1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,160 I want to open with the scripture that I shared last 2 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:04,760 week from the prophecy of Daniel Chapter 11. 3 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,039 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:10,480 with flattery. But the people who know their 5 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,360 gods shall be strong and carry out exploits. 6 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:15,880 Those are the people who understand, shall instruct 7 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:17,920 money. Yet for many days they shall 8 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,760 fall by the sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 9 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,800 Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help, but 10 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,800 many shall join them by intrigue. 11 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:30,920 I believe it's very important for us to have of discernment 12 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,560 concerning the day in which we live. 13 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,600 Now, the Scripture I read to us from the book of Daniel. 14 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,600 Daniel was a prophet who prophesied and had his ministry 15 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,160 during the time when the children of Israel were in the 16 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:46,400 capacity of Babylon. He literally worked in the 17 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,280 palace. He had direct contact with the 18 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,720 king of Babylon. And so he had a very influential 19 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:55,520 role. But in that role, God spoke to 20 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,560 him through dreams and visions and used him in a very powerful 21 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,960 way. In this particular reference of 22 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,720 Scripture, he's speaking about future days which are going to 23 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,800 come to pass that have already come to pass in one sense 24 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,360 concerning this prophecy. But whenever you're reading a 25 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:14,760 prophetic book, you have to understand there can be more of 26 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,960 a deeper meeting than just the original intent. 27 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,360 So these people wrote these prophecies many years ago. 28 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,120 We can see the accuracy of their prophecies and know their 29 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,560 prophets, but through the Holy Spirit, God can bring to us the 30 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,520 principles concerning those words and help us apply it to 31 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,520 our life in which we Live Today. So he's talking about an evil 32 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:40,400 person, and this evil person is going to try to control people, 33 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,960 and through intrigue or deception, he's going to lead 34 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:49,120 many different people astray. But in the process of that, 35 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,320 God's going to do some great things in his people. 36 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,240 I believe that's what God is saying for today. 37 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,120 Church with all my heart. Now, the heat that we want to 38 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,280 put in here today, and you'll notice it from the scriptures 39 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,800 I'll be talking about, is the God of this world or the spirit 40 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,640 of the age. We, the people of God, need to 41 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,520 understand there's more going on in the world than meets the eye. 42 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,720 There is a spiritual dimension and there is a natural 43 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,360 dimension, and we have to understand that God has equipped 44 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:21,600 us so that we can know how to operate in the spiritual 45 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,320 dimension so that we could walk in faith that God has for each 46 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,840 and every one of us. These are important things for 47 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,320 us to understand. But I also want to emphasize the 48 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,840 fact that he says, and my people will do exploit. 49 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:36,280 Now, what's an exploit? It means just something 50 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,240 supernatural, something powerful. 51 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,080 It would go along with the Scripture I've quoted often 52 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:43,720 times, he says, because I believe with everything in my 53 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,840 heart that God's going to do something that's exceedingly and 54 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,280 abundantly above all that we could ask or think. 55 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:51,720 How many believe in a God like that? 56 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:53,240 Amen. Amen. 57 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:58,240 But also he talks about giving his people understanding 58 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,080 concerning what was happening in those days. 59 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,320 And how do you know God wants us to be people of understanding in 60 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,080 our day. We don't have to be in the dark. 61 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,120 And that's where it's important for us to note what this 62 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,640 Scripture says. Also I read last week where it 63 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:15,720 says, but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. 64 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,320 For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of 65 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,600 God. For what man knows the things of 66 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:23,960 a man except the spirit of the man who is in him? 67 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:28,320 Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 68 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,760 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the 69 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:37,640 Spirit who is from God, that we might what know all the things 70 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,160 that have been freely given to us by God. 71 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,320 And so I put over this Scripture deep understanding. 72 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,360 There's a Psalm that says and deep calls to deep. 73 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,800 What exactly does that mean? Well, when God created mankind, 74 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,200 the Bible says he created us from the dust of the earth, 75 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,160 breathed in our nostrils the breath of life, and we became a 76 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:00,120 living soul. So God created us body, soul and 77 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,440 spirit. What is our spirit? 78 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,880 Well, it is the God breath. There is a spirit of man. 79 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:07,680 The God breath gives him understanding. 80 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,400 So the Bible is very clear that our human spirit is the deepest 81 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,800 part of who we are, and we should be able to draw from our 82 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,760 human spirit in order to receive strength. 83 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,079 When you think about somebody thinking or having deep 84 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:25,160 thinking, of course we typically think about our mind and our 85 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,280 experiences. But God wants us to know that as 86 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:32,160 we meditate upon His word and upon His spirit, how do we know 87 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,080 that there's a wellspring of life inside of us that comes to 88 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,200 us by the Holy Spirit? And that's why it says that His 89 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,480 spirit is going to connect to our spirit. 90 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,840 So just like we have a spirit, God has a spirit. 91 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:48,040 We were created in the the elections of God. 92 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,240 It's so important for us to understand Last week I was 93 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,560 sharing how that before God did all the things of the creation 94 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:59,760 mentioned in Genesis chapter one that first of all it says that 95 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:03,440 the Spirit of the Lord brooded upon the waters in the face of 96 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,400 the deep. And then from there God began to 97 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,200 make some declarations. He created all things that we 98 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,200 know today, but it's important to know that there was a time 99 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,880 even for God when He was thinking, if you would. 