So today we'll begin with chapter 11 by reading verse 22 through 24 then what I'll do is I normally do is I'll bring you up to speed by sharing a few things giving you some context and all and then we're going to move into our study today so let's begin reading here in Acts chapter 11 at verse 22 I'll read to verse 24 again give you an introduction and move into our study then news of these these things came to the years of the church in Jerusalem and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch when he came and had seen the grace of God he was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord for he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and a faith and a great many people were added to the Lord so as we've seen and again I'm giving you an introduction laying that foundation persecution has hit the church it had arisen over a man by the name of Stephen as we've gone through acts we've seen that Stephen was one of the men who had been given ministry authority and that was because there had been a division cause of the neglect of the what are called the Hellenistic widows the Hellenists were were Jews who spoke Greek and had Greek culture and there was a division over that what had happened is they had taken this problem to the apostles and the apostles felt the responsibility to do something to resolve it so they pointed out first that these kinds of issues were what we today would refer to as ministry distractions they had said in Acts chapter six verse two it's not desirable it's not acceptable it's not proper that we should leave the word of God and serve tables now when they said that it's not proper or acceptable it's not desirable to leave the word of God and serve tables it wasn't because such ministry was beneath them they knew there were servants who were following the greatest servant it was because their main job was to remain continually in prayer and and the word so they had a greater priority if you will and they needed to concentrate on that so this was a distraction it's reminiscent of the time when the great leader Moses had become distracted his father-in-law Moses his father-in-law saw that Moses would actually sit as the judge over the people and and he would do that from morning until evening and he was judging over their concerns after seeing this his father-in-law Jethro asked him what what are you doing and why are you doing that well Moses said well the people come to seek God's will and I have to decide that for them Jethro said this isn't good because both you and the people are gonna tire out you're gonna burn out so he said this is what you should be doing it's found in Exodus 18 20 through 23 Jethro said teach them God's his decrees and instructions and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave but select capable men from all the people men who fear God trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain and appoint them as officials over thousands hundreds fifties and tens have them serve as judges for the people at all times but have them bring every difficult case to you the simple cases they can decide themselves that will make your load lighter because they will share it with you if you do this and God so commands you'll be able to stand the strain and all these people will go home satisfied so he said this isn't a good thing you need to remember what your primary responsibility is Moses it's to teach them his decrees and to show them the way to live and how they're to behave this is what your job is that is the job of the leader that is something that was brought into the church during the church age is there needs to be a leader who who teaches God's word and and lives God's word so that they see it evidence before them but in order to do all the work there needs to be a team there needs to be others and that's what took place here and that's what we saw in the in the book of Acts when this problem had arisen how how the men the apostles had said it isn't right that we should leave the word of God and and and wait on tables and so select from among yourselves these kinds of men and so that was the problem that had produced the first deacons and Stephen was one of the first deacons in the church he was a man scripture says filled with faith and power and he performed wonders and he performed signs because of this his opponents had tried to debate him but as we already had seen they were unsuccessful and so as a result false charges had been brought against him and as a result of that he was executed so the execution of Stephen is what opened up the floodgates of persecution against the church and that's what's being referred to in chapter 11 verse 19 when it says those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen so that's what had taken place his execution opened the floodgates of persecution and I want you to notice that persecution arose over the preaching of the gospel now it was directed towards Christians but in fact persecution is simply revealing a hatred for Christ in Luke 21 verse 17 Jesus said you will be hated but he went on to say by all for my name's sake so this persecution is not simply against the people who are followers of Christ but it's really a hatred for Jesus himself now remember Jesus commanded his followers to share the gospel with everybody and that's because the message of salvation is for all and is centered on him and the gospel is intended to reach both you as well as the Gentile it's not a message only for the Jews or those who lived in the Middle East it's a it's a message for the world and so in Matthew 28 19 and 20 he had said go therefore make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you and lo I'm with you always even to the end of the age amen so when persecution arose the believers became more intent on preaching now at first as we've seen they only spoke to Jews but the doors were being open to others the evangelized the Samaritans then they shared with the Gentiles and the Bible tells us in verse 21 here in chapter 11 the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord and so God is moving through them there are many people still coming to faith in Christ the persecution had been intended to crush them but it actually had worked for their good Psalm 76 10 says even human wrath will praise you so the people left they left Jerusalem they went into the world God was moving and that brings us to our part of the study notice in verse 22 then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch after persecution had erupted many had left Jerusalem they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea which was in the South Samaria which is in the center and they went everywhere according to Acts 8 verse 4 and they went everywhere preaching the word some Samaritans had received the word of God and even Gentiles had and even the great enemy of the church a man by the name of Saul had been saved so verse 22 news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem the leaders were aware of what was happening and they were blessed to hear these things and they wanted an accurate understanding so they sent a representative they sent a man by the name of Barnabas now we've already been introduced to Barnabas Acts 4 36 and 37 tells us that he had sold land and donated the money to the church on behalf of those who were in need when Saul had been saved the disciples in Jerusalem wanted nothing to do with him and in Acts 9 at verse 27 it says that Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and he speaking of Saul declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him and and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus and so we've been introduced to this man Barnabas his name means son of encouragement it was wise for them to send such a man to investigate what was happening he was also a Hellenist it made him a great choice for that kind of task and so it says in verse 22 they sent Barnabas to go as far as Antioch so to get a picture of what's taking place that reveals that he's on his way going to Antioch he's ministering to other churches along the way when you see the name Antioch being mentioned it was the capital of Syria it was 300 miles north of the city of Jerusalem is part of the great Greek Empire it was founded by Alexander it was a third largest city next to Rome and Alexandria Antioch was well known for its commerce it was well known for its culture but it was also well known for its immorality the people worshiped a goddess named Artemis and Apollo as well as the Syrian worship of Astarte and her cult a ritual prostitutes it was a very debate city but it was also the home of a man by the name of Nicholas who was one of the first seven deacons men from Cyprus and Cyrene had preached in Antioch many had believed so the church sent Barnabas to investigate how everything's going now remember Barnabas was a Hellenist he was from Cyprus he was a good pick and so what happens well notice it says in verse 23 when he came and had seen the grace of God he was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord he saw the grace of God he saw how people responded to God's grace he saw how people were coming to faith in Jesus Christ and as he saw this he rejoiced because people were being saved you won't very often you won't know what the grace of God is if you haven't experienced the grace of God yourself it's one of those things that you rejoice in because you've experienced it's one of those things that causes you to have a joy when you see other people get saved because you yourself have been saved and people who have not experienced the grace of God don't understand why you would rejoice when somebody gets saved people who have never been saved if they come to a church like this and there's an invitation that's given and people come forward and these people who aren't saved will hear you clapping and and happy to see that they don't understand why you rejoice they don't understand what's the big deal that person's walking forward they don't understand that they don't understand how how that person had been as us in sin and been in bondage and they don't understand the joy that happens in the heart of the person who witnesses it let alone the person who's being saved and to try and explain that to somebody it's very difficult it it's like if I were trying to explain to someone who has been born blind what the color blue is how can I explain that they haven't ever seen it therefore they don't know it and there's nothing I can say to liken it or if I say to somebody who hasn't got the sense of smell