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
Breaking Demonic Opposition | Pastor John Greiner
This message equips believers to recognize and break demonic opposition by standing firm in God’s Word and power. Drawing from Ephesians 6, the teaching unpacks the full armor of God, the difference between spiritual authority and Holy Spirit dunamis power, and the necessity of shutting doors the enemy uses to gain ground. With practical insights, vivid stories, and five key principles, listeners are reminded that they are seated far above principalities and powers, fully armed to resist every attack. The call is clear: wield the Word, rely on the Spirit, and give God all the glory for every victory.
Let's reach down, pick up our Bibles, lift them up real high and wave them around. Make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Live stream audience. You do the same. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I overflow with love toward you. I thank you for the Word of God and for the Holy Ghost that keeps me alive in the things of God. You picked right now, at the last days, for me to live and you've equipped me uniquely to fulfill my ministry, to be a blessing to the body of Christ, to be a witness of your love and mercy to a lost and dying world. Thank God for miracles, signs and wonders. In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:You can be seated and let's turn in our Bibles to the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. And we'll start reading with verse 10. Praise God. You know it's challenging right now, but it's exciting at the same time. It's just.
Speaker 1:Every day is filled with things that are going on in the world that we've never seen. Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 10. And Paul is writing to the Ephesian church and he says in verse 10, and finally, my brethren, 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 military strategies of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high or heavenly places. Wherefore, take upon you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you're able to quench all of the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the rhema of God, the word of God, the rhema word, praying with always, with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching there into with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Speaker 1:And so today I wanted to share a message entitled Breaking Demonic Opposition. Breaking Demonic Opposition. You're not likely to hear a message like this in the Methodist church, the Baptist church. The Episcopalians don't preach this. I mean the Episcopalians Catholics don't preach that. Very, very few churches have any revelation whatsoever of the main thing that Christians have, and that is victory over the devil. There is a devil, but we can break demonic opposition. There is opposition, but we can break it and we should break it. But we can break it and we should break it. You know, in second Timothy three, one, uh, paul told Timothy in the last days, perilous times shall come. Hello, this is the. This is what he's talking about right now Perilous, dangerous times.
Speaker 1:We've spent the last four years importing evil from every corner of the earth into our country. We've got terrorists, we've got gang members, we've got child predators. We've got we've got the most evil demonic forces in people. Forget about the ones floating around in the atmosphere. I'm talking about the things that are occupying human flesh. That's what demons do? They occupy human flesh and they're living here now in the midst of us. And then you've got these fool Democrats that are upset that we're throwing some of them out of here. We haven't thrown near enough out. We're going to have to keep going to even get back to where we were before all this began, and that wasn't so hot. Man, you talk about dangerous. It's dangerous out there, but we've got to have the knowledge that I'm going to bring you today Working knowledge I'm not talking about head, knowledge, agreeing with your mind, and all of that.
Speaker 1:I'm talking about getting down in your spirit what the Bible says about who we are and what we've got, because that way and we can, that we can break that opposition that he has. And you know, one of the reasons that we are having what we have is because the devil knows that his time is short. You know, he can. He can look at the clock and the calendar and kind of know and, and, and you know he's going to fight all the way to the end. Anyway, you have to give him that much. He doesn't quit. But, uh, we're not going to be intimidated and we're not going to be defeated. Amen. We are believers with God's very own authority. So, looking here in Ephesians, it says here in verse 10, finally, my brethren. So you know he's. In other words, he could have said it this way, to sum everything up that I've written about See, this was a letter to the Ephesian church and, yeah, it's got one, two, three, four, five, six.
Speaker 1:It's got paragraphs and all the. The letter didn't have any of that. The letter was just one big letter, one big thought, one big list of revelation, knowledge that Paul received from Jesus himself in heaven. You know, paul went to heaven and received what he wrote in the letters. That's why we ought to spend more time in the letters letters. That's why we ought to spend more time in the letters.
Speaker 1:You know those are written to, specifically to the church. The gospels really are written about the, about the Jews and about their rejection of Christ. And I learned a lot from the gospels. I learned mostly about how to, how to minister, like Jesus ministered. But guess who he was ministering to? He was ministering to lost people. He was ministering to the lost sheep of the house of Israel who were not born again. But now we are born again. So he's got something to say to believers. And when you come to church, you don't need the Gospels If you're saved. What you need is what's written this morning in the book of Ephesians. Finally, my brethren, see, that's to the church. Sum it all up.
