We welcome you to the We Are Zion sermon podcast.
We are a church based out of Chennai, India.
We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will
be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.
Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of
purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.
This summer we are going deeper into heartwarming movies to find
gospel gems and Kingdom truths for our everyday life.
As you listen in, we hope that through these familiar
characters and sweet stories, you have a fresh revelation of
the victorious life we have in Christ.
We begin a brand new series called Actor Movies and what is
the series about where we're just going to take a couple of
movies through the summer. We are probably we're looking at
taking 2 movies over the next two months and justice looking
at what God wants to speak to us through these movies because,
you know, everything on the earth has redemptive potential.
Everything on the earth has some glimmers of the gospel story.
And sometimes the world twists it around for their benefit to,
you know, make a culture look better or to establish a
certain, you know, a new cultural norm.
But we look at it when we look at it through the gospel of
Jesus, when we put our gospel lens on, it changes how we
perceive things. And the movie we're going to be
reviewing over the next three weeks and studying from and
gleaning gospel truths from is the movie Zootopia Part 2, the
sequel. So Zootopia sequel, the Part 2
came out just last year and it was a beautiful movie because
it's interesting. Zootopia always has a villain
was very unlikely. And this time they had a villain
who was actually a cat, a lynx cat, a wild cat, but what
seemingly looked like the villain was not.
And so the the hero of the show was actually a most beautiful
blue coloured pit wiper. OK, heat seeking pit wiper.
And when I was watching it with my kids a month back, I remember
I hate snakes. Just to give you a background, I
hate snakes, absolutely hate them.
Even when I go to the zoo, I avoid the snake enclosure.
I can't handle snake carvings. I just I don't like at all.
And most of my kids are like that as well.
My husband, on the other hand, is a bit more brave than us, but
snakes are a no no. And so I was watching this movie
with my kids. And as I was watching, I'm
sitting on the couch with my two younger ones.
We were watching a movie and I kept exclaiming surprisingly.
Oh my gosh, what a cute snake. What a cute snake.
Look at it or the way you would do when you look at a little
baby. That was my expression because
they had done the snake so beautifully.
The eyes, as always an animation nowadays, the eyes got your
attention adorable. The voice was sweet.
The demeanor was sweet. He was so he caught your
attention because, you know, he seemed so pleading in the way he
was fighting for a just cause and and he was the the hero of
the of the story. He gets everyone to rally behind
him and save his land, right? And restore things to the way he
had his grandmother, great grandmother had desired.
So that's how the story evolved. And as we were watching it, my
husband came out of his work room.
He was just standing in the corner and watching it for a
while. And I happened to tell him he
did you see how cute the snake looks?
And he said, oh, wow. So basically they have
accomplished normalizing a Viper as a good guy.
They basically made it. They've dumbed down the whole
snake idea for children. So he said that and he walked
away. And that just didn't leave me.
So that night over dinner, when I was talking to my three
children, I was talking to them and saying, hey, guys, I know we
saw this movie. I know that, you know, the snake
looked really cute and it, it was doing all the right things.
But I just want to tell you that a snake, the serpent as per
Scripture, is a symbolism of the enemy.
He is the devil Incarnate, OK. And so I want you to be careful
because God a lot of times uses that symbolism in dreams and
visions to us to alert you to an attack coming or to some sort of
witchcraft or some kind of demonic oppression that you may
currently be facing. And so I was explaining this to
them. And as I was saying it, two of
my three children stopped me and said, what are you saying?
I said when will the snake that when we do, we thought this one
looked cute is not really that spiritually it symbolizes A
darker power. And the minute I said that both
our sons stopped me and said mom, you won't believe it.
We had bad dreams recently. Snakes were featured in it and
they went on to tell me their dreams.
We went on to praying about the things they were talking about
very relevant to our season. And that's when I realized what
Geshom had said was almost like a prophetic warning that many
times what we see in a movie being portrayed can become a
reality. And the enemy so subtly comes in
to numb our reality, to to embellish what doesn't need to
be embellished. Here in this story, the snake is
portrayed as a sweet little charming, cute character who is
fighting for the right. But in reality, the enemy never
fights fair. And so today we're going to be
talking about how snakes are not cute.
So whatever you have pictured, whatever you have imagined about
if you want Zootopia to, you know what I'm talking about.
But if you notice towards the end of the movie, this Viper,
which started out small and inconspicuous, in the last scene
when he's back in his grandmother's house, you should
see how big he looks. He looks really big.
And that is almost a symbolism to us of just how sneakily the
enemy enters our lives but leaves a big mark.
