Good morning my people, the saints of the Lord, the priests of the earth reaching from Hilo, Hawaii to the farthest reaches of the world. Welcome to The Church Ministries 70th Sunday service, that is 70 whole weeks of large sermons, that is a lot of information. Plus the Church opened up on the 17th of August 03 so we are heading now for our second year. We have established many new links and places where a Christian’s can go and either watch a movie or learn some new text or a group of scriptures for teaching and or gain some edification. Also we put together a link with a free bible study. The church has many movies, and short films that give a wonderful explanation of God’s love, also you can rest back and watch some good educational films on the Love of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This has truly been a blessing to work with all the people that we have to work with, but everyone is so far away and it seems we are getting everything all done and the hope of the mission is still ready to go, slowly as soon as I get enough of the strength I will need to start serving food. We are not sure how we are going to work out the details but God will know and He is not going to give up I know He will complete the good work He started (Phil1:6) The thing is the church is located in the different area of the town. But is very centralized to a point anyone new person coming into town will definatly walk by it, so that is a major blessing. It seems that is exactly where I wanted to build, and I have talked to my fellow pastor, he told me of all the stipulations, As you all know the attacks of Satan and his doom of darkness are still having there way with my life. Constantly I am getting sent through all different types of torment daily. To some people it would sound ridicules but as the world turns there has been incredible amounts of suffering all over not just with me God is secretly raising an army of pure Christians being tossed through the fire for a purification process, but to any extent I am not going down, and even if I get slammed down on the ground, I am going to get up and stand firm.
Dear Heavenly Father, Please help us this day, we are here to worship You and thank-You and Love You and express our selves to you with a humble heart and a life of asking You for forgiveness of sin. Dear Father, this week and the week before has been so hard on this church I can not believe all the attacks that we have been going through. It starts out with the weekend of the 19th and 20th when my pills were being changed I was running a 102 temperature the pain was so bad I couldn’t even think straight. I tried to right a Sunday sermon and I was lost, I stopped taking the pills and then I tried a new batch on the 22nd and I was sick all the way till the 25th, I was so sick and going to the bathroom like a yo-yo, I could not sleep I was so alarmed, and not even well enough then to take the trip to Honolulu, and that night my truck broke down then I finally get home after I get told a different amount by a cab driver and waste food money just to get home. Then when I take off my suit and I walk into my office and then I had to fight a tarantula for the next two hours I had to move everything to get at this thing, it was huge and Hawaii dose not have tarantulas and people said it could have been a cane spider, and after I did the research on it I knew it was a real tarantula, probably someone’s pet, how it got into the church office I will never know, another attack by Satan, and I have been attacked day after day year after year with hope of it stopping. Now my truck is sitting in a gas station and waiting for a part, and I have no idea what all this is going to cost. I have gone through the mill with these attacks and I realize that I will being doing something great for the Lord for His glory not mine, I just hope I survive, that is why I am writing this in a prayer, Father please help me, please help this church, I am stranded 4 miles out of town and know one to even give me a ride and the one person that was helping just got his car totaled and he got hurt, not bad but he had to lay down for about week, to see if he is going to be alright, and none of these things ever happened to him, and there is more but I will not even go into it, the thing is it seems as soon as he stared helping me all these attacks came down on him, so now I feel guilty, that is what the evil one wants me to think, it is like everywhere I look it is another attack, things are disappearing all over this church office, including my passport, and I just got a letter from the Philippines wanting me to go out there and help with their ministry. Father, please heal up my friend. Please send me someone to help me and this church; I can’t do everything by myself. Please Lord, understand my heart, please help this congregation, all through the world, this church has many people but we are scattered all over the world, and a typical ride to the store is so meaningful for my health just to get supplies. I am sorry I need to apologize to everyone for expressing myself. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
I know am in which more or less a real bad situation, I am sitting as a prisoner, I basically should be in the hospital surrounded by a team of specialists, but with my insurance that is not going to happen. I need to praise the mighty God of heaven and earth, for being blessed that I am able to pray for others and share the comforts of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom 8:37) I never realized how lonely a pastor could be as far as people and friendships go. The way that things happened today, and the suffering that went along prior to these days and I just keep going with faith, fighting the doubt and the Lord is going to pull me out of it again. What a test! This was a good a day for me. And I pray and hope and ask the Lord that you too will have a day like mine. But as we are saved Christ told us he would never ever leave us. A simple prayer of faith, or a healing blessing, and a few choice words that I am able to pour my heart out to all that suffer the difficulties of life, health problems, tragedies, helplessness and all the families that are surrounding all the sick and