FREED | Oppression

We are gonna be reading from Colossians chapter one and two. So if you can stay standing for the reading of God's word. We stand to honor the scripture as more than just human words, but the actual words of God. So Colossians one and two. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us of all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Good evening, everybody. I haven't had a chance to meet you before. My name is Sam. I'm one of the pastors here on staff. I'm gonna again just wanna wish everyone a happy Father's Day to the dads in the room. And Keith had made this point, but just wanna reiterate, maybe you're in the room, you have a complicated relationship with your earthly father, and just really feel God's heart for you tonight and that you would experience the Father's love in this room tonight. A few things before we dive into our sermon tonight. Just wanna recognize and mark what a significant day Thursday was for our city. I'm not talking about the parade. I'm talking about citywide prayer that happened on Thursday night. Although the parade was a big deal. But Thursday night, Pray NYC gathered in Brooklyn. We had over 30 senior pastors and churches joining together to cry out and seek God's face. I'm just so grateful for what God is doing in that space and just thank you guys as a church

for leaning in and believing in that. Thank you for those in Manhattan who crossed overseas to support our brothers and sisters in Brooklyn. I know our Brooklyn folks are here tonight. Grateful for you all the time. Tonight, we're concluding our series on freedom. And we've covered a lot in this series. And tonight, we have probably the easiest topic to hit so far. Tonight, we're talking about freedom from demonic oppression. Look to your neighbor and say, what's your name? If you don't get that joke, you were probably spared from an odd Pentecostal upbringing. And you're better off for it. My goal today is I'm gonna frame this up in three ways. Number one is I'm gonna talk through some paradigms that can help us engage this topic appropriately. Two, I'm gonna cover some practices for you like Spiritual Warfare 101. And then three, I'm gonna talk about the posture that you need to maintain and sustain victory in this area in your life. But before we do that, let's pray. Father, we just thank you for who you are. Lord, we thank you for the boldness and approach we can have before you. And Father, we thank you that for protecting us

and Father, we thank you that for freedom Christ has set us free. Freedom is our inheritance in Christ Jesus. And Lord, we also recognize 2 Corinthians 3 says, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And so Holy Spirit, we invite you now to fill this room with the knowledge of God. We ask that you would come and just silence every voice that's not of you. Lord, I just ask that you would come and breathe life onto this word, life onto hearts and minds in the room. And Lord, I do not come tonight in eloquent words or speech denying the cross of his power. I would rather sound like a fool and you be in the room than me to sound eloquent and you be absent. And so we just say now, come Holy Spirit, fill this room. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, so lean in tonight. We're gonna hit paradigms, we're gonna hit some practices, and then we're gonna hit postures, okay? So the first paradigm I wanna address is this, the extremes. We talk about freedom from demonic oppression. Two things happened. Number one, some of you got very excited. It's like, man, this is the moment, about time. Been waiting to talk about this. You know, you're walking around outside and you're asking people what their name is all the time.

And if that's you, I'm glad you're here. Let's calm down a little bit. The next person, the other side of this is, we say demonic oppression and your eyes just kind of glaze over. It's like, wait, I thought these people had a brain. I can't believe we're talking about this. And if that's you, I wanna invite you, there's probably more to this than you're thinking. And so, C.S. Lewis has this quote in his book Screwtape Letters. He says, there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall in about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves, the demonic, are equally pleased with both errors. At the end of the day, if you totally ignore it or if you're obsessed with it, that's what they're looking for. And I wanna invite you, the Apostle Paul tells us we're called to not be unaware of the enemy's schemes, but you're not called to be obsessed with them at the same time. And so, just whatever side of that you kinda lean on, I wanna invite you to the true north middle tonight and what that can look like. Avoid the ditches and just let's look into the middle here. Now, the second paradigm that we kinda need to address

before we fully lean into this topic is the issue of our worldview. If you don't understand how important your worldview is when it comes to the context of Scripture, just for example, Colossians, our teaching text tonight. For by him all things are created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. One of the challenges we have in the Western world is we believe that if we can't see it, explain it with a scientific reason that it's not true. The issue with that is you've gotta wrestle with the Bible. You also have to wrestle with a lot of other worldviews that are out there today. Like what do you do with the fact of he created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible? There's just a tremendous amount of Scripture you have to leave out in this space. Dr. Michael Heiser was famous for talking about this and talking about how Christians, we can often become in the West selectively supernatural. That we believe in the supernatural birth of Jesus, we believe in the supernatural life of Jesus, we believe in the supernatural death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus. But then when it comes to like orders of the demonic, we're like, oh, we're not so sure about that. And in reality, we don't really get to pick and choose

