Transcription
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] Whatever you heard in Word or melody today is the truth. Jesus Christ is alive. He's here and he's able and willing. So you may rest comfortably in his completed work and believe that he's only begun to work in your life and mine. And for that, we praise Him. [Applause]
You may have noticed that David is not on piano today. We, he's watching. He's had some medical procedures this week and he's home recuperating. So we say to you, and and we miss you, and hurry back. Until you do, we'll let Jason tickle the ivories for you.
I sometimes, when the Lord gives me a message, it resonates. I don't know how to explain this to you, but it's a deep thing. You feel it's deeper than many things. But this has gone down to the marrow of my bones and in my soul. And I just felt the Lord telling me in prayer that if you get what he's saying today, this could make the entire difference in your walk. This could do it if you just hear it and receive it. And I'm probably going to shock you, but I'm gonna preach. I'm casting out devils.
Well, what? No way. Hey, hey, now y'all already missed it because you're thinking about the time that Jesus promised, "In my name, they'll cast out devils." And you're remembering when the disciples could not cast out a devil, but Jesus could. And they said, "Why couldn't we?" And he said, "Well, this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting." And you're thinking, a lot of people are, "Well, I don't want to fast. I'm praying now, but I sure want to add fasting to this thing." Besides, I read in the book of Acts that some people tried to cast out a devil and the devil tore them to shreds. So, will you stay with me while I preach this morning? Will you let me do what God has given me to do?
Father, I ask you now to give us an understanding. Let us believe that when you died and rose again, you gave the church authority to live a victorious life. And if we are not living it, it is because we don't believe what you said. So I'm asking you to give me that divine ability that a human being needs to make the truth come alive. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Thank you for being seated. Smile at somebody on the way down. I'll just tell you up front, I was going to wait, but what you think I'm gonna preach is nothing like what the Lord gave me. Hope that's not a disappointment.
We still do not comprehend sin's evil. To show you the depravity of sin, the indescribable curse that it placed on the creation, the total devastation, the absolute destruction of the handiwork of God. To understand that, you have to look at what God did to rectify it, to destroy sin and be reconciled back to his creation. And what it took was nothing less than his own Son being sacrificed on a cross, stabbed with spears, beaten with whips until his bones were showing, having a crown of thorns pressed upon his head until the blood flowed down his cheeks, having his beard plucked, having people taunt him, having his Father turn his back on him. That's what it took to undo the power and the evil of sin. And we have such a shallow understanding.
He died on the cross to save me from my sins. Yes, he did. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. He died on the cross to destroy the works of Satan, not just to give me a desire to go to church and be a member and sing in the choir. He gave me the right and the authority to walk in his name. And in his name, by the infilling of his Spirit, the very devil that brought the curse on this earth now has to yield to me in the name of Jesus.
He didn't come to just deliver me from bad living. You know, drink and smoke and cuss and running around. I don't do that anymore. Oh, friend, that wasn't the real display of your sin. You have no idea how, how depraved you were before God. The drink and the smoke and the drugs and the running around, come on, you were dead in trespasses and sins. You had no life in you. You could not save yourself. You didn't even want to have. You didn't even have a desire to straighten up until the Holy Spirit shined the light on your path. So Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.
And because of the cross and an empty tomb, as I said to you weeks ago, there is now a new race of people. It's called the race of the redeemed. And this race of people, of which I am a part and so are you, we live differently than the world. We aspire to a holy life. There is something in the race of the redeemed that wants to be like our Savior. We crave purity of heart and character. We mourn because we slip and fall at times. We want my faith. We don't trust what we see. We only trust what we cannot see because the things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. That is the life of the redeemed of the Lord. We hunger to be obedient. We read his word. We see that he's told us how to live, what to do, how to speak, how to think. And we, we long for obedience.
And there's another characteristic of the race of the redeemed. It can only be read. And as I read it to you, you've read it so many times. Don't just ignore this. Listen carefully. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Many translations say he was not trying to hang on to being God, but he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has also highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The whole point of that passage is that our Savior and our icon, if you will, our model, was a humble servant. That is what the church lives by. We're always wanting the power of Jesus and we forget it was the humility of Jesus. That he said, "My name doesn't count. I'm not trying to stay in heaven. I will come to this earth. I will become a human being. I will let them misunderstand me and ultimately crucify me because I want my people to see that there's power in humility." The world will fight and defend itself, but not so in the church. We are to walk in humility and leave the vengeance up to God. We should not have on boxing gloves. We should drop our hands by our side and say, "The Lord will look after me. They may come against me, but my God will take care of me."