100 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:18,840 Now, it's hard for people sometimes to think that God 101 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:20,920 thinks. We just think about God in a 102 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:24,360 distant sense and we talk about Him as being a personal savior 103 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,560 and a person, etcetera. But I think we fail to 104 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,560 understand sometimes how God is a thinking God. 105 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:34,840 And that's important for us to note and understand because 106 00:05:34,840 --> 00:05:37,360 guess what? He created us to be a thinking 107 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:42,160 people, but not just from the mind realm again, but from the 108 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,800 aid of the Holy Spirit, where deep begins to call the deep and 109 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,360 we can gain from that spiritual understanding. 110 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:52,760 There's a lot of things that happened in our lives 111 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,120 individually and also that happened in the world, and we 112 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,880 need to understand there's a spiritual dimension of these 113 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,600 things today. I felt LED of the Holy Spirit to 114 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,320 talk about some world history so that we can see some principles 115 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,120 of God's Word, how it impacted our world. 116 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,240 Because it's important for us to understand the very same things 117 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,080 that God speaks to us individually are the same things 118 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,200 that guide in the world in which we live. 119 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,480 And when we're speaking about the world, we're talking about 120 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,280 that which is outside the Kingdom of God and outside the 121 00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:27,640 realm of how God wants us to operate. 122 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:31,080 And so it's important that we'd understand God wants us to have 123 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:34,880 spiritual understanding. I love church history. 124 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,640 And in church history you can look at the process of God 125 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:39,760 working. Since the time of Reformation, 126 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,160 God has been adding more and more truth to the Church of the 127 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,360 Lord Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, sometimes we get 128 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,000 stuck in the mindset that it's all about getting saved. 129 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:50,760 And so the idea is, well, who's saved? 130 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:52,640 Who's not saved? What do I have to do to be 131 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:54,960 saved? That should be something that we 132 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,640 settle very quickly in our Christian experience. 133 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,520 Remember, the Bible says we didn't choose him. 134 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,960 He shows us say man, And I love that Scripture I quoted even 135 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,240 last week, even before the foundation of the world, before 136 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,840 God was thinking about the world he was going to put us in, He 137 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,160 thought about us. I think that's so awesome. 138 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:17,080 His plan has always been unfolding according to how He 139 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:20,440 thought about it in the very beginning, and even what we 140 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:22,920 would consider the beginning before our beginning. 141 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,240 The Bible tells us in the Book of Revelation that even Jesus 142 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,200 Christ, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the 143 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,040 world. And so God has this all planned 144 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,600 out, all thought out if you would, and yet He works in our 145 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:39,560 lives because He has created us in His image and liked us so we 146 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:43,880 can be a part of His plan. Now, again, the reason I wanted 147 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:47,400 to talk about how church history works, because oftentimes people 148 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,560 look at things and God and they'll say, well, do you have 149 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,240 to do that to be saved or do you have to do that to really be a 150 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,880 Christian? And so we're kind of parsing 151 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,720 things out and saying, well, you know, I'm just wanting to be a 152 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,080 Christian. I want to go to heaven when I 153 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,760 die. We have to understand that God 154 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:04,400 doesn't just want us to be alive. 155 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,080 He wants us to have the abundant life. 156 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:06,960 Amen. Charge. 157 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,960 And not only is it something that God wants us to realize He 158 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,040 can give to us so that we can have the best of life, we also 159 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:16,760 have to understand that He has called us to be a part of His 160 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:19,880 purposes in there. So it's necessary that we'd have 161 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,200 a deeper understanding. And so when I began to realize I 162 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,040 have a human spirit, you know, the Bible says that when I pray 163 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,240 in tongues, my spirit prays. That's probably the first time 164 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,000 when someone has that experience, they even know they 165 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,159 have a human spirit or how to relate to it. 166 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:35,679 And yet we don't have understanding. 167 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,440 So that brings us into the realms of God by his fear. 168 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,360 So I'm not saying what do I have to do to go to heaven or what do 169 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,400 I have to be saved? What can I experience that I can 170 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:48,400 have? The fullness of all things that 171 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:50,600 God has for me should be my attitude. 172 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,200 And I've been serving the Lord since I was a child and I found 173 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,160 out it's a progressive experience. 174 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:58,520 And guess what? It gets better and better. 175 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:02,240 It gets richer and richer, and the thing that God has for us 176 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:05,800 defies the natural realm. God calls us to live in a 177 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:09,440 supernatural realm, which is a realm above ourself. 178 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,160 And so we have to understand how important it is to recognize we 179 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,200 can get in touch with the Spirit of God. 180 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:18,640 And we don't just again get the baptism of the Holy Spirit 181 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,520 speaking another tongue so we can notch something else on our 182 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:23,880 experiences. We do that so that there can be 183 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:28,600 a level of intimacy with God that we never had before. 184 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,040 There is an Old Testament scripture that says my ways are 185 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,720 not your way, says the Lord. As far as the heavens are from 186 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,000 the earth, that's how far my ways are from your ways, says 187 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,080 God. But that same prophet in another 188 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:45,720 place in talking about counselor, God says, I don't 189 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,000 need your counsel. I was able to do this all 190 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,560 without you. But then when you go to this 191 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:53,840 chapter in First Corinthians chapter 2 that I read, it also 192 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,800 says that when we have the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of God. 193 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:00,520 So you might not be able to think it on your own, but you 194 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,280 can think it when you have his help. 195 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,720 Amen. So the Spirit becomes that place 196 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,640 by which we can commune with God in the deepest part of who we 197 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,520 are, and then we can have the peace that passes all 198 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,440 understanding. We can have the furthest spirit, 199 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,960 which is love and joy and peace and long-suffering and 200 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:20,680 gentleness and goodness and kindness. 