May 26, 2024 ~ Opposition to The Spirit ~ Rev. Ed Burns

how are you 15 you I'll GR will D Years Years want to take know he have and go ahead and no yeah we're doing this and this and then we do announcements and then we do three back to back songs and yeah did you need one cuz I got a half a dozen of them I thought I'd giving you one I'm sorry you just can't trust me e [Music] [Music] tomorrow is a day in our country that we've set aside to remember uh remember all those all those who fought and didn't come home Memorial Day was originally known as decoration day it's federal holiday and uh it started in 1868 and from 1868 to 1970 it was observed on May 30th and then in 1971 it's when they changed it to the last Monday of May you know many people they on Memorial Day they they visit cemeteries and other memorials they put flags on graves of Fallen service members Memorial Day for many is considered the unofficial beginning of summer as I thought about Memorial Day this year I realized a few things first of all Memorial Day it's not about vacation although many take the opportunity to have an extra day off and enjoy a long weekend Memorial Day it's not about men and women who died after service after their military service it's not about The Unofficial beginning of Summer now Memorial Day is a it's a day of remembrance it's a day set aside in our calendar to remember and be thankful for those who fought for this great country that we live in and died while they fault to defend the Liberties that many so willingly trample on so today we pause and we remember those brave men and women who left their friends and left their families they left their loved ones behind to go and defend this country and they never came home we remember their sacrifice we pray for those who were left behind to cherish and carry the memories of those who died you can't imagine the grief the anguish the pain that many that so many felt because their loved one died defending our country I can't imagine the feelings within themselves of of fighting if you will between the emotions of grief because their loved one is gone but great pride that they died defending this country this morning I'm going to ask that we all stand and that we observe a a moment of Silent Remembrance in prayer for those who have passed on who died died while they were fighting to defend our country after that moment of silence brother Terry's going to come and and lead us in a prayer and then we'll continue with our service can we just pause for a moment in silent remembrance and prayer as we pray uh again let us remember those that paid the ultimate sacrifice some of us had relatives and I think in Vietnam we all have brothers that we left so let us remember this today about the ultimate sacrifice of our men and women our heavenly father we thank you Lord God for this day for this day Heavenly Father God that we can pause and remember Heavenly Father God of those dear friends and brothers and sisters God that paid this ultimate sacrifice for our freedom freedom is such a precious thing Heavenly Father God it's so abused today dear God by others that that don't feel the way we do but Heavenly Father we fought and and died that they may have this privilege that they call it and God I pray today Lord Jesus that you remember all each and every one Heavenly Father remember the families of those dear God that are left behind heavenly father as we remember Memorial Day the day Heavenly Father God for our men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Christ's name we pray amen as Terry was praying they made that sacrifice so we could worship and have freedom to worship means a lot as we sing Lord I'll Lift Your Name on [Music] High Lord I Lift Your Name on High [Music] Lord I love to sing your Praises I'm so glad you're in my life I'm so glad you came to save you came from Heaven to Earth to show way from the Earth to the cross my death from the cross to the Grave from the to the I your on Lord I LIF your name on high Lord I love to sing your [Music] Praises I'm so glad you're in my love I'm so glad you came to save us you came from heav to show the way from the Earth to the cross my the cross to the the to the I LIF your on high [Music] Lord I Lift Your Name on [Music] High Lord I love to sing your Praises I'm so glad you're in my [Music] heart I'm so glad you came to save us you came from Heaven to Earth to show the way from the Earth Earth to the Cross to from the cross to the Grave the grave to the Lord I high let's do that [Music] one Lord I Lift Your Name on High Lord I love to sing your praises so glad you're in my life I'm so glad you came to save you came from Heaven to Earth to show the way from the Earth to the cross my to from the cross to the Grave from the grave to the sky Lord I Lift Your Name [Music] amen and we can praise him praise him for all of his wonderful goodness Praise Him Praise Him Jesus Blessed Redeemer sing all his wonderful Proclaim glory and H His holy name like the sheer Jesus Will guard his children in his his arms he carries him all day praise him praise him tell his excellent great Praise Him Praise Him in joyful s praise him praise Himes our Blessed Redeemer for our s suffered and bled and Di Rock of Eternal salv him him Jesus the crucified sound his Praises Jesus Who Bore our sorrows all bounded wonderful deep and strong praise him praise him his excellent great praise him praise him every joyful s Praise Him Praise Him Jesus our Blessed Redeemer Heaven Jesus saor forever and ever him him prophet and Prest and King Christ is coming the world Victorious and Glory unto the Lord belong praise him praise him Praise Him Praise Him joyful amen amen you know we've got a reason to praise the Lord today we've got so many things that God has done for us and we've got a reason to praise and exalt the king amen amen so good to see all of you this morning in the house of the Lord on a beautiful uh Memorial Day Sunday Memorial Day Sunday uh whatever it is it's you're here and I'm glad you're here today and a part of the service if you're watching online thank you so much for being a part of the service online this morning we do have somebody monitoring our chat we would love to hear from you so if you're there let us know you're there they're also putting up on the screen right now a QR code we would love to connect with you uh if you've not if we don't have your contact information we would love to connect with you so uh send us that con scan that QR code fill out the form uh send us your contact information also if we don't have it and you're here in person you can scan that QR code or you can there's a card at the back of the church for you to scan or to fill out uh there so um so please remember that uh also uh this morning just a few quick announcements uh I wanted one um we do have now it's listed in the bulletin we do have somebody uh the schedule for it at least uh somebody in our Nursery every week uh and so uh if you need the nursery you can just go out this side door here my left my left your right uh and go go through this door go through the next door and it's like right there you can't miss it uh and if you miss it you just have to I guess wander around in the hallways but uh it's back there I promise it's back there somebody is back there uh if you need it so um this morning so a few other announcements don't forget men on June 10th um we're having a grill night you say what is a grill night you bring it we grill it you say what what what am I going to bring I don't care you bring it we grill it