Don’t forget to share “The 4 Levels of Spiritual Warfare” Touré Roberts with a friend, and be sure to subscribe for ongoing inspiration and encouragement.
hey family
i’m pt pastor toray roberts i’m the lead
pastor of the potter’s house at 1la
and denver on behalf of my wife pastor
sarah and myself we want to welcome you
to our channel and to this word i cannot
wait
for you to hear what god has for you in
this message i want to tell you a few
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further ado let’s get right into this
word god bless you
i’ll see you soon
hallelujah family that song is is good
news and we all
need a reminder from time to time about
the consistency and the faithfulness of
the god that we serve
i wouldn’t serve a god i couldn’t serve
a god that i couldn’t trust
in all of the seasons of my life and the
high seasons the low seasons and so
i’m so grateful that not only will god
not fail but he
can’t fail family i want to take a
moment
first to honor all the fathers out there
all the fathers that are watching i
salute you and
and bless you send you love and
greetings i am one of you
and i thank god for each of you being a
father is not easy it’s difficult
and even the best of us don’t always get
it right it’s a huge
huge calling and uh and and sadly
there are breakdowns sometimes because
the calling is so huge men
run away from it and uh that’s not
justification but
perhaps it’s revelation for you and and
so let’s be in prayer for fathers you
know i
i realize that some people out there you
lost your father your father isn’t there
or your father
maybe in some instances what weren’t
there and my heart goes out to you i
know
days like this where people are
celebrating their fathers and you know
it can be kind of challenging and so my
heart goes out to those who have lost
fathers
or those who never had fathers but i
will tell you this
god himself will be your father i
remember if you allow me to digress for
a moment i remember when
you know earlier in my life my dad
wasn’t
as involved as i wanted him to be and
and i’d realized that there were some
reasons behind that
that i was too young to even understand
and i remember i used to go over
to people’s house to my my friend’s
house at school
and and they would you know i would
spend the night over and their father
would be in the house and they had this
this perfect picture and and um and i
remember one day when i was 18
after years of that years of experience
and that i was like you know god like
how come you didn’t like
why you didn’t how come i didn’t have a
father like him or like them
and you know what god said to me it was
an amazing response god said
how long have i been with you and did
you not recognize that i’ve been your
father the entire time
and then he walked me through some of
the things that a father does
i i protected you you remember when you
almost died
that was me i taught you i i fed you i
corrected you
and it was really an amazing thing to
honestly and truthfully surmise
that even when i felt like i didn’t have
that full-time dad i did in god
and god will be your father and so
i want to salute and celebrate all the
fathers out there today and
and i want to salute and celebrate all
the people out there who have been
fathered by god and
you know you don’t always get to choose
where what you need
comes from but god will always make
certain that you get what you need
are you tracking with me well god bless
you it’s exciting
exciting to be with you here again i’m
i’m here in the company i’m leaders in
our church and i’m just
just excited about this connection with
you we all are and
and we are going to grow today i’m
excited about this message and i got to
tell you
i was a little i was torn because i’ve
got another message in my spirit too
that
is a great message but i was torn about
this message because
this is the type of message i’m talking
about the four levels of warfare today
and if you were tuned in last week you
know that i alluded to them at the end
of last week’s message and
and quite frankly i don’t typically
teach
this type of message this level of
message this this depth
of message on sundays i’ll save it for a
bible study or
or training with those that i know are
leaders and
are more mature but the lord told me on
this father’s day if you
really want to be a father if you really
want to be a gift to
the people that follow you then give
them this information
you know and then i started thinking
about what a father does a father
prepares his children
for life and if we don’t have an
understanding of warfare and the victory
that we have in warfare this is not
spooky or scary anything like that
really this is all about understanding
because watch this
it says that my people perish for a lack
of knowledge that’s what it says
in hosea and so being a good father
is making certain that those that i
have the privilege of fathering not only
naturally but spiritually
are equipped with understanding with
insight and knowledge
so they can fight a good fight that’s
what a father does and so i can’t think
of
a better father’s day gift to give to
to those who are connected to me in this
ministry
than than wisdom and insight and tools
and speaking of tools i want to draw
your attention as we begin this
conversation about
the four levels of spiritual warfare
full disclosure there are five
and maybe we’ll get into five but there
are four that relate to personal
spiritual invisible warfare that all of
us will encounter at some point
in time in our life and uh and so i want
to draw your attention to a passage of
scripture it’s in
psalm 144 and 1. this will be the basis
of
of of where we go we’re going to pray
and i’m going to get right into this
uh i want you to make certain that you
have your pen and pad or your phone
ready well it might be tough if you’re
looking at it from your phone i don’t
know how
you do what you do but you want to
capture this information maybe you go
back and you listen to the podcast later
or you watch but but they’re going to be
notes that you take
and i think that ultimately this is a
very encouraging message you’re going to
get tools today
and so speaking of tools let’s go psalm
144
and verse 1. and this is a psalm of
david
and we know that david was a bad boy
david had been in some fights and some
battles at every level of his life he