201 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:23,560 Well, God, you have such a great plan for us. 202 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,760 I want to experience everything that God has for me. 203 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,520 Now having said that, I want to go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 204 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,440 to say something that's very vital for us to understand. 205 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,640 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty. 206 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:41,880 And God pulling down strongholds, casting down 207 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,640 arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against what 208 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,440 the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to 209 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,400 the obedience of Christ and being ready to punish all 210 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,440 disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 211 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:58,360 And last week I was sharing how important it is that we would 212 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:02,280 take our time to get to know our God because this is those who 213 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,120 know their God will do exploits. Those who know their God will 214 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:08,880 have understanding. And God says, I want you to 215 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,120 realize that as a part of this process, sometimes you're going 216 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,680 to have mindsets, thought processes that are going to be 217 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:19,080 against the knowledge of God. And so you have to understand 218 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,520 how to deal with those things. And that is what the Bible talks 219 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,800 about, the struggle between the flesh and the spirit. 220 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,640 There's the carnal side of life, there's the spiritual side of 221 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:31,840 life. God doesn't want us to get out 222 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,080 of our natural life if you would, but He wants us to 223 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:39,120 realize that with spiritual motivation we can navigate the 224 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:43,080 natural life with the best experience possible. 225 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,440 And we're going to have the fullness of life as we do these 226 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:48,920 things. Now it's important to understand 227 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:53,880 that the weapons of our warfare, we're in conflict are not 228 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,680 natural things. Uses the word carnal here, but 229 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:01,040 I'm substituting natural because natural just means not 230 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:03,720 spiritual. And carnal is a word that speaks 231 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:06,480 of the flesh. And so it's natural, it's 232 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,040 fleshly, it's carnal. But how we know God made us a 233 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,400 body, soul, and spirit. So the physical part is 234 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,440 important, the emotional part is important. 235 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,320 All the parts are important. But we have to understand when 236 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,160 it comes to conflict, we have to learn how to operate in the 237 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,720 spiritual dimension of things and not allow ourselves to 238 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,440 experience something that's an exaltation against the knowledge 239 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,680 of God in our life. Now with that in mind, I want to 240 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:35,560 go to the Scripture in Ephesians chapter 2, because it says 241 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:39,080 something very important. And you he made alive. 242 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:40,800 How many out there are alive today? 243 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:42,680 Give the Lord a praise. Amen. 244 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,920 Amen. Now you were once dead in your 245 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:51,480 trespasses and sins, in which you walked according to the 246 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:55,880 course of the world, according to the Prince of the power of 247 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,960 the air, the Spirit who now works in the sons of 248 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:03,520 disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in 249 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,400 the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the 250 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:10,880 flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature children of wrath. 251 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:14,000 Well, you were just like everybody else until you were 252 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,120 born again and God made you a lie. 253 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:21,040 Now, to no longer live according to the course of this world, to 254 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,240 no longer live according to the spirit of the world, the God of 255 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,680 this age, we have to understand there's a process of development 256 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:32,920 that we go through as Christians where we go from immaturity to 257 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,400 maturity. The Bible says that when I was a 258 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,920 child, I felt like a child that acted like a child, but when I 259 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,160 became mature, I put away childish things. 260 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,080 When you're first born again, you hear about a lot of things 261 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,960 that Christianity is supposed to offer, and it's not not all 262 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:49,320 quite there yet. Why? 263 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,880 Because you have to grow into it. 264 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:54,880 That's why it's so important that we understand there is a 265 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:58,160 growth process in the things that God has for us. 266 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,200 But as we look at a scripture like this, we have to understand 267 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:06,080 this very basic principle that there is indeed a spirit that's 268 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:08,880 in the world called the God of this world. 269 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,400 And we have to understand how that works. 270 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:14,480 Now, when we think about that scripture, how it talks about 271 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:18,440 the world, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, 272 00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:21,160 we have to know that one scripture is called the God of 273 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:23,280 this world. In the book of Genesis, he's 274 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,040 called the serpent. In the Book of Revelation, he's 275 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,000 called the dragon. All different references, but 276 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:33,080 speaking about the same entity, which is the enemy that you 277 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,520 experience in this life. It's important for us to 278 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:41,040 recognize that so that when we are in the conflict of our lives 279 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,560 that we learned that well, if we want to have a spiritual 280 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,480 victory, we had to have spiritual equipment, if you 281 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,240 would, that we can through the Spirit become those who have 282 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,000 power over our natural side to experience truly the best that 283 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,480 God has for us. And so again, there's that 284 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,080 spiritual side, there is that natural side, and we have to 285 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,400 make the choice. Now in that verse, it mentions 286 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,040 the lust of the flesh and of the mind, and it also talks about 287 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:12,800 our human nature. And with that in mind, I want to 288 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,440 go all the way back to the book of Genesis chapter 3 and discuss 289 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:19,520 what that means. Now, this is a story about the 290 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,200 servant. Like I said, it's the same 291 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:23,000 continuous story from the beginning. 