Speaker 1:So when you sum up what he said in the book of Ephesians, he started out in Ephesians, chapter one and two, talking about how we can pray to have a revelation of how great God's resurrection power is when he raised Christ from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, and not only Christ, but you and I. We've been raised by that same power and set in that same place, where, in Christ, you're not facing anything in your flesh. If you do your will, you will be defeated, because we are no match for demons, we're no match for devils and and all of that in our flesh, but we're not in our flesh. If you find out that you're in Christ, that you've got his very own power and very own authority to deal with demon powers and opposition that they set up because they will oppose you, everybody say I'm seated far above. You know, he said there in verse 19, chapter one, he said all things are under our feet, under his feet. He said everything under his feet, talking about Jesus. Well, where is Jesus' feet at? Well, the feet are in the body. Well, where is the body? The body's on the earth. Jesus is the head. He's in heaven, but he has set everything under the church's feet. That's you and I. That's symbolic of authority. Are y'all with me now? Well, you know, pastor, I've heard this before, I know, but we, you know, you can know something up here and not live persuaded by it and not doing the things that you need to do to enforce what is a reality.
Speaker 1:In Mark, chapter 16, he's talking to the disciples and he said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. He didn't say these signs shall follow them. Apostles in the first century AD and after that, nothing. No, he said every believer, these signs shall follow them that believe. How many believers have we got in the house today, see? So these are signs that should follow you In my name. They shall cast out demons. Devils is what the King James. I kind of like to call them devils, but it's really, more accurately, demons.
Speaker 1:A demon is not an angel, it's not an angelic class. There's a lot of discussion about what a demon is. I have my opinion, but it's just a theory. I can't prove it. You can't prove it's not true, but I don't believe they're angels. There are angelic, demonic, angelic spirits. Most of those are, are in the atmosphere above the earth and they are the. They are the. You know the hierarchy of the enemy, uh, principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, wicked spirits in the heavenly places. Those are, are angelic in size and magnitude. You know, how do you know that? Well, you know, daniel had to pray 21 days, but the prince over Persia withheld Michael the archangel. So there was a battle in those days. So these kind of spirits are higher level. They're not walking down here on the earth. What's walking down here on earth are demonic powers.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, brother Epstein used to say little old worm, wormy, little caterpillar, looking little hairy demon about an inch tall, purple, blue, green, rainbow colored. Every time I see a rainbow flag, I think about the demons that are lined up. Every time I see a man dressed like a woman, I see a demon. You can just know that person's demonized. What have we done? We've allowed this. We've just the church through its lack of any kind of teaching, lack of any kind of teaching and lack of any kind of follow through by the, by the preachers. I mean, they go to cemetery seminary and they, they learn nothing. Thank God I didn't have to do that. I got to sit under the best, I got to listen by and and and get up close and personal and see how they live their life on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:And so you cast out demons In my name they shall cast. That's number one on the list, you know. And then it talks about they drink any deadly thing and will not harm them. They'll tread upon serpents and scorpions and all of that kind of thing, you know, snakes. They'll tread upon serpents and scorpions, all of that kind of thing, you know, snakes. What does that mean? Well, it's not literal snakes and start serpents and all that it's, it's demon powers. All of that has to do with demon powers. Then it finally says and they shall lay hands on the sick and they and they shall recover, they shall lay a heel, they shall build. And it said the sick not just Christian sick, not just any sick person is subject to a believer being able to lay hands on them and transfer God's life into them and they can recover. They're not necessarily gonna recover in your right, then, and there for you to know that, because you don't ever do it then you'll never have that released over people, and who knows what will happen down the road if you just have enough courage to help people with what you've got.
Speaker 1:But casting out demons and the word cast out means to eject, to expel, to thrust out, and that has a note of violence, it has an idea of a force overcoming an opposing force. It's not just authority. I think we do our blue. We love your blue around here, our law enforcement. We love them, we pray for them and we support them. Are they all perfect? Well, of course not, but most of them are doing something that they're required to do, and I mean a lot of them don't go home, back home at night. They die on the job for nothing, mainly because they've got rules of engagement that are ridiculous. We need to get rid of those rules of engagement. They're crazy. It's the same kind of thought that just opened our borders and just brought everybody across, no matter what. I mean, every cop has got some authority. He's got a uniform that denotes the authority.
Speaker 1:But you know the people out there. Most of them, they don't respect authority. What will they respect? They will respect force when it's used. And when I'm talking about force, I'm not talking about, you know, a stun gun or a baton or any of that, because it demonized. People full of drugs are many times are successful in resisting that kind of force. It's going to take a bigger force, you know, like a 40 caliber, that force, pastor, you're a pastor, you're not supposed we've lost control of our country.
