Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Well, it has been, uh, awesome to sing those songs. All of those dealt with a singular theme. And that is to do with our message this morning about the spiritual war that we're in. I've had a lot of input, uh, feedback, feedback from this series. And I have to say that I'm grateful for all of your feedback. Some of you have had further questions regarding the subjects that we've covered, and I guarantee you probably will from here forward, there is a lot of this conversation in scripture, and so we're not going to be able to cover everything on Sunday mornings. And so we have a, we have a Q and a that follows up with this each week. So you can jump online on VC, digital village, church, digital, and you can download all of the information that, uh, that you need on. You can watch, uh, sermons from the past.
Speaker 0 00:00:50 You can get a sermon Q and A's, uh, that are on there as well. Some of the questions that we're going to be covering this week, by the way, in our sermon, Q and A's are, does Satan know that he will lose? Why does he fight so hard if he knows he's going to lose, uh, another one is what are the various kinds of demons? Uh, and so if that interests you, these are things we just don't have time to cover on a Sunday morning. Uh, but those are all covered on village church digital. So jump online. If you'd like to get regular updates on what's being uploaded there on a regular basis, you can join our newsletter church, east newsletter, click in there, there's a button, and it will be automatically downloaded to your, uh, your device, whatever your device of choice is. Last week, we talked about the origins of the battle, where, where the devil came from.
Speaker 0 00:01:37 We talked about the fact that we were born on a battlefield. We just didn't know it. Every one of us is born on this battlefield. Jesus came onto a battlefield and did battle with Satan, his entire, his entire life. And finally, on the cross, when it looked like he lost, he won the greatest victory. Ever. Demons are a regular conversation in scripture. In fact, Jesus addresses or talks addresses, uh, about demons are talks to demons, 55 times in the gospels. That's a lot. Uh, he also gives his disciples authority over demons. He's casting out demons, they're casting out demons. This is a regular occurrence in the gospels. He might say, well, why is it so big back then? And not so big these days, we're going to talk about that as time goes on. But the bottom line is the bottom line is, um, Satan will converge wherever the battle rages the most.
Speaker 0 00:02:34 And so if, uh, the son of God is on the planet, my guess is he's going to converge there. The most, all of this has to do with if Jesus has casting out demons and they don't have a choice. If the disciples are casting, who has the power here who has power over demons, what's the authority structure in the angelic realm. And that's what we're going to be talking about today. Who's really in control of this realm. So we're going to talk about the rules of engagement this morning. We're going to talk about three questions. What power does the spiritual realm really have? Number two, what limitations does the spiritual realm really have? And number three, what power do I have in the spiritual war? And I want to do something unique today. I want to take you to an old Testament story about a guy that you've heard about before.
Speaker 0 00:03:23 His name is Daniel, and we're going to walk through a, an incident in his life where he is actually sent a messenger, an angel from God. And he's told some things about the angelic realm, kind of, uh, kind of in the background by having a conversation with this angel. Let me give you a little bit of background. Uh, so far Daniel, when you read the book of Daniel, you have to understand Babylon is in charge. Babylon has conquered Jerusalem. They have taken the Israelites across the desert, into the Irene area. We call Iran today and they have set up shop in this place called Babylon Babylon. Ancient Babylon is in the suburbs of, of, um, um, of Afghanistan these days. So, uh, if you're interested in, in knowing about this history, Nebuchadnezzar is the king at the time and never can Nassar, uh, has brought these Jews in and treated them as slaves.
Speaker 0 00:04:21 They're so often treated as slaves and never can Nesser, uh, likes Daniel. So the, that what they did is they killed all the old people. So all of us, older people, we would be, you know, riding in the desert, uh, but they brought the young people in to brainwash them and make them subjects of Babylon, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. All these guys were brought in as young children and brainwashed to be Babylonians. Daniel was loved by Nebuchadnezzar. You can read the story in Daniel. It's quite fascinating actually. But while Nebuchadnezzar is in charge, he gets a little cocky. He ends up getting thrown down in conquered by another group. And this group is called Persia.
Speaker 0 00:05:04 Persia comes in and takes over, uh, Babylon. Now Babylon's foreign policy was they would take everybody that they conquered, bring them to Babylon and make a huge city, just make a mega city full of people that would basically rule the world. When Cyrus king of Persia came in and conquered, uh, Babylon Cyrus's Persia's policy, foreign policy was different. They would conquer areas and then they would choose Kings that they could control, send them back to those areas and use them as puppet king so that they could basically rule the world from Babylon one location, but they would have these cities where they would generate revenue from people who are working the land. It was a brilliant move because you can only suck so much of the land in Babylon. So Cyrus changed the plan and had a foreign policy where he sent conquered people home to get revenue for Babylon.
