Sermon Central
-
Behind Enemy Lines Series
Contributed by Dan Cormie on Sep 9, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Examining the reality of life on a fallen planet, waking up to the realization that we are living in a war zone - behind enemy lines.
Dakota Community Church
September 9, 2007
Behind Enemy Lines
When I started announcing that I was going to teach on Spiritual Warfare what came to mind for you? Was it prayer, fasting, or maybe worship or some other church type of discipline?
Those things are a part of spiritual warfare but they are far from all there is to it, probably less than half of what is really involved.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.
Here is the calling Paul received:
I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Here is how Jesus describes God’s plan in sending Him:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
People are not our enemies, if they have flesh and blood Jesus died to save them.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Spiritual warfare is what happens everywhere truth invades deception, everywhere light invades the destructive forces of darkness.
Spiritual warfare thus permeates all of creation.
As Christians we need to start seeing the world as it really is, to do that we need to address some of the Pollyanna theology that is so popular.
We know that the fall of man is what messed up humanity, we know about the need for free will in order for love to exist, but, most Christians beyond that think everything else is as it should be, as God wants it to be and that everything that happens in creation is the will of God.
Folks – it just ain’t so.
Slide VI: Tangshan China
At 4:00 a.m. on July 28, 1976 the city of Tangshan, China ceased to exist. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake was generated by a fault that passed through the city and caused 85% of the buildings to collapse or to be so seriously damaged as to be unusable, and the death toll was enormous. The earthquake caused the failures of the electric power system, the water supply system, the sewer system, the telephone and telegraph systems, and radio communications; and the large coal mines and the industries dependent on coal were devastated. The railway and highway bridges collapsed so that the city was isolated from the external world. Before the earthquake Tangshan had 1,000,000 inhabitants and it has been estimated that about one half were killed.
Slide VII & VIII: December 26, 2004 Indonesian Tsunami – Death Toll - 295,608
Slide IX: Katrina – Aug. 2005 – Death Toll 1,000 – Property Damage est. $25 Billion
Is this how God intended the planet to function?
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He rebuked the wind, this is the same word used to describe what he (choke) did to the evil spirits. He commanded them to function properly in submission to God, to stop their destructive actions.
There is a corrupting influence in nature that is demonic in its roots.
Slide XI: Shrike
A shrike is a passerine bird of the family Laniidae which is known for its habit of catching insects, small birds or mammals and impaling their bodies on thorns. This helps them to tear the flesh into smaller, more conveniently-sized fragments, and serves as a "larder" so that the shrike can return to the uneaten portions at a later time.
Slide XII: Carnivores
Lions are voracious carnivores; they can require up to seven kilograms (15 lbs) of meat per day. Large mammals, like this African Buffalo, comprise an important part of their diet.