afflicted, and how they feel and how they are taking all the hardships of watching there loved ones endure in different ways. But we are all gathering together as one, and the Body of Christ, and with our prayers and just good thoughts of others and sharing our positive dreams and compassionate hearts, most of us will be healed, the burdens gone, the troubles will seem lighter if we can only share our prayers and lives with each other, This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him. (John 5:14-15) Here I am cast into the shadows, with everything pointing to now an unexplained disease called RSD/CRPS and so far is incurable, but then my new specialist is not sure, but our Lord still enables me to pray for others, in between all the blood tests, seeing doctor after doctor, living on all different types of pills, all the C-scans, MRI’s, Nuclear Bone scans, antibiotic therapy, surgeries and the list goes on, but yet I am still able to send a kind and healing word of God’s grace to others. Sometimes I feel I don’t do enough for all the chosen people of God, a royal priesthood of people, a gathering of the saints, with all these burdens and hardships, miseries, troubles and many misfortunes. But the lesson I have been learning is to keep going, to endure to the end, and not to give up, “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isa. 40:31)
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. (James 4:7-8a) A very simple scripture but it carries so much meaning. It seems we are all fighting to stay alive, but I feel the end times are near, and only a few know it. My tears are with you all. And my heart is being crushed everyday, but it seems I still go on, and life goes on. Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. And as Christ's soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in His army. Follow the Lord's rules for doing His work, just as an athlete either follows the rules or is disqualified and wins no prize. Hardworking farmers are the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor. Think about it, the Lord will give you understanding in all these things. Never forget that Jesus Christ was a man born into King David's family and that He was raised from the dead. This is the Good News I preach. And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained with a life of pain and is increasing, but I almost feel the weakness in heart may be getting strengthened. But the word of God can not be chained. I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen. I feel sorry for those that are walking around and they have no conception of what or where they are going, when the end comes. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. We wakeup in the morning some of us are lying-in a hospital bed, some of us are able to get up and look in the mirror and thank the Lord that they made it through another day, then there are others so full of fear and worry and it is hard for them to even concentrate. And then others don’t have a care in the world they get up make their breakfast and enjoy themselves driving to there high class job to make a lot of money. Some wake up in the cold lying on a bench or a cardboard box and are so relieved that the police didn’t arrest them the night before. Still then others are waking up with many children crying for food and they are desperately trying to figure out a way to feed them all. There are many other instances of the wake up call in the morning for each culture, race, and ethnic background, but with Christ the suffering for all of our brothers and sisters will finally end, with all our prayers in unity. So I guess I feel pretty blessed knowing I have Jesus, and when this cold world finely takes its toll in the end, you know all of us will be together. We will be coming up to each other with pure affection and love thanking each other, because we as the Body helped each other to get to heaven with Jesus as the key, and we don’t even know we are doing good right now, by praying for each other and helping each other cross another hurdle. Or to lend that helping hand down to grab and lift us up out of the hole and bring each other to the light. I am always caring, and I am always praying, that is our major concern for all others at this moment now with the church. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be selfcontrolled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever.” Amen. (1Pet. 5:7-11) The Lord Loves you all, In Jesus Name Amen and Amen
Today I would like to discuss the attacks of Satan and spiritual warfare and how we can defend ourselves, with of course the written word and the Holy Spirit.
Well my brothers and sisters 17 months of living through the games of the devil living in darkness. You all know when you eat out of a blender for 17 months and no one has a clue what is wrong with you, it tends to get a bit emotional. So we still do not know what is happening with my life, but I will try step by step with a format of how the devil is trying to destroy me and many other saints of the world. How Satan copies everything from someplace else to torment and try to breakdown a man’s faith, and eventually destroy all of the saints and priests of God, including myself. The only true factor that remains is that God is in control, just like in the book of Job. The fact remains that we all have to make a point in our lives not to sin, and when we do, we have to confess our sins immediately or we will not be submitting to God. We have to get so close to God during situations like this, and we still have to constantly praise the Lord and give Him thankfulness, and worship Him all of our days and everyday remember we are nothing without God, and when we are under extensive spiritual warfare we have to heed the word of God, and stay constantly in the word everyday, every hour and almost every second, that is why I have so many bibles all over the office. Remember that is our only weapon against Satan and his boys of darkness, don’t forget Jesus in the wilderness three times he chased the devil away, and each time He started off by saying it is written, with a following scripture. So you see even our Jesus was tempted by the devil, we will be explaining as we go further into this sermon.