292 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,840 But in Genesis chapter 3, we know that God in chapter 2 had 293 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:32,120 created mankind, gave Adam a wife, put them in the Garden of 294 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,320 Eden, gave them access to all the beauty of the garden, the 295 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,200 fruit of the garden, even able to eat of the tree of life. 296 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,440 But the Lord said of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you 297 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,440 better not eat of that, because in the day you eat thereof, 298 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:47,560 you're surely going to die. And that's where the setting 299 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:51,120 begins here in this Scripture. So the serpent is telling the 300 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,320 woman, oh, God said you're going to die, You're not surely going 301 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:57,000 to die. Or God knows that in the day you 302 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:59,880 eat of it, your eyes will be open, you will be like God 303 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,560 knowing good and evil. So again, can you see how he's 304 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,320 planning thoughts that are against the knowledge of God so 305 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:10,840 that she will not trust God? So when the woman, having heard 306 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:15,400 this advice, saw that the tree was good for food, that it was 307 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:19,960 pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she 308 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,440 took of his fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband 309 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,920 with her and he ate. And of course, we know that from 310 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,680 that point they were kicked out of the garden. 311 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,400 But I want to share today how that same conflict is true even 312 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:32,960 in the day and hour in which we live. 313 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,520 I wrote a book called Wise, The Devil in Your Garden, and it 314 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:41,000 talks about these principles, but I felt so led to speak about 315 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,880 them even now in the context of the world we're living today. 316 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,280 We have to understand how this works in the world in which we 317 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:50,280 live. And we have to understand that 318 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:53,400 when it's talking about the serpent here, it's talking about 319 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:58,120 the opposition that we have. Why is the devil in your garden? 320 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,680 Well, the devil's in the garden because God wants us to learn 321 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,040 how to be an overcomer in this life. 322 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:09,000 He didn't choose us just to be children and eternal innocent. 323 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,160 He chose us to be the sons of God. 324 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:13,680 He chose us that we would be strong. 325 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:18,560 He told us He chose us so that we would have understanding and 326 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:22,319 we would know how to be victorious in this life. 327 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:26,000 It was the same in the garden and it's same true today. 328 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:29,480 Now we understand, or we should, that when Jesus Christ died on 329 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:34,640 the cross, He broke the power of the reign of Satan that He had 330 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,840 over mankind. But again, when that happened, 331 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:42,840 we still have Him in the world today not able to take control 332 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,440 of the world and not able to take control of your life. 333 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:49,760 But we also have to face the challenges and get spiritual 334 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,720 understanding so that we can be that victorious person that He 335 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:58,400 has called us to be and that when we face the temptation, we 336 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:03,080 do so with victory. I believe God has chosen you for 337 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,640 victory. I believe God has chosen you, 338 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:07,560 that you'd be an overcomer in this life. 339 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:10,720 And I believe that we're living in a time as never before, when 340 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,520 God is beginning to show us how that we might be an overcomer in 341 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,560 this life. And I also believe that we're at 342 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:21,600 that time frame of God's history, if you would, that we 343 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:25,040 would be able to take a step in God we've never taken before. 344 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,160 That's why I'm calling it a new day, because I believe there's 345 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:32,120 something available today that was never available before. 346 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:37,200 And so we can be an overcomer in this life as we tune into God 347 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,320 and say, OK, God, what is it that you want us to understand 348 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,640 now? This is a really a description 349 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:46,680 of what Eve faced and saw when she saw the tree. 350 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:50,360 So the tree would be in that sense, symbolic of what we call 351 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:56,000 the world, which is that world that plays that dimension. 352 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,640 That's opposite of the theme of God. 353 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:01,080 That's why the Bible says do not love the world or the things in 354 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,720 the world. For if anyone loves the world, 355 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:05,560 the love of the Father is not in him. 356 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,920 For all this in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of 357 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,200 the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the 358 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,520 world. The world is passing away and 359 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:16,640 the lust thereof. But he who does the will of the 360 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,400 Father abides forever. Now I want to share these 361 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:24,680 concepts, talking about how important it is to recognize 362 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:28,760 these temptations, but also I'm going to use it in the context 363 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,000 of history. As I was contemplating what I 364 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,520 was speaking this week, of course, I had every idea in my 365 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,920 mind that I'd be following up more concisely on what I spoke 366 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,160 about last week. And as the Lords give me these 367 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:42,920 ideas, I'm like, where is this going? 368 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:44,720 This is my sermon I thought I was going to have. 369 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:48,680 And then when I woke up and found out what was happening in 370 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:52,120 the Middle East, I realized why God wanted me to tune into that. 371 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:56,960 Now, the very first Sunday of the year is when our president 372 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,400 had sent the armies into Venezuela, capturing Maduro, and 373 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,600 I was sharing how that I really believe that God was going to 374 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:07,680 use those things. But most importantly, I was in 375 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,640 prayer that week for Cuba because always remember, Mount 376 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:17,640 Zion is in Havana, Cuba, Mount Zion is in Marvatille, Mexico. 377 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,400 Mount Zion is also in San Salvador. 378 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,000 So when I pray, I've got to pray for all these areas and they're 379 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:28,000 always on my mind, if you would, as they say in the old song. 380 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:29,920 And I'm thinking about these things. 381 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,880 And so when they did that, I saw some very positive things that 382 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:36,920 could come from that. Now, in thinking even about 383 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,240 what's happening in the Middle East today, President Trump has 384 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,200 this idea. There's an axis of evil that 385 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,000 contained the country of Iran, who were terrorists. 