He never stays the same. His influence in our life grows
and grows and grows if we are not careful.
So my question to you is this, since when did a snake become a
good guy? Since when did a snake sound and
act adorable? Because the original snake was
found in the Garden of Eden and in Genesis chapter 2 and three
talks about the fall of man caused by the serpent.
The enemy in the form of a serpent came and lured the woman
away from her destiny, causing both of them to lose communion
with God. He's been doing it for the
longest time. And even today you and I
experienced the, the poison of the enemy.
How do we experience the poison? How can his bite still affect
us? He's when we talk about the
snake, we're talking about a metaphysical thing between, you
know, the, the, the, the demon of hell, the, the, so the guy
who runs hell, we're talking about him in terms of the
serpent. How does he bite as well?
Let me give you a couple of scriptures to give you reference
to context. Psalm 140, verses one to three.
It says, O Lord, rescue me from evil people, protect me from
those who are violent, those who plot evil in their hearts and
stir up trouble all day long. Their tongue sting like a snake.
The venom of a wiper drips from their lips.
I'm reading Psalm 58, verses 1 to 4.
Justice. Do you rulers know the meaning
of your word? Do you judge the people fairly?
No. You plot injustice in your
hearts. You spread violence throughout
the land. These wicked people are born
sinners. Even from birth they have lied
and gone their own way. They spit venom like deadly
snakes. They are like cobras that refuse
to listen. Doesn't that sound familiar?
Reading Romans chapter 3 verses 10 to 18 As the scriptures say,
no one is righteous, not even one.
No one is truly wise. No one is seeking God.
All have turned away. All have become useless.
No one does good, not a single one.
Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with lies.
Snake venom drips from their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
They rush to commit murder. Destruction and misery always
follow them. They don't know where to find
peace. They have No Fear of God at all.
What did we just look at? We looked at the sources of
poison in our lives. The enemy will many times use
people's slander, people's malice, people's rage, people's
wickedness, people's injustice, their corruption to inject
poison into our lives. Many times you and I ourselves,
on a weaker day, have given room for the enemy to use our lips to
inject poison into someone else. When that one unjust thing you
did at office actually possibly injected poison into someone.
The enemy many times uses us and has used others to inject his
venom into our lives. It has corrupted parts of our
life. It has corrupted our hearts.
It has messed up our minds many times.
We are wondering, when did I become such an overthinker?
When did I become so suspicious of people?
Why is my heart so darkened towards this particular person
or thing or or issue? It is possible that there's
poison that has entered somewhere and yet you know the
kindness of God, the graciousness of God is that He
provides us an antidote. He provides us anti venom and
I'll get to that at the end. But right now I want to say you
and I don't have to be afraid of the serpent.
You know why? In Psalm 91 he says you will
tread on the lion and the serpent.
You will trample upon the lion and the cobra.
He has given us power, and in Genesis itself, when the fall
happened, when the serpent caused the fall, he tells the
woman and the man that under your heel you will crush the
serpent's head. He will strike your ankle, yes,
but he is under your feet. It was forecast even then that
he's a defeated 4. And even today, if you are going
to, as you walk through this 40 minutes, you might start to
recognize symptoms of snake bites in your life.
You will start to recognize where venom has seeped in, but
you have power over all, the power of the enemy, and nothing
by no means will hurt you. That is what Mark chapter 16
verses 15 to 18 says. This is a different version of
the same Great Commission. It is again spoken by Jesus, but
this is recorded by Mark and this is what it said.
He said to them, Go into all the world, preach the gospel to all
creation. Whoever believes and is baptized
will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned,
and these signs will accompany them who believe in my name.
They will drive out demons, they will speak in you tongues, they
will pick up snakes with their hands, and when they drink
deadly poison it will not hurt them at all.
They will place their hands on sick people and they will get
well. Isn't that amazing?
God knew that you and I would be victims of snake bites while on
earth. He knew that God that that we
would be hit by the venom of the enemy through different sources
and he's provided a way out. He said you can handle these
snakes in the name of Jesus. Their poison will not harm you.
So we already have the promise of victory.
So you and I are fighting from victory, not for victory.
We got the victory. We celebrated Resurrection
Sunday to celebrate the victory we have in Jesus over all parts
of the enemy. But The thing is, the enemy does
not fight fair in recent times. My mate just came back from her
village and she was telling me she lost her cousin to suicide.
Asked her what happened. The cousin was just in her late
30s. She had three children, the
first one in college, the next one doing her +2 and the
youngest 1 is in school. Family problems got too much,
she consumed poison and killed herself.