within reason um so that's again details for that are in the bulletin uh it's on Monday night June 10th so please remember that and then also Father's Day uh is the following Sunday June 16th um we've been talking about and I mentioned this to you about uh reaching we've got a goal for ourselves we've been hovering right around that 50 Mark for so long now and I just think we can get more than that here and I think Father's day would be the great day for that we've been shooting and there's a little uh graphic in the bulletin called 60 and six we're wanting to average 60 or at least have 60 people here uh on a Sunday morning at least one I'd love for multiple Sunday mornings but we're shooting for 60 and six uh so and I thought I was thinking about that this week man there's no greater day to do that than on Father's Day uh so I know Mother's Day is a big push and you got it in Mother's Day but fathers are equally as important okay uh and so uh and push for that on Father's Day uh so fathers invite your children and your grandchildren and all of those people to be a part of the service on Father's Day uh so a few other things real quickly uh today uh after the service the women's Ministries uh uh council is meeting following the service they'll meet back in the uh uh conference area uh then this afternoon at 545 uh we're having our family ministry night uh you say the meal what is the meal the meal is her meal so think about this think about what you ate as a child growing up or something you fixed for your children as they were growing up and bring that now I know a lot of us had the same thing um either pintos and Cornbread baloney sandwiches or treat meat or span or whatever you call it potted meat so we all don't have to bring that okay if you want to bring something else that's okay um so just remember that this evening the next Sunday super excited about this uh as membership Sunday we have several uh that are um joining the church next Sunday we'll do that as part of the service next Sunday morning if that's you this morning and you've already talked to me or if you haven't talked to me please let me know uh but this morning before you leave if you're one of the ones wanting to join the church I've got a paper I need you to I need to give to you before you leave this morning morning so please be sure and get that from me um before we leave this morning and so we W our the Lord in prayer and take our request of the Lord uh this morning uh and then after prayer uh we have a just a moment of Celebration I want to share with you but we do want to take our request of the Lord this morning and ask the Lord to touch and meet needs we have several uh that we just need to remember in prayer this morning uh those were listed in the bulletin under immediate concerns and then continued concerns and let's also remember our ends this morning uh if we will also remember Caren Melendez she's not feeling well this morning needs a touch of the Lord today uh maybe today you have an unspoken prayer request you'd like to signify with a raised hand several of those let's also remember all those traveling for Memorial Day this weekend and all the things that are going on around that so let's go to the Lord in prayer and lift our voices to the Lord together this morning Father we love you God it is so good to be in your house it's so good to be among people of like faith God it is so good to be here and be a part of a fellowship of Believers be a part of men and women who love you together God I'm so thankful for what you're doing in the message church God you're changing lives you're transforming people and Lord I just celebrate what you're doing here Lord this morning we pray that you'll meet needs God you're you're a God who meets needs you're a God who can do exceedingly abundantly above anything we could ever ask think or imagine so this morning we ask you to touch we ask you to minister we ask you to do what only you can do and that you heal and that you Minister touch Karen this morning she needs your touch God touch those listed in the bulletin Lord we pray that you'll touch every request that would signified by a raised hand through your great power and through your great grace God we know that you're able to touch and that you're able to minister and God we celebrate you today Lord we rejoice in you today and as we go forward in this service God and we have a moment of Celebration Lord we share the word God I just pray that you would be in all of that and that no man would take credit for anything but that Lord we'd give you all the glory all the honor all the praise and all the Adoration today God move Among Us stir in our hearts we take authority over the enemy in Jesus name and plead the blood of Christ in Jesus we pray that in all things that are said and done that you'll be exalted praised and lifted up in Jesus name amen and amen amen now this morning first of all I do want to say sister Jee it's so good to see you back with us I know you're I know you're glad to be back um um and yeah I know you're glad to be back and I'm glad you're doing better and you're with us this morning um so this morning we've just got a moment of Celebration as I thought about today and what to what to say about this moment of Celebration you know it links to our core values and they're on the back of your bulletin if you have one um if you don't have one there at the back you can pick it up on your way out but our core values and what we're going to celebrate this morning links to three of them one it links to integrity and we we we value Integrity um and what I'm going to share with you uh is just us being open that's is the leadership of the church being open with you and sharing with you what God's doing and then we're going to it's it always hits on exuberant worship when we talk these moments of Celebration then we're also it also links to generosity you say well what is this well let me kind of if I can lead up to it can I build up to the point of Celebration this morning or do you want I'm just going to build it okay so stick with me here first of all um you know we've been celebra in and God has been doing some amazing things here at the message we've had uh to this point this year we've had it was it's 23 people have accepted Christ as their savior or rededicated their life yes that's something to celebrate yes yes yes uh We've we've baptized 10 in water uh we've got I think it's four or five next week uh that are going to be joining the church we're taking in new members and God is just on the spiritual level God has been doing some just amazing things but how many of you are glad today that God works on many fronts he doesn't work on just one front uh so whenever he starts working on one way he can also start working in another way in August this past year as we did our budget for 2023 and 2024 the council can attest to this um that was a difficult budget meeting Am I Wrong Council no this I'm telling you that was a difficult meeting and we shared with you this that we were for 2023 we were projecting a loss um we knew we had some reserved funds that could cover it but we were projecting a loss which was a difficult thing to do but God began to do some things as like I mentioned he started when he starts working on one front he can also work on another front and as he began to move move on the spiritual side he also began to move on the financial side and as I looked at our finances this year our online giving is up now this isn't I'm I'm building here y'all work with me okay our online giving