When The Devil Meets You

The title is, When the Devil Meets You. When you want to do business with God and pray, and go in deep and fast, maybe you are going to teach on the demonic realm. Does any demonic opposition happen during that time? I mean, you can time it. I mean, one of the worst times in our marriage ever was when we were getting ready to plant the church. I mean, our kids came down with every disease known to mankind. What's foot and mouth disease? And then this, and then strep throat, and this happens, and then attacks, and all kinds of... Somehow, the enemy can't read our mind or know the future. But he can kind of see what's going on, I think. And when I decided to prepare this message, I knew it was going to be a little challenging week, but it's such an important topic. When the devil meets you, when the devil meets you in the book of Acts, it's an incredible story. We are in Acts 16. So if you have your Bibles, you can turn to Acts 16. We always encourage you to bring your Bible, a good translation, a good study Bible, and go through it, and even highlight it. I believe God really highlights Scriptures.

He has in my life. He's encouraged me in deep storms through verses that really jump out or that others have shared. And I don't have this whole section, but it basically says, the Lord opened Lydia's heart to heed the things spoken by Paul, and her household was saved. And then they were baptized. So it is a reminder, because I still get this question a lot. And it's funny how we word things. Do you have to be baptized to be saved? Well, I would throw it back, like why don't you want to be baptized? Like, let's throw this back at you. So technically speaking, a believer believes, receives the Holy Spirit. They've got the Holy Spirit, and as a step of obedience to show publicly that now they love the Lord, they go and they're baptized. Dead with the old man, up with the new. So no, that didn't save you, but it's a reflection of God saving you. And I would encourage you to do it as soon as possible. Maybe you've been running from it.

That's why we always have this full, and we use it quite often. Lots of baptisms. And I'll gladly change and baptize you, even if it's been, maybe you went like me, I was sprinkled. I just actually read in my mom's old Catholic Bible at St. Mary's. I think I was like, really a baby, like four months old or something. And what else did they call that? Not communion, but start confirmation. This, and I had all this. And yeah, that too. Lots of things. But then I finally did it as a believer. A believer's baptism, because that's what the Bible says. The Bible doesn't say anything about baptizing babies who can't make a profession of faith. And so, this whole household was saved. And it's interesting when a parent, especially when the dad comes to know the Lord, that it dramatically changes the whole landscape of the house. Now, some of you dads, you might know the Lord, but you've been quenching and grieving the Spirit

for a long time. And the best way to set your house on fire with the Spirit of God is you yourself catch on fire. You put on worship. You call prayer meetings. You do what you need to do. It's going to be tough. Welcome to life. Following God is tough, but it's worth it. So, then we pick up in Acts 16. 16-24. Now, it happened as we went to prayer. I don't know if the slides are off. I might have sent the wrong... The Lord opened... Oh, I guess I just keep reading then, maybe. She put it all together. That's good. Well, how about I read you this and we'll see if we can find it. So Acts 16, I believe it's verse 16. Now, it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed... Is it up there? Alright, okay. It just looks different than my notes. Now, it's interesting, they're going to prayer. I've heard this so many times, Pastor, I was coming to the prayer meeting,

but you'll never guess what happened. I was coming to church. Oh, yeah. No car ever breaks down on your way to Cinemark to watch the new Spider-Man. I'm not encouraging that. I'm just saying, Disneyland, everything gets there fine, but you try to get to church or a prayer meeting... No breaks loose. So, as they were going to prayer, it says that. They were going to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us. So here we see a certain slave girl was possessed with the spirit of divination. Now, is that word possessed interesting? Is it not? Especially in the Christian community? Now, it's interesting. Normally, in the New Testament, they would use a word dimenesomai. Possessed. Dimenesomai, it means has a spirit. It actually doesn't mean possessed. We think like a robot. You can't control anything.

You're just going to go kill somebody and there's nothing you can do about it. The New Testament says has a demon. A demon has latched on. And as an unbeliever, that's a very scary spot to be. Because there's nothing you can do. We all know as a believer, we all elders believe, we teach here, that a Christian cannot be possessed, but they can be oppressed. Just go open the wrong door, and you'll find out how quickly you can be oppressed. Actually, don't do that. Just trust me. And these are times when a believer, like normally you struggle with the flesh, right? But these are times like, I fought it all week long. I did okay, but I don't know what's happening. I had to go to the liquor store every day. Or I had to go buy this marijuana and I couldn't stop, or these pills. I did okay, but what is happening? That could be the oppression. I just want to go to my computer so bad. This is uncontrollable. What am I supposed to do? As a believer.

