And in the army tonight in Jesus name
Amen turn with me to exodus 15.
I'm just gonna say a couple of things
before we start the message relative to 9
-11 I Drove up tonight and I was
on the phone with with Nancy talking about
a couple of things and then she shared
something with me that really kind of touched
me and tore up my heart and then
I Shared something with her just some very
painful news from Israel and By the time
I pulled up on the driveway or just
to pull in over here I was just
really crying and I said, I'm not doing
too well at the moment.
I was fine.
It wasn't a It wasn't a hopeless crying.
It was just some some very Painful things
and some very touching things Right after 9
-11 Some days after that Nancy just sat
me down one day I just wanted me
to watch some of the documentaries that were
ready on some of the newscasts That were
showing some of the lives lost and some
of the families.
She gets very deeply absorbed with human suffering
The fact that her brother was killed in
the World Trade Center that day made it
all the more compelling and Of course, you
know, I was I was praying I was
Hit like everyone else wasn't with the reality
of what was happening and even intensifying are
going after God But just somehow that some
of the human element of the personal eyes
Was not as real to me until I
sat down with her and just took some
of the sin We were just talking now
two years later someone had sent her a
note One of our workers in New York
asked if she had heard about this particular
thing and neither of us knew anything about
it There is you know, Manhattan is an
island so you get in either by bridge
or a tunnel or by ferry and this
one company owns a number of ferries and
Named five of them After people who were
killed in New York 9-11 for example
One was named after the Catholic priest who
was the chaplain at the fire department It
was so well known and another was named
after one person that was associated with another
category of people killed And they picked one
Just to Commemorate all the commuters that went
over by ferry and never never made it
back So we don't know why I mean
there was no good reason for it except
it just seemed almost like Just God saying,
you know, I noticed the suffering and the
the loss of life and the pain But
Anyway Her brother of Douglas Gurion was the
one that was selected for no good reason,
you know, the Douglas B Gurion ferry just
remember the commuters that never made it back
and You know somehow although, you know, you
can't get him back and it's just one
of those shocking losses, you know, 37 38
years old and gone, you know, and he's
his wife and two little kids behind It
was just something of a sense of God's
specific eye on the whole thing and and
all you know, you hear about and I
say these things to just remind you that
that you know the battles the spiritual battles
and the advance of the the gospel ultimately
means, you know life and death for lots
and lots of people, you know, and You
may read about some of the suicide bombings
in Israel.
You may hear some of what happens and
You know like any of us no matter
how close you are to it You still
you get used to it.
You get a little hardened you you don't
know the people involved But just I read
this one thing and it just was such
a terrible tragedy There was one.
Dr. David Applebaum who's 50 years old in
Israel had moved over from the States to
Israel about 20 years ago and Was always
one of the first ones on the scene
of many accidents just to treat the victims
I believe let a department in his hospital
and And This is past Wednesday you know,
there were two bombings the same day just
a few hours apart in Israel and It
was his His 20 year old daughter was
getting married the next day.
I guess I understand why this hits the
way it does to hear it It's still
kind of overwhelming just to share So he
took her out on the eve of her
wedding Special thing for father to do with
his daughter and they were blown up and
killed So I just want to remind you
that uh, you know, we need to be
not just kind of coasting through with our
own lives, you know and Getting so self
-absorbed with the little things in in the
midst of a life-and-death battle around
the earth and What happens in these earthly
pictures is just a spiritual reminder that we
are in a war.
We are in a battle and And souls
are at stake and people are dying without
Jesus and people are living and dying under
terrible severe oppression and suffering and we have
the answer that can set captives free in
the gospel and And our prayers are crying
out to God to make a difference I
want to encourage you deeply from the heart
to go with the burden of the Lord
when he moves on you Never think it's
strange to cry out in deep intercession for
something and you think what and where in
the world?
You know, why am I praying for you
know refugees in the Fiji Islands?
I said, you know, there are no refugees
in the feet, you know But you get
this terrible burden to do it You'd be
amazed when you get the report years later
about this refugee boat that you know Happened
on the Fiji Islands and the people were
about to be killed and then something happened,
you know I mean, I'm just making that
thing up and I've I've prayed sometimes over
the years for the strangest things And again,
I don't do this every day.
I'm not praying weird prayers every day to
find out God Lord for the salvation of
the people on Mars.
