Spiritual Warfare Lecture: Authority, Weapons, and Freedom

Name: Freedom Week Ten
Uploaded: 2025-09-11T15:27:13+00:00
Duration: 37 min 45 s
Channel: Stevens Creek Church
Description: Summary and key takeaways on Freedom Week Ten: Summary & Key Takeaways, covering The Three Sources of Personal Condition Every person’s present state reflects

Stevens Creek Church

Sep 11, 2025

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37 min video

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2 min read

YouTube video ID: 350Adr8WuJY

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Every person’s present state reflects a blend of self‑inflicted choices, wounds caused by others, and attacks from the spiritual realm. While sin and external hurt are commonly addressed, the lecture stresses that spiritual warfare is the most neglected area yet the key to genuine freedom. The speaker’s goal is to replace fear with confidence by debunking myths surrounding this hidden battle.

Understanding the Enemy

Demons are presented as real, created beings, not symbolic ideas. Lucifer, once a high‑ranking angel, fell because of pride, and one‑third of the angelic host followed him. The devil’s objective is destruction through deception, employing “schemes” and custom temptations that exploit each individual’s weaknesses. He is likened to a prowling lion that blends into the environment, remaining unseen until he strikes.

The Believer’s Authority

Authority in Christ does not stem from a believer’s personal rank or volume of voice. Instead, it is delegated through the “Greater One,” Jesus, who resides within the believer. The three primary weapons are the Name of Jesus, the Word of God, and the Blood of the Cross. As the speaker puts it, “You don’t have to worry about you because the one who is in you is greater.”

Practical Application

Effective spiritual warfare begins with daily submission to God; the level of submission determines the level of authority. “Open doors” such as unforgiveness, lingering anger, or unresolved sin give the enemy access. Identifying these footholds, repenting, and closing them restores freedom. Prayer is described as both contemplative communion and active confrontation, while the Bible functions as an offensive sword rather than merely a devotional book.

Mechanisms Explained

Authority Mechanism: The devil operates within a hierarchy. A believer’s authority is exercised by invoking the Name of Jesus, akin to a subordinate acting on a superior officer’s direct orders.
Temptation Mechanism: The enemy casts customized “lures” that act as hidden hooks, keeping the person unaware until trapped.
Spiritual Warfare Process: First, submit fully to God. Second, resist using the Name of Jesus, the Word, and the Blood of the Cross. Third, close identified doors by repentance and targeted prayer.

Takeaways

Spiritual warfare, often overlooked, is essential for true freedom because personal condition stems from choices, external wounds, and demonic attacks.
Demons are real beings created as angels, with Lucifer leading one‑third of them after a prideful fall, and they use customized temptations to deceive individuals.
Believers wield authority not by personal rank but through the Greater One, Jesus, using the Name of Jesus, the Word of God, and the Blood of the Cross as primary weapons.
Effective spiritual warfare requires daily submission to God, identifying “open doors” such as unforgiveness or anger, and closing them through repentance and prayer.
Prayer functions both as communion and confrontation, with the Bible serving as an offensive sword rather than merely a devotional text.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a believer’s authority work according to the lecture?

A believer’s authority is delegated through Jesus, the Greater One, and is exercised by invoking the Name of Jesus, the Word of God, and the Blood of the Cross. This authority functions like a subordinate acting on a superior officer’s direct command, not by personal rank.

What are ‘open doors’ in spiritual warfare and how are they closed?

Open doors are unresolved sins, unforgiveness, anger, or other behaviors that give the enemy access. They are closed by first submitting to God, then identifying each foothold, repenting of the specific issue, and using targeted prayer with the biblical weapons.

Who is Stevens Creek Church on YouTube?

Stevens Creek Church is a YouTube channel that publishes videos on a range of topics. Browse more summaries from this channel below.

Does this page include the full transcript of the video?

Yes, the full transcript for this video is available on this page. Click 'Show transcript' in the sidebar to read it.

Helpful resources related to this video

If you want to practice or explore the concepts discussed in the video, these commonly used tools may help.

Leather Bound Journaling Bible For Study Recommended

Provides a dedicated space to study the Bible as a 'sword of the Spirit' and record personal reflections on spiritual authority.

Amazon →

Prayer Journal For Spiritual Warfare

Helps organize prayers of confrontation and track the process of submitting to God and closing 'open doors'.

Amazon →

Books On Spiritual Warfare And Authority

Offers deeper theological context on the believer's authority in Christ and the reality of spiritual battles.

Amazon →

Links may be affiliate links. We only include resources that are genuinely relevant to the topic.