Speaker 0 00:06:09 Now, when Cyrus came to power, he saw all of these slaves, all of these Jewish slaves, and he thought to himself, you know, we can't suck the land dry anymore. So let's send these guys home. So they sent what we call a remnant of Jews home, and they walked across the desert back to Jerusalem and they saw what Babylon had left absolute destruction. What never can Nesser had done to their land. And they begin to rebuild. Now, this is where the story of the old Testament leaves us. It leaves us with people like Nehemiah, building the wall as rhe finding the book of God, reading it for the people, then weeping, they're trying to face, face the enemies that are trying to take them down the entire time that they're there. But, but, uh, uh, these Israelites had a really tough time rebuilding their city and their nation that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians had destroyed.
Speaker 0 00:07:03 But now that Persia has let them go home, they're trying to make it. They have been doing this for two years. By the time we get to Daniel chapter nine and in Daniel chapter nine, Daniel has an incredibly distressing nightmare. He has a vision that his people are persecuted in incredible ways. He thinks to himself that this persecution is having is happening. Now, all of these Israelites that have gone home for facing enemies from every angle that are trying to destroy them and take what they have. He believes that this is happening now. Any is no way because Twitter's not up and running yet, and Facebook's not functioning. He has no way of knowing what's actually going on. And so there's messengers coming back and forth and he's distressed because he believes something is about to occur. That will wipe the Jews off the face of the earth.
Speaker 0 00:07:58 Now, what we know about that vision now is this actually would happen hundreds of years into the future and her man called Antiochus Epiphanes. If you've heard that name, you probably will have nightmares. It's one of the most evil men that ever walked the planet. He's the one that went into the temple of Israel. And, uh, once they did rebuild this makeshift temple before Herod built, rebuilt the temple for them under Rome, they built a makeshift temple, and he went in there, sliced a pig's throat and, and desecrated the temple through blood all over the walls. Uh, it was said that he was so ticked off one day on his way home because he had some political problems, uh, that he ended up sacrificing crucifying 14,000 Jews in one day, just because he was just ticked off with them. He didn't want to be there and they didn't want him there.
Speaker 0 00:08:44 And tag us Tiffany's was a terrible individual. Daniel gets a vision of what's to come, but he thinks it's happening now. And he's distressed. In fact, he's so distressed that has gone without food and water for three weeks. He's absolutely beside himself. Daniel thinks this is the end times. It can't get worse. And in verse nine and 26, right before we get to chapter 10 there's words, like the enemy will come in like a flood. There will be a great war. The temple in the city will fall and the temple will be mocked and desecrated. He here, he sees the vision of this and he is distraught. And so we pick up the story in 10 and verse two. Here's what it says. You're going to love this. In those days, I, Daniel was mourning for three weeks. I know delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth.
Speaker 0 00:09:35 Neither did I anoint myself at all for the full three weeks, no eating, no bathing for three weeks. Daniel's kind of guy. You want to have over for a tailgate at this point. He, uh, he's, he's in a mess. He's absolutely distraught because he is in emotional pain. So my question to you is this, have you ever felt like this kind of oppressive emotional pain? Probably a lot of you have, but in Daniel's day, you would have to multiply that because he finally thinks now under Cyrus, all these Jewish people are going home. And by the way, the Kings, all these Kings love Darious Cyrus. Now, as all loved Daniel, it's amazing to me, the kind of the kind of guy Daniel was, he just did his job as a slave and all the Kings loved him. And he has the ear of the king and he hears that these people are going home, but that's all he knows.
Speaker 0 00:10:27 And he's distraught because now he thinks they're all going to be destroyed. Verse eight. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, the vision of destruction, the vision of hundreds of years into the future, which he didn't understand. He thought it was today, saw this great vision and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance. I love this. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed. Um, I know most of you probably describe yourself that way as well. My radio appearance was fearfully changed and I retained no strength, Daniel, however, believed in prayer. How do you know that Daniel believed in prayer? Come on now. Think way back. How do you know Daniel believed in prayer? Yeah. Daniel in the lion's den. That's right. There's a big story. We know about Daniel that happened in chapter six. Daniel knew that if he prayed, God would do amazing things.
Speaker 0 00:11:18 In fact, in the lion situation, you may not know this, but God actually didn't just shut the lion's mouth. God sent an angel. I think Daniel saw an angel, this kind of cramping, the mows down to these lights. He was looking into this spiritual realm, realizing that when he prayed God boost his angels. So he's now thinking to himself, I've been praying seriously heavily for three weeks. Where's the angels. Where's the answer from God in Daniel 6 22, just to let you know, my God sent an angel and shut the lion's mouth and they have not harmed me. Daniel knew if he prayed for something in this physical world, something in the spiritual world would be moved in amazing ways. Angels would show up. And I got to think to myself that at this point in Daniel's life, he's probably thinking to himself, God, why is this taking so long? I got a serious stick coming off of me at this point. I need to know that you're actually moving. Where's the angels what's happening? Why aren't you saving your people? Why did you give me this vision?