I know there are people I'm not praying
stupid prayers But uh, you know, I remember
John G Lake's son-in-law Telling us
a story that he had heard Wilford right
before he'd gone to be with the Lord
about a missionary in Africa who Had gotten
badly burned on his hands and was in
the hospital at night and His hands and
upper arms were bandaged and To his shock
he sees these army ants just come come
just like marching into his hospital room and
just crawl up the side of the bed
and next thing start to crawl down his
hands and get under these bandages and he
starts screaming and There's nobody on the floor.
There's nobody that hears him I don't know
if you've ever been in certain some third
-world hospitals.
Sometimes the conditions are absolutely desolate Whatever the
case was this guy starts crying out and
screaming and there's there's no response.
No help and he cries out, you know,
somebody help me and and I think it
was the third time he just cries out
in desperation and There's somebody who's over in
the States With the time differential where they
where they were they were just getting sleep
and It's the middle of the night where
the other fellow was middle of the morning
and they're woken up from a sleep hearing
this voice crying out somebody help me and
just felt strangely compelled to pray for this
missionary and Suddenly, you know as the man
testified later on in the hospital the army
ants just And marched out Got out from
under his bandages marched out and when he
woke up in the morning He was completely
normal and healed and then of course when
they compared notes years later when this fellow
was testifying in a particular place You know
that the fellow who goes back to his
journal and diary and finds out that's when
he was praying I remember About 19 years
ago 20 years ago actually Being terribly gripped
in prayer Overwhelmingly gripped in intercession.
I was literally on my face in my
study Just holding my sides rolling on the
floor.
So intensely gripped groaning and praying in the
Spirit and I didn't know what I was
praying for and when I finished I just
felt I wanted to ask the Lord What
was I praying for it was so intense
and I felt the Spirit say to me
Muslim strongholds in South Africa and I thought
Muslim strongholds in South Africa.
They're all in North Africa Countries like Libya
and Egypt.
That's North Africa the Muslim strongholds not South
Africa But I felt a little stupid about
it, but I remembered And it was a
little over a year after that.
I heard Reinhard Bonnke speaking at a meeting
in Oklahoma and He talked about their big
tent that they were about to put up
in Cape Town In Johannesburg, I think I
think it was Cape Town in South Africa
And it was this monstrosity of a tent.
It was the world's largest tent.
It's seated 34,000 people It was an
unbelievable thing to all these trucks to get
it back and forth just just an amazing
Endeavor expensive to build put up and They
were going to put it up and have
meetings during the rainy season so you had
to have a tent in South Africa They
were going to have gospel outreach.
God had spoken to him, you know from
Cape Town to Cairo, you know a blood
-washed African revival in Africa so they They
put the tent up and they began to
have people come to them which doctors Muslim
leaders and tell them we are putting a
curse on your tent we are putting a
curse on your tent and you're not going
to be able to have these meetings and
Shortly after that a terrible wind swept through
and ripped the tent up into smithereens Ripped
it up.
It was this massive blue tent and and
these little pieces of the blue fabric were
just all over the region and It looked
like a defeat I mean here these witch
doctors and Muslim leaders come say we're gonna
put a curse on your tent Because we
don't want you to hold these meetings and
the thing that's completely demolished by a wind
nonetheless That was the beginning of the story
You know when you're right with God the
devil is always sorry that he hit You
know when you're walking in the spirit the
devil always pays for it The first reports
they begin to get were from people all
over the region that began to send in
reports that this this blue tent fabric, whatever
it is come down in their yard and
that they put it on parts of their
body where they were sick and they put
it on demonized people and people getting healed
and Delivered that was the first thing and
then the second thing The second thing was
that they decided to go on with the
meetings in the midst of the rainy season
you know we've talked to our dear friends
who said hatting about some of this and
just the Details of the storm coming and
the praying these things away.
I'm just wild stuff that took place in
those years So they go ahead with the
meetings and God begins to move powerfully and
they end up with crowds between 80 and
90 thousand This is in the days before
he could get up to a million people
in a meeting or more 80 90,000
they wouldn't fit in the tent anyway, and
he's declaring that God moved with signs and
wonders and miracles and thousands of Muslims Came
to the Lord.
