Satan has a strategy to stop you from completing your journey. The good news is God has a strategy to keep you on track.

let’s assume that you are

going on a journey you’re going on a

trip

it’s a journey that you have to take you

you don’t have a

an option not to go on this journey

you are informed when you begin the

process of entering this journey

that this will be a a dangerous

trip there will be landmines

that you will not be able to see

explosives that you will not detect

quicksand that will be covered over

there will be pits that you’ll be able

to fall into

and they are all through this journey

but they will not be obvious to you but

they will be there

throughout the journey

but after being told this disappointing

discouraging news

about this journey you must take

the person speaking to you gives you a

map

and on this map are all the places

where the dangers lie it’s written on

the map

it shows you where every landmine is

where every explosive is where every

uh pit is where every every place that

would seek to

bring you home do you win and destroy

your life

they’re all laid out on the map on the

journey you must take

so the question i want to pose to you

today is how are you going to treat this

map

given the fact of what it has on it and

the journey

that you must take uh will you

ball it up and put it in your pocket

will you ignore it will you read it once

a week

will you reference it occasionally

probably not because your life depends

on it

because you’ve got to take this journey

and there

are minefields

so that map is going to become the most

precious thing in your life

because you want to make it to the other

side

we are all on a journey called life

once you were born you started this

journey

and it’s a journey you must take you do

not have

another option if you are alive you’ve

got to take this journey called life

in this journey called life there are

mine fields

there are explosive devices

pits with sharp edges at the bottom

all designed to destroy your life from

from

completing your journey

god has given you a map

his word and his word is designed to

reveal to you the pitfalls

so that you can make the journey

what you think about the map

will affect how well you do on the

journey

you might decide to ball it up and put

it in your pocket and

ignore that it’s there or you might

decide to look at it but not pay

attention to it

you might decide a weekly visit to it is

once

is enough i’ll take my chances the rest

of the week on my own

or you can decide that this map is

absolutely

essential because i want to complete

this journey

and i don’t want to be killed by what’s

on the road undetected

now i understand that all of us have

faced consequences at some level

that there would be hardly a person in

here

who hasn’t made a decision that turned

out to be unwise

that you have paid for or are still

paying for

i’ve had more than one inquiries tell me

what to do

because i’m bleeding with the

consequences of whatever the decision

was

but i would like to suggest if you will

stay with this

you will view consequences differently

and more deeply

you will stay away from future ones

and learn how god meets you in the ones

that you

may be dealing with currently

in genesis chapter 3

we have the strategy of the devil

to bring consequences into your life

negative consequences

i’ve been running into men and the first

con

thing that comes up is what

football

that’s the buzz now

and i can assure you every single

team has been watching game film

all week they’ve been watching game film

of the enemy

of the team they’re gonna play they want

to learn their tendencies

they want to learn what their movements

have been

the personnel they want to become fully

acquainted with the group they want to

destroy

satan has game film on you

you got game film you’ve been assigned a

demon

and that demon knows your every move he

knows your every moment

he knows your orientation he knows your

sensitivities

he knows your inclinations that demon

understands you and so there is a report

on you

me and us

so there is a tailor-made strategy

to do you in

even as a believer to defeat you

and to bring negative consequences

into your life you’re on tape

spiritually speaking

so today i want you to understand the

strategy

because if you know the strategy you can

better

see the landmine

and handle it more appropriately

let me say it in a more raw term

there is a contract out on you

me us

to bring about

your inability to finish the journey

understanding this however will help you

me us to move forward differently

than we perhaps have come to this point

because there’s no use in continuing

to step on landmines that you don’t have

to

so let’s look

and see how the enemy

to your journey is working in verse 1

now the serpent was more crafty than any

beast of the field

which the lord god had made

crafty means sneaky

crafty means clever or shrewd