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Full Transcript YouTube

Well, welcome today to week number 10 of
the freedom curriculum. We're so glad
you guys are along for the ride and
we're so glad that you made it to this
point. And a lot of what we're trying to
do is to prepare you for the conference
that's coming up in just a few weeks. Be
sure you're making plans to be a part of
that. In fact, everything you've done up
to this point is to prepare you for
what's going to happen uh in that
moment. Like I have in the previous two
sessions that you've been with me, I am
joined today by the students of the
Highlands College. It's a ministry
college that we have here at Church of
the Highlands that really is designed to
get boots on the field. And I love being
with them because they are the future
pastors and church planters and worship
leaders and children's pastors and
creative directors. And we believe we
really believe they are going to change
the world. And today I'm not with the
ladies. It's just a guys chapel. So the
cheer might sound a little low. What's
up guys? Come on.
That's so awesome.
All right. Grab your um message notes,
your notebook, and you guys here, why
don't you pull out a piece of paper and
a pen and take some notes today? And I'm
really excited about today's session
because we take a little turn and I want
to explain it to you before we get
there. And that is you you are you are
at this freedom uh small group for a
reason. You guys are in Highlands
College for a reason. You have some
things and ways that you were living and
that you weren't completely satisfied
with. And hopefully you have your eyes
on a different life and more freedom in
your life. And you are where you are
right now because of some things that
have happened. you are right now really
because of one of three things. It's not
in your notes. I'm just giving you this
to explain why we're going here next.
But you are in the condition you're in.
You currently, every one of us, myself,
we're all in the condition we're in
right now because of one of three
things. Number one is because just the
stuff we did to oursel like so we made
some choices. We had made some
decisions, good and bad. uh we've all
sinned and we are all living out really
the the we're reaping even though Jesus
has forgiven us, we're really in many
cases reaping what happened because of
the choices that we've made and we've
dealt with a lot of that up to this
point uh in the curriculum. Second thing
reason why you're here in the condition
that you're currently in is because of
the things other people did to you. You
you had no no decision in it. uh you
didn't ask for it, but maybe you're the
um maybe you're the byproduct of of a
bad divorce. Uh maybe you were in a
divorce. Uh maybe you've had some kind
of relational scar. Maybe your parents
didn't affirm you. Maybe you u you had
conflict. Uh maybe you had a tragedy.
You had something that you didn't plan.
You didn't ask it to happen. It just
happened and it created a wound. So we
have sin, the things that we have chosen
to do. And then we have wounds, the
things that others pe other people did
to us. And again, over the last few
weeks, we've really tried to touch those
areas of hurts and wounds and
unforgiveness and all those things.
Getting our hearts prepared again for
the conference that's coming up in just
a few weeks. But the third area our
experience has told us is the area that
it takes, it's the biggest leap for
people to find freedom. And that is the
third area is just the stuff the devil
wants to do to you. There are curses.
There are like the enemy has a plan for
your life and for whatever reason I
believe it's the devil himself has made
this something that people actually shy
away from and maybe it's some of the
horror movies or things like that where
they've seen you know a priest with a
cross and you know people are backed up
in a chair and heads are spinning. None
of that's going to happen to you. Relax
everybody. All right. But but the
devil's power in our life is very very
real. And one of my goals in this
session is kind of to to to debunk the
myths of spiritual warfare because if
you're afraid of something, you're never
going to be able to confront it. If you
don't understand it and you don't have
some level of confidence in it, uh
you're just going to continually really
be someone that the enemy prays upon.
And so I'm going to show you a bunch of
verses uh in your heart. Here's what
needs to happen. You need to kind of
make this where it's not weird to you,
where it's not something you're afraid
of, where it's something you feel some
confidence in. And my goal is just to
show you in the Bible and tell you some
stories and give you some things to fill
out in your notebook there that'll help
all of that. Now, you need to understand
right off the bat that a majority of the
part of Jesus's ministry wasn't, you
know, compassion and feeding and caring
and those kind of things. A lot of it
was. It wasn't even preaching and
teaching. The Bible says that God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Spirit and power. And here's what he
did. He he went around doing good and he
healed those who were under the power of
the devil. So he wasn't just confronting
their physical situations. He was
confronting their spiritual situations
as well. Because listen to me, it's
spiritual. It's not all spiritual. I'm
not saying, you know, everything you
face is a demon. Like if you ran out of
gas, there was some chevron demon
somewhere. I'm not saying that at all.
I'm and I'm not telling you to look for
a devil under every rock. What I am
saying is it's probably more spiritual
than you realize. Like there's a whole
lot more going on in the spiritual realm
than you realize. And you just cannot be
unaware of that if you're if you're