which parts we like to believe. You kind of have to wrestle through this. I was reading and research for this sermon and a lot came up about Leslie Newbigin, who was an Indian missionary who ended up going back to London. And we got back to London, he realized, oh, the mission field in London is actually harder because of the Western mindset. It makes him harder to believe. He's coming off the mission field and he realizes, oh, this is actually more unreached than I realize. And so many of us were shaped by our worldview and how we approach Scripture. Dr. Michael Heiser in his book, The Unseen Realm, says this, the ancient worldview of the biblical writers is quite different than our own. The biblical writers assumed that the spiritual world was real and active. They did not compartmentalize reality into natural and supernatural categories as we often do. The unseen realm was not a secondary reality to them, it was a part of the fabric of life. We've inherited ways of thinking from modernity that make us uncomfortable with the supernatural worldview of Scripture. But if we are going to understand the Bible on its own terms we must allow the biblical writers to define reality rather than forcing them into our categories. At the end of the day, when you take your worldview

and start mapping that onto Scripture, you're already in a dangerous place versus allowing the context of Scripture to inform your worldview. Dr. Ron Walburn is here who's starting our school of ministry. He actually has a whole class session on this about modernity and its impact on us experiencing miracles in the Western world. That God is longing to do more, but yet our mindsets prevent us and block us from actually receiving and leaning into that. Now this worldview issue really matters because if you don't have an understanding of the unseen realm and have some thought about an explanation for evil on the earth, what happens is we often turn that towards our neighbors. There's a well-known Australian butcher named John Tyson who says, if you don't believe in Satan, you will turn people against you. into Satan. If you don't believe in demons, you will demonize people. And often you see this in the spirit of division that's all over the earth, is everyone is fighting against everyone and that's exactly what the enemy wants. He doesn't care which side you're on as long as you're against another human out there. But if you recognize, hey, there's actually an unseen realm fueling some of this,

and that we don't war against flesh and blood, but of rulers, powers, and authorities of the air, it helps give you a framework to not engage in lesser conflicts. So you've got the extremes, you've got to approach your worldview. And then last, but probably the most important is the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom. Depending on your upbringing, a lot of us have some associated terms with the gospel. And I just wanna maybe ask if you could just lean in, let's get a clean slate. So Colossians 2, in our teaching text tonight says, and you who are dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us of all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with his legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities, and he put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. So, so often, and we'll get into this, when we hear the term gospel, we think about Jesus came for me, Jesus died for me, and we actually leave out the whole part that there was a lot more happening in this space. What does it mean when it says he disarmed

the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame? There was something that happened on the cross that, yes, was for me and for you, but it was also something that happened in the air, that the God of this world was disarmed. Now, again, if you lean into the word gospel, again, we have this associative frame, but if you could just break your worldview for a second, this word existed before the biblical writers started using it. It was used in the Roman Empire. It meant good news, a public royal announcement. It was a Roman term that was used when a new Caesar was born, a new Caesar was enthroned, or that a Caesar came back from military battle. And what would happen is, whenever a new king was born, a new king was enthroned, or they came back from military victory, they would send messengers out into the Roman Empire. And these messengers would carry the gospel with them, and they would read the gospel, and then whoever they were reading it to must acknowledge, yes, this is true. It wasn't just like this private thing that happened. It was a public announcement that went out. One of the more famous of these was found in 9 BC, what they called a pre-end inscription. And it was celebrating the birthday of the God Augustus. It says this in the inscription. The birthday of the God Augustus