I remember he's preaches thousands of Muslims came
to the Lord because of the demonstration of
God's power and it hit me Muslim strongholds
in South Africa I must have been one
of Thousands and thousands of intercessors around the
world that God dropped this burden in their
heart to pray at that time to pray
at that season to be part of the
work because God works with his people and
Then he said shortly after that a great
wind came in and blew the roof off
the the main mosque in the city Kind
of the final little from the Lord.
I want to encourage you to go with
the burden I mentioned that not because I
haven't been burdened or haven't interceded or haven't
had unusual experiences and in the 20 years
since but because That was so striking Because
it was at a time when God moved
on me in ways in prayer that I
had never experienced and never heard anyone teach
About and and and hadn't even read scripture.
That would have made sense to me about
it I'd read the Bible over and over
but but going back to certain passages and
look at them.
They became clear only after someone encouraged you
go with the burden of the Lord and
if you really tend to flakiness and unreliability
and unaccountability and weirdness I Don't need you
to raise your hand if that's you but
if you do, okay, everything is ethereal out
there spiritual untestable You know what I'm saying?
You know, it's like the guy standing on
the corner, you know clapping his hands and
stopping his feet You know in the corner
in the street corner here You say what
are you doing?
He says I'm keeping the elephants away He
said man, there are no elephants around here
for miles and he says see it's working.
It's working If you tend to be like
that then ask God to give you some
natural confirmation before you start to spot, you
know Dispatching, you know angels to Pluto to
intercept demons that are coming to attack your
cat.
Okay We once went to someone's home and
and the parents said to us was how
was the ride here?
We said fine They said was there any
problem?
No Like any bad traffic.
No it you guys almost have an accident.
We said no this it praise God Because
our two-year-old really just had this
burden just to pray, you know It wouldn't
be an accident and we believe she interceded
and stopped the accident.
Well, that's possible.
That's possible, but it's not verifiable So it's
good when God gives you some earthly verification,
you know, let him give you an earthly
word.
That's accurate Let him give you a prayer
burden about something that actually unfolds in front
of your eyes Okay, and then you can
start to get a little further out there.
Does that make sense to you?
Let me just take a few more minutes.
Don't say this Some years back I did
a series on spiritual warfare and When I
when I went to teach it The first
thing that struck me the first week Even
though I knew the scriptures about this and
and I could have told you where these
various verses were in the Bible Just looking
at one after another after another after another
and focusing and you always see more you
always understand more It just began to unfold
to me in a very deep serious way
that the Bible is a book of war
That the Bible is a book of war
I just want to say a few things
to you about that so that you will
understand why it is that we must have
a warring Mentality, you know There's more in
the word about God being a warrior and
about aspects of his acts of war Then
there isn't the word about him being a
shepherd, you know in the Old Testament revelation
and when when when Jesus And his great
act of power Rising from the dead in
the glory of the Father, you know, that
is a massive spiritual conflict that was taking
place he didn't rise from the dead as
a gentle lamb and the image of Jesus
who returns at the end of the age
is One who's coming with the armies of
heaven and and the NIV uses the term
Lord Almighty or sovereign Lord in different places
But most translations will refer to the Lord
of hosts Yahweh of hosts are the night
spot.
Oh, yeah, it's hot host that does not
have anything to do with Hospitality, you understand,
you know, sometimes we say these things and
they have no meaning to us But we
get excited about them.
Anyway, praise the Lord is the Lord of
hosts.
What does that mean?
It's the Lord of armies It's the armies,
you know, the Israeli military is the singular
of that word He's the Lord of the
Lord of the armies of heaven.
Think of that's how he's known Yahweh of
armies so what's written in in Exodus 15
3 After the great demonstration of God's power
on behalf of Israel Stretching out his hand
the great event in the Old Testament The
event to everything pointed back to that great
event when God showed that he was God
over nature and God over the the false
gods Verse 3 of Exodus 15.
The Lord is a man of war The
Lord is his name Said brother.
Could you tell us exactly what that says
in the Hebrew?
I'd be happy to the Lord is a
man of war The Lord is his name
ishmael.
Come on just man of war There is
an aspect to the character of God that
is warring There is an aspect to the
character of God that makes him the God
of battles and the God of armies And
I want to ask you honestly when you
read through the Old Testament Even before we
think of getting to the new when you
remember that Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 10
and in Romans 15 That what's written here
in the Hebrew Scriptures is written for our
benefit written for edification and written for our
warning When you realize that Jesus fought off
the devil with verses from the book of
Deuteronomy When you realize that the Bible of
the of the early believers was was the
Old Testament What do we do with all
these verses?
