I am going to break it down into spiritual and warfare.

Spiritual:

Spirituality is looking at the world in a certain way. The world is necessarily spiritual. There are things that we perceive and then there are other things that are “spiritual.”

Tolkien goes into great detail whenever he describes a people. The Bible is not as direct in its approach. There, in the scripture, is an assumption.

Dichotomous reality – there is the spiritual aspect and there is the physical aspect. Both realities are real and we are directly able to experience them.

1 Corinthians 15:40 – There is not one aspect that is lacking.

We are living in the midst of this dichotomous world. Participation is mandatory, in order to exist, we have to participate.

1) There is a danger of being religious, acting in suspense of the spiritual realm. Leads to religiosity
2) Epoche – suspension of judgment.

This creates a Christian who is pulled in two directions, because he/she does not want to participate.

Wisdom:
Not according to flesh
Mysterious
Concerned with things of the spirit

We have to be careful with religiosity and superstition. You cannot be concerned with only one of the realities (physical and spiritual).
Being concerned with only the spiritual leads to sorcery, divination…
Being concerned with only the physical reality leads to materialism.

Warfare:
Definition – binary competition for acceptance of a party’s agenda

We see that the world is caught up in this struggle. Since we are part of this world we are inside of the competition. There is no bench-warmer; we are on one of the sides.

There are different sides:
1) The Lord and the heavenly host. He enables our spirit. We can have confidence with his purposes.
The angelic realm:
The angles are (in Greek and Hebrew) messengers. We see them involved in God’s armies. They aid us and they are in great number. They have names (Michael and Gabriel). There are different classes.
The OT shows us that they offer services. They have the ability to sin (fallen angels). They give divine messages for authors who write it down.
In the NT – they minister to Jesus and announce his birth and resurrection. They will participate in the second coming and final judgment. They see what is going on in the world and they help, yet they are NOT to be worshiped. They can sin (they have a free will of some kind) and they will be judged by God’s people. They watch over God’s people.

Satanic realm:
In the OT - one main occupations he takes is the accuser. We see this role in Job and Zechariah especially.

In the NT - He’s is chief in his domain. He can persecute he tempts, and he seduces. He is participates in punishment within the church. His end is the lake of fire.
Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy; however, his power does not enable him to destroy us. (1 Peter 5:9. Rev. 15)

He is not God’s opposite (1 John 4:4).
Demonic realm
OT - Demons are often referenced as evil spirits
NT – fallen angels. End is the lake of fire. Idolatrous acts during the feasts in the church. Demon possession (they can inhabit people in different forms). They teach false doctrines. In Revelation they are gathering rulers for a great battle.

Powers:
There is something that is not specifically angelic or demonic (Eph. 6)– something that is constructed by people (political systems, law, human tradition…) Powers are manmade conceptions that are not necessarily demonic or angelic.

Weapons of warfare – 1 Cor.

That which we speak, prayer, different aspects which the spirit enables us (word, breast-plate of rightousness).
Psalm 84:1,6

3 battlegrounds – mind, church, in the world.

Ingorance, submition, pride, problems of committement, cold love, fellowship, false teaching

Worldliness, segregation, our own definition of reality.

Spiritual warfare in the mind:

It is important not to think that if you ignore the spiritual realm, then Satan will ignore you – he won’t.

2 Cor. 10:4-6

The warfare in the mind is bringing down strongholds. What is a stronghold?

When trying to understand something you must have two steps. 1st - You must define your terms. 2nd - relate the terms or conditions with which you are familiar.

Stronghold – series of lies or deceptions or misunderstanding of a particular area that are closely related and that can be demonized.

Stronghold example: I am not loved.
Where do we accumulate lies/deception with which a stronghold is made? TV, books, other people are all ways in which the lies are accumulated.

One of the things that makes the stronghold strong is that there is a small bit of truth to the statements.

Lie – you are not precious
Truth – Isaiah 43:4
Lie – God accepts me because I do good works
Truth – Ephesians 2:8-9
Lie –
Truth – Psalm 103:8-12
Lie – I cannot approach God
Truth – Hebrews 10:19-22

If I replace these lies with truth, I have built a different stronghold – a stronghold of truth.

Every stronghold has a door. Who stays and leaves through the door is your choice. Lies are places of demonic influence and strongholds of truth are places of light.

The demonic has the power to reinforce the lies. We have authority over demonic powers in our lives.

You cannot set yourself free from a demonic stronghold if you harbor unforgiveness in your heart.

To forgive in the mind and not necessarily publically. Sin in your heart is between God and you. If you involve others, however, you should apologize or address the situation in public.