how beautiful a rose may smell they don't have an understanding of that there's nothing I can say because those are things that you have to have experience in the beauty of a song if somebody can't hear how can you explain the beauty of the voice or it just doesn't happen there are so many things that you have to experience to understand the taste of a strawberry so when somebody hasn't tasted of the grace of God they don't understand it but but he had and when he saw these people are getting saved it caused him to rejoice he was glad the scripture says he had seen the grace of God and he was glad about it I received a message this week that I asked if it would be possible if I might share it because it blessed my heart so much I'm not going to share the whole message with you but I'm trying to illustrate to rejoice at the grace of God and what that means and so I'm reading a portion of something I I printed out so you can hear and understand what I mean by rejoicing at that good morning I wanted to share with you what happened 20 years ago in November on November 30th in O3 a 19 year-old me walked into your church alone I tried meth that marching was immediately hooked I did that evil drug every single day for eight months with multiple attempts to quit after failing every time losing a ton of weight passing out from overdosing multiple times being told by a doctor I was going to die if I didn't stop it happened I was driving one night I saw a sign that said 107.9 I was curious so I checked it out I heard a sermon about vessels of honor and dishonor it was 3 a.m. I've been drinking and getting high all night having accepted that that is how I was going to die and I knew I couldn't quit I just partied the doctor told me it would be impossible to quit on my own that I would seize your up and go into cardiac arrest and I heard the pastor talk about having to be smashed put in a fire to become pliable I instantly felt a warm honey or wax like substances from my head to my fingertips and toes I was instantly sober a few hours later I drove to Calvary Chapel Chino Valley I'd been invited there in the past by friends you see I was raised in darkness all my family members are either addicts alcoholics are both I was born of a 16 year old girl like to party with musician rock and roller dad I lived everywhere and and I was exposed to everything I started drinking and getting high in the sixth grade was the only life I knew I listened to as you spoke I was sure someone called you she said I cried so hard she said people were rubbing strangers were rubbing my back and bringing me tissue I was struggling to breathe and walk but I walked up to the invitation and I got on my knees I gave my life to Jesus that day he changed my life I knew God loved me because I prayed that day for my withdrawals to be horrible so I'd never go back to the drug but he took away my addiction I didn't feel a thing no shakes no sweat no temptation or desire to return to that drug or any other friend for that matter I had to get high multiple times a day I wasn't able to go a few hours without a hit I'm so blessed to have experienced such a miracle I attended your church for years I had to stop because I moved she says I now have three God-loving children who I'll know of you I occasionally listen to your podcast thank you pastor I'm eternally grateful rejoiced the words that she closed with that I got to choked up to say she said I'm eternally grateful eternally grateful my life has been changed that's why we clap that's why we rejoice and that's why he did he went there he saw that God was moving and it says and he came and had seen the grace of God see that's why people will clap that's why people get excited that's why why why we we do that we rejoice why because we know God's grace we know what it's like to be lost we know what it's like to wake up and in a pool of our own vomit at least I do we know what it's like to be so lost that you don't have any clue it's what's gonna happen in your life and then when God saves that person then people like us we who have been there we who understand his grace we see it and it causes us great joy and that's what's taking place with him he sees it and he's rejoicing and seeing this faith in Christ had blessed him Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 1 verse 4 he said it like this he said I always thank my God for you because of the grace he has given you in Christ Jesus and so he saw how God's grace that have brought them to salvation and he encouraged them with with purpose of heart notice he said that they should continue with the Lord the word continue means to abide or remain in place it means to persevere to stick it out Barnabas knew that the grace of God made salvation possible but he also knew that man's will can frustrate the grace and work that God intends to do in us we can know what God wants us to do and frustrate his work by resisting his spirit and there are temptations that can come our way that draw our enticements to try and draw us back to the life that we've been saved from and he knew this and so he encouraged them he encouraged them to be resolute he encouraged them to be disciplined in the pursuit of the Lord and he knew that to grow and mature would require them to discipline themselves in Jesus Christ it would require that they abide in him that they might grow in him in 2nd Peter 3 18 it says grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and save your Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever amen so as we grow in our understanding of his grace we grow in our knowing of who he is God has saved them and knowing this inspired them to walk properly to walk worthy of the gospel again Paul wrote in Philippians 2 12 and 13 therefore my beloved as you not only in my presence but now even more in my absence continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and act on behalf of his good purpose he didn't say continue to work for he said work out your salvation because God is working in you so we need to know that the one who is within us gives us the power to be pleasing to him so the Christian life is one of the spiritual built on spiritual discipline it's built on knowing the Lord it's a daily thing it's not a weekly or or a couple times a week it's a daily thing like Jesus in Luke 9 23 said he said whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves take up their cross daily and follow me so this kind of awareness was part of their concern for believers to grow again in Acts 13 43 it says when the congregation was dismissed many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God how am i going to continue in the grace of God well one of the ways is being faithful to what his word teaches because it's through his word that we're fed it's by his word that we're equipped in his spirit working within us empowering us to do these things it's our love for him and it's our love for his word that reveals that we actually know him it's like what John 8 31 and 32 says when Jesus said if you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth the truth will make you free so Barnabas was concerned that these new believers would grow in their faith he's a good man he's filled with the spirit and faith and that's why he exhorts them to resolutely continue in their following of the Lord Jesus Christ learning God's word and growing in his grace strengthens them the bible teaches us in first Peter 2 verses 2 and 3 like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good as newborn babies desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby every mama in this room knows that if you were a nursing mom that if your baby that you were nursing was not thirsty was not hungry there was probably something wrong either the baby was full or the baby was ill and when a believer is not hungry for the word of God that's a spiritual check for themselves if you're not hungry for God's word there may be something wrong with your walk because even as babies desire mama's milk a believer should desire the word of God why so that we may grow up in Christ now persecution was growing against believers they were going to suffer for their faith they were going to suffer but they must remain true to the Lord they must cleave to him they must remain with him they must continue with him now again it mentions in verse 24 he was a good man full of the holy spirit in faith when it says he was a good man that speaks of his character that speaks of his morals and that's what defines a person as good he was filled with the spirit he was filled with faith and it was under his moral and faith filled ministry that many came to to know the Lord Jesus Christ again those are qualities of a true minister of the gospel he's good in morals and he's filled with the power of the spirit so God uses Barnabas and in his ministry many came to faith there were so many coming to faith in Christ that he needed help in the ministry and so verse 25 says Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek out Saul now they knew each other they were friends when Saul first tried to join the disciples in Jerusalem remember he was rejected it was Barnabas who vouched for him in Acts 9 26 and 27 it says when he came to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were afraid of him not believing that he was really a disciple but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles he took he told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord in that that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had preached fearless thing in the name of Jesus and so Barnabas knew that this would be a good man to be of help in ministry you see they accepted him in their fellowship he ministered there he began preaching the gospel to Hellenists and they tried to kill him so in Acts 9 30 it says when the brother and found out they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus so Saul's been in Tarsus where he had lived before and most likely he's heard news of what's going on and since Saul had ministered to Hellenists it would be good for him because he was qualified to minister to these people and so verse 26 again says they found him and brought him to Antioch so Barnabas wanted Saul to work alongside of him in the ministry there in Antioch he was a Hebrew scholar he was fluent in Greek he was acquainted with Gentile culture he would be a great asset in disciplining and winning converts the work was too big for Barnabas alone many people were getting saved in ministry you always need to have people who can work alongside