Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Satan - The Defeated Foe
The episode delivers a compelling message about embracing our spiritual authority over darkness, reiterating that Satan is ultimately a defeated foe. By exploring Jesus' teachings and our rightful place as heirs to His authority, listeners are encouraged to actively engage in reclaiming power and resisting the enemy’s influence in their lives.
Let's pick our Bibles up and wave them around. Make Jesus glad. The devil mad, woo man ow. Wave those Bibles around. I'm going to fan myself with them. Let's say this together Say, heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here today. I'm ready to be startled about the things of God. I know you're greater. Oh, your glory is being manifest. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. We're going to see more and more of your greatness and your goodness this year. We're strengthened and encouraged by this word and by the Holy Ghost, and we have the victory in Jesus' name. Amen, you can be seated. Woo, praise the Lord. Let's turn in our Bibles to Mark the Gospel of, and we'll start reading with verse 21.
Speaker 1:And they went into Capernaum and straightway. On the Sabbath day, he, that is, jesus, entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine, or at his teaching, for he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out, and a manifest. Right there in the synagogue he cried out saying let us alone, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth, art thou come to destroy us. I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him saying Hold your peace and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him and they were all amazed, I guess you could say they were all startled, cried with a loud voice, he came out of it and they were all amazed, I guess you could say they were all startled. They were all startled and they questioned among themselves, saying what thing is this? What new teaching is this? For with authority commanded, he evened the unclean spirits, and they do obey him, and immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
Speaker 1:And so today I wanted to share a message entitled Satan, the Defeated Foe. Not a lot of teaching in the church about Satan and demon powers and that's why in many places they have run over. Think about New Orleans. There's some good churches in New Orleans and I'm not criticizing them, but I'm just saying it takes a long time. The fewer churches there are teaching this, the more the devil has a chance to manifest and keep people afraid and keep people concerned.
Speaker 1:I really wasn't sure I was going to preach today. I wasn't really ready to release the 2025 revelation, but the Holy Ghost did it through prophetic word. This morning it happened during praise and worship. I went away for that purpose, but I didn't have all my ducks in a row, I didn't have everything together about this year. I didn't know exactly what to tell you. And then, of course, next week the Hankins will be here. So usually when I preach about a new year, I have three or four weeks to develop.
Speaker 1:I want to you know the Holy Ghost. Over these many years since 2020, well, longer than that, really almost from the beginning God has given me a word for each year. It's to anchor our faith, to get us to look at something, to see something that he wants to do. But anyway, what happened Thursday night or New Year's night? What happened Thursday night or New Year's night, wee hours of New Year's Day in New Orleans, just kind of sealed it for me. I mean, this man was from Houston. He has bomb-making materials in his house here in Houston. He was a nut job here in Houston. He was a nut job here in Houston. He could have done a lot more damage in Houston, but he couldn't do it here, because Houston is a safe and prosperous city and God protects her from all her enemies. We've been saying that for a long time.
Speaker 1:The Holy Ghost told me to make that prophetic declaration over this city back under Obama's reign. You know, there's just too much praying about the devil. I see where Tony Perkins and some of the high muckety mucks are going to get together and they're going to pray about the devil. Well, you know, you don't have to pray about the devil, you just need to use your authority. He's a defeated foe. What you need to do is change ownership. You know, change leadership.
Speaker 1:I've never seen such feckless, stupid leaders in New Orleans as you, and they've had them forever. They had them during Ike, remember. You know just, they had them forever. They had them during Ike, remember. You know they had them during Katrina, remember Katrina? That stupid mayor when did he park his buses? Right there in the city. He didn't take them out of the city and when the levee broke they flooded and they couldn't leave. How dumb is that. Did you see the chief of police in New Orleans? She looks like she belongs in a nursing home. She's an old lady. She doesn't know what she's doing.
Speaker 1:I get mad, I get angry, when I see people needlessly murdered and mutilated, run over mercilessly. It didn't happen here because we didn't let it. Pastor, you're just being no, I'm not. I know what we've got, I know the kind of authority we have. And he's not going to manifest himself here. He's a defeated foe. So the demons feared jesus. They knew who he was. A lot of people don't pharisees didn't know who he was. Here they are testifying. The devil is testifying on behalf of jesus. I just find it funny. And the the Pharisees didn't know. We know who you are, but they don't.
Speaker 1:29 is chronicled the same, identical thing here. Matthew wrote about it in Matthew 8. And in his writing about this same thing that happened in the synagogue, he said the demon said have you come to torment us before the time? Have you come to torment us before the time? That's 2000 years ago. They have a sense of how long the clock is. They don't know exactly, they don't know everything, but they know it was. Hey, it's a little early, we're supposed to have a little bit more time, and that's been 2000 years ago. Listen, their time is the. Can you imagine how nervous the devil and demon powers are right now? Because they can see what we see. They see the signs, they know what the word says. If they know Jesus, they know the Word. That's why they can quote the Word and they can misquote the Word. So their time of ruling over humans is running out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jesus had to deal with devils and demon powers. You know, in Luke, chapter 4, it talks about how, when he was baptized in the River Jordan by John, john saw the Spirit come upon him like a dove Not a dove, but like a dove and he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil 40 days and 40 nights. And Mark here Mark's account said that he was driven by the spirit. And when you think of driven, you probably instantly think you know, because the Hebrew and the, you know the just different words here in the Greek, the word driven, you think you know a bullwhip and driving a donkey or something. You know, drive the ox or whatever. That's not what it means. It means he was released as a flood tide. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard. He will bring a flood tide to overwhelm the enemy. I mean Jesus went out there and he's subject to temptation because he's got human flesh on him. He was legitimately tempted.