Now, I'm going to say some things, and I know it won't be understood by all. I've said it already twice today to two different groups. One of my favorite teacher, preacher, writers died and went to be with the Lord. But I learned from him that every time you stand in the pulpit, you are going to be misunderstood and you're going to be misquoted. He said, "Live with it." There are those of you who will think that I didn't say enough today, and there are those of you that will think I said way too much. So you have to live with it. But I want to tell you what is pounding in my heart. I, I wake up every morning thinking about not only Sunday, but Monday night, now prayer meeting, gathering in the name of Jesus. Powerful things are happening.
But I also want to say, at the expense of sounding like a wet blanket, just because we're making a lot of noise doesn't mean we're having a revival. Just because we're filling this building up doesn't mean that everyone is living right. It kind of reminds me of when Moses went up on the mountain and stayed with God forty days and received the tablets of the law. And when he and Joshua came down, there was this roar in the camp of Israel. And while he was up there, the people said, "We don't know if he's coming back or not. Aaron, why don't you make us a god so we can worship Him and remember that we've been delivered?" And so Aaron took all their earrings and he threw it in the fire and he fashioned a bull, a golden bull out of it. And the foolish people started dancing around that bull and said, "These are our gods, these are their gods that delivered us from evil." And the Bible says they sat down to eat and drink and then they rose up to play.
So Moses is coming down the mountain and Joshua said, "Well, that sounds like a fight, a war going on down there." And Moses said, "That's not the sound of war. That's the sound of people singing." And they were partying. And if you had not known any different, you would think that that big crowd jumping up and down and shouting and screaming were doing it to the glory of God. But they weren't. That was not a revival at all. It was a party going on. And because I'm the pastor of this church, I am given the responsibility to remind you that even though we're in a revival, and even though the is packed, and even though the noise is unbearable at times, and the joy seems to be at its highest level, we are still required to be a holy people of God. Are you? You cannot shout over your sins and your disobedience. I know it feels good to get into a big crowd and you feel the hysteria of it all, but God does not forget that he has called us to be a holy people, a humble people, to walk in the truth, to say no to sin and yes to righteousness. I don't care if ten thousand show up tomorrow night. God's not in it unless we are walking in the truth and obeying the holy word of God. [Applause]
You see, when you get into a prayer revival, it should be producing holiness in your life. You should be craving purity more than ever. You should wake up every morning and deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. When your eyes part, you should be like Daniel. When they said, "You're going to the King's party in the morning," but when Daniel woke up, he said, "I know where I'm going. I know the temptations. I know what they want me to do. I will not yield to the peer pressure. I will not eat the King's food, even if it costs me my life." You cannot wait till lunchtime to make that decision. When you get up in the morning, you've got to realize that Satan has every opportunity to throw in your, to your direction. He's going to give you enticing moments after another. And unless your mind is made up, unless you'd rather have the purity of God than anything else, you are apt to fall into that trap.
Brother, Jesus Christ died, but he rose again so that I could get up every morning and say, "This day belongs to God." I don't have to sin. I don't have to lie. I don't have to spiel. I don't have to deceive. I don't have to lust. I don't have to look. I'm a child of God. I belong to the race of the redeemed. The one who's in me is greater than the one who's in the world. And because Jesus broke the power of sin and destroyed the works of the devil, now that I am in Christ, I can say no to evil. I can cast the devil out of my life. I can refuse anything he offers me because he is alive.
I made up my mind not to yell this morning. You need to hear what the word of the Lord says in Romans chapter 6. Just look at verse 6. Knowing this, knowing this, know it, yelled, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Do not tell me that you couldn't fight it. If you are a child of God, the victory of Jesus abides in you. Verse 11: Likewise, you also reckon yourselves. That means stand on it and decide it's true to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you. You are not under law, but under grace. How plain is that?
