Spiritual Warfare (SW-06)
Weapons of Righteousness
1 Peter 5:8-9
While most Christians would not deny that spiritual warfare exists, the truth is that many have, for all intents and purposes, disengaged. They no longer live as though there were at war. Rather, they are content to have others engage the enemy on their behalf. They want to ride on the tails of the victory of others, and rise with the swells of the successes of others.
And I can understand that because these people tend to dwell on the past rather than dynamically engage the present or intentionally lay hold of the future. They tend to live out of their ‘yesterdays’ instead of into their ‘tomorrows’. This is true of individuals as well as institutions, of corporations as well as for churches. The problem with this mind-set is that neither God nor the devil are living in ‘yesterday’. The war we are engaged in is very much a ‘today’ war.
Yesterday’s battle orders will not secure today’s victories, and yesterdays triumphs will not suffice for today’s troubles.
Now watch this - God gave me this and some of you need to hear it.
You will not remain on the path to victory guided by a mind filled with doubt and you cannot secure the place of victory while accommodating a mind-set of disengagement.
In Mainland China during 2002, Pastor Li De Xian and his wife Zhao Xia refused to be silenced. "Christ was the first to suffer," Pastor Li said. We just follow Him. There are many thorns, but we are just injured a little on our feet. This suffering is very little."
Despite continual pressure from the Public Security Bureau, Pastor Li refused to miss a service unless he was in prison, or change his message of salvation through Jesus Christ. He had been arrested so many times previous two years that he had lost count. After a three day episode of torturing he was forced to work on an assembly line in the prison factory putting bulbs into strings of Christmas lights to send to America.
"Don’t feel sorry for us," Zhao Xia says of their lifestyle. "At least we are constantly reminded that we are in a spiritual war. We know for whom we are fighting. We know who the enemy is. And we are fighting. Perhaps we should pray for you Christians outside of China. In your leisure, in your affluence, in your freedom, sometimes you no longer realize that you are in spiritual warfare."
I know why you have disengaged - because it is hard. Warfare is hard. It is hard for our men in Iraq. When a helicopter goes down with 14 aboard and all are killed, it is hard. When IED’s wreak havoc, it is hard. When ballistic fired rockets hit your vehicle, it is hard. The most terrifying moments of my life have been staring down the sights of my rifle to stop an enemy about to rain havoc on a platoon that I was a part of. Folks - it is hard, uncomfortable and messy. It is far nicer to disengage, more comfortable to sit in front of the television and watch the war, less messy to simply find fault with those engaged in the war. Nobody who has ever been in a war likes the idea of war or thinks that it is a good idea. When you have been in a war, war is the last thing you opt for again.
But my friend, while war is hard, disengagement is harder still, for the cost of failure and defeat is monumental. Just because a Christian disengages does not mean that satan does. I do not know about you but I do not want this generation, I do not want my neighbors, I do not want my family, my children, my children’s children or my children’s children’s children to have to pick up my tab because I was too comfortable or too afraid - and I chose disengagement.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, (do not ignore him) steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." (1 Peter 5:8-9)
The truth is that spiritual warfare is real and it is a part of the Christian’s ‘today’ life (2 Cor. 10:3-4). The Church is a Church at war. The Bride, on her feet is wearing combat boots and underneath her gown is wearing fatigues. Although this battle is fought in the natural, the weapons of our warfare are supernatural, and have divine power to tear down strongholds. With them we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.
What are these weapons? Good question? There are many revealed in different Scripture.
In Revelation 12:11 the weapons are the blood of the Lamb, the testimony of the saints, and loving not the flesh life even unto death.
In James 4:8 it is Prayer.
In Mark 16:17 it is the Name of Jesus (John 14:13-14)
In 1 John 5:4 it is Faith
In Psalm 149:6 it is Praise and Worship
In Luke 9:1 it is Authority (Ex. 20:12, Rom. 13:1-6, Eph. 6:1-31)
In Eph. 6:14-18 it is the Armor of God
In 1 Peter 4:8 it is Love (Proverbs 17:9, 10:12, 1 Cor. 13:1-10)
In Neh. 8:10 it is Joy (Rom. 8:1 Rev. 12:10)
In Mat. 6:14-15 it is Forgiveness (Matt. 18:18-35, Matt. 20:28, Matt. 26:28, John 20:23, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14, 1 Peter 1:19-23, 1 John 1:9 )
Now there is one set of weapons missing from that group. Who can tell me what they are? Exactly right - the Gifts of the Spirit. Did you know that your gifts are amongst the most powerful and effective tools against the enemy?
What I want to give you this morning is some fresh thinking on your spiritual gifts. You see my friend, it is vital to know and understand the power of the operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives and through our lives if we hope to overcome Satan in some of the greater battles.
I want to give you the six purposes or functions of your gifts. Each one of them is critical - are you ready?