is up you ready for this 111% yes yes that that's wonderful our month toon giving uh online is up 55% um but last month we had a very generous Giver who requests and wants to remain anonymous that gave to the church a a rather large gift and it's in your bulletin uh this week you can see there what our an offering was last month I wish that was every month but of course every Church wishes that was every month that's not a typo we took in last month are you ready for this 16,550 [Applause] yes yes praise the Lord you say well and here's our Point here's where I'm building to okay you ready for this we've got four months left in our fiscal year our fiscal year runs from October through September we've got four months left and we have already exceeded our budget for the year can we give the Lord a hand clap of Praise yes hallelujah thank you Jesus glory to your name we thank you Jesus for what you're doing in the message Church Lord you're changing lives you're meeting needs and you're moving among us and we celebrate that today Hallelujah if you remember last week I linked you back to a sermon I preached in August about I still hear the sound and in it and I mentioned it last week I hear the sound of budgets increasing I'm going tell you today church God is doing something spectacular in the message Community Church and I am glad that he's let me be a part of it I am glad that you are a part of it and we're going to celebrate together what God is doing here in the message church can we give the Lord another thunderous Ovation of Praise this morning thank you Jesus Hallelujah Lord thank you Jesus glory to God thank you Jesus amen amen and amen I'm glad you're a part of it if you're online our online giving you are are a valuable part of what God is doing here at the message so you keep on being a part you keep on watching you keep on we still want you with us we still want you in person but we're glad that you're a part of Us online and so you keep being a part of Us online can we just continue in worship this morning uh doesn't that make our worship our worship should be easy anyway uh but that should make our worship even easier today amen let's continue in worship today [Music] prare me to be a Sanu good and GL [Music] Tri and true with Thanksgiving I'll be all living Sanctuary for you Lord prare me to be a sanctuary good [Music] and and true with Thanksgiving how we are [Music] living sary for you Lord prepare me to be a [Music] sanctuary and ho God and true with Thanksgiving I'll be [Music] Liv Sanctuary for you oh you are more precious that silver oh you are [Music] more Lord you are more beautiful and diamond and nothing I desire compare [Music] with you are more precious than true for you are more conly and [Music] Lord you are for beautiful and and nothing I desire Compares with you [Music] th are [Music] worthy great [Music] jeh th [Music] wory Mighty God th worth [Music] worthy a father how are worthy Lamb of [Music] God are worthy [Music] great th worthy Mighty God thou are [Music] worthy a father th Art Worthy God let do that one more time sing it to the th are worthy great th Art Worthy Mighty God th AB a father how are [Music] L Hallelujah Jesus Lord you're worthy today nobody like you Jesus there's nobody that compares to you Lord we love you God we thank you we just magnify you today Lord you're worthy Lord we thank you you are good to us hallelujah amen the Lord's worthy church it's worthy of all glory and honor and praise and adoration and we can never thank him enough amen amen you in love with Jesus this morning I am in love with the king of kings and Lord of lords today he is so very good to us amen amen if you will remain standing with me and turn your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter six going to share with you this morning about oppos excuse me opposition to the spirit opposition to the spirit while you're finding Ephesians 6 if you will uh turn to your neighbor greet them in the Lord uh let them know you're glad to see them and glad that they're here with us uh this morning and then if you will look with me in Ephesians chapter 6 starting with verse 10 reading down through verse 12 before I do that though uh I need to talk real quickly to all of our volunteers if you volunteer for the church especially with our Wednesday night kids in any capacity um there is a little card at the back of the church uh it looks like this it's got a little blue QR code on the bottom that is for our background checks our insurance uh requires uh and we have just switched insurances uh and so uh they require that we have an upto-date background check on all volunteers uh and so especially those who work with children uh or the vulnerable um and now please don't misinterpret what I get ready to say here they also include in that the elderly uh so I'm not calling anybody old but if you work with people and you think they're old then this is you if you work with people and they're young you need one of these uh just follow the instructions on there uh it's takes you to our website there's a password to put in there that password is on the card for you to get it's right there so I need all of our volunteers uh to do that uh as soon as possible so look with me in Ephesians chapter 6 starting with verse 10 reading down through verse 12 talk about opposition to the spirit here's what the word of the Lord says from the New Living Translation a final word this is Paul writing to the Ephesian Church a final word be strong in the Lord and and in his mighty power put on all of God's armor so that you may be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil um look at your NE say the devil's got strategies yeah he's got a lot of them uh verse 12 for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities of the Unseen World against Mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in Heavenly places may God add blessings on the reading of his words you can be seated this morning from 1957 until 1993 during the Cold War uh the Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Air Force employed a series of radar stations to monitor the 55th parallel and they called this system the distant early warning line also known as the D line the system of radar stations uh in north in the northern Arctic region of Canada with additional stations along the North Coast of the uan islands of Alaska uh and in the fero islands and greenand Greenland and Iceland and it was set up to detect incoming bombers from the Soviet Union during the Cold War and provided this early warning system of any sea or land in invasion in other words our country along with Canada was very concerned that the Soviet Union the Russians would invade us from the north and so they wanted to have this this line set up this series of radar stations so that if Russia crossed that line it was the 55th parallel that we would be warned of it and we could respond well this morning my prayer is is that my message will serve as a do line a distant early warning line for our church and that we will stop any incoming attacks from the forces of Satan that we will see attacks coming and stay off those attacks through prayer supplication and perseverance because something may manifest in the physical but our fight is always spiritual say Satan and his forces are overlooking or always looking for a church to attack Satan and his forces are always looking for a church to oppose make no mistake about it this morning church the forces of Satan are powerful and are certainly a force to be reckoned with but how