1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,092 2 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,004 "And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. 3 00:00:04,012 --> 00:00:07,029 "And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished 4 00:00:07,033 --> 00:00:10,096 "at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. 5 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,067 "And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, 6 00:00:15,075 --> 00:00:19,083 "and he cried out with a loud voice, 'Ha! 7 00:00:19,092 --> 00:00:24,008 "'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? 8 00:00:24,017 --> 00:00:26,050 "'Have you come to destroy us? 9 00:00:26,058 --> 00:00:30,071 "I know who you are-- the Holy One of God.' 10 00:00:31,025 --> 00:00:35,050 "But Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be silent and come out of him!' 11 00:00:35,054 --> 00:00:38,050 "And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, 12 00:00:38,058 --> 00:00:41,079 "he came out of him, having done him no harm. 13 00:00:41,083 --> 00:00:47,083 "And they were all amazed and said to one another, 'What is this word? 14 00:00:47,092 --> 00:00:54,075 "For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!' 15 00:00:54,083 --> 00:00:59,079 "And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. 16 00:00:59,083 --> 00:01:03,071 "And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. 17 00:01:03,079 --> 00:01:06,083 "Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, 18 00:01:06,092 --> 00:01:09,021 "and they appealed to him on her behalf. 19 00:01:09,029 --> 00:01:12,000 "And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, 20 00:01:12,008 --> 00:01:17,029 "and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. 21 00:01:17,033 --> 00:01:22,050 "Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various 22 00:01:22,058 --> 00:01:25,067 "diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every 23 00:01:25,071 --> 00:01:28,017 "one of them and healed them. 24 00:01:28,025 --> 00:01:34,012 "And demons also came out of many, crying, 'You are the Son of God.' 25 00:01:34,017 --> 00:01:37,050 "But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, 26 00:01:37,054 --> 00:01:42,000 because they knew that he was the Christ." 27 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:58,054 [music] 28 00:02:09,042 --> 00:02:15,071 All right, Mars Hill, we are in Luke 4:31-41, Jesus and demons. 29 00:02:15,079 --> 00:02:18,000 If you've got a Bible, you can go there and find it. 30 00:02:18,004 --> 00:02:20,062 Here is Luke's Gospel. 31 00:02:20,067 --> 00:02:26,025 We have seen much of Jesus' early ministry in and around Nazareth. 32 00:02:26,033 --> 00:02:30,092 Last week a little earlier in Luke 4, we saw that Jesus was a prophet 33 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,008 without honor in his own hometown. 34 00:02:33,017 --> 00:02:38,067 He was kicked out of Nazareth, basically people tried to put him to death. 35 00:02:38,075 --> 00:02:42,029 And so this week he relocates his ministry headquarters 36 00:02:42,033 --> 00:02:44,017 to a town called Capernaum. 37 00:02:44,021 --> 00:02:46,046 It's the hometown of Simon Peter. 38 00:02:46,050 --> 00:02:50,071 It's in the region of Galilee, around the Sea of Galilee and much 39 00:02:50,079 --> 00:02:56,050 of Jesus' ministry is gonna take place, there all the way up until Luke 19. 40 00:02:56,058 --> 00:03:00,021 And that point, he will set his face toward Jerusalem 41 00:03:00,029 --> 00:03:02,000 and the scene will shift. 42 00:03:02,008 --> 00:03:07,096 So it's helpful to get an idea of the topography, the region around the Sea 43 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,083 of Galilee and the small towns therein, including Capernaum, 44 00:03:11,092 --> 00:03:14,050 are around a great fresh water lake. 45 00:03:14,054 --> 00:03:18,088 There's a lot of fishing and then hills around it that are filled with farming. 46 00:03:18,096 --> 00:03:22,067 I'll give you a picture just to get an idea of the Sea of Galilee. 47 00:03:22,071 --> 00:03:25,071 I don't know about you, I presumed wrongly that the Sea of Galilee 48 00:03:25,079 --> 00:03:27,046 was actually quite small. 49 00:03:27,050 --> 00:03:31,029 This is a photo we took from a boat we were on this summer. 50 00:03:31,033 --> 00:03:38,046 It's an enormous body of water, 13 miles by 8 miles, and the Sea of Galilee 51 00:03:38,050 --> 00:03:42,054 as it is today is actually smaller, likely, than it was in the days of Jesus. 52 00:03:42,062 --> 00:03:46,042 As more people have moved into the area and they've needed more water, 53 00:03:46,050 --> 00:03:48,083 the water line has actually gone down. 54 00:03:48,088 --> 00:03:54,062 So think enormous freshwater lake surrounded by fertile hill country 55 00:03:54,067 --> 00:03:59,071 and farming and there we find this very important little town, Capernaum, 56 00:03:59,079 --> 00:04:01,054 dozens, hundreds of people. 57 00:04:01,062 --> 00:04:08,096 That's where we pick up the story in Luke 4:31-32. And I show that to you 58 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:15,000 so you know that this is historical, all right, that Jesus really did live 59 00:04:15,004 --> 00:04:19,067 and he really did go to places and they're still there. 60 00:04:19,075 --> 00:04:23,079 "And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. 61 00:04:23,083 --> 00:04:26,071 "And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished 62 00:04:26,079 --> 00:04:29,029 at his teaching, for his word possessed authority." 63 00:04:29,033 --> 00:04:33,062 So we learn more about Jesus' ministry of preaching and teaching. 64 00:04:33,067 --> 00:04:39,000 He was a rabbi, preacher and teacher, that was his primary ministry. 65 00:04:39,008 --> 00:04:41,017 And here he's preaching and teaching in the synagogue, 66 00:04:41,021 --> 00:04:43,088 in this little town of Capernaum on the Sabbath. 67 00:04:43,096 --> 00:04:48,038 Their Sabbath was Saturday, ours is on Sunday, the day of the resurrection 68 00:04:48,046 --> 00:04:52,038 of Jesus when all of the old covenant, including the Sabbath, was fulfilled 69 00:04:52,046 --> 00:04:55,075 and the new world inaugurated and the kingdom dawned 70 00:04:55,083 --> 00:04:57,096 with the resurrection of Jesus. 71 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,075 And Jesus is preaching and teaching and people are absolutely amazed 72 00:05:01,083 --> 00:05:05,038 because he didn't teach like anyone else. 73 00:05:05,046 --> 00:05:08,050 Jesus did not bore people with the Bible. 74 00:05:08,058 --> 00:05:11,092 That is one of the greatest sins that a teacher or preacher 75 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,021 would commit, is to bore people with the Bible. 76 00:05:15,029 --> 00:05:20,096 And in that day, they were particularly skilled at boring people with the Bible. 77 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,075 They would read the comments about the footnotes and the comments about 78 00:05:24,083 --> 00:05:28,033 the comments about the footnotes and the footnotes about the comments about 79 00:05:28,042 --> 00:05:35,025 the comments of the footnotes, and it was just dull and dry and boring. 80 00:05:35,033 --> 00:05:39,062 And then Jesus shows up very enthusiastic, very passionate. 81 00:05:39,067 --> 00:05:43,050 He had already told us that he would be a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led preacher. 82 00:05:43,054 --> 00:05:47,071 He began his public ministry in Luke 4 around verse 18 where he quotes 83 00:05:47,079 --> 00:05:51,075 Isaiah 11:2 where it says, "And the Spirit of the Lord has 84 00:05:51,083 --> 00:05:54,033 come upon me to preach good news." 85 00:05:54,038 --> 00:05:59,029 So he preached by the power of the Holy Spirit and he taught by the power 86 00:05:59,033 --> 00:06:02,017 of the Holy Spirit and people were amazed 87 00:06:02,025 --> 00:06:04,071 because they had never heard anyone like Jesus. 88 00:06:04,079 --> 00:06:09,021 Jesus was, while on the earth, an amazing teacher. 89 00:06:09,029 --> 00:06:14,075 He's more than that, he's also God incarnate, but he was an amazing teacher 90 00:06:14,083 --> 00:06:19,038 and he sends the Holy Spirit to empower Bible preachers and teachers today 91 00:06:19,046 --> 00:06:23,042 to preach and teach the Bible rather than boring them with the Bible, 92 00:06:23,050 --> 00:06:25,079 "and they were astonished." 93 00:06:25,083 --> 00:06:30,038 And then something happens in this little synagogue in Capernaum. 94 00:06:30,046 --> 00:06:34,075 Luke 4:33-34, "And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit 95 00:06:34,083 --> 00:06:38,088 "of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 'Ha! 96 00:06:38,096 --> 00:06:41,017 "'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? 97 00:06:41,021 --> 00:06:42,088 "'Have you come to destroy us? 98 00:06:42,096 --> 00:06:46,021 I know who you are-- the Holy One of God.'" 99 00:06:46,029 --> 00:06:50,079 One thing you will note is that demons have some of the highest Christology, 100 00:06:50,083 --> 00:06:53,083 that's the theology of Christ, in the whole Bible. 101 00:06:53,088 --> 00:06:55,067 The demons know who Jesus is. 102 00:06:55,071 --> 00:06:59,079 Lots of other people don't get it, but the demons know who he is. 103 00:06:59,083 --> 00:07:05,008 "The Holy One of God," category unto himself, unlike anyone else, 104 00:07:05,017 --> 00:07:08,083 one of a kind, that's Jesus, the Holy One of God, 105 00:07:08,092 --> 00:07:11,050 and he is preaching and teaching here in the synagogue, 106 00:07:11,054 --> 00:07:15,029 the old covenant church on their Sabbath day for their meeting. 