was the beginning of the good news for the world. So when we hear the word gospel, Rome had a gospel. Rome's gospel was Caesar is Lord. Caesar is Savior. Caesar brings peace, and Caesar rules the world. So this really paints a better picture for you when you read the first gospel account that we had written. We obviously have the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Mark was written first. And so Mark's opening line when it says, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When they're reading this in context, this is a direct affront to the powers of this day, saying, hey, Rome is saying that Caesar is Lord, Caesar brings peace. We know that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is ruling, he is reigning. We're renouncing Caesar as Lord, and we're enthroning Jesus Christ as Lord. This costs people their lives. This really paints, if you read Romans chapter 10, they call it the Romans Road of Salvation. It says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. So again, when you're reading, he writes Romans to the people in Rome. We stand today in the seabed of the blood of martyrs who were unwilling to renounce Jesus as Lord and say that Caesar is Lord. Probably the most famous was Nero, who would actually light Christians on fire who refused to announce that Caesar is Lord. It's not just some casual phrase, not just some consumeristic thing that this was a life or death, that we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, this really matters leaning into what you view when you think about the gospel for this reason. Most people in the West, a lot in the West, believe in the gospel of salvation, which is true. It's just not complete. Jesus says the gospel of the kingdom must be preached everywhere, then I'll return. So here's the gospel of salvation compared to the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of salvation is I can be forgiven, I can be reconciled to God, I can receive eternal life, I am rescued from darkness, I gain a new identity. Now all this is true. Again, it's just not complete. The gospel of the kingdom, that's the announcement,

is Jesus is king. Christ rules heaven and earth. The kingdom has arrived. The powers have been defeated. Christ has triumphed. Now this really matters in your viewpoint and what you think about demonic oppression. Because when Jesus says go and preach the gospel, he gives some instructions. Heal the sick, cast out demons. There was almost some awareness of, hey, this means more than what we think it means. If the gospel is mainly about getting saved, going to heaven, and personal forgiveness, then spiritual warfare is just an occasional side topic. A niche ministry for weird people and an optional doctrine. If the gospel is the kingdom, that Jesus is king, darkness has been displaced, powers are defeated, and the kingdom has arrived, which it is, then spiritual warfare becomes central to the mission, expected, essential, and unavoidable. If your eyes kind of glaze over when we start talking about demonic deliverance, I would say you're probably leaning more into just the gospel of salvation and not the fullness of the gospel of the kingdom and what that means for us. Jesus himself, Matthew chapter 12, says, but if it's by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

It was his proof, not just proclamation, but demonstration that he was ruling and reigning. Now one of the reasons that we often lean away from the gospel of the kingdom and kind of cheat back towards the gospel of salvation is for a few reasons I understand, I just wanna say why. Most people have an over-realized eschatology. They don't have a kingdom theology, they have a dominion theology. The dominion theology is basically because the powers were displaced, everything's available right now, the fullness right now, versus kingdom theology is we understand that we have the already, not yet. The kingdom is here now, also the kingdom is coming. We have some good examples of this. We just celebrated Juneteenth. Juneteenth is a perfect illustration of this. The Emancipation Proclamation is signed in the year 1863. Signed, sealed, and delivery. Slavery is over in America. But it takes two years for news of that to travel to Galveston, Texas, the last place it got to, and 200,000 slaves are set free who were actually set free two years before that. What happened on the cross, Jesus' death, burial, ascension, and enthronement, is darkness defeated, displaced, dethroned. What's happening now is that message is traveling the earth and filling the earth.

And so, so often because we get uncomfortable with a dominion theology or an over-realized eschatology, we actually retreat back to what makes us comfortable versus holding the line and holding the tension in kingdom theology. Now, there's so much more to this. I wish we had more time. This should be like a 10-week series, just this one topic. But because of that, I'm gonna give you some curated resources. I say curated for a reason. If you just YouTube spiritual warfare, you're gonna find some weird stuff. Most of it from me. That's a bad joke. Happy Father's Day. I've got plenty more where that came from. All right, first resource is the gospel of the kingdom of some books here. This is by George Lattice. Not super long. This is kind of more like the benchmarks. It was written in the 50s. Super helpful to understand the gospel of the kingdom. Two of my probably favorite resources. I love Dr. Michael Heiser's work. If I could just beg and implore you, he's got a book called The Unseen Realm and Supernatural. Just context, The Unseen Realm is his academic work. Supernatural is for those of us that don't like to read.

So if you love footnotes, academic work, Unseen Realm is your choice. If you don't like to read that much, Supernatural is your choice and it's just as good. And then also, if you're kind of already in the spiritual warfare conversation, you want to get more engaged and equipped in it, I recommend for my friend here, Dr. Tom White, The Believer's Guide to Spiritual Warfare. It's a great starting place. My seminary professor recommended this to me. Love this book and actually know this man. Again, curated resources here. When it comes to a topic like kingdom theology or spiritual warfare stuff, I do not listen to anyone who doesn't have a PhD. Like my first, it's like, does this person have a PhD? Now for clarity, I don't have a PhD, so you don't have to listen to me at all tonight. It's really up to you. But I do like to kind of pay attention as you can find some wacky stuff out there and unfortunately a misuse of something does not excuse us not leaning into it. All right, so those are some paradigms. The extremes, let's avoid that. Understanding how your worldview might be blocking you from actually really leaning into this. And then truly understanding the gospel of the kingdom and why that is so significant