experienced
you know warfare and and but
the awesome thing is he always came out
victorious he always came out with the
upper hand even when
when he was not so perfect in his life
he still found a way to win i believe
it’s because
of what he’s saying right here and so
he’s given god praise and he says
bless be the lord my rock
who watch this who trains
my hands for war and my
fingers for battle let’s pray
father we need you
we know your love we know your grace
we know your mercy teach our
hands to war and our fingers to fight
not in some humanistic way
and some you know bombs and no that’s
not what we’re talking about
what we’re asking you for god is victory
we’re asking you god to unlock the
potential that’s
on the inside of each of us to come out
of any and every trouble
with victory this is what
you anointed jesus to give to us
and so god we’re open we’re listening we
say
the same way that samuel said as he was
instructed by eli
speak lord your children are listening
and father may wisdom and revelation
flow insight and knowledge
that we all might be better stronger
wiser and more victorious as a result of
these moments that we spend together
and we pray this in the matchless name
of jesus
and if you agree and you receive say
amen
amen if you receive it you can put it
right there in the chat right there in
the feed if you want to just say amen i
receive it i
i receive victory i receive breakthrough
hallelujah and so
let me just say as it relates to warfare
and as it relates to anything but
especially warfare
ignorance is not bliss
i referenced it earlier there’s a
passage in hosea chapter 4
and verse 6 and it says that that my
people
perish for the lack of knowledge that
means
that what you don’t know could hurt you
and that’s why it was really important
for me to
to talk to you because sometimes even as
a a preacher and
a preacher with a large platform and i
have all types of people watching
some you know i would say if i had to
break it down by percentage
60 60 would be church people people were
actually churched
30 percent of the people would consider
themselves spiritual but not
necessarily religious or what have you
and about 10
of our people those who perhaps are
watching or listening right now
haven’t really made a decision yet
they’re more seekers they’re more
searchers and so often times when you
have a congregation that is so broad
you you want to stick to this is the the
mega church pastor’s temptation
you want to stick to to subjects that
aren’t too deep
and and i and i get that right you have
to cast a wide net
because not everybody’s ready for the
deeper things even jesus said
there’s a whole lot more i want to talk
to you about but you couldn’t handle it
right now so i understand the sentiment
of that
but when i step back and i look at the
times that we are in
and i look at how intense life is
getting
i just believe that god wants to equip
his sons
and daughters in a more deep
and profound way and that’s why i’m i’m
going here and we’re going to go a
little deeper than we go
but but but my promise to you is that
when we’re finished
we’re going to be sharp when we finish
you
just just just put in the chap i’m going
to be a bad man pajama just uh i’m a bad
you probably don’t know nothing about
that but but but but you’re gonna be
back you’re gonna be dang you’re gonna
be a spiritual ninja
and that’s what i want to raise up right
and see it’s all cool
to not be that it’s all cool to simply
be you know positive and all that kind
of stuff
until warfare comes hello somebody
i this message is not for when
everything is going right
right i got a bunch of messages for you
when everything’s going this time
this is for when all hell literally
breaks out in your life
and you don’t know what to do and it’s
hitting you
like a ton of bricks and you’re confused
and you don’t know what’s going on
i want you to have this so that you can
have it in your back pocket
so you can bust out your ninja skills
your spiritual come on somebody your
spiritual cup
you understand i i i learned judo when i
was growing up they taught me judo when
i when i was a kid you know my parents
were black panthers
yeah you didn’t know that my parents
were black panthers and they would teach
all of the kids in the black panther
party judo
and so i learned judah i will flip i
flip
you ain’t seen nobody get flipped the
way i flip
i’m sorry i’m sorry
and later in life and later in life
and it was kind of wrong because they
wasn’t teaching judo in the hood
so i’ll be in the hood and the bullies
be trying to get it whatever
bring it on what manner
of fighting style is this and it didn’t
look all pretty didn’t look all sexy but
i’ll have you right on the ground i’ll
be right there on the ground
i’m sorry i digress but we’re talking
about
being spiritual ninjas right right even
in a natural as a father as a father
all of my kids learn krav maga like all
of them well crap my god you don’t play
and if you’re not familiar with krav
maga it’s an israeli defense it’s
powerful it’s internationally
uh taught and embraces it’s a powerful
thing but anyway what i’m getting at is
what some people are in the natural
as it relates to being able to fight and
to overcome
and to protect themselves i want you to
be in the spiritual
i want you to be spiritualism do you
always have to pull it out no
but just in case that that you find
yourself in a situation of warfare or
you find somebody you love or you’re
concerned about
in a in a spiritual battle you will know
what to do
you will know what to say and that’s why
this message is so important if you’re
tracking with me just put it right there
in the chat or say
i’m tracking with you i’m tracking with
them tracking with you and so
uh ignorance is not bliss
in any area of your life in business
the ignorant person is the least
prosperous person
especially here in l.a especially in
hollywood the less you know
the less money you’re going to have
that’s just the way it works
there is a there is an ignorance tax in
business
there is an ignorance tax in hollywood
in any industry there’s an ignorance tax
so
so we’re going to know we’re not going
to be taxed i feel the holy ghost
we’re not going to be taxed because of
what we don’t know and if you don’t
understand spiritual warfare and if you
don’t understand
that that we wrestle not against flesh