Jesus was truly hurting for 40 days and 40 night’s without food, and that a lone can put a major toll on the body and mind, even the soul. But we must remember Jesus is God, from a child grown into a man, He still had power and new the scriptures and had amazing knowledge. So we too have to have that understanding of the word, and a detailed wisdom with forgiveness in our hearts and continuously confessing our sins also so we are able to fight the wiles of the devil. We don’t want to end up being a backsliding Christian. We don’t even want to be secretly tormented by the devil and not knowing it, so we also need the edge of discernment to realize who we are talking to. We cannot say that everyone is going to get persecuted or attacked or tormented, we know our Jesus got out of it just by quoting the word so if we know our word we will be able to do the same, not the 40 day trip but we should be able to fight off most of any attacks, as long as we know the word. Plus Jesus was lead by the Father in all the things he had to do here on earth and to be strengthened by the Father, so Jesus got the devil out of the way in the very beginning we will say for a while, a great test and war over good and evil. So Jesus got all the attacks from the devil out of the way pretty much in the beginning and basically get all the formalities out of the way so he could teach and preach and work His ministry, plus fulfill all the books of prophecy that was written about Him. We must understand the Father had a plan from the beginning that thin redline of redemption running through the whole bible, which is our only form of communication with the Father and the Son, that book the bible is our strongest asset to fight the devil. We must have our heads in it everyday, and studying everyday, studying different translations and trying to correlate all the meanings to get one basic fact or a group of basic facts which will give us a strong ability to fight off these intense amount of attacks, don’t forget the devil knows the word too, so we have to study even harder if we want to stay alive, keep our faith, and have our strength up. We can not let our guards down, not when you’re a pastor and working a prayer ministry on top of it. In other words we can not be empty handed, that is why each morning I open all the bibles and concentrate and pray first thing, that to me is my peace, and it also forms a bonding relationship with our God, don’t forget He wrote the book and used great men with His inspiration. Plus along with the bible we are to were the full armor of God, we were the shoes of peace, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the helmet of salvation and of course our only defense the mighty sword of the spirit which is the word of God. So we have the entire trinity to back us up with the word of God to fight back anything that is threatening us.
Today I want to break everything down to show you all step by step that the devil is real, and trying to steel, kill and destroy us.
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10 NASB
Now you may say to yourself well there is nothing going on in my life, I am not getting attacked, I am living a life of blessings, then I would ask what are you doing for people that are suffering, are you out here helping out at a food bank, or handing out sandwiches at a church, are you doing anything good for mankind. Are you sharing anything with people in need? Well my brothers and sisters beware, if you are living a good life now of nothing but blessings, and you have this or that and just living a comfortable life. There is always a possibility that is the only life you will have, and maybe you are getting all of your rewards now, and when it comes time to enter into heaven and you stand before the judgment seat of God and He asks what have you done with your life, there is always a possibility you will not be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But then again everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved and have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16 NASB
None of us know what is going to happen we might be permitted to go through the door but we will live an eternal life of doing nothing, not helping God or have now specific job, just more or less be a bump on a log, and that will be what you do for eternity. People you have to understand what we do on this earth is a major factor in what we will be doing for the kingdom. We also have to remember the words in Matthew when everyone said Lord Lord did we not prophecy in Your name and in your name case out demons in Your name perform many miracles. Then Jesus will say depart from me I never knew you. Why is that scripture put in the bible and there are so many others, we have to follow Christ and have a relationship with God, all these things are so important. Let us go through some scriptures and let us analyze them together. Remember too we have to confess our sins. I mean just by saying the sinner’s prayer you all think you are saved and going to heaven. First of all the sinner’s prayer is not anywhere in the bible, so what do you think now?
