthians 4 2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame We have renounced There's denouncing, pronouns, announce, but he says we have renounced no more You say it loud We have renounced the hidden things of shame. So instead of just asking god lord, I acknowledge my sin I confess my sin. I I admit it, but I also renounce the hidden things of shame And then the last thing the volitional willingness to surrender the territory back to god What is it that you know you're playing with? What is it? What keeps you from walking through the lord straight up? What keeps you? You see I was perverted at the age of 11 years old I was damaged at the age of 11 years old From that moment on I enter into a world of perversion Until I was 24 years old I don't have to tell you what perversion is but it was deviance moral sexual And that's why it passed on to alcoholism because I couldn't shut the embarrassment the shame I couldn't tell my mother. I couldn't tell my my my my best friends I couldn't tell him anything. It was just a tormenting soul crying out from the inside and I blame everything my inadequacies I blame everything on that act my father deserting our family and I blame everybody and that's why I was renouncing just everything. I said lord, I take everything from me And I thought that was it No There's a battle going on every single day of your life A lot of you are going to go back home And then you're going to see chaos You're going to see confusion a little argument You're going to find something you're going to say, I mean, I just went to church, man. What what what happened here? Duh Put the light on that's what puncture was speaking about So don't freak don't blame your kids. Don't blame your wife. Don't blame your boss. Don't blame your mama or mama Look at it for what it is My wife and I don't argue on saturday night Not because we're so smart because we know they got that the satan wants to disable me on saturday So I don't have to teach on sunday mat dogging On wednesdays or wednesdays my wife and I we we're like friends. We know that when we argue we say, oh We understand every folk is start a fight, but it takes a wife's friend to stop one I said Sorry about that. No, I'm sorry. We are so polite And if you were to walk in there, wow, do you live like this every day? No, it's only on wednesdays and saturdays Why? Because we understand how the enemy works Our children make decisions that you go what? And we said lord jesus they're in your hand We brought them in the right way. They're in your hand because you know kids. They know more than you do Your own kids they you said the same to your parents. Oh shut up. You don't know And now your own kids are like, oh, you're old. There's a gap between us. You don't get it Okay, okay I've been around man. The dog the bitch was a puppy when it bit me. Hey, I've been around My daughter came up to you go. Hey dad. Have you ever heard this beatle song? I got all the Beatles on here, man. I mean that And so today I said close. Listen Now I get personal There's some of you here that are not believers And I have to Commend you for being here because you went to the breakfast and you're tripping out. That's the opportunity to get in your car leave But you did not You said, okay, I'll try it, you know And you feel weird because all these guys are singing and they look like thugs and They look like they've been in the joint for a long time and And you're saying but wait a minute. There's white people. There's there's brown people. There's black people You know, it's like what's happening. You see is that christ has changed our hearts We're no better than you the church is not an exclusive club. The church of jesus christ is inclusive It that means that anybody and everybody's welcome, but there's one prerequisite You got to be all jacked up If you got it together then god cannot help you If you got it wired And you got the answers for mortality if you got the answers for the future If you have the answers for hope and if you have the answers for contentment and happiness You don't god But if you don't have hope You don't have love You don't have embracement. You don't have salvation. You don't have forgiveness. You don't have assurance You don't have the love of god upon you. You don't have the consciousness of a friend named jesus in your heart Your loss And your open season So here's what i'm going to ask you I'm not going to ask you to come up here time is not on my side Right now the enemy is my time But if you hear right now And you're a non-believer In a moment i'm going to ask you if you would like to receive him and i'm asking you to stand up And you're going to say i won't stand up. I know you won't see but it's the heart of god It is the spirit of god coming upon you and he will convince you that you got to get up Because his word will come in you and and speak to you His words are louder than any probation officer Any general any police officer It speaks louder than any government speaker It speaks louder than your girlfriend speaks louder than your mama It is the word of god that convicts you and you say i gotta Do it that now The only thing the only thing they will prevent you preclude you from not accepting jesus christ It's an element characteristic that god hates and that is pride Don't let pride Again mess you up For once be like a little child and say i got nothing to lose everything to gain