the snake the serpent was more

crafty sneaky slithery

than any of the other creatures god had

made

so when satan wanted to make his move

he chose something that would be

consistent with what he wanted to

achieve

he wanted to achieve craftiness

so he chose a crafty creature

satan knows what to choose

and who to choose to slither into your

world

in order to get your undivided attention

he knows how to

maneuver slick

knows how to whine and dine in order to

cause you to have a conversation with

him

has it ever bothered you that this woman

is talking to a talking snake

we got a talking snake not only do we

have a talking snake we got a talking

walking snake because the snake now is

walking

because the curse was that from then on

it would have to crawl in his belly

which means it didn’t have to crawl on

his belly

prior to that so we have a walking

talking snake

and this walking talking snake

is not a shock that this woman is on

she’s coming on a normal conversation

the very first conversation between a

human being

and a person is about god

kind of sorta because we read in verse 1

that the serpent was more crafty and the

serpent said

indeed has god said you shall not

eat from any tree of the garden please

notice

a missing word the serpent was more

slithery

than any other beast the lord god had

made

but then the serpent said hath god said

not half the lord god

that missing word is on purpose

the word god elohim deals with god’s

power

the word lord deals with our covenantal

relationship with god

so the serpents is basically saying

let’s talk about god but let’s leave out

relationship

we can be religious but not be

relational

so the first conversation between a

snake

and a human being wants to bring up

religion

but leave out relationship

let me explain something the devil

doesn’t mind that you in church

as long as you don’t have a relationship

with the lord he don’t mind

god talk he doesn’t mind invocations and

benedictions

as long as there’s no relationship with

god in between he doesn’t mind that

the creature that satan used

to bring death and consequences

to eve and then adam and then the human

race

was a creature over whom

man and woman were to rule

and watch this and the creature was good

because the bible says whatever god

created in chapter one

was good so at this point the snake’s

not bad

which means that the strategy

is to use something good to create

something bad

he doesn’t go find something bad because

there’s nothing bad to find other than

him

so satan find something good that men

and women should have been

over and he uses something good to bring

something bad

and then that how it works in our lives

it starts off

looking good but

once infiltrated with his purposes

that what was good even that included

god

became bad so

his strategy first of all is for you to

miss him

so if you’re looking for somebody with

horns a red jumpsuit and a pitchfork

you’re looking for the wrong creature

he’s going to use something

that is good to create something that is

bad

so that you can have consequences

negative repercussions

like an illusionist at a magic show

some of these things these guys can do

with just spectacular

and one of the main reasons that they

are able to cause us to go ah

wow it’s because they do something

over here to get our attention while

they’re doing something else over there

in other words they distract us from

what they’re really about

satan is not going to tell you up front

i’m here to destroy your future

you know they’re not going to tell you

that

he’s going to be crafty sneaky slithery

and we we know what that means so a

subordinate creature the bible calls

satan

a counterfeit it says he has counterfeit

doctrine counterfeit miracles

counterfeit spirits

counterfeit teachers

in order to do one thing deceive

we know what that looks like to have

been duped tricked

because it didn’t look like deception

some of

some of you have gotten what i’ve

recently gotten in my mail

from a credit card company

congratulations

congratulations

you have been awarded a 5 000

increase on your credit limit

you are now cause they want to make you

feel good platinum

who doesn’t want to be platinum who

doesn’t want to feel

platinumish

and you are a preferred customer

so they’ve made me they made me feel

good about me they tell me

that i’m worthy they have a higher

credit limit

but behind all that behind all that

and the reason i know what’s behind it

is because i pay consequences

some of you know what it is to be paying

on something

minimum amount year after year after

decade after decade

after decade all because they made you

feel good

gave you a platinum sense of yourself

you started

smelling yourself

so

he wants you to miss him

and so he uses something that’s crafty

but slithery and will make

even god part of the conversation

what’s the second thing he does that’s

in verse 1 2.