and blood but against principalities and
powers and spiritual weakness and
heavenly places
you will pay attacks because the person
on the other side of that warfare that
we’re going to talk about right now is a
thief
he comes to rob kill and destroy which
means that
if you don’t perceive the functioning of
that
on the that which is on the other side
then then you would be paying a tax
because you didn’t know that it was
happening
it’s called the ignorance tax and
and and we’re not going to pay that tax
anymore in jesus name are you tracking
with me
so let’s talk about let’s get into this
the greatest
spiritual battle the greatest invisible
battle watch this
will always be in the mind
let’s just start there and if we look at
second corinthians i teach on it i talk
about all the time
it talks about how the weapons of our
warfare are not
carnal study it when you get a chance it
says the weapons of our warfare that
lets us know that
there is a warfare right and and that we
have weapons and and there are
there are ways to to navigate this
warfare right weapons
are tools to deal with the warfare and
paul is teaching us the great teacher
paul is teaching us that the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal
but they’re mighty through god they’re
not natural but they’re mighty through
god
to the pulling down of strongholds now
you got to study that i’m not here to
teach that we got a lot of ground to
cover
but i’ll tell you off the bat that word
strongholds doesn’t speak to
uh some demonic presence on your life
per se
it speaks to an attack on your mind
because later on it talks about casting
down every imagination and every high
thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of god
so the invisible battle the heat of the
invisible battle
is always going to be a battle that
plays itself out in our mind
right it’s true if you think about it a
negative thought
is battle in fact most of the most of
the time that the height
of the battle the the most intensive
part of any sport spiritual warfare
battle
that any of us will face will take place
in our mind
it’s true whether you call it you know
negative energy or
negative thoughts or whatever right
that’s a battle and let me tell you
something
where does that come from where do these
thoughts these
these these limiting beliefs right i’m
talking about the battle of the mind
where do these limiting belief
thoughts come from where do these
self-sabotaging
thoughts come from think about it when
did you become
anti-you
and do you think that you became
anti-you by yourself
when did you be when did you turn
against you that’s how you know
that it’s coming from a source outside
of you
and it is obvious that source outside of
you doesn’t like you
and is against you and wants to rob from
you and hurt you
and destroy you kill steal and destroy
and so i think that ultimately if we’re
going to understand warfare we have to
first understand the kingdom
yeah the kingdom watch this it is the
only message that jesus taught
and preached he only had one gospel
and if you study it it was the gospel
of the kingdom it’s the only thing he
preached
everything that he was talking about and
teaching
was about the gospel of the kingdom
so you people say you know you’re
preaching the gospel what gospel
because he only preached one gospel and
it was kingdom
so what is the gospel of the kingdom
this is the series in and of itself
but i’ll tell you right now the gospel
of the kingdom that jesus came to preach
it says that he showed up on the scene
preaching and teaching the gospel of the
kingdom
and healing all manner of sickness of
jesus and driving out devils right
and he says watch this he says repent
for the kingdom of heaven is here is at
hand
it’s right now well
what was the kingdom of heaven here
doing
the kingdom of heaven was here dealing
with
the kingdom of darkness that’s
why he came he came because there was a
prevailing
dark kingdom and he showed up
bringing a new more powerful kingdom of
light to illuminate
and to push back and drive back the
kingdom of darkness
are you tracking with me see in order to
understand warfare you got to understand
that it’s a kingdom thing in fact put it
right there in the feed put it right
there in the comments say it’s a kingdom
thing
it’s a kingdom thing it’s a kingdom
thing and so
so so those negative anti-you thoughts
those
those those thoughts think about this
this how you know there’s a devil who
would make you want to kill you
a suicidal thought an anti you thought
you wouldn’t make you want to kill you
there is a something out there that is
anti-you
that is at war with you every single day
and that’s why david was saying
i bless the lord who teaches my hands to
war
and my fingers to fight
what’s the difference between hands
towards fingers to fight i was thinking
about that like god
why did he why did he separate that when
you think about it
hands is about the war
fingers i gotta say this right fingers
have to do
with a more detailed war i i gotta say
that i gotta say it better
if i slap you and i wouldn’t
unless you earned it okay
if i slap you that’s one experience but
if i
gouge your eyes out that’s another
experience
so it is a more precise he says he
taught my hands to war
but but my fingers to fight to be more
precise there there’s certain moves that
you can do that can cut off
somebody’s air supply not with the hand
but with the formation of the fingers in
a particular posture
are you tracking with me so so and
that’s that’s what i talk about being a
ninja
i don’t want you to be
i mean take whatever you can sometimes
it like that just whatever you got to do
to get out of thing
i get that
i want you to fight with skill i want
you to be
tempered and balanced and you understand
what i’m saying
and so let’s get into it let’s let’s get
into it
uh in order to understand warfare you’ve
got to understand the kingdom there’s
there’s somebody on the other side of
how you feel the way you feel
i want to talk about i want to get into
these four areas of warfare
that we’re going to talk about we’ll
talk about the first one the first
level of spiritual warfare
is temptation you’re like what
temptation is warfare absolutely
absolutely warfare
uh let’s look at let’s go to james
chapter one real quick i want you to
understand temptation