That's different than normal. Less of the flesh loves you. These are when the demonic attack, all hell breaks loose, and they're trying to take you out and take you down. So, Christian, we don't believe can be possessed, but they can be oppressed. They can be harassed. But this girl was actually... It's pneumonumatology. The spirit of Python. That's what this word means. So it's very interesting. So they're on their way to prayer. Here comes this slave girl, possessed with the spirit of divination. She met them. And she was used to bringing her masters much profit for fortune telling. And here's how the demonic realm works in this area. Just so you all know, we're all clear. I thought most people would know this, but many people don't quite understand. Although the devil, I don't believe, can read our minds, see into the future, but they know the past. So for a spirit to tell you something, to tell something like,

oh, they knew this happened. Yeah, there's a spiritual realm that's real. That's why you see all these people on Oprah or different places. Or be careful on 50th West. Palm reader. But they knew. Yeah. Spirits are eternal. Demonic spirits might reveal if a person's opened up themselves to that. And that's how the demonic realm works. They never, rarely, they might guess, but they don't predict the future. They usually go off the path, don't they? Do you have an aunt? Do you have an aunt that died? Cheryl? Oh, my God. The demon showed this person with that spirit this. And that's how she made her master's money. People go and they would pay. It hasn't changed. People still look for the craziest information through fortune telling and things like that. And so what happened though, this girl was following Paul and us, and she cried out saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God. These men are the servants of the Most High God

who proclaim to us the way of salvation. Very interesting, is it not? That's exactly what she was doing. Oh, there's the words, by the way, for you. So she is following them. And I wonder at first, you think, oh, she knows, yeah, okay. She knows that we're called to the Most High God. But she kept bothering them. And that's when you know it's harassment or annoyance. They're poking fun at you. But it's interesting, I want to talk about it for a minute. The spirit of divination. In Greek paganism, Python was said to be a serpent that has the power of divination. A spirit of Python is likely to have been what the locals called the demon in this slave girl. That's where that comes from. So again, as we went to pray, as we went to prayer, and I want to just pause for a minute. Why was prayer such a priority for the early church? Like that was the engine, not the caboose. That's what drove the church. Because the church,

we don't know how many months or years earlier, well, Paul's converted now, so years probably. The church was born in an upper room in a prayer meeting. They would choose their elders for prayer and fasting. They would get direction. We set aside time for prayer and fasting and the Holy Spirit said. It's like it's who they were. And we've really lost that in our culture, haven't we? Because in the early church, the veil was ripped and the Shekinah glory just flooded their hearts. They lived in a time where they knew the temple. And just like 40 days before that prayer meeting, that temple, that veil was ripped in half and it showed we have access to the Father. And can you imagine? To us, we take it for granted. But the early church said now we have access to Almighty God. We can go to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords through His Son? This is a game changer. That's where it came from, I'm certain. That's why prayer was so important. You are grabbing the heart of God. You are hearing from Him.

You are asking, petitioning, and the more you get in His Word, the more you pray, the more He begins to align your heart with His. That's why answer prayer is not difficult. Lord, what do You want to do? How do You want to use this church? What do You want us to do? Commit Your works to the Lord. Your thoughts will be established. What kind of business do You want me to do, Lord? And who do You want me to marry? Or who do You want me to work with? And as you begin to commit these works to the Lord, your prayers begin to line up with His will. That's how you can answer prayers. You don't think God wants to answer what He already wants to do? And He's putting on your heart? And so that's why prayer was so important. I think it's a good encouragement for us this morning to get back to the power of prayer. You always remember this. Prayer will often be challenged by the enemy. Constant harassment. There's no other place in all of Christian discipline, I mean, fasting, probably because they go together, but it is so difficult sometimes, isn't it? I mean, to me, praying for an hour,

reading the Word is a lot easier than praying for an hour. Putting on worship, standing up in the mountains for an hour. I mean, you're praying during that time, you're thinking, alright, but to really go in, see, the old timers used to call it prevailing prayer. Where they would lay hold of God. There was a laborious process of getting prepared to pray. They would go in and they would starve the flesh and they would say, be quiet, we are petitioning God, and I'm going to sit here if it takes an hour or two. And they would prevail in prayer. And that's what kept things going. And that's why the enemy wants to stop it. It's the only thing that really stops him, if you think about it. Well, the Word stops him. Right, but I can read it but not apply it. There's a lot of Christians hearing the Word today. Millions and millions and millions of enemies are like, go for it. We're not changing you. In one ear. Out the next. Where's the power come from?