There comes a time, my brother and my sister, that you stop excusing and up and down living for God. A little wild and living for the devil a little while. In and out, inconsistent, sometimes victorious, other times totally defeated. You can only live right if there's a big prayer meeting, but just let you be by yourself and suddenly you allow Satan to tempt you into doing what is not even your nature anymore. We don't preach it enough anymore. If we're saved, we ought to live holy lives. Come out of the world and ask ourselves on a regular basis, "How is my life different from the sinners? What practices will I'm not engage in because I'm now a child of God? If you put me in a sinner in the same room, what will be the difference in us? Where do I go on the weekends when I'm bored? When I'm looking for activity, where do I go? Do I go to the same place the sinners go? Do I do the same things the sinners do?" If so, something's wrong in your life. You need a revival because there ought to be enough power abiding in you through the resurrection of Jesus.
Are you gonna stare at me like that all morning long? I mean, as a pastor, I truly get tired of hearing, "Well, he's backslidden again. Well, she's back out in the world again. Well, I don't know where they are, but I saw them." I get tired of hearing that, especially when you see people around the altar and they're praying and crying and seeking God, and it's just a little, a little amount of time before you can't find them. They've gone right back out to the world. Listen to me, church. I've had people come to this church for six years, had who didn't drink a drop for six years. Every year came and gave me their little medallion that they got from Alcoholics Anonymous. "Here, pastor, I want you to have this because there's another year I've gone without a drop." Where are they now? They're in a drunken stupor. They're in a gay lifestyle. And I am NOT just giving you an illustration. These are facts.
Let me tell you, for him, when you come to Christ, he destroys the works of the devil, and you don't have to go back to a sinful lifestyle. You don't have to do it. That pull is not greater than the presence of the Holy Spirit. If it is, I quit. But it isn't. The power of God is resurrection power. It's not just fleshly desire that overcomes you. It's your desire to still be pleased by the world's offers. You have to come to a place where you believe you are crucified with Christ, and our lives all to exhibit it.
Let me tell you what happens, and this is where I use that word resonate earlier. This is where it resonates with me. The enemy is always enticing us to move on to his ground because when we get on his ground, he's in charge. When we move into his territory, he immediately assumes authority over us. How do you define that, Pastor? James said, "For him that knows to do good and doesn't do it, it is sin." Wherever there's sin, Satan is the authority. Yeah, yeah. If I, as a Christian, know to do good, do good, and I don't do it, it's sin. And my refusal to obey gives Satan, whose back ought to be broken, whose works ought to be destroyed in my life, it gives him permission to move in and do whatever he wants to do.
I hear somebody now saying, "You know, that's the reason I left Central to start with. That kind of preaching was for them back then. That's almost fashion stuff. I want somebody to tell me how good I am. I want somebody to bless me in my sin. I want somebody to smile at me and affirm me even though I'm walking in disobedience and unrighteousness." Well, friend, any gonna happen up in here? I'm gonna tell you that right now. It is not going to happen because I've already cannot just tell this one more time. When, when Sandra and I were young, I was an evangelist, she was a singer, and we traveled. I preached 340 times a year, and I lived from night to night. Get up every morning and say, "Got to preach tonight. Got to get ready for tonight. Got to pray for tonight." That went on for years. Then we came here to be the pastor. I didn't have to preach every night. I had to preach every weekend, four times, five times. So I started living not from night to night, but Sunday to Sunday. But here's what I've noticed in my life lately. Now I'm living for eternity. I don't know if you see it in my eyes or not, but I'm living for eternity. So it really doesn't matter whether you misquote or misunderstand. What I'm gonna give you this day is the word of the Lord, and then it becomes your property, and you have to deal with it.
You see, when you define the devil's territory, if you move out of humility and brokenness, you've moved away from the power of God, and Satan begins to move into your life, and he takes over. When we rail at things all of the time, I'm still so amazed at how many Christians rail at the president, rail at the government. And they did it when Barack was in, and they did it when all the Bushes were in. You know, that's just what for some reason we think we all do, right? And I say things like, "You ought to pray for the president." And people go, "I ain't prayed for that scallywag. No, sir. But that liberal." No, we are in disobedience at that moment, and we have given Satan authority.