of you if the Lord is doing a work it's good to be able to divide the work up into the hands of others because you want people to be equipped for works of service so you train up and minister alongside of because there are so many people it's difficult sometimes for one person to handle everything and that's a fact I mean that's ministry itself you see it here in the case of of Barnabas and his ministry he needs to have Saul come alongside of him this man was well qualified to help him in in every way shape and form and we've seen that to be true even in our fellowship where where I can't do everything and I don't think that the senior pastor is supposed to now we we we look at the scriptures where Ephesians 4 11 and 12 tells us he gave some to be apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers for the quickening of the saints for the work of ministry so we're to work together many hands make work light you need to have people who are out there doing the work of ministry when Jesus selected people he didn't just select one person to be his chief follower he he selected the 12 and from there they grew into having deacons and they went on to have elders and all of that because there needed to be a number of people working together and that's what's happening here there's a pouring into and there's a using for the things of the Lord and and the work was just too big for Barnabas to to do this alone and therefore he he asked for help now it says in verse 26 that when Saul arrived for a year they assembled with the church and notice and they taught many people so once again the Lord is moving many are being saved earlier it was noted that many an Antioch had come to the Lord and and this is what brought Barnabas to Antioch in the first place now working alongside of Paul even more coming to faith in Christ now Barnabas had encouraged believers to continue with the Lord in his desire for them was to grow it was so great that he remained there for a year and again it's good to minister with more than one person now I want you to see something in verse 26 and I'll take a moment to develop this because it's something that you could pass up and not notice it says that the last portion of verse 26 the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch I want to develop that for a minute you may find this interesting at least I did if you don't well I do why is that well when you read we'll say in the book of Acts when you begin in chapter one and you travel through the book of Acts and those of you who've been traveling with us and those of you who've read the book of Acts you'll notice this that when when followers of Christ are mentioned they're called different by different names they're called disciples or they'll speak of the brothers or it speaks of the saints it speaks of the church or or followers of the way those are the way believers were spoken of in the first several chapters of Acts but now you have in verse 26 in chapter 11 a simple phrase the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch Antioch was a city that was known for inventing nicknames some of us understand that we were raised in families that gave you nicknames I had a friend his name was leaper I don't even remember his first name it was leaper why was he called leaper one of my friends said you know why we call him leaper I said no I never really thought about that well he said we were at the beach and there was a fire pit and there had been a fire in it and there were some metal bars in it and he tried to leap over it he says have you ever looked at his leg he has a big old burn mark he said he didn't make it so it called him leaper I don't know about you you know a lot of families my family my uncles all of them had nicknames my uncle Wettel I can't give you the rest of the nicknames but they always are something they've done or are known for my dad my dad had a nickname his is a good one Panchito Pancho his mama never even called him his name his name was Francisco why was he called Pancho because he was born January 29th which is St. Francis observation and so Mexicans from Mexico and even to this day would give their son the name Francisco my dad's name was Frank but his family all called him Pancho and that's how I knew him Pancho Waters in Manabello he said I know why your dad's name is Pancho I said why is that he said he was born January 29th wasn't he I said yeah how'd you know that he said because that's why my nickname is Pancho and he's the one who explained that to me I said I didn't know that so I don't know how many of you I look around here I think many of you probably are familiar with nicknames you know they they have a girl he's sad girl or they have this guy hey there's a little savage little savage is like five foot two but they all have nicknames every I had my uncles had nicknames a lot of us do all of my kids have nicknames so I understand this I understand this and many of us I'm sure do they were known as a city that invented nicknames that's why they were first and I want to develop this with you that's just a little introduction to why that's an important thing to even bring up believers in Christ were called Christianus Christianus that the word Christianus means belonging to or in possession of Christ that's what it means belonging to or owned by Jesus Christ now why is that important because it was an insult it's interesting to note that one commentator pointed out that the disciples didn't use the word of themselves we do when somebody says what is your religious faith will say I'm a Christian but the disciples did not refer to themselves that way it was an insult why is that because in a world that valued being free the Christians said that they were bought at a price and Christians referred to themselves as servants of Jesus now here's something you might find interesting in the versions of Scripture the translations that we have when it speaks of being a servant of Christ and the word servant in your scripture it'll say servant very often that word servant is a softer word than what it actually means because what the word servant actually means is a slave and during the time of the writing of the Scripture it was valued to be free and it was derogatory to be called a slave because that meant you were owned by somebody and so the Greeks looking down on the Christians because you guys are slaves and that's how they thought you guys are slaves it was not used as like oh there are the Christians it was there's a Christian he's a slave she's a slave they're owned by somebody else and it was actually derogatory and that is why we actually accept the name Christian first Corinthians 6 20 says you were bought at a price therefore honor God with your bodies and your spirit which belong to God we were in the marketplace of sin this is New Testament theology we were in the marketplace of sin we were slaves to sin in the marketplace of sin and in in the ancient cities they would have marketplaces where they sold slaves and people would come and they would bring the cost or the price of redemption they would purchase the slave and that slave was called redeemed so they were redeemed from the marketplace of sin with silver or gold but the Scripture says you have been redeemed not with silver or gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ you have been bought out of the marketplace for you were a slave to sin but he paid the price to set you free and seeing that he paid that price to set you free we are bought at a price glorify God with your body and your spirit because he owns you he is your lord and that's why you bow your knee to him he is your lord that's christianity and people don't understand that people don't understand that and so they would call them Christian and that was intended to be a slight a derogatory they were they were putting them down for that those are Christians they were first called Christians in Antioch it's humiliating to be a slave so what happened is the early church took this name upon ourselves because we're voluntary servants of Christ and instead of humiliating us it liberated us from being the slave of sin and that's why in 1 Peter 4 verse 16 this is what Peter said he said if you suffer as a Christian what is that is speaking of the persecution that comes because we are identified as slaves if you suffer as a Christian he said don't be ashamed but praise God that you bear that name so we took those word that word which was a slur and we owned it that's who we are why because we're not so proud as to say that we belong to ourself none of us belongs to himself either you're a slave of sin the enemy or you're a slave of Jesus but you are a slave even as that Jewish prophet Bob Dylan said you got to serve somebody and people do either you serve your flesh in the devil or you serve the one who saved you Jesus Christ and said they were first called Christians he says in Antioch that'll give you some insight next time somebody asks you are you Christian in verse 27 it goes on to say this in in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch one of them named Agba stood up and showed by the spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar then the disciples each according to his ability determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea and this they also did they sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul and so moving on in the chapter notice it says in verse 27 in those days there were prophets and they came from Jerusalem to Antioch prophets were used in the church primarily to preach as well as predicting future events remember with me that the apostles were the building blocks they were the transmitters of the word of God or God's will to man but the prophets would confirm the word that was being preached and they also would reveal on occasion things to come and here we see a man by the name of Agabas Agabas will be mentioned again in chapter 21 and Agabas predicted a widespread famine and that famine came to pass in 41 to 54 AD and it speaks concerning a famine throughout the world that speaking of the known world to them at that time they would use the the term the world in reference to the Roman Empire so there was a famine that struck that went throughout the Roman Empire and so what did they do well verse 29 the disciples each according to his ability determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea so what did they do they met an urgent need that is something that the church has done almost from the very beginning as a matter of fact from the beginning that is