An adulterous attitude is wanting anything that is nothing for you. When we have attachments to our strongholds (they are advantageous for us) then we have an adulterous attitude.

Deut 7:6 –
There are objects which have spiritual and hold demonic powers. Music, pictures, jewelry, toys, and other objects can be open doors.

We mustn’t be fearful, but we should be vigilant.

Proverbs 18:21 – another thing that opens a door to the demonic is through our words. You can open things into your own life and into the life of others. This doesn’t mean there isn’t room for joking and fun, but we shouldn’t be foolish

Exodus 21:5 (FINISH)

Confessed their sins and the sins of the fathers. A curse is carried to the 4th generation, but a blessing is carried to the thousandth generation.

If there is something that we have confessed and something is still not right, a generational curse might be considered.

1st – is there a stronghold that I need to deal with in my life (not all strongholds that need to be dealt with at the present time)
2nd – If God identifies a stronghold, then start to identify lies. Make a list with two columns, one with lies and one with truths. For the truths try to find verses that counter the lies and that you can turn to when in temptation.
3rd – If you have done all this and there is still territory that is not won, take the name of the stronghold and rebuke it in Jesus’ name
4th – continue to meditate on truth (you must fill the stronghold with church).

How do you confront strongholds in others’ lives?

1st – we must identify our attitude (are we compassionate and want to help?)
2nd – is the person you want to help ready to receive help?
3rd – if you can label it and name it, then you should try to illicit from them the stronghold/issue (A good approach is to state that their behavior and see if they are ready.)

You must commend the person into the Lord’s hands. It is important to only address the situation at the right point in time.

Overview: I am going to talk about the battlefield of the church. James and I will split the session. There will be three topics I will hit:
1) False teachers
2) Fellowship
3) Cold love

James will speak about cold love.

False Teachers:
I am going to give some passages and tell some stories about what I have seen. This isn’t something to be scared of, it is a call for us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
1 Timothy 4:1-10, 16
Vs 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
Vs 16 Take heed to yourself and to your teaching; hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
I anticipate in 20 years many of you will not be here. You may marry, go be missionaries, or go to other churches. As you look to pick a church, my hope is that you will be thoughtful as you look at that church. Watch your life and doctrine closely. “Some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” This is true, and we see it.

I Colossians 2 it says “see that no one takes you captive by hollow arguments.” This means that you could be taken captive.

Matthew 24:24 “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” So keep this in mind: it is possible to be deceived. Watch your fellowship. Be careful who you spend time with.

Not that we should be afraid: John 10:1-5, 17 “my sheep hear my voice.” Here is a story from one of the churches I fellowshipped with. They had a bunch of people from California randomly come and join them. At first everything seemed wonderful. Then there started being rumblings of, this is weird and there is conflict. In retrospect it turned out that the group that had come had some false believes and were probably a cult. There was one guy in particular teaching a lot of lies. The pastor said, “We couldn’t put our finger on it, but we knew something was false.” It is important to know the shepherds voice. The pastor knew God’s voice, and he knew this was wrong, it was different, not God’s voice. It talks about how the sheep will run away from a stranger. That is what happened.

There are two ways people can get in trouble in church. One, they can just show up to church and go through all the motions but not have the right things in there hearths. The other way is when the people honestly desire to seek God, but they are not circumspect and are deceived by false teachers.

Hebrews 5:13-14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil” What is it saying here? What God really wants us to understand is how to distinguish good form evil. This is the most difficult theology. You need to decide if what you are hearing is right or wrong. Remember, we are called to be priests:

Ezekiel 44:23 the most difficult thing is to learn to distinguish between good and evil “They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.” We are the priests. We are teach both ourselves and each other how to distinguish between holy and common.

How do we learn what is good? Mom: I worked at hearties. I was a cashier, handling lots of money. Once there was a counterfeit bill. I knew something wasn’t right. This was because I had handled a lot of real money. Jonathan: in the same way, when they want to teach a teller at a bank how to recognize counterfeit money is to have them handle the real thing. So in being able to recognize false teachers, we aren’t going to study false teachers, we are going to learn the voice of the shepherd.

So learn to distinguish good and evil. The mystery of good and evil is the mixture of good and evil. This is like the parable of the wheat and tares. Learn to hear God’s voice.

How to distinguish good and evil? Constant practice. Learn what evil is. The goal should always be to advance God’s kingdom.