we’re gonna talk about it real quick
james chapter one
james chapter 1 and 12
says blessed is the man
who endures temptation for when he has
been
the old king james translation says
tried the new king james
says approved and one thing you have to
understand is that in order to be
approved you have to be tried
i could talk about that all day but but
jesus was
led watch this by the spirit
into the wilderness watch this for the
purpose of
to be tempted of the devil god is a
gangster
it’s almost like like you know being you
know even the crips in the bloods have a
little initiation sort of thing
anyway that was very distasteful forgive
me
but but but in order watched
i feel this is for somebody in order to
be approved for your assignment
you must be tried and so often times we
think that because the trial comes
that god is not with us or that we are
out of order or out of alignment
but the reality of it is no no sometimes
you are in the fight
because you are right where you’re
supposed to be and god wouldn’t put you
in the fight
unless he knew that the outcome would be
you being approved
and so jesus didn’t even step fully into
his ministry
until he came out of the season of
tempting i feel
the spirit of god some of you are in the
middle of something and all you got to
do is stand
if you just stay in that thing if you
don’t watch this if you don’t get out of
the oven too soon
if you don’t come out of the fire too
soon you’ve got to get this in your
spirit
you got to say god don’t take me out one
second
sooner nor have me in one second longer
because i want to be well done put it
right there in the feed
i want to be well done baby i want to be
well done
i don’t want to be i don’t want to have
no pink in the middle
i want to be well done for my purpose
because
what god see see the thing that god does
he doesn’t do outside of you he does in
you
and it’s the place that nobody can see
and even when you’re cooking something
think about it in order to see if it’s
done sometimes
you can’t look on the surface of it what
do you have to do you got to cut it a
little bit
to see because it’s happening inside i
feel the holy ghost
and there might be some people and
you’re going through something and
people are laughing at you
and maybe somebody left you but i hear
god saying i am working
on the inside of you and when your
insides get together
your outsides are going to be glorious
if that’s your word say i receive it bt
i receive it i receive it i receive it i
receive it
and that’s what you gotta know in every
season no pink no pink no pink i feel it
no pink
no pink in the middle he doesn’t want to
put this and you start bleeding no
no no no no no no no no
well done inshallah and see when you can
be well done god can say well done
when you can be well done god can say
well done
are you tracking with me anyway we have
digressed quite a bit
we’re talking about temptation blessed
is the man who
endures temptation it says for when he
has been
approved he will receive watch this
the crown of life oh i love that
the crown of life now we can go all
deep and go esther ecological with that
and make that about
you know i shall wear a crown one glass
you know
that’s wonderful ain’t nothing wrong
with it i love that that’s wonderful but
i think that there’s a crown
symbolizing your authority and your
kingship
that you can wear in life if you can
beat temptation
if you can endure it if you can
understand it let me tell i feel the
holy ghost
and some people you didn’t realize that
the temptation
was warfare you thought it was you
let’s look at it let’s go first let’s
look at it it says blessed is the man
who endures temptation for when he is
approved he will receive the crown of
life which the lord
has promised to those who love him
[Laughter]
so much there it says let no one say
when he is tempted i am tempted by god
for god cannot be tempted by evil nor
does he himself tempt anyone
but each one is tempted when he watch
this here we go
when he is drawn away by his own desires
and enticed okay let’s start right there
when he is drawn watch this drawn away
that’s really important too drawn away
when he is drawn away
by his own desires and entice so you
might think that’s why it feels like
it’s you
because it’s pulling on you it’s pulling
on desires and different things
but if it’s you then what’s drawing you
see when i start seeing temptation as
warfare
i look at temptation differently and i
recognize
that really what temptation is about
is not so much about what temptation is
drawing you into
but what we really ought to be more
concerned about is what temptation is
drawing you away from
oh god i feel the holy ghost because
ultimately it is a distraction
and and the negative one the evil one
the enemy of our soul
is very strategic with the timings of
temptation
and he wants to draw us out of
and into he wants to draw us out of
divine destiny moments because sometimes
you can be present
but not present a lot i feel the holy
ghost
you can be present but not present you
can be present
but you’re you’re you’re somewhere else
and so what i’ve learned
is pay attention to the timing of the
temptation attack
because it is a spiritual attack
and god is strategic okay okay wait wait
you’re trying to pull me into this let
me stand for a minute i’ll talk about
that
let me stand up for a minute and then
think wait wait what track was i
on when he tried to
distract distract me
where was i headed what was i thinking
what was i
feeling what was on my mind how was i
flowing what doors were open what did i
get excited about
and now i’m very very i’m telling you
and you so you have to be
you have to be a ninja and you have to
guard it you have to guard it you got to
guard it
and so it talks about being drawn away
but but as i mentioned temptation is
that is
designed to develop you yeah
it’s not against you if you work
temptation right it can work for you
let’s just talk practically
doesn’t it feel good when temptation
comes and you stand up to it
you walk out of things like yeah i beat
you i could have but i didn’t
i could have if i could have the average
per the old me woulda
and you just feel you don’t mean and
your chest is out and you like i beat
that thing it just it does
it does something to you right that
thing that thing used to always get you
and you weather it now you may have done