The application. But when you pray, that's I believe what makes Satan tremble. When you really pray, I'm setting aside tomorrow for prayer and fasting. Watch out. That's how you bring the prodigal son home. That's how you get a breakthrough in your own life. That's the only thing that dismantles his kingdom. I believe it was the Queen of England said the only thing she feared more than the armies of England, I should say, the Queen of Scots. The armies of England was the prayers of John Knox. The man who would cry, give me Scotland for the cause of Christ or I shall die. Who's crying for America now? Give me America for the cause of Christ or I shall die. And that is born in the prayer closet. It's birthed in the furnace of affliction. And from that comes out prevailing prayer. And the enemy knows that that prayer is going to bring your prodigal home. That prayer might even heal you. That prayer might set you free. That prayer might break that stronghold. There's the power of the praying Christian. That's why he goes after it.

That's why he goes after it. I'm tempted to try this. I don't know. But one of these Sundays, I want to just promote it for a while and say I'm not going to preach. All we're going to do is pray and worship. And I want to see the attendance. Don't shout. You don't know the attendance yet. Should we try that sometime? Just to prove a point. Okay. I'm guessing half. I'll run to somebody. I want to hear a message. Why do you want to hear a message when you can grab the heart of God? You're going to listen to a man? You can listen to a man for the next 50 years. But five minutes in the presence of God will change you. That's what you need. My job is to point you to the man. My job is to build that hunger, build that desire, build that thirst, so you get home and you're desiring more of God. That's what He has called me to do. That's the mandate on this church. It's a little bit different than other churches. I got it. I'm not worried about other churches. I run into people, why do you guys do it this way? I don't know. The Bible doesn't say exactly how to do church.

But Paul... Oh, goodness, it's not just me. Paul, greatly annoyed. Paul was greatly like this girl. These are the servants of the Most High God. These are the servants of the Most High God. Just following around. These are the servants of the Most High God. He said, okay. You know what? I'm done with you. Listen, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, be done with her, be out of her. And at that moment, she was delivered and set free. What a picture! What a picture! God doesn't do that anymore. They say, oh, really? Could it be our lack of faith that limits God? I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. God, just think if we could get that power back in many churches, where we could tell people, if you need help, go in the prayer room. Let us pray for you. But it's got to come from vessels who are clean. Prayer team members who are broken, humble, have dealt with God.

They're not holding on to besetting sin. They believe in the power of prayer. I have a note to do that at the end. And have our prayer team members pray with you if you need that. If you need that, I've got to get this off of me. I need a break in this area. Let us pray with you. And that Spirit came out that very hour. What's interesting is we don't know. It appears that it was immediate. But we've seen sessions where it's taken a couple of hours to really deal with people in the demonic realm. The Bible doesn't give us clear instructions on exactly how to do it, but we know people can be set free. I mean, I wanted maybe sometime to just give a lot of testimonies. But there was one time I remember, we have a little office on 50th West where we keep our radio equipment and offices, and a lady was in there by the name of Eva Marie, some of you remember. I went in there, and I'm doing some things, and I'm like, oh my goodness, wow. I think I'll come back later. Right? It's because this lady is just crying and heaving. And I text her later, and she goes,

oh, Pastor, it took about three hours. What? Shouldn't it just be like this? And so I don't quite understand all this. But then I talked to the lady. And she's like, I threw up in the trash can, and I've been set free, and I think she's been at the altar. This was years ago. And I just feel so incredible. And then you see other things that have been happening, and you talk to people. It's not common every single Sunday, for sure. Could it be? Possibly. Possibly. We're open to whatever God wants. He wants to do. But it's a beautiful thing when He sets people free. It's a beautiful thing. And sometimes there's no major event. Sometimes you pray for somebody and they come back and they're glowing like I've been set free from that prayer last week. I cannot believe it. I haven't touched whiskey in all week and I've been hooked on it for 20 years. I heard that a few years ago. Same-sex attraction.

Marijuana. We've heard those things. I have no desire anymore. And other people are struggling. I don't understand how it all works. Some people are set free. Other people, there's a struggle to fight through sometimes. We trust in God's sovereignty. But the Spirit came out. And when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. Isn't that interesting? What did you guys do to my spirit of Python? By the way, you guys, you don't have to try and name all these demons. Spirit of Python, Leviathan, this, that, monitoring spirits. You can just take authority over what God has given you. But here's a couple of keys that I want to talk about. Before Paul casts this demon out, I believe he had some time to be prayed up and to use discernment. Like maybe at first he thought it was legitimate. Like she recognizes who we are. But maybe over time, following them around, he realized, okay, this is not good.