386 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,040 They used Venezuela, they use Cuba. 387 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,120 And in his mind also the cartels, because in his mind 388 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:57,120 also they're trying to bring these drugs into America, not 389 00:20:57,120 --> 00:20:59,760 just to make money, but to destroy the United States of 390 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:02,440 America. And so that adds to that China, 391 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,360 which he sees as a great force against us. 392 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,160 And I was sure at the time that as I was praying for Cuba, I 393 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,040 just felt like, wow, God, something's happening, you're 394 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,280 going to make a change here in Cuba right now, they're 395 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,560 suffering as they never have since that happened because 396 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:22,440 there's the separation from Venezuela and they're not able 397 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,600 to get oil. And so in our church, there's a 398 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:29,080 very rare occasion they actually have electricity in the church 399 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:34,520 or even in our passengers homes. Hence there's no running water 400 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:36,720 oftentimes. So they're going through a very 401 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,920 difficult period, but they're comfortable with the process 402 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,320 because they really are looking for God to liberate their 403 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,760 country. How many will prey on that same 404 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:46,760 mind? Amen. 405 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,040 And so that's very important to me when thinking about the 406 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,200 cartels. This past week was in the news. 407 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,520 There was this tremendous thing happened in Mexico. 408 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,400 They had to shut down the airport in port of Arte. 409 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,760 And some of the favorite places I have for vacationing over the 410 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:04,560 years, they're on the Pacific Coast. 411 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,440 And that's where the cartels are strongest. 412 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:11,840 And because they killed one of the cartel leaders, there's all 413 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,960 kinds of problems there. And it is our president that's 414 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:18,040 encouraging them to do that, give them the information in 415 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,400 order to figure that out. Now, the church we have in 416 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:22,760 Marfa, Teo, there's cartels there. 417 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:26,200 A year ago they had a mayoral election. 418 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:29,280 There were two people running for the mayor of the city, and 419 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,520 both of them were assassinated by the cartel. 420 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,680 Can you believe there was still somebody that wanted to run for 421 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,040 mayor after that? I can't. 422 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,880 But they got a mayor, whatever. And our pastor has received 423 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,000 calls from cartel leaders himself. 424 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,360 And so they're always trying to manipulate things. 425 00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:48,400 Now they feel pretty safe as long as they're not crossing 426 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,240 their paths, if you would. But I just want you to 427 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,480 understand why we should have a burden for all the nations of 428 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:56,640 the world and what exactly is going on there. 429 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,640 Amen. Because again, we see how God is 430 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,840 at work in the earth and we have our church in San Salvador. 431 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,800 And amazingly, there's been a change in political leadership 432 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,160 there. President Buchelli has changed 433 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,960 the country from being the most dangerous country in the world 434 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:13,600 to the safest country in the world. 435 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,000 So I'm like, thank you, Jesus. You do answer prayers. 436 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,480 Now, I said all that to say that in my mind, I can see how the 437 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:24,560 God is using the president to accomplish these things. 438 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:27,280 And I have this great expectation because I really 439 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,920 believe the Bible teaches us that the last great move of God 440 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:32,560 is going to be in the Middle East. 441 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,080 There's all kinds of information coming out about the underground 442 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,400 church in Iran and what God's doing. 443 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:42,280 And, and I'm just looking for there to be a Lucene, if you 444 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,760 would. These are amazing days in God. 445 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:47,880 Now, even though when I watch the news and I watch what's 446 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:51,000 happening, I have this idea. I think I know what's going on, 447 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,640 but I have to be honest with you, I might not know what's 448 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,560 going on at all. I've been serving the Lord long 449 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:00,520 enough that I can honestly say there's times I thought I knew 450 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:02,880 exactly what God was doing and find out He was doing something 451 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,560 different. And there's times when I thought 452 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:07,680 the devil was after me and I found out it was God. 453 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:09,240 I mean, it's like, how did God do that? 454 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,880 But because I live in the natural world, I'm obviously 455 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,160 going to observe these things. There's a place where we're 456 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,400 going to be connected to these things. 457 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,840 But the important thing for us always to know is that our God 458 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:26,360 is God all the time. Amen. 459 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,120 And I want us to realize too, and this is something as the 460 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:34,160 Lord was speaking me and I was a prayer about history, how that 461 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,760 these principles that I'm going to talk to you today, starting 462 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,440 with the pride of life, have worked in history. 463 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:43,800 And they're simple principles, but literally they can define a 464 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,720 whole country or a whole nation. I'm a part of what was called 465 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,320 the baby boom generation. Our parents were considered the 466 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,280 ones who were older than that, going through the Great 467 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,120 Depression and World War 2. Now, my parents weren't quite 468 00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:59,280 old enough to do that, but they were kind of classed into that 469 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,240 group of people if you would. But there was a war called World 470 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:08,360 War 2, and it was a very, very big and terrible war. 471 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,880 Now, if you were to look in the history of the war, you would 472 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,080 know that in Europe there was a man named Adolf Hitler. 473 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:20,640 And Adolf Hitler was the instigator of ultimately World 474 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,360 War 2 happening. He became the head of Germany. 475 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,480 And from there he began to invade all the other countries 476 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,040 of Europe and eventually declared war on the United 477 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,160 States. And so that's the war that was 478 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,720 going on. Now, what I want you to see is 479 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:41,080 that how he led the people of Germany to do that is he began 480 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,760 to appeal to their pride of life, began to tell them that 481 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,040 the German people were a superior race. 482 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,040 They were called the Aryan race, if you would. 483 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:52,680 They considered the Jews the lowest. 