it by the skin of your teeth
but you beat it you don’t come up you
beat it and you’re like oh my god
i did it this it develops something
in you right you start trusting in
yourself
again and it fights against the negative
self-talk that comes your way
oh a lot of there’s a passage in
one of the epistles of john
where he talks about sometimes our heart
will condemn us
but but we can get to a place to where
our heart doesn’t condemn us anymore
and so so the gift of enduring
temptation is the consciousness of
integrity
and when you have a consciousness of
integrity your expectation and your
belief in what you can have
what you can do goes to a whole nother
level
hallelujah because i’m not being
condemned by myself
now the truth of the matter is the grace
of god even the grace of god
will sometimes position you in a way
that that you didn’t earn i’ll give you
that but but you got to work what you
got to help yourself
are you tracking with me yeah
no temptation temptation is one there’s
another i’m going to read this one and
we’ll move on to the second one
no temptation has overtaken you except
such as
is common to man but god is faithful who
will not allow you to be tempted beyond
what you are able but with the
temptation will also make the way
of escape that you may be able to bear
it that’s such a powerful truth
that means and you know when that lies
on you real strong and that lies saying
man i can’t i can’t i’m about to fall
i i i can’t i can’t withstand this thing
no with every temptation there’s a way
of escape if you were just you know
there’s a passage of there’s a there’s a
there’s a a greek word
that was translated self-control in some
of the epistles it’s a greek word
and in fact it’s in galatians 5 where it
talks about the fruit of the spirit and
one of the fruit of the spirit is this
word
self-control and if you look up that
greek word look at what this word means
it means inner dominion
oh hallelujah and that’s what we want to
get to being a spiritual ninja
is having inner dominion i feel it
well you’re not moved by negative or
positive
where you have inner dominion where
something comes at you and you’re no
longer impulsive
your impulsivity is is crushed it’s
quail because
because you you you have inner dominion
you recognize that the most valuable
part of you is not the outside version
of you
it’s wonderful to have six a six-pack
it’s wonderful to get your squat on
and have everything popping out and
everything and that’s that’s all
wonderful and
cool but but do you have inner dominion
can you keep your mouth closed
can you keep a secret can someone trust
you
with their secrets or are you just so
you just can’t wait they’re telling you
and you’re like you can keep it with me
you can keep that secret with me and you
cannot
wait to get on the phone and start
talking to somebody about what they just
shared with you
inner dominion in a dominion
i i i gotta be honest i’m working with
if i just might be transparent
i’m working with impulsivity because if
i love you
uh sometimes i will just not even think
about helping you and i will help you
and sometimes i will help you to my
detriment
and even the the the detriment of my
calling and my purpose that’s how crazy
i am i i’m a lover see lovers if i might
just digress for a second
lovers you have to be careful and and
and here’s the thing lovers are who god
uses
he needs that love in order to love
people through you
and and to get you to serve but
sometimes
your big heart will put you in tricky
situations
oh i feel the holy ghost can i just take
what time here just do this little yeah
sometimes it’ll put you in tricky
situations i’m thinking about king
solomon
and if you study king solomon’s life
king solomon
man he was the wisest ever
the wisest and the richest ever king
saul had it going on
he’s a dude that said god you know when
god said ask of me and i’ll give you
whatever you want he’s a dude
where where that said god just give me a
wise and understanding heart he didn’t
ask for money
he didn’t ask for the heads of his enemy
he didn’t ask for long life he asked any
of that
he was wise enough watch this to know to
ask for wisdom
so that he might lead his people that’s
what he wanted so this is i’m talking
about he had he had it together
and then later on you look at the end of
his days he loses
80 of the kingdom and it was because
watch this it was because he started
going after other gods but
people don’t realize that he didn’t go
after other gods what happened was
he had an affinity for women
he loved them the bible says that he
loved many strange women
it says and they turned his heart
towards other gods do you understand
what i’m saying
so it wasn’t that the other gods were so
alluring to him
no it was that he loved strange things
his big heart
the same heart that made him pray god
give me wisdom and understanding so i
can be a blessing to people
is the same heart that loved all those
women
and those women ultimately turned him
to what they loved so the issue was not
that he was a wicked man he wasn’t a
wicked man
his heart just got him in trouble
and so so what inner dominion does is is
you will learn how to catch yourself
real quick
because i’m telling you man i i’ll be
ready to do stuff like my baby’s like
you about to give
what to who i’m like no i just got and
then you know
then then wisdom will set in and then
i’m like that that would have been
stupid you know what i mean so so inner
dominion right
and it’s something that we all need and
one of the things that helps
us to develop inner dominion is to
master temptation are you tracking with
me so temptation temptation
temptation is the first level of
spiritual warfare many
probably didn’t know that temptation was
actually warfare yes it is
it didn’t start with you there’s
something on the other end some
entity that’s trying to draw you out of
your purpose
it’s trying to draw you outside of the
will of god and you got to
stand up to it and the bible says that
there’s a way
of escape and let me say this let me
just give you a little bit more
have a strategy for temptation
right you you’ve been you long enough to
know you
you know what i’m saying you you know
what you like and what
can get you and and what happens is
oftentimes is we
see the trouble and just keep on walking
right on into it
come on somebody let’s just keep it 100.