Speaker 1:It's lawlessness everywhere and now that we've got a president, that's taken personal. You know interest in restoring order, law and order to Washington DC. Let it be all across every city and you know they're talking about. Let them start with the red states. Well, the red states where that's happening is the blue cities in the red states. That's where it's a mess, that's where it's a big mess. It's not as bad in Houston, but it's pretty bad. Did you see? In our own port they, uh, you know, judge Janine Pereira was here last week and they, they got enough drug, uh, uh, the ingredients of drugs to fill 24, 18 wheelers at the port of Houston. The port of Houston has been corrupted by China and by the drug cartels.
Speaker 1:Now we need to do a little bit more praying over Houston. Let's just say this right now Houston is a safe and prosperous city and God protects her from all her enemies. We've been saying that, but not enough lately. So let's say it some more. Let's enforce the borders.
Speaker 1:But anyway, getting back to this breaking demonic opposition. It's a note of violence, it's an idea of a force overcoming an opposing force. So we break demonic opposition, we cast it out, we eject it, we expel it. I mean, it's not just because we've got a Jesus badge on our shirt, it's a force that's given to us by who? By the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:Jesus said it in Acts 1.8. See, they already had the authority in it. They had the authority right after he rose from the dead. In Matthew 25, he said all authority in heaven and earth is given unto me. Go ye, therefore, he gave. He gave his apostles and the church authority right there after he had risen from the dead. But he had not yet gone to heaven and he had not yet sent the Holy ghost. So in Acts, chapter one, on the day he left left, he said now tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high, for you shall receive power. After that. The Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me all over the world. You be witness. You need more than just authority. You need power or dunamis. You shall receive dunamis, supernatural power, 40 caliber. Actually it's a lot bigger than 40 caliber. I mean, that's a pop gun compared to what God has.
Speaker 1:The Holy Ghost is your armament. Your Holy Ghost is not only your protection. Your Holy Ghost is your force, by which you're able to break demonic opposition. If you don't break it, it won't be broken. Whatever you bind on earth is bound in the heavenlies. Whatever you loose or allow on earth is loosed in the heavenlies. I mean, you know God's not going to stop it. If we don't stop it, it won't get stopped. Oh God, please heal our land. He's never going to heal it. He's already done it all. The church, the church has got to enforce that health in this nation and we don't do it by inviting all the false religions of the world to come and build a temple here. I still get man.
Speaker 1:We're happy to come up on the anniversary of 9-11. And I still remember George W Bush getting out there, you know, and protecting all the Muslim friends he's got, because everybody was mad at him. There's Muslims that killed all those people. There's Muslims that flew those planes and they were doing jihad folks. They declared war on our country. They were illegal aliens in most cases. Some of them did have a visa, but some of them were illegal. I mean, we're just leaky borders. Leaky borders, that's what you've had in people like George Bush. You know he's a globalist. I voted for him twice. But who else did we have. We had nobody else. Thank God we've got a president now that cares about our borders, cares about our country, cares about God.
Speaker 1:But George Bush gets up in the White House and says oh, we're all sons of the same God, we're all children of the same God. No, we're not. They're not children of God, they're lost. You don't even know your Bible, george. Leave the preaching to the preachers. You don't know squat. They're lost. They're members of a blood cult. It doesn't really too much matter whether they're Muslim, hindu, sikh. All the foreign false religions of the world have come and lit in this country and propagated their lies, and they've won people that we should be winning.
Speaker 1:I think it's time the church wakes up, starts doing its job, amen. But it's going to take not only authority, but what Power? Dunamis power? Jesus said you'd have it when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. That's why we need the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Without the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it's like going through. I mean, it's just like telling the cops okay, sir, just go ahead and patrol Houston tonight, you know, get down on Lyons Avenue and ride up and down Fifth Ward and down every dark street, but don't take a gun with you and don't take a. Don't take your you know your body armor. Just go out there as a kind person. You're a counselor. Go counsel these people. They need counseling. I mean it's stupid. It's stupid, it's beyond belief that we have allowed things to get to where it is. Why have we done that? Well, because we've been asleep, thank God.
Speaker 1:I see evidence of it changing, though. I'm telling you, pastors are waking up, churches are waking up, believers are waking up, and they're waking up to their authority and their power. Praise God. And we've got something to say about it, don't we so in Colossians 1.12, I read it to you open the service. But I'll read it in the King James, this time, colossians 1.12.
Speaker 1:This time, colossians 1.12. Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet or worthy to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who hath delivered us past tense from the power, authority, jurisdiction and control of darkness. That word power is I'm expanding on that word power. We're no longer under the power, authority, jurisdiction and control of darkness. That's where we were when we were lost. Every person that's come into this country that worships false gods is that place. That's where they are, that's who they serve, that's who they're under. They have to do his bidding. That's why they're killing each other, that's why there's murder, suicide all over the place. I mean husband killing wives and killing themselves, or killing their children, or they're are abusing their, their. You know a man, a young man, killed his mother. I mean they're Because we've imported it. Are you with me now? No, we've been delivered from the power, authority, jurisdiction and control of darkness and we've been translated into the kingdom of his dear son. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:I'm glad I got moved out of that neighborhood, man. I moved out of that neighborhood. I'm on the bright side. I got out of the dark side. I'm in the bright side. I'm on the bright side. I got out of the dark side. I'm in the bright side. I'm on the bright side of town. Praise God. How about you? You living on the bright side of town? And it's the right side, the bright side is the right side.