Speaker 1:I heard a preacher say oh, he wasn't really tempted. Well then the Bible lied dummy. Why don't you read your Bible? It tells the truth. If he wasn't tempted, then he can't be our high priest. He can't comfort us when we're tempted. But because he was in every way, that you are yet without sin, that he can be a merciful and faithful high priest over us, he knows he can give you strength to overcome every test and every temptation.
Speaker 1:So, and you know, he was tempted in three areas. You know. First, you know, if you be the son of god, make these stones turn into bread. He said man shall not live. It's written the word man shall not live by bread alone, but by every rhema word of god, every god-breathed rhema word of god, shall man live.
Speaker 1:Then he took him way up and said if you be the the son of God, throw yourself down. So it's written the angels will bear you up, lest at any time. Say the devil added any time, lest at any time you should trip up. And he, you know, he'd bear you up on his wings. It's written that you should not tempt the Lord, your God. Then he. Then he tempted him. Okay, well, if you, he showed him up on a high mountain. Look at all these kingdoms. They're mine to give you, and that's true. That was a true statement. All the kingdoms of this world were the devils to give Jesus. He could have given them to him if you'll just fall down and worship me. So there again it is said you'll worship only the Lord God. Him only shall you serve. And with the word of God, he turned the devil back. You'll worship only the Lord, god. Him only shall you serve. And with the word of God, he turned the devil back. He defeated Satan and on our behalf, he showed us how to do it. I'll tell you a rhema word spoken at the point of temptation, test and trial, at the point of demonic attack on your life, is all you need to defeat the devil, because he's already defeated. He's already defeated. But then why do we have to mess with him? Well, because we're an occupying army.
Speaker 1:I'm a student of World War II. I love to study World War II. I watch all the stuff that I can. Some of you have given me all kind of materials. I've got books at home. Don't buy me any more books or any more. I don't have any room now. I'm full up, I don't have time to read the books anyway. But anyway, thank you. I mean I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:But recently I was just watching something on the History Channel about the decision to drop the atom bomb and you know, we had gone from island to island and because I mean, just think about how dark those days were in World War II, it was dark days On the Atlantic side, our ships, before we got into the war, before December 7, 1941, we were still helping. From 1939, the outbreak of the war in Europe, we were helping Britain and we were sending arms and we were sending supplies. They're an island, they couldn't get anything. They're cut off. The Germans had them cut off, cut off, the Germans had them cut off.
Speaker 1:And so, against public opinion I'll give this to FDR, he did not obey public opinion. I mean, people were still stinging from World War I and from the depression and they didn't want to get involved. There was an isolationist attitude in this country that we just, you know, we rejected our headship gift. This nation is an apostolic headship gift to the whole world and because we've drifted away from God, we don't know our purpose when we don't lead. This is what you have. We don't have a leader now for four years. Look at what's going on. He's giving medals out to people like Clinton and George Soros. For God's sake, let's get Satan next. Let's put Satan up there and get a hanging medal around his neck. We know the Antichrist. We could get Biden to give Antichrist a medal. We have no leadership and that's why everything is all fouled up. I'll tell you it's changing in 2025.
Speaker 1:So it was dark days and I mean, on the Atlantic side, you had the U-boats sinking those ships. I mean my dad worked at Todd Shipyard in the Houston Ship Channel making Liberty ships and they'd go out there and they'd get sunk. I mean we lost thousands of men before the war started. Thousands of ships at the bottom of the Atlantic, those U-boats, those submarines from Germany just sinking them one after another. And then they tried convoys and they did everything they could. It just it was horrible Dark days and then, of course, december 7th happened and we lose almost 3,000 sailors. And we were totally unprepared. Feckless leadership at the top of our military. They're brain dead, just like they are right now. We need to just wipe. We need to wipe the slate clean folks. All of our institutions are DEI, or you could say DOA, dei is DOA. So anyway, just think about how dark it was.
Speaker 1:And so we had to go across there, you know, island to island to island, and every island that the Japs were were dug into those islands, they were fortified. They would go underground and they would not surrender their, their religion, what they believed in their culture. It was a total dishonor to ever to surrender, and so they fought to the death. That meant we, in order to get that thing under control. We had a lot of our boys die too. It was a horrible. We ruled the seas, we destroyed their early on, we destroyed their navy, but they still had all these islands. And so here it comes and we get on Okinawa. We got Okinawa.
Speaker 1:Now we're in striking distance of Japan, and he's got a Truman. I'll give him credit for this Truman. He would not be a Democrat today, he'd probably be a right center Republican. But anyway, he got a battle plan and they estimated one million soldiers would die if they did an One million. But he had something that nobody knew he had They'd been working on a bomb. And so he made that tough decision, and even after they dropped Hiroshima, the Japanese would not surrender. They kept on, they were silent, nothing happened. So it was bomb number two. Don't ever let anybody make you ashamed that we dropped those bombs. I'm telling you I'd rather save American lives. I'm sorry that those people died, but that's because of their leadership. They had the wrong leadership. They have the same opportunity to know God as we do. They can look up in the sky and know that they didn't create that. It didn't happen by itself. They know the Bible says they're without excuse. But he did drop that bomb.