tell me you know
and then you wonder why you fell you
failed because you walked right into it
no no you got to have a strategy you see
because
listen you got to see it as it’s trying
to take me away from something it’s
trying to rob me of something
there’s loss in it somewhere so what’s
your strategy
i want you to think about that this is
homework
what’s your strategy for your common
temptation
because by the time it’s on you it’s too
late you gotta already know
right krav maga i already know what to
do if you swing on me
it’s i’ve already got it together if you
charge me with what i learned in judo i
already know what to do
i’m already there i have a strategy for
it
you come into my house i got a strategy
i already know
where i’m going to ship now i’m kidding
but you have to have a strategy a
strategy for temptation
right don’t let it just slip up on you
what am i gonna do
uh i’m gonna stay away from some things
but yeah but what if this comes what are
you gonna do
right you’re going to this place and you
know that she’s going to be there
can i just drive down your street for a
second you know he’s going to be there
you know they’re going to be there you
know it you just know it you did that
there
what are you going to do just walk right
oh hey
oh fancy seeing you here
and then oh uh uh that no here’s one you
got to watch out for
hey stranger come on somebody
when they start with hey stranger you
gotta turn around
about face all they should see is elbows
no no here’s another one hey stranger
and hey
you hey you it’s that you
it’s not the hay it’s not the hay
it’s to you because what does that
you mean right and what you are you
talking to
when you say hey you
have a strategy i need to move on i need
my wife here
to pull me out of here so the first
level
of temptation we’re going to get to
today the first level of temptation
the first level of warfare rather is
temptation
it’s temptation and we can beat it the
word says we can overcome it we know
that it’s not designed to develop you
that doesn’t mean that you go to the gym
of temptation well since the temptation
is trying to make me strong
go on put 40 pounds no no no no no no
it just so happens when you find
yourself in it
just know that the process of you
getting out of it
will develop your ability to withstand
it and consequently
be approved and i’m going to move on why
i have a chance
the second level of spiritual warfare
is oppression now we’re going to look at
four not today we’re only going to look
at two today
but the difference between that the two
are are are divided into two sections
one
has to do with what’s this external
spiritual warfare spiritual warfare
that is outside of you
but then the two more uh a progressive
advanced layers of spiritual warfare is
when that warfare actually gets in you
and we’re going to talk about that part
more next week but oppression
is still warfare that comes to you
but it’s outside of you but sometimes it
can put so much pressure on you
that you think the warfare is in you uh
let’s talk about real quick let’s go to
acts chapter 10
and verse 38 and it says uh
it talks about how god anointed jesus of
nazareth
with the holy spirit and with power who
went about
doing good and healing all who were
oppressed by the devil for god was
with him that word oppressed is really
interesting
um it it’s from two words and the idea
there it literally means
holding down by exercising
authority over okay holding down
by exercising authority over so
when you are experiencing spiritual
warfare or
the oppression level of spiritual
warfare
you will feel a heaviness sometimes a
fogginess
and even a depression right
and you don’t know where it came from
what’s going on
what’s happening but there is this
heaviness right and it’s because
the enemy as jesus is talking about is
holding trying to hold you down because
of your ignorance
trying to hold you down by
exercising authority over you
and this is why jesus matters this is
why jesus matters
you know and and we we just you know god
and we the universe
and all that’s wonderful everybody’s on
a journey trying to figure it out but
here is a difference between all of that
and jesus jesus is the one
that came to crush the authority
of the wicked one he is the one that
came to do that
that’s literally why he came there’s a
passage in in one of the epistles of
john where it says
that that that um that god it says for
this purpose
the son of god was manifest that he
might destroy
the works of the devil what are the
works of the devil
it is the authority that he temporarily
received
to oppress and so you’re trying to
positivity
your way out of it and wondering why it
only works for a moment but you have to
go back
and get high off positivity all over
again it’s because positivity
doesn’t break the yoke it’s wonderful to
be positive it’s awesome to be positive
but there are some things that you need
the power
of the risen savior to accomplish are
you tracking with me
that’s why it says that he anointed
jesus with the holy spirit
and with power who went about healing
all of those who
what who were being oppressed
having authority exercise over them
holding them down
and what it feels like is heaviness
fogginess and even depression
isaiah 61 and 3 gives us an insight on
what to do
he says and the context in isaiah 61
is it is isaiah prophesying about the
coming of jesus
jesus in fact in luke chapter 4 i
believe
will ultimately say as he
opens this the the tanakh the torah
the jewish bible in the temple as he
opens it up the prophets as he opens it
up
and he reads isaiah 61 where it says the
spirit of the lord
is upon me for he has anointed me to to
preach good tidings and to bind up the
brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to
the captives
he closes the book in the temple and
says this day this word is fulfilled in
other words he was saying
that i am the one who was promised and
prophesied to come
and set the captives free and in in
isaiah 61 and 3 which again
is part of that he says i will give the
garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness
the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness which
helps us to understand that the opposite
of heaviness is praise
and so if the opposite of heaviness is
praised as we start talking about
dealing
with the spiritual attack of oppression
praise is a huge part of it
oh i feel it and sometimes you got to
find the praise
there’s a passage that says that god
watched this it says that he enthrones
o king james says he inhabits but the
most accurate translation of the hebrew
word
is that god enthrones the praises of his
people
why does he enthrone praise he enthrones
praise
is because praise creates a throne it
puts
god in his relation it puts god
in his rightful place in our lives
that’s why one of the first things that
the enemy tries to attack when he
attacks you
is your praise he tries to take your
hallelujah out of your mouth
he tries to make your hallelujah based
on circumstances he tries to make your