for disarming rulers and authorities who are trying to destroy you. Now let's lean into the practice portion. If I could frame this for you, a lot of people are super afraid of the spiritual warfare topic. A lot of people get really off track. They're talking about spiritual mapping and naming powers and principalities and I don't have enough time for that. I'm just trying to name Jesus. So what I'm gonna lean into tonight is two things for you. And this is if you and I are having coffee and you're like, man, I'm really engaging in spiritual warfare, I feel stuck, I'm not sure what to do. This would be my 101. If you know this, you're equipped for the fight. I wanna say you need to get engaged in this space. And so the first one is like, hey, if you're actively in the fight, and the second one is kind of like how you proactively win the fight, okay? So these three words, part one. Portion, right, claim. Portion, right, claim. Nehemiah, it's a great book to read with a lens of spiritual warfare. In Nehemiah chapter two, Nehemiah's going to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Before they even really begin, they're already experiencing opposition. All throughout this book, there's opposition to the work that God is trying to do, just like we face opposition to the work God is trying to do in and through us. And in Nehemiah 2.20, the first wave of accusation and resistance comes. And Nehemiah's response is one of our favorite trainings in spiritual warfare. He says this, then I replied to them, the God of heaven will make us prosper. And we, his servants, will arise and build. But you, the enemies of Israel, have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem. Now keep track of what I mean. In John chapter one, this idea of portion, right, claim, it pops up again. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the what? Right to become children of God. If you have believed in Jesus and received Jesus, you have the right to be a child of God. First John 3.1, see what kind of love this is that we get to be called children of God. And so we are. You also see this appear later in Jesus' ministries when he's talking to the disciples about going to the cross. He says, I will no longer talk much with you,

for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me. So Jesus is informing them, hey, I'm getting ready to go to the cross, but just so you're not confused, the enemy is not doing this to me. I'm choosing this. He's got no claim over my life. I do, and I'm laying it down willingly. Now this is really important. If we could go back to the text in Nehemiah chapter two, this is how I would instruct you. This is how you should deal with spiritual warfare. Number one, you're facing resistance. Your posture should be, the God of heaven will make us prosper. So often when we're dealing with spiritual warfare, we start looking inward or outward, side to side, and you need to start looking upward. I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build. Just keep moving. Don't back down. But you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem. Now again, so here's just portion, right, claim again. So what the adversary does, what the demonic forces will do is they'll make claims.

They'll just start making claims. You're not good enough. You know, you name whatever lie it is they're trying to get you to believe, and often it's partially true. There's a part of it that can be true. It's just a seed of truth there, but it's twisted into deception. You see this early on. Did God really say this? He's making claims all the time. And often when you hear these claims, if you hear it long enough, eventually you can start believing it. And when you take that claim and you start agreeing with the claim, you just gave it legal right in your life. And once you give it legal right, you just gave it access to a portion of your life. And what the enemy is doing, the Apostle Paul tells us that the enemy is trying to get a foothold in your life. He's just trying to find a little beachhead that he could land his forces in on your life. And so knowing, hey, is there anywhere in your life you've given the enemy a portion? So I was praying for this. I really felt like there was a few people that's like, there's just some small areas of your life that don't feel like a big deal now,

but if you've not dealt with, eventually the enemy's gonna take over more territory than you think he's going to. No portion, no right, no claim. Now if you find yourself, I'll tell you how this played out for me in my life. Again, make room for mental illness, make room for all these things, but often we're so quick to explain it in our Western worldview that we totally eradicate the spiritual realm. Years ago, in my pastoral ministry, I really had a few months like battle with depression. And I was doing all the right stuff. I was going, and this portion right claim actually came to me from my counselor. Now mind you, he has a PhD, so we can listen to him. He's the one that taught me about this. And full camera, I actually went to his office and I just wanted him to prescribe me medication. Like I really was just like, hey man, I'll just like, give me some antidepressants, I don't know, I've got like a serotonin issue, something, you know. And we started chatting through it and he's like, man, tell me what's happening. And I said, well, what feels like to me is no matter what happens, there's a three foot circle of darkness around me all the time.