You want to hear a story? His name was David. He had already been anointed as king over Israel, but the present king was not out of the way yet. His name was Saul. God had turned his back on him because of his disobedience. He was a murderer, he was a liar, and got into witchcraft. He's trying to kill David. He's chasing David all over Israel, it seems. And one day, Saul and his men, in their hunt for David, decided to rest. And Saul went into a cave. The Bible says to take care of his needs. I think we know what that means. He must have taken his kingly robe off and left it here and went farther into the cave. And while he was taking care of his needs, David cut off a piece of Saul's robe and then went outside and went across the valley and stood on top of the hill and he cried, "Oh, Saul, my father, my father. Do you recognize this? I was that close. I could have killed you. The Lord delivered you into my hand, and my associates encouraged me to kill you. But I said, 'I will not touch the Lord's anointed.' Even if the Anointed One kills me, I will not touch the Lord's anointed because God put him in that office. Even though he is a rogue and a rascal, I will not do it." That was only the first time.
There was another occasion when the Bible says God caused a deep sleep to come on Saul and his protectors, and David went in and took his sword, his spear, and the jug of water that was at his head. And while he was leaving, his assistant said, "Kill him! Kill him! Let me kill him for you." David said, "Shh. I will not touch the Lord's anointed. Let God take care of his own." Brother, you talk about humility. There, there was Jesus right there in that cave. He made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and refused to deliver himself from the cross. There stands David, who could have taken care of his enemy, but he said, "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I'll take care of your enemies for you."
But when the church rails and when we slander, we're simply saying, "Come on in, Satan, do what you want to your children. Become vulnerable. Your finances are open. Your health is in jeopardy." When we complain instead of giving thanks, you see. Well, let me just say this one more time, since it's going to be misquoted and I'm going to be misunderstood. If you spend as much time praying for your officials as you did criticizing them, I just wonder what would happen. Because we are an authoritative people. God hears us when we pray. If we bless, He'll bless. If we bind in heaven, He'll bind on earth. Wonder what would happen if we could realize God is in charge and keep Satan out of our lives. But this complaining and this critical attitude and this anger, anger that so many people have. All it takes is one little buzzword and people go off on you. It's everywhere you look. Till we've learned to justify it and say, "Hey, it's there, you might as well look at it."
Our speech. I wonder how many devils have come into our lives because our speech is impure. We repeat things that shouldn't be repeated. We say things without the knowledge of it. We just talk, talk, talk, and we fail to realize that every time we open our mouth, we are giving either God or Satan permission to come in and bless us or curse us. Brother, that's why James said, "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to get angry." You wouldn't take a great. When I talked about casting out devils, this is what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about me coming down and slapping James on the head and saying, "Come out." No, I'm talking about Lauren getting up every morning and saying, "I will not repeat. I will not gossip. I will not look in lust. I will not desire my neighbor's anything. I will not let my tongue get out of control." And in that fashion, I'm casting the devil out. He sneaks up every so often, but just by my humble obedience, I can catch the devil away from me and open up the door so God can come in and bless me abundantly. Can I get an amen from anybody?
When we misuse our finances and fail to honor God with our money, we give Satan permission to come into our lives. When we walk around flaunting our scars and our wounds, "We've been hurt, nobody understands." Satan loves for you to wallow in that. He just gets right up in there like a puppy in your lap. Can I just tell you something? Nobody has the right to flaunt and glory in their scars and wounds except Jesus. His will never go away because he made it possible for ours to be healed.
Unforgiveness. Whom are you angry at? I'm not angry at anybody. Well, are you angry? Are you angry at the white man? Are you angry at the black man? Them people? Are you angry at the Hispanics coming over here and ruining our economy? Are you mad at all the brown people from Asia coming over here and taking our jobs? Are you mad at somebody that embarrassed you when you were small? You see, there is no possible way you can continue to know Christ deeply and intimately until you decide that all of this is sin. And as long as I allow sin, I have allowed the influence of hell in my life.