107 00:07:15,033 --> 00:07:19,021 And who does he have some interaction and conflict with? 108 00:07:19,029 --> 00:07:24,088 A demonized man, a man who has an unclean demon, an unclean demon. 109 00:07:24,096 --> 00:07:29,096 It will say "unclean demon" about 23 times, if memory serves me correct, 110 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,038 throughout the Gospel of Luke. 111 00:07:31,046 --> 00:07:35,038 Jesus keeps having these power encounters with demons. 112 00:07:35,046 --> 00:07:40,062 As the kingdom of God comes, there is opposition from the kingdom of darkness, 113 00:07:40,067 --> 00:07:44,046 and there is this battle that is raging throughout the totality 114 00:07:44,050 --> 00:07:50,033 of the Gospel of Luke all the up to the crucifixion of Jesus. 115 00:07:50,038 --> 00:07:54,029 And so you're going to get very familiar with Satan and demons throughout 116 00:07:54,033 --> 00:07:57,083 the course of our study of Luke's Gospel. 117 00:07:57,092 --> 00:08:00,083 And here what we see is this demonized man was in the synagogue, 118 00:08:00,092 --> 00:08:05,004 he was in the old covenant equivalent of church. 119 00:08:05,012 --> 00:08:09,025 Don't think for a minute that all the people in church are great 120 00:08:09,033 --> 00:08:13,004 and all the people outside of church are demonized. 121 00:08:13,012 --> 00:08:15,054 There's demonized people among God's people as well. 122 00:08:15,062 --> 00:08:23,012 Just like Satan filled Judas Iscariot and compelled him toward his murderous, 123 00:08:23,017 --> 00:08:27,083 treasonous betrayal of Jesus, so too, even in the church, 124 00:08:27,088 --> 00:08:33,083 Satan will empower; for those who are unbelievers even indwell. 125 00:08:33,092 --> 00:08:39,096 He causes all kinds of division and strife and conflict and controversy. 126 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,021 Jesus is the good shepherd. 127 00:08:42,029 --> 00:08:44,079 Pastors are under-shepherds. 128 00:08:44,083 --> 00:08:46,050 People are sheep. 129 00:08:46,054 --> 00:08:51,067 And Satan loves to send in wolves to ravage the flock, 130 00:08:51,071 --> 00:08:54,071 and to attack the under-shepherds. 131 00:08:54,079 --> 00:09:02,071 So here we see that there is a demonized man gathering among God's people. 132 00:09:02,079 --> 00:09:07,058 What we need to do now is we need to study demons and Satan. 133 00:09:07,067 --> 00:09:13,050 As we do, many of you wonder why we would choose this. We didn't, God did. 134 00:09:13,054 --> 00:09:15,075 And he put it in the Scriptures and we go through books of the Bible 135 00:09:15,083 --> 00:09:18,067 and we talk about whatever it is God has said. 136 00:09:18,071 --> 00:09:22,054 And you're going to learn about Satan and demons repeatedly 137 00:09:22,062 --> 00:09:23,083 in the Gospel of Luke. 138 00:09:23,092 --> 00:09:27,062 And let me say by way of preface, there's a good little book by C.S. Lewis 139 00:09:27,067 --> 00:09:31,017 called "The Screwtape Letters" and in it he's talking about Satan 140 00:09:31,025 --> 00:09:34,033 and demons and he makes this interesting statement, 141 00:09:34,038 --> 00:09:38,079 "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race could fall about the devils. 142 00:09:38,083 --> 00:09:41,088 "One is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe 143 00:09:41,096 --> 00:09:46,067 and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them." 144 00:09:46,075 --> 00:09:50,000 What he says is, "As soon as you say demons, people go one of two ways, 145 00:09:50,008 --> 00:09:51,033 "They don't exist. 146 00:09:51,038 --> 00:09:52,038 "I don't worry about them. 147 00:09:52,046 --> 00:09:53,058 "I don't believe in them. 148 00:09:53,067 --> 00:09:56,025 Move on, you're making me feel awkward." 149 00:09:56,033 --> 00:09:58,017 All right, that's some of you. 150 00:09:58,025 --> 00:10:02,017 Others of you will have an unhealthy, an inordinate obsession 151 00:10:02,025 --> 00:10:03,042 with Satan and demons. 152 00:10:03,050 --> 00:10:07,054 You will blame them for everything, just like Eve did in Genesis 3, 153 00:10:07,062 --> 00:10:09,054 "The devil made me do it." 154 00:10:09,062 --> 00:10:13,075 And you'll find a demon in everything, everything. 155 00:10:13,083 --> 00:10:16,033 And some people really get freaked out and it's like 156 00:10:16,038 --> 00:10:20,008 "Oh, my coffee's hotter today than it was yesterday, hell is hot. 157 00:10:20,017 --> 00:10:24,008 This is must be the coffee demon coming to scald me from my enemy." 158 00:10:24,017 --> 00:10:27,079 I mean it's just, it's goofy, it's goof-tastic. 159 00:10:27,083 --> 00:10:30,000 That's where some people go. 160 00:10:30,008 --> 00:10:31,058 They go goof-tastic on it. 161 00:10:31,067 --> 00:10:35,021 Now the reason some you would deny Satan and demons, number one, 162 00:10:35,029 --> 00:10:39,000 you may be influenced by what we'll call modernism 163 00:10:39,004 --> 00:10:43,050 and a few-hundred year enlightenment project where scientific rationalism said 164 00:10:43,058 --> 00:10:46,079 that there is only physical, there is no spiritual. 165 00:10:46,083 --> 00:10:50,096 So you don't believe in a spirit realm at all, particularly Satan and demons. 166 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,033 Some of you, as well, may not believe in Satan and demons 167 00:10:53,042 --> 00:10:57,058 because you suffer from something called chronological snobbery. 168 00:10:57,067 --> 00:11:01,021 You think that they were primitive and they didn't understand things 169 00:11:01,029 --> 00:11:05,000 and so they invented mythical figures, and now you've gone to community college 170 00:11:05,004 --> 00:11:10,025 and you are highly developed and evolved and you're smarter than they were. 171 00:11:10,050 --> 00:11:13,017 Some of you will deny Satan and demons as well 172 00:11:13,021 --> 00:11:16,000 because you believe in spirituality. 173 00:11:16,008 --> 00:11:19,067 Spirituality is demonology. 174 00:11:19,075 --> 00:11:23,071 Just because it is spiritual does not mean it is good. 175 00:11:23,079 --> 00:11:28,004 Much of what is spiritual is demonic and satanic. 176 00:11:28,012 --> 00:11:33,017 And we live in a day when as long as you are spiritual, you are fine. 177 00:11:33,025 --> 00:11:34,088 You may not be fine. 178 00:11:34,096 --> 00:11:38,083 Your yoga, your meditation, your religion, your spirituality, 179 00:11:38,092 --> 00:11:45,050 your supernatural experience may all be demonic, satanic. 180 00:11:45,054 --> 00:11:47,042 So I don't want you to have an unhealthy, 181 00:11:47,050 --> 00:11:51,000 inordinate obsession with Satan and demons. 182 00:11:51,008 --> 00:11:54,017 We believe in them, but we emphasize Jesus. 183 00:11:54,025 --> 00:11:57,050 And I don't want you to deny them or settle for just vague, 184 00:11:57,054 --> 00:11:59,017 general spirituality. 185 00:11:59,021 --> 00:12:03,000 But as Christ did, we will encounter Satan and demons. 186 00:12:03,004 --> 00:12:07,058 Clinton Arnold, in my opinion, the best New Testament scholar on Satan 187 00:12:07,067 --> 00:12:12,004 and demons, written some of the finest commentary about Satan and demons 188 00:12:12,012 --> 00:12:14,054 that has been written in the modern era. 189 00:12:14,062 --> 00:12:16,033 He makes this interesting statement. 190 00:12:16,042 --> 00:12:20,042 He says that, "A servant of Christ can no more avoid demons 191 00:12:20,050 --> 00:12:24,004 than a gardener can avoid weeds." 192 00:12:24,012 --> 00:12:27,092 All right, if you're gonna serve Jesus, you're gonna meet demons. 193 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,075 Just like if you're gonna tend your garden, you're gonna pull weeds. 194 00:12:31,083 --> 00:12:33,083 That's just the way that it is. 195 00:12:34,033 --> 00:12:36,029 That's just the way that it is. 196 00:12:36,033 --> 00:12:43,025 Now let me tell you a few things about Satan, he is not equal to God, 197 00:12:43,033 --> 00:12:44,050 that's number one. 198 00:12:44,054 --> 00:12:47,000 Number one, Satan is not equal to God. 199 00:12:47,008 --> 00:12:50,096 It's not like there's two Gods, good God, bad God, all right, 200 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,017 Ying and Yang, that's not it. 201 00:12:54,025 --> 00:12:57,029 It's God the Creator and created things. 202 00:12:57,033 --> 00:12:59,054 Satan is among the created things. 203 00:12:59,062 --> 00:13:05,058 Satan was an angel created by God to glorify, honor, obey, and serve him. 204 00:13:05,067 --> 00:13:08,000 If you want to read more, go to Ezekiel 14. 205 00:13:08,008 --> 00:13:11,000 You can do this for personal study and community groups. 206 00:13:11,004 --> 00:13:14,004 I've also got a whole lecture on Satan and demons that I did 207 00:13:14,012 --> 00:13:15,042 for the staff, it's online. 208 00:13:15,050 --> 00:13:18,000 We can give you the link to that with 20 pages of notes. 209 00:13:18,004 --> 00:13:24,017 We've done a lot of work on this, but nonetheless, Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, 210 00:13:24,025 --> 00:13:27,046 Genesis 3, Ephesians 6. 211 00:13:27,050 --> 00:13:30,004 If I was gonna give you four places to go off the top of my head, 212 00:13:30,012 --> 00:13:34,004 Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, Genesis 3, Ephesians 6. 213 00:13:34,012 --> 00:13:36,042 You put those together, you're gonna have a really good idea, 214 00:13:36,050 --> 00:13:39,033 theologically speaking, about Satan and demons. 215 00:13:39,038 --> 00:13:44,008 But the first thing you need to know is Satan and demons are not equal to God, 216 00:13:44,017 --> 00:13:45,096 they're created beings. 217 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:50,008 They are angels who rebelled against God. 218 00:13:50,017 --> 00:13:53,021 Satan was cast out of heaven. 