indeed has god said you should not eat

from

any tree of the garden

he wants you to think god is holding out

on you

he never references all the trees

she could eat from he wants to talk

about

the one tree that you gotta know know on

he doesn’t talk about all the freedom

that you have from every tree of the god

you may freely eat

he wants to talk about well let’s let’s

talk about

what god said relative to what you can’t

do he says you shall not eat

he wants to paint god as a god who’s

trying to keep you from having a good

time

and he does it oh magnificently he

reduces

a command and makes it a question

see when we started god said i command

you not to eat

he says let me let me just ask you a

question

tell me what you think about this see

when we reduce

god’s command and turn it into a

question we’ve lessened

its impact because he just asked me a

question

can somebody ask me a question

god’s nose are so we can enjoy his yeses

did you hear that god’s nose don’t eat

from that tree is so that you can eat

from all the other trees

what they’re gonna find out is when you

eat from that one tree you lose all the

mother trees

his nose are to protect his yeses

every tree of the god you may freely god

is a big big god of freedom

they go on freedom but when he puts that

no in

a lot of he tells he tells things okay i

don’t want you have sex outside of

marriage okay

that’s what he tells singles

and satan says god holding out on you

and it looks like god is not fair he’s

done a number on

us and so what he does in doing that

is to not only bring consequences but

keep us from ever getting

around to all the stuff

that’s the free benefits that he wants

to bring into your life by getting you

stuck

in this one tree

in fact you let the new testament tell

it first corinthians 7

the single should be a lot happier than

the married folk

that that’s what paul says

father the singles should be single

should be shouting

if you don’t believe me ask the married

folk you’re sitting next to

[Applause]

[Music]