going to be victorious. Um when we first
started the church, uh we started the
church in 2001. And 2001 of course was
the year that September 11th happened.
Big tragedy. I don't know if you
remember that day. I remember exactly
where I was on that day. Happened on a
Tuesday. One year later, our church is
about a year and a half old. And we were
just big enough, about 6 800 people,
just big enough to do our first invite
the city to an event event. And so
September 11th, the one-year anniversary
was going to fall next year on a
Wednesday. And we were doing Wednesday
night services. We thought, why don't we
do a Wednesday gathering, but let's
promote it to the city. So, we rented a
big hall that would seat uh more than
2,000 people. It was kind of really our
first event and we were going to do a
September 11th remembrance service. Now,
I want you to back up one week from
September 11th, 2002 to September 4th,
2002. So, it was another Wednesday
night. It was the Wednesday night before
our event. I was getting ready to come
on stage our little office complex that
we had behind the Walmart here in
Birmingham. just a little 230 seat
auditorium that we had and I was just
doing our little Wednesday night leaders
leaders training and my wife called
right before I got on stage and said I
just got back from the doctor with Sarah
who's our oldest our daughter and she
had come home with something in her eye
and the so they went to the doctor the
doctor sent her to an optometrist or to
an eye doctor and the eye doctor sent
her to a neurologist. So they saw three
different doctors and all of them when
they were sending had these big oh no
you need to go see them. They knew
something we didn't know. The last stop,
this neurologist did a CAT scan on her
to see what was going on because they
what they realized is her eye was
actually fine. It was the nerve between
her eye and her brain that was in
trouble and that that her optic nerve
was being deteriorated in that in that
eye. So, it wasn't anything in her eye.
It was the nerve. Why? That's why a
neurologist
and when the neurologist did the CAT
scan, they they saw things on there that
concerned them. Now, they didn't give us
a definitive this is what it is, but
they did tell Tammy, you know, it may be
the onset of multiple sclerosis.
Um, which, you know, I don't I didn't
even know what that was. And so Tammy
says, "What do you mean? What is what is
that? What do you do?" And he says,
"Well, there's really nothing we can do.
We're sorry." And so she's telling me
this right before I come on stage. Well,
as you can imagine, it wrecked me
because my mind goes to death, you know,
wheelchairs, everything that my precious
little uh teenage girl here is, you
know, is going to experience all this.
And immediately because of my
experience, I I know I know it's
spiritual. I know it's spiritual. I know
it's it's it's the devil's attack one
week before this event to kind to kind
of discourage me from from making this
move in our city. And I and I knew it
was, but I I'm sorry to tell you guys
that I didn't really respond that well.
I I let the devil eat my lunch for for
about 3 days. Um I I I literally
canceled all my appointments and sat in
bed for two days. I just And I actually
had a conversation with God at at one
point that I'm really not even proud to
tell you that I said, "God, I know this
is spiritual and I'm not ready for it
and I I can't do this and I don't want
to do this. And if it means Sarah's
going to have to go through this in
order for me to reach a city, I don't
want to reach a city. I don't care about
the city anymore. I want Sarah. Now, I'm
not proud of that and it wasn't the
right response, but that's just really
honestly how I felt. And so, now
Saturday rolls around two, three days
later,
and I'm headed to our Saturday morning
prayer service and I'm I'm leading it
and I'm not prepared. I've been in bed
all day sulking and complaining. And so,
I'm at the red light. I can see our
office complex. I'm I'm I'm just I'm
half half a mile away at a red light and
I'm trying to find a verse to share cuz
I got to get up there for that five
minutes and say something and I wasn't
prepared, you know. So I I'm sitting
there driving my Bible's in the in the
passenger seat and I'm just flipping,
you know, just flip. I don't recommend
this at all, but I was just flipping,
you know, trying to find something.
Actually, I did one flip. I don't
recommend this at all, but I just did
one flip and it flopped open uh to 1
Corinthians 15 where the Bible says it's
the whole discussion about don't be a
concerned about how what happens to
bodies. The victory is not killing a
body. It says, "Where, oh death, is your
victory. Where O death is your sting." I
mean, it's just that's that whole
discussion in 1 Corinthians 15. And then
it says the next verse says, "Stand firm
then. Let nothing move you. Always give
yourself fully to the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain."
That's what I read. And I thought, "My
God, I know that's a word for me." And I
went and preached that at at the prayer
service and had the best hour of prayer
and repented to God for my attitude.
Next morning, Sunday morning, I'm at
Mountain Brook High School where we were
portable church at that time. And and a
guy who's now on our staff was just a
member of our church at that time, Hamp
Green, came up to me and and he said,
"Hey, you know, my he had heard about
Sarah. My dad my dad is is um is a
neurologist uh down in Montgomery. Why
don't you let him go see her?" And I was
like, "Well, okay. You can't hurt." So
on Monday, we're next day. Now we drive
down to Montgomery. This is two days
before the event and he does the same
cat scan and whatever they saw in the
first one, they did not see in this one,
but her eye was almost still where she
could barely see out of it. Almost