Speaker 1:And after the war, when they finally came and unconditionally surrendered, they unconditionally surrendered. They were trying to hold out. At the end they were trying to sue for peace and keep some of their military intact, try to keep some of their influence. I mean, they'd conquered quite a bit. You know they had China. They had, you know, vietnam all in there. You know they had a lot of territory that they had conquered. And no, we said unconditional surrender and they signed it. Well, what did we have to do? We had to occupy Japan. For years after that we had bases in Japan. Why did we? Why were we there? Well, we were to hold them accountable. You know, trust but verified We've forgotten trust, but verified you can't sign a treaty with these people unless you have the ability to hold their feet to a fire.
Speaker 1:Talking about Satan, the defeated foe, seems like I've gotten off track, but this all points to that we have to rule and reign today and our country can't really as a nation, we can't really be the influence in the world unless the church gets a vision of what I'm talking about today, because we'll have incompetent leadership. We'll have the wrong people. We'll have people like Biden and Clinton and Obama running things that are going to run everything into the ground. They're working for the devil. Are y'all with me now?
Speaker 1:So in Colossians 1.13, the Bible says that God has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. He's delivered us from the kingdom of his dear son. He's delivered us from the power, the control, the authority, the jurisdiction and the influence of darkness. How many of you believe the Bible lied, or is the Bible the truth? Is the Bible the truth or not? See, we've been delivered from that. The devil cannot rule us. When we're born again, he cannot. Then why do we have trouble? Because we don't know our authority. We don't know how to run him off when he shows up, because he's going to show up. Colossians 2.15 says that he spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them openly. He disarmed principalities and powers and made a bold display and a public example. He led a train of vanquished foes. The Bible says See, in Bible days, when the Roman general went into a place and conquered a country or a region, he would bring the ruler or the king of that region back along with his soldiers that survived Not very many of them ever did and he would bring all kinds of wealth and the different things and animals you know, and so forth, and they would come back to Rome and they would have a, they would have a triumphal procession right down the Appian way right into the into Rome, and there would be music and there would be incense and there would be, you know, all kinds of celebration and the Roman general would be riding his chariot and all the soldiers marching and bringing up the rears, all the king naked, chained, and all his soldiers naked and chained.
Speaker 1:They were put to a public example, they were shamed in front of the Roman scene that built up Rome, that made the Roman pride you know, pride in their kingdom and so forth and so on. You know kings back then. You know, of course this is just a general, but then he would come before the king and then the king would anoint him and give him a medal and all of that kind of thing. It was a big big deal. That's how they stayed in power as long as they did. They ruled huge.
Speaker 1:You know, before that you had the Persian Empire. I mean kings ruled and over domains that the domain was the known world. Everybody say king, king and dominion, dominion. Well, jesus is the Romans. I mean.
Speaker 1:Revelation 19, 16 said Jesus is written on his thigh, king of kings and Lord of lords. Who's he king of? Is he the king of King Charles? No, we're the kings that he's king of. We are kings. Bible says we're kings and priests unto God. He's the Lord of lords. What is a Lord? A Lord is a master. Yeah, you have the King, but then you've got all the. You know, in different countries like France and great Britain and England and places like that had the monarchies. You know, you had the King, but then you had Lords and you had Duchess, dutch and Duchess and the Duke and Duchess, duchess and the Duke and Duchess, you had all these divisions of royalty. What was the royalty for? It was for ruling. You had a Lord. The Lord was a master over a particular subdivision of the kingdom. You know, a king couldn't go every place, he was in the capital. He's over everything, but he had all these subdivisions of authority. Are you all with me? Now? I'm making a point here about our authority.
Speaker 1:Romans 6.14 says Sin shall not. In fact, it's just worth looking at it real quick, romans 6.14. In fact, it's just worth looking at it real quick. Romans 6, 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. See, when we were redeemed, we were delivered from power, authority, jurisdiction, control and influence of darkness. Darkness is sin. Darkness is sickness. Darkness is poverty. Darkness, are y'all with me now? So sin or sickness, or poverty or confusion, anything dark has no dominion over you. In other words, and one one, one version says sin cannot Lord it over you. No, we're to Lord it over the devil and demon powers. It's just time the church quit squalling and bawling and having a pity party every time they're under attack and rise up Amen. So they've been disarmed, they've been defeated. You know, jesus did it. That's the legal side of it.
Speaker 1:Now, you know, I went to Galveston to pray and, as I mentioned, I didn't have everything all together to start this year, but I did want to share something that I found. I've got a lot of notes and things that, going all the way back to my Lakewood days when I taught for eight years going all the way back to my Lakewood days when I taught for eight years I've got notes that all the classes I taught there and the times I've ministered different places. I've got a lot of notes. I've got a lot of things that I've taught on and preached on and I've got a lot of things that I've received from other ministries and ministers Brother Osteen, of course, and all the rest of the ones that I've had the privilege of being associated with at different times.
Speaker 1:For instance, that word startled was a prophetic word spoken over us when I interviewed Oral Roberts in 2005. He said you and your church are going to be startled at what God's going to do and he just gave that. This year we're going to go wow. There's going to be some milestones. There's going to be some things showed up this year that we've been believing for and haven't seen believing for and haven't seen believing for and haven't seen. And boom, here it is. And when it happens, we'll go. Praise God, everybody go. That was weak, all right.