This is not of God. And he used discernment. And so that's a key for praying with people, especially in this area. If you're going to cast out a demon where there's no demon, that's a little silly. We've seen that. I don't know what you're talking about. Because some people think there's a demon under every rock. I have the demon of anger. No, you're just a jerk. And you're selfish and you're prideful. That's not a demon. So it happens. You guys have seen it, right? Demon of coffee. Demon of sugar. And everything. So you've got to cast out demons out of all belief all the time. Demon of gluttony. Demon of this. But on the other end, there's people who think that doesn't happen anymore. And the devil loves that view too. So Paul's prayed up and he's using discernment. I think if you're praying, Lord,

what's going on here? Is she harassing me? And you're prayed up. You use discernment. You use wisdom. And you speak into that situation. And like I said earlier, many are too fixated, I believe, on naming demons. It's about popularity and pomp. And they have all these demon names. And they built a whole career out of casting out demons and things like that. So we just have to be careful. But here's what we have to remember. Darkness hates to be defeated and will lash out. So the darkness was defeated. This girl is set free. The profit that they were gaining from her is over. And now they're going to lash out. Be ready, believer. Anytime God is working in your life, the enemy's going after it. He hates it. He hates to be defeated. I mean, we see it. Some of the most powerful worship services come with a little nuance.

There's something else going on sometimes. Arguments, or this happened, or that happened, and the enemy's trying to disrupt what's going on. Negative talk and critical hearts. Man, doesn't that kill unity? Just come in with a critical heart. I don't know about that, Shane. I don't think demons work that way. I don't know. Well, let's talk about this for a minute. The concept of casting out a demon. Oh boy. You guys didn't know I was going here, did you? Well, it's in the book of Acts. It's where we're at. And it's important, especially for us today. Now, there was probably, I could have had like 15 verses, I found, in the New Testament. Jesus cast out demons, commanded His believers to cast out demons. The apostles cast out demons. So, I said, okay, in a sentence, what is it? In short, it's a greater authority is present. That's what casting out a demon is. The Holy Spirit in you is greater than the demonic realm. So you are taking authority. authority over the situation.

You don't run in fear. You take authority. The greater is you that's in the world. So when Jesus cast out, a greater was present. I'm greater. I cast you out of that person. My authority is greater than yours. And so when I've told people before, I might go in that palm reader place and minister to her. Oh, I would not do that. Why? They have no greater authority than the authority in me. Go to a place where there's witches. They have no greater authority than me. You have the greater authority. Now, you want to use wisdom. You want to use discernment. But we should not be scared of the darkness. The darkness should be scared of you. So that's really what casting out is. It's a greater authority that you've been given. The Holy Spirit in you. You notice a demonic realm, maybe in your kids, a little kid, five-year-old, or this, and you say in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, you have the authority to pray

as if Christ would want you to pray. If you're bound by this demon or whatever, be delivered in Jesus' name. A greater authority is present. That's what you're doing. You're casting down, as it were. That's why I love 2 Corinthians. Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And it goes on to say, taking those thoughts captive. So you're casting down the greater authority that's been given to you. You take authority over those things that are trying to ruin your life. But because of social media, when I was growing up, you just heard of things. You never saw them. Of course, there might be a VHF video. You put those in, you might see some interesting stuff. But nowadays, it's everywhere. Instagram. I mean, you've got Demon Slayers. You've got deliverance at book signings. You guys seen the videos out this week? I was actually going to play too and mention this person, but I'm not.

I don't want to give them any more publicity. I want to talk about it because it's important. My kids have lots of questions when they see this stuff. It's the world we live in now. Because of social media, there's a lot of exposure. And you see people being delivered or fake deliverance. What are we supposed to do with all of this stuff? As a church. What are we supposed to do with all this stuff? Because the church should have some type of response. The church should have, biblically speaking, I mean, for example, if something started to happen here and somebody's manifesting or this, we'd have them exhort them to the prayer room. And have people talk with them and pray with them. And you handle things a certain way. But when it comes to this issue, we either ignore it, or we don't know. I mean, you run into homeless people, sometimes you think they're either demon possessed, or there's mental illness.