Speaker 1:All right, anyway, we've been given this ability to partake of our inheritance. See, who's going to stop us from our inheritance? The devil. He's opposing you having what jesus already bought and paid for. He's against you being healed. He's against you having a financial blessing. He's against you promoting, getting promoted. He's against you. He's against you in every area. But see, we've got the power to break demonic opposition, amen. So jesus blood gives us power over that opposition to our inheritance. But we've got to confront and thrust out those demons who hinder us receiving. I mean, you know I used to use this example but I grew up in South Texas.
Speaker 1:The O'Connor Ranch was one of the biggest ranches down there King Ranch, but that's further south, that's kind of out of my neighborhood. O'connor Ranch is kind of right at the part of Refugio County, so big old ranch, and way back in the 60s they had helicopters flying their fence line. You know that's how important they thought it was to protect their property. Because they found out through experience that if you don't protect your property, it doesn't matter. If you've got a sign that says posted, you'll have people that trespass. They'll come across and get on your property. Well, that's not so bad, why? Well, when they trespass, then they're eligible to poach. Now they're going to start hunting and shooting your livestock. They're going to kill your cattle. They're going to kill your cattle. They're going to, they're going to kill your, your stuff that you have. They're going to kill your wildlife and they're going to poach and if you don't do anything about that, they're liable to build a little shack and they liable to just go ahead and and squat.
Speaker 1:And when people squat on land and they've got weird real estate laws that Democrats made up and they allow people to stay there, you know it's ridiculous. I mean, when you see somebody squatting in an apartment and they don't pay their rent, they need to leave. This is not. They've got you know places where they can stay, where they stay for free, I guess I don't know. But the apartments that I've been invested in. I'm investing in apartments. I've got a few investments and, during COVID, a lot of my apartments projects that I was believing for increase. I mean, they were told by the government that we've got to keep people in there and not let them go. Just leave them in there. Most of them are illegal aliens anyway and they're not paying their rent. We can't evict them. They're squatting, they're not paying.
Speaker 1:Well, pastor, you've got to have some. Well, yeah, I do, but this is business. I mean, the government is the one that should be. They're the one that let them in. They ought to be the one to take care of them, not me, out of my pocket. You're enforcing something. You're stealing my money is what you're doing and saying it's legal? Well, no, it's not. It might be legal, but it's not godly. I can cry against that and I have. Things are changing.
Speaker 1:Well, pastor, you don't sound like you're very well. Yes, but I want to decide who I'm going to give help to. I don't want some just general person out there. They might be a gang member and they may be squatting in my apartment that I own part of. That's not right. How many of you get this? It's the same with you.
Speaker 1:He might be squatting on part of your body. He might be bringing infirmity to part of your body and you just sit there and let him squat there. No, you've got to eject him. Not all sickness is demons, but a lot of it is, and then that's when you need to know how to break demonic opposition. So in Ephesians 6, there he says be strong in the Lord, see we're in Christ. Six, there he says be strong in the Lord, see we're in Christ. Where our strength is not does not lie within us, our body or our mind. It lies in being in Christ.
Speaker 1:That's why it's so important to know who you are in Christ, what you have in Christ, what you can do in Christ, what he's already done for you, what the blood has already purchased for you. You don't spend time asking for God for things the blood has already purchased. I mean, what a waste of time. So that's why you've got to have a word life and a prayer life, because if you have a consistent word life and a prayer life, you'll know what belongs to you. You'll know when some demon is trying to encroach on your inheritance. Are you with me now? So we're in him.
Speaker 1:We have his entire armor. He goes through this, you know. Take upon you. See, we've got to do something about it. He's provided it, but we got to do what We've got to put it on. How do you put it on? By faith. You have to believe the word, you have to take the word for what it says. And every piece of the armor has a is a commentary on how the devil will come against you. In what area will he oppose you? And so let's go back to Ephesians six here. Put on the entire, the whole, or the entire armor of God, so that you can stand, which means to me that if you don't have that armor on by faith in the word, that you're not going to be very successful in standing against his military strategies. He's going to outmaneuver you. He's going to come looking for the open door. He's going to come looking for the place where he can get some something on you and he's going to just go in there and he's going to take up residence.