something that the church has done when there's been a need the churches gathered together to meet that need in Acts 4 34 and 35 it says there were no needy persons among them for from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them brought the money from the sales and and put it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to anyone as he had need so that's what they did they they would meet the needs and and they would reach out to help and and that is something that we just spoke about today how we had a team that went out 20 people went out to to help those in Maui who had been suffering through the fire and we have another team going out that'll be doing the same we they go out and they help and that's what the church has always done the church is very generous the body of Christ not just his fellowship here but the body of Christ historically is very very generous you may find this interesting there have been books written about this maybe you're aware of it yourself but there are those who have actually said are Christians more generous than the average person who doesn't profess faith in Christ and so there have been books and studies done and i'll give you one little brief excerpt and that was this that that somebody wanted to know so what they did is they went to two cities that were of the same basic population size one city was san francisco and the other was a conservative city in a midwestern town similar population and what they did is they actually see who was giving to those who were standing there in street corners this with the Salvation Army and then they asked for the revenue that had been brought in in san francisco and then then they compared it with the the revenue that came in from this conservative city and the revenue that came from the conservatives was greatly more than that that came in san francisco and so they asked the question why is that and the answer was simple and you all understand this the people in san francisco were saying well we pay taxes and taxes go to help people so they're already taking money from us so they can help people that's what our taxes do but when they asked the Christians the Christians they said don't you pay taxes they said yeah but that's not charity that's taxes charity comes from a heart to care for somebody else the the church is known for that and the world is not and when things occurred the church would see and the church would would get together and would help when all the way back in when the tsunami hit in in uh in thailand in that region we went out and ministered out in uh in puquette thailand and i i never received an offering but i said to our fellowship at that time i said if you want to help just mark something for the tsunami we get we give every dime we don't keep any we give it we received in one offering over a quarter million dollars yeah because the church is generous because the church sees things and says how can we help that's what the body of christ has always done that's what it does we don't sit on our wallets we open them for those in need and that's what was taking place during that time they heard that there were things going on there was persecution there was famine there were so many things and so that became a pattern you see Gentile believers were taught to be concerned about their Jewish brethren Romans 15 verses 25 through 27 however i am on my way to Jerusalem to serve the saints saints there for Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor saints poor among the saints in Jerusalem they were pleased to do it and indeed they owe it to them for if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings they are obligated to minister to them with material blessings so the church has always done that and that's what's taking place so what did they do verse 30 this they also did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul why Barnabas and Saul well they were trustworthy somebody said the character and labors of these men had marked them out as the most fit to be the bearers of this help and it was from Jerusalem that Barnabas had been sent at first to Antioch and so the aid was sent and was carried by those trusted to carry such sums of money because the draw of materialism is so great they needed trusted men to carry the finances the Bible tells us in 1st Timothy 6 verse 10 the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil it doesn't say the love it doesn't say that money is the root there's that's one of the scriptures that is so misquoted so often are you Christians you know money you say money is no the scripture says the love of money you have to actually teach people to be generous you have to we have to be taught even as Christ gave we give you have to be taught Paul tells that to to Timothy in 1st Timothy 6 in various places teach them to meet urgent needs teach them not to be caught up with finances why is that because it can cloud your vision of eternity so we have to be taught to to be generous it's something that isn't natural to us I know there are people who say oh no no you don't have to be taught we are naturally generous and and anybody who says that is somebody who's never raised a kid it's a bottom line because everybody here who's ever been with a three-year-old knows this if you've got a three-year-old and they have a pile of toys and they're playing with this one or playing with that one and another three-year-old comes to visit walks into the playroom and picks up a toy what is that three-year-old who's playing already normally do they throw down the one they're holding to grab the one that other kid just took because all of those toys are mine and you can't have any of them now I know some of you raised you know little jesus is but most of us most of us most of us had normal kids who inherited their mother's disposition to sit it's in our heart you say well you outgrow that really you outgrow that no the first time you told a lie you probably got caught right most of us did but you can polish your lying abilities you can you just learn how to and then you can you can become president you can learn how to lie okay that's the only safe and I make that just make a quick you you can look don't get mad at me anyway you can polish it you can learn to steal you learn to lie but but you you outgrow that no sin is never outgrown and self-centeredness is is never outgrown it's died to well I'm not self-centered pastor I've been a Christian a long time really if I took a picture of you and four people who's the first person you're going to look at in the picture why because oh look at me my eyes closed who I'm you know did you notice those are three other people no I hadn't noticed that I'm too busy that's this human nature am I putting it down no I'm just disclosing it it's true it's just true isn't it it's true so what you need is you need to die to yourself that takes teaching and discipline on your part in my part our part to die to self because I already live to myself I already want to do so I have to learn so when it comes to carrying money you don't just hand great sums of money to anybody you hand it to the one you trust and so that's what they did here they handed it to Barnabas and Saul they handed it because they could trust them because they knew that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and Paul went on to say some people eager for money wandered away from the faith pierced themselves with many griefs he was a man of character we've already seen that Barnabas was we've already seen he was a good man full of the holy spirit and faith we also now see that Saul is too a man who's filled with the holy ghost and faith and trustworthy to take this with the right purpose and so that should be a goal for every one of us is that we might die to the draw of materialism so that we can become trusted with the things of God


What's going on everyone? Sam here with Layton Sports Cards and I am doing 2021 Panini Prism Football Hobby 3 box break number 42 random teams. Here is the result of the random again all teams were in so there are no combos. Again you could always find these under the results tab on the website as well as the link and chat. Good luck everyone. Let's open some prism man. I haven't done a group break of this and feels like a minute. Let's get another case hit. It's first off the line versus hobby so it's different so our case hit odds are still there. Not great odds but still odds. JQ Felle, Kelvin Joseph, Justin Fields on the emergent. There's. Jayman Davis and Ambrie Thomas got orange Panini Sewell 18 out of 249 Lyons and all out tie law. Lockdown tie law excuse me. Patriots Jay Jettos on top. Shane Buchel Ian Book break Justin Herbert. There's a manga in here dude. Rashad Bateman Rookie Ravens there you go Ravens and Sam Allinger Colts got Nick Bolton for the Chiefs. 151 out of 225 Red Ice and Racy McMath is the first auto for the Titans. That is 38 out of 149. Tylen Wallace Rookie and Seth Williams got Kyler Murray on the brilliance. Hunter Long and Kyle Pitts Rookie there you go Falcons got Silver Kevin Byard Titans. Ben Skarnik I guess I'll probably top load those now. It's pretty good. Cornel Powell got Tutu Atwell nice that is 85 out of 149 Rams. There you go Evan and Silver Brian Burns Panthers.  Jared Dokes Peyton Turner fireworks Rookie Jalen Waddle Falcons. So Sean Boy right there. Miami's got him slapped. Kenneth Gainwell Khalil Herbert got nice. Silver Marshall Falk autograph. Going to the Colts. Who's got Indy Eric R? There you go congrats. Sante Samuel Tyson Campbell Silver Penne Soule. Box one. Quiddipay Greg Rousseau and Emergent Kellan Mann Purple Power 45 out of 49. There you go Vikings. Big Silver 4-0. Box two. Big Palm. And Tommy Schrumble got Tommy Schrumble this time Blue Wave 47 out of 199. And Blue Ice Sensational Signatures going to the Colts again Dallas Clark. 6 out of 75 nice one there. Grats again Eric with the Colts. Nico Collins nice Cronk. 88 out of 225 one off Jersey number on the Purple Ice. And Honey Badger on the Silver Johnny Smith. Tray McKinney. And Najee Harris there you go Steelers. Got Orange Zeke Elliott 2-12 out of 249. And Break Justin Herbert. Shark got Eli Mitchell.  Got Seth Williams that is 31 out of 149 for the Broncos. And Silver Cam Hayward Steelers. Kidole got Cadarius Tony going to the Giants. Felipe Franks. Orange Sean Alexander 94 out of 249. Seahawks Tyler Murray brilliance. Nice Zach Wilson going to the Jets. David Odienbo. Got Curtis Samuel that is 50 out of 75. And Chris Evans Silver Rookie for the Bengals. There you go Sinsey. Some big rookie quarterback color come out of this. Christian Barmore. Dwayne Esker there's the Scridge. Randy Moss on the Blue Ice that's nasty. 