219 00:13:53,029 --> 00:13:59,004 Those angels who declared war on God with him were cast down with him. 220 00:13:59,012 --> 00:14:02,029 So we're talking about Satan, he's not Creator, God is. 221 00:14:02,033 --> 00:14:05,029 He's not all present, omnipresent, God is. 222 00:14:05,033 --> 00:14:08,046 He's not omnipotent, all knowing, God is. 223 00:14:08,050 --> 00:14:11,000 He's not all powerful, God is. 224 00:14:11,004 --> 00:14:14,033 He doesn't share the attributes of God. 225 00:14:14,038 --> 00:14:15,067 He's not equal to God. 226 00:14:15,071 --> 00:14:17,008 He's not the other God. 227 00:14:17,017 --> 00:14:21,017 He's a created being in rebellion against God. 228 00:14:21,025 --> 00:14:25,058 Number two, Satan is not our only enemy. 229 00:14:25,067 --> 00:14:28,000 Satan does work through false teachers, 230 00:14:28,008 --> 00:14:32,025 false apostles, false Christians, false religions. 231 00:14:32,033 --> 00:14:37,017 He does have an entire army at his service, liars, 232 00:14:37,021 --> 00:14:41,046 unrepentant sinners included. 233 00:14:41,050 --> 00:14:44,050 But also the Bible gives us three categories of opposition: 234 00:14:44,054 --> 00:14:48,000 the world, the flesh, and the devil. 235 00:14:48,008 --> 00:14:51,017 Now there is Satan and demons, 236 00:14:51,021 --> 00:14:55,038 and you, even if you're getting attacked spiritually, it's probably not by Satan. 237 00:14:55,046 --> 00:14:57,046 All right, Satan can only attack one person at a time. 238 00:14:57,050 --> 00:15:02,050 He can send a limited number of demons to attack a limited number of persons. 239 00:15:02,058 --> 00:15:07,038 All right, Satan's probably harassing Billy Graham, probably not you, all right. 240 00:15:07,046 --> 00:15:11,000 If you're getting harassed it's probably not Satan, it's one of his servants. 241 00:15:11,004 --> 00:15:12,029 It's a demon. 242 00:15:12,033 --> 00:15:15,042 So there's the devil. There's the world, the flesh, and the devil. 243 00:15:15,050 --> 00:15:20,017 Now the flesh is our internal predisposition toward rebellion. 244 00:15:20,021 --> 00:15:24,012 It's our own sinful tendencies and proclivities. 245 00:15:24,017 --> 00:15:28,004 It's our own sick desires to rebel and do evil. 246 00:15:28,012 --> 00:15:32,029 And so some of you, your real issue isn't Satan at all, it's your flesh. 247 00:15:32,033 --> 00:15:35,083 Again, if there's a limited number of demons, why in the world would Satan 248 00:15:35,088 --> 00:15:40,025 commission a demon to attack you if you're already destroying yourself? 249 00:15:40,033 --> 00:15:44,000 If it's a battle and you've got your own gun in your mouth, 250 00:15:44,008 --> 00:15:49,012 why in the world would Satan send one of his few soldiers to attack you? 251 00:15:49,017 --> 00:15:50,075 You're gonna kill yourself. 252 00:15:50,083 --> 00:15:54,071 And some of you are doing it through habitual unrepentant sin, spirituality, 253 00:15:54,079 --> 00:15:59,017 false religion, pride, arrogance, all of that. 254 00:15:59,021 --> 00:16:01,054 And Satan's favorite tactic is pride. 255 00:16:01,062 --> 00:16:05,004 The reason he was cast out of heaven was pride. 256 00:16:05,012 --> 00:16:06,075 He tempts pride. 257 00:16:06,083 --> 00:16:09,058 We call it self-esteem. 258 00:16:09,067 --> 00:16:13,046 Any of you who are bound by these things, it is not that Satan needs 259 00:16:13,050 --> 00:16:18,021 to attack you, your flesh has taken care of it: pride, religion, sex, drugs, 260 00:16:18,029 --> 00:16:23,021 gluttony, foolishness, spirituality, stupidity, religion. 261 00:16:23,029 --> 00:16:24,088 All right, you've just got the gun in your mouth. 262 00:16:24,096 --> 00:16:27,075 You can't blame Satan. 263 00:16:27,083 --> 00:16:30,075 There's the devil, there's the flesh, there's also the world. 264 00:16:30,083 --> 00:16:34,050 The world is the corporate systems and structures and ideologies 265 00:16:34,054 --> 00:16:35,050 that are opposed to God. 266 00:16:35,054 --> 00:16:39,004 If you believe what everyone believes, if you behave as everyone behaves, 267 00:16:39,012 --> 00:16:43,067 you will be living a satanic life, you just will. 268 00:16:43,075 --> 00:16:50,000 Now it may be a spiritual life, but it will be a satanically spiritual life. 269 00:16:50,008 --> 00:16:56,000 The world tempts you to sin, to use people, to disobey God, to live 270 00:16:56,008 --> 00:17:02,000 for your own glory instead of his own, to be a consumer instead of generous, 271 00:17:02,004 --> 00:17:04,017 that's the world system. 272 00:17:04,021 --> 00:17:08,079 And if you don't believe me, go see "Avatar," the most demonic, 273 00:17:08,083 --> 00:17:11,004 satanic film I've ever seen. 274 00:17:11,012 --> 00:17:14,017 That any Christian could watch that without seeing 275 00:17:14,025 --> 00:17:17,062 the overt demonism is beyond me. 276 00:17:17,067 --> 00:17:21,083 I logged on to christianitytoday.com and the review was reflective 277 00:17:21,092 --> 00:17:26,071 of Christianity today, very disappointing. 278 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:33,083 See, in that movie, it is a completely false ideology, it's a sermon preached. 279 00:17:33,088 --> 00:17:38,017 It's the most popular movie ever made, and it tells you 280 00:17:38,021 --> 00:17:43,012 that the creation mandate, the cultural mandate is bad, that we shouldn't, 281 00:17:43,017 --> 00:17:45,079 we shouldn't develop culture, that's a bad thing. 282 00:17:45,083 --> 00:17:50,079 Primitive is good and advanced is bad and that we're not sinners, we're just 283 00:17:50,083 --> 00:17:58,071 disconnected from the divine life force, just classic, classic, classic paganism, 284 00:17:58,079 --> 00:18:03,088 that human beings are to connect, literally, with trees and animals 285 00:18:03,096 --> 00:18:07,083 and beasts and birds and that there's this spiritual connection 286 00:18:07,092 --> 00:18:10,038 that we're all a part of, that we're all a part of the divine. 287 00:18:10,046 --> 00:18:13,033 It presents a false mediator with a witch. 288 00:18:13,038 --> 00:18:17,071 It presents false worship of created things rather than Creator God in 289 00:18:17,079 --> 00:18:23,050 absolute antithesis to Romans 1:25, which gives that as the essence of paganism. 290 00:18:23,058 --> 00:18:27,096 It has a false incarnation where a man comes in to be among 291 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,079 a people group and to assume their identity. 292 00:18:30,083 --> 00:18:33,012 It's a false Jesus. 293 00:18:33,017 --> 00:18:35,062 We have a false resurrection. 294 00:18:35,067 --> 00:18:37,062 We have a false savior. 295 00:18:37,067 --> 00:18:39,033 We have a false heaven. 296 00:18:39,042 --> 00:18:45,012 The whole thing is new age, satanic, demonic paganism, 297 00:18:45,017 --> 00:18:49,012 and people are just stunned by the visuals. 298 00:18:49,017 --> 00:18:52,050 Well, the visuals are amazing because Satan wants you 299 00:18:52,058 --> 00:18:56,021 to emotionally connect with a lie. 300 00:18:56,029 --> 00:18:58,067 And some of you say, "This is my first time, is he a fundamentalist?" 301 00:18:58,071 --> 00:19:00,033 I've never been accused of that. 302 00:19:00,038 --> 00:19:03,038 I've been accused of many things, not being a fundamentalist. 303 00:19:03,046 --> 00:19:05,050 I do love film, I love story. 304 00:19:05,054 --> 00:19:08,008 My degree's in communication. 305 00:19:08,017 --> 00:19:10,012 I've got two home theater systems. 306 00:19:10,017 --> 00:19:15,075 I've got three Tivos, all right, I am not against technology and the arts. 307 00:19:15,083 --> 00:19:18,079 Our film crew just was in L.A. 308 00:19:18,083 --> 00:19:21,046 at Universal Studios shooting on the Spartacus set 309 00:19:21,050 --> 00:19:24,046 to get all of our footage for Good Friday. 310 00:19:24,050 --> 00:19:27,083 Some of my friends are filmmakers and poets and artists 311 00:19:27,092 --> 00:19:30,000 and we're a very creative church. 312 00:19:30,004 --> 00:19:32,021 We just don't like Satan, that's all. 313 00:19:32,029 --> 00:19:35,050 We love the arts, we just don't like Satan. 314 00:19:36,075 --> 00:19:40,067 And it's amazing to me that Christians are going to the movie going 315 00:19:40,075 --> 00:19:42,050 "That was so enlightening." 316 00:19:42,054 --> 00:19:45,092 No, that was so darkening. 317 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:47,050 It's a worldview. 318 00:19:47,054 --> 00:19:48,096 It's the way to view the world. 319 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:50,067 "Oh, the problem isn't sin, 320 00:19:50,075 --> 00:19:54,021 "it's disconnected from the divine demonic spiritual life force. 321 00:19:54,029 --> 00:19:57,025 "Oh, the problem is not that I need a savior, 322 00:19:57,033 --> 00:20:02,000 the problem is that I need to live in tune with creation." 323 00:20:02,008 --> 00:20:06,083 This is all eastern garbagism. 324 00:20:06,088 --> 00:20:09,000 It just is. 325 00:20:09,008 --> 00:20:12,067 Spark a divinity within you, God is in everything. 326 00:20:12,071 --> 00:20:14,075 You don't need God to come and save you. 327 00:20:14,083 --> 00:20:18,017 That's all it is, it's worldliness. 328 00:20:18,021 --> 00:20:21,083 So you have three enemies; the world, this system of thinking and corruption 329 00:20:21,092 --> 00:20:26,062 that teaches you lies about you and God and the world and your place in it; 330 00:20:26,067 --> 00:20:32,058 the flesh, your internal predisposition toward rebellion and death; and also... 331 00:20:33,092 --> 00:20:38,083 the devil, a real enemy of God and his servants and demons with them all 332 00:20:38,088 --> 00:20:42,008 working together to get your flesh to follow the world rather 333 00:20:42,017 --> 00:20:44,054 than the Scriptures. 334 00:20:44,062 --> 00:20:51,096 Number two, my point: that Satan is not our only enemy. 