Fellowship:
James 3:13-18
This could also be called commitment to one another, stiff-neck-ness, vain conceit etc. The other type of person through whom conflict can come is someone who doesn’t have a heart of caring toward others. “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” (vs 16). There are people who serve trying to advance their own agenda. First of all, don’t let that be yourself. Serve for God’s glory and His alone. He will not share his glory with another. Selfish and ambition and vain conceit bring with them every evil practice. There is nothing such people won’t do for themselves. But the wisdom from heaven is different. In Corinthians, Paul tells the Corinthians to open wide their hearts to him. We need to have our hearts open to each other. We need to watch out for each other. You should have guardians of your soul. Be careful who you open your heart to; seek out people you want to emulate. This can’t happen where there is selfish ambition.

This selfish ambition can be a poison in the church. Titus 3:9 says not to argue about genealogies. Paul says to warn a divisive person once and then have nothing to do with him. Let me tell you one more story. When we talk about people wanting to get ahead in church or life, there are people like that. Just this summer I was in the Philippines. There was a man I worked with there who had a powerful ministry. He had a very strong personality. He would go out into the jungle and bring medical supplies to people. He had very meaningful relations there. Someone back at home became jealous as him because he was drawing many followers. This one other gentleman “Matt” grew jealous. He started saying none of the students could go out with this guy. Matt called this fellows supporters and started saying he was no good. And so this guy had to leave and go to Cambodia. There were people whose faith was devastated by this. This was an example of leadership failing because of selfishness.

Don’t be devastated when leadership fails. Leadership will fail. Have faith in God. Don’t lose that. Keep your eyes fixed on God, and when men fail, have faith in God.

These are two things you will see in the church.

1 Peter 4:7-8
One final story: this is a beautiful story about keeping the bond of love strong. There was a time when there was a lot going on and Dad was busy. He decided not to go to the Summer Retreat. Brother Babu and C.C. Uncle drove down and asked him to come. C.C. uncle said “we feel it is important for you to be with us.” The came to meet with him specifically to appeal for him to come. It took a lot of money to fly and visit. Then we went.

Revelations 12:10-11
Cold love:
This is a topic that has been on my heart for almost a decade now. I am going to read some familiar passages:
1 John 4:7-21 I open this topic with these verses because if we don’t know the basis of love, how can we distinguish what cold love is? Cold love is hypocritical. Cold love is the opposite of caring for someone. It is caring for someone in an ingenuine way. True love cares about the spirit, soul, and body of someone else.

Revelations 2:1-7 “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” The LORD clearly showed me once “you need to look through my eyes when you see someone else or you will always see someone in judgment.” I a short time the LORD showed me how serious the spirit of judgment was in my life. I was in the prison and all the guys started coming from the cell. I looked around and started judging them. And the LORD said, “you need to stop.” I broke. I started praying. I was so ashamed. I had the realization how serious this was in my life. Since then, the LORD has opened my eyes and I see people as God’s creation and the apple of His eye, beautiful. That is how the LORD wants us to see everyone around us. When we are close to the Father’s heart, we will see others through his eyes.

Snares and temptations we fall into:
Matthew 12:22-30 “Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand;” There is a lot of division in the church. I encourage you to go visit other churches. It gives you the benefit of fellowship and helps you see things from a different perspective. If there is division in the church, how where there ever be revival? If there is not love, only cold love, we can’t act in unity.

Hebrews 10:23-25 “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” One of my goals in life is to see how I can be a blessing to others. We should not give up meeting together. This has two meanings: one, don’t give up going to church. Two, it can also mean let’s not give up doing things together. Let’s not give up meeting with one another. The caution in this is spending one on one time with each other is: one, doing something with someone of the opposite gender. There needs to be a caution.

Ephesians 4:1-3 “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” An example of what this means is carrying someone because they can’t walk. The other side of the coin is, what is really involved in that? It is really agape love, unconditional love. Sometimes it is one-way love.

Gal 5:13-14 “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."” Wow! Here are a few scenarios we might fall into that might keep us from loving one another: one is judgment. Another is not having in common. Another is “I don’t want to be disappointed.” Getting to know someone, loving someone, takes time. You might think I it is not worth your time or effort. Give the other person someone am opportunity to be involved, an opportunity to be encouraging to you.

Romans 12:9-11 “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.” The “theme” for this passage is “behaving like a Christian.”

Do you genuinely have love for others in the church? John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

The spirit of Jezebel
If you are in a church where there is real love, then it is a real church. A church without love is not how God would have it.
What are some lies in the world and society as a whole that would keep them from hearing Christ. We will talk about three: Jezebel, Babylon, and the Antichrist. Then we are going to talk about what needs to be in the church to overcome these spirits.