79 out of 99 Vikings. And Jalen Waddle fireworks. Aziz Ojalari. And Rookie of Odafe Owe. Got Michael Gallup on the Red Wave 61 out of 149. And Joe Burrow hype. Joe Tryan Patrick Jones. Purple is Marcus Peters Ravens on the color match 74 out of 125. And Silver Caleb Farley. Titans. Boogie Basham. And Semi-Pahoko. Got Trevon Morrig. Rookie for the Raiders that is 91 out of 225. Purple Ice. And Lockdown Kevin Byard. Give it a four. Where's Hilaire. Mears Smith-Marcette Rookie. Followed by Kray Nixon. Got David Johnson for the Texans 23 out of 175. And Emergent Justin Fields Rookie. And Last Pack. Dazz Newsom. Amonra St. Brown. There you go, Lions. Got Leonard Floyd. Blue Wave 88 out of 199. And Silver Corey Davis Jets. So that'll do it for box two. On to box three. Fill a manga in here. Is Wildcard Points. That'll be random to all at the end. Jalen Waddle. Base Rookie. Trevon Morrig. And Jacob Harris. Purple 97 out of 125. Thank you. I'm Holland. Diami Brown. Xavier and Howard. Purple 90 out of 125. Dolphins. And Silver. McLauren. Des Fitzpatrick. Oh, nice. We've got Illumination. Jamar Chase. Super Short Prints. Congrats, Michael V with the bangles. There we go. Two Super Short Prints and two breaks of this. Nice. Break Trey Lance. Trey Sermon. And Jalen Kamp. Got Latavius Murray on the hyper. 115 out of 175. Saints. And Nick Chubb Brilliance. Ramandre Stevenson. Greg Newsom. Got Kyle Juszczak. That is 63 out of 199. And how about a Givante Williams? Purple Power. 11 out of 49. Rookie Otto. Congrats to the Broncos. Eric R. Eric R. cleaning up right now. Nasty. I would say I agree with you. Trey Sermon Orange. 199 out of 249. And Silver Mike Alstott. Oh yeah. He will, but... Zavin Collins. Orange Color Match. Sam Hubbard. Bangles. 82 out of 249. And fireworks. Matt Jones. Rookie. Monty Rice. Ron Dale Moore. Nice. Trey Lance. 118 out of 149. Color Match Red Wave. Congrats Niners. Joel S. There you go, buddy. We'll get this one in a mag for you. Heck yeah. The Dak Prescott all out. And... Jordan Chesterot. Got Ed Oliver. That is 66 out of 149. And Joey B. Fireworks. Elijah Moore. Jets. Jake Funk. Got Blue Wave. David Johnson. 80 out of 199. Texans. And Trey Sermon Silver. To the Niners. Navy Camo coming up. Good luck, everyone. Kylan Hill. There's a Jamar Rookie. Got Tyron Matthew. One out of 25. There you go, Chiefs. And Silver Robert Woods. Last pack of the break. Then we got a random to do. And then a recap. Matt Jones. Bass Rookie. There you go, Pats. And Pete Werner. Got Sean Taylor. That's sick. 104 out of 225. Washington. And Trey Sermon. On the Emergent. That'll do it for the break. Gonna do a quick recap. A quick random, really quick. We've got for Wild Card Points. I mean, one second to get this set up. All right, guys. Doing the random for the Wild Card Points from the Prism Break. Gonna roll the dice. Whatever team is on top. After three times, we'll get the points. Good luck. One. Two. And three. That'll be going to the Falcons. Congrats, Falcons. Getting the points. Gonna do a quick recap, guys. We've got Javante Williams. Purple Power Auto to 49. Chris Evans. Silver Auto. Dallas Clarks. Sensational Signatures to 75. Marshall Falk. That is not numbered Silver Auto. Racy McMath to 149. Titans. Then we had a Trey Lance. Red Wave Rookie to 149. For the Niners. And an Illumination. Super, super short print. Jamar Chase for the Bengals. That'll do it for the break, everyone. Next up, final break of the night. It is Select Full Case.


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Okay, good morning and welcome once again to this course on Believer's authority. We will pray and begin this morning I would like to request one of us to please lead with prayer Prince Jesus, Lord, we thank you for this day, Father. We thank you for bringing us all together, Lord, to listen to your word, to study and to learn, Lord Father As we are going to start our classes, Lord Father, give us your spirit, Lord Father, give us your wisdom, give us your understanding, Lord Father So that we will learn what you are teaching and we will use, we will exercise all the things that you are teaching and we will keep it into practice Jesus, we surrender our minds, we surrender our will into your hands. Jesus, come and have your ways. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen Amen. Amen. Thank you Prince So we have now got some understanding regarding Satan and demons and their nature for us to later on talk about deliverance But as I have been pointing out each time, the most important subject as far as Believer's authority is concerned is to understand the work of the cross So what Jesus has done for us, because in that is the release of that authority upon our lives Because Jesus went to the cross, we know that the authority which he wanted to give us, he was able to give us fully based on that finished work, based on salvation Even before the cross, did he give authority? He did, isn't it? He gave authority to his disciples, he gave authority to those 70 workers who saw the power of God manifest But the fullness of that authority came into being after the Lord Jesus died on the cross And that is why when we read about the great commission, we see he said all authority, heaven and earth is mine and I give it to you So now we are walking in that authority. So what exactly has the Lord Jesus done for us through his redemptive work? The point is that we have to understand that Satan is defeated. Satan is defeated So we are going to look at few scriptures that will make it very clear that Satan is defeated So the first one is Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 I will need the help of a few people to read at least 5, 6 passages today So please hold on to your mic. Genesis 3 and verse 15 And I will put in between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel So way back in the book of Genesis, there is this promise which God made That the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent This is symbolic. You have many pictures of what God is actually going to do later on And we know that the seed of the woman there is actually talking about the Lord Jesus who will come And the serpent is the picture of Satan So in the garden while God was sending them out of the garden He already gave that word of victory and said that there will come a time When the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent And that is talking about Jesus who will destroy the devil And we know that once Jesus died on the cross that's exactly what he did He already crushed Satan So though we've talked so much about the abilities, the methods of working of Satan and all that Satan is crushed. That is also something we have to understand. He's already defeated He is a crushed enemy. Now moving on, John chapter 12 verses 31 to 33 Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will, would die, will draw all pupils to myself This he said, signifying why what did of would die The pupil answered him, we have heard from the law that Christ remains forever And how can you say the son of man must be lifted up? Who is the son of man? Okay, so again here we are noticing that Satan, he has been expelled Has he been expelled from the earth? When we say expelled, it's about removing him From that place of influence, which is the world. Is he removed from this world? Right now? What do you think? Okay, I'll have to ask the online students Because on campus students are not giving me an answer So Satan expelled, has he been removed from the earth? No, no, that's the answer So where is he expelled from, from heaven? But once Jesus came And he did the redemptive work, we are saying that Satan is expelled So when we say that he is expelled, we are simply meaning that his position of authority Which he had on the earth, he is present now That is a, you know, like a, that's a, that's a truth also He's around and he's still doing his works But his authority, so you can think of it like this, when we say Satan is expelled His throne of authority, he's been thrown out of there So he no longer has that position of authority, that's how we understand So think of an enemy, okay, think of somebody who is opposing you That enemy is already crushed, that enemy does not have authority Okay, so no wonder Jesus said, right, he said All authority on heaven and earth is mine and I give it to you How could he say that? Because now the authority which Satan had has been taken away from him So we are facing an enemy who does not have authority What else about Satan and the kind of enemy that he is John chapter 16 verses 8 through 11 Okay, no need to read that passage, it's a longish passage But basically there we see that Satan has been condemned Okay, these are all terms which you could understand If some of us are not very, you know, good with English, no problem You can go look it up so that you get the words in your own language And just try to understand what these words mean Condemned is when we declare the defeat of somebody We say that in those wrestling matches, usually they would When they raise the hand of the winner, what does it mean? That the other person is the loser So it's a declaration that somebody is the loser So Satan now has been condemned, that's what the Bible says Okay, he's already condemned Satan has been disarmed, we will read this passage Colossians 2 verses 14 through 15 Colossians 2 14 15 Every bite of death was against us Which was converted to us And she has taken it out of the way Having laid it to the cross 15 Having discerned its abilities and powers Will make up a good spectator of them from hearing Okay, so there we read Isn't it that whatever accusations were against us Jesus has dealt with it, he has nailed it to the cross And we see that he has disarmed principalities Disarmed simply means that we take away every weapon We take away every ability of our enemy So even today when soldiers are captured Once they are captured do they have their weapons? No, all the weapons, everything is taken away from them So that is disarmed What did Jesus do when he went on the cross for us? We are told that he disarmed principalities So does Satan and demonic powers have certain abilities Right now with which they use their tactics against the believers They do, however the reality is that Jesus has removed Any form of a weapon which can harm or hurt us He has removed it from their hands But they still continue to do all these tactics But we must