Speaker 1:So I came across this word of prophecy over this church in 2000. We were in the Seventh-day Adventist church 2000. We were in the Seventh-day Adventist church. We were, I tell you, we. We, as it were, we were kind of like a, like a dog with his tail between his legs in those years, because we, you know, we were in that church right down the street, christ Church, now Baptist.
Speaker 1:We had leased that building from Champion Forest Baptist and they literally sold it out from under us. And we had leased it, but in the lease and I asked for 120 days notice, he would not do it, he would not budge. So we had 90 days notice and the church was up for sale for 6.3 million and I figured, well, we're safe, there's nobody going to pay that for this junk building. I mean, the air condition was junk, one of those old chill water things. It was broke half the time. They had to have a full-time guy there just to keep it running. They had to have a full-time guy there just to keep it running.
Speaker 1:But when they saw the way we conducted services, I prophesied to the bricks behind the platform I said you're going to see and hear things you've never seen and heard. You're just a bunch of, you're just like these people out here, you're just a bunch of bricks, but you're going to hear some. You're going to hear some. And they just didn't like the Holy Ghost. They didn't like us manifesting the Holy Ghost. They didn't like people running around the church. They didn't like people getting drunk in the Holy Ghost and laying on the floor. They didn't like it. They cut the price and they gave the church away for $3 million and I happen to know they had $16 million in it over the years, adding on, see, they kept adding on. It ain't $180,000.
Speaker 1:It took me an hour and a half just to tour the building when we leased it in 1998. But anyway, so we had to move and we had to move in 90 days. You ought to try moving a church in 90 days and I had about half. My people lost their confidence in me. They lied about me. They lied about my people lost their confidence in me. They lied about me, they, they, they lied about my family. They came against me and we, you know, god provided the Seventh-day Adventist church. I mean here down on West Houston, seventh-day Adventist. They're there on Saturday, we're there, they're on Sunday.
Speaker 1:It was not easy, it was tough. It was not easy, it was tough and the day we had to actually move out of the building and it was just so humiliating. I just have to tell you, I mean, every emotion that I suffered. I had to just hold my head up and say, well, god, you're in charge of this. You know, I didn't understand everything, I just knew that's where we were. So that's kind of the picture of how I felt when we had to move out so unceremoniously. And God did, he provided. I got a whole testimony about how he provided that building it's a good building, had plenty of room for us.
Speaker 1:So here we are in that building and, oh, the very week that we were forced to move out was when the bonfire fell at A&M and all those students were killed. And of course I'm an Aggie and I was real sad to see that and worked on it myself. My daughter worked on it when she was there and it's kind of a tradition there that's a school of traditions and that tradition got annihilated over stupid people, stupid administrators that don't have a brain. They're the ones that ought to be fired, not the students doing a. You know, they just let it get too big and they didn't control it at all. They didn't have any safety, it wasn't safe and of course those kids died for no good reason, just for a football game. It is a waste, but it didn't have to be that. That's my point. So anyway, there's a lot of stuff that was going on emotionally and I just had to go through it. So anyway, we had an apostle.
Speaker 1:I'd met this guy at Brother Osteen's last pastor's conference in 1998. It was June of 98. And before a year went past, pastor Osteen was gone. He was in heaven. So that was in June of 98. So then he left in January 99.
Speaker 1:Well, in June of 98, I was sitting at Papacito's on the East Freeway. We were taking a lunch break from the sessions of the pastor's conference. There were 6,000 pastors and leaders there. Everybody that was anybody in Word of Faith was at that meeting. Copeland was there, jesse was there. Everybody was there at that meeting, everybody.
Speaker 1:And so I'm sitting at the table finishing up my lunch and this African I had never met him before. He's from Zimbabwe and uh, I found out later and he introduced himself and he said, uh, and he, he said pastor. He said, I know you don't know me and uh, you know, but I, I just have to obey the Holy ghost. I mean, I'm standing there and I saw you and I just need to tell you I could prophesy it. But I don't want to embarrass you and I don't want to, you know, draw attention. I don't know how you're going to receive it, but I just, on my side, I just need to obey God. You've got an apostolic anointing on you. Well, I didn't want to hear that. You know, I didn't really receive it. To be honest with you, I'm a pastor. That's all I admit to being is a pastor. But he told me that.
Speaker 1:And so then, after we moved into the Seventh-day church, I came back around so I invited him to come preach for us. He was in town, so he did, and he is the one that and I found this in my notes and I wanted to share it with you and it kind of lines up with that prophetic word we just heard. He said this and he's standing in the Seventh-day church. Okay, think about a dog with his tail between his legs. It's been whipped. Okay, that's how I felt. I mean, I don't act like it. That's how I. I had to fight my emotion. Everybody's got emotions. You're not dead. You have emotions. You can get sad, you can get mad, you can get angry, you can get. You know, just, you know all those things, but you don't have to act like it and you don't have to give into it. That's my point. And so he got up there and he started ministering and he said this is a house of majesty and royalty. Come on, lift your hand right now, because that's what this house is. This house is a house of majesty and royalty. What does that make you Chopped liver? He said this is an apostolic house with a prophetic river.