almost blinded completely in that eye.
He goes, "I don't know what they saw,
but it's not MS. Your daughter's going
to be fine." I said, "But what about her
eye?" He goes, "I don't know. I don't
think it's going to get any better. I'm
sorry to tell you, but she's not going
to die." And I kind of saw that as kind
of a half victory, you know, like, okay,
praise God, you know, I don't know, you
know, it's one of those things like, I
think this is good, you know, and so
anyway, so now it's Wednesday, we had
the event 2,300 people came to a 2600
seat auditorium. We had 600 firsttime
salvations. And on Thursday morning,
Sarah gets up and her eyes better. And a
week later, it's perfectly well. Are
y'all listening to me, everybody? I
mean, that's just like a real
that's a real story that real those
things really happen. And I have 33
years of ministry experience. And I'm so
happy to tell you students this and I'm
so happy to tell you guys that I I have
just I have enough years now and I have
enough attacks that that you could you
could probably think, okay, well that
was interesting that it happened right
here at Easter, but then it happened
again the next Easter and it happened
again or it's now that now I can chart
it and they're all there's no way you
could say it was random and you could no
way you could say this is coincidence.
I'm telling you, there's something going
on there in the heavenly realms. And I'm
convinced that we if we could see it, we
pray differently. We live differently.
You would not be afraid of it. You you
take your stand in Jesus name. Can I
hear a good amen everybody? Right. So, I
got to teach you this and I've got to
debunk the the weird part of it to
people. Make it something that you feel
confident in so that in a few weeks when
we actually pray these prayers, these
these prayers that we break the power of
darkness off our lives and we're going
to deal with our sin and we're going to
deal with our wounds, but we've got to
deal with this as well. In your notes,
there's three things I want you to know.
The number one is that demons are real.
So, this is not a this is not a symbolic
force. Uh he he's he's he's not he's
he's not just a picture. He's not a
metaphor. He's a real being. His name is
Lucifer. Three named angels in
scripture. Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer.
Three named angels in scripture. And we
know, of course, in both Isaiah 14, not
in your notes. You might want to jot
this down if you want to study it.
Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. The Bible
gives the account of how Lucifer was the
worship leader in heaven and how he
really wanted decided, you know, I'm so
good at this and I'm so pretty and I'm
so awesome. I think I'd rather be God.
Instead of worshiping God, I want to be
the one worshiped. And so God, of
course, in his pride, Lucifer's pride,
kicked him out of heaven. And Revelation
actually records the event. I want you
to see it in chapter 12. There was a war
in heaven. We're going to talk about
that war more in just a second. Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon
and the dragon and his angels fought
back. But he was not strong enough. And
I want you to see that that this is it
wasn't like this massive fight. It
wasn't this big war. It wasn't like a
two-hour Star Wars movie. You know what
I'm saying? Or a or a 10-minute
lightsaber. It it wasn't anything like
that, everybody. But they watch it.
Watch what it says. It says they they
lost their place. And in the in another
scripture, it actually says that
one-third of the angels followed Lucifer
in this fight. They lost their place in
heaven. And the great dragon was hurled
down. That ancient serpent called the
devil or and now it names him Satan who
leads the whole world astray. So in
other words, a lot of what you're facing
isn't you or other people. It's
spiritual. He was hurled down to the
earth with his angels with him. And and
so that event actually took place in one
of the healthiest things that you can do
is not do what they say 51% of
Christians do and that is they don't
believe in a literal devil which would
be exactly what he would want you to
believe. I mean that would be the
greatest trick of all to mess you up is
to is to believe that he doesn't exist.
And so I think the first healthiest
thought that you need to take with you
is uh there there really is a devil and
and you you do better if you'd recognize
that. Here's the second thing you need
to know and that is uh that that same
devil wants to destroy you.
So he's working overtime on this. He uh
actually according to the Bible schemes
in several places it calls he says the
devil's schemes which means he has a
drawing board and he's constantly at
work trying to come up with a custom
temptation or a custom tragedy. like he
studies you and he knows where your
weaknesses are and he says, "Well, I
won't mess with trying to get him to do
that, but I I I don't mind trying to get
him to do this." And and it it's it's
kind of like a fishing lure and you just
don't throw anything out there. You try
to find the exact bait that that will
attract that fish. But but but what the
fish doesn't realize and we do, it's got
a hook in it, right? And that's what the
enemy does. He's he's luring you with
good things. He he doesn't come dressed
up in a red jumpsuit and in a pitchfork,
everybody. He comes dressed up in
everything you think you want. That's
how he dresses himself up and he's
working really hard at that. In fact,
the way I like to say it is I think the
devil works harder at destroying us than
we work at not allowing him to do that
in our lives. I think he's break it's so
he so it makes sense that he would win
if he's going to work harder than us.
And and we can't let that happen. I want
to show it to you in the scripture so