And you know, my maid is a mum of two.
I'm a mum and both of us were grieving combined with this
woman who gave up prematurely. She has missed seeing out,
seeing on what her children were going to accomplish.
She's missed out on seeing them grow and and into amazing
individuals and, you know, accomplish things and have
families of their own all because life got too much.
And as I was sitting there contemplating, my maid was
telling me, she said I couldn't handle standing at this burial,
at this at this cremation. She said watching the children
cry, I couldn't take it. And recently, another friend of
ours said they lost a neighbor to suicide.
The person had been so severely, severely depressed, she couldn't
take it anymore. And she ended her life.
And I remember her friends coming and telling all of us
about this in our leadership. And all of us carried grief with
them. Because you know what?
So many times we miss out on identifying the poison that has
seeped into our soul. Many times we have missed on
what has entered and corrupted our hearts.
We think it's hopeless. We think, you know what, there's
no hope for me. There is no nothing is going to
change my situation. This is how I am.
I'm drowning in my thoughts. No one wants me, no one loves
me. The lies mount up until I lose
my vision, I lose my hearing. I can't hear God, I can't see
hope. I can't see the future and I
decide life is over. That is the power of poison in
our lives. That is the power of poison.
When I was reading up on these pit wipers, on cobras and other
things, their poisons, their poisons are capable of
completely paralyzing people. They're capable of completely
bleeding dry. A person, especially the pit
wiper, when it bites someone, it's called a hemotoxin.
What it releases, it breaks down blood vessels.
The person loses blood and dies. They hemorrhage, they bleed
internally, and they die. Cobras, on the other hand,
release neurotoxins, and when they release it, it completely
causes muscle paralysis. The person's respiratory system
stops and they die. What is actually happening on
the internal on a spiritual level, when the enemy hits us
with poison, is my heart gets blocked off.
I'm unable to love God the way I need to because I don't trust
God. I'm unable to trust people
because people let me down. I'm unable to function as I
ought to. I wake up and go through the
motions with no hope for tomorrow, with no hope that
things will change, because my vision is starting to go I
Without vision, people cast off restraint.
Without vision, people fail. I'm unable to look ahead.
I'm unable to look past my current despair.
I think you know what? Nobody cares for me.
Nobody loves me. One thing one person says, it
triggers off old poison and it piles up.
Recently, a friend came home and he lives in the north of
Chennai. And he was just telling my
husband and I how he has this Pretty Little house there in the
north of Chennai. And they had recently cleared
out some bamboo, and they hadn't really thrown it out.
It was still in the garden when they found a cobra in the midst
of the rubble. And the cobra had come out of a
hole to, you know, hunt for the rats.
And he said he called the forest officer.
They came on the second attempt. They caught the snake.
But when he caught the snake, he put it in a bag and he was about
to take it. And so our friend said, hey,
aren't you going to kill it? This is a poisonous snake.
And he said, well, you know what?
If you had killed it on your own watch, without me around, you
would have been safe. But the minute you involved me,
both of us are not allowed to kill the snake.
We have to capture it. We have to return it to the
officials, the forest officials, because there are laws
protecting the snake. He says, you and I will have to
pay a huge fine into the tune of LAX.
And if we kill it and someone observes it, we are caught for
manslaughter. We have to actually be put in
jail for a bit. And so as he was telling me
this, I said, oh, my goodness. Are you saying that snakes are
more protected in this land than humans, that our justice system
protects a serpent over people? There are so many people
languishing without justice. There's so many people who are
waiting for their case to be heard.
So many people have suffered injustices and justice has not
been served. And yet a snake gets so much
protection. And I realize there's a
spiritual reality to this, that the enemy doesn't fight fair.
When he hits your life, he is above reproach.
He will do whatever he wants, He will poison you, He will
suffocate you. But he gets away Scott free
because he has many more to go and hunt down and we are left
bogged down in the poisonous trap that he has left us in.
We are left here reeling from the after effects of the venom
that he has injected into our souls.
The good thing is, in the Kingdom of God, justice is real.
The enemy is defeated. The enemy is wiped out.
His poison has been been made ineffective, but it's up to you
and me to live like we belong to the Kingdom of God, to live like
our King is the victorious one Who said I have triumphed over
every act of darkness? I have made a public spectacle
of them. I have taken the sting of death
away. I have to believe it.
I have to appropriate it in my life.
And I want to ask you today before we go further, can you
identify poison in your life? Can you identify poison in your
soul? How do you know?