What do we do with all the war
passages?
What do we do with all the violent
passages?
We absolutely know that we are of a
different spirit We absolutely know that we are
not called to to physically fight.
We know that we overcome evil with good
We know that we bless those who curse
us We know we pray for those who
who persecute us and despitefully use us We
know that we are the meek who inherit
the earth Yet what do we do with
all of these verses about God being a
man of war and in the verses about
warfare Go to the go to the book
of Joshua for a moment There's so much
talk about the Joshua generation the generation that
goes in and takes the land People talk
about the Joshua generation the Joshua Revolution.
You'll find these things widespread in the body
today Listen the book of Joshua is a
book of violent war Triumph against the enemy
Okay, so we don't take that to mean
go and kill our neighbors that we don't
like we understand that It means that we
don't go and blow up abortion clinics or
or take out our our anger against people
in society We don't like God forbid.
We're every different spirit.
But what do we do with this?
I Want to ask you honestly, where is
the warrior in your life?
Where is the warrior in your heart?
Where is the warrior in your prayer life?
Listen don't say that's not my temperament Okay,
because no one is more Christ like than
Jesus All right No one is more lamb
like than the lamb who was sacrificed from
before the foundation of the world and the
heart mind of God No one is more
compassionate than the one who lays down his
life and yet No one has ever lived
on this earth who was any more of
a focused warrior the ultimate strong man that
overcomes the lesser strong man Trust me the
father will not have to force a sword
into the son of God's hand when he
returns He comes in flaming fire taking vengeance
on them that don't know God this is
not some new image new look Let's try
the warrior.
Look he wore he battled he refused to
back down The assault of hell One moment
of the assault of hell that he endured
every moment of his life would put all
of us under it Has nothing to do
with temperament.
You understand?
Heaven and hell have nothing to do with
temperament being light or darkness have nothing to
do with temperament Being free or being a
slave to sin have nothing to do with
temperament Spiritual aggression being a warrior has nothing
to do with temperament the same one that
That writes the Psalms the sweet singer of
Israel as he's called.
I mean if you met David and He's
he's we don't know what the song sound
like.
There's some hints of some ancient music that's
been preserved I don't mean that there's an
old CD that was passed on but some
musical notations that that some have sought to
figure out I'm sure it's not a little
different to our ears But I don't I
don't imagine that when David, you know wrote
Yahweh Oh, he Lord sorry, you know, the
Lord is my shepherd.
Yahweh is my shepherd.
I like nothing I don't think that that
had a hard rock sound to it.
Just my personal opinion You know just kind
of you know, and when he sang it,
you know, it's heaven.
I think that would have been one of
the kind of You know just You
know before I was saved, you know that
the the lightweight me I was not into
folk music at all You know who plays
folk music loud?
You know what folk stars, you know lost
their hearing because the you know, the acoustic
guitar was so loud.
I Think you know, they're they're different streams
and melodies and styles and I'm just glad
I didn't hurt my neck doing the David
thing there.
I Don't think he was you know, I
don't think he was marching around saying you
and confessing it You know, you lead me.
I'll say it again.
You lead me by streams of living water
That's not the kind of thing you shout
out like that You make me to lie
down.
I'll say it again.
Yeah Green That's the kind
of song you listen to late at night
just oh I just want to fall asleep
in the arms of God Listen man, David
killed people.
He was a warrior you understand Contrasts come
across there He was a he was a
violent warrior he fought killed people Not murder
murder is bad, but he killed people in
war and he wrote some warring Psalms and
Psalms that picture the Lord is a warrior
fighting for him crushing and demolishing and smashing
this folks here I mean Listen to some
of the other Psalms.
Let's see if let's see if I can
get some of these right.
I mean, let me just try Let's try
this one Psalm 3 7 Arise Oh Lord
Save me.
Oh my god for you you strike all
my enemies on the cheek and you break
the teeth of the wicked Now that's the
one you know Straight smash Kill him It's
in the Psalms too, isn't it?
here here's a Here's a favorite one the
end of the Psalm Psalm 149 praise the
Lord your picture kind of like a You
know one of those choruses or one of
those choirs where everyone's got that perfect smile
You know when they're just the outfits are
perfect, you know, it's one of those You
know, it's just that sounds a very sweet
melodious sound I'm sure ministers a lot to
certain people just praise the Lord just he's
worthy Saints just praise him You know just
one of those things Sing to the Lord.