you can see it. In fact, I love the way
it begins.
Wake up. Hey, don't be naive. Be be
self-controlled and alert. You got an
enemy and his name's the devil. I mean,
that's one of the healthiest things for
you just to let it sink in and believe
that you've got an enemy and he's the
devil and he prowls around like a
roaring lion. Now, how does a prow
prowling lion how does a lion prowl
around? Well, you know, he just didn't
walk out there and say, "Hey, who wants
to be lunch?" No, he's in the bushes,
right? And he's he's the color of the of
the grass. That's why I mean nature made
him the color of the grass and he's in
there blending in. That's exactly what
the enemy does. He's looking for someone
to devour. Hey, wake up. Resist him.
Stand firm in your faith. And I'm going
to teach you how in this session. And I
want to say something to you that may be
a little controversial and and and I I I
believe it's going to be controversial
even for some of you Highlands College
students. And that is one of my piece is
that people try to say, "Okay, well then
tell me where the line is because I want
to do as much as I can without letting
the devil come in my life." And what I
want to submit to you is don't even get
close to the stuff. Like find find out
where he is and don't try to just just
get out of it. Get as far as away as you
can from it. I my posture is and I would
recommend you don't listen to me but
listen to the Holy Spirit in you to
think about the areas where you know
it's a gray area. You're letting some
stuff that you know the devil's a part
of in your life. And I'll just go ahead
and say it. I I don't participate in
things like Halloween. Oh, Pastor Chris,
that's just an innocent that's just
candy and costumes. Come on, give it up.
But you don't have to be all serious
about stuff. Well, that may be the truth
for somebody. And you know what? You may
be exactly right. I may be completely
wrong, but I I would ra I would rather
be wrong and safe than than you know and
than than in being involved in it and
and not and and just and that those
things are affecting us in some kind of
way. I heard the story about a guy who
was interviewing truck drivers,
18-wheeler truck drivers in some of the
mountainous areas of the country. And he
was looking for drivers. And one of the
questions he would ask his genius, he
said, "How many wheels do you think you
can hang off the edge of the cliff
before the truck would actually tump
over over the edge?"
And for every person who would actually
give him an answer, well, I think I
could hang at least a half a tire, at
least the two back ones are like, he
just never hired him. But the ones who
said, 'You know what? I don't know and I
don't want to find out. You're hired.
And I think some people like they I
especially young people, I say this to
you guys and adults alike, he's like,
well, how many wheels of my moral life
can I hang off the edge without the
devil messing with me? No. Uh if that's
where the edge is, I'm driving way over
here. You know what? Because I'm going
to fall. And if I fall on the edge, I
got a 50/50 chance of that fall being on
the good side and another 5050 chance if
it's going to be on the bad side. I'm
gone forever. If I'm going to fall, I'd
rather fall right over here in the safe
territory where I can get back up again.
Somebody say amen right there. Right.
The Bible says have Say this word out
loud in the small group here in college.
Have have nothing to do with the
fruitless. In other words, it wasn't
going to help you anyway. the fruitless
deeds of darkness, but rather expose it.
That's what I'm trying to do today with
all my heart. I'm trying to expose the
enemy. And by the way, I don't tell
people how to live their lives. I lead
them to the scriptures and I ask you to
pray and ask God. And all you have to do
is listen to the Holy Spirit in you
because he will talk to you about this.
Here's the third one. And and this is
where we're going to go really where it
gets exciting. And that is that those
same demons respond to higher authority.
So you got to understand this and this
will help you in your prayer time
everyone. Uh the devil doesn't respond
uh just to churchgoers and he doesn't
respond to people who raise their voice
and he doesn't respond to people who
know the right words to say no no no he
is an authority and he responds to
authority. So you got to think it more
in military terms. If the devil is a
captain and a private comes he's just
going to laugh at you no matter what the
private says to the captain. But if a
general tells that captain what to do,
it's yes, sir. He responds that way.
He's all, listen to me, he's all about
authority. It's like all about authority
to him. He responds to authority. That's
why Ephesians says it this way. Finally,
in other words, I'm going to wrap up my
whole teaching here. Paul says in in
this book, be strong in the Lord and in
his mighty power. I want you to be
powerful Christians. Put on the full
armor of God. Why, Paul? Because you're
in a fight. so that you can take your
stand against and there it is again the
devil's schemes the devil's scheming and
you need to be ready for it and watch
how he describes now the devil for our
struggle is not against people it's not
flesh and blood it's not you and it's
not what others have done to you that's
what I talked about at the beginning but
it's against now notice the words that
are used it's against rulers
those are authorities against and then
it says the word authorities against
powers of the dark world against the
spiritual forces of evil in those
heavenly realms. Well, all those are
terms of authority. They they are
authorities. They they have authority.
To which some of you are thinking, well,
that's that's that's a problem
because I know I'm a private in this
whole Christian thing. I mean, I'm just