Many times poison in our soul shows up by the things we're
triggered by, by the things that cause a knee jerk reaction of
anger, cause a knee jerk reaction of heat of of apathy.
Tremendous disregard for someone else's feelings or opinions is
usually something inside you which is triggering it.
And you know, psychologist can name it a whole bunch of things,
but on a spiritual front, it is usually because there was an
exposure to poison at some point.
The enemy, through someone else, has done something.
It could be abuse, it could be trauma, it could be abandonment.
It could be neglect. It could be straight up abuse,
verbal abuse. It could have been the maligning
of your name, the slander, or the backstabbing that put poison
in for no fault of yours. You didn't deserve it.
Or maybe you deserved it, but you didn't deserve it at this
extent. So what do we do?
Maybe you're feeling constantly discouraged.
Maybe you're just unable to get up and and run at the with a
passion for, you know, God for yourself.
People are talking about doing this for the Kingdom that for
God. And you're just like, I can't
even get by. I can't get through the day.
I feel like I'm bogged down. It is possible that you've been
poisoned. It is possible that some venom
remains. And today we're going to be
looking at how we can actually live in victory over it.
And here's the truth, even if you think you don't have poison,
if you look deeper, you will find that somehow, somewhere
there was a leakage, a trickle of venom that got into your
bloodstream. That has affected maybe a part
of your marriage, that affects a part of your parenting, that
maybe affects the way you work, your work ethic.
It affects your relationships. You have a tendency to self
sabotage. That's possibly some poison in
the bloodstream. Maybe there's a way in which you
speak that completely puts people off, and maybe you have
to take that and say, Lord, what's the source of this
poison? And I can tell you who the
source is. It's the worst person in the
world, the accuser of the brethren, the one who rules the
underworld. But thanks be to God, because of
him we walk as overcomers. We walk as victor, victors and
conquerors in Christ Jesus. So what is the remedy?
Everyone of us have been touched by this poison in some way or
the other. What is our remedy?
And I want to direct us to Acts chapter 28 verses 1 to 10 where
Paul has a similar experience with another Viper, but not as
cute. OK Acts chapter 28 verses 1 to
10 it says. Fall ashore on Malta.
Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called
Malta. The Islander showed us unusual
kindness. They built a fire and welcomed
us all because it was raining and cold.
Paul gathered a pile of brushwood, and as he put it on
the fire, a Viper, driven out by the heat fastened itself on his
hand. When the Islanders saw the snake
hanging from his hand, they said to each other, This man must be
a murderer, for though he escaped from the sea, the
goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.
But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no
I'll effects. The people expected him to swell
up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and
seeing nothing unusual happened to him, they changed their minds
and said he was a God. There was an estate nearby that
belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island.
He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality.
For three days. His father was sick in bed,
suffering from fever and dysentery.
Paul went in to see him and after prayer, placed his hands
on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest
of the sick on the island came and were cured.
They honored us in many ways, and when we were ready to sail,
they furnished us with the supplies we needed.
What just happened? Paul had come through a
shipwreck, barely made it out with the skin on his back, comes
onto the land they're making. They don't.
They just figured out this is the island called Malta.
And then they're just putting together a fire.
A snake clasps on. And this is a bad omen in these
kind of circles. And yet he couldn't be bothered.
He just brushed it off into the fire.
And I want to ask us, Are you ready for the fire of God?
Because only the fire of God will drive out the serpent from
your life. Only the fire of God.
And what is this fire of God? In the Bible we have heard many
times about, we've seen the fire of God demonstrated in different
ways. For example, Moses went up on
the mountain, he saw a burning Bush where the fire of God had
completely lit the Bush, but it was not consumed.
And then we saw Elijah when he had gone up onto Mount Carmel
and he was going to challenge the prophets of Baal and Ashara.
He, he's told Jezebel, bring your prophets and we'll see who
the true God is. And the one who answers by fire
is the true God, he says, and he creates this altar, pours tons
of water on it, calls down on Yahoo, on Yahweh God, and he
answers by fire. This fire literally licks up the
water that is soaking the altar, right?
We've seen how Aaron's sons in the wilderness offered
unauthorized fire and fire from the altar consumed them,
charring them, leaving nothing. So we know that our God is a
consuming fire. Hebrews 12/29 says that worship
him with awe and reverence because our God is an awe.
He's a all consuming fire, right?
So we know this. So how do I appropriate this
fire of God in my life so that every serpent that has latched
on with its venom, with its fangs can be shaken off into how
do I do it two ways. I'm just going to leave two ways
with you. The first thing is that you
would enter and enjoy the presence of God.