335 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:57,033 Number three, you need to know your enemy. 336 00:20:57,038 --> 00:20:59,050 Satan is not like God, he's not God. 337 00:20:59,058 --> 00:21:00,096 He's not equal to God. 338 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,092 He's not our only enemy, he's a real enemy, and number three, 339 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:04,096 you need to know him. 340 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:06,033 You need to understand him and study him. 341 00:21:06,042 --> 00:21:08,075 2 Corinthians 2:11 in the New International Version says 342 00:21:08,083 --> 00:21:10,029 it this way, I like it. 343 00:21:10,033 --> 00:21:14,067 It says, "Satan won't outwit us providing we understand his schemes." 344 00:21:14,071 --> 00:21:16,017 Some of you have never been in a fight. 345 00:21:16,025 --> 00:21:20,079 If you've ever been in a fight or even a modified version, which is usually 346 00:21:20,083 --> 00:21:25,083 an athletic competition, you know the key is to study your opponent. 347 00:21:25,092 --> 00:21:29,071 If you don't know your opponent, your odds of losing go up. 348 00:21:29,079 --> 00:21:32,033 You need to know their strengths, so you can defend yourself there, 349 00:21:32,038 --> 00:21:35,000 their weaknesses, so you can attack them there. 350 00:21:35,004 --> 00:21:39,008 I'm a big fan of MMA, no secret there, not doing it, you could get hurt, 351 00:21:39,017 --> 00:21:41,071 but I like watching it. 352 00:21:41,079 --> 00:21:44,092 And what you find in MMA is there's all these different styles. 353 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,025 There's wrestlers and jujitsu and Muay Thai and boxing, 354 00:21:48,033 --> 00:21:52,017 all these different disciplines and each have strengths and weaknesses. 355 00:21:52,021 --> 00:21:56,012 So if you're a wrestler up against a guy who's a boxer, 356 00:21:56,017 --> 00:21:59,033 first thing you need to do is kick his legs a lot because if he plants the front foot, 357 00:21:59,038 --> 00:22:00,088 he's gonna knock you out. 358 00:22:00,096 --> 00:22:03,017 But if you kick away the front leg, you take away his power 359 00:22:03,025 --> 00:22:04,083 then you could shoot, get him to the ground. 360 00:22:04,092 --> 00:22:06,096 If you're a wrestler, now you're in control. 361 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,033 You've maintained top position. 362 00:22:09,038 --> 00:22:12,025 If you're someone who's got a great stand-up game, let's say you're 363 00:22:12,033 --> 00:22:15,000 a Muay Thai fighter, but you don't have much of a ground game, well, 364 00:22:15,008 --> 00:22:18,058 then the best person to defeat them is someone who knows jujitsu. 365 00:22:18,067 --> 00:22:20,067 They get you on the ground, they get you in some weird hold, 366 00:22:20,071 --> 00:22:24,012 next thing you know you're out cold, don't even know what happened to you. 367 00:22:24,017 --> 00:22:27,050 'Cause Muay Thai's all about knees and elbows so you gotta be working 368 00:22:27,058 --> 00:22:29,058 from the top, from the clinch. 369 00:22:29,067 --> 00:22:32,008 But on the ground, you're in trouble. 370 00:22:32,017 --> 00:22:35,004 The point is you know your enemy, you know their strengths and weaknesses, 371 00:22:35,012 --> 00:22:38,079 you defend yourself at point of weakness and you attack at the point of strength. 372 00:22:38,083 --> 00:22:41,092 If you don't know Satan, you will be defeated. 373 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:43,079 That's the big idea. 374 00:22:43,083 --> 00:22:47,046 So back to the story. 375 00:22:47,050 --> 00:22:51,067 He has somehow gotten access to someone in the congregation. 376 00:22:51,075 --> 00:22:57,017 Jesus shows up, God in human flesh, preaching and teaching and this demon is 377 00:22:57,025 --> 00:22:59,012 manifested through this person. 378 00:22:59,017 --> 00:23:00,062 Now there's a conflict. 379 00:23:00,067 --> 00:23:04,017 All of a sudden this synagogue is an octagon and there's going to be 380 00:23:04,021 --> 00:23:07,054 a conflict right there among God's people. 381 00:23:07,062 --> 00:23:13,054 Luke 4:35-37, "But Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be silent and come out of him!' 382 00:23:13,062 --> 00:23:15,050 "And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, 383 00:23:15,054 --> 00:23:17,062 "he came out of him, having done him no harm. 384 00:23:17,067 --> 00:23:20,088 "And they were all amazed and said to one another, 'What is this word? 385 00:23:20,096 --> 00:23:25,000 "For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!' 386 00:23:25,004 --> 00:23:30,021 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region." 387 00:23:30,029 --> 00:23:33,033 Now they're amazed by the authority of Jesus in preaching 388 00:23:33,038 --> 00:23:35,088 and in commanding spirits. 389 00:23:35,096 --> 00:23:40,021 See in that day, some of the rabbis would try and deal with demons, 390 00:23:40,029 --> 00:23:44,083 but it was more like "Poltergeist" or "Exorcist" or "Rosemary's Baby," 391 00:23:44,088 --> 00:23:46,054 it went really bad really fast. 392 00:23:46,062 --> 00:23:47,079 They didn't know what they were doing. 393 00:23:47,083 --> 00:23:51,025 They had weird incantations and ways of doing things. 394 00:23:51,033 --> 00:23:54,000 And Jesus just shows up with complete divine authority and says, 395 00:23:54,008 --> 00:23:58,054 "You, go," done, simple. 396 00:23:58,062 --> 00:24:00,017 That's authority. 397 00:24:00,021 --> 00:24:03,088 And the demons obey him because he is God, 398 00:24:03,096 --> 00:24:08,033 and they have to obey him because his authority is ultimate. 399 00:24:08,038 --> 00:24:12,092 Now some of you will want to know how in the world did this guy get demonized. 400 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,012 The Bible doesn't generally use the word demon possession, 401 00:24:16,017 --> 00:24:17,092 some of your translations will. 402 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,038 It uses the word "demonized," that can be internally influenced, 403 00:24:21,046 --> 00:24:26,042 externally oppressed, completely controlled, it's a wide range of usage and meaning. 404 00:24:26,050 --> 00:24:28,021 But how does that happen? 405 00:24:28,029 --> 00:24:32,079 I'll use an analogy building on a metaphor that Jesus uses. 406 00:24:32,083 --> 00:24:36,062 He uses the analogy about Satan and demons about a house. 407 00:24:36,067 --> 00:24:45,000 So let's look at your life and your body like a house, you live in it. 408 00:24:45,004 --> 00:24:49,096 Now what happens to your house if you leave all the windows open, 409 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,042 all the doors open and you invite all the wrong people over? 410 00:24:54,050 --> 00:24:58,092 They move in, they trash the place, they do horrible things, they torment you, 411 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,088 they destroy your house. 412 00:25:01,096 --> 00:25:04,004 They take over your life. 413 00:25:04,012 --> 00:25:09,017 Your life is like that through sin, unrepentant sin, habitual sin, 414 00:25:09,025 --> 00:25:11,096 folly, general spirituality. 415 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,033 Yes, this includes Buddhism, Hinduism, Jehovah's witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, 416 00:25:17,038 --> 00:25:23,000 all demonism, spiritual power through sources other than the God of the Bible. 417 00:25:23,004 --> 00:25:26,054 You're involved in the occult, witchcraft, drunkenness, sexuality, 418 00:25:26,062 --> 00:25:28,075 all these kind of things. 419 00:25:28,083 --> 00:25:31,000 What you're doing is you're opening the windows and you're taking 420 00:25:31,004 --> 00:25:37,075 the hinges off the doors and you're inviting unclean people and things in. 421 00:25:37,083 --> 00:25:45,062 At some point, it can go really bad for you, really bad for you. 422 00:25:45,067 --> 00:25:46,096 See some of you don't look at it that way. 423 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,083 You just think sin is the breaking of a law, which it is, 424 00:25:49,092 --> 00:25:53,017 but sin is also the opening of a door. 425 00:25:53,021 --> 00:25:55,033 How many of you tonight would go to bed with all of the doors off 426 00:25:55,038 --> 00:25:57,054 the hinges in your house? 427 00:25:57,062 --> 00:26:01,033 But some of you do that spiritually every day. 428 00:26:01,042 --> 00:26:05,083 Unrepentant, habitual sin, folly, religion and spirituality. 429 00:26:05,092 --> 00:26:09,033 What happens then is if you're a non-Christian, 430 00:26:09,042 --> 00:26:11,033 see your house belongs to Satan. 431 00:26:11,042 --> 00:26:12,092 You either belong to God or Satan. 432 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,054 So if you're a non-Christian, you might be nice, spiritual, moral, decent 433 00:26:16,062 --> 00:26:19,092 and good, and Satan wants you to believe that you're wonderful 434 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:24,021 because he loves pride and as long as you're happy being on his team, 435 00:26:24,029 --> 00:26:27,058 he's not going to disrupt anything. 436 00:26:27,067 --> 00:26:30,008 And so he owns you and then he possesses you. 437 00:26:30,017 --> 00:26:33,058 He owns you and your life and he starts to do devastation, 438 00:26:33,067 --> 00:26:35,062 his work always leads to death. 439 00:26:35,067 --> 00:26:40,050 Now if you're a Christian, does Satan own your proverbial house, yes or no? 440 00:26:40,058 --> 00:26:44,058 No, but can you open yourself up to all kinds of torment and influence 441 00:26:44,067 --> 00:26:48,004 by inviting people and things into your life that shouldn't be there? 