Your Spiritual Gifts . . .
1. Establish Your Purpose
Your gifts are given you directly in specific relation to your purpose. You cannot accomplish your purpose without your gifts and you cannot maximize your gifts unless you understand your purpose.
Now here’s a problem - we have a whole lot of people walking around in churches and they have no idea what their purpose is and know very little about their gifts.
You see my friend, if you do not know why God gave you the gifts He gave you, you are effectively have gifts without a purpose. The churches are filled with people without purpose. And as a result we have good theology without purpose, evangelistic tools without purpose, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts without purpose.
You would think this is important, but we have Christians who come to church Sunday after Sunday - but that’s all they really do because they are living Christianity without purpose. They study the Word without purpose and then pray without purpose. How can you tell if that is true? You can tell it is true is you are doing the same thing you have done for the last 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, you have not grown, you have not changed, you still have the same questions, the same complaints, the same criticisms, and you continue doing the same things. No purpose.
Now watch this - when you live life without purpose your purpose becomes to defend the status quo of your walk with God - and you normally do that by throwing stones at someone who has got purpose, poking holes in their faith, finding fault with their walk.
Precious believer - you must embrace your purpose. And your gifts are one of the most critical keys to understanding your purpose.
You say to me preacher - as long as I am using my gifts does it matter what my purpose is?
Tell that to your commanding officer - as long as I am firing my rifle does it really matter what my target is?
Tell that to your classroom teacher - as long as I am writing answers does it really matter what the questions are?
Tell that to the police officer - as long as I am driving my car does it really matter what the rules of the road are?
No matter how much faith you have or how much courage you display - they are meaningless without knowing your purpose.
Listen to me precious believer - without knowing your purpose cannot serve well, and, may I suggest, without purpose you cannot be the specific part of the Body of Christ your were designed to be.
Your gifts are one of the most critical keys to understanding your purpose - and without knowing what your gifts are you may go through your entire life not knowing why you were born.
Establish Your Purpose
2. Empower Your Witness
Your gifts manifest Holy Spirit power.
Acts 1:8 "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses . . ."
You gifts are the supernatural authentication of your ministry. When you walk in your gifts the world will gather around you because they are hungry for what you have. When they see you walking in the anointing they will eat at your table, and drink at your fountain.
A couple came to see me - I had never seen them before - they came because I was a pastor and they were having marriage problems. The minute they walked through the door, before they opened their mouth, the Holy Spirit told me what their problem was. The started to talk - I said hold on - God loves you so much that He has told me what your problem is and what the solution is. Here is what you are facing and here is what you need to do! They both broke down weeping. Why? The gift empowered my witness.
I have told you this before - in Malawi - there was a cripple woman came at the end of a village wide outreach meeting we held under a big old tree. She could not walk - had not walked for years. I prayed for her - she got up walking and leaping and praising God. After the meeting she went home - and she cleaned house properly for the first time in many years. Her husband came home and could not believe what he was seeing. He was not a believer - but you know what he did - the next day he came to see us and was born again. Why? Your gift empowers your ministry.
That is why Jesus said, Matthew 10:7-8 "And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give."
Establish Your Purpose
Empower Your Witness
3. Embolden Your Faith
When you function in your gifts there is an anointing of boldness that is released into your faith. That is why Christians you never use their gifts never use their gifts. As a matter of fact - they become stayed and critical. When you got your oars in the water you don’t have time to criticize others.
But watch this - when you are functioning in your gifts - there is an anointing of boldness that comes upon you - and you get excited, you get passionate, you get so full of Jesus even the save people want to get born again.
When you prophesy and it comes about, when you give a word of knowledge and it releases freedom into somebody’s life, when you pray for the sick and they are healed - it does something for you - you can just shout.
Just yesterday we had a fun day with Brett and some of his family - and we were up at Mount Pisgah having breakfast when Michele leaned across and told me that here eye was starting to twitch the way it does before she gets a migraine head ache - and if you get migraine headaches you know what that is about. Well right there at the breakfast table I stopped and prayed for her - and the migraine lifted. Guess what that did - it emboldened my faith.
In other words - when you exercise your gift in faith - God releases more faith into you so that you are even more bolder next time around. Dr. Billy Graham did not start by leading 4 000 people to Jesus Christ - he exercised his gift and one person got born again - and that made him bold - so next time it was a few more, then more, then more - and God kept releasing faith into his gifting until his gifting changed millions of people across the entire globe.
Your gifting will embolden your faith.
Establish Your Purpose
Empower Your Witness
Embolden Your Faith
4. Enable Your Ministry
Folks - listen up - you cannot do the ministry you were called to do unless your use your Holy Ghost given, empowered and anointed supernatural gifting - period.
Well preach - I know a lot of Christians who do not exercise their gifting - they don’t even believe in the gifts.