You would enter and enjoy the presence of God, because if God
himself is fire, the best way to, you know, experience the
fire is to be in His presence. But the problem is, for most of
us, entering and enjoying His presence seems to be the last
thing on our minds. We wake up, we have our alarms
which go off. Some of us work out, some of us
get our kids ready, send them off, maybe sit for a quick time
with the Lord, and then we get into our work.
Evenings are even worse. We're just running from pillar
to post. We come back home.
We're so tired, but I want to ask you, when was the last time
you enjoyed the presence of God? You just didn't, you know, enter
it and get out of it just cursory out of, you know, a
need, a mandated need to do it. But when did was the when was
the last time you just enjoyed his presence?
You worshipped him. You sat and relished his
presence with you. Isaiah 66 verse 15 says, see the
Lord is coming with fire when his Chariots are like a
whirlwind. He will bring down his anger
with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire.
This is the God that we have read about South much God who
came, He led with a pillar of fire, a pillar of cloud.
He led his people. But the beautiful thing about
this fiery God is that the fire does not consume you, it
consumes the things that are consuming you.
So my question is, what is consuming you?
If the things of God are consuming you, if the rebuilding
of his thrown on the earth, if it's bringing of Kingdom to
earth, Kingdom of heaven to earth, then if that consumes
you, the fire of God enables you to do more.
But if the fire of God finds out that there are certain things
which are devouring you, the fire of God will devour those
things. What are those things?
It could be certain addictions, it could be certain fancies, it
could be certain preconceived notions.
The things that drive your life, the passions, the ambitions, the
desires, the things that entice you.
One Peter chapter 4 verses one to five and verse 7 and the
Passion translation says this. Since Christ, though innocence
suffered in his flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared
soldier, having the same mindset.
For whoever's died and his body is done with sin.
So live the rest of your earthly life no longer concerned with
human desires, but consumed with what brings pleasure to God.
For you have already spent enough time doing what
unbelievers love to do, living in debauchery, sensuality,
partying, drunkenness while drinking, parties and the
worship of demons. They marvel that you no longer
rush to join them in the excesses of their corrupt
lifestyles and so they vilify you.
But one day they will have to give an account to the one who's
destined to judge the living and the dead.
Since we are approaching the end of all things, be intentional,
purposeful self-control so that you can be given to prayer.
And this is not a, a sermon about prayer.
It's a, it's a sermon about enjoying the presence of God so
much. You are consumed by him.
You are consumed, consumed by thoughts of him.
You're consumed by thoughts of his Kingdom and advancing his
purposes on the earth. You're consumed by living for
him. And if you're you're in a family
setup you desire, you're consumed with Lord.
How do I bring my children along and on alongside so that they
serve your kingdom's purposes, so that we live by Kingdom
values? Is that what consumes you or are
you consumed by debauchery, sensuality, partying,
drunkenness, wild drinking parties, and the worship of
demons? What is it that consumes you?
The Spirit of God, the fire of God, it says, I think it's in in
the book of Luke chapter 3. It says I baptize you.
John says, John the Baptist says I'll baptize you with water, but
after me is coming one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and fire. So this fire of God is what will
literally kind of soak, gets us soaked into him when I'm in his
presence. He's revealing to me the things
that I said that morning to my spouse, which were ungodly.
He's reminding me of that expression on my face of
contempt that didn't please his heart.
The fire of God will never leave me the same because anything the
fire touches, it will change. The fire of God when it touches
me, begins to heat me up with a passion for His name.
I can't leave his presence the same way I went and I I leave it
thinking, God, I want to do more for you.
How can I, how can I demonstrate my love for you Lord?
But it all begins when I enter and enjoy His presence.
So that's the primary thing. How do I enjoy the fire of God
in my life? So that every serpent that has
come near me, that has clashed onto me will have to go.
I first enjoy the presence of God.
The second thing is that I need to open up and allow God, God's
people to enter in. So I have to first of all enter
and experience the enjoy the presence of God.
Now I have to open up and allow the people of God in the thing
that the poison does. You know that that the enemy
unleashes through the wicked, through the harmful, through the
petty. These are humans that he
actually operates through, right?
Some of these people may have been in a church for you.
Some of the people who hurt you the deepest may have been in a
church, may have been leaders themselves.
And the, the interesting thing is that the fire of God, the
method of that healing that we experience in the presence of
God is then translated into community, right?
And in the body of Christ, we are not perfect, but we have
been sanctified. We are continually being
sanctified into the likeness of Christ.