hallelujah based on happenings he tries
to make your hallelujah
based on what’s going right for you
right this is what he tries to do and
that’s what the enemy so he tries to
knock you out he tries to hit you in the
mouth real quick so that you won’t
praise god but i dare you
the next time that you are feeling
oppressed i dare you to open
your mouth and say hallelujah anyhow i
dare you to open your mouth and say like
david said i will bless the lord at all
times and his praises
shall continuously be in my mouth praise
is a big part of it praise is not based
on your circumstance
praise is not based on your situation
praise is based on the never ending
unchangeable characteristic of the
sovereign god he changes not he will be
with you in every season and he is never
any less
god because of what you’re going through
if that’s your word if you receive that
say amen pt amen put it right there on
the beat
amen pt amen
amen pt no praise
is a big part of it now i wanna
i wanna tell you something because
sometimes i’m gonna be honest with you
praise is not enough praise is not
enough
all the religious people are saying
where you going with this pt
praise is not enough because sometimes
you need praise
and therapy oh
sometimes you need praise and and and
therapy
because sometimes god
will allow medicine to be used
as a tool watch this to get your
physical and your mental to cooperate
with what the spirit is doing ah
you gotta guess what i’m saying because
see where we made a mistake in the
church was we’re like
we just don’t trust jesus yeah we’re
going to trust jesus and call a
therapist
because remember the battle is in the
mind and then remember
our physical right these these the
our physical beings are not perfect they
were designed perfect
they were designed to be perfect but
they are no longer perfect and we don’t
get back to perfect
until we get our new bodies which means
that there could be
chemical watches imbalances
affecting how you process information
so i’ve got the truth but i can’t even
process the truth
because i need therapy and sometimes
maybe even medicine
see we think that science and god are
mutually exclusive no no no baby
they work hand in hand i say this all
the time
science is the study of the consistency
of god
when god chooses to remain consistent
which means that
science is finite but just because
it is finite does not mean it is
ineffective
you understand in other words i cannot i
cannot
rest on the period of science
because sometimes god moves beyond
science
science is the aggressive study of the
consistency of god
when he chooses to remain that’s all
science is studying is how did god put
that together
how did he do this how we don’t say it
we don’t call it that but that’s all it
is
you’re studying creation you’re studying
the inner working of things
right so so but what we’ve done is
we say oh well if i’m a believer then i
have to throw out science no you don’t
no you don’t because science is tracking
what god did
archaeology everything it’s tracking
what god did no matter what type of name
he put on
so sometimes i’m gonna tell you straight
out sometimes praise is not enough
and the church needs to understand this
i’m not saying that we put our trust in
medicine
i’m not saying that we put our trust in
therapy no we put our trust in god
and we utilize whatever tool god made
has made available to us
to get us to what we need
are you tracking with me so we’ve looked
at
the two levels of spiritual warfare
temptation
and oppression and i want to stop with
those two
we’re going to pick this up next week we
got four more we’ve dealt with
the external spiritual warfare but then
what happens when it
when the battle goes internal when
things
seep through the gates of your spirit
that’s a whole nother level
and i can’t wait to talk to you about it
i want to pray for you we’ve talked
about a lot today we’ve said
a lot of things we talked about
oppression
and i wonder if there’s anyone under the
sound of my voice right now
who has been harassed by the enemy
through temptation
um i see it so so clearly
that that temptation has been on you so
strong and you’re wondering like man
like
you know things are going good but man
this temptation is like
it’s like crazy like you know i can’t
you know
my life is in some ways better than it’s
ever been but if i’m honest man like
i’m nervous
i’m nervous about messing it all up
and i want you to know that it’s just a
test
and i want you to know that it’s not you
and i want you to know
that there is a way of escape and i want
you to know that there’s
victory in god
but you got to get a strategy and you
got to be honest
and you got to stop playing with fire
there’s a passage in proverbs that says
that the the wise person
sees the evil and hides himself
it says but the fool goes on and is
punished
you got to stop playing with it you got
to recognize that that it’s not about
what’s being presented
it’s about what you’re being drawn away
from it’s not about what you might
stumble into
it’s about what the enemy is trying to
trip you out
and you have to see it that way and you
have to see it as a purpose thing
they have to see it as a destiny thing
there are some things i’ll be honest
with you that i won’t do not because i
don’t want to do it
that’s fine there are parts of me that
want to do stuff that i shouldn’t do
but when i size it up in comparison to
my destiny
it becomes unattractive you would be
surprised that’s why you have to have a
vision so you have to
have the purpose of your life in front
of you often
because they’re things that are
attractive to you via temptation
that aren’t attractive when you see it
compared to your destiny
when you see it compared to the dreams
and and where you want to go
and in that little 20 minutes or two
hours or whatever it’s going to be
whatever it is your thing
at five seconds whatever it’s not worth
your destiny then
you take pride in growing yourself
internally i don’t want to be someone
that all you got to do
is dangle a carrot in front of me and
then i move i want to be stronger than
i’m better than that
i’m better than that all you got to do
is dangle the carrot and i’m there
no i’m i’m more i’m more valuable than
that
i’m not a piece of bread i’m i’m not a
piece of meat
and sometimes man i i can really go deep
with this but
but sometimes what’s underneath
your your vulnerability to temptation
is this this need to be accepted
just need to be accepted and god wants
to heal that too
so i’m going to pray for those who are
battling temptation i can tell you right
now i have spiritual sons right now
particularly in the area of sex that is
one of their greatest temptations i have
spiritual sons good looking guys
that are literally waiting on their
wives right now sexually
because of the impartation they receive
from me right
and they good luck and the reason why i
said good looking guys is because you
know some guys don’t have a lot of
options
and which is a blessing which is a
