Weekend Review 05.15.11

Songs:

Nothing Is Impossible (Planetshakers)

God Be Praised (David Moore / Gateway Church)

Worthy Is The Lamb (Brian Johnson / Bethel Church)

Forever Reign (Hillsong United)

Band:

Drums: Mark Monteiro

Bass: Gerald Lay

Electric Guitar & BGV's: Rob Sherrod

BGV's: Mary Beth Holmes

Acoustic & Lead Vocals: (Me), Jason Eaton

Last weekend we launched Part 1 of Satan and Demons by answering two questions. Who is Satan, what are demons and where are they from? And secondly What are they up to and what can they do? I wanna start by saying if you missed last week make sure you start there before getting into this weekend question. This weekend we looked at one question, what can I do to protect myself?

I am sure there are more than six steps to answering that question but we taught about six things. 1.) You need to know your enemy!

2 Corinthians 2:11 (NIV) says, In order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

The enemy has a scheme and a plot for us to destroy our life. So it is important that we read God's Word to understand their nature so we are not caught off guard with his schemes/plots. What what I am not saying is that we should study everything their is to know about the Devil. DO not dabble with darkness (we will talk about that in a second). God's Word gives us enough information on him that we do not need any other outside source about his schemes. You have to protect yourself form that.

2.) We have to understand, footholds, strongholds, and strangleholds.

Ephesians 4:27 (NIV) says, and do not give the devil a foothold.

The enemy will not try to come at us out in the open where it is obvious. He will be very subtle. If he can get us thinking one negative thought he has a foothold. He grabs ahold of our foot and not he has us right where he wants us. If someone has a hold of your foot you are going to get away to fast are you. Once the enemy has our foot, it is super easy to move on up and get us around the waste which would be a stronghold. The Greek word for stronghold is fortress. It literally means being locked down, imprisoned, held down and dominated. Once he has us in a stronghold on us he easily moves on to his finishing hold the stranglehold.

3.) Don't flirt with darkness. These things might sound harmless but they aren't. When we flirt with darkness by checking out or messing around with palm readings, horoscopes, oija boards, fortunetellers, tarot cards, music with Satanic lyrics, scary movies, witchcraft, or reading books about anything unGodly; Satan will use it to take us to a foothold. When we are curious or begin to dabble in any of this Satan has a foothold.

4.) We have to understand our authority IN JESUS. We have to understand that we in our own power cannot stop the enemies attacks. But we have authority in Jesus given to us through the Holy Spirit.

James 4:7-8 (NIV) says, Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you, Come neat to God and he will come near to you.

In Psalm 23 David talks about a very dark time in his life when the enemy was attacking him. He wrote, "even thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no EVIL, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME." The Almighty, all powerful GOd is with us - is there a more powerful and wonderful promise than that?

5.) Know God's Word. Scott talked about our house being our body. In Matthew 12, there is a incredible passage that talks about this...

⁴³ “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. ⁴⁴ Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

What this scripture means is this... When the enemy is done attacking you for the moment it leaves and goes to find someone else to torment. When the enemy finds no one else or doesnt find anyone else the enemy comes back to your house to torment you against because of his recent success. But when he comes back if he find your house (body, soul, spirit) cleaned, swept and put in order (which means God is put back in His rightful place as Lord of your house). Then the enemy leaves and brings back 7 more demons so that the attack is that much harder on you. Think about it this way... Have you ever meet someone who was an alcoholic or someone who is over weight? They get clean or they go on a diet and loose a bunch of weight but then the next time you see them they are worse then they were the first time? They have gained back even more weight or they are more of an alcoholic than before. That is because the enemy came back seven times harder than before. Our house has to be clean, swept and put in order by filling out HOUSE with the WORD OF GOD. So that when the enemy comes back 7x's harder than before we can stand and resist the devil.

6.) Lastly we have to clean house and evict unwanted darkness. We have to do number five then make sure that all the doors are closed so that the enemy cannot come back in. Unwanted darkness can lead to a foothold. We have to constantly confess our sins and not do a blanket prayer over our sins. We have to call it what it is and more it out of our house. We have to get angry and hate sin. We have to clean our house and evict unwanted darkness from our life!