So when you allow people in right fellow people who are
being filled with the Spirit of God, who are also being baptized
with fire, there's something radically different that begins
to happen. Let's read Acts chapter 4 verse
31. It says as they prayed, the
earth shook beneath them, causing the building they were
in to tremble. Each one of them was filled with
the Holy Spirit and they proclaimed the word of God with
unrestrained boldness. Now, why have I picked this
verse? So this Acts chapter 4, this is
happening after they have been threatened, couple of the
disciples were taken into custody and said listen, you
can't preach about Jesus. And then they I think they
flogged them and they sent them home.
They came back rejoicing and said we are so happy that we're
getting persecuted for the name of Jesus is the least we can do
to tell them how grateful we are for saving us.
And so they come back and the whole crowd of disciples begin
to pray and worship and they're asking God give us more of you.
And you know, the Spirit of God doesn't disappoint.
He comes, fills all of them up. The place is shaken.
Signs and wonders are done. And it's interesting.
It says they proclaim the word of God with unrestrained
boldness. Now I always thought when it
said that, that they were ready to share more of the gospel, but
the actual word for boldness in the original text in Greek is
parasis. Parasis actually is not just
speaking out the word of God. It is actually more than
boldness. It is free flowing, unrestrained
boldness, meaning it cannot be held back.
There is no filter on it. There is no tampering with it to
speak something that someone likes.
Many times it will be something that you don't like because it
will actually touch a nerve, right?
And it is meant for public speaking.
It is meant to indicate speech that is not tailored to make
everyone happy, but is necessary because it will be speaking the
truth and love. The motivation will be love.
The what is being delivered will be the truth because in this, in
Jesus, there is no falsity. The Holy Spirit is called the
Spirit of truth. So when he moves people to speak
in peresis, he's actually going to make them speak exactly what
is on his heart. It will hurt a bit because the
truth hurts, am I right? And so this word was actually in
its original context, was reserved by for use only by high
high-ranking Greek officials. But it's brought into this
context because here, when the Holy Spirit gave utterance, it
enabled people to speak to each other.
The word of God. This is the word of God to you.
God is calling you out from this, this net that you find
yourself and he's calling you into freedom.
God is saying he loves you so deeply.
Why are you entrapped in that? That was what it looked like.
These are not people who were saying what somebody's itching
ears wanted them to hear, but they were speaking the truth and
love. Recently, I think it was just a
week back, we were out for dinner with a couple of friends,
couple friends like us, pastors as well.
So we were all out. We came back home.
Geshom and I were driving. As we were driving, there's an
apartment close to our house and we saw two Watchmen standing
outside. And the interesting thing is
usually I'm the one who's, you know, usually just sightseeing
and stopping at the, the sight of lambs and, you know, dogs and
things like that. Geshom doesn't do that.
But that night it was very interesting.
These two Watchmen were standing outside.
One of the Watchmen held a long stick at the end of which
something was hanging. And the other watchman was had
lit a bag on fire. He seems to have doused it with
kerosene and he's lit it. So it was a blazing fire.
And then when we went, as we drove closer, we knew what they
were doing. So they seemed to have hit the
snake on the head. So the snake was what was on the
snake catcher's rod, and it was a limp and hanging there.
And this man lit his bag up completely on fire.
And after it was blazing, he kept down on the on the floor.
It was muddy. The, the road was muddy.
He laid it down and the man carrying the snake took it and
placed it on the fire. And at first, I think it was
just, you know, immobilized. It was not a dead snake.
The snake was riding like crazy and then eventually caught on
fire. And I watched it.
I'm thinking the whole time this weird.
Why should we have seen that? I don't like snakes.
It didn't look nice to look at. But both of us were standing and
watching it for a bit in the car.
We were seated. Those men, after lighting it up,
finishing their job, looked at us weirdly.
They're like, what? What's going on?
But I realized as I was watching it that we were seeing something
that was very, very important. It's a reality we need to pick
up on that you and I cannot do the snake catching alone.
We need each other. We need the body of Christ.
One held the snake, the other lit the fire.
And together in teamwork, they demolished this creature that
was going to cause harm to someone else.
Many times we are trying to deal with the issues in our life
privately, secretly keeping it under wraps or trying that one
method, doing this particular trick or going for this kind of
counseling. We're doing all these things,
but they In the episodes, you will hear the apostles talk a
lot about confessing to one another, laying hands on one
another, praying for each other, loving each other.
Don't fall in sin because of what the other confesses.