And there's a combination. There really is. I've talked to plenty, as have many of you, and you know, and there could be mental illness, but a lot of mental illness is linked to demonic activity. That's just truth. It's biblically speaking as well. So here are the top ten points that I want to leave you with about deliverance. Okay? So, as a church, I believe, the elders will tell me if they disagree on this. Maybe we should have talked about it first. But I think we're all on the same page. We believe that a Christian can be harassed by opening the door to the demonic realm. We can pray for that person. We can give that situation rest. We have people that can go to the home and pray over the home. And there's a calming effect. The work of the Holy Spirit in their heart and set them free in that area. Sometimes things come back. I don't know. But we also believe that we can pray for unbelievers.

The real point with unbelievers is to be set free as a sign that they need the Gospel. To point them to the greater power that is Jesus Christ. And so we pray for people if we feel like they're... Maybe not enough, because it's hard to discern what's demonic, what's not. Some people don't want to admit it. Have you ever seen that before? No, I'm fine. No, you've got something going on. You've got a stronghold. It's got a really stronghold. And so a lot of times when I'll pray too, I'll pray and say, Lord, if there's a demonic stronghold in this person's heart, life. Many times there's not much, but sometimes it's just like, you know, like, what do you mean by that? What do you mean? Like, there's a, there's a response, you know, that, like, something triggered, something triggered them. Or you ask questions. Have you, you know, have you opened yourself up to, to this in the past and the fortune tellers and things like that? Well, I used to just to kind of see where I was going and see if I would meet a certain person and horoscopes and, you know, and you, you, you, you kind of work through that and you have to, really what's key is repentance. The person has to repent from those things. And this is where a good guideline is for those you, you see things on Instagram. So basically, yeah, basically in the last week, there was this lady at a book signing and people come to her table. Her church is actually in LA and they would start shaking and manifesting and fall over and then they pick them up and then they're smiling and they're fine. And, and so

I guess it's, they're manifesting with the demon, but then they're set free on their own. Cause nobody's really praying for them. So it's like, this is so bizarre, Lord, I don't know about this. But I know other things that this person does and it's just not, it's not good. It's not godly. So, but here's point number one, judge actions versus attack the character of the person when we don't know the person. So it's one reason I didn't mention the name, the videos. I don't know the character. I mean, if you sit down with somebody and you really hear their heart for an hour, you just find out they've been, they've just been misled in certain areas because what happens I've noticed over the years, if you talk to certain Christians, many times we live in our own bubble. We don't, we don't, we, you know, this is, so we have that we, we talk a certain way. For example, there's like the reformed camp. You know, all they listen to is John MacArthur and Spurgeon and the Puritans and R.C. Sproul. And that, that's their whole, that's their whole world right there. I talk about revival note, not open to that. And then there's a whole nother group that's just all about, you know, Calvary Chapel movement. You know, they stay all in the Calvary Chapel distinctives. It's Calvary Chapel. They go to Calvary Chapel conferences and all these things are, are good, right? But then there's another group that it's, it's, they don't, there's no scriptural grounding. It's just the name it and claim it, you know, just kind of just have enough faith and you can move mountains and you can, and they're not, they're not open to what the Bible really says about faith and sifting it through godly counsel and reading systematic theology and solid commentaries to get a solid grounding in your faith. And so that's what happens here. So we judge the actions versus the person's character. I don't know the person's, oh, my point was if I were to sit down with the person and you can talk with them, you realize, okay, they're just, they're just, I don't know how to say it. They're just, they, they just watch Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn. There we go. I'll give you some respect. That's all they listen to. So it's no wonder that it's like, it's come back to, let's see, let's see what the Bible says. Right? And so you, you understand, you talk to people. They're not necessarily a false prophet or a wolf in sheep's clothing. They just, they've just never been taught. They've just been taught just God can do, you know, faith, name it and claim it and, and blab it and grab it. And, and they, they need that grounding and they need that anchor. So that's why it's important to judge actions versus attack character. Number two. So for example, on those two people, I just mentioned, right? If people, every time I do this, people are going to get mad at me for

saying their names. All right. I can't watch more than four minutes of just like Jesse Duplantis, right? These, these, there's a certain group. It's like, what in the world is going on? They do not represent me. And I, I'm not ashamed to say it because they go out publicly and say asinine things and ridiculous things and misrepresent the gospel, misrepresent pastors and teachers. So yes, I can call it out. I've got a biblical mandate to call out silliness and not just not want to say anything because I want to be nice to everybody. That's not biblical. You shouldn't want to do that. I can't wait to do that. I actually know that was in my notes to say that, but I feel it's important. I'm going to get to more of these points that will tie in what I just said. Number two, a false teacher versus the one who fell off the wagon. So this person I've been talking about, or you'll see others online. I mean, I could, I can name lots of names. You guys already know who a lot of these people are, but false teacher, false teacher, false teacher. We're quick to call out false teachers when it could just be a believer who God used powerfully when they were younger and notoriety, popularity. Fame drew them away from the Lord. So they're not necessarily a false teacher. A false teacher is purposely bringing in heretical doctrine to deceive people and lead them to hell. These people might just be... they need to get back to their first love. They need to get back to theological grounding. They've drifted. They've drifted from the truth. And they need to recapture... The limelight has changed them. That's why all the cameras make me question their character. Don't allow or welcome adoration. A lot of these people welcome worship. Oh, this great faith healer.