And if I let my guard down for a half second, it just like comes into my life. I remember one day I was riding with my wife Leanne and she looked at me and said, what's wrong? And I just remember, I felt like it was, my soul was black and I just said everything. And I've been through seasons like this before and I could often trace it to like something being off, you know, like my sleep was off or my diet was off. But in this season, I really was like walking with God. I had a strong prayer life. Like I was doing all the stuff I would know to do. And I was like, no, I just cannot like, I feel like I can get it three feet away, but it just stays there. And so he walks me through this portion right claim. He says, let me tell you how the spirit realm works. So what happens is a spirit of depression comes near you. And because you're a spiritual being, you start to sense it. And because you sense it, you start to feel it. And once you begin to feel it, you make an identity agreement with it. So no longer are you Sam, who's a child of God, you are Sam who feels and is depressed, who then is a child of God. And he said, God in his kindness will often let these things near you so that you can actually go to war with them. And I brought before him, I was like, man, I'm honestly doing all the right stuff.

And he says, well, maybe next time, instead of you just praying it off of you, just start praying for everyone you know in your life and everyone in your church battling with depression. He goes, because the enemy doesn't care if you get it off you, it'll just wait for a more opportune time. But if you start weaponizing what comes against you, it'll shift the whole thing. This is, I train on this all the time. I rarely have bad days, I just have days that have more intercession in them now. That often I'm wrestling with something and sensing something. It's like, Lord, I just pray for everyone in church and city right now who's battling depression, who feel like their life is full of despair. Lord, I pray for light and life to fill them today. Lord, I lift up every pastor in New York City right now who's just in the doldrums of life, barely making it. Lord, you would send divine encouragement over their life. Folks, learning how to recognize where the claim has happened, where you've maybe made an agreement and given it a right and then given it a portion of your life, you've gotta break that cycle somewhere. Now, if you find yourself, you're like, man, I'm there, I'm stuck in something. Well, here's just four simple things you can do. One, confess, bring sin, secrecy,

and agreement with lies into the life. Just bring it before, and this is not an act of shame, this is just a gift of repentance when God reveals this to you. Once you bring it to light, cancel it, declare the finished work of cross over every accusation, agreement, and attachment. Then because you've canceled it, you can command darkness to leave. In the name of Jesus, flee, go. And then last, but certainly not least, come Holy Spirit. Because freedom is not the absence of the demonic, freedom is the presence of someone. Confess, cancel, command, come. Again, just lean in, I just, is there anywhere in your life where you have ceded ground to the adversary? It's time to take that back for him tonight. Part one, part two, this is a more proactive one. Really wrestle whether or not I should share this with you guys, but just thought, we're talking about demonic stuff anyway, let's go for it, might as well. This is a daily covering prayer. If you don't know, this gets prayed over you every day. You know how I know that? Because I pray it over you every day. S.D. Gordon says this, the enemy yields only what he must. He yields only what is taken. Therefore, ground must be taken step by step.

Prayer must be definite. He continually renews his attacks. Therefore, the ground must be taken and be held against him in the victor's name. Folks, so many people only engage in spiritual warfare. when they feel like they're under attack. And I want to tell you, you need to learn how to engage in spiritual warfare on the daily. This morning, you woke up, and there's an adversary who wants to steal, kill, and destroy from your life. And I just want to invite you, you might as well throw some punches back. S.D. Gordon said, prayer is striking the winning blow, service is gathering results. I've just learned now to not wait for it, but just preemptively put some resources on. Now, these are alliterated. I probably have more alliterations in this sermon that should be legally allowed, but this is how the Holy Spirit speaks to me, so get over it. This is what I pray through every morning, and I pray this for those above me, beside me, and below me. First thing I do is I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I bring my mind, my body, my spirit, my marriage, my ministry, my family, my finances under the Lordship of Jesus. I don't have to, I choose to. I find refuge in Him.