maybe you just gave your heart to
Christ. Maybe maybe you feel intimidated
by all this. Maybe maybe the thought of
you being in a fight with the enemy uh
just just uh totally kind of wrecks you.
And I Hey, you ready for this? I totally
get it except for one verse. I got to
show you. You ready for it? And that is
you don't have to worry about you
because the one who is in you is
greater. Like the one who's in you is
greater. So this is the cool part of
being a Christian is I'm really not
learning how to get make myself great so
that I can outrank the devil finally.
No, no, no. You can stay a private and
just be in relationship with the
general.
Ain't that awesome? Yeah. So I don't
even worry about making my rank go up. I
just stay close to the general of the
army. I just stay close to the one who
outranks everybody else because the one
who is in me, God, Jesus Christ, who's
in me is, say the word out loud, is
greater, is greater, it's greater than
the one who's in the world. And of
course, that's talking about the enemy.
So, how do you do this stuff? So, what
is the actual practice of it? Let me
give you two lists uh in this small
group, and I'm going to run through it
very quickly. When you actually use that
authority of God to in other words to
use that verse to to have the one
greater in you confronting that enemy
there are three tools or there are three
uh weapons that the that God has given
you to use and you need to know what
they are. The first one and it is the
highest one. It is the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus. The it's the name one
place says that is above all other
names. It's at the name of Jesus. So, so
it means like when you're confronting
the enemy, since you may see yourself
and actually be a private and you may be
under the rank of of the of the
stronghold of the enemy, but you don't
come in your name. You're coming in
general of the army's name. I have five
kids and from time to time I will tell
my kids, "Hey, tell your brother it's
time time for dinner." Or tell your
sister, "Hey, y'all y you know, come in
here." And every time one of them says,
"Hey, it's time for dinner." It's so
funny. They just completely ignore like
whatever. You know, get out of my room.
You know what I'm saying, right? They
just completely don't care. But if they
go in there and say, "Hey, daddy said
come to dinner." That's like they they
they going to get up. You know what I'm
saying? Come on, y'all. Where y'all at?
That's our parenting curriculum. You
ought to come to that, too. It's really
good. All right. But because but what
they what they're really doing is
bringing a message on behalf of another
name. And that's what you're doing.
You're bringing a message on behalf of
another name. All right, I want you to
see this in the Bible a couple places.
It says the 72 and these were 72 people.
So the tw the the 12 disciples plus a
bunch more. Jesus said, "Hey, ah,
there's too many people. Go pray for a
bunch of people for me." And and they
came back with joy and they were fired
up. They said, "Lord, we're so shocked
because we're nobodyies. We're not even
one of your 12 disciples yet demons are
submitting to us
in your name." And Jesus said, 'Of
course I told you. Because they're not
listening to you. They're they're
listening to me. You're using you're
using my name. Are y'all seeing this,
everybody? And he replied, fact, Jesus
says, "And let me tell you why. Let me
tell you why they respond. Because I was
sitting right next to dad when dad
kicked Lucifer out of heaven. I saw
Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I
was there." And and he basically was
saying, "And guys, it was so cool cuz
when dad decided to kick him out, it
lasted about the length of a lightning
bolt over. That's how long the fight
lasted. I mean, when God I just think
that's hilarious, you know, if you can
imagine. God just decides at one second
he's done. And Satan was no more. And it
was just done, right? He said, "I saw
him fall like lightning from heaven."
And watch this. Here's the phrase. You
ought to underline it in your notes. And
that is, I have now given you that
authority.
So, the same authority that caused Satan
to fall like lightning bolt. I have
given you that authority. You ought to
you ought to memorize that verse,
students, to trample. And these are
symbols of of demon forces, snakes and
scorpions, and overcome all the power of
the of the en enemy so that nothing
shall by any means harm you. Philippians
says it this way, that at the name of
Jesus, there it is again, every knee
will bow. Oh, that's just talking about
people. Well, really, in heaven, on
earth, and under the earth, that's just
everywhere. That's hell, too. They all
bow. They all bow to the name. They all
bow to the name. So you you bring the
name every time you fight the enemy. All
right, here's the second thing and that
is the authority of the word of God. Now
you need to read this book and you need
to read this book not for devotional
purposes alone. Praise God for the
kumbaya moments we have in the morning
and the coffee and the and the oh the
psalm that just made me feel so much
better today. You know, praise God for
all that. That's really not what this
book is. This book is not your
devotional book. You can use it for
devotions, but it's not your devotional
book. The Bible says the Bible is a
sword, which is an offensive weapon. And
so, you got to start seeing your Bible
differently. This is not a book to like,
oh, that's a cool story, or man, I think
I'll use that principle. Praise God for
all that. We we do that and I believe in
all that. But its main use is weaponry.
It is the sword of the spirit. It's an
offensive weapon. It's the sword of the
spirit of God. You got to use it as the
offensive weapon. And that is why uh in
the temptation of Jesus, it's in Matthew