Pray for them, uphold them. We are not meant to do this
alone. You and I are called to proclaim
the word of God boldly to each other and this is not some sort
of feeling based thing here. I feel like I should tell you
today, stop lying. That's what I feel like I should
tell you. That's not what it is because
that has been misused so much. I pray that we are so soaked in
the fire of God in the presence of God ourselves that when we
come into connection with others, the Holy Spirit nudges
and says just tell them how much I love them.
They're feelings so unloved, but tell them how much I love them
because this the the testimony of Jesus spirit of prophecy is
the testimony of Jesus. When you prophecy over someone,
when you speak a word of knowledge, you are actually
giving testimony to Jesus and Jesus is the way he's the truth.
He's the life. Your words will bring life to
someone else. It may not be what they need to
hear. They may not need to know if the
poison operating in your life, but if you can say, hey, I just
want to tell you how much you are loved and how much God wants
to speak to you in this moment. Many of us are checking
ourselves out of community, checking ourselves out of church
because oh that person said this.
This person said some of us are so easily offendable.
Oh I will not talk to them because they said this.
What if you needed to hear that hard truth?
What if you needed to be reminded of that?
I love that in our lives and get room in my life.
Even in our own church, we have older, younger, same age people
who call it like it is, who say, you know what, I think that
thing you said may not have been necessary.
You know that thing you're talking about, that's an old
thing. Why are you still thinking about
it? It will hurt at the time, but
it's the anti venom we need. And so I want to ask you, are
you OK with someone in the body of Christ who themselves have
come from the presence of God, filled with the fire of God to
come alongside you and say, hey, let's get rid of that poison,
Let's pray, let's believe God is setting you free.
Can I just encourage you today? Will you be that kind of person?
Will you allow someone like that in?
Because you first have to enter and enjoy the presence of God
and then you have to allow the people of God in so that
together you get rid of the serpent's attack.
As I close, like I was saying, snake venoms are hemotoxins,
then neurotoxins and the Viper that we were looking at in the
beginning, Gary, the wiper in this movie, adorable to look at,
but he's a heat seeking wiper. And there's this one scene where
he says hug, can I hug you? And he comes to the the
protagonist, the hero, and he hugs her and he gets warmer
because of her. And well, it's a very sweet and
heart warming image. It's a very disturbing reality
for many of us. For many of you, you have
allowed the enemy to wrap you in a hug, fill you with this venom.
You don't even know it. All you know is that you're
feeling progressively more desperate.
You feel lifeless. You feel like you don't have
much to go on. You feel exhausted most of the
time. Praying is something that is a
distant reality. You've almost given up on life.
There's a word that is associated with snake venom.
It's called exanguination. It basically means that when
these wipers strike someone, they bleed the person, right?
Because the blood vessels, the hemotoxin, it breaks down the
blood vessels and they just bleed out. 50% blood loss in
certain terrible cases. How will the person survive if
50% of their blood has been lost?
And many of us are running on 50% blood loss, successive hits
by people. You lost a marriage, You lost a
child. Grief upon grief, hope deford
delays. You're at your last rung of the
ladder. You're saying I'm just hanging
on by a thread. God, I'm ready to give up on
life. I'm ready to give up on this
marriage. I'm ready to give up on this
child. I'm ready to give up on this
friendship. This job may not be it because I
don't think I'm ever going to get a better job.
You are at the end of your rope. And when you feel completely
exanguinated, I want to remind you that you have a blood donor,
a blood donor who's a perfect sacrifice.
His blood. His blood washes us clean.
His blood neutralizes every toxin because it's the blood of
Jesus. The most powerful weapon in our
arsenal is the blood of Jesus. And so today I want to lead us
in a time of appropriating that blood over our hearts, over our
minds, the parts that the toxin has gone and hit most.
I was recently talking to a friend of mine.
Both of us are overthinkers. So we've been joking about how
our husbands have to deal with our overthinking and they have
to put a pause button. And I realized I was telling
her. I said, you know what, babe?
We both need to become thinkers. We don't have to be
overthinkers. Many times the enemy floods our
mind with thoughts that literally drag us down.
Most of the battles are lost in our head.
We don't even have to go into any kind of action.
It just it happens here. Dreams die there, envisioning
stops, fear takes over, clouds us, we lose vision.
But today we're going to ask God, Lord, will your will you
bring your blood and just kind of wash my mind clean?
Will you wash my broken heart with your blood?
Because the poison of the enemy through people would have
touched your heart, the very base seat of your affections, of
your emotions, your will. Everything gets corrupted when
poison floods the system for many of us, offence upon offence
is, you know, kept piling up till all we can look at people
and think they're the enemy. They're not the enemy.