Speaker 1:Now, by that time, the time that he preached in that church, brother Osteen had gone on to be with the Lord and I did receive my inheritance and I did acknowledge that call on my life and that fatherhood and that apostolic call. I had two or three other ministers tell me the same thing in the same way. You know, I could prophesy this pastor, but you don't know me well. But let me just tell you, and I didn't feel like it, but I just know God's God. God chooses unlikely people. Look at your Bible. Look at how many unlikely people God chose. It's not about me, it's about him. It's not about me at all. I'm just a FedEx guy. I might start wearing a brown suit, the UPS on my big brown, all right.
Speaker 1:So this kind of house doesn't let the devil run over a region. We, we rule, we occupy, we hold the devil's feet to the fire we make. Does a king ask permission? A king makes proclamations and all the lords and the duchess and the dukes and duchesses and all the lords and the ladies, they all run to go get it done, don't they? They make proclamations, they make edicts.
Speaker 1:You don't have to pray about everything. We do pray. We pray a lot. What do we pray about? Strategy? We pray for revelation. We don't know anything unless God reveals it. We spend too much time reacting to what the devil's already done. You know, I submit to everybody praying about New Orleans. You waited too long. You should have been praying beforehand, all right.
Speaker 1:So this amazing covenant that we have paid for by the blood of Jesus, this redemptive plan he has for our life he was our substitute, so we can be his substitute. He identified with us so we can identify with him. So in our redemption we have the legal side and what I call the functional side. Everybody say the legal and the functional. So what's legal? Well, it's legal for us to close our borders and to regulate any kind of traffic across our borders and if people try to come in illegally we can turn them back or we can arrest them. But functionally we have an open border because the man in the white house decided that we're going to take everybody, no matter what, and let them come in and do whatever they want.
Speaker 1:Then they're quick to point out well, this man was homegrown. He might've been homegrown, but the thing that he listened to was imported, the radicalization that this man I mean. He was a soldier and he's obviously I don't know what his name was before his big long Muslim name was or before he became Muslim. I remember Cassius Clay. Okay, cassius Clay was Cassius Clay, that's who he was. But he became what? Muhammad Ali, black Muslim. Lou Alcindor I remember Lou Alcindor before he became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Luau Sender I remember Luau Sender before he became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So you can change your name, you can get lied to and you can ingest a bunch of demonic baloney that came across our border illegally, in some cases legally.
Speaker 1:I'm for stopping it. I don't want any more of that coming across. I'm for stopping it. I don't want any more of that coming across. Whoever that imam was, was it Florida that was just saying that? You know he was adding amen. We need to have more New Orleans. You know those things? That's not freedom of speech. That needs to be shut down. A guy needs to be arrested and put in prison. That's not freedom of speech. That's not allowed under the Second Amendment. That's not what it means to just say anything out of your mouth at a microphone. Are y'all with me now? Some good things are going to be happening in 2025 because we're going to rule and reign as Kings and priests under God. We're the Lords and Kings that he's king and lord of. So now that we are, see, we have the legal versus the functional.
Speaker 1:Brother Osteen had put me on EW Kenyon books because he had me teach on redemption for about eight years. So I've taught on redemption. I've taught it every way you can. We've got we're dominion over demons, disease and death. I mean, you know we, you know we have dominion. What do Kings, do they exercise dominion over their domain? I can't exercise dominion over something that God didn't give me. I don't have. I, you know, for the longest time I had not yet received dominion over the nation, but it's, it's rapidly changing. I mean, you know, claire and James were in Augusta, maine, yesterday, and we've already got capital coordinators. A pastor and his wife that just started a church plant in the capital city of Maine and that's their whole thing is to raise up people to go into politics and to start to occupy political office. Maine I've never been to Maine. I flew over Maine going to Newfoundland but I didn't land in Maine, all right.
Speaker 1:So when I read all those books from EW Kenyon, he talked about the legal and vital side. The word vital is in vitiae, the Latin means according to life. I just like to use regular English, so I just I converted it to functional. So legal is what's legal, it's what bought and paid for, but functional is what we actually experience in our life through faith and patience. So it's legal.
Speaker 1:The devil has no hold. He cannot lord it over you, but he might be lording it over you because you don't know enough to stop him. So what has to happen? We've got to close that gap so that your functional meets the legal. Are you with me now? And so for that end, I got three things that you need to remember for this year Right off the legal. Are you with me now? And so, for that end, I got three things that you need to remember for this year right off the bat. Number one remember how you're named. Remember how you're named Ephesians, chapter three. Let's look at it.
Speaker 1:If you're really going to grow up in God, you've got to get into the epistles. You've got to find out who you are in Christ, what you have through Christ. In Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 14, get the right one here. For this cause I bow my knees under the Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, the whole family.
Speaker 1:Everybody say that's me, you're in the family of God and you've been named with the name of Jesus. That's your name. You were adopted, you've been adopted as sons and daughters. I mean we give way too much credence to our earthly names. I'm not saying deny your family and your parents and all that. I'm not saying that, but I mean as far as functioning in your authority. You can't function your authority by boosting your family name and your DNA. I'm going to test my DNA and see where my family you know it's irrelevant. Why do you care where you came from? It's not where you came from, it's where you're going and what happened when you were born again. Where you came from is really very little value in knowing that. What you really need to know is your new DNA. Are y'all with me? Now? You're named with his name, philippians 2.19, that God has given him a name, Jesus, a name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.