Speaker 1:Bible says give no place to the devil. See, he can't take place, but we can give it. How could we give it? Well, through unbelief, through ignorance, through sin, you can give place to the devil to hurt you when you know to do good and you doeth not to him. It is sin. So a lot of times it's just disobedience. You put God off. God is asking you and telling you to do something and you say, well, I'll get around to that. You know well, you just opened the door. Now the devil can come in.
Speaker 1:Do you go to sleep at night with your door unlocked on your front door? I mean, I grew up in this town, I grew up in Galena Park, and we had these screen doors. We had no air conditioning. So in the summertime the door to the house is open, but the screen door had this little old latch on it. Do you remember those little? That's all that's keeping the outside from coming inside. It's this little.
Speaker 1:I mean, how effective is it? It wouldn't be effective at all If somebody wanted to come in the house. They'd just stick their hand through the screen and unlatch the door and come right in. We didn't have to concern ourselves about that because what we have we had law enforcement back. Then my dad would go. I mean he'd leave the car out in the garage and the windows would be down, the cars unlocked. We never. Now we have power locks Back. It used to be a chore just to lock your car. Remember when you had to go around and lock all four? You're telling how old you are now, but did you? They didn't have power door locks in the 60s. I think they finally started coming around in the 70s. So no, we've got to. We've got to shut all the open doors and all these places, all these pieces of armor is how the devil will attack you.
Speaker 1:So it goes on and says stand, therefore, having your loins girt about, see with truth. See, that's your middle part of your body, that's your guts. You've got to be founded on the truth. You cannot allow yourself to be deceived when you allow yourself to believe a lie, you're going to be more susceptible to believe the next lie that comes down the pike. You've got to fight to stay in the truth. This is the truth. Let God be true. And every man a liar. Don't go by. You know people, what people say, what people, the public opinion, go by what the word says. Go along with the word. Don't differ with the word. Don't be in opposition to the word. Just take for the word, for what it says, and that's the truth. And so you protect yourself that way.
Speaker 1:And then, having on the breastplate of righteousness, see, the devil will attack you and tell you that you're not worthy. He will tell you hadn't lived good enough, you haven't done enough, you haven't done this, you haven't done that. He will accuse you. Listen, you get the breastplate of righteousness. You protect your heart, for out of it are the issues of life. You protect your heart. You always walk in forgiveness toward others. You don't hold grudges. I mean you don't open the door for Satan to come back and hit you See, that's part of the armor your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You got your gospel shoes on. You don't walk. There's some places you ought not walk into. I said there's some places you ought not walk into.
Speaker 1:I knew a preacher one time. Who, who, who wrote a book and he bragged on how he would go into strip clubs and he would wait for the, for the guy to take a break, and he'd ask him, can I have the microphone? And he would try to preach a message in the strip club. Well, you know what happened to him. He got, he got in there and got tempted and he committed adultery on his wife. He's on the. I mean, are you stupid or what? See, he's a Baptist. He's a Baptist. He didn't have the power of the Holy. He didn't. He had authority, but he had no power and the devil took him out. At the time. I mean, he was on Christian television all the time, just always, and I thought that guy is not going to last. I read his book and he's, and sure enough, was that God's plan? It wasn't God's plan. He just he didn't have the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of these.
Speaker 1:You're going to have to have more knowledge than that to go into someplace like that and preach. I saw another bunch of group that go to the Mardi Gras every year. Well, I'm just sorry, but if it's going to take me going to preach at the Mardi Gras, they just all have to go to hell because I'm not going there. I'm not, I am not going to Mardi Gras unless the Holy ghost tells me to. Now if he tells me to, then I've got, I've got some power then. And if they show up naked then they're going to get clothed right then on the spot. But other than that because I always say never, say never pastors in Mardi Gras this year is holding meetings on Bourbon Street, the Bourbon Street revival.
Speaker 1:Are y'all getting the picture? So you know he has military wiles, his military strategies. He studies you, he looks at you. There's a lot of things he has to. It takes him a long time to arrange an attack. He can't just come in just like this. He has to watch you, he has to look, he has to just search and look and see what your issues are and all of that. And then he'll come. A lot of times he'll come very subtly. He'll come real quietly, just tiptoeing through the threshold where you don't notice. I mean if a burglar's coming to your house, he doesn't just bust in, I mean he sneaks in. That's what the devil. He's a sneaky guy. He sneaks. So all of these, if we get right down to it, all of these are defensive armor plates, except one, and that is what the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. That is your only offensive weapon, but it's real important. And what is it? The rhema of God that is a rhema of God is what this is the logos. But when you read the logos, the Holy ghost can make a verse, or even a half of a verse, or even one or two words, a rhema word for you.