understand that Satan and demons They are actually disarmed And there is another part there in that passage It says he made a public spectacle of them Triumphing on it So public spectacle means If you can recall in history There are times when kings would go into battle And when one king wins He will come back proclaiming his victory And how would he do that? He will bring all the treasures He will bring the cattle He will bring everything that he got from that land And parade it So then the people know that Oh, this king is victorious And not just that Sometimes what they would also do is They would bring the enemy They would bring the enemy And parade them Maybe make them look bad Or I don't know how They would dress them in a certain way To just say, oh look at the enemy These were the people who came to fight us But we won over them So that is a public spectacle The spectacle is when you put it on display That I am now victorious So what we are told is That Jesus has disarmed Authorities, these demonic authorities And when he went on the cross He made a public spectacle That these are all condemned I am victorious He made a public spectacle Of the demonic powers And that is what the Bible says So whenever we find a repetition Right, what are we What is our take away from that God is making a point, a very strong point Which we must believe So so many things are being told Satan is crushed Satan has been expelled From his place of authority Satan is condemned, Satan is disarmed So repeatedly we are being told That Jesus is victorious And Satan is a loser You have that song right Winner man, winner man I don't know how many of you know that song Satan is the loser man, loser being And Jesus is the winner man So basically What we are understanding here is That the Bible is telling us again and again Jesus is the winner man Jesus is victorious We can never lose focus on that Jesus is already one See when we get this in our minds Whenever we face any work of the devil Whether it is sin in our own lives Sometimes we may struggle Temptation or whatever Discouragement or it could be Sickness or it could be Some oppression of the devil One thing we know Yes I am facing this But Jesus is the winner man Jesus is victorious So devil, you have no authority You have no right You have no place in my life I ask you to leave in the name of Jesus We will come to that place of understanding When we recognize what Jesus has done So we understand that Jesus has made A public spectacle of the enemy Who is Satan, two more things Hebrews chapter 2 Verses 14 and 15 We will read this also Anyone? Hebrews 2 14 and 15 As much as the children Have For taken of place Blood He himself likewise Said in the same That pro-death He might destroy him Who had the power of death That is the devil So through the work of the cross What has Jesus done? What has destroyed The person who had Who had the authority To afflict us with death Who is that Satan? So Jesus has destroyed The devil That is what the writer of the Hebrews is saying Why did Jesus come? Jesus came to defeat And destroy the devil That was part of his agenda That was part of his Main work His main assignment Sometimes what we think Jesus came to give us some good teachings Jesus came to Encourage us But overall Why did Jesus come? He came to destroy The devil So that he can be the author of our salvation And he has done it That's the point He has done it So Satan is destroyed Okay? Because the work of the cross is finished He said it is finished What does it mean? The main goal I came here for this Satan is destroyed Now that I have taken the sin of the world And paid the price for it Okay? And so We study the work of Jesus What did he actually do? The work of salvation We also understand That because of what Jesus has done Satan is now Destroyed Okay? And finally Matthew 28 verse 18 Which I stated earlier Matthew 28 and verse 18 Matthew 28 and 20 Teaching them to observe All things that I have commanded you And lo I am with you always Even to the end of the Edge Did you read 19 or 18? 18, 18, 20 Sorry 28, 20 28, 18 18 I have to read 28, 18 Then Jesus came And spoke to them Saying all authority has been Given to me In heaven and on earth So all authority Has been given to me on heaven And on earth So if we go back to our first class Which we had What did we say? We said that In Genesis 1, 26, 27 God gave man the authority God gave man the dominion But later what happened? If you go and look at Luke 4 Satan is telling Jesus I will give you The kingdoms of the world So that authority has now been Over to Satan But now in Matthew 28 What is Jesus saying? It has been given to me Meaning When Jesus died on the cross You know that whole shifting And transfer of authority Went from man, mankind Adam and Eve to Satan Now what has happened? It went from Satan to Back to Jesus All authority has been Given to me and I give it to you So Jesus has Proved that Satan Is powerless Powerless So overall The picture we have right now Is that Jesus Is victorious Jesus has defeated the devil The devil is or Satan Is we could say he is crushed He is destroyed He is expelled He is condemned He is disarmed and he is Powerless So having said this I want to ask you do you have any questions? Satan has defeated Okay So do you have any questions? So many questions Okay let's get started Yeah Anand what question? Obviously for everyone There will be a question If Satan is defeated How can he Yeah so if Satan is defeated Very good question that's why I knew that You know you would have this doubt If he is so defeated Okay Repeatedly with different words I told you He is defeated Then why is he causing so much havoc? Yeah Sean has something to say yeah Huh Okay So Sean is saying If Satan is defeated now And he is like this How do you think he was before He was defeated Okay yeah that's something to think about Okay So alright I'll just try to give some Points you know to address What Anand said So Satan is defeated Then why is or how is he able To do so many things against People Chapter 4 and verse 6 Okay Where You know The scripture says My people are destroyed For lack of Knowledge So the things We don't understand We don't benefit from it So As believers Point number 1 as believers when we don't know That Jesus' redemptive work Also means The defeat of the devil and that Satan is now powerless When we don't understand it How do we live as believers Yeah so he will Try to show his power on us Because We don't have understanding We will live like oh he's so Powerful Satan is doing this Satan is doing that He's doing all these things Because we don't have knowledge And many believers live like that That's the problem And Satan is able to get away with it One is lack of knowledge Second thing Is that When an enemy is defeated We usually use the term Like gorilla tactics Okay so What does that mean It basically means Anything directly Because he's already defeated But what do they do They try to work indirectly For example If there is no authority In a land for a certain person To come and create trouble What will they do They will find some people In the community They'll start to spread some wrong news They'll win over people They'll try to create some mob violence So you understand They are still trying to affect But not directly And also What they do is They will try to increase their effort Because There is a very short time now left Now they are already declared As condemned but They'll have to be imprisoned They'll have to bear the consequences Of This defeat Let's create maximum destruction If I'm going to die I'll create destruction first So that is what is We understand that as gorilla tactics He has very little time Satan knows that So in that time He wants to make sure That he brings destruction So people say Why is the devil working so much Obviously he already knows He doesn't have much time He wants to do as much as possible So no wonder Peter writes, he's like a roaring lion Seeking for those Whom he may devour So he won't sit quietly He will make it difficult For people, that's how he works And that is why As Anand said, why is there so much Activity happening because of this Okay, so just two Answers there, yes, Sean You want to Sure So Sean is saying that In the case of Israel God did many Mighty works but that generation Did not pass it on to the next generation So for the lack of knowledge The next generation Missed out Lost things So in the same way today Those of us who know Right, we are not passing on This information, this knowledge That we are victorious and that's the reason Satan is able to Continue Playing havoc, so Anand satisfied Okay, good Yeah, nice to know that You know your answer You received it So this is how we look at The dynamics Between God and Satan Satan is already defeated And I've said many other things to us earlier Okay, that Satan Actually not a comparison to God Because God is the creator Satan is a created being God is infinite Satan is limited He's just An individual entity Like you and me with the personality He's limited God knows everything People ask questions, oh God does Satan know everything No, he doesn't know everything He can only use the information which is Given to him Because he's like you and me He only knows what is available Okay, so these are all the differences So let's not Try to even compare God and Satan, there is no comparison Okay And now all the more Scripture is saying disarmed You know if you have a lion Who is weak And old And has no teeth, has no claws You know Has no power, has no strength Would you be afraid of that lion Because it can't do anything to you Hopefully So I'm just an example I don't know if it's a weird example But the point I'm making is It's something like that Because right now He can scare us But without our permission He actually cannot You know defeat us in any way But if we Given to his Tactics, yes Like Jesus said, he has nothing in me So if anything in me agrees Within, he can play the fool But if no Then he can't do anything That is how it is Okay, that is the reality That all of us as believers must Understand, yes, Sean Yeah Okay, so Sean is saying that Satan Keeps the fear of the unknown He uses the fear of the unknown to Keep people away Okay, keep people away from God Again, something like knowledge When you don't understand it, you don't see it Then, yeah It doesn't benefit you So that's how he's playing his game But for us As children of God We must be established In this fact that Satan is defeated I don't have to be scared of him So let's read two more scriptures