Satan is here to cause trouble and interfere with the work to redemption. He is not here alone. He has a kingdom with many fallen angels and demonic forces through whom he exercise dominion. Satan is looking for those who will form an allegiance with him through whom he will do his work. This word “cosmos” refers to this system which Satan has set up through which he is trying to work. In the New Testament “the world” (“cosmos”) is something bad. (Not so in the Old Testament, in the OT it generally means the people in the world).

Not all demons are the same. If there is a demonic oppression in our own lives, we as an individual have we have authority over. There are other demons that have powers over nations. Scripture says that Michael has authority over Israel. There is also a Prince of Persia (modern Iran). These powers are great, and we as Christians can’t simply rebuke them. There are certain battles that need to be fought on different realms. We personally fight battles in our minds. Parents fight battles in the home. Mature believers and elders fight the battle in the church. A mature, united church can fight the battle in the church. This is for those in the church who are gifted and willing, gathered in agreement, laboring in prayer. These people will defeat the demonic powers in the community. The church is maturing. If the church is united, we will see change

Jezebel: who is Jezebel in the Bible? These three I have chosen have specific names in the Bible. Jezebel is spoken almost exclusively in first Kings where Jezebel is the wife of Ahab. Jehu killed Jezebel. There is one reference to Jezebel in Revelation. I King 21, Naboth’s vineyard. Ahab is King and Jezebel is his wife. Ahab wants a vineyard that belongs to a man named Naboth. Naboth refuses to sell it. Ahab pouts. Jezebel finds him and asks what is wrong, and he tells her. Jezebel comes out with a scheme to get Naboth stoned. After he is dead, Jezebel gives the vineyard to Ahab. After that there is prophecy from Elijah about how Ahab and Jezebel are going to die.

One of the primary influences of Jezebel in the world is to proclaim this lie: happiness is found by getting what you want by means of death. There is also an element of sensuality. Jezebel goes beyond sensuality, though. Many of the perversions we see in sexuality have as their goal the cutting of raising up a generation. Why is Satan so opposed to this? When godly seed is raised up and there is agreement across generational lines in the spirit, there is a special power in that to oppose sin in the world. That is the fundamental element of Jezebel’s influence in the world.

What does all this mean to the church? The way we oppose evil in the world is by standing against in with the opposite level. The church needs to battle the spirit of death by standing for life and welcoming life. There is a spirit necessary in the church for this to happen.

Matthew 5:5 “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” when you look at Jezebel and try to characterize her, there is a brazen element to it. She acts totally out of any authority. She is not really the authority, Ahab is, but she manipulates him. She acts out of an aggressive spirit; she takes what she wants by force. The opposite of that is to be like Christ and to have a meek spirit. Meek does not mean mild or weak, it means submitted. Jesus speaks of himself as “meek and lowly of heart. So we need to learn to act in a submitted way, not out of our own thoughts and feelings
Psalm 37:10-11 “Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look well at his place, he will not be there But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.” Think of Jezebel. She is gone. The promise is that the inheritance will ultimately belong to the meek. Even though the evil can strong things by force, the meek will in the end inherit the earth.
Psalm 110:1-2 “The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes!” This is the right attitude for the church to have in the midst of the world that is ruled by Satan. John says “we know the whole world is in the power of the evil one.” Why does he say this? Doesn’t the world belong to God? He not only created it, he redeemed it. Satan is still operating this structure that he has in the world because God hasn’t taken it away from him yet. Say, for example, there is a house in Hudson that is being used to traffic drugs. Say one of us goes and buys it. Now he owns the house. Then we go up there and someone is trading drugs. Someone is going to have to go in there and say “you can’t stay here anymore, it is my property.” That is what the world is like. The job of the church is to go to the world and say ‘this is not yours anymore; it has been bought with a price.” We don’t do this in one sweeping motion, we do it one at a time, person by person. We also do it in areas, like by praying over specific places. What is psalm 110 telling us about how to do this? If the spirit of meekness is nurtured in the church and God’s people learn to sit at God’s right hand and we learn that from that position we have authority in the church and we understand that God speaks a word that goes into the church, then God can do a cleansing work.

What is the outward manifestation that the church needs to do? John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” The spirit of Jezebel tries particularly to kill. But Jesus came that we might have life. In him was light and the light was the life of men. So the church needs to oppose the work of Jezebel. What is Jesus talking about in John 10? He is talking about being a shepherd. So the church needs to be shepherd, this is the opposite of the spirit of Jezebel. The church teaches husbands and wives to love one another and to care for their children. This shepherding role of the church in the wider community can come when we are learning meekness and giving us authority to come against the spirit of Jezebel in the world.