many of you know today that we serve the force that is more powerful and the force that can reckon with the Enemy and I don't know about you but I'm glad I serve the god of the universe now this morning we may not shout as much as we did last week okay but I really this morning as I pray about today and as I was looking at this morning I really want us to be cautious because there are some Dynamics to opposition that we need to be mindful of opposition doesn't have to happen or excuse me opposition does not happen overnight opposition builds and grows over a period of time now I want to say this right here at the beginning I am very very thankful that I don't see any signs of this in our church right now I am very thankful for that as I talk with our leadership I don't I don't think any of us see these signs of opposition uh starting or growing um however when God starts blessing I also know that the devil starts messing right so when God does what God's been doing in our church we've celebrated it this morning you know what the devil's GNA do the devil's going to try and get in here and start messing with people he's going to try and get people upset he's going to try and get people mad he's going to try and get people the Littest thing we're going to talk about some of these this here in a minute but he will help you and he will oblige and and encourage you to make a mountain out of that molehill he wants you to do it why because it creates opposition in the church and can I tell you this morning when we take time to discuss a topic like this and although it is not a shouting topic there may be some points to say amen and I encourage that um this morning um when we take time and we and we and we discuss these topics then it becomes for us a do line it becomes a distant early warning line and it can and will serve for us as a point where we can say wait a minute I recognize that for what it is just the devil trying to mess up what God's doing here he's really good at it he's sneaky and as long as there are people there are potentials for problem as long as there are people on this world and how many of you know until Jesus comes back till the world is completed till it's all there will always be people right and so as long as there are people there is the potential for problems but when we are mindful of the stages and the characteristics of opposition Rebellion if you will we can more effectively fight against the forces of the of evil in this church we can make sure that the devil doesn't attack us I mean that he doesn't I mean he's going to attack but we can make sure that his attacks are brought to nothing I'm reminded of the scripture where it says that any weapon formed against you will not Prosper the devil is forming a weapon and he will attack but his ATT his attacks will not be fruitful in in Jesus name amen so this morning let's take a moment and let's look at the stages of opposition and I'm recognizing the time and I know we've had some other things go on this morning so I'm only going to be about an hour and a half today okay amen yes yes I like it don't don't amen a preacher when he says an hour and a half now so let's look at the dynamic or excuse me the the stages of of opposition this morning the first one is this selfish ambition they're out for themselves the the person who is going to lead opposition rebellion in the church it starts with selfish ambition they're out for themselves their actions reveal their true intent though and sooner or later it will show that this person they don't really have a servant's heart they're out for what they can get out of it can I give a word of caution this morning before we go further as I'm sharing this morning don't start thinking of people okay don't let it don't be like uhhuh I know I know now I couldn't put my finger on it but now I can don't do that because the enemy Works through that too so let's just be careful of that this is just again a warning for us and the first stage of opposition is this selfish ambition where they're about themselves they they they they they will try to disguise it with oh I just want what the Lord wants but you can see deep down they really are out for themselves the next one is they have a performance mentality there's a huge difference between performance and Ministry I've seen a lot of performers in church but I've seen less ministers in the church and there is a big difference between between someone who gets up and they have a a heart to minister and somebody who is performing even if they're just performing for the leader this person is always a performer they're doing something just to get the the leaders attention they're working for approval and they're seeking approval as a means though of control they want to be approved so they can control but as soon as that approval is no longer important to them the control factor is gone something happens to them they get upset and then they go down further they go further down the road of opposition so you see the progression selfish ambition about themselves a performance mentality that perform rather than Minister again they're performing just even if it's just for the leader even in the church setting even if it's just for the pastor they're going to perform they're going to do because they're trying to control the situation the next step is an inflated ego believes their ideas are the best and only correct ideas they're often these ideas are many times they're over-the-top ideas they're ideas that are impractical or even impossible to follow through with but when those ideas are rejected they're highly insulted they they get hurt and they become emotional and let me say this here too a person can have like one of these and not be in true opposition it's just a is something they got to work on but when you start seeing all of these things start lining up you start seeing these things become and you start seeing the progression then you're like wait a minute there's something going on here we've got to address so you've got selfish ambition You' got a performance mentality and then there is an inflated ego and the next step of opposition is deception they feel misunderstood this is where this the conspiracy theories began to be woven this is also where deception is projected on others this is a crucial juncture because at this point opposition can be addressed and corrective actions taken and lies and hearts can be healed if not though if it's not addressed the leader the church will experience the beginning stages of what they call the death spiral because what comes next after selfish ambition and a performance mentality and an inflated ego and deception what comes next is judgmentalism have you ever met somebody that's judgmental don't think of church people now don't think of anybody don't think of people you know we all met people who are judgmental though and they're always looking to judge at this point criticism will be justified or criticism will be used to justify their emotions nitpicking becomes the rule of the day and here's what I talked about earlier Mountains will be made out of mole Hills and honest mistakes will be called out as lies they get to this place where where where where they're they become so opposed to what God's doing and and so opposed to the leadership for whatever reason that they become judgmental and all that they do nothing can be nothing can please them and then we lead into accusation when opposition has reached this point the people involved can no longer think clearly they can't see p pass what is