4 and Luke 4, so you can look both
places. They're parallel passages. Every
time the devil tempted Jesus, Jesus
always responded not with a stop. No, he
didn't do that. Or get out of here. No,
he used a verse.
He used a verse. And here's what I tell
people. Every time you face something,
find a verse and then use it as a
weapon. Uh, I see how you're trying to
do this, but I'm so sorry you can't
because of this. And you use it as an
offensive weapon against your enemy. And
that's why scripture memory is so
important, gentlemen. That's why I want
you guys to to memorize your Bible
because you're going to need it for
weaponry.
So, every time the enemy comes against
you in fear, I don't think so. Because I
have Psalm 27, the Lord is my light, my
salvation. Whom shall I fear? Right? You
have that. Yeah, but I'm broke, man. I
ain't got no money. I can hardly pay
attention. I'm so broke. I mean, I don't
I I I don't Well, but I have Philippians
4:19 that says, "My God shall supply all
my need according to his riches in
Christ Jesus." I mean, you have to find
a verse for every single situation. Can
I hear a good amen everybody? The you
got to start seeing your Bible
differently. It's the authority of the
word of God. Here's the third one, and
that is the authority of the blood of
the cross.
The blood of the cross. The cross. The
cross is powerful. In fact, the cross
was the ultimate defeat of the devil. It
was the ultimate defeat. In fact, the
cross I wish I wish we all could see a
picture and hopefully when we get into
heaven, they'll replay the tape of the
moment when Jesus gave up his final
breath on the cross. And then the party
took off in hell. Oh, we did it. We
finally got rid of that dude. Because
the because the devil knows he needs a
body that God needs a body to do stuff.
Um, he needs he he needs he needs our
bodies. And now that Jesus' body is
dead, Jesus is dead. But what the devil
didn't realize is that Jesus was paying
for sins to make our bodies clean so
that that same power could be in our
bodies. He didn't realize that. And
that's why it says when he really
thought he'd won there, he actually that
was the worst thing that could have
happened to the enemy because now
Christians overcome him by the blood of
the lamb. by what happened at the cross.
And so you simply apply this one by
saying, "Yeah, devil u but uh uh you I
remind you of what happened at the cross
of Jesus Christ. I just remind him the
blood of Jesus Christ, it defeats you.
That was your ultimate defeat." Just
making that statement, bringing
confidence into your own heart and
defeat to our enemy. And so again, what
I'm trying to do is get you in a
lifestyle practice of what we simply
call spiritual warfare. I want you to
learn it. I want you to study it and
then at our conference in a few weeks,
you're going to experience it. It's
going to be powerful. And I'll give you
a couple more verses and then I'm going
to give you just a closing thought. But
again, Jesus called his 12 disciples to
him, gave them authority to drive out
evil spirits, and heal every disease and
sickness. We see these scriptures all
throughout that this is the this is the
lifestyle that God wants us to live.
Romans 8 says, "In all things," that
means everything you're facing, your
marriage, your money, your emotions,
your health, everything you're facing,
we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us. For I'm convinced that
neither death nor life, nor angels, nor
demons, neither the present, future,
powers, height, depth, nothing in
creation will be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. My main goal is for you
to to expose the enemy, bring you
confidence, debunk the myths, let you
let you have confidence in this area.
And now I want you to begin to walk it
out. And to do that, you're going to
need to do three things. And I'll give
you these in closing. And the first is
you need to submit yourself to God.
Submit yourself to God. Let me say it
this way. You're going to be only as
effective in spiritual warfare as you
are submitted to God.
Your submission level determines your
authority level. So if you ever get out
there on your own, and we all do from
time to time, you just need to know your
authority was lessened in that moment.
Come back as fast as you can. The
amazing thing about Jesus is his amazing
grace. He'll continually forgive you.
Ask his forgiveness, but keep yourself
fully submitted to God. And I want to
show it to you in scripture. And the
order is what's important here because
it says, "Submit yourselves then to God.
Now you can resist the devil and he will
flee from you." And I would submit to
you that if you ever try to do this
without doing this, it ain't going to
work. Okay? Keep the order right. So
always stay fully submitted. My my
encouragement to you is I do it every
day.
I I've only been saved once. I don't I
don't need to be saved multiple times,
but I go through the same prayers that I
prayed the day I got saved. Lord, all
over again, I give you my life and I
thank you my sins are forgiven and today
I surrender myself completely to you.
Just pray prayers like that. Stay say
fully surrendered, fully submitted to
God. Here's the second thing is, and I
can't do this, you're going to have to
do this on your own. And that is you're
going to have to go through your own
life and close any open doors that we
have for the devil.
So, it really doesn't ma matter how much
you pray all these prayers. It doesn't
matter how much you how much insurance
you buy or or how many locks you have on
your doors if you're going to keep the
windows open. And it's funny how
Christians will say, "Well, I'm
expecting God to do this." But we have
all these other areas where we're
letting the enemy come into our lives.
Now, I can't show you this, but I'll
tell you this for a fact that if you'll