Well my friend - if a thing is wrong it does not become right just because a whole lot of people are doing it.
Until you learn to walk in your Holy Ghost given, empowered and anointed supernatural gifting - you will not be able to finish the work God gave you to do. You may be busy with good thing - you may be bust with kind things - you may be busy with Christian things - but as we learned last week - a good thing becomes a bad thing when it keeps you from doing the right thing.
Your divine calling, your particular ministry, your specific purpose, your given reason for being saved, the works that God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them are dependant upon, require, necessitate that you learn what your gifts are and how you should use them.
Without them you are like a soldier going to war and you have no weaponry. We were in the middle of a conflict when and the enemy were shooting at us and I was shooting at the enemy from behind a tree and my rifle jammed. It was the most terrible feeling. The enemy was shooting at me and I had nothing to shoot back at him with.
Well that is exactly what you are looking like if you do not know what your gifts are or are not using them. The enemy is throwing everything he has at you and you are not giving him in return what God gave you. And here is the tragedy - your buddies around you are taking more flack than they should because you are not moving in your gifting. There may be somebody around you that needs healing - but you are not using the gift - may need a supernatural word of knowledge - but you are not available. God has given you the gift to secure their victory but you do not even know what your gifting is let along moving in it.
I stood for a few second behind the tree grateful for the cover - but then realized that I was not helping anybody behind the tree except myself. About 20 yards away from me there was the spare rifle of our Brenn Gunner lying on the ground - I dived from behind the tree grabbed the gun and re-engaged the enemy. Now I wish I could tell you it was courage - it wasn’t - it was pure unadulterated fear - I simply did not want the enemy advancing to my position and catching me with nothing to throw back at them.
Well listen to me precious believer - I think its time we dived from behind the tree and went to fetch our gifts. The enemy is advancing on our position. And I don’t want to get caught without my gifting on me.
You see my friend - your gifting will . . .
Establish Your Purpose
Empower Your Witness
Embolden Your Faith
Enable Your Ministry
5. Effect God’s Kingdom
Now it is very important that you understand this - your gifting is the special anointed tool God has given you to establish His kingdom.
Matthew 4:23 "Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people."
Matthew 9:35 - same thing.
Luke 9:2 "And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing."
Luke 10:9 "and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you."
Precious believer - if you want to effect God’s kingdom, if you want to bring it about - you are going to have to function in your gifting.
Notice lastly with me if you will . . .
Establish Your Purpose
Empower Your Witness
Embolden Your Faith
Enable Your Ministry
Effect God’s Kingdom
6. Engage Satan’s Forces
Did you know that your gifting is one of your most powerful tool for engaging satan in warfare.
He brings sickness, you bring healing.
He brings confusion, you bring discernment.
He brings deception, you bring a word of knowledge or wisdom.
Hey - its not only the big things - what about this . . .
He brings criticism - and you bring encouragement.
Did you know that criticism of others is one of Satan’s strongest weapons to destruction both for the one being criticized and the one criticizing - he gets them both. Booooommmm!."
Do you know the source of criticism - it is self flattery. If you want to please the devil, begin to admire yourself. Self admiration is based on self deception.
Listen to me precious believer - you may want to measure yourself by your aspirations instead of your performance, but the consistent conduct of your life is the only real proof of the sincerity of your heart.
This morning as we close - I am talking to God’s children - precious, loved, chosen. I want you to walk in your gifting not because it will earn God’s - you already have it. God loves you, no matter what. As a matter of fact, at the most sinful moment of your life Jesus still loved you as much as He ever did.
But precious believer - if you have not identified your gifts, been trained on the biblical use of the gifts and motivated to engage satan specifically and intentionally with your gifts - the church has both failed you miserably and done itself one of the greatest disservices it could.
This coming weekend you can rectify that. Friday evening and Saturday during the day we are offering the Journey into usefulness Spiritual Gifts Seminar. There are applications on your tables.
Now listen carefully to this - satan does not want you to attend - and he is right now giving you a whole lot of reasons why you do not have to attend. For some of you he is telling you that you are too busy. For others he is saying you have already done a spiritual gifts seminar. You did one at the last church. Believe me - this is different to any other spiritual gift seminar you have ever done. To others he is telling you that you have already done this one and there you do not need to attend. Well if you are fully functioning in your gifts and God is using your gifts to . . .
Embrace Your Purpose
Empower Your Witness
Embolden Your Faith
Enable Your Ministry
Establish Effect God’s Kingdom
Engage Satan’s Forces
. . . then you go ahead. You are excused. But if that is not true for you - best you grab one of these applications and you fill them in right away and hand them to me before you leave. Why s that important? If I do not have your application by email or in writing by the end of Monday you will not be permitted to attend. Why? There is some pre-course work you need to do - and without that you cannot attend the course.
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