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matt. 7:21-23 NIV
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' Matt. 7:21-23 NASB
"He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. Matt 10:37-39 NASB
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matt. 7:13-14
Christ came to teach us, not only what we are to know and believe, but what we are to do; not only toward God, but toward men; not only toward those of our party and persuasion, but toward men in general, all with whom we have to do. We must do that to our neighbor which we ourselves acknowledge to be fit and reasonable. We must, in our dealings with men, suppose ourselves in the same case and circumstances with those we have to do with, and act accordingly. There are but two ways right and wrong, good and evil; the way to heaven and the way to hell; in the one or other of these all are walking: there is no middle place hereafter, no middle way now. All the children of men are saints or sinners, godly or ungodly. See concerning the way of sin and sinners, that the gate is wide, and stands open. You may go in at this gate with all your lusts about you; it gives no check to appetites or passions. It is a broad way; there are many paths in it; there is choice of sinful ways. There is a large company in this way. But what profit is there in being willing to go to hell with others, because they will not go to heaven with us? The way to eternal life is narrow. We are not in heaven as soon as we are got through the strait gate. Self must be denied, the body kept under, and corruptions mortified. Daily temptations must be resisted; duties must be done. We must watch in all things, and walk with care; and we must go through much tribulation. And yet this way should invite us all; it leads to life: to present comfort in the favour of God, which is the life of the soul; to eternal bliss, the hope of which at the end of our way, should make all the difficulties of the road easy to us. This plain declaration of Christ has been disregarded by many who have taken pains to explain it away; but in all ages the real disciple of Christ has been looked on as a singular, unfashionable character; and all that have sided with the greater number, have gone on in the broad road to destruction. If we would serve God, we must be firm in our religion. Can we often hear of the strait gate and the narrow way, and how few there are that find it, without being in pain for ourselves, or considering whether we are entered on the narrow way, and what progress we are making in it? (Mt 7:15-20)
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible is available in the Public Domain.
"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Matt. 6:25 NASB
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matt 16:24-25 NASB
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? "For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? "For (whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:34-38 NASB
Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. "But many who are first will be last, and the last, first." Mark 10:29-31 NASB
"Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17:33 NASB
And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life." Luke 18:29-30 NASB
And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." They who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But He said, "The things that are impossible with people are possible with God." John 5:24-27
"He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. John 12:25 NASB
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24 NASB
Woe to you, I hope by the end of this sermon you change something, because if you are not a threat or a target to the devil you might be doing something wrong. Someone has to tell you and remember these words are not coming from me; they are flowing from above entering into my heart then down through the pen.
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt. 10:28 NASB
"You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. Matt. 10:22 NASB
To tell you all the truth right now I am under strange confusion and attack and I had to pray and ask for help, so I can continue these words everything as you know began in the beginning Remember what God said, He wanted to let Adam know not to eat from the tree of good and evil. We have to understand God didn’t want to put any obstacle around the tree but the Lord wanted Adam on his own to have the freedom of choice, God wanted to know how he would choose, God wanted to know how he choose, and this is where the theme of free will comes in. We have to understand we all make choices and many times we make the wrong choice and we do get hurt by it and we learn from it. This way we learn from it. This way we become more and more experienced and gain more understanding to choose carefully on our own. God still gives us the freedom, so we are not robots.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Gen. 2:15-17 NIV
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' ““You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Gen 3:1-7 NIV
We have asked each other this question why would God put a tree like this in the first place, and then forbid Adam to eat from it. This is where we first learn about obedience. We have to obey God but we still have the freedom to choose or make choices along our path of life. So as we look deeper without the freedom of choice we may as be a prisoner, God did not want Adam to feel as a prisoner in a beautiful garden that would be defeating the purpose, but he wanted to have him be obedient but through a loving contrast. This way we gain a reward of more love from the right choices, and we become sad and suffering to a point when we make the wrong choices or to disobey and become sad or feel hurt to some aspect when we make the wrong choices and disobey. Choosing to disobey God can cause much sadness that is why we have the map the Bible which leads us to right choices.
In our next section we are going to deal with Eve and the devil, I have said many times that the devil cannot create only copy. So what he did was lie and turned the words around to confuse Eve. So he just reversed what God said.