The enemy is the enemy. God has set people in our lives
to be the ones who stand beside us and hold that bag with fire
and say you're not able to pray, I'll pray with you.
You're not able to worship, I'll hold your hands up while you
can't. But we're going to get rid of
this thing together. And I want to ask you today.
As your heart stop burning with the fire for Jesus, I want to
ask if you will once more choose to enter and enjoy the presence
of God. Can you imagine?
The presence of God is where you don't need to perform, you don't
need to know an instrument, nothing.
You just go as you are. You can sit on the floor of your
living room. His presence floods the place.
You can sit down at the floor of your kitchen.
You can meltdown in your bedroom.
He his presence floods the place and for you to just sit there
and say, Lord, I'm going to enjoy you.
No performance. I don't have to do anything to
earn your love because you love me so much.
I was worth dying for. And as you do that, I'm going to
ask you to lay your hand upon your heart right now.
And Lord Heavenly Father, we just pray that as we are
listening to this, I'm sure Spirit of God, you were working
overtime to reveal areas of poisonous infiltration in our
lives. You are revealing the venom that
was injected into our soul. And Lord, I pray for those who
because of the poison in their soul, their bodies are
suffering. We speak, release upon them in
Jesus name. And I pray the blood of Jesus
will sanctify us this morning. I pray the blood of Jesus will
touch us right now. I pray it'll wash our
consciences, clean our minds, will not overthink the blood of
Jesus has washed us from all unrighteousness.
I pray that our hearts will be purified by your precious blood.
We pray, Lord, that bodies, spirits and souls will be set
free by the blood of Jesus. I pray for those who have not
enjoyed your presence thus far. I pray from this moment, this
moment, they will begin to enjoy your presence.
I pray for those who have cut off friends who carry the fire
of God in them, that they will invite them back in, say the
Lord. They will have people who walk
with them, who journey with them, who pray with them, who
laugh with them, who hold them accountable, who lift them up
when they've fallen. 2 are better than one.
Your word says, Lord, forgive us for getting rid of those people
that matter the most. We thank you, We invite you,
God, we invite you. I pray for those who are running
on blood loss because of the level of venom in their lives,
those who've gone through childhood traumas and those who
have walked through neglect and abandonment, those who have
walked through abuse and marriages.
Lord, those who have lost parents, Lord, who have grown up
orphans, for every poison that has seeped into their soul, I
pray that Lord, they will right now appropriate the blood of
Jesus into their hearts, into their soul.
And that Lord, you will bring a release.
You will bring healing. We thank you for what Jesus
promised us, that we will handle serpents and no harm will befall
us, that we will consume poison. It will not harm us.
I pray for those who are struggling with suicidal
ideation right now. In the name of Jesus.
Every thought will that is being held captive by poison and
toxins will be released by the blood of Jesus so that they will
realize how valuable they are to you.
I pray for those who are thinking their life is
meaningless, that those lies will be completely diluted by
the blood of Jesus flowing through their minds and their
bodies. I pray for those who are
struggling with chronic pain in different joints, who are
thinking of giving up on life because the pain is too much.
God, I asked for a blood covering and washing over their
bodies right now at a cellular level.
I pray for healing, Lord. And we believe that you are
going to do it. We believe that your blood, the
blood that was shed on the cross, by your stripes, we are
healed. We are believing that.
And so we thank you. We ask all of this in your
mighty name, Jesus, Amen. Amen.
God bless you even as you get into this week.
Would you every day, every day, enjoy the presence of God?
Would you on the weekends, if you're a person who works
constantly, make your way into the body of Christ on a Sunday?
Don't do it alone. You can have 10 excuses why you
can't be in church, but you need to find your way to a church.
Plant yourself there, grow with the rest of the body of Christ.
No church is perfect. The minute we enter it, it
becomes imperfect. But the one who called us, the
one who is the returning bridegroom of the church, he is
perfect and He is perfecting His church every single minute.
So I would urge you that you will not try to do this alone.
You cannot. You need others.
You need the community of believers to hold you up.
Remember this that whoever finds Jesus finds life.
Have an amazing week, God bless you.
We hope you enjoyed today's message and we're blessed.
If. You liked what you heard and
want to hear more messages from us?
You could rate US and subscribe to our podcast channel for more
content from We Are Zion or if you would like to get in touch
with us, you can go to We Are Zion dot In or follow us on
Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Most importantly, remember that whoever finds Jesus finds life.