Speaker 0 00:12:23 And finally, Daniel does give him an angelic visitor. And when this visitor comes to Daniel, once again, he gets an angelic visitor. We are given a very unique glimpse into what's been happening in the spiritual realm. It's in verse 10, listen to this. And behold a hand touched me and sent me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, oh, Daniel man, greatly loved. Understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright for. Now. I have been sent to you. And when he's spoken this word to me, I stood up, but I was trembling. The first thing I want you to see here is when God sends this angel to Daniel, to, to comfort him, to inform him, to educate him on what's actually happening. The first thing the angel says to Daniel is you are a man. God greatly loves. Isn't that incredible? When you like an angel of God to inform you of that, Hey, listen, I've been sent to you because you got to know everybody up there really loves you.
Speaker 0 00:13:38 People ask me in the series, why are there battles in the spiritual realm? Do you know why there's battles in the spiritual realm? Because God loves us too much to let us go sin as destroying this world. And if you don't know that, try the news, just turn it on for a second. Sin has got this world in a stranglehold and probably you and the ones you love are in that hold in some way or another. And God loves you too much to let you go. That's why the battle rages the battle rages for the souls of humankind. God will fight for you because of his love for you. God will send his angels to fight for you because of his love for you. Just like he saved you. He has more to save from being on the wrong side. You are not the only one that God has a mission for.
Speaker 0 00:14:31 You are not the only one that God loves. There are others out there that need to come into this, fold into the knowledge of Christ. And those are the people that he still fights for. You know this because John 3 16, 1 of our favorite verses says this very clearly for God. So loved who church for God. So loved the world that he gave. His only son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Verse 17 is key for God did not send in his son into the world to condemn the world. See, that's the, that's the problem. We think that Jesus is a very judgmental individual. No, no, no, no. He didn't come into the world to condemn the world because the world was already condemned. He came into the world that in order that the world might be saved through him, we just don't realize we were born on the wrong side.
Speaker 0 00:15:23 God sent his son behind enemy lines to die for you because he loves you. It was the only way to get you to the other side. Otherwise we would live our lives in total oblivion, finding for the wrong side. And as we do, as we cross over to the other side, we need to be aware that there is a spiritual battle that continues to rage in part because God loves the world. And it's up to us to reach out in his love, to show them his love, to pull them across. God loves people and he loves to see them redeem that as the only reason the spiritual war continues. You want to know one of my favorite verses on this second, Peter three nine, listen to this. It's very, very plain. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but he is what church, but he is patient toward you.
Speaker 0 00:16:16 Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. You see, God invites us to participate with him in the battle that is raging for the souls of humankind. And if you've got somebody on your list that you're thinking to yourself, this person really needs Jesus. You need to make this a matter of prayer every day. You need to picture that face in your mind every day, because there is a spiritual war. They don't know they're on the wrong side. And we've got to pray that God will move in their hearts and pull them across. It's a spiritual battle and prayers. The thing that makes God move that crazy. My physical prayer, God spiritually hears. And then God will move physically to answer that spiritual prayer. Here's what happened to Daniel. Then he said to me in verse 12, fear, not Daniel from, from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words, what does he say?
Speaker 0 00:17:16 Church? Your words have been heard and I have come. Why? Because of your words and that crazy if den. So let me ask the question. If Daniel had not have prayed with the angel of showed up, isn't that crazy? Your prayers move, gone to action. I can't explain that because God is way more powerful than I am. He knows what's coming. He knows what I'm doing. I mean, he's all knowing. And yet I know there's a truth here that this angel came because Daniel needed help. God answered his prayer because of Daniel's prayer. So this is the second thing Daniel was heard from his very first prayer. From the first day, you set your heart to understand and humble yourself before God. Your words have been heard. Daniel was heard in the spiritual realm from, from his very first prayer. His humility is seen through his prayers.
Speaker 0 00:18:14 You want to know how Daniel prayed? You can look it up in Daniel nine. He prays a prayer and we're given the exact word that he prays. Here's what he says in Daniel nine while I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel and presenting my plea before the Lord. My God is not interesting. You can see what Daniel includes in his prayer. It's it's right there. While I was praying, I was confessing my sin and the sins of my people. Do you get the idea that Daniel thought he was ordering God around? No. What do I see here? Humility, honesty, vulnerability, transparency. This is how we approach God in prayer. Daniel needed help, but he didn't come to God demanding anything from God. He came to an humility and transparency and vulnerability, not making demands of God, but through prayer, simply trying to understand God, what are you doing? Help me understand. I am limited in my capacity to understand and comprehend what you're actually doing this work. So will you please give me something to help me understand? And that is the prayer that God answered gave him an angel. And the angel explained to him, this vision is not happening now is real, is still safe, but this is coming in the future.
Speaker 0 00:19:29 And God heard his prayer and responded to Daniel's heart. Boy, I would like to prayer, pray with a Daniel's heart. When you, when do you like to pray with it? Uh, not just get the results of a Daniel prayer, but to pray with a Daniel heart, like a transparency of vulnerability. We have a tendency when we pray to kind of hide stuff from God who, by the way knows everything and who, by the way is all present, who by the way you can't hide from, but we have a tendency to pray and to almost make those prayers like a, a rote thing or something that we just crank off before we eat dinner. When in reality, we are engaging the spiritual realm with every pray, that prayer that we pray, and God does amazing things through those prayers. There's one verse in James that says, if you're sick, you can call on the elders of the church because the, and you, you will be healed because of the prayers of a righteous person avail much.