And then I'll explain some more Luke chapter 10 verse 19 And then also please be ready With Ephesians 2 verses 4 through 6 Luke chapter 10 verse 19 Sorry? Luke chapter 10 verse 19 Verse 19, yeah Behold, I give you the authority To trample on serpents And scorpions And over all the power of the enemy And nothing shall by any means hurt you So This is before the cross, okay So what is Jesus saying? I give you the, can you read it again? Anand? Behold, I give you the authority To trample on serpents And scorpions And over all the power of the enemy And nothing shall by any means hurt you Okay, so Jesus is saying that Can we believe it? Can we have authority to trample Upon serpents and Scorpions And nothing by any means shall harm you He's saying this Even before the cross He's giving them the authority Okay, and what is he saying? He's saying serpents and Scorpions representing the demonic powers You are above them I'm giving you mastery Of darkness Nothing by any means shall harm you So as a soldier When you go into battle, do you feel safe? Of course Because Jesus is saying You are protected Okay, not only Can you destroy them But they cannot even harm you So we are already victorious In this battle If Satan is doing something We can crush that We can enforce the victory Because we are coming with authority We are coming with victory And that's what Jesus told his Disciples And that is a word which stands even today For all of us Can we read the next one there But God, who is rich in mercy Because of his great love With which he loved us Even when we are dead In trespasses Made us alive together with Christ We have been saved So you are reading verses 4 through 6 Sorry, 6 And raised us up together And made us sit together In the heavenly places in Christ Jesus So in Christ Jesus Something has Been done Which is a reality for us Today We have been seated With Christ in the heavenly Places What does it mean? It means Right now, you are all sitting on your chairs People at home, they are sitting on their chairs But Here is the spiritual truth While you are sitting on your chair here I am standing here I am I am also Seated with Christ In the heavenly places So where am I In the spiritual reality In the heavenly Places seated with Christ So when Christ Seated He seated next to the Father Is that a place of authority? Yes, it is the highest place Of authority. He seated The right hand of the Father He has already destroyed the works of the devil So he is sitting in his place of Authority And what does the Bible say? We are seated with Christ In the heavenly places So that is the place of Authority where we are seated So when we command the devil And we say Stop devil, you can't do this Or this is not right I don't allow you to do this I command you To take your hands off I bind you, I cast you out Where am I Speaking all this authority from Spiritually I am now seated With Christ in the heavenly places That's the highest place of authority So I have the Authority Satan cannot ask me how can You say that to me, he can never ask me That because Jesus has Given me that authority Okay, so this is the reality Jesus already said You will trample on serpents And scorpions and nothing by Any means shall harm you And also we are seated With Christ in the heavenly Places, so given All these things We can now Walk in mastery Over the devil Jesus is victorious, that we understood We are also victorious Okay, now Then comes the next question Then why are believers defeated You know, we ask that Then why are so many believers experiencing Same answers Lack of knowledge Lack of using the authority Remember when we Talked about authority We were understanding it, we said Sometimes authority can go Unused So if it is unused Then can the devil play havoc Can he trouble the believer He can because Believer is not stopping These are the truths That we must be established And Jesus has defeated Satan, we now have Mastery over the devil And we have to enforce it How do we enforce it You see Jesus said that I give you the keys of the kingdom You do something Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven Whatever you lose on earth will be Lose in heaven, so I can pray like that Instead of keeping quiet I watch everything that the devil is doing And I keep quiet No, enforce Are we seeing the devil do something wrong I bind The spirit of Whatever, you know, I bind Confusion, I bind sickness We can do that, use the authority Don't keep it on the shelf You know, and take a nice nap Then what will the devil do He'll play havoc on me Use the authority So Jesus said You know, in the great commission He already said, I've given it to you All authority on heaven and earth Is mine and I now give it to you So we need to Operate From this place of boldness Of Christ's triumph and victory And also that we have Mastery over the devil Okay, but I remember Once, I think it was the Probably one of Was it the first time maybe So I'd gone to The house of some students We used to have a lot of students coming to our location Where I minister So for house visit, they told There's a new student, you please come You visit us, so I'd gone there And I just I sat with them, talked with them everything And then they said, okay, pastor pray And just a normal day Okay, there are some three students over here And I started praying And one of the girls started manifesting Never imagine This is gonna happen, okay, so she starts acting Like a snake on the floor So she's just like riding On the floor and moving from here to there And coming back and his sing And all that, so I understood, oh man This is a demon and it's manifesting Now, so I need to cast it out Okay, so I Went ahead everything I know, whatever I You know, we're teaching you all, I already have The authority, so what is the point We shouldn't be scared Because my understanding Is based on what I taught you right now I have the authority, Jesus said I give you the keys of the kingdom Okay, you can trample On serpents and scorpions, nothing by any means shall harm you And I'm seated with Christ in the heavenly places So I started praying And I started casting it out I said, okay, I command you in the name of Jesus And after a while You know, she was Better, she was better But then I recognized that there were more demons To deal with, that was not good enough And so, you know, we Like I came here and I informed our team Here and then we fixed another day Where we said, okay, can you guys bring her We'll take about half a day Or something, just pray for her And you know, we'll all minister To her, so that's How it happened, but I remember Right after this was done I was sharing it with another Pastor friend of mine And they said Be careful, sister Now that you have cast out a demon The demons will try to attack you Okay I had never thought like that I had never thought Oh, are you saying That there's going to be a backlash Because I've cast out a demon And they said, yeah, it always happens So from that moment So from that moment I started reading Into everything in my life Like, oh, this is happening, maybe It's Satan is attacking me That is happening, Satan is attacking But you know, I went and asked I clarified this doubt in the Bible Is it like that, that if I Go against the devil, then the devil Will go against me Well, through scriptures, obviously Pastor told me there's nothing Like that, because what does Luke 19 say? Nothing by any means shall Harm you But if I believe That I'm going to be harmed Then, can he harm He can, because I'm believing I'm giving the place For fear and doubt And different things So, you know From that point on, I recognize That it's a false It's unscriptural To think that The devil is so powerful And then he's going to attack me back If I do anything against his kingdom Right? So these are all baseless Ways of thinking And we must recognize That We are protected Psalm 91 What does it say? He who dwells in the secret Place of the most I will abide In the shadow of the Almighty Okay? So God Protects us God protects us There's one more scripture Which says that When we walk in righteousness Okay? The enemy cannot Touch us So Luke 1019 says The enemy cannot harm us The other one says The enemy cannot touch us So this is the kind of Confidence we must have I'll go to When we see it Very practically Satan don't have Power on us But when we see in some In particular situations and all It gets on us And it takes the authority on us Until we speak Until we speak the word of God On it Until we may speak Authoritatively And he'll do What he can do Practically also When we see There are so many incidents I've heard What about that? So you are saying there are many Incidents where Though we are saying he is powerless He is showing his power In demon possession So that sure display Of power he will try to do that No, not that he is really Powerful. It's his way Of scaring us If we get scared We'll think okay let me stop Let me not go after this demon But frankly if you look at scriptures None of the scriptures stop us Every believer has authority Any believer can go and cast out that demon He will display his power I don't deny that But ultimately We have the authority So we should not give up See when we go Two practical steps of deliverance There we will study Sometimes demons are stubborn They are very stubborn Okay Sometimes what happens is We saw that one demon comes out When Jesus cast them out Goes into added places Brings back seven other demons Who are more powerful Than this demon So what are they doing? They know how to make the situation Of a person worse If they don't clean up Like if the house is set right Then they can't do anything But if it is still having an open door They can make it worse So these are all their tactics They know how to do all these things But as a believer With the understanding that I have You know what I must do is I should recognize sometimes they are stubborn You know if you go into practical Deliverances You would see that Some deliverances happen in a minute I remember pastor sharing this He was preaching apparently In one conference And the He told he shared this That one two three thing So pastor's conference and then the demon Manifest and he just cast out Immediately it happened But sometimes You know it will take a few hours I have also seen that I have experienced it We were trying to cast out demon Of one from one lady So many of us Our whole team we took her This was also one of those youth Conferences in Delhi So we took her to the room behind Over there and for few hours We are commanding we are