This great person of this. And they welcome that adoration. You should not welcome that. Point people to Jesus. And a lot of these people use the excuse. For example, if I'm coming after them, they'll say, well, others were persecuted too. Persecution is normal. No, when people are questioning you, you need to wake up. If people who have spilled the Spirit of God and they're questioning you, you've got to wake up. That's not persecution. That's God trying to get you to wake up. Are they more concerned about book sales or souls being saved? Do they need an honorarium or can they just go and honor God? So here's what happens sometimes. Number three, we see weird stuff and people say weird things. You know it's not biblical. But then sometimes there's a little bit of fruit. Because usually the people who get mad at me for mentioning names, we're blessed by their ministry some way. I'm like, okay, well, I get it. I do. But we have to remember, God may bless the faith, sincerity,

and desperation of the hearer even when the messenger is way off. A mom bringing her son, a little 5 or 6 year old for deliverance, doesn't know that this person's kooky and weird, but she's so desperate to see God. God could say, I don't need that weird person. They'll take credit, but I'll heal the son. I'll deliver them. Because the sincerity of the person, that's what God's looking at. So sometimes you go, how is there some fruit sometimes? Now, be careful to you people who justify these false prophets and weird people. Say, but look at the fruit. The end doesn't always justify the means. Just because there's some fruit now, doesn't mean you excuse all the weird behavior. But that will happen from time to time. It actually happened. The lady who you guys have been seeing a lot of, we actually gave a testimony on a Wednesday night. A lady gave a testimony on a Wednesday night probably two or three years ago now. And her son was wanting to throw himself off the balcony. Maybe some of you guys were here. It was pretty bad. And she went to this place

and her son got delivered. But because I let her give the testimony, another family got mad at me because of where the deliverance happened. And I'm like, shouldn't we rejoice that a six-year-old doesn't want to jump off the balcony anymore? Hello? What? You critical, arrogant Pharisee. I've got the same concerns as you do. Don't get me wrong. But let's rejoice. It's almost like you could care less. And that breaks my heart. It may question your heart as well. And so I have seen this. I have seen people have amazing fruits under a ministry that there is a false prophet. Or just doing some wonky things. And we're in Los Angeles County. A lady called the church and said, I need a stronger anointing. And I need to drive to Simi Valley and have Prophet Papa Lovi pray over me. I'm like, what? Everything I see on this guy, I'm going the other direction. But see how deceived? Papa Lovi needs to pray over me for a stronger anointing.

Papa Lovi's got about four women complaining against his ministry. Mystery right now for sexual stuff. Guys, let's wake up. But that's the world I live in. Be careful when people have dreams and visions for you. Wisdom should come first. Wisdom must come first. Because dreams and visions can be wrong or off. But wisdom, wisdom is the principal thing. And I do have to warn people, I don't think that's a healthy church. At all. The other lady, her name is Catherine Crick. Apostle. You've got to put apostle in front of it. Apostle Catherine Crick. I just don't get it, guys. We've got to be careful. If they're out publicly, I should be able to say something publicly. That's how it works, guys. Okay, if you want to get mad with me, take it up with the Lord. When people are off and weird and she's sitting there on her birthday, and people are coming up kissing the floor, and the mother crying, oh, mother, you... Ah, worship me. My birthday, come up.

That's sick. It is. I'm just shooting you straight. If that upsets you, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not going to be pushed into a corner because I can't say what might offend somebody when it's absolutely disgusting and anti-biblical. And there's other stuff. I could sit here and go over other things. Be very careful with these people. Maybe because they have a prominent ministry or there's some fruit. There could be a lot of bad fruit, too. God is so good. I was a little upset, but I just thought of it now and this will really help. I get home, I can't wait to have some strawberries. Organic strawberries that just, the top row look really good. So I grab one and then... You know what's underneath, don't you? I'm about ready to drive back to Trader Joe's. Or Sprouts, or Vons, I'm not going to tell you where I go. So you'll tell somebody. But right, just beautiful strawberries. Matt, can you, you know red, beautiful strawberries. Man, I've got red and then just,