going on judgment is wrapped around deception and the leader words are distorted Excellence is the only thing acceptable for the leader they cannot anything short of perfection is viewed as an attack here's the reality this morning if it reaches this point this is the point of of no return this is the point of no return here church and when the When You Reach this point the opposition if it's not corrected it will continue until the end of the cycle at this point if it's not fixed if it's not corrected if it's not taken care of then it will continue and we'll see an end and it's not a good one there's a Telltale sign when this happens you say well what is it I can't tell you because then somebody will start doing it just to mess with me but there's a Telltale sign I've seen it like three times and every time it's been very very accurate can I tell you when when accusation is reached and you've all heard these things you've all seen this stuff take place you've all seen it happen in church you've seen it happen in your families you've seen it happen in your jobs and when it reaches the point of accusation where they take and they start twisting words or they pull out meanings that were not there and they they use that as the accusation then you're well on your way way to complete destruction and then from accusation comes a thing called demagoguery you say that's a big word you say what does that mean well they exploit prejudices rather than appealing to rational arguments exploitation of perceived issues they stir up discontent they begin to forment rebellion and they begin developing secret alliances at this point I see wheels turning in people's heads I see your eyes thinking and you're like yep I've seen this take place I've seen this happen because the next step is Gossip you know how I feel about gossip right it's wonderful no it is not it's an awful thing now people begin to speak out out openly they're constantly seeking tiny issues as one of their accusations they're constantly seeking something to to gripe and complain about they they connect lies to small truths to make them more believable and they'll they'll begin to build clusters of accusations and I see more wheels turning and I see more people realizing wait a minute this is the this is the work of the enemy you're exactly right it's the devil working it's the devil trying to get to the place where he can destroy the church and you see this series you see this progression it starts all small and if it's addressed early then then then lives can be changed and hearts can be healed but when we're at this point when you're at the point of gossip and you're at the point where gossip has taken over then a church a family a a a workplace they're in real trouble and the process will continue and it'll go to completion the next step is forc rejection this is where they'll ostracize themselves to validate their opposition the group they've gathered around them will validate their feelings can can we just pause here and say I've seen that in church and I no no no I'm not talking about the message we're a perfect church it's the other churches I pastored right yeah it's the the everybody listen we're not talk about us we talk about everybody else this morning right this forced rejection they they they've got these little groups of people that they'll gather around them and they'll and they'll start talking among themselves and they'll validate their wrong feelings off people who have wrong feelings and they'll all of a sudden they'll they'll convince the entire friend group that they're right and everybody else has got it wrong it's called forced rejection this is where a leader this is where the leadership of a church must act at this point confrontation is inevitable and necessary the leader or and the leaders of the church they have no choice at this point action must take place for the sake of the ministry for the sake of the church something must be done because if not you're going to cause more problems you're going to cause greater destruction then it's this action this the this perceived rejection that will lead or that will be used against the leaders of the church as justification for separation in other words when you're at this point of forced rejection and Leadership does what they have to do they will use that forced rejection as justification for their next steps their next step is leading a rebellion there'll be rebellion's leader they'll be the one who the opposition leader becomes the open leader in the church they openly will Le the rebellion and people get began to choose up sides manip manipulation is used to call the weak to be loyal to the rebellion and some will not follow the Rebellion but they will leave the church and at this point one of two things happens the rebellious people will leave the church because as much and they'll cause as much destruction as possible on the way out then the church and the leaders and the members will be left to pick up the pieces that's one outcome the other outcome is that they run the pastor off they run the leaders off and then the church struggles with the stigma in the community of running off a pastor and if you think that that doesn't stick with a church I know of a church not in our denomination in a in another denomination that over 20 years ago they they very publicly ran their Pastor off very publicly and more than two decades later that church is still struggling to overcome what those people did did not in our denomination so don't start trying to figure out who it is when Rebellion takes place in a church when Rebellion takes place in your job or in your family if it is not handled appropri appropriately and quickly it will lead to lasting effects in the church and let me go a fur a bit further and say this if it's not handled correctly it leads to Eternal damnation for some because Rebellion when it happens in a church it drives people away and some of them never go back to church some of them will leave the church they will turn their back on God and unfortunately and sadly they will spend eternity in hell because they rejected God because of the actions of people and I tell you this morning I am thankful we are not seeing these signs in our church I am thankful that that we are not seeing these things but I can tell you today if we are not careful the enemy will find any kind of crack in the armor and he will try and force his way in and start this process in this church and I'm trying to give us today a du line a distant early warning line to say hey if we see these things let's stop them so that the enemy will not have his way in this church am we have worked can I say this I'm going to we have worked too hard we have prayed too many prayers we have fasted too many meals we have we have carried it to the Lord too many times for us to allow the enemy to come in Among Us and destroy the work of the Kingdom uh in jesus' name uh we cannot we will not allow that to happen in Jesus name amen somebody this morning the devil is a liar and the truth is not in him amen and we will be on guard we will be watching in Jesus name to make sure that this doesn't happen here's the thing those leading re the rebellion and those who participate in it they refuse to believe the biblical law of sewing and reaping they refuse to believe that they will reap what they sow if you sow Rebellion you will reap Rebellion if you sow to the Whirlwind you will reap the worldwin it's heart-wrenching to see good people used of the enemy it's sad and I it it pains my heart to say I