ask God, "Show me the areas where I have
just open doors, where I'm exposed to
the works of darkness, he'll show you. I
promise you he'll show you. I'll show
you. I'll show you two of just two. And
there's there's long lists of things
that they could be. But here's two
because Paul said he he was actually
talking about a guy they had disciplined
in the previous book first Corinthians.
And now they actually the church had
disciplined him so hard. Paul's saying,
"Hey, you need to let the guy back in.
He's he wants to come back in." And he's
and and this is kind of where they're
picking up in the story, but it's
interesting where it ends. Watch this.
Because he says, "Anyone you forgive, I
just want you to know guys, I've
forgiven him, too. So, let's let him
back in. And what I have forgiven, if
there was anything to forgive, I have
forgiven in the sight of Christ for your
sake." And we both really need to let
this guy in and get that junk out of our
heart how he offended us so that Satan
might not outwit us. What Paul is saying
here is, you know, you punish this guy
and he really did wrong, but if you
really let that pain of what he did to
you stay in there too long, you're going
to let the devil win ultimately. I mean,
we need to forgive this guy. I know he
hurt you. We need to forgive this guy so
that we don't let Satan outwit us. And
then I love the way it ends, for we are
not unaware of his, and there's that
word again, of his schemes. Guys, don't
be unaware that when you're holding
stuff in your heart, you are limiting
your authority to pull down these
strongholds. Let me show you another one
just one more real quickly. Paul said
here in your anger, that's the topic of
this one. In your anger, don't sin. So
that means you can be angry and not sin.
There's a line where you cross and and
here's the line. Don't let the sun go
down while you're still angry. That
means you've let it you've stored it
somewhere in your heart because watch
what he says next. Because if you do,
you're basically leaving the window
open. You've given the devil a foothold.
You're giving him a place to come in.
So, we're going to actively close the
door. So, listen to me. You need some
You need some everyday stuff. Here's
everyday stuff. Surrender yourself to
God. Lord, is there any open doors in my
life? The TV shows I'm watching, the
things I'm involved in, the stuff that's
in my heart, the music I listen to, the
Is there any area of my life where it's
just I basically am just left a window
open for the enemy to come in? I'm
letting the enemy come into my life. I
don't need to tell you. the Holy Spirit
will show you. And then once you've done
that, you can do the final thing. And
we're going to do this today, the next
few weeks, and then big time at the
conference. And that is we're going to
confront our enemy. And I want you to do
it every day. And I want to close with
this thought. And and that is is that
too many for too many people, they think
Christianity is passive, quiet, sweet,
contemplative.
You know, it is th those things. But
it's not just those things. And ready
for this? Neither is prayer. Prayer is
this. I think about God. I journal. I
read my Bible. I have devotions. I cry.
Oh, this is so good. But it's not all
that. Prayer is not just communion with
God. It is confrontation with the devil.
And I would like to bring into your
prayer times, have all those devotions
and nice times, but there needs to be a
moment to say, "And in the name of
Jesus, you're not having my family. And
I tell you to take your hands off my
marriage in the name of Jesus. And
bitterness and all the junk in my heart
and the unforgiveness, I break its power
off me. Every curse, every wound, every
hurt, it's not going to dominate my
life. I am bought with a price and I
belong to Jesus. I mean, you're going to
you're going to confront your enemy. And
I want close with this this verse out of
second Corinthians. For though we live
in the world, we don't use the weaponry
of the world. We don't have bombs and
meanness and I'm going to write you a
letter or we don't do it that way. No,
the weapons we fight with are not like
the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, our weapons have divine power
not to hurt people or to mess with
people, but to demolish strongholds.
That's what we're trying to do. That's
the devil. And how we take every
argument and every pretention. I
highlighted those two words to say
that's how the devil fights us is with
lies.
And we take every lie and we turn it
around to the truth of what God's word
says. does. And I want to close today's
small group session by doing that for
you. And I want to pray it over you, you
guys, as well. That God, in the mighty
name of Jesus, we're so grateful today
that you have given us the weapons of
our warfare. I'm grateful today, God,
for the name of Jesus, the highest name
that I don't have to rely on Chris being
a powerful name because the one who is
in me is greater. So, I wear the badge
that says I'm a follower of Jesus. And
every demon in hell has to respond to
that name. I'm grateful today, God, for
the word of God that in every situation
I can find a verse and overcome my
enemy. And I pray, God, let the Bible
come alive for every person in small
group. I thank you, Lord God, for the
blood of Jesus, the ultimate defeat of
the devil that that that you went to the
cross and that that that you we overcome
our enemy through the blood of the lamb,
the ultimate defeat that you've given us
your power. And so, Lord, I pray that
you help every every person
participating in our freedom curriculum.
God, I thank you for the next three
weeks, God. They're going to expose the
enemy so that we can be prepared to
confront him fully in every way. And I
thank you for great victory and power in
Jesus mighty name. Amen. And amen. God
bless you guys.