Interlude: when we approach a large subject, try to pick some themes, things you are hearing, that help to thread together what you are hearing and help it stick in your mind. Then when you hear it again, you connect the old things to the new things. This is how we build good strongholds. One of the themes is if we had to put in a few words what spiritual warfare is about, for me it would be it is about Jesus Christ. Why do I say this? When we talk about spiritual conflict and facing an enemy, sometimes it takes a while for people to be convinced there is an enemy. When we accept being a soldier, we can err by becoming overly focused on the enemy and the battle. The most important part of the battle has already been done: Jesus has died and risen from the dead. We need to be focused on that. What enables me to fight against the enemy? The enemy is not more powerful that Jesus. The key to all spiritual warfare is getting the person of Jesus Christ in the face of the enemy because the enemy is terrified of Jesus Christ. The end purpose of spiritual warfare is to make a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. When this happens, the enemy will flee. So keep your focus on the LORD, not the enemy.

Evening Meeting

Spiritual Warfare in the World - Spirit of Babylon and Antichrist

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The Spirit of Babylon:
The Old Testament and the New Testament speak extensively about Babylon. What is the spirit of Babylon? We will read the parable of the sewer in Matthew 13. Vs 22 “As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Another translation says the “deceitfulness of riches.” We all have cares in the world. This is natural and not wrong. The cares become problems when we handle them wrongly. Babylon says that the cares we have for ourselves should be solved by having riches. That is the basic message of the spirit of Babylon. Another way to put it is that the key to happiness is having all the riches. If you look elsewhere, (revelation 18), at the end of Babylon, there is a lament. Why are the people weeping? They weep because there were so many riches in Babylon and they are all burning up. What is the deception in this spirit? You can never spend enough money to get rid of your cares.

How does this show itself in our lives? Dan 12:4 “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” This is a description of busy-ness. This is the way the spirit of Babylon most subtly influences us. It is subtle because someone who is busy seems successful. But this running to and fro to gather as much as we can so that we do not worry about the cares of this life is deceptive. Riches will never fully relieve our cares. This means that as soon as we think we have enough, we realize there is something else we need and so we run more. This creates an environment in which the word is choked inside us.

What does the church need to do to fight this attitude? First, there needs to be humility in possessing riches. 1 Tim 6:17 “As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy.” So those who have riches are not to be haughty. When we learn to hold riches with an open hand, we can be stewards of God’s riches.

Second, we need to have the attitude of confidence. Hebrews 11:26 “He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward.” If we have a need in our lives, we have to have this confidence that God will meet the need in our lives, and if we have to forsake riches, God will make provision for us to do what he wants us to do.

What is the outward manifestation of this to the world? (if you want to meditate on this, read all of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9). The first concept is liberality: 2 Cor 8:2 “for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of liberality on their part.” So in the Macedonian churches there was “wealth of liberality.” This needs to characterize the church. This makes sense to a lot of Christians. However, this is a constant battle. The deceitfulness of riches is very powerful. There is one other thing in here that is much more profound: “there abundance of joy and their extreme poverty…” How do you give out of extreme poverty? Vs 1 “the grace of God which has been shown in the churches” Grace is making itself known. So the key to the liberality is to have an abundance of grace. Any good work you are given to do is enabled not by what you have physically but by grace. This flies in the face of what the spirit of Babylon says. The grace starts with a stirring in our hearts to be liberal, to give.

The spirit of Antichrist:
1 John 4:1-6 antichrist is a term used specifically in John. Vs 3 “every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.” Why is it important that the spirit confesses that Jesus came in the flesh? The teaching of the NT is that our salvation is based on the fact that there was a sacrifice for us. Specifically, that blood was shed. If you want to deny the sacrificial work of Christ, one way to do it is to say that he did not come in the flesh. The main work of the antichrist is to deny the sacrificial work of Christ.

How do we see this in the world and how do we combat it? 1 Cor 1:20-25 “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom” The religious world says: show me some sign, some manifestation of power. The intellectual world says: show me a rational argument as to why that is true vs 23 “but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,” What does the church need to do? The church must declare the truth of the cross in the public square. The opposition is that it is silenced. How do we see this? If you are in a discussion in a worldly setting and you say “Christ can change someone’s heart,” people will not allow the discussion. They will say, “it is okay for you.” This silencing of the gospel in the public square is the main strategy by which the spirit of the antichrist is at work in the world. This doesn’t mean that the way to break through this is to be belligerent. However, we need to remember that the key thing we are proclaiming as a church is how Jesus came and died for us.

This is the final spirit. It is perhaps the one we are most aware of.