Secondly, I crucify the flesh. I renounce the world, it's gripping my heart. I've been crucified to Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And then because of that, I ask the Lord to cut off every demonic assignment, agreement, and attachment. I ask the Lord to cancel and nullify every curse, hex, vex, and spell over my life. I ask the Lord to confuse and destroy every scheme, strategy, system, and snare of the evil one. I ask the Lord to cover me with the blood of Jesus, conceal me under His shadow, place a canopy of fire over and around me. I ask for an atmosphere of clarity and hearing and seeing Him. I ask for conviction and faith in following Him. I ask for the Lord to clothe me with His garments and His armor. And then finally, I ask, contend, O Lord, with those that contend against me. Now, that's what I pray for myself every day. Now, when I pray this for other people, just wanna say this, I can't confess that Jesus is Lord for you. I can't crucify your flesh for you. But what I can do, and I'll just model this for you, I think it's up there on the slide, is I'll just say, so I pray it over me, and then I'll say, all right, Lord,

now I wanna bring John, Christi, Nate, Mai, Judah, and Haley before Your throne. And Lord, today, I just come and I bring them before Your throne, and I ask that You would cut off every demonic assignment, agreement, and attachment over their life. Lord, I ask that You would cancel and nullify every curse, hex, vex, and spell being spoken over their life. Lord, I come before You, and I ask that You would go ahead and confuse and destroy every scheme, strategy, system, snare of the evil one. Lord, today, would You cover them with the blood of Jesus? Would You conceal them under Your shadow? Would You place a canopy of fire over and around them? Lord, I pray that they'd have an atmosphere today of clarity in hearing and seeing You. Lord, I pray You would fill them full of conviction and faith in following You. Lord, I do ask that today You would clothe them today with Your garments and Your armor, and Lord, would You contend, O Lord, with those that contend against them? Then I just start moving through the line. Lord, I bring Tim, Riley, and Bo before Your throne. I bring Emily, Matt, and Everett, and I just start moving this way. Now, again, some of you guys, this is like, whoa, this is wild.

And I just wanna say, I dare you to try this. I wrestle with sharing it, but I actually trained a church in North Carolina, some of their prayer team on this. They wrote it up, sent it to some missionaries they have in the Middle East, and about two months later, their missionaries sent a report saying, hey, we've experienced more protection and more power in our ministry than ever before. And this is just something, whether I feel it or don't feel it, this is not some incantation that carries power, this is just a prayer of dependence and renunciation and just recognizing, God, I need Your help today. God, I know there's an adversary trying to take out my friends. I just wanna throw a little cover fire over their life today. Now, again, so much more we could say on this topic, but if you wanna lean in, a really good book that talks a lot about some of this covering prayer and just like consistently getting after it, John Eldredge has a book called Experience Jesus Really. It's a really easy read, really helpful. Highly, highly, highly recommend this. Has some beautiful things to strengthen your prayer life in this space. So, tomorrow I anticipate lots of C's being released into the air. All right, so we hit some paradigms, two practices, portion right claims,

some covering prayer you can have in your life. God, I just wanna say, if you do those two things, you're more than equipped for the fight. Like, you don't need much more than that. Knowing the authority you have in Jesus and just knowing how to get engaged in the battle, you really are more covered than you think you are. The third area I wanna hit is just the posture we need to maintain the fight. Bar I mentioned this, you woke up today with an adversary who has an active plan to destroy your life. There's an old quote that says, you were born into a war. Retreat is not an option, arm yourself. And you need to posture yourself and be positioned for the fight. Just I'm saying this, I've prayed about this all week. There's someone in the room right now and there is like a suicidal ideation spirit just trying to dominate you. And I wanna tell you that is not from God, it's trying to talk you into taking your life and I wanna say it is time to break that in Jesus's name. If you're in the room and death is always enticing you, I just wanna say that it's not from him, he's breaking that off you tonight. So the four postures that I wanna invite us to lean into, just the daily posture. And you know, in sports, they talk about

getting into position. This is about being positioned for the fight. The first one is seek, the posture of pursuit. The lifestyle of seeking him. Back to our teaching text. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness. You know who's terrible at deliverance? Me. You know who's great at it? He is. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. Folks, I would just pray that you do not walk away from this talk and start getting an obsession with darkness versus obsession with light. Christians, we are not casting out darkness, we are crowding out darkness with light. This is not a casting out game, this is a crowding out game that we're playing here. The psalmist says, I set the Lord before me always, therefore my heart will not be moved

and my flesh will not be shaken. Jesus gives us his instruction when worried about speaking about, hey, what you should eat, drink, or wear, he says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Folks, a lifestyle of devotion is what's gonna lead you to experience and deliverance more than anything else. Because what the enemy is often after is your life of devotion. Like more than you need freedom, you need fellowship with the Holy Spirit and learning how to walk in that. And so often, he's just trying to make a lie that the Father has moved somewhere and it's like, no, he's actually right there the whole time. So one, just a daily pursuit of seeking him. The second posture, my least favorite, is submit. The posture of allegiance. The gospel of the kingdom demands allegiance. This is not just a one-time decision, it's the daily, who is going to be enthroned today? Will myself be enthroned or will he be enthroned? And at the end of the day, a lifestyle of submitting to God is the primary thing you want. I find so many people get way off track in the freedom and deliverance thing. It's like, hey, the issue is you're out of alignment with godly authority.