442 00:26:48,012 --> 00:26:50,062 Yes, yes. 443 00:26:50,067 --> 00:26:53,054 We don't know whether or not this man was a believer, all we know is 444 00:26:53,062 --> 00:26:57,000 he had opened all the doors and windows to his house to the point where 445 00:26:57,004 --> 00:27:00,067 when Jesus shows up, there's actually a demon connected to this guy. 446 00:27:00,075 --> 00:27:05,004 A Christian cannot be demon possessed, Jesus owns them, 447 00:27:05,012 --> 00:27:10,017 but they can be demonically influenced by all the openings in their life. 448 00:27:10,025 --> 00:27:13,058 That's why one of my frequent prayers is when I'm repenting of sin 449 00:27:13,067 --> 00:27:18,029 and dealing with God, is: "God close any doors I've opened, 450 00:27:18,033 --> 00:27:21,021 "take back any ground I have given. 451 00:27:21,029 --> 00:27:24,012 "I command everything and everyone that has does not love 452 00:27:24,017 --> 00:27:27,025 "and serve Jesus away from me and my family. 453 00:27:27,033 --> 00:27:30,042 "I pray against the enemy and his servants, their works and effects, 454 00:27:30,050 --> 00:27:33,025 "and I command them away from me and my family. 455 00:27:33,033 --> 00:27:37,008 "And I ask you, Holy Spirit, to come in, to live in me and my home 456 00:27:37,017 --> 00:27:40,033 and our life and to have your way with us." 457 00:27:40,042 --> 00:27:43,000 'Cause Jesus says even if you get rid of the demons and you don't have 458 00:27:43,004 --> 00:27:46,096 the Holy Spirit to take up residence in your proverbial home, you get what? 459 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,042 Seven more demons. 460 00:27:49,050 --> 00:27:51,092 It's a very serious matter. 461 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,067 See, right now Satan would whisper in some of your ears, "This is crazy talk. 462 00:27:55,071 --> 00:27:58,004 "What he's talking about is a biomedical condition. 463 00:27:58,012 --> 00:28:00,004 "These are people that are mentally disturbed. 464 00:28:00,012 --> 00:28:02,079 These are the kind of people who hear voices." 465 00:28:02,083 --> 00:28:06,046 The truth is they may actually be hearing voices. 466 00:28:06,050 --> 00:28:09,067 Their issues may not all be psychosomatic. 467 00:28:09,075 --> 00:28:12,075 Some people do have physical conditions, they do have abuse issues, 468 00:28:12,083 --> 00:28:14,075 they do have clinical diagnoses. 469 00:28:14,083 --> 00:28:18,058 Some people do need medicine and some people are also in bondage 470 00:28:18,067 --> 00:28:24,033 to the enemy who's tormenting them, harassing them, yelling at them. 471 00:28:24,038 --> 00:28:27,050 And people who dismiss the spiritual and only evaluate the physical, 472 00:28:27,058 --> 00:28:31,083 they're not able to do the best in treating the whole person. 473 00:28:31,088 --> 00:28:36,038 This man's in torment and Jesus sees it and delivers him. 474 00:28:36,046 --> 00:28:38,067 How many of you right now would like to know what things do you 475 00:28:38,075 --> 00:28:40,062 do to open the doors and windows? 476 00:28:40,067 --> 00:28:43,046 It'd be nice to have a checklist. 477 00:28:43,050 --> 00:28:45,004 I'll give you one from Scripture. 478 00:28:45,012 --> 00:28:48,033 The Bible's true and it gives us information so that Satan 479 00:28:48,038 --> 00:28:51,021 won't out wit us because of his schemes. 480 00:28:51,029 --> 00:28:52,083 We'll start with the ordinary demonic. 481 00:28:52,092 --> 00:28:55,067 These are just ways to open the windows, open the doors, 482 00:28:55,075 --> 00:28:59,033 come on in, ruin my life. 483 00:28:59,038 --> 00:29:05,054 Sexual sin: porn, fornication, adultery, bisexuality, bestiality. 484 00:29:05,062 --> 00:29:08,025 Marriage between Christians and non-Christians. 485 00:29:08,033 --> 00:29:10,071 I'll put all this on the blog and you can look it up later. 486 00:29:10,079 --> 00:29:16,058 False religion, false teaching, false Jesus. 487 00:29:16,067 --> 00:29:18,071 Bitterness, just unforgiveness 488 00:29:18,079 --> 00:29:22,038 towards someone who's sinned against you. Foolishness and drunkenness. 489 00:29:22,046 --> 00:29:25,071 The Bible says to be self-controlled and alert, not when you're drunk, 490 00:29:25,079 --> 00:29:27,012 it's impossible. 491 00:29:27,017 --> 00:29:28,088 Idle gossip and busybodying. 492 00:29:28,096 --> 00:29:29,067 That's evil? 493 00:29:29,075 --> 00:29:33,021 Yes, it's demonic, especially in the church. 494 00:29:33,029 --> 00:29:34,029 Lies. 495 00:29:34,033 --> 00:29:38,042 Saying lies, believing lies, particularly about God and Jesus. 496 00:29:38,050 --> 00:29:43,017 And idolatry, which is worshiping anyone or anything other than Jesus. 497 00:29:43,021 --> 00:29:46,042 All of those are ways to open doors and open windows. 498 00:29:46,050 --> 00:29:48,033 Some of you say, "Well, I do that all the time." 499 00:29:48,042 --> 00:29:52,025 Well, that explains why you're confused, the love of God seems distant, 500 00:29:52,033 --> 00:29:57,050 the enemy seems near, life grows dark and cold, you get more proud and less humble, 501 00:29:57,058 --> 00:30:01,071 the Bible seems to be more ridiculous and you seem to be more insightful. 502 00:30:01,079 --> 00:30:04,025 The enemy's already doing his work. 503 00:30:04,033 --> 00:30:05,058 He's already moved into your house. 504 00:30:05,067 --> 00:30:06,062 Does he own your house? 505 00:30:06,067 --> 00:30:07,050 No. 506 00:30:07,054 --> 00:30:11,046 But you've invited him in through the ordinary demonic because some of you 507 00:30:11,050 --> 00:30:14,046 just think that sin is nothing more than just breaking rules. 508 00:30:14,050 --> 00:30:19,025 It's not, it's picking teams. 509 00:30:19,033 --> 00:30:24,004 And so you repent of sin and you close the windows and you shut the doors and 510 00:30:24,012 --> 00:30:27,075 you invite the Holy Spirit so that you can live in obedience 511 00:30:27,083 --> 00:30:31,038 without allowing your enemy access. 512 00:30:31,046 --> 00:30:37,038 If it escalates, it goes to what I'll call the extraordinary demonic. Torment. 513 00:30:37,046 --> 00:30:40,062 Physical injury, like this man whom Jesus healed and his body 514 00:30:40,067 --> 00:30:42,092 was thrown on the ground. 515 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,083 False miracles, some of you say, "But this person or guru, 516 00:30:45,088 --> 00:30:47,067 they're very powerful." 517 00:30:47,075 --> 00:30:51,000 Some of you have seen auras around people and had dreams 518 00:30:51,004 --> 00:30:53,033 and visions and seen angels. 519 00:30:53,038 --> 00:31:00,012 Much of it, if not all of it, demon, demon, demon, real but deceptive. 520 00:31:00,017 --> 00:31:06,033 Real and powerful and deceptively real and powerful. 521 00:31:06,042 --> 00:31:09,088 Accusation, Revelation 12:10, "Satan is the accuser of the children of God 522 00:31:09,096 --> 00:31:11,067 that he accuses them day and night." 523 00:31:11,071 --> 00:31:13,025 Some of you have negative self-talk. 524 00:31:13,033 --> 00:31:17,008 Some of you hear voices, "You are a failure, you are a loser, 525 00:31:17,017 --> 00:31:20,017 "you cannot be forgiven, you are not loved by God. 526 00:31:20,025 --> 00:31:21,071 "You will never change. 527 00:31:21,079 --> 00:31:23,088 "You should kill yourself. 528 00:31:23,096 --> 00:31:26,046 You, you, you." 529 00:31:26,050 --> 00:31:28,083 It's always that way. 530 00:31:28,088 --> 00:31:32,008 When Jesus is attacked by Satan repeatedly in Luke's Gospel, 531 00:31:32,017 --> 00:31:37,000 Satan says to him, "You, you, you." 532 00:31:37,017 --> 00:31:40,050 Some of you think you have negative self-talk, low self-esteem. 533 00:31:40,054 --> 00:31:44,000 Some of you, if it were a human being following you around saying these 534 00:31:44,004 --> 00:31:46,071 things, the diagnosis would be easy. 535 00:31:46,079 --> 00:31:49,004 You're being stalked and tormented. 536 00:31:49,012 --> 00:31:52,033 But because they're invisible, you think you're crazy. 537 00:31:52,038 --> 00:31:54,017 You may not be crazy. 538 00:31:54,025 --> 00:31:59,017 You may be opposed, you may be harassed. 539 00:31:59,096 --> 00:32:04,033 Death, ultimately Satan is a murderer, that's what Jesus says in John 8. 540 00:32:04,038 --> 00:32:07,058 He wants you to die, drugs, alcohol, sex, foolishness, 541 00:32:07,067 --> 00:32:10,050 reckless behavior, suicide. 542 00:32:10,058 --> 00:32:13,012 Murder and suicide is always his goal. 543 00:32:13,017 --> 00:32:16,017 And he works through false spirits and false spirituality. 544 00:32:16,025 --> 00:32:20,038 One of the great lies that the culture tells us is spiritual is good. 545 00:32:20,046 --> 00:32:22,046 That's exactly what Satan wants you to believe. 546 00:32:22,050 --> 00:32:25,058 That's why Oprah has a whole segment called spirit. 547 00:32:25,067 --> 00:32:31,004 All right, you know it's bad when it's not Jesus, that's the big idea. 548 00:32:31,012 --> 00:32:33,046 You gotta define who it is we're talking about. 549 00:32:33,050 --> 00:32:37,008 I don't want you to be spiritual, I want you to love Jesus. 550 00:32:37,017 --> 00:32:39,062 I don't want you to be connected to the spirit world, I want you to be filled 551 00:32:39,067 --> 00:32:46,017 with the singular Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that empowered the life of Jesus. 552 00:32:46,021 --> 00:32:50,092 Spirituality in all of its forms, radical environmentalism, yoga, 553 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,033 incantation, meditation. 554 00:32:53,042 --> 00:32:56,017 All of it is demonism. 555 00:32:56,025 --> 00:32:58,054 It's opening doors, opening windows. 556 00:32:58,062 --> 00:33:00,033 It just is. 557 00:33:00,042 --> 00:33:03,021 In 1 John 4 says, "Do not believe every spirit, 558 00:33:03,029 --> 00:33:07,025 test the spirits to see whether they love God or not." 559 00:33:07,033 --> 00:33:11,050 People don't discern, they don't test, they don't come back to Scripture. 