what is this? Worms, white, disgusting. You turn them over and there's all this. I got to throw them out. Be careful when you think you see a little bit of fruit and they have 100,000 followers on Instagram. I actually prefer people who are not that well known and notoriety because they can puff up. Now granted, there's some good ones out there that are well known. That's why they're well known. God has exalted their ministry. Praise God for them. We all follow certain people, but got to be very careful, especially in this type of deliverance, charismatic community, gifts of the Holy Spirit, because what has happened is we allow people to get away with weirdness under the banner of the Holy Spirit. I've confronted people before that went here about certain things, like, but brother, if the Spirit's leading. Doesn't work that way. You don't get to be silly and stupid and say the Holy Spirit told you to do that. But that's what happens. People just acting. It's like the Holy Spirit. If it's odd, it's God.

Hey, if it's odd, it's God. Where's your discernment? Where's your wisdom? We're not quenching and grieving the Spirit. We want God to move in powerful and profound ways. I've read tons of revivals where people just fall down under the presence and weight of God's glory. They repent. They look to Him and His Word. Christ is glorified, but the Speaker's not glorified. So again, God may bless the sincerity of the seeker, even though the messenger is false and fake. Number four, context is king. So when we see deliverance or things like this, that's why I went to the couple or the person. You talk to the person. You look for the fruit. You investigate the fruit. You don't just take anything at face value. But I will tell you this. I will tell you this. Number five, now that I said everything I just said in the last 20 minutes, we are to err on the side of grace. We are to err on the side of grace. For example, I could name tons of names. I could spend the whole sermon doing that. I don't want to do that.

I have no desire to do that. I don't get excited about it whatsoever. I get excited about preaching. But we're to err on the side of grace. Number six, that's just a kind of food for thought. Are there areas of ministry that are out of order or areas in your own life? Are there things out of order and things you're dealing with out in your own life? Then don't go pointing out flaws in others until you deal with those. It brings me to number seven. Remove pride from your heart first through seeking the Lord and praying and fasting. And that's one reason when I say these things, it's not coming from a go-get-em attitude. It's truly coming from trying to help people. And call out things that are just not good. And a lot of people won't say anything because they don't want people to be upset with them. They don't want to be liked by everybody. Golly gee whiz. I don't want to say anything negative. And that's not helpful. That's not helpful. Number eight, deal with your own strongholds. Number nine, deliverance or an awakening is not always pretty. Amen? So, many times when somebody's being set free of something, it's not always pretty.

It's not like you're just having a conversation. Yeah, that makes sense. There's sometimes a struggle. Sometimes they curse you out. And I don't understand exactly how everything works. But you've seen that that demonic realm sometimes does not want to let go easily. It's not pretty. And that's why I speak often on a genuine move of God's Spirit. Like when God would genuinely move in a place and people would be crying out. Sometimes you'll hear it here. And they're crying, God's working deep in their hearts. Sometimes the altar's full. It's not pretty. It's not church as normal. When the Spirit of the living God hits sinful flesh, things happen. We don't promote it or encourage it, but it has to be natural. And then ten, be open but cautious. Be open but cautious. Christ in you is a real threat to Satan's kingdom. So we are completely open to whatever God wants to do. That's why I hate terms. I really do. People say, are you charismatic? Are you Pentecostal?

Are you Baptist? Are you Reformed? Are you Book of Acts? No, no, no, but Book of Acts. And the Bible. The New Testament. Hey, how about if we just call Bible Christian? Oh, but I want to label you so I can judge you. So we're open to whatever God wants to do. God, it's Your Word. It's Your church. What do You want to do? Do You want to set somebody free? Did somebody come in here bound this morning? You know you're bound to porn. You can't give it up. Or alcohol. Or marijuana. Can we pray with You? Can we believe that God is going to set you free? Absolutely. But guess what? Deliverance doesn't get rid of the lack of discipline. This is where many people blow it. Oh, if I could just be delivered. No, you have a discipline problem. You're supposed to discipline the flesh. Put the computer out in a normal room. Open accountability software. Tell people. Be open. Be transparent. Deliverance and discipline go together. When the devil meets you, which is the title of the message, expect opposition.