Speaker 0 00:20:33 Listen to this, confess your sins to one another. Pray for one another, that you may be healed the prayer, read it with me because it's so good. Would you read it with me? The prayer of a righteous person has great power in it's working a lot of us underestimate prayer. A lot of us don't feel comfortable. Praying. You got to understand prayer is the way you engage the spiritual realm. And if you believe you're in a spiritual war prayers, the thing we should run to more than ever. Number three thing I notice here is this angel revealed to Daniel and authority structure in the angelic realm. This wasn't his main purpose. But in speaking with Daniel, he reveals to Daniel that there's an authority structure going on. And this angel was prevented from doing what he needed to do because this authority structure was being challenged.
Speaker 0 00:21:34 Daniel knew that there was an authority structure, but even more so now he knew in the, in the spiritual realm, Daniel wouldn't give up prayer because he knew the authority structure. Who's an absolute charge goddess. So Daniel prayed constantly. So he knew there was an authority structure and God was in charge, but he didn't know that under God, there was a, what do you call it? A org chart of the important ways that angels report to one another. First of all, we need to understand, ultimately, God is in charge. God could overcome the evil one. God could overcome. Uh, the, the lions in the, in the lion's den, God has angels at his bidding and they were supposed to do whatever he wanted to. Daniel knew this because he's experienced it. And when Daniel prayed, some of those angels could do some serious damage. Listen, Daniel was one of the most powerful people on the planet.
Speaker 0 00:22:28 He had the ear of the king, the king trusted him, which is amazing because Daniel worked closely with never <inaudible> the king before him. And somehow each king was like, oh yeah, Daniel. I really liked him. Even though he worked with the other to the other side, but God gave him favor with all of these Kings. Daniel had the ear, the Daniel could ask anything of this king, but you know who Daniel asked more from more often. God, why? Because he knew this king was physical. This king was limited. This king may not be here tomorrow, but God always is always as a powerful one. Daniel knew who was really in charge and Daniel knew his link to that power was prayer. Is there any wonder why Daniel wouldn't give a prayer, but we'd go to his death first. Do you ever consider that, you know the story of Daniel and lion's den, right?
Speaker 0 00:23:24 Daniel would pray from his window three times a day and everybody would see him. They walk along gone yet. There's Daniel again must be 10 o'clock Daniel's up there praying. And everybody would see him. He did this every day, religiously. And then those who wanted to take his authority away because some people don't like other people being more important than they are. There. There's a group of people that wanted to take his authority away. They wanted to be the King's best friend. So they said, king, you should be the most important person here. And the king said, yes, I should. And so they said, why don't we make a rule? You're at the top of the chain of authority. And anybody can have any gods under that. But you're at the top. And Daniel said, not won't do it. I got to pray to the main authority.
Speaker 0 00:24:07 And so Daniel prayed continually three times a day. That's how he got in trouble. And these evil guys, they went to the king and they said, king, we got ya. You know that guy, you really liked Daniel. He keeps praying. He keeps praying to somebody that he thinks is more important than you and the king said, God, God, I got to throw him in this lion's den. I got to follow the law. I wrote the law down. So he throws Daniel in the lion's den. Daniel prays lines. Don't bug bug them. Can you imagine being in that in a den, not just one line, like a den of lions, plural stayed there all night. I wonder if he slept on them.
Speaker 0 00:24:49 And then in the morning, the king came because he, he fretted all night that he lost a friend. He came in the morning and he said, Daniel, are you okay? Like who in their right mind would even ask such a thing? He said, Daniel, are you okay? And Daniel said, that's where we read his prayer. An angel was sent last night, shut the lion's mouth. I'm good to go. King brought him out. You know, who he put in the, in the lion's den instead of Daniel, all the guys that tricked him into making the law. Don't you love justice them in their families. And then the lions were hungry.
Speaker 0 00:25:25 I'm getting the picture that Daniel is pretty committed to prayer. Aren't you to the point where he would rather die than live without praying. I find that interesting because we have a tendency to pray so little in our lives authority. One, God is in control and he wouldn't talk to the king. First. He talked to God, first authority. Number two, angels angels are in this, this, this org chart. And here's where they come in. Verse 13, the prince of the kingdom of Persia. This is the angel talking to Daniel. Now the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for how many days, church, how many weeks is 21 days? How many days has Daniel been in absolute despair, 21 days. But Michael, one of the chief priests princes came to help me for, I was left there with the Kings of Persia. This is a very short line, but tells us an awful lot.