it’s like the child that complains at

christmas

about the one toy they didn’t get so

they don’t even get to enjoy the toys

that they did have

satan is saying god is trying to hold

out on you he doesn’t want you to

he don’t want you to enjoy everything

that’s out there to be enjoyed

now let me explain something at this

point

that a lot of people are confused i know

uh

flip wilson made it famous the devil

made me do it

so let’s get something corrected

the devil cannot make you sin he doesn’t

have he

he doesn’t have that kind of juice he

can’t he can’t make you sin why

because colossians 2 says that the death

of christ

defeated him so he cannot force you to

sin

since he can’t force you to sin he makes

you

want to

because he can’t impose sin on you he

starts

messing with your mind

and so the way he does that is deceiving

the thought pattern

so that you begin to think differently

we begin to think differently

than we ought to so it becomes our

decision

influenced by him not enforced by him

so that means we can’t blame the devil

any longer

not from the force standpoint what he

does is he plants

his thought into your mind until it

becomes your thought

and so then it influences your action my

action our action

so the second one is god is holding out

on you he’s keeping that

tree from you

when god’s whole point of restriction

was to enhance freedom

the third strategy

the woman responds from the fruit of the

trees of garden we may eat

but from the fruit of the tree verse 3

which is in the middle of the garden god

said you shall not eat it

or touch it or you’re going to die

he said to the woman you surely will not

die

okay there will be no consequences

so what is he getting at here what god

said is not gonna happen i know god told

you that

but don’t buy it strategy

god’s word cannot be trusted

you can’t believe that bible you can’t

act on that bible you can’t you can’t

trust that

that was written 2 000 years ago 4 000

years ago if you’re going into the old

testament

they don’t know what you’re dealing with

they didn’t have all this technology

god you can’t buy that

god’s word cannot be trusted

the bible says in romans 3 verse 4 let

god be true and every man a liar

let god be true and everybody who

disagrees with him

is lying even if they are good liar

the bible says in john chapter 8 verse

44 satan is a liar and he’s the father

of lies well

there’s a couple of things there number

one he’s a born liar

anybody know any boring liars they’re

just

okay born lie they’ve been lying since

now only

not only is he a born liar

but he’s the father of lies which means

he got chillings

if you’re a father you got children so

he spawns deception he

he replicates deception

he says god’s word cannot be trusted

like

don cornelius and the soul trained

scramble board

he gets all the words out of order and

you can’t

you can’t buy that it’s all you can’t

buy that that’s not

real and right for the day so skip his

no trespassing sign

you’re not going to die this is not

going to hurt you

you’re not going to get into trouble

you’re not going to catch a disease

you’re not going to live a lifetime in

debt

you’re not going to become emotionally

unstable you’re not

you’re not you’re not it’s okay

you got to check out whoever’s talking

to you whether they’re a child of the

father of liars

don’t worry it’s it’s not going to be

that bad

probably enough folk in the audience

today who know yeah it can be that bad

it really can be that bad

you talk about deception it reminds me

of the story of the banker who was

uh duck hunting the banker was duck

hunting the banker this duck comes

across

takes up and going bam shoots the duck

out the sky

the duck falls into

a farmer’s land the banker who’s

doing the duck hunting goes to get the

duck but the farmer’s standing out there

the farmer said that ain’t your duck

i mean it’s not my duck i shot the duck

yeah but it fell on my property

so that’s my duck oh the banker said oh

no it’s not i shot the duck that’s my

dog my farmer said oh no it’s not

that duck is on my property this is

private property you can’t have that

duck

like i said well i tell you what there’s

a way we can resolve this

i’ma let you hit me as hard as you can

you hit me as hard as you can follow

your face and hit me

then you let me hit you as hard as i can

and whoever screams the least

gets the duck of course the bank is

younger than the farmer and

you know he’s in shape so he feels like

this is going to be my duck because

because i’ma hurt this man so

farmer you go first obama cox back

bam hits the bank of the banker falls to

the ground with a little grown

farmer gets up after a moment gets

himself together

okay now it’s my turn

the father said that’s okay you can had

a duck

[Applause]

satan just wants to hurt us

you’re not going to die one of the

things most of us have learned on some

level

is when we play with sin then sin winds

up playing with us

you’re in charge of it one moment and

then it’s in charge of you the next

moment months years decades

and this is a challenge because we are

being bombarded

in our world today on every level

this leads him to another strategy

verse 5 for god knows that in the day

you

eat from it your eyes will be open and

you will be like you will be like god

he says look let me explain

why god does not want you to eat from

this tree

god is selfish god doesn’t want anybody

to be like him but him

and because god is selfish and knows if

you eat this tree you’re going to know

as much as god knows

be as smart as god is he wants to keep

you

from being like him he doesn’t want you

to be his equal when he knows you could

be his equal

of course that was satan’s whole goal to

be god’s equal in isaiah 14.