Let's sing to him a new song.
Oh Let Israel be glad Let him praise
him with dancing let the dancers come forth
and make melody to him with tambourine and
Liar, I mean, it's one of these kind
of things Let the high praises of God
which by the way, the high praises is
is not hit the highest note you can
hit Okay, some of you ladies with really
high voices or it's not you know, oh,
let's praise Those are not the high praises,
okay, I just want to explain that Okay,
if you have a high voice god bless
you.
Okay deep voices high voices are all welcome,
but it's not like It's not like a
truck driver can't do the high praises, you
know, I'm just like bass praising.
I did have low praises Not at all
The it the high is the XR means
the exaltations of God highly exalting him, okay
All this high praise teaching But anyway, let
the with the high praises of praise him
with the dance and let the tambourine players
play Praise him with the high praises Let
the high praises of God be in the
throats and two-edged swords in their hands.
That's an edge verse You mean though the
lady dancers and the guys with the tambourines
have two-edged swords See We make this
one thing like pray just like pretty no
praise This is praising as opposed to this
whole thing is war.
You understand.
What do you do with what do you
do with these verses?
but the high praises of God be in
their throats and two-edged swords in their
hands to execute vengeance on the nations and
Punishments on the people's to bind their kings
with chains and their nobles with fetters of
iron to Execute on them the judgment written.
This is honor for all his godly ones.
What do you do with that?
Take it out on the devil.
You do war where you can do war
you get aggressive spiritually Listen, uh, it'll sound
silly what I'm saying, but I mean it
don't knock it until you try it Don't
sit.
I don't believe in it.
So some of you are standing like all
chained up all bound up.
I don't believe in any of that stuff
It shows The bottom line is you do
not have to be defeated and beaten down.
I would dare say Despite the fact that
I have not gone through some specific Situations
that some of you have gone through here
and some of you may have gone through
hell and it's a miracle of God's grace
That you've been sitting here today But I
would dare say that generally and broadly speaking
I have come under as much attack of
hell If not more than almost anybody in
here, I understand the attack of hell.
I'm not making light of this I'm not
turning this into a game but I'm telling
you if you sit back and wait for
things to happen, they're not going to happen
and If you happen to be blessed enough
to have somebody pray you through to some
overcoming place.
It'll only be temporary Because the same lethargy
or apathy will set back in I'm talking
about first stirring yourself to be a warrior
and Understanding that there is that aspect.
Yes.
There is the aspect of literally just laying
down before the Lord Or just laying down
on one of those green pastures and just
having that praise music.
That's very mellow and very you know I'm
joking about it, but in all seriousness just
that can just you just fall asleep When
I fly I you know, I Just got
a little mp3 player with these headphones there's
some music that I put on specifically if
I want to block out the outside sound
and go to sleep and I go to
sleep in a good frame of mind There
is that place, you know come to me
and rest that's in the Bible, too It's
not either or but there's a time to
to dance.
There's a time to to mourn.
There's a time to so there's a time
There's a time to rest there's a time
to battle and then when we battle we
battle out of our place of rest in
him That the victory is ours I'm not
talking about just an empty attack on hell.
I'm talking about build yourself up in God
Let the battle begin in your own heart
stir yourself.
I'm not some wimp.
I'm not some deceived fool I'm not some
casualty of war.
I'm a man of God.
I'm a woman of God.
I'm a child of God.
I'm blood-washed I'm called holy by God
You start to stir yourself you start to
build yourself up you start to aggressively take
in the word So you being a warrior
doesn't mean you just go out and tackle
someone.
It means you get built up You got
beat down defeat it discouraged hurt injured Abused
you start to build yourself back up.
You get healed you get strengthened You get
the Word of God in your heart you
get the Word of God in your mind
You take hold of the reality of what's
written Not not not the pseudo reality of
what people say and sometimes how circumstances unfold
because they can change in a dime They
can be fleeting.
They can be deceiving and misleading Take all
the spiritual truths start to build yourself up
start to pray in the spirit start to
go after God and Then a strength begins
to come you start to overcome You know,
there's a there's a wonderful verse That the
actual meaning of it is better than the
wrong translation in Isaiah the 10th chapter a
Lot of people love to quote Isaiah 10
27 that the yoke will be broken because
of the anointing Well, that's not what Isaiah
10 27 says You said man, I know
people's whole ministries are built on that.