560 00:33:11,058 --> 00:33:15,029 The result is they open the windows, they open the doors, they invite in 561 00:33:15,033 --> 00:33:20,038 their enemies and their life is destroyed or worse still, 562 00:33:20,046 --> 00:33:21,079 Satan blesses them. 563 00:33:21,083 --> 00:33:27,067 They're powerful, rich, famous, proud, and then they don't see any need for God 564 00:33:27,075 --> 00:33:31,058 because their life is so good because Satan 565 00:33:31,067 --> 00:33:37,067 has done nothing but make them fat and happy for the day of his feast. 566 00:33:38,008 --> 00:33:41,046 This man comes before Jesus and by his own authority, 567 00:33:41,050 --> 00:33:44,058 he casts this demon out and the word goes around. 568 00:33:44,067 --> 00:33:46,000 Jesus is here. 569 00:33:46,004 --> 00:33:47,033 There's no one like him. 570 00:33:47,042 --> 00:33:53,079 He has authority that is unprecedented, unequaled, and unparalleled. 571 00:33:53,083 --> 00:33:57,017 Now what happens next is the scene shifts from the synagogue 572 00:33:57,021 --> 00:33:58,042 to Peter's house. 573 00:33:58,050 --> 00:34:01,062 Peter's house is very important historically. 574 00:34:01,067 --> 00:34:05,083 It becomes the epicenter for Jesus' early ministry. 575 00:34:05,088 --> 00:34:08,004 Peter's house is small, it's not big. 576 00:34:08,012 --> 00:34:11,062 Few hundred, 200, 300, 400, 500, I don't know how big it was. 577 00:34:11,067 --> 00:34:13,000 I'll show it to you in a moment. 578 00:34:13,008 --> 00:34:14,012 It wasn't a big house. 579 00:34:14,017 --> 00:34:18,058 We're looking at a small town, small house, simple working-class fisherman. 580 00:34:18,067 --> 00:34:19,075 Jesus lived there. 581 00:34:19,083 --> 00:34:21,000 Jesus lived there. 582 00:34:21,008 --> 00:34:22,033 Jesus stayed there. 583 00:34:22,042 --> 00:34:24,083 Other disciples lived there, stayed there. 584 00:34:24,088 --> 00:34:26,067 The early church started meeting there. 585 00:34:26,071 --> 00:34:31,033 Christianity started as a community group at Peter's house. 586 00:34:31,042 --> 00:34:33,075 You're gonna see its inception and inauguration. 587 00:34:33,083 --> 00:34:36,062 And from there it kept growing so they kept knocking out walls 588 00:34:36,067 --> 00:34:40,046 and rebuilding Peter's house until it became a large church. 589 00:34:40,050 --> 00:34:45,017 I want you to know that all of this is actual, factual historical, and true. 590 00:34:45,025 --> 00:34:48,000 The Bible's not a myth and it's not a philosophy. 591 00:34:48,004 --> 00:34:52,033 It's a series of historical events where God worked on the earth, 592 00:34:52,042 --> 00:34:53,071 and I'll show you Peter's house. 593 00:34:53,079 --> 00:34:55,079 We were there this summer. 594 00:34:59,033 --> 00:35:01,096 Hi, Pastor Mark here in Capernaum. 595 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,050 This actually was the hometown of Peter. 596 00:35:04,058 --> 00:35:07,092 Jesus, though he grew up in Nazareth, made this a base of operations 597 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,054 and a bit of a hometown for his public ministry. 598 00:35:10,062 --> 00:35:15,000 Just behind us is the Sea of Galilee, so all of the depictions of fishing 599 00:35:15,004 --> 00:35:19,071 and rural life that you see in the Gospels actually took place at this site. 600 00:35:19,079 --> 00:35:23,067 The scope and size of Capernaum is probably shocking to many. 601 00:35:23,071 --> 00:35:26,079 It was a town of perhaps 50, no more than a hundred people. 602 00:35:26,083 --> 00:35:30,017 The archeological excavation behind us reveals that their homes 603 00:35:30,025 --> 00:35:34,038 were quite small, perhaps 500, 600 hundred square feet, the majority 604 00:35:34,046 --> 00:35:36,079 of which would have been dedicated to human habitation, 605 00:35:36,083 --> 00:35:40,025 though animals would have shared a portion of the home as well. 606 00:35:40,033 --> 00:35:45,021 And there's one particularly noteworthy excavation and that is the home 607 00:35:45,029 --> 00:35:48,075 of Peter, and this was the original footprint 608 00:35:48,083 --> 00:35:51,083 and the archaeological dig of Peter's residence. 609 00:35:51,088 --> 00:35:55,067 You're looking at a very small space, of course. 610 00:35:55,075 --> 00:35:59,017 And this is where Peter lived. 611 00:35:59,025 --> 00:36:01,092 This would have been where Jesus would have visited him. 612 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:07,088 And what's curious is that many of the early disciples of Jesus, Peter, Andrew, 613 00:36:07,096 --> 00:36:12,046 James, John, Matthew either were from or at some point resided 614 00:36:12,050 --> 00:36:14,012 in the town of Capernaum. 615 00:36:14,017 --> 00:36:18,029 And so when you're looking at a town of maybe 10, 12, 15 families, 616 00:36:18,033 --> 00:36:21,021 to get that many men to follow Jesus and to forsake 617 00:36:21,029 --> 00:36:25,008 their jobs and careers was actually a big sacrifice. 618 00:36:25,017 --> 00:36:29,000 Over the course of history, Christians started worshiping in Peter's house, 619 00:36:29,004 --> 00:36:31,004 likely was the meeting of the first church. 620 00:36:31,012 --> 00:36:36,017 And so over time, additions were added on to Peter's home so that Christianity 621 00:36:36,021 --> 00:36:39,088 could grow and the church could grow and ultimately a Catholic church was built 622 00:36:39,096 --> 00:36:42,050 on top of the ruins just above us. 623 00:36:42,058 --> 00:36:46,029 And so there you have it, Peter's house. 624 00:36:46,092 --> 00:36:47,054 Amazing isn't it? 625 00:36:47,062 --> 00:36:49,054 It's all true, guys. The Bible's true. 626 00:36:49,062 --> 00:36:50,054 That's the big idea. 627 00:36:50,062 --> 00:36:51,058 The Bible's true. 628 00:36:51,067 --> 00:36:53,000 Satan's a liar, the Bible's true. 629 00:36:53,004 --> 00:36:55,012 I'll show you what happened at Peter's house right here. 630 00:36:55,017 --> 00:36:59,033 Luke 4:38-39, "He arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house." 631 00:36:59,038 --> 00:37:01,000 That's Simon Peter's house. 632 00:37:01,008 --> 00:37:03,058 "Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, 633 00:37:03,067 --> 00:37:05,000 "and they appealed to him on her behalf. 634 00:37:05,004 --> 00:37:08,025 "And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, 635 00:37:08,033 --> 00:37:11,079 and immediately she rose and began to serve them." 636 00:37:11,083 --> 00:37:13,050 I'll do one theological excursus. 637 00:37:13,058 --> 00:37:16,067 How many of you, like me, grew up Catholic? You're a Catholic? 638 00:37:16,075 --> 00:37:19,000 Okay, I was an altar boy, O'Driscoll. 639 00:37:19,004 --> 00:37:23,046 We're a bunch of Irish mix all the way back, Irish-Catholic mix. 640 00:37:23,050 --> 00:37:24,046 That's what we were. 641 00:37:24,050 --> 00:37:27,092 And I was always told Peter was the first Pope and he didn't have a wife 642 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,083 and it's not good to have a wife, and if you want to serve God you should 643 00:37:30,088 --> 00:37:32,067 become a priest, to not have a wife. 644 00:37:32,071 --> 00:37:36,046 And I said, well, that's not gonna work for a whole list of reasons, 645 00:37:36,050 --> 00:37:41,067 but one of them is Peter had a wife. 646 00:37:41,075 --> 00:37:43,092 Here he had a mother-in-law. 647 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:49,025 And just so you know, a mother-in-law's always part of a package deal, right? 648 00:37:49,033 --> 00:37:51,071 She comes with a wife. 649 00:37:51,079 --> 00:37:53,050 I don't know any--I've never met a single guy. 650 00:37:53,058 --> 00:37:55,038 I've had a lot of conversations with single guys. 651 00:37:55,046 --> 00:37:58,050 I've never heard this "I am really looking for a mother-in-law." 652 00:37:58,058 --> 00:38:01,042 I've never had that conversation. 653 00:38:01,050 --> 00:38:04,079 Now I do love my mother-in-law, we actually get along very, very, very well, 654 00:38:04,083 --> 00:38:11,092 but priority for me was the wife and mother-in-law is part of the deal. 655 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,054 So if Simon had a mother-in-law, it would be very weird for the Bible 656 00:38:14,062 --> 00:38:17,021 to say he had no wife, but he did have a mother-in-law. 657 00:38:17,029 --> 00:38:20,029 That's just peculiar all by itself. 658 00:38:20,033 --> 00:38:24,050 1 Corinthians 9:5 says that Peter had a wife. 659 00:38:24,058 --> 00:38:27,083 Eusebius, the early church historian, says that Peter's wife actually loved 660 00:38:27,088 --> 00:38:30,075 the Lord and was actively involved in women's ministry. 661 00:38:30,083 --> 00:38:33,033 So we love Catholics and some are brothers and sisters in Christ, 662 00:38:33,038 --> 00:38:37,058 but Peter was married and he and his wife lived in this home and apparently 663 00:38:37,067 --> 00:38:40,021 their mother-in-law lived with them or was staying with them. 664 00:38:40,029 --> 00:38:43,000 And she's really sick, it says, with a high fever. 665 00:38:43,004 --> 00:38:45,058 Now recording this is Luke the physician. 666 00:38:45,067 --> 00:38:48,083 And a high fever, here we're talking about she's approaching that place 667 00:38:48,092 --> 00:38:49,083 where she could die. 668 00:38:49,092 --> 00:38:51,021 They can't get that fever to break. 669 00:38:51,029 --> 00:38:54,050 So they appeal to Jesus, please, heal her. 670 00:38:54,054 --> 00:39:00,067 He comes over her, he prays for her and he commands the sickness, 671 00:39:00,075 --> 00:39:05,096 like he did the demon, to vacate this person, and it does. 672 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:10,079 And here we see the authority of Jesus over demons and sickness. 