Speaker 1:And it says in the King James of things in heaven, of things in earth, of things under the earth. And the word things is italicized. It does not appear in the Greek. It really means a number of things. Every word in heaven, every word on the earth, every word under the earth has to bow its knee. I don't care what word. The word cancer has to bow its knee to the name of Jesus. The word bankruptcy has to bow its knee. It also means things, but it also means people beings, not people beings, beings in heaven, beings.
Speaker 1:And when I'm talking about heaven, I'm not even talking about heaven, where God is. I'm talking about the heavenlies. I'm talking about where principalities, powers and rulers of darkness, the wicked spirits in the heavenly places, in the atmosphere, just around the earth, where they hold sway. Even though they've been disarmed, even though they've been rendered powerless, they still have rule over those that are unsaved, and so they still have power You've got to deal with it over those that are unsaved, and so they still have power. You've got to deal with it. We have to deal with it. Those kind of things we deal with corporately and beings under the earth.
Speaker 1:Are y'all with me now? All authority is wrapped up in that name, and his name shall be called the word of God Revelation. I mean all the authority of the word is in that name and his name shall be called the word of God Revelation. I mean that every, all the authority of the word is in that name. I mean we have absolute right to use that name. That's our family name, that's who we are, that's you got to realize who, what, who you are, because your name, that's your name. Yeah, your name. I mean you know my, I've got, I've got my name. Yeah, your name. I mean you know I've got my name. What if Dwayne gets my checkbook, takes my checkbook and he writes him out a check Dwayne Blair, $1 million and signs my name, takes it to the bank. I'd like to cash a check. Are they going to pull out, pull a armored truck around with a million dollars, cash in it and send him on his way with a million dollars? No, why? Because he's going to have to produce ID. And when he produces his ID and they find out he ain't me, they come drag him out. He'll have a Democrat judge. You'll get out with Noah. Remember how you're named. Number two, remember how you're clothed.
Speaker 1:Ephesians, chapter six, verse 10, finally, my brethren, be strong in yourself, be very, very determined. Is that what it says? No, it says be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles or the military strategies of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness and high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole, entire armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand. Stand, therefore having. And then it tells you what the armor is Having your loins girt about with truth. Your loins are your hips. You've got to have the truth of the word of God or you'll be immobilized. Any wrestler knows that when you control your opponent's hips, he's going to tap. You've got him. The hips are your power. Jacob found that out when he was wrestling the angel and he was giving the angel a pretty good run for his money until the angel touched his hip and his hip shrunk. And then he lost half of his power and then the angel prevailed. And so every piece of the armor is where the devil is going to attack you. He will attack you and try to get you to believe a lie.
Speaker 1:Lots of people believe lies. They're still believing lies. They came out with all of the truth. I mean, fauci ought to be hung. He is dirty. That other woman, his partner both of them are dirty. And see, I like Trump. He said the best answer is success, but some of these people need to be held accountable for their lives because they're mass murderers. They engineered that virus here and shipped it to China. China doesn't even have enough there to invent anything. Listen, everything they have they've ripped off from America, everything. They don't have an original thought. If you're Chinese, I'm sorry. If you're a new creature it's different, but they're not. They're communists and they don't know squat. They only know how to steal and kill. So it's all out now. It's all out what happened and we need to hold them accountable.
Speaker 1:Truth Everybody say the truth. So your loins girt about with truth. So you've got to. You've got to wrap truth. You've got to love it. You've got to love the truth, buy the truth and sell it.
Speaker 1:Not All right Having your loins girt about having on the breastplate of righteousness. All right, having your loins girt about having on the breastplate of righteousness. See, you've got to be skillful in the word of righteousness. You can't allow your heart. You know your breastplate protects your heart. You can't let your spirit get weighed down with woulda, coulda, shoulda, all of that. You know I don't feel I'm falling short.
Speaker 1:Those years when we emotionally felt like a dog with his tail between his legs. I had to go back. I had to protect my heart. I had to know that I was right with God. I had to know that I was in God's plan for my life, no matter how it looked and all the people that were wagging their tongues. We still got lots of faithful people that stood with us through those years. They're here this morning. Why? Because they wouldn't believe a lie. So then you have a breastplate of righteousness.
Speaker 1:You have to be skillful in the word of righteousness. You have to know when you've sinned that you can confess your sin and he's faithful just to forgive you. And then you put it behind you and you don't ever think about it again. You just keep on going, just keep going forward, and that's the armor of God. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. One king in the Bible started off really well, but then he started in idolatry and let idolatry get back into Jerusalem and he got diseased in his feet and died. I mean, you know you can't go anywhere if your feet are messed up.
Speaker 1:In wartime you're out there in the field and they train you in boot camp to take care of each other's feet. You're on a 20 mile forced march and you're running most of the time in those big old boots and you get blisters and you take a break and they say okay, soldier, take your boots off. Y'all check each other's feet. You know. You cut the blisters, you fix each other. I mean a blister. You just can't hardly do it yourself. You got to have your friend to do it for you. That's how they get camaraderie. They get those guys. They don't die out there in a war. They're not dying for their country, they're dying for their brother. That's the secret. They're not dying for America, they're dying for their brother. And they get that molded into them all the way through bootcamp.
Speaker 1:So you know your feet are real important. You've got to take care of them. They take you everywhere you're going to go. You got to walk by faith. What can you do when you, when you can't walk? Above all, take the shield of faith. A lot of things you can stop before it ever hits you. Let the arrow hit in your shield of faith.