I will never forget this. The first time I saw it, when Jesus said to his disciples, after all that teaching, he said, "All right, you've heard what I've said, but you need to go now. My time has come because the Prince of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me." You, the Prince of this world is coming, meaning he was about to be betrayed by Judas. The devil, he said, "But he has nothing in me. There's no jealousy, there's no pride, there's no anger, there's no lust, there's no lying. He can't find one thing in me. He'll arrest me as a pure man. They will crucify me as a pure man. There's nothing that would give Satan the authority over me, but I lay down my life willingly, a pure, holy act, exceptional sacrifice, so that you might wake up every day and say, 'I am a child of God. I can live right because He is in me.'"
Here's what Romans 12 says. Put it up there. "Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him." I really want to stop and elaborate, but I'm afraid I get too emotional. What do we do with our enemies? We want them prosecuted. We want them out. We've got enemies we've never met. See, you're mad at people you've never personally met. There are some congressmen you've never met, and you hate them. But I see enough on TV and see it and, yeah, because you've been listening to gossip, you've been watching unsaved people give you their opinions about everything. And that's why Christians come to church so angry and so mad about stuff. But here's the bottom line, my brother. You cannot walk in the Spirit. You cannot be filled with the Spirit as long as you've given place to the devil. "Neither give place to the devil." So if your enemy's hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him drink, for in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head. And here's the bottom line, church. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome with good.
Oh, I want to come down here, but I'm not. Listen, there's the key to your victorious life right there. Do not be overcome by evil. You are stronger than it. Jesus in you is greater than it. You don't have to give in to it. And in fact, you don't even have to run from it. Just turn around and do something good. Bless somebody that hates you. Give to somebody who has already has more than you do. For those that are against you, be kind and gentle. Bless them. Bless those that curse you. Pray for those that despitefully use you, that you may be the children of my Father which is in heaven. That's it. You want to go home? We just cast the devil out. I do it every day. I'm a demon caster-outer every day of my life. Listen to cha. Every time I refuse to think bad thoughts, I've just cast the devil out. Every time I refuse to respond when somebody insults me, I have just cast the devil out. Every time she walks by with that little short skirt and she forgot to put her top on right, and I look away, I have, what are you laughing at? You act like you know what I'm talking about, don't you? I have just cast the devil out. Jason, oh, he sent her by. She didn't even know it. She was a tool of the devil. But every time I refused to look and look away and pull the scripture and look at how pretty my wife is, I'm just casting the devil out of my life. I'm not gonna look. In fact, TV has gotten so bad, I won't even do that anymore. I turn that thing off, except for one time on Sunday when I watch a ballgame with my grandson. But after that's over, it's gone. Brother, no seeing, no if Fox, no ABC, NBC, C. I don't watch that foolishness. That's Paulette material. What I'm got is clean and pure and holy, and it'll build you up in the faith, and it won't disappoint you. The word of the Living God. Hallelujah.
Stand up with me, please. Listen to me, church. I know you're gonna put your clothes on now and get your wraps and your bags and everything else, but listen to me. Obedience equals faith, and faith equals authority. And when I obey, I have authority over Satan, and he cannot affect my life. Father, I pray right now that you will cause every one of us to become exceedingly sensitive. I pray, God, that you will resurrect conscience and heart and hunger for you. I pray, Lord, that you will make us nauseous at this world that only wants to steal the blessings of God. Make us painfully and acutely aware that Satan is ready to poise to move in and steal your precious power from us and all of your great gifts. May we become ruthless with ourselves. I'm praying a prayer, church. May we become ruthless with ourselves. May we be merciless on our flesh. May we realize the devil and evil abides in our body, and we're supposed to present it as a living sacrifice every single day. And when we do, when we come into prayer meeting tomorrow night, we won't have to spend 10 minutes repenting, saying, "Lord, I'm sorry, get me back to where I was." We will come in walking in the truth, walking in power. And that's what I pray for this morning.
We got a minute. Come sing that song that he's playing. There's power in the name of Jesus. Who sings it? Lindsey? I'm not giving an altar call here because this was for our whole church. This was for those watching on the camera. This is for those watching on the internet in Japan and Afghanistan and everywhere else. God wants a holy people so He can abide in us. Can I get an amen? [Music] To break every tree. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] Oh, go on the power and the name of Jesus. And remember, He who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. We'll see you tomorrow night at 7 o'clock. God be with you till we meet again. [Music]