Well, the truth is there Elsewhere in the
Bible that God's anointing breaks yolks, you know,
the Spirit of the Lord's on me One
reason is Jesus says the Prophet speaks To
proclaim Liberty to set captives free so the
anointing of God, of course breaks yolks, of
course, that's true but it's not what I
say at 1027 says and in that day,
this is the oppression that's been on Israel
and that day his burden will depart from
your shoulder and his yoke from your neck
and the yoke will be broken because of
the fat or fatness The Hebrew as the
vowels have it could mean oil would be
broken because of oil and then the King
James translators took that to mean anointing oil
and hence anointing which is a complete and
total jump and unwarranted The vowels are not
in the original text.
Anyway, it's the consonants with the consonants as
written It is that the yoke will be
broken because of the fact Say what in
the world does that mean?
Here's what it means.
There's a yoke of oppression on you There's
something that's holding you down beating you down
stealing from you robbing from you hurting you
discouraging you There is an active devil.
I don't think about him much.
I don't focus on him much.
I don't talk to him much I'm God
conscious Jesus conscious word kind if I have
a consciousness That's where my orientation is but
there is a battle and we are told
in first Peter 5 to be sober and
vigilant why because our Adversary the devil goes
about seeking whom he may devour how like
a roaring lion People say yeah, you may
be a roaring lion, but he ain't got
no teeth So, why are you being told
to be sober and vigilant if he's just
toothless watch it watch it an ant is
coming after you Crush the end.
No, he's looking for people to devour and
if we're not sober and vigilant we'll get
devoured There are plenty of casualties all over
and some of you know him that have
been bitten by hell, of course, he has
teeth He's just defeated in Jesus name utterly
and feed it.
So we take our authority So there's this
battle there's this oppression there's this war on
That's why their verses in the New Testament
where we are called fellow soldiers Paul writes
to his fellow soldiers you say where are
they in the Bible be aggressive enough to
look them up and find them then They'll
have more meaning to you.
How's that?
Don't look at me like that's a good
idea and it's not because I don't remember
For whoever that was Starting Colossians 4 if
you need help, but listen, there's a reason
we're called fellow So there's a reason there's
a whole wonderful section of Ephesians 6 about
the armor that we wear You know, the
armor that we wear is God's armor the
same armor.
He wears and Isaiah 59 you say but
If God wears it, it's spiritual, of course,
it's it's all spiritual to understand whether we
wear it or God wears it It's all
spiritual figures of speech to convey certain spiritual
meanings and truths.
Why do you what do we do with
the sword?
How often do you use a sword?
I'm asking you personally in your own spiritual
eyes.
How often do you so the sword is
the word?
How do you use it as a sword
in what setting when where how how's that
manifest in your lives?
I'm asking you honestly to stop and think
is the warrior there.
So the yoke gets broken because of fatness.
What does it mean?
It means that this this animal maybe this
bull it should be such a powerful thing
You ever seen pictures maybe a news story
of someone in a bull run in Spain
and and they get gored by a bull
I saw it one time.
It's unbelief.
This is a bull just what it's that
picks the person up.
They go flying through the air Unbelievable, but
maybe this thing has been so malnourished There's
yolks on its neck and it's it's kept
in bondage But as it gets healthier and
fed and built up and healthier and fed
and built up and healthier and fed and
built up Just like if you went to
peak fitness and kept working at it.
I'm working at it I'm working at it
and working at it or worked at it
in other ways than peak fitness.
You get so built up that you're you're
Button start to burst off your shirt can
happen in several different ways.
It burst off your shirt I mean, that's
that's the picture though of this thing.
That's so strong.
Oh the yoke breaks because of fatness The
yolks get broken in our life because of
spiritual health and spiritual strength and spiritual vitality.
I Want to ask you consider it Take
it as a question from the Spirit of
the Lord in the word of the Lord
When do you use the sword of the
word in your own lives?
Don't answer me Think about how often do
you use the word as a sword in
battle?