673 00:39:10,083 --> 00:39:13,033 Do we believe in demons? Yes. 674 00:39:13,038 --> 00:39:15,088 Do we believe Jesus has authority over demons? Yes. 675 00:39:15,096 --> 00:39:18,000 Do we believe in sickness? Yes. 676 00:39:18,008 --> 00:39:21,017 Do we believe Jesus has authority over sickness? Yes. 677 00:39:21,021 --> 00:39:24,017 Do we believe that God can and does heal people? 678 00:39:24,025 --> 00:39:26,017 Yes, we do. 679 00:39:26,021 --> 00:39:29,062 Some get healed in this life, all of God's children get healed in the end 680 00:39:29,067 --> 00:39:33,083 with the resurrection of the dead where there's no more sickness, sin, death, 681 00:39:33,092 --> 00:39:37,096 destruction or tears, so our God is a healing God. 682 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:40,000 Now we don't heal people, God does. 683 00:39:40,004 --> 00:39:45,008 We pray for people and God can choose to answer them if he wills. 684 00:39:45,017 --> 00:39:46,058 And this woman is healed. 685 00:39:46,067 --> 00:39:49,033 Now Jesus is having one of those Jack Bauer days. 686 00:39:49,038 --> 00:39:53,000 All right, he's preached, cast out a demon, healed a woman. 687 00:39:53,004 --> 00:39:56,000 She gets up to take care of him, maybe make him something to eat. 688 00:39:56,004 --> 00:39:57,071 She's got the gift of hospitality. 689 00:39:57,079 --> 00:40:02,062 The kingdom is inaugurating and dawning and unveiling and he's not even done. 690 00:40:02,067 --> 00:40:06,021 Luke 4:40-41, you think Jesus needs a day off? 691 00:40:06,029 --> 00:40:10,000 Totally, he'll get one next week in the remainder of Luke 4. 692 00:40:10,004 --> 00:40:13,083 "Now when the sun was setting," so the Sabbath is over, "All who had any who 693 00:40:13,092 --> 00:40:17,046 "were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on 694 00:40:17,050 --> 00:40:19,017 "every one of them and healed them. 695 00:40:19,021 --> 00:40:26,029 "And demons also came out of many, crying, 'You are the Son of God!' 696 00:40:26,033 --> 00:40:28,021 "But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, 697 00:40:28,029 --> 00:40:30,033 because they knew that he was the Christ." 698 00:40:30,038 --> 00:40:32,021 Where to begin here? 699 00:40:32,029 --> 00:40:35,054 He cast demons out of people and they say, 700 00:40:35,062 --> 00:40:39,021 "You are the Christ, you are the anointed, you are God." 701 00:40:39,029 --> 00:40:41,067 What he says is "I'm gonna silence you. 702 00:40:41,071 --> 00:40:43,012 You're not allowed to say that." 703 00:40:43,017 --> 00:40:44,008 Why? 704 00:40:44,017 --> 00:40:47,083 Well, because John the baptizer was already the forerunner and Jesus was going 705 00:40:47,088 --> 00:40:50,075 to speak for himself, and demons do not have part 706 00:40:50,083 --> 00:40:53,067 in Jesus' ministry proclaiming who he is. 707 00:40:53,071 --> 00:40:56,042 That would be very confusing to people. 708 00:40:56,050 --> 00:40:59,079 And so here's Jesus in Peter's house and if you could just get the picture, 709 00:40:59,083 --> 00:41:02,083 this little house is filled with people, line of people outside. 710 00:41:02,088 --> 00:41:03,083 It's gotten dark. 711 00:41:03,088 --> 00:41:05,062 Sabbath is over. 712 00:41:05,067 --> 00:41:08,033 They want to come and see Jesus. 713 00:41:08,038 --> 00:41:12,067 They want to come and see Jesus and he prays for them and he heals them 714 00:41:12,075 --> 00:41:15,029 and he commands demons away from them. 715 00:41:15,033 --> 00:41:17,017 How does he do this? 716 00:41:17,021 --> 00:41:19,058 He does this by the laying on of hands. 717 00:41:19,067 --> 00:41:21,075 Mars Hill, we believe in this. 718 00:41:21,083 --> 00:41:24,017 We don't believe there's anything magical, supernatural, 719 00:41:24,025 --> 00:41:26,079 super spiritual in the laying on of hands. 720 00:41:26,083 --> 00:41:31,000 We do believe it's a sign of love and blessing and affection 721 00:41:31,004 --> 00:41:33,079 and encouragement and help. 722 00:41:33,083 --> 00:41:34,092 We believe that. 723 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:39,050 Jesus' brother James writes sometime later in the book bearing his name 724 00:41:39,054 --> 00:41:42,075 that leaders of the church are to lay hands on people in the church, 725 00:41:42,083 --> 00:41:46,004 especially those who are sick, and pray for them that God would heal them. 726 00:41:46,012 --> 00:41:47,092 So we do that at Mars Hill. 727 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:49,004 You need to do that in community group, 728 00:41:49,012 --> 00:41:51,025 you need to do that with your friends and family. 729 00:41:51,033 --> 00:41:52,092 Don't just tell people "I'll pray for you." 730 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,050 Put a hand on them and pray for them. 731 00:41:55,058 --> 00:41:58,025 It shows that God is loving them through you. 732 00:41:58,033 --> 00:42:00,017 All right, this is a shoulder-to-shoulder hug, 733 00:42:00,021 --> 00:42:04,033 put your hand on somebody's shoulder, put your hand on somebody's head. 734 00:42:04,042 --> 00:42:09,071 A lot of people feel lonely and isolated and abandoned 735 00:42:09,079 --> 00:42:11,096 and touch is very important. 736 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:16,012 It's a demonstration of God's affection, so we pray for people. 737 00:42:16,017 --> 00:42:17,050 We love to pray for people. 738 00:42:17,058 --> 00:42:20,017 We pray for people all the time. 739 00:42:20,025 --> 00:42:22,042 Have I ever seen someone healed? 740 00:42:22,050 --> 00:42:23,096 What do you think? 741 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,038 Yeah, I totally have. 742 00:42:26,046 --> 00:42:27,033 I have. 743 00:42:27,042 --> 00:42:30,000 The elders of the church have seen people healed. 744 00:42:30,004 --> 00:42:33,008 We can't guarantee you a healing, but we can pray and God always answers prayer 745 00:42:33,017 --> 00:42:36,033 yes, no and later, those are his answers. 746 00:42:36,038 --> 00:42:39,083 He gets to pick whatever one he wants but yeah, we pray for the sick 747 00:42:39,092 --> 00:42:45,038 and we know that God can heal the sick and that sometimes God does heal the sick. 748 00:42:45,046 --> 00:42:49,025 At Mars Hill, do we ever deal with anyone who really is demonized? 749 00:42:49,033 --> 00:42:52,092 Yeah, in the history of our ministry, we've seen it. 750 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:58,046 I've been doing this actually 14 years now this month is when we started 751 00:42:58,050 --> 00:42:59,096 our first core group meeting. 752 00:43:00,008 --> 00:43:01,046 And early on stuff started happening. 753 00:43:01,050 --> 00:43:04,042 I didn't understand it, hadn't been to Bible college, seminary, never been 754 00:43:04,050 --> 00:43:12,025 a member of a church, pastor in a church, had no business starting my own quite yet. 755 00:43:12,054 --> 00:43:16,033 Just jump into the deep end of the pool and call it a swim lesson. 756 00:43:16,038 --> 00:43:18,083 People started coming up to me. "I'm hearing voices. 757 00:43:18,092 --> 00:43:20,042 I'm being attacked. I'm seeing things." 758 00:43:20,050 --> 00:43:24,017 One mother, "I'm nursing my child and my chair comes off the ground." 759 00:43:24,025 --> 00:43:25,067 What? 760 00:43:25,075 --> 00:43:27,071 "What do I do?" 761 00:43:30,008 --> 00:43:33,067 "Find a new chair, I don't know what to tell you, like, 762 00:43:33,075 --> 00:43:35,062 "this is totally beyond my experience. 763 00:43:35,067 --> 00:43:37,071 I got nothing for ya." 764 00:43:37,079 --> 00:43:40,008 All of sudden me and my family started getting demonic attacks, 765 00:43:40,017 --> 00:43:45,042 weird things started happening, stuff I can't explain naturally, 766 00:43:45,050 --> 00:43:47,012 led me on a course of biblical study. 767 00:43:47,017 --> 00:43:50,071 I started in Genesis, went to Revelation, read every single verse 768 00:43:50,079 --> 00:43:53,067 in the Bible on Satan and demons. 769 00:43:53,075 --> 00:44:00,033 Read every single book that I could find on Satan and demons, a big stack. 770 00:44:00,038 --> 00:44:02,017 Satan is real. 771 00:44:02,025 --> 00:44:03,067 He's really at work. 772 00:44:03,071 --> 00:44:05,017 He really does hate Jesus. 773 00:44:05,025 --> 00:44:09,017 He has servants who really are working with him. 774 00:44:09,025 --> 00:44:12,008 We believe all of that and we've seen it. 775 00:44:12,017 --> 00:44:17,033 We've also seen, like Jesus did, people delivered from that kind of bondage 776 00:44:17,038 --> 00:44:20,083 and oppression to live new lives, and sometimes the healing is connected 777 00:44:20,092 --> 00:44:25,067 to the spiritual because we're one person, many parts, material and immaterial, 778 00:44:25,071 --> 00:44:31,038 and sometimes when the spiritual part of a person gets fixed, the body gets healed. 779 00:44:31,046 --> 00:44:33,025 Sometimes, and I want to be careful with this, 780 00:44:33,033 --> 00:44:36,050 just 'cause you're sick doesn't mean you have a demon. 781 00:44:36,054 --> 00:44:38,079 But some of you are demonically oppressed or influenced 782 00:44:38,083 --> 00:44:41,033 or non-Christian-or even possessed-and it leads 783 00:44:41,038 --> 00:44:43,025 to lots of physical problems. 784 00:44:43,033 --> 00:44:46,000 And if you were connected to Jesus and the Holy Spirit 785 00:44:46,004 --> 00:44:50,042 were to be the most powerful presence in your life, 786 00:44:50,050 --> 00:44:54,071 then you might also see some physical healing as well. 787 00:44:54,079 --> 00:44:58,083 That's indeed true. 788 00:45:00,067 --> 00:45:03,017 I don't want you to be scared of Satan and demons, 789 00:45:03,025 --> 00:45:05,062 but I don't want you to neglect them. 790 00:45:05,067 --> 00:45:10,012 When you see someone who is spiritually oppressed and damaged, don't 791 00:45:10,017 --> 00:45:13,033 automatically just judge them and get self-righteous. 