Now this is where I question the creativity of Satan just by his words. Now he reversed “may eat of it” Satan asked did God really say eat any fruit in the garden, then the woman comes back and says of course you may eat of it. Then she points out there is only one fruit of one tree in the center of the garden we are not allowed to eat. Then she continues with scriptures now Satan comes back and says you will not die, that is just a reverse statement. When Satan says God knows your eyes will be open when you eat of it, you will become just like God, know everything, both good and evil. By these words he does create a new thinking, which might throw my whole theory out the window, of Satan not being able to create. Because he is creating a new false sentence even though it is a lie. He did create these words to make her eat the fruit, so he changed Eves thought and thinking to make her sin or disobeying is good. He made the fruit desirable. She knows and was thinking this fruit was so innocent and was curious of the knowledge of good and evil. We must learn from this that Satan will make the sin good and desirable and worth it to sin. When we are tempted we have not sinned yet, but this is why we have to have a continued relationship with God. We are to be led by the Spirit to follow the right path without sinning. Remember when you are tempted by something so beautiful to the eye; remember we might be closing the door to our salvation ever so slightly. If we continue to sin without asking forgiveness, the doorway to Heaven may be shut on us for all eternity. So, watch out, think, and when you are tempted do not listen to Satan, rebuke the thought, and go directly to the throne of grace and pray. It might save your soul.
As we all know the mistake our wrong choice that Adam and Eve made put sin on all of us for the rest of time, as long as the earth exists. One big mistake which put the whole world into sin, from generation to generation, was to warn all of you of the tricks and the wiles of the devil and most importantly know how to fight back. We must remember as soon as anyone receives Christ as their personal Savior they are instantly a new creature and an enemy of the devil. Anyone that has not accepted Christ is already in the power and dominion of Satan, just because of Adam and Eves one wrong choice. If Satan does not want to loose power over a new Christian he begins to launch a counter attack to get back that person. So my brothers and sisters this is where the spiritual warfare begins and the fight over good and evil treads on. We also know, even Christians think that spiritual warfare is all nonsense. They do not believe they are in a life and death struggle against Satan and his agents, forces of darkness, for their spiritual survival. We must truly understand that the intensity of the attack varies from one believer to another. This point is so important to understand this completely. For instance, many years ago, when I changed my life the attacks became so intense that if they were all added up it would surpass the book of Job and the suffering of Paul in 2 Cor.11:23-27 but in all a different way, remember we are not here to talk about me. The point remains, if you are a servant you are under incredible attack. Any man that is winning souls for Christ to Satan, they are more dangerous to him than just a hundred believers with their regular jobs and taking their families to church every Sunday. This is my point, the percentage ratio is so intense we are loosing 15,000 Pastors a month according to the latest statistics.
So if you are not into soul winning and have a normal family doing normal activities in the Church, you may not even see a brutal attack or even realize they exist. Remember there is only a few of us.
Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Matt.9:37 NASB.
The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. The workers are the Pastors, Bishops, Evangelists, and anyone that is soul winning, not looking for money, but choosing to love people. As many preachers come out of seminaries they get interviewed in a church and they ask for their salary within the first two questions. This attitude throws of an imbalance. So the workers are few, these “true workers” are the ones that are under the most burdensome, suffering, painful and broken hearted attacks. So our society in normal view still can not comprehend extensive spiritual warfare.
"But the greatest among you shall be your servant. "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. Matt. 23:11-12 NASB
We are a humble small piece of Christianity we are not going to profess our misfortunes, who wants to hear about them? Unless the other person that needs comfort are going through the same misfortunes themselves. So we by example can help others through our suffering. So the devil is using the unknown knowledge of humanity to enhance and destroy our spirituality. Make sense. So with just a piece of workers throughout Christendom, Satan battles to take away all the blessings God has given us and we are in a constant battle to keep them. We are targets under fire of great weapons that are unseen to steal, kill, and destroy us. This is not a game or fallacy, this is the truth, and we know that the battle field is in the mind, so destroy the mind or disrupt it, then we can have a distorted communication with God, He is trying to reveal His will to us and our mind is part of the image of God.
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.2Cor.11:3.
Paul was worried about the Corinthians. He wanted the pure and simple devotion to Christ, not to be torn up by false teachings, the same with us today, some of us have too much placed on our plate, we are faced with attacks of confusion, too many things to concentrate on and all other distractions the devil throws on us. So, we have to continue our devotion to Christ and His children no matter what we are fighting. God did not say it would be easy.