Speaker 1:What is your shield of faith? A lot of things you can stop before it ever hits you. Let the arrow hit in your shield of faith. What is your shield of faith? Your confession. Quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation. The devil will attack your mind like he did mine. I mean we all have that. You have to learn to master your thought life. You've got to turn back the bad thoughts and don't own the thoughts that come in. Those are not your thoughts. Those are demonic powers throwing thoughts at your brain trying to see if it'll take. No, it's going to hit my helmet of salvation. I'm not taking that one in. And the sword of the spirit, which is what the rhema, word of God, that's the only offensive weapon. See, that's your.
Speaker 1:So you've got to learn, you've got to know that you're clothed, you've got to clothe yourself. And the way I do it is I do it with words every day, I don't. Well, I heard a preacher one time making fun and said I'm going to kill some sacred cows today, and one of those is the armor of God. Some of you just waste your time and I thought, well, how's that going to work for you? Buddy, I've watched him for a long time. He's a good guy and he does a lot of good, but he's had a whole lot of trouble, probably because he doesn't honor what the word says about the whole armor of God. I'm going to take it on. I'm going to confess that I have it. I'm not going to assume every morning that I have it from yesterday. See, I mean, my faith is active all the time I'm talking. I'm speaking.
Speaker 1:It doesn't take long to put on the armor of God. You remind yourself how you're clothed. I mean, would you ever leave your house unclothed? Be embarrassing. You at least checked yourself in the mirror. Maybe some of your men didn't do that this morning, but most of your women did. Yeah, you check the mirror, check your. Did you comb your hair? I mean, one day I left the house I hadn't shaved or even combed my hair. I looked. I look like Kramer on the sign, fair Hair sticking up. So I had to turn around when I looked in the car mirror. Oh, I forgot a few things In Acts, chapter 19,.
Speaker 1:You know the seven sons of Sceva. Not only were they not named, but they didn't have the clothing, they didn't have the armor on. They went out there they're Jewish exorcists and they were ministering to a young man that had demons. And this young man looked at them and said well, he said, and they said, in the name of Jesus, that Paul preaches, come out. In the name of Jesus, that Paul preaches, come out. And that young man says well, now wait a minute. Jesus, I know, I'm checking your ID, dwayne. I'm checking Jesus. I know Paul, I know, but who are you? You don't have the right name and you don't have the right clothes. And he jumped on seven young men and beat them up and stripped them naked and sent them running away. I mean that's pretty powerful.
Speaker 1:We ask our cops to go out here and deal with these demonically filled people and when they have to kill them they don't want to kill them, but when they have to kill them then we haul them in and charge them with murder. I mean it's just outrageous. We've got to change that. These people many times have supernatural strength. This young man about the guy on the subway you know he was a Marine and he choked that guy out. That guy did not die from being choked out, he died from his trauma. He was so fouled up, he had drugs in his system, bad drugs. He did not kill him with the choke, he immobilized him. And because the cops don't come? They don't come because they are dishonored everywhere they go. In New York All the good cops have left and retired or moved. They don't come out to the subway. They don't want to be shown. You know why? Because if they do anything they're liable to be prosecuted.
Speaker 1:This one guy just the other day said this woman. She was asleep on the subway. He poured lighter fluid on her, set her on fire and the governor of Hochul comes out talking about her successful safety of the subway. Well, what happened to that safety plan there when the woman burned up? I mean, it's gone crazy.
Speaker 1:Listen, demonic powers have power, but no power like we have power. You getting anything out of this? Just some things to remember Remember your name, remember how you're clothed. The last one remember where you are seated. Remember where you are seated, ephesians, chapter one.
Speaker 1:In the Ephesian prayers, I pray these every day too, so it's always in me, it's always upon me, it's never far from my thinking, it's never far from what I deal with, I far from where, what I, what I deal with. I'm always dealing with things from my position of authority. And it says here in Ephesians, chapter one uh, that we should know, uh, the greatness of his power, verse 19, which he, verse 20, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all, principality, power, might and dominion in every name, this name both in this age and that which is to come. And he's put all things under his feet. Where are the feet? Well, the feet are on the earth. We're the feet of Jesus. Jesus is the head seated at the right hand, but we're the feet, the feet of Jesus. Jesus is the head seated at the right hand, but we're the feet. Put all things under his feet and given him to be the head over all to the church. See, we're the Lords, we're the Kings on the earth. That's why it's so vain to go and pray for God to heal our land. God's not going to do one thing about healing our land. That's our job. We're the occupying force, yes, which is his body, the fullness of him, which filleth all in all.
Speaker 1:Verse 6, chapter 2. And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. So we're seated in heavenly places. Far above all principality, power, might and dominion. If you're dealing with things from the natural standpoint, you will be defeated. You are no match for any demon that you find. You are no match for the devil and demon power. But when you have in your thinking and in your constitution how you're named, how you're dressed, in your constitution, how you're named, how you're dressed and where you're seated, then the devil no longer is any match for you. Glory to God, I haven't told this little story in a long time.
Speaker 1:Brother Osteen had his stories. He told over and over Gladys. Let me tell it, pastor Osteen, let me tell it. That's number 101,. Brother Osteen, he had his story. I wish at one time I just really had it in my heart to write all of his stories down and make a, and I never did, you know, I just I feel bad because I can't remember half of them. You know, I remember a few, but I have my own. This is one of mine. God uses everything. When I was probably four, my brother's eight years older, so he was 12.