792 00:45:13,038 --> 00:45:16,042 Have an air of compassion about you. 793 00:45:16,050 --> 00:45:23,012 Pray for them, pray with them, speak the truth of Scripture into their life. 794 00:45:23,017 --> 00:45:28,008 You know, I see the world is at war and I see people as captives in war 795 00:45:28,017 --> 00:45:32,033 and I see the enemy just devouring and destroying people. 796 00:45:32,038 --> 00:45:35,079 And I see Jesus setting captives free and that's what he said he would do 797 00:45:35,083 --> 00:45:43,012 at the inauguration of his ministry as he read from Isaiah early on in Luke 4. 798 00:45:43,017 --> 00:45:47,008 Now in saying this as well, I know that some of you can immediately gravitate 799 00:45:47,017 --> 00:45:50,067 toward what I'll call guru-ism. 800 00:45:50,075 --> 00:45:55,046 Guru-ism is "I need to get the Holy Spirit man to fix my problem." 801 00:45:55,050 --> 00:45:59,033 The truth is every Christian has the delegated authority 802 00:45:59,038 --> 00:46:02,012 of Jesus Christ equally. 803 00:46:02,017 --> 00:46:06,075 It's not that pastors have 100% spiritual authority and deacons 80% 804 00:46:06,083 --> 00:46:12,012 and community group leaders 75% and the rest of you are at, you know, 805 00:46:12,017 --> 00:46:14,058 25% of spiritual authority. 806 00:46:14,067 --> 00:46:19,000 It's that God gives full spiritual authority to all of his children. 807 00:46:19,004 --> 00:46:21,000 And it's not our authority, it's Jesus' authority. 808 00:46:21,008 --> 00:46:22,046 That's why we need to be humble. 809 00:46:22,050 --> 00:46:25,067 Anyone who goes out without the Holy Spirit and the authority of Jesus 810 00:46:25,071 --> 00:46:28,088 and arrogantly thinks "I'm just gonna go do some ghost busting and find me 811 00:46:28,096 --> 00:46:32,050 some demons and crack some heads," you're gonna end up like the seven sons 812 00:46:32,058 --> 00:46:37,012 of Sceva in the book of Acts where they go out to deal with demons 813 00:46:37,017 --> 00:46:39,083 and they don't come in Jesus' authority 814 00:46:39,092 --> 00:46:44,058 and they get beaten, bloodied, stripped naked, running for their life. 815 00:46:44,067 --> 00:46:47,029 All right, you just don't want to practice in the demonic. 816 00:46:47,033 --> 00:46:51,092 That's not a good place to practice, but the truth is that you and I have 817 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:56,025 the delegated authority of Jesus, meaning if you're being harassed, 818 00:46:56,033 --> 00:47:00,079 you can command demons away from you in Jesus' name. 819 00:47:00,083 --> 00:47:04,096 If you've opened up your life, you can repent of your sin, ask the Holy Spirit 820 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:10,038 to lock down the windows and doors and you can command Satan, his servants, 821 00:47:10,046 --> 00:47:14,025 their works and effects away from you in the name and authority 822 00:47:14,033 --> 00:47:16,033 of Jesus and they obey. 823 00:47:16,038 --> 00:47:20,012 Not 'cause we're powerful, but because he's victorious. 824 00:47:20,017 --> 00:47:23,096 And what happens is that Jesus ultimately is going to the cross. 825 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:26,096 He suffers and dies in our place for our sins. 826 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:31,079 Colossians 2:13-15 says, in so doing, he died for our sins, 827 00:47:31,083 --> 00:47:34,075 he disarmed the powers, principalities and spirits. 828 00:47:34,083 --> 00:47:40,000 He triumphed over them and he canceled any right they have to us. 829 00:47:40,004 --> 00:47:44,046 See, through sin and rebellion and folly, we have joined Satan 830 00:47:44,050 --> 00:47:45,088 in his war against God. 831 00:47:45,096 --> 00:47:49,050 Through repentance and faith in Jesus because of his death, burial, 832 00:47:49,054 --> 00:47:54,067 and resurrection, our allegiance to Satan is canceled, our freedom in Christ is 833 00:47:54,071 --> 00:47:59,062 granted and then God's enemy becomes our enemy and Jesus' authority 834 00:47:59,067 --> 00:48:01,033 becomes our authority. 835 00:48:01,042 --> 00:48:05,067 And like Jesus, speaking the truth of the word of God, we, too, 836 00:48:05,075 --> 00:48:09,067 are delegated that authority, all of the children of God. 837 00:48:09,075 --> 00:48:11,021 I teach this to my little kids. 838 00:48:11,029 --> 00:48:14,079 They used to have, occasionally, demonic things happen at night. 839 00:48:14,083 --> 00:48:16,050 They would run in, "Pray for me, pray for me." 840 00:48:16,058 --> 00:48:20,021 "I'm glad to but pray for yourself. 841 00:48:20,029 --> 00:48:21,050 "You belong to Jesus. 842 00:48:21,058 --> 00:48:22,062 "You're a Christian. 843 00:48:22,067 --> 00:48:23,092 "The Holy Spirit is in you. 844 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,017 You have the same authority that I do." 845 00:48:27,025 --> 00:48:31,000 It was a great joy to me when one of my younger children recently was awakened. 846 00:48:31,004 --> 00:48:32,071 They felt the presence of something. 847 00:48:32,079 --> 00:48:35,050 They said they saw something, they heard something in their room, 848 00:48:35,058 --> 00:48:37,038 they were very scared. 849 00:48:37,046 --> 00:48:38,029 And I asked, "What'd you do?" 850 00:48:38,033 --> 00:48:42,017 They said, "I prayed to Jesus and I commanded in Jesus' name this thing 851 00:48:42,021 --> 00:48:45,017 to leave me and I went to sleep." 852 00:48:45,025 --> 00:48:48,000 That's what we're talking about. 853 00:48:48,008 --> 00:48:50,000 It's not "Rosemary's Baby," "The Exorcism," 854 00:48:50,004 --> 00:48:52,017 it's not letting Satan and demons show off. 855 00:48:52,021 --> 00:48:54,046 It's not being totally terrified of them. 856 00:48:54,050 --> 00:48:58,025 It's knowing that they're real, but so is the resurrection of Jesus. 857 00:48:58,033 --> 00:49:02,038 I'll close with this, Colossians 2:9-10, "For in him," that is Jesus, 858 00:49:02,046 --> 00:49:06,092 "The whole fullness of deity dwells bodily--" Jesus is God, become a man. 859 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:10,017 "And you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority." 860 00:49:10,025 --> 00:49:16,017 That is, powers and principalities and spirits and demons, language. 861 00:49:16,025 --> 00:49:22,012 Jesus is the highest authority that he is God come to save us and that he fills 862 00:49:22,017 --> 00:49:27,025 us that we might have the same Spirit, the Holy Spirit and same authority, 863 00:49:27,033 --> 00:49:32,000 his resurrection authority over Satan and demons. 864 00:49:32,004 --> 00:49:35,067 We believe in Satan and demons, but we don't emphasize them 865 00:49:35,071 --> 00:49:39,075 because it's all about Jesus and the authority is in Jesus. 866 00:49:39,083 --> 00:49:41,017 So here's the bottom line. 867 00:49:41,021 --> 00:49:45,012 Some of you are not Christians, you belong to Satan, you're going to hell. 868 00:49:45,017 --> 00:49:49,000 Some of you are sensing it with a life of torment, confusion, and death. 869 00:49:49,004 --> 00:49:52,042 Some of you, Satan's tactic with you has been to make you fat and happy 870 00:49:52,050 --> 00:49:56,017 so you have no urgent sense of need for Jesus. 871 00:49:56,025 --> 00:49:59,067 Some of you are Christians, you're not possessed by Satan but through 872 00:49:59,071 --> 00:50:04,017 unrepentant habitual sin, stupidity and spirituality, you've opened the doors 873 00:50:04,025 --> 00:50:07,062 and windows and you've invited people and things into your life that you need 874 00:50:07,067 --> 00:50:11,083 to repent of, kick out with the authority of Jesus, lock the door, 875 00:50:11,088 --> 00:50:17,012 shut the windows, be filled with the Holy Spirit and keep your house clean. 876 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:20,004 So we'll pray. 877 00:50:20,012 --> 00:50:24,054 Father God, I do pray against the enemy, his servants, their works and effects. 878 00:50:24,062 --> 00:50:27,075 God, I pray you would forgive us of our sins and cleanse us 879 00:50:27,083 --> 00:50:30,012 of our unrighteousness. 880 00:50:30,017 --> 00:50:32,096 I pray that you would reveal to us the resurrected 881 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:34,058 spiritual authority of Jesus. 882 00:50:34,067 --> 00:50:39,046 Jesus, we claim your victory on the cross where you paid our debt 883 00:50:39,050 --> 00:50:44,042 and you freed us from our slavery and you defeated our enemy, and we thank you 884 00:50:44,050 --> 00:50:50,067 for your victorious resurrection where you are now seated above all principalities 885 00:50:50,075 --> 00:50:55,054 and powers and spirits, that you are the authority above all authorities 886 00:50:55,062 --> 00:51:00,092 and that you delegate to us your authority, those of us who are Christian. 887 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:06,000 May we not obsess over Satan and demons, may we not deny Satan and demons. 888 00:51:06,004 --> 00:51:08,096 May we rebuke them in your name. 889 00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:11,071 May we do so humbly, not arrogantly, falling 890 00:51:11,079 --> 00:51:15,012 into the devil's trap of spiritual pride. 891 00:51:15,017 --> 00:51:18,004 May my friends who are non-Christians become Christians? 892 00:51:18,012 --> 00:51:23,083 May my friends who are Christians repent of sin, receive the Holy Spirit, 893 00:51:23,092 --> 00:51:30,029 shut the windows, lock the doors and not invite the enemy into their life. 894 00:51:30,033 --> 00:51:32,050 In Jesus' name, Amen.