so god doesn’t want you to be his equal

and to keep you from being his equal he

doesn’t want you to get that tree

cause then you won’t need him anymore

you’re going to know it all yourself

you will be like god

and what was the one thing satan wanted

more than anything else when he rebelled

against god

he wanted his independence

he did not want to have to answer to god

anymore

and our rebellion is a desire

for our independence because if i’m like

you

and if i’m equal to you i don’t have to

submit to you

if we’re on the same level at work you

don’t get to boss me

not if we on the same level

if you can become like god if man can

become like god

if governments can become like god

they don’t have to answer to god because

they are like him

god doesn’t want you he don’t want

anybody to be like him

you all remember doing michael jordan’s

heyday

everybody wanted the commercials you

want to be like mike remember

everybody won’t be like mike superstar

michael jordan

so folks wanting to be like mike went

out and bought

jordans say jordans

parents went into debt

to get their kids jordans because

they want to be like mike

jersey number 23

because they want to be like mike i got

news for you

putting on jordans don’t make you like

mike

wearing a jersey with number 23

doesn’t make you fly

you don’t become like jordan simply

because you got a phrase

or you like basketball there must be an

ability that matches your shoes

you just can’t look the part and be like

mike

and you just can’t act the part and be

god

he is in a class by himself and he will

always resist anybody who seeks to be

independent of him

with the consequences of your rebellion

god so much doesn’t want man

to try to be like him which he could

never be

but even to carry that thought he told

israel

you can’t even take a picture of me

you you can’t take a picture of me make

no

graven image in the ten commandments of

me don’t you create something you think

might coulda looked like me

cause anything you come up with is gonna

be a bad photograph

you remember how they used to have those

photograph machines in the mall

and you go put your little money in and

you sit in that seat you pull that

curtain

and you sit down and then they take a

picture four little pictures come out

and you take those pictures don’t show

nobody them pictures

some ugly pictures

in fact we apologize for our picture

that’s not a good that’s not a good

picture of me

yeah it is you just don’t like it but

god said don’t photograph me don’t

create an image of me why

because i’m in a class by myself and

anything you come up with is going to

make me look bad

so he says i am who i am i’m not who you

want me to be

god is selfish

okay let me let me talk a minute now

about this tree god knows if you eat

from this tree

you will have the knowledge of good and

evil

okay so let’s let’s let’s look at this

tree this tree has two things on it

good and evil okay

but it’s a google tree it’s a google

tree

because it’s information knowledge the

knowledge of good and evil

so you will be able to google

all the information necessary for you to

know what god knows

because you’re going to be like god so

you have this comprehensive knowledge

without god okay

stick with me here you will be

like god but you won’t need god

you will be able to determine and

discover

good and evil but you can leave

god out of the equation of the discovery

there is good and evil information

but evil has not entered into the world

yet

other than the presence of satan there

is

no evil so what he is saying is

there is an information base of

knowledge that will discuss things you

don’t know

anything about and you can get that

without god because you will have become

your own god because you will be like

god therefore you won’t need

god to discover your own truth

as i tell you often many of you living

with

with people who want to be like you

parents

they’re called teenagers

who think they know what they’re talking

about

they talk like professionals

they talk like experts

the reason why you’ve got this teenage

strife

in your home or you may have had it gave

it to your parents and giving it to your

parents

you have that strife is because they

want to be like you

they want to be parent so there’s a

conflict

you say in a moment they but but two

grown folk in this house

you create a distinction right away

the problem is they want their

independence while still depending

oh

you ain’t missed that this is true see

they want their independence don’t tell

me what to do just feed me

don’t tell me what to do but you got to

get me some clothes don’t tell me what

to do but you got to take me where i

need to go because i haven’t got my

driver’s license yet

so i want to be independent

but i still want you to cover me

i know you want to be that independent

why don’t you cover yourself and see how

that goes

see what we’re doing is we’re living in

a world now who has insisted on

independence

and god has said you got it

and the result of consequences

what was the consequence he says you’re

going to die because remember

death is not succession of life

cessation of life death is a

illegitimate separation so when a body

dies

it’s only dead because the soul left

there was a separation

which made the body inactive

there’s economic there’s social death

environmental death relational death

there’s all kind of deaths

so we a lot of us ending dying are dead

in a certain category

because we ate from the independence

tree

i want my data without god and i will

determine

truth right and wrong and i will do it

independently of god

because i want to be like god i want to

be my own god

it reminds me muhammad ali

he’s on an airplane true story muhammad

ali is on the airplane during his heyday

he’s sitting on the plane the stewardess

comes back and says bye and says

mr ali will you buckle your seatbelt we

get ready to take off

she comes back down the aisle ali has

not buckled his seat belt

said mr ali i really do need you to

buckle your seatbelt we need to take off

muhammad ali says superman don’t need no

seat belt

stuart has said superman don’t need no

plane you need to buckle your seatbelt

you ain’t all that

i don’t care how much education you have

what degrees you have

what notoriety you have what success you

have what money you have

where you live what car you drive what

car what clothes you wear

you cannot be like him

he is in a class by himself and you are

to submit

all of those categories to him

when you don’t

[Applause]

consequences it says you’re gonna die

and so so many of us are dying

dying with regret dying with

debt dying with

relationships we’re just dogging

not knowing that’s a consequence

not just something that happened bad bad

luck it doesn’t know

it’s a consequence of sin

which we’ve all faced on various levels

finally

verse six

his final move it says

when the woman saw that the tree was

good for food and that it was the

delight to the eyes

and that the tree was desirable to make

one wise she took from his fruit and ate

and she gave also to her husband

with her and he ate

if it feels good do it

when she saw that the tree was good for

food

that tree was always good for food

that’s why i told him i eat it

but here’s what he did he let her see

the tree through his eyes

because she’s now looking at this tree

different than when she talked about it

earlier

when she saw the tree was good she’d

been passing that tree in the middle of

the living room of their house

every day but when she saw the

treatments good for food why did she

look at the tree differently because now

evil has been dropped from the

conversation

see it was the tree of the knowledge of

good and evil but now she’s only seeing

the good part of the tree

and isn’t that how deception works you

only see the good part

you don’t see the outcome

if they told you that hit with that

marijuana or that crack

is going a few years from now

have you an addict

needing to get the monkey off your back

if you could see you in that condition

with the evil it would change

how good that hit is up front

if you could see yourself with three

children out of wedlock

and a single parent on welfare

trying to make it if you could see that

in advance then all of a sudden

sex wasn’t that wasn’t all that

it wasn’t all that

[Applause]