Like, the issue is alignment more than anything else and finding who you're positioned under. James 4, 7 says, submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. What happens is so often, people are out there trying to subdue darkness and actually just need to submit to God and then God will subdue the darkness on your behalf. Arise, oh Lord, and let your enemies be scattered. Like, at the end of the day, there's just something about positioning yourself. Now, this is a challenge because most Americans, we don't like submission. The birthplace of our country is in rebellion by nature. Guys, I am this person. If you're in a prayer set with me and you hear someone say, I want everyone to stand, if I am standing, I want to sit down. I hate to the fiber of my being being told what to do. This became an issue, I love to read and if someone tells me, you should read this book, I'm immediately, it could be on my list. I'm like, not reading it. I have this thing in me that hates it and I've had to learn, I've actually got a war against that because submission is where real power comes from. All authority has been given to Jesus, why? Because he submitted himself totally to the Father. This impacts how we interact with what's happening in public.

Like, hey, Romans has a lot to say about all authority being given by God. This is the Roman Empire that's actively persecuting them and destroying Christians' lives. Like, this being true, the gospel of the kingdom, Jesus being my king actually means Trump is my president. The gospel of the kingdom also means that Mandami is my mayor. And so you don't get to pick and choose which side you want to submit to and which side you want to rage against. I've just got to come under both of these and say, Lord, what does it mean to pray for these people? Because that's what you actually asked me to do. If you want real authority in the kingdom, you've got to learn to live a lifestyle of submission. I know this is a little bit younger of a room. One of the best things I could tell you is stop raging at God's leadership in your life. God is a better leader of your life than you think he is. I assure you, I could not have mapped out my life to get where I am. I've just stumbled. I'm like Elmer Fudd, just walking around. But what I found is, Scripture says a person plans their the Lord orders their steps. And so often, what the enemy is trying to do is convince you you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, and actually, you're exactly where he wants you to be.

And if I just learned, when I stopped raging against God's leadership and telling him what he should do better in my life and just started submitting to his leadership, saying, all right, your kingdom is here and now today, help me see it, everything began to shift. So seek, submit. The third one is stand. The posture of confidence. I'm convinced that standing and holding ground is more supernatural than we give it credit for. People talk about supernatural ministry all the time, divine healing, casting out darkness. And I wanna tell you, there are over 200 references in the New Testament to standing, endurance, being steadfast, 400 in all of scripture. 400 in all of scripture. And I think so often that we feel like if we're not advancing, and we're just holding, we're failing. I watch this lie get to people all the time. I get this claim. Scripture says in Ephesians six, therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day. And having done all to stand firm, stand therefore. At the end of the day, there's seasons where you will not be advancing the ball. Just don't back down.

Just show back up. I wanna tell you, heaven is more infatuated with your faithfulness than you realize. So often in my life, there are seasons where I'll show up to the prayer room, fired up, full of faith, ready for revival and awakening. There are many more times in my life that I'm just showing up crusty, tired, a little bit angry. And I would just tell you, I think the fact that you just keep coming into the room. If you're tonight, you feel like you're just getting obliterated in life. Barely making it, barely holding on. I just wanna tell you the fact that you're in the room speaks a lot more than you think it does. The fact that you're still here. And I just wanna say the reason we're called to stand is because the ground you're occupying belongs to you. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. It's actually the adversary that's trespassing on our property here. Call to stand. So a lifestyle of seeking, lifestyle of submitting, a lifestyle of standing, and then last but certainly not least, I wanna go ahead and invite the musicians up. Think this might be the most important, is singing. The posture of triumph.

I wanna tell you this. I think almost all of spiritual warfare is trying to rob you of your song. Now, I'm not a worship leader, I'm not gonna sing tonight, don't worry. That would be real spiritual warfare for all of you. That would be true oppression, not doing that. But I'm talking about that internal melody of your heart. I'm talking about the war for wonder in your eyes. I am talking about what the adversary is trying to do is to snatch your song. And what Christians have that cannot be taken away from us is the song that we sing. That there's something that we're trying to do is the song that we sing. That there's something that runs deeper. Charles Spurgeon says this, any fool can sing in the day. It's easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight, but the skillful singer is he who can sing when there's not a ray of light. Martin Luther, he says, the devil, the originator of sorrows, anxieties, and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the word of God. I've been leaning into this space for a while and just convinced there's that old Scottish proverb that says, let me make a nation's music and I care not who makes its laws.