Speaker 0 00:26:28 This is our unique window into the spiritual realm. Like few other places in scripture. Remember last week, the spiritual realm has to operate under a set of authority. And if they, if they break that authority structure, they get into, into trouble. They have to operate within this authority structure. Even the devil has to ask God's permission to touch job. Even the devil is underneath God. This is by the way, if you're wondering, why did Jesus have the ability to cast out demons? This is why Jesus is at the top of the list, mark 1 27. And they were all amazed in Jesus' time so that they questioned among themselves saying, what is this? A new teaching with authority? Jesus commands. Even the unclean spirits. And they obey him. Why? Because Jesus has God incarnate at the top of the list. Demons have to listen to God.
Speaker 0 00:27:17 This is the org chart. This is why demons had to bow to the authority of Jesus. Without question, no demon argued with Jesus. Some demons challenged the authority structure way early on and paid the price. We talked about this last week, Jude six, the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling. God has kept them in internal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. You know what that's saying? Some of these angels broke authority structures, and God had it. They were, they were evil beyond belief in God, put them in hell, cause that's what hell was created for the devil and his angels. They're there. Now they're the top of the most rebellious, but even the devil was not put in chains of gloomy darkness. He listened to the authority and pays attention to the authority structure.
Speaker 0 00:28:05 I want you to see something here. See the prince of the, uh, the prince of the kingdom of Persia. Uh, back in verse 13, the prince of the kingdom of Persia was stood me for 21 days. This is not Cyrus. Cyrus is the king. The prince is a word for authority. It doesn't mean that he's under the king. It doesn't mean that he's above the king. The prince, sometimes it means the most powerful being that there is. And in this case, this is true. The prince of the kingdom of Persia, not the king, not Cyrus, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia with stood this angel for 21 days. You know why that tells me there's an angel that is whispering into Cyrus's ear and he doesn't even know it. There's an authority over Cyrus that he listens to regularly that is calling the shots, changing society, changing his views on life.
Speaker 0 00:28:59 This prince is a demonic being. It's a ruler, that's over Cyrus and probably the most powerful on the planet at the time. This is likely Satan. Why would I say that? Because Satan is referred to as a prince Ephesians two, two, once in, once you also walked following the course of this world, following who church, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit at now work in the sons of disobedience. This prince was probably the devil using Cyrus as his puppet. This prince, this angelic prince withstood, the messenger of God kept him from delivering God's for 21 days. When did God send his messenger? As soon as Daniel prayed, how long did it take him to get there? 21 days? What was he doing during those 21 days fighting with this angelic prince until, until he had rescued Michael, one of the chief princes. This is a princess of God, one to one of the org chart structure. Michael, we call the Archangel. He's mentioned in scripture as the Archangel, Michael shows up fights against this demon that is influencing the king and holding back the angelic messenger. Michael shows up fights against him. And after 21 days, the messenger is released to bring the message of God to Daniel.
Speaker 0 00:30:25 Interestingly enough, the angel that brought the message to Daniel was not as powerful as the angel that was keeping him from bringing the message he needed help. So he calls on Michael, the Archangel who is higher up in the org chart. Michael shows up, shows up the battle is won and the messenger is really stout. I don't know what kind of battle went on. I don't know if there's swords flying around. I don't know if people are beaten or angels are beaten on one another. I don't know what's going on. It's interesting when you read about how they fight and how, how they fight in the spiritual realm, the word there is argue. So it's almost like a, a debate between lawyers. I don't know exactly how it goes. I do know this demons don't die. They, they, they are sending to hell where they're kept for eternity.
Speaker 0 00:31:11 They don't die. So there's something that happens that they understand they're beaten. And there is a Victor. And in this case, Michael was the Victor. He was, the messenger was not strong enough. The messenger that God sent, the angel that God sent verse 14 finishes by saying, and it came. And I came to make you understand what has happened to your people in the latter days for the vision is for days to come, he tells Daniel, don't worry. This is for way in the future. Right now, your people are safe. I find it interesting that it says I was hindered for three weeks for getting this message to you. And in the entire time, Daniel is suffering. This angel needed help. He needed Michael's help more authority than he had. And by the way, Michael versus Satan, wasn't the first time this has happened. We have another story in Jude that tells us about a time when Michael and Satan fought over the body of Moses were informed of this, not in the book of Exodus, but when we get to the second last book of the Bible, we're given a little window into what actually had what happened when Moses died way back in the book of Exodus.
Speaker 0 00:32:18 Here's what it says. When the Archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses. He did not presume to pronounce a blast from his judgment, but said the Lord rebuke you. So who did Michael call on whose authority did Michael call on Michael? The Archangel call on to rebuke the devil who's authority? Yeah, Jesus Christ. They're following the org chart.
Speaker 0 00:32:47 Verse 13 says in completeness, the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for 21 days, but Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me for, I is left there with the Kings of Persia. So now I have to ask like, who are the Kings of Persia? Because there's only one king of Persia. And that Cyrus, the great, who is this talking about? I think this is talking about all of the little Kings that help the, the prince in the spiritual realm. Daniel is given a window and we are through him into what's happening in the spiritual realm. This is not a fairy tale that we read about. This is not like, okay, God needs some pages to fill in the book of Daniel. This has given to us so that we have an understanding. There is a battle being fought in the spiritual realm.