casting She is moving two three people Are holding her because she is so powerful You know she is screaming It took some time some few hours I have heard people say that Casting out some demons It has taken them three days So the point is That doesn't Prove that satan is powerful Because he is stubborn It doesn't mean he is powerful He is not giving up We should not give up it is as simple as that Yes Every Sunday Okay we will give the mic to you Because online students Will miss out on what you are sharing Oh yeah I mean in north India I saw in every Sunday Like Demons are possessing And Pastries praying and like that But here I Didn't see Manifestation Okay Yeah so See manifestation Of demons it happens In the presence of God Sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't happen Okay now we don't know why You know you are not seeing it here Maybe you should tell faster About it But that's okay That's not A benchmark of how Spiritual a meeting is Sometimes they manifest Sometimes they don't But that doesn't mean there are no demons Also And later we will study See when we talk about Demons being cast out Okay Deliverance is not just In the name of Jesus come out Deliverance is also when Strongholds are broken for example We are studying the word of God isn't it So when we are studying the word of God Is happening our mind is being renewed Now let's say for example A person has demons of lust They are demonized In their mind with demons of lust Okay but as they are Studying the word of God can we Expect the mind to change Be renewed So we may not see them screaming Jumping yelling no But Just by coming to church Every Sunday can that Person be set free Yes without the screaming Without the manifestation So manifestation is Not you know like Only then we are Dealing with demons and deliverance is happening No yes sometimes there is Manifestation but even without Manifestation lot of deliverance is happening I have heard Like personal life transformation Testimonies where people say Sunday after Sunday I came I heard the word Of God These habits left me These addictions broke in my life You know so We should not go only by manifestation That's my point Vimal Did I answer what you are asking Okay Ma'am The kingdom that devil is Fully Fully Fully defeated no So At that time When Jesus is Telling Jesus is scolding his disciples And he is telling For some Some demons Like you have to Fasting and prayer So there is a demons Like we have to fasting and prayer Okay So I think that passage is in Matthew 17 Where the disciples are not To cast out a demon Then Jesus says you must fast and pray It's not that For some demons you have to fast and pray Because in the experience of Jesus What do we see Careful What do we see in the experience of Jesus Now Legion He comes to that Get us Serene right that place So he comes there and He sees Legion He doesn't tell Legion Please give me 3 days You seem very Who are you Then question is singular Who are you Answer is we are many When Jesus will say I have to fast 10 days I will come back to you Please give me 10 days time Because I need to fast and pray It's not like that See We can cast out a demon Not fasting and prayer But how does fasting and prayer help It builds my faith You understood so what is the problem Faith is the problem Now let us take for example Somebody doesn't understand That Satan is defeated Satan is powerless all that But they are fasting 20 days Do you think they will be able to Cast out demon Because they don't have faith only That God is more powerful than Satan So it's not fasting and prayer Independent of You know faith in the word of God Doesn't help Faith yeah it builds our faith That's what it does Okay so that is the understanding So sometimes we may feel Okay I have To cast out this demon And I need to Build up my faith If there is time It is good to fast and pray You understood it's like that But It's not like some demons It says Fasting prayer demon It's not like that Yes any question you had Okay we will take the question It's already 1151 So what I will do is I will continue with the questions If there is anyone on the online Badge here who wants to leave Please feel free so absolutely fine Yeah let's go ahead Just one question Ma'am When you are having this prayer Meetings and all that and you have the manifestation My question is how can you have Manifestation in In the time of prayer when you have When God's presence is there How can something like that happen In the first place my question If God's presence is there Satan should be somewhere 100 meters away right Okay that is Sean's question So Sean from today I will start asking you questions Okay So my question is when Jesus came And again talking about that man Legion In the presence of Jesus How can he talk He should run away no But at that moment of time Jesus was man right He wasn't even In that moment Jesus was man He didn't have his presence He didn't have his power He was still fully man and fully God Okay so anyway I am just helping Together we are trying to understand That Satan is uncomfortable In the presence of God Okay and sometimes that shows And that is through the Manifestations So yeah I think That's quite normal Yeah Okay yes Prince I have two questions First one is from the scripture that we Read Look chapter 10 verse 19 We have seen where God says I will give you authority for what's next And immediately in the next verse In verse 20 It was there like However do not rejoice That the spirit submit to you But rejoice that Your name is written in heaven So what God is Jesus is trying to submit Spirit submit to you So in that incident They go with authority and they are successful Okay they come back and they tell Jesus what is the testimony We saw Satan fall Like lightning they say So the meaning is the defeat Of the devil it's like that He fell So that powerful the ministry was We saw the kingdom of God ruling And the kingdom of darkness defeated Okay Then Jesus tells them don't rejoice That the spirits are subject Meaning that your authority Is working on demon spirits That's what it means But what he says is You should rejoice that your name is Written in heaven So basically What Jesus is saying is You know it's a very deep thing That we should first of all Be secure In the identity In Christ That you are a child of God More than I did this ministry It's like that so Jesus is telling them Jesus is telling Be happy That your name is there Correct And my second question is Yes We just need We heal We drive out demons in the name of Jesus And From the example what you shared Ma'am you told like It took some hours To drive out demons Like what you guys did For that whole one or like Okay good question So see what we do for that Time we will see later There are also By practical experience We have put down steps Okay so there are few things to do Like I mean I won't go into the detail But briefly like to identify What kind of a Demon is operational Then If at all they are not fully Like Like a full time demon possession Where you can talk to the person We can talk to the person And if they are Involved in some sin or dedication Something we have to break that So generally we talk To them, we pray with them We break those things first Then we go ahead and we command the devil To come out So it sounds very easy But in practicality It's challenging Because you know the demons Will try to confuse They will say Like they will not leave With the demon, you have to deal with the person So generally It's good To Go there And be prayerful So you can have a team of people who are praying with you And one person can do the commanding Like you can instruct the devil But in the meantime While this person is there We pray We can sing songs of victory Songs about the blood of Jesus So what are we doing? All this is a declaration To the devil that hey You are already defeated, stop doing this You have to come out So we can pray, sing Declare scriptures, talk to the person Command the demon, so much is there to do So we Have to keep on Clearing the neologism Commanding it over Until we see it going So Like you know we are co-working With the Holy Spirit And sometimes it's not clear cut Prince When we are praying I remember once I went with another sister After Praying and casting out I thought it's over And then we prayed some more And for her She was able to see the Demons inside the person And she said no you can't stop There are four more The numbers, so many more are still there So what What happens is we are working with the Holy Spirit And he will keep giving us the discernment Okay this is the thing There is no formula You have to go person by person Situation by situation Stuff like that So sometimes it takes a while Okay So I think We are done for today I guess Okay last Interrogation Okay No no no it's not like that Sean so it's not Interrogation It's more of You know just getting useful info For For example see Sometimes Every time we cast out a demon There is no need to talk to the demon You know many things where are you from What do you do But sometimes What happens It is helpful because then the demon might Reveal that The path from which it came in Like if it says I came in through a sacrifice Or I came in through a dedication Then it becomes easy for us because Okay then I should break that So basically the Intention is this person has to be free So I am looking for clues And With that in mind Only sometimes We ask who are you When did you come Things like that so not always Alright so let's Pray and close then So the person who has a mic Prince started Prince is closing off in prayer also So Let's pray Jesus a lot we thank you for this time A lot father that you have given Thank you for everything that you have Taught us a lot father Help us a lot not to just listen But help us to be the doers of your world A lot father Help us to exercise the faith and Authority that you have given us a lot father And help us to walk In the victory that you have given us a lot father And help us a lot father To Build your kingdom here and to see Your kingdom coming every people a lot father That you have placed in our lives A lot father you lead us a lot father With your spirit more and a lot Give us more understanding more wisdom A lot father so that we will do Your kingdom work a lot father We submit everything to your hands We give you all the glory and honor In Jesus mighty precious name Amen Thank you thank you everybody So we wrap up for today Thank you everyone online God bless you Have a wonderful day And we shall connect next week Bye for now