But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. 1Tim. 2:12-14 NASB
Paul here just wanted the men in the Ephesus Church to basically do the teaching. It seemed the woman were taking in by the false teachers more during that time period, just like Adam was created first, Paul wanted the man to be ahead of the circumstances. I myself believe woman hold a great value of teaching in this day and age, but we have other biblical scholars that think the man should be doing the teaching not to go against the created order intended by God. Let us move over to (Pro. 4-23.) We are to guard our hearts in all essence, our spirit and love and expression of ourselves, rely within our hearts. Our heart is our affectionate desire of our thought life. Solomon tells us to guard our hearts about all else. It is very understandable.
Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Prov. 4:23 NASB
In the O.T. the heart is mentioned 800 times and 200 of the 800 deals with an affectionate desire of our thought life. So this inadvertently directs on how we live and the words we use, and the paths we take. We have to rely on our affectionate desire of our thought life to lead us always in the right direction, we still have to put limitations and boundaries in our thought life (our hearts) so we cannot jump at everything that looks good and pleasing like Eve and the fruit. Remember the narrow road that leads to life, we do not want to be sidetracked off of our narrow road to the wide one. We have to keep our hearts focused straight so we do not take detours that may lead us to sin, death, and the wide road. Remember our hearts control and shape our attitudes, our desires lead our generalized attitude and our thought life lead to our actions then to our accomplished goals so the affectionate desire of our heart can not really change compared to our dominant thoughts, so let us move to Prov.23:7a.
For as he thinks within himself, so he is. Pro.23:7 NASB
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Pro. 23:7 KJV
So as a man thinks of himself so is he, or so what type of man he is, as I have studied many of the translations I was very surprised to see they are all completely different. Many of the translations focus on eating, in other words through the whole scripture, they are missing the point, this to me is a very important scripture, as you walk down the street what ever you believe yourself to be, others who have the gift of discernment can tell who you are. That is why we should bond in our mind Christ, think like Christ, act and talk like Christ and love like Christ, so what our mind thinks we are. In John 8:44 we know Satan is a liar and he will implant lies upon lies into our minds, he will pump in thoughts of fear, doubt, disbelief, hate, confusion, anything that will disrupt a persons mind, plus Satan has a wide range of followers remember he took a third of the angels with him, and plain people do not even know they are following him and I am sorry to say even Christians that think they are Christians some of them are following him.
"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 NASB
Remember Judas, even Peter denouncing Christ three times through fear. We all know Satan can use other people to change or attack or disrupt another’s mind so he has an unseen army unnoticed by normal plain people, and inadvertently they are a part of that army, so we as loving Christians that want our minds bonded with Christ are being attacked from so many points in the spectrum. And these everyday people we talk to don’t even understand what we are even talking about or trying to explain what is spiritual warfare or how we have to live our lives just to survive. I remember one day I was waiting at a light to make a left turn on a large highway, and I had just left a bible study and felt blessed and good and singing in the Spirit and not one but two people behind me wanted me to make the turn against the red light, these people were in two vehicles behind me, one woman and one man, both were yelling bad words, pressing on their horns, flapping their arms and fists, I sat their in amazement, everything I felt every joy I had all the smiles was instantly taken away. When I did get the green light I turned and these two people drove by me speeding and yelling out their windows in a residential, peaceful neighborhood and I just pulled over and tried to get back that peace and joy, there was no way, I was a man broken by two agents of Satan. As man thinketh in his heart. That is only one story; I have a few thousand more! So our minds are on the battlefields where spiritual warfare is won or lost, how do I convince people that it really exists. It is like Hitler, you tell a lie over and over and long enough people believe it. There are not many books on spiritual warfare, there are some, but the devil has control of that also. The devil realizes if he can change the influence of what or the way you think, he can change the influence on how you act or live. Satan will influence your mind with deception, enticement, and lies. He cannot get to our wills but he will attack our thought life, so the persons thought life will eventually get to the persons will if they are a part of their thinking. Do not forget your personality and character are built upon your thoughts, so Satan fills us with lies and God fills us with truth.
To be continued:
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. 2Cor.4:3-5 NASB