Speaker 0 00:33:27 We don't see, but it's very real. There's an org chart. The angels have to follow the demons, have to obey it. Even the devil has so bad and God is at the top of the org chart, a spiritual demonic being restored, another spiritual angelic being. And now Daniel knows the truth. And I have to think to myself, guys, I have to think to myself, Daniel May have suspected this. He must have looked at these Kings and thought to himself, these guys are complete morons. Nobody can think like this. How can somebody do that to somebody else? Don't you think about that? When sometimes how can somebody think like this? Daniel had to suspect that these Kings were being, that these demons were using these Kings as marionettes. And now he knows that's true. Listen, Kings and rulers may think that they're calling the shots, but God, God shows us the truth.
Speaker 0 00:34:27 And the truth is demons. And the angelic realm, the demonic realm of this spiritual realm has their sights set on authorities of this world. And if you're thinking to yourself, you know, I'm kind of seeing some new ways of looking at the rulers in this world today, you would be correct. Can you explain to me how somebody like Kim Jong UHIN can kill his own family and not think twice about it? There's something seriously wrong with that. That's not human and other rulers like that. And you're seeing it today. How can somebody slice off the head of somebody else? There's something seriously demonic about that. There's no religion that you can look at and say, yeah, that sounds right.
Speaker 0 00:35:14 These Kings and these rulers may think that they're calling the shots, but we understand from this passage and others like it, that the rulers of this world are not, who are not following Jesus Christ are under demonic influence. Let me read to you a very powerful passage of scripture. We're going to get to next week. It's in Ephesians six, 12 church. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Whereas flesh and blood or spiritual realm, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood in the physical realm, but we wrestle against rulers authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. We may think we're wrestling against this individual, but there are spiritual forces upon this individual. We don't even know about their goal is to get all the physical rulers structures, society, these kingdoms, to join them in their mission to rebel against the authority of God. That's the whole game. That's the whole book of life. The whole book of life is who's going to be on God's side and who's going to be on the side against God.
Speaker 0 00:36:23 The whole mission of this demonic realm is to pull this world back into chaos and rebellion against the greatest authority that there is. If this demon can prevent an angel of God from delivering the message of God, how powerful do you think the angelic, the demonic realm really is this angel couldn't overcome him. The message is don't worry. The vision will for years to come, Israel is protected. Your prayers have been answered. Don't believe the lies. This is a message, but this demonic realm, this demo, this demon in the spiritual realm was able to prevent the message from coming to Daniel. And he was crushed for 21 days. Here's the point? The demonic realm is always looking to wield power over those who are willing to give them that authority. You might want to write that down. That's a good one. To remember the demonic realm is always looking to wield power over those who are willing to give them the authority, the demonic realm, not only wields authority over the world, rulers, but over you as well fights for your soul fights for your children. Fights for your friends, say never sleeps. He wanders around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
Speaker 0 00:37:49 It's constant through scripture. Moses battled him. When he battled the magicians who were able to replicate the magic of God, the miracles of God in the demonic realm, they were able to replicate those same miracles. Moses faced demonic, influence Elijah taking on the profits of bail. They were cutting themselves, hoping that their God, their idol, their demonic idle would send fire down from heaven. And I bet you, it would have happened, but I bet you in the spiritual realm, angels were holding them back. And when Elijah stood up in the hall of his godly confidence, cause he knew, he knew it was at the top of the org chart. He stood up there. He said, okay, why'd you guys take a break? You're look like you're getting a little tired, lost some blood hair. Just take, take a little break. I want to call on God. And I'm so sure of it. Let's let's, let's wet this thing down seven times. So they came and they wedded it down seven to, I mean, it was dripping with water. Then, then Elijah said, God, so that everybody Wayne May know that you are the greatest power. Would you burn this sucker up? And God sent fire down and burned everything, including the water and the rocks.
Speaker 0 00:38:56 And then angelic situation. Listen, the moment you yield authority to something else, it will take it from you as fast as possible. This is why we keep our friends and our children away from Weegee board, psychedelic drugs, satanic worship chants, crystal balls, you open the door to something. It will gladly come in. And one weight you yield that authority. Something we'll take the spot. When you engage the spiritual realm and calling on the, on the authority to that, that would undermine God's authority. You open a door that becomes very difficult to shut. We see it in the garden, Adam and Eve yielded their authority. Adam gave up the authority to Eve Eve gave up the authority to the serpent and the devil filled the world. Anytime we yield authority, something is willing to take it away. I'm here. Do you guys like Lord of the rings?