blessing to them it’s a blessing to them
but i’m talking about cats that got
options
i’m sorry everybody got an option
somewhere i
you know but i just want you to think
it’s not you know no
these cats are cats that can just you
know it is not a problem trust me
i’m sorry but they have inner dominion
so i’m gonna pray there also might be
some of you and you’re oppressed
and that makes me so mad just even
thinking about it
that the enemy would have the nerve
to take advantage of your ignorance
and your vulnerability and exercise
authority over you
and trying to hold you down and i sense
breakthrough is coming to you
it’s coming to you that’s why jesus came
he came to set the captives free and
what i want you to do
is i want you to start praising god when
that battle gets fierce
i want you to open your mouth and just
say hallelujah
and when the pain gets rough and you
just i just want you to just start
thanking god and just start praising him
and just watch this even when your
thoughts don’t feel it just start saying
god you are good
god you are merciful god you’re powerful
god you know the plans you have for me
they are
good and not evil plans to prosper me
and not to harm i just want you to just
open your mouth
and begin to praise god until everything
around you begins to change
and then if the spirit leads you and he
may seek out
someone to talk to if it’s not a
counselor seek out somebody
and the reality of it is eating for
temptation and all the things that we’re
going to talk about
we all need somebody
the bible says particularly relates to
warfare in ecclesiastes chapter 4 and 12
i believe
it says two are better than one if one
is overpowered
by another two can withstand him and a
threefold cord
is not quickly broken sometimes you need
your tribe in warfare
you need some people that that love you
and that are for you that you can be
honest and say hey i’m being tempted in
this way
people that won’t look at you funny when
you’re saying yo man i’m oppressed i’ve
been having crazy thoughts
and they won’t judge you and get away
from you but people who see you and
recognize
your potential and who you are let me
tell you something i don’t rock with
people who don’t know me
people might think that no no no my
circle is very small
because if you don’t see me then you
can’t feed me
[Music]
i don’t need you feeding me down here
because that’s not who i am
the world will feed me there but i only
have people around me that i
really let into my chambers that see me
for who i am
that talk to me at the level that i am
at
because i need to be fed in the highest
and truest version of who i am and if
you have one person and i believe
if you don’t have a person like that in
your life you pray and god will give you
that person
or those two it could one one will work
two is wonderful
because it creates that threefold chord
no that’s not you pt no
uh-uh i know you feel that way but no
that’s not you
i know they said that but no that’s not
you this is who you are
you got to get you have to put mirrors
around you
your friends should be mirrors that
reflect to you
who you truly are are you tracking with
me
so i want to pray i want to pray for
those who
have been battling temptation i want to
pray for those who’ve been battling
oppression
and i believe that breakthrough is
coming
i’m so glad that you got this message
i’m so glad that you’re hearing this and
we’re going to continue next week we’re
going to fight
we’re going to fight teach your hands to
war
and your fingers to fight you’re getting
ready to be
spiritual warriors
not in a weird way but just
in case the enemy tries to jump off
he’s going to jump back down because you
get it
so father we thank you so much
hallelujah
for this conversation and i thank
you god that this is more than just
words but you’re equipping
and you’re giving tools and you’re
giving strategy and you’re giving wisdom
hallelujah
you’re giving insight you’re giving
knowledge thank you lord
and you’re giving victory hallelujah and
there are some who have been overtaken
by temptation and they have been
missing it and slipping and been
distracted and then
the wicked one who is the very one who
distracts him comes back around the
corner with an accusation
you you tip me and then accuse me when i
do what you tempted me to do we’re
severing ties
and i thank you god that strength is
coming to your sons and daughters right
now hallelujah
just put it in the chat right there just
i receive strength i receive strength
i thank you god that there’s an
anointing in christ
to have inner dominion thank you lord
that way of escape god i thank you that
where there
was once that way of escape was just a
dull light
i pray in the name of jesus that you’re
going to begin to show and reveal
the way of escape whenever temptation
comes and god i thank you that you’re
giving strategy to your sons and
daughters
who continue to fall in the same way god
you’re giving them strategy and even
right now
god we’re imparting strength by the
spirit of god
inner dominion i pray it right now by
the spirit
inner dominion and father for those who
are being oppressed
you said one of the very reasons why
jesus came
was to set the captives free to give the
garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness
so father i’m praying right now for
those that are under the sound of my
voice that first and foremost
that they will receive you because when
they receive you
they will receive the work that you came
to do hallelujah
you’re going to untangle them you’re
going to break the yoke that’s what the
anointing does
you’re going to open blind eyes you’re
going to give praise for heaviness
and so if you’re right now if you’re
saying you’re talking to me and
and i need to receive jesus and i was
positive and that
that was wonderful but i recognize if i
am honest
i had to keep on getting my fix of
positivity because i didn’t get real
breakthrough i got
momentary emotional breakthrough but i
didn’t get
deep soul level breakthrough and you say
pt you’re talking to me
and i’m ready to receive jesus i just
want you to put it right there in the
chat
i received jesus not just my savior
not just my healer but the one who
teaches my hands to war
and my fingers to fight the one who
gives me victory put it right there in
the feed
i receive jesus today come on put it
right there
i receive him today
hallelujah god i just thank you for
these precious moments
you’ve allowed me to have with your
children and i thank you god that this
work
is sealed it’s settled
hallelujah redemption is here
restoration is here inner
dominion is here
victory is here it’s why you came
[Music]
thank you god thank you for moving we
receive it
in jesus name amen
amen family i love you
i’m for you i got you
we got you and most importantly
the heavenly father
[Music]
every day not just on father’s day
it’s father’s day every day when you
make god your father
it’s got you it’s for you i cannot wait
for us to go further next week i love
you
put this into practice it works