To speak forth the truths of God in
the midst of discouragement To renew your mind
to what God is saying in the midst
of the enemy onslaught To to to attack
powers of darkness in Jesus name that resist
to aggressively minister to the sick of the
bound Some things will not happen without a
battle Just a couple more verses Many of
you know Matthew 11 12 11 11 and
12 There's dispute among commentaries and interpreters But
as much as I've looked at it and
studied it or the way I've understood it
for years seems to be the way it
the way it speaks Truly I say to
you Matthew 11 11 and 12 among those
born of women there is arisen No one
greater than John the Immerser John the baptizer
Yet the one who was leased in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he From
the days of John the Baptist until now
the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and
the violent take it by force Some argue
that it means the attack on God's people
and God's kingdom But there seems to be
a positive promise here the violence take it
by force an image of us going and
taking the land Joshua and the people of
Israel command go take the land I never
went through verses in Joshua, but all the
words be encouraged be strong go for it
Go for it.
The Lord's with you.
Why because it's a battle If you don't
if you don't need God's supernatural help on
your side to do what you're doing, then
you're not in the battle Here look at
look at Romans 15.
There's another prayer verse.
Look what Paul says Romans 15 30 I
appeal to brothers by our Lord Jesus Christ
and by the love of the Spirit to
strive together with me in Your prayers or
to join me in my struggle in your
prayers to God on my behalf There's a
struggle.
There's a striving Paul talks about it in
1st Corinthians 15 fighting wild beasts and Ephesus
All These war images and these terrible attack
images.
How do we join in the struggle and
prayer?
Why is Jesus so pressed in prayer in
the garden?
That is his prayers as his tear his
sweat rather is like drops of blood The
Hebrews 5 7 tells us that he prayed
with loud crying and tears Why does Paul
write about one of his fellow workers who
wrestles in prayer we need to get some
holy aggression into us We need to take
hold of the warrior mentality.
We need to aggressively put the enemy to
fight What's what's written in 2nd Timothy 2
as Paul is giving his instructions?
To his younger brother his son in the
faith 2nd Timothy 1 8
therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony
about our Lord nor of me as Prisoner
but share in suffering or endure hardship for
the gospel by the power of God.
It's a battle Chapter 2 verse 3 endure
hardship sharing suffering as a good soldier of
Messiah Jesus a Good soldier.
It is one of the things that we
wear.
It is part of who we are soldiers
soldiers soldiers in battle Let me tell you
this if God pours out his spirit the
way we're praying If God moves in the
city the way so many have been praying
for years before we got here God enables
us to be on the front line of
many things He's called us to we better
be soldiers or we get wiped out One
of the things one of the insights that
came after revival When pastor Kilpatrick and I
got together the end of last year and
we were talking One of the things he
said to me was he realized That that
during the outpouring he experienced the glory of
God in ways beyond anything He knew that
the intensity the visitation the outpouring was beyond
anything He knew he said to that same
extent on the other side.
That was the attack from hell The attack
from hell will be parallel to the outpouring
of God You want to be used by
God you want to know why why they're
not that many that go out and do
it and stay With it because the forces
of hell wear him down That's why we
we like to be do do things in
team That's why we emphasize some of the
basic principles of holiness and devotion to God
because that's the anchor for your soul When
we get to the book of Revelation boy
war war war Final triumph of God.
What does that tell me?
There was earthly war in the Old Testament
and That's an image.
That's that's that's a lesson.
That's a teaching for us today and Then
it ends with a holy war from heaven.
What happens in the interim?
What's happening behind the scenes now?
What what's going on in the natural world
with conflict and suicide bombing and every kind
of attack and war in conflict There's there's
not a year that goes by now without
war in conflict It is it is a
window into the unseen realm.
It is a parallel to what has happened
Let me just point this out to you
that then we're done Every word of promise
to the congregations in Asia Minor Revelation 2
7 the end of the verse to the
one who conquers Sometimes we're familiar with hearing
it overcomes that overcome just becomes a spiritual
word and loses its warring mentality So now
we hear it afresh to the one who
conquers conquers I Will grant to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the
paradise of God 211 the one who conquers
will not be hurt by the second death
217 to the one who conquers I will
give some of the hidden manna 226 the
one who conquers and who keeps my works
until the end to him.