Speaker 0 00:39:56 I'm reminded of Wormtongue. Do you know where in tongue you remember this guy? He was, uh, one of the Kings of the ancient cities thought he was in control and he had this confidant that stood by his side called Wormtongue. And when he was a ruler, when he was a king, he was strong. He was big. He was monstrous individual and he was wheeled in authority left and right, but then he invited this in this character called wormwood to be as right-hand man. And over time with a fork tongue, he led this king to make decisions that were evil and wrong. And over time, the king became evil and ruled mercilessly and Gandalf shows up and he sees what's going on. And the king is dragged of his power. His face has turned ashen. If you remember the scene and Gandalf looks at, at wormwood and calls him out and says, what's really going on.
Speaker 0 00:40:50 This is, this is the point over time, the king listened to this person, trusted. The person gave up his authority to this person. And over time, the king became a shell of an individual. You open the door, you give up the authority that God has in your life. Something will gladly take it. But here's the good news. We, as Christians are given a level of authority that overcomes all other authority, save gods. It begins when we ask God to get these blinders off us, it begins with us realizing that we're born on a battlefield and we must yield to the great authority of God who loves us. It begins us giving up our authority to his authority, to properly submit to what he wants. Just like Daniel did in his prayer. It begins with us saying, okay, I realize I'm on a spiritual battlefield. Take those blinders off.
Speaker 0 00:41:45 And God you take control of my life. That's where it begins. But we do garden stuff all the time. We believe Satan's lie and we believe Satan has more authority than he does. And so we just give him more authority and more authority and more authority. And then we looked at our lives and we think to ourselves, how in the world did I get to this spot? You gave up land. You gave up ground. If you give that ground to Jesus, he gives it back. Christians have a power that they don't understand. Why does Satan keep fighting? Saint knows he can't be be God, but he knows. He can be like God. And you know how he's like God, by convincing you to worship him by convincing you he's got authority that only God has Satan's ploy is to give you a ground. Give you, get you to give up ground piece by piece.
Speaker 0 00:42:36 But I want to remind you, Christian, if you resist the devil, he has to flee. He has to that's the authority structure. You are more than conquerors because that's the authority structure. You are given the authority through Jesus Christ to even overcome antichrist. Did you know that when the antichrist shows up, it's like, oh, is scared to death of the antichrist. You have authority over the end in Christ. It's in first John four, verse three, every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. Get it spirit. This is the spiritual realm. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. If you're listening to somebody and they're saying, no, Jesus is not God. You're listening to a spirit. That is not God's. That person is under a spiritual oppression in some way where they're believing a lie. This is the spirit of the antichrist. John says, whoa, which you heard was coming and is now in the world already little children. You are from God and have overcome them for greater rah. Read it with me. Cause it's so good, right? For greater is he who is in you than he who's in the world that great don't give up ground.
Speaker 0 00:43:54 We just celebrated nine 11. I hate even using that word celebrate. We had a remembrance of nine 11. Most of my kids don't even remember it. It's history to them only had two on the, that were even born when this whole thing literally came down. But I remember the day. Do you remember the day? Do you remember president Bush showing up and giving a speech? There there's a strength that we portrayed when the enemy came in and tried to take the authority away from America. Merca in just two months later, famously George Bush stood up before the UN and gave a speech.
Speaker 0 00:44:44 During that time, we were exposed to an underworld. Most of us didn't even know existed. I mean, we thought they were out there, but not here. And Bush said at his speech, from this point on each person in the world was called upon to take a stand against those who would seek to take power from America through terrorism. Literally he said, there's no room for neutrality in the war against terrorism. You're either with us or you're against us. Why? Because this world had been exposed to us. There's no hiding it any longer. It's their enemy is at our shores. The same reasoning is why we're doing the study on the spiritual realm. My goal is not to get you more knowledgeable about what happened to Daniel. My goal is not to scare you with what's happening in the spiritual realm. Our eyes need to be open to this battle that is going on this war, that rages all around us.
Speaker 0 00:45:43 And we need to know that we're born on the wrong side, whether we want to admit it or not. We have aside now that the world is exposed to us. Now that we see it in scripture, the question is, how will you deal with it? We walk away and say, ah, that's not true. It's just a bunch of fairytales. There's no demons in the world. Come on, stick your head back in the sand and pretend the towers don't fall. Pretend there is no enemy. Or will you look at a Newman? Will you say, yeah, there is a spiritual battle going on and I'm going to take ground for God. That's what battles about taking ground or giving it up.
Speaker 0 00:46:29 And so the first thing I want to say to you is a spiritual run, represents two sides. You're on one of them. If he's into two, says we were dead in the trespasses of our sins, which we also walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now at work in the children of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of what church to learn a wrath. Do you want to know why? Because we were on the side trying to take authority from God. We were king. Now he's telling us what to do. And the whole time we're sitting there, Ash and faced while worm, tongues, whispers in our ear and takes the ground through us. We're puppets. Most people are. They don't know it.