if you could see the evil but what he

wants to do is erase the evil and you

just fall in love with the good

this is so good

so he increases her

physical appetite when she saw the tree

was good for food

physical appetite then on top of

increasing

her physical appetite

he increases her emotional appetite

it was desirable that’s what it said it

was desirable

she was feeling that tree she feeling

the tree

that treated and gotten a gizzard she

she feeling that tree

then he increased her intellectual

appetite

her intellectual appetite

it it can make one wise

i can really be smart

the danger of so many of us and we have

a fairly educated constituency here

is that you have allowed your degrees to

rule over the word of god

you’ve allowed human wisdom and

intellect

and all truth is god’s truth there’s

nothing wrong with getting educated and

becoming more skillful but whenever that

truth

conflicts with divine revelation you are

ignorant

the bible calls it fool

bible calls that a fool but that is the

knowledge of a fool

when you’re smarter than god it’s like

nietzsche who great made his great

philosophical statement

because man has become so educated and

philosophically astute

god is dead signed nietzsche

a few years later nietzsche died

somebody wrote the sign nietzsche is

dead signed god

[Applause]

that’s why that’s why okay hold on

you are to respect all people the bible

says give honor to whom honor is due

if people have accomplished something if

they’ve done great things

you ought to honor that

but what you are not to do is turn them

into an american idol

because they ain’t all that yes they

have achieved you respect it you

recognize it

but you got to understand there are a

lot of fools out there

who’ve eaten from the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil that we are

impressed with we are impressed with

never mind they they popping pills to

survive never mind that they

strung out on drugs never mind that they

can’t stay married never mind that

never mind all that they just can sing

or rap or or or they’re smart with a

degree

never mind all that we get impressed

with the wrong

folk honor it

recognize it but don’t turn it into an

american idol

because just like you they gonna die

there is a way that seems right to man

proverbs 14 12 says but the end thereof

is death

proverbs proverbs says in

in proverbs chapter 3 verses 13 to 18

it says you are to eat from the tree of

life

which will give you wisdom because you

know our biggest problem today

all of us on varying levels our biggest

problem is

our lack of discernment

if i would boil it down to our biggest

problem

we are not able to discern so we get

impressed with the front stuff

that looks impressive because we haven’t

discerned the back stuff

that’s the end of the story so we we

lack discernment

and that is the one thing that spiritual

people have according to hebrews

chapter 5 verses 11 to 14. spiritual

people

know how to discern it says between good

and evil

they’re not faked out because it looks

good up front

they’re able to see good

and evil why because they eaten not from

the tree

of independence they’re eating from the

tree of life which gains wisdom

and so james 1 sums it up

in james chapter 1 we read these verses

in verses 13 to 16.

let no one say when he is tempted i am

being tempted of god for god cannot be

tempted by evil

and he himself does not attempt anyone

each one is tempted when he is carried

away and enticed by his own lust

then when lust has conceived it gives

birth to sin

and when sin is accomplished it brings

forth what

death it doesn’t mean you’re going to

drop dead physically i mean something’s

going to die there will be an

illegitimate separation

so satan’s strategy can be boiled down

to one word deception

about that that but because some whole

thing up is he deceives us

and you know we’re not picking on

anybody because everybody’s been tripped

up at some level

but when you find where a trap is you

don’t keep walking over it

[Applause]

you gotta you gotta address that trap

and then you gotta you gotta move on but

you don’t just keep walking you have to

see people

go over the same thing over and over

again they’re doing the same thing over

and over over and over over and over

over

two mischievous boys one day went to a

department store and they were

they wanted to be mischievous and so

what they did was they

they took the tags off of the couture

expensive garments and put

the price tags on cheap garments then

they took the tags off of the cheap

garments and put those tags on the

expensive garments so the expensive

garments had cheap tags and the cheap

garments had expensive tags on them

so when folks came into the store

they were buying expensive things for

low cost

and buying inexpensive things for high

cost

because the tags have been switched

what satan has done is he switched the

tags on us

and he’s got us spending

a lot of our lives and our time

on our and our energy on cheap stuff

because he didn’t switch the tags

not understanding what god has provided

for us free of charge

he switched the tags

so the question on the floor is

do you want to avoid any future

consequences

and do you want to see as much mercy as

god can give you

for caring consequences

because if you’re tired of consequences

you qualify for god’s

abundant grace