I will give authority over the nation's 3
-5 the one who conquers will be clothed
us in white garments 312 the one who
conquers I will make him a pillar in
the temple of my God 321 the one
who conquers I will grant him to sit
with me on my throne And then you
get to the end of the book after
Jesus our Messiah and King comes Sitting on
a white horse His eyes like flame of
fire 1912 on his head many diadems His
name written no one knows but himself clothed
in a robe dipped in blood the name
by which he's called the Word of God
And the armies of heaven Arrayed in fine
linen white and pure were following him on
white horses from his mouth comes a sharp
sword with which to strike down Nations who
rule them with a rod of iron he'll
tread the winepress of the fury of the
wrath of God Almighty on his robe and
on his thigh as a name written King
of Kings and Lord of Lords and what's
written in?
217 the one who conquers Will have this
heritage what heritage?
Given to drink of the spring of water
of life without payment the one who conquers
will have this heritage and I will be
his God he will be my son.
Everyone else goes to hell If you look
at the next verse Steve, how does it?
Referred us and Romans 8 what kind of
conquerors overcomers are we more than super hyper
Yeah, if you made it hyper Greek, we
are hyper conquerors through him who loved us.
Oh Yeah, conquering is not just yelling and
jumping and shouting Conquering is enduring conquering is
being patient in the face of trial and
test Conquering is is walking in love when
you're treated and scorned Conquering is holding on
in faith when everything else slips away But
conquering is overcoming conquering is putting down the
deeds of the flesh putting down the temptations
of hell Resisting the lies of the enemy
and taking our stand in Jesus name Everyone
that wants to be on the front lines
of the army of the Lord, please stand
with Friends, let's keep pressing in
Let's whatever breakthroughs we have Don't take that
as an excuse to slacken Get more aggressive
Years ago when I watch boxing every opportunity
I had I would see one thing that
characterized certain fighters Yeah, it's a pretty violent
quote sport But there were some guys that
were champions because they had the killer instinct
The moment they saw their opponent hurt.
They went to take his head off.
You think stop.
He's hurt.
He's not gonna make it No until he's
knocked out or cannon out of the ref
pull them away They wouldn't stop those were
the guys that were the champs and the
ones that didn't have the killer instinct didn't
make it Well, God forbid that I'm talking
about having that natural quality in an earthly
way, but let's have that spiritual quality Don't
just take a halfway victory.
Don't just take a partial breakthrough take that
as an encouragement to keep going for the
rest amen, I Believe God Almighty speaking to
us.
Let's stay aggressive.
Let's press in We have a divine assignment
from the Lord to go after him with
special focus and intensity in these first months
When we're all here together for his visitation
for his power for victory for breakthroughs We
still need him financially.
We'll still need him in so many spiritual
ways We will still we need him in
there many fronts in many situations here, but
God is our victor Thank you Lord Father
we honor you Yahweh of armies Lord of
the armies of heaven our commander-in-chief
Man of war our God Who causes us
to triumph and go on the high places
of the earth Father we exalt in you
Lord not in fleshly energy or human intensity,
but in the life and fullness of your
spirit we exalt in you Manifest your grace
and power through us manifest your triumph through
us manifest your authority and victory through us
We declare war on the forces of hell
afresh We declare war on the forces that
seek to assault our families.
I feel we just need to press in
one last time So let's join hands one
more time father everything we've cried out for
tonight every specific Situation the breaking of bondages
the overcoming of resistance the healing of sicknesses
God God Financial breakthroughs sale of homes direction
and guidance father Enough is enough Enough with
the stalling and the waiting Lord, we honor
you.
Everything you do is good.
Everything you do is right But we say
enough with our lethargy and our stalling and
our waiting enough with the resistance of hell
Breakthroughs father Lord speak to our hearts about
fasting Lord Give us a battle plan put
it in our hearts for meals for days
for weeks, whatever it is and give us
the grace Oh move us into a whole
other level as a community Move us into
a whole new place as a community Mighty
God Mighty God Mighty God may she keep
you behind.
I am Really and the evil shabby.
He's a kitty kitty D.
B on a man on the night Mighty
God Mighty God Mighty God.
I Just feel specially that we need to
undergird some of our frontline laborers here And
I just want the the glad stones and
folks to just stand in the middle here
and we're gonna surround them and just pray
These are warriors and overcomers.
I just feel we're supposed to do that
somehow Bless the name of Jesus But just
come on stand right right up front here
bless God Blessed be your name Lord Jesus
Stand right right in the middle here.
So we can Thank
you, Lord, thank you, Lord Thank you, Lord.
I Want everyone that's but close to these
families to just come stand behind them Only
if you're holy Jesus my yah, my erry
be in TV Vista Maya