Speaker 1:I was laying on the gurney and the. I was laying on the gurney and having my heart checked. I had an irregular heartbeat and they were treating me early years ago, years and years ago, when I first had AFib and I had to go to the hospital for a few days and they got my heart cardioverted and I was waiting for all those tests to run. I was laying there and they had put some stuff in my veins and caused my heart to race, you know, and they were checking to see how it was performing under load. It's called a stress test. And I'm laying there and I heard your heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, see. That's not what that verse means. That means you're trusting in the Lord. My heart is fixed. My heart is focused on the Lord. But I heard my heart is fixed. See, my heart is fixed. He's fixing my heart right now.
Speaker 1:See, it became a rhema word. I've used it all Every time I've had to encounter that temptation. It's been over and over. I've had to defeat that. It's been several years now since I've had any problem with irregular heartbeat, but it was there for a while. It was something I had to use all the time. I had more trips than I like to admit to the ICU to get to Victriel, but I got to Victriel. My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, amen.
Speaker 1:So the rhema word of God is the rhema word of God is the sword of the spirit. Everybody say the sword of the spirit, so it's a rhema word. When you speak the word against the devil, he will move. I'm telling you right now. He will move. That's where power is.
Speaker 1:So while I'm on the sword of the spirit, I want to say let's not get involved in flesh battles. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Don't get wrapped up in flesh battles. What do I mean by that? Well, just you know, I tell you the devil, I got a flat tire on the way to work. I devil flattened my. No, the devil didn't flatten your tire, you ran over a nail. Are you saying the devil is on the side of the highway and he punched a hole in the side of your car, your tire. I mean, let's quit ascribing to the devil things that he can't really do or won't do. I mean, we live in this world where tires go flat and where air conditioning has to be replaced. Have y'all noticed Minute Maid Park has been sold out to Daiken. Now we have a Japanese firm that's a major air conditioning firm, daiken Park. See, it infuriates me that we allow Japanese to come here and take our Minute Maid, who's an American company, and here we are. They just sell them to the highest bidder, you know. But anyway, daikin bought out Goodman Air Conditioning, and Goodman Air Conditioning was a local air conditioning manufacturer and they made crummy, cheap air conditioning products, and they still do.
Speaker 1:If you have a Goodman air conditioner on your house, get ready for the devil to know. The devil's not going to have it. But my house, when I bought it new and it had a Goodman air conditioner. I thought, oh, you know I didn't like it. It wasn't a train, it wasn't a carrier, it wasn't a good. And I thought, oh, you know I didn't like it. It wasn't a train, it wasn't a carrier, it wasn't a good, solid brand, it was a Goodman. And I knew Goodman from my experience as a home builder that they were cheap, they don't last.
Speaker 1:So anyway, about five years, maybe seven years, into the house we're living there, I noticed my bill was $670. One month electricity bill $670. One month electricity bill $670. I said, oh, and right after that the compressor went out. And they came out. You know, and yeah, you know, you really you need to replace these units. So I replaced by I've got two units, one for downstairs, one for upstairs, so I've replaced both units. It's a lot of money. Man Came in there and replaced both the units. Coils in the attic. Next month my bill is what? $230. I thought, man, I should have replaced this air conditioner a long time ago. See, the devil didn't have anything to do with that, it's just. You know, it's just a difference in equipment. Your car Causing a roof leak. Are you with me now? Don't fight flesh battles.
Speaker 1:Charles Capps tells a story that you know, england, arkansas, charles Capps. He used to fly a little single-engine plane to his meetings, got tired of driving across the country and he could fly there a lot easier, so he got his pilot license. He's flying, so he's taking off from the airport there close to his house, and uh, he got in the plane and shut it. Little Cessna, and I know, I know exactly that door, I know how that door works. I've sat in Cessna's and I've shut the door. And you shut the door and you rotate the handle like that and it locks it. Now it shuts and it sounds like it's shut but it's not locked and you've got to rotate the handle this way and lock it.
Speaker 1:So he had shut the door and he started down his list of uh, you know checklist, which you have a big, a long list of check checklist before you take off. So then he took off and he's going down the you know, getting ready to lift off, you know, at about a I guess he's about 50, 60 knots, 65, 70 miles an hour. And all of a sudden that door that he didn't latch, he just flew open, wham like that, scared the daylights out of him. He said, devil, you take your hands. And it wasn't the devil, see. He just didn't lock the door.
Speaker 1:You didn't do the right thing. You got in there and you weren't thinking about every little thing that you've got to do. It's not the devil. Are y'all with me? Don't get involved in flesh, because when you ascribe to the devil things that he doesn't do and can't do, it hurts your faith. You're just fighting air, see.