Expect opposition in the spiritual realm. When you do anything for God, expect that opposition. And then also remember, this is so important, remember whose you are. Remember whose you are. Let's be honest, what can the enemy do to you that God doesn't allow? If you are a child of God, what can the enemy do to you? I mean, I know I've been on the hit list since we started the church. But what's the enemy going to do to me? God has the final say. And that's why He uses fear. One of His greatest weapons is fear. And anxiety. Is it not? You fear. And that's how He'll destabilize you and put you to the side. I use that analogy often from the DMV, the Certificate of Non-Operation. The devil likes you to be that car sitting in the driveway for 14 years. Not doing anything. So remember whose you are. That's your attitude. But also, you must engage

with spiritual weapons. So not only do we have the right attitude, I'm a child of God. You engage with spiritual weapons. 2 Corinthians, I touched on earlier, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. So a stronghold is something that Satan has put in place. is built that has a stronghold. Casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God are arguments, are thoughts against God. And you bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And that's why we look at worship as warfare. Guys, it's not just, hey, let's do a few songs right before the message. We are going to war for our nation. We are going to war for your families. And I truly believe it. The only thing restraining the judgment hand of God is His remnant church. So I'll leave you with this thought. The top way Satan defeats believers is with the sin inside. What is that word? Pride. Actually, we could say the top way

Satan defeats unbelievers too. Pride of the heart has deceived you. The pride of your heart has deceived you. And I've mentioned that Scripture before, but I finally want to put it up there just so you could see it. Obadiah. Very short book of the Bible. I believe it was written to the Edomites who became enemies against Israel. They should have been friends to some degree. And God said the pride of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell in the clefts of the rock whose habitation is high, you say in your heart, who will bring Me down to the ground? So they could harass their enemy and then go hide way up in the rocks. They come down, they would do damage, and then they go hide up in Mount Whitney. He's going to go up there and get them. But look what the commentary says. Pride. Edom lived in safe, rocky mountain heights. And they trusted in their own strength. Guys, that's when we will fail. You are not strong enough to defeat the devil. I know I'm not strong enough to defeat the devil.

There is no way on planet Earth. Discipline will only get you so far. But pride says, I got this. I don't need prayer. I can handle this, Shane. I got this one. Be careful. Prideful thinking, no one can bring me down. Isn't that the first step to failure always? Thinking it will never happen to me. And there was betrayal. When Babylon attacked Judah, Edom did not help their relatives. Instead, they gloated. They looted the city and they blocked the fleeing survivors. They became hard and critical in their heart. Believers, that happens to the church all the time. We grow callous and cold and critical. We think we have a degree in pointing out the flaws in others. Divine justice. God declares that the way Edom treated Judah will happen to Edom as well. Showing that no act of cruelty or pride escapes God's notice. And then restoration. The book ends with hope, promising that God's justice will deal with evil

and that repentance brings lasting salvation. Amen. The principle of repentance. And that's why I said, it's better to hurt you and to heal you than to comfort and to kill you. The Gospel message hurts, doesn't it? We are sinners. We need a Savior. That hurts. I don't like what you said, but it's in order to heal you. They said a comfort tickled the ears. How many churches across America are simply comforting people? That's their whole goal. The whole goal of the sermon is just to encourage them. That's it. So people come in. They feel warm and fuzzy. They feel great. Go team, go. We'll see you next Sunday for our potluck as we watch the Panthers destroy the Steelers. It's always encouragement. People just come in. They're cheating on their spouse and they've never been convicted.

They're hooked on porn. They're hooked on this. They're cheating. They're embezzling. They're lying. They need help and hope. They need to be hurt so they can heal. That's how it works. But if it's only about encouragement, only about encouragement, we'll never get to that spot of deep healing. So, I want to encourage some of you this morning, I don't know where you're at, but if you've never made that decision to repent and believe in Jesus, in God, I need you. Now is the time to do that. For me, I don't know about you, but heaven's not my goal. Do you know what my goal is? Jesus. Can you imagine just sitting in heaven, but no Jesus? Look to Him. Look to Him and be saved. Look to Him and have that addiction broken. Look to Him and be set free. Look to Him and get that hope and that peace back. Look to Him and be saved and set free of bondage of sin and death.

So what we want to do this morning in the prayer room, we want to pray for those... I mean, any type of prayer request, of course, but if you're dealing specifically with a demonic stronghold, or if you want to intercede for someone who is, you don't have to wait for me. There's going to be prayer team members in there. They'd love to pray with you. And we're going to pray for those things this morning. Maybe there's something you just can't stop. And you're tired of it. You're tired of fighting. It's beat you up. It beat you up and you are just done. You just kind of gave in to it now. What's the point? It's useless. I've tried. It's a good chance you might need some extra prayer and to have somebody pray with you. And maybe be transparent too at some point. And let somebody know close to you what you're dealing with so you can pray for it.