484 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:54,920 And that's why after a while, people consented to the 485 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,640 Holocaust and all the things that were involved in that. 486 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,880 They looked at the Slavic nations, like the people who 487 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,600 live in present day Ukraine, as a part of a inferior race. 488 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:09,160 And the idea was to take over those countries, keep as many as 489 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:11,240 alive as they would need to have for slaves. 490 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,920 And everybody after a while bought into that because what 491 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,560 did they do? They fell to the concept of the 492 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,800 pride of life. Now, Hitler wasn't a person who 493 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,240 thought, wow, I'm going to get these people to believe in the 494 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,640 pride of life so I can take control of the world. 495 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,760 No, actually, it started out with him in that manner. 496 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:31,640 If you study his personal life, you'll find out there were a lot 497 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:35,000 of difficulties of his life, a lot of things that would give 498 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,720 him an in the natural, a sense of insecurity. 499 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:42,560 So I'm sure he encouraged himself first of all by saying, 500 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,840 wait a second. I got to see myself in a 501 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,400 positive light. And so that's when he began to 502 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:53,120 build his philosophy about Germans being the superior race. 503 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:56,240 He was a German. He wrote a book called Mine Kemp 504 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,840 where he told everybody, hey, this is the plan for our 505 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,840 country, all of this war that we know about. 506 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,280 And the reason people considered was something very simple. 507 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,400 It's love, not the world, neither things of the world. 508 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,200 And was I talking about the pride of life on the other side 509 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:15,640 of the globe for the United States? 510 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,160 It was a World War to us because we also had a war in Asia. 511 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,480 And guess what? The Japanese people felt the 512 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,360 same way. They had a emperor by the name 513 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:26,280 of Hirohitu. There was a guy named Tojo who 514 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:29,280 was the head of their army and they had this idea they were 515 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:31,640 superior. And because of that they would 516 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,200 go in other countries and thought nothing about killing 517 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:36,240 people. I read a book once called The 518 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,240 Rape of Nanking and that's literally where they went into 519 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:44,960 the capital of China and with swords killed 3, 100,000 people. 520 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:49,840 That's such a horrible thing. But it all come from this simple 521 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,840 principle that God warns us about, which is the pride of a 522 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,360 life. And so it's something obviously 523 00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:58,240 that we need to understand. We need to be careful of 524 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,240 ourselves because often times we'll even tell people that, 525 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:03,160 won't we? Oh, you need to feel good about 526 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:05,240 yourself and build yourself esteem. 527 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,920 Now as Christians we have to understand that we should build 528 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:10,800 our self esteem. We should build our God esteem. 529 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,280 My confidence is not who I am in the natural. 530 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,480 My confidence should be in who God has said I am. 531 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,600 Amen. So I'm not trying to build up to 532 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:21,560 me. I'm trying to build up the 533 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,240 Kingdom. My identity isn't what I've 534 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,440 accomplished. My identity is God. 535 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,440 It's a very simple thing. Sometimes they get subtly drawn 536 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,120 into the thinking of the world, but I want you to understand how 537 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:38,960 literary nations can become captive to something that goes 538 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:42,560 against the very word of God. And the end result of World War 539 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:46,680 2 was something like 80 million people die. 540 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,440 How many know that's a tragedy and not why we need to say love 541 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,800 not the world and do not love the pride of this life in your 542 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,680 confidence in yourself. But understand that God has a 543 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:02,640 way. He wants us to walk different 544 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:04,920 than that. Next in history, I'm going to 545 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:07,520 talk about the lust of the eyes. And after World War Two, what 546 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:11,600 happened is two major countries came out of World War 21 was the 547 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,080 Soviet Union. The other was China, 548 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,680 unfortunately. And part of this was the fact 549 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:18,640 that we allied ourself with Russia. 550 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:22,760 Winston Churchill had said that I'll make a pact with Joseph 551 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:24,560 Stalin. I'd make a pact with the devil 552 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,640 if it would get me to defeat Adolf Hitler. 553 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,240 Well, in the end, that's exactly what he did, because it was 554 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,080 proven that Joseph Stalin was indeed the devil in Allah a lot 555 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,480 of ways. And he espoused something called 556 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:42,000 communism, which really is built on the lust of the eyes. 557 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,960 It's saying, look at what other people have. 558 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,960 Shouldn't you have those things? And so the idea is you have to 559 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:53,640 take from those who have and then enrich yourself and 560 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,600 everybody else. And the ideal setting was what 561 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,360 they called the dictatorship of the proletariat. 562 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,680 In other words, everything would be evenly distributed. 563 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,360 Now, the reason I want you to see this is because the leaders 564 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:10,520 were built on covetous thinking. And so in the end, if you're a 565 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:14,160 covetous person and you have a philosophy that's covetous, even 566 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:18,320 though you may not call it that, in the end, covetousness is 567 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:22,680 going to rule over you. And that's what eventually 568 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,240 happened. You know, Joseph Stalin was 569 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,080 guilty of killing 20 million of his own people. 570 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:29,880 Why? He was afraid somebody was going 571 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,160 to take his place. So they were always purges. 572 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:36,560 There was things that he did. One of the reasons Ukraine is so 573 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,000 opposed to being a part of Russia is because literally 10 574 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:45,120 million of them died from a forced famine that Stalin put 575 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,880 upon the country because it was the broad basket of the country. 576 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,160 And so he wanted to take over all the farms, etcetera. 577 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:55,760 But I just wanted to say how easy it is for something like 578 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:57,880 that to be an individual's motivation. 579 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:02,760 But in the end, that motivation will not only destroy you, but 580 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:04,400 it will destroy people around you. 581 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,480 Same thing happened in China. Is Mao Zedong was guilty of 582 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,120 killing 40 million of his own people. 