Speaker 1:So when you know that there is demonic opposition, I've got five things to leave you with you today. Five. Everybody say five things. Five is the number of grace. God's given us grace to have authority and power over the devil. The first one is Ephesians 1.22, that we're far above all principality and power, might and dominion. Every name is named. We're far above. So know that you have absolute mastery over the devil and demon powers in Jesus' name. It's not something you try, it's something that you do.
Speaker 1:You've got to get this down in your spirit, if you haven't already. We've got people that veterans have been here for years, have heard this over and over and you've practiced in this very well. Some of you are not as practiced. Some of you have not heard this very much at all. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing. All of this comes by faith. You've got to have faith in his word. That's the basis of everything I'm talking about today. Is your faith in the blood, your faith in the word, the faith in what God said is true. What it looks like is not true. It might look like that the devil's on top of you, but that's not true. You're way above him. Translate and get into Christ. You're in him the moment you got saved. You became in Christ. So act like it.
Speaker 1:In Ephesians 1, 7, just turn a few pages back In whom he's talking about? In Christ, in whom we have redemption. We have it. Everybody say. I have redemption Through what? Through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. We have redemption through his blood. We have redemption through his blood. We have faith in the blood. The blood did what it was designed to do. We sang that song this morning and all about the blood. And we have that redemption.
Speaker 1:Redemption means to buy back. It means to free from captivity by a payment of ransom. We were under the heel of the devil, but the tables have turned. He's now under our heel, he's now under our feet. He has no authority anymore over us. He had authority. When we were lost and undone without God, the devil had authority over our lives. He could do things to us. He had authority when we were lost and undone without God, the devil had authority over our lives. He could do things to us. He could cause us to do things. You know, like Flip Wilson, well, the devil made me do it. Well, it was kind of true. I mean it's kind of true about about unbelievers the devil will make them do things. But now that we're in Christ, we've been bought back. We've been. The ransom has been paid, the blood of Jesus has taken care of that, and now the tables have turned.
Speaker 1:You got to know these things. Are you with me now? All right number two is found here. And when you've done all the stand stand. Therefore, see, I mean sometimes you've dealt with the devil. Therefore, see, I mean sometimes you've dealt with the devil. Let's just say, maybe you're dealing with a harassing demon over your family, your children are having trouble at school or whatever it is, and you recognize these are demon powers and you've rebuked the devil and all of that In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1:You've come against him. You know that you're, you're far above him and you've used your authority and you've used the power of the blood of Jesus, but it doesn't look like things have changed. You know, not, not everything changes instantly. I mean it's not like day and night. I mean you know you speak that and you cause there to be a, an explosion in the realm of darkness, but it doesn't always become obvious just right away, and so that's when you've got to hold the blood against that situation. In other words, every time it looks like it hasn't changed, you don't go and do it all over again. You already did it yesterday.
Speaker 1:Today, you say, satan, I hold the blood of Jesus against you on this situation. Satan, the blood of Jesus is against you. You cannot, you cannot profit over my children, you cannot profit over their education. You will not. I'm telling you, the blood is working against you day and night. See, thank you Lord. And then just laugh a little bit. I mean you don't have to go through this whole thing every minute of the day.
Speaker 1:Once you've spoken it, the sword has been launched. And he felt it. Believe me, he felt it. Praise God If you've done all to stand, stand, say stand, stand, everybody stand. I'm standing.
Speaker 1:See, the devil hates it when he's thrown his best at you and had all kinds of explosions, he's had all kinds of trouble and the smoke clears and you're standing there, you're not laying down, you're standing right in the middle of the smoke and you're saying, nah, devil, it didn't work. All right, it blows him up. All right. Number three All right, it blows him up. All right. Number three rely on the Holy Ghost as your helper.
Speaker 1:1 John 4, 4. Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. Glory to God. I mean, he's the source of the dunamis. See again, I talked about authority a while ago and we all have authority. Every Christian has authority. Every Baptist Christian, every Methodist Christian, every born-again Christian has authority. Every Baptist Christian, every Methodist Christian, every born again Christian has authority.
Speaker 1:But not every Christian has dunamis. Why? Because they hadn't been baptized in the Holy Ghost. You don't need the baptism to go to heaven. You need the baptism and really to live this life, the way that Jesus wanted us to live, and really to be effective witness of what God has done, you need the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:We sang that song. We can't even tell God how much we love him. We can't express. It's inexpressible in English language or our language. So what do we need? We need a heavenly language with which to do it, and we can have that. It's all related to power, dunamis, supernatural power. That See, it's all related to power, dunamis, supernatural power. So rely on him as your helper. Romans 8, 26. I love this scripture and really all the prayer meetings that we have in this church are, most of it's, based on these verses Romans 8, 26.