Speaker 1:We lived in little Galena Park and, as I mentioned, my dad worked in the ship channel. After the war he stayed there and and to stay in the ship channel. After the war he stayed there and stayed in the ship channel, but stayed in that line of work, insulating. He was a pipe cover insulator and, of course, houston being an air-conditioned city after the war, I mean every building downtown had to be air-conditioned. Very few buildings were air-conditioned back in the 30s and 40s but starting in the 50s, you started getting fiberglass insulation and you started getting all these high tech things. And so he, uh, he was a what you call a blue collar worker, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So we lived in a little neighborhood there and, uh, our cross the street neighbors, uh, the father was a, uh, world War II vet and he had a wooden leg and I was afraid of him, man, I didn't want to see that he. I mean, I came in the War II vet, and he had a wooden leg and I was afraid of him, man, I didn't want to see that. I mean, I came in the front door one time and he had the wooden leg off and his stump was out there laying out there. I mean it just whoo. You know, when you're four everything's intimidating, and I made it a point never to go in their house ever again, and they weren't the friendliest people anyway, but but they're, they're. They had two sons. They had Charles, which was my brother's age, about 12 at this storyline, and I'm about four and and their, their son, glenn, was my age, when, which I had known him so long that I knew him before I could say his name Glenn. It was too hard for me to say, so I called him Gigi. I mean, he was Gigi to me.
Speaker 1:So we were playing and they had a pile. They had a load of dirt delivered to their front yard, which is like heaven, because you know, when you're four and there's a load of dirt right there across the street, I mean you're going to go play in the dirt. I mean we played in the dirt man, he and I. I mean we played king off the mountain. We were cowboys going up the mountainside on our stick horses.
Speaker 1:And then one day I looked out and he had his cars out there. Back then they didn't have plastic cars, they had metal cars. You know they were cool. So I got my metal trucks and cars and hauled them over there and we made tunnels. And man, we were playing for for seemed like an hour or two, just having the, you know, making engine noises together and just just having a good time, and Charles, his brother, comes out and he didn't like the fact that we were having fun. He came over there with his big old foot and stepped on our cars and destroyed our tunnels. And I looked at him.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm the youngest in my family and I was never embarrassed to smart off to my elders because my parents would protect me from my sisters and my brother, but there was nobody there to protect me that day and so I smarted off to Charles and I picked up my cars and I marched across the street back home because playtime was over. And I got about the middle of the street and, man, something hit me in the back of the head. He picked up a dirt clod I thought it was a rock, it was a big old dirt clod off of the dirt pile and threw it and hit me right in the back of the head and of course I dropped my car as I started screaming, you know, running into the house. Mother's just all upset. What's the matter? What's the matter?
Speaker 1:Charles hit me in the head with a walk and I'm crying, and my brother? He's taking all this in and before anything could happen, he's out the front door and my mother says now, bob, bob, don't do anything, don't. Uh-uh. And he wasn't listening to mama. He went right straight across the street and here's Charles Now, gee-gee, I don't know what happened to him. He left.
Speaker 1:But Charles, poor Charles, is sitting on the front porch. He's sitting there and he's got his right elbow on his right knee and his head and his hand like this, and his left side is wide open, which, for my brother, is right-handed, he marks right up to him and he never moved. Poor Charles, I don't know if he's kin to King Charles or not, but just about. And my brother hauled off and slapped him right across, full right across the face, whap, knocked him over, and then he starts screaming, and then his mother starts screaming. I mean, it was. I thought they were going to call a SWAT team, but they didn't have this Glenna Park didn't have a SWAT team, but anyway. So, kids, you know how kids do at three or four days, you just all blows over.
Speaker 1:And I'm looking at the front door and and here here's Gigi out there again and he's got the tunnels built again. So I went back over there. I wasn't thinking anything about this. It didn't even think about Charles. I forgot about Charles. Be honest with you, if I'd have thought about him I probably wouldn't have gone over there, but I didn't think about it. And we're down there having just a nice time.
Speaker 1:And so here comes Charles out the front door, just like he did, and then I looked up at Charles At this time. When I looked up at him, at first I was a little bit afraid. And then I thought about my brother and what my brother had done. He's still got a red spot there. He's still red from that slap. And I looked at him and I just kind of nared my eyes at him like this, like you're not going to do this again, are you? I didn't say a word, I just looked at him, nared my eyes at him and he turned around and went right back in the house and I'm telling you, our elder brother, jesus, did a whole lot more than slap the devil upside the head. He completely annihilated him. He made a show of him openly for our benefit.
Speaker 1:Come on, lift your hand. Satan is a defeated foe. Hallelujah, glory to God. And I apologize if you've heard that story one too many times, but we still have new people that have never heard my story, so I'm going to keep telling them. Sorry, I'm the pastor. I decided Did you get anything out of this today? I want to keep you on ready for what God has. And there is an adversary. He is trying to hinder what God wants to. I mean, you know it just doesn't come automatic. You know Paul said a great door and effectual is open unto me and there are many adversaries. Doors and devils go together. When God opens a door, there's always a devil sitting there. That's his job. His job is to hinder the work of God, to hinder the kingdom of God. But he's no match for us. Glory to God. Everybody say he's no match for me. Hallelujah, glory to God. Thank you, lord.