Speaker 0 00:47:14 That's why the last thing says like the rest of mankind. So indecision is a decision. Those who do not believe are condemned already. It says in scripture because they don't actively believe they are working for the wrong side. They don't realize they're being influenced to the Supreme authority of God. They don't realize they're fighting against Scott. They think they're making the right choices. But for those of us as believers, we look at them and go, how can you think like that? Right? Don't you feel like that blind? Passion-based following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now at work in the children of disobedience. And the second thing I would tell you is this Christian don't give up ground. You have authority. You have authority because God gives it to you. Satan's mission is to undermine and steal the authority of God to break the org chart through you. He won't break it. He'll still come to God and say, God, can I attack pat? God, can I attack Craig? God, can I attack Jim? Can I attack these people? Is that okay with you? Satan has to live under the authority chart. He gets you to not do it. He gets you to think you are making the shot. You're calling the shots. You're the king of your own domain.
Speaker 0 00:48:36 But if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, I want to tell you there's no authority that can come against you. In fact, our mission is to establish the authority of God, not take it from him, not to be equal with the angels in their authority, but to establish the authority of God in all the spaces of our lives. Matthew 16, 18, Jesus says on this rock, I will build my church, read this with me church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You have the power to take ground for God. Do you know what gates do? Have you ever seen gates move? No gates. Don't move. Do you know what gates do? They keep the enemy out? Right? You get thicker gates. If you've got bigger enemies to keep out gates stationary. This verse says on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Speaker 0 00:49:30 We think that Satan coming at us gates don't move. This is us coming at him. This is us coming at the gates of darkness, breaking through and taking ground for God. The gates of hell will not keep us out. Isn't that great? You are the church. If you belong to Jesus Christ and you have the power to take ground for Jesus Christ, we become soldiers for the cross. When we accept Jesus as our savior, we establish truth. When we hear the lies of the evil one, we fight and pray over our loved ones who are stuck in the darkness of this world. We prevail when every space of our lives is put under the authority of Jesus Christ, your car, your children, your work, your computer, your television, everything that you own, your time, your energy, your calendar, your money. When you put all of that under the authority of God, you are saying, God, you in charge and I'm with you.
Speaker 0 00:50:30 And I would like to surrender this little bit of ground back to you. That's why I keep my lawn clean. That's why I keep my house clean because I want people around me to know. I take, I take seriously what God has given to me. That's why train my children up in the way they should go with the hopes that when they get old, they won't, they won't depart from it. I want to instill Jesus in every space of my life so that everybody knows. You know, I know my kids know my friends know my whole job is to put everything under the authority of God, to take ground from Satan and give it back to God. I call it redeeming my spaces. Everything I have is his everything.
Speaker 0 00:51:15 This is why we teach about Jesus in our home. Why don't we make church a priority? Why we demonstrate fruit of the spirit? When we screw up, we're trying to take ground from the evil one and bring it back under the authority of God. Satan's whole goal is to get you to give up ground. God made you to rule over. Let me say that one more time. Satan's whole goal is to get you to give up ground. God made you to rule over. You are a steward of God. God says here, take this, redeem it here. Here's some kids take them, redeem them here. Here's a car. Take it, redeem it. Use it for my glory here. Here's some money. Take it and redeem it.
Speaker 0 00:51:53 Remember the beliefs that Satan has authority at all is the belief that is based on our law on a lie. Satan does not have authority over us. We have authority over him. That's why when the Hollywood movies show you people screaming at demons and throwing holy water and yanking themselves in all different shapes and sizes. You have to understand that that's whackadoodle, that's, that's not how it's done. When Jesus cast out demons, he simply said, you're done. Get out. Why? Because he has the authority. And so do you, so do you, because you belong to him. The lie is that Satan has, is just like God with as much authority that God has.
Speaker 0 00:52:33 And now we, as believers are given that authority as well. First Corinthians one 18. The reason we have this authority is because the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, what is the power of God that works through us? The blood of Jesus Christ, the word of the cross, the gospel of Jesus Christ, Christian, you are filled with the power of God because the blood of Jesus Christ has saved you. The gospel of Jesus Christ has rescued you and pulled you to the right side. Not in you. It's not you it's Christ in you. That's why you should know this verse. Verse seven of second Corinthians four. We have this treasures jus this treasure in jars of clay. That's our physical bodies to show the surpassing power belongs to who church surpassing power belongs to God. Not to us. We happen to be on his side. So don't up ground. Take ground from the evil one for greater is he, that is in you than he, that is in the world now. Great. That's our job. Let's pray.
Speaker 0 00:53:40 Father, you have given us this wonderful responsibility to take ground back from the prince of the power of the air. You've given us the ability to overcome the evil one because greater is he who is in the us. And he, that is in the world. It's not us. It's you working through us. It's your blood that cleanses us. Our whole goal is not to have authority over anything. Our whole goal is to give you the authority back by taking control of our own lives first. So father, may we live in surrender to you, may we learn from Daniel's prayer, that humility, transparency and surrender is a way that we are more than Congress. Thank you. That you are the greatest authority and you never gave that up. And I pray father in this dark world, we would shine as lights so that we would take more and more ground for you. As we go into this time of communion, may you help these trues to land gently yet pervasively in our hearts? Maybe we consider them and not just walk away for getting what we've seen or heard. May your word change us. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