Speaker 1:Likewise, the spirit that is the Holy Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Infirmities means frailties of mind or body, for we know not what to pray for, as we ought. Sometimes you're approaching a situation and you don't really know how to pray. So lean on the Holy Ghost. He is what your helper, and you begin to pray in other tongues and he takes hold together with you against that situation that you're praying about, that your head doesn't know how to pray. But let me tell you, the Holy Ghost in you does know how, and he can use your mouth, praying in other tongues, to pray the perfect prayer to disarm the enemy. Are y'all with me now? Let the Holy Ghost help you. You're not in it by yourself. You don't have to figure it all out up here, man.
Speaker 1:As a businessman, I would come against tough situations Didn't look like I could ever solve things. I just say, well, I'm just gonna pray in the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost knows all about this and he starts taking hold together. The word help there in the Greek means to take hold together with you against. How would you like the third person of the Godhead to take hold together with you against? He's going to run the other way. The devil is going to run the other way. The devil is going to run the other way because he's the source of your dunamis.
Speaker 1:All right, four, number four, I've got five of them. I'm on number four. Say number one no, you have absolute mastery over the devil and demon powers in Jesus name. Uh, you know, when you're done, all to stand, stand. Stand, therefore, having all the armor of God, and plead the blood of Jesus against that situation. Hold it on him, hold the blood, hold it on him and then rely on the Holy Ghost as your helper.
Speaker 1:Number four stick the devil with the rhema word. That's your offensive weapon. When you speak that word, that sword goes out. That's your offensive weapon. When you speak that word, that sword goes out. I, like you know, the Bible says it's the sword of the spirit, which is the rhema of God. But I like Hebrews 4.12.
Speaker 1:Let's turn there real quick. It says the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged. So the two edged sword is it's. It's cutting edge on both sides. So when you go, I mean it's cutting in both directions. I mean you know the devil doesn't have a chance. It's got a point on it that will pierce to the dividing asunder. I mean that's that's how death happens on the battlefield. It's more often it's a thrusting of the sword into the enemy that pierces the rib cage and goes into the heart and kills them. Yeah, a slash can do it, but it doesn't usually do it instantly, and so you can just point that sword and you run it at the devil. I wish we could kill the devil, but we can make him run. Are you with me now?
Speaker 1:Brother Copeland tells a story years ago when he first started preaching and he went to a church that had a lot of disorder and I think they'd had a church split and there was a lot of disorder there. And so he went into the sanctuary ahead of time to pray and he got to walking around the sanctuary. God was walking around the sanctuary, got up on the platform praying in tongues you know and suddenly there this huge figure appeared in the sanctuary. It was this gigantic dragon. It was it's a huge dragon. It just kind of filled the entire space of the little church that he was in. You know, a little church seat, a hundred people, 150 people, and I mean it was just big like a big old balloon, like a you know Macy's Thanksgiving day parade, the balloons, you know that are floating down, you know like this, and there's this gigantic dragon and it's breathing fire out of its mouth. And he said his eyes were just like blazing fire in his eyes, just fierce-looking thing.
Speaker 1:And Brother Copeland kind of backed up a little bit and blinked and didn't really know what to do. I mean he didn't understand what he was seeing. But all of a sudden in his hand was a sword and it came up like this. He had this sword in his hand and it came up just like this and that thing just kept coming toward him and coming toward him and then he just reached out and just touched the nose. He touched the nose of this big dragon with that tip of that sword and the whole thing just went and just completely melted away and disappeared. See, I mean, you know, sometimes prophets have to see things in three dimensional. I mean, wouldn't you love to be, you know, watch that little reel. I'm looking for it on Facebook. Brother Copeland, would you want a reel on Facebook and show me that one? I'd love to see that one and just see.
Speaker 1:That's how powerful the Word of God is in your mouth. You know, the Bible says in Revelation 19, 13, his name shall be called the Word of God. When you use the name of Jesus, all the power that's in the Word is in the name. It doesn't take a lot of eloquence to defeat the devil. It doesn't take a lot, it doesn't take endless Bible knowledge to defeat the devil.
Speaker 1:If you know what I'm talking about and meditate in this today, you can have victory. You can cause the devil to run, you can break demonic opposition. And when that happens not if the fifth one is give God all the glory for the victory Even before you see it manifest, you start counting the victory before you see anything change. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. You know, god gave you the faith you have. You've been increasing it. You've been sitting in church and receiving messages that will build your faith. But all the credit belongs to him First, john 5, 4. So give him all the praise and all the glory when you break, and successfully break, demonic opposition. Come on, lift your hands and receive today. Glory to God. Thank you, father. Thank you that we're the victors, that we always cause us to triumph in Christ. You always cause us to triumph.