Psalm 40, a powerful psalm of deliverance from King David. He says this, I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and he heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog. He set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth. A song of praise to our God. The next line says, many will see in fear. And what I have found is that often the reason I stop singing is because I stopped seeing him. And then when we sing, other people begin to see. Second Corinthians 2.14, but thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. Folks, when you sing in the midst of conflict, you are not denying reality. You're just declaring there's a greater reality. I'm not suggesting spiritual bypassing what you're walking through. I'm not suggesting not walking through the grief and the pain of what you're feeling. But I always will say in the midst of those places, there can still be a song because we actually serve a God who Zephaniah 3 says, as he sings songs of deliverance over us. And so I don't know, the thing I was praying about in this sermon was that our church would get the song of defeat

out of his mouth and the song of victory be put back into our lips. That for far too long, you know, you might be in a season where you can't control the actual circumstantial outcome of your life, but you can determine the song that you sing. This year, the Lord has had me studying the lives of martyrs. Not my favorite topic, not that much fun. But one of the things that's really marked me, that I feel like the Lord's been showing me in this, is not just that people gave up their lives, but it's actually how they give up their lives. You actually read it. It wasn't because they had to, or it wasn't because it was forced upon them. It was, they were given a choice. Hey, if you'll renounce this, renounce your faith in Jesus, you can live. And they're going, there's no way, because he chose to die for my sake. But if you study from the early Roman empire all the way into modern history, you'll just see this recurring theme that comes up, and it's the song of the martyrs. Just two weeks ago, I was in Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, and visited a site where some martyrs were killed for denying the king's rule and reign over the church. They had actually rejected the king's leadership,

believing that Jesus Christ is the king of the church. And there's this famous story of a guy who's walking up to the gallows to be hung. And as he's walking up, what is he doing? He's not praying, he's not trying to defend himself, he's not fearfully, he's singing Psalm 34. He says, I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and he delivered me from all my fears. And I just wanna say, the enemy can take a lot from your life, the enemy can do a whole lot to you, but what he cannot do unless you allow him is to take the song out of your mouth. And I just wanna say, too many of us have allowed the songs of culture, too many of us have allowed the familiar rut of life to rob us of the song that we have. And so my invitation tonight is that we would not get obsessed with darkness, we would not get obsessed with ourselves, but we would actually look upward to him. This is not the call to anything else except to be preoccupied with him. Seek his face, submit to his lordship, stand in his strength, sing in his triumph. Your life is not one of oppression, but an actual procession. We're not hiding from a defeated enemy, we are following a victorious king. When weariness comes, look to Jesus. When you've done all to stand, stand. And when you stand, do not stand silently. Lift up your voice, because the last word over the church

and over your life will not be the hiss of a serpent, but the song of the lamb. If I can invite you to stand tonight. We were praying for this and just really felt like before we move into response time, like we normally do, that it was just important to sing. So often this can make us turn inward about what oppression we're facing, what resistance, and I just want us to all turn our gaze towards heaven. And so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pray for us, invite the Holy Spirit to minister to us, and then we just collectively are gonna begin to lift up our voices. Then Keith will come up and start leading us through our response time as usual. But Father, we just say thank you. We invite you now, Holy Spirit, come. Holy Spirit, we ask for the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of the son to come and fill this room. Lord, we ask in this room a divine silencing of every voice, but your voice, just hear that Zephaniah 3, fear not, O Zion, you with weak hands, for the Lord your God is in your midst. Lord, we thank you, you are here, make us aware of your nearness tonight. And you're not only in our midst passively, but you're actually singing songs of deliverance over us. And so Father, I just pray that as we begin to sing tonight to lift up our atmospheres, we will remind our own hearts, we will remind the powers and rulers of the air

that the enemy has been defeated and disarmed, that at the end of the day, no matter what we face, you will lift our song from us. Lord, I just pray that you would restore to us the song. Lord, I pray that right now in this room, people will get the song of victory back into their lips. And so we just invite you, Holy Spirit, to teach us how to sing once again. Jesus, we just honor you, we bless you. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.