have ped good people who have allowed themselves to be an instrument of the enemy and ferment rebellion in a church can I tell you today it's not worth it in Jesus name so don't be fooled by a good service don't even be fooled by a series of good Services God God has been doing great things here and because the enemy hates for God's people to be blessed Satan will attack at the point of Victory think about Elijah church at the point of his greatest Victory is when the enemy attacked him the most defeated 450 prophets of Bale prayed for rain he saw the cloud the size of a man his hand he ran faster than a chariot back to the town and when he got there Jezebel said If You're Not Dead by in the morning may God do to me what you've done to them and he ran and hid keep your eyes on the Lord Church keep our eyes on him trust him and we will re we will emerge Victorious we may go through but we will make it through in Jesus name now if I can this morning I I need to I I really need to get through all of this so if you'll allow me just five more minutes who'll give me five minutes 5 10 15 20 let me give you three spirits of opposition real quickly first of all as mentioned earlier something may manifest in the physical but it's always a spiritual battle Ephesians 6:12 tells us this that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood we don't fight against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers of and authorities of of the Unseen World one of the gravest mistakes we can make as Believers in Christ is to fight spiritual Battles Through physical means you won't be victorious if you do that but if we'll fight a spiritual battle through spiritual means then we can overcome these evil spirits let me give you three real quickly three spirits of opposition the first one is this it's the spirit of Jezebel probably the most popular one for lack of better terminology the the one most people know about is from First Kings U um chapter 21 it's when Elijah she's the one that that that threatened Elijah that sent Elijah into hiding if you read this story you see that that that Eli that Jezebel was an illegitimate Authority in Israel she married Ahab Ahab should never have married her but she weasel her way in and she got into the position of authority because Ahab was a weak man for the spirit of Jezebel to work it requires a weak partner a mouthpiece a puppet for the spirit to operate through and the spirit of Jezebel can I can I say this the spirit of Jezebel is one of the most destructive evil spirits there is it's an illegitimate Authority at its core the spirit of Jezebel is a murderer wants to murder this the spirit of Jezebel wants to murder the spiritual well-being of a church if she can if the spirit of Jezebel can get to the to the pastor and destroy the pastor that's her ultimate goal to destroy the leadership to destroy the person of God who is leading for the cause of Christ cares more about power then position they don't care about the position they just want all the power and the spirit of Jezebel I promise you if it's not dealt with appropriately and quickly it it'll jump from person to person in a church too so you got to deal with the spirit he said how do we know we're dealing with The Spirit Well if if it's operating in one person and then that person's gone then all of a sudden it starts operating in another person that's a spirit and it's got to be dealt with the next one is this the spirit of Absalon Absalon was a son of David who felt wrong wronged U by the throne being given to the affair son of Bas Sheba Solomon he felt wronged by that and so so he took and and he he started to to to pull all the attention away from King David away from Solomon and put it on himself he began to take all the attention the high he highlighted the differences between himself and the King started saying but you know I'm so much better than him I do things better because I do it this way and it's better because of this it's what the spirit of Absalon will do it'll highlight the differences between those uh or between themselves and those who are in leadership and and they may be in leadership themselves but they they really want to be in charge they really are pushing to be that person who is in control of everything their driving factor is a wound of some kind either a real wound or a perceived wound can I tell you this morning a perceived wound is as painful as a real wound somebody who has a perceived hurt will act out just like somebody who has an actual hurt and that's what the spirit of Absalon will do a perceived offense perceived I've had it happen I can't tell you how many times through the years where I say something in the pull pit and before I get home it's been Twisted that I was doing so that I said something else I couldn't tell you the times through the years can I just tell you today that's a spirit at work there's the enemy wants to get out there and take before it hits your ears he'll twist it if we're not careful before it gets in your heart before it gets he'll start twisting what the Lord's saying and that's the spirit of absolon and it's destructive the third one is this is the spirit of Simon from Acts chapter 8 Simon wanted to purchase the power Simon wanted to be in control of the power he wanted the power of the Holy Spirit he wanted the power that the apostles had but he wasn't willing to do the work that he that they did he wasn't willing to put in the effort and so he offered to buy the power can I tell you today you cannot buy the power of the Holy Spirit he wanted the true power but he didn't want to get it the right way the New Testament puts it this way you can't serve God and man you can't serve God in money you're going to love one and hate the other this and this Spirit of Simon is more in love with money than they are with true power that's why this morning when we celebrated what God's doing in our finances I want to make sure that it it was abundantly clear that no man had a hand in that that was that was the good Lord above doing the work within the hearts and the lives of people so that we could see God Bless The Message Church it had nothing to do with Humanity it had everything to do with divinity God may have used God may have used man but it was him that did the work it was him that orchestrated it can I tell you another piece of that and I know I need to hurry this morning but I need to tell you this back last fall when we applied for our Canon Grant I was praying about that and I said Lord we need what do we need for them we need $100,000 that's what we needed and we got it and they they gave us about a third of what we asked for or a third of the 100,000 but can I tell you whenever I saw that check come across the Lord reminded me of my prayer and said I answered your prayer I just didn't answer it like you thought I was going to can I tell you today God will answer prayer he just may not answer it like we thought he was going to the spirit of s Simon church will destroy a church it'll get in the finances of a church and start messing around and cause people to get their eyes off of God and their eyes moral money you say well what do we need to do well here's the best course of action you ready for it I'm gonna give you several action steps as we close this morning and I'm trying to hurry the first one is this we got to cut off the head of the snake we cannot allow these spirits to operate in our church we cannot allow this even begin to form in Jesus name God's doing too many things and we cannot allow him to do it the next