583 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,200 How many of these are statistics that are almost unbelievable? 584 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:17,400 And what does it begin with? Well, something very simple. 585 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,520 The principle, the Word of God says we should be mindful of 586 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,880 ourselves, but when we see it in nations, it becomes obviously 587 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,680 much bigger. And this is a something that I 588 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:29,760 want us all to see and understand. 589 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:33,520 Because something isn't true because everybody believes it. 590 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:35,840 Something's true because it's in the word of God. 591 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:43,120 Give the Lord a praise on that. Jesus said to his disciples, I 592 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,760 sanctify them by the truth. Your word is true. 593 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,480 And so when things become popular, everybody's behind it. 594 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:52,360 It's very easy for us to fall into it. 595 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:56,160 That's the system of the world. But know that you're a child of 596 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,240 the most high God and you don't have to follow the ways of the 597 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:00,880 world. You want to guard. 598 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,360 You're thinking at all times and say, well, what does God's word 599 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:04,720 say about it? Because guess what? 600 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,080 We have to understand God's way is going to be a way of life. 601 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,400 Then ultimately talks about the lust of the flesh, which is any 602 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:16,200 human desire we have that motivates us in our behavior. 603 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:18,640 Now God created us. Like I said, body, soul and 604 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:20,600 spirit. So how many you know, desires 605 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,800 are a good thing. There's something God give to us 606 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,720 and that's why the Bible says that if we trust in the Lord and 607 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,320 believe in him, he'll give us the desire of our heart. 608 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:34,480 That's amazing. But if we're unrestrained and 609 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,160 we're thinking we have to decide what's going to make us happy, 610 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,800 the end result, it's not going to be too good. 611 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,280 And I use this part to talk about how important it is for us 612 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,880 to understand today in Western society in the United States, 613 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,240 how important it is for us to realize there's so much that's 614 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,880 available in the world and the society we live in, saying, 615 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,000 well, everything's OK, be happy. Do what you want to do. 616 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,160 And so it becomes easy for us to think that, well, if I pursue my 617 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:06,280 own desire, I'm going to be happy. 618 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:11,720 But God says, let me chart out a life for you because I know you 619 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:16,560 better than you know yourself. Come on, church, put your trust 620 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:22,760 in me, says the living God, and let me bring my word to pass in 621 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,760 your life. And so this is what the Proverb 622 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,080 writer says. There is a way that seems right 623 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,000 to man, but his end is the way of death. 624 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:34,880 The person who laborers, laborers for himself, for his 625 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,120 hungry mouth, what drives him off. 626 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,920 And this Scripture tells us how important it is for us to always 627 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:43,840 to discern. That's human wisdom. 628 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:47,160 This is God's wisdom and liberal thinking. 629 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,840 The idea is that, well, everybody was born good. 630 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,000 So if you're good to people, everything's going to work out. 631 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:55,760 That was the plan. And this is international news 632 00:33:55,760 --> 00:34:00,280 too, if you would, in history, well, back in 1978 and I say 633 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:02,920 said, you know what, We need to be nice to China because if 634 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,360 we're nice to China and we trade with China, we start selling 635 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,080 them stuff and vice versa. They'll become our friend. 636 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:10,679 They'll just be a part of the system. 637 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,040 Well, how you know, that hasn't quite proven to true. 638 00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:17,360 Yeah, they'll sell the stuff and yes, they will be a part of the 639 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:21,040 system, but they've also become the most powerful force in the 640 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,760 world other than the United States as far as economic power 641 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,560 and population wise. They got three times as many 642 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,400 people as we are, or we have, I should say. 643 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:34,679 And so again, sometimes we just follow philosophies. 644 00:34:34,679 --> 00:34:37,639 Again, that seems good and it seems to make a lot of sense. 645 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:43,360 But God says, well, in our human idea and our human motivations, 646 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,679 we're going to never think enough is enough. 647 00:34:46,199 --> 00:34:50,800 So you can take a country like China that went from very poor 648 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,400 to being very rich now, and guess what? 649 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,880 It's not enough. And so again, we have to be 650 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,480 mindful all the time how important it is for us to 651 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,840 recognize that God's way is the best way. 652 00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:08,240 Now in the book of Galatians, it says do not be deceived. 653 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:11,440 God is not mocked. For whatever man sows that will, 654 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:13,840 he also reap. For he who sows through his 655 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:18,280 flesh, will of the flesh reap what corruption, but he who sows 656 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,760 through the Spirit, will of the Spirit reach everlasting light. 657 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:27,560 And so let's not grow weary with doing good, for in due season we 658 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:29,880 shall reap, if you do not lose heart. 659 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,680 And the principle of sowing and reaping is so very true. 660 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,840 And when you look at history, just like the examples I used 661 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:41,840 today, when people did the right thing, they were blessed in the 662 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:47,000 long run, when people did the wrong thing, in the end, it was 663 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,920 indeed a way of death. And so we have to understand how 664 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,400 important it is for us always to think in terms. 665 00:35:53,720 --> 00:35:57,920 I'm going to sow the seed of the word of God, and I'm going to 666 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:03,080 have my confidence that I, I do that God's word is going to come 667 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:05,640 true and we're going to see the blessing. 668 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,680 But also we have to understand there was this process where 669 00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:12,080 people who do the wrong thing, they face corruption. 670 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:14,480 And guess what? You can look at history and find 671 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,880 out what we're saying is true. Now, could have I used a Bible 672 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:19,560 story to explain the same thing? Yes. 673 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,400 But I felt like God was speaking to me to use history because 674 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,080 sometimes we'll read the Bible and we'll see that as a biblical 675 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:29,000 realm. And then we get up and live our 676 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,960 life and we see that as a different realm. 677 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:34,560 And I like to point out from time to time, the things that 678 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,120 are true in the Bible are true in everyday life. 679 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:38,000 Amen. Church. 680 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,760 And we have to know that and understand that because the 681 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:46,680 world is becoming more corrupt, but yet God's having a people 682 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:50,680 that are becoming more like gold and precious things, Amen. 683 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,960 Because we're going to arise and shine, and God's glory is going 684 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,640 to be seen upon us. In this particular scripture 685 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,760 Jesus is speaking about no one can enter a strong man's house 686 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:05,600 and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strongman and 687 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,720 then he can plunder his house. Now Jesus was talking about that 688 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:13,120 concerning Satan, whom he defeated on the cross. 689 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:15,840 And how many know that's the strategy of war in the Middle 690 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:18,000 East? And I got to admit that when I 691 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:23,000 see them blowing up the man who says we're the great Satan kind 692 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:27,840 of makes me feel good inside. That's kind of movie. 693 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,200 I like how many guys out there like those kind of movies. 694 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:32,040 Money is always mad when I pick out the movies. 695 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,240 But anyway, there is a warrior inside of us, right? 696 00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:38,480 So we like to win wars. But the truth of the matter is 697 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,560 we have to understand how that it's important for us to see how 698 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:47,480 that even though Jesus defeated our strong man that we stand 699 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:52,200 against, He still allows us to go through these trials so that 700 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,200 we can learn how to become strong in the Lord and in the 701 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:58,800 power of His might. Now, I put up your Children of 702 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,840 Wrath because I want to point out something to you that's very 703 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,760 important in that scripture talking about the world. 704 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:07,920 It talks about how by nature were children of wrath. 705 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,800 Now, this is such an important thing to understand because in 706 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,320 my viewpoint, if I look at the Middle East, you know, they're 707 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:16,760 going to talk about all kinds of different theories about why 708 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:18,600 this is going on, why that's going on. 709 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:22,800 But what I see over there is a part of the world where 710 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:27,480 everybody is angry. They're so angry, they kill each 711 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:31,040 other, and they do. It isn't just US against the 712 00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:34,960 Muslims, as some would say. There's Muslims against Muslims, 713 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:36,800 there's ethnic group against ethnic group. 714 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:41,400 There are so many little armies in every little country, if you 715 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:42,480 would. Why? 716 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:47,800 Because people are angry. And that's why when we look at 717 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:50,560 the Middle East, one of the lessons we should learn is, you 718 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:52,760 know what? We shouldn't allow ourselves to 719 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:54,920 become angry. How do you know? 720 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:57,400 We live in a world today where people like to make you mad. 721 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,000 It's almost like that's how they get you on their side. 722 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:03,800 And so this is a warning from heaven. 723 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:07,560 Don't get mad. Don't let the sun go down on 724 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:10,280 your wrath. Don't allow yourself to be 725 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:14,080 caught up in the anger of the world, but have the peace that 726 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:17,960 passes all understanding. When you're even involved in a 727 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:21,360 situation of conflict in your marriage, people are going to 728 00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:23,520 try to make you mad about your situation. 729 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:27,600 Say to them, I'm not going to get mad, I'm going to let God do 730 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,720 something miraculous in my life. Hallelujah, because I don't have 731 00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:35,240 to get mad when I have God on my side. 732 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,120 Again. It's normal for us to have our 733 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:39,840 human reactions. That's why we shared my normal 734 00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:41,480 reactions. And all this just so you can 735 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:44,920 see, we aren't human beings, of course, but in the end, we have 736 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:50,040 to understand how that the God of this world, the spirit of the 737 00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:55,280 age, can hold us into captivity if we're not careful to keep 738 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:57,720 ourselves planted before the Lord. 739 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,360 That's why in the scriptures I read today, I just want to end 740 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:03,840 with the last one that I read in the text. 741 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,920 Take on the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which 742 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,840 is the word of God. Let God change you as a person 743 00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:15,560 and then take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word, and 744 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:19,920 be a people of prayer, always praying with supplication in the 745 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:24,400 Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance 746 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:26,880 because it doesn't always happen all right away. 747 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:32,480 And supplication, which means with intensity of commitment for 748 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,240 all the Saints. And that's why I pray for Cuba, 749 00:40:35,240 --> 00:40:38,960 and I pray for El Salvador, and I pray for all the people I know 750 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:40,960 and even are nations that I don't know. 751 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,360 But the Apostle Paul said for me that utterance may be given to 752 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:50,120 me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery 753 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,760 of the gospel and church. The most important thing that we 754 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:59,440 all should know is the most powerful tool in the world is 755 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:03,400 the gospel of Jesus Christ that will change our world. 756 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:05,800 Amen. The apostle Paul said, I'm not 757 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:10,440 ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God and to 758 00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,440 salvation. So let's bow our heads for just 759 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,720 a moment. And this was a lot of 760 00:41:15,720 --> 00:41:18,160 information. And I know that history is not 761 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:23,400 typically people's favorite subject, but it's so important 762 00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:27,440 that we would understand. If we will learn from history, 763 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,280 we won't have to repeat its mistakes. 764 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:38,320 And when we see the word of God actually is true in individual 765 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:43,200 lives and nations and all the nations of the world, we should 766 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:45,480 be able to make our commitment to understand. 767 00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:49,680 I'm going to make a choice. I'm going to go God's way, 768 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,960 Father, let us be a people at Mount Zion fully committed to 769 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:59,240 your way, releasing your power to our generation and to our 770 00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:01,560 world. We thank you for that, Father, 771 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:06,400 in Jesus name, Amen. This is Pastor Lorne Coverbius 772 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:08,960 from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us 773 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:11,960 today and invite you to connect with our church family by 774 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:15,720 visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media. 775 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:16,720 God bless you.