is prayer and fasting uh we have a time of prayer and fasting the first month Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday of every month for a reason not for our health uh our physical health but for our spiritual health and if we will continue to pray and fast God will continue to do the work that we have seen him do in this Fellowship of Believers the thir next thing we can do is this fellowship with Believers Fellowship with men and women of like faith we can fellowship with people who say you know what I agree with you and you agree with me and we're going to agree together that if one of us gets in a wrong way we're going to call each other out on the wrong and we're not going to be offended by the by the correction but we're going to accept the correction and we're going to allow the Holy Spirit to continue to do the work that he said he was going to do in our lives that's what I mean when I say fellowship with Believers and the only way you're going to have fellowship with Believers is when you come to events like we have on Sunday morning when we have times of worship like on Sunday nights and on Wednesday nights Sunday nights tonight when we have family ministry tonight you come to fellowship with Believers you come to be a part of what God's doing here and you grow in your relationship with each other and that's how you get to the place where you can accept correction from a fellow believer I'm finishing with this here's your opposition over uh your victory over opposition you ready for it real quick I'm just going to skip down to this four-part recipe you ready for it here's your four-part recipe for victory over opposition first of all recognize opposition early you got to recognize it early you can't allow it to stick around you can't allow it to to hang out you can't say well that might not be opposition that might just be them having a bad day chances are uh they're not having a bad day chances are they're developing opposition and you got to be careful you got to be looking for it we got to be on point with it we cannot allow it to happen the next thing is you got to not only recognize it but you got to confront it you got to say John Maxwell says it this way care enough to confront care enough about them to confront them about the opposition that they're forming in the church the next thing is this pray and when I say pray I'm not talking about just praying and now I lay me down to sleep prayer I'm talking about praying for God's wisdom praying and asking God to give you the wisdom you need the next thing is this walk in Victory re walk today like you are victorious over the enemy walk today like the enemy has no place in your life walk today like the enemy is a defeated foe because he is he has no place in your life he God has made you more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ and we need to walk in Victory and we will only fulfill this four-part recipe if we are full of the power of the Holy Ghost we talked about this last week and we talked about the move of the spirit and about hurrying to Pentecost can I tell you today I am fir I firmly believe with all that is within me the way that we will be able to overcome the enemy and fight against the spirit of opposition is through the power of the Holy Spirit functioning in our lives Paul put it this way when he wrote to the uh wrote his second letter to the Church of Corinth for I will pray in tongues my spirit is pray or for for if I pray in tongues my spirit is praying but I do not but I don't understand what I'm praying well then what shall I do uh I will pray in the spirit and I will also pray in words I understand I will sing in the spirit and I will also sing uh in words I understand in other words you yes you need to pray in the Holy Ghost I can I tell you today I don't preach on this enough and I need to preach on it more that we need men and women of God who will get in their prayer chamber uh and they will pray in the Holy Ghost uh they will allow the Holy Ghost utterance to flow through them uh and they will pray in an unknown language to the king of glory and allow the Holy Ghost to minister through them as he prays to the father on your behalf can I tell you today we need men and women of God who will pray in the Holy H ghost in their prayer chamber who will pray in the Holy Ghost when they come into worship who will allow the Holy Ghost to use them but we also need men and women of God who will not only pray in the Holy Ghost but they will pray with words that they understand they will pray with understanding which means you got to pray and you got to study God's word and you got to understand what's happening and when you understand what's happening you can pray for or you can pray against it uh but whatever it is uh you need to pray in the Holy Ghost and you need to pray with understanding in Jesus name we need men men and women of God who are full of the Holy Ghost who will shine the light of Jesus Christ and who will not allow the enemy to overtake them who will not allow the enemy to hold to take foothold in their life and they will press deeper into the things of God they will shun sin and embrace righteousness uh that's what we need in these last days and if we are going to continue to see God do the supernatural among us then it will happen when we pray more it will happen when we fast more it will happen when we get full of the Holy Ghost and we allow the Holy Ghost to speak through us and we begin to pray in an unknown tongue we need people in the church who are full of the Holy Ghost who allow the Holy Spirit to function in them so here's what I want you to take home with you today you ready for it take home with you this we do not have to succumb to the spirit of opposition we don't have to succumb to it there can be Victory there can be progress and there can be success and for us today to have spirit to have victory over the spirit of opposition we must fix our eyes on Jesus and allow him to direct our path if we're going to have victory over a spirit of oppos opposition we will seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit he will fill our hearts and our lives with his power and his anointing can I tell you this morning and leave you with these words that our future is greater than our past and our dream dreams are greater than our memories and to continue going forward this morning we must stop any advance of the enemy on the message Community Church if we're going to continue going forward today then we must stop any advances of the enemy let me say it again if we're going to continue going forward then we must stop any advances of the enemy on the message Community Church in Jesus name amen I going to say it one more time if we're going to continue going forward then we must stop any advance of the enemy on this church because the enemy wants to attack us the enemy wants to destroy us but thanks be to God he's given us the victory you know the way Victory starts and I'm wrapping up I know I've been say I've been saying that all morning I'm finishing up but I am I I really am won't you stand with me I'm finishing with this stand with me this morning singers musicians come here's how we're going to finish here's how we continue going forward we keep sharing the Light of Christ we keep we keep propagating the message that Jesus saves we keep telling people that Jesus is the one that Jesus is the answer that Jesus is what they need in their life that's what we do if we're going to continue to go forward and stop the advances of the enemy then it's going to be through US proclaiming Christ's message that Jesus saves uh that he changes lives uh that he transforms Hearts uh we've seen 23 people saved this year we've seen 10 baptized in water can I tell you the reason we're doing that and the reason we're seeing that is because we're continuing to put out the message that Jesus Christ is the answer uh to any trouble that people have in their life and if we're going to continue to go forward we've got to continue to put out that message that Jesus is the answer and he's the only answer you say I got troubles you need Jesus you say well well I don't know what to do Jesus does so I don't know which step to take Jesus will tell you Jesus is the answer today whether we're fighting opposition in the church or if we're if you don't know Christ Jesus Is The Answer doesn't matter Jesus is always the answer in the way we go [Music] forward is stopping the advances of the enemy and the way we stop the advances of the enemy is to Proclaim Jesus Christ that's it church it's that simple that's how we do it this morning here's how I want to [Music] close every head bowed every eye Clos we're going to come to the altar here in a minute but right now I want to do it this way maybe Somebody's Watching online maybe somebody here I don't know but I know the Lord's calling people this morning I know the Lord's doing the work he's calling some people home I believe we're we're in the last days church and I believe Jesus is Calling people home I believe there's been some people um maybe you're watching online and you're and you've not got you're not where you need to be with the Lord You've strayed from your [Music] relationship and Jesus is calling you this morning to return to him he's calling this morning you strayed and he's calling you back maybe this [Music] morning you say you know what that's me I've [Music] strayed I've strayed a little bit not where I need to be every head bowed every eye closed nobody looking around [Music] please online in person I don't know but I know this he's calling somebody today you're not where you need to be with the Lord you're not in a right relationship with him and he's calling you you did not show up here or online by chance you were divinely appointed by God to hear the words coming out of my mouth that you need Jesus as your savior today so this morning I'm going to pray and while I pray I want you to pray if that's you and here's what you need to believe the Bible says it's pretty simple if you'll confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross then you will be saved it's that simple so here's what I want you to do I want you to confess sin that you're a sinner I want you to ask Jesus Christ in Your Heart A Savior and I want you to commit to him saying Jesus I will serve you from this day forward I'm going to pray and if that's you if you're here or you're watching online I want you to pray that prayer in Jesus name will you pray with me Father Saints you be pray the his glor father we love you father we magnify you Lord this morning I know you're doing a work I know today that you're you're calling people Holy Spirit I know that you're you're calling people to you so Jesus this morning knock on doors of Hearts Hallelujah and Lord help them to open the door to you to receive from you this this morning salvation help them to confess with their mouth that Jesus you died on the cross for them believe in their heart that you raised from the dead and that you'll be Lord of their life Lord I believe you're doing that work amen yes Jesus and Lord I thank you for that in Jesus nameall in Jesus name we're just going to give people another moment to pray in Jesus name this morning while every head is still bowed and every eye is still closed if you're online and you prayed that prayer I want you to give us a thumbs up give us a a raised hand emoji but if you're in person this morning and you prayed that prayer first time or the hundredth time I don't care but that was you this morning will you just lifp your hand up nobody's looking around anyone this morning see that hand anyone else anyone else this morning anyone online I believe you're doing I believe the Lord's doing the work in Jesus name thank you Jesus Lord we thank you this morning for the raised hand for lives changed and transformed for the cause of Christ Jesus continued to do the work now this morning church here's what I want us to do I want us us to gather at these altars I want everyone who will I want everyone who will to come meet me at these altars and let's spend just the next couple of minutes talking to the Lord and asking the Lord one to help us recognize when this when a spirit of opposition tries to raise his head and two to help us fight against it and three to help us be full of the power of the holy spirit will you meet me here and pray those prayers with me this morning will you come will you come this morning Jesus we love you will you come come on Church come on this [Music] morning Father we love you Lord we magnify you [Music] today Lord we just adore [Music] you Jesus we magnify you we give everything to you Lord help us search us oh God see if there's anything in US Lord we adore you Lord we magnify you God touch our hearts today Lord help us to recognize the spirit of opposition and help us today Father to fight against it and help us to fight against it through the power of the Holy Ghost Lord we thank you for all these things God we just magnify you today Lord we love you Jesus we love you Hallelujah Jesus [Music] Jesus your word Jesus we love you Hallelujah Jesus father this morning we are thankful for the move of your spirit we're thankful for lives changed Lord we're thankful for what you're doing in the message church and God we just celebrate you today we rejoice in the god of our salvation and we recognize today that God nothing happens unless it happens through you so this morning we celebrate it Lord we we worship you and we thank you today for what you're doing Among Us continue God to do the work and God will continue to rejoice in the god of our Salvation we'll continue to rejoice in what you're doing Among Us in Jesus name in Jesus [Music] name in Jesus name can I tell you Church I believe the Lord's doing something spectacular in this church we're seeing God do the wonderful and I want to keep on seeing God do the wonderful amen amen I believe God for it and I'm just going to Keep On Believing him for it amen I am foolish enough to believe that you say is it foolish no it's not really foolish the world would kind at foolishness but I don't I don't believe the Lord does Amen can we celebrate a moment you say we already celebrated we need to celebrate again I don't know if we've had anybody online this morning uh I'm getting a note from back there but we did have one this morning that either that rededicated or or said hey I'm that that I'm that I'm that person can we just celebrate the one this morning yes amen thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus Hallelujah I'm In Love With Jesus and I'm in love with what he's doing in the message amen amen if if you're joining the church next week I need you to see me before you leave I've got a piece of paper for you to read over and be prepared to answer to uh next week uh don't forget this uh after church our women's Ministries council's meeting then also tonight is family ministry night at 5:30 um over in the fellowship PA remember